Wild Country
Page 33
“I’ll take them with me and see if I can figure out what she was trying to tell us.” Jana rose and gathered up the magazine and picture book.
“Should we take her to the doctor?” Evan asked. “The cuts aren’t deep, but there are several of them on each hand.”
Jana hesitated. She wasn’t an expert. Who was when it came to the cassandra sangue? But she was the human part of the law here. “I’ll ask one of the doctors to make a house call. I think the fewer people who see Maddie today, the better.” She hesitated. “You need to discover what she used to make the cuts before the other children find it. Or ask Kane to sniff around the room and find it.” Virgil was right here and could do the sniffing, but she needed the sheriff and that had to be a priority.
Evan nodded, but she wasn’t sure he’d heard her or understood what she’d said.
She left the house, almost smacking Virgil with the screen door in her haste to get home and finish dressing for work. She crossed the street with the Wolf trotting at her side. “You need to contact Tolya, tell him we need to meet. It’s urgent. Kane should go over to Maddie’s house and see if he can find what she used to cut herself. If it has any blood on it, it has to be kept away from the other children.” She thought for a moment, then added, “John should come to the meeting, since he used to live in Lakeside.” He was the one individual she knew had had direct contact with a blood prophet and might be able to give them more information about what they should do now.
Puddle, puddle, red red red.
Grass stained with blood where dogs had died the other day. She remembered it so easily, the ground soaking up the moisture.
Puddle, puddle, red red red.
How much blood would have to saturate the ground before it began to puddle?
She bolted up the short walk to her front door. “Call them, Virgil!”
Setting the magazine and picture book on the coffee table, she rushed to her room to retrieve her service weapon. Rushed back to the living room and fumbled with the latch on Rusty’s crate.
“Sorry, girl. Sorry. You didn’t do anything wrong. No, you didn’t. Come on, now. We have to go. You can have a treat when we get to the office, okay?”
She was heading out just as Barb returned and handed her the paper with the cryptic clues. “Close up the house when you go, okay?”
Barb nodded. “Did you shut off the coffee?”
Jana shook her head. When she reached her vehicle, John was waiting for her and Kane was limping toward Maddie’s house. She didn’t see Virgil, but he might be running toward the town square and would get there before she did.
As soon as she got Rusty settled in the cargo area, she flung herself behind the wheel, hit the lights and siren, and stepped on the gas.
“Hey!” John grumbled.
Jana growled.
It didn’t occur to her until they reached the office that nobody who could wear fur made a sound for the rest of the drive.
* * *
* * *
The howling vehicle pulled up in front of the sheriff’s office.
“Nothing subtle about her this morning, is there?” Tolya asked, watching as Jana hustled the puppy out of the cargo area.
“Wolverine,” Virgil growled softly. “Snapping orders as if . . .”
As if she were dominant, Tolya thought, finishing the sentence. “And you didn’t correct her?”
Virgil’s bared teeth were his only answer as he opened the office door.
John Wolfgard hurried into the office, then took up a position in the doorway that led to the back rooms, as if he wanted quick access to a number of rooms that had doors he could barricade against the human female.
Did this signal a temporary change in the pack hierarchy or something more serious that would require careful consideration by all the terra indigene running the town?
Rusty bolted for her crate. Safe ground. The pup’s fear of the person she usually trusted said a great deal about Jana’s state of mind—and explained Virgil’s wariness.
Jana dropped a book and a magazine on her desk, gave the puppy a treat, and finally looked at all of them. She blew out a breath and said, “Maddie cut herself this morning. Cut her hands, multiple times.” She held out a piece of paper to Tolya. “Virgil heard what she said. Barb wrote down the words. The children were looking at this book and magazine when everything . . . started. We need to figure out what Maddie saw that set her off, for her sake . . . and, I think, for ours.”
Still wary of the female pack member, John came over to stand next to Tolya and read the words.
“Let me see the book,” Virgil said, holding out a hand. He could have taken it from the desk, but he waited for Jana to hand it to him. A reassertion of dominance or prudence because none of them were certain of her right now?
“I can look at the magazine,” John offered.
“It’s time to ask Evan and Kenneth how long Maddie has been with them,” Tolya said, watching Jana. “Time to ascertain if she had any formal training before becoming part of their family.”
She nodded. “We need information from them—and we need to know everything we can about the cassandra sangue.” She looked at John. “You had experience living around a blood prophet.”
“Jackson and Grace will know more,” Virgil said as he turned the pages of the picture book. “They’re raising the Hope pup and have experience with her cutting.”
“I dealt with Meg when she came into the bookstore,” John said. “Not when she . . .” He made a slicing motion across one forearm.
“There is a human female in this book,” Virgil said. “The pups call her Grandma and she is walking a dog.” He held up the book so they could all see the picture.
“Grandma hair,” Tolya said grimly. “Jesse Walker has gray hair like the female in the picture, and she has a dog.”
