Chapter 7: Another sighting
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Slasher had watched Talon sneak out of the house from her perch on the roof. She had returned from
her meeting with Howe, and had snatched a few minutes of sleep. But now Talon was with Knuckles
and needed no further protection. Slasher laid her head on her forepaws and slept.
She awoke later in the day as something struck her in the nose. Her head jerked up and she saw
Ralph the mouse sitting on a branch opposite her with a handful of gravel. He waved, and she rose
and walked to the corner of the roof. "What do you want?"
"I need your help for a few minutes," said Ralph. "I need some photos of the inside of the barn out
back, and I can't reach the windows."
Slasher had a vague recollection that the barn was bad news, and said so. Ralph waved a hand. "You
don't have to go inside! Just jump on the roof and take some pictures. You don't even have to look in
if you don't want to."
Slasher studied him. "Why should I help you?"
"I'm looking for evidence to convict Mori," said Ralph, laying his ears back. "I thought you might
help me."
Slasher considered. The only sightings of the monster had been at night, and right now it was 11 AM
and over a hundred degrees. The daylight seemed safe and ordinary. "All right," she said. "But if I
start acting funny, climb a tree and stay there."
* * *
Knuckles and Zephyer arrived on a wide shelf jutting out of the hillside. The end of the shelf
dropped in a cliff twenty feet high into more forest. The shelf was empty of trees, and was scattered
with huge square stones, as if some ancient structure had fallen to pieces over countless years. Only
one stone stood upright, and it had a hole board through the centre.
Talon and the Chaotix were already there and discussing the last two lines of the clue. "View the
quadrangle from the lee of the final standing key," said Vector, walking around the block of stone.
"This has got to be the key, it looks too weird to be anything else. Hey Knuckles, which way is the
lee?"
Knuckles strode around the stone, observing the lichen that grew on its surface. Then he pulled off a
glove, licked his finger and held it up to test the breeze. "This side," he said, stepping into the
sheltered side of the stone. "View the quadrangle ..." The hole through the stone faced east. Knuckles
stooped and looked through it. The hole looked over the treetops to the ocean.
"See anything, sir?" asked Talon.
Knuckles studied the view. "Nothing special. You guys see anything?"
One by one they all gathered around and peered through the hole. Nothing stood out to any of them.
They tried lining up the stone's top with the horizon, or standing back and seeing if they could see
something through the hole.
Talon stood at a distance by himself, thinking. He could imagine his father watching their efforts
with arms folded, laughing. It had to be something simple and brilliant. Something that gave Talon a
reason to use his shoes, because Philip had always encouraged Talon to practice flying.
Talon walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down. "I wonder..."
* * *
Slasher and Ralph strode through the wood in the back yard toward the barn. As soon as they
entered the trees, Slasher's sensitive nose caught the smell of carrion. It was no offensive to her--she
viewed overripe meat as a delicacy--but it put her on her guard. There was a carcass somewhere
around here, and a smell this strong would attract scavengers. She eyed Ralph and saw he looked ill.
"Why don't you hang back?" she asked. "Give me your camera. I don't mind the smell."
"Thanks," said the mouse, handing her a flat camera that was smaller than her hand. "Press this
button to take a picture."
Slasher nodded and bounded down the path toward the barn.
The smell was coming from the barn with enough potency to kill the surrounding foliage. Slasher
paused in the clearing and looked around. Something was wrong. She knew she had seen this
clearing before, and wracked her brain to figure out what had changed. She circled the barn, looking
and listening, head low and tail stiff.
The raptor made a complete circuit before she realized what it was. The clearing was bigger. Trees
and bushes on the borders were missing in a ring around the barn, leaving holes in the earth where
they had been torn up by the roots. Slasher investigated one such hole and found white splinters of
wood around it, as if the tree had been cut down. But the tree itself was gone--no drag marks or tire
tracks showed where it had gone.
