Sunshowers - Part Three
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.
Tucker twists around in the armchair to look up at Nolan, his warm brown eyes going very wide.
“What?” He shakes his head, puts a reassuring hand on Nolan’s arm. “No, come on, let me take care of-”
“I’ll do it,” Nolan insists forcefully. “I’ve got this. It’s f-fine.”
Tucker stares at him in considerable surprise, then concern.
“Really, Nolan,” he begins gently, dropping his voice to a confidential volume. “You don’t have to go out there for this one. After what you’ve already been through, no one would blame you at all if-”
“What do you need me to do?” Nolan cuts in, directing the question to Ralph.
Ralph hesitates for a split second. As always, he’s giving nothing away with his expression, but I’m sure I know what he’s doing. Watching the way Nolan is swaying a little on his feet, pale-faced and glassy-eyed. Taking in the news that this mission is not at all suitable for Tucker, given his fragile heart.
Absorbing the fact that one of the rangers has no ability to help us face the Witch out there, and the other one has no desire to.
Although… maybe that’s not true, about Nolan. He does look like his nervous system is about to simply shut down in pure fear just at the prospect of helping us with this, but there’s desperate determination in his green eyes. He’s trembling, but he’s making himself meet Ralph’s gaze, waiting for his instructions.
I half expect Ralph to tell the rangers we don’t actually need their help after all, but he gives Nolan a long, measuring look, then slowly answers.
“We would need you to keep the radio on at all times, and be prepared to come out and help us if we’re in a tight spot. With the creature, or her hunters.”
Nolan has been nodding along this whole time, almost too much. There’s a slightly hysterical edge to his voice as he turns to Tucker, sweeps a shaking hand at Ralph, and says - “See? I can do that! I’ll be fine.”
Tucker gazes up at Nolan with obvious worry, his lip caught between his teeth, his eyebrows dropped low and drawn together.
Nolan quickly looks at Ralph again. “Is - is there anything I can do right now?”
“You could tell us the quickest way to get back to the hotel,” Ralph answers calmly, apparently unconcerned by the state Nolan is in. “We’ve been away from the hunt for long enough, and we need to get you your radio.”
“I could give you a ride.” The urgency in Nolan’s voice makes me think he’s still riding the burst of adrenaline that led him to offer his help, and he’s afraid that it might run out at any moment. “I’ll drop you guys off. That way I can get the set from you, too.”
Ralph draws back, his eyebrows lifting in surprise. “There’s a road around here? It’s not on the map.”
“It’s not really available for public use,” Tucker explains, his worried eyes still on Nolan. “It’s more of a mud track than anything, with all the accompanying potholes and ditches. Half the time you’re better off walking through the forest than trying to drive it. Especially when it rains, and the mud is soft.”
“We mostly use it to get supplies out to the outpost,” Nolan puts in.
“Or if there’s an emergency and we need to get somewhere fast. Not much, otherwise.” Tucker finally turns back to face me and Ralph, adopting a very serious tone. “It’s treacherous. Nolan already knows it pretty well, he used to take it to come visit me before he worked here. But I’d recommend against you boys trying to drive it on your own.”
Ralph and I exchange a swift, private smile. Tucker sees it and arches a questioning eyebrow.
“Don’t worry about that,” Ralph says, as Nolan and Tucker stare at him curiously. “We have a very experienced wheelman on the team. For now, we’d appreciate that ride back that you offered us, Nolan.”
“I’ll just go get the keys.” He glances at Tucker, but too quickly to make eye contact with him. “Where are they, Tuck?”
“I think I left them somewhere in the shed?”
“I’ll go with you,” Ralph says, when he realizes Nolan is heading for the side door again. “We’re instituting a policy of sticking together for this job.”
Nolan looks relieved to hear that. He nods, then falls into step behind Ralph as they head outside together.
Tucker watches them go without saying anything, but I can see the concern written all over his face. I sit down slowly on the end of the couch nearest to his armchair, resting my elbows on my knees.
“So, um… Nolan said you and him have been friends for a year or two?”
Tucker runs a hand over his salt and pepper beard, still gazing off at the door Nolan disappeared through. “Closer to two and a half, actually.”
My instinct to start chatting and my growing curiosity combine to make it impossible for me not to ask. “How’d you guys meet each other?”
