Cabyll-Uisge - Novella

Part 4

Two hours later, they sat in Wanda's motel room looking through information they had pulled up on their laptops. Wanda was propped up on her bed with her legs crossed and the laptop laid on them. Hair back in a ponytail, she had her reading glasses perched on the tip of her nose.

Wendell sat on the floor on his own laptop scanning pages. Neither one spoke. Around them were the remains of a dinner of takeout pizza.

"Anything?" Wanda asked as she clicked on another link.

"Aside from the fact that this cabyll-uisge thingy is supposed to transform into a sexy hunk of a man to lure unsuspecting women to their deaths? No, not a thing." He fell onto his back and tossed his pen up in the air and caught it. "Plus it lives in Ireland."

"Seen any leprechauns around here?" Wanda grimaced. "What are we doing talking about mythological creatures while trying to find our friends?"

"Grasping at straws."

"What else do we have to go on?"

"I think the idiotic, in-bred townspeople did them in."

"Come on, Wendell. Really?"

"Sounds more logical than a cabby usage thing."

Wanda couldn't argue that point. "Why would they do such a thing? I just don't see a reason behind their disappearance."

"Because they are smarter than these people." Wendell stood up and made his way into the bathroom.

The door closed and Wanda looked up from the screen and stretched. She felt like they were running in place and achieving nothing. Mentally, she went over everything they knew. Their friends were missing. They had arrived in a town that acted strangely. They had stayed at the campsite, but there was no evidence of it. Oh, she couldn't forget the strange creature everyone believed was eating people.

"I need a drink." She fell back on the bed.

"I'll go get you one." Wendell stepped out of the bathroom.

"Let's both go. There is a bar a few blocks away."

"In this town with one street light, they have fifty bars. Shouldn't be too hard to find one."

"Wendell, don't exaggerate. They have three street lights."

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The bar quieted when Wanda and Wendell walked into the room. Heads with caps on them turned toward the two. Eyes narrowed.

"Have they never seen outsiders?"

"I keep telling you...." Wendell began. He stopped when Wanda raised her hand in his face. Behind her, he rolled his eyes at her action.

"Stop being childish, Wen. Smile and let's order a beer. Who knows what we might find."

Wanda pasted a smile on her face and moved toward the bar. With grace, she wound through the tables, ignoring the heavy smoke and glaring eyes. She perched herself up on an empty barstool. Wendell followed meekly and sat on the one next to her.

Raising her hand to the bartender who was eyeing them just as the other patrons were, she called out, "Two Coronas, please."

The bartender didn't respond for several seconds. Without a word, he eventually pushed his bulky body away from the bar and reached under the counter. He straightened up with the requested beers in hand. Without saying anything, he sat the bottles down with a resounding thump and moved back to the where he had been holding the bar up.