Mulder stretched his legs out on the bed, a bag of sunflower seeds nestled in his lap as he watched his partner curl into the hotel room chair. She was "out of uniform" at the moment, dressed in an oversized green pullover and a pair of soft grey leggings. Her hair was damp and dark against her cheeks, making her blue eyes seem brighter by comparison.
Absent of makeup as she was, Mulder saw for an instant what he couldn't picture earlier. A young Dana Scully, curled up on a comfortable couch, bare feet tucked under her and long hair tucked behind her ear, slowly turning the pages of a freshman Biology textbook, lamplight bathing her face as the rain poured down outside. He smiled to himself, filing that image away in his memory to be examined when he could give it his full attention.
She sighed finally. "So..." She rested her knuckles against her lip, clearly reluctant to elaborate.
"So," He echoed back. Her reluctance only augmented his curiosity. Ordinarily she would have laid out her plan of action in the car and set about outlining their next day by now, glasses perched on the end of her nose and hair pulled back in a functional clip. She'd been silent as a stone on the way to the hotel (he'd respected her silence this time, remembering how effective previous prompts had been), and had only come into his room when he'd opened the adjoining door to check on her.
And here she sat, lips pursed in thought, her gaze turned inward....nothing. He gave her an opening, knowing she would take it. "You don't have to beat yourself up about losing the suspect." He popped a seed into his mouth, enjoying the salty flavor as he rolled it along his tongue. "We'll go through the Student Directory tomorrow and find out his name."
Instead of coming out of her reverie, she just shook her head, her gaze focused somewhere around his feet, voice muffled a bit by her knuckles. "I had him, Mulder."
"You had him?" He felt his eyebrows shoot into his hair.
She lowered her hands to her lap, looking down at them for a moment, then her gaze found his. "I had him cornered, chased into a dead-end parking lot with a nine-foot fence. I should have *had* him."
"What happened?" He crunched another seed, intrigued.
She chuckled in her throat, a wry, dry sound. "I can't explain it. One minute I was catching up to him, the next....." She gestured helplessly. "He jumped a row of parked cars *and* the fence, Mulder! I don't know how he did it...it was like he just flew over it all."
He couldn't resist the gentle jibe. "Like a flying squirrel?"
Her glance was jagged, the anger softened by her sardonic smile. "Cute."
He crossed his ankles, letting the humor settle. "And you're not chalking this up to various other superhuman deeds attributed to adrenaline? That seems unlike the Scully I know."
She shook her head, dismissing both the suggestion and the comment. "This wasn't an adrenaline rush...he wasn't panicking, he was playing with me. He led me on a merry chase across campus, practically laughing at me the whole time."
He heard Scully's tone darken in frustration, and he felt for her. Anyone in law enforcement can sympathize with getting jerked around by a suspect who knows he's going to get away with something. Whether it was from a good defense attorney or a faulty witness or escaping on foot, it burned every time.
"I've never seen anyone run like that outside the Olympics." He heard her say, and remembered a similar reply from earlier that day.
"I know someone who has." At her quizzical glance, he continued. "While you were busy chasing Carl Lewis, I was having my own problems with his accomplice."
He described the events that had transpired after she had gone after their suspect, and watched first one, then both eyebrows rise. "I'll see your inhuman jump and raise you a vicarious door-slamming."
"She knows something about this, I know it." Mulder nodded in agreement as she continued. "She may not have known what this young man's done, but she knows him and how to find him."
"And now that she knows, she's going to find him for us." He popped another seed into his mouth. "The question is what she'll do when she does. Heads, she turns him in, tails she hides him."
Scully sighed. "And that's another thing...*why* would she be protecting him if she thinks he may have raped someone?"
"She thinks we're lying? She thinks something must be mixed up? She thinks she knows him better?" Mulder shrugged. "Why does anyone protect a known criminal? We've seen it before."
"But this isn't a battered wife or a junkie girlfriend here, Mulder. This is an outgoing, friendly person who practically radiates confidence." She tapped a finger on her knee, then nodded with a bit more surety. "We need to question her again. Tonight."
Mulder nodded with her, and with that she retreated to her room to change. He felt just a twinge of regret that his partner hadn't been able to relax longer, but he could almost hear her voice reminding him that this wasn't a vacation. He wished it were a vacation; how long had it been for either of them since they got away from all this? Perhaps when this was all over he could convince her to play hooky with him a few more days, but until then....
He shrugged his shoulder holster and jacket back on, and was stepping into his shoes when she returned, straightening her jacket. He nodded to her again, and they both turned for the door. Mulder smiled to himself in satisfaction. Now that they had a purpose, there was little need for more words. Their years together had refined them so much that they never needed more that a touch, a glance, a silent gesture when they worked, and this was no exception.
Their footsteps echoed as one as they headed for the parking lot.
**********
Moonshadow's lips tightened into a thin line when she found the address, and her step quickened as she approached the door to the place. This is where the gang said he'd been hanging out lately. Not one of his usual haunts, but the atmosphere was about the same. She pushed the door open and stepped inside.
The raucous din of the microbrewery would ordinarily put a smile on her face, but tonight she wasn't here for pleasure. She squinted into the haze and saw him, snugged in one of the back booths, chatting with a pretty young girl. Her resentment rose a notch as she wove through the dense crowd with the ease of one of the cocktail waitresses. She reached the table without being pinched or whistled at, and took a second to catch her breath before she called his name.
"Aidan." Both of them looked up when she spoke. The girl must have seen the attitude she was projecting, and wisely didn't say anything. Aidan, however, turned his lazy, tipsy grin to her. "Hey, Moonie...how's it going?"
His "happy drunk" tone scraped rawly against her anger, and she shot back at him. "How's it going? After what you did today you ask me how's it going? Are you actually *celebrating* your escape from the Feds today with a beer and a lay!" She shot a dismissive look at the girl across from him, who took the hint, edging out of the booth with a "...call you sometime...".
"Aw, don't go, Sherise...." She grabbed his arm as he rose to follow the girl, and he frowned at her hard touch. "What the hell!" His words were slurred a bit, and he practically reeked of the house's stout. "I din't *do* anything..."
She slammed her hand on the table, unable to stop herself from shouting. "The FBI says you *did*, Aidan! They said you did something, and I'm not going to let you go until you spill it!" She pulled him to his feet, yanking his face level with hers. "You and I are going back to see Loren," she said through clenched teeth, "and we're gonna find out exactly what you 'haven't' done. This is not the place to argue about how badly you screwed up, so we're heading back to campus where -everyone- can talk. Now are you coming, or am I going to lose my temper!"
