by Eve Langlais
“Are you Ms. Williams?” asked the skinniest fellow, his human scent not hinting one bit at fear. Then again, why would he be scared of little ol’ Maisy?
“I am. Who are you?” Because they had no identifying emblems or uniforms.
“You can call me Agent Loomer. These are my associates, Jugger, Kline, and Pumpernickel.” He waved a hand.
Loomer didn’t name the agency he worked for. Oversight? Or because it wasn’t one recognized by the government or law? “What can I help you with?”
“We’re seeking a fugitive. Name of Jakob Jones.”
She spat on the ground. “That good for nothing. What’s he done now?”
“Have you seen him?” asked Loomer.
“Not since I dumped his ass. Why? Is he in trouble?” She hoped Jakob had the sense to remain out of sight inside.
“Mr. Jones is wanted for questioning. He is considered dangerous.”
“Really?” she drawled. “I find that hard to believe. He’s always been a bit of a teddy bear.”
“Interesting that you mention bear, ma’am. Do you have any knowledge about panda bears? Perhaps the whereabouts of a missing one?”
“You still looking for it? I saw the panda escape on the news. Do you think Jakob smuggled it into the country?” She shook her head. “Can’t say as I’m surprised he turned to a life of crime.”
She could see the fellow getting frustrated, and yet each moment they spent talking was a minute her daughter was using to get away.
Or not.
Her blood ran cold as she heard a tiny growl. A glance over her shoulder showed a striped tiger cub standing at the corner of the house, hackles up, looking to protect her mama.
“Well, well, what do we have here? More exotic animals.” Those shades gave no hint of Loomer’s expression. “It seems a rather large coincidence, don’t you think, Agent Kline?”
“I think she’s his accomplice,” said the female of the group, her tone flat.
This conversation was rapidly going downhill. “This isn’t what it seems. I’m a vet. I fix animals. This one is a patient who must have gotten free.” She reached down and grabbed her cub by the scruff of the neck as she went to streak past. “If you give me a second, I’ll put her back in her cage. The barn is right over there.” She pointed to a building where she did most of her vet work.
“Keep your hands where we can see them!” Another of the guys in shades raised his weapon as he barked.
“I’m unarmed,” she shouted. In that moment, a thousand possibilities ran through her mind, all of them involving shifting into her panther, which was a no-no in front of the humans. Bad enough Peach had transformed and shown herself.
But how to get out of the situation? She couldn’t be arrested. They’d take Peach from her and put her in a real cage.
She backed away, Peach tucked to her chest, as the voices kept making demands to put down the cub and hold up her hands. Her heart raced as she looked desperately for a way to protect her child.
Jakob chose that moment to burst out of the cottage. It was less a calculated rush and more a clumsy stumble that sent him from two teetering panda legs into a tucked furry ball that startled the humans enough he managed to bowl a pair over. Before they could rise, he was trying to stand and wavering on his feet, swinging around giant paws that looked fearsome but did nothing.
The agents didn’t panic like normal humans would when faced with a bear. At a signal from Loomer, Jugger aimed his weapon.
Thwick. The dart hit the big bear in the shoulder. It didn’t slow him one bit as he fell against the agent, who suddenly wasn’t a human anymore but a rhino shredding her clothes.
How was that possible? She’d never even scented it. None of them presented as skinwalkers, and yet, in a moment, three of the four had shifted while Loomer—still in his suit—took careful aim, ready to shoot the panda again.
Peach snarled and wiggled hard enough that Maisy lost her grip on her daughter. The cub hit the ground on four paws, and Maisy could only watch in bemused horror as her kid threw herself into the fray. The good news was no one was trying to hurt Peach. They appeared to be trying to subdue Jakob, who struggled in his bear shape. Enough was enough. She pulled a long wooden tube from her pocket and put it to her lips.
Thunk. The dart hit flesh, and the female rhino dropped to the ground.
Pfft. The second shifter, Pumpernickel, with his blunt tusks, snorted before toppling. Loomer had climbed onto the hood of the SUV, avoiding sharp cub teeth, while Kline, the gorilla, grappled with a panda in a battle to see who would hug the tightest. It didn’t look like he’d win that contest.
As a bear, Jakob lacked the grace she recalled when he was a roo. No wonder he felt ill at ease in his skin.
Pfft. Pfft.
Only when all four of the agents slept on the ground did Maisy sigh. What a mess.
“Peach, call your pappy. Tell him to meet us at the woohoo tree.”
“Rawr.” The cub raced past her for the cottage and the phone.
“Woowoo what?” Jakob asked, his shift sudden enough she got an eyeful of male flesh before averting her gaze.
Rather than reply to his question, she wagged a finger. “You! This is your fault.”
“I don’t know how they found me.”
“Doesn’t matter. Given they’ve obviously got us associated, I’ll have to leave.” She gazed upon her cottage. Her home for the last decade. No longer a safe place.
“I’m sorry, Maze. I never meant to bring trouble.” He hung his head.
She didn’t need to see his expression to know he was sincerely contrite. “You fight like shit.”
“I know. I need to find my mother so she can change me back.”
