Sunshowers - Part Seven
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 stir slowly in the sleeping bags, woken up by the soft sounds filtering in through the nylon walls of our tent. The twittering of birds, the gentle rush of a distant creek. The breathing of the forest as windy little gusts sweep through the leaves.
I snuggle up closer against the warm body sprawled out next to me. Smiling to myself as I breathe in air sweetened with traces of vetiver.
I tuck my nose into the little nook beneath the muscle of Aiden’s jaw. He breathes out a soft huff of laughter and gently strokes his fingertips through my hair, revealing that he’s awake, too. I should have known that he’s already been up and about. He’s changed into his clothes already, and there’s chilly morning air clinging to him. That doesn’t make his body any less cozy, though, and I’m sorely tempted to just curl up with him and fall back asleep.
Maybe Aiden knew that would be the case, because the smell of coffee is drifting into our tent. He already made some, a wise and effective way to lure me out of bed.
His deep voice is as rich and smooth as worn leather as it breaks the quiet of our tent.
“Good morning, Linden.”
My toes curl happily beneath the sleeping bag, then do it again when Aiden leans down to place a slow, lingering kiss on my lips. I drowsily lift my palms to his cheeks, dragging my thumbs over his stubble beard.
My cheeks are burning well before he draws back and I get an eyeful of that sweet, disarming smile, the sexy chestnut mess of his hair, the glasses that suit him so well.
“Good morning,” I stammer.
He knuckles my cheek softly. “Did you sleep okay?”
“Actually… yeah,” I answer, half in disbelief.
I thought it would be impossible to get any sleep after what we saw last night. It turned out nobody was exaggerating about how terrifying the Witch is. The image of her chasing us gave me shivers all the way back to camp last night, had me jumping at every shadow.
Aiden solved the problem completely by accident. Exhausted from our long day and from burning up a lot of magical energy, he fell asleep on top of me while we were curled up talking. He’s heavy, but there’s something infinitely comforting in his warm weight, the slow rhythm of his breathing, the heat of him in the cold. The feeling of his powerful body sprawled out on top of me like a giant panther. I passed out with my cheek on the sleeping bag and his cheek on my shoulder blade, and slept deeply.
Aiden looks pretty renewed, himself. His blue eyes are bright and clear, his bronze skin glowing softly in the growing sunlight.
“You ready to get going?” he murmurs.
“Mmm… no.” I reach up to wind my arms around his neck, yawning sleepily. “I don’t want to leave the tent, for a number of different reasons. Last night- was - I mean-”
“I know,” Aiden laughs softly, helplessly.
I fix him with a beaming smile. “But you, Heliomancer, you were so amazing-”
Aiden lets out a strained, pleading sound. “Jamie, stop saying it! Stop talking about it altogether! Enough! You’re doing it just to make me blush, now!”
“What if I am?” I laugh, admittedly enjoying that blush very much. “No one would blame me. God, look at that.”
“Shut up forever,” Aiden groans, clamping a hand over my mouth.
He takes it back hastily when he realizes I’m about to bite his fingers, so I lean up to kiss his blushing cheek instead.
“How are you so awake, Callahan? Shouldn’t you be sleeping for like thirty straight hours after all the magic you spent?”
“Well, first of all, I slept really good. I like having you beneath me like that.” Aiden pulls a face at me, attempted exasperation. “Means I know you’re there, instead of wandering off to get into trouble.”
“Why am I being blamed for my own suffering?” I sigh deeply, to a huff of laughter from Aiden.
His tropical eyes are sparkling, dancing. “Oh, this sounds like the start of some dramatics, if I know my-”
I fall back onto the sleeping bag and fling my arm over my face. “I went through a thousand trials yesterday-”
“A thousand? When’d you find time for all that?”
“-give or take, and no one even cares.”
Aiden is grinning irrepressibly, but he tries to pull a grave look onto his face. “I’m sorry for that very serious oversight, Ginger Spice. We all acknowledge that you’re a legend for surviving so many - trials.”