She shook him once, hard, and this time his eyes focused on her as other people turned to stare. Her anger, as well as the scene they were making, must have finally filtered through to him, because this time when he lowered his gaze, he nodded. "All right...le's go."
She kept a firm grasp on his arm, both to support his footing and to keep him from getting away as they made their way towards the door. Even drunk, she was taking no chances with him this time. He kept his head down, his wavy hair a curtain hiding his face, but kept up with her easily enough.
She felt a jolt, and their progress halted abruptly as Aidan stumbled, having bumped into someone on his way by. He muttered a slurred "Sorry..", but the man that he bumped turned with a glare.
"You do that on purpose, *punk*?" The man stepped up to Aidan, barely an inch taller than him but managing to tower all the same. She stepped up to him, trying to defuse this before it got out of hand.
"He didn't mean it, sir, really....I was just taking my brother home." He shifted his gaze to her, and she almost recoiled at the cold malice in the man's eyes. She heard herself say "Please...?", her mind already begging him to leave them alone. Aidan, however, had other ideas, and twitched his arm away from her.
"I don't do anything by accident, mister. I think *you* made the mistake." His eyes blazed with the confidence of alcohol, and Moonshadow felt a chill go through her. Something was wrong with this, she could feel it.
"You wanna take it outside?" The man's fingers twitched, already starting close into fists.
She grabbed at Aidan again. "Ade, don't do this, okay? Let's go!"
He twitched away again, standing chest to chest with the stranger. "I can teach this asshole a lesson before I go."
The stranger smiled, and the certainty, the satisfaction of the smile cinched the sense of *wrongness* of this whole scene. No sober man would get this mad over a stupid clumsy mistake....unless he was expecting it. She grabbed him a third time as he shoved the front door open. "Aidan, this isn't worth it! Please, just come with me, this isn't right!"
He whirled on her, his eyes flashing in the dim light, and she found herself again with a plea on her lips as he shouted. "Will you just shut up and let me handle this! Christ, you're a bossy little bitch!"
He jerked his arm out of her grasp and stormed outside as the man laughed at her open mouth, her wide eyes. He held the door open for her with a condescending smile. "Guess he told you, didn't he?" His gaze hardened for a moment. "You'd best clear out, missy, this is between your boyfriend and me."
Aidan's angry words may have struck her dumb, but the thug's warning only proved that this was trouble, and big time. She shot the man what she hoped was an icy glare, then turned and walked out, following Aidan into the alleyway.
As soon as she heard the door shut, the noise of the bar silenced behind them, she knew they'd made a mistake. She saw Aidan stop dead as another man faded out of the shadows, his broad shoulders seeming even larger in the dark of the alleyway. He wore a beige trenchcoat, a pair of dark leather gloves, and something glinted in his right hand. She whipped around to see the first man slipping on a similar pair of gloves, shaking his head.
Aidan's alcohol-fogged mind finally must have realized something was up, and she heard his sullen drawl. "What th' hellzis?"
The first man laughed softly, but didn't reply as he tugged the second glove on. Alarm bells jangled noisily in her mind, and she groped desperately for a way out.
"Please, we don't want any trouble!" Moonshadow fumbled in her pocket, knowing it was futile, but trying to buy time to figure a way out of this. "We have money...!"
The first man shook his head and took another step forward. There was a *snick*, loud in the quiet of the alley, and she jumped as a shining blade popped out of it's sheath in the man's hand.
"Hey, I asked you a question!" Aidan blustered, some of the slur gone from his voice as he realized the danger.
The larger man laughed. "You shouldn't have messed with the Rev, punk...now you both pay."
The first man glared at his partner, "Shut up! We're not paid to talk!" His gaze met hers again, and the smile on his face sent a chill racing up her spine. This was no fraternity prank. This was no jealous boyfriend. These people meant to kill.
She heard Aidan's "Shit--" behind her, and she knew he had realized the same thing.
Moonshadow tensed, standing back to back with Aidan as the two men charged.
**********
"Make a right here." Scully slid the papers back into the portfolio so they wouldn't scatter as Mulder navigated the streets. "There's a shorter way than the way we came in."
"You know, you should be the one driving here, Scully." Mulder made the right into the darkened street. "You're the one that knows the area."
"I haven't known this area for over ten years, Mulder. Things have changed since then." *Most of those things being me* She shook that thought away as they approached the corner. "Make another right here."
Mulder turned the car down the side street, this one even darker than the last, lit only by the occasional neon sign. "This is a shortcut?"
She nodded. "This should empty out not far from Melissa's dormitory...." She smiled, unable to resist. "Unless you want to stop and ask directions."
Mulder said nothing, not even a laugh, and Scully looked over at him to see his attention was focused elsewhere. She followed his gaze as he stopped the car, and she leaned forward on the dashboard, trying to make out what was happening.
On first glance it appeared to be a mugging, two larger men facing off against a couple of college kids. After a second she saw their clean trenchcoats and gloves and knew they had stumbled on something more than that. She reached back, feeling for her Sig Sauer and saw Mulder mimic her as he shoved the car into park.
They stepped out of the car, and as she came around to Mulder's side, she caught a flash of blonde from across the street, and an all-too-familiar face sandwiched between the two men....it was Melissa, and another young man with her.
One of the "muggers" said something, and Scully caught the word, "talk!", then Mulder shouted as the two men tensed to charge.
"Federal Agents! Hold it right there!"
The nearer of the two turned to look at them, his pug-nosed features wide-eyed and fearful, and Scully saw the knife in his hand. "Drop your weapon! Hands in the air!"
As the two men dropped their knives, the girl turned to her companion. "Ade, RUN!" She gave him an urgent push, and, with a startled glance that revealed him to be their suspect, he started to run.
"Freeze!" Scully turned her gun towards the fleeing youth. "Stop right there!" He was getting away *again*. She tensed to run after him, but she knew with an angry ache that she couldn't leave Mulder here without backup.
As if to illustrate her point, there was a flurry of movement from the alleyway as the one behind Melissa reached into his coat. She shifted her attention back to the men as the girl caught sight of what he was reaching for.
"NO!" The girl's higher voice rang out in the alleyway, but instead of grappling for the now-revealed pistol, she lowered her head and rammed it into the gunman's belly--
--and he flew backwards into the alley as if jerked by a rope around his waist, landing in the dark with a crash of metal.
