“That’s good, that’s good.” Roger still hadn’t left, making me pause before going inside. I didn’t want to be rude. He was only trying to be nice. He was middle aged, with a thick beard and longer hair. He looked like a mountain man. There was a friendliness to him though that made me think he could be trusted.
“Do you need anything?” I asked, trying to get him to say whatever he needed to so that we could get inside.
“I just noticed you were down by the dock,” he said. My heart froze, thinking he was going to ask about the candles. I looked back at the dock and breathed out a sigh realizing the house and the fog had completely shrouded our spell. “I don’t know if you’ve heard anything, but the lake isn’t safe to be in right now.”
“It’s not?” We were definitely about to get more information about the lake creature. That I would welcome. I could sense Roger was a believer like Tracy.
“There’s something in there hurting people. I don’t know what it is, but I’ve made it my business to figure out what and to get rid of it,” he said nodding towards the lake. “There have been a few attacks and I want to prevent more from happening. I’ve tried to keep everyone from the water, but some aren’t listening, don’t believe it’s true.” He was talking about Tracy who mentioned that she swam in the lake when it was warm enough. Even though she believed that the lake creature was out there, she didn’t seem to be scared of him the way Roger seemed to be. It was almost like she knew something we didn’t.
“We weren’t actually going in,” I explained. “Just sitting down by the water is all.”
“Just be cautious,” he warned. “There’s something evil in those waters, and if you aren’t careful it will bring you down to the depths with it.” With that he left, sensing we wanted to get inside. We watched him limp away slowly before retreating to the warmth of the cabin.
Even after the drying spell and the warmth of the fireplace, I felt cold creeping inside me. Roger was serious about his warning. He would track the creature and take it on himself. We’d have to make sure that we get to him before Roger did. The hunt for the lake creature was starting to feel like a race. One that we needed to win.
Chapter Four
A storm blew in that night. It reminded me of the story that Tracy had told us about the ship tragedy. The wind whipped at the water without mercy. The entire dock connected to the front of our house was submerged under the lake. I was worried we might have to leave the cabin as the entire frame felt like it was moving from the pressure of the wind. Our spell had been destroyed, and I could only speculate that it wasn’t an accident.
“Can the lake creature control weather?” I asked. I hadn’t heard of one being able to do that...as far as I knew there were very few people who were powerful enough for something like that. Extremely practiced witches and wizards could. This did not include Winnie or I yet. We could make it snow or rain but only directly above us. It was a difficult thing to master.
“I’ve never heard of one that could,” Alan shook his head. “If he can, we might not be dealing with a straight forward lake creature.”
“What would we be dealing with then?” Winnie was bored, laying on the couch. The storm had started before we went to bed but hadn’t let up at all that morning. It was now encroaching on afternoon and the storm showed no signs of stopping.
“I don’t know,” I said staring out the window at the lake. It sure felt like the weather was coming directly from its depths. Maybe the lake creature, or whatever it was, had created the storm that killed all those men years before. It was a frightening prospect.
“You think the storm is him?” Winnie asked. She rolled over plopping off the edge of the couch and standing up swiftly.
“I’m not sure.” I was biting my nails, a habit I’d had since I was young. That was one of the things I could remember. It was little things that I remembered, the big things like where I came from, who my family was, how I got to Nikatomia...that I couldn’t remember.
“I just hope the rain clears up soon.” Winnie was standing beside me looking outside as well. “I could use another pastry.”
“Me too,” Alan chirped. He had ended up finishing my second slice of apple pie and I think it created a monster. While he was sleeping, I could hear him mumble something about pie.
Our wish wasn’t granted for another two days. We had been stuck inside for most of the time, with the weather as intense as it was. Not even our magic would have been able to keep us dry or our spell going. The candles and rune stones were gone. I doubted we’d ever get them back, which meant we’d have to find more when went home to Nikatomia. The candles were no big deal, but the runes would be more difficult to replace.
“Let’s go,” Winnie said trudging outside. She had decided to put on hiking boots to keep the mud off her feet. It wasn’t a harmonious few days stuck inside. I had nightmares that woke me in the middle of the night. It was like the dreams I had when we were camping, but they were more like memories. I saw flashes of my childhood, but none of them made sense. Faces of people from my past, moments of fear and storms like the one outside. Needless to say, my inability to sleep through the night had affected my companions sleep as well.
The days were passing quickly. I wanted us to make sure we weren’t stuck in the normal realm for another whole month. If we didn’t find the lake creature soon, that might be the case. He was certainly proving to be illusive. Without any more runes, we couldn’t perform the summoning spell again. We’d have to track him down some other way.
It was already late afternoon by the time we were heading to the bakery. It was drizzling in the morning, and we were busy trying to figure out a new way to get the lake creature’s attention. We hadn’t really come up with anything yet, so at our wits end we decided we needed out of the house. Even as far away from Tracy and Judy’s as we were, I could smell the freshly made baked goods. Their aroma floated through the air guiding us to the bakery. I was hoping for a strudel of some kind today, and of course a cup of coffee.
