Chapter 5 #2
“I imagine that’s the case. I’m going to call in to Angela and have her find out who might be missing from surrounding areas, maybe down to Boston or beyond,” he said.
Skye was silent for a minute. She heard a bird cry, and she looked at Zach. “Warbler,” she murmured.
“These woods are full of them. Along with bobcats, moose, and more,” Zach said.
“Great. Nothing like running into a bobcat.”
He laughed softly. “You leave it alone—and most likely, it will leave you alone.”
“Most likely.”
“Hey, if a moose charges, hop up a tree as quickly as you can,” Zach said. “I hate to kill wildlife, but we are armed if we come upon creature trouble.”
“I hate to kill anything, but I’m extremely fond of living!” Skye assured him.
He paused. “Want to take a second and … see what you can see?” he asked.
She nodded. “Sure.”
And so, they stood very still. She could hear the birds, letting out their chittering, a cry now and then. She could smell the richness of the earth, feel the breeze, even the gentle movement of the branches of the trees and the brush as they moved with the soft wind in the air.
And then people!
Children moving along the trail. A young woman … Patricia Yale … sobbing softly.
And then …
The wicked witch. The green being wielding a gun rather than any kind of magic!
“Skye?”
She looked over at Zach, wincing. “You were right,” she told him. “They came this way.”
“All right, then. We keep moving,” he said.
“Okay, wouldn’t it make a lot more sense for us to get more people out here, searching?” she asked.
“Skye, come on! We need to find something, anything, that will give us some proof. There’s no way the local law enforcement will send an army slushing through the forest if we don’t have something to give them,” Zach reminded her.
“Maybe Jackson—”
“Jackson and Angela had to go back themselves. As many Krewe agents as there are, they’re out across the country and beyond,” Zach said. “Give me a minute and I’ll put through a call.”
She watched and listened as he did so, somewhat surprised he could get a connection from where they were. Neither Angela nor Jackson was there, but he spoke to one of their tech experts who would do a search for them.
“That’s done,” Zach told her.
“Okay, so we wander in the deep woods a while longer. We’ll find … something!” she said. “But what do you think we’re going to find? I’m not sure they’ll go for broken branches—or me telling them I saw the recent past, and they were walking this way.”
“Kids. One of them may have dropped something,” Zach said.
“Right. Good call. Let’s keep moving.”
“Up the hill,” Zach said softly. And he paused. “Look!”
It wasn’t a clue. It was a moose. Huge and beautiful, standing in a clearing amid a copse of trees and brush.
The animal was beautiful and majestic. And huge.
“Great. We don’t want to mess with him, right?” Skye asked.
“No. But he’ll move on.”
“What’s next? An angry bobcat?” Skye muttered.
“Hey, that moose is just standing there. Doing what a moose does. He’ll move in a minute, and it will take us longer than that to walk the distance.”
Birds kept chirping. The redolent smell of the earth was rich and it was true that the forest could be beautiful, that a walk here …
Might have been pleasant.
If it wasn’t such an urgent mission they were on.
Something rustled through the bushes ahead of Skye, and she stopped dead.
“It’s okay. Just a rabbit,” Zach said.
“Right. Okay, so birds, a rabbit, and a moose. Let me think. Black bears, possums, shrews, moles—”
“Don’t forget bats,” Zach said, grinning.
“At least, it isn’t night!” she snapped.
And then she was sorry. His face darkened.
“I’m sorry, I mean, I’ve been in woods, but I’m more of a city girl,” she said.
“No, no, it’s all right. I was just thinking about the kids. About them being so frightened when it’s night. About … about them being told the devil could get them in the night, and the devil could make them do things,” he said.
“Coyotes, wolves, and foxes,” Skye murmured.
He shook his head. “Whoever is doing this knows Northeastern forests like the back of his—or her—hand. I don’t think the captives are in danger from nature or from the forest animals.
They are in danger from an animal—man. The only creature I know of that is capable of manipulation, coercion, and pure evil. ”
“Like the devil in the woods,” Skye responded. “Okay, onward!”
“Onward.”
They kept walking for a while in silence, just listening to the world around them. Skye thought he had to be right about the creatures in the forest—they seemed to be fine unless they were bothered.
Then again, while the bears were probably after wild berries and the fish in the streams, the coyotes, wolves and such were carnivores, hungry …
For the cute little rabbits and things hopping about, she hoped. Not that she wished ill upon them.
Just …
Better than her!
“Stream,” Zach said suddenly.
She had been so focused on the world immediately around her, she almost ran into him again, but managed to stop at his side, instead.