“Oh, I’d seen him wandering out on the trails a few times, always on his own. Finally decided to stop and introduce myself one day. I’ve got something like ten years on him, but turned out we had a wealth of things to talk about. It was easy, it-” Tucker drops his gaze to his coffee cup. “Time passes fast when you’re talking like that, you know? And I like my peace, but the hours can go by kind of slow sometimes when I’m up here alone, especially when it’s not the busy season. So I told him he could find me here if he ever wanted to talk again.”
“Wow, and you guys have been friends ever since?”
“No, he actually didn’t come by. But I kept seeing him on the trails around the outpost, and we’d have a chat every time we ran into each other, and one day he just - showed up here. After that he started visiting all the time.” Tucker shrugs his broad shoulders, finally bringing his warm gaze back up to mine. “Sometimes I wonder if it was because he worried about me being alone out here, with my heart the way it is. Bit of charity.”
“Oh, no, I don’t think so!” I answer, taken aback by the suggestion. “Definitely not just because of that, anyways! From what I’ve heard, being here with you was probably a merciful break from his mother.”
Tucker’s good-natured eyes suddenly darken with blazing frustration.
“I could never understand it. She wanted to keep Nolan shut up at home with her forever, but she doesn’t seem to know him at all. Not the first thing about him. The fact she wanted him to be a police officer! That alone!” Tucker lets out a sputter of disbelief. “He looked like he was in hell the whole time he was at the police academy, and he was only on the job three weeks before he got fired.”
“Wh-? Only three weeks?” I press my fingers to my cheeks in disbelief. “After he did all those months of training? Oh, god, poor Nolan…”
“Yes, but it was a mercy, trust me. Seeing him in that uniform felt so wrong it hurt my eyes. I couldn’t think of anything Nolan is less cut out for.” Tucker lets out a heavy breath, absent-mindedly palming the coffee cup in his hands. “I’m not saying that in a bad way, to be clear. So he’s not a man cut out for action. That’s alright. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, I don’t even think it means he’s not brave.”
Tucker looks up at me again, a small smile returning to his face.
“Besides, I understand. I can’t take too much excitement myself, if for different reasons than Nolan.” He runs a hand over his chest, then quickly drops it back down to his coffee, clearing his throat. “That’s why he should really be up here. With me.”
I tilt my head to the side thoughtfully, taking in the expression in Tucker’s dark brown eyes as he talks about Nolan. I start to open my mouth, but I’m prevented from saying anything by Nolan and Ralph reappearing in the doorway.
“Ready to go?” Nolan asks, holding up a set of car keys.
“Yeah, let’s do it.” I get to my feet, then give Tucker’s shoulder a gentle slap. “It’s been super nice meeting you, man! I’m sure we’ll see you again soon. Thanks for roping off the other trailheads for us.”
“Of course! I’ll get going on that right away.” Tucker stands up and crosses to a storage closet in the far corner, setting his coffee aside. “Meet you back here later for pancakes, Nolan! If - if you’re sure you want to be the one of us who-?”
“Yep. Bye!”
Nolan spins on his heel, then sets off down the path at such a fast clip that Ralph and I have to break into a trot to catch up with him and walk at his side. He fidgets with a strand of his dark brown hair as he walks, his face very pale as we follow him up the winding path, past the well, and into the trees.
Ralph’s appraising eyes linger on Nolan’s back, doing an assessment of our new, temporary addition to the team. He must be wondering if Nolan has any skills to bring to the table, because after a minute or so of silent walking he asks -
“What do you like to do in your spare time, Nolan?”
“I - guess I like to journal,” Nolan says, then blushes and flinches, looking like he wishes he hadn’t said anything.
Ralph, to his credit, manages to keep his expression pretty neutral. I can tell he’s struggling, though, so I hastily jump in before anything else can be said.
“Nolan, would you mind telling Ralph everything you told me about the ghost sighting? He needs to know, too.”
Nolan reluctantly agrees. By the time he reaches the end of his story we’ve reached the dirt track that sort of counts as a road, where a forest ranger’s car is parked in the shade of the trees just off the shoulder.
Nolan carefully guides the car onto the road, navigating around ditches and buried obstacles with practiced ease. Ralph has lapsed into reflective silence, absorbing all the new information.
“So, I don’t exactly understand,” Nolan says haltingly, as we roll down the mud track through the trees. “The Ghost Office is real? And you guys are all honestly, like…? You’ve dealt with stuff like this before?”
“Wait, that reminds me, how did you hear about us, Nolan? I’ve been wondering ever since you called me.”
