Dark Isle(11)

Luke nodded. “Back to the west coast makes sense. There are Fomorii there, maybe we can capture one, question him.”

We reached the gas station and I put a hand on Luke’s arm. “You go inside and see if you can Charm us a vehicle, I’ll . . . well, I guess I’ll just wait.”

“Keep an eye out for Fomorii. We need to keep moving. We can’t stay in any one spot for too long because Bres and Ashling will be able to pin point us. It won’t help that you had a chat with Bres last night.”

“You mean they could track us here because I Called him?” My hand instinctively went to the dagger at my waist. It wasn’t much, but it had proven a good deterrent against the Fomorii so far.

Luke tipped his head toward the gas station’s front door. “I’ll go see what I can do.” He disappeared into the small store, the bell clinking as he entered. I waited outside, and turned my face to the sun.

A loud throat-clearing cough opened my eyes. The gas station only had one pump, and surprisingly, it was occupied. I half jumped, my hand going to Cora’s five foot length hanging off my shoulders, forgetting for a brief second that anyone who didn’t have Tuatha blood in their veins couldn’t see her.

An older man, grey haired, with overalls and mud covered rubber boots, stood pumping fuel into his beaten up blue Ford pickup. The stitching on the breast of his overalls stated his name was Don. He spat a gob of tobacco and asked “Did I hear right? You two looking for a ride into town?”

“Um, maybe. Which town are you headed to?” I asked.

“Well, heading to Qualicum, then off to Port Alberni.” He said, spitting again. Port Alberni, that was on the route back to the West Coast. Perfect, this was absolutely perfect!

 “Yes, we’re going to Port,” I said.

He grinned. “Good, I hate making that drive around the lake alone. Something about the area has been making my skin crawl lately.”

Luke came out of the small store with a grimace. I grinned at him, waved him over and we made introductions.

It turned out that Don was a bit of a travelling salesman. Except his wares weren’t the usual type. As we piled into his truck, me squeezed into the middle, he told us all about his job.

“Inseminating cows. You need schooling for that you know.”

Luke grinned over at him. Don’s relaxed, jovial demeanor setting us at ease. He talked as he drove, gossiping about his clients, their cows, which ones had good bloodlines and so on, until my head was lolling on Luke’s shoulder.

“Your girl, she seems plain tuckered out,” Don said, his words wafting to me along with a faint trace of tobacco, which tickled my nose.

Luke’s hand slipped up and caressed my cheek. “Yeah, she’s had a rough go of it lately.”

I let out a little sigh and Cora settled her head along my neck. It’s funny to think that the feel of a snake, the weight of it, could be comforting; yet it was.

Slipping in and out of a fitful doze, I only caught bits and pieces of the conversation, until Cora all but screeched in my ear.

“Turn it up!”

“What?” I yelped, sitting bolt upright, startling poor Don into hitting the brakes. We all jerked forward against our seatbelts.

“The radio, turn it up.” Cora snapped, and I did as she asked, though Don was stuttering about crazy women as he hit the gas and slid back into traffic.

The radio had some static but the announcer’s voice came through loud and clear.

“Cathedral Grove has long been a tourist destination, but the giant trees have become almost a cult hit of late. Several visitors have claimed they felt ‘drawn’ to the grove and to have ‘seen’ dancing white lights and ‘felt’ the presence of otherworldliness. Some residents are pointing to the growing number of missing hitchhikers and are requesting an investigation. But as far as RCMP is concerned, there’s been no suspicious activity at the site.”

The announcer switched to a traffic report, and Cora whispered for me to turn it down.

Something about that report was bothering me. Fairy lights, missing people; it seemed too coincidental with what was going on already.

Cora, do you think that what’s happening in Cathedral grove could have anything to do with Balor and Chaos?

A bob of her head, and her coils tightening around me was all the response I got. I had to make a decision. If we passed this by we might be missing something important and my gut was telling me not to pass the grove by without at least a cursory check.

We were rounding the last curve of Cameron Lake and Cathedral Grove rose in the distance. “Don, could you drop us off here?” I asked. We could always hitch another ride to the west coast if my suspicions turned out wrong.