Chapter Twenty-Five: Sunshowers
This episode is part of a larger story, Soft Touch. If you haven’t yet, you can go back and read it from the beginning right here.
“What… the... hell?” I whisper, as Team Ghost Office stands there in motionless, dumbstruck silence. “What’s happening?”
The scene before us is such chaos that my eyes don’t even know where to go. A number of things are screaming for my attention, all at once.
The first thing I process is that there are cars parked everywhere, filling up the hotel lot completely. I didn’t think too hard about how every other space back up the road where we parked was taken, figuring those to be the rides of other campers or hikers. But there are trucks and cars crammed into every available spot around the hotel, and lining the road on the opposite side.
Which makes sense, because there are so many people here. Drifting in and out of the cafe attached to the hotel, strolling out through its front doors in little groups, heading off down the trail into the forest or making their way back. The collective noise of folks calling out to each other and chatting reaches us all the way where we’re standing off down the road.
Lots of the people are dressed in camo, although I see a few of them with bright orange reflective wear. There are also a lot of dogs in this crowd. Mostly dogs of the larger, tougher variety, although I see a few smaller spaniels and terriers in the mix.
The third thing I notice is the one car that’s sitting separate from all the others, blocked off with police tape. It’s mostly in one piece, but it must have made a head-on impact with the electrical pole a little ways down the street from the hotel. The shattered ruins of a headlight glint on the pavement in the sunshine, although mercifully I don’t see any blood. The driver’s door has been left open, so someone must have gotten out.
There’s nobody in the busted car now, and no ambulances or anything nearby. Aside from a stray glance now and then, nobody around the hotel seems to be paying too much attention to it.
The fourth thing I notice is all the guns.
Many, many of the people walking in and out of the hotel or milling around by the cafe are armed. The flash of sunlight shines on the barrels of a whole lot of weapons, and the number of holsters and cases I’m noticing around suggest that there are more hidden away.
My eyes round out this whole experience by landing on the cop car parked right next to the hotel’s entrance. This, too, appears to be empty.
The hotel and the grounds around it are buzzing like a beehive with all the activity.
“I thought you said this place was dead, Aiden,” I whisper, looking up at him with wide eyes. “Basically empty for the summer?”
“It was, I swear it was the last time we were here!” Aiden gives his head a dazed shake, his blue eyes filling with worry. “This makes no - what happened to that car? Did someone drive directly into an electrical pole?”
“My question is why is everybody armed?” Kasey looks like she wants to step out protectively in front of us mortals, for all the good that would do us. “This is more guns in one place than I’ve ever seen in my life!”
“Hunters,” Ralph says, running his troubled eyes over the kind of guns the people milling about have on them. “Season just opened in Port Sitka, and I guess it’s a three-day weekend... But why are there so many? This is way too many hunters all in one place. This isn’t how it’s supposed to work.”
Noah nods uneasily at the unoccupied cop car, nibbling his pierced lip. “That why the pigs are here? Or is that about something else?”
Nobody knows what to say, because no one has the slightest idea.
“Okay, I guess… do we care?” Noah asks uncertainly, glancing over at Aiden. “We were just going to the hotel for food, right? So - fuck that. Let’s just skip it and get to camping. Whatever the fuck sort of weird carnival is going down here isn’t our business.”
“I actually think it’s worth knowing what’s going on,” Ralph says, watching as two more hunters head out onto the trail. “If we’re camping anywhere close to this. But I’ll go with the group vote.”
Aiden breathes out a heavy sigh, adjusting his snapback over his hair. “I brought us here, and I’m a Guardian. This is where we’re supposed to be. Ralph is right, we have to go in and find out what’s going on.”
“How’s that work?” Noah asks curiously, as we all set off towards the hotel. “You just felt like coming here to get some food before we set out, right, Aiden? But it means we’re in the right place, because you’re the one who wanted to come through this way?”
Aiden flashes him a pained, sidelong look. “Wish I knew how it worked, Noosh. All I know is there were a lot of trailheads around here to choose from, and I chose this one for us, so - yeah, we have to be here for some reason.”
“I think it’s pretty cool,” I put in brightly, sticking close to Aiden as we approach the crowd. “Even if we pretty much have no clear answers about how it works.”
“Well, I got one important question you guys do gotta answer.” Noah sweeps an inky hand at the hotel. “Do we have to play nice with the old lady of prejudice what runs this Puritan palace?”
“I was wondering that myself,” Ralph murmurs, smiling darkly with his grey-green eyes. “What’s the verdict, A?”
“No. Don’t bother. Jamie already tried, repeatedly, and it didn’t work. I think we all know that none of us are gonna do any better than he could.” Aiden nods when Ralph and Noah make a sound of agreement. “Don’t see why we’d want to, anyways. Aim for just nice enough that we don’t get kicked out.”
Noah and Ralph exchange a smirky grin behind Aiden’s back.
“We’ll see if we can manage that,” Noah snickers.
“Oh, I’m looking forward to this,” Kasey sighs happily. “She was so mean to Jamie last time, and he was trying to be so nice. It’s gonna feel good to get a little payback. As much as I’d like to see it, though, I think I’ll go do some reconnaissance of my own.”
“You sure?” Aiden asks, pushing the ghost goggles up his face. “You’re really gonna go ahead and miss it?”
“Mhm.” Kasey glances over at the treeline, watching more hunters disappear into it. “I’m curious about what’s going on in the forest. Summon me if you need me, okay?”
I give her a quick little smile. “Let us know if you find anything out!”
She blows me a kiss, then vanishes right as we reach the hotel.