He slowly shrugs his shoulders, looking a little guilty as he meets my eyes in the rearview. “Tucker… knows this guy named Joni…”
“Joni!” I let out a startled laugh, breaking into a delighted grin. “Tucker smokes, huh?”
“No, I - I never said-” Nolan glances at me in dismay. “He needs to be able to relax in a hurry sometimes, okay? What was I gonna do, arrest him for it? Arrest Joni? He’s the only one who gave me advice that helped! I thought he made it all up, but he was like hey man, you’re that ex-cop from the paper, right? I know exactly what you should do. Just hearing someone say they knew what to do, when I had no idea-”
“You go with Tucker to buy from Joni?” I laugh, more and more taken aback.
“We - look, if we’re already out for lunch together anyways-”
“Terrible cop you made, dude,” Ralph snickers. “Letting all the drug people go free.”
Nolan looks at Ralph like he’s going to burst into tears, then catches the approving grin on his face and stops, blinking hard. Realizing it was a compliment.
“Oh.” He lets out a faint, bewildered laugh. “Um - thank you?”
“You’re welcome. To answer your question, yes, we’re real, and we’re here to handle it.” Ralph turns his gaze on the trees passing by on either side of us, scanning them with watchful eyes. “We’re not underestimating our opponent, though, and we didn’t anticipate the hunt. No one’s saying it’s going to be easy.”
Nolan looks impressed, but his green eyes grow fretful again.
“Do you - do you think you really will need my help?” he asks, his voice faltering.
“You’re our emergency backup plan,” Ralph answers, with calm firmness that suggests he’s unshaken by Nolan’s obvious fear. “We won’t tangle you up in it unless we absolutely need to.”
Nolan nods, bites his lip, sits perfectly still for a second. Then he crumples down in his seat, his swollen eyes briefly fluttering shut with pure relief.
“Thank god you guys are here.” He looks over at Ralph, then at me, his voice growing a little raw. “Please, please get her before she can get anywhere near Tucker. I’ll pay whatever the fee is, although it might - take me some time to get all the-”
“Oh, there’s no fee,” I jump in, as we take a turn onto a smoother stretch of road. “Ghost Office services are always free of charge.”
Nolan flashes me a startled glance, then looks incredulously at Ralph, who nods, once.
Nolan stares at him for a moment, then gets his eyes back on the road. He must be too overwhelmed with new information and conflicting emotions to say anything. He lapses into silence for a long moment, only breaking it to ask -
“Is it okay if we don’t stop right at the hotel? I don’t want to run into anyone I know.”
“Yeah, we get it. Sounds like Hanely and Grimm are gonna be around there all weekend, and either way we need to stop at my car so I can get you the radio.”
Nolan gives Ralph an appreciative look, but he still seems more and more on edge the closer we get to the hotel. He goes from just holding the wheel a little tightly to chewing his thumbnail and bouncing his knee as we pull out onto the paved road. Ralph glances at him, noticing the anxious tremble of his lip.
“You sure you’re up for this, Nolan?” he asks, pointing out where to go.
“I - yes.” Nolan nods as he pulls the car to a stop beside Ralph’s. He puts it in park, then takes a deep, shaky breath. “I’ll be fine, I can handle - holy gosh!”
He gives a jolt in his seat and throws himself back almost into Ralph, his eyes opening very wide. I lean up to see what’s going on, then suppress a laugh when I catch sight of Noah, leaning down to peer in through the open driver’s side window. He does cut a very intimidating figure, in Nolan’s defense.
“Easy, little dude!” Noah says, alarmed by Nolan’s reaction. He reaches into the car to put a steadying hand on his shoulder. “Jesus Christ, you alright?”
“Nolan, that’s Noah,” Ralph explains, fighting back a laugh of his own. “Another one of our team.”
Noah’s pierced eyebrows fly up.
“Nolan?” he repeats, taken aback. But he accepts it with his usual Noah swiftness, and leans down to speak urgently to Nolan. “Are you Nolan Long? Listen, dude, you gotta get someone to kick the shit out of those two boys what’ve been bothering you. Hanky and Cream, or whatever the fuck their bullshit names are.”
“Wh-?” Nolan shakes his head in bewilderment, his eyes getting wider and wider with each curse word. “You mean Hanely and Grimm?”
“Isn’t that what I said? Forget about it, look - you got a big brother or something, yo? Someone who could apply the necessary chin-check on your behalf?”
