Thorn Fall (12 page)

“Look, we can just crash at the trailhead tonight and go out in the morning if you want. There are a hundred trails out of the subdivisions around town. The cops won’t think to check this one for us.
If
they’re even looking. If all Grannie gave them was rabbit poaching, I’m sure they have higher priorities. That’s probably why it took all day for a patrol car to come out to the campground.”

“All right. Yeah, you’re right.” I wasn’t sure why I was so twitchy about the idea of encountering the police right now. Maybe because the other authority figures in my life had turned against me, I couldn’t imagine a chat with the men in blue coming out well. “You’re displaying uncommon common sense tonight, Simon.”

“Was that a compliment?”

“Maybe?”

“I just wanted to make sure. I haven’t had many from you, so I wasn’t sure what one would sound like.”

Temi snorted. I glanced back, surprised our silly banter had amused her.

“It reminded me of my experience with Jakatra,” she said.

“Oh?” I prompted, still wanting to hear more about how her training had gone.

But she didn’t offer anything more than a nod.

The seat rocked and jumped as we found the end of the pavement—and a locked gate blocking the road ahead.

I shot Simon a dirty look. “We can drive most of the way to the rocks, you say?”

“Uh, that was the theory. This road is supposed to go all the way to I-17. I wouldn’t have expected it to be locked.” He was eyeing the posts, probably trying to decide if the van could slip around them. It looked tight. Not to mention that the potholes and broken chunks of pavement beyond the gate didn’t look very van-friendly.

“Any mention about needing a Jeep to access the road?” I asked.

“It might have been suggested. Oh well. We can walk up it anyway. It’ll probably be easier than the trail in the dark.”

“I don’t know. The trail probably has fewer potholes.”

Simon turned into the parking lot to the left of the gate. The headlights played over dirt, prickly pear, and a few stubby trees. Several trails led off in different directions, but he picked a spot in front of the one that looked to parallel the road. Zelda was the only vehicle in the lot. In the distance, the rock formations rose, black in the night, silhouetted against a starry sky. Usually I would admire the magnificence of all those points of light, but I watched them warily now, searching for signs of monsters flying toward us.

“Is that a bathroom?” Temi pointed to a dark shack at the end of the parking lot.

“If by bathroom, you mean outhouse,” I said, “then my guess is yes.”

“Think I have to pay to use it?”

“You pay to park,” Simon said brightly, pointing to an automatic ticket dispensing station. “Bathroom use is included.”

Temi’s eyebrows twitched. “Are we going to pay?”

“Uh, I wasn’t planning on it,” Simon said. “I can’t imagine a ranger checking after dark.”

“First rabbit poaching and now parking violations. We’re definitely on a collision course with the cops.”

Temi hopped out to use the facilities, such as they were, and Simon stood up and rubbed his hands together. “Who wants to help me make ammunition for our morning walk?”

“I haven’t mixed a lot of chemicals,” I said. “Do the odds of the van blowing up go up or down if we help you?”

“I was just going to have you hold the light for me.”

“Ah, I guess I can do that.”

The van door rolled open, and Alek hopped out, his spear in hand. He had belted on his sword at some point too.

“Uh, does he not know the wait-for-morning plan?” Simon asked.

“He probably wants to scout around, check for Persians,” I said.

“So long as he doesn’t prong anyone with that spear. That’ll be harder to explain than rabbits. Rabbits that are still in my refrigerator, a refrigerator that isn’t hooked up to electricity anymore.”

I made a face. Maybe we could pull out the grill and cook them for a late dinner.

Temi returned from the outhouse and waved a slip of paper at Simon.

“Red Rock Pass,” he read. “You paid five bucks for this? Really?”

“The facilities must have exceeded her expectations,” I said.

“I’ve used worse.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard the players’ clubhouse at Wimbledon is a slum.”

She gave me a dry look. “You don’t start out at Wimbledon. Some of the futures tourneys are in third-world countries.”

Simon put the pass on the dashboard. “It expires at midnight. You’ll have to get up to buy another one then, if you want us to be entirely legal.”

Temi ignored him and pulled her sword and scabbard out of the van. “I’m going to look around too.”

