Chapter 7 — Misdirection

"Didn't realize this was going to be a fucking field trip," Rika grumbled.

"Rika, she's like eight years old," Alden hissed.

"So?"

"Maybe a bit less harsh?"

"Oh, right. Sorry," Rika cleared her throat and raised her voice. "You two ready?"

Natalie was still gazing out into the woods, a worried look on her face. "Scrappy's not here yet."

"I'm sure he'll be here soon, Nat," Lily said patiently.

"Who's Scrappy?" Alden whispered to Rika.

"Fu—" Rika caught herself. "Hell if I know," she whispered back. "Look, that's the best I can do."

"And we're supposed to find a man out here—a possible kidnapper—in the rain, with the sun setting, and all we know about him is that he was dressed in black and white and wore a hat?" asked Alden.

"Hey, you wanted to come."

"There!" Natalie pointed. Out of the woods, slinking around the corner of a tree came a huge mountain lion, one of the biggest Alden had ever seen. Not unnaturally large, but certainly intimidating. He automatically took a step back.

"Holy shit," Rika breathed.

Alden didn't bother to press her again. He was too busy worrying about how he could get away with those yellow eyes watching him. As if being in the middle of the dark forest—which held who knew what untold dangers—wasn't bad enough. As they stared, 'Scrappy' padded up next to Natalie and rubbed against her side affectionately. Natalie scratched at the big cat's ears and dug her face in its bronze-colored fur.

"Don't worry, Nat's got him under control," Lily called across the clearing. Alden wasn't reassured in the slightest. Neither was Rika, from the look on her face.

"Scrappy, do you know where Dad went?" Natalie asked. The cat nodded.

"That cat just nodded, right?" Alden whispered.

Rika sounded dazed. "Don't ask me. The expert's over there with the puma."

"Magic, right?" Alden asked nervously.

"Oh yeah. Definitely magic. Nothing I've ever seen before."

"Can you take us to him?" Natalie asked, looking the cat directly in the eye.

It bobbed its head again and turned back the way it had come. After a pause, it looked back over its shoulder, eye to eye with Alden. He got the sensation it wanted him to follow. He got a far more distinct feeling that the mountain lion held a similar view of him that it might reserve for an annoying squirrel it hadn't quite decided to eat yet.

"I think that cat doesn't like me," Alden muttered.

"Scrappy won't hurt you unless I tell him to," Natalie said cheerfully. "And I'm twelve years old. I'm not eight."

Alden winced. Natalie ignored him and whispered to her cat.

"She's twelve?" he asked Rika more quietly.

"Guess so. Some people grow up slower. Now suck it up. We've got a job to do." Rika patted him on the back, then set off to join the others. After a moment's hesitation, Alden followed.

It was a bizarre sight for anyone who might have happened on them that night. A large, clearly feral cougar leading a girl dressed in a pink jacket and rain boots by the hand, followed intently by an elegant and business-attired woman carrying an umbrella, with two college kids crashing through the forest at a respectful distance.

Alden laughed aloud; he couldn't help it, it just seemed ridiculous to him. He was taking everything seriously, perhaps a little too seriously. His body needed to relieve stress before his head exploded, and it just came out as a strained, somewhat exhausted laugh. On the bright side, the sheer fatigue was helping dull his paranoia.

Natalie and Lily were further ahead and fortunately didn't catch his mirth, but Rika shot him a confused look.

He shook his head. "Nothing."

"Don't go losing it on me."

Exhaustion was further lowering Alden's inhibitions. Without thinking he asked, "Why'd you agree to this anyway?"

Rika raised her eyebrows. "Why help a little kid?"

"Didn't seem like you liked kids," said Alden bluntly.

Rika fell back a few steps, further away from the leaders of their little group, and lowered her voice. "I don't. Do you realize the kind of blackmail we just picked up?"

Alden had expected any number of responses, but definitely not that. Rika's tone was surprisingly icy. "What?"

"Kendra fucking Laushire has a secret twin sister. And she doesn't want anyone to know about her. That's huge."

