CHAPTER NINE
“Apparently skinwalkers can’t be killed,” Maximus said from across the room. He, Dex, and I were holed up in our bedroom at the Lancasters. Dex was on his laptop reviewing footage he shot earlier that day in town, mainly establishing shots of scenery, as they didn’t find anyone to interview, while Maximus read through the library book, occasionally pointing out things of interest which I would scribble down in Dex’s planner.
We were all waiting for dinner to be ready. As soon as we got back from lunch, Will informed us that we would all be having a great feast tonight (his words) with everyone, meaning Bird, Shan, even Miguel. Of course, Maximus was invited too. The idea of this gathering put me in a weird “Us versus Them” type mood but at least the more people that there were, the less awkward it would be with Sarah. Maybe I wouldn’t have to talk at all.
I was too introspective today for chit chat, anyway. I was curled up in the rocking chair in the corner while the boys sat on the end of the bed, and when I wasn’t writing things, I was watching Dex. He sat cross-legged, his grey cargo pants contrasting with his bright green socks, never once looking up at me or Maximus while he intently studied the screen. Occasionally he would rub his goatee in some rough, nervous gesture, or he’d pop in a piece of Nicorette for a few seconds before spitting it out.
I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. Ever since I heard his back-story, or at least parts of it, my thoughts kept turning back to Dex. About what happened. And what else there was to know. How could this guy, my madcap, smartass Dex, have gone through so much? And how could he be OK? I mean, he couldn’t be. No wonder he was on medication. And not even at the moment. My heart pinched in the most unexpected way. I felt so much for him at that moment, it kind of hurt. My emotions and my hormones were having a catfight in my chest. I just wanted to walk over to that bed and…
“Perry,” Maximus’s voice broke through my thoughts like a rake. “Did you write that down?”
At that, Dex looked up at me before I could look away. His eyes were soft, shiny pools from across the room. I held his eyes with mine. My heart clenched again, intensifying my feelings, steadying my gaze.
“Bullets dipped in ash?” Maximus added, a bit louder this time. I closed my eyes. I felt the current I had with Dex power down, like I was turning off like a fuse box. Did he feel it too? I opened my eyes to check but he was focused on the computer again.
I turned my head at Maximus, trying to hide my annoyance.
“What was that?”
Maximus did a quick sideways glance at Dex for observation, then laid a prominent smirk on me. “I said…one of the ways you can kill a skinwalker is bullets dipped in white ash.”
“Oh, white ash. So simple,” I quipped. I wrote it down knowing full well we weren’t going to be using any guns with ash bullets inside them.
Maximus flipped a page, shrugged. “Hey, you never know out here.”
“And that’s the only way to…get rid of them?” I asked.
“As far as I know. Unless the person has a change of heart and decides to stop doing evil or something.”
“So what the hell can we do?” I said, frustrated.
They both looked up at my tone of voice.
“What, we’re going to shoot some animal with white bullets?” I continued, “I don’t think so.”
Maximus gestured at the book. “Hey, no one said we’ll be doing that. I’m just reading it out loud.”
“You don’t get it,” I sighed. “I mean, so say everything goes as planned…I mean, no, wait. What even is the plan?”
I looked at Dex for an explanation. He seemed puzzled, I assume more by my outburst than the lack of a plan.
“Well,” he cleared his throat. “I, we…get to the bottom of it and–”
“In the next day?” I interrupted. “So we find out it’s a curse, or maybe it really is a haunting of some sort, or perhaps just the crazy ass mythic skinwalker…then what?”
“We film it,” he replied.
“And then what?”
“And we show it?” Dex looked adorably confused. “Have you forgotten some things about what we do?”
“And then we go back home. But what happens to the Lancasters?”
“That’s not our problem,” he said bluntly, almost smiling.
And there was Dex, back to being a heartless beast in an instant. I looked at Maximus for help. “Do you know what I mean?”
He nodded. “I do. But, I mean, Dex is right in a way…it’s not our job to deal with people’s problems. I show them to people. You record it to show to other people. We aren’t, well, Ghostbusters.”
“Why do think they wanted us here in the first place?” Dex asked me seriously. “Will just wants to prove he isn’t crazy. If we see it too, if we film it, then it means it’s real. It means he’s not going insane on this ranch with his wife looking the other way. Pardon the pun. He hasn’t thought as far as how to get rid of it, whatever the fuck this is. That will come later.”
“I just think if I’m making things worse…,” I found myself saying unexpectedly.
“Hold on,” Dex shot in, his hand raised. “What do you mean you’re making things worse?”
I sank back into my chair wanting to disappear. My eyes drifted to the floor. I really shouldn’t have said anything. It was too stupid to explain what Bird had told me.
“Um,” I said slowly. “I just felt like maybe things are worse because I’m here.”
Maximus snorted. “Things were the same a week ago. Don’t be giving yourself too much credit there.”
I nodded. I could feel Dex’s eyes on me and knew he wasn’t going to let that go.
