by Raven Snow
“Oh, let her film,” said Lydia with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Just about everyone here thinks it’s aliens, don’t they? What do we have to be ashamed of?”
“I’d like to speak over there,” Rowen insisted, tugging Julia toward the woods. Julia motioned for her camera man to follow her, but Rowen halted immediately. “Just us,” she said, fixing Julia with what she hoped was a very serious look.
Julia frowned right on back at Rowen. “All right,” she said finally, putting on a smile. She turned to her camera man. “See if you can get any good shots of the sky.” The camera man gave a small shrug before moving away to do as he was asked. Julia looked back to Rowen, her smile falling again. “You were saying?”
“Come on.” Rowen led the way to the woods. She stood just beyond the tree line, not wanting to be overheard or taped. “What do you think you’re doing?” she asked once she had stopped and turned to Julia.
Julia raised a dark eyebrow, like that was an incredibly ridiculous question. “You’re kidding, surely.” She didn’t wait for a response before continuing. “I’m out here doing my job. You should know what my job entails. You work in the news industry too, don’t you?”
“I don’t go around shoving a camera in your face,” Rowen pointed out. “I thought we were friends.” That was a bit of a stretch. Rowen knew they were only fair weather friends. For Julia, the news came first. It would almost be commendable if it didn’t feel so spiteful all the time.
“Suuure we’re friends.” It was hard to tell if Julia was being earnest or sarcastic. “You’ve gotta cut me some slack here, though. The public is going to be interested in hearing what the Greensmiths think. This is weird, and you’re our resident weirdos.”
“This is exploitive.”
“Maybe, but it’ll keep people’s attention.”
“Don’t we have to sign something that says you have the right to film us out here? Because I’m telling you right now, I won’t agree to that.”
Julia nodded like that was understandable. “I would definitely take that into consideration if we weren’t on private property… And, by the way, as something of a journalist yourself, you should really know that already.” When Rowen didn’t have a response, Julia continued. “Look, I know I’m being kind of vindictive right now. I’m sorry for that. It’s just… I get kind of upset when I come to an agreement with someone and they try to take advantage.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Benji. You had an exclusive. He caught that footage, and you didn’t share it with us. I thought we agreed to share the boy.”
Rowen was vaguely aware of rolling her eyes. She hadn’t meant to do it. She couldn’t help herself. “Benji wasn’t even on the clock when he got that footage. He was out here having a picnic with his girlfriend. He brought a personal camera up here and caught the footage then. No one could force him to sell it. He just gave it to us. Don’t act like you would share an exclusive with us if you got one.”
“Fine,” Julia relented.
“And don’t pretend you would have even been interested in the story before you noticed the attention we were getting for it. Sure, it’s a stupid puff piece, but it’s all Lainswich is talking about. We usually deal in puff pieces. You usually deal in the big stuff. I’m sure you passed up on covering this more than a few times, even though all the red flags were right there in front of you, going on and on about aliens.”
Julia frowned at Rowen again, her eyes now narrowed in a scowl. The lines of her face barely changed. It made Rowen wonder if she had had work done. Finally, it was like Julia couldn’t keep the accusative facade up anymore. “Fine,” she said, relenting much like Rowen. “It’s just so ridiculous, though. Isn’t it? Aliens? I mean, come on. You have to be kidding me. How was I supposed to know this whole craze would last longer than a week? Seems like I’m receiving more and more memos about it every day. People are relentless about calling into the station. It’s like they think we’re not covering it just because we don’t know.”
“It’s been crazy,” Rowen agreed with a nod. “Don’t think the calls will stop just because you go on air about this. I swear, people are calling all the time now that we’ve actually put it on the site.”
Julia sighed and shook her head. She reached into the pocket of her fitted jacket. It had wide shoulders and flared out around her waist. It looked expensive, business like, and fashionable— just like Julia. That was probably why she and Margo got along relatively well. Her hand came out of her pocket with a cigarette. She patted down her front before locating the lighter on the other side. She put the cigarette to her lips and let it dangle there. The other hand cupped around the lighter as she lit up. “Want one?” asked Julia, glancing in Rowen’s direction.