As the three of them, her partner, herself and the remaining thug, stood open-mouthed, the girl spun around once in a circle, pushed at the air with both hands and her voice rang out once more.
"Shove it!"
The man jerked backwards, just like his partner, skidding across the street to stop at their feet.
Scully leveled her weapon at the now-prone man, her body running on reflex and procedure. *I did -not- just see what I think I just saw, I did -not-....* "Hands behind your head!" The man complied dazedly, and she cuffed him, then searched him, not surprised when she found the .45 in his coat.
"Scully, we have a man down here!"
She looked up, not even realizing that Mulder had left her side until she saw him across the street, almost concealed in the dark of the alley. She heard him speaking into his cel phone, calling 911 for an ambulance, and the local police.
The girl hadn't moved from where she had stood, and her skin was pale in the moonlight as she looked back at the alleyway. As she watched, Melissa dropped to her knees, her body bowed over, her hands cradled in her lap. She stared at nothing, her eyes wide and unfocused. *Shock* she thought, and hauled her suspect up, Mirandizing him quickly before pushing the unresisting man into the car.
She crossed the street quickly, hearing the sirens approaching in the distance. Bypassing the girl, she went directly to the unconscious gunmen. "Take care of her," she said to Mulder, motioning with her head towards Melissa even as she felt for a pulse on the man. With a scrape of shoe on asphalt, Mulder left her side to attend to the girl.
A strong beat greeted her questing fingers, and she gave a little sigh of relief. A penlight fished from her pocket showed a normal pupil response, and by the time the EMTs arrived she was ready with her spiel: Possible concussion, keep him for observation, I'll ride with you, he needs to be kept under guard.
She looked back at Mulder as they wheeled the man to the ambulance, approaching him as he spoke quietly with the girl. "Is she all right?" She looked at Melissa, who seemed shaken, but not as bad as she had looked a minute ago. Scully felt a pang of sympathy for the girl, knowing that it would be a long time before she regained her emotional footing again after something like this.
Mulder nodded as he helped the girl stand up. "She says that the one in the car goaded her and her friend outside, then they pulled the knives." He looked at her again. "Did either of them look familiar, or show you any identification?"
Melissa shook her head, her voice a shaky ghost of the happy girl they'd met earlier today. "No...but one of them said something I didn't understand." She frowned, puzzled. "That he shouldn't have messed with the Rev." She looked to Mulder. "That's when the other guy told him to shut up, and you guys got there."
Mulder looked up, and she knew that her realization was reflected in his eyes as well. The Rev. Reverend Canfield. She looked towards their car and waved one of the cops over, already regretting what she had to do next. She could feel her headache start; this case was getting far too complicated. She turned to the girl again. "Melissa, you do know that if you don't tell us where we can find the man who was with you, we have to arrest you?"
Scully felt an eerie sense of deja vu, remembering a cold cell, a Senate hearing, those same words spoken to her as she prayed Mulder knew what he was doing. She wondered for a moment if this situation was the same, if there was indeed something that she knew that could untwist this tangled case....then shook off the chill as the girl nodded.
"I understand, Agent Scully... " Her wide blue gaze met Scully's. "Loren said you would understand too, but I wonder now if you ever will."
The name hit her like a punch that sent her smashing through the wall she'd constructed so long ago, nearly staggering her in a situation that already had her so off-balance.
"Scully, you okay?"
She barely heard Mulder's concern, so strongly did the memory return, as clear as if it had been yesterday. Cool night air, warm hands in her hair, bodies rocking to an ancient rhythm as the year died around them...
"Agent Scully!"
She jumped as she heard a different voice call her name, and turned guiltily to see the EMT waiting by the ambulance. "You wanted to ride in with him?" he said, impatience in his tone and echoed in his posture. "We gotta go now."
She looked back to Mulder's worry, Melissa's confusion, and the cop's questioning glance, not wanting to deal with any of it until she could think again. "I'll meet you at the station, Mulder..." She turned and fled before he could reply, hating herself for running but not wanting to deal with him until she sorted out this situation.
She climbed into the ambulance, taking comfort in the familiar beeps and hums of the medical equipment. Nothing unexpected here to surprise her, to tear open memories she'd thought had scabbed over. Nothing to prod at her silence, to force her to deal with things before she was ready.
The ambulance gave a lurch, and she breathed a little easier as it pulled away from the questions, if only for a time. She glanced at the unconscious man, checking his vitals, busying herself with the reassurance of expertise, a buffer against the memories that loomed from the past. When her present life collided with her past again, she would be ready.
**********
Mulder turned his badge and weapon over to the duty clerk and entered the holding area, shutting the door quietly. The basement cells were empty, save for one at the end of the row, where a small figure was curled on one of the cots.
He walked slowly to where the girl slept, not sure what he was going to ask her first. *Pardon me, but when you're through explaining the psychokinesis and why you're protecting a suspected rapist, could you tell me who the hell Loren is and why the mention of his name left my partner gasping like a landed trout?*
He stopped in front of her cell, and saw an empty styrofoam cup, a napkin, and a cupcake paper. He frowned slightly; he'd instructed that no one be allowed to see her until he questioned her. A moment's thought brought to mind the plate of richly frosted cupcakes on a secretary's desk and the plump, kindly-faced woman at the keyboard. She had seemed surprised to see him there with Melissa in handcuffs, and he wouldn't put it past her to try and bring the girl a snack. Still, it both rankled him and didn't surprise him that the local authorities would defy him just to make sure a prisoner was fed.
His other suspect was cooling his heels in one of the interrogation rooms, waiting for his lawyer. Mulder felt a bit of sympathy for the girl; if the two assailants really were hired by Reverend Canfield to deal with her friend, knowing that she was the only one who could implicate them put her in just as much danger as him. He sighed and took a seat on the bench opposite the cells. Time to find out what exactly was going on.
He cleared his throat loudly, and the girl stirred with an "Nnnnhh..." She uncurled slowly, stretching once before cracking her eyes open. "Agent Mulder?"
"How are you feeling?" He watched as she sat up and leaned back against the wall, her knees up to her chest. He nodded to the remains of the food. "Enjoy your snack?"
She followed his gaze to the litter and smiled. "Yeah, Janine from upstairs brought something down for me. It really hit the spot." She looked to him, scrubbing at one eye with her fist before lacing her fingers together around her knees. "As to your first question, I can truthfully say that I've been better."
