Thistle Down

Seventeen

“DUSTY, WILL YOU PLEASE come up here?” Thistle coaxed from the top of the stairs. Faery snot! Why did her friend have to hide underground? Underground robbed Pixies of strength and thought. Going underground was sort of like dying.

Faeries could, and did go underground during the day, only coming out after dark. The cowards! They were hiding from people who didn’t believe in them any longer. Dusty was hiding from reality, from herself, from… everything.

“I never thought you’d be more akin to my mortal enemies, the Faeries, than to the Pixies you love,” Thistle muttered.

Cutting down the Patriarch Oak would end the mating rituals of all Pixies. Cutting down The Ten Acre Wood would kill all of Thistle’s tribe. She didn’t dare think about that. Dusty had to find a way to save the forest. Dusty was the only one who could.

But she hid. Just like a cowardly Faery. Whose side was she on, anyway?

Thistle was too close to the darkness here. The cellar stairs beckoned her with fascinating horror of the terrible things underground would do to her.

“No!” Dusty said. Her voice barely reached Thistle.

“When something scares her, she hides down there for days,” M’velle whispered.

“A lot of things scare her,” Meggie added. Both girls peered over Thistle’s shoulder toward the dark hole where Dusty retreated.

Thistle could understand how her friend found solace and protection in the darkness. Like Thistle once found in the elbow of a spreading branch in the old oak tree.

At the edge of the basement, Thistle only found fear.

“Why don’t you go down and get her?” Meggie asked.

“I… I can’t,” Thistle cried. “Pixies can’t go below. And I really need Dusty to come up and save The Ten Acre Wood.”

“She has to come up on her own. Just like she had to decide to go on that date. Force will only make things worse,” M’velle added.

“Dusty, please. I’ve got to go back to work, and your friends up here are worried about you,” Thistle pleaded. Don’t talk about The Ten Acre Wood, or her fears. Talk about things that would make Dusty want to come up on her own.

“Work? You have a job?” Dusty’s voice came closer. “I didn’t think you could do anything.”

Thistle stepped back, grateful for her release from the thrall of the death that awaited her below. “Yes, Dick and Chase invented a job for me. I’m to befriend the old folks and make sure they and their pets have what they need. They said you need to take me around and introduce me to my new friends. They know you and trust you, so they’ll trust me too if you say they should.”

“That sounds good. You did a good thing for Mrs. Spencer on Saturday. But you won’t be needed once this heat wave breaks.” The stairs creaked, then stopped. Dusty had come up three risers by Thistle’s count. Then no farther.

“I’m also babysitting for Joe on the nights he has lodge meetings or something like that.” Thistle stepped back again, bumping into the two teenagers. “That gives you a couple of free evenings a week. But I can’t get started without you.”

Coaxing Dusty up was sort of like luring a cat into the wetlands. Tantalize it with a flash of wings and confused loop as if lost. Then when she’d caught the wicked beast’s attention, fly a little closer to the target. Stop, wait, tease, let it pounce, but make sure it missed. Repeat, until the nasty cat landed up to its chest in icky mud and algae.

The last time Thistle had played that game, she’d won ten gold-and-cream-colored hairs from the cat’s tail as her prize. No Pixie had managed more than six hairs before.

If The Ten Acre Wood was destroyed, there’d be no more games with cats, or children. Thistle would have no more family. She’d never be able to return to Pixie.

She took a deep breath, trying to concentrate on her job. Be a friend to Dusty, just like she was a friend to Mrs. Spencer and seven other elderly folks living on the ridge.

Thistle looked at her fingers, wondering if Pixie dust would work underground. Probably not. Without the forest nearby, she had little magic. Using the tiny bit available to her exhausted all of her strength, as badly as going underground. She had nothing but herself. And her few friends, like Dusty.

“What if we called the guy who took her to dinner Saturday night?” Meggie asked. “I bet he could persuade her to come up.”

“I called him already, he can’t come,” M’velle replied.

“Dick says there are a lot of old folks who need help, this coming winter, and even in good weather,” Thistle called down to Dusty. She wished the girls would shut up and let her get on with this. “Our elders forget things. They need to be reminded to eat and tend their pets. Some of them need help taking out their garbage and washing their dishes. I can do that. I especially like the part about letting the dogs run and play for a bit. I like dogs. We get along great. I don’t like cats. But they pretty much take care of themselves.”

“Who’s paying you?” Three more steps creaked. Dusty must be almost to the first landing.

“I’m not sure. They said something about a community fund.”

“Don’t you need training and an insurance bond to do this? Me vouching for you isn’t enough.” Dusty’s voice came clearer now, unmuffled by the death that leaked out of dirt walls underground.

