Tiger Tails (Bewitching Bedlam)

  “The bus brought the children back but Professor Hanover’s at the bottom, in the main building where the bathrooms are and the office and cafe.”

  “Damn it, I wish Maddy was here. She’s good with location spells. Alex can you try to raise her on the phone?”

  “On it, boss.” He headed out of the room.

  I turned to Max. “Listen, we’ll have to pick this up later. I need to go find my ward.”

  “I’ll come with you,” he said.

  I shook my head. “No, this isn’t your problem.”

  Truth was, I hadn’t a clue as to how he coped under pressure. He looked fit, but I was going to be climbing that mountain if they hadn’t found her by the time we got there, and I couldn’t afford to take someone along who might hold me back.

  “I’m coming. Don’t try to stop me. A little girl is lost on the mountain and there’s no way I’m going to saunter home to a warm dinner and bed when a kid’s lost in the storm.” With a look that told me he meant it, Max leaned back in his chair. “If you’re worried about my abilities, I’ve climbed mountains, and competed in triathlons before.”

  Alex entered the room. “I tried to get hold of Maddy but she’s not answering her phone right now, and the cell service up where she went on vacation is spotty.”

  “Damned winter storms. All right.” I motioned to him. “Get me my parka, gloves, and backpack.”

  “I’ll change clothes too,” Alex said.

  I shook my head. “I want you here in case she calls or somehow finds her way back. But keep your phone handy and text me the minute you hear anything.”

  After I was wrapped up again, I slipped on my gloves and a ski hat beneath my hood, then motioned to Max. “Come on, let’s get a move on. Are you warm enough?”

  He nodded. “This jacket’s good to ten below and I’m wearing hiking boots. If you have gloves and a hat, though, I’ll take them.”

  Alex found him a pair of gloves and a knit cap, and we headed out into the thick of the storm, bracing against the rising winds. Alex had texted me full directions to Paulson’s Peak, and I put the car into gear and eased out on the road, making certain my safety-spell was holding. Then, with a heavy foot and a careful eye, I aimed for the park and drove as fast as was possible in the blowing snow.

  “How could they let the kids get separated?” Max was trying to make conversation but I wanted to focus, to keep my mind on the task.

  “I don’t know. We’ll ask when we get there. Meanwhile, could you please be quiet? I really need to focus my attention on the road and I don’t feel like making small talk.” I didn’t bother smiling or apologizing for asking him to be quiet. If he didn’t understand why I was worried and unable to chitchat, then he wasn’t a person I wanted in my life.

  “Right.” Max gave me a decisive nod and went back to looking out the window.

  I kept my gaze glued to the road ahead of us. It was already getting dark. Even though we were past the solstice, the nights still seemed terribly long, especially with somebody missing into the wild. I tried not to think about Jenna out there alone, without proper shelter and without someone to guard over her. Images of her kept popping into my head—a bright pale haired girl, shivering under the boughs of a snow clad tree as a coyote or bear crept up on his prey. There were hungry animals out in the highlands, and predators both supernatural and all-too human.

  Paulson’s Peak was a state park over on the north side of the island. While it wasn’t a mountain like the Cascade peaks, it was plenty high, and there were all too many trails that were easy to wander onto and get lost. The main parks office was at the head of the winding path that started off the Wonderland Trail—a curving, twisting foot road through the trees and meadows on the peak. It was named after the famous Wonderland Trail that encircled Mt. Rainier, although far smaller. Mt. Rainier’s trail was over ninety-three miles long. Ours was about ten. But there were side trails aplenty and it was far too easy to lose one’s bearings during the midst of a storm.

  As the road began to climb toward the park, the timber grew heavier. Bedlam was heavily wooded, with a number of magical groves scattered around the island. Some were private—in fact the Moonrise Coven had its own private grove for ritual work—and others were public lands, free to use for anybody who signed up for them.

  We passed the Hydrangea Rose—a flower farm—and turned left onto Paulson Peak Road. The storm was growing worse, the snow swirling in a vortex around us.