"I'll bet." He crossed his legs at the knee. Time to get down to business. "There's something that has me confused, and I was hoping that you could help me figure it out."
Her eyebrows rose as she regarded him. "Shouldn't I be asking for my lawyer about now?"
He laughed softly, knowing how false it sounded. "Seeing as how you're trying to keep us from getting to your friend, I think the last thing you want is more officials involved." He saw her gaze falter, and he knew he'd hit the mark on that one. "Besides, the only thing a lawyer would do now is encourage you to turn this guy in to save yourself from some serious charges."
She shook her head, lowering her gaze to stare at her feet as she sucked her lip between her teeth, tension in every line of her posture. Mulder sensed the change and pressed it. "Obstruction of justice, aiding and abetting a felon, unlawful flight.....accessory to rape." He stressed the last charge, knowing it had affected her the last time he said it.
Her voice was just a whisper. "I can't..."
"Not to mention assault charges, if the two men you encountered decide to prosecute." Mulder leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees as he saw a tear roll down her cheek. "Melissa, you *will* go to prison if you don't--"
"I can't!" she wailed, fisting her hands in her mussed hair. "You wouldn't understand!"
"How can you know that when you haven't said anything?" He was on the edge of something, he knew it. So was she; her body fairly trembled with indecision, the tears flowing freely now. "What wouldn't I understand?"
She shook her head, her hands still fisted in her hair, not meeting his gaze at all. "You wouldn't believe."
His anger evaporated at the sound of those three words, spoken with the same anguish that he'd felt time and again when trying to put the things he knew into words, only to be met with doubt, pity and derision. He moved off the bench and leaned in, reaching out to touch one trembling shoulder. "I want to believe."
"Liar." Bitter, hateful tone, still not looking up. "You just want to solve this case, to put Aidan in jail so you and your partner can pat yourselves on the back and go home."
He crouched down before her, pulling his hand back to grip the bars separating them. "Melissa, it's my job to get to the bottom of what happened, and right now I don't think either of us knows exactly what that is. The *only* way we can figure out what happened and what do to about it is if we trust each other with what we know."
She stopped trembling, but she still wouldn't look at him...he was so close..."I want to believe that you're not a person who would protect a man who did what he did. I want to believe that there's something more than love for him that would make you risk all this."
She shook her head slowly, taking a shaky breath and letting it out. "It's not love, Agent Mulder...trust me on that."
"Then what is it?" He tightened his grip on the bars, trying not to grab her and shake her. He pitched his voice softer, almost begging. "You have to know by now that I'm the only one who can help you....please tell me! I swear that I'll listen, I'll hear you out, and I'll help in any way I can to see justice served."
Her hand shot out, gripping his around the steel bars of the cell, her gaze piercing his own. "You swear....on Dana's name?"
What? "I--"
"Do you *swear*?" Her voice was suddenly flinty, urgent, demanding assent. He responded with a wordless nod, and she shook her head. "Say it!"
"I swear."
As the words left his lips, he felt a chill race up his spine, the hair on his arms prickling for a second before it passed, and with it's passing he heard her sigh, her grip relaxing as she released his hand.
"In my personal effects, there's a geode in the front pocket of my backpack. Take it out, break it open and come back down." She wiped the tears from her face. "I'll explain things when you come back." She eased off the cot and walked back to the small barred window, looking up into the night. "Just....believe, okay? If you don't believe, this will be over before it begins."
Mulder remained where he was for a minute, trying to process what he'd felt, what she was saying, what her quiet plea meant. *If you don't believe, this will be over before it begins.* He stood up quietly, and without another word he headed for the stairs, wondering how one *tries* to believe.
The evidence clerk gave him a strange look when he asked for her backpack; he didn't even hear what excuse he gave to take something down to her, but it must have worked because the pack slid across the counter to him without further questioning. He unzipped the front pocket, locating the round, rough sphere by feel and hefted it in his hands a moment.
When he was younger, his father had brought home similar spheres from one of his business trips for him and Samantha. They'd both wrinkled their noses at the seemingly dull gift, but he showed them that if you put one in a sock and hit the ground with it as hard as you could, there were glittering crystals inside. With the memory of his sister's bright, happy face in his mind, he pocketed the geode and headed for the bathroom.
There was a patrolman washing his hands in the sink as Mulder entered, and as he dried his hands, he looked to Mulder, then to the geode, then to him again. Mulder tossed it in his palm and puffed a laugh through his nose. "Hell of a kidney stone, huh?"
The patrolman laughed, the tension broken. "I'll say...you be careful with that thing." He headed for the door, still chuckling, taking one more look at Mulder before leaving.
After the door thumped shut, Mulder locked the door, then reached into his pocket and withdrew a handkerchief, wrapping it around the geode in the style of a hobo's bundle. He hefted it experimentally, the geode dangling below his hand, and nodded. *It's not a sock, but it'll do.* He paused for a moment, then swung his arm hard, cracking the geode against the tile wall.
*CRACK!* The sound echoed loudly in the bathroom, and Mulder winced, praying that nobody would think it a gunshot. When a minute's rest didn't bring anyone pounding on the door, he untied the handkerchief and looked inside.
Amethyst crystals glittered within, just as he remembered, and he reached in and picked up one of the shards....
He felt a roaring in his ears, and he clutched at the edge of the sink as the room seemed to spin around him. A chill skittered up his spine and the hairs on his arms crawled, then settled again. He opened his hand, which had clenched into a fist at the wave of disorientation, and stared at the shard of amethyst, gleaming mutely in the fluorescent light. *What the hell was that?*
The crystals offered no answer....but he knew someone who would.
He pocketed the rest of the fragments of the geode and unlocked the door, heading back toward the holding area. He noted in passing that the patrolman he'd met was back at his desk watching him, and he wondered if he looked that *tall* when he saw him a minute ago. He pushed that thought aside as he descended the steps, and as he reached Melissa's cell he was ready for her explanation, whatever it may be.
She had returned to the cot, and was waiting for him, one hand scratching the base of one of her horns. Her tears had--
Horns?
She shifted in place as he stared at the slender horns, curling back from just behind her hairline to skim the ends of her short hair. She slid off the cot again, her hooves clipping dully on the concrete floor.
Hooves?
He felt his jaw drop as he saw she had rolled up her jeans to reveal coarsely furred legs, bent backward, as a goat's, ending in small cloven hooves. His mind reeled, and he staggered back to sit heavily on the bench, his legs unable to support his weight *and* what he was seeing. She regarded him with gentle eyes.