Thistle flashed a smile at the girls. “Dick is taking care of it. But I need you to trust me, Dusty. I’m your friend.”

Meggie left to tend to two women wanting a tour. M’Velle stepped back far enough to keep an eye on the front door and still monitor the situation with Dusty.

“Wh… what’s happening with The Ten Acre Wood?” The creaking stairs said that Dusty retreated; so did the smallness of her voice.

“This is ridiculous,” Joe said on a huff coming out of his office. He pushed Thistle aside and trod heavily down the stairs. It sounded like he had to go almost all the way to the bottom. “Dusty, it’s time to grow up and come help me.”

“Joe… I… I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. Dusty, I’m your friend. You know me. I need you upstairs. We’ve got to sort out this mess with City Hall. But it’s Monday and the mayor’s office is closed. He always plays golf on Monday. We can’t do anything until tomorrow. So you might as well stop hiding and do something useful.”

“Like… like what?”

More stairs creaking, like two people climbing them.

“Like research an alternate venue for the Masque Ball if we can’t get a hold put on the timber work. We won’t clear as much money if we have to rent something, but we can still have the Ball.”

“We won’t be able to string Faery lights on the trees.”

“Those are Pixie lights,” Thistle corrected her. “Faeries are snooty cowards who smell bad. They’re afraid to get their wings dirty but think they can run the world by remote control from underhill.”

“Pixie lights. Yes. Around the shrubbery and the knot garden, even the covered wagon. We can’t have a covered wagon if we go somewhere else,” Dusty protested. The creaking on the stairs stopped.

“I bet you can find a place that will have lots of places to string Pixie lights. You’re good at researching stuff online,” Joe reassured her. The two of them appeared in the dim light, more than halfway up. Joe had a firm grip on Dusty’s elbow.

“But they’ll cut down the Patriarch Oak. That’s a very special tree,” Dusty almost cried.

“I know. I’ve got calls in to the mayor and several members of the City Council as well as the city’s lawyer and the police chief. We’ll get this straightened out. I promise, Dusty. Hiding won’t help. We have to work on this together.” Joe patted Dusty’s hand and led her farther up the stairs. “This town needs you.”

Hot tears welled in Thistle’s eyes.

“What’s wrong?” M’velle touched Thistle’s back in sympathy.

Thistle leaned into the gentle touch. “I failed Dusty. Pixies are supposed to do anything to help their friends. Dusty needed me to go into the basement with her and… and I couldn’t. Pixies can’t go underground.”

“Ever think that maybe you need a friend, too? You’ve got your problems. Dusty has hers. Seems like you should help each other.”

“But… but humans have never helped Pixies.”

“I think they have,” M’velle said. “And now Dusty is going to help you by saving The Ten Acre Wood and the Patriarch Oak.”

“She’s only doing that to help herself.” Thistle dashed away the moisture from her eyes. “That’s all that humans can do. Help themselves. That’s why you need Pixies.”

“Maybe so. But in helping herself, she helps you. She helps a whole lot of people who love those woods. Everyone who grew up in this town thinks of those woods as their own personal fantasy land. Good things happen in that bit of forest. Magical things. She helps the whole town maintain a major asset in that park. Trust her. She’s your friend.”

“Will you be my friend, M’Velle?”

“I already am. You made me laugh when some kids teased me for having dark skin when I was six. I never forgot that. I didn’t want to remember you when I grew up, but when you came back to us, I did. You made me believe in Pixies again.”

“You always were the smartest, and the kindest in your class. You always kept your gossip to nice things, even about the children who were mean to you.”

M’Velle blushed and looked at her shoes. Then she raised her head proudly. “I had you to emulate.”

“Mabel, you know more about what goes on in Skene Falls than anyone,” Chase said. He hoped he made his statement sound admiring. Casually, he perched his left hip on the corner of her desk at the heart of the police station.

She glared at him for intruding on her space.

He remained planted.

“What do you want, Chase?”

Oops, maybe he’d presumed too much. If she called him by name rather than an endearment, she was pissed.

“I overheard part of a conversation. When I went looking for those involved, I found every door in City Hall closed to me.”

“Happening a lot around here since Mayor Seth told a few folks semiofficially he’s not running for reelection. Haven’t had an open election in nigh on thirty years. Lots of people think it’s their turn to run things. And they’re all plotting behind closed doors.”

“Who do you think will win the election in November?” Whoever won would have to deal with an outraged community over the destruction of a favorite park. Good reason to cloak it in anonymity. The offer came through a third-party lawyer out of town. Pretty hard to track that with client-lawyer confidentiality.

