Chapter Twenty-Six: Golden Autumn
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.
“I really can’t thank you guys enough,” Nolan says earnestly, guiding the ranger’s car down the mud road. “I mean, I still don’t totally understand who you are, or how any of this happened, but… feels like there’ll be some peace around here now.”
Noah flashes him a wide, dimpled grin when he adds - “And yet somehow it was also the craziest week of my life, by a long shot. Gosh. Rife with madness.”
Ralph catches Nolan’s eye, tosses his head at Noah. “Everything ends up rife with madness when this one is involved. And don’t thank us again, Nolan. You’re acting like you didn’t help.”
“Yeah, man!” I add brightly, leaning into the front seat. “You came through for us, remember?”
“Damn glad we had you on board,” Aiden rumbles, in that firm voice there’s no arguing with.
Nolan flashes us a grateful smile, then shakes his head, getting his eyes back on the road. “So, what now?”
“We’ve got one more thing to take care of at the hotel-” Ralph begins, then stops as Noah suddenly collapses face-first onto the center console of the car.
“No, come on!” he groans, slamming an inky fist against the seat. “No more things! I want my wife, and my husband, and my baby!”
“One more thing,” Ralph says tiredly, rubbing his eyes. “That’s it, I promise. We’re all missing our girlfriends, alright?”
“Are we?” I ask skeptically.
“But we’ve got something we’ve gotta handle first.”
“Do you need my help?” Nolan offers reluctantly. “I’d prefer not to get too close to the hotel in my uniform, but if-”
“Nah, it’s okay. We don’t want to risk your mom seeing you, and you’ve done enough, Nolan.” Aiden flashes him a sidelong smile, settling his snapback down over his muddy chestnut hair. “It’s over. You can just enjoy that.”
Nolan smiles, too, then looks out through the windshield at the woodland road. The branches arching overhead are letting down a slow, gentle rain of rich yellow leaves. At a leisurely pace, with one fluttering leaf dropping to swirl down through the air every few seconds. Some of them bluster over the car as we go by. The landscape is all shady green and rusty, earthy orange, and cool purple shadows lined in gold. There’s the first trace of autumn in the air today. Many fluttering little critters are out and about after the rain.
Nolan puts the window down, then takes a deep, slow breath.
“Well, if I ever run into a ghost again, I’ll be sure to get in touch with you guys,” he laughs quietly, after a spell of silence.
“Sure, give us a call!” I tell him encouragingly. “Although we may have our hands full for a while. We’ve got to track down the secret lair of some… wait, what was it, Aiden? Did she ever say?”
“No, and we forgot to ask,” he yawns tiredly. “S’okay, though. We know where to start, and we’ve got the thing. For the thing. The necklace, or charm, or whatever it is.”
“Okay,” Nolan says, with a note of alarm in his voice. “So, I’m just going to not ask what you guys are talking about. I’d prefer not to know what’s out there. I’ve just decided.”
“Good idea,” Ralph tells him firmly.
“But hey, you also know that we’re out there, Team Ghost Office,” I yawn, having caught it from Aiden. “So there’s that.”
I said it kind of as a joke, but it seems to genuinely reassure Nolan. He smiles warmly at me in the rearview.
“Well, good luck on your next thing.” He hesitates nervously, picking at the wheel as he turns us out onto the paved road, then suddenly goes on in a rush. “Maybe sometime you could - you guys could drop by the ranger’s station, say hi. If you’re in Port Sitka anyways, and if it’s not too much-”
“Yeah, definitely, dude!” I agree immediately. “We’re gonna be back for the cafe, anyways. It’s worth the drive. We know that now.”
“And I’m around all the time,” Ralph yawns, having caught it from me. “My girl lives around here.”
“Oh. Okay.” Nolan looks like maybe he doesn’t completely believe us, but there’s a hopeful smile in his eyes regardless. “Cool.”
He falls silent for a moment, opens his mouth to say something else, then suddenly slams his foot on the brake instead. He drags in a sharp gasp as he puts the car in park, unstraps himself, and gets out to stand on the pavement, staring across the street.
