Tears filled Salina Edison’s eyes as she looked at the image of her mother. When she raised her gaze to Deakes, her face was filled with equal parts hope and distrust.
‘This can’t be real,’ she said. ‘William told me our mother had drowned.’
‘He told me the same,’ Deakes said, ‘but his body language revealed he was lying.’
‘I don’t understand. Her clothes were found on the beach.’
‘When you…’ Deakes faltered. Thirty-odd years of living in a rational world railed against what he thought he had witnessed. Common sense told him he was mistaken, but both Andrea Buchannan and Salina herself discussed the matter as indisputable fact.
‘When you transformed at Park Heights,’ he said, ‘the clothes you were wearing were left behind. It seems only natural that your mother’s clothes would also be abandoned.’
Salina’s brow creased in confusion for a moment, then her eyes lit up and her jaw fell open.
‘Mum could change too?’
‘You didn’t know?’ Deakes asked, his expression mirroring Salina’s. He tapped the image on his phone. ‘Andrea told me your mother sent her to look for you. I think she may be wanting to reconnect.’
The smile that graced Salina’s face washed away the anguish and fatigue, allowing her youthful beauty to shine through. When she spoke, her voice was free of doubt.
‘We have to go to her.’
The following afternoon, in a picturesque village on the edge of the Yorkshire Moors, Deakes pulled up alongside Andrea’s car. She had swapped her Mercedes for a Land Rover with high wheels and a roof rack. Its mud streaked body told of the off-road action it had seen.
In the seat beside him, Salina gasped when she saw Andrea’s passenger. He barely had time to switch off the engine before she was out of the car and rushing into her mother’s embrace. Andrea gave them a respectful distance, motioning for Deakes to join her in her stroll around the car park.
‘I would say I’m surprised you found her,’ she said, ‘but I knew there was a steadfast perseverance in you. You’re one in a million, Jordan.’
‘No thanks to you,’ he said, referring to how she and Fletch had abandoned their search for Salina after she had absconded from Park Heights.
‘You think little of me, I get it,’ Andrea said. ‘But I made a judgement call which proved to be correct.’
‘You left Salina out there on her own.’ Deakes did not try to disguise the accusation in his voice.
‘I had faith in your abilities, Jordan. And I used my time to locate another… person in need of help.’
Deakes stopped and looked at her. ‘You mean there are more birdpeople?’
He had not witnessed Salina transform from a woman into a bird, he had only seen a raven rise from where logic dictated she should have been. The same logic told him that humans cannot transmute into animals, which meant the whole stunt must have been an elaborate plot to fool him.
But for what reason? There was no rational motive he could think of which would explain the subterfuge, a deception which included Salina’s brother and friends as well as whoever had winched her down to safety from the building’s edge and released the bird to take her place. Considering the planning required to pull off such a convoluted task, his old friend logic suggested a simpler explanation was more likely. Such as the existence of people who could turn into animals.
To avoid the trap of this circular thinking, Deakes contemplated suspending logic for the time being and accepting things at face value. Doing so would probably not make sense of the past day, but it would ease the headache which accompanied such fantastical notions.
‘They’re not all therianthropes,’ Andrea said. ‘But that’s a conversation we can have at another time. Right now, I should get Marianne and Salina back home.’ She began to head back to her car, then stopped and turned to Deakes. ‘I hope you’re coming with us.’
Andrea convinced Deakes to leave his car behind and join her in the front of the Land Rover. Salina and her mother sat in the back, chatting excitedly as they caught up. Deakes divided his attention between their conversation, keeping a wary eye on Andrea and studying the route should he need to return under his own steam.
After leaving Hutton-le-Hole, Andrea drove north into the bleak moors. The road cut a solitary line through the flat land. As far as the eye could see there was nothing but brown and green vegetation under white clouds.
‘This is God’s country,’ Deakes said.
‘It is,’ Andrea agreed. ‘Not the forgiving God of the New Testament, but the wrathful Almighty from the Old.’
Behind them, Marianne was explaining that the death of her husband had thrown her into a depression which she was still contending with. As her children were fully grown, she felt she no longer had a purpose in life. William, having never understood his mother’s ability, blamed her for his father’s death and had ejected her from his life. The depression made it easy for her to believe that Salina would feel the same, and so she had planned her escape. She left her clothes at Skipper’s Cove, became a raven and set forth into the world. Years later she met one of Andrea’s colleagues and gladly accepted a place at the ARC.