The hotel is a stately wooden building, standing three stories high. There’s not anything outright weird or wrong about it, not that I can see. It’s very fancy, obviously well-kept. I recognize an expensive garden when I see one, like the one primly lining the front of the hotel.
Still, something about the place sends a chill down my spine. It’s just one of those really old, historic buildings that are inexplicably spooky, even during the daytime.
On the side we’re approaching from, there’s the little cafe attached to the hotel that Aiden mentioned. It has a small veranda, with two wide double doors that open directly out onto the grass. At the opposite end of the hotel, I can just make out a glimpse of tarps, and temporary fencing set up around some construction. Signs of the renovation Aiden had talked about, which emptied the hotel of its guests for the season.
The people we’re weaving through to reach the hotel don’t look at all like fancy tourists, although - maybe some of them aren’t from around here. There’s a lot of excitement and chatter, people talking to each other with different degrees of familiarity. Like this is a community day, or something. Except there’s that crashed car no one is particularly paying attention to, and the cop car parked right at the door, and almost everyone present is armed.
The entrance to the cafe is too crowded to get through, so we have to circle around to the front lobby doors. They’re tall and wide, standing between two white pillars.
“Alright, quick thing,” Aiden murmurs, as we all gather around him just outside of the doors. “The mean old lady, she works the check-in desk herself, so she’ll probably see us as soon as we go in. Let’s just hope that she’s too busy with all this madness to notice us, but I doubt it. She seemed to find both me and Jamie threatening to the, uh - whole place, I don’t know. She said we looked like troublemakers.”
“She thought you ‘n Jamie looked like trouble?” Noah asks in disbelief.
“Yep.” Aiden pushes open the lobby door, leads the way inside. “I swear we didn’t do anything, though. Maybe because we had our camping backpacks?”
“If that’s all it took for her to decide you guys are trouble, what’s she gonna think of me and Ralph?”
Before anyone can answer, an austere, old woman looks up from behind a check-in desk to our left.
She’s in a stiff black dress that rises high around her throat, and her ice-white hair is in a bun at the back of her head so tight it looks painful. She has a severe frown on her face, which deepens as soon as she catches sight of us.
“Oh, how wonderful. You two are back, on top of everything else.” She lifts her voice in a stern, sharp call that’s wholly unnecessary with us standing so close by. “Excuse me! You boys come over here, right now! We’re going to have a talk before you take one step further into my hotel.”
I stop where I am, trying not to frown at her. I had silently decided that one more attempt at civility couldn’t hurt, but I’m instantly irritated at being scolded and bossed around as if we’re children. I’m sorely tempted to tell her no and keep moving, but I’m not sure, it might be a better idea to just bite the bullet and go over there…
Noah, however, doesn’t seem to have any similar questions. He immediately goes directly to the check-in counter, and he does it fast. Suddenly the old woman is blinking up at him, covered completely by the shadow he’s casting.
“What’s the matter, grandma?” He gives her a deeply wounded pout and presses a hand to his chest, but he’s laughing with his steel-grey eyes. “You got a problem with my friends?”
The old woman stares at Noah speechlessly, her expression suggesting that he’s the single most obscene thing on the planet. Her wide eyes travel over the skulls and barbed wire and sharp fangs swirling in lines of ink all over him. They linger on the snarling snow leopard in the crook of his elbow, then go to his piercings, then his hair.
“God help you, misled boy,” she says very coldly, taking another step back. She fixes me and Aiden with an icy glare. “You’ve brought even more trouble into my hotel, haven’t you?”
“What trouble did we bring last time?” I ask, since I genuinely don’t know.
Literally none, Aiden mouths at me.
“What trouble?” The woman is still glaring at us, but she points to Noah. “This boy looks like he’s part of a gang, he probably belongs behind b- oh!”
She freezes as Ralph casually drifts over to join Noah at the check-in counter.
He hasn’t got nearly as many tattoos as Noah, and all he’s doing is looking at the old woman calmly and quietly. But something about him really does scream trouble, even to people with no radar for it. If the lady thought the rest of us look like troublemakers, then I can’t imagine how Ralph is gonna go over -
“My god!” she gasps, staring at him with enormous eyes. And then, obviously without thinking - “Are you the Devil?”
Ralph smiles coldly and places his elbows on the counter, lacing his fingers together in a businesslike way.
“Why?” he asks, softly and seriously. “You looking to make a contract?”
The woman’s mouth falls open in horror, then twists into a scowl of outrage as both Aiden and Noah fail to suppress a little snicker of laughter.
She draws herself up in stiff, rigid, icy composure, trying to kill us with her eyes. “I suggest that all of you get out of my hotel. Now. It’s closed for the season.”
“We’re just here to stop by the cafe,” Aiden cuts in, before Noah or Ralph can say anything.
“And I suppose you’ve forgotten what I told you about only using the cafe entrance, not the entrance to the hotel? The front entrance is for guests. Are you guests?”
“No, we didn’t forget, we just couldn’t get past all the-”
“A lack of respect, and of refinement,” she goes on, as if diagnosing us all with a regrettable but incurable illness. “That’s what’s wrong with boys of your age. You may go to the cafe, but I’ll be watching you.”
“Watching us?” Noah gives her the wounded pout again. “Why, you think we’re gonna steal something?”
“This is a very reputable establishment, with many historical objects of note!” The old woman swells up with pride, making a sweeping gesture to the back wall of the lobby. “Some from the proudest museum in this state!”
