Chapter 18
Vatten
Canton Valley Farm
Gooseberry led us in circles around the farm. Each circular path grew larger until I figured out, he was spiraling, not circling, as he sought out Pami. At least, I figured we were looking for Pami by the sounds of it. Who else would’ve left the bodies like that?
“We don’t know enough to know what’s going on!
” my dog reminded me, wagging his tail until I had to fight off the vibration that threatened to tear through my body.
This was official business and may have been one of the most important jobs I had ever been on.
If a presence was bad enough to disturb a puppy, it was more than worth looking into it.
I also had to fight off the urge to hold Eran’s hand while I worked.
I wanted more than anything to entwine our fingers and pull him close, but ghost hunting was serious business.
His phone vibrated in his pocket. It was Jade asking for an update.
There wasn’t really an update to give, though.
We were following Gooseberry around until he----
A snarl broke free from the puppy’s throat. Yep. He was going to eat someone.
“The old well?” Canton asked, squatting down to remove the cover. Gooseberry grabbed his sleeve and yanked. Canton managed to stay on his feet, his thighs straining at his pants from the effort but rabbit shifters usually had strong legs.
“Don’t do that,” I said.
“Is that your translation or your advice?” Canton asked me.
“Both. If Gooseberry is this positive that someone is down there….” I said, but my dog chose that moment to break out into a scream and shift down into his form.
He stretched out on his belly near Gooseberry and crawled toward the cover of the old well and sniffed.
Most of what we smelled was to be expected.
It smelled like earth and old water. Not water you’d want to drink straight away, but water, nonetheless.
Also… I cocked my head to one side and then the other. Blood?
“He smells blood,” Eran said a second later and I was more grateful than ever that we had a wide-open mating link. “New-ish. Can ghosts eat people? Can ghost bears eat people?”
“I--- Er…” Canton looked at Philip who shrugged.
“Don’t ask me. I’m a bear but I’m not a ghost,” Philip said, adjusting his hat. “Isn’t that new kid down at The Cuddle Club a ghost hunter?”
“On hiatus for his mental health,” Canton said.
Wings flapped above us and I stared up to see a black-winged man circling. Before the claiming vows, I probably would’ve screamed my head off about being under attack, but knew enough to know that harpies were a part of the GGB community.
“Wasn’t Pami,” the man said, landing and staring down at the board that covered the old well.
“What happens if we fill the well in and there’s a ghost down there?” Philip cut to the chase.
“I’m a harpy, not a ghost hunter,” the harpy said.
“Zee,” Canton said. “Do you have an opinion on what would happen?”
“Wait, why are we sure it’s not Pami?” Eran cut into the conversation as the sun started dipping low in the sky. “I mean, she tried to kill Bree back in London.”
“Because Bernard called Conner to come look at Nashen after they found her ghostly ass standing in their living room,” Zee crossed his arms.
“So it’s probably the bitch,” Evie said, walking up. “Dewie and the bobcat shifter show defensive wounds. The shebear doesn’t. Either she was caught by surprise or—”
“Or killed by Pami,” Zee said, relaying the story as Bernard and Nashen had told it to him.
I put my paws over my eyes for a long moment while everyone talked it in circles.
I needed a minute to think. To feel out what was going on.
Pami killed those people but she wasn’t in the well.
Someone wanted to kill their descendants to have everlasting life.
What the hell was wrong with the dead people in this town?
The only spirit I’ve seen was the spirit of the founder of the polar bear settlement I was born into and only because he came back against the odds to warn us that one of our ice fishing spots had grown dangerous.
The next day a group of poachers fell through the ice there.
Gooseberry stretched out next to me and rested his big head on my back while everyone argued whether or not we should fill in the well.
Whether or not someone should go down there.
I almost volunteered to go down there but remembered I might be pregnant.
I didn’t know how long sperm took to reach the eggs but… . There was a chance, right?
“We ain’t doin’ nothing until the morning,” Canton said, his accent playing up now that he was frustrated with everyone talking over each other.