“Thank you, and I am accepting that compliment I totally deserve with admirable, attractive modesty.”
Aiden is laughing with his eyes, but he nods in solemn agreement. “So admirable. I wish I could be as modest as you.”
“Yeah, well, good fucking luck, ‘cause I’m the master,” I yawn sleepily, to a soft huff of laughter from Aiden.
“I actually am kinda surprised you’re not more shaken up,” he murmurs, leaning down to nuzzle his nose against mine. “After everything that happened yesterday?”
“I’m alright, honestly.”
I’m safe in Aiden’s arms, a circumstance which makes every problem feel incredibly small.
Aiden tilts his head to the side, looking at me curiously. “And how’s that?”
“You wouldn’t get it,” I tell him, drowsily stretching out on the cozy sleeping bags.
“Get what?”
“What it’s like when a man as big as you - holds you, and - nevermind,” I murmur, snuggling deeper into his arms.
Aiden lets out a baffled laugh, shrugging his powerful shoulders. “I mean… alright, so long as you’re okay.”
“I am. What about you? You’re seriously recharged just from sleeping really well?”
“Actually, I think I’m getting better at doing bigger pieces of magic without draining myself completely.” Aiden sits up, pushing a hand through the glossy chestnut softness of his hair. “It’s kind of like building up a muscle, right?”
“That would be the comparison you’d use, Bicep Boy.”
“Even if I don’t practice with my powers all the time,” Aiden goes on, pointedly ignoring that, “I’m going for regular runs on the river, spending power that way, since - you know-”
He blushes a little, apparently embarrassed that he still often has to go for a run on the river before we end up in bed together, or things in our house might explode. I don’t know why he’d be blushing over it. I love that he still has to do that, and I secretly love it even more when things explode anyways. Means he really couldn’t hold anything back.
With great difficulty, I pull myself off of that train of thought and try to think about what Aiden said.
“That’s true…” I realize. “You were exhausted last night, but you didn’t knock yourself out.”
“Right, which is why I didn’t need to do a full recharge.” Aiden pauses, considering. “Also, I think we slept for longer than we realized. It wasn’t that late when we got back here last night. Yesterday was just, um - a lot.”
I make a sound of agreement, widening my eyes expressively at Aiden. He laughs softly, then kisses the tip of my nose.
“Time to get up, Linden,” he murmurs, caressing my cheek with his nimble archivist fingers as he draws away. “Breakfast will be ready soon.”
I lay still in the quiet of the tent for a little while after Aiden slips outside, inhaling the faint vetiver scent clinging to his sleeping bag. But other scents start to reach me - the woodsy smell of a burning fire, the rich fragrance of coffee, and the savory, salty smell of bacon.
I stumble out of the tent a few minutes later, pulling on my flannel and yawning, then pause to take a look around.
The sky is peachy pink with early sunlight, the forest vividly green against the white dawn mist still hugging the earth. The air is chilly against my face, but it holds the promise of warm summer sunshine later. The rain that pattered down softly on our tent all night - probably another reason Aiden and I slept so well, it was a soothing sound - has mostly stopped. The wispy clouds seem undecided about whether or not they have more for us. Some are fluffy and white, others tinged with steely grey.
The forest is still glittering wet from the soaking it took, but our campsite, protected by the hillside, is mostly nice and dry. The campfire is burning brightly, flickering whenever a stray raindrop flutters into the flames. Aiden is seated on one side of it, pouring out a cup of coffee for me. Noah and Ralph are on the other, already sipping from theirs.
“Mmm… good morning,” I call out, drowsily knuckling my eye as I come over to join them.
Ralph and Noah make some general noise of greeting. I start to circle around them, then pause behind Noah, looking down at his inky hands. His knuckles are pretty raw from yesterday. Bruised, too.
“Oh, Noah,” I say sadly, going past him to accept my coffee from Aiden.
I don’t elaborate at all, but Noah doesn’t need me to. He waves his injured hand at me dismissively, making a face like I’m being ridiculous.