"Now do you believe?"
Absent of makeup as she was, Mulder saw for an instant what he couldn't picture earlier. A young Dana Scully, curled up on a comfortable couch, bare feet tucked under her and long hair tucked behind her ear, slowly turning the pages of a freshman Biology textbook, lamplight bathing her face as the rain poured down outside. He smiled to himself, filing that image away in his memory to be examined when he could give it his full attention.
She sighed finally. "So..." She rested her knuckles against her lip, clearly reluctant to elaborate.
"So," He echoed back. Her reluctance only augmented his curiosity. Ordinarily she would have laid out her plan of action in the car and set about outlining their next day by now, glasses perched on the end of her nose and hair pulled back in a functional clip. She'd been silent as a stone on the way to the hotel (he'd respected her silence this time, remembering how effective previous prompts had been), and had only come into his room when he'd opened the adjoining door to check on her.
And here she sat, lips pursed in thought, her gaze turned inward....nothing. He gave her an opening, knowing she would take it. "You don't have to beat yourself up about losing the suspect." He popped a seed into his mouth, enjoying the salty flavor as he rolled it along his tongue. "We'll go through the Student Directory tomorrow and find out his name."
Instead of coming out of her reverie, she just shook her head, her gaze focused somewhere around his feet, voice muffled a bit by her knuckles. "I had him, Mulder."
"You had him?" He felt his eyebrows shoot into his hair.
She lowered her hands to her lap, looking down at them for a moment, then her gaze found his. "I had him cornered, chased into a dead-end parking lot with a nine-foot fence. I should have *had* him."
"What happened?" He crunched another seed, intrigued.
She chuckled in her throat, a wry, dry sound. "I can't explain it. One minute I was catching up to him, the next....." She gestured helplessly. "He jumped a row of parked cars *and* the fence, Mulder! I don't know how he did it...it was like he just flew over it all."
He couldn't resist the gentle jibe. "Like a flying squirrel?"
Her glance was jagged, the anger softened by her sardonic smile. "Cute."
He crossed his ankles, letting the humor settle. "And you're not chalking this up to various other superhuman deeds attributed to adrenaline? That seems unlike the Scully I know."
She shook her head, dismissing both the suggestion and the comment. "This wasn't an adrenaline rush...he wasn't panicking, he was playing with me. He led me on a merry chase across campus, practically laughing at me the whole time."
He heard Scully's tone darken in frustration, and he felt for her. Anyone in law enforcement can sympathize with getting jerked around by a suspect who knows he's going to get away with something. Whether it was from a good defense attorney or a faulty witness or escaping on foot, it burned every time.
"I've never seen anyone run like that outside the Olympics." He heard her say, and remembered a similar reply from earlier that day.
"I know someone who has." At her quizzical glance, he continued. "While you were busy chasing Carl Lewis, I was having my own problems with his accomplice."
He described the events that had transpired after she had gone after their suspect, and watched first one, then both eyebrows rise. "I'll see your inhuman jump and raise you a vicarious door-slamming."
"She knows something about this, I know it." Mulder nodded in agreement as she continued. "She may not have known what this young man's done, but she knows him and how to find him."
"And now that she knows, she's going to find him for us." He popped another seed into his mouth. "The question is what she'll do when she does. Heads, she turns him in, tails she hides him."
Scully sighed. "And that's another thing...*why* would she be protecting him if she thinks he may have raped someone?"
"She thinks we're lying? She thinks something must be mixed up? She thinks she knows him better?" Mulder shrugged. "Why does anyone protect a known criminal? We've seen it before."
"But this isn't a battered wife or a junkie girlfriend here, Mulder. This is an outgoing, friendly person who practically radiates confidence." She tapped a finger on her knee, then nodded with a bit more surety. "We need to question her again. Tonight."
Mulder nodded with her, and with that she retreated to her room to change. He felt just a twinge of regret that his partner hadn't been able to relax longer, but he could almost hear her voice reminding him that this wasn't a vacation. He wished it were a vacation; how long had it been for either of them since they got away from all this? Perhaps when this was all over he could convince her to play hooky with him a few more days, but until then....
He shrugged his shoulder holster and jacket back on, and was stepping into his shoes when she returned, straightening her jacket. He nodded to her again, and they both turned for the door. Mulder smiled to himself in satisfaction. Now that they had a purpose, there was little need for more words. Their years together had refined them so much that they never needed more that a touch, a glance, a silent gesture when they worked, and this was no exception.
Their footsteps echoed as one as they headed for the parking lot.
**********
Moonshadow's lips tightened into a thin line when she found the address, and her step quickened as she approached the door to the place. This is where the gang said he'd been hanging out lately. Not one of his usual haunts, but the atmosphere was about the same. She pushed the door open and stepped inside.
The raucous din of the microbrewery would ordinarily put a smile on her face, but tonight she wasn't here for pleasure. She squinted into the haze and saw him, snugged in one of the back booths, chatting with a pretty young girl. Her resentment rose a notch as she wove through the dense crowd with the ease of one of the cocktail waitresses. She reached the table without being pinched or whistled at, and took a second to catch her breath before she called his name.
"Aidan." Both of them looked up when she spoke. The girl must have seen the attitude she was projecting, and wisely didn't say anything. Aidan, however, turned his lazy, tipsy grin to her. "Hey, Moonie...how's it going?"
His "happy drunk" tone scraped rawly against her anger, and she shot back at him. "How's it going? After what you did today you ask me how's it going? Are you actually *celebrating* your escape from the Feds today with a beer and a lay!" She shot a dismissive look at the girl across from him, who took the hint, edging out of the booth with a "...call you sometime...".
"Aw, don't go, Sherise...." She grabbed his arm as he rose to follow the girl, and he frowned at her hard touch. "What the hell!" His words were slurred a bit, and he practically reeked of the house's stout. "I din't *do* anything..."
She slammed her hand on the table, unable to stop herself from shouting. "The FBI says you *did*, Aidan! They said you did something, and I'm not going to let you go until you spill it!" She pulled him to his feet, yanking his face level with hers. "You and I are going back to see Loren," she said through clenched teeth, "and we're gonna find out exactly what you 'haven't' done. This is not the place to argue about how badly you screwed up, so we're heading back to campus where -everyone- can talk. Now are you coming, or am I going to lose my temper!"
