And, yes, she sought closure. To take one final look, then walk away. And maybe the nightmares would stop.
She checked the view screen. In the past half hour, shed taken well over a hundred photos. Shed return to the apartment in Thief River Falls and look them over.
In the past few months, Kizzy had grown accustomed to living on the road. Her soul demanded the movement and the unsure yet wondrous discovery of the new and even the familiar. Her Minnesota hometown, Thief River Fallstucked close to the North Dakota border and a couple hours south of Canadahad felt like a place to stay and relax a bit before returning overseas to Romania for her next photography adventure. Europe had been her home since the accident. Her parents had been living there for nearly a decade, and the extra bedroom had been waiting for her as soon as the doctor had signed off on her feeling well enough to travel.
Shed rented the apartment here for a week. Not because shed been homesick and had thought to catch up with friends. A week had simply been the best deal. And okay, shed visited a few relatives and friends the first two days shed been in town.
Kizzy headed back to her rental car, which shed parked off the road, the wheels hugging the grassy ditch. Another hour would bring twilight, and she wanted to stop by the city park to end the day. She remembered how the setting sun would highlight the gorgeous northern pines in the forest edging the park and wanted to capture that light on film.
And maybe, she might discover a creature or two.
Her photography captured the otherworldly. Or at least, her idea of what could be something different, perhaps even paranormal. A creature or monster that had only been imagined on the page or in movies. She liked to play with shadow and light in an attempt to make others question their own reality. That was what art was about to her.
But her quest to capture myth and legend went deeper than that. Because those creatures did exist. She knew it. They just had to.
Shed been a believer since a young age. And her blog, Other Wonders, was wildly successful, her fan base being those with paranormal interests, as well as artists and creatives. The blog was five years old, and she boasted half a million subscribers with millions of hits yearly. The money she made by monetizing that blog funded her travel.
Shed snagged a few freelance jobs after a prospective employer had viewed her online galleries, including a photo shoot for National Geographic last year. It had been a dark, moody piece, and shed framed silhouettes of trees and rocky outcrops to suggest dragon heads peering out from their lairs. Theyd used it for a medieval piece. It hadnt paid much, but it had been the catalyst to rocket her online stats.
Her next trip was to Romania. Shed managed to win a sponsorship from the Romanian tourism board to cover half her expenses. Theyd been impressed by the Nat Geo feature. All she had to do was provide the board with scenic photos and grant them all rights to use. The Romanian forests promised to offer unique photography moments. And who knew? Maybe shed catch a vampire hanging out at a dilapidated castle. Or a ghost? At the very least, shed try to capture the essence of the otherworldly. Its what she did. It was what she was compelled to do.
She was blessed to be doing something she enjoyed and not stuck behind a desk nine to five.
With a turn of the key in the ignition, the Taurus hummed to life. Kizzy didnt own a car. Never had and couldnt foresee ever needing to. She currently held no permanent address that required a car to get from a home to an office job. But she did appreciate the freedom a rental car granted when it was necessary to travel beyond city limits.
Shifting into gear, she allowed her gaze to linger on the boulders below. Her heart tightened, almost as if someone were squeezing it. She shook her head, thinking it was too early in the day for another nightmare. Why she dreamed about a werewolf grabbing her heart was beyond her. But the recurring dream had haunted her about twice a month since the accident.
Ive spent too much time seeking monsters, she muttered as she turned the car around on the two-lane highway and headed toward Thief River Falls. Bound to catch up with me in my dreams sooner or later. But a werewolf?
Such creatures were on her list of most feared paranormals. As a believer, she knew to have a healthy fear of the more dangerous sorts, especially those who sported claws or talons. And there had been that one time when she was six and her dad had taken her camping at Lake Bronson. Had it been a werewolf lurking behind the outhouse on the moonlit summer night? Shed screamed so loudly, her father had thought shed been attacked by a bear. Hed laughed when shed told him what she thought it was.
Why did men always make her feel stupid for her beliefs? What was so wrong with having a healthy imagination? With not ruling anything out until it was proven otherwise?
Once back in town, she dropped off the car at the rental site because she didnt plan to drive anywhere else out of city limits. The city was very walkable, and she would take a taxi to the airport at the end of the week. The apartment rental had included a bicycle, but she shook her head as she studied the pink ten-speed. The park was only a half-hour jaunt across the river.