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry yourself about it, it doesn’t hurt. I said I’m fine, dude, why the big doe eyes?”
I sit down beside him with my coffee, dropping my unhappy gaze to his fingers. “I’m sad that you got hurt rescuing me!”
“Sad, what for? Don’t be, I don’t care!” Noah flashes me a bright grin, gives my arm a consoling slap. “It was good fun, once I knew you were out of trouble. And like I said, it doesn’t hurt.”
You liar, I think silently, watching a muscle flex sharply in his jaw as he stretches out his aching fingers.
I stand up again, shaking my head at Noah, then stop where I am, biting my lip. I bend down and give him a tight, grateful hug around his shoulders. He lifts a finger to poke at me so I’ll let him go. I knew that would be coming, so I let him go before he has to, then set off in search of something to clean off his knuckles.
Ralph tosses the last bite of a piece of toast into his mouth, then finishes off his coffee. I steal a sidelong glance at him. He’s meditative and silent, not really listening to the conversation. He has one elbow resting on his knee, his fingers buried deep in his tousled pale gold hair.
Noah was in high spirits when we hiked back to the camp last night, if faintly puzzled about why the rest of us were so worked up. He didn’t see what happened, because - miraculously - he kept his eyes on the road the whole time.
Ralph, on the other hand, did see everything that happened. He was not chattering happily and bursting into random adrenaline laughter like Noah. He took the walk with us in complete silence, now and then stealing a dazed, admiring glance at Aiden.
I have to admit it was kinda fun to see him so openly astonished.
“That’s just not a face you see on Ralph too much,” Noah observed last night, laughing affectionately. “Someone take a picture.”
No one dared, and now it seems we’ve lost our opportunity. However dumbstruck Ralph was last night, he’s clearly put it all away so he can focus on what’s next for us. His expression is calm and cool and collected, like nothing ever happened, although - who knows what Ralph is really thinking or feeling beneath that. It’s impossible to say.
He’s treating Aiden no differently, I notice with a rush of warm appreciation. Even after seeing full-force Heliomancer magic. Every now and then Ralph just looks at him a little longer, like he still can’t quite believe it. But not often enough or openly enough that Aiden has noticed.
I sit down again beside Noah, who instinctively starts to scramble out of reach when he realizes I have the first aid kit. I catch his hand and give him a sharp little scold, after which he begrudgingly lets me start cleaning up his knuckles.
“For god’s sake,” I complain, forcing him to hold still as I gently get to work. “This was easier last time, when you passed out before I had to-”
I break off, abruptly remembering the last time I had to clean up Noah’s injured knuckles. It was when he was crashing on my couch after trying to punch me. Now somehow here I am, taking care of almost the same injury, but this time because he was looking out for me.
“Noah!” I wail abruptly.
“What?” he asks, his grey eyes bewildered and alarmed.
“Nothing,” I stammer, overwhelmed by fierce affection for him. “Just - nothing.”
“Aw,” Aiden says fondly. “Jamie’s feeling soft about something.”
“I’m not!” I protest, carefully keeping my eyes on what I’m doing.
“You are, babe,” Kasey says, startling me into throwing the first aid kit.
It nearly sails right past Ralph, who startles out of his reverie to catch it just in time.
“What the fuck?” he sputters, looking down at his hands to see what he randomly caught. “D’you just throw the first aid kit at me, Keane? That’s the opposite of what it’s for.”
“It was a self-defense throw of whatever was in his hands,” Aiden informs Ralph. “I’ve seen him do it with the Xbox controller, too. Mostly during Resident Evil games.”
“Oh!” I groan reproachfully, as Noah seizes the opportunity to take his hand back. “Kasey! I’m gonna murder you!”
She giggles as she flings herself down next to Aiden. “Good luck with that.”
“Why don’t you just announce your arrival when you arrive places?”
“Oh, that’s fun! Go ahead, do it for me.”
She stares at me hopefully until I let out an aggrieved sigh and turn to face the group.
“Presenting Miss Kasey Lavoe,” I announce, with a dramatic gesture in her direction.