“What… what…?” he stammers in confusion, lifting his fingertips to his jaw. “Holy gosh!”
The rest of us get out of the car and join Nolan as he takes in the situation. There’s a lot to take in.
A fire truck is parked alongside the hotel, so someone must have finally reported last night’s blaze. Firefighters are working their way through the wreckage to make sure nothing is still burning.
Hanely and Grimm are back, and this time there’s a second squad car and two other cops with them. The new arrivals are clearly younger and greener. Hanely and Grimm appear to be giving them stern instructions. They’re listening, but even from here I can see them eyeing the destroyed squad car lodged in the hotel and smirking.
Kasey is floating overhead, having come ahead of us to check it out. When she sees we’re safely back she blows me a kiss.
Far below her, there’s a sparse handful of hunters who showed up today, in the half-hearted hopes of bringing in the monster and claiming the reward. They seem to have instead decided to sit at the picnic tables and watch the spectacle of cops and firefighters and destroyed, destroyed hotel.
There’s a lot going on, but Nolan’s rapt eyes are locked onto the hotel. He slowly rubs them, blinks hard a few times, then looks again.
“Yeah, sorry ‘bout your family’s hotel, Nolan,” Ralph says apologetically, giving his shoulder a slap. “Your mom is fine, though. Actually nobody got hurt, and it wasn’t us who did it, but it definitely took some damage in the course of the hunt.”
“Took some-?” Nolan lets out a sputter of disbelieving laughter, his eyes as round as two coins. “It’s practically flattened! It’s… it’s gone.”
This would be a worrying thing to hear from Nolan, if he wasn’t absolutely beaming as he said it. But he was, and the concerned glance we all just exchanged turns into relieved grins all around.
“Hey, the cafe’s alright,” he stammers, half-laughing, looking far too dazed to know what he’s saying. “I should see if there are humitas today. Tucker might want-”
“Nolan,” I cut in gently, catching his arm. “You probably shouldn’t get anywhere near the hotel. Wendy is gonna show up any minute now.”
“Oh, gosh.” He takes a stumbling step back towards the car. “Yeah, I don’t want to be here for that. Although - maybe now she’ll retire, like she’s always threatening to.”
He gets back into the ranger’s car and pulls the door shut. It takes him a few tries, since his thunderstruck eyes are still staring at the hotel. It’s like he’s trying to collect up all the details with his gaze before he leaves.
“What a week,” he says raggedly, as I come over to stand by the car window. “Maybe the best week of my life? Starting from the part where I moved into the outpost, anyways.”
I lean my palms against the car, dropping my voice to a confidential whisper. “Yeah, but now you can rest up, take some time to catch your breath, and then talk to Tucker. So… maybe next week actually takes the title of best week.”
I grin slyly at Nolan, and he lets out a shy laugh, fidgeting with his phone.
“I don’t know… but thanks for telling me what you think. It’s probably obvious that I don’t totally know what I’m doing. It’s hard for me to try and figure out how he feels. I’m so bad at reading the signals, or telling if there have been any at all.”
His phone lights up brightly in his hands. My eyes drop to it and automatically read the text from Tucker that just came in.
Hey! I’m making a grocery list, now that the power came back on and the fridge is working! Just wanted to know if you wanted me to make donuts tonight?💕 The maple glaze ones you like?
“Again, I think you’re good, dude,” I tell Nolan, slapping his arm.
He flashes me a nervous smile, then clears his throat and puts his hands on the wheel. His cheeks are flushed with color, his eyes very bright, his windblown hair falling down towards one of his eyebrows. It’s crazy how different he looks, now that he’s not dissociating in fear or weighed down with misery. Hopeful eyes really change his whole face, even without taking away the dark circles of exhaustion. He looks so much more alive than I’ve seen him on any of the previous days.
He takes a deep breath, then takes the car out of park. I take a step back, rejoining the rest of the team.
“Au revoir, Nolan,” Noah calls, throwing him a salute.
“Oh, au - um - yeah! You, too!”