With her trusty DSLR camera on a strap around her neck and the camera bag slung over one shoulder, she headed down the sidewalk and toward the vast city park. Her faded red Vans got her most places comfortably. And her standard slim jeans and a loose but comfy faded pink T-shirt saw her through summer like a pro. The gray linen scarf shed slipped around her neck this morning hung out of her back jean pocket so it didnt get tangled in the camera strap.
Crossing a street, she held up her hand to the honking car and swished her long brown hair over a shoulder to cast the driver a thankful smile. He waved her off, a disgusted grimace clouding his face. Didnt he notice the gorgeous light on the horizon so swiftly slipping through the sky? Grump.
She quickened her steps. The park was not busy; maybe half a dozen people were scattered about, and a few of those were headed toward their cars. It was the supper hour. As she passed the swing sets, she had to laugh at the little girl getting a push from her dad. She screamed madly, but as soon as the swing made its returnfrom a mere two-foot lift into the airshe giggled.
Striding beyond the semiformal 4H gardens in which shed spent her high school summers volunteeringclipping, trimming, getting the hornbeam and roses ready for fallshe leaped over the final box hedge. In her peripheral view, she sighted a man walking to her left. No kids in tow. If he had any appreciation for shadows and light, he should be taking in the glimmer of sun setting just beyond the jagged silhouette of forest. He looked a bit older than her, but beyond that she didnt linger on his appearance.
Though she was twenty-nine, having kids was not on Kizzys radar. Shed not once heard her biological clock tick and wasnt worried about that, either. A husband might add a new angle to this adventure called life but wasnt necessary to her happiness. As long as he didnt mind her wanderlust and constant need to move, a man would fit into her life nicely. As a partner in adventure, but never as someone she needed to take care of and expect the same from in return.
And he should never laugh at her beliefs.
Kizzy had been off the market, as her mother liked to call it, for eight months. Call it a bad relationship. Call it dying on the operating-room table and having to have her heart massaged back to life. She hadnt been in the mood for dating. Sex? Always. But she wasnt sure she could trust a man beyond a one-night bootie call.
Kizzy had been off the market, as her mother liked to call it, for eight months. Call it a bad relationship. Call it dying on the operating-room table and having to have her heart massaged back to life. She hadnt been in the mood for dating. Sex? Always. But she wasnt sure she could trust a man beyond a one-night bootie call.
Unless of course they happened to look like Jared Padalecki or Jensen Ackles.
Shed once thought a man could complete her. Probably all women had that thought at some point in their lives. But thankfully her mother, merely by example, had proven to Kizzy that the best relationships are not needy or demanding but rather a shared experience that thrives thanks to the independence of one another. And never balks at the partners need to explore anything meaningful.
In Kizzys case, what felt meaningful to her was to travel. This trip to Minnesota had been a gift from her parents. Really, though, she much preferred traveling Europe. And who knew? Maybe shed grow richer in a few more years and could afford a trek to China or Australia.
It didnt matter where she landed on the map. Wanderlust had officially settled into Kizzys soul.
Maam?
She was pulled from her musings fifty feet from the forests edge by the man walking toward her. He wore one of those panama hats tilted jauntily over one eye. Canvas pants tucked into high-laced combat boots, and a plain short-sleeved T-shirt stretched over remarkable pecs. Though hed called out to her, his attention was riveted to something he held in his hand.
He looked mid-thirties. Dark hair swished to his shoulders. A beard and mustache framed his jaw and mouth. Whatever held his attention, he seemed to be using a guide for which direction to walk in. Perhaps doing a geocache, as her father loved to do. The city had a geocaching club.
He was probably harmless. Yet she wielded her camera as a shield before her chest. Can I help you? she asked.
Im not sure. He stopped ten feet from her and looked around, stretching his searching gaze for a long time across the playground area. Whatever he held in hand glinted with a beam of sunlight. She had probably guessed right about the geocaching. Could be tracking it with GPS on his phone.
Overhead, a dark shadow skimmed the sky, and she glanced above him. Those were some big birds.
