Overhill and Underhill

Chapter 2

Authors' Notes: Hot off the presses and probably full of mistakes. Let's be honest I'm bad about going back in and re-editing. Eventually I need to find myself a beta for this story. I'm steadily working my way through the research it's taking for this piece and how the supernatural elements are going to start to come through. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. I'll admittedly be kinda busy this week so it's not likely I'll get a new chapter out but I did manage to find enough time to write this so we'll see. If you enjoy this piece, please let me know. It really makes a difference. Okay I hope you enjoy! ~ Scarlette

Emma brushed her blonde hair back behind her ears before blowing out a breath. That portrait was way heavier than it looked and the guys who delivered it had struggled to bring it to her room as she couldn't bare to let the hotel staff going ahead and having it shipped back stateside. She knew she would probably regret her decision to bring the thing up to her room but she couldn't seem to set it aside now that she had it back in her possession. She'd laid awake late into the night, just thinking about the woman in the picture all while attempting to count the dots on the white ceiling in order to get sleepy enough to go to bed. It wasn't like the bed was uncomfortable or anything. Far from it, it was better than the lumpy mattress she had at home truthfully. She'd eventually given up counting and grabbed her phone from the pressed wood nightstand where she'd put it on to charge and tried to do some preliminary research but it was all in vein. There was nothing about the woman that she could find. Admittedly, she hadn't gone down to the local library to research the old documents there but rather trusted Google to do it for her. That may have been her mistake but now she had the portrait back she could try to take a photo of it and see if she could put a face to a name by just taking her camera and showing the picture to the librarian.

Slowly, she peeled back the wrappings sucking in a breath when the woman's black hat with its tall black feather…how had she not seen that last night? She thought hazily as her hands paused. The eyes were next then the tilted smiling lips and finally the wrappings fell away revealing the painting in all it's glory. She took a step back, studying every inch of the woman's face and then the positioning of her body. No longer looking at with lust should be a good start to figure out some small details that may reveal whom she was. She wasn't from the renaissance; she could tell that much by the style of the painting and the subject's clothing, admittedly though she knew very little about paintings but at least she could tell that much. August might be her best bet. He was researching different art periods for a novel he was writing maybe he would have some clue what time period she was from or where she was from if she sent him a picture? That would surely help narrow some things down for her and the librarian. She pulled out her phone and pressed a few buttons until she was able to pull up her former foster brother's number.

""ello?" He answered on the fourth ring.

"Hey, it's me."

"I figured since your number flashed up on my phone." August laughed and she found herself grinning. They had always been close and continued to stay that way as the years went by. "So you made it there safely I take it? We haven't heard from you and Mary is kinda well pacing a hole in the floor last night worrying about you."

"Yes I did make it safely and tell "Mom" that I'm okay. I was just kinda jetlagged when I first got here and I just wanted to rest."

"Have you gotten any good shots yet?"

"A few of the countryside. Nothing too extreme though, I was planning on heading out to snap some photos of the metal man but I gotta ask you for a favor."

"You okay? Do I need to wire you some money or something?" He asked, immediately concerned.

"No, nothing like that. I'm good really. I just…well I made it to my first stop Rosses Pointe and well…to make a long story short I found this old antiques shop. I didn't think much of it but I kinda felt compelled to check it out so I did. I found this painting in it. The proprietor said she'd had it since before she'd taken over the shop but she didn't know a single thing about it."

"What's the painting of? Some type of landscape?"

"No, it's a person. A woman actually; I'm trying to place her but I can't seem to find out anything about her. I'm not really here to get stuck in a library all day so I thought maybe since you were doing some research on painting styles and such you could place a time frame of maybe when it was painted so I can use that as a starting point to figure out who she is?"

"Why so much interest in her? I mean surely she's long dead."

"Oh without a doubt…I don't know…I can't explain it but it's like I have to know more about her. Like I can't forgive myself if I don't know at least her name."
August took a breath and she could imagine him tugging on the fuzz on his face as he did when he was thinking about something very deeply. The simple things about him comforted her. The things he did without thought to anything else. She knew she had a similar habit of twisting her hair. August had been the one to point it out to her after all. They were both too observant.

"Well take a picture of her with your phone and send it to me. I'll take a look and see what I can figure out if not I might know someone that might know something. He's an art critic. Pretty well read too. I've been contacting him for help with my manuscript and so far he's been dead to right."

"I'll get it to you. Thanks for the help."

"No problem Swan. Just let me know if you need anything at all seriously. I can sacrifice a night or two at the bar if you need help."

"I'll keep that in mind." She shook her head with a small smile. "I'll call you when I can okay?"

"Okay, I'll tell Mary I heard from you and that you aren't dead."

"Thank you. I'll send the picture in just a second okay?"

"I'll be waiting."

She clicked the button on her phone to end the call and eyed the screen. It was a picture she'd been wrangled into by Mary with August in front of the door of their first apartment. They had all three decided to move in together to save money and it had worked out well from then on. They were happy together all three of them, not having any trouble getting along. She shook her head at the dorky grin on August's face and the laughing face of herself. There was always something to laugh about with Mary and August. She shook her head and tilted her phone up, letting her camera zoom in on the portrait resting against the small table that she assumed was supposed to double as a desk in her room. She made sure to hold her phone still before she hit the button to capture the image.

"Okay August here she is….or not. What the hell?" She muttered as she clicked the picture she'd just snapped. The painting was there, everything was perfect except the woman's face. It was blurred out. None of her features were readily noticeable it just looked like a blob of color where her pretty face was supposed to be. She blinked, "Okay maybe I wasn't holding my phone steady."

She tried three more times before grabbing her Nikon. "Okay I can just upload it to my computer and email it to him. No big deal."

She looked through the lens carefully adjusting until she had it set just right and snapped the photo with a small click. She pulled the black device away from her face and stared at the small preview screen. "What in the hell is going on?" She muttered. They were exactly the same. Every detail beautifully visible except for the woman's beautiful face. It was blurred again, obscured from view and unable to decipher a single feature.

"Okay seriously…what in the hell is going on with this thing?" She looked at the woman's sparkling eyes and Mona Lisa smile. "Are you doing this on purpose? Don't want to be preserved on film just on canvas?" She asked, knowing she'd get no answer but unable to help but ask the subject in question just what was going on to make this happen.

The woman's Mona Lisa smile didn't change nor did the mischief that was so easy to see sparkling in her honeyed eyes.

"You're going to have to let me photograph you…you realize that right? How else am I supposed to find out anything about you?" She shook her head. "I must be going crazy talking to a painting."

She took a breath, "Okay one more shot and if this one doesn't come out then I'm going to send it to August and tell him to get what he can out of it."

She lined up a shot with her Nikon and snapped it once more only to get the same results she'd gotten each time she'd tried. "Seriously?" She groaned. "Whatever you know what? I'm sending it to him anyways." She pulled out her phone and sent one of the previous ones she'd taken with a message.

I'm not sure what is going on with my phone or my camera but it keeps blurring out her face. Maybe her clothing will give it away instead? Thanks for doing this. I owe you.

She pressed send and tucked her phone back in her jeans back pocket. She blew out a breath and then grabbed her red leather jacket, car keys and camera bag which she carefully repacked. She had a date with the metal man.