Darkness in Appalachia

Chapter 5

By lunchtime, they had hit about five different areas and were closing in on a sixth. David had seen entities that defied belief,from a tree that transformed when they approached into a ravenous wolf-like creature that spoke by rubbing its leaves together to fairy-like entities the size of ladybugs that swarmed and devoured entire deer with needle sharp teeth in a matter of minutes. They communicated by forming patterns in the air and seemed to have almosta hive mentality. Many entities wouldn't completely show them selves so he only got glimpses of strange half formed figures that communicated with Robyn in some way that he couldn't determine. From what he could determine and what Robyn told him, there were no major problems that needed to be dealt with and no one had seen anything that didn't belong in their area. He had stayed mostly silent, trying to absorb everything that he was seeing and asking questions only rarely.

Robyn was now directing him towards a shack at the edge of the next area. He drove the 4x4 inside at her direction and grabbed the bag.Outside, Robyn directed him to put it on the ground and she pulled a picnic lunch out of it. Nothing fancy, just sandwiches and chips with can sodas instead of the water they'd been drinking most of the day.

"We should eat here. The next place we're visiting is kinda faraway and they don't like the 4x4 so we'll have to walk." She settled on the ground and opened up a sandwich that Puk had made. He sat down next to her and reached for one. "Just make sure that you check your sandwich before you eat it. Puk likes to play jokes and sometimes she'll put things in that don't necessarily go together.Other times, it's an honest mistake since she doesn't eat human food very often."

He hesitated but found that he was too hungry to worry too much."What has she done in the past?"

Robyn opened her sandwich to check it before closing it up and taking a bite. "Hot sauce, wasabi paste, mixing mayo in with peanut butter and jelly, replacing the sandwich cheese with cream cheese.Just imagine what you wouldn't want on a sandwich and she has probably done it at least once. My favorite was when she made a sandwich with raw hamburger meat. She forgot the ice pack at that time too so it was rank by the time I stopped for lunch."

He checked his sandwich, not seeing anything out of place and tasted it. "Mm. Seems like she replaced the mayo with sour cream on this one. But I guess I should just be glad that it's edible."

Robyn finished up her food and stretched out on the grass, taking a moment to relax while he finished. He found his eyes drawn to her and knew that he needed to distract himself before he did something that might get him smacked. "Where are we heading to next?"

"We're going to a water nixie's territory. There aren't many other entities that hang around in her area and we probably won't see the ones who do so she's probably the only one you will see."

"What's a water nixie?"

Robyn smiled and David felt his eyes drawn to the curve of her lips.He had to look away and missed part of what she was saying. "...hard to describe. She calls herself Isonade." She sat up and looked at him. "Are you nearly finished? We need to get moving if we want to be back home before dark."

He nodded and helped her gather up the garbage and repack everything in the bag. He slung it over his shoulder and headed to load it back on the 4x4 but Robyn motioned for him to bring it. They took off,heading deep into the woods and following a trail that looked like noone had used it in years.

After walking in silence for about half a mile, Robyn broke thesilence. "You've kinda invaded by life but I don't really knowanything about you. Why don't you tell me where you came from andwhat you do as a cop?"

He laughed. "You do know that it's not nearly as interesting asall this."

She shrugged. "I was raised in this world so, while I canunderstand why it would be interesting to you, it's normal to me.Things that happen outside of this are what I find interesting. Thosestories are my versions of fairy tales."