“I forgot. I didn’t think they’d go anywhere interesting until they heard back from us.” Simon dug out his phone. “What happened?”
“Rabid Bear Slays Four at Historic Prescott Hotel,” I read the headline aloud.#p#分页标题#e#
“The Vendome?” Simon asked.
“The Vendome. The front door was torn from its hinges, the carpet and furniture shredded on the first floor, and three doors on the second floor bashed in. Those doors were on the street side of the hotel. A businessman was killed in his bed in one room and a couple of tourists in another. The bodies were mauled horribly, two with the heads decapitated. None of the eyewitnesses saw more than a black blur, though most people were busy fleeing the hotel, some through their second-story windows, when the screams started. The police say it was the same animal that attacked the campground. Residents are being told to stay inside until its been found and brought down.”
“It sounds like staying inside didn’t work out well for the people in the hotel,” Simon said.
“Yeah.”
“The street side of the hotel on the second floor, you said?”
I nodded. “The article doesn’t specifically say that corner room was targeted, but I think we can assume the creature was looking for our friends.”
“And the sword that can supposedly damage it, though it doesn’t seem like anyone has drawn blood from it yet. Unless...” Simon drummed his fingers on his laptop. “Unless it doesn’t have blood.”
“Because it’s made from Mountain Dew bottles?”
“Well, all the evidence points to it being something weird. And we didn’t see that fight. We don’t know for sure that it wasn’t injured.”
“It couldn’t have been too injured if it was tearing through the forest, flinging itself at innocent people’s vans,” I said.
“True, but Eleriss and Jakatra must have driven it back somehow to buy themselves time to jump on their bikes and get away.”
I flicked my hand to concede the point.
“They’ve moved,” Simon said, eyeing his tracking app. “They’re at... let me switch to the better map and check that street. They moved to the Best Western. Just up the street from our Motel 6.”
“How wonderful.” It was a good thing last night’s sleep had been peaceful, because tonight’s might be less serene. “They must have decided it’d be less reprehensible to invite monsters to destroy chain hotels rather than historic buildings.”
“Yeah, I wonder why they’re staying in one place at all if they know they’re being hunted. They could sleep during the day and drive around at night to avoid the predator.”
I shrugged. “Whatever logic is guiding those two, I don’t think it’ll end up making a lot of sense to us.”
“I also wonder what it is they’re still looking for. Maybe they only have half of their weapon, or it’s missing some key part that will make it more powerful. Otherwise, why would they be searching for another cave? Something else that they need is here in Prescott.”
“You better find their cave for them then.”
“Yes, yes.” Simon tapped on the keyboard. “I’m on it.”
I sat down beside him and pulled out my own computer. A breeze whispered down the empty street, pushing orange and brown leaves before it. Even though I’d grabbed a jacket that morning, the cold from the cement soon seeped through my jeans. I hoped the sun would rise over the buildings and warm our spot soon, especially if no one showed up to open the library.
Simon had finally uploaded the voice file to our server, so I sent the link off to the linguistics professor I had in mind. Next I pulled up local maps to see if I could help identify potential cave spots. Simon’s software was good, but we’d need to narrow down the search area or it’d take a year to cover all the ground around Prescott.
“We’re looking for limestone caverns, right?” he asked.
“Must be. There are lava tubes up around Flagstaff, but I don’t think there was any volcanic activity this far south.” Of course, I hadn’t thought there were any significant caves in these mountains. I ran a quick search for limestone quarries and came up with a hit. “Yeah, it looks like there are deposits around.”
“And limestone caves are formed by water,” Simon mused, his fingers tapping across his keyboard.
“Yes, they’re usually just below the water table. We’ve got the Prescott and Chino aquifers around here. Those might be likely spots.” I ran a search to find the exact locations of the subterranean water supplies.