CHAPTER#56

The road was barely visible, already overgrown with weeds. Other than a pair of naked dirt strips where her tires should go, she had no other way of finding her way in. Daisy sat on the dashboard, her legs kicking at the little compass that was suction-cupped to the dash.

They had long ago passed through the locked metal gate that warned that trespassers would be shot. According to Jerome, local hunters had been upset to discover that some of their favorite hunting grounds had been bought up by some wealthy railroad tycoon, but Emily couldn't care less. Bigfoot had already told her that the few hunters he had detected had become disoriented shortly after crossing the barriers, many of them becoming lost. A local geologist was blaming the effect on a large magnetic field that disrupted navigation and was affecting the human brain.

"There it is." The shimmering barrier was visible to her, as was the forest beyond. She had tried to photograph the barrier once out of curiosity, but the image had come out blurred beyond recognition. The compass was already spinning wildly before she crossed the barrier, the shining wall passing through the car. The dying trail was suddenly a cobblestone driveway, the car surging forward on the stable surface.

The rest of the drive was far easier, and she made it the rest of the way to the cabin. It was little more than five hundred square feet on the inside, and though she hadn't been this way in over a decade, it looked like it had been freshly painted. Smoke was coming out of the chimney in anticipation of her arrival.

The door opened itself for her and she walked inside. Fresh biscuits were already on the table along with a bowl of stew. A tiny creature no more than a foot tall fretted over the food, wringing his hands in anticipation. His whole body was a dull color as if sculpted from unpainted modeling clay. His pointy ears lifted at her arrival.

"Good afternoon, Emery." At the sound of his name, the imp let out a yelp and stood at attention.

"Good afternoon, Mistress Emily! I made you a late lunch in case you were hungry, and the bed has already been made up for you." His voice was high-pitched and he wore a little bow tie around his neck.

"Thank you, Emery." She handed him a silver dollar. The little imp squealed with happiness and ran off to hide away his treasure. A previous Caretaker had crafted the little imp using earth magic with the promise that future Caretakers would bring him silver in exchange for his services. Emily had been disappointed that she couldn't bring the little guy back to the house with her but was more than happy to uphold her part of the bargain. On her first visit, Emery had expressed a large level of disappointment that she had not brought him his customary gift. She had made a special trip the next month with a large bag of silver and the coins had been his absolute favorite.

The meal was much needed and delicious. She split part of her biscuit with Daisy, who gobbled up the crumbs hungrily. Though the fairy didn't eat normal food, she did seem to enjoy the taste.

The sun was sinking out of the sky when she set out, Daisy guiding the way. Once she was away from the cabin and surrounded by trees, she spoke his name.

"Bigfoot. I'm here."

She waited a couple minutes before he stepped out of the shadows from between two small trees. He smiled and held out a hand for her. She took it and stepped through the forest with him. The scenery abruptly changed and she saw that the cabin was now on a distant hilltop. He had set up a small clearing with a small fire in the middle.

"You're not cooking for me today?"

"You've already eaten. The fire is to keep you warm, a cold front is coming." He gazed into the sky.

"Are you adjusting?"

"Yes. I step away occasionally. The men who hunt me are far fewer. They have wandered around the edges of this place on the rare occasion I step past the barrier. I hope that perhaps they will give up."

"They might. I have news on that front." It had taken her months of digging, but she had found out that his hunters belonged to a centuries-old group of knights called The Order. Their activities seemed to center only on creatures who interacted with humans, and she had been able to track them down only because of the intensity of their investigation after the Silver Bridge incident. While many people had gone hunting for the elusive Mothman, the locals remembered the odd words of men who carried swords into the forest. She explained to him the whole story, the sun sinking behind the hills. A cold front did indeed blow in, but the fire had been built close to a large wall of rocks that blocked the breeze. She was comfortably warm.

"So you think they will keep hunting me?" Bigfoot asked.

"Yes and no. You've kind of disappeared recently, and from what I've heard, they were more upset that you were being spotted. I haven't been able to find these people myself, and I guess I probably shouldn't. I'm not certain they would approve of my relationship with my own cryptids."

Bigfoot snorted, a sound much like a laugh. "That much I do know. I have thought hard about the magic I detect on you and believe that you are underselling yourself on that statement."

Emily smiled. "You would be correct."

"I have thought long about what you have asked me." He looked up into the sky. With the sun sinking behind the mountains, Venus had become visible. "I would like to show you how to walk among the trees as I do."

"I would really like that."