Nolan gives us a wave, steals one more look at the fallen hotel, and pulls out onto the road.
“Bye, Nolan!” we all call out.
“Bye! See you soon, I hope!”
Nolan drives off, and Ralph leads the team across the street, heading up the road towards the hotel. He’s walking swiftly and purposefully, with Aiden at his side.
“What are we doing, Ralph?” I whisper urgently, picking up speed to catch up with him. “Did you not notice Hanely and Grimm and two more cops standing right there-?”
I break off in the middle of my question, because it’s clear that he has noticed. He’s headed directly for them, in fact.
Hanely and Grimm are still with the two younger cops, standing by what little remains of the lobby doors. They turn around sharply when they hear us getting close. Two suspicious pairs of eyes narrow at us, noticing the state that we’re all in.
“Where were you last night?” asks Hanely, his glaring expression crinkling up the bandage over his broken nose. “I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that you had something to do with all this.”
“What happened?” Ralph asks him, looking around at the hotel. “And what’s happening now?”
“We’re still looking into what happened.”
“Looks like someone drove a squad car right into the hotel,” Noah points out helpfully.
“We mean we’re looking into the cause of the fire,” growls Hanely.
“Oh, I can explain. I warned Wendy earlier last night that her generator had a-”
“Go tell it to the firemen if you have something to say,” Grimm cuts in irritably.
Noah stops, then gives Grimm a very cold smile. “Okay, I will.”
He strides around them towards the nearest firefighter, and Ralph arches an eyebrow.
“I thought you just said you’re looking into the cause of the fire.”
“Yes, but at the moment our top priority is finding an explanation for everything that’s happened here this weekend. We no longer believe an animal or a monster or anything like that to be the cause.” Grimm turns back to the other two officers. “Too much has happened that nobody can explain. There must be some kind of gas or chemical spill around here that causes hallucinations! I wouldn’t have driven off the road if I didn’t see some kind of - it must be a gas leak. You two go find it ASAP, and then report back.”
“I still think it’s some kinda monster,” one of the junior officers says to the other, in an unhurried, conversational tone. “You ever hear the story ‘bout the creature in the bay, way back in the ‘60s? Maybe-”
I lose track of what he’s saying, having noticed that Aiden and Ralph are whispering to each other.
“This is more people around than we planned for,” Aiden is saying softly.
Ralph thinks about it, then shrugs his shoulders. “Don’t think it makes a difference, actually.”
“It’s not a monster!” Hanely snaps, cutting off the conversation the other two cops were having. “I’m telling you there’s something about this place messing with everyone’s minds! Whatever it is made us run our car off of the road last night, just like it did with Rex!”
What made them run their car off of the road last night was actually the saucepan, which Aiden is being careful to hold behind his back where they can’t see it.
“We’re gonna find out what it is,” Hanely snaps, “Then we’re gonna explain it to the Chief, and then everything will be explained and no one gets put on suspension, got it? Now go!”
“I don’t get it, what are we supposed to be looking for?”
Hanely turns around to start shouting at the officer, and Kasey lightly descends to stand by Aiden’s side.
“Aiden,” she whispers. “Eduardo just got here. He parked around the bend in the road.”
Aiden gives her a nod, pushing the ghost glasses further up his nose, then quietly slips off. I watch him run as fast as he can without attracting attention until he meets Eduardo, who was just walking around the curve in the road.
Eduardo stops to stare at the obliterated hotel, his mouth falling open. Aiden catches his wrist, and without slowing down, pulls him into the trees and out of sight.
I stare at them in total bafflement, then quickly turn to face forward again as Hanely says -
“Anyways, what are you all doing here? And where’d the tall one just go?”
“We’re making a last stop here before we head out to pack up our camp.” Ralph sets off around the side of the hotel, with me, Noah, and Kasey at his back. “We’ll be out of your hair soon.”
“Well, good!” snaps Grimm. “Finally!”
“Why do you look like that?” Hanely shouts after us, eyeing our bruised-up, mud-covered bodies.
“You’ll see in a minute!” Ralph calls back.
