Thorn Fall (16 page)

“You found him an hour ago?” The receptionist had been typing some of my scribbles into the computer as I wrote them, and she frowned at the dark windows beyond the door and then at me. Yes, it had been dark for a couple of hours now.

I nodded, trying not to look guilty. She wouldn’t start to doubt the veracity of my story, would she? And what would happen if she did? “Yeah, it was weird. My boyfriend and I were out… enjoying the quiet of the night together—” I avoided the woman’s eyes and assumed a sheepish expression, “—when we heard a groan come from the rocks. We had a heck of a time carrying the guy out.” I waved to my torn, dirty clothing, hoping that would lend verisimilitude to the story. My face had to be smeared with grime and sweat-streaked as well.

“You shouldn’t be out on the trails at night,” the receptionist said, going back to her typing.

Or during the day.

“There are… coyotes,” she said.

Coyotes, sure.

“That’s not what got him,” I pointed out, wondering if I might get some information from the woman. Maybe she had been working when some of the other unconscious people had been brought in. Aside from the reports of the deaths, there had been precious little in the papers about them. Nothing had warned tourists to stay out of the wilderness.

“The doctor will assess that,” the receptionist said. This time, she was the one who didn’t meet
my
eyes.

I rubbed the back of my head to cover a glance down the hallway. Where was Simon? This was a much more abbreviated form than the hospital norm—apparently you weren’t expected to know the medical histories of random strangers you brought in—and I couldn’t make it last much longer.

“Do you think it’s whatever got the ATV tourists today?” I asked. “And the people from the other day?”

Her lips tightened. “The doctor will assess that too.”

“Are the ones from earlier today still here?” I probably shouldn’t irritate her with all of my questions, or do anything to stick in her mind, since the cops might be by later to fill out a report. But if the other victims had been taken down to Phoenix already, there was probably no point in Simon hunting for blood samples.

“That’s confidential.” The receptionist took the paper from me. “That’s your phone number? We’ll call you if we have further questions.”

Or the police would. Maybe I should have put down a fake number. But as Temi would point out, we hadn’t done anything wrong—nothing illegal anyway. We might get ourselves into
more
trouble if we hindered the law.

“All right,” I said but didn’t leave the desk. Simon hadn’t been caught, had he?

“Is there anything else?” The receptionist looked past my shoulder, toward the restrooms. Uh oh, she had noticed that Simon had been gone a while.

“I don’t suppose you have any aspirin?” I touched the side of my head, where a knot had swollen up, courtesy of that extremely bumpy van ride. We had a first-aid kit with all of that stuff, but whatever bought time… And I actually wouldn’t mind something medicinal. With the adrenaline finally seeping out of my veins, more than my head was hurting. “I whacked myself on branches a couple of times, trying to carry that guy out.”

She squinted suspiciously at me.

“Want to touch it?” I pointed at the bump, trying not to feel like a toddler showing off a bruise to mommy.

“No. Unless you’d like to check yourself in.”

Oh sure, like I could afford an ER visit. I was already dreading the repair bill for the van. What would the mechanic who had replaced the tire think when Simon drove in with a smashed windshield and perforated roof tomorrow?

“Just aspirin would be great,” I said.

I thought the receptionist might shoo me away with a suggestion to visit a drug store, but she sighed and walked through a door behind the desk.

I leaned back, staring down the hallway. She wouldn’t be gone long, so I didn’t dare go exploring. Fortunately, a scruffy and dirty Simon slipped out of a doorway and jogged toward me. He was standing at my side when the receptionist returned with a sample size of something a lot fancier than aspirin.

“Thanks,” I said and hesitated, almost expecting her to charge me for it.

She merely glanced at Simon and waved us toward the door.

“You get it?” I whispered as we headed out.

Simon opened his palm, revealing a vial of blood. “What’d
you
get? I didn’t mean for you to have to start volunteering for experimental drugs to buy time.”

I snorted. “Some pharmaceutical company’s latest hundred-dollar painkiller, I’m sure.”

“You should probably get your liver tested before taking that.”

