Authors: Jessica Miller
Chapter 4
“Wow, you must really like the woods. I haven’t caught you staring at my ass once in the past five minutes,” Elizabeth said, smirking at Jake.
He laughed and looked down at her. Elizabeth thought it was really unfair for him to be this effortlessly good-looking and be such a bad match.
“Well, you are working so I figured I would look once every twenty minutes. I still have fifteen minutes to go.”
Elizabeth shoved him playfully and looked around. His friend Chris was supposed to be meeting them but so far the only things that joined them were squirrels and a lot of birds.
“Where’s your friend?” Elizabeth asked.
Jake paused and she could have sworn he sniffed the air.
“Jake?”
“Shh.”
She looked at him like he had three heads.
“Come here,” Jake said, waving her over to a tree.
She obeyed and stood beside Jake under an enormous bald cypress tree. He kept a finger to his lips and pointed with his free hand. Elizabeth looked in the direction that he pointed and saw two black bear cubs wrestling in the underbrush. She gasped and frantically pulled out her notebook to scribble down notes. As she was reviewing her notes, something hit her.
“Jake?” she whispered.
“Yea?” he said, still watching the bears play.
He had the biggest, goofiest grin on his face and that almost made her forget her original concern.
“If the cubs are here—where’s the mom?” Elizabeth asked.
Jake seemed to sniff the air before he whipped around. Elizabeth jerked around too to see an enormous black bear, walking at the top of a hill. She stared down at them and Elizabeth could see the bear’s face contort into a vicious scowl. The bear growled loudly, and Elizabeth could hear the weak growls from the cubs answering her. Elizabeth grabbed onto Jake’s chest, but it was too late. The bear was barreling towards them at full speed. Elizabeth was frozen, her feet rooted to the ground in shock. She could faintly hear Jake yelling for her to move and she could feel him pulling her arm, but she was frozen.
“Elizabeth!” Jake yelled as the bear closed in on her.
Jake yanked Elizabeth out of the way as a massive brown grizzly bear tore through the woods and tackled the black bear to the forest floor. The bears were growling at each other bearing their yellow, razor-sharp teeth, and clawing at each other’s faces. The black bear was putting up a strong fight, but she was clearly on the defense. The grizzly was about double her size and fighting with a palpable ferocity.
“Let’s go,” Elizabeth said, pulling Jake’s arm.
They were watching the fight from behind the tree a few feet away from the bear cubs. The cubs were getting very agitated at the noises and alternating between weak growls and mewling in the direction of their mother. Jake seemed to be wrestling with something, bouncing on his feet and looking from the fight to the cubs to Elizabeth and back to the fight.
“Jake!” Elizabeth said, feeling her senses return to her.
All she wanted to do was run for her life now, but now Jake was the immobile one.
“Damn it!” Jake said, pulling away from Elizabeth.
“Wait, what are you doing?” Elizabeth asked, as Jake approached the fight.
He was ignoring her and waving his hands frantically, like he was trying to get one or both of the bears attention. The brown bear seemed about ready to deliver the fatal blow to the exhausted black bear, but Elizabeth distinctly saw it look at Jake with a sense of recognition.
“Chris, stop! She has cubs,” Jake said with panic in his voice.
The grizzly bear growled, shook its massive shaggy head, and ran off into the woods. The black bear ran towards her cubs and away from Jake and Elizabeth. Elizabeth watched the mama bear limp off into the woods with her two black cubs in tow.
Jake’s shoulders seemed to be shaking as he turned around to look at Elizabeth.
“Jake, what was that? What the hell is going on?” Elizabeth asked, stepping backwards.
Jake took a deep breath, ran his fingers through his dark hair and stared at her.
“I’m, sort of, a bear, kind of,” Jake said barely above a whisper.
Elizabeth felt like the ground had fallen out underneath her. It’s like her mother said, “if a guy seemed too good to be true, he’s probably a psychopath.” Elizabeth could not reply. She was too shocked, by what he said. He stepped towards her, not saying a word, but his eyes seemed to plead with her to understand his bizarre admission. Elizabeth knew this man had to be very ill and everything in her told her to run. She did not wait for him to say anything else, she took off running, full speed out of the woods and as far away from Jake as possible.
Chapter 5
Elizabeth typed up everything she could remember from yesterday in her daily report. She had to send her professor her findings after her excursions into the wood. Ideally, she would send it in the same day, but she was too rattled after returning to her dorm room.