‘Is that where we’re going?’ Deakes asked Andrea.
‘Yes,’ she answered. ‘We’re about twenty minutes away.’
He looked around at the barren landscape. There were no farms, no telegraph posts, no telephone masts. He had not seen any sheep or cattle. Although he was not an expert on the area, he doubted there were any large lakes in the Moors and the nearest coast was more than an hour to the east.
‘Where are we going to find a boat in that time?’ he said.
Andrea issued a quick laugh. ‘Not ark with a kay’ she said. ‘It’s an acronym: a, are, sea.’
‘An acronym for what?’
‘Hold on,’ she said. She slowed the Land Rover, shifted it into offroad and veered onto the grassland to her left. She avoided the sparse shrubbery easily enough but the uneven ground had the four of them jostling in their seats despite the adequate suspension.
Salina and Marianne raised their voices to be heard over the clatter.
‘If I had known you had inherited my ability,’ Marianne said, ‘I would not have left you. As soon as I found out, I asked Andrea to find you and bring you to me.’
‘I thought it was just me, Mum. I thought I was a freak.’
‘It’s not just us, sweetheart. Not by a long chalk.’
With his hand pressed to the dashboard to steady himself, Deakes said, ‘You know I have little trust in you anyway. Driving us to the middle of nowhere is not helping your case.’
‘You’ll see soon enough,’ Andrea said, not taking her eyes from the way ahead. She pointed the car at a slight incline. The Land Rover made the climb with ease.
At the crest, the land before them fell away into a shallow valley. Deakes saw a sprawling complex of low buildings, many of which sported solar panels, as well as wooden structures which could have been barns or cottages.
Both Deakes and Salina were silent as they were driven into the valley. Andrea and Marianne remained quiet in reverence to their awe. Deakes was not sure if he was seeing a forgotten village or a secret government facility. The complex of grey stone had a utilitarian feel and four parked Land Rovers identical to the one they were currently in suggested this was an official area. Yet the few people milling around the outer laying buildings carried themselves with the casual ease of country folk.
Much to the relief of her passengers, Andrea joined one of the tarmacked roads which wound around the valley. Someone had carved a face into a boulder resting at the side of the road; long ears, huge eyes, thin nose and a mouth as wide as Deakes’s arm span. Whoever had made the art had been a skilled artisan for the eyes seemed to track the car as it approached.
Andrea wound down her window as they passed it and said, ‘Hi, Hunter.’
Deakes felt a surge of vertigo as the boulder wobbled. Half of his mind worried they were about to be crushed while the other saw a comically large head nodding.
The stone lips parted and a soft voice said, ‘Always a pleasure, Andie.’
Andrea pulled up next to the other vehicles, turned off the engine but left the keys in the ignition. They got out of the car, stretching and rubbing weary limbs.
To Marianne, Andrea said, ‘Why don’t you show Salina around? I’ll catch up with you both after I’ve spoken with Jordan.’ As mother and daughter wandered away, Andrea swept her arms to take in the area. ‘This is it Jordan. This is ARC. There are a lot of bad places in this world, but this is a safe space for all who choose to settle here.’
‘This is a commune,’ Deakes said. ‘I don’t understand why you’ve been so secretive about it.’
‘It’s much more than that. And I want you to join us.’ When Deakes shook his head, Andrea continued before he could speak. ‘Not to stay here. With your skillset, you’ll be better to us out in the world.’
‘I’m not brainwashing people to join your cult,’ Deakes said.
‘This is not a cult, it’s a refuge. You asked me earlier what ARC stood for.’
‘Andrea, Andrea!’
They both turned as a boy of about eight galloped towards them. Two short protuberances peaked out from his sandy hair and his knees bent forward as he ran. He sprang into Andrea’s open arms and laughed as she spun him around.
‘Pax, I’d like you to meet my friend, Jordan.’
‘Hello Mister Jordan,’ Pax trilled.
‘Hi,’ Deakes said. He noticed Pax’s feet and his heart went out to the boy.
‘You run along now, Pax,’ Andrea said. ‘I need to finish talking with Jordan.’ As she placed him down on his hooves, she added, ‘I’ll come and find my favourite satyr soon.’
‘This place isn’t for people,’ Deakes said after the goatboy scurried away.
‘You’re very astute,’ Andrea said. ‘One in a million like I said before. Jordan, welcome to the Asylum for Relocated Cryptids.’
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