Nolan lets out a shocked laugh, then turns helplessly to me and Ralph. “Is he serious?”
“Yes, but don’t listen to him.” Ralph flashes Noah an affectionate grin. “He put his hunter’s mark on those two after he heard what they had to say about you. It’s making him antsy that he can’t act on it, with them being the law and all.”
“Oh.” Nolan turns back to Noah, baffled, but clearly pleased. “Thank you. That’s nice.”
“This shit ain’t about nice,” Noah growls, and Ralph unstraps himself before we can go further down that line of conversation.
“No time for this right now, Noosh. What’s going on? I texted you guys, told you to stay at the hotel until we got back.”
“Yeah, about that… there was a situation. We gotta talk.” Noah spreads his hands reassuringly when Ralph and I both stop halfway out of the car, staring at him in alarm. “Everyone’s okay, and we can explain!”
“That sounds deeply worrying,” Ralph mutters, closing the passenger’s side door. “Where’s Aiden?”
“Closer to the hotel, keeping an eye on things with Kasey.”
“I’ll go meet them. Noah, you still got my car keys?”
“Yeah?”
Ralph lowers his volume considerably, so that Nolan can’t hear. “You remember the extra storage in the trunk I showed you forever ago?”
Noah pauses, looking at Ralph with interest. “Yeah…?”
“There’s a spare handheld set in there,” Ralph says softly. “Give one of them to Nolan, hold onto the other. Put everything else back how it was.”
“Aye aye, cap’n.” Noah slips the keys out of the pocket of his torn-up jeans, gesturing for Nolan to stay in his car. “Just a sec, Nolan.”
Ralph slaps Noah’s shoulder, then swiftly crosses the street to round the bend in the road. I start to follow him, but change my mind and follow Noah around to the back of Ralph’s car, my curiosity getting the better of me.
Noah casually lets his gaze sweep around, making sure no one else is watching, then pops the trunk. He leans into it and lets two inky fingers catch on something in the flat trunk floor. I can’t see what he’s gotten hold of. It was invisible, and still kind of is.
Noah gives it a sharp tug at a very specific angle, and a small section of the trunk floor pops up.
“Ralph’s never actually had me open it before,” Noah murmurs, his grey eyes just as full of curiosity as mine. “He said only if there was a huge fucking emergency, and I couldn’t get a hold of him.”
He tugs a black duffel bag out from the hidden gap, unzips it, and stops, staring into it.
“Yep, just about what I expected,” he murmurs.
I gaze into the bag in disbelief, watching as Noah rummages through the contents. The bag is neatly organized, so I can easily make out what’s in there. A few changes of clothes, nestled beside some bottles of water and a sealed pack of high-protein energy bars. A thick wad of cash, in two different currencies. A police scanner, two burner phones still in their packaging, a lighter with a few packs of cigarettes, a Ka-Bar knife sheathed in leather, a strip of caffeine tablets, and - two passports.
“Can’t say he’s not prepared to get away if the feds ever show up,” Noah mutters, digging through to the bottom of the bag. “He’s got another one like this cached somewhere in Ketterbridge, I’m pretty sure.”
“Jesus Christ,” I sputter, half in disbelief. “Sometimes I forget what league Ralph plays in.”
“That’s weird.” Noah stops again, staring down at a folded t-shirt he was about to push aside. He takes it out, his eyebrows furrowing as he looks at the Street Muscle Mag logo printed on the front. “This is mine. Thought I lost this forever ago... These are my old jeans, too.”
I reach numbly for the two passports, open the first one, and find myself looking at an unsmiling picture of Ralph. But he’s listed under a different name, date of birth - all the information is fake, despite the very legit-looking watermarks and seals.
I mechanically open the other passport, then blink in surprise. I was expecting a picture of Ralph again, under a completely different set of information, but it’s not that.
“Well, here’s the explanation,” I say dazedly, holding it up to show Noah. “Looks like Ralph was planning on bringing you along if he ever had to flee the country.”
Noah stares at his own fake passport in blank disbelief, then slowly takes it from me. I can tell from his expression that he had no idea this existed, and I distantly wonder what lie Ralph told him to have him get a passport photo taken.
I draw back in confusion as Noah suddenly breaks into a glowing, dimpled smile.
“Aw, man,” he murmurs. “He put this bag together long after I started thinking he didn’t give a damn about me anymore. Guess he saw us hightailing it to the border together, after all. That’s pretty cool.”
