Stronger Together chapter 75 (Patreon)

After my talk with Kara I stopped in to talk to Listens-to-Wind who  was talking with River, Mccoy, and Liberty in his room. We decided to  head to bed now, it was a bit earlier than we would normally go to bed,  but still early evening wasn't too far off and today had been pretty  damn exhausting. We agreed to get an early start the next morning,  figuring that going out after dark would be safer if it was just on the  edge of daylight rather than waiting a bit and heading out after dusk  and giving the Skinwalker the whole night to murder us in the dark.

The  Skinwalker was more active at night for metaphysical reasons  apparently. I returned to my room to find Barb stretched out on the bed  reading one of Harry's sci-fi books. When Barb had been packing she  realized she didn't have any books so Harry lent her one or two of the  ones he'd brought. Harry told her lesson two of being a P.I is always  have a book on you for the boring times. Lesson one was never look for  the maltese falcon, but he said that one was a given. I curled up next  to Barb and told her everything that happened with Kara and then the  quick chat with Listens-to-Wind and the we both drifted off to sleep.

The  morning was beautiful, even before sunrise. We got up around four in  the morning trying to keep quiet as much as possible so we didn't wake  anyone else. Kara was waiting for us already of course, and Cinder got  ready quickly given she only had the one outfit right now. We needed to  stop in town for her at some point but her dress was working well enough  for now. We all gathered outside the hotel in the dark of the early  morning, turning to River and Joe for advice on how to proceed. River  was staring out into the forest .

He  paused for a few minutes to stare, his dark eyes fixated on the middle  distance before he swung around to face us. "This area is fairly well  trodden, most of the supernatural creatures we might question will be  gone. Our best bet is something intelligent and prone to hiding. The Ute  people who called these mountains home were in contact with a race of  lake dwelling dwarves they called 'Water Babies'. Or at least that's how  it translates. The original name for these beings was Pawapicts. They  are clever and difficult to find by accident. If any of the original  inhabitants would still be around it would be them, and they may be able  to point us to the Skinwalkers lair."

I  sincerely hope these water dwarves didn't suffer the same fate as the  forest dwarves the Skinwalker already killed. Joe must have seen the  worry on my face because he cut in. "The Canotila were benevolent and  straightforward beings, territorial but not prone to hiding in their own  lands. The Pawapicts are clever and sneaky. They won't be so easily  discovered or killed. The issue is that we won't be able to track them  either. Our only hope is Kara's enhanced senses, perhaps she can find a  sign of them when the Skinwalker and our magic might fail."

River  nodded "Exactly my thinking. I've managed to narrow down a basic  location for the lake from the leylines crossing the area. Pawapicts  like to rest inside leylines of water magic because it helps further  obfuscate their l0cation. It's a bit of a walk overland but more than  feasible in the two hours before sunrise. The Pawapicts will be less  wary in the dark in any case so our little night time jaunt serves the  dual purposes of letting us keep an eye out for the Skinwalker and  contact our sources. It won't be easy. The clans in this part of the  country are even subtler than most, it's why they never appeared in  local legends like their cousins in Utah."

I  gave a nod to the Sasquatch "Noted. Barb, we should keep our magic eye  spell active during the walk, and probably our Aura's in case of an  attack. I'll keep my aspect partly up just as a precaution and you keep  your veil aura up and try to walk in Kara's footsteps if that works for  you two?" I got a pair of nods and a smirk from Barb as she vanished.  Having our best lookout invisible could a big advantage if the  Skinwalker tried to sneak up through our blindspot, he clearly had some  way of fooling Kara's senses, but with the magic eye spell hopefully we  could see him coming. Cinder was walking in fucking stiletto heels still  but didn't seem to be having a problem so I didn't mention it.

We  set off for the lake, feet crunching through the snow. The sound was  odd and resonant in my aspected ears. I wasn't moving faster than a  bullet or anything but my perception was easily two or three times  faster than a normal person even with just a toe dipped into my aspect.  I'd been slowly learning more about the ability as I used it, adjusting  my perception of the magic and how I understood the nature of lightning.  It wasn't noticeable yet but I was slowly improving with it. Learning  more and more about electricity and its nature in the magical world. I  felt like it was important that I understand, like it was a part of me. I  suspected I might even find my semblance if I kept going down this  path.

I  glanced around to study the moonlit wood around us as we moved off into  the forest. The snow reflected the moon's shine making the entire place  seem to glow even in the darkness. The trees rustled in soft wind and  the snow seemed to muffle every sound that wasn't us. It was beautiful  and empty and somehow lonely even in a group. Like the snow had each of  us trapped in our own little world. There was magic there too, even in  nature. I had cast the magic eye spell when I raised my aspect and I  could see the flows of power around us, leylines and drifts of energy on  the wind and inside plants and animals we passed. Magic was in every  living thing, though it's traces were faint on the things nearby.