She shook him once, hard, and this time his eyes focused on her as other people turned to stare. Her anger, as well as the scene they were making, must have finally filtered through to him, because this time when he lowered his gaze, he nodded. "All right...le's go."
She kept a firm grasp on his arm, both to support his footing and to keep him from getting away as they made their way towards the door. Even drunk, she was taking no chances with him this time. He kept his head down, his wavy hair a curtain hiding his face, but kept up with her easily enough.
She felt a jolt, and their progress halted abruptly as Aidan stumbled, having bumped into someone on his way by. He muttered a slurred "Sorry..", but the man that he bumped turned with a glare.
"You do that on purpose, *punk*?" The man stepped up to Aidan, barely an inch taller than him but managing to tower all the same. She stepped up to him, trying to defuse this before it got out of hand.
"He didn't mean it, sir, really....I was just taking my brother home." He shifted his gaze to her, and she almost recoiled at the cold malice in the man's eyes. She heard herself say "Please...?", her mind already begging him to leave them alone. Aidan, however, had other ideas, and twitched his arm away from her.
"I don't do anything by accident, mister. I think *you* made the mistake." His eyes blazed with the confidence of alcohol, and Moonshadow felt a chill go through her. Something was wrong with this, she could feel it.
"You wanna take it outside?" The man's fingers twitched, already starting close into fists.
She grabbed at Aidan again. "Ade, don't do this, okay? Let's go!"
He twitched away again, standing chest to chest with the stranger. "I can teach this asshole a lesson before I go."
The stranger smiled, and the certainty, the satisfaction of the smile cinched the sense of *wrongness* of this whole scene. No sober man would get this mad over a stupid clumsy mistake....unless he was expecting it. She grabbed him a third time as he shoved the front door open. "Aidan, this isn't worth it! Please, just come with me, this isn't right!"
He whirled on her, his eyes flashing in the dim light, and she found herself again with a plea on her lips as he shouted. "Will you just shut up and let me handle this! Christ, you're a bossy little bitch!"
He jerked his arm out of her grasp and stormed outside as the man laughed at her open mouth, her wide eyes. He held the door open for her with a condescending smile. "Guess he told you, didn't he?" His gaze hardened for a moment. "You'd best clear out, missy, this is between your boyfriend and me."
Aidan's angry words may have struck her dumb, but the thug's warning only proved that this was trouble, and big time. She shot the man what she hoped was an icy glare, then turned and walked out, following Aidan into the alleyway.
As soon as she heard the door shut, the noise of the bar silenced behind them, she knew they'd made a mistake. She saw Aidan stop dead as another man faded out of the shadows, his broad shoulders seeming even larger in the dark of the alleyway. He wore a beige trenchcoat, a pair of dark leather gloves, and something glinted in his right hand. She whipped around to see the first man slipping on a similar pair of gloves, shaking his head.
Aidan's alcohol-fogged mind finally must have realized something was up, and she heard his sullen drawl. "What th' hellzis?"
The first man laughed softly, but didn't reply as he tugged the second glove on. Alarm bells jangled noisily in her mind, and she groped desperately for a way out.
"Please, we don't want any trouble!" Moonshadow fumbled in her pocket, knowing it was futile, but trying to buy time to figure a way out of this. "We have money...!"
The first man shook his head and took another step forward. There was a *snick*, loud in the quiet of the alley, and she jumped as a shining blade popped out of it's sheath in the man's hand.
"Hey, I asked you a question!" Aidan blustered, some of the slur gone from his voice as he realized the danger.
The larger man laughed. "You shouldn't have messed with the Rev, punk...now you both pay."
The first man glared at his partner, "Shut up! We're not paid to talk!" His gaze met hers again, and the smile on his face sent a chill racing up her spine. This was no fraternity prank. This was no jealous boyfriend. These people meant to kill.
She heard Aidan's "Shit--" behind her, and she knew he had realized the same thing.
Moonshadow tensed, standing back to back with Aidan as the two men charged.
**********
"Make a right here." Scully slid the papers back into the portfolio so they wouldn't scatter as Mulder navigated the streets. "There's a shorter way than the way we came in."
"You know, you should be the one driving here, Scully." Mulder made the right into the darkened street. "You're the one that knows the area."
"I haven't known this area for over ten years, Mulder. Things have changed since then." *Most of those things being me* She shook that thought away as they approached the corner. "Make another right here."
Mulder turned the car down the side street, this one even darker than the last, lit only by the occasional neon sign. "This is a shortcut?"
She nodded. "This should empty out not far from Melissa's dormitory...." She smiled, unable to resist. "Unless you want to stop and ask directions."
Mulder said nothing, not even a laugh, and Scully looked over at him to see his attention was focused elsewhere. She followed his gaze as he stopped the car, and she leaned forward on the dashboard, trying to make out what was happening.
On first glance it appeared to be a mugging, two larger men facing off against a couple of college kids. After a second she saw their clean trenchcoats and gloves and knew they had stumbled on something more than that. She reached back, feeling for her Sig Sauer and saw Mulder mimic her as he shoved the car into park.
They stepped out of the car, and as she came around to Mulder's side, she caught a flash of blonde from across the street, and an all-too-familiar face sandwiched between the two men....it was Melissa, and another young man with her.
One of the "muggers" said something, and Scully caught the word, "talk!", then Mulder shouted as the two men tensed to charge.
"Federal Agents! Hold it right there!"
The nearer of the two turned to look at them, his pug-nosed features wide-eyed and fearful, and Scully saw the knife in his hand. "Drop your weapon! Hands in the air!"
As the two men dropped their knives, the girl turned to her companion. "Ade, RUN!" She gave him an urgent push, and, with a startled glance that revealed him to be their suspect, he started to run.
"Freeze!" Scully turned her gun towards the fleeing youth. "Stop right there!" He was getting away *again*. She tensed to run after him, but she knew with an angry ache that she couldn't leave Mulder here without backup.
As if to illustrate her point, there was a flurry of movement from the alleyway as the one behind Melissa reached into his coat. She shifted her attention back to the men as the girl caught sight of what he was reaching for.
"NO!" The girl's higher voice rang out in the alleyway, but instead of grappling for the now-revealed pistol, she lowered her head and rammed it into the gunman's belly--
--and he flew backwards into the alley as if jerked by a rope around his waist, landing in the dark with a crash of metal.