“Lots of people throwing their hats into the ring,” Mabel hedged.

“Like?”

“George Pepperidge.”

“Councilman Pepperidge has been on the Council, what, seven years? He’s qualified, about the only councilman who takes his job seriously and actually asks questions rather than rubberstamping the mayor’s decisions.” Pepperidge had protested the land deal. Who had he protested to?

“This town is old and slow to change. Except there’s a lot of new people commuting to Portland. They might want change, bring things up to date,” Mabel mumbled.

“Sometimes I think we need an influx of new blood. But I hate to see drastic changes in our traditions,” Chase replied. “Like logging off The Ten Acre Wood.”

“Heard a rumor that Phelma Jo Nelson had her eye on the mayor’s job.” Mabel covered her quiet words by taking a sip from her iced lemonade glass. Had she ignored his comment about the park, or diverted his attention?

Chase’s eyebrows rose nearly to his hairline. “Phelma Jo has never shown an interest in politics before.”

“Except where it interferes with her wheeling and dealing.”

“Where’d you hear this rumor, Mabel?”

“Sweetie, if I told you that, I’d lose the power of secrecy. Let’s just say I have a tribe of Pixies living in my garden. They spy for me in return for a safe haven. Got it in my will that my two acres and house become a city park when I die so that no one, absolutely no one can destroy my garden or break it up for development,” she said on a laugh.

Chills ran down Chase’s spine. He’d seen wings surrounding Thistle Saturday just before she passed out. She claimed to be an exiled Pixie. Now Mabel? She pretended she was joking. Was she hiding the truth beneath the outrageous story?

He didn’t like this at all.

“Coming from anyone else, I’d think you were lying. Thanks, love. Just one more thing. Who’s your favorite judge in town?”

“Johnny Pepperidge. Old George’s son.” A phone buzzed from the console on her desk. “Skene Falls Police Department, how may I direct your call?” She touched a control and spoke into the headset that seemed implanted in her cap of gray curls, thus ending the conversation.

Eighteen

THREE RAPS ON THE KITCHEN DOOR drew Dick’s attention away from the salad he threw together for himself. Thistle and Dusty were still at their jobs.

“Come on in, Chase,” he called, continuing to chop green onions.

“Can I use your Internet, Dick?” Chase asked meekly almost before he’d finished entering the long room with up-to-date stainless steel appliances. An antique farm table big enough to seat eight ran down the middle. When the house was built, the owners had servants who cooked elaborate meals here. These days, the room was underutilized.

“Sure. What’s up that you can’t use your own Internet or the one in your office?” Dick paused in his chopping, wondering if he should add an extra tomato and cucumber to stretch his meal to include his friend.

“Um, I’d rather not have my search traced back to me and the diner wifi is down. Ginny’s updating the server or something.” Chase closed the door quietly, but only after peeking out and scanning the backyard.

“Sounds interesting…” Dick invited Chase to share his information, as they’d shared most everything since second grade. For the first time he noted that Chase had changed out of his uniform shirt, but not his trousers. And he’d removed his utility belt and weapons. Was he on duty or off?

“I’m not saying anything until I find or, rather, don’t find what I’m looking for.” Which meant he was officially on duty, but if he got caught doing something he shouldn’t, he could claim he wasn’t.

“O-kay.” Dick sought a way to pry something further out of Chase. “Want some supper?”

“No, thanks. I grabbed a sandwich at the diner on my way over. Mom says she doesn’t see enough of you, and you need to stop by and catch up soon. I could sure use some iced tea, though. It may be cooler today, but it’s still damn hot and humid.”

“I’ll bring it to you. Use the computer in Mom’s office. It’s got DSL hooked to the modem. All the others are wireless. Don’t know if that makes eavesdropping easy or not. I know criminals have devices to pirate wireless phone receivers to make expensive long-distance calls, or tap into conversations about vacation plans to know when a house will be deserted.”

“Always presume someone is listening on cell and wireless receiver phone calls. Maybe paranoid, but good advice.” Chase nodded agreement with Dick’s caution.

Dick turned back to his salad, curiosity burning holes in the back of his head. He really, really wanted to peer over Chase’s shoulder as he typed in Internet addresses. Was this a criminal investigation? If so, why not leave it to Skene Falls’ only detective. Maybe that was the problem; the detective was always overworked and didn’t have time for minor problems.

At least Dick hoped this was a minor problem.

