“There’s no doubt Landon hates him,” I agreed. “That doesn’t mean he’s not a douche.”
“He threatened to arrest us the day of the crash,” Thistle explained. “He also has the woods surrounding Potter’s Field closed off. We can’t get out there, but Bay and Landon managed to get fairly close last night.”
My father’s expressive face couldn’t mask his surprise. “Wait ... you and Landon snuck out there together? Isn’t he part of the investigation?”
“Yes and no,” I hedged. “Agent Gibson is keeping him out of the loop. Landon has orders to follow, but he’s not happy about it.”
“Probably because he doesn’t like keeping anything from you.”
“That’s part of it,” I agreed. “The other part is that he’s used to being in charge and doesn’t take kindly to others ordering him around.”
“He likes it when Bay orders him around,” Thistle corrected. “She has to wear black leather and carry a whip when she does it.”
As usual, Thistle didn’t realize she took it a step too far until my father started coughing into his hand, his cheeks turning a bright red.
“Nice.” I glared daggers at Thistle. “Why can’t you ever think before you speak?”
Thistle shrugged. “It’s a family thing. Even I’m not strong enough to break our genetic code. You know that.”
“Whatever.”
“Hey, don’t blame me for this.” Thistle’s temper ratcheted up a notch. “Aunt Tillie made me this way. It’s on her.”
As if on cue, Aunt Tillie picked that moment to pop up in the small sitting room off the lobby. She didn’t look out of place — even though our fathers pretty much loathed her — and she didn’t seem surprised to find us hanging out in a different inn.
“Did someone just say my name?”
Dad moved to stand and then sat again, dumbfounded. “When did you get here?”
Aunt Tillie shrugged. “I don’t know. Thirty minutes ago or so. I was in the lobby going through your books. You should charge a cleaning fee. All the other inns in the area do it. You’re leaving money on the table.”
Dad turned a set of incredulous eyes to me. “She went through our books?”
I sensed danger, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. Trying to control Aunt Tillie was like herding cats inside a room made of tuna. “She’s not wrong about the cleaning fee. That’s the way we do it at The Overlook.”
Dad pressed the tip of his tongue to his top lip as he collected himself. “I see.”
“I’ve been looking all over for you three.” Aunt Tillie shifted her attention to me, ignoring the obvious fury pooling around my father. “We need to talk about strategy.”
That sounded like a terrible idea.
“Why would we want to strategize with you?” Thistle challenged, taking the words out of my mouth. “If we team up with you, we’ll end up in jail.”
“Whatever, mouth.” Aunt Tillie flicked Thistle’s ear before grabbing an extra chair from next to the wall and pushing it between Warren and me. She didn’t bother asking if she could join us, instead simply forcing the situation, which was her way. “We need to talk about what we’re going to do.”
“I’m almost afraid to ask,” Teddy said nervously. “What do you want them to do?”
“Help me find the aliens, of course,” Aunt Tillie replied without hesitation. “I can’t do it without a little bit of help, even though that’s hard to admit. There’s too much ground to cover.”
I didn’t miss the weighted look Teddy shot my father. “Aliens?”
“Just ignore her.” Dad made a dismissive motion with his hand. “It’s some new bit they’ve developed.”
I found my anger building. “We don’t do bits.”
“Absolutely not,” Aunt Tillie agreed, grabbing an empty teacup from the center of the table. “Everything we do is deathly serious. The fate of the world often lies in our hands, so we can’t waste time doing bits.”
“Oh, well, that’s not dramatic or anything.” Thistle rolled her eyes. “Speaking of the aliens, though, we’re still leaning toward the drone theory.”
“Maybe, but you’re warming to the alien idea,” Aunt Tillie countered. “I know you guys. You haven’t been able to get it out of your heads. That’s why you’re here.”
“And why are we here?” I asked, playing for time. Admitting Aunt Tillie was right seemed a bad idea, which meant I had to find a way to shut her down before she embarrassed us.