We all glance over to see what she’s talking about. There’s a large, locked display case against the wall, rising to about the height of my shoulders. The front of it is glass, and there are lights inside to brighten up the plates and sculptures on view within.
“The proudest museum in this state, huh?” Ralph turns back to the old woman, smiling coldly. “Which one would that be?”
The old woman refuses to even look at Ralph, I think just in case he really is the Devil, but she can’t resist the temptation to answer, either.
“The Bratton Collection, if you must know! We have a long-standing relationship with them. Some of the historical objects in the museum’s collection were donated by my family.”
Ralph lifts his blonde eyebrows, like he’s impressed. “That right? What kind of things?”
“Old military uniforms and pins, among other family heirlooms. And this hotel itself is of historical note. It was built centuries ago by one of my family, M.N. Morden. A very well-respected man of the sciences, and very refined, too.”
Now I’m the one arching an eyebrow, curious about why she won’t outright call him a scientist, but she’s puffed up proudly as she talks about him, and she speaks his name in a reverential way.
“M.N. Morden.” Ralph nods slowly. “And you’re his descendant, that makes you…?”
“Wendy Morden,” she says icily. “Now that’s enough. Go to the cafe. When you’re ready to leave, exit through the cafe doors. Thank you.”
With that, she busies herself with - I’m not sure. Some papers behind the desk, although really she’s glaring around at everybody packed into her hotel, as if she personally hates each and every one of them.
I guess none of them are guests, so that’s probably why. This all looks like overflow from the cafe, people milling around while they wait for their food. It must be too busy for her to keep them all out.
“I hate that lady,” Noah groans, as we struggle to weave our way through the lobby with our camping backpacks. “My vote is still on breaking the lobby as our one thing.”
“Was pretty fun to watch that,” Aiden murmurs, his blue eyes amused. “Kasey was right, a little payback felt good. Had a feeling she wouldn’t be able to cope with you two.”
“Aw, see?” Noah gives Ralph a wide grin, elbows his arm. “We’re contributing already.”
“We didn’t have doubts about whether or not you guys were gonna contribute,” I promise him, meaning it sincerely.
Ralph and Noah exchange a pleased little grin. We pause to look at the jam-packed cafe, and Ralph shakes his head.
“No way we’re all fitting in there, definitely not with our bags. I say we split up. We can get a better picture if we talk to a few different people, anyways. Regroup at the picnic tables outside, unless there are any objections?”
There aren’t, so we split up. Aiden crosses the lobby to a cluster of hunters talking by the elevator. Ralph squeezes his way into the cafe, and Noah - distressingly - wanders over to a door marked Staff Only, then leans against the wall beside it, all casual, waiting for Wendy’s gaze to drift elsewhere.
I’m left standing by the display case full of stuff from the Bratton Collection.
I secretly thought it was kind of funny that Aiden was ready to pronounce all of these ugly, since he’s the type to say something more like, everyone has their own tastes, this just isn’t mine. Upon further inspection, however, I agree with him. The ceramic pieces are small sculptures of military men in Confederate garb, proudly perched on carved horses or standing dramatically on rock formations.
Most of them are from around 1911, according to their labels. Made well after the Civil War. The Bratton Collection didn’t see fit to loan its older, more valuable objects to the hotel, I guess.
I glance around uneasily at the lobby. It has tall windows and a massive chandelier, dark wooden floors. It should feel very grand, given how old and well-kept it is, but gives me an unignorable feeling of claustrophobia. Not because of all the hunters, either - I actually feel better with some noise and life and movement around me. There’s just something about this place that’s unsettling, and I realize after a moment that it’s the owner, Wendy. Eyeing me frostily, watching me like a hawk from across the lobby.
I hurry back outside, wincing as I realize I used the doors she told me not to use again. There’s just no way out through that cafe, though.
Two hunters are leaning against the wall outside, a few paces away from the front door, chatting with each other over a cup of coffee. I hesitate, nervously eyeing the rifles leaning against the wall beside them, then gingerly make an approach, raising my hand in a wave.
“Hey, guys!” I stop beside them, trying not to fidget anxiously with the strap of my backpack as they turn to face me. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but me and some of my friends came out here to camp, and now we’re just sort of wondering - what the hell is going on?”
One of the hunters laughs, reaching down to scratch his dog’s ears. “Shit, man, you didn’t hear about the reward? Word went out pretty early this morning.”
I stare at him blankly. “What reward?”
“There’s been sightings of some huge animal out in the forest,” the hunter explains. “No one’s seen it clear enough to know what it is. But there’s been three sightings now, and this last time it was sighted so close-up that it scared Rex right off the road last night.”
He gestures to the smashed-up car sitting broken against the electrical pole, which a tow truck is just starting to get to work on.
“Oh, no!” I don’t know who Rex is, but it sounds like these guys do, so I make an apologetic face. “I’m sorry to hear that! Is he going to be okay?”
“Recovering down at the hospital, should be just fine. Damn shaken up, of course. Keeps saying what he really saw was a monster.” The hunter grins widely at me, taps his gun. “Now the rest of us are gonna take down the critter that did it, since the police deemed it a danger to the public after what happened to Rex.”
“Oh…” I stare at the hunter in dismay, my heart sinking as I understand. “So the - the cops offered a reward? To whoever kills the, um - animal?”
“A big reward.” The other hunter is grinning excitedly, too. “Rex being the chief’s brother and all.”
“Big enough reward to pull all the hunters from several counties,” sighs the first one regretfully, eyeing the competition. “At least we got the hotel set up almost like a base of operations now, even though Wendy hates our guts for doing it. People been going in and out of the forest all morning looking for the beastie. Me, I’m thinking to wait until night. All the sightings been at night.”