Ah, shit, the man said. He tucked what he was holding into his pants pocket and turned to her. Panic brightened his blue eyes.
And Kizzy squinted to better sight the birds. They were bigger than vultures, which she rarely saw here in Minnesota. They looked...the size of dogs. Big dogs.
Seriously? What the hell are those?
Harpies, he said quickly and grabbed her by the arm. Into the woods. We can lose them there.
What? She struggled against his grasp, but hed managed to seize her wrist and tugged her across the mown lawn toward the line of pine trees. Im not going with you!
And how will you get away from them?
Away from them? She glanced up to the sky. Harpies? No way. Those were...mythical beings. And much as she believed
One of them dove toward her.
Suddenly lifted from the ground, Kizzy was tossed over the mans shoulder as he ran toward the woods.
She couldnt scream. She should but did not. A curious fascination overwhelmed fear. She reached for her camera, banging against the mans back, and tried to get a shot even as she was carried off by a stranger into the dark forest.
Chapter 2
What are they, really? Kizzy asked as the man set her down but wouldnt let go of her wrist. He tugged her into the thick brush and trees. Cockleburs brushed her ankles, and she wished she wore longer pants than the capri jeans. She put up a hand to block her face from stray branches that whipped into her face.
Harpies, he said. Come on!
Yes, thats what she thought hed said.
A harpie was a mythological creature. Half bird, half man or woman, or some such. She had read about them. Had even written a blog post about them, accompanied by a photo she had taken of a blurred raven high in the sky. Gray cloud streaks had remarkably thickened its body, granting her a photograph with just enough about which to speculate.
A half man, half bird? It didnt get much cooler than that.
Yet behind her, something screeched like her worst movie nightmare. So Kizzy forced herself to follow as her mysterious rescuer tugged her farther into the woods. The camera hung around her neck. Taking pictures could wait. Right now she needed to steer her guide out of the sticky, thorned stuff.
Dodging the bramble and brush the best she could, she called, There is a path to the left!
I see that. They are taking it.
Oh. Then go right!
Doesnt that lead back toward the park?
It did. And it would give her an opportunity to break from this guy and run for freedom. Because if it was a choice between harpies and some weirdo intent on luring her deeper into the forest, she wasnt sure which was better. She wasnt stupid. Nor would she allow fear to cloud her judgment. He looked safe enough, but what defined safe?
On the other hand. If they lured the creatures back toward the park, the children and their parents could be in danger. Had they seen the harpies? Had someone called the police? What could the police do but stare in wonder as she had?
The whisk of wings brushing overhead tree leaves set her heart to a thunderous pace. Her breaths gasped, not so much because she was exerting herselfpicking through the brush did slow their escapebut, okay, she was a little scared. The flying creatures were bigger than dogs. And there were three of them.
Their pace had slowed. She needed to pause and get a picture. Never before had she an opportunity like this. Those creatures were exactly what shed hoped to capture on film! And the light in the forest was perfect. The red/orange sun crisping around the edges of the tree canopy would define the wings for sure.
Having released her wrist, the man stalked five paces ahead of her, forging a path as he stomped fallen branches. Kizzy stopped and lifted the camera to her eye. Trying to focus through the tree trunks and thankful the zoom lens was still attached because she generally used a prime lens. She tracked one creature, snapping repeatedly. If she took a hundred shots she might end up with a handful of good ones.
What are you doing? They are after you! He tried to grab her wrist again, but she kicked toward his shin. He dodged swiftly, and she missed. Dont you understand?
What makes you think they are after me? I was doing fine, enjoying a nice stroll in the park, until you showed up!
Is that the way of it? He gestured with a splay of hands. Fend for yourself! He turned and loped off, tracking through the brush to the right.
And Kizzy saw the dark shadows trace the ground and felt the chilling sweep of wings overhead. She may be brave, but she wasnt stupid. I changed my mind!
Her day had morphed into an Alfred Hitchcock movie on testosterone. And she wasnt about to become bird food.
She stuffed the camera into the bag at her hip. Tramping over the loamy, leaf-covered forest floor, she stumbled on a fallen log and caught her hands against a wide tree trunk frosted with moss. While normally shed inhale the scents of nature, all she could smell was her anxiety.