There were probably dozens of explanations, but it made Slasher uneasy all the same. She checked
the barn door, found it chained, and gazed at the high windows for several minutes, wondering if she
dared jump to the roof and look inside.
When the clearing remained quiet, Slasher opened her wings and used them to leap up on the barn
roof. She landed with a thud on the hot shingles and crouched there for a moment, listening for
sounds from within. Nothing happened. She hung over the edge of the roof and peered in a window.
Inside was dark and indistinct. Like Espio, Slasher guessed it was machinery covered by tarps. She
lifted the camera, stuck the lens between the bars and snapped a picture. It was so dark in there she
doubted it would turn out, so she flipped on the flash and took another snapshot.
For an instant the inside of the barn was illuminated in white light, and Slasher saw what the barn
actually contained. She screamed and leaped straight up off the roof.
Her initial leap carried her almost to the house with the aid of her wings, and her next leap carried
her to the road in front of the house. She crouched there in the shade, shaking and snarling, clutching
the camera.
* * *
Talon activated his shoes and took imaginary steps over the treetops eastward. He looked back at the
keystone to make sure he was in line with it, then looked down at the trees below him. To his
surprise, he saw a tree with three trunks was just below him. The first verse sprang to mind--through
the hole and past the three. Did the rhyme have a twofold meaning? Talon dropped to investigate,
and saw the bottle wedged in the fork of a branch.
Talon worked it loose, grinning as his father's brilliance, and flew back to the others, who were still
puzzling about the stone. "Lookie here!" said Vector. "The kid's found it! Where was it, Talon?"
"A tree with three trunks," said Talon, struggling to remove the cork. He handed it to Knuckles, who
removed the cork and handed it back. Talon reached in, pulled out the slip of paper, unrolled it and
read it aloud.
"Well done! Now direct your steps to the north end
Down the river to the final bend
Half a mile toward the day's end
Beyond the gate that dogs defend
Past the cows and another bend of the stream
Find the volcano's root and steam
Ten spaces south, twenty paces west and then
Tal, do your thing."
Talon's voice broke on the last line, and he quickly gave the paper to Knuckles and drew back from
the group. The Chaotix pretended not to notice.
"A rhyming road map, how nice," said Espio. "Can't say much for his poetry. And I don't like this
stuff about 'the gate that dogs defend'."
"Do we want to try to solve it today?" said Knuckles. "The north end's quite a ways from here."
"You think Talon is up to it?" murmured Charmy, as Zephyer went to Talon and put an arm around
him.
"I don't know," said Knuckles. "Maybe we should--" He was interrupted as his communicator
buzzed. He clicked it on. "Hello?"
"Knuckles?" said a breathless voice. "This is Ralph Martin, the private detective. We've had a
breakthrough if I ever get my camera back."
"Really? What happened?"
"Slasher saw something and has cracked up. She won't give my camera back and I'm dying to get the
film developed. Could you come down here? Maybe you could talk some sense into her."
"Where are you?"
"Up a tree on Mori's property. Slasher's down on the road, and she's menacing everyone who walks
by."
Knuckles's eyes widened a fraction, and he looked over his shoulder to make sure Talon had not
heard this. "I'll be there as soon as I can. Knux out."
"I've got to go down there," he said to the Chaotix. "You guys go with Talon and Zeff and find the
helmet. You have your coms?"
They nodded.
"I'll call you later." Knuckles walked up to Zephyer and Talon, and took Zephyer aside. "Emergency
call," he said. "I have to go meet with the detective right away, he's uncovered something big." He
tried to tell Zephyer the real reason with his eyes.
She gazed at him, trying to guess. "Okay ..."
"Go hunt the clue without me. I'll call later." He mouthed, "Slasher," said Zephyer's eyes widened.
She looked down at his sword, and he nodded.
Talon watched them. "Is it serious, sir?"
"I think so." Knuckles patted his shoulder. "I expect you to find that helmet, all right?"
