Sleipnir
The Eight-Legged Norse Horse
Silver Harbor was the cutest of lakeside towns: This was a fact Morgan McCoy was certain of, and she'd been in plenty.
Surrounded on all sides by thick mixed forests, with rivers and ponds and streams running through them and out into the bay, the only sort of outdoor recreation the Northwoods National Forest seemed to be missing was mountain sports, and that was alright. Silver Harbor and its surrounding public lands had everything else, from boating, to kayaking, to fresh fish in every restaurant and the cutest little local cafes. Everything including the lighthouse, sitting outside town, visible from her favorite cafe. On a nice, clear summer morning like this one, when the lake was deceptively calm, it was a picturesque sight: Well-maintained and stout-looking up there on its high cliff, where it once warned sailors of the treacherous rocks below it. Morgan could see the tan bricks and white trim from where she stood, staring out a big, wide window. The keeper's quarters and all the outbuildings were just obscured by the forests between her and the lighthouse, some few miles away.
She'd worked around the lighthouse several times. She'd heard the stories. Knowing her luck, she'd always been careful not to have the evening shift closing the place down. Tonight, though, that's what they had her doing -- she'd go into work late, she'd hang out and give an evening talk on the history of the area, and then she'd make sure everything was locked out and secure for the night. If she was lucky, she'd even ignore it if she heard or saw something weird while she did it. Most of the staff and locals didn't really believe the ghost stories around that place, and there had to be half a million variations -- it was haunted by an old keeper who died of a heart attack on the job, the spirits of the ships dashed upon the rocks seek shelter there, someone threw theirself off the gallery, there had been a gristly murder there... People told it so many ways. Morgan didn't want to believe any of it, but... knowing how things went around her, she did. The Silver Harbor Lighthouse wouldn't be the first haunted house she'd been in.
"Morgan!"
She looked up when a barista called her name with a smile, then made her way over to get her drink. She believed the ghost stories, and she'd have to face them, but not yet. For now, she could hang out in her favorite coffee shop with her black hair down, wearing a pretty yellow sun dress, looking out at the enormous lake that stretched out to the horizon. The lighthouse was a later problem. "Thanks, Andy," she called back with a smile, nodding. Andy just tossed her a wink before they went back to their other orders, and Morgan stepped back toward the door to step out into the patio seating. The place was too small to have seats inside, after all, and she liked the breeze off the water anyway.
Surrounded on all sides by thick mixed forests, with rivers and ponds and streams running through them and out into the bay, the only sort of outdoor recreation the Northwoods National Forest seemed to be missing was mountain sports, and that was alright. Silver Harbor and its surrounding public lands had everything else, from boating, to kayaking, to fresh fish in every restaurant and the cutest little local cafes. Everything including the lighthouse, sitting outside town, visible from her favorite cafe. On a nice, clear summer morning like this one, when the lake was deceptively calm, it was a picturesque sight: Well-maintained and stout-looking up there on its high cliff, where it once warned sailors of the treacherous rocks below it. Morgan could see the tan bricks and white trim from where she stood, staring out a big, wide window. The keeper's quarters and all the outbuildings were just obscured by the forests between her and the lighthouse, some few miles away.
She'd worked around the lighthouse several times. She'd heard the stories. Knowing her luck, she'd always been careful not to have the evening shift closing the place down. Tonight, though, that's what they had her doing -- she'd go into work late, she'd hang out and give an evening talk on the history of the area, and then she'd make sure everything was locked out and secure for the night. If she was lucky, she'd even ignore it if she heard or saw something weird while she did it. Most of the staff and locals didn't really believe the ghost stories around that place, and there had to be half a million variations -- it was haunted by an old keeper who died of a heart attack on the job, the spirits of the ships dashed upon the rocks seek shelter there, someone threw theirself off the gallery, there had been a gristly murder there... People told it so many ways. Morgan didn't want to believe any of it, but... knowing how things went around her, she did. The Silver Harbor Lighthouse wouldn't be the first haunted house she'd been in.
"Morgan!"
She looked up when a barista called her name with a smile, then made her way over to get her drink. She believed the ghost stories, and she'd have to face them, but not yet. For now, she could hang out in her favorite coffee shop with her black hair down, wearing a pretty yellow sun dress, looking out at the enormous lake that stretched out to the horizon. The lighthouse was a later problem. "Thanks, Andy," she called back with a smile, nodding. Andy just tossed her a wink before they went back to their other orders, and Morgan stepped back toward the door to step out into the patio seating. The place was too small to have seats inside, after all, and she liked the breeze off the water anyway.