"Laushire as in—" Alden started, but Rika interrupted him impatiently.

"Laushire Enterprises, international conglomerate. Basically, she's a billionaire. Well, daughter of a billionaire, who stands to inherit that massive company and that fortune at some point." Rika paused to reach into her bag, pulling out a water bottle and drinking deep.

"Why keep it a secret?" wondered Alden aloud.

"Exactly what I'm gonna find out." Rika smirked. "Didn't you notice how Kendra didn't even blink when I changed our deal? She's a businesswoman and she let me dominate negotiations."

"So you offered to help because…"

"Because then Lily owes me a favor, while Kendra owes me for keeping her secret. Win-win. What, did you expect this little quest to actually accomplish anything? It's night-time in the middle of the fucking forest. In the rain. We're not gonna find jack shit."

"But doesn't she own your family business?"

"Her dad owns my dad's business. I couldn't give a fuck about either of them." Rika dropped her water bottle back into her bag and snapped it shut. "Come on, we're falling behind."

As Alden tripped over yet another tree root, he was reminded just how much he hated the outdoors. Rika had since opted to walk slightly behind him, and as he started to fall she caught his arm by the jacket sleeve, keeping him upright.

"Thanks," Alden grumbled.

"How are you this clumsy?" Rika wondered aloud. Alden didn't bother to answer, stubbornly forging ahead.

They'd been walking for at least an hour, and he was beginning to feel like they were completely lost. As Rika predicted, they hadn't found a single shred of intelligent life.

The forest didn't look like it was changing, except perhaps to get thicker. Thankfully, the canopy was thick enough that the ground wasn't too wet, and the periodic rainshower didn't always make it down to their heads. On the other hand, with the sun having already set, the clouds and trees combined to bring nightfall much quicker than they'd expected. A lantern bobbed about ahead, marking Lily, and Rika had produced flashlights from her bag for Alden and herself.

"Hey, wait up!" Rika called. Lily and Natalie were atop a steep muddy knoll a few dozen yards ahead. Alden had lost track of the cat, but he had no doubt it was nearby.

They stopped abruptly at Rika's voice. "What?"

Rika clambered up the side of the hill, grabbing tree roots and branches for stability as she went regardless of how wet and dirty they were. Alden took one look at the first one she grabbed, saw the mud caked on her hand, and decided to wait for them at the bottom of the hill. He wished, not for the first time, that he'd brought some gloves.

A nearby log looked reasonably dry and clean of dirt and mud, so Alden took the opportunity to rest his legs. He wasn't particularly out of shape, but it'd been a long day and he was starting to feel it. He rolled his head around his shoulders, trying to wake himself up a little more, when he saw something in the distance.

It was a young man, likely just a student of the college if Alden were to guess. He was intimidatingly tall, well over six feet. Black, bald, handsome and wearing a thick, old fashioned overcoat that reached past his knees. It looked expensive, comfortable and warm, which were three things Alden could have done with right then. Still, what was this guy doing out in the forest this late at night?

More importantly, he realized, what were the odds he'd end up so close to their group by sheer coincidence?

Alden got to his feet and was about to call out to Rika when the man's eyes locked with his own. A chill shot through Alden's blood, rushing up his spine to freeze his mind entirely. It was his eyes. They were inky black, dark as the deepest night sky devoid of all stars, with only the faintest glimmer to show any life behind them.

Alden could have looked away at any moment. Nothing was stopping him in the slightest from fleeing up the hill, where two powerful women and a little girl with a gigantic pet cat were busy arguing. They were nominally on his side if he were in danger. Yet he knew, instinctively, that to break this man's sight would be a mistake.

Is this how I die? Alden thought, a multitude of regrets bubbling to the surface of his mind.

The man slowly shook his head, answering Alden's unspoken question. Alden felt that chill spread further, lancing through his veins to every part of his body. Even if the man did not intend to kill him, he felt that he might be trapped in that spot for eternity.

Finally, mercifully, the man turned away. For the briefest moment, he looked up the hill at the trio, and Alden was able to tear his gaze away. He focused his eyes on anything he could find. The twigs scattered on the forest floor, the fluttering leaf that had just fallen nearby—anything other than the man he had seen through the trees.

