FOUR

After some time Glory managed to fall asleep, the warm comfort of her blankets overcoming the worries going around in her head. Her sleep was soon interrupted though by a strange, uneasy feeling she had. The feeling you get when someone is in the room with you, that kind of energy you cannot explain but are aware of, like a rabbit sensing the nearby predator. She slowly opened her eyes. There was someone there. An athletic, young body. It was still too dark to be sure though. Was it the boy?

“What… what are you doing here?” she murmured.

“I heard you scream,” the person said. But the voice sounded way older, gravelly than the boy’s.

Glory sat up in bed, covering her naked body with her sheets. The person in the room was her dad.

“Are you okay?” Caleb asked her.

“Yeah, I guess. Must have had a nightmare I guess.”

“Well, with everything that has happened the last few weeks that isn’t that strange.”

“Yeah, yeah I guess.” Why did she mistake her dad for the boy? It wasn’t like they looked alike. Even in the dark. She must have been still half asleep or something.

“Okay. Sweeter dreams then,” Caleb said and walked out of the room.

*

The next day Glory found the boy cleaning the stables, which basically came down to shoveling shit and dragging around big stacks of hay. His shirt was drenched with sweat but the didn’t show any signs of fatigue. Caleb was standing there, watching the kid with arms crossed. He looked like he approved.

“Hi,” she said. “I think I overslept.”

“You probably needed it then,” Caleb said.

“Good morning,” the boy said, leaning on his shovel for a minute to make eye contact with her.

“Are you doing okay?” Glory asked him.

“Just fine. Your dad told me what to do.”

“Great. Don’t forget to take a break every now and then. We don’t want you to collapse in the manure.”

The boy chuckled. “Thanks, I’ll be okay though.”

“Looks like we’re getting a visitor,” Caleb said, pointing behind Glory.

Glory turned around and through the open door of the stable saw a grey Silverado pickup truck park. A tall man in a beige uniform got out of it and walked towards them.

Glory and Caleb walked outside to greet him. Glory recognized the uniform of a conservation officer. The officer had a tan skin, looking Native American.

“Hi folks,” the officer said. “Michael Blackcrow, Utah Conservation Office.”

Glory and Caleb introduced themselves. “What brings you here?” Glory asked. “One of your colleagues visited us earlier and he said our slaughtered cattle was a job for the sheriff’s office.”

Blackcrow had a deep, warm voice. “Well. I happen to disagree. My father used to work at the Conservation Office as well. Some things about your case reminded me of something he’d worked on. Something that cost him his life.”

“His life? What the fuck are you talking about?” Caleb asked.

“My father thought he was on the trail of an ancient supernatural being called a skinwalker. The skinwalker slaughtered cattle and according to my father was responsible for a few missing persons. He thought he’d killed them. Worse, he even thought he’d killed some and replaced them by changing into them.”

Caleb ‘s face reddened. “That’s totally batshit crazy! It’s terrible enough I have to suffer all these stupid tales from form employees and fucking tourists… Now even the Law starts to spout them.”

Glory put a hand on her dad’s shoulder. “Wait, let him speak.”

“I know it sounds incredible. Nobody believed my father either. But he was found dead in his car, his throat torn open. They said it was some kind of wild animal. I’m convinced he was killed by the skinwalker because he was getting too close to exposing him.”

“Tell me more about this skinwalker,” Glory said, intrigued. She noticed the boy had joined them. He looked fascinated as well.

“Yeah,” the boy said. “Please, tell us more.”