Wolf Song |✅

Chapter 12

Over the next week, Zoë came to the scrapyard every day after school and someone helped show her the ropes. Luke expected that since Zoë was a 'seer', she might know a little something about defending herself, but the poor girl didn't know how to shoot, how to hold a knife, or even how to guard against spirits.

On the first day, Luke sat her down with some of the books from his grandmother's collection and started explaining to her the dif­ferent types of monsters there were. Of course, Zoë didn't seem to be in agreeance with so much reading, but Luke figured it was better to start with some of the boring stuff, and let her ease into the harder things. Like wading into a cold pool instead of jumping right in.

On the second day, Switch showed her the different websites they had where people posted stories about bizarre activity going on in their homes, and how he weeded out the attention grubbers from the real cases.

"What's CVPI?" Zoë asked.

"It stands for Central Valley Paranormal Investigators," Switch explained, "It's just a dumb anagram I threw together to make us sound legitimate. People send us information about what they're experiencing and we comb through it, looking for the real deal."

Luke watched Zoë cock her head to the side, "How do you tell the real ones from the fake?"

Switch smiled wryly, "When you've been doing this as long as we have, you start to get a certain intuition about this stuff."

On the third day, Farrell took her aside and showed her how carry a knife, and talked about the different types of ways to use it. "We'll show you how to fight with them soon," he assured her, "To be honest I think they're more useful than guns, as long as you're not afraid of close combat."

Zoë made a face as she looked at the hefty knife Damien had handed her and gulped audibly. Luke couldn't help but smile to himself as he watched on the sidelines, pretending to read. There was something adorable about her reactions.

On the fourth day Luke and Damien took Zoë to a shooting range just outside of town and showed her how to fire a pistol. He made her memorize each part of the gun before shooting. The poor girl couldn't stop shaking, and Luke had to help her steady her weapon before firing. There was something he found pleasantly intimate about showing a girl how to shoot. After an hour or so, she man­aged to fire without fear, and Damien took the reins in showing her how to improve her aim.

"The guns make me a little more uncomfortable than the knives," Zoë admitted on the drive home, "but I think I like being able to keep my distance."

Luke flashed her a half-smile in the rearview mirror on the way back to the scrapyard, "Well, for what it's worth, you've got poten­tial with both."

She blushed and punched him hard in the shoulder.

On the fifth day, Damien and Farrell were explaining why salt was so important and teaching Zoë how to compact it into buckshot when Switch approached Luke holding a grip of paper. He looked up from the book he was reading as the slender man stood before, him, silently waiting for Luke to give him his attention.

"We have a case," he said the moment Luke gave him eye contact and shoved the papers into his hand. Luke set his book aside and looked at the papers. At a glance they appeared to be the account of a family in Tulare who had been experiencing strange things in the house they had recently moved in to. But some of the other papers were photographs and newspaper articles about the house and a fire that erupted there in the fifties.

"What is this?" Luke asked as he started reading in better depth.

"Apparently the house has been turned over several times over the last few years," Switch explained, "No one who buys this place stays for very long. Supposedly there was a pretty brutal suicide in the fifties—a man named Simon Carter. I tried to find out more, but it looks like he didn't have any friends or family when it happened and public record doesn't have much from back then. Police re­ports are pretty vague and no one really knows why he did it."

Luke looked at an old looking photo of a building swathed in flames that licked the night sky and cracked the wood of the house. He narrowed his eyes, "Did he try to burn the house down before killing himself?" he asked.

"Supposedly he burnt himself alive inside the house," Switch said, "Nearly took the house with him, but they never found the body, just the ignition point and a pile of ash. The house was reno­vated soon after that, but every owner since has cleared out in less than a year."

Luke's eyes dashed over the page, his face growing hard as he read more. "All right," he said, "this bears looking into. We might have something."

Luke looked across the room at Zoë as she examined a shell she had just loaded. Damien had an approving look on his face as he nodded. Zoë smiled.

Luke narrowed his eyes, "I think we should take Zoë," he told Switch, "She might be able to see what's going on better than us, if these reports are legitimate."

"You think she's ready for that?" he asked, "It's only been a week."

Luke smirked, "She's had enough time to wade into the waters. Now it's time to go swimming."

Switch gave him a look that said he didn't understand Luke's analogy, but Luke ignored him. He stood and strode over to where Zoë sat with Damien and Farrell, still holding the pages Switch had given him. "How's it going?" he asked.

Zoë smiled up at him with excited pride, "I think I'm starting to get the hang of things," she said holding up the shell for him to examine. He was surprised that she'd been able to do it after be­ing shown only a few times, and smiled at the bandages wrapped around her fingers where she'd cut herself.

"Nice," he said, handing it back to her. "Ever seen a ghost?" he asked.

Zoë shrugged, "A few I guess. Mostly other stuff."

"Allright," he said and set the papers in front of her, "How about we take a littlefield trip?"