“You guys find very weird ways to show each other that you care,” I inform Noah, as he tosses the passport back into the bag and hands me the two radios. “You could just say ‘I love you’, you know. Oh, wait, what am I saying? You did say that to Ralph, I forgot! After your wedding, when we were all at the beach.”
“What?” Noah lets out a startled laugh as he zips the bag back up and stows it. “Stop fucking around, Jamie.”
“Are you serious?” I let out a laugh, thinking he’s joking, then draw back incredulously. “I’m not, you said it!”
“Doubtful, man. I wouldn’t, we don’t go around saying embarrassing cupcake shit like that to each other.”
My eyes open very wide. “You honestly don’t remember, dude? Oh, you were drunk drunk. I heard it, I was right there!”
Noah grins at me, for some reason suppressing a laugh.
“Keane, you’re a bad liar,” he tells me, patting my head as he strides past. “It sure is fun to watch you try, though.”
I open my mouth to argue, then immediately decide to give up instead. I’m not one to question the way Aiden and his brothers communicate. It all seems to make perfect sense to them, so whatever. I’ll let them stick to their ways like they always do, although it sounds like Noah was feeling enough love for Ralph to break the unspoken rule of silence after they finally talked out what happened with the Corvette. Must have been a lot of love, given the rules are apparently so ironclad that Noah doesn’t even believe me when I tell him he straight-up ignored them for a second.
I give my head a fond, helpless shake as I follow Noah back around the car to our forest ranger.
“It’s a two-way, and it should be secure, but don’t say anything over the radio that we absolutely can’t have anyone else hearing,” Noah warns Nolan as he hands it over. “We’ve got the other one. Frequency is set.”
“Okay.” Nolan accepts it with a nervous flinch, forcing himself to take a deep breath. “Okay.”
“You’ll be fine, Nolan,” I tell him earnestly, as Noah gives him a wave and trots across the street. “Just do what Ralph tells you, and keep that radio on. You’re in good hands. I promise.”
Nolan manages to look reassured, at long last. His chest rises and falls in an actual deep breath, one he didn’t force himself to take.
“I’m sure Tucker appreciates you looking out for the forest, too,” I add.
Nolan doesn’t answer that, only flashes me a quick, timid smile.
Still, I can tell from the expression in his eyes who it is he’s really looking out for.
~~~~
I’m a little anxious about what Noah said when he first reached us at the car. Everyone’s okay, and we can explain. Ralph is right, that is deeply worrying. But Aiden and Noah would have called or sent Kasey if there had been a serious emergency, right?
I freeze in alarm when I come around the curve in the road and take in the sight before me.
A little way off from the hotel, but still on its grassy grounds, a dazed-looking hunter is seated heavily on the grass, with his dog licking anxiously at his face. Noah is crouched in front of the hunter, saying something to him. Ralph is standing a few feet away, conferring with Aiden and Kasey in lowered voices, keeping a wary eye on the dog.
“What happened?” I ask quietly, rushing over to join them. “Are you all okay?”
My worried eyes search Aiden for any signs of trouble, but I don’t see any. He smiles warmly when I reach him, gives my hand a gentle squeeze.
“Yes, but there’s been some movement,” Ralph murmurs, folding his arms over his chest. “Aiden caught a hunter the Witch was trying to lead off.”
“I felt like walking around the outside of the hotel, familiarizing myself with the layout some more,” he rumbles quietly, when my startled eyes flit to him. “I got around back just in time to see that guy go rushing off on his own. I thought maybe he’d seen the Witch, so Noah and I ran to catch up with him. He was yelling about someone who needed help, insisted he heard someone yelling for him just over the hill. But I could sense the magic on him once I got closer. I knew he was under an illusion, so I kinda had no choice, I had to fix it.”
My mouth drops open in a proud, admiring smile. “Wow, and you did? Just like that?”
“Yes,” Aiden answers slowly, guiltily, “But, um - it knocked him unconscious when I did it. I didn’t have the connection to hold back some of the magic.”
“Oh, oops!” I shoot a concerned glance at the hunter, who does look decidedly befuddled, like he just woke up. “Is he okay?”
“Mhm, but he doesn’t remember what happened at all. Last thing he knew he was laying in wait in the forest, keeping an eye out for the animal. He thinks it was the combination of too much sun and a few beers too many. We decided to let him believe that. Had him call a friend to come pick him up.”
