The Beast Tamer

seven

"I need you to tell me everything that happened that night, Marlow. I know it's hard, but it's the only way we can help you." Alexia brushed her hand against my shoulder, a small gesture of comfort. 

I pushed away my empty plate and stared up at the ceiling, fighting to find the right words. And then I turned back to Alexia and Len and started my story from the very beginning, when Eli and I arrived on our road trip to a Minnesotan town and decided to spend the week camping in the quiet, secluded forest there. It was fun, and mysterious, and an untouched sector of the Earth that we'd been searching for since we left home. Five days passed, unbothered by any of the strange stories of the townspeople, until two nights ago when it all went berserk. I recounted that night with a strangled voice, talking about the absurd silence in the trees and the hollowed cracks that felt like an earthquake of sound.

When I was done, Len and Alexia shared a silent look and then moved to the map filled with black smudges, hanging on the wall. "Where were you, when this happened?" Alexia asked, gesturing to the map.

Len answered instead, pointing to the small clearing that I'd shown him only hours earlier. Alexia dipped her finger into a pot of black mush and then pressed it to the clearing, her eyes solemn.

"The taint has extended that far?" She asked, raising her eyebrows at Len.

"That's what Marlow said. And the story – it all matches up with the disturbances we've been seeing." Len answered, chewing on his lip.

"Bones," Alexia whispered. "It's worse than we imagined."

I frowned as I listened to their hushed conversation. "What are you talking about?" I asked, feeding Milo a scrap of a vegetable from my plate.

Len turned back to me while Alexia continued to study the map, her arms crossed over her chest. "We've been having trouble with the same evil that took Eli. We didn't realize how widespread the problem was becoming."

"I thought you said you were safe here!" I swaddled myself in Eli's hoodie, surveying Len's eyes for the truth.

"Within the bounds of this camp, you are safe. We have people patrolling, at all times of the day, to keep everyone here safe, and wards to keep out the spirits. But outside...it's dangerous. I'm surprised you survived for so long," Len admitted.

Alexia looked away from the map at last, her eyebrows drawn and her lips pressed. She turned to me and Len, sitting on the ground in between us. For a few short seconds, she almost looked defeated, before her composure returned to normal.

"Are you guys going to tell me what's going on?" I asked, leaning forward in my chair. Len cast a sharp glance at Alexia before standing up to grab a box of small sticks from off the shelf. They looked like matches, but skinnier, and without the tip at the end. He whispered a few words in the air and then cupped one of his fingers around the stick, blowing onto it. When he took his hand away, a small fire lit the end of the stick. "What was that?" I sat up to watch Len as he walked around the room, lighting lanterns. My heart beat faster in my chest. Magic?

Ignoring my alarm, Alexia moved on. "There are spirits that live in these woods, Marlow. But lately they've been...turning on us." She paused, chewing on her bottom lip. I recognized the same tic in Len, as he wandered in a circle around the room to light the lamps. The soft glow of firelight soon filled the tent, the flickering flames casting moving shadows across Alexia's downtrodden expression. Beyond my notice, the sun outside had begun to fade into night, leaving only the soft glow of the lanterns to light up the camp.