But I was saved by the knock at the door.
“Come in,” I announced, straightening up, alert.
The door opened and Bird poked his head in.
“Supposed to tell you all that dinner is ready,” he smiled. Then lowered his voice, “Can I come in?”
“Sure.” Maximus waved him inside.
Bird stepped in before shooting a glance outside the door and closing it quietly behind him. He obviously had something important to tell us. We all looked up at him, wondering.
He walked over to the bed and perched on the corner. He gave us all hurried glances that made us lean in closer to hear what he had to say.
“I just wanted to tell you that we should go to Rudy’s bar after dinner. I think he can help us with this whole thing. In fact, I know he can.”
“How?” asked Dex, ever demanding.
Bird smiled. “I’ll let him tell you that. But we must not mention it to anyone, you understand?”
“No,” Dex said. “Enlighten us.”
I could see Bird was tired and wished Dex wouldn’t push him so when he was trying to help. He smiled politely. “The people downstairs. They wouldn’t like it. They would try and stop us and I think it’s best if we do things without them knowing. Just trust me with that. If Rudy can help us we need to do it as cleanly as possible.”
“Help us help them,” Max mused.
“Right,” said Bird. He got up and pointed at me. “And help her.”
My eyes widened. So much for that. But before Dex and Maximus could ask what that meant (and from the looks on their faces, I could tell they wanted to), Bird opened the door and led the way with his arm.
“Come on, dinner is getting cold,” he said a bit too loudly, for the benefit of the listeners downstairs. He jerked his head for us to join him.
Maximus got up first and followed him out the door. I scuttled after him while Dex closed the door behind us. I felt him brush up beside me as we walked down the hall.
“What are you keeping from me?” he asked gruffly in my ear. I melted a bit from the feel of his hot breath on my neck and the roughness of his voice.
“Nothing,” I whispered. Then, remembering my lecture about sharing, I relented. “I’ll tell you later.”
We walked down the stairs and into the living room. No surprise, everyone else was seated and waiting for us.
Sarah and Will were on opposite sides at the heads of the table. In a cozy row on one side sat Miguel, Shan and a place for Maximus. The other side was for me, Dex and Bird.
“How are you feeling Perry?” Will asked as I took my spot near him. He had his hands clasped in a prayer-like gesture, his shirt was neatly buttoned all the way to the top. His eyes were kind as always but his smile was a bit forced. He must have been on edge like everyone else. There was an air of tension floating just above our heads.
I attempted my most convincing smile and said, “I’m doing much better, thank you. I’ve always been so clumsy. My mother used to tie couch cushions to me when I was a kid cuz I fell down so much.”
To my surprise, everyone at the table roared with laughter. Was this what it felt like to be Patton Oswalt? Granted, it was a nervous type of laughter but I’d take anything.
Will cleared his throat after the chuckles died down and proceeded to lead us all in a quick prayer of grace. I bowed my head and kept one eye open on Shan and Bird. They repeated the prayer without hesitation.
We started on our salads which were actually quite tasty. I remarked on how crisp the greens were and Sarah informed me that she had a lovely garden out back, behind the house. She did so without a hint of malice or sarcasm. It seemed everyone was on their best behavior.
Sarah looked as done up as her husband. Her big, dark glasses even had tiny rhinestones in the frames which added some punch to her simple, high-necked burgundy dress. Her hair was in a long dark braid going down her back. Now that it wasn’t in a bun, I could see how marvelously long it was and how it didn’t have a single speck of grey hair. For someone that was at least fifty, I found that to be amazing. Actually the more I stared at her face, especially the way it looked in the low light of the dining room, the younger she looked. How funny to look so fabulously young for your age and not even be able to see it.
Shan and Miguel cleaned up well, too. Miguel still looked like a rat bastard with that contemptuous glint in his beady eyes, but at least he was in a pressed rodeo shirt and his hands looked clean. Shan actually looked quite handsome without some grimy hat on his head. He was hunched over slightly, I suppose from his chest pains of earlier but his face was open, a sun-beaten but fresh complexion. Inside, in this situation, he looked younger too, somehow.
He was explaining something to Will about some tricks a local rancher had taught his horse to do, and as he was moving his hands around, flashes of silver and shine caught my eye. He had silver rings on almost every finger on his hands. Most were solid but a few had some gorgeous turquoise jewels on them. I then noticed a few beaded and metal bracelets on his wrists and a few rope necklaces disappearing into the V of his neckline. One necklace lay on front, a tiny suede pouch at the bottom. I hadn’t recalled seeing so much jewelry on him before. As unusual as it was though, to see a man decked out in that much bling, it kind of suited him.
“So, Perry,” Shan said, catching my eyes on him. I played it cool and smiled, avoiding looking straight into those yellowish brown eyes of his. “Tell me about how you and Dex first met.”
Oh crap.
I looked at Dex and smiled, letting out a laugh I hoped came across as ‘oh this old story’ rather than the nervous one it was. Dex did the exact same thing.