Ralph watches with relief as a car pulls up to the side of the road, and Noah reaches down to give the hunter a hand getting back to his feet.
“Okay, so, minimum chaos,” I say hopefully, turning back to Ralph. “Only one person has been knocked unconscious.”
“So far,” Kasey adds, an unhelpful comment I begrudgingly repeat.
“Yeah, you know what? I’ll take it.” Ralph pushes a thoughtful hand through his blonde hair. “This actually worked out. One less hunter we have to worry about, too. But it’s also bad news, because…”
“It means the Witch can come out in the daytime,” Kasey confirms. “And that she’s not afraid of messing with the hunters.”
We all take a second to absorb that.
“Did you see her?” Ralph asks, catching Aiden’s eye.
He shakes his head. “Noah ran up the hill past me while I was dealing with the hunter, but he said there was nothing there. That was about forty minutes ago. No sign of anything strange since then.”
“Good news, for once.” Noah rejoins the group, clearly happy to be the one who gets to deliver it. “That dude Aiden knocked out-”
Aiden winces deeply. “Can we not describe him that way?”
“Uh… the dude Aiden - graciously cured of his illusions?” Noah pauses, then goes on when Aiden gives him a nod of approval. “Well, he doesn’t remember shit, and now he’s headed home.”
“Nice work,” Ralph says, to immediate grins from Aiden and Noah. “But I still don’t like this… how are we supposed to know if someone’s mind has been tampered with? We can’t go running after every hunter we see rush off somewhere.”
“Nah, man, there’s a dead giveaway,” Noah says firmly. “Aiden sensed it on him, but I could see it. His eyes were all wrong. Real weird. Too bright.”
“Because there was no finished spell, probably,” Aiden murmurs, thinking out loud.“She was continually messing with the hunter’s memory, luring him away. Her magic was showing. So if you guys see anyone whose eyes look weirdly bright…”
“That’s good to know,” Kasey says, to a nod of agreement from Ralph after I repeat it. “I wonder why she fell back after she couldn’t get the hunter. Maybe she sensed Aiden and took off?”
“Dunno why,” Aiden says, slightly abashed. “Doubt I made the impression of a formidable enemy last time.”
Ralph, standing partially in the shadows, glances up at the fading afternoon sunlight.
“Something tells me,” he says slowly, his sage eyes narrowed, “That she’d prefer to strike at night, if she can. That’s when she has the advantage, and she must realize a real challenger has joined the hunt. She probably recognized Aiden from their last meeting.”
Silence falls for a moment, and Ralph straightens up.
“We should go back to our campsite and take a break, eat something. We need to be at our sharpest when night falls. We’ll come back here when it’s getting dark out, unless - Aiden, do you want to stay here longer? For like, any reason at all?”
Aiden shrugs his powerful shoulders. “Nah, I was actually just thinking of heading back to the camp. It’s kind of a hike to get there and back, and I need some time to make us dinner, so-”
Ralph immediately nods, coming to a decision. “Then let’s go. Noah, do you have the other end of that radio we gave Nolan?”
Aiden and Kasey turn to stare at Ralph with startled eyes as he accepts the radio from Noah.
“Nolan?” Kasey asks, understandably bewildered. “You mean Nolan Long? You guys met him? Why does he need a radio?”
“We can explain!” I promise.
Aiden flashes Noah a relieved look. “At least we’re not the only ones who had to say that.”
“Explanations once we get back to camp. For now, let’s move.” Ralph beckons for us with a nod of his head, guiding us back towards the trail into the trees. He lifts the radio to his mouth as we go, speaks into it quietly. “Rangers, come in. Radio check, over.”
There’s a brief silence, and then some scrabbling static.
“Hey, um - hi, hello,” comes Nolan’s anxious voice, a second or so later. “I heard that, yeah. I guess this means it’s working?”
Ralph lowers his radio and bites his lip, suddenly trying not to laugh. “Our guy really didn’t take anything away from the police academy, huh? That’s not exactly official radio lingo.”
“Oh, be nice, he’s doing his best!” I whisper, casting Ralph an admonishing look. “You know none of this is his thing!”
“It sounds like we missed some shit,” Aiden laughs softly. “Did you make a friend, Jamie?”
“Two, actually!”
“I wonder why I even bothered to ask.”
“Hello?” Nolan asks, his voice slightly garbled with static. “Are you still there? I’ve got some information for you guys.”
