“You
’ll have to wait at least until tomorrow,” says Gunthreon. “We’re marked, remember? You can’t wash that off if you plan on exploring Socola today.”
“You better all stink as
bad as I do,” I mumble. “I don’t want to be the only one making our hosts’ eyes water tonight.”
Lupa reaches in her bag and throws me a bottle of white powder. I smell it, and it smells faintly of lilacs. I think of my mom and immediately feel a pang in my heart.
“Move on out!” Gunthreon leads the way, as Jenna scouts ahead. Gunthreon smiles to himself.
I walk behind Bu, and whenever he
’s not paying attention, I sprinkle some of Lupa’s powder on him. He’s totally oblivious and doesn’t even wonder why he keeps sneezing. I take some and rub it under my shirt, hoping to ease my pain and suffering from my own stench. I see Gunthreon smile to himself.
“So what are we going to do with ourselves until tonight, considering we can
’t see anything?” I inquire.
“Well, whatever we do, we need to slather up with some protection from the broofwings, first. I am
not
ending up in an infirmary,” Lupa says. She reaches into her everything pack and pulls out a container of some smelly, yellow lotion, and slathers her body.
Conner pulls out his own tube.
“Let me use some of that.” I hold out my hand. He raises his eyebrows at me, and I feel there’s going to be some form of IOU, or else he just wants me to beg, which I will not be doing. “Please,” I say quickly.
“Just don
’t get it in your eyes or mouth.”
“Yessir.”
As we continue walking, Fannie covers the rear, staying quiet. I hold back a bit until she catches up to me. “So, Fannie,” I say, “want to play dress-up later? I can put some makeup on you and give you pointers.”
“Funny, Kailey. No help needed.”
“That’s what you think.”
“We
’re being followed,” she suddenly states. I turn. “Don’t look! The only thing I can say is that it’s not by mooncats—something smaller, and not Jenna. Just keep your guard up, and don’t let them know we know.”
“Ok
ay,” I drone.
But it
’s hard to pretend I don’t hear them behind me, so I find myself repeatedly talking nonsense about nothing in particular. I also talk a bit louder for some reason. I also stretch out my energy feeler and get nothing back. “So, the weather is so strange here. Hey! That rock looks like Elvis.”
Fannie turns to me
as we continue walking and whispers, “Just act normal, Kailey.”
“You should have never have told me we were being followed. How can I act normal?”
Suddenly, Fannie disappears behind the huge Elvis rock. For a moment, I hear nothing, wondering if something awful became of Fannie.
“Ow!” she suddenly shout
s. “Why did you bite me?”
“Ladimer—Fannie—you okay?”
She returns, nursing her hand, which I see is bleeding slightly, but she heals it quickly. “Just a damn ceetchan! I don’t know what it’s doing here—probably hunting for food and wandered off. It’s pregnant. Maybe it’s sick and wants me to make the nausea stop. I get that a lot.” Fannie pulls me forward to keep us with our group.
I stop mid-stride. “Pregnant?”
Fannie stops with me. “Yeah, so what?”
“Hold on a minute.” I run back to where the ceetchan was and do not find her. I hurry back. “Just thinking something. Sorry, let
’s go.”
We continue walking, and after a half mile, I hear something behind us again. I turn around quickly with my monk
’s spade in hand.
Behind me and Fannie is the fattest, cutest pregnant ceetchan, a patch of white hair over her eye. I walk to her, and she lets me pet her head. “No way.” I immediately wipe my hand over my pants. She feels like a dog that hasn
’t been bathed in years.
“Don
’t pet it!” spits Fannie. “You don’t know what diseases that thing is carrying. It’ll bite you, and I will not heal you.”
“I know her.”
“What do you mean, you know her?”
“Just that. I
’ve met this ceetchan before,” I explain. “Actually, partially in Abscondia.”
Fannie
’s eyes squint for a brief two seconds. “There are hundreds of thousands of those things around,” she says. “Maybe you saw one similar to this one.”
