The Savior in the Valley
By A.J.
It was a quiet day in Perfection, Nevada; El Blanco had passed under them like normal and Twitchell called needing to speak to Tyler. Shock was clearly written on his face as he made his way over to Chang's Market. A town meeting had to be called before he could deal with the news he had just received.
"Something wrong Tyler?" Jodi asked as he walked into the store without looking around.
"Burt, Nancy, Rosilita, I need you to come to Jodi's for an immediate town meeting. I just got some strange news and I need your input before I can proceed any further." Tyler said into the radio.
"Tyler what is going on?" Nancy asked as she came into the store.
"I plan on telling everyone once they get here Nancy." Tyler said as Burt drove into town.
"This had better be important." Burt said storming into the store.
"Important enough for Twitchell to call me nearly foaming at the mouth in anger and he wasn't angry at us for once." Tyler said softly.
"Okay, so who angered Twitchell that much?" Rosilita asked as she walked into the silent store.
"It has to be something big. And I mean big. Twitch doesn't get angry over just any old thing." Burt said bluntly.
"Yeah I know what you mean but in this case I can completely understand his anger. Burt you are going to be angry as well." Tyler said quietly.
"Okay that doesn't sound good. What happened Tyler?" Nancy asked.
"And why will it make me angry?" Burt demanded to know.
"I just learned I have some family in England; cousins through my mother's side of the family to tell the truth. And one of them was murdered a few days ago." Tyler said sadly.
"Sorry to hear that but what does it have to do with us and Twitchell foaming at the mouth?" Burt asked cutting to the core of the matter.
"My dead cousin has an older sister who is still living. She is married with a child of her own. My late cousin was also married with a child. My late cousin and her husband were murdered leaving their son an orphan and my surviving cousin never told her about me or my side of the family." Tyler said as a tear ran down his face at the thought of never getting to meet the one cousin in England who sounded worth meeting.
"I don't think I like your surviving cousin Tyler." Jodi said quickly. Her culture believed family was important and for one sister not to tell the other about more family struck her to her very core as terribly wrong.
"Then you really aren't going to like this. My late cousin's son is currently living with my surviving cousin and she doesn't want him. She point blank called him a freak and stated her sister and brother-in-law were freaks as well. She also called her sister a whore and her brother-in-law a good for nothing drunk. She truly believes their deaths were a good thing and that their son should have had the decency to die as well. From the way she talked about him Twitchell thinks she might be abusing him and I agree." Tyler said looking at the others who looked shocked.
"I don't condone child abuse in any form Tyler. Tell me there is a way to get him out of there." Burt said as the others nodded.
"There is but if I do this then I'm going to need help. Someone will have to watch him while I'm out giving tours." Tyler said seeing the light dawn on their faces.
"I can watch him during tours. And give you advice on how to be a good parent." Nancy said calmly.
"Don't worry about getting food for him, I'll order some as soon as we know just what we need. And when Nancy can't watch him I will." Jodi said with a smile.
"I'll help spoil him and make sure he knows his manners. It is never too early to start teaching children manners." Rosilita said with a smile at the thought of a child in the valley.
"I'll put together a basic survival kit for the kid when he gets old enough. And teach him all the skills he needs to live with El Blanco." Burt said taking out pen and paper to start on his list.
"Thanks for understanding. Now I need to call Twitchell and tell him to bring my cousin to Perfection and have him call child services to keep an eye on my other cousin's son." Tyler said heading towards the pay phone.
"Use my phone Tyler and when you're done I need to Twitchell. I'm going to need more then what I've got to help you take care of him." Jodi said with a smile.
"Hey Twitchell, everyone agreed. I'm going to take my late cousin's son. What can you tell me about him?" Tyler asked as Nancy and Jodi started making a list of what all they would need to raise a child in Perfection.
"He is fifteen months old with black hair and green eyes. I was lucky to get that much information out of your surviving cousin. I'm planning on calling them back and telling them you'll take him as soon as we hang up." Twitchell said.
"After you call them call Child Services over in England to watch over my surviving cousin's son; if they are abusing their nephew then there is no telling what they are doing to their own son." Tyler said calmly.