Ralph lifts the radio to his mouth again. “Go ahead, Rangers.”
“Tucker checked the forecast. The clouds have passed over the station, so our signal should be all clear for now. The rain looks like it’ll hold off until tonight, probably really start to fall around nine. You should expect some thunder and lightning to start about an hour before, though.”
“Thank you, Rangers, copy that. Rain at twenty-one hundred hours.” Ralph takes his finger from the button, lets out a little sigh. “Goddamnit. That’s just what we need.”
I snag the radio from him and press down the button. “Hey, Nolan, quick question. Are you from Port Sitka, originally?”
“Yeah?” comes Nolan’s voice, with a little static.
“Then do you know why the guy who built the hotel, um - shit, what was his name?”
“M.N. Morden?” Nolan offers, in a strangely flat voice.
“Yes! Do you know why he’s considered a ‘man of science’ and not an actual scientist? Sorry, I know it’s not the most important thing. I’m just curious, since Wendy seems pretty proud of-”
“Because he wasn’t a scientist!” Nolan blurts out heatedly, startling me into silence. “He wasn’t legally allowed to call himself that! The whole reason he moved out to this coast and built the hotel was to get away from all the scandals he caused at the university he worked at, once they finally decided they wouldn’t have him anymore! And that’s not even getting into the things the man believed, which were just as awful, have a look at the display case in the lobby if you need any pr- just - just - no one should be proud of anything to do with that man, okay?”
At some point we all stopped walking to stare down at the radio. Ralph and Kasey are both looking at it with narrowed eyes, the rest of us in obvious bewilderment.
Nolan has fallen silent, but after a moment the radio crackles again with his voice, slightly more composed.
“Sorry. I’ve, um - worked at that hotel before, and I hate it.”
“Heard, bruh,” Noah says, taking the radio from me so he can speak into it. “I’m of the personal opinion that the place should be flattened. Every inch.”
Nolan lets out a shaky laugh into the radio. “Yeah, me too. Too bad Hanely and Grimm will be parked out front all weekend. Guessing they’re loving this opportunity to show off their brand new squad car.”
“Their squad car,” Noah says thoughtfully, with an alarming smile glittering in his eyes. “It’s brand new, huh?”
“Noosh,” Ralph murmurs warningly, quickly taking the radio back.
“Seriously, though, don’t break anything at the hotel,” Nolan says. “For your own sake. She - Wendy will rip you to pieces if you break, like, one glass. Trust me.”
“We’ll try our best,” Noah says lightly, convincing only Nolan, who can’t see his expression.
“Okay. Do you guys need anything else from us in the meantime?”
“Just let us know if you see anything unusual,” Ralph answers. “We’re headed back to our camp now, but we anticipate a lot of hunters coming out at night. Make sure Tucker is back at the outpost way before it gets dark out. Keep yourself there, too.”
“Alright.” There’s a pause, and I hear the anxious tremble in Nolan’s voice as he abruptly says, “Be careful.”
“No reason to fret, Nolan,” Ralph says firmly. “Leave it to us.”
~~~~
I really like the campsite Ralph chose for our base of operations. It’s a pretty cozy hangout, tucked away where I doubt anyone would accidentally come across us.
It sits on a flat stretch of land halfway up a hill, nestled in a break in the rising slope. The ground here is mostly blanketed with soft, wild grass. A mossy wall of stone sits at the back of our camp, encircling it and almost enclosing it. But it opens up at the side facing out from the hill, and this far up we’ve got a pretty view of the darkening sky, studded with the first few glinting stars.
It felt good to take a break after the busy afternoon we had. We got a cooking fire going, ate a good dinner. Snacked on some ripe, juicy wild blackberries I found.
Noah’s backpack included what I suspect was a Raj addition: a lightweight nylon hammock, which Noah strung up between the only two trees by our campsite, just to the left of his and Ralph’s tent. Noah took a nap in it earlier, but now he’s out, and overflowing with energy.
“What are you doing, Noosh?” Aiden watches him with baffled eyes from where he’s seated by the fire, with one powerful arm resting around my shoulders. “What is this?”
“What d’you mean?” Noah asks, going past us around the fire. “I’m dancing.”
“Yeah, but this looks - not as good as your regular dancing,” Kasey giggles, as Noah goes jerking awkwardly past her. “This is pretty bad, in fact.”
“You’re normally so good at this,” I laugh, as Noah spins around in a very unbalanced twirl. “Why are you suddenly so bad at it?”