Only two of us can see her, but she strikes a pose anyways. “Good morning, everyone!”
“Sounds like the team is all here, based on - that weird thing Keane just did.” Ralph stands up and dusts off his hands, then reaches for his hoodie. “C’mon. We should get moving.”
“Are we not gonna have a team debrief about what happened last night?” Kasey asks, watching in surprise as Noah gets up, knotting his hair into a bun, and Aiden gets to work putting out the fire. “I mean. It was wild. Will couldn’t believe it when I told him.”
“We’ll talk about it, but right now we need to get down to the hotel,” Ralph answers softly, his gaze searching the trees. “The hunters will be back bright and early, and we know now that the Witch isn’t afraid to show herself. We need to keep an eye on things.”
“Can’t we have this conference on the go, like Gabby’s always doing?” Aiden suggests.
“No.” Ralph keeps his voice very soft as we all follow him out of the camp. “The hunters didn’t catch anything yesterday. They’re gonna spread out more today, expand the area of the search. We need to be very careful about where we talk. They could be anywhere.”
“Oh, wonderful,” Aiden sighs, handing me some breakfast to eat on the go. “Nothing like upping the difficulty. How are we gonna keep track of everyone if they’re all spread out?”
“We may - have to do more splitting up than we want,” Ralph admits, wincing reluctantly.
“We’ll be fine,” Noah says brightly, with total confidence. “You’ll lead us right, dude.”
Ralph casts Noah a little glance, clearly appreciating and simultaneously wondering at his endless reservoir of faith.
“We’re gonna need to be careful about where Kasey spends her energy today,” Ralph adds, after a moment. “Odds are we’ll have to be sending her between us a lot.”
“What about the Witch-?”
Ralph silences my question with a swift, warning glance over his shoulder.
“Save it for when we can keep an eye on who’s around us. We’ll talk soon.”
~~~~
Our plan to talk soon is waylaid over and over again, all morning long. This team really can’t seem to stick to even the most basic of plans, as Ralph exasperatedly points out several times.
We got to the hotel to find a big crowd of hunters gathered around the picnic tables, just like yesterday morning. Ralph took in the numbers with obvious dismay, assuming he was wrong to hope that some of them would have given up by now.
It turns out he actually wasn’t. We just happened to get to the hotel much earlier this morning than we did yesterday, arriving right when all the hunters were arriving, too. After they split off into the woods - leaving a much sparser crowd outside of the hotel - we could see that the numbers actually had gone down. But not nearly as much as we would have liked.
“Yesterday it was in waves, and so far it’s the same today,” Eduardo explained, when I stopped in the cafe to refill my water bottle. “Big rush of hunters to the cafe real early in the morning. Gets much quieter after they head out, but we had at least a few coming in and out or chillin’ by the tables pretty regularly all day. Cafe got another rush around lunchtime, since people came out of the woods again to eat. Around sunset a bunch of the hunters left, and new ones came, the ones who only wanted to hunt at night. Got a big dinner rush from them. What I’m saying is, if you want lunch or dinner, come in a little earlier or later than you normally would, or you’re gonna be in that line.”
So far Eduardo’s prediction that today would mostly follow the same pattern has turned out to be correct. We got here just in time to see the first wave set out.
There are markedly fewer hunters, so it doesn’t feel as much like an immediate crisis as yesterday. But there are still a lot, and as soon as breakfast was over they all slipped off into the woods with their dogs. Leaving behind a little crowd at the base camp, made up of hunters who weren’t ready to go out, and their friends who just came to chill and sort of tailgate.
Kasey went into the forest on a reconnaissance mission, and came back to confirm Ralph’s theory. The hunt is no longer confined to the section of forest immediately around the hotel. The hunters are much more spread out today, and harder for even Kasey to find.
At least it means they’re less likely to hurt one another in a moment of panic. That’s good, because the edgy anxiety that had everyone in its grasp yesterday hasn’t gone away at all. The same thin veneer of cheerful chatter hangs over every hunter present. There’s no participant in the hunt who isn’t nervous. There’s no disguising that fact.
