Of course taking pictures was difficult. If more had gathered when he took the picture, the camera probably would have exploded. Peripix came from the fae lands, and were magical enough to cause problems with technology, though they seemed to lack the usual antipathy which should have kept them away from such objects.
The newspaper reported at least five already in captivity, and someone spotted dozens running along a trail near Bear Lake.
"How the hell did so many peripix get through?"
And then I knew exactly how they'd arrived. I closed my eyes as I remembered the small holes I'd closed in The Edge. I had assumed they'd been made at the same time as the trolls' hole to this world. Now I wondered if they hadn't been there for a day or more already, giving them time to spread. There would have been no way to tell, and I didn't berate myself for making the mistake. I needed to get rid of them quickly, though.
Peripix are cute. They're kind of golden furred, slightly larger and rounder than the local chipmunks, with a powder-puff tail and huge dark eyes. They survive in somewhat the same sort of ecological niche as chipmunks. Unfortunately, they carried a hint of magic with them and they got into everything.
I suddenly understood those lines of magic I'd felt in town, which must have been peripix wandering the streets. Soon people would have inexplicable power outages soon. Cars would fail to start. Anywhere a peripix group decided to nest, technology would soon fail.
I dropped my head on the table and pounded it a couple times.
"That bad, huh?" Cato asked, leaping onto the table and settling on the paper. Just as well I didn't want to see any more.
"Yeah, that bad. Worse than that bad. Not as bad as the trolls in some ways, and worse in others. Peripix are in the area and that means there are going to be a lot of problems and power outages before too long."
"What can we do?" he asked, sounding unexpectedly worried. "If the fridge died --"
I should have known he was worried about food. "You and I are safe from losing power. The peripix could nest here without any trouble since I don't really use technology to run the house. This is going to be a problem elsewhere in town. And the humans are probably going to eventually put one and one together and realize the failing of technology has to do with the little guys. Eventually they'll even link them to magic."
"I don't care for the sounds of that," Cato admitted. "If technology fails, we won't get any cans of tuna, will we?"
I grinned. "Yeah, lack of tuna would be a problem."
"What can I do?"
"I don't think --" I stopped and reconsidered. "Actually, there is something you can do. You and any other cats you can get in on this. I want you to hunt peripix." I gave him a mental image of the creatures. He could find one and show them to the others. "Bring them here and I'll send them across to the fae land. Cato, kill them only if you absolutely have to. Don't let them get away."
With those orders, he knew how serious this situation had become. I never give him permission to kill when he does work for me. Oh, I know cats are predators and all, and I don't interfere in most cases. However, I'm fae and we have a link to life, which influences when or why we kill things.
Cato gave a distracted nod, leapt down from the table and headed for the kitty door.
I finally went to the sofa and forced myself to relax. I set my internal timer for fifteen minutes and used a spell to make those few minutes feel as though I slept for eight hours.
My nightmares featured a full array of trolls, peripix and specters. And Aletta. I awoke with a start when the spell's metaphorical alarm clock went off, and I felt physically better, though no less worried.
David would show soon. I realized I desperately needed to get some sweeping done before I also faced an invasion of dust bunnies.
And yes, I mean dust bunnies in a quite literal sense. Things happen around fae who live on this side. The magic we natural generate affects things a bit oddly sometimes. If the dust bunnies gather enough fluff, they come alive. They also get very smart, which makes them difficult to catch.
Unfortunately they're really damned cute. I even found Cato sleeping with a couple a few months ago. He'd been embarrassed, too -- and quite upset when I took them away. He thought I was going to kill them.
Instead I opened a tiny door to fae and booted them through to an area where others help resettle them. They have their own island now, filled with dust bunnies and dust bunny toys. The island has become a popular place to visit.
My father recently mentioned a growing fear of a dust bunny uprising and maybe a war . . . and you know -- some things are better left unconsidered. I swept quickly and still found two small ones. I caught them after a merry chase through the house with Shakespeare shouting -- well, I don't know if he shouted to encourage me or them. Eventually I gathered both in my hands and held on, soothing the poor panting things.
"I'm going to put you in a safe place," I told one. Dark eyes peered from white fluff. "You'll have much more fun there rather than in this house."
I don't know if the dust bunnies understood me, though they stopped fighting. I went to the backyard and opened the door into a holding cell I made when The Edge began acting up. I'd added the stuff they play with, and I made certain it stays warm and bright. I dropped them in. As soon as The Edge settled I'd send them off to the island.
I realized this would be a great place to drop the peripix as well. I made a second compartment and set the magic to make certain the peripix went one way and the dust bunnies the other. I made the peripix holding cell larger, stocked the place with food, light, and good nesting areas. I didn't want the little guys upset; I just didn't want them in this world. I pulled the opening down to the ground level and placed another spell so mice or bugs couldn't accidentally fall through. I'd show the spot to Cato and the others, and they could drop their catches there.
Not bad at all, I thought.
I could hear a car nearing. I brushed a hand through my hair and headed around the side of the house.
"Ready to go?" David asked, plainly excited.