“No thanks.” Rowen was already sidling around Julia. She didn’t want to be downwind from the smoke.
“Nasty habit, I know,” Julia said, sighing out a plume of smoke. “Keeps me slim, though. You’re lucky you work in a print medium. Gotta stay slim when it comes to my kind of reporting. The camera adds ten pounds, you know.”
Rowen looked down at her own petite frame and curves. She wasn’t sure if what Julia had just said was an insult or not. She decided to let it slide. “We do have a fair amount of video on the blog. Not that I’m usually a part of that.”
Julia nodded. “That right. You split your time between the paper and that business your husband does.”
“He’s a private investigator.”
“Ah. Well, tell me then, co-private investigator. What do you make of all this?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” Rowen raised her eyes to the sky. A lot of clouds had come in, and it was difficult to see the stars at the moment. She wondered if it would cover up the lights as well. “Could be lightning too high up to hear, though I’ve never seen lightning move like that. There’s also the possibility of some kind of military craft being tested. Honestly, though? I’m not sure. What about you? I’m sure you’ve seen the footage on our blog already.”
“I’ve watched it at least a dozen times. I suppose I have the same opinions as you. I can’t really make heads nor tails of it. The military angle is what Channel 2 will probably be going with. We’ll probably get another meteorologist in, get them to sit down and talk us through the potential weather phenomena that could be at play here.” Julia took another deep drag and exhaled it slowly. “And, of course, I suppose we’ll have to bring up the possibility of aliens. I don’t want to bring an expert in for that though.” She chuckled like the idea of such an expert existing was absurd. “I’ll probably lead a small camera crew down the streets, see what people think in a public interest kind of way. I’ll keep it light.” She nodded to herself. “Yeah, I think that should work. The rational people out there will think I’m sane. The nutty folks who insist it’s aliens will think I’m really interested in what they think. Overall, I’ll seem pretty impartial about the whole thing.”
“Seems sort of manipulative if you ask me, but I guess it could work.”
“It’ll work.” Julia dropped her cigarette. She ground it into the dirt and pine needles with the toe of her black heels. “Enjoy the extra traffic while you’ve got it.” Julia stepped out of the trees and headed for her camera man again.
Rowen looked down at the cigarette Julia had left behind. With a sigh, she leaned down and snatched it up. It was really hard to like Julia with any kind of consistency.
Chapter Four
Rowen rolled over in bed to find that Eric wasn’t there. She was usually the first one up. She’d head downstairs, start coffee and breakfast if there was time. Eric would sleep a little longer. Half the time, their dog Chester would stay behind to sleep in with Eric. Chester wasn’t even at the foot of the bed today. Rowen glanced to the clock. It was about the time she ordinarily woke up. That worried her more than the prospect of being late.
Rowen sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. “Eric?” she called, hoping he was
just in the master bathroom or something. There wasn’t an answer. So she headed out of the bedroom and downstairs. “Eric?” she called again, this time from the landing.
“In here!” he called back. It sounded like he was in the kitchen.
Rowen felt a slight weight lift from her chest. At least it sounded like he was all right. It didn’t sound like he had woken up to bad news he hadn’t wanted to wake her up with. With a sigh, Rowen headed for the kitchen. Sure enough, there was Eric. He was sitting on a stool, though his back was to the bar. His mouth was full when she rounded the corner, so he raised the spoon he was eating his cereal with in a little salute. “You got up awfully early.” She brought her gaze down to Chester. He was curled up at the base of the stool, his big brown eyes wide and wet. He was hoping for some fallen cereal even though he had almost certainly had breakfast already.
Eric nodded. “Yeah, didn’t plan for it, but I just couldn’t sleep last night.”
“Aww. I’m sorry, Honey. What’s wrong?”
