Mike brought the box inside, then carefully unpacked its contents. Satisfied everything was there, he quickly organized the items on the kitchen table. He scooped up the first bundle and walked out the back door of the house into the garden.
The garden area was built like a courtyard. The exterior wall of the garage was to the left, and the wooden siding transformed at the corner into a stone wall that surrounded the property, save for the wrought iron gate that gave access to the forest behind the house. In the middle of the yard was a large fountain, and standing in it was the nymph, Naia. She had summoned tiny spheres of water that bounced across the surface of the fountain, currently being chased by a pair of determined squirrels. Tossing her greenish-blue hair over one shoulder, Naia winked at him.
“Hello, lover,” she said, the skirt of her white gown floating on the water’s surface.
“Naia.” He had discovered the nymph his first night in the house, a sexual encounter in his bathtub that had swapped a small piece of their souls, binding him to the house as its Caretaker.
“What’s that?” she asked, pointing at the small bundle he was holding.
“A couple of things.” He handed her a catalog. “First, here are some flowers I thought we could plant by the fountain along with some pots for them to go in. I brought you the catalog so that we could pick them out together.”
“I love flowers!” Naia hopped up and down, her breasts jiggling pleasantly beneath her gown.
“I also bought you this.” He held up a small jewelry box. Opening the lid revealed a small pendant on a silver chain. “It isn’t anything special, but it reminded me of you.”
“For me?” Naia stared at it, eyes wide and mouth agape.
“Yeah.” Mike picked up the chain and showed her the pendant. In the sun’s light, it reflected several different colors. “This is abalone jewelry; it’s made from a shell.”
“It’s beautiful!” Naia turned around, lifting up her hair. Mike fastened the necklace around her neck, then took in her scent while leaning against her.
She raised the pendant to inspect it. “I love it.”
“I hoped you would.” Mike kissed her on the neck. The fountain swelled with water, briefly overflowing on every side.
“Remind me to thank you properly later.” Naia pressed her ass into him. “I’m afraid if I thank you now, Tink will get angry that you are avoiding work.”
“You’re one-thousand-percent correct,” Mike said, remembering Tink had bitten him yesterday for surfing the internet on his phone instead of bringing her a box of screws from the garage. “I’ll see you tonight.”
Naia blew him a kiss, and he walked back through the house to the kitchen, grabbing a couple more items on his way through. On the front deck, he turned right and made his way to the porch swing. Cecilia wore a pretty white dress with simple black shoes, and her sightless white eyes stared out into eternity.
“You brought me something?” Cecilia asked.
“I did.” Mike held up the large cushion. “Well, it’s more for me.” Kneeling beside the swing, he detached the old, ratty seat cushion from it. Cecilia vanished when he pulled it away and reappeared on top of the new one once he had it tied in place. “This way, I can sit and visit with you for a little longer. The old one was starting to hurt my back.”
“Oh, to be alive,” the banshee said, touching the new cushion with ethereal fingers. “Sit with me tonight?”
“You can count on it.” The first time Mike had met Cecilia, she had scared the crap out of him. Now he spent his evenings visiting with her in one way or another. Mike sat on the new cushion, then swung the swing a few times. “Oh man, that is so much better.”
“I’m glad.” Cecilia faded from sight, but the swing kept moving even after Mike got up. Walking into the yard, he looked up at the roof. “Abella?”
The gargoyle appeared in the sky, circling briefly before touching down. Her wings closed around her body, forming a hooded cloak. “Yes?”
Mike handed her an iPad. “I got this for you. It has access to Prime Video, Netflix, and Hulu.”
“Are those magic words?” Abella asked, inspecting the screen in her hands. Mike had purchased a protective case for it, the kind that was meant for little kids. He figured the extra-wide handles would keep Abella from accidentally cracking the screen. She touched one of the app icons on the tablet, her eyes growing wide as the screen flashed when the app opened.
“No. Let me show you.” Mike instructed her in the usage of the tablet. Abella didn’t need sleep so spent her hours watching TV through the back window of the house. She stared in fascination as Mike explained how to bring up the different shows and movies with the touch of a finger.
“This little screen is like magic,” the gargoyle declared, holding it up against the sky.
“And you can take it anywhere. Just don’t let it get wet, and if that little battery picture in the corner gets empty, I can plug it in for you.” Mike suspected this would happen most nights—the thing only had a battery life of ten hours, and it might be worth it to have Tink build Abella a docking station.
Back in the kitchen, Mike looked at the rest of the package’s contents. He had ordered a few power tools for Tink—the little goblin was doing most of her work by hand, and he knew that she could work a lot faster with a few extra modern conveniences.
The last item was in a small jewelry box. As he picked it up, he ran his fingers over the top, wondering if he would even see her. Shaking his head, he stuck the box in a kitchen drawer that contained a