“I’m trying to dance more like Raj,” Noah explains, doing an unsteady hop from foot to foot, gracelessly flapping his arms like a duckling trying to take off. “I’ve always admired the hell out of the way he can dance. Wish I could do it like he can.”
“What - Raj?” Aiden spreads his hands in bewildered disbelief. “You wish you could dance more like Raj?”
“Yeah, man! He’s shameless.” Noah stretches his inky arms up over his head, the way Raj does when he dances. “He’s free.”
“Oh, god!” I watch Noah’s awful dancing through my fingers. “Dude, no, you’re too good to do it this badly! It looks all wrong! Why are you twisting around like that?”
“You sound like my dad when I’m the one driving,” Noah laughs. He adopts a strong accent and an urgent voice. “Noah! Why do you tweest around turns like zis?”
I sit back and press my hands over my mouth, suppressing another laugh. “Your dad yells at you in English?”
“When I’m driving, yeah. Only when I’m driving, actually. I don’t know why.” Noah pauses thoughtfully, then shrugs his shoulders and resumes dancing. “Panic response, I guess?”
“Okay, well, I’m having a panic response to - this,” Aiden says, gesturing to Noah’s dancing. “C’mon dude. What if girls are watching?”
“Then I’d guess they’re probably - mmmm - getting so close-”
Noah lets these words out on a moan so pornographically obscene that I choke on the sip I was taking from my water bottle, and Kasey dissolves in a fit of helpless giggles, hiding her face in her hands. Aiden closes his eyes in supposed exasperation, but begins to shake with silent laughter when Noah’s moaning echoes back to us off of the rocky side of the hill.
“Noah!” I drag the sleeve of my flannel over my mouth, choking on my laughter, my cheeks burning. “Oh my god, dude! You’re not feeling too worried about tonight, are you?”
“No,” Noah says, bouncing eagerly on his heels. He reaches down and clasps Ralph’s shoulder. “Why would I be, with this one in charge?”
Ralph has been sitting silently on the far side of the campfire, his grey-green eyes turned out to the stars coming up through the clouds. He’s distracted, but that’s not surprising. I think we all have the distinct feeling that something is going to happen tonight, with the hunters or the Witch or both. We just don’t know what.
Ralph finally looks up when Noah braces his shoulder, blinking hard as he drags himself out of his thoughts to listen.
“We’ve got one of the most infamous outlaw freebooters on this coast to lead us. A bonafide brainiac maniac.” Noah gives Ralph’s shoulder an enthusiastic slap. “We’ll be good. Only thing this adventure is missing is a beauteous damsel for us to rescue. Or a beauteous dude, I guess, given the tastes of the group we’ve got. One of each?”
Ralph rolls his eyes, but breathes out a soft laugh. He gets up and rolls out his neck, then his shoulders, then takes a drag of his cigarette.
“I see Noah’s ready to go,” he says, his affectionate eyes lingering on Noah’s increasingly bright, wild-eyed grin. He looks to the rest of us, lets his gaze travel slowly over our faces. “Everyone else ready to go, too?”
Kasey, Aiden, and I grow serious very quickly. We exchange a glance with each other, then all move at once. Kasey springs lightly to her feet, then moves as a streak of silver-white light across our campsite, reforming a second later beside Ralph. I get up, too blinking with my Vision, which Aiden charged up. We left the connection open when we were asleep in our tent together earlier. We’re not sure if it’ll actually be useful for anything tonight, so we didn’t charge it to its maximum power. But when I experimentally try to See Kasey more clearly, I get that feeling I only get when my eyes have gone completely white with glowing light.
I blink it away, letting my eyes go back to normal, then look at Aiden. He rises to his feet, settles his snapback over his hair, and waves a hand over the campfire. The low-burning embers glow very brightly, then suddenly go out all at once, like snuffed candles. Aiden’s fingers glow with incandescent heat, his eyes glittering with icy blue magic. Both sources of vivid light, ice-blue and molten red, gently fade out as Aiden crosses our base camp to join the team.
We all gather up before Ralph, who stands in the shadows and runs his sage eyes over us, breathing out a slow stream of smoke from his nose.
He surprises me by cracking a small smile.
“Alright,” he says softly. He turns, beckoning to us with the fingers holding his cigarette, already melting into the shadows. “Then let’s go.”
Without another word, Team Ghost Office falls into formation at his back, setting off silently into the forest.
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