“You don
’t think it’s strange she let me pet her?” I say. “And why is she
here
?”
Fannie furrows her brow at the creature, and it growls at her.
“You’re just mad because she doesn’t like you,” I say. I pull a piece of beef jerky out of my pack and let her eat it. I take a piece also, then spit it out, as I somehow got bug lotion on my tongue. My tongue begins feeling numb as I try wiping it on my sleeve. “Blah!”
“And you
’re going to waste your food on it, too! Neda save you, Kailey,” yammers Fannie. “We need to keep walking, because everyone else is far ahead of us, and we don’t want to be alone here right now.”
I hold up the ceetchan
’s head and look into her eyes. “You need a name. I’m gonna call you Cheeto!” I say. “Why are you here, sweetie? Have you been following me this whole time?” Cheeto just stares up at me, clearly wanting more jerky, so of course I slip her another piece.
“You
’ve really lost it. Come on!” Fannie runs forward, and then I realize it’s just me and Cheeto. I start running, too, and Cheeto does her best following me, waddling as fast as she can. I guess I can assume I’ve attracted another party member. Gunthreon is going to just be so happy, I’m sure. I decide to divert his attention.
As I catch up to him, he sees the ceetchan. “Gunthreon, I have to tell you that I traveled last—”
“I see you found another forest friend, eh?” He stares at the ceetchan. “A pregnant friend. You know she may hold you back if you get attached to her.”
“Don
’t worry, Gunthreon. About my traveling—”
“I was wondering where you went last night,” says Gunthreon. I saw you were gone and was quite happy when you reappeared. Where did you go this time?” He peeks up at me, inquisitively.
“Amber’s place. Russell was there, too.” Gunthreon’s eyebrows rise slightly. “And?”
“Ummm
... ”
“She
’s pregnant,” he blurts.
“You knew?” I ask
. “Why didn’t you tell me? How did you find out? Aren’t you supposed to wait three months before telling people that? Why am I always the last to know!”
Gunthreon smiles a quirky smile at me. “He
is
my grandson, you know,” he says. “I really wouldn’t know about the three-month thing you speak of.”
“I hate to say this, but are you thinking what I
’m thinking?” I say.
“That Lupa is especially beautiful this morning?” he says with a giant smile, looking in her direction.
“Yeah, she’s awesome,” I respond, quickly, “But no!” I feel a bit embarrassed, but need to express my doubt to Gunthreon about Amber’s fidelity. “You know, it’s only been a few weeks that they’ve known each other, and Amber’s not...always ‘exclusive.’”
Gunthreon actually smiles.
“Let’s just say, that, Russell, being what he is, is extremely...capable. Extremely. And I’m sure he’s captivated her.” My eyebrows scrunch, questioningly. “
He’s potent
!” Gunthreon says, his embarrassment evident by the redness in his cheeks. “Let’s leave it at that, Kailey. I no longer desire to speak on the matter.”
Definitely radiating discomfort, Gunthreon “humphs” and I decide to change the subject for both our sakes.
“Oh! Then what was it he wanted me to tell you?” I say, puzzled. “It seemed urgent, but Amber interrupted us.”
“Keep your eyes open. We are near an encampment and you don
’t want to miss anything,” says Gunthreon, brushing off Russell.
“What does that mean?”
“You’ll see. Preparations.”
We come upon the top of a hill with, despite the darkness, a wonderful view of the valley below. There are plenty of fires lit, and several mooncats roasting numerous foods over them. We can see hundreds of mooncats scattering hither and thither.
“What’s going on? This can’t be just for
us
?” My blood pressure rises and I can hear Bu’s heart beating even though I’m standing six feet away from him.
“They only have a few hours to get ready for the party,” says Gunthreon. “They sure know how to do it up.” He squints, apparently trying to see more of what
’s going on below. All I can see is that there’s an elephant involved. “We might as well start trekking down there.”