He doesn’t slow down as he answers. He’s in a noticeable rush, actually, which suddenly makes me remember what Violet said. Something about us only having a limited amount of time once a spell has been activated, right?
Ralph stops behind the back wall of the hotel, which is one of the only walls still mostly standing. He’s gazing around, looking for something. Based on how his dark green eyes roam everywhere, he’s not sure what exactly he’s looking for.
We all spot the stand-out strangeness on the back lawn at once. A single flower has sprouted up in the pristine grass. A green and purple flower, all by itself on a delicate, upright stem. At first it looks like a trick of the late summer sunlight, but after a moment I feel certain that it’s shimmering with a soft, green glow.
The team clusters around it, glancing over to make sure no one can see us from the picnic tables.
“Good luck, guys,” Kasey says, giving me a ghost hug. “I’m off home to conserve my energy, so poor Will can have his body again. I think you’ve got it from here.”
I give her a wave as she vanishes, then look over at Ralph. “Is this the spell that Violet left for us?”
Ralph gives me a very slight nod, and I narrow my eyes at him. His expression is giving nothing away, but the muscle in his jaw is flexed, and he’s standing pretty far back from the spell compared to the rest of us.
“Does Aiden need to activate it?” I ask.
“No, any of us can,” Ralph says, casually taking another step backwards. “Go ahead, Jamie.”
“I… don’t you want to?” I shift from foot to foot uneasily when Ralph immediately shakes his head no. “Okay…”
I reach down and timidly trail my fingers over the petals, then take a hasty step backwards as the flower instantly begins to grow into something else. An illusion, swirling into shape before my eyes, gaining solidity and detail until it looks remarkably, indisputably real. Until it’s breathing.
“Jesus, fuck,” Ralph whispers, with a barely perceptible shudder.
“Ralph… what is that?” I manage, staring down at it in bewildered amazement.
“Violet said she needed a memory to base the illusion off of,” Ralph answers in a strangled voice, his face very pale. “But it had to be something mostly realistic, too. So I gave her one of my nightmares from when I was a kid.”
“Oh my god,” I stammer, lifting my wide eyes to him. “Is that what she was putting in the potion bottle? One of your nightmares?”
“Mhm.”
“Jesus, your dreams are scary, dude!” Noah sputters, then freezes, having spotted Aiden and Eduardo approaching through the treeline.
Eduardo looks bewildered for a few different reasons. I can see him pointing at the saucepan Aiden has and asking a question before he finds himself hustled out of the forest and onto the back lawn of the hotel.
“Hey, Eduardo!” Ralph calls, with a beckoning wave of his hand.
“Hey,” Eduardo calls back, clearly out at sea. “I’m sorry, what’s…?”
He breaks off with a shuddering gasp when he sees the dog.
At least, I think it’s a dog. It would be pretty big even by the standards of a wolf, which it vaguely looks like. Actually, the word for this creature might be hellhound. It’s all razor-sharp fangs and massive claws. Its enormous body ripples with muscle beneath its glossy pitch-black fur. Two orange-gold eyes like molten coals glare maliciously up at us.
It’s laying on its side, feebly kicking one foreleg like it’s trying to get up. By all appearances it’s been sedated. Even so, it looks unbelievably powerful, and absolutely terrifying.
“What the fuck!” Eduardo gasps, seizing Aiden’s arm. “Holy shit, is that the monster?”
We’ve all been staring at the illusion, admiring Violet’s work while simultaneously shivering in fear of it. Now, though, everyone seems to remember at once that we’ve got a time limit with this thing.
“Yep, that’s the monster!” Ralph points to it, then slaps Eduardo’s shoulder. “You caught it with a tranq gun. Nice work, Eduardo. Better go claim your reward.”
Eduardo has been staring in disbelief at the gigantic dog, but now his eyes snap to Ralph’s face, blinking hard and fast.
“Wait, I - I’m sorry, what?” He laughs uncertainly, like he doesn’t get the joke. “What are we talking about?”
“We’d really love for you to keep the cafe, man,” Aiden tells him, meaningfully catching his eye. “And Wendy may have changed the price on it, given what happened to the hotel.”