Talon nodded.
Knuckles ran to the cliff, jumped off and glided away over the trees.
"I wish I could do that," murmured Zephyer, watching. She looked at the Chaotix. "What are we
waiting for? Let's head out!"
* * *
It took an hour for Knuckles to reach East Boulder Lane, and he was hot and sweaty by the time
he turned onto the shady road. He dreaded what he would find, and drew his sword as he turned the
last corner.
Slasher was lying in the weeds on the roadside, and Knuckles wouldn't have noticed her if he hadn't
been looking for her. As he approached, she lifted her head cobra-like, and glared at him.
"Hi Slasher," he called. "Are you sane?"
She only looked at him. Knuckles moved toward her cautiously. "I only want the camera." He could
see it in the grass between her forepaws. When he was ten feet away she bared her teeth and rose to
her feet. Knuckles was aware of how big she was. "Snap out of it, Slasher. I'd rather not use this
sword on you."
She stood her ground, but made no move to attack. Knuckles began speaking softly, as if to an upset
horse, hoping the sound of his voice would calm her. She watched him with her lemon-yellow eyes,
and her snarling subsided. He kept talking, but did not lower his sword. She might decide to maul
him and he didn't plan to let her get close enough.
Slasher's face began to relax, and the feral look faded. "Knuckles?" she said at last. "Oh gosh, I did it
again."
"Camera, please," said Knuckles, sheathing his sword as a cold sweat of relief broke out on his back.
"What? Oh." She picked it up and handed it to him. "I must have got a picture of it. I turned the
flash on and ..." She gave a savage snarl. "I saw the abomination. It's in the barn, causing the smell.
Pendel Mori is a fiend--I can't see how he's related to Talon."
Ralph ventured into sight, peering at Slasher. Knuckles gave him a thumbs up, and the mouse
hurried out to them. "Thank goodness! Slasher said to climb a tree and stay there, and that's what I
did."
"Good move," said Slasher. "I could eat you in ..." She sized him up. "Six bites."
Ralph stared at her as Knuckles handed him the camera. "There. Get it developed."
"Will do," said Ralph, and jogged off toward town, casting worried looks over his shoulder at the
velociraptor.
"So what is this abomination?" asked Knuckles.
Slasher gazed up at Mori's house. "I can't describe it. The sight of it sends me out of my mind. What
scares me even more is the question of where it came from." She looked at Knuckles. "Mori belongs
behind bars."
"When did that occur to you?" said Knuckles. "Howe said you'd dug up some evidence against
him."
"A hypodermic," said Slasher. "The lab results come back Friday, then we'll see."
"Friday," said Knuckles. "I wish this adoption approval stuff went faster. Sunday we're having a
caseworker come out and inspect the house to make sure we won't be locking Talon in the shed or
something."
"Yeah, they need to know that," said Slasher. "Where's the group and Talon?"
"Treasure-hunting." Knuckles glanced at his communicator's clock. "They'll be up at the north end
by now. Maybe they've solved the puzzle already."
"Let's go, then," said Slasher, dropping a wing. "We'll fly up there."
Knuckles hesitated. He had never enjoyed riding Slasher, because he was afraid he'd fall off and his
legs went to sleep. But he hated even worse for Slasher to think he was a coward. He climbed on her
back and held on as she jumped off the bluff and soared out over the sea.
* * *
There were several streams on the north side of the island, but a mile from the shore they flowed
together and wound down to the ocean. Zephyer, Talon and the Chaotix followed it, trying to decide
which bend was the final one.
Espio stopped and looked back. He had been checking his watch for the last hour, and now he said,
"Sorry guys, but I have to go."
The Chaotix stopped as Zephyer and Talon walked on ahead. "Go?" exclaimed Charmy. "Why?
We're halfway there!"
"I have an appointment I can't miss," said the chameleon.
"Bet he's got a girlfriend," said Vector with a grin.