I snorted again and stuffed it in my pocket. The aspirin in the first-aid kit was sounding better and better. If there wasn’t a thorn sticking through it.

____________________

I yawned as I converted the seats in the back of the van into a bed. We had driven the thorns and the blood sample up to Autumn before returning to the campground, and it was well after midnight. I was tempted to simply curl up in one of the seats. Simon was rummaging around in his tent, and Alek had disappeared into the woods. They were technically supposed to be roommates—girls in the van and boys in the tent—but I didn’t think Alek had used the tent yet. I would have to talk to him about that and see if there was a problem. It was getting cold enough at night that I winced at the idea of him curled up in his cloak under a tree. Maybe he wanted to be close to his rabbit traps.

I glanced at the campsite next door. Like the others, it was dark, its inhabitants asleep.

“Bed’s ready,” I said quietly, hopping outside.

Temi stood by the picnic table, sipping from a tea mug while Simon burned the rabbits on his portable grill. If any hunters in his family had supplemented his childhood canned-spaghetti diet with game, he obviously hadn’t been the one responsible for cooking it.

“Careful or that delectable aroma will wake the other campers,” I said.

“Hush.”

“Is there a reason we’re having a midnight snack?” I
was
hungry after our crazy adventures, but a peanut butter sandwich would have sufficed.

“I told you; I don’t want rabbits smelling up my Zelda.”

I eyed the scraped, dented, and otherwise trashed van. The windshield and two windows had been smashed, there were perforations in the roof, and branches and needles stuck out of every crack. “Because
that’s
the van’s main problem right now.”

He turned a baleful eye on me.

Temi was looking skyward. “I don’t feel safe here. We may want to consider moving to a hotel tomorrow.”

“I was going to suggest moving to another state,” I said.

Eleriss had recommended Alaska as a place likely to be
jibtab
free. I didn’t truly want to run, but after the foolishness with which we had tramped into the wilds tonight, I couldn’t help but feel we were in way over our heads. Temi’s sword might elevate her to superhero status, but the rest of us were little more than geeky sidekicks. All right, Alek wasn’t geeky, but he had no way to hurt the monsters. We needed more weapons like the sword. And a few more people like Temi to wield them.

“We just need to come up with a more effective plan,” Temi said sturdily.

“We didn’t have a plan at all,” I said.

“Hence its lack of effectiveness,” Simon said.

“I hit it with one of those grenades, and it didn’t do anything,” I said.

Simon gave me a sharp look. “Are you sure you hit it? How could you tell?”

“I saw…” I groped in the air with my hands, words of description eluding me. “Part of its outline, I guess you’d say. For a minute. It was there in the flame. Or it
wasn’t
there in the flame, if that makes sense.”

“Like with the stars.” Simon nodded. “The flames couldn’t go through its body, but its cloaking device couldn’t compensate entirely for its new surroundings, so you saw something.”

“Cloaking device?” Temi asked mildly.

“Camouflage,” I said. “For all intents and purposes, invisibility.”

“So how do we fight something invisible that we can’t reach?”

Alek jogged out of the brush. “
Dhekarzha
coming.”

I cursed. Not our green-eyed spy again. I couldn’t handle more trouble tonight. Temi sprinted for the van to grab the sword. Alek was already armed. I still had my whip, but I couldn’t imagine catching someone with Jakatra’s speed with it.

“Any chance he just wants our rabbit?” Simon mumbled.

“If you’re referring to that blackened lump of meat, no. There’s no chance anyone wants that.”

Before we could argue more about it, two black-clad figures strode out of the trees. I glimpsed glowing eyes before they came into the influence of our camp light, but they weren’t glowing green. One set was violet, and one set green-blue.

“Temi,” I called softly. “I think your buddies are here.”

She had already seen them. She hopped out of the van and stood at my side. “They’re
my
buddies now?”

“They took you off to their homeland, not me.”

“Are you actually bitter about that? That was a week of hell.”

“I’m not bitter; I’m just…”

“Resentful?” Simon suggested.

I scowled at him.