"True and I already planned on doing so." Twitchell said getting ready to hang up.
"Hang on Jodi needs to talk to you?" Tyler said handing the phone over to Jodi.
"What did Twitch tell you about your cousin?" Burt asked looking up from his list.
"He is fifteen months old with black hair and green eyes. I don't know his name or anything else about him. Something tells me he won't be coming with anything he needs to have, so we will have to buy everything new or used." Tyler said shaking his head.
"Some people should never have children, sounds like your cousin is one of them." Burt said sadly.
"Thanks Twitchell. Come pick one of us up when the plane gets here. We'll have everything ready or just about by then." Jodi said hanging up.
"Good news I hope?" Nancy asked.
"The government is going to help out with baby things. Though they will only help for the first three months we have him. But it is better than nothing." Jodi said with a sigh.
"I still have Mandy's old crib so you can use that for your cousin Tyler. It will need a new mattress and sheets but those aren't very expensive so we can get those right away. One thing we will need to do is set up a proper bedroom for the little guy. You might be willing to sleep in the garage with your car but your cousin shouldn't have to." Nancy said with a smile at the look of shock on Tyler's face.
"Maybe we can make my place taller so my cousin and I could live above the garage. It would be a little small but. . ." Tyler trailed off as the others looked at him in shock.
"Don't go to tall. But I think you should add two stories on; giving you more living space as well as a place for a kitchen and living room. I'll even help you build up. Though we will have to pay someone to come and fix the plumbing and water lines." Burt said looking up from his list.
"You will also need to reinforce the walls of your place and make sure the new floors are strong enough but I think it can be done before your cousin is three. Of course we will have to get in touch with Twitchell but I think he'll agree with your idea. If we do this just right then we might even be able to swing a balcony or rooftop porch for you both." Jodi said as ideas ran through her head.
"The rooftop porch sounds better than the balcony does. If we put some kind of roof over it then you can use it all year long." Rosilita said with a smile at the thought of Tyler's cousin reading a book or laying stretched out taking a nap on the rooftop porch.
"Okay we're going to remove the roof of Tyler's garage and add two new floors. Then we are going to make a new roof with the intention of giving them some outdoor living space. Plus we have to get the water, sewer, plumbing, phone, gas, and electrical lines done by professionals. Thankfully we will be able to do some of the work ourselves. I think most of the work can be done by the time the boy is three but to be on the safe side everything has to be done by the time he is four. Another thing we need to talk about is his schooling. How are we going to do this? Do we send him to school in Bixby or do we home school him?" Nancy asked bringing everyone to a standstill.
"If we send him to Bixby he will have some social skills, maybe. But if we home school him then we at least know he will get a good education. And I think we can make sure he gets some social skills." Burt said while Jodi and Rosilita nodded.
"His education is important but so are social skills. He will be the youngest person in the valley, how will we be able to make sure he gets the needed social skills?" Nancy asked.
"The kids in Bixby, don't they have field trips? Twitchell might be able to get him and one of us to go with them on field trips. That way he will get to interact with people his own age. But I don't know if he will get along with any of them. We don't have any of the problems the other towns and cities do but we have El Blanco and mix master. How can he relate to the things other kids have to face growing up when he faces a very different set of problems?" Tyler asked making everyone nod.
"I think I have an idea. We home school him making sure he has a good education and take him out of the valley four times a year, if possible, to learn about the different problems and situations people outside the valley face. Plus we will get Twitchell to include him and one of us in any local field trips the local school in Bixby has. This solves the problem, I think." Jodi said carefully.
"The only problem I can see is taking him out of the valley four times a year to learn about the different problems and situations people face outside the valley. We might not be able to do that but there might be a way to bring them here." Burt said making Rosilita gasp.
"We can present them to him in such a way as to encourage problem solving skills. By bringing the problems and situations here we can take him around the world without ever leaving the valley; a different country and a different problem or set of problems every season." Rosilita said happily.