"Let me go get my bag and lock the house. You can put your stuff in my car."
"Great!"
I enjoy being with people who are enthusiastic about their work, especially when the work includes going off into the wilds and wandering around nature. I grabbed my bag and a jacket and jogged down the path to the car as he shoved his own equipment in the back seat.
"Looks like you had a good night's rest," he said as we pulled away.
I managed to catch the hysterical laugh before it escaped. "I did well. And you?"
"Woke up a couple times feeling odd and disorientated. I slept well before and after each time, though. Did you happen to see the morning paper?"
"The chipmunk-like creatures? Oh yeah." We passed Mrs. Hale's home. Two cats sat in the yard today. They didn't turn my way.
"I think this is so fantastic, finding something new, right here in our own world."
"Fantastic, yes," I agreed and still somehow grinned. "We're going to be in the area today. You might see one or two."
"Wonderful!"
"We'll grab a quick breakfast and a package lunch from the Bear Camp. They make lunches for me all the time."
We found the café already half full of locals. People waved greetings to me as we took a spot by the window. Dawn grew as a thin line of grey around the buildings outside.
Lily Gibson, already dressed for work, arrived as we finished the pancakes and coffee. She ordered a cup of coffee, lunch for later, and pulled a chair over to our table when I gave her the nod. She wouldn't have intruded otherwise.
"Be careful today," she said and paused as she sipped her coffee. "The animals are still acting oddly. We also found two dead deer and three dead elk, and we don't know what killed them. We're lucky this isn't the height of the tourist season."
"Where do you find the animals?" I asked.
"Down by Moraine Park near the Cub Lake Trailhead." She sipped and shook her
head then glanced at my companion. "You still have your tranquilizer gun?"
"Yes," David said.
"Good. Don't take chances. Whatever killed those animals must be big, and there may be more than one. We couldn't find a single clear print, though, so we don't know. I hate this crap. We'll have everyone in the area shooting at any cat, wolf, or bear they see."
Trolls could have done the killings . . . though the trolls last night couldn't have gotten all the way to Moraine Park and returned before I got there. Besides, they'd been groggy. I pretty much knew when they came through.
Other trolls? The thought worried me -- the idea of trolls, fully awake, and loose in the park. There could have been others. I didn't think to look for prints.
Idiot.
I tried to pay attention to the conversation. Lily and David discussed various tranquilizer guns and what kind of sedation to use for what animals. I left them to their conversation and surreptitiously did a magical check of the area.
I immediately found trails of peripix in the street. I used my magic to send them scurrying away. I didn't want a power outage during breakfast. With a small sigh I realized I would be hunting tonight.
"I don't know what we're going to do," Lily admitted. "We might get some trackers in and see if we can hunt them down. Do you think your cousin might be available, Kat?"
"Yeah, probably." I nodded.
"I assume you're not talking about Aletta, right?" David asked with a little smirk.
"Hell, you know Aletta Borders?" Lily asked, her eyes gone wide.
"She showed up at dinner here last night," I said.
"Here?" She raised both eyebrows glancing around the room. I tried very hard not to laugh. Lily had met Aletta once and she'd obviously left a lasting impression. "I really didn't think this was her kind of place."
"Yeah, well, if we don't get moving, I fear she might show up --"
Both Lily and David got instantly to their feet.
You know, you can't ask for a better reaction from your friends. I was in a much better mood as we left the place. David carried our box with lunch to the car, and Lily waved and went to her car . . . which wouldn't start. I saw a peripix scampering off into the shadows, and as much as I would have loved to hunt the beast down, I offered to take Lily to the park entrance where she worked, instead.
"Thanks. I know Jim won't mind if I'm late. Still, with everything so strange, I'd rather be there early. Did I mention the weather problem?" she asked, as David slipped into the back with his equipment.
"No." I winced knowing this wouldn't be good.
"Yeah -- more trouble. We have an unusually late cold front pulling down over the Rockies. We got a warning about the storms late last night. The weather systems are completely screwed up this year."
Magic will affect weather, especially when something as powerful as The Edge begins to throw random currents into the air. I should have been considering the weather. I glanced at the sky to see a low, gray layer of clouds.
"Snow, you think?" I asked.
"I suspect so. The question is how far down the elevations it gets."
"I've seen spring snows in other mountains." David sounded worried. "I imagine weather could get serious here."
"Very serious, especially if we have to track tourists," Lily agreed. I could see the weather worried her. "This could turn into a full-fledged blizzard, so we're warning everyone not to wander too far from their cars today."
"Just one more bit of trouble, huh?" David asked.
"Maybe the weather is a good thing if it keeps people away from whatever else we have here. Have either of you noticed there hasn't been many birds around the last couple days?"
"Except for all those nuthatches at Kat's place yesterday," David said.
I nodded, remembering the lack of birds when I walked down to talk to Mrs. Miniver. I hadn't considered the wider perspective. I didn't hear any of the usual morning bird calls today.
What could scare all the birds away?
Big wings, big wings.