  “The winds are clocking a steady twenty miles an hour now,” Max said, consulting an app on his phone. “Wind chill factor is bad, Sandy. It’s thirty-two degrees but add in the wind and the temperature drops to the equivalent of twenty.”

  “Just what I wanted to hear.” My thoughts were focused on Jenna. She was a slight girl, short for her age, and while she had a strong bent for magic, I doubted that she had much in her spell base for protecting herself under these conditions.

  Ahead of us on the road, a large truck was slowing down. The double yellow line meant I couldn’t pass, and though I gauged the possibilities, the ravine on the other side meant that if I miscalculated and another car came barreling down the mountain, we’d either end up plowing into the semi or going over the edge. I couldn’t take that chance. But to my relief, we came to turnout in the road and the truck eased over to let me pass.

  “Would you like me to drive?” Max asked.

  “Have you driven in snow very often?”

  He cleared his throat. “Good point. But I’ll take over if you need me to.”

  “Not necessary. As I said, I have a safety spell on the car, and anyway, we’re almost to the turnoff for the park. There it is, actually, to the right.” I eased off the road, onto the side road that led into the the main base of Paulson’s Peak Campground. There weren’t any campers at this time of year—at least none that I would consider sane—but a number of people came here to go snowshoeing or hiking.

  Five minutes later and I eased into a spot at the combined park office, coffee shop, and gift shop. I put the car into park, turned off the ignition and tromped my way across the icy parking lot to the building. Max was right behind me, and I noticed that—for a California boy—he was pretty steady on his feet.

  As I pushed through the door into the ranger’s office, I saw Jenna’s teacher standing there, looking pale and frightened. When he saw me, he looked even more scared. As well he should. He might be a witch like me, but he knew my background and he knew that I was Maddy’s best friend, and being the right hand of Mad Maudlin went a long ways in the intimidation department.

  “Ms. Clauson—I’m Dr. Hanover. I’m Jenna’s Elemental Magic teacher. I’m so sorry.” He rushed over. “I feel just horrible about what’s happened.”

  I didn’t doubt that he was worried sick over Jenna. But that didn’t make what happened okay, and it didn’t excuse his responsibility in the matter.

  “I don’t give a fuck about your feelings, frankly. I’m more worried about Jenna. What the hell happened? How could you lose track of my ward?”

  He stared at me, a grim look on his face. Flailing slightly, he began to backpedal. “I tried to watch them all but the storm came up and she was trailing near the back of the group.”

  “Did you have an aide to help you watch out for the kids near the back?”

  “No...it didn’t seem necessary.”

  “I see,” I said, leaning forward, jabbing him in the chest with my finger. “So you just allowed the slower kids to manage on their own? Why didn’t you bring them up front where you could keep an eye on them? Why didn’t you let them set the pace, rather than the jocks? Jenna’s no athlete, and yet you expect her to be able to keep up? What about the other kids? Did you lose anybody else’s child?”

  Hanover let out a squeak that sounded like a squawking chicken. “I did the best I could under the circumstances.” He paused, then lowered his voice. “I’m sorry. I take full responsibility for this. You??
?re right. They were in my charge. Jenna’s the only one who was separated from the group. She’s alone out there.”

  I’m going to have a long talk with the headmistress of the school once we find Jenna.” I was on a tear by now. I glanced out the window at the trailhead. “When did you first notice she was missing?”

  He shrugged. “It was so hard to tell. We came up here early—six AM to get a good start. The snow started in a few hours later, and by this afternoon it was blowing like crazy. We were working on our ice magic skills when I realized the weather wasn’t getting any better. I began gathering them for the trip down. I thought Jenna was in the back, I honestly thought she was with us until we made it back to the parking lot. It was then that I realized she was missing.”

  “After I find her, then you and I are going to have a long talk as to why you thought it would be all right to take the kids out when there was a storm warning.” I spied the ranger, who was over by the desk, and brushed past Hanover, longing to give him a kick in the nuts to remind him of just how angry I was. “You, Ranger...what’s going on with my ward? Do you have any search and rescue personnel out looking for her?”