Eduardo looks at him intently, his eyebrows furrowed, then starts blinking very fast as he suddenly understands.
“What… are you guys serious? No, but you caught this thing, you should get the reward-”
“Free humitas when we come by,” Aiden says firmly. “That’s our ideal reward.”
Eduardo stares at him, just stares for a long moment. “Are you - do you really-?”
“Yes, man!” Ralph says urgently. “You don’t have to, if you’re not comfortable lying to the cops. But we’re the only ones who could possibly contest your story, and we’re not going to. Matter of fact we’ll tell them we’re all a mess because we helped you carry it back. But you’re the one who got it. Remember, you.”
“It’s totally up to you,” Aiden adds, drawing Eduardo’s stunned eyes to him. “You don’t have to. But make up your mind quickly, ‘cause the cops are definitely gonna show up soon to see where we went.”
“Take all the money?” Eduardo shakes his head, pushing a hand through his inky hair. “No, c’mon, I can’t let you do that for me! It’s too much…”
Ralph hesitates, then tries - “Could you let us do it for Ramón?”
Eduardo stares at him for a long moment, then looks at the cafe, then looks down at the half-conscious, growling dog.
Breathing shallowly, he abruptly nods his head. “Okay. Holy shit. Okay.”
Aiden immediately hands me the saucepan. He and Ralph bend down to grab some mud and smear it all over Eduardo, so that he looks more like the rest of us. Noah rushes over to help.
I swing the saucepan behind my back as Hanely and Grimm poke their heads around the corner, obviously suspicious about what we’re doing back here. Aiden and Ralph straighten up, panting, having just finished getting Eduardo believably messy.
Eduardo spots Hanely and Grimm. He takes a deep, shaky breath, then raises one hand into the air.
“Hey, over here! I - I caught the monster!”
That shout catches the attention of all four cops, all the hunters at the picnic tables, and a few firefighters. There’s an instant rush of curious people hurrying around the side of the hotel and down onto the back lawn. A collective gasp goes up as everyone spots the massive, terrifying dog.
“Whoa, everybody stay back!” Hanely calls sharply, following Grimm as he sprints down the sloping lawn towards us. “Stay back, it’s dangerous!”
No one needs to be told twice about that. The crowd clusters up to watch from afar as Hanely and Grimm sprint over to join us.
“Holy shit!” Grimm sputters, staring at the red-gold, blazing eyes of the huge dog. “Oh, god fucking damnit, Hanely! It was an animal! And the fucking cook brought it in instead of us!”
Eduardo scowls indignantly at him, and Hanely flat-out ignores him. He’s drawn slightly closer to the dog, staring at it intently like he’s trying to solve a math problem.
“Oh… my… god…” he breathes, his eyes opening up very wide. “Grimm! Do you realize what this is?”
He makes it sound like they’ve just hit the jackpot, the way he says it.
Ralph glances over at him, surprised and vaguely confused. “What do you mean? It’s a big scary dog.”
“The hell it is!” Hanely fires back triumphantly. “This is anything but some random big scary dog!”
Ralph’s expression indicates that this is news to him. I’m completely lost, too. This illusion came from Ralph’s nightmares. He’s obviously had nightmares about a big scary dog, which is exactly what Violet made for us, so-?
“What the hell are you talking about, Hanely?” Grimm snaps, asking the question for all of us. “I’ll admit this is a fucking hellbeast of a dog, but what are you saying-?”
“I’m saying we’re saved! Chief’s gonna forgive us in a fucking heartbeat when we bring this in!” Hanely lets out a wild laugh, pointing at the terrifying dog. “Don’t you know what the fuck this is? This is one of the Warlord’s wolves!”
A startled silence falls. Ralph lifts his eyebrows all the way up, then breathes out a laugh, barely controlling the amused expression on his face.
“No, pretty sure it’s just a big fuckin’ dog,” he answers.