“You’re here because that group of alien investigators is here,” Aunt Tillie replied, matter-of-fact. “They’re here because they understand the sort of situation we’re dealing with.”
Teddy leaned forward to stare directly into Aunt Tillie’s eyes. “And what situation is that?”
“We have an Invasion of the Body Snatchers situation,” Aunt Tillie explained. “To be precise, that’s a long title. I was thinking of switching it to The Faculty. That’s much more streamlined and basically the same story.”
I pressed the heel of my hand to my forehead. “I think they get the general gist.”
“Speak for yourself,” Dad challenged. “I don’t understand any of this. I’m particularly confused about the part where you guys are talking about aliens as if they’re real.”
Aunt Tillie’s glare was withering. “Of course they’re real, Jack. Aliens have been among us for years. How else do you explain the Kardashians? Oh, and the Baldwins. Oh, and all those people on those home renovation shows Clove insists on watching.”
Now it was my turn to be confused. “You think the home renovation people are aliens?”
“Who else would build a fireplace out of pipe cleaners?”
“I’m pretty sure that never happened,” Clove said.
“Of course it did. Would I make something like that up?”
“Yes,” Clove, Thistle and I answered in unison.
“Pfft.” Aunt Tillie rolled her eyes. “I’m telling you, aliens are real and the invasion is finally happening. What do you think I’ve been doing the last few days? I’m tracking their movements.”
That sounded unlikely. Sure, it was possible Aunt Tillie got out a map and circled areas on it. Tracking actual aliens, though, was something else entirely.
“And what did you find while tracking them?” Warren asked finally.
“They’re taking over the area.” Aunt Tillie was grim. “We’re going to need help to end this here. Hemlock Cove is ground zero. We can’t let it spread.”
Dad sipped his coffee for a beat before sliding his eyes to me. “Have I mentioned I love your visits? We really should do this more often.”
I grinned. “You knew stuff like this was going to happen when you moved back. You can’t blame us.”
“Oh, I can blame you. This is ... unbelievable.”
“Just wait until Aunt Tillie meets your guests,” Thistle interjected. “It’s only going to get worse.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
THE ALIEN HUNTERS TURNED out to be a trio of men — maybe teenagers, they looked young enough — wearing expensive boots, cargo pants and heavy flannel shirts. One of them had long hair; the other two boasted enough product to make eighties mousse fans jealous.
“This is Morgan Johnson, Ryan Blake and Jace Penfield.” Dad’s smile was tight as he made introductions around the dining room table. “Gentlemen, these are our daughters Bay, Clove and Thistle.”
The men, who were definitely younger than us, brightened considerably as they sat at the table.
“It’s nice to make your acquaintance.” Jace sat next to me and extended his hand. “We had no idea that the Dragonfly boasted such lovely accessories.”
The statement was odd ... in more ways than one. “Thank you.” I briefly shook Jace’s hand before Aunt Tillie barreled between us and took the chair Jace was selecting.
“I’m Tillie Winchester,” she announced, grabbing a sandwich from the middle of the table. “I’ll be leading the gro
up today.”
I watched as Jace curiously eyed Aunt Tillie. “I’m sorry, but ... what?”
“I’ll be leading the group,” Aunt Tillie repeated as she kicked my calf under the table. “I can’t reach the au jus sauce. I need some.”
I could’ve told her to figure a way to get the dipping sauce herself, but that seemed like a recipe for disaster. “Hold on.” I leaned over and ladled some of the brown juice into a small bowl. “Is that enough?”
“For now.” Aunt Tillie immediately dipped her sandwich into the juice before continuing. “I think we should eat and then get going. We’re going to lose the light if we’re not careful. It’s spring, but Daylight Savings doesn’t arrive until next weekend, so it still gets dark early.”
I had to give him credit. Jace was obviously confused by Aunt Tillie’s bossy nature, but he didn’t react out of anger or annoyance. “You want to go with us while we conduct our initial search?” he asked finally.
“No, I want to take you with us while we conduct our third search,” Aunt Tillie corrected. “We’re ahead of you on this one. You should be happy to have our expertise.”
