CHAPTER 105

"And Dana?"

"Still have her locked in the closet. We think we have a way to fix her, but we need Mike to wake up first."

"I see." Abella turned her eyes back to the forest. "Then I shall continue to keep watch."

"Sounds good." Velvet turned to go inside, then paused in the door. "Don't let him drink that whole twelve pack. It gives him the farts and he can't sleep outside tonight." She went inside and closed the door.

"Dammit, fuzzy girl." Bigfoot rubbed at his eyes. "Knows me too well."

"You don't seem like the type to get weepy after just a few beers," Abella pointed out.

He chuckled, then sat up. "I have a stash out in the woods. I may have hit it a little hard this morning before coming up here. Probably should quit. I'm struggling with this whole thing, just so you know. Not just Leeds. The girls. I know that at least one of them is leaving here, I can feel it in my bones."

Abella's lips pursed together. She didn't really want to discuss the Arachne coming home with them. "Why does it upset you so if they leave?"

"It goes back to being lonely. In the last few decades, I've been happier than I can remember. I had a best friend, two of them, in fact. Ana and I were pretty close, but nowhere near as close as I was with Darren. Thought of him like a brother. Gah,!I see so much of him in my little fluffy girl that it hurts." He placed a hand against his chest and winced. "What we had out here now decays like a fallen tree. I can still see the shape of it everywhere I look, but it's fading into the forest and will eventually be gone. Majesty can be found even in the end of things, but then Leeds shows up and spoils what's left of it, that rotten bastard! Puts my girl in danger, pisses all over my memories here!"

When Bigfoot went to grab another beer, Abella crossed the roof and slapped it out of his hand. Using her tail, she knocked the rest of the twelve-pack off the roof.

"I think you've had enough," she said.

"Has anyone ever told you that you shouldn't piss off Bigfoot?" he asked, his voice suddenly dangerous.

"Your fur looks tough. Is it fire-proof?" She bared her teeth at him, then wrinkled her nose. "You stink."

"Yeah, I suppose I do." He sighed. "I guess you're right. I should probably go soak in the river, sober up a bit. It won't do us any good if I spend all day getting drunk. You all need me. My girls need me. I have better things to do than feel sorry for myself."

Abella had said none of these things but nodded her head in agreement.

"You're a good listener." He slid toward the edge of the roof and then turned to look at her. "Thanks for--"

Suddenly off balance, he tipped over the edge and landed hard on the ground below. A couple seconds after landing, he let out a long fart that reached Abella's nostrils, making her flinch in disgust. Her eyes twitched as she held her breath and leaned over the edge to check on him.

"You okay?" she asked.

Down below, Bigfoot was sprawled on the hard ground, his brown eyes focused on the sky. With one hand, he toyed with the hair on his chin, wrapping it around his finger into a tight curl.

"Yeah. I've had worse." With a groan, he stood and walked toward the nearest tree. "Thanks again," he told her, then stepped behind it and vanished.

Shaking her head in disbelief, she took her post on the edge of the barn once more. The sun was out and it was a beautiful day. She would do her best to soak it all in, because even though Bigfoot thought they were safe for now, she had a sneaking suspicion that the worst was yet to come.

As the sun climbed higher, she decided to go do some reconnaissance. She jumped from the roof of the barn hard enough that the roof creaked in dismay. The cabin became a tiny dot below her as she ascended in a spiral. She could see where her heartfire had scorched thick lines through the forest. Bigfoot had dug a mass grave for the Nirumbi about a quarter of a mile from the cabin. It was meant to be a temporary measure, but Abella worried that they would start to rot once the sun came up.

She thought back to when she had lost her brother to the Arachne. It had been during one of the outbreaks of the plague. The sight of bodies on the street had become an everyday occurrence, and nobody had wanted to get too close to them for fear of catching the plague and joining the ranks of the dead. The difference between a plague-riddled corpse and one drained of its fluids wasn't readily visible, and the Arachne had just been tossing their finished meals into the gutters where they were eventually found and collected.

They had preyed on the poor. If a starving family of five went missing overnight, nobody thought twice about it. All of these details had come to light once the clan started their investigation, but there was little to be done.

Abella stayed higher than normal, half expecting to be snagged out of the sky by those shadowy tendrils. If she was going to get yanked down again, she wanted plenty of room to try and maneuver a safe landing. Her wing ached something fierce, and she had no doubt that she might shatter it.

Her patrol revealed very little. The Nirumbi's tracks disappeared into rocky formations that likely led to tunnels. There were other tracks she didn't recognize, but none of them were remotely close to the cabin. Were there other creatures that weren't willing to participate in the fight?