Tewow dishes up large bowls of stew and soup for Jon, while Vito prepares the pots for transport and Maddie slices the bread. Diego is gathering spoons, knives, and butter to carry back to the room when Wendy walks into the cramped kitchenette with a stack each of flour and corn tortillas, “for the breakfast casserole tomorrow. And whatever else you want to eat them with.” As more people arrive, they begin carrying everything back to Tewow’s room hustling briskly through the cold. They choose to wait to divide the stew and soup in the room as they felt leaving it in the pots would keep the food warmer longer. The real debate came from whether to bring just one or both pots of stew. Diego’s glad they brought both pots as it takes several bowlfuls each to satiate their hunger.
“Tewow, how did it go in the forest?” Wendy asks.
“The areas we surveyed have an unusual lack of animals. Even in deep winter, there are usually birds and insects active in the day and animals that dwell underground are well protected. But I was not able to sense them in the immediate, nor even surrounding areas. There were a few birds in the skies above, but they refused to land in the forest or even the nearby river. The distance made it difficult to carry on much of a conversation, but the birds said they were keeping an eye out. Maddie, what of your observations?”
“Did you notice there was at least one dead or dying tree at each location Ranger Brunner brought us to? I couldn’t bespeak to the dying trees, there’s some veil separating me from them. But I spoke to the nearby wildwood and plants and they had the same story to tell. Something dark crawled out of the roots of the tree. It wasn’t a person, as such, just a dark entity that seemed to change its shape. The animals fled the area when the darkness emerged, but the plants can’t leave. The darkness stays above ground for a week or two, then crawls back into the earth from whence it came. The trees continue to deteriorate, even after the darkness leaves the area.”
“For my part, the weather isn’t natural. But the snow and cold isn’t wholly an act of aggression, some of it feels more like a defense mechanism. I think the weather is either trying to contain something to the area or is being directed to, maybe both. I sense multiple agents acting on the weather, but I can’t tell if it is in concert or opposition. Some of the cords clash which denotes opposition while other cords layer which is reinforcement. I can pursue the matter by untangling all the cords, but it will alert the weather forces. I attempted to as least separate the larger weather patterns to locate a point of origin but stopped once I realized the weather is, in part, a protective measure. With that said, Wendy, are you still offering warming charms?”
“Sure, Diego. Well, we found some interesting things at the ME’s office. Sepulveda, why don’t you let them know about what the ME determined, then Vito and I’ll chime in about our trip to see the body in the morgue, and finally Libby at the hospital. Tiko and Libby were unable to obtain samples from the ME, but I’m sure more will come from that angle after the ME speaks with family of the deceased. Sepulveda?”
Sepulveda summarizes what the ME said. Diego makes note to see if he can find a timeline from the ice collected at the stream yesterday. Then Wendy speaks about discovering the soul-feeding curse placed on the deceased man.
“It was cool but funky to watch Wendy breathe out this cloud that turned dark and icky. I didn’t know PsyWitches could do that. Most of the ones I know just come to my meditation studio, burn incense, and gossip.”
“I don’t know if other PsyWitches can, Vito, I guess it depends on who trained them. Our grandmother taught Wendy Vodun and made me attend lessons too. She said Nana Buluku created Mawu-Lisa for a reason, so shall Wendy have me to aid her. The Breaths are something our priestesses and priests do to interact with the spiritual realm and help us mundanes see the invisible forces in the world around us. It may be like taking someone with you when you project, Vito, if that’s something you do.”
The breath thing is interesting. Diego just thought of PsyWitches as a type of healing Psycept. He’s oddly never considered their spiritual or religious purpose, despite the term witch in their names. He guesses it’s like Wiccan, some PsyWitches are Wiccan but not all Wiccan are PsyWitches. Wendy is both a PsyWitch and Vodun priestess. Wicked cool.
“Well, after we finished at the ME’s, we went to the hospital. I arranged with them to obtain more of the blood they drew from the children while they were sick. The Infectious Diseases doctor wanted plenty of samples to work with in case it was some exotic disease. They kept the samples pending further study, comparing before and after Wendy’s intervention. Wendy returned to SWACon with some samples, but the blood was oddly inert. I could get some information from the blood, but not the full gamut I’m used to, and I wanted to see if being in this area affects the blood. While we were at the hospital to pick up the samples, a few doctors came to consult. There is an unusual