“The hell it is! Look at this thing! Have you ever seen a dog that looks like that? Or a wolf, even?” Hanely turns excitedly to Grimm. “Everyone knows the Warlord has wolves, special wolves he breeds himself, to be especially huge and bloodthirsty! There’s been chatter that he lets them run through the forest to hunt down his enemies!”
“I’ve heard stories that make it sound like he’s got a ton of them, but I thought that was all a myth,” Grimm says doubtfully.
“Yeah, because no one’s ever caught one, but now we fucking have one, Grimm! We’re the first ones to find proof!”
“Holy shit,” Grimm breathes, suddenly ecstatic as he understands. “You’re right! We’ve got the animal responsible for all the problems at the hotel, and it was one of the Warlord’s wolves! This could be a huge break, maybe it could even help them identify the guy!”
The two other officers are staring at the dog in open-mouthed disbelief. Grimm spins around excitedly to face them.
“Radio this in immediately! Tell the station we’re coming in with one of the Warlord’s wolves!”
“Hey, what about his reward?” Noah jumps in, pushing Eduardo forward as the nervous officer radios the station. “He’s the one who actually caught it!”
“And he lost his tranq gun in the process,” Ralph lies smoothly. “It was an RD706. Costs money to replace one of those, so settle up your business with him before you take the dog.”
“What-? Oh, yeah.” Grimm hurriedly takes a check out of his pocket and unfolds it. “Let’s see, is this the right one? The reward is higher if the animal’s brought in alive… yep, that’s the one. Thanks for your help, and all that. The tranq dart will last us to the station, right? Which one of you can help us get the wolf into our car?”
There’s no name on the check, but there is a number. Eduardo stares down at it dazedly once Grimm hands it over. Aiden and Noah bend down and scoop up the dog, which hangs limp in their arms, growling weakly in protest.
It strikes me that the dog is only playing sick, and enjoying the role. It pants happily at me from around Aiden’s arm, then quickly resumes its drugged, blank behavior when Hanely hurries to catch up with them.
The curious crowd stares at the massive dog right up until it’s been placed in the sealed backseat of Hanely and Grimm’s latest, so far shabbiest squad car. Hanely stands at the open back door, staring down at the dog with gleaming victory in his eyes.
Eduardo, who followed us back up to the front of the hotel, is still staring down at the check. He finally looks up as a new car pulls up to the hotel.
Wendy gets out of the taxi, then comes around the side of it to wait while the driver gets her huge suitcase out of the trunk. She stops halfway there, staring at the hotel.
“Ms. Morden, good news!” Hanely says, approaching her with a giant grin on his face. “We caught the animal, and you’ll never guess-”
“What… did… you… do?” Wendy hisses, in a voice that could cut through solid rock.
“Oh, the… we…” Hanely clears his throat, his grin quickly falling away as he gestures at the cop car in the middle of the hotel. “There was an accident last night that was beyond our control! Something flew in front of our car, and we swerved, but… we didn’t cause the fire! The firemen seem to think there was a problem with your generator.”
Wendy stares at the wreckage, her face strangely expressionless. Even the taxi driver has stopped in the middle of what he’s doing to gaze in amazement at the place where there was a hotel yesterday.
Wendy has fallen completely silent. Hanely and Grimm stand on either side of her, clearly unnerved by the look in her eyes.
“I’m retiring,” she says abruptly, then turns around to face the taxi driver. “Put that bag back in the car. We’re leaving.”
Eduardo rouses himself from his daze, then rushes forward.
“Wait, Ms. Morden!” He holds out the check to show her. “I’ll buy it from you. The whole property, as is, and everything in the cafe. For this number.”
“That number!” she snaps scathingly, scowling at the check. “For a property with such gorgeous grounds, this close to the forest, with one of the most beautiful views of the ocean and town from the second floor-”
She breaks off and looks at the hotel, realizing that there no longer even is a second floor. She hesitates, looks at the check again, and then -
She gives him a curt nod.
“I’ll send you the paperwork.”
Eduardo breaks into a gigantic smile. “Deal! No going back, though, right?”
“No, I’m quite sure-” Wendy begins, then lifts her head sharply, narrowing her eyes at Eduardo.