It took him a few minutes, but Alden finally felt warmth returning to his limbs. He chanced a glance through the trees.

The man was gone, leaving only the empty darkness of the trees in his wake.

Alden decided he was ready to leave the forest as soon as possible. Rika and Natalie were still arguing atop the hill. It was a fair climb back up to them, and their voices were faint, but Rika's voice tended to carry, so he could make out most of what they were saying.

"Look, we're not getting anywhere. That cat doesn't have a clue where it's going. Either we happen to stumble into wherever they're hiding, with all this light that'll give us away before we even get close, or they ditched this area a long time ago and we're just wandering in circles."

"He's out here. I know it!" Natalie retorted, but even her conviction seemed wavering—or maybe she was just tired. From his distance, Alden couldn't be sure.

"Nat, she's right. Whomever that bloke with your dad was, he wouldn't want to be out in this muck either, yeah?" Lily said, crouching down to the girl's level. As she spoke, Alden saw the cougar slink back into view, nudging at Natalie's hand. She threw her arms around it. Alden guessed she was probably crying, and hiding it in the cat's fur. "Let's go home. I'll draw you a nice hot bath."

After a few moments, Natalie nodded, and Alden breathed a sigh of relief.

Exiting the forest was less difficult than he'd expected. Natalie whispered a few words to Scrappy, and off they went. In only fifteen minutes, the group emerged from the edge of the forest, just a few blocks away from the train station Alden had arrived on that afternoon.

The rain had mercifully let up, leaving them soaked but otherwise less miserable than an hour ago—or perhaps it was just Alden; Rika and Natalie didn't seem much bothered by the rain. Lily took Natalie's hand and lead her reluctantly away from the mountain lion, which seemed to understand it couldn't follow them back into town. Natalie gave it a little wave, to which it nodded before slinking back into the trees and out of sight.

"So Natalie's living with you?" Rika inquired casually.

"Just while her father's missing," Lily said. She offered a hand. "Thanks for giving it a go. Give us a ring if you hear anything, yeah?"

Rika shook it. "Let Kendra know your secret's safe with me."

Lily's eyes narrowed at the implication, but she didn't comment. After a few awkward moments, Rika let go, and they departed.

Rika turned to Alden. "Well, that was more productive than I expected."

"What do you mean?" As far as Alden could tell, they'd accomplished nothing.

"I just wanted to put Lily in some debt, but they played their hand a bit. They've got some kind of resistance to magic, or maybe just electricity. Did you notice how she didn't move an inch when I touched her?"

Alden shrugged. "Maybe she's just getting used to it."

In response, Rika leaned in and tapped him on the face with her finger. The sudden shock sent his mind fizzing for a moment, and he recoiled sharply.

"That's what I thought," she said, smirking. "Wish we'd gotten to see this guy who took Natalie's father. There's gotta be a connection, I can feel it."

"Huh?"

"Fate, Alden. I told you, it's all about fate. What are the odds that I—a girl whose father is missing and mother's… gone," she paused for a moment, catching her breath. "That I run into another girl whose father is recently missing and mother's out of the picture? And we both use magic, and we're in this dead-end town. I was brought here," Rika finished confidently.

"I dunno," Alden said skeptically. "It could just all be coincidence."

"Magic hasn't even made it out of the Northwest. Hell, I don't know anyone outside this state that's been awakened yet."

"Really?"

"A few dozen people. Less than a hundred for sure. And with a couple obvious exceptions, every one's in Rallsburg."

"I just assumed—"

Rika shook her head. "This is new shit, Alden. So new no one's named it yet. Just calling it magic."

"What would you call it?"

"Does it need a name? It's magic, just leave it at that." Rika glanced up at the clouds rolling across the sky, faintly visible in the dark. "We should probably get inside. You got a place to stay?"

Alden frowned. "I didn't really plan that far ahead," he mumbled, embarrassed.

She rolled her eyes. "Well, come on then."