As the three of them, her partner, herself and the remaining thug, stood open-mouthed, the girl spun around once in a circle, pushed at the air with both hands and her voice rang out once more.
"Shove it!"
The man jerked backwards, just like his partner, skidding across the street to stop at their feet.
Scully leveled her weapon at the now-prone man, her body running on reflex and procedure. *I did -not- just see what I think I just saw, I did -not-....* "Hands behind your head!" The man complied dazedly, and she cuffed him, then searched him, not surprised when she found the .45 in his coat.
"Scully, we have a man down here!"
She looked up, not even realizing that Mulder had left her side until she saw him across the street, almost concealed in the dark of the alley. She heard him speaking into his cel phone, calling 911 for an ambulance, and the local police.
The girl hadn't moved from where she had stood, and her skin was pale in the moonlight as she looked back at the alleyway. As she watched, Melissa dropped to her knees, her body bowed over, her hands cradled in her lap. She stared at nothing, her eyes wide and unfocused. *Shock* she thought, and hauled her suspect up, Mirandizing him quickly before pushing the unresisting man into the car.
She crossed the street quickly, hearing the sirens approaching in the distance. Bypassing the girl, she went directly to the unconscious gunmen. "Take care of her," she said to Mulder, motioning with her head towards Melissa even as she felt for a pulse on the man. With a scrape of shoe on asphalt, Mulder left her side to attend to the girl.
A strong beat greeted her questing fingers, and she gave a little sigh of relief. A penlight fished from her pocket showed a normal pupil response, and by the time the EMTs arrived she was ready with her spiel: Possible concussion, keep him for observation, I'll ride with you, he needs to be kept under guard.
She looked back at Mulder as they wheeled the man to the ambulance, approaching him as he spoke quietly with the girl. "Is she all right?" She looked at Melissa, who seemed shaken, but not as bad as she had looked a minute ago. Scully felt a pang of sympathy for the girl, knowing that it would be a long time before she regained her emotional footing again after something like this.
Mulder nodded as he helped the girl stand up. "She says that the one in the car goaded her and her friend outside, then they pulled the knives." He looked at her again. "Did either of them look familiar, or show you any identification?"
Melissa shook her head, her voice a shaky ghost of the happy girl they'd met earlier today. "No...but one of them said something I didn't understand." She frowned, puzzled. "That he shouldn't have messed with the Rev." She looked to Mulder. "That's when the other guy told him to shut up, and you guys got there."
Mulder looked up, and she knew that her realization was reflected in his eyes as well. The Rev. Reverend Canfield. She looked towards their car and waved one of the cops over, already regretting what she had to do next. She could feel her headache start; this case was getting far too complicated. She turned to the girl again. "Melissa, you do know that if you don't tell us where we can find the man who was with you, we have to arrest you?"
Scully felt an eerie sense of deja vu, remembering a cold cell, a Senate hearing, those same words spoken to her as she prayed Mulder knew what he was doing. She wondered for a moment if this situation was the same, if there was indeed something that she knew that could untwist this tangled case....then shook off the chill as the girl nodded.
"I understand, Agent Scully... " Her wide blue gaze met Scully's. "Loren said you would understand too, but I wonder now if you ever will."
The name hit her like a punch that sent her smashing through the wall she'd constructed so long ago, nearly staggering her in a situation that already had her so off-balance.
"Scully, you okay?"
She barely heard Mulder's concern, so strongly did the memory return, as clear as if it had been yesterday. Cool night air, warm hands in her hair, bodies rocking to an ancient rhythm as the year died around them...
"Agent Scully!"
She jumped as she heard a different voice call her name, and turned guiltily to see the EMT waiting by the ambulance. "You wanted to ride in with him?" he said, impatience in his tone and echoed in his posture. "We gotta go now."
She looked back to Mulder's worry, Melissa's confusion, and the cop's questioning glance, not wanting to deal with any of it until she could think again. "I'll meet you at the station, Mulder..." She turned and fled before he could reply, hating herself for running but not wanting to deal with him until she sorted out this situation.
She climbed into the ambulance, taking comfort in the familiar beeps and hums of the medical equipment. Nothing unexpected here to surprise her, to tear open memories she'd thought had scabbed over. Nothing to prod at her silence, to force her to deal with things before she was ready.
The ambulance gave a lurch, and she breathed a little easier as it pulled away from the questions, if only for a time. She glanced at the unconscious man, checking his vitals, busying herself with the reassurance of expertise, a buffer against the memories that loomed from the past. When her present life collided with her past again, she would be ready.
**********
Mulder turned his badge and weapon over to the duty clerk and entered the holding area, shutting the door quietly. The basement cells were empty, save for one at the end of the row, where a small figure was curled on one of the cots.
He walked slowly to where the girl slept, not sure what he was going to ask her first. *Pardon me, but when you're through explaining the psychokinesis and why you're protecting a suspected rapist, could you tell me who the hell Loren is and why the mention of his name left my partner gasping like a landed trout?*
He stopped in front of her cell, and saw an empty styrofoam cup, a napkin, and a cupcake paper. He frowned slightly; he'd instructed that no one be allowed to see her until he questioned her. A moment's thought brought to mind the plate of richly frosted cupcakes on a secretary's desk and the plump, kindly-faced woman at the keyboard. She had seemed surprised to see him there with Melissa in handcuffs, and he wouldn't put it past her to try and bring the girl a snack. Still, it both rankled him and didn't surprise him that the local authorities would defy him just to make sure a prisoner was fed.
His other suspect was cooling his heels in one of the interrogation rooms, waiting for his lawyer. Mulder felt a bit of sympathy for the girl; if the two assailants really were hired by Reverend Canfield to deal with her friend, knowing that she was the only one who could implicate them put her in just as much danger as him. He sighed and took a seat on the bench opposite the cells. Time to find out what exactly was going on.
He cleared his throat loudly, and the girl stirred with an "Nnnnhh..." She uncurled slowly, stretching once before cracking her eyes open. "Agent Mulder?"
"How are you feeling?" He watched as she sat up and leaned back against the wall, her knees up to her chest. He nodded to the remains of the food. "Enjoy your snack?"
She followed his gaze to the litter and smiled. "Yeah, Janine from upstairs brought something down for me. It really hit the spot." She looked to him, scrubbing at one eye with her fist before lacing her fingers together around her knees. "As to your first question, I can truthfully say that I've been better."
"I'll bet." He crossed his legs at the knee. Time to get down to business. "There's something that has me confused, and I was hoping that you could help me figure it out."