Correctly realizing that she’s finally noticed he’s speaking to her in effortless English, Eduardo gives her a hasty handshake, then hurries away, pulling the rest of us with him.
“As for you two,” I hear Wendy say to Hanely and Grimm as we retreat, “I’m going to go file an extended complaint with the chief before I leave town. Based on your behavior the only conclusion I can come to is that you’re drunk while on duty, and you have been this entire weekend.”
“What?” Hanely sputters, considerably taken aback. “You can’t tell him that, it’s not even true!”
“As a responsible citizen I feel it’s my duty to make my suspicions known,” Wendy begins gravely, as we fall out of earshot with Eduardo.
“Holy shit, you guys. I don’t even know what to say.” He gestures to the wrecked hotel, a radiant grin lighting up his face. “I can’t believe this is all mine. To finish destroying, if I’m not being clear. With big hammers. When I’m done there’s gonna be no hotel, and the cafe’s gonna get twice as big. Might put a house here and live right next to it, I dunno. Wendy made the view sound pretty good from the second floor, right?”
“Plenty of space around here to build a treehouse and whatever else,” Noah laughs, clasping his arm. “Congrats, man.”
“We’re so happy for you!” I add, my heart full of warmth at the beaming expression on Eduardo’s face. “And we’ll be back for pastries soon!”
“On the house! Everything is always on the house for you guys! And now I gotta go talk to the firefighters, see how soon they think I can start bashing stuff with hammers safely!” Eduardo trots towards them, smiling breathlessly at us over his shoulder. “Thank you guys! Holy shit - thank you!”
We all wave at him, then stand there in satisfied silence. Ralph lights up a cigarette, and we all lean against each other tiredly.
I turn around to fix Aiden with an adoring smile. “That was a nice plan you and Ralph cooked up, babe. You could’ve told me.”
“Wasn’t really time. I’m just glad it worked out.” He kisses the top of my head, wrapping his arms around my shoulders. “And now I say we head to the campsite, grab our stuff, eat something, and go home. I’m sure we all want some alone time with our boyfriends.”
“Do we?” Ralph laughs tiredly, puffing on his cigarette.
“Hey!” Grimm suddenly shouts, from off in the distance behind us. “What the f- the wolf! The wolf is gone!”
“What do you mean-?”
“I mean it’s fucking gone, Hanely, the backseat is fucking empty!”
“No, how - but we’ve been standing right here the whole fucking time! It can’t have just disappeared! Someone must have taken it while Wendy was yelling at us!”
Hanely goes very pale. “Did - did the Warlord already send someone - somehow - to get his wolf back…? We reported it on the radio… is there any chance…?”
“Maybe he already knew it was missing,” Grimm says in horror. “Maybe his people were already searching for it here! They - they took it back! It’s the only explanation!”
Ralph watches them in amusement, then turns back to us.
“Would you guys mind dropping me off at Leyla’s house before you go back to Ketterbridge? Calla should be home from her trip by now, and I-”
“Hey, Raðulfr,” comes a warm, raspy voice from behind us.
Ralph turns in surprise, drawing the cigarette out from his mouth.
Calla is standing there, wearing loose-fitting blue jeans and a loose white crop top that shows the tattoo climbing down her side. Her ears are glittering with all their piercings in the heavy golden sunlight. She stops in surprise, too, staring at Ralph, her eyebrows slowly drawing up as she takes in the sight of him.
He’s spattered with mud, and there’s still that streak of blood down his cheek, and he’s got about three days of beard growth going, like we all do. All of us are bruised up, and there’s the glow of many cop and fire truck lights behind us.
“Hey, gorgeous!” Ralph breaks into a delighted grin, tossing his blonde hair out of his eyes as he eagerly goes to her. “You’re back!”
“I… am…” She meets him halfway, leans up to kiss him as he folds an arm around the small of her back. “I got home a little early, so I thought I’d come straight to you from the airport. How, um… how was your camping trip?”
“It was good!” Ralph says, smiling happily as he draws her up close to him.