"No," said Espio, "although I wouldn't mind that. You guys will find out my scheme in due time.
Call me when you find the treasure." He turned and jogged up the path.
The Chaotix looked at each other and shrugged. "He's not happy unless he's up to something," said
Mighty.
"But to quit when we're so close!" exclaimed Vector. "I hope he has a really good reason."
The Chaotix hurried to catch up with Zephyer and Talon.
The stream bent a final time, then poured down a rocky channel to the sea. "This is it," said Zephyer.
She consulted the clue. "Half a mile toward the day's end. That's west, right?"
"No, Zephyer," said Vector. "Everybody knows the sun sets in the east."
She stuck out her tongue at him and stepped over the stream westward. They followed her.
Zephyer led the way along the top of a rough, broken lava floes that sliced the soles of their shoes
and creaked as they walked. For a while scrubby grass grew here and there, but it gave way to
nothing but hot bare rock under the sun.
Half a mile further on they came to a rusty barbed wire fence, and they gathered around it. "The gate
that dogs defend," said Talon, peering around. "Maybe I should investigate." He ignited his shoes
and took to the sky, peering in all directions. Zephyer and the Chaotix watched him fly high over the
rocky plain. After a while he returned. "There's a junkyard way south of here, and I saw some dogs,
but they're chained. Over there, west, is another stream."
Zephyer checked the directions. "Past the cows and another bend of the stream. See any cows?"
"Nope," said Talon, landing on the far side of the fence. One by one they crawled through, and hiked
across the fenced plain. It enclosed five acres, and beyond it the land dipped and vegetation appeared
again. A small stream ran over the rocks, and on the far side, under the trees, several cows lay in the
grass, chewing their cud. The group ignored them and plunged into the shade for a rest.
"Past another bend of the stream," said Mighty, reading the clue. "The stream bends off over there."
"Now we look for an active volcano," said Vector, rubbing his hands together. "I'm betting it looks
way different from Lava Reef."
"Why should it?" said Charmy. "Lava's lava no matter where it is."
Vector shrugged. "I want to see some, okay?"
"Then let's go," said Zephyer. "Better than listening to you guys bicker."
They followed the stream to its next bend, and hiked along the shore. The beach was made of broken
rock and some sand. They began to notice a smell of rotten eggs as they walked, and the sand gave
way to a crumbly, porous rock. "Look, steam!" said Mighty, pointing. The group hurried toward it.
A finger of black rock was thrust out into the ocean, and steam poured from a vast fissure in its
surface. Vector climbed up on it and looked in.
"Well?" Charmy called.
Vector climbed down. "I can't see anything, there's too much smoke. But boy is it hot!"
Zephyer checked the clue. "Ten paces south, twenty west. Let's count them off." They all walked
away from the beach, up the cooled lava floes ten paces. Then they walked across them twenty
paces. It bought them to a ten-foot wall created by cooled lava. Zephyer looked at Talon. "Do your
thing, Tal."
Talon's throat constricted, and he had to whisper the activation phrase for his shoes. He flew up on
top of the lava flow and looked around. There was nothing there. He inspected the rock at his feet,
and smiled. The outline of a shoe was scraped into the rock. He set his foot in it and saw up the hill a
tree with an arrow carved in its trunk pointing down. He looked down at the others. "Over there! A
tree with an arrow on it!"
The group ran around the rocky wall and arrived panting at the marked tree. They looked at the
ground, and realized they had nothing to dig with.
"That's no problem," said Mighty. "We're natural diggers, aren't we?"
Talon looked at his claws, shrugged, dropped to all fours and began digging. After a moment, so did
the rest of them.
It was buried under a foot of sandy soil. Before long their hands struck something that sounded
hollow, and they yelped and dug faster. It was a plastic box and surprisingly large--two feet to a side.
They located the corners, gripped it and heaved the box from its resting place.
Zephyer and Talon tried to open the airtight lid and failed. "Here, let me," said Mighty with a smug
look. He pried open the lid without trying.