This leads to an absolute carnival of a morning, which we mostly spend rushing from one false alarm to another.
The anxious hunters keep us constantly busy. They shout to each other when they think they’ve seen something, leading us out into the woods several times for no reason. Once we thought we heard a shot from far out in the forest. When Ralph and Noah finally returned from that long hike it was to report that we did hear a shot, but the hunter had missed what turned out to be a deer that had startled him.
Aiden and I wanted to go with them, but we thought we’d heard a shot, too. That one turned out to be a hunter who was trying to get some attention and help. Something spooked him and he tripped over a tree root, badly twisting his ankle. His dog was running in frantic circles around us while we helped him up, so it was fortunate that Ralph didn’t come with us for that one.
Between all the bursts of activity in the forest we’ve repeatedly tried to regroup at the hotel, but even there we were prevented from talking. The unsurprising obstacle has been Wendy.
She doesn’t seem all too appeased, despite the verbal takedown she unleashed on Hanely and Grimm last night. She’s in a simmering rage, generally speaking, and also still obviously suspicious of us. We’re all too aware of her cold eyes watching us whenever she slips out of the hotel.
She’s come over to bother us at various different points, seizing any opportunity to get one of us alone to complain about the grass, the armoire, the mailbox, and about us, in general. She’s formed a comprehensive list of all the things she’s found to be unacceptable about everyone in our group, and she’s all too eager to share those opinions, in great detail. We’re beginning to automatically scatter whenever she starts coming our way. The only one she won’t approach is Ralph, who I think she believes honestly is the Devil.
All in, it’s just after lunch by the time we get a chance to talk in private. This apparently very difficult task is finally accomplished when we all sit down to a picnic table with a colorful spread of hot food from Eduardo’s cafe.
I’m the last one to join, hurrying away from the hotel with a harassed scowl on my face.
“Hey, Jamie,” Aiden says, looking up to take in my expression as I reach the table. “You - look like you just had a conversation with Wendy. What did she-?”
“Load of shite!” I blurt out, fuming as I drop down to sit beside Noah. “You know, I try to be patient with people-”
I pause in confusion as this draws a burst of laughter from Aiden, Noah, Kasey, and Ralph. The whole team.
“Yeah, we - we know,” Aiden rumbles, looking at me with fond eyes.
“Well - the point is, I’ve never met anyone so immune to politeness as Wendy! Or anyone with wronger opinions!”
“Mhm,” Aiden agrees consolingly, “But on the other hand: look at this.”
He sweeps a hand at the steaming food and cool, condensating light beers packing the picnic table. It looks and smells like an absolute feast, and it actually does immediately lift my spirits. I scooch further onto the bench to dig in.
“I can never believe how much food you guys can put away,” Kasey observes, gazing at the huge spread in disbelief.
“We haven’t eaten since dawn!” I protest.
“No, I know, but like, still. The food bills in your houses must have been absurd when you were growing up. Poor Mary, and Mrs. Raunier, and Aunt Sarah, and…”
Kasey trails off with a searching look at Ralph, realizing she’s not sure how to finish that one.
“Guérin,” Noah corrects, when I finish repeating what she said. “My mom and my dad aren’t married.”
“Ms. Guérin, then.” Kasey pauses in case Ralph wants to volunteer any information, too. She shrugs her shoulders when it becomes clear he doesn’t, then lowers her gaze to the pile of french fries that’s swiftly being demolished, letting out a longing sigh. “That does look good, though.”
“This is amazing,” Noah sighs happily, dipping his sandwich in some hot sauce and reaching for one of the stuffed potatoes at the same time. “You know what I like about Eduardo? No low-fat anything at his cafe. I’d come here every day if I lived in Port Sitka. Excepting it’s attached to that miserable hotel. Someone should just break it clean off.”
