Paying the Piper

Twenty-Two, Part 2: A Long Overdue Conversation

My eyes threatened to spill more tears, but fortunately, Quentin and Rhia had arrived. Rhia led us back to her house, where there was a big barn light on the outside of their garage. We could still see the glow of the bonfires across the field, and the faint music and chatter carried across the open land.

The walk and change in scenery gave me the right shift to get my emotions back under control. It also helped that Jesse was extremely happy to have company and proceeded to wedge his head under our hands to force us to pet him.

"I know Hannah isn't here, but I can update her afterwards. Let's get this discussion going," Rhia said. "We need to talk about the missing people in the Potomah and the oddities that have been occurring."

For a moment, we just stared at each other, Jesse the only one seeming entirely at ease.

I couldn't figure out how to jump in with my new knowledge that wouldn't completely confuse and amaze the others. The others maybe didn't know how to broach the topic openly without feeling foolish.

Well, except for Quentin.

"It's clear you're cursed," he began, sniffing. His voice was slightly off, like he had a stuffy nose.

Nodding, I decided to jump in before they found reason to defend or explain that rationale. "You're right. I am." Then I took a deep breath and looked at Quentin. "And so are you." Quickly, I corrected myself: "Or blessed or whatever you would call it if a demon saves your life."

"What?" Rhia stared at me as if I were making fun of Quentin.

"How do you come to that conclusion?" Ryland asked at the same time.

And here we were already, with my having no good explanations for what I knew other than craziness. It was one thing to believe craziness if you experienced it and a completely different thing to trust another person it happened to. Still, I had to do my best.

"Let me start at the beginning." Then I fell quiet, trying to figure out what the "beginning" truly was and what would be easiest to explain. Finally, I settled on the forest, which everyone had experience with as being slightly uncanny. "The Potomah Regional Forest. You all have mentioned odd things happening there, or being suspicious of the disappearances that have happened there. The forest is strange. There are secret pathways and dimensions and portals..." I felt silly just saying that out loud, especially standing as we were in the regular dimension. I felt an overwhelming urge to summon Cale here so they'd have his strangeness and sudden appearance as proof of what I was depicting. Plus then they could deal with all his cryptic lines and maybe get better answers than I'd been able to.

But as I kept reminding myself today, I couldn't keep avoiding difficult conversation.

"I knew it," Quentin muttered. "That fox really IS interdimensional."

My ears perked at the word "fox." I glanced at him. "Funny you mention a fox..."

"Is it like the fox I painted, hyung?" Ryland asked.

"Actually, yes. It was gray, anyway, but I was never close enough to see the eyes."

I nodded. "Foxes can travel the in-between places, go through the portals. Some of them, anyway."

"How do you know this?" Rhia asked. She stood with her arms crossed, and I couldn't tell if she was doubting everything we were saying or just taking it all in.

Biting my lip, I wondered what to reveal. This was the hardest part: proof. "I met one," I confessed. I didn't think it was worth mentioning my own origins as a fox since it didn't matter—I had lost my pelt and couldn't navigate the In-between. "He's an old friend of mine from when I used to live here. That day—weekend—I went missing? I was trapped in the In-between. He's the one who helped bring me out."