They stared down at a golden disk two feet across, studded with sky-blue stones. It was intricately
carved with snakes and geometric patterns, and the Island Seal was etched in the centre.
"The shield," said Talon, picking it up. "I remember this." He fit his arm through the straps on the
inside, and held it up with a grunt.
The group turned their attention back to the box. It was full of sawdust, and Zephyer plunged her
hands into it. "Here it is!" she exclaimed, brushing the shavings aside. She held up an odd-looking
helmet. The top was studded with three rows of thick triangular spikes, and the lower edges had
what looked like droplets of melted metal protruding from it.
Zephyer put it on her head, and the droplet-shapes fit down between her dreadlocks to clasp her
skull. The noseguard was a triangle that protected the top of her muzzle, and a red stone was set in
the forehead. Suddenly Zephyer looked like a warrior from the past with the ferocious aspect of her
personality enhanced. Then she laughed and took it off, and the vision passed. "I'll bet I look like an
idiot."
"You look scary," said Vector. "I'd hate to see Knux in it."
"And why is that?" asked Knuckles, striding toward them from the beach. Slasher was picking her
way over the rocks behind him. Zephyer gave the raptor a sharp look.
"It had this shield with it, sir," said Talon, hefting the gold disk. "Look at the jewels in it!"
Knuckles took it, hooked his arm through the straps, and blocked imaginary blows with it. Unlike
Talon, the weight didn't trouble him. "Now this could come in handy," he said. "Let's see that
helmet."
When Knuckles put it on, it looked like the crown of a warrior king, and the Chaotix all took a step
backwards. Even Slasher kept her distance.
"What?" said Knuckles, watching them. "Does it really make me look scary?"
"It sure does," said Zephyer, looking at Knuckles as if his fur had suddenly turned blue. "No wonder
Island Warriors were so feared! It changes the whole way you look."
Knuckles pulled it off and handed it to Zephyer. "Put it on, I want to see." She did, and he gazed at
her in slow shock. "Dang, Zeff."
She pulled it off. "I see why your dad kept this locked up, Talon."
Knuckles checked his com-watch. "Not bad. It's only one o'clock. Let's hike back and you guys show
me all the landmarks."
"And I need to call Espio," said Vector, turning on his com. "He split a while ago, said he had stuff
to do."
Knuckles frowned. "Stuff to do, huh? I hope it's legal."
They took their time hiking back, pausing often to rest in the shade as the day reached its hottest
hours. They arrived back in town at three o'clock, hot and thirsty. They mobbed a restaurant for cold
drinks, then remembered they hadn't had lunch, and ordered food. They were aware that Talon had
to return to his uncle's house, and none of them wanted that time to come. They made lunch last as
long as possible, nibbling snacks until five, when they had a light dinner and caught an evening bus
for Marshill.
Talon was quiet during the stop back. He kept thinking of the previous night when his uncle had
been so angry at him. He wondered what would happen when he came home from spending the day
with the echidnas. He told himself that he would whistle for Slasher as soon as he reached his room,
and keep her by him all night.
His opinion of her had changed since she had saved him from a potentially lethal injection. Anything
was better than Uncle Pendel's irrational fury, and even with her feral looks, she was associated with
home, and on those grounds he welcomed her.
The echidnas, Chaotix and velociraptor escorted Talon to the porch as quietly as possible. Talon
whispered goodbye and slipped in the front door, closing it softly behind him. Then he tiptoed down
the hall to his room, and twisted the door knob. The door didn't move.
He pushed harder, then realized that he had left his dresser in front of the door when he left that
morning. He would have to get into his room through the window.
Talon turned to retrace his steps, and froze with a gasp. Mori was standing at the end of the hall,
watching Talon's efforts to enter his room. "Hello, Konya. Did you have a nice day?" The mocking
tone in his voice told Talon that he knew everything. Talon didn't answer.