He poured a glass of tea from the jug in the fridge, added a touch of lemon, one sugar (real sugar, not that agave nectar Dusty used) and three ice cubes. Just the way Chase liked it. Then he carried it, with a coaster because Mom would kill him if condensation on the glass marred the finish on her antique rolltop desk, over to the office off the kitchen. The square room had been the cook’s quarters when the house was built. In 1888, everyone kept a cook and a maid, and sometimes a stable man to take care of the horse and carriage. The carriage house and stable now provided garage space for his convertible, Dusty’s tiny hybrid, Mom’s boat of a sedan, and Dad’s pickup.

As he moved into the office, Dick tried to figure out where Chase searched on the Internet. The screen on the nineteen-inch flat monitor looked like a Google list of addresses.

“Anything I can do to help?” he asked, peering closely. City government and county offices. Public information. If this was information available to anyone, why the back door secrecy?

“Don’t know yet.” Chase clicked on the Skene Falls City Council meeting agenda. City law required a posting of their planned topics, so anyone could attend and make comments.

“What are you looking for?” Dick asked.

“I’ll know it when I see it. Or don’t see it, rather.” Chase bent closer to read the small print, moving the mouse to highlight each item.

“What don’t you see?”

“Something related to a piece of conversation I overheard but couldn’t trace.” The mouse hit bottom and moved back to the beginning.

Dick pulled up an extra swivel chair and read each item as the mouse moved down.

“What’s that?” he asked on the third to last listing.

“Looks like a cleanup of old statutes.” Chase moved down one then back up one. “Why does the Council want to rescind the mayor’s authority to sign work contracts for city maintenance?”

“Can you pull up the original ordinance? I’ve heard rumors that Mayor Seth Johansen is ill and not up to running the city by himself anymore. The Council has just been a rubber stamp for whatever he wanted for as long… well, at least since we studied civics in sixth grade,” Dick said.

“Mabel thinks he’s had a stroke. Apparently, he’s leaked a press release to the local paper-should be out on Wednesday-that he’s not going to run again, and he officially endorses Phelma Jo. But a bunch of other people are also announcing their candidacy,” Chase mused, sitting forward to examine the tiny print.

“PJ? Wow, that’s going to be one hot and dirty race.”

“At the moment I’m more interested in the council member who put the item on the agenda.” Chase highlighted the name of George Pepperidge. “Why would he want to limit the power of the mayor when he’s running for the office?”

“Send him an email and ask.”

“But I don’t want him to know where the question comes from.”

“Make up a name and get a quick mail account. Then, as soon as you get an answer, cancel the account.” Dick shrugged.

“You mean like you do when you aren’t sure if you want to date a girl more than once?” Chase sniggered.

“Yeah.” Dick blushed. “So what is this about?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“Yes, I do!”

“Okay, I overheard George Pepperidge talking to someone about an offer to log off The Ten Acre Wood. The offer came through an anonymous third-party lawyer from out of town. Couldn’t find them, just stray words drifting down an old ventilation shaft in City Hall. The place is riddled with redundant and abandoned vents, whispering corners, and other weird acoustics. I need to know who Pepperidge was talking to and where they are hiding the paperwork.”

Dick whistled long and low. “That is major. Maybe that’s why Pepperidge wants to take contractual authority away from the mayor, to keep him from signing the permit without a vote from the City Council.”

“Exactly.”

“Email Pepperidge while I think about who else might know.” Dick stood up, ready to go back to the kitchen and think while he chopped veggies. “Is it time to alert Tommy Ledbetter down at the Post?”

“Not yet. We want a little more than pieces of an overheard conversation before we turn Digger loose.” Chase replied.

“How’d he get the nickname Digger? He certainly doesn’t do any investigative reporting,” Dick chuckled. “He’s all gossip and this year’s most fashionable hat at the Garden Club.” And Dick asleep at the wheel while the volunteer fire department loaded flowers.

“Goes back to grade school.” Chase tilted back in the office chair, arms stretched over his head and rotating his neck to relieve tension. “Some girls found him digging for pirate treasure in The Ten Acre Wood.”

“We all dug for pirate treasure by the big oak.”

“But we didn’t get caught. Let’s not get caught on this search. Not yet at least.”

“Thistle, do you know how to do an Internet search?” Dusty asked as they mounted the steps to the enclosed back porch. They’d had a successful afternoon introducing Thistle to her new friends. Few of the old folks wanted to admit they needed help. They gave in to the idea of Thistle “just checking on them” because of Dusty.

“No,” she replied, eyes studying her sandals as if they held all the answers. “Remember how your computer used to go all wild colors and static when I rode the mouse with you?”

“Damn. I was hoping you’d have some ideas about tracking down the people wanting to cut down The Ten Acre Wood.” Dusty bit her lip, juggling options.