  The ranger, whose nametag read Sean Jackson, nodded. “We do, but the storm’s gotten so bad that I’m going to have to pull them in until it dies down.”

  “My ward is up there. She’s thirteen. You’re just going to leave her to the elements?”

  “Unless the men volunteer to go looking, I have no choice.”

  Feeling helpless and angry, I headed into the gift shop. I tossed candy bars, protein bars, chips, a couple bottles of water, matches, a flashlight, and a couple thermal rain ponchos into a basket.

  “I’ll pay for these when I come back.” I told the ranger, who just held up his hands, nodding.

  Max, who had been watching silently, vanished into the cafe for a moment, then returned with a bag of sandwiches and a big thermos. He grabbed a backpack out of the gift shop, and divided the supplies into both his pack and mine, adding in lengths of rope, three pair of snow goggles, and some hand warmers.

  “I got us some hot chocolate, sandwiches, and cookies,” he said. “Let’s head out.”

  “You sure you want to come with me? It’s going to be dangerous.”

  “I’m coming along.” Max gave me a soft smile. “She’s thirteen and stuck in a snow storm. I’m not letting you shoulder this by yourself.”

  “You can’t go out in that storm,” Ranger Sean said.

  I glared at him. “You really want to stop me? I’m Cassandra, of Mad Maudlin, Fata Morgana, and Cassandra fame. Any more questions?”

  His eyes widened, and he shook his head, held up his hands and backed away. Sometimes, having an infamous background had its perks.

  I turned to Hanover. “I should drag you up there with me, except I don’t want to have to watch out for your skinny ass. Trust me, you’d better start applying for new jobs, because when I get done with you, you’re going to be buying a one-way ticket as far away from Bedlam as possible. I suggest you use this time to start packing.”

  With that, I swept out of the building, Max behind me. I tried Jenna’s cell once more. Nothing and still nothing on the Friend-Finder app.

  Max slung his backpack over his shoulder and I shrugged on mine. We headed toward the trailhead. The snow was blinding but we strapped on the goggles and they helped. While they didn’t aid visibility, they did keep the blowing snow from clogging our vision.

  Max leaned close to me, shouting over the roar of the wind. “We should tie up so that we don’t get off trail from each other.”

  I nodded—it was too difficult to talk over the storm that was rapidly turning into a gale-force event. He held up a large bolt snap hook—apparently his scrounging skills in the store had been more thought-out than mine—and tied off one end of a shorter length of rope, then hooked the bolt to my belt. He took another bolt, affixed it to the other end of the rope, and hooked that around one of his belt loops. Then, he motioned for me to lead off.

  As we trudged through the snow, I saw a branch that had snapped off one of the big fir trees. It was about six feet long, and sturdy. As I picked it up, testing it by tamping it firmly against the ground, Max got the picture. Holding up a rather lethal looking pocket knife, he sliced off the spare limbs and needles, leaving me with a sturdy makeshift walking stick.

  Taking a deep breath and immediately regretting the decision as cold air sliced through my lungs, I drew my scarf over my mouth, then set foot on the Wonderland trail and began to climb.

  Chapter 4

  A HALF HOUR later, we were almost out of sight of the ranger’s office. The going was slow, thanks to the storm and the snow, and once again I wondered what the hell Hanover had been thinking bringing the kids out on a day like today.

  Granted, the energy of the storm was easy to catch hold of, and when you were learning to work with the elements in magic, it made sense to pick a time when they were running at a strong clip, but so help me, I’d take this out to the top. Neverfall was a good institution, but they had made a terrible mistake hiring Hanover. It wasn’t just that Jenna was involved. This trip could have gone bad in so many ways, and he was lucky that only one student had fallen behind.