"I like this idea. And I think Twitchell will like this idea as well. He might even be willing to provide us with some information about the problem or problems and country as well and come and debate about how to go about fixing things. What's more I think we should do this as well. It never hurts to be informed about the world outside the valley." Nancy said making everyone think.
"We should include history about the country in question as well. No reason not to make sure my cousin has all the information about the problem or problems and situation." Tyler said calmly thinking of all the good this would do for everyone who lived in the valley.
"Historical information might even tell us how the problem or situation came to be in the first place. Good thinking Tyler. And every year we should do a comparison of what we have learned and were to go from there." Burt said shocking everyone.
"I think we are agreed on what to do with his education but there is something we haven't spoken about. We don't know his name. And I don't think his family is going to tell us his name. All Twitchell was able to tell us was his age, hair, and eye color." Jodi said making everyone stop.
"If he is fifteen months old then his birthday is somewhere between mid-July and early August." Rosilita said calmly.
"We are going to need to talk to Twitchell again. No way am I going to let these people get away with removing his birthday. And we need to know more about his parents so we can tell him when he asks about them. And you know he will ask about them. I don't want to have to tell him his mother's sister stripped his mother of her honor and everything else. Without knowing anymore then we already do we can tell she never would have married a drunk or a jobless idiot; which means his aunt is more than likely a jealous spiteful woman. In addition, his mother more than likely married a good man, possibly a lord of some sort. So we should teach how to handle money and investments of all sorts." Burt said shocking everyone so completely the only thing they could do was breathe. This had never occurred to them. If his father was a lord then he more than likely had money, money that would rightly go to his only surviving child. Money and power his aunt was trying to keep out of his hands and more than likely trying to find a way to get them into hers.
"I'll call Twitchell and tell him what we talked about. I do not think he will have any problems getting the information we need out of Tyler's surviving cousin. Especially once, we tell him here is a chance the child in question might become a lord with money and power once he comes of age. And that his aunt might want to steal from her fifteen month old nephew thinking she deserves it for taking him in." Nancy said walking to the phone.
"Be sure to ask for some black and white paint for the sign into Perfection, Nancy. With a child coming we need to update the sign." Jodi said with a smile.
"That reminds me. What are we going to do about the paperwork he's going to need done in order to live here?" Tyler groaned out thinking about all the information they did not have and needed in order to fill it out.
"I think Twitchell has something has something in mind for that." Burt said. "I mean we all know your cousin is in a bad spot. Bringing him here might put him in danger of El Blanco but he will be safer with us then with your other cousin."
"Okay Twitchell likes the idea of extending the garage two levels and adding a rooftop deck. He says your cousin was born on July 31 and his parents had been given the names James and Lily. The family name is unknown but he will work on that. He also thanks us for the information about the possibly of James being a lord. He will talk to someone over in England who might be able to find our more for us and to make sure your surviving English cousin doesn't get any ideas about taking her nephew's money." Nancy said walking away from the phone. "Now I think we should honor his parents somehow. Does anyone have any ideas?"
"His father was named James; why not make that his middle name? And we can honor his mother by having lilies spread through-out the new levels of the garage, sort of a lily garden." Jodi said thinking aloud.
"I'm going to adopt him so something James Reed sounds okay. The lily garden idea sounds good but I'm going to have to have your help to get them going and to take care of them for a while, at least until I can do it on my own. The question remains of what we are going to do for a first name however." Tyler said making Jodi and Nancy smile.
"I don't know. We may never know his original first name but we can make sure he knows why he does not have the name his parents gave him. And we can tell him they loved." Nancy said.
"Maybe we'll know his name when we see him for the first time." Rosilita said quietly.
"You think so?" Tyler asked.
"Yeah I do." Rosilita confirmed.
"Before your cousin arrives we need to get some lumber so we can enforce the existing walls on the garage. I also think we should look at expanding the place by at least five feet if at all possible." Burt said looking at the garage.
"I like the sound of expanding the garage but I don't know how much land I have; Jodi, Nancy any ideas?" Tyler asked thoughtfully.
"I would have to check the deed, if I can find it. But Twitchell might be able to tell us if we explain why we need the information." Jodi said with a smile.