A gargoyle maybe. Many of them can fly. And one could do the killings, too. Not a pleasant thought.
Chapter Eight
We delivered Lily to work and David got into the front seat. Jim came over to talk to us and reiterated everything Lily had already said. He even brought over a map to show us the two different places where they'd found kills this morning.
"I don't know what the hell is out there, so be extra careful."
"Could the work be done by a human?" David asked.
"You know, I kind of hope so," Jim admitted. "Human -- we could catch the guy. We can compare lists of cars and track down people if it happens again. If this is something that moved in from the mountains -- is your cousin going to be able to help us this time?" Jim asked.
"I'm pretty sure he'll be able to help," I answered and patted David on the arm. "My cousin Cago. He's a really good tracker."
He'd found three rogue bears, a wounded bobcat and a lost Doberman in the last four years. He enjoyed working with humans, too. I suspected he was probably knee deep in the same trouble as the rest of the family, and whatever was happening here might not be on the top of the list of things to fix, magical or not. I'd check, though.
"I'll get in touch with him," I told Jim, and gave Lily a last wave. "See you later!"
"Be careful!"
We drove past the entrance and I slowed for the ubiquitous chipmunk. I swear it was the same one as the day before.
"They're nice people," David said.
"They are. And they're genuinely worried about the weather as well as what's killing the animals, which means we should be worried, too. We sometimes get really nasty storms as winter passed to spring. They start with drizzle, turn to ice, and then finally add snow, are that's worse because people don't even realize there's ice beneath the snow pack."
"You've got chains?" he asked.
"I've got really good all-year tires. We can get snow in June."
"I love snow."
I laughed. "So do I. I take the weather seriously, though. I was going to go to Endovalley again this morning, but I think we should head straight to Bear Lake in case the weather changes on us. I don't want leave heading up to the lake too late."
"I leave the decision in your capable hands. Can I ask about your family?"
"My family?" I asked, startled by the question.
"Well, Cago sounds more like you. Aletta doesn't seem to fit in."
"She doesn't. Neither she nor her mother fit very well. I don't see her father, Kalin, much. He's usually off patrolling."
"Police man?"
"Yeah," I said, covering the blunder, though in some ways that did explain his work. "Unfortunately, we're stuck with Paris and Aletta."
"Aletta comes on a little too strong for me."
I didn't smile. I really didn't, though I nearly choked trying not to.
We took the turn to the left heading to Bear Lake. I saw a marmoset in the field to the right, so we stopped and he got a couple pictures. I tested the area and found a nest of peripix not far away, too. Nothing I could do right now, though. At least they had burrowed in, and if the weather changed, they would remain there.
I really began to wonder how many had come through. I'd have to call my father tonight and tell him. I hoped Timber wasn't there, because I rather enjoyed having the feeling he had faith in me.
We stopped by Glacier Creek where the stream runs close to the road. I loved the location and didn't mind a few minutes there. I drank in the peace, watching icy water tumble over the rocky stream bed and past the towering pines. David took more pictures. I tested the magic in the area and found odd eddies and a couple more peripix. Nothing felt especially threatening.
We found only one car at Bear Lake lot. This is a very popular hike because it's mostly flat around the lake, and the scenery is gorgeous. I'd seen the parking lot packed and overflowing with people in the summer. We went past the bulletin board where the rangers posted a
ll the current news and warnings. I saw one in bright red lettering warning people to beware of a possible rogue animal in the area.
As we came through the arbor of trees, the lake and the surrounding half circle of mountains came into view. Flattop Mountain and Hallet Peak, with the Tyndall Glacier nestled between them, made a lovely reflection in the lake. There are probably thousands of pictures of the place, but I don't think anyone has ever really captured the true beauty. You have to be here and stand by the lake, where the ducks swim past --
Not today. No ducks. No birds. I didn't even see the usual chipmunks and other animals that sometimes come at the sound of humans, hoping for a forbidden handout.
We decided to walk around the lake. I damped down my magic and carried some of the equipment for him as we moved from spot to spot while he dozens of pictures. A couple times, I pulled out paper and jotted down a few notes on the scent of the place and the sound of the wind in the trees. Sometimes even I missed those nuances of locations, concentrating so much on the birds and what they are saying to me.
I didn't have the distraction today.
A jogger went past us. I wondered why he bothered coming clear up here and going so fast he didn't really see anything. Might as well jog through Estes Park or downtown Denver.
We finally took a break half way around the path, sitting on a boulder and watching the lake as the clouds moved in the reflection there.
"Lovely place." David looked around, still smiling. "Not as wild as I usually see, though pretty. I bet this is a nice place for people who aren't used to hiking in rougher terrain."
"We'll head for one of the other local trails and get to the wilder spots soon. We still have the time today." I watched the clouds with mistrust, not quite believing my own words.
"You know what I enjoy most here?" David grinned when I looked at him. "I love seeing the area through your eyes. You really enjoy this place, and you're willing to share your love with others. I'm sorry about the lack of animals, though. I'd have thought we might see a few so early in the morning."
Kat Among The Pigeons Page 8
