Page 7 of Bear Necessities
Barrett and I exchange looks and as I open my mouth to speak, he says, “No problem.Bernie will go with you.”
* * *
Enid pulls up in front of my house in an awkward-looking vehicle she refers to as the Ghost Gobbler.
“So you packed enough for a week?”she asks as she pops open the trunk.
“Yeah, but I am confused as to why.”
“The person we are visiting can warp time.I have sought her help several times now and every visit to her is experienced like weeks, but only, truly, is an actual day or two.”
Enid says this, as if it answers my question, and walks back to the driver’s side.
The first couple of hours we listen to a podcast about shapeshifter politics.Time to time, Enid pauses it to discuss the issue being discussed with me.She is very passionate about paranormal rights.Passionate and, well, kind of nerdy about it.It’s pretty hot.
A pit stop in Bakersfield finds me standing in line with a pack of werewolves cosplaying as southern rock loving humans.The wildest-looking one sniffs at me.
“I smell shifter on you,” he snarls.
Tensing up, I get ready to shift into my bear-form to fight, when Enid comes around the corner.
“And we all can smell werewolf on you and your buddies,” she hisses, waving a handful of mistletoe at them.
The gang bares their teeth and growls, but retreats to the back corner of the fast-food joint.
“You carry mistletoe around with you?”
“An unprepared paranormal investigator is useless,” she says, with a shrug and a sexy smile.
“I guess I owe you one,” I say, grinning down at her.
“I guess you do.”
5
Enid
Glad we goton the road early, because showing up to Doris’s in the dark would have been foolish.Bernie pulls his truck into her excessively long driveway and we begin the ascent up the twisted hill.
“What is this we are driving on?I have never seen something like this in Joshua Tree before.Or California, actually,” he says, confusion coloring his handsome face.
“It’s likely you have been near witch hills many times.They only come into view if the witch is expecting you and gives you permission to visit her.”
“Really?My sister-in-law is close friends with a local witch and she just lives on her Nigerian dwarf dairy goat farm with her husband,” he says with a laugh while he squints through the fog that has rolled over us.
“Uh, is that in Corvid Valley?That sounds amazingly adorable.”
“It is.I’m sure I could hook you up with a visit.She also makes soaps and stuff with the goat’s milk.A lot of them are blessed with nature spells.”
“I would truly love to visit.Thanks.”I say, hoping my voice doesn’t give away my hope that he would go with me, “Doris, here, is a type of witch who chose to shun human society and live a life in solitary.Ray and I made a connection with her a few years back by accident and she took a liking to us.Said we could reach out if we ever needed her.Our co-worker, Mo, usually takes these extreme cases, but she’s already tied up with another job.So here we are.”
“Here you are,” Bernie says, nodding at the large gate that appears out of the fog.
“OK, so we both have to walk up.Just watch me and do what I do.”
Bernie and I hop out of his truck and walk up to the gate.I feel his massive size next to me and, for a hot second, picture him lifting me up and taking me right here and now against the wrought iron bars.My pussy pulses from the thought.
Get it together, Enid.You’re on the clock.