"I'll call him again right now." Nancy said heading for the pay phone. "I'm also going to ask for the name of an architect to draw up plans for Tyler's new and improved garage."
"Good idea Nancy. This way we can see the finished product without being forced to use our imaginations and getting more than one picture, solves a lot of problems before they even pop up." Burt said thoughtfully thinking about how much they would be able to save on the budget with this idea.
The human residents of Perfection Valley spent the next three months preparing for the arrival of Tyler's cousin. The adult members of his family over in England were not willing to spend the money needed to fly over to America without a good reason and getting rid of their unwanted was not good enough for them. They were not going to spend their hard-earned money on the freak if they could help it. They did not even take the time to take proper of the freak. He went hungry for several days in a row and would often need a diaper change for several hours or days before Petunia got around to it. Vernon would hit the child in an effort to make him shut up and quit disturbing the family with his cries. A freak like him did not deserve anything good like a normal child his age did.
Sadly, for Vernon the behavior of his family and their treatment of their nephew caught the eye of Tsukiyomi, the Japanese god of the moon. Even though the child bore the mark of Zeus upon his brow, his silky black hair and green eyes managed to make him pay attention to what was going on around the child. Many children had black hair and many others had green eyes, though not as green as these. What kept his attention on the child was his spirit and how it glowed like the moon at night. He spent many nights caring for the child and without knowing imprinted a small piece of his spirit upon the child. By listening to the adults in the house he learned of Tyler Reed and how he was going to take care of his little moon sprite.
On his next trip over Perfection Valley, he found Tyler Reed by accident talking to another man about his cousin over in England. For the next several days, he learned all he could about this man and what he learned pleased him. Tyler Reed wanted his cousin with him and did not like how his other cousin was not willing to spend the money needed to send the child to him. He spoke of how to honor his cousins lost parents and how best to explain his birth name was more than likely lost forever because his aunt was a spiteful woman. She not only stole his birth name, she stole his birthdate and if given a chance might steal the money left to him by his parents' death.
Because Tyler Reed intended to honor his little moon sprites parents, he entered Tyler's dreams and directed how his little moon sprite new bedroom would look. Without knowing he left, an impression of himself behind and Tyler was a little worried about the strange man who kept showing up in his dreams. While he was giving some Japanese tourists a graboid tour, he heard them speak of a moon god. He asked them about the god they were talking about and concluded he had a visit by this good several times. Why he was visiting was a mystery and Tyler wondered what he wanted. Because he was worried about this, he kept his mouth shut about the visits.
Twitchell managed to get several government grants to pay for the improvements on Tyler's garage. Now a four-story building stood in place of his original one story garage. The fourth story was nothing more than a rooftop deck and garden with waist-high walls to prevent falling with easy access to the level below. Two bedrooms with in suite bathrooms were on the third floor, along with a guest room and guest bathroom. The second floor held the kitchen, living room, dining room, and library area/office for Tyler. The first floor was still a garage and work area for Tyler's jeep and the dirt bike they planned to get when his cousin was older.
With Nancy's help, Tyler had managed to create a basic bedroom for his little cousin. Due to his age, Tyler and Nancy had opted for training pants and they had bought a big boy bed for him. They kept the crib in the room though because he was not quite ready for the bed yet. Burt had worked some sort of magic and had gotten the room painted to look like a forest at night with a river running through it. There was a Japanese temple in the background behind the river. The furniture and accessories matched the forest theme on the walls with a Japanese slant. Everyone in town loved it even if they did not understand the Japanese influence, even Twitchell. What made it truly special was the strange painted Rosilita had found and hung on the wall by the shrine. A stag, wolf, and large black appeared to be playing under the full moon in the foreground with a misty forest and castle as a background.
With the painting up the house was complete. Now all they were waiting on was his cousins' arrival. The Dursleys had refused to spend the money needed to send him to Tyler. Vernon Dursley had to come to America on business soon enough and then they would hand him over. At least that is what the people in Perfection thought. They did not know Vernon Dursley did not plan to let his nephew live for long once he got to America. No one would care over the death of the freak in America and his family would not have to worry about it again.