“That’s why we gotta nab it during the day,” his friend argues. “When it’s sleeping. Especially if it’s a bear, we should take advantage of-”
I know perfectly well it’s not a bear, but even the suggestion makes me nervous, so I quickly thank the hunters for the information and back away.
I talk to one or two other hunters to make sure I’ve got the correct version of the story. It sounds like I do, although everyone has different theories about what sort of animal was big enough and frightening enough to match the descriptions from the sightings.
It also sounds like Nolan Long’s brush with a supposed ghost is now being treated as the first sighting of the mystery animal. Poor guy really did see something, not that it’s any help to him now.
I circle back around to the cafe side of the hotel, squinting in the bright golden sunlight that doesn’t match the cold air at all. My eyes scan the crowd for a familiar face, and find one.
Ralph is sitting on the corner of a picnic table set back from the crowd, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, his arms folded loosely over his chest. His sage eyes are warily watching the many dogs in the crowd. He flinches when one of them gives a sharp, sudden bark.
I know how much fear there has to be in Ralph for anything to even remotely show on the surface. Even something as little as that barely-perceptible flinch. I know he’s grown to adore Tycho, but I’m guessing he’ll be much happier when we’re not around a bunch of big, excited, unfamiliar dogs.
On the other hand, he doesn’t seem to have any fears about the people walking all around him with their rifles, a situation which makes me so skittish that I speed up for the last little stretch to reach him, as if he’s the base of safety.
“God!” I whisper anxiously, dropping my backpack on the picnic table beside his. “Am I happy to see you!”
Ralph looks over at me, apparently caught completely by surprise. “What?”
“I don’t know, just - aren’t you freaked out, dude? I don’t have any problems with a bit of responsible hunting, but it makes me nervous to be around so many people who are armed!” I cast my stressed-out gaze around at all the hunters, twisting my malachite necklace in my fingers. “Especially when they’re all jammed into the hotel together! What if someone starts messing around, accidentally fires off a shot?”
“Hunting rifles are long-barrelled guns, Jamie, no one can aim them in a crowd packed inside,” Ralph says distractedly, sinking back into his thoughts. “Everyone in there should have their gun in a safe carry with their finger outside the trigger guard, anyways.”
I take a closer look at him, narrowing my eyes. “You know… you don’t seem too uncomfortable with guns, Ralph.”
“Mm.” He shrugs his shoulders, letting out soft puffs of smoke with his words. “I come from rural stock. You get used to it.”
“No, man, I mean… you sound like you know what you’re talking about when it comes to firearms. I bet if I asked you to take a firing stance, you could do it.”
Ralph takes his cigarette from his mouth, throwing me a slightly amused glance before he gets his eyes back on the crowd. “Which stance?”
“Oh, um - is there more than one?”
Ralph finally turns to look fully at me, his eyebrows flying up. He suppresses a laugh, but only barely.
“What are you getting at, Keane? Are you asking me if I hunt? I don’t. Or are you asking if I came armed? Answer’s no, and you know I don’t lie anymore.”
“I actually wasn’t asking that, I was just wondering if you’re secretly good at-”
“Well,” Ralph says thoughtfully, reconsidering. “Suppose I’m not completely unarmed. I do have a few knives on me. Just the ones I always have, though.”
“A few?” I repeat, startled and alarmed, but Aiden comes up to join us before Ralph can answer, leading Noah and Kasey in his wake.
“Are we all hearing the same story around here?” he murmurs anxiously, as he and Noah drop their bags next to ours.
“I have a feeling the answer is yes, but let’s be sure.” Ralph blows out a slow stream of smoke, rolling his cigarette between his fingers as he speaks. “There’s been three sightings of some weird huge scary thing around here. No one’s gotten a good look at it, but it spooked the police chief’s brother off of the road, and the cops have decided it’s an animal, so now there’s a big reward for whoever kills it. That’s what all these people are here hoping to do.”
Winces of confirmation all around.
“There are more hunters out in the forest, too.” Kasey cringes unhappily as she hands over this information. “Lots of them appear to have set up and settled in for the day. So far as I can tell they’re not getting near the old-growth, though, most of them are sticking to the forest right around the hotel.”
Noah jumps in once I’m done repeating that for the group.
“Talked to the maintenance guy for the hotel. He says they’ve been having some random power outages lately.” Noah tosses his head in the direction of the car smashed into the electrical pole. “They think it’s ‘cause of that, but the pole doesn’t look damaged to me, and the power lines seem fine. I told him they should get an emergency generator, and he said they have one, but when he checked it this morning the battery was dead. He doesn’t know why, it was brand new, sounds like it was a good solid Mighty Max. That’s pretty weird, to be honest.”
“I’m more worried about all the people walking around armed,” Aiden says uneasily, watching the hunters with a worried crease between his brows. “I can only hear Ketterbridge souls, but don’t - don’t the people here seem, like…?”
He trails off, not sure how to put it, but I think we all know what he means.
Some of the hunters are brimming with obvious confidence, but a lot of them seem quietly unsettled. Maybe by the presence of the smashed car nearby, or from thinking about all the scary sightings, or the power going on and off for no reason, or maybe how weirdly cold it is out on this bright summer day.
When the tow truck makes a loud scrape as it sets off with the ruined car, a collective startled jolt goes through the crowd.
A lot of the cheerful chatter I’d noticed going on is surface-level, now that I’m looking closer. I can sense the nervousness beneath it, like many of the hunters are growing skittish and edgy. But the reward must be too compelling for that to send them home.