I frowned. “Just around the parking lot, right? Not up the trail?”

But she had already wandered into the darkness, and she didn’t answer.

“Del?” Simon asked. “Have you noticed that we’re no longer the weirdest people we hang out with?”

I thought of the way Temi had picked a route that led us to those pictographs. Even though she denied it, I continued to wonder about that sword and what else it could do besides glow and cut things.

I fished my flashlight out of my pack. “I’m going to check on her.”

“Who’s going to hold my light?” Simon protested as I jumped out the door.

With the headlights off, it was hard to see much out there. I flicked on my flashlight and found Temi standing by the MUNDS WAGON TR sign. She was gazing up the dusty path, a thoughtful expression on her face. Though she hadn’t taken the sword out of its scabbard, it was in her hand. The faintest hint of silver seeped out around the hilt.

“We’re still waiting until morning,” I said. “Right?”

“You’ll think I’m nuts, but I feel this pull to go up the trail.”

“From the sword?” Maybe it had some divining-rod-like properties.

“I guess. It’s hard to explain.”

“Any chance this pull would like to wait until morning?”

Temi hesitated. “It probably could.”

Probably
? Did that mean, yes, no problem, or did that mean that if we woke up in the middle of the night, we would find her gone? Based on the last couple of weeks, I wouldn’t classify Temi as impulsive or reckless, but she
had
run away from home at fourteen. And the sword added an unpredictable element, as well. Exactly how much of a pull did it have over her? Or was I seeing things that weren’t there?

Alek returned from the brush. “Empty,” he said in English.

I checked the time on my phone. Barely after seven o’clock. If we left right away, we could be back by ten. That didn’t seem so ridiculously late to be out, poking around in the woods… Except that if the monster showed up, it wouldn’t matter what time it was. It could probably navigate in the dark fine, whereas we would never see those thorns until they struck us.

I eyed the road, wondering if it might be worth trying to find a way around the locked gate after all. But Zelda might lose the rest of her tires if we tried to drive over that chewed up mess.

“Any chance you’d consider trading your Jag in for a Jeep, Temi?” I asked.

“A Jeep? You don’t think a monster hunter should have a sleek and sexy car?”

“Jeeps are sexy. Some of them even have doors.” I waved for Alek and Temi to stay at the trailhead, then headed back to the van. “I’ll tell Simon we’re going for a walk.”

We ultimately decided on walking up the trail instead of following the road. After looking at a map online, I had been afraid we would miss the turnoff for the rock formation if we didn’t. I had started regretting that decision right away. Even with the flashlight, I slipped and tripped constantly on the rugged terrain, and I kept getting clawed at by the bushes and short trees guarding the sides of the trail. The darkness that hemmed us in made me uneasy as well. Someone could have been within two feet on either side of me, and I would not have known it.

Up ahead, Temi’s sword was a far more effective nightlight. If I could keep up with her, I would be happy to bask in its glow, but she and her six feet of height were striding along at a pace I struggled to match. Every now and then, she paused to wait for me—and Simon, who was trudging along behind me while muttering about not having time to complete his weapons, but it always seemed like an afterthought, as if something else was distracting her. Alek jogged in and out of the influence of our lights. He either had excellent night vision or was better at relying on his other senses than the rest of us. Since he had grown up a couple of thousand years before electricity was invented, that was probably a given.

Now and then, an animal scurried away from our approach with a rattling of branches, but quietness reigned on the trail for the most part, with only the soft thud of our footsteps sounding in the night. Even though we hadn’t gone more than a couple of miles, and there had to be houses around here and there, I hadn’t seen any light or sign of human activity since we left the parking area. Sedona had an ordinance against light pollution, so it felt like we were much farther out in the wild than we were.

When Iron Maiden’s
Can I Play with Madness?
burst from one of the phones, it was as jarring as a horn blaring. I tripped and nearly face-planted in a cactus. My first thought was that Simon had changed my ringtone again, but he had changed
his
.

He groaned, “Of
course
there’s reception out here,” then answered with a, “Yeah?”