Everyone in the valley was furious when Twitchell told them this. These people did not care about their nephew, just about the money if would cost to get rid of him. This let Tyler and Twitchell know a doctor would be need to see the child as soon as possible to tell them about the damage, which had been done, and what possible problems he might have. While they were waiting, they decided to buy the books and things a child needs to be home-schooled and to live a happy, healthy life in Perfection Valley.
One of the things, worrying Tyler, was the way his cousin might take to Burt. His gung-ho attitude might put him off or he might become a mini-Burt. While the first was fixable, the second was downright scary. He remembered the day his fear was put to rest on that front.
Flashback
"I don't know why but the painting feels like it is important somehow." Rosilita said in her own defense when asked about the painting.
"She's got a point and it fits' the room." Nancy stated.
"I just thought of a potential problem." Tyler said shocking everyone. "How do we keep him from becoming too much like one of us without interfering with his own personality development?"
"That is a very good question." Burt said slowly.
"I think we might have solved this problem Tyler. Rosilita is teaching him manners and Spanish once he has a firm grasp of the English language. Jodi is teaching him computer skills, math, and some of the Asian languages. Burt has the earth sciences covered and Latin. I have art, culture, and French covered though I will need to learn French. You have driving, vehicle maintenance, and life sciences. Rosilita, Jodi, and I will make sure he knows how to cook and clean while Burt makes sure, he knows how to survive in the wild no matter what sort of conditions he finds himself in and what sort of things he has on him and can find around himself. And Jodi will teach him the skills he will need to manage money and investments in case his father was a lord like we think." Nancy said with a smile.
"Just as long as we don't wind up with a mini-Burt because I don't want to thank about how scary that could become." Tyler said as the others laughed, understanding his meaning.
Flashback Ends
Six months later
Nine months had passed since Tyler had learned about his family over in England. Moreover, everyone was starting to worry about the amount of time that had passed since then. They knew the bunch over in England did not want their nephew, Tyler's cousin, possibly abused him and they wanted him with them as quickly as possible. Then Twitchell called with some good news. Vernon Dursley was on his way to America with Tyler's cousin. Now all they had to do was wait until the man came to Nevada.
Six more weeks passed and they were still waiting for Vernon Dursley to come to Nevada with Tyler's cousin. Then Twitchell called, he had been worried about what the man might do to the child so he had made some calls and alerted some people. Turns out Vernon Dursley never had any intention of coming to Nevada to give Tyler his cousin. He was going to sell him, dump him, or kill him. The hotel management had alerted the police in the end. They could hear a child crying in the room when Vernon Dursley was gone and remembered the child quite well. He was the sort who people just had to stop and look at because he was so cute, quiet as well.
When the police arrived, they could hear a child screaming and crying so they had probable cause to enter the room without a search warrant. What they found was horrifying. Vernon had been beating the child for crying in hunger, telling him he did not deserve any food because he was a freak and freaks did not have the right to food, especially not good food. There was nothing to feed the child with in the room and he was clearly old enough to start the weaning process.
They contacted social services and told them about the child, they found in Vernon Dursleys' hotel room and that they were taking him to the hospital for treatment. A quick check through their files told them what they needed to know. One call to Twitchell and they were on their way to Nevada with the proper paperwork for Tyler Reed to sign adopting his cousin as his son. The hospital had released the boy with order to make sure he rested and feed several times a day in order to bring him up to a proper weight for a child his age. He was to be seen by a doctor within two weeks to make sure he was healing after everything he had gone through. He slept most of the flight thanks to the medicine the hospital gave him to ease his pain.
"Hello there folks, my name is W.D. Twitchell. I spoke to either your superior or one of you on the phone this morning." Twitchell said looking at the social services people.
"You spoke to your superior. Who are the people with you Twitchell?" one of the social services people asked.
"Burt Gummer, Rosilita, Jodi Chang, Nancy, and Tyler Reed the cousin of the child you are holding and the man who plans to adopt him. They live in Perfection Valley, where this little guy is heading just as soon as we sign the paperwork." Twitchell said with a smile frightening the people in front of him.