Mori walked toward him. "You have developed a deplorable amount of stubbornness lately. I told
you those echidnas were a bad influence on you. Hasn't school taught you anything?"
Talon kept quiet.
Mori gazed at him for a long moment. "It seems you are defiant to the last. Perhaps your bull-headed
streak might be curbed if I showed you what I found in your room today."
Talon's stomach knotted. The communicator! He called on his stage training to keep his face blank.
Mori was watching him. "Come with me." He grabbed Talon's wrist and led him down the hall,
through the living room, and around a corner to the basement stairs.
Talon had a vivid memory of Espio's instructions to scream and yell if he was taken to the basement,
and tried to twist out of his uncle's grasp. Mori grabbed him with surprising strength, dragged him
down the stairs and through the basement door.
He looked at the rear of the basement, but the partition was folded back. There was no monster. He
kicked and fought anyway as Mori wrestled him past the tables to the far corner of the basement.
Here was the chain--the thick, heavy kind used to fasten large logs to flatbed trucks. Mori grabbed
one end, looped it around Talon's neck and fastened it to itself so tightly that it nearly shut off
Talons' breath. Mori shoved him to the floor, and Talon sat there, breathing hard and groping at the
chain.
Mori straightened his shirt, watching Talon. "Maybe that'll teach you to listen to me, you brat. Now
pay attention." He walked to a nearby table and held up Slasher's whistle. "What is this?"
"It's a whistle," said Talon hoarsely. He hoped his uncle would blow it. The links of the chain were
digging into his throat, and he was panicking.
"It's a broken whistle," said Mori, ignoring Talon's discomfort and indicating the cut in the top. "Or
is it tuned to an ultra-high frequency?"
Talon pretended not to hear this and felt along the chain for the clasp.
Mori laid the whistle aside and held up the communicator. "And this is how you kept in contact with
the echidnas. I must say, the idea of modifying one of these units for long-range is impressive. He
must have paid a high price for it."
"He made it," said Talon in a burst of loyalty to Knuckles.
"No echidna has the brains for this," said Mori, waving a hand. "And to insure you don't go
wandering the island with them tomorrow, you will stay down here until Monday morning, when
you will go to school as usual. Understand?"
Talon's fingers located the clasp and opened it. The chain fell off his neck, and he bolted for the
door. Mori caught him by the tail, dragged him back to the corner and chained Talon again, this
time closing the clasp with a padlock. The chain was loose enough to allow Talon to breathe, and he
sat there panting, slumped forward under the chain's weight.
His mind raced. The chain was about ten feet long, which might let him reach the nearest table. It
was empty, however. Talon watched his uncle to see what he planned to do with the communicator,
and drooped in disappointment as Mori clamped it in a vice and began taking it apart.
The minutes passed, and neither spoke. Mori paid no attention to Talon, who was glad. He crawled
into the corner and leaned into it to ease the weight of the chain. It was so heavy he could hardly
move. He thought wistfully of the islanders, who were probably still in the driveway when he was
dragged down here. He should have yelled. How had Mori got the whistle and com when the door
was barricaded shut? He must have used the window.
Now there was nothing to do but wonder what awful things Uncle Pendel might to do him. Talon
thought of their encounter in the hall, and the mention of his education. Suddenly he had an idea. If
that school trained kids to behave like animals, then Uncle Pendel must expect him to act like one.
Talon's five years of film acting returned in a flash, and suddenly he had a character to play. A beat,
hateful kid, half-wild and probably dangerous.
Talon slipped to all fours and lay on his belly, breathing through his teeth. As he detailed this
alternate version of himself, his face became hard and distant. If he worked hard enough, maybe he
could convince his uncle he was semi-feral. His mind slipped into a long-disused track, where Talon
stepped aside and became someone else. He was secretly pleased at the chance to perform, and if it
didn't work, then at least if gave him something to do.
He would be here for another thirty-six hours.
