Torrent

CHAPTER 12

Business had picked up at the Raven Cafe by the time we returned, finding Simon at the same table, hunkered over my laptop. There weren’t yet enough people that the servers felt compelled to glare at him for hogging seats when he’d finished his meal hours earlier.

“What’ve you got?” I asked, pulling up a chair.

Temi sat across from him. He gave her a shy wave, but focused on me. “You know those pictures I took?”

“The ones of the mauled bodies that are too garish for T-shirts? Yes.”

“I didn’t upload those, but I did share some of thrashed vegetation and footprints, except I missed something when I was posting them.” Simon pointed at the screen where the blog from our website was displayed. Even though I had a half-written review on Arrowheads amp; Stone Artifacts: A Practical Guide for the Amateur Archaeologist I’d been meaning to finish, I’d been avoiding the site since he started posting evidence of our adventures in the wilds of Prescott. Somehow I thought that book review might disappoint the crowd flocking to our blog in search of monsters. “I was reading through the comments people have left-two hundred and twelve of them, by the way.” He gave me an arch look.

“Any of them buy anything yet?” I asked.

“No.”

I returned his look with my own get-to-the-point-then expression.

“But this guy said he enlarged one of the pictures I took of the forest right after the police arrived.” Simon was pointing at the comment, so I read it for myself, sharing the last half aloud.

“‘Nice choice to use a phone to take such important pictures. At least get an app that lets you up your ISO, lower your aperture, and lengthen your shutter speed. My five year old could have done better with her Fisher-Price camera.’”

“I have an app,” Simon said. “The problem was that my hands were quivering with adrenaline. Anyway, here’s the picture in question.”

He tabbed over to photo-viewing software, and I found myself admiring a slightly blurry image of the forest at night. He outlined a corner and zoomed in. I gripped the edge of the table. There was a dark bump sticking out of the side of one of those trees, one that had…

“That’s the creepiest eye I’ve ever seen,” I said.

Temi came around to the back of my chair to look. “Are you sure it’s an eye?”

“It looks like an eye to me.” Simon pointed. “There’s the outline of the head.”

“Its eye is… iridescent.” It reminded me of spilled engine oil.

“The head is weird too,” Simon said. “It’s too dark to see, but it doesn’t look furry to me. Or maybe the fur is extra short. And look, no ear, at least not one that protrudes.”

“Definitely not a bear,” I said, though I’d never truly believed it was. “Unless some mad scientist has been tinkering with bear DNA and making some creative alterations.”

“I suppose that’s possible.”

“Of course it’s possible. Haven’t you seen how crazy large tomatoes are these days? Genetically modifying things is all the rage.”

“I know that,” Simon said, “but I thought that since we have some Vulcans down here, we might have a real life Predator too.”

“Oh, please, they’re not Vulcans. Real aliens wouldn’t look like aliens on Star Trek. Or Predator.”

“What is Predator?” Temi asked. “Aside from a noun.”

Simon didn’t say anything to her, but his stunned expression spoke loudly.

“Sorry, Temi,” I said, “I forgot to tell you that if you’re going to work on this team, you’re going to have to cultivate a basic background in science fiction books, films, and television shows.”

“That’s… helpful for archaeological digs?”

“No, for understanding Simon.”

Simon nodded solemnly. Judging by Temi’s dubious expression, she wasn’t sure how important communicating with him would be.

A phone bleeped.

“Oh!” Simon’s hand lunged down to yank it out of his pocket so fast that he almost fell off the chair. “They’re moving.”

He slammed the laptop lid shut, and I gritted my teeth. I would have reminded him that he was manhandling my computer, but he was too busy stuffing things into his pack and knocking over his chair in his haste to stand up.

“We have to hurry,” he said. “The tracker only has a mile range.”

“Are we sure we should be bothering them again?” Temi asked.

“No, but I’m hoping they won’t notice us bothering them. We can slip in, see what they’re digging up, get a sample of the language, and slip out.”

“Is that all he wants?” Temi pointed to the door. Simon had already jogged out of the cafe.

“I’m not sure, but he’s not getting anything else.” I patted my pocket, thinking I still had the van keys, but they were missing. “Kid’s a klepto,” I muttered and ran after him.

Though Temi clearly had reservations, she followed me. Zelda was parked right outside, a testament to the lightness of the traffic today, so we caught Simon before he zoomed off, though he did already have the engine running. Temi climbed in, and I slid the side door shut a second before the van backed out of its parking space. Simon threw it into drive fast enough that I tumbled across the carpet and bonked my head on the refrigerator.

“No, no,” I said, “don’t wait for us to get our seat belts on. We’re fine.”

Both of Simon’s hands gripped the steering wheel, and his phone rested on his thigh. If he heard me, he didn’t give any indication of it. I was fairly certain he ran through the light on Gurley Street, too, though with my butt planted on the floor, it was hard to be positive. I’d laugh if all this effort turned out to be for tailing our prey to the Prescott Denny’s.

Temi sat on the floor, too, her right leg thrust out before her, a grimace on her face. She wiped it away when she noticed me watching.

“I’m not sure a background in science fiction would be enough to understand him,” she said.

I smiled. “It’d only be a start, that’s for sure.”