She tried to speak, but when no sound came out, she held up two fingers.
“Okay, you need help.”
She nodded.
“Is it something I can help with?”
Another nod.
Lo, you’re freaking me out, talking to air. Seth brushed against my ankles.
The woman wrapped one arm around herself. Seth pressed more firmly against me.
“How do I help?”
She pointed into the woods.
I wasn’t really excited about going into the forest with her. “Um, you’re going to have to give us a bit more information. They’re not going to let me go traipsing into the Appalachians with you.”
The woman paused. I guess it wouldn’t be easy to explain if you couldn’t talk to someone and also couldn’t show them what you wanted. Her form shimmered and red blossomed over the front of her shirt. She lay down in the dirt and stared at me with blank eyes.
Oh shit.
My stomach heaved. “Were you murdered?”
She nodded from her place on the ground and pointed in the woods. Her body had to be in there. Maybe all she wanted was to be properly laid to rest. I sucked in a deep breath and stepped forward. Caden’s hand locked around my wrist.
Where are you going?
“Into the woods. She needs us. Do you feel anything dangerous?”
I don’t , Seth replied.
Caden glanced around and shifted into his panther form, his whiskers twitching. Just because we don’t sense something wrong doesn’t mean there’s nothing dangerous.
“Well, keep your eyes peeled and we’ll leave if we need to.” I turned back to the woman. “Show us where your body is.”
The forest took a deep breath. The ground rippled beneath my feet as the wind made the trees whisper.
What the fuck? I paused at the edge of the trees, listening.
Resting my fingers on the branch of the nearest tree, I focused, trying to sense if something was wrong, but it felt like the normal forest to me.
I decided to take it as a sign that I was doing what I was supposed to.
A rational person would be terrified, but calm settled over me.
Caden shoved himself between my legs, forcing me to ride on his back for a quick escape, and Seth shifted into his panther form as well, following so close my leg was sandwiched between them.
We walked into the woods for about twenty minutes, the two panthers getting increasingly agitated.
I stroked a reassuring hand over their fur every so often.
“How much further?” I asked.
The woman turned slowly and all the hairs on my arms stood to attention. Her spirit sank into the ground at her feet and I slid off Caden despite his growl of protest.
My tongue felt heavy in my mouth. I set a palm over what had to be her tainted grave and a ripple of energy warmed me.
“Gaia, Great Mother, protect and keep your daughter. Hecate watch over her as she walks from this world into the next.” I traced my fingertips through the detritus and soil, letting my hand move of its own volition.
She was here.
She was waiting.
Nausea clawed at my insides and I braced myself against the ground, breathing slow and deep. Her translucent hand reached up through the soil and wrapped around my wrist. I jerked away, but there was no give in her grip. Panic choked me. She wasn’t hurting me, but she wasn’t letting me leave.
Find me . The soft voice of a young woman filled my head.
“I need you both to dig.”
Caden and Seth tore into the ground with their massive paws. The soil gave way. Earth and pine and decay filled my nose.
Virginia Burke . The voice was soft and sounded nothing like Caden or Seth. It had to be her name. Had she told me, or had something else? I wasn’t sure it mattered.
I tugged on my arm again, but she held tightly. I set my own hand over hers. “We’re coming, Virginia.”
Seth shook his paw. I hit something. Bone?
I leaned forward and used my hands to brush away the last remnants of soil. Frayed fabric and yellowed bone sat cradled in the earth. Gods. Who had done this to her?
I pulled out my phone. One bar of service. It was at least enough to phone the police. Numbness spread over me as I relayed our location and what we had found.
They were busy but would come.
My wrist was going numb in Virginia’s grasp.
“Please, let me go,” I whispered. “I can’t stay out here forever.”
Virginia’s spirit released me and rose up, sitting next to her grave. I snatched back my hand and scooted away from it, rubbing feeling back into my arm. Seth and Caden curled around me in their massive bodies, their warmth and closeness a balm I sorely needed.
I wasn’t sure how long we waited before Caden lifted his nose into the air. They’re close .
Caden melted into his small form and Seth followed suit a few moments before a pair of officers came into view.
“Ms. Murphy?”
I nodded and pulled myself to standing on wobbly legs.
“I’m Sheriff Barnes. This is Officer Williams.” The sheriff glanced over at the ground. “Christ. Whoever this is has been dead a long time. How did you find them?”
I hadn’t thought that far ahead. Seth booped my leg with his nose.
“My cats.” I cobbled together the story in my mind before spitting it out. “They got out and I ran after them. Found them digging. I kept going to see what they’d gotten into.”
“We’ll have to do an investigation and excavate the body,” said the sheriff.
I gave him my contact information and asked to be kept in the loop.
Everything truthful I could tell them would get me hauled in for questioning so I stayed quiet, saying only that I was here on vacation and that I didn’t live in the area.
Thankfully it was plain to everyone that the body had probably been there for decades, so I wasn’t suspicious.
From the look of the spirit, that body had been there longer than I’d been alive.
“Are you able to get back out of the woods?” Officer Williams asked.
“I think so.” It was basically a straight line and I knew Seth and Caden would be able to guide me if I got turned around.
Virginia’s voice rang clear in my head. Thank you.
My legs shook as I walked in the direction we’d come from.
It got harder and harder to breathe until I sank to my knees, letting the sobs tear free.
Caden returned to human form and gathered me into his arms. He stayed quiet.
There wasn’t really any comfort he could give after we’d found a murder victim in the woods.
I wasn’t sure how long I cried there, surrounded by the yawning Appalachians. The forest pulsed around me and made my head swim. I had no idea what was happening, but it faded as quickly as it started and I attributed it to the sobfest.
Seth pressed against me. You want a ride, Lo?
I nodded without saying a word. Seth shifted into his larger form and I climbed onto him, Caden sliding into his panther form as well. We picked our way through the forest, and before we got back to the cabin, they were back in their small forms to follow me inside.
Table of Contents
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