I  tried not to look at anyone with us, I could see the glare off them  from the corners of my eye and I knew that some of them would be so  bright it might hurt me. The yellow glow of sunlight cast over my  shoulder from where Kara stood, and the burning orange flicker of a  campfire blazed up from the direction Cinder was in. Harry cast a  shining blue light that spoke of blazing will, and Listens-to-Wind the  soft green of moss in the forest. River's blue was more of a rippling  water aqua than Harry's cerulean, and despite keeping my eyes forward  the washes of power mingled on the snow as I trekked forward, painting  the winter wonderland in a rainbow of beauty and shining magic. Barb  wasn't visible being behind Kara and clearly outshone by our roomies  power, but then with her subtle magic that wasn't shocking.

Finally  after a walk that seemed like eternity but based on the sun still being  down was probably about an hour we came to the edge of a deep dark  lake. The water leyline River mentioned intersected two others here, one  a torrent of forest green energy that reminded me of trees and one a  dark brown that spoke of stone and earth. Out of necessity more than  anything I shut off my magic eye to turn and look at the others. Barb  was still invisible as per the plan, clearly knowing this would be the  period of time when we were most vulnerable.

I  looked over at Kara. "Alright these things will use magic to hide but  there's no way theyve covered every trace mystically for however long  they've been here. Can you X-ray the lake and try to find evidence of  disturbed ground or some kind of cave? If we can find even a clue maybe  River will be able to pierce their veils." I looked over at River who  was already gazing into the inky depths of the large lake. "That work  for you big guy? I know water is your specialty so I figured you were  our best bet here."

The  Sasquatch looked up and nodded solemnly. "Given the time I suspect I  could even find them myself, but I somehow doubt we have the weeks that  might take me before the spirit falls into the Skinwalker's clutches.  This will be dangerous however, Skinwalkers are vicious predators, it  will not pass up a chance to strike if one is presented. Joseph, you and  your friends will need to guard our backs against a sneak attack as we  search. Ms. Cinder, you may be our secret weapon here. The Skinwalker  won't know your capabilities and having seen them first hand I know them  to be impressive."

But  before we could put our plan into action a small figure stepped from  the shadows in front of us. The creature was bone white, with wicked  sharp teeth and cold blue eyes. It was bald and had ridges of bone along  it's spine and atop its hairless head. It's limbs were skeletal and  lanky all sharp angles and bony protrusions from its bony shoulders to  the tips of its razor sharp claws. It opened it's mouth to speak and  it's voice was a gravelly hiss. "The its thinks they would find us  should we wish to remain hidden. The its are foolish. The its would die  here, wasting away searching in vain for our homes, were it not for  mother's kindness. Mother wishes us to make peace with the its."

The  fucking thing just appeared out of nowhere and I almost screamed out  loud before catching myself. River, being the oldest and most  experienced with the water babies stepped forward to speak. "Apologies  little friend. We are in awe of your stealth and we were indeed foolish  to believe ourselves your betters. This mother you speak of, would she  be the spirit of this place? Who has recently become so much more than  she was?" His tone was respectful and formal enough to make me  reevaluate our chances in a fight with these things and I resolved to  follow his lead.

The  creature snickered, a sound like broken glass in a garbage disposal and  I saw Kara wince at the unpleasant noise. "Mother had always been  mother. She slept, we waited. Now mother wakes and speaks, we rejoice.  Mother says to meet with the its so we meet. The Devourer seeks to  Devour even Mother. The its will stop the Devourer and protect Mother.  The Grandmother is strong and the it in the warm garb has much power.  The other its will aid them. We will tell you the Devourers secrets and  you will use them to Devour it in turn. Do the its agree to this task?"

Kara  stepped forward this time. "The Grandmother? That would be me? Your  Mother told you to work with us because of me? Is she here? I'd like to  speak with her again, we can protect her, keep her safe from The  Devourer. Or if not we can still help. We will of course take up your  task if you tell us where the Skinwalker...er The Devourer will be we  can find and kill it quickly so your mother will be safe." She kept up  her implacable facade of Kryptonian bravery through the whole thing, and  i was so proud of how she'd thrown all that fear aside to do what she  needed to do.

The  water baby shook its head. "The Grandmother is strong, but The Devourer  is tricksy. It knows of us knows of our ways. It moves its lair,  sleeping in a new place each night. But we knows of its ways too, we  knows where it sleeps when the moon is high. A holy place, it thinks it  hides itself even from us but it too is foolish. Mother aids us in our  searches and we see all in this place. It sleeps beneath the mouth of  the old mountain, at the base of the highest peak. When the moon is high  it sleeps there, it must return to that place at that time. Without the  peoples that place would die without feeding. The Devourer sacrifices  to keep that place alive."

I sighed  tiredly, looked like this trip was going to take a while, we'd missed  the full moon this month already. The next one wasn't until March  eighteenth. Assuming that's what they meant, but I had a feeling it was.  We were coming up on March first so it would be three weeks or so  before we could catch the thing. The question was what the hell did we  do until then. I saw the same looks on all the others faces, all of them  knowing the time until our window as well as I did, moon phases were  something magic users kept track of after all. But I saw Harry make a  different face, he turned to gaze at the other wizards and his eyes lit  up with determination as he flicked them back to us. I had a feeling we  were in for some rough training.