“The Warlord’s wolf!” Hanely shouts frantically, rushing past us with one of the other cops, waving his arms in the air over his head. “Everyone look out! The Warlord’s wolf might be on the loose! We don’t know! We don’t know!”
Calla watches him sprint past us, then turns back to Ralph and arches a questioning eyebrow.
“Don’t worry about that,” he tells her firmly, with a dismissive flick of his cigarette at them. “Bunch of nonsense. Anyways, how was your trip? Did you take a bunch of pictures to show me? You said you would.”
“Yeah, I…” Calla begins, then trails off, dissolving into bewildered giggles. “I’m sorry, what’s happening here?”
“Told you we were doing a favor for your grandmas.” Ralph keeps running his eyes over her happily, like he hasn’t seen her for weeks. “We just got done.”
Calla watches as Grimm stares into the empty backseat of the cop car in disbelief. “Okay, and what’s wrong with these cops?”
“They just radioed in that they’ve got one of the Warlord’s wolves. A bunch of witnesses can confirm they had it. Now they have to go back to the station and explain that they lost it.” Ralph casts an entertained glance over his shoulder at the hotel. “They’ll have some other things to explain, too.”
“And would you guys happen to be responsible for that?” Calla asks, pointing at her own nose as she spots the bandages across Hanely and Grimm’s broken bridges.
Ralph hesitates for a fraction of a second, then asks casually, “Which one?”
Calla dissolves into giggles again, taking two handfuls of his muddy blonde hair. “Okay, I’m just gonna stop asking questions. Actually, no, one more. What the hell happened to the hotel?”
“Long story,” Ralph says tiredly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as she returns the wave of greeting from me, Aiden, and Noah. “Promise I’ll tell you, but let’s roll out first. I think we’re all done here, don’t you, team?”
We all collectively nod in victorious, exhausted relief. Ralph turns his gaze on the hotel, a certain satisfaction in his grey-green eyes.
“Feel like we did pretty good, all things considered,” he murmurs, then tilts his head to the side thoughtfully. “Although sometimes when I’m done executing something I try to look back and see how far away we got from the original plan. And in this case…”
“Oh, come on,” I laugh tiredly, as he pulls a yikes face. “Like you said, we did pretty good, all things considered.”
Ralph flashes me a grin, then sets off, catching Calla’s hand.
“Come on. Let’s get our stuff and head home.”
“Breakfast on the way back?” I ask hopefully.
“I know a place,” Calla answers, looking mighty pleased to have Ralph’s fingers woven through hers again. “Somewhere you can get a giant breakfast basically no matter what time it is.”
“That’s my girl,” Ralph sighs happily, leading the way back into the forest.
“Why does Jamie have a saucepan?” Calla laughs.
“Oh, yeah, I guess this is coming with us. We can keep it, right, Aiden?”
“Fine,” he sighs, weaving his fingers through mine. “But you’re looking after it.”
We all set off together, leaving the hotel behind.
~~~~
Noah, Aiden, and I all pile tiredly into the car once we return with our camping gear. Ralph and Calla drive just ahead of us in her car, leading the way to the restaurant. Noah takes the wheel in Ralph’s car, and we all settle back in drowsy silence. Sore and exhausted, but satisfied. Thinking of the big hot breakfast awaiting us. Noah turns on the radio, which still has Ripley’s playlist ready to go, and begins softly playing some music by The Jam.
Aiden reaches back and nudges my arm. I lean forward to see Ralph sticking his hand out of the window of Calla’s car, trying to signal for our attention. He points to the forest once he sees he has it.
I turn my head, and spot something streaking alongside the car. Keeping pace with us, and hidden in the trees, just like how the Witch chased us on that first night after we dropped off Nolan.
Only this time, that something is graceful and beautiful and vividly green. Playfully chasing alongside us, weaving and springing through the trees like a doe. I only see it in flashes, barely distinguishable from the rest of the rich greenery.
I could swear I see a green hand wave goodbye as our car turns out of the forest.
Want to leave a comment? I would love it if you did, and you can do so on the Tapas episode!