Dead Man's Deal The Asylum Tales - By Jocelynn Drake Page 0,110
me with a grim expression. He didn’t look like he was going to be too helpful, but he was all I had. Standing in the barnyard, I realized that I didn’t know where the hell I was, and while I was sure that I could get myself home, I had a feeling that leaving would not get me one step closer to talking to Gaia.
“Well, I guess we better get at it. We’re wasting daylight,” the man grumbled before turning back to reenter the barn. With a shake of my head, I followed after him, but paused just past the threshold, blinking as my eyes struggled to adjust from the bright sunlight to the darkened barn. As the world came into focus, I could make out various pieces of farm equipment, stacks of hay bales, and a few stalls. By the sounds of shuffling and heavy breathing, they were occupied by horses.
“Here,” Rocky said, throwing clothing at me. I attempted to catch it, but wasn’t fast enough. One boot and half of the overalls remained in my arms while the other boot bounced off my chest and hit the wooden floor. “Put that on so you won’t get your fancy clothes dirty, city boy.”
“Wait!” I snapped, letting everything fall to the ground. “What are you talking about? Why am I going to get dirty?”
Rocky sneered at me, his face becoming a mass of wrinkles and weathered skin. “You want your meeting with Ma, don’t you?”
“Ma? You mean Mother Nature?”
The man gave a little snort. “You’re not too quick in the morning, are you? Yeah, I mean Mother Nature. You want your meeting or not?”
“Yes.”
“Then you work. If you’re lucky enough to get a meeting with the old girl, you have to earn your way in to see her. You work hard enough, the faster you see her. You get me?”
My shoulders slumped but I nodded. “Yeah, I got it.” I should have known getting in to see Gaia wasn’t going to be that easy. This certainly wasn’t the way I had expected to spend my morning, but I could put in a few hours of hard labor if it meant helping the elves.
Bending down, I picked up the clothes that he threw at me. The overalls were big enough to go over the clothes I was already wearing, but I had to sit on a bale of hay to switch out my scuffed up boots for a pair of worn, dirt-encrusted boots.
“Come on, slowpoke,” Rocky called as soon as I finished lacing the second boot.
Clomping through the barn in the heavy shoes, I trailed after the older man and headed across the large field. I didn’t try to talk to him, or even ask him where we were. Rocky didn’t strike me as the talkative type. As Holly said, he was a contrary kind of person and I had a feeling he’d refuse to answer to spite me.
We walked in silence for nearly fifteen minutes until we crossed a split-rail fence and came up to another barn. This one was twice the size of the first and painted white. The scent of manure filled the air, threatening to make me gag, but I kept my comments to myself.
Rocky pulled back the door and gave me a shove inside. The interior was brightly lit, but I still found myself blinking at the two neat rows of black-and-white cows sedately chewing on hay. My companion walked over to the side of the barn and picked something up. When he returned, he thrust a stool and a metal pail into my hands.
“When the pail gets full, there are some large containers at the back of the barn. Pour the milk in there. When you’re done with the cow, she’ll know to go on out into the yard,” Rocky informed me.
“You want me to milk all these cows?” I demanded, unable to keep the shock out of my voice.
He chuckled. “Quick one, aren’t you? Milk them, and when you’re done, I’ll be back.” Rocky started to turn around and walk out of the barn when something occurred to him, causing him to turn back toward me. “Oh, and a little advice: I wouldn’t use any of your hocus-pocus.” He was laughing to himself when he ambled out of the barn, heading back over the hill we had walked up.
I hadn’t yet thought of using magic. My brain was still trying to comprehend the idea of milking cows. I mean, they had machines for this