“A migraine. It’s gone now.” Eric shoved another spoonful of cereal in his mouth. He chewed quickly before responding. “Anyway, I took something and made some of that tea you always swear by.”
“It’s fantastic for headaches. You’ve said it yourself!”
“Yeah, well, anyway—I sat on the sofa and kinda channel surfed until it went away. That’s how I caught the morning news.” Eric raised an arm and pointed toward the television. It had been mindless background noise for Rowen until now. She hadn’t realized Eric hadn’t turned to face her when she called for him, that he’d been turned this way from the start so he could watch television.
Rowen turned and focused on the direction of the television. It looked like Channel 2. Rowen could tell by the ticker that was scrolling past. Julia appeared on screen, confirming it was, in fact, Channel 2. Red text in the corner said that the footage was live. Rowen glanced at the nearest window. It was still mostly dark out. What in the world was Julia doing out so early? What was there to report live about at this hour?
Rowen walked into the den for a better look. She plopped down on the sofa and leaned forward onto her knees. Julia looked to be standing out in the middle of nowhere. She had a microphone in one hand and an exceptionally fake smile on her face. She wasn’t happy to be out there at all. Rowen didn’t blame her. She wouldn’t want to be reporting from out in a field at this hour either. Had she stayed out on the hilltop trying to catch footage of the lights everyone was so interested in? There was a different video playing up in the corner that was fixed on the sky. “UFO Watch” read the small text below it.
“In all my years as Lainswich’s number one reporter, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like this,” Julia said. There were dark bags under her eyes. They were easily visible even beneath her heavy makeup. It made Rowen wonder if she had slept at all since last night, when they had spoken. “I’m here at the Lainswich Camp Ground. It’s lovely this time of year, even if it is a tad chilly.” She smiled then, like that last part had been some kind of hilarious joke.
It was indeed the Lainswich campground. Rowen could tell now that Julia had mentioned it. The ground was a lot flatter than the hill everyone watched the lights from. Rowen had spent a few weekends out there. Most camping in her family was done in the backyard. They had seldom refused the children when they asked to go somewhere else, though.
“I enjoy camping.” It was difficult to tell if Julia was telling the truth or not there. “It’s nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of the daily grind.” She walked past the cameraman then, giving a discreet motion that meant she wanted him to follow. “I don’t believe that in all those days spent coming here, I have ever seen this place so crowded.”
Rowen sat up a little straighter. She couldn’t help it. The reaction she had here was a physical one. Julia wasn’t exaggerating. The camping ground looked nearly full from where the cameraman was shooting. There were tents side by side, large RVs parked in corners. A lot of the people at the campground were up and about. Some were assembling tents or socializing or, if it could be believed, only just arriving. “What in the world?” Rowen murmured to herself. She looked back at Eric. “How long has this been going on?”
Eric shrugged. “At least an hour and a half,” he said around another mouthful of cereal.
“And you didn’t wake me up?”
“Am I supposed to wake you up for stuff like this?”
Rowen didn’t actually have an answer for that. She looked to the television again. There was someone on screen with Julia this time. It looked like a guy in his twenties or thirties. He was balding already. There was no hair on top and very thin hair on the sides. He was wearing a shirt that had a flying saucer on it which read, My Other Car is a Space Ship.
“If you’re just joining us, I’m here live, reporting on the largest influx of tourists our sleepy little town has ever had. The only hotel in Lainswich is already booked solid. Fortunately, people like this resourceful fellow right here thought ahead.”
The balding man nodded. There was a smile on his face, one that suggested he didn’t get a lot of praise. Not that what Julia had said actually meant much.
“So, what is it that brought you here?” asked Julia, pointing the microphone in the balding man’s direction. She glanced at his shirt and attempted a good-natured chuckle that bore middling results. “Aliens, I take it?”
“Oh, absolutely,” the man said with an enthusiastic nod. “I saw the video on that one website—The Inquirer, I think? The something inquirer? Yeah, I mean, that video they had on there really blew up. It went totally viral in certain communities.”