Those hopes were dashed when the place came into eye sight. Despite the delicious aroma, a large “CLOSED” sign hung on the door. It shouldn’t have unsettled me the way it did. The entire place felt abandoned for a moment. Like they had disappeared right in the middle of whatever they were doing.
“Trying to go to the bakery?” A gruff voice asked from behind us. “You won’t get in, I’m afraid.” It was Roger. He had walked up behind us so quietly I hadn’t even heard him. That was a hard feat considering the mud squelched with every step we took.
“Why not?” I asked, worried about Tracy and Judy. They had clearly started the day normally. Otherwise, the place wouldn’t have smelled like freshly baked goods. “Is everyone okay?”
“Not quite,” Roger said vaguely. “Did you ladies hike all the way out here?” He seemed suddenly suspicious of us. If something had happened to Tracy or Judy, we were the only outsiders in the town. It didn’t surprise me that they might wonder about us, especially considering that no one seemed to be traveling to their town right now.
“We did.” I crossed my arms, trying and failing to hide my offense. On top of his suspicion, he sounded like he didn’t believe that we could have done it. Even though we hadn’t actually hiked the entire way, the parts we flew weren’t all that easy either.
“No one hikes here anymore,” he shook his head, clearly impressed. I had taken his statement wrong, making me feel a bit silly. I still wanted to know what had happened to make them close the bakery. He was skirting around it, not wanting to tell us.
“You said we won’t make it into the bakery?” Winnie asked, desperation clear in her voice. While I had been having nightmares, she had been dreaming of pastries. There was more than one reason why she loved the coffee shop that was around the corner from our office in Nikatomia. The barista she flirted with was only part of it.
“Afraid not. The woman who owns it, her daughter’s gone missing. Most of us are out there looking for her
now. You didn’t see her, did you?” He asked without hope. “Blonde hair, short, early twenties?” He didn’t know we had been to the bakery and had met Tracy and Judy before. He might be more willing to share if he knew.
“Tracy’s gone missing?” I asked. “We met her and Judy the other day when we first arrived.” Roger seemed to relax a little bit, but only a little. He was a vigilant guy; he had already proven that when he warned us to stay away from the lake. I guessed he might even be ex-military, just by the way he carried himself. That might explain the limp too. I didn't notice it yesterday, but today it was prominent.
“Yeah, Tracy has been missing since this morning. She went out for a swim and never came back.” My blood turned to ice. “I’ve warned her, just like I warned you all. The lake is no place to be right now. It hasn’t been safe for the last twenty years.”
“That’s terrible,” I said hoping she had just wandered off and gotten lost. It was unlikely considering she had grown up there.
“The lake creature took her,” He said, not mincing words. “It was only a matter of time before he succeeded in taking one of our own again. He tried it twenty years ago and failed to take anyone alive. He tried it last year, but that kid got away. I warned her.” Roger was talking to himself now. “They don’t believe me.”
“Who? Judy?” I asked. I had forgotten my hunger completely. It had been eclipsed by my concern for Tracy. The lake creature probably did take her, and who knows what it was going to do to her. He might even kill her accidentally, if he doesn’t know that she can’t breathe under water. Winnie looked on the alert too.
“She thinks that Billy Joe took her,” He said with a sigh. That sounded like it could be possible. I’d rather that she not have been taken by anyone, but least of all by the lake creature. Her mother seemed to believe that Billy Joe wasn’t a good guy, that was enough for me.
“Would he have done something like that?” Winnie asked.
“I wouldn’t put it past him, that’s for sure,” Roger admitted. “He’s a mean guy, I never understood why such a sweet girl would be willing to give him the time of day. Not that she’s got a lot of options in such a small town.”
“But you don’t think that he did it?” It was drizzling again, which made me shiver. “You think it was a monster?”
“You don’t have to believe me,” Roger said, shaking his head. “It’s not like anyone else does. I’m going to get her back though.”
“I didn’t say that we don’t believe you,” I said. “I just want to know why you think Billy Joe didn’t do it.”
“He’s a jerk, but I don’t think he’s stupid enough to kidnap Tracy. Everyone is going to think that he’s taken her. Judy’s got the entire town after him already,” he explained. “She’s ready to string him up until he tells her where Tracy is. I can’t blame her; she’s never liked him and for good reason. More than once Tracy’s been bruised up by him.” I was starting to think that I might want a word with him too.
“Couldn’t she have just wandered off and gotten lost?” Winnie asked. She had pulled her jacket around herself. It was unseasonably cold out. Again it felt like the lake creature was playing tricks with the weather.
“I guess so, but I doubt it. Tracy is a local, she knows this area.” Roger was getting antsy talking to us. He was on a mission and didn’t want to be distracted for much longer. “If you want to help, head to the visitor center. Judy is putting together a search party, looking for both Tracy and Billy Joe. While they waste their time doing that, I’m going hunting.” I wished I could stop him from going, but there was nothing I could say that would deter him.
“I guess we’re going to the visitor center,” I said.
“THANK GOODNESS YOU're here,” Judy said as we walked inside. “We need all the help we can get. Tracy’s gone missing.” She was more put together than I had expected. It was like in the face of chaos she became calm. The visitor center was packed full, it looked like all of the seventy-five people who lived there had packed inside. They took care of their own.
