A few people were sitting outside at gray tables, drinking coffee and eating little chocolate truffles and cockies. Looking at these normal people living normal lives, smiling and talking without a care in the world, it was hard to believe that this town was home to some dark secret. A young girl with one front tooth missing smiled up at Elijah as he passed by her on his way into the café. The girl was the picture of innocence and hope. Her eyes were bright, and she had a mustache of hot chocolate on her upper lip. She turned to what Elijah assumed was her dad and tugged at his arm, pointing at the two suited strangers.
"Don't ponit, that's not nice. Sorry, folks."
"No problem"
Inside, the air smelled strongly of fresh-roasted coffee, and chocolate truffles sat in trays inside a glass display. Whinney was looking at the menu displayed on a screen above the counter.
"Mexican hot chocolate? Chipotle and cayenne! I gotta try that, sounds crazy."
Elijah looked at the menu but already knew what he was going to have, then stepped up to order.
"Hi, I-"
"Hello, sir! How are you doing today? Nice suits! The two of you in town doing business? What can I get for you?"
"Fine, thank you. Umm, no, just sightseeing. I'd like a cup of black coffee, please. Whinney?"
"One Mexican hot chocolate, and since it's not our money, let's get a dozen of those truffles as well."
Whinney began pointing out truffles she wanted while Elijah paid. He grabbed the recept, then looked around. While it's true that he mostly wanted a cup of coffee, they might also get the chance to learn something from the locals, maybe the dad and his daughter outside. He stepped up beside Whinney, where she was pressing her finger against the glass of the display.
"Whinney, we'll sit outside by that father and daughter. Perhaps the father of a child in town would know something. I'll go out and try to introduce us. When you're done in here, I'll let you take over the conversation."
"Me? What am I s'posed'a say?"
"You just want to know about the town, what's going on, maybe you heard about the disappearances a year ago. Two children disappeared, and the police have no clue what happened to them. The man's got a child, remind him of the fear of losing her. Of course, don't say that part out loud."
The man picking out truffles had paused and was now examining them, looking very concerned and even a bit scared. Elijah noticed and pulled out his badge.
"Don't worry, sir, government business."
"... Right..."
Elijah stepped outside again, and the young girl looked up at him. He smiled at her as best he could. The gesture was incredibly uncomfortable for him, and he felt like a fool for having to indulge people. For whatever reason, it felt humiliating. It was like a porn actor having to fake an orgasm for the camera. Just giving people what they want to see, no matter whether it was real or not. He turned his head to the father and asked,
"Those seats taken?"
Pionting at two obviously unoccupied seats at the table next to the pair.
"No, go right ahead."
Elijah tried to keep a pleasant, naturally positive expression while dropping the awkward smile. He sat down at the far side of the little round table, then reached a hand out to the man.
"I'm Elijah. Beautiful town you've got here."
The man took his hand and shook it.
"Why, thanks. Names Dean, this here's my daughter Elenore."
Off to a good start.
"You lived here long?"
"'Bout five years now, moved here when Ellie was just bout one. Wife's got family here an' wanted to raise her where she grew up. I take it you're visitin' from... midwest somewhere?"
"Minnesota. Well, I don't live there anymore, but I grew up there."
Whinney came out with her chocklets in hand and sat down beside Elijah, then turned to the Dean and introduced herself.
"Hi. Whinney."
"Dean. So what brings the two o' you to town?"
Whinney stalled for a moment, looking over her shoulder at Elijah. He nodded to her. Mot had told him to let her do most of the talking after all. He didn't think he'd done such a bad job so far, just trying to imagine what Dolion might say. Whinney reciprocated the nod and turned back to Dean and Ellie.
"Sightseeing, some really beautiful scenery around here. I was telling Elijah here that I wanted to go see the waterfalls whenever we had the time."
Dean took a look at their clothes, presumably wondering what kind of oddballs would go sightseeing in matching black suits.
"Well, in that case, you'll want to visit Box Canion." He pointed to somewhere vaguely to their right. "Amazing really, a little bit too loud for Ellie, but if you want a waterfall, then that's the place."
Whinney turned, wide-eyed, to Elijah. This wasn't what they were supposed to be talking about. Elijah decided to bud in.
"This must be a safe town, seen' as how your wife wanted to bring little Ellie here."
"Oh, mostly. It's a small town, so it sure feels safer than the big city."
Whinney caught on and followed up smoothly.