They had, indeed, come upon a stream. It was beautiful. They were just about at noon; and the sun was high overhead, showering down rays of light upon the water, causing it to shimmer beautifully as it danced over pebbles and outcrops along the way.
“Here might be a good place to see what you can see,” Zach told her quietly.
She nodded. She willed a vision to come to her eyes.
At first …
The growth changed. There was a woman, a Native American woman, crouched down by the stream.
Washing clothing.
She winced, blinked, and gave her head a shake.
And then she saw them.
And she was stunned.
She opened her eyes and looked at Zach.
“You went back too far,” he said.
“Just at first. I saw a Native American woman—”
“Naumkeag,” Zach told her. “This whole area. Part of the Pawtucket Nation.”
“Right, I assume,” Skye said. “But then … I don’t know, I don’t know how I change it, by wanting to change it, maybe by needing to change it …”
“You saw the kids? Or a kid?”
She nodded. “You’ve been following the right way, Zach. I don’t know how. But yes, Patricia and Jeremy crossed the stream here. But, Zach, there’s something worse, much worse!”
“What’s that? Jeremy is alive; I know it—”
“No, no, it’s not that! Zach, there are two of them! Two people who are dressing up, painting themselves green and dressing up like wicked witches.”
“So it’s not just one criminal. But both responsible for murder.”
“Zach, they’re kidnapping children and young people and … trying to brainwash them from what you’ve seen. Yet you just made me wonder. If the kids and the young people are the goal, why did they kill Mike Bolton?”
“Interesting question,” he said thoughtfully. “I’m wondering …”
“What?”
“All right, they left the baby. The baby was too young for what they wanted. Too young to understand concepts, perhaps. And a baby couldn’t identify anyone,” Zach said.
“How can anyone identify someone who is that well disguised?” Skye asked.
“Maybe Mike Bolton knew someone who already had the costume. Or maybe, even more seriously, he might have suspected someone of having an agenda—although exactly what that agenda is, we can’t begin to fathom.”
“It’s almost as if someone wants to go back in history—start the Salem Witch Trials all over again.”
“Precisely.”
“But that’s insane!”
“Yes, insane, unless it’s behind something else,” Zach said. “I have no idea what, but either someone is certifiably insane, or they’re planning something else. We cross the stream?”
“Right. But we really need help on this. We need to find something!”
“We will. Ready for a swim?”
“I’m always ready for a swim. But it’s not that deep!” Skye said.
“Nope. But we will get wet.”
“Lead the way, o great trailblazer!”
He grinned and did so. They could follow a trail of large rocks for the main part, but as he had said, they did get wet.
She felt the water creep into her boots as they hurried along, and it was cold and very uncomfortable.
But that was half the job—she’d been uncomfortable before.
And she figured, she would be again. Criminals worried about getting away with their deeds, not about being comfortable during a heist, a scam …
Or a murder.
They reached the other side.
“Did you see which way they went?” Zach asked her.
She paused, frowning, trying again.
And she was back. Little help. There was nothing but darkness.
She looked at Zach. “I’m sorry. Night fell hard. No moon, no stars. I can’t see beyond the stream. It was almost as if the world went black at once. It had been getting dark, but the true darkness fell right here.”
“Damn!”
“What?”
“The ground is ridiculously hard by the stream. If there were footprints here at all, I can’t see any now.”
“All right. So, where?”
“Okay, hang tight for a minute. Let me see where—”
“Branches are broken. I can help! I’ll go to the left, you take the right, and we’ll meet in the middle!”
He grinned. “West and east,” he told her. “Okay. If you’re sure—”
“Oh, come on, please! I’ve got it!”
“Right.”
He nodded and headed off in his direction, leaving her to head off in her direction.
West. She should know that. Except, of course, that now, the sun was directly overhead, and she was not sure if she could figure out just where it had risen or where it was going to fall. It all seemed natural for him.
But she could tell if branches had been broken, if little feet had traveled through the areas where the dirt seemed to be a little softer, perhaps touched by splashes from the stream.
She couldn’t find anything that resembled a footprint.
She studied the branches in the area farthest to the west, before the trees and brush became so thick, only little forest animals might have gotten through.
Nothing at the first break that might resemble a trail.
She moved on.
And again, nothing. And she believed she had learned what the subtle breaks in little branches looked like if someone had passed by recently.
Of course, knowing Zach, if he didn’t find anything, he might well be doubtful and start to search here himself.
But I had seen them; they’d had to have gone somewhere.
Then she heard his call to her.
“Here! Skye, I’ve got something!”