“Seriously,” Ralph agrees, dropping the bones of a teriyaki chicken wing onto his plate and immediately reaching for another. “Y’know, when you guys told me the only plan you had was to come to the hotel and get food before we went camping, I thought that was putting a lot of focus on a pretty small, inconsequential aspect of things. But now I get it. This is worth working into any plan.”
I break into a pleased smile, then scowl indignantly when Ralph adds, “So now I only kind of think that was dumb of you guys.”
“Wow, man, alright! Sounds like you just don’t want to admit that me and Aiden came up with a great plan!”
Ralph’s eyebrows lift very high, his eyes widening. “A great plan?”
“Alright, alright,” Aiden cuts in quietly. “Let’s get right down to it, since apparently it’s rare to get the opportunity to talk around here. And keep it quiet, since, you know…”
He doesn’t have to explain. We’re all painfully aware of Hanely and Grimm, watching us through the windshield of their squad car with glaring eyes. As they have been all morning.
They’ve replaced the destroyed tire with a new one, but Grimm’s face is still showing evidence of last night. The bruising has spread and grown darker, and there’s a little bandage across the bridge of his swollen nose. Really, though, the incensed expression on his face - and Hanely’s - is evidence enough. It only went away to be replaced with one of pure alarm when Wendy went over to their car to give them another telling-off for their behavior yesterday, which she apparently had new thoughts about after sleeping on it.
Now the sour glares are back, and twice as resentful. Obviously Hanely and Grimm blame us for everything that’s happened, even if they don’t know why, exactly. They’re eager to catch us doing something red-handed today. Feels like having two indignant, offended birds watching us from a tree, leering just over our shoulders.
“No one look at them,” Ralph warns us. “Pretend they’re not watching. Noah, maybe turn off the music? Playing tracks from The Chronic is a good way to draw the attention of the cops. We don’t want that, didn’t I make that clear yesterday?”
“What do you mean, bro?” Noah asks innocently. “This isn’t even one of the more violent songs.”
Ralph lets out a choke of laughter, reaching across the table to stop the music playing from Noah’s phone. “This is Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat, dipshit! It’s right there in the name! Stop fuckin’ making me laugh when I’m trying to think!”
He says this last part reproachfully, but Noah grins widely at him, accidentally spilling some of the beer he was drinking in the process. Ralph lets out another laugh, helpless to stop himself, then manages to regain control of his expression. He rubs his temples, taking a breath.
“Anyways! We need to discuss some of what happened last night.”
“It was awesome,” Noah says cheerfully, dragging the back of his hand over his mouth. “Do we get to do the same thing tonight, or like…?”
“No,” Ralph says firmly. “No. What we’re gonna do right now is get on the same page about some shit. First of all - we should talk about what I think we’ve all figured out.”
Noah shoots Ralph a baffled look. “Wait, what have we all figured out?”
“I’m just gonna say it,” Ralph goes on evenly.
“Say what, dude?”
“Wendy is Nolan’s mom, right?”
Aiden, Kasey, and I all nod with a wince of confirmation, but Noah’s mouth drops open in disbelief.
“What?” he sputters, plainly horrified. “Nah, but Nolan is nothing like - what do you mean, he’s - aw, man… I thought he was just a little strange on account of being church-goin’… shit, poor Nolan.”
Seriously. I can only imagine what a lonely boyhood he must have had in this grim, cold, unwelcoming place. I can’t see any kid coming over to hang out with him here and ever coming back again. And he’s been trapped here alone all his life with Wendy, no less. No wonder he knows all the hiding spots in the hotel.
Clearly he’s no fan of the history, either, unlike his mother. He actually called Morden’s work bullshit, and I know how high Nolan’s emotions have to be flying for a curse word to escape him. He doesn’t even want the family name, I assume, because he’s going by a different one. Maybe his dad’s.
He said he’d worked at the hotel, and that sounded true enough to me. Lines up with what Tucker said about Nolan’s mother wanting to keep him shut up at home with him forever. Knowing how much Nolan despises the hotel, I’m guessing eventually he insisted on quitting, at which point Wendy decided on a different career for him and sent him off to the police academy. Maybe she thought that would make him braver? Closer to her idea of a respectable man?