“I think I found the big water.” John held up the copy of Nature! so they could all see the illustration of the Great Lakes that went across the top half of the center spread. “There’s also an article about Thaisia’s great rivers, but these lakes are the biggest water on the continent.”
“Bumpy dark.” Tolya looked at each of them. “Any thoughts about what that could mean?”
“Cave?” Virgil said.
The Wolf looked at him.
“We’re going to die, aren’t we?” Jana whispered. She looked at Tolya. “Humans. Not the terra indigene. Something is going to happen somewhere in the Great Lakes area, and because it happens, we’re all going to die.”
Tolya had never seen a human who still had blood flowing through her veins look so alarmingly pale.
Virgil snapped, “Stop it. You’re an enforcer, not some mewling, useless human.”
“I—” Jana turned on the Wolf, then stopped.
Apparently the verbal nip by her boss was as effective as an actual bite to get her brain to start thinking again. A good thing for all of them to know about the human deputy.
“I will call Jesse Walker,” Tolya said. “She may have some insights. Virgil? If you could call Jackson Wolfgard and find out if Hope Wolfsong has been . . . itchy . . . this morning?”
“Should we alert the Lakeside Courtyard?” John asked.
“And tell them what?” Tolya replied. “An untested, and probably untrained, sweet blood spoke prophecy this morning and one of the images might mean something will happen in or around the Great Lakes. That ‘something’ might happen in Lakeside or Shikago or any of the other human-controlled cities that still exist on the shores of those lakes—or even happen in one of the terra indigene communities around those lakes. Another clue seems pointed to a female who lives in Prairie Gold, which is here.” He understood the need to do something, anything, but . . . “We don’t
know enough. Maddie is not Meg Corbyn or Hope Wolfsong. If we send out a warning without sufficient parameters, we could begin the very thing that will end in bloodshed. Deputy Jana is correct; if we stir up the terra indigene, which would include the Elementals and Elders, then humans will be the ones who will die.”
“So we do nothing?” Jana asked.
“We keep watch,” Virgil replied. “Tolya and I will make the phone calls; then I’ll patrol the business district. You will take the vehicle and patrol the rest of the town, driving as if this was a normal activity, not howling down the streets.”
Jana made a face at him.
“Why? Not why have Garnet—I agree it would be smart to have someone in the office, especially today—but why have Yuri go with me? He’s not a cop.”
“He is Sanguinati,” Tolya said softly. “He is Other.” He paused, then added, “He is a predator, Jana Paniccia, and if the trouble begins here, which is a possibility, you should not be driving close to the border of the wild country without a predator riding with you.”
Tolya waited until Jana headed out to patrol and John left to open the bookstore.
“You’re hoping the Maddie pup is wrong,” Virgil said.
Tolya studied the Wolf. “Aren’t you?”
A big mistake could cleanse all the humans from the continent of Thaisia—maybe even the whole world. But “all” would include the Becky girl . . . and Barb Debany . . . and the wolverine. Did he want that now?
“Should we warn Simon Wolfgard?” he asked.
“Let’s talk to Jesse Walker and Jackson first,” Tolya replied. “Let’s see if either of them can provide some structure to vague images.”
Tolya walked across the square at a brisk pace but not at a speed that would alarm the humans. As he walked, he gave his instructions to Yuri Sanguinati—and made his request to Garnet Ravengard, who was delighted to have the opportunity to answer the telephone and hear information before anyone else.
When he reached his office, he closed the door and made his call to Jesse Walker.
* * *
* * *
Jesse said nothing while Tolya explained the reason for the early morning call. She said nothing after he stopped talking. When a minute of silence filled the phone line, Tolya asked, “What are you feeling?”
Good question.
Whatever was going to happen, it wasn’t going to happen in Prairie Gold. Not initially. Which meant this wasn’t where she needed to be.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” she said.
“You’re coming to Bennett?” Tolya sounded surprised. “I can call you with updates.”
“No. I need to be there.” The certainty settled around her. He didn’t realize it yet—and she couldn’t explain it—but she had a strong feeling that Tolya would need her in Bennett today.
“I will ask Anya to reserve a room for you.”
“Tell her I’m bringing the puppy.”
A sound that might have been a laugh. “If any guests protest about having a pet in the hotel, we’ll tell them the puppy is terra indigene. Most humans wouldn’t know the difference, and that will end any discussion.”
Was he trying to lighten the mood or could he laugh about a puppy while watching a potential disaster take shape on the horizon?
“I’ll be there.” Jesse hung up. Throwing a shawl over the tank top she wore at night, she selected a white flag from the umbrella stand near her back door. Stepping outside far enough to be easily seen, she waved the flag.