Her eyebrows rose as she regarded him. "Shouldn't I be asking for my lawyer about now?"
He laughed softly, knowing how false it sounded. "Seeing as how you're trying to keep us from getting to your friend, I think the last thing you want is more officials involved." He saw her gaze falter, and he knew he'd hit the mark on that one. "Besides, the only thing a lawyer would do now is encourage you to turn this guy in to save yourself from some serious charges."
She shook her head, lowering her gaze to stare at her feet as she sucked her lip between her teeth, tension in every line of her posture. Mulder sensed the change and pressed it. "Obstruction of justice, aiding and abetting a felon, unlawful flight.....accessory to rape." He stressed the last charge, knowing it had affected her the last time he said it.
Her voice was just a whisper. "I can't..."
"Not to mention assault charges, if the two men you encountered decide to prosecute." Mulder leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees as he saw a tear roll down her cheek. "Melissa, you *will* go to prison if you don't--"
"I can't!" she wailed, fisting her hands in her mussed hair. "You wouldn't understand!"
"How can you know that when you haven't said anything?" He was on the edge of something, he knew it. So was she; her body fairly trembled with indecision, the tears flowing freely now. "What wouldn't I understand?"
She shook her head, her hands still fisted in her hair, not meeting his gaze at all. "You wouldn't believe."
His anger evaporated at the sound of those three words, spoken with the same anguish that he'd felt time and again when trying to put the things he knew into words, only to be met with doubt, pity and derision. He moved off the bench and leaned in, reaching out to touch one trembling shoulder. "I want to believe."
"Liar." Bitter, hateful tone, still not looking up. "You just want to solve this case, to put Aidan in jail so you and your partner can pat yourselves on the back and go home."
He crouched down before her, pulling his hand back to grip the bars separating them. "Melissa, it's my job to get to the bottom of what happened, and right now I don't think either of us knows exactly what that is. The *only* way we can figure out what happened and what do to about it is if we trust each other with what we know."
She stopped trembling, but she still wouldn't look at him...he was so close..."I want to believe that you're not a person who would protect a man who did what he did. I want to believe that there's something more than love for him that would make you risk all this."
She shook her head slowly, taking a shaky breath and letting it out. "It's not love, Agent Mulder...trust me on that."
"Then what is it?" He tightened his grip on the bars, trying not to grab her and shake her. He pitched his voice softer, almost begging. "You have to know by now that I'm the only one who can help you....please tell me! I swear that I'll listen, I'll hear you out, and I'll help in any way I can to see justice served."
Her hand shot out, gripping his around the steel bars of the cell, her gaze piercing his own. "You swear....on Dana's name?"
What? "I--"
"Do you *swear*?" Her voice was suddenly flinty, urgent, demanding assent. He responded with a wordless nod, and she shook her head. "Say it!"
"I swear."
As the words left his lips, he felt a chill race up his spine, the hair on his arms prickling for a second before it passed, and with it's passing he heard her sigh, her grip relaxing as she released his hand.
"In my personal effects, there's a geode in the front pocket of my backpack. Take it out, break it open and come back down." She wiped the tears from her face. "I'll explain things when you come back." She eased off the cot and walked back to the small barred window, looking up into the night. "Just....believe, okay? If you don't believe, this will be over before it begins."
Mulder remained where he was for a minute, trying to process what he'd felt, what she was saying, what her quiet plea meant. *If you don't believe, this will be over before it begins.* He stood up quietly, and without another word he headed for the stairs, wondering how one *tries* to believe.
The evidence clerk gave him a strange look when he asked for her backpack; he didn't even hear what excuse he gave to take something down to her, but it must have worked because the pack slid across the counter to him without further questioning. He unzipped the front pocket, locating the round, rough sphere by feel and hefted it in his hands a moment.
When he was younger, his father had brought home similar spheres from one of his business trips for him and Samantha. They'd both wrinkled their noses at the seemingly dull gift, but he showed them that if you put one in a sock and hit the ground with it as hard as you could, there were glittering crystals inside. With the memory of his sister's bright, happy face in his mind, he pocketed the geode and headed for the bathroom.
There was a patrolman washing his hands in the sink as Mulder entered, and as he dried his hands, he looked to Mulder, then to the geode, then to him again. Mulder tossed it in his palm and puffed a laugh through his nose. "Hell of a kidney stone, huh?"
The patrolman laughed, the tension broken. "I'll say...you be careful with that thing." He headed for the door, still chuckling, taking one more look at Mulder before leaving.
After the door thumped shut, Mulder locked the door, then reached into his pocket and withdrew a handkerchief, wrapping it around the geode in the style of a hobo's bundle. He hefted it experimentally, the geode dangling below his hand, and nodded. *It's not a sock, but it'll do.* He paused for a moment, then swung his arm hard, cracking the geode against the tile wall.
*CRACK!* The sound echoed loudly in the bathroom, and Mulder winced, praying that nobody would think it a gunshot. When a minute's rest didn't bring anyone pounding on the door, he untied the handkerchief and looked inside.
Amethyst crystals glittered within, just as he remembered, and he reached in and picked up one of the shards....
He felt a roaring in his ears, and he clutched at the edge of the sink as the room seemed to spin around him. A chill skittered up his spine and the hairs on his arms crawled, then settled again. He opened his hand, which had clenched into a fist at the wave of disorientation, and stared at the shard of amethyst, gleaming mutely in the fluorescent light. *What the hell was that?*
The crystals offered no answer....but he knew someone who would.
He pocketed the rest of the fragments of the geode and unlocked the door, heading back toward the holding area. He noted in passing that the patrolman he'd met was back at his desk watching him, and he wondered if he looked that *tall* when he saw him a minute ago. He pushed that thought aside as he descended the steps, and as he reached Melissa's cell he was ready for her explanation, whatever it may be.
She had returned to the cot, and was waiting for him, one hand scratching the base of one of her horns. Her tears had--
Horns?
She shifted in place as he stared at the slender horns, curling back from just behind her hairline to skim the ends of her short hair. She slid off the cot again, her hooves clipping dully on the concrete floor.
Hooves?
He felt his jaw drop as he saw she had rolled up her jeans to reveal coarsely furred legs, bent backward, as a goat's, ending in small cloven hooves. His mind reeled, and he staggered back to sit heavily on the bench, his legs unable to support his weight *and* what he was seeing. She regarded him with gentle eyes.
"Now do you believe?"