“Hello,” he said. “I am Eleriss. What is your name?”
“Er?” I’d been tensing, ready for him to stab me with the arrow, so this frank introduction took me off guard.
He tilted his head. “Er?”
“No, I mean, it’s Delia.” Belatedly, I wondered if I should have lied.
“I located your arrow.” Eleriss held it out to me.
“Uh, thanks. Was it in the haunch of anything when you located it?”
“Haunch? Ah, no, the jibtab would not be injured by such a weapon. Perhaps you... what is the expression? Gave it a hangnail?”
In the poor lighting, it was hard to tell, but I thought a slight smudge darkened the arrow tip. Maybe I’d made the creature bleed at least. Truth be told, I was impressed I’d hit it at all given how much my hands had been shaking. Of course, that might be a smear of dirt on the arrow too.
“But you attacked it,” Eleriss said. “It will remember you now.”
“Oh, good.”
“This... conveyance-house—” he pointed at the van, “—will not protect you from its fury if you cross it again. The jibtab is very strong.”
“So moving back to New Mexico would be a good idea now?” As soon as I said it, I rejected the idea. On the off chance that something—a jibtab, whatever that was—was hunting me, I wouldn’t lead it back to my family.
Eleriss considered my question for a moment, mouthing, “New Mexico,” a couple of times. “Ah yes,” he said, “the territory adjacent to this one. Perhaps a farther destination? Your Alaska may be safe for some time.” He smiled, like a man making a joke, but I didn’t find any of this amusing.
“Safe for some time? What do you mean?”
“It is lightly populated by humans, so will not attract the wrath of the jibtab’s master for now.”
I digested that for a moment. It was hard to concentrate as fully as I would have liked with people shouting and setting up lighting and equipment in my peripheral vision. It was only a matter of time before someone came over and wanted to interview me. Or arrest me. I wasn’t sure which sounded less appealing.
“Just to be clear, you’re not the jib-thing’s master?” I asked.
Eleriss took a step back. “Me? I would not create anything to harm humans. I like humans.”
“Yeah, me too.”
This guy was seriously weird. I was beginning to think there was some merit to Simon’s idea that our strangers were Vulcans, or nut jobs who thought they were Vulcans. Would he be affronted if I told him Prescott didn’t have a Live Action Roleplaying Group?
“It would not be within my abilities to create a jibtab regardless,” he said. “I am not a... scientist, is that the profession?”
“For someone who makes monsters? I don’t know—I didn’t see those classes under any of the degree paths at ASU.”
He did that head tilt that seemed to mean he was trying to figure me out.
“So if you didn’t make it, what are you and your buddy doing here?” I asked. “Why do you keep showing up when it kills someone?”
He could have asked me the same question, but he didn’t. He probably knew we were clueless. “We can track it.”
“Oh? Do you know where it is now?”
“It ran up a dirt road over there.” Eleriss pointed in the direction that the first people had been killed.
I knew the road. We’d hiked up it to a trail that led to a lake. It’d been a nice hike, and there was no way I’d do it again now.
“Are you trying to kill it?” I asked.
“That is not currently within our power.”
“Then why follow it?”
“We seek to find that which can destroy it. Also, we seek to protect humans from it.” Eleriss gazed toward the woods where the husband and wife had fallen. “We are failing thus far.”
“Join the club. That which can destroy it—you want to kill it then?”
“That is desirable, yes.”
“Maybe my friend and I can help. We’re good at research. Simon over there has GPS apps that can find all sorts of things and lead us to them.” I decided not to mention the broken shovel haft.
“You would be wise to leave this place. Your Alaska would be a good destination.”
“That’s a little cold for my desert blood. Besides—”#p#分页标题#e#
“Ma’am?” a man asked from the side, startling me. It was the police officer who’d been talking to Simon earlier. Simon stood by the patrol car, a sheepish expression on his face. Ugh, they must have caught him practicing his photography skills.
“Yes?” I asked.
“We’re going to need you to come downtown to answer some questions.” The officer’s eyebrows twitched. “Again.”