They sat, gathered in the predawn, the warmth of a small blaze in the stone fireplace and big bowls of popcorn being passed around.
Katie sat, her big, broad head in Guin's lap, her ears tuning in to each word spoken but her eyes had no interest in anyone but the girl.
Wyatt wasn't one hundred percent sure, but he suspected that Guin's memory of the incident would begin to fade almost immediately and so he wanted to ask a few important questions.
"Guin, the smoke that I used to wake you up is going to make everything seem like a weird dream here in a bit, but can I ask you a couple of questions first?"
The girl stuffed a handful of popcorn in her mouth and though she looked worried and doubtful, she set her jaw and nodded.
"You said that he told you that I wouldn't find you. Did you see him?"
She nodded emphatically.
"What did he look like?"
She finished chewing and swallowed. Her hand went out to Katie's head and began stroking the big dog between the ears.
"He was tall, real tall, bigger than daddy. He was kind of bent over a bit and skinny. He was old and his eyes were bright blue, like a raspberry freezer pop. He had longish hair, but it was missing on top mostly. He had on a checkered shirt, like the green one daddy wears and those jeans with the built in suspenders like farmers in the movies wear."
"Overalls?" Emma asked and Guin nodded.
She thought for a minute. "He had a tattoo on the inside of his arm, right here." She lifted up her forearm and pointed to a spot a few inches above the wrist. At that moment a look of recognition passed between Emma and Will, but to their credit, they kept silent.
"I couldn't see what it was, it looked smudged. He smelled like the bog down the mountain. And cigarettes I think."
She lowered her head for a minute and didn't say anything else and then Wyatt asked, "You said he told you I would never find you. Did he try to take you somewhere?"
Her lower lip protruded and she nodded. "He kept reaching for me but there would be this crackling, like static electricity in the winter and his hands would jerk back, and he said… He said…"
"What did he say Guin?" Wyatt pressed, gently.
"It was a bad word." She said, looking upset.
Wyatt actually chuckled. "You're helping me out with a serious situation, which requires some serious work. I think your mom and pop will allow you this one cuss word, just so we know what happened. Right?" He looked at Emma and Will who both smiled supportively and nodded.
Guin brightened slightly and then said, "He said, "Fucking mountain witch has touched her.""
Wyatt smiled and nodded and then turned to Rabbit and told her, "And just to be fair, give me your best cuss word, just for the occasion."
Rabbit perked up and said, "Asshole." rather proudly.
Wyatt turned to Missy and looked at her expectantly.
"Shitgoblin." Missy said without hesitation and the other two girls burst out into giggles.
Giggles which only got worse when Wyatt made a face of pure delight and pulled his notebook from his pocket and whispered, "Shitgoblin…" while searching for a blank page.
Will and Emma kept their composure until Wyatt looked up with all the seriousness he could muster and asked Missy, "Is that one word or two?"
The laughter took over the room, the way it only can following something traumatic.
Wyatt finished his note and put the journal and pencil away.
"The excitement is over for tonight, I guarantee it. Why don't y'all get yourselves back to bed. Katie and I have some things to do."
Guinevere made a sad face and put her hand possessively on Katie's head. Wyatt was loathe to take the dog from the girl's side, but he told her, "Katie talked to Chapel and Cora and what happened to them tonight won't happen again. They will be by your side and be able to do their jobs. We share our magic with our friends."
Guin still looked a little blue but nodded and taking her mom's hand, she and the other two girls went off with Emma to get ready for bed. As soon as they were out of the room, Wyatt looked to Will.
"That sounds a lot like my father." He said quietly, getting up from his chair and crossing the room to open a desk drawer and pull out a small photo album. He flipped through a few pages of it, pulled back the protective plastic and pulled a picture free from the backing and passed it to Wyatt.
The man was pretty much exactly as Guin had described him except that he was younger in the photo and more robust.
"Had she ever met your dad?" He paused for a second and then added, "Or seen him in pictures?"
Will shook his head. "Dad and I had a rough relationship since before the two younger girls were born. Missy met him a couple of times when she was tiny but other than that, I don't think so."
Wyatt examined the photo closely and committed the man's appearance to memory before passing it back.
"I'm going to go out and ward the house so this kind of thing can't happen again. Can you ask Emma to come out when she's done with the girls? I want to ask her about that tree."
"I can do that. And thank you Wyatt."
Wyatt shook his head. "Save that until we're done here. Things got past me tonight and I am a bit ashamed of that, but we won't let it happen again. Get some rest if you can."
With that he rose, called Katie to his side and walked out into the darkness.
2022 Lance Cheuvront
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