A Feast of Apples and Cream
by IndigoNeko, LillyOppossum, and Cormenthor

Alexandrea Andreyev is © IndigoNeko
Azalea Winters is © LillyOppossum
Aengus Dowdy, Winter Creek, and Prairie Flats are © Cormenthor

WARNING: THIS STORY CONTAINS MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR ANYONE READING THE   ONGOING REVELATIONS NOVEL BY INDIGONEKO.

Thursday, October 29th, 2015

Alexandrea kicked a small rock in the middle of the path, watching it bounce off a tree root before disappearing into the underbrush. It was getting chilly, now that it was late in October, and hir orange and black-striped fur was puffed out in an attempt to keep hir warm. Almost Halloween...or Samhain, as some of the people around here called it. The Feast of the Dead. All Hallows Eve. It didn’t matter; shi wasn’t going trick or treating anyway. 

At least mom had said it would be okay for hir to fly out and stay with Lizzy for Christmas. Only another two months to go. Two months in which shi’d have to plaster a smile on hir face and pretend shi was happy. At least shi didn’t have to worry about getting bullied anymore; the kids down in Prairie Flats didn’t seem to give a damn what your gender was, as long as you didn’t act too weird. And it took a lot to stand out as weird. 

Alex continued to hike up the trail, one of many that the little tigress had found near the edge of the small neighborhood they’d moved into. A lot of the trails were simple walking trails, perfect for a morning jog, and only went out a little bit before returning somewhere else in the neighborhood. This one didn’t. It went straight up the south-eastern ridge, away from town. This was the third time shi’d followed it, and unless shi’d gotten lost, there was a service road about fifty feet further up.

By the time shi reached the service road, shi was panting slightly. The last few feet were up a fairly steep incline. Pulling up hir phone, she checked the time. 5:15. The sun would be going down in another hour, so...probably only another 20 minutes before shi had to head back. Shi glanced downhill...it probably led back to town. Nothing interesting there. Uphill though...it might lead to one of the old mines, or maybe a logging camp. That might be fun.

Only a few hundred feet further, the road split. The left path went uphill, and even from here shi could see a small house at the end...more of a shack than a house. An old, faded grey truck was parked in front, so beat up and rusted that it didn’t even look like it still ran. The right path was narrow and twisty, more of a trail than a road, and so overgrown that it probably hadn’t been cleared in twenty years. Perfect.

Ten minutes later, Alex’s legs were burning, and hir pants were covered in burrs. The only thing that stopped hir was the abrupt change in foliage...it was like someone had drawn a line on the ground. Everywhere behind hir were fir and pine trees, and everything in front of hir were tall, skinny aspen trees crowned with red and yellow leaves. Shi’d seen a few Aspen trees around but nothing quite like this. At least the trail was still easy enough to follow.

Just about the time that shi was thinking of turning back, the trees began to thin, opening upon a wide field, perhaps a couple hundred feet across, with a log cabin smack in the middle on a small hill. Or at least, it probably had been a log cabin sometime in the last century. A portion of the roof had collapsed, and what was left was covered in thick green moss. So were the front steps, or what remained of them. The rest of it was in varying states of decay, except for the stone chimney running up one side. It may have been covered in lichen and moss, but it was still standing tall.

A flicker of movement in one of the windows caught her eyes. A large black cat with a splotch of white on it’s chest sat on the sill, staring at hir. Shi was thinking about walking over when her phone buzzed in her pocket. Shi fished it out, glancing at the screen, then unlocked it and tapped out a quick reply. As if mom had to ask if Thai food was okay for dinner. Shi stuck the phone back in hir pocket, looking up again. The cat was gone though. Maybe next time shi came up here shi’d bring some milk or something.

=^.^=

Friday, October 30th, 2015

Friday passed even slower than normal; it seemed like even time itself was conspiring to keep hir from having fun. At least the last two periods were Graphics Design and Art, hir electives.

Alex walked into the art room, nostrils flaring at the ever-present smell of paint and turpentine, and sat down at hir usual spot next to Azalea. The malabar squirrel-jerboa hybrid was caught up in her work, like most of the time, and idly chewing on