“Pixies are tied to Earth and Water. Earth gives us an affinity with the metals in computers, but water drowns it. Faeries are tied to Fire and Air. They have an affinity with the signals flying through the Air, but Fire makes them scatter and become useless. Computers don’t like any of us.”

“Water nurtures Earth and brings forth glorious plants and trees. Air feeds Fire, making it stronger. I wonder if a half-breed could inherit stronger affinity with Earth and Air to overcome Water and Fire. Then they’d be able to handle computers and cell phones,” Dusty mused.

“Don’t even think about half-breeds! They’re monsters out of legends. No one has seen a half-breed since… since before the Faeries went underhill. Only one old Faery remained. He took up residence in the Patriarch Oak and pretended to advise and rule Pixies from there. He was too old to breed then. He’s gone now. That’s why Alder is king. He succeeded the old Faery.”

Thistle’s eyes crossed like she remembered something but didn’t want to talk about it. Then her expression cleared. “I have other sources of information.”

“Do I want to know about your sources?” Dusty imagined homeless men sleeping under the bridge or drug addicts hanging out around the back of the liquor store. Chase sometimes talked about gleaning information from such creatures.

“Trust me, if anyone knows about the murdering loggers, I’ll find out. But can we eat first? I’m hungry. And thirsty.”

“Me, too. It’s too hot to cook. Murdering loggers?”

“Yeah, if they cut down The Ten Acre Wood, they’ll murder my whole tribe of Pixies.”

“Oh.”

“Can we have pizza and beer?” Pure joy crossed Thistle’s face.

Dusty almost laughed. “Have I created a monster?”

A puzzled frown marred Thistle’s pert features. For the first time Dusty noticed how pointed her chin and ears were, making the slight uptilt of her eyes look longer. In low light her face would appear something other than human.

Like a Pixie.

“How about a big green salad with hardboiled eggs?”

“Oh, yes, that sounds delightful.” Thistle moved ahead of Dusty into the kitchen. “I’ll tear up the lettuce if you’ll boil the eggs. I’m not sure how to turn on the stove yet.”

Dusty surveyed the half-made salad on the drainboard and the tray of ice cubes melting in the sink.

“Dick!”

“In here, Dusty,” he called from the office.

“Why can’t you clean up after yourself?” Dusty kicked off her shoes and ambled toward the blue light that indicated Dick had his nose engrossed in the computer.

“I got interrupted.” He leaned forward, blocking the screen from her view. Beside him, Chase typed furiously. Then he moved the mouse and clicked. The screen shifted abruptly. He must have sent an email.

“Typical. If we finish fixing your dinner, can I have the computer after we eat?”

“Sure. I’m done now,” Chase said, pushing away from the desk.

“Dusty had a nasty shock at work,” Thistle said.

Dusty glared at her, not sure she wanted her brother to know how she’d hidden in the basement rather than face a bad situation.

“Oh? Why didn’t you call me?” Dick stood and put his arms around Dusty.

She pulled away from him. “Because you’d immediately go into overprotective mode and hide me away. Joe convinced me I need to do something positive. I can’t stop the logging of The Ten Acre Wood by hiding.”

Both Dick and Chase froze.

“What do you know about that?” Chase asked. He sounded wary, and… and suspicious.

“I know that Tri-County Logging has a contract to start cutting wood on Friday. I saw the work order faxed from Pixel Industries, Ltd.”

“Friday!” Chase exploded. He stood up so fast the heavy oak office chair that matched the rolltop desk tipped behind him.

“No wonder Pepperidge wants to rescind the mayor’s authority to sign contracts. I bet he’s going to push for a vote tomorrow and make it effective immediately,” Dick said. He righted the chair and sat at the computer, typing quickly.

“Getting that piece of business taken care of fast is the only way to stop the logging. I wonder why the rush?” Chase bent over Dick’s shoulder and pointed to something on the screen.

“If they start cutting on schedule, they’ll ruin the Masque Ball,” Dusty said quietly. Tears threatened to spill out. She gulped them back.

No more hiding, she reminded herself. Action, she needed action.

“I can’t get off work tomorrow to sit in on the Council meeting,” Chase said. “Can you go, Dick?”

“I’ll rearrange my appointments. What about you, Dusty, can you come? I’m thinking we need bodies, people who will ask questions, a lot of questions.”

“I’ll send Joe. He’s better at asking questions than I am.” She backed out of the room, fear burning from her belly to her face. Tracking down shadow corporations on the Internet was something she could do. Speaking in public? Never.

You speak in public every time you give a tour of the museum, her conscience reminded her. The inner voice sounded a lot like Thistle.