“We heard, we’re here to help,” Winnie assured her. “Roger told us that you think Billy Joe took her?” She whispered this, in case any of his friends were around to hear.
“I’m sure he did,” Judy nodded. “He’s nowhere to be found either.” That made him seem guilty, considering that everyone else was there to help. You’d think he would be concerned about his own girlfriend.
“What’s the plan?” I asked. If Tracy was with the lake creature, we needed to be the one’s to find her. We also might need to figure out a way to take an unwilling creature back with us to Nikatomia. There were ways, but a creature like this would prove difficult.
“We’ve all got quadrants we're taking, so why don’t you take the area near the cabin you're staying in.” Judy pointed to the large map that hung on the wall. They had broken it up with a marker denoting who was looking where. She wrote our names up quickly. “Alright, everyone, listen up!” She shouted. The room hushed immediately. “You all know where you're looking, so let’s bring my daughter home and get that Billy Joe to face justice.” I wondered what their definition of justice was.
“Let’s go,” I said to Winnie and Alan. “Judy, we’ll have Alan fly around, and he'll be able to tell us if he’s found anything.”
“I knew that bird would prove useful,” Judy said scratching him under his beak. He ruffled happily, always glad to be of service. “We’ve called the authorities in the next town over, but it’ll be some time before they get here.” I was worried that they might have their own idea of justice and truly become judge, jury and executioner. It was good to know that the actual authorities would be here soon.
“What do you want us to do if we find them?” Winnie asked. Usually we would bind them with magic, making it so that they wouldn’t be able to get away. That wasn’t something we could do right now though.
“Just holler and we’ll come running. Sound travels around here, someone will be able to hear you,” Judy assured us. The entire center had emptied, and Judy left with one of the groups. They even had a couple of boats heading out onto the water.
“Hopefully the lake creature didn’t take her,” I said to Winnie and Alan once the room was emptied.
“That would make us way too lucky,” Winnie sighed, and she was probably right. We trudged out into the rain again to help in the search for Tracy.
Chapter Five
Tracy had been missing for forty-eight hours before the cops arrived. They had called in the state police, because the local cops in the town over didn’t have the jurisdiction over the area. Billy Joe had turned up though. Everyone was convinced that he'd her tucked away somewhere. The cops had him in custody and were questioning him relentlessly. They overturned his house, and all the land he owned. There was no sign of Tracy anywhere though. He didn’t have an alibi, which made him seem even more guilty.
Judy admitted that Tracy was planning on moving away to pursue a college education. She hadn’t been too excited about the idea, since Tracy hadn’t left the Charybdis since she was a baby. Tracy had been planning on telling Billy Joe about it. Judy thought that she might have told him, and he retaliated by kidnapping her. The police thought that she was on the right track as well. Billy Joe’s friends and Roger had a different idea though. Roger seemed to be able to convince some people that the lake creature had taken her.
“That boy, Jerry isn’t making things any easier,” Judy said. She looked exhausted, having been searching for Tracy non-stop for the last two days. With the arrival of the cops she was able to take a small break. We’d managed to get her to rest in the bakery, while we actually treated her to coffee and a full dinner.
“What did he do?” I asked, not having heard the boy’s name before.
“He’s claiming that he saw Tracy being carried off by the lake creature,” Judy said with a roll of her eyes. “He’s only a boy though, doesn’t really know what he’s saying. It’s a lot of excitement in the tow
n, more than any of us are used to.”
“You think he made it up?” I passed her a coffee, hoping it was as good as one she would be able to make. Alan was off flying; he had been searching for Tracy since she'd gone missing. It was like he made it his personal mission to find her. I was worried that we hadn’t seen him in so long, but I knew that he'd come back when he had something to tell us. I just wanted it to be soon. Okay sue me...the fowl had created his own little soft spot in my heart. But if he didn't get his hiney back here soon, someone was getting their beak tweaked.
“I’m not sure,” Judy shook her head. “It’s riled up Roger’s crew, that’s for sure. But they’re going off of the word of a ten-year-old. He could have just imagined it. I think he probably saw Billy Joe take her and like I was saying the other day, covered the trauma of that with something easier to digest.”
“A monster is easier to digest?” Winnie said with a snort.
“Yeah, it is,” Judy said harshly. “Everyone knows each other here...we’re like a large family. A dysfunctional one, sure, but no one expects one of us to hurt another. It’s a lot easier to pretend that a monster took Tracy than one of our own.”
“Sorry,” Winnie apologized. “I didn’t mean to sound callous.”
“You didn’t,” Judy replied. “It’s just, my daughter is missing and instead of going after the man responsible, half the town is after some imaginary beast that Roger himself made up.” I stopped in my tracks.
“What do you mean?”
“Roger was the lone survivor of the wreck twenty years ago. That’s where he got his limp from. Whatever he got caught on when the ship capsized did a number on him. It gave him a lifelong complex about a monster that he’ll never be able to find.” Judy had pity for the man, but her tone also suggested anger. “If he would have just listened to me and gotten the help he needed back then, this wouldn’t be happening.”
Come Witch or High Water Page 3