This trip was feeling a lot more science fiction than science. Voodoo priestess, handsome strangers and then of course handsome strangers who talk to bears and confess to being bears themselves. She highlighted the paragraphs she typed about Jake and the store keeper and deleted them. Elizabeth leaned back in her desk chair, staring at the glowing laptop screen.
Really she was staring at the logical parts of the story. All of the unexplainable stuff she cut out. The fact of the matter was that just because she cut it off the page does not mean it did not happen. That voodoo shopkeeper clearly knew her name after only touching a strand of her hair, and Jake clearly had some sort of connection with an enormous grizzly bear. Grizzlies were not even in Louisiana. She perked up thinking of Canada. Chris was from Canada. Jake distinctly called that bear “Chris.” She shook her head thinking on the absurdity of it, but was jolted when her cellphone rang.
“Hello, Elizabeth speaking.”
“Hello, Elizabeth, it’s Dr. Phillips from Dillard’s Biological Conservation department. How are you?”
“Oh, hi! Sorry, sorry. I’m sending in my report now.”
“Good. Do you have any questions for me? Have you been navigating the woods okay?”
Elizabeth thought on the bear fight and the occult shop. Mentioning neither made her feel less insane.
“It’s been going. I saw a bear fight yesterday.”
“Oh my word! Are you alright?”
“Yes. I’m fine. It was strange, though. It was a black bear and her two cubs—”
“That’s fantastic. It’s hard to see them. I hope you took photos and good notes.”
“Yes, of course. I just—she was fighting a grizzly bear.”
Elizabeth pinched her eyes closed, knowing that Dr. Phillips would think her incompetent for even thinking that.
“Elizabeth,” he said with a low chuckle, “Now, you and I both know they are not in this part of the country.”
“I know. I know. I just saw the distinct features. It had the coat, the muzzle, the size. If I hadn’t been so close to it, I would think I was seeing things.”
There was silence on the other line then he cleared his throat.
“Elizabeth we have high hopes for this student exchange program. I would suggest you ensure that you keep up your reading and consistently refresh your
basic
knowledge as you go along, okay?”
“Will do, sir. Another question though.”
“Go ahead.”
Elizabeth took a deep breath, touching her hair.
“What are your thoughts on—Gris Street?”
“The voodoo shops?”
“Well, I think they use bear body parts in spells and stuff. Should we be investigating that? I mean how are their practices regulated?”
He went quiet.
“It’s—it’s a tough call. I’ve lived here for ten years and people don’t like to talk about it, especially to criticize. As a conservationist, I worry that certain things may not be above board, but I—I don’t know what the right answer is. You are more than welcome to interview them, respectfully of course, if you think it will strengthen your conservation thesis’s argument. Just be careful, okay?”
“Yes, sir. I understand.”
“What is your position, by the way? I don’t seem to have a title for your thesis yet?”
Elizabeth pursed her lips and threw her head back. Truthfully, she did not know yet.
“I’m still working on it. I know. I know.”
She heard him let out a long sigh on the line and her stomach sank.
“I have done some of my best work at the last minute so I won’t knock you. But, and this is a huge but, you need to have something concrete on my desk in the next two weeks. No excuses, understood.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“Good. I’ll be watching my email for your report from yesterday’s observations.”
The call ended and Elizabeth tossed her cell phone on the twin bed. Thankfully, her roommate was gone, so she could mope in silence. She had so many questions. She skimmed her report, making sure there were no signs of voodoo, magic,
werebears
or anything that would threaten her credibility and sent the email.
Chapter 6
After sending the report and getting a response from Dr. Phillips, Elizabeth decided to test out Gris Street again. It was actually a dry day for once so she left the dorm wearing just her white tank top and jeans, and a backpack filled with a camera, notebook, and tape recorder. Hopefully, the shop keeper would be open to a few more questions.
A cab dropped her off in the restaurant district of the French quarter about a city block away from the voodoo shops.
“Sorry, lady. I don’t go in there. Just follow the sidewalk. Can’t miss it,” said the cab driver, reaching for the cash.
Elizabeth handed him the wrinkled twenty-dollar bill and rolled her eyes.
“Thanks anyways,” she said, climbing out of the car.