“If it’s even possible.” She shook her head. “You gotta be ready to accept the possibility this is permanent.”
“I don’t like it.” His lower lip almost jutted.
“Then fix it.”
“How? You just said I might be stuck like this forever.”
“If that’s the case, then you need to learn how to use your new body.”
“Easier said than done. Know any pandas who can teach me?”
Peach emerged, a little girl once more, wearing her backpack. “Pappy says last one there is a smelly cat.” She bounced, eager to go.
“Then you’d better get moving.”
Peach hesitated. “Are you coming?”
“Just let me grab my bag.” As Peach bolted off, leaving the cleared yard to enter the brush, Maisy turned on Jakob. “Give me a hand with the bodies.”
“Gotta knife? I can make it quick.”
She blinked. “Not to kill them idiot. I have cages we can lock them in to give us extra time. Get dressed first, then give me a hand.” Because he was hella distracting.
While he ran inside for his clothes, she hit the barn, sliding open the doors and readying four cages. She currently had no wild creatures recovering, a rarity in her occupation where everyone for miles around with a hurt animal came to see her, including cryptids.
About to head back to the bodies, Jakob arrived, dragging the first one, the rhino fellow, with his gray leathery skin and sharp tusk. Jakob heaved him into a cage and waved her off when she would have gone to help. “Just make sure he stays locked up. We don’t need them on our tail.”
She didn’t just secure the cage. She also ensured she got a blood sample from the rhino. In his animal shape, he smelled as expected, and yet the bundle of clothes, ragged shreds for the most part, that Jakob dumped inside the barn all oozed of human. A dichotomy she’d like to study, but it would have to wait. They’d wasted too much time.
Once all the agents were locked up, she slid the barn door shut and returned to her house to grab a few extra things, including her pack. Jakob hadn’t said much, and when he did, it wasn’t with the brashness she’d expected.
“I’m sorry I led them here.”
“Too late for that now. What’s done is done.”
> “I won’t bother you again,” he said, turning to leave.
She should let him go. “Wait. Where are you going?”
He shrugged. “I’ll figure something out.”
On an impulse, she said, “You’re coming with me.”
“I can’t. I’m a wanted man.”
“Maybe you are, and yet those weren’t cops.”
“They called themselves agents.”
“For what? I didn’t find any identification in their clothes. And despite smelling human, they’re skinwalkers like you and me.”
“Do you think FUC sent them?”
“The Furry United Coalition agents I’ve met always identified themselves, and they have badges.”
“If not FUC, then who sent them?” he asked, frowning.
“No idea. But we should take a quick peek to see if there’s any clues before we take off.”
She searched the ground for more shredded clothes, one hand on her blow pipe loaded with tranquilizer darts. Strong ones because she usually dealt with wounded animals and they could be unpredictable.
Jakob searched the SUV and emerged wearing pants he’d found but with his hands empty.
“Nothing?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Not even registration papers. You?”
“Nada. They came in clean, making it even more likely these fellows were up to no good.” She frowned at them. “Who would be coming after you like that?”
He sounded so grim as he said, “My mum.”
8
There was no one else with the kind of money needed to hire muscle interested in taking him alive.
Why did his mum want him again? Had she seen his footage on television? And why had she dumped him in the first place? Was it because she thought she’d failed?
Whatever the reason, he needed to get away from Maisy and Peach before he brought more trouble. He entered the cottage and retrieved the bug-out bag, handing Maze hers as she entered. “You find Peach, and I’ll do my best to create a path that leads them away.”
She snorted. “We saw how well that worked the first time.”
He scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Yeah, well, guess I’ll have to try harder.”
“You won’t get far if you can’t fight. That was pathetic.”
He grimaced. “I know. Damn new body doesn’t work the way I expect it to.”
“Until it does, you shouldn’t be alone.”
“I’ll go see my family.”
“Actually, I have a better idea. A place to keep you safe while teaching you how to be a proper panda,” she stated.
“Where? The zoo? I don’t see how spending time in a cage will help me. I’d be better off watching those Kung Fu Panda movies.”
“Not a bad idea. Maybe we can rent it on the plane.”
“Plane?” He blinked. “Are you insane? We can’t get on a plane or anything that requires identification.”
“You’re assuming that we’ll be using our current names. I’ll have that taken care of when I arrange our flight.”
“Are we going somewhere?”
“Yes. Back to school.”
“Like fuck I am,” he exhaled.
“Actually, more like FUCN’A, the Furry United Coalition Newbie Academy. It’s in Canada.”
He shook his head. “No way. No ARSHOL for me!” He’d heard of the place, the Animal Rescue Special House of Learning, started a few years ago after Mastermind’s reign of terror. It provided a safe place where shifters not only learned the skills to combat future threats to their society but also helped those affected by Mastermind’s experiments.
“I don’t see what the problem is. You need to learn how to defend yourself. And you need to be safe while doing it. We both know the Academy is your safest bet.”
“It’s a whole continent away for starters.”
“Even better. What are the chances your mother will come after us there?”
“Is it me, or did you say us?” He couldn’t help but feel a spurt of excitement.