“Okay,” Kasey says, running a hand down her face. “I think we-”
“Heads up,” Noah cuts in softly, with a subtle nod at something behind me.
I follow his gaze to the front doors of the hotel, where the owners of the cop car have finally put in an appearance. Two big men in blues and badges are standing near the door, talking to Wendy. Or really she’s talking to them, and pointing directly at us.
“What-? Oh, come on,” I groan, when the two cops immediately set out for us. “Seriously? We didn’t do anything, we’re the only ones here who aren’t even armed!”
I glance anxiously at Ralph as I talk, realizing that it’s probably not good for him to have any kind of brush with the cops, however small. Not that I think two Port Sitka beat cops will be enough to root out the Warlord, but still…
“Thanks, Wendy,” Aiden growls, as she gives us a satisfied look and disappears back into the hotel.
I swallow nervously, then squint at the badges as the cops get closer, trying to read the names on them. My eyes widen when I finally get a look. Hanely and Grimm… the words from my phone call with Nolan Long echo through my head, his voice fractured with tearful frustration as he accused me of calling to make fun of him.
Who put you up to this? Hanely? Grimm?
Here they are, Hanely and Grimm, approaching us with a very thin mask of friendliness over the suspicious expressions in their eyes.
“Should - should Ralph get out of here?” I whisper anxiously. “Or maybe all of you, actually, except for me and Kasey?”
“Everyone stay where you are and be quiet,” Ralph murmurs, so softly that only we can hear it. “Let me handle it.”
I have to work to keep my heartbeat under control, but Ralph shows no sign of being nervous at all. He doesn’t so much as move to put out his cigarette as the cops stop before us, looking us up and down as if checking us for weapons. It seems particularly absurd with everyone else walking around with their weapons on full view, but okay.
“Morning, boys,” Grimm says, leering down at us. He’s a tall man with some muscle, and his eyes are roving over Noah’s tattoos as if he’s checking them for something. “What are we up to, on this fine day?”
“Is there a problem, officer?” Ralph asks calmly, with a polite smile that doesn’t reach his eyes.
Grimm doesn’t seem pleased to have his question go unanswered. He smiles unpleasantly at Ralph, hooking his thumbs into his duty belt.
“Well, no, but as you can see there’s a bit of a commotion up here today.” He makes a sweeping gesture at the hunters, many of whom are packing up after their lunch to head back out into the forest. “Now, if you boys are joining the hunt, we’re going to need to see your permits, and the permits for any weapons you brought. The owner of the hotel was concerned you might not have them.”
“We’re not participating, actually, so there’ll be no need for that. We only heard about the hunt when we got here.” Ralph gives the cops an interested look. “So there’s been three sightings of this animal, huh? One by one of your own.”
Hanely nods at the busted car as the tow truck takes it around the bend in the road, out of sight. “It was the Chief’s brother, not an officer.”
“I was talking about Nolan Long. He’s the first one who reported this, right? I saw something about it in the paper.” Ralph gives the cops a nod of acknowledgment, like he’s impressed. “You guys must be glad one of your officers knew about this first. He gonna get promoted?”
“Long?” scoffs Hanely, as Grimm lets out a sputtering laugh. “Promoted? Ah - no. He’s been let go. Department found his state of mind wasn’t as it should be.”
“Really?” Ralph gives them a puzzled frown, tilts his head to the side in apparent confusion. “But I thought he’s the one who brought this to the Port Sitka PD’s attention in the first place. You’re saying he’s been let go, after that? Even now that you guys are sure there’s something out there?”
“It was the right choice for everyone.”
“Hm. Unfortunate for you guys to lose an officer like him, though, isn’t it? Guy must’ve been brave as hell, to get himself away from the animal and make it all the way back to the station to report it.”
“Brave?” Hanely lets out a harsh laugh, and Grimm looks like he’s fighting back one of his own. “Look, ah - Nolan Long wasn’t cut out to be an officer, son. Clearly you don’t know him, or you’d realize that. Did the newspapers mention that he puked all over himself when he saw his so-called ghost? Showed up to the station like that, too. Crying and sobbing.”
“Poor pukeshirt,” Grimm says sympathetically, trying not to grin. “I’ve never seen someone so hysterical. He really, honestly thought he saw a ghost.”
Both of the cops are obviously trying not to start snickering. Personally I’m trying not to start glaring, although immense dislike is growing within me for these two the longer we go on talking. Noah’s expression is decidedly neutral, but I can see the hidden glare in his grey eyes, and feel some angry heat from Aiden behind me. Kasey is circling the cops and openly scowling at them, looking very much like she wishes she could haunt them directly.
“Don’t you worry about Nolan Long,” Grimm tells Ralph. “He’s probably back with his mama now, where he belongs. What we’re chiefly concerned with is keeping everybody safe during the hunt.”
Aiden glances doubtfully at the huge crowd of hunters. “They only sent two of you to do that?”
“Chief’s confident someone’ll have it bagged by this afternoon,” Grimm says, in a tone that suggests he’s confident of that, too. “Besides, he’s busy arranging for someone to come out and have a look at that pothole Rex hit when he swerved off the road. Owner of the hotel says it’s been a problem for a long time.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty bad,” Noah puts in, with a sympathetic nod. “If only the city would crack open the piggy bank and get the funds to fix it.”
Ralph, who had just opened his mouth to say something, stops and looks sharply at Noah, but the double meaning clearly flew right over the heads of Hanely and Grimm.