As luck would have it, he actually dropped her off in front of PJ’s restaurant. Her stomach had the familiar tickle of butterflies as she thought about Jake. As she stared into the glass, she saw a tall blond man, looking back at her. She was startled as he waved at her. She waved back. He held up one finger like he was asking her to wait. Elizabeth tilted her head in confusion, but waited for the familiar ringing of the restaurant’s bell.
“Hi,” the stranger said, walking out to greet her.
Elizabeth could not believe the odds of meeting two of the hottest guys she had ever seen in her life in just twenty-four hours.
“Um, hi. Do I know you?” Elizabeth asked, gripping the straps of her ruddy, black backpack.
“Um, yes and no,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.
“I just wanted to apologize for scaring you yesterday. Jake told me that you know about us.”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened and then she laughed loudly. So this was Chris. Jake and Chris were clearly having some fun at her expense.
“Okay. Wow, you guys are some pretty sick bastards. I have work to do. I don’t know who this little trick works on, but I don’t have time for it,” Elizabeth said, turning to leave.
She felt him touch her arm.
“Wait, please. What do you think we’re trying to do exactly?” Chris asked, releasing her arm.
Elizabeth scoffed and turned back to face him.
“Do you both really, and I mean really, expect me to believe you are bears?”
Chris tilted his head at her in confusion.
“Well, yes. I was the grizzly. Jake is a Louisiana black bear. We come down here every year for Mardi Gras. He said he told you this.”
“Well, nice try.”
Elizabeth looked up to see Jake in the same grey hoodie as yesterday, walking out of PJ’s.
“Hey Elizabeth,” Jake said with a weak wave.
“Oh God. Look, I think you two need some help or maybe just a more gullible girl.”
“We can show you,” Jake said, shrugging his shoulders like it was the most sensible comment in the world.
Chris jerked his head to look at him and a scowl was forming on Chris’ tanned face.
“Jake, I don’t think that’s a good idea, man,” Chris said.
“Um, yea, because you can’t do it. Anyway I have a date with a voodoo shop so nice knowing you two,” Elizabeth said laughing.
“Wait, are you seriously going into Gris Street alone?” asked Chris, pointing towards Gris Street.
“Yes, why? I need to do an interview on the bear parts used in these weirdo practices,” Elizabeth asked, stiffening.
Jake seemed to grow pale and he exchanged a nervous glance with Chris who was stone-faced with anger.
“Which shop?” Chris asked.
“The mischief one. I can’t remember the exact name, but I know it’s at the far end,” Elizabeth said.
Jake slapped his forehead with his palm and shook his head. Chris balled up his fists at his side.
“You literally picked the worst shop. You’re going to talk to Ursula, madam voodoo herself. Are you insane?” Jake asked.
“No. I just saw bear teeth and other stuff in that shop. I don’t even know who Ursula is,” Elizabeth said.
“She owns the shop. We can’t let you go there,” Chris said flatly.
“Try and stop me,” Elizabeth said, taking off down the sidewalk.
She heard footsteps behind her and when she looked over her shoulder, Chris and Jake were walking right behind her.
“She will kill you if you say one thing to piss her off, you know? Either we follow you all day or you go home,” Chris said.
“Or you can just come to Mardi Gras with us next week,” Jake said in a singsong voice.
Elizabeth did not turn around. Her cheeks felt hot and her insides were churning with two conflicting feelings. On one hand she wanted to be left alone so she could get her thesis completed and on the other she was elated to be chased by two gorgeous men.
“Fine. I’ll go with you if you show me that you can turn into a bear and stay out of my way when I interview this Ursula, deal?” Elizabeth said, extending her hand.
“Counter offer. I show you and when you see that we are shape shifters, I get a kiss—on the mouth,” Jake said, smirking at her.
“What about the voodoo shop?” Elizabeth asked. The thought of kissing Jake, even if he was a little crazy, was making her feel a tightness in her groin and an unmistakable wetness between her legs.
“We both come inside with you,” Chris said still stone-faced.
“Deal,” Elizabeth said, nodding.
She turned and walked down the sidewalk, flanked by Chris on her left and Jake on her right side. She stole a quick glance at Chris’ face, mentally tracing the outline of his square jaw. Chris was serious which Elizabeth liked. He did not want a kiss like Jake did, but given the circumstances, she would not mind testing out if he could exert any other emotion besides melancholic boredom.