"Does anyone else live in Perfection?" the other social worker asked.
"Nope just these five, they are the human inhabits of Perfection. The rest are animals and El Blanco, an albino grabiod." Twitchell said with a smile at the thought of their reaction to El Blanco. It was a good one too.
"I don't know if we should leave the child in the care of people who live with a grabiod every day." the first social worker said.
"Don't you worry about El Blanco. We know how to handle him. In fact, we tend to think him on occasion. With him around we don't have to worry about a money hungry worm named Melvin." Burt said in a matter of fact tone of voice.
The argument would have continued if Twitchell had not reminded them about the fact Tyler wanted his cousin and had changed things around in his own life and home. In order to take care of him where his aunt and uncle had not in spite of the fact they already had a child in their home, and they did not want him anyway. In fact, the police had taken the child from the uncle not long ago and he was facing child abuse charges, among other things. Were they going to deny him a happy home based on the fact he would be living in a protected environment. Did they really want to place him in an over-worked and under protected system when there was a change he was going to be an English lord when he came of age? Something the people had figured out the same day they had heard about the child in question.
"Tyler Reed please step forward and claim the child." the second social worker said with a frown as Tyler came forward more than ready to claim his cousin.
"Since we don't know what his birth name is do you have a new name ready to give him?" the first asked as they watched Tyler gently brush the hair on the child's face out of his eyes.
"Tsukiyomi, his name is Tsukiyomi James Reed." Tyler said looking at a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead.
"Okay Tsukiyomi tell me what you see." Burt said looking at the six-year-old boy by him with pride. The doctor had told them because of with the Dursleys had done Tsukiyomi may never gain his true adult height and have weight problems but it was too early to tell. Forget about bring him back in six months for a checkup he wanted him back in three. In addition, call him if something happened between now and then.
"The ground is covered in tracks Uncle Burt. Dog tracks, I can't tell the type or breed from the tracks but I would say they were made by a medium sized dog or several medium sized dogs." Tsukiyomi said looking at the ground in complete concentration while staying aware of his surroundings. His Uncle Burt had taught him well.
"Good job Tsukiyomi. Now it is impossible to tell the type or breed of a dog based solely on the tracks you find in the dirt. Thankfully, you can use the size of the print to eliminate several breeds unless you are dealing with a mutt. Now can you see anything else?" Burt said watching the child he called nephew study the ground. It was his first training trip out of the valley and he could not be any more proud of how Tsukiyomi was handling himself. He was a polite child who seemed to be leaning more towards the Japanese culture for his religion and behavior models then America. Moreover, everyone thought it was okay. Quite the change from the rest of the valley though.
"There are cat tracks Uncle Burt and I think they are fairly fresh ones too. What does that mean?" Tsukiyomi asked without looking up.
"The spacing and depth indicate the cat is running from something. Given the size and our location, I would say we are dealing with a mountain lion or lynx. I think they are carrying something. The dog tracks indicate they are tracking something by scent quit possibly the cat who made these tracks. Let's follow them and see where they lead." Burt said as Tsukiyomi slowly stood up never taking his eyes off the cat tracks.
Several miles later, the tracks changed. "Uncle Burt I think we are tracking a mother cat and her kitten." Tsukiyomi said grimly.
"I agree. She would not have put her kitten down if she were not tired. Meaning she has probably been chased for most of the day. I am going to try to contact someone to let him or her know what is going on. Go on ahead but keep me in sight. If I don't reach someone in five minutes I'm going to join you and we are going to find the cats." Burt said as Tsukiyomi nodded.
He traveled just a few feet down the trail they were following when he saw something which did not fit. It took a few seconds to realize just what he was seeing. Several plants and rocks was covered in blood and black fur. The dogs seemed to have caught up with the cats and attacked. The mother cat had defended her kitten and killed a few of the dogs judging by the amount of blood he was looking at. Sadly, it looked like the mother was fatally wounded. He looked up when he felt a hand on his shoulder. His Uncle Burt looked angry.