“Someone needs to make sure you get there in one piece, not to mention the whole human-scent-hiding-a-skinwalker ability needs to be further explored. I’ve got samples of the four fake agents, plus scraps of their clothes. FUCN’A has a fully equipped lab. Maybe we can get answers. Not just about the scent thing but your panda, too.”
“What about Peach?”
Her lips turned down. “She’ll be safe with her pappy while I’m gone.”
“Or you could just give me the samples. I promise I’ll get them to the lab.”
She shook her head. “Peach will be fine without me for a few days. This is important. If someone has found a way to mask scent and change a person’s animal genome, then we’re all in trouble.”
“You really think this is the best idea?”
“I don’t think we really have a choice.”
A heavy sigh left him. “If I’m going to back to school, then do me a favor?
“What?”
“I want a superhero lunch box.”
She punched him in the arm.
“Ow!”
“Don’t be such an idiot. This is serious.”
She was right; it was serious, and scary. He’d never meant to draw Maisy into his problems, and now she wanted to help. It was more than he deserved. There wasn’t much to say after they left her place, and not just because he was trying to not huff and puff as he followed the hard pace Maisy set. His mind still whirled.
Had his mother come after him? Why? He’d assumed she’d been the one to let him go. But what if that were a mistake? Perhaps he’d escaped or someone else had helped him.
The route they took meandered quite a bit, with Maisy backtracking in a few spots, covering their tracks. He trusted her and not just because she was his only choice. If anyone knew how to hide in the bush, it was this girl. Her father had taught her well, and once upon a time, when he was a roo, he would have been a match for her skills, but his heavy feet were noisy and clumsy. Maybe after some time spent at the Academy he would be light on his toes again.
It was nightfall before they approached a gnarly tree, wider than several people holding hands could hug, lit in ghostly moss that glowed as twilight gave way to night.
“Say hello to the woohoo tree,” she stated.
“Why woohoo?”
“Climb inside the trunk and you’ll see,” was her cryptic reply. “Throw your pack in first, though.”
He tossed his bag in and heard it hit something, followed by the slide of fabric. Next, he set his hands on the opening in the bole, putting one leg in at a time, feeling a firm surface. He crouched inside on a ledge, his bulk blocking all the outside light. Reaching in front of him, he felt nothing in his way. How big was the hollow?
He turned his head to ask over his shoulder, “Now what?”
Rather than reply, Maisy shoved him hard enough that he toppled onto his ass and plummeted downward. The ledge he’d been on was the top of a slide. He shot down. And down. The serpentine slide was steep and narrow, so he kept his arms over his chest and his legs tight together as he flew.
He could hear a feminine echo, “Woo! Hoo!” as Maze followed him down the unexpected chute. He had a moment at the bottom to realize he’d emerged into a cavern full of light, and then he was airborne.
“Argh!” He flew for a moment before hitting the water with a splash and sinking like a stone. Not far, thankfully. The moment he found the bottom he stood up, his head just emerging from the underground lake. And then he was back under as he failed to move out of the way and Maze hit him as she was ejected from the tube.
They stood together, her laughing, him glowering, mostly because she could have told him what to expect.
“Look who’s a sour pussy,” she said, tweaking his nose.
“I’m wet.”
“But the good news is you don’t stink as badly anymore.” Her eyes sparkled with mirth.
Their gazes caught. Her laughter faded. They stared, their
faces getting closer and closer—
“Mama! Teddy! I beat you.”
The high-pitched voice severed the moment. Maze sloshed past him to the shore, a rocky lip rounded by time and water. He followed, glancing around him at the hanging stalactites, noting the clarity of the water. As for the light, it was provided by smokeless torches set around the lake. They illuminated enough to see the walls had been smoothed, all the better for the art etched and painted upon it.
Heaving himself out of the water, he noticed more signs of habitation, such as the leather curtains hanging over cave entrances, one of which pulled aside to reveal a wiry man with tight iron-colored curls. Herbert Williams, Maisy’s dad, appeared the same as Jakob recalled, if a tad more weathered. The guy spent his life outside, and apparently underground.
“What is this place?” Jakob asked as he pulled off his shirt and wrung it out. His bug-out bag sat on a nearby rock. He hoped the bag was waterproof.
“Not too sure. Some of the drawings appear to date back over ten thousand years, but at the same time, there are some advanced stone working techniques. You can see it in the furniture inside the caves, which places it more recently, perhaps the last few thousand years or so,” Maisy informed him.
Both very old. “How did you find it?”
“Ancient family secret,” was Herbert’s squinty-eyed reply. “What’s this I hear about men with guns coming after Peach?”
“Not Peach. Him.” Maze jabbed a finger in his direction.
“And you brought him here?” Herbert sounded and looked less than impressed.
“No one followed me.”
“Hmph.” Clear disdainful disbelief. “Did you set the trap?”
“Of course.” Maisy snorted. “No one is going to find your secret thrill ride.”
“How long you planning to hide here?” Herbert asked. “I’ve got enough supplies for four for a week, but I can easily hunt for more.”
“Jakob and I are only spending the night. I need to go somewhere with him.”
“Can I come?” Peach bounced.