Since he didn’t get many calls, being far more of an email and text fan, my first thought was that the police had run his license plate and gotten his phone number. But I didn’t think even he would answer the police department with a yeah. Though curious, I kept walking and let him fall behind to give him his privacy. The murmurs of his conversation drifted up the trail. I paused at a bend. He didn’t have a flashlight, so I didn’t want him to get too far behind, but I was also aware of Temi still walking up ahead.

“Temi?” I called softly, reluctant to shout. If something predatory lived out here… I didn’t want to wake it up.

She disappeared over a hill.

“Great.”

Simon didn’t talk for long. He caught up with me, waving for me to continue on.

“Trouble?” I asked when he didn’t volunteer any information about the call.

“No. Not tonight anyway.”

“Ah, future trouble. My favorite kind.”

He grunted but didn’t offer one of his witty comebacks. I resolved not to pry and jogged up the hill after Temi, not slowing down until she came into sight again. A shape stepped out of the shadows in front of me, and my startled toes tried to trip me once again. A hand caught my arm.

“Alek,” he said, though I had guessed by then. I was more worried about something
flying
out of the shadows than someone stepping out of them. “Empty,” he added, then jogged after Temi, his sandals landing softly, kicking up dust. He veered into the brush again before he reached her.

“It’s like hiking through the Underdark with Drizzt Do’Urden,” Simon said.

“Well, he does have that elf blood.” Remembering my earlier thought about the quality of his night vision, I wondered if maybe people who had the mixed heritage actually
did
see better in the dark.

“Not as much as Temi though, right? Judging by the way the sword glows more for her than for him.”

“I guess not. Nobody’s explained the rules to me.”

“It’s rude, isn’t it?” Simon asked.

“Very much so.”

After we trotted along in silence for a few more minutes, Simon volunteered, “That was my brother. He wants to come down to visit.” He sounded glum at this news.

I had met Marcus during summer break one year and thought he was a nice guy, but Simon had some little-brother jealousy issues. “Because he wants to escape the perpetual gray gloom of the Olympic Peninsula, or because he wants to check up on you?”

“He
likes
the gloom,” Simon said. Gloomily. “I guess he found the webpage. Not the company one, but my… entertaining, useful, and fame-creating offshoot.”

“The monster blog.”

“Yeah. Anyway, he showed Mom, and apparently the whole family is worried for my sanity now. You’re lucky your family is doing the eco version of being Amish.”

Even if I knew what he meant, I choked at the notion of my very Greek Orthodox family being associated with the Amish. Yiayia would throw one of her Virgin Mary icons at Simon. “Their lack of Internet and cell phones is handy at times,” I said, even if I had hated it as a kid. “I do get a mouthful if I don’t send my monthly letter home.”

“A monthly letter that doesn’t mention monsters, I assume.”

“No, it usually mentions how devout and regular I am with my prayers and how hard I’m trying to find a suitable Greek husband.”

Simon snorted. “Well, maybe you can take Alek home for a visit, and they’ll actually believe the last thing.”

“Uhhh.” That drawn-out syllable was all I could manage at the images of interrogation that flooded into my head. My parents had been born in the United States, but my grandparents were another story. They would know right away that Alek’s Greek was a little off, assuming I got him to the point where he spoke modern Greek fluently, and they would see through any cover story we came up with as soon as they started asking him about his upbringing.

“What? You’re not scheming on how to make him yours yet? I thought that was what the tight jeans were about.”

“Those were the only pants there that would fit him, and you know it.”

“Sure, sure.”

“Look, he’s…” I lowered my voice on the chance that Alek was skulking nearby and could understand what we were saying. “Like I told you, he was married. He was kidnapped and never saw his wife and unborn baby again. Even if he was with the elves for some time before being locked in that box, I don’t think he’s gotten over her yet.”

“Oh.” Simon kicked at a low branch as he walked past it. “It’s weird, isn’t it? It shouldn’t matter anymore—what our parents think—but it does.”

“I suppose you never stop wanting them to feel proud of you.”

“I aim to get that. I’m just… Well, sometimes it’s hard to explain the steps, you know? You want to just wait until you’ve made your way to the solution to the equation, and then you’ll show them, when you have something that will make them happy. And yes, proud of you.”