Julia didn’t ask him which communities those must be. Her gaze had gone distant at the mention of the Inquirer. Even if the guy had gotten the name wrong, it obviously still hurt her feelings to hear it. She bounced back soon enough, though, redoubling her effort at a smile. “Well, we’re the first on the scene today, at least,” she said with a laugh, like she was merely joking about the whole thing. She looked into the camera. “Make sure you stay tuned as we continue to cover these odd happenings in our own little town.”
“You’re not the first ones here,” blurted the balding man.
Julia jerked her head to look at him. “What?”
“A van that says WNT is out over that hill.” The man pointed out into the distance. “They were here at least three hours before you were.”
Not even Julia could keep her smile going anymore. She looked off screen with a frown. “Why didn’t anyone mention this to me before-” The news cut to a commercial.
“Well,” said Rowen, standing. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of what she had just seen. She headed back into the kitchen, where Eric was already washing out his cereal bowl. “That’s… weird.”
Eric nodded in agreement. He put his bowl in the drying rack and turned to face Rowen. “People don’t often find Lainswich, do they? Not unless they’re involved directly in some sort of business here.”
Rowen considered that. She thought back across all the years she had been there. “That’s always been my experience. It’s a magical thing performed by a bunch of different witching families. People seldom find this place and criminals don’t find their way out. A bunch of tourists shouldn’t be able to just stroll on in.”
“Maybe they’re evil tourists.”
Rowen snorted. “I doubt that… You probably should have woken me up. I’ve got to tell Rose. I’m sure she would have called me already if she knew. We need to get out there.”
“Sorry,” Eric apologized with a shrug. “I didn’t think it would matter if you were on the scene. You’re a print publication. You don’t often go out and do live interviews… Do you want some cereal?”
“There probably isn’t any time for cereal.” Rowen speed dialed Rose’s number and brought the phone to her ear. It took a few rings for Rose to answer, which was unusual. She usually answered quite promptly.
“I know.”
Those were the first words out of Rose’s mouth.
“Then why didn’t you call me?” Rowen wasn’t super put out that she hadn’t. She didn’t really want to be involved in this weird UFO stuff anymore. It was making her family bicker way more than usual.
There wasn’t an immediate answer from Rose. “I didn’t figure you would be awake yet. No one else has called me on my cell. Since I hadn’t really decided on what to do about it, I didn’t really see a point in denying anyone a few more hours of sleep.”
Rowen glanced at the clock over the microwave. “I think a few hours have come and gone. My alarm went off a little while ago.”
“Oh.” Rose gave another sigh. “I guess… I guess I’ll have to go call everyone and tell them work is… postponed until further notice.”
“Postponed?” Rowen repeated the word like it was new to her. “Why? Haven’t you seen the news?” Of course Rose had seen the news. What a stupid question. “We need to get in there. We need to find out all we can.”
“I’m not so sure that would be the most worthwhile course of action.”
“Why not?”
“Things are… really weird right now. I’m sure you saw all the tourists we have in town all of a sudden. That’s why you called, right? You saw the news.”
“Yeah, I mean, that’s weird, but what does that have to do with us covering what’s going on?”
“That’s just it. News has spread within the town, apparently. Everyone knows about us.”
“About the Greensmiths? Why? We don’t have anything to do with UFOs.”
“We were the ones who first posted that video that brought everyone here. Some people poked around a bit on the blog outside of just that video, I guess. Some people think we’re hiding things about the UFO. Others want to see magic or be taken in as an apprentice. They wouldn’t even listen to me when I told them I couldn’t do magic personally. I’ve never really had that problem before. It was strange.”
Rowen took a deep breath. When she had thought about that video driving a lot of traffic to their website, she could have never predicted something like this. When was the last time Lainswich had had such an influx of tourists? Never, she supposed. At least it hadn’t happened in what she knew of the history of this place. “Are you trapped at the office or anything? Is there something I can do?”