“What?!” I exclaim
, an alarm going off in my head. “Maybe they don’t want us to see them preparing. Let’s just be surprised tonight.” I imagine us walking into an ambush of wide-open feline jaws, slashing cat claws and thousand-pound, stomping elephant feet. My imagination dances without rhythm, and it’s an ugly dance.
“Yeah, that soun
ds like a good idea Kailey,” agrees Fannie. Clearly, she doesn’t want to walk right into their hands—claws—either.
“No,” says Gunthreon, having none of it. “We are going down there, whether you like it or not. Would you rather have a glimpse of what they are preparing for us or be entirely shocked when it
’s spread out before us tonight?” From the look on Conner’s face, he agrees with me and Fannie, but he isn’t going to speak up against Gunthreon, who happens to be standing hands-on-hips.
Jenna appears beside us, returning from her scouting mission, and suddenly, bares her teeth ag
ain, this time at Cheeto, who shows her own teeth. “What is that thing doing here?” says Jenna.
“She
’s under my watch, so leave her alone,” I howl. “Hey! You were also under that watch once, too, weren’t you?”
“But it
’s a
ceetchan
!” Jenna stares at Cheeto, her hands on her hips—mirrored image of Gunthreon. “You making it your pet now?”
“I guess you can say that,” I say. “Her name is Cheeto.”
I see the disgust in Jenna’s eyes. “You
named
the ragged mutt?”
Cheeto
’s big eyes turn up at Fannie as she wags her tail.
“She likes you now. Look.” I caress her head and remove my hand, and pat her head, briefly, twice.
Fannie grunts. “Well, I don’t have to like
her
. She probably only likes me now because she senses what I am.” Under her breath, she says, “Everyone wants something.” She walks off.
Our little woodsprite friend says “whatever” with her body language—hands dropped, and a wave of her hand towards me and Cheeto, and turns her attention back to the current situation. “I
’m scared, but I agree with Gunthreon,” she says. “I took a quick look down below, but really, we all need to go to assess the situation. Hopefully, we can figure out what to expect from tonight’s festivities.”
My, my, Gunthreon
’s made himself a brave little detective.
Gunthreon decides to not wait for our approval and starts the descent with Lupa. “They know we
’re here, so be on your best behavior,” he says. “Don’t appear as shocked as you may feel at the sight of their festivities.”
As we start our journey, I turn back and see that Bu is still at the top of the hill. I walk up and stand beside him. I lay my hand gently on his and look up into his face. He then turns to me and simply says, “For Haren.”
Then, I am then the one being led downhill. The firmness of his grip on my hand is that of a boy facing his darkest challenge with adult-like dignity, but also a shitload of fear. Cheeto follows us as closely as she can. As we approach the bottom of the hill, I find myself walking very slowly, but Bu keeps his own pace and lets me fall behind. I can smell the lilac powder as he walks to the others. Gunthreon, Fannie, Lupa, Conner, and Jenna have already reached the encampment, and are greeted, or, I should say, sniffed, by several mooncats.
Just before I continue, a random thought of my mother races through my head and the anxiety I feel from not being able to check on her safety floods my current anxiety from the situation below. I close my eyes and take a breath, holding it, and imagine her standing before me, smiling—simply for comfort. Then, I imagine the feel of her energy—that kind of humming that goes on in your head when you
’re around someone else—which also possesses its own kind of texture, at least to me. I send out my feeler, letting my energy call out to her, and wait for her energy to respond.
I feel my movement, and my eyes slowly open as I quickly brace myself, discovering that I just traveled. I find that I
’m standing on a rather tall rock, and not on a level plateau, but on the peak. My foot slips, and I grab onto the rock with both hands, regaining my balance and keeping myself from falling to my death. I do my best to see into the distance all around me, but I do not see my mom, let alone any living creature. A puddle of green goo at the foot of the rock lets me know exactly where I am: Gernwood. Why I repeatedly show up here, I do not know—especially if this was a semi-involuntary act of soulsearching.