“Um ... .” Jace looked to me for help.
“We saw your blog thing on the internet,” I explained, hoping to steer the conversation to a safer topic. “You wrote that you were staying at the Dragonfly. That was convenient because our fathers own it. We’ve been investigating the scene of the crash a bit, too.”
“It’s my understanding that the FBI is keeping the site closed off,” Morgan interjected. He wore wire-rimmed glasses that made him look smart, which seemed to be exactly what he was going for. “We were told we wouldn’t be able to get close to the site.”
“It’s not easy,” I agreed, “but it’s not impossible. They’ve been conducting grid searches day and night. We can’t get to the exact spot. We can get close enough to hide in the woods and watch them.”
“Really?” Morgan was understandably intrigued. “You’ve made it out there to spy?”
I nodded. “Twice. I went yesterday morning and then again in the middle of the night.”
Dad’s eyes flashed. “You walked through the woods in the middle of the night? Are you crazy?”
I was getting sick and tired of hearing that question. “I don’t think ‘crazy’ is the appropriate word.”
“What word would you use?” Dad didn’t back down. “I know that Clove and Thistle were drunk last night. You told me that. That means you went by yourself.”
“Not exactly.” I squirmed in my seat. “My roommate went with me. I believe I mentioned that earlier. You must have missed that part.”
Dad scrubbed at his forehead. “Your roommate. You mean ... .” He caught on at the exact right moment and refrained from saying Landon’s name. It wasn’t that I thought the alien hunters were bad guys — or likely to cause trouble, for that matter — but I didn’t want to put Landon’s job on the line. If word got out that he was sneaking through the woods with me to spy on his own people, it wouldn’t end well.
“It doesn’t matter.” I was firm as I doused my fries with ketchup. “I wasn’t alone. That’s the important thing.”
“I guess.” Dad didn’t look convinced, but he wisely dropped the subject.
“What did you see out there?” Ryan asked. “I mean ... if they were working in the middle of the night, they must have been doing something important.”
I shrugged, noncommittal. “I don’t know what they were doing. It didn’t look different from what I saw them doing in the afternoon. They were conducting grid searches.”
“I’m not familiar with grid searches,” Teddy interjected. “What are they?”
“It’s when you take a group of people and space them several feet apart,” I explained. “They were all dressed in protective clothing and staring at the ground. I have no idea what they were looking for. They didn’t find it during the day, though, which is why the search continued into the night.”
“What about wreckage?” Morgan pulled a small notebook from his pocket and started jotting notes. “What did the wreckage look like?”
“I never saw any wreckage.”
“But ... how is that possible?”
“The day of the crash, the smoke was unbelievable,” I explained, looking to Thistle and Clove for help. “Tell them.”
“She’s right,” Clove volunteered. “You couldn’t see anything but black smoke for miles. It was too thick to see what actually crashed.”
“And then the Feds showed up and ordered us away,” Thistle added. “They cleared out the area quickly. They even shut down the highway on the far side to make sure people didn’t get close enough to see anything.”
“They reacted fast,” Jace mused. “That doesn’t surprise me, but how they knew where the crash would occur is fairly mind-boggling. They must have been tracking the vessel.”
“The space vessel?” Dad asked, disdain evident.
Clearly used to nonbelievers, Jace merely shrugged. “Yes.”
“What about when you went back to the scene?” Morgan prodded. “It’s my understanding that agents were positioned so no one could approach.”
“That’s true, but I’m more familiar with the area, so I knew a way to get near the property,” I explained. “I’m sure they thought the water would serve as a barrier, but I know a way across the water that’s largely hidden.”
“Really?” Morgan’s eyes flashed with delight. “Could you show us?”
“Maybe.” I glanced between faces. “What will you do if I get you out there?”
“We have equipment,” Jace replied. “We can scan for radioactivity. We also know the sort of tracks to look for.”
“Alien tracks?” Dad challenged. “Are you saying you’ve seen alien footprints before?”
