It was almost midday and Ali was getting frustrated over the whole situation.

The clouds even seemed to match her mood as they grew somewhat darker with each passing moment.

Too many things had happened in a short period of time and her pent up... everything, was itching to explode.

Ali didn't even blame the horned rabbit things for it but it was adding to her load.

The wind kicked up a bit as it seemed to gain an extra burst coming down the hill where her neighbors' farm sat.

It was a chilling breeze, especially at this time of the year, enough to send people running indoors for a nice cup of tea, yet Ali could barely felt the weather.

It had been no more than a few days since she had returned to Cornwall to began working again when the fire had been started, which lead to a middle of the night fight with an arsonist and starting the train of events that led up to this point.

Ali knew she had changed on some fundamental level, from the way she walked more like glided across the ground like she was dancing, she was standing tall no longer as drawn up into herself, she even physically felt taller, the feeling of a half inch or so of her legs and ankles exposed to the cold country air when she knew her jeans previously hovered neatly below was very odd.

Things were weird.

When added to her altered face in the mirror the blackouts and lost time which include a mad dash to London and waking up in the middle of nowhere over and over it was all beginning to push her past breaking point.

Even now Ali found herself chasing after strange horned rabbits of all things, who for whatever reason seem to want to take over her apple orchard by injuring one of her employees and attacking her in mob when she went to the nearest grove of trees to figure out what was happening.

"And then a silly quarrel with Mary." Ali sighed to herself, trying and failing to relax her body that seemed ready to jump into motion from every gust of wind making noise as tree branches swayed.

The tracks had lead on to the orchard from one of the outside fields that connected the property to her neighbor, whose land was on the edge of the moors.

Ali's thoughts flashed unwillingly to the dead man she found in the moors just days earlier.

She had to shake the thought of the corps from her mind, the current problem she was dealing with was dangerous enough that she couldn't afford to lose focus.

The drying mud encased the big print which looked like a barefoot man but after everything that happened she couldn't be sure it wasn't something else.

The footprint which in turn was surrounded by the markings of the rodent things, Ali found infesting her property.

Even with her limited tracking knowledge she could tell that due to the impression of the larger print that it was likely left much earlier than the other that all but trampled after it.

Ali could see other prints making their way into the nearby grove of apple trees.

Ali paused at the tracks before standing up. "I would be stupid to go in there not knowing what the hell that thing is."

--------------------

He could see her between the trees, she was beautiful a shining, shimmering splendor.

A beacon of strength and life, so much life.

He could almost reach out and touch her.

He took a step forward moving in her direction unsure footing made him pause and look down.

The thriple damned jackalopes surrounded him, hurded him away from people and that wasn't fair, he liked people.

He really liked people.