“Oh no, we don’t really have wolves here anymore. Most of the dangerous animals actually avoid people around these parts… Besides, most of them rushed as far away from the weird part as they could, went down south or up into the mountains where it’s safe.” She shrugged.
“Things will be okay in the end. We need to look for others,” Kane said. I could really punch him right now if he were here, even if I was grateful to hear his voice. I just wished his messages were clearer. There was no way for me to talk to him like this, and he wasn’t going to exactly start narrating his life perfectly to let me know what was going on. His words only gave me vague glimpses.
“Did you have your glasses on?” Jordan asked, pointing to a pair of glasses attached to the tiny chain around Ms. Rodriguez’s neck.
She smiled. “No, these are only for reading. I’ve got great vision when it comes to things that are far away. I wish I could give you a better explanation of what I saw.” She glanced up and caught me staring. “It just appeared out of nowhere. If he had been able to see the creature coming, I think even Fred would’ve run.”
A retired engineer who was a wizard at pottery getting himself killed over nothing more than curiosity. It made my heart hurt.
“You’ve got to protect your face more,” Kane snapped, sounding protective and angry. “Don’t leave me an opening.”
I missed sparring with him. A bit cruel for my mind games to happen now. And then another phrase came, much softer than the others: “They have to learn how to fight. They won’t make it out here like this.” He was in trouble and with others. Who was he speaking to?
“Did anyone try to go after him?” I asked Ms. Rodriguez, realizing I hadn’t clarified that point. She gave a sad shake of her head.
“We had already lost two,” she said softly, as if it truly pained her now to think of it. These people are in deep shock. “We always think of ourselves as hardy, but Fred made a bad decision. We couldn’t risk anyone else, though we told the soldiers when they came back.”
A faint whine from somewhere beyond this moment buzzed in my head. Every time his voice came, it was like a pulse ran through my entire being to warn me. Surely, this was an effect from the nearby Leftovers and the time I’d spent around it. You’re not insane, Roxy. Keep rolling with this.
“There’s nobody like her to fight with,” Kane whispered. “I miss taking punches from her. Roxy—”
My heart thudded hard against my chest. Okay, that was harder to ignore.
“Roxy?” Now, it was Holt by my elbow, showing me a scanner. Luckily, the twins were chattering away with the two locals. I glanced down to see light fluctuations blipping across the screen.
Kane was out there, maybe. He was also maybe thinking about me and how much he missed sparring. I forced myself to concentrate on the fluctuating graph. This was what mattered right now.
“It just started happening?” I asked, and Holt nodded grimly. He pointed toward the end of the lake, where the edge of the Leftovers lay.
“It’s stronger if I point it over there. Guess that’s no surprise, since that’s where everyone vanished… or got snatched,” Holt added.
Poor Fred never had a chance. The disappearance and strange sounds had happened there, from what I understood. I rounded up the team. Kane’s voice faded from me, but I heard my blood rushing in my ears. It felt like I was walking through a fever dream as I instructed everyone to come with me. We left the locals behind and told the other soldiers to keep watch over them. We couldn’t risk any more curiosities.
"We have a few options," I told my team as we headed over. "I want to minimize our risk from the beginning. The creature hasn't been spotted for a few days, but that doesn't mean it's not coming back."
Jones sucked in air. "You think that old bat was serious? She claimed an invisible force grabbed her neighbor." He stifled a laugh, but only partially. He was trying to unnerve me. Colin cleared his throat awkwardly, and we exchanged a look. Colin knew the Immortal Plane and what creatures affected by the meld’s weirdness were capable of, but the others had less experience.
Jessie shot Jones an annoyed sidelong look. "The military has some type of cloaking technology. Captain Taylor's had experiences with it in the Immortal Plane." I controlled my face, hiding the surprise I felt. She'd clearly read my field notes or listened to my stories at some point. That was nice. Although Jones was pressing me, we needed to move past that and brainstorm.
"Let's talk about ideas for scouting," I told them, and looked at Evans, who had been quiet for most of the day. "Any thoughts?" It was wild to see the gorgeous mountains on one side of us, the town behind us, and the approaching madness in front of us.
"The locals said the sounds grow louder at night," Evans pointed out. She’d been talking with a few of the soldiers. "During the day, we might have a better chance of luring the beast out."
It was a good point. I had noticed a line like that in the reports, but it seemed the soldiers were doubtful about some of the observations from the locals. It seemed to me they’d had a reaction like Jones—naturally skeptical, but ignorant of the real possibility that such a thing was happening.
“The fluctuations are staying light,” Holt said as he glanced at the scanner.
“Don’t think about missing her,” Kane whispered. “Don’t do that.” I clenched my teeth briefly. Who are you talking about?
“Maybe we can set just the tree line on fire,” Jordan mused. “Smoke it out.”
Jessie snorted. “Sure, if you don’t mind burning down the town. It’s way too dry