Tobias had told her about the instruction to send up a flare if help was needed. This was a similar system that she had already worked out with the terra indigene living in the Prairie Gold settlement. A red flag meant danger, trouble, attack. White meant she needed to get a message to the settlement or, specifically, to Morgan and Chase. Or sometimes Rachel Wolfgard since she couldn’t call the girl if something changed at the store.
The Hawk seemed to drop out of the sky and land a few feet away.
“Could you take a message to Rachel Wolfgard?” Jesse asked. “Tell her to stay home today. I’m not going to open the store. I have to go to Bennett.” She thought of the one thing that might have the juvenile Wolf ignoring her instructions. “And tell Rachel that I took Cory-Cutie with me.”
She gave the puppy a handful of kibble to gobble while she got dressed and packed a bag for the puppy, an overnight bag for herself, and everything else she thought she might need.
The third time she reached for the phone, she gave in and called the ranch. Tobias was already out with the men, which she expected.
“Ellen, it’s Jesse.”
A hesitation. “Yes?”
The hesitation told Jesse that Ellen felt something too—something too subtle to put into words. Yet. “Be watchful today.”
“Of anything particular?”
Anything. Everything. “I don’t know. I’m on my way to Bennett. I closed the store.” The only time she closed the store was for an emergency.
“I see.” Ellen, being another Intuit and a friend, would understand the messages under the words. “Call me when you get to Bennett. Tobias will worry.”
Jesse snorted. Ellen always said that when she was worried. “I’ll call.”
After settling the puppy in the traveling crate, Jesse stopped at the gas station to fill her tank and then headed to Bennett at a reckless speed.
* * *
* * *
“Jackson and Grace are out hunting with the pack,” the male voice said. “Should we find him?”
Virgil hesitated. “Where is the Hope pup?”
“Probably still at the den. She will be going to her lessons soon.”
“She’ll be watched? Will be with someone who will recognize . . . signs?”
“You think there will be signs?”
“Yes.” Maybe. Bennett’s prophet pup was untrained and untested. All her cutting had told them was that something was going to happen somewhere.
The male sucked in a breath. “We’ll make sure she is watched. And we’ll tell Jackson. The pack may need to hunt without him.”
Virgil hesitated again. Couldn’t depend on the warning given by the Maddie pup but couldn’t ignore it either. “No reason to summon Jackson unless the Hope pup starts drawing pictures.”
“We’ll keep watch.”
Virgil hung up.
We are here, he thought. We are here.
But where was the danger? And would any of them recognize it in time?
* * *
* * *
Barb fed the dogs and cats and birds. She waved at people and gave everyone a big, big smile as she walked around the town square, stopping at Move ’Em Out to buy a book she didn’t want, lingering over a cold coffee and a breakfast sandwich at the diner. She wasn’t fooling anyone. She saw that truth in the rictus smiles the Intuits offered in response to hers. They didn’t know that a blood prophet had cut herself that morning, didn’t understand feeling weighed down by a storm on the horizon, but they knew something was up when none of the terra indigene except the Sanguinati reported for work. The Others were flying around as they monitored the town, paying special attention to the roads and the railway station in a way that made the humans realize how easily the town could become a prison.
But Barb, who knew a little more than anyone else, walked around the square and sm
iled, and the people she saw pretended it was a normal day while they watched the Others, looked toward the Elder Hills—and waited for something they couldn’t see.
* * *
* * *
After dropping her bags in her hotel room, Jesse headed for the mayor’s office to meet with Tolya. When she first stepped out of the hotel, no one noticed her and Cory beyond a smile for the puppy and a “Good morning” to her—words that held too much anxiety to be sincere. Then . . .
She told herself there was no reason to feel embarrassed when all the people walking within sight of them froze in place because Cory started yapping at the Wolf who approached them. Having the puppy’s butt parked on her boot while doing all the yapping? That qualified as ridiculous.
“Stop,” Jesse said firmly. Like that was going to have an effect. She couldn’t even make the “no cookies” threat she used to use on Tobias when he wouldn’t settle down, because all the puppy would hear was “cookie” and that would provoke a different kind of frenzied excitement.
Why did children, regardless of species, learn the word “cookie” before words like “stop” and “no”?
After listening to the yapping for a minute, Virgil simply lifted his head and howled.
The bus and a couple of cars pulled to the curb as if responding to a siren.
Jesse sighed. Acting victorious, Cory pranced over to sniff Virgil, who gave the pup licks of praise. Or was he trying to smooth down some sticky-up fur? Who knew?
Glad Tobias wasn’t there to make some smart comment about the similarities between Wolves and mothers when it came to sticky-up hair, Jesse said, “I’m on my way to talk to Tolya.”
No warning. Virgil lunged at her, his teeth closing on the leash inches below her hand. He looked at her and growled softly.
Jesse let go of the leash. “I guess you’re taking Cory for a walk.”
“Roo.”
She watched Wolf and puppy trot across the street and into the grass on the square.