"Must be nice. But hey! I heard somewhere there were a few disappearances around here last year. That must've been scary."
Dean looked down at Ellie, who was licking the last traces of residual chocolate from the inside of her cup.
"Yeah, but the way I heard it, them's just people going off the trail up at Cascade Falls at night. Folks should know better, especially nowadays, in'it's already happened before."
"You mean people are still disappearing? Never heard anything about that."
"No, no. There's a kind of 'trend' or whatever, where people go up there where the people disappeared. Kids mostly. Other parents told me there's like a ghost story, somewhere in the woods they'll go lookin' for the monster that killed those who went missin'."
Whinney turned back and gave Elijah a meaningful look. A monster? He had an idea what kind of monster it could be, but then again, based on the report, there shouldn't be anything of the kind here. Not if this really was a first circle incident. It's likely just a case of kids telling stories; if not, there might be something more going on in this town.
Their coffee came out, carried by the man who'd taken their orders. He looked at them skeptically, then at Dean and Elenore. Elijah thought that he might say something, but instead he took their empty cups and left. Elijah sipped the hot black coffee. He didn't like it, but it was far better than anything he'd ever had at S.O.F. HQ. Tasting the coffee, he desperately wanted a cigarette. That would have to wait. Whinney took a sip of her Mexican hot chocolate and let out a small, delighted sound. Meanwhile, Dean grabbed Elenore by the hand and got ready to leave.
"Well, you two have a good time here in Ouray. If you're looking for somewhere to have dinner later, I recommend the brewery over there. We've got to get going."
"Alright, maybe we'll see ya'round"
Whinney gave them a little wave as they left. Elijah put his cup down.
"A monster in the woods, huh?"
Whinney made eye contact while drinking, then she likewise put her cup down.
"Sooo, I'll have to beat up a monster?"
"No. Most likely, there's no monster at all. A first circle ritual wouldn't result in anything like that. If there is one, we call for backup. This ain't Gotham."
"But, if I'm not here to beat stuff up, what's the point of me bein' strong?"
"You're the muscle of our team, sure, but rush on in headfirst and you're dead as dirt. There are things out there you can't beat, and if there is a monster out in those woods, I'd bet a million to one that's one of them. I'm not gonna get into a fight with that kind of beast."
Whinney looked at him as if he'd just said that there was a nuke headed their way or that her drink was laced with cyanide. Was it so strange to hear that there was something she couldn't beat? She gulped.
"But there won't be one..."
"Right. Wouldn't make sense. Don't worry, it wouldn't be our problem no matter what. We got some valuable information from that guy. There are kids who explore the woods at... What'd he call it?"
"Cascade falls."
"That's it. We might have some luck if we investigate that angel. The S.O.F. might have missed that if they weren't aware of the story about the monster."
"But they checked stuff online. If people were planning this kinda stuff in chat rooms, wouldn't we know?"
"Perhaps. We need to know more."
They finished their drinks, then walked over to the car. Whinney hadn't eaten all of her truffles, but couldn't be bothered to carry them around. She left about half of them on the table. Elijah sat down on the hood and lit a cigarette. Whinney did the same.
"Let's check out the curch. There are several in town, we should go to whichever one sees the most traffic."
Whinney picked up her phone and googled for a few minutes in silence.
"Not sure if any of these are open right now. Its kinda late for church. Maybe we'll take that tomorrow and focus on something else for now."
"Alright. In that case, we could check out that trail. might have some luck, who knows."
He threw the butt of his cigarette on the ground, then stepped into the car. Whinney hadn't smoked her cigarette as quickly, but threw the third she had left and stepped on it before getting behind the wheel.
Elijah'd gotten used to cars again, but ever since that first accident, he always felt a slight tightening in his chest when he heard the engine start. This car was a far cry from his old trachheap. That thing had been a sorry excuse for a car. The strange part hadn't been that he crashed; that was bound to happen driving that old rustbucket. No, the amazing thing was that the car could reach a speed sufficient to kill the driver. This car purred, that car coughed and wheezed like a man on his deathbed. All that said, he missed that old car. He wouldn't have dared drive it, but he felt that he had things in common with that car, now more than ever. This black LC 500 was too nice, no personality. To Elijah, a car was worth no more than the accumulated dirt, scrapes, and dents that showed it had been used. Perhaps, he thought, most people took better care of their cars than he did.