  Another fifteen minutes and we began calling for Jenna. Hanover had no clue where he had last spotted her, and he obviously hadn’t questioned the other students before shipping them back to school. The search-and-rescue teams would be coming off the mountain and so far, no word from Ranger Sean. I had given him my cell phone number in case they found Jenna.

  I called out Jenna’s name, but the wind tore the words out of my mouth and scattered them into bits of flotsam, dashed on the edge of the gale. Behind me, Max shone the flashlight every which way in hopes that she would see the flicker against the dark of the trees. While night hadn’t yet fallen, the storm had darkened the sky enough that light should show up fairly easily.

  Another twenty minutes and I needed to rest. I had no clue how far we had come—it couldn’t have been more than a mile, given the conditions, but I had no real clue. I motioned toward a grouping of tall fir trees that promised shelter from the storm.

  As we edged beneath the trees, Max spread out one of the thermal rain ponchos for us to sit down on. Grateful for the respite, I lowered myself cautiously, trying not to rip it. The material crinkled beneath me, but provided a nice cushion between the snow and my ass, and after just a moment or two, I realized that it was reflecting my body heat. My butt was heating up, at least.

  Max sat beside me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. I didn’t protest—it was warmer this way, and right now, I was grateful for any support.

  “We’ll find her,” he said, pressing his lips close to my ear. “I have a feeling about this, and my premonitions are usually correct.”

  “Psychic tiger?” I asked, glancing at him.

  Behind the goggles, he winked. “You might say that.” He pulled me close and I leaned my head against his chest, suddenly realizing how good it felt to have someone with me. A wave of gratitude swept through me. He had no reason to come with me, but yet he had chosen to even though it put him at risk.

  “Thank you, again,” I said.

  “For what?”

  “For coming along. For insisting on joining me.”

  “Not a problem, Sandy. As I said, she’s thirteen and lost in the woods alone, during a storm. There’s no way I’d turn away.” He tipped my chin up, gazing into my eyes. Another moment, and his lips were on mine—ever so briefly—and they felt like smooth silk. I had barely realized he was kissing me when he pulled away. “Come on. We’d better get a move on, but first, eat one of the protein bars.”

  Not knowing what to say, I allowed him to press a protein bar into my hand and I gobbled it down. My stomach rumbled and I realized that I was hungry. He handed me a sandwich and I ate that, too. After a swig of water, he pulled me to my feet. He showed me a compass in his phone, that
also measured distance. We had come one and a half miles so far. Then, another moment and we were back on the trail, winding our way up the slope.

  THE SUN WAS close to setting. It was almost four-thirty and the storm was making everything dark. Some snowstorms brought with them a silvery light that made it easy to see by, even during the night. But there was a darkness to this one—an almost malign presence. Truth was, every witch knew that storms had sentience. With some, that sentience was barely present, like a creature peeking through a crack in the wall. With others, it rumbled in, aware and awake and ready to take potshots at anybody who got in the way. This storm had feelers out, searching for the best way to wreak havoc.

  We had come another half-mile according to Max’s compass. I thought of all the miles we had to cover and groaned, but then reminded myself that, step by step, we were making inroads. I paused, pulling out my cell phone again. As I punched in Jenna’s number, I actually got something other than static. And then—it was ringing. Once. Twice. On the third ring, Jenna’s voice came through, frightened and breathy.

  “Aunt Sandy? Help me. I’m lost. I couldn’t get my phone to work, but now, I climbed up a tree and I seem to have service. I can barely hear you.”

  “I know honey, we’re coming for you. Make sure your Friend-Finder app is on.” I paused, flipping over to the app. Sure enough, there was the blinking light. She was off trail to the northeast, which meant we were going to have to head through the undergrowth.

  Max took my phone, studying it. “I may be a warm-weather man, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t done my share of hiking. I’ve spent weeks out in the mountains. I’m a weretiger, remember? We like to get out and run. Okay, I have a general idea of the way we need to head.” He handed the phone back to me. “I know it’s hard, but tell her to get off the line to conserve her battery.”

  “Honey? You need to hang up now. We’re headed in your direction. Are you all right?”