It didn’t work at all, only succeeding at putting Nolan through a great deal of misery. But all the disastrous things that happened to him since then… those led to him finally getting away. He’s free now, living safely with Tucker.
The same thought must have just occurred to Noah.
“Damn, no wonder Wendy’s in such a towering rage. Nolan escaped.” Noah sits back, breaking into a proud grin. “Good for him, dude. If I was those two cops I’d tread light on breaking anything else. Wendy’s probably in rare form, just looking for an excuse. Looking for Nolan, too, I bet.”
“Yes, exactly,” Ralph says meaningfully. “Means we should take care not to let her see us with Nolan. Same goes for Hanely and Grimm, because they’ll tell her. I think we all know by now that those two in the squad car will take any excuse to screw with Nolan.”
There’s a soft sound of general agreement.
“Wish I’d gotten a chance at Humbly, too,” Noah sighs regretfully. “He could stand to eat some humbly pie, if you know what I’m saying. Funny how he’s named that, considering.”
“The man’s name is Hanely,” Kasey corrects, biting back a laugh.
“And it’s no fair Ralph got to put in some damage on the cop car when I didn’t,” Noah adds, looking a little put out. “Do I get to ruin one of the tires tonight? I feel like it’s my turn.”
“Alright, secondly,” Ralph goes on, firmly moving us right past that, “I have a theory about the Witch.”
We all exchange a relieved look, then sit forward as one to hear it.
“There’s a way I can think of to make sense of the attacks and sightings that have happened so far,” Ralph begins. “I can’t say anything for sure, though, so don’t-”
“What is it?” Noah asks, with total confidence.
“Okay, so… the Witch is doing things she shouldn’t be able to do, right? She’s strong enough to cast multiple spells at us in one night, in her full scary form. After tampering with Grimm’s mind earlier, and a hunter before him. Doesn’t sound like a low-power, aging illusion to me, and that’s what these things are supposed to be.”
“You’ve been thinking about why she can do all that?”
Ralph nods in answer to Aiden’s question, then hesitates, deciding how to explain.
“Yeah, and… about why she’s here. Nolan ran into the Witch on the pathway between the road and the ranger’s outpost. When he got back to his car, the battery was dead.” Ralph says this last part with emphasis. “Then the Chief’s brother saw her, near the electrical pole. Now both the hotel and the ranger’s outpost have caught a bad case of power outages and blown fuses. Right down to the generators, and the batteries in the radios.”
Noah lifts his pierced eyebrows in alarm. “You think the Witch is here because she’s stealing all the power?”
“All the energy…” Aiden realizes out loud, running a hand over his beard. “Which would actually explain why it’s so damn cold here, too… she’s taking the heat.”
Ralph nods grimly. “Would that account for why she’s gained new skills she isn’t supposed to have, Aiden?”
He gives it a moment of thought before he answers.
“Yeah, probably, but… I’m pretty sure it would only make the powers she already has stronger. She could do different kinds of mind-tampering, I mean. How much power has she taken?”
We all look at Noah, who winces, tucking a stray strand from his bun behind his ear like he doesn’t want to deliver this news.
“If she got all the power that was going to the hotel, and everything from the generator and the ranger’s station, hit the overhead power lines, and took the heat, then… yeah, she’s got a lot.”
“I don’t get it, though,” I put in anxiously. “If she wants power, why does she keep trying to take us out so she can get at Aiden?”
Ralph folds his elbows on the table, looking meaningfully at me. “What does Aiden have a lot of, Jamie?”
“Oh…” My face goes pale, and my hand spreads protectively on Aiden’s knee beneath the table. “She wants to steal Aiden’s power?”
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that’s a sure thing,” Ralph murmurs, thinking out loud. “Personally, I think she just understands that Aiden is here for her, and powerful enough to stop her. She sure as hell showed us she’s ready to put up a fight over it.”
“This is bad,” Aiden says softly, a worried crease appearing between his eyebrows. “If she’s already absorbed that much power there’s no telling what kind of new tricks she might pull out.”