Jakatra and Eleriss hadn’t changed since I had seen them last. They were wearing black wool caps and black leather again, suitable for motorcycle riding, even if we hadn’t heard their bikes roar into the campground. Maybe they didn’t want to be noticed here. Join the party.

Eleriss’s expression was graver than typical—the other times I had seen him, he had always appeared somewhere between cheerful and bemused when he looked at us and our world. Jakatra’s angular features were aloof and cold, as usual, but he surprised me by giving Temi a nod. It was still an aloof nod, but he hadn’t done anything except scowl the other times I had seen him. Later, I would tease Temi about how obvious it was they had bonded during their week, but I was too curious about their appearance to make jokes now.

“Greetings,” Eleriss said.

“Nice of you to make it.” Simon waved at the van, as if he thought the elves should have shown up a few hours earlier to help.

That might have been nice, but I didn’t know if either of them possessed a weapon that could harm the
jibtab
,
either. When they had faced the monster in Prescott, Eleriss had carried a fairly mundane serrated blade while Jakatra had been wielding Temi’s sword.

Eleriss tilted his head, not grasping Simon’s sarcasm. “We have come to warn you.”

“A warning,” Simon said. “Oh good, because that’s what we really need here is a warning.”

I stepped over and put my hand on his forearm. Given the night we’d had and Zelda’s damage, I could understand him being upset, but driving off our only otherworldly allies wouldn’t be a good idea. Maybe they could help.

“What kind of warning?” Temi asked, her tone calm.

“We believe another of our people has entered your world.”

“No kidding,” Simon grumbled.

“We’ve seen him,” I said. “Or his eyes at least. Green ones. Alek might have seen more.” After I spoke, I wondered if I should have left his name out. Alek had given the elves a frosty reception when they had taken him from that stasis chamber. He hadn’t been ready to trust them, and he hadn’t wanted anything to do with them.

But they had preternatural senses; they must have noticed him in the woods before they arrived, and he was standing in the shadows at the front of the van now. They couldn’t have missed him there, even if a mere human might have.

Eleriss looked toward Alek and spoke a couple of words in his own language. Alek stared stonily back, listening but not responding, then he met
my
eyes. Wondering if he should communicate with them or keep pretending he didn’t know their language? Why would he look to
me
for that answer?

“Any idea what Green Eyes wants?” I asked.

This time, Eleriss conferred softly with Jakatra. Alek leaned forward when they weren’t looking, listening intently. Maybe that was why he was playing dumb. So they would speak openly in front of him. Good man.

“I thought Jakatra might know who this person is, based on your description,” Eleriss said, “but he says it isn’t enough for an identification. As to what he or she wants…”

“The sword,” Jakatra said bluntly.

“Why?” I asked.

“Unknown.”

“That is why we advised Artemis to ask you to research it,” Eleriss said. “To find more of its origins and its capabilities.”

“Yeah, she told us.” I waved at Temi. “We’ve been kind of busy since she came back.” It had scarcely been more than a day. I didn’t know how long research took in their world, but archaeologists got grants that lasted for years. “You wouldn’t want to offer any research tips, would you? No idea why this person wants it?”

Jakatra looked off into the woods, not noticing the glance Eleriss gave him. Or maybe deliberately ignoring it. Did he know something Eleriss didn’t?

“All I can tell you,” Eleriss said, “is that if these
jibtab
were in our homeland, we would have the power to kill them with many of our existing tools. Your sword would have little value for one of my people. It would be considered an antique, but nothing more. There were once many weapons like it. Jakatra has something similar in his collection.”

Simon perked up. “Really? Any chance he’d like to bring it over so we can borrow it?”

I nudged him with an elbow, in part because the elves had already told us once they couldn’t help in that way, and in part because he needed to flip over that rabbit or turn off the grill.

“That is forbidden,” Eleriss said. “Even if we wished to break the rules—”

“
Further
break the rules,” Jakatra said in his icy tone.

“Yes,” Eleriss said, implacable as usual. “Even if we wished to further disobey the mandates of our government, we could not do so without someone noticing. There is an organization that monitors the portals, and whenever certain technologies travel through one to another place, someone in the organization is alerted.”