“Hey, now, somehow you’ve got us talking about us,” Hanely says reproachfully, drawing Ralph’s gaze back to him. “What are you boys doing here? Where are you from? Not Port Sitka, I’d guess.”
“We’re camping.” Ralph tosses his head in the direction of our backpacks, calmly rolling his cigarette between his fingertips. “And we’d like to be left to it, unless - are we in some kind of trouble, officer?”
Grimm’s expression hardens, although he keeps on smiling. “Relax, son. No reason not to talk to us, so long as you’ve got nothing to hide.”
“That so?” Ralph gives him a thoughtful look. “Doesn’t say much for a man’s right to privacy, does it? That line of thinking.”
“Are we in trouble?” Noah asks again, smiling icily at Hanely.
Looking very much like he regrets having to do it, Hanely shakes his head no.
“Then it was nice meeting you, officers,” Ralph says, and gives them a wave goodbye.
The officers stand there until they realize that we apparently won’t be the ones moving away. Ralph stays right where he is, slowly smoking his cigarette. The cops exchange an irritated look with each other.
“Let’s go,” Hanely says, shivering as Kasey resentfully sticks her leg through him. “It’s cold over here, anyways.”
“We’ll be around all weekend, son,” Grimm growls warningly, flashing Ralph one more unpleasant smile. “If you boys need help with anything.”
“If we need help with anything!” Kasey snaps angrily, once the two of them have set off. “Doesn’t sound like they ever helped poor Nolan Long with anything!”
Ralph waits until the cops are gone, then winces and rubs his temple, letting out a slow, agonized breath.
“This fucking situation,” he begins, then stops as someone bumps into Aiden and nearly topples over.
“Oops - sorry, man,” the guy says, as Aiden catches his shoulder and steadies him out. “Didn’t see you there.”
Ralph glances at the guy, no doubt wondering how anyone could miss someone as tall and built as Aiden - then does a double-take, his grey-green eyes narrowing.
The guy who walked into Aiden is a scrawny teenager, and he has what’s decidedly not a hunting rifle in his hand. It’s a shiny, steel-grey pistol. Even knowing nothing about guns beyond what I’ve learned from video games, I can tell that the kid isn’t holding it correctly. His grasp is awkward, unpracticed. He was busy trying to settle it into his fingers better when he walked into Aiden.
The kid goes to move around Aiden, but Ralph swiftly straightens up from the picnic table and catches him by his arm. The kid stops in surprise, turning to face Ralph as Noah quickly, automatically comes over to stand at his side.
“Hey, man,” Ralph says, with a friendly nod at the pistol. “That’s a nice piece you got there. Looks brand new.”
“Pretty damn close,” the kid says proudly, breaking into a grin. “My brother borrowed it for me from his friend when we heard ‘bout the reward. Me and him are gonna bag the critter, split up the money. Might buy a Sea-Doo with the winnings, I dunno.”
Ralph nods slowly, then nods again at the gun. “So you know the specs, and how to use it?”
“I-” The kid breaks off, hesitating. His eyes briefly drop to the pistol, then quickly go back up to Ralph’s face. “Yeah, duh, ‘course I do.”
Ralph runs his eyes over the gun. “Looks like a 12-gauge blow-forward bullpup revolver automatic. That right?”
“It’s, um-” The kid hesitates again, then attempts a confident nod. “Yeah.”
Ralph drops his head, cursing beneath his breath, and Noah lets out a little choke of disbelief. His tattooed hand moves like lightning, and he’s swiped the pistol from the kid’s grasp before I can blink. He gives it directly to Ralph, who swings it neatly into his grip by the trigger guard, then slaps the magazine out without bothering to look down.
“Hey, what the hell, man?” the kid gasps, staring at Ralph with wide, shocked eyes. “You can’t just - that’s mine!”
“Go home, kid.” Ralph hands him back his empty pistol grip-first, but doesn’t give him the mag. “You’re nowhere near ready for a hunt like this.”
He tilts his chin up indignantly. “Says who?”
“Me, given that you can’t tell your little pistol from a Pancor Jackhammer. You didn’t even load it correctly.” Ralph points to the gun clasped in the kid’s hand. “Don’t you use that thing, understand? Where’s your brother, is he here?”
The kid points nervously at a hunter hanging around by the trailhead, sipping idly on a beer as he talks to a friend. Ralph gives him a scrutinizing look, then turns back to the kid.
“Alright, at least he’s grown. But you - you run along.” Ralph gives him a gentle shove in the direction of the road. “Go home, and don’t you come back here.”
“Wanted - I just wanted to get the reward,” the kid grumbles, looking a little crestfallen.
“We’re looking out for you, little fool,” Noah says in exasperation, swiping a hand at the kid. “This way you won’t hurt someone, or yourself. A Sea-Doo is an excellent choice, though, I’ve always wanted one of those myself - convince your brother’s friend to sell the gun and put the money towards that, man, what are you thinking?”
The kid looks thoughtfully at the pistol, then at Noah again. Turning that idea over in his mind, apparently liking it.
“Beat it,” Ralph says, a little more gently, but with inarguable firmness in his voice.
The kid hesitates, then scurries off towards the road. Ralph turns to face the rest of us, pinching the bridge of his nose in an agonized way.
“Holy fuck,” he growls. “What a circus this is, already.”
Kasey and I are still staring in open-mouthed silence at him, beyond startled. Neither of us has moved since he took apart that kid’s gun without even bothering to look at it.
Noah doesn’t look surprised at all, though, and Aiden doesn’t, either.