"I don't think this cat is native to this area Tsukiyomi. If she was then she would have already made it to safety with her kitten. This means we are dealing with people who have already broken several laws by trapping her and her kitten and bringing them into this country. And more than likely they are going to break several more and kill her and her kitten for sport, or at least what they call sport. I call it murder. Hunting is to eat is one thing this is something else completely. Are you willing to see this to the end? You might have to hurt a human in order to protect the true innocents in this mess." Burt said looking directly in Tsukiyomi's eyes.
"I think I have to Uncle Burt. Something is calling for me and it lies in the direction these tracks are taking us." Tsukiyomi said as his eyes became unfocused. This had happened before and he was never wrong about this when he got like this. It was as if he was seeing something no one else could.
"Then we keep going. The mother has a fatal wound and is desperate to get her kitten to safety, which means she is going to be even more dangerous than she was before. The people hunting her are not going to be pleased if she injures or kills one of them. I don't know if we will be in time to save her kitten from the hunters." Burt said bluntly.
"We will be in time Uncle Burt." Tsukiyomi said as his eyes slowly came back into focus. They need to follow the tracks as swiftly as possible.
Several feet away the tracks changed again. This time they showed signs of a battle and men. "Looks like the men finally caught up to her. Do not know if she is still alive but there is no reason not to find out. Even if she is dead her kitten might still be alive and savable." Burt said shaking his head in anger. This is one of the reasons he does not like leaving the valley. Things like this just do not happen there.
"Uncle Burt we need to keep going. These people need to be brought to justice." Tsukiyomi said looking at the tracks.
"I know Tsukiyomi, I know. Follow my lead and try to keep up. We are going to have to double time it in order to save the kitten." Burt said making sure his pack would not shift suddenly before doing the same for Tsukiyomi. They started out at a jog but moved into a light run before long.
The camp the men had made was in front of them before long and Burt had a feeling something had helped them get here quicker. They were more than twenty miles away from the last stop they had made and it had not taken more than five minutes to get here. Hoping for a way to take the men in camp down without using guns Burt scanned the entire area for several minutes working out a plan that might work.
"I'm going to try to take the men in camp down without using my gun. I do not like to shoot people. Grabiods, shriekers, and assblasters are one thing but humans, at those who look like one on the outside, are another. You are to work your way over to the cage with the kitten and get it out. Then take the kitten tot the mother and wait for me there. Keep your gun and knife handy and ready for use. Make sure they know you can and will use them to protect the cats." Burt said as Tsukiyomi nodded silently.
"Good luck Uncle Burt and be careful. These men are worse than El Blanco in a bad mood with an open wound." Tsukiyomi said quietly before slipping away. His words brought a smile to Burt's face. El Blanco had only been sick once and humans were the ones who made him sick. The other time he had been under the weather had been Melvin's fault.
Burt did his best to be quiet and he took down the men and tied them up but one of them managed to alert the others and he had to use his gun to take down the rest. Meanwhile Tsukiyomi got to the kitten, freed it, and tried to get over to the mother but had to wait for a few of the men to pass their hiding place by before they could finish the trip. The kitten tried to get its mother up without success while Tsukiyomi followed Burt's instructions and played guard dog for the kitten and its dead mother.
Burt was heading over to Tsukiyomi when a police car showed up at the camp. Two officers got out and took in the scene in front of them quickly and quietly. "We had reports of shots fired in the area. Can you tell us what happened here?" one officer asked as the other stared at the camp taking in all the dead and living animals. Not one of them was native to the area and all of them were on the endangered species list. Most of them were from other countries as well. Clearly, someone had managed to find something big and cleaned up the mess enough to all law enforcement to come in and throw the criminals into jail were they belonged.
"I need to call the rangers and get them here before I can tell you anything. I tried to get in touch with them back in the forest but for some reason I could not get through. The rangers did tell us before we entered the forest they had been having problems with their equipment but from what I have seen, I do not think the problem was with their equipment. These people have jamming equipment mixed in this mess and many other things they should not have." Burt said with a sigh.