“We have.” Jace refused to rise to Dad’s rather obvious bait. “If something is out there, we’ll be able to find proof quickly.”
“You can’t get too close to the site,” I warned. “They’ll see you. I can get you into the woods near the site. If you have the right equipment — maybe binoculars or something — you’ll have a better chance at seeing what they’re up to.”
“We have all of that.” Jace’s smile was sweet ... and maybe a bit flirty. I couldn’t be sure because he was so much younger than me. “It seems this was a lucky meeting of the minds.”
“That’s exactly what I said.” Aunt Tillie had finished her sandwich. Juice dripped from her chin. “If you guys had listened to me fifteen minutes ago, we’d already be on our way.”
Ryan’s expression was dubious when it landed on Aunt Tillie. “Ma’am, are you sure you want to come with us? The woods are dangerous and you’re ... old.”
Aunt Tillie narrowed her eyes to dangerous slits. “Who are you calling old?”
Uh-oh. I rested a hand on Aunt Tillie’s forearm to get her attention. “I think everyone is old to them.” I kept my voice low. “I’m sure they think I’m old, too.”
“You are old,” Aunt Tillie shot back. “I’m in my prime.”
“Just ... don’t alienate them. They might be able to help us.”
“Fine.” Aunt Tillie rolled her eyes. “But if they keep calling me old I’ll curse their balls to turn blue and shrivel up. Then we’ll see who’s old.”
“Yes, well, that sounds delightful.” I rolled my neck and cringed when I found Dad staring at me. “What? Everything will be fine. You have nothing to worry about.”
“I don’t want you to go,” Dad said. “I think it’s a mistake.”
“Well, you can’t stop us.”
“And what if I call Chief Terry and Landon? Will that stop you?”
Wait ... was he threatening me? “I can’t believe you just said that.”
Dad refused to back down. “I’ll do what it takes to protect you. This is a terrible idea.”
I spoke before I thought better of it. “That’s something Mom would do.”
Dad’s eyes filled with fire. “That
won’t stop me from calling Chief Terry. I’ll do what I think is right.”
“Well, great,” Aunt Tillie drawled. “You’ve turned into a tattletale, Jack. I hope you’re proud of yourself.”
“Wipe your mouth, Tillie,” Dad barked, handing her a napkin. “You’ve got food all down the front of your shirt.”
“That’s natural camouflage for the woods.” Aunt Tillie tapped the side of her head. “I’m always thinking. You should try it.”
Dad didn’t bother to hide his glare. “I’m calling Chief Terry.”
“Fine.” I was resigned. “That still won’t stop us.”
“We’ll just see about that.”
Alien Inspiration
Why would aliens come here to probe people? Seriously, you travel light years to find another planet and race, and the first thing you do is shove a doodad up their … well, you know. That makes zero sense. I think The X-Files had it wrong.
Bay trying to make sense of a movie
Twelve
She didn’t find her dreams … her dreams found her.
We took two vehicles to Hollow Creek, the alien hunters following us. When we parked, they seemed confused.
“I don’t understand.” Morgan shifted his pack as he glanced at the murky water. “Isn’t the field that way?” He pointed for emphasis. “How are we supposed to get across the water? Do you expect us to swim?”
“No.” I fobbed my car to lock it, although it seemed unnecessary given our location. “We’re going to walk across the water.”
“Walk?” Jace appeared at my elbow, his smile even flirtier than when I last saw him at the Dragonfly. He was starting to make me uncomfortable. “Are you telling me you can walk on water? I’m not saying I doubt you or anything. I guess if anyone could do it, it would be you.”
Oh, geez. I could feel Thistle’s eyes on me — and I already knew the expression I would see there should I look — so I remained focused on the water. “It’s an optical illusion. There are spots so shallow you can walk across. You just have to know the trail.”
“And you know the trail?” Ryan queried.
Close Encounters of the Witchy Kind (A Wicked Witches of the Midwest Fantasy Book 6) Page 11