“Well, Ralph has officially done more than the cops to keep this situation under control,” Aiden says, watching the crowded hotel grounds with growing anxiety in his eyes. “He’s right, this is a fucking circus.”
“Whoa, um-” Kasey begins unevenly, pressing her fingertips to her lips. “What - Ralph? How’d you know how to…?”
“Okay,” I stammer, coming back to myself a little bit. “I have a proposal to make. Since Kasey has a pretty specialized job for this particular mission-”
“What job is that?” Ralph cuts in, lifting his head.
“We’re pretty sure I’m the only one who can’t be affected by the Witch’s mind-tampering magic,” Kasey explains, with me repeating for her. “I was the only one who wasn’t affected last time. We think it’s because the illusions were designed to work on mortals, not ghosts.”
“That means Kasey is the only one who can tell us for sure if something actually happened, or if our memories were tampered with to give us the illusion that it happened,” I add, twisting my malachite necklace between my fingers. “If suddenly one of us has a memory that doesn’t make sense, we can ask Kasey. She won’t be able to keep track of all of us all the time, especially if we have to split up, but we can help each other, too.”
“I’m also good for getting messages between you guys when we’re out in the forest, where the phone reception is real bad. All you have to do is summon me. But what was your proposal, Jamie?”
“I was gonna say that Aiden is going to be busy trying to sense the Witch, and Kasey, you’re going to have your hands pretty full, so - maybe we should appoint someone else to lead this mission. Especially if the mission is gonna involve firearms and cops, it would be good to have someone running the show who knows how to handle those things. Right?”
All eyes go to Ralph, who lets out a slow stream of smoke from his nose.
“After you all just got done telling me it’s gonna be chaos no matter what,” he says wearily, closing his eyes.
“Who better to lead us through the chaos, Warlord?” I say encouragingly, meaning it completely.
Ralph opens his eyes, looks at me in fond exasperation.
“Those of you with a little sense might recognize this situation as an unfolding disaster, not just chaos. The cops couldn’t have made things more of a fucking mess if they’d tried, setting that reward. This is way too many hunters after the same game in too small of a stretch of territory. It’s dangerous, so dangerous that it’s not actually worth the reward. All the serious hunters are gonna realize that shortly and go home, leaving us with a whole lot of nervous, armed amateurs wearing Army surplus. All of them going after the same game, which none of them are actually remotely prepared to face, because, I mean… I think we all know what’s really going on here.”
We do. I think we’ve all already reached the same conclusion, even though it hasn’t been said out loud. It’s too many coincidences to be anything else.
Nolan Long saw her first, out in the forest, but no one believed him. Then there was some second spooky sighting around here, and then one so up close and personal that the witness drove his car off of the road right in front of the hotel. The random power outages, even affecting the generator. The unignorable, unseasonable cold. Most importantly, the fact that Aiden senses her all over this place, and by how he’s closed his eyes to listen right now, she must have been here recently…
This hunt going on around us is a hunt for the Forest Witch. And no one here even knows it, besides us.
She can tamper with the hunters’ minds, their memories. They’re all armed, and already spooked. Ralph is right, and it slowly sinks in as I think about it more. Never in Ghost Office history have we walked into a bigger disaster waiting to happen. This is a powder keg with a fuse slowly burning down.
Someone really could get seriously hurt, and we’d only have advance warning if it was one of us, given that Aiden is the Guardian of Ketterbridge and not Port Sitka. Ralph is right, this is dangerous, and I can see he’s also right about the serious hunters leaving as they come to that conclusion, too. I see a few people loading their gear back into their cars, calling for their dogs to hop up into the backs of their trucks. Mostly the people who I saw handling their weapons with visible ease and experience.
That leaves behind a lot of people who look less experienced, and their dogs, who somehow also seem less experienced. More and more of those hunters are slipping off into the forest, disappearing into the trees in little groups.
He’s asking, I realize as Ralph stares hard at me, if I’m sure he’s the one we want in charge of a situation this serious. If we really want to put our safety and the success of the mission in his hands.
“It should be you, Ralph,” I repeat earnestly, without even having to think about it.
Noah and Kasey both nod, clearly meaning it completely. I gesture at Kasey to demonstrate that she’s on board, and Ralph draws his head back slightly, evidently a little surprised.
There’s a brief silence.
“You guys realize,” Ralph says quietly, “That if we do this, our team is signing up to compete in the hunt.”
“Except we won’t get the reward,” Kasey sighs. “We’ll have nothing to turn in at the end, and no one can even know if we win... But I’m still in, if you’ll be in charge, Ralph.”
Noah snaps into a rigid stance like he’s lining up for battle, grinning widely as he salutes Ralph. “How about it, patron? Will you lead our squad to victory?”
We all look at Ralph hopefully, except for Aiden, who’s still got his eyes closed so he can listen to his Guardian senses. But his deep, rumbling voice suddenly adds -
“We’d all be happy to follow you for this one, man.”
Ralph blinks a few times. His expression remains neutral, but I get the distinct impression he’s working hard to keep it that way. The muscle of his jaw is flexing and unflexing.
He closes his eyes again, this time thoughtfully, like he’s gathering the entire situation into his mind, silently planning a campaign.
He straightens up, takes a deep breath.
