Shelter From the Rain

Chapter 1

Jones pointed to one of the articles in the main clippings book. "Tell me that's not Bigfoot!"

Almost as a reflex, Stone standing beside him, growled. "That ain't no Bigfoot. Probably some kids playing around. There's no such thing . . . ." And his voice trailed off as he realized where he was.

Jones jumped in, still arguing his point. "Oh please, there's no such thing, says the guy who makes jerky with a chupacabra."

Cassandra was grinning at the familiar banter and Baird cleared her throat and held up her hand. The boys immediately quieted. "Jenkins?"

"Well, both Mr. Jones and Mr. Stone are right . . . ." Both men grinned and then their expressions faded as Jenkins frowned at them. "And they are wrong."

"What does that even mean?" Baird asked.

"Is Bigfoot real?" Cassandra asked eagerly.

"Well, yes, there is a being that could meet the general description of," and Jenkins made air quotes, "'Bigfoot' but I have my doubts about it being the cause of these incidents. The Ts'emekwes . . . ."

Flynn came into the room, carrying an armful of books, "the Ts'emekwes generally keep to themselves. Not even generally, they keep to themselves. They avoid humans as much as possible. And Jenkins is correct that it's not likely this is one of them. 99% of the supposed Bigfoot sightings are exactly what you think hoaxes and bears and the like."

"Let me guess," Jones said. "The 1% that aren't, are in those books?"

Flynn grinned, pointing at him. "You are learning, young Padawan."

Stone took a deep breath, "so basically, we could be dealing with someone using a Bigfoot hoax to cover up criminal use of magic?"

Flynn nodded. "It's more than likely. But there's still a possibility that a rogue Ts'emekwe is causing this, maybe a young one, or a rebellious teenager."

"Well guys," Baird said. "Let's go assess the situation."

--

The 'assessing the situation' eventually lead to Stone and Cassandra hiking through a forest in British Columbia looking for signs of a Ts'emekwe while the others followed up other leads. They'd been volunteered due to Stone's knowledge of First Nations lore (and his general knowledge of the outdoors) and Cassandra because of the map inside of her head. Normally Stone wouldn't have minded such an assignment. He was outdoors, getting fresh air and he didn't have to deal with Jones. Also normally, he didn't mind Cassandra's company, not in the least. Cassandra was one of his favorite people, after all.

But today he was grumpy. It was likely because they'd been at this for two hours now and there wasn't a single sign of anything close to a Bigfoot. He also really didn't like the looks of those clouds. This is what he kept telling himself anyway, before finding himself staring at Cassandra again. She'd at least dressed somewhat appropriately for a hike in the woods with a pair of over the knee socks and hiking boots. Of course the hiking boots were purple and the socks were gray and sported the face of a bear at the top. She wore a purple plaid shirt with a lace collar and a golden moose pin was on her right shoulder. It was all very cute but what kept drawing his eye were the high waisted navy shorts. Very short shorts. That fit her just right and his eyes kept drifting to her backside with every step.

He had memories of those shorts from the day the spell was broken when they were trapped in Cicely. Memories of his hand grabbed the fabric of her waistband as they ran through the door and her body underneath his when their landing had been bumpier than they anticipated. But it had been a hell of a day and he hadn't really gotten a chance to admire her in them (or at least as far as he could remember, his memories of what had happened in those three weeks were very hazy).