“Mhm, we need to be careful. And we know the Witch doesn’t care about showing herself, so… I think… we should strike first.” Ralph looks around at all of us with very serious eyes. “We should make an attempt to take her out now, while we have daylight. Before she can surprise a hunter, or us.”
Everyone stops still, watching Ralph nervously.
He bites his lip, a pained expression coming over his face. “I have a rough idea for a plan, but I don’t even want to say it.”
“Why?” Noah protests, in tandem with me.
“Because!” Ralph opens his eyes to shoot us a look of blazing exasperation. “I know now that there’s no dignity in this! No matter what I plan, nothing's gonna go right, and it’ll end in chaos and - and - clownery!”
“So just tell us, then!” I say encouragingly. “So we can get busy, um - ruining it.”
Ralph lets out an aggrieved sigh.
“Fucking fine… so I’ve been thinking about where the Witch is hiding out when she’s not on the prowl. Guess it’s possible she goes back to the old-growth or just turns invisible, but I’ve thought of someplace she might go. The old villas out in the forest, the ones that are technically part of the hotel. Tucker said they’ve been empty for a long time, except one that’s being used for storage.”
“That’s a good thought,” Kasey murmurs, with Aiden repeating for her. “It’s probably just far enough away that no one would think to look for her there.”
“Right. So I think…” Ralph lets out a regretful sigh, twisting his fingers around his leather wristbands. “If we can’t convince the hunters to go home, and we don’t want to take the Witch on at night… this might be the way. We could be the ones to take her by surprise, this time. We could handle it far away from the action here, far enough that no one stumbles into the action or sees any magic. Assuming I’m right about the villas, which - again, I don’t know.”
“Sounds worth trying, though,” Aiden says, his deep voice only a little nervous. “Should we go after we’re done eating?”
“Assuming no disaster here demands our attention first,” Ralph sighs, gathering the plates up from the picnic table. “I’m learning to assume those are just constantly around the corner. We really need to be careful about going places alone - in fact, Aiden, you come with me to toss this stuff. Kasey, you should go back to Ketterbridge for a little bit. We spent a lot of your energy yesterday, we need to conserve it. There’s no reception where we’re going.”
Aiden gets to his feet, pausing to relace one of his hiking boots. “Sounds like a plan.”
“Let’s try not to cause any more destruction to the hotel before we go, yeah?” Ralph jokes, casting a stern look at the rest of us. “It’s a big ask, I know. But let’s try.”
“We’ll see,” Noah says, with a decided lack of commitment. “I may have to break something to get the horn down.”
“I don’t even want to know what that means,” Ralph mutters beneath his breath as he turns away.
Aiden and Ralph set off, and Kasey disappears, leaving me and Noah at the table. I nudge his elbow as he finishes up his beer.
“Well, Noah, should we have a chat while we finish eating?”
“Looks like we’ve got a minute here,” he agrees.
“Let’s see… how’s Melanie?”
Noah lets out a low whistle, beaming brightly at me.
“Gorgeous, man. I mean, holy shit, you know? What a dime.” He stares dreamily off into the distance, then pops the last of his sandwich into his mouth. He stands up to go toss his plate, giving my shoulder an appreciative slap before he goes. “Good talk, dude.”
“I - guess?” I laugh helplessly, turning back to my food.
I stuff the rest of my sandwich into my mouth, then swiftly gather up the remaining trash so I can hurry up and follow Noah. I’d prefer not to be alone even for a minute, given what we’re facing. I also think if we stick together we’re less likely to somehow cause more damage to the hotel, although - I think it’s going a bit far to suggest we could somehow do that before we even leave to hike to the villas. We shouldn’t be here long, I just want to get a cookie or two before we go. Even for us, that’s a pretty narrow window of time to fit in another disaster. Maybe this will be the day where everything actually goes smoothly.
I toss everything, then head across the pristine hotel grounds, off to join the team.
I only make it about halfway there before we’re suddenly very, very off-plan.
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