“Noah, you and Aiden go look at the generator together, then the power pole that guy crashed his car into. See if there are traces of the Witch around there. I’ve got a theory. Kasey, you scope the forest a little more, try to get a rough idea of how many hunters are out there. I’m guessing the cops haven’t bothered to take a real headcount. Jamie, you call Gabby. Tell her what’s going on, ask her if she can get Port Sitka PD to pull the reward. I’ll stay with you. Let’s avoid going places alone whenever we can, that way we’ll have someone to tell us what really happened if our memories are tampered with. If you’re on your own and something feels even a little off, don’t wait, summon Kasey. Same thing goes if anyone gets a visual mark on the Witch. Summon Kasey immediately, even you, Noah, even though we can’t see her. We need someone who always knows what’s really going on. Understood?”
Everyone straightens up at these instructions, nodding along as he speaks. Ralph pauses, narrows his eyes at us like he’s making sure we all listened, then nods once.
“We’ll go find a place to set up camp when we’re done with all that. I don’t think we should go all the way to the old-growth, though. Clearly the Witch has left her original arena.” Ralph glances at the hotel, the forest around it. “Seems we’ll face her here.”
Noah raises his hand. “How will we know if we’re seeing her? What’s she look like?”
“I don’t even know how to describe her,” Aiden says, shuddering at the memory. “Trust me, though, you’ll know her when you see her. I actually did kinda feel like I should warn you guys… she’s much scarier than Thorn’s scary form. I kind of can’t believe Rose made her, she’s so terrifying. I didn’t freeze up for no reason the last time I saw her, that’s all I’m saying. Just - be ready.”
“And she did find a way to escape from her territory,” Kasey adds, wincing as I repeat her words. “So, um… sounds like she may have acquired some new, unknown powers, somehow.”
Ralph breathes out a heavy sigh, pushing his fingers through his pale gold hair.
“Anyone else have some alarming facts they want to add to the pile?” he asks, closing his eyes helplessly. “No? Okay, then let’s not waste any time. Go on, get.”
Everyone immediately splits off to follow their instructions, Aiden giving my fingers a quick little squeeze before he goes. I stay with Ralph and slip my phone out of my pocket, wondering why I didn’t think myself of calling Gabby. Hopefully she can help, although this is out of her jurisdiction… It’s at least worth a try.
A hunter strides past with a big dog, who leans over to sniff Ralph’s fingers. Ralph wrenches those fingers away so fast that I don’t even see him move. Suddenly they’re locked tightly around my wrist, gripping me so hard it hurts, and Ralph is standing frozen beside me. It’s barely perceptible, but I can feel his fingers trembling.
“Hey, now, be good,” the hunter calls, pulling on the leash of his curious German Shepherd. And then, to Ralph, “Don’t worry, he’s a sweet and gentle boy. Aren’t you, Slayer?”
“The Lord is testing me,” Ralph says unevenly, pale and slightly out of breath as the man leads his dog away. “Really really testing me.”
“Good thing you’re the Devil,” I laugh, pulling up Gabby’s contact. “You can take him.”
Ralph breathes out a laugh, too, already relaxing with the dog out of range. Without looking at me, he shakily lets go of my wrist. It aches where he was holding it, but I don’t say anything. I’m so grateful to Ralph right now that I couldn’t complain about anything to do with him. Having him in charge is already making me feel so much better. At least now we have some clear steps to take.
“Jamie,” Ralph says suddenly. “Did that map have a forest ranger’s outpost on it? Due east from here, yeah?”
“Yeah, it did,” I answer, caught by surprise. I thought I was the only one who’d taken a long look at the map, but I really should have known better. “It’s a bit of a walk out into the woods. I think it’s one of those live-in outposts where the rangers are there full-time for the season. Why, though?”
Ralph bites the inside of his cheek. “Do you think they know what’s going down in the forest at the moment? Think anyone’s bothered to tell them?”
“I… don’t know.” An anxious flutter moves through my chest as I realize. “I actually tried to call them to ask a question about our camping permits before we set out this morning, but it said the line was unavailable.”
“Unavailable, not busy?” Ralph asks, then frowns when I nod. “You think maybe they’ve been having some power outages, themselves?”
I blink hard at him, then press my fingertips to my lips in mounting concern.
“Think we should pay the forest rangers a visit,” Ralph murmurs, then nods firmly, like it’s decided. “That’ll be the first order of business after we set up our camp. We should make sure they know what’s going on, at the very least.”
I nod gratefully, relieved that we’re on the same page, and give Ralph a salute like Noah did. “Agreed, commander.”
He lets out a soft laugh as I take a few steps away to call Gabby. I stop once I’ve got a little distance, covertly taking a closer look at him as he lights his cigarette back up.
It’s all in his hands, now. I would be so afraid if I was him, but even with all the weight of everything he suddenly has on his shoulders, he’s sitting back against the picnic table thoughtfully and calmly. Slowly finishing up his cigarette in the green shadows cast by the nearby tree, silently meditating on his thoughts.
But I know that the weight isn’t lost on him at all. He’s almost the perfect picture of calm control. There’s one flaw in the veneer, and my eyes linger on it: his one hand on the picnic table, gripping it so hard his knuckles are white.
As I watch he lifts that hand and absent-mindedly runs it over his side, where the angel wings are tattooed on his ribs. He closes his eyes and murmurs something beneath his breath, something no one is close enough to hear.
I watch him in surprise, wondering what he’s doing.
“Enough, Sharpshooter,” he calls softly, startling me. He said it without turning around or opening his eyes, so I have no idea how he suddenly realized I was looking, but he doesn't sound mad at me about it. His voice is warm and calm and steady. “I can handle it. Go on and make the call.”
I turn away to do so, silently thanking him with my eyes first. I actually wasn’t worried about whether or not he could handle this. Nothing that I saw shook my confidence.
In fact, I’d say it feels pretty damn good to be on the Warlord’s team.
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