"I'll call the rangers and have them send several people out to help take care of the animals. Can I at least tell them who found this place and begin the much needed clean up?" the same officer asked.
"Burt Gummer" Burt said looking for and finding Tsukiyomi with the kitten. He was holding the poor thing as it mourned its mother. "Tell them we have an orphaned kitten here as well, would you?"
"Can do, talk to my partner would you while he makes sure the men aren't going anywhere. Don't want them trying to escape the jail time they have coming now do we?" the officer asked with a smile as Burt just grinned in agreement.
"I see not all of them have bullet holes in them. Tried to take them down without your gun did you?" the other officer asked quietly.
"Tried and failed. One of them managed to alert the others but thankfully, they did not notice my adopted nephew Tsukiyomi. He is over there with two of the cats. The kitten in his arms was the kitten of the cat lying dead near him. We knew we could not save the mother but there was a good chance we could save the kitten and we did." Burt said thinking about how he was going to get Tsukiyomi to let the kitten go when it was time to.
"You tried and that is something more than most people would have done. What are you and your nephew doing in the area anyway?" the officer asked.
"Survival lessons, he knows how to survive in a desert environment and needs to survive in forests. I am doing my best to make sure he knows how to survive in any environment he finds himself in but decided to do this one first. Do not know why though. Tsukiyomi might but he won't tell me until he thinks I need to know." Burt said while checking on the bindings of the men he had tied up.
"What do you mean by that?" the officer asked in shock.
"Tsukiyomi knows things sometimes, things he should know. We do not know just how he does it or how it happens but he has yet to be wrong. The only way you know he is telling you something truly important is to watch his eyes. If they are unfocused, then you had better pay attention because he means every word he says. Maybe not how he says them or in the order he says them and you may have to figure out what he means but you can trust what he says is the truth." Burt said as he gathered the guns and put them into a pile near Tsukiyomi. "How is the little guy doing?"
"He is going to be fine Uncle Burt. And he will do much better when the three of us head back home to Perfection." Tsukiyomi said with a smile as his eyes came into focus.
"I'll call Twitchell and see what he can do about getting the kitten released into your custody. Make sure you feed the kitten sometime today before bedtime." Burt said as he got up with a sigh. This was going to make someone's day. Twitchell would understand once he knew what Tsukiyomi's eyes looked like, but he knew no one here would.
"Twitchell called and let us know you and Tsukiyomi were coming home with a panther cub. What did Tsukiyomi name him?" Nancy asked as Burt and Tsukiyomi got out of his truck.
"Storm, he named the kitten Storm. Said his mother gave birth to him during a bad storm and he should carry the name of such a life-changing event." Burt said with a slight smirk.
"Good name and a good reason for the name. Makes sense really. Now you and Tsukiyomi need to hurry inside because a man from England is here with information about Tsukiyomi's birth parents." Nancy said as Burt stopped in shock.
"Then I guess we got back just in time. Wonder what he will tell us?" Burt asked as he led Tsukiyomi into Chang's Market.
"Welcome to Perfection. My name is Burt Gummer and the little boy beside me holding a panther cub is name Tsukiyomi James Reed. You have information about his birth parents for us?" Burt asked the Englishman in a suit sitting at a table covered with papers.
"Yes I do. My name is Sir Michel Thomson. I am a lawyer for the Potter Estate. Young Tsukiyomi here is properly named Harry James Potter, the only son of Lord James Potter. He will become a lord when he comes of age or when he becomes an adult in the eyes of the law. I have instructions on how to reach a branch of his birth father's bank right here. They need to see him as soon as possible to confirm he is truly his father's son so someone doesn't manage to steal his money despite their best efforts." Thomson said shocking everyone.
"We knew there was a possibly he was a lord with we decided to keep him. So we have made sure to include money and estate management in his education." Tyler said as he accepted the instructions.
"I wish more people were as far sighted as you are. Then we might have less people in debt." Thomson said as he got up to leave. "The fact you have adopted him and given him a new name is the best sort of protection you can give him considering the man who murdered his parents is still at large. Take care and good luck."