“It’s getting dark and we’re not playing by a ghost’s rules.
If they’re harmless, fine. If it’s the shebear, fine.
It doesn’t matter. We’ll set up guards at all the old wells in case she has a way to travel between them, but no one is going down there until the sun’s blazing. ”
A second later, big hands reached under me and for a second I thought the rabbit shifter was carrying me off. Only it wasn’t Canton picking me up, but Eran. He turned me around so that my head rested on his shoulder and we walked off.
“Guess we’re not part of the guards?” I asked him over our mating link.
“They’ll have only old people and people who can see ghosts out there.”
“Where are we going? This isn’t the way back to the truck!”
“We have two stops to make,” Eran said. “We need to check on Bernard and them and we need to stop by Jade’s house too.”
“Because he’s an omega alone with a kid?” I asked.
“Because he’s my best friend alone with a kid while all hell’s broken loose,” Eran said. “He could’ve gone to his parents’ but I doubt he did. Jondi – his kid, is so freaking dirt phobic and well, I guess he’s afraid of a lot of things. So, I can only imagine how he must be feeling right now.”
It was hard to imagine someone else hadn’t already checked on Jade, but it was sweet that Eran was worried about his friend.
At Bernard’s house, we didn’t go inside.
Nashen was finally taking a nap after everything had settled down.
He and Eran talked just long enough for Eran to know everyone was okay and for Eran to apologize for leaving the party early.
Bernard brushed it off and told him to take me home.
I was tired but had worked longer hours at hunting and fishing back home.
I just hoped that they kept someone around Gooseberry who spoke dog tonight while I wasn’t around.
We left with Eran promising to stop by again soon and we’d all celebrate together properly.
I yawned and trotted off the porch only to be picked up again.
I had paws that worked but there was something soothing about being carried around.
Jade’s house was a bit further of a walk and every step that Eran took carried us further away from the truck. Eran climbed the porch steps to Jade’s house two at a time like he climbed them every day of his life. Maybe he did. Maybe they were the sort of friends who saw each other every day.
Jade opened the door before Eran even knocked.
“Wipe your feet,” Jade said, stepping back to let us in.
Further inside the house a television was playing a kids’ show at a low volume. The light flickered across the hardwood floor and a small boy’s voice sang along with the song about finding the goofy giraffe.
“He’s just about to doze off,” Jade said.
“How’d he hold up today?” Eran asked.
“Eh, I took him down one of the empty passageways and set it up like we were camping,” Jade shrugged. “He did okay until everyone started screaming about dead bodies. He’s had two baths since we got home and I’ve failed at explaining how ‘dead body dirt’ didn’t get into the Burrow.”
“Sounds rough,” Eran nodded.
“I won’t be long,” he said and I realized I missed out on some conversation the two had. Was it by text? The group link? Had I been that distracted?
I expected Jade to grab his shoes and hit the door but instead he headed upstairs and Eran carried me into the living room where a little boy with big eyes watched the screen. Every few seconds his eyes slipped shut and he startled awake and mumbled a few more words of the song.
“It’s just me,” Eran whispered, sinking into a recliner in the corner of the room with me on his lap.
The little boy waved and his eyes slipped shut again. This time he didn’t jerk awake.
“I come over a couple times a week to make sure Jade can take a shower. Jondi is—Well, he’s special,” Eran said. “He also doesn’t like to be alone, but he doesn’t like many people.”
“Sounds like a lot of polar bears I know,” I nodded, settling into Eran’s lap and watching the little boy sleep.
Eventually, I dozed off too. The show’s lyrics lulled me off as if they were enchanted with sleep magic.
I dreamt that the old well was full of ghosts and they ate half the people on the farm before we figured out that it was really a child of bigfoot and mothman.
I woke with a start when Eran stood up, lifting me up in his arms as he went.
I yawned and he gave Jade a one-armed hug before we left.
I wouldn’t wake up again until we were home.
There was something magical about trusting someone to carry you while you slept.
The walk down here had left me more exhausted than I first thought.