The car rolled up to the head of the trail, and Whinney parked the car on a gravel patch near a little house. Two other cars stood parked beside them, but they saw no one around.
"Hey Elijah, what are we hoping to find here?"
"Nothing special, just taking a look around. Like I said, we might get lucky and find something worth finding."
The two of them set off along the trail. The forest was nice. It felt like he was finally breathing the air he was meant to breathe. He listened to the little sounds that go unnoticed in the woods. Below the sound of their feet stepping on the stones on the ground, he could make out the wind in the trees. Below that, a silent rustling on the ground. Even deeper, Elijah closed his eyes and felt rather than heard, the slow deterioration of dead animals and rotten wood. Mushrooms grew on those pieces of wood, and Elijah imagined what it would be like to be a mushroom. He felt his own mycelium stretching out and growing.
He walked a few feet off the path and lay down on the ground. He was like the dead and fallen trees. He felt the cool ground stealing the heat from his body. He imagined millions of tiny bugs crawling throughout his body, eating his wooden fibers, nesting, dying, deteriorating, getting absorbed by roots, and becoming one with the woods once again. In that moment, he was the forest. He felt and listened.
"What the fuck are you doing? If you need a nap, we should go back to the hotel."
"I'm doing reconnaissance."
"And I'm the easter bunny. Get up."
Elijah stood up. He'd actually heard something interesting while lying down.
"I think there are people further along the trail, at least two of them. We could ask them if they know anything."
"Well then, let's get going."
They hurried along the trail to catch up to the people ahead of them. They came up behind three teenagers who were looking at the waterfall that was gently spraying water across a large stone amphitheater. Whinney looked at the falls and smiled faintly. Elijah walked up to the three girls and cleared his throat. They turned around and watched him approach.
"Hi, you tree got a sec?"
They looked at each other, probably deciding whether to whip out the pepper spray or not. Elijah knew full well that he didn't have that same trustworthy, attractive smile Dolion had. In reality, he thought that he was probably pretty unpleasant to look at. Not that he was extraordinarily ugly, but he had tiered, unfriendly eyes that made people nervous. Whinney came walking up beside him, which seemed to put the girls at ease. One of the girls, probably their 'leader', spoke up.
"Uh, yeah, I guess."
"Perfect, so the two of us are planning on making a short film about this trail."
That felt like a plausible lie.
"... okayyyy..."
"And... do you three know about the disappearances about a year ago?"
The girl farthest to the right stepped forward.
"Oh yeah? You guys makin' a movie about the monster."
Whinney took over their half of the conversation.
"That's right! And we heard that if we're lucky, we might see the monster hereabout at night."
"No, not here, you gotta go off the trail back at the bridge. Instead of turning off, if you go straight up the hill and climb straight ahead for 15 or 20 minutes, you'll get there."
"So it's a place? Have you guys been there?"
The main girl said,
"Twice, but it's not real. The monster that is. There's a clearing with dead trees wich is kinda spooky, but the monster's just a story."
The third girl hadn't said anything thus far, but at that, she sprang to life.
"You shouldn't say that as if you're sure. I told you guys I heard something weird the first time."
Elijah was getting a bad feeling. Depending on what the girl had heard, there might be more to this Monster theory than he wanted to believe. Addressing the third girl, he asked,
"Heard what?"
Don't say breathing.
"Well, it wasn't like... loud or clear, but like rustling in the dark, I guess."
The main girl rolled her eyes.
"That wasn't the monster. Are you dense?" Whinney giggled at that, "That was an animal or the wind."
Elijah let slip the slightest sigh of relief; a rustling meant nothing. Then-
"But there wasn't just the rustling! Even you guys heard the wheezing."
Crap. Elijah fixed the third girl with his eyes.
"like breathing?"
She nodded hesitantly.
"Whinney, we're calling HQ. You three, take this."
He dug around inside his pocket and pulled out his wallet, then slipped out a dirty, worn contact card. The main girl took it between thumb and forefinger, and looked at it like he'd handed her a crysty old sock rather than his contact information.
"Do not go into those woods, don't let anyone you know go into those woods. If anyone you know so much as thinks of going into those woods, you call that number and tell me."
Suddenly, the entire forest felt deathly silent. The girls were staring at him as if he were crazy, and even Whinney seemed to share their sentiment.
"Elijah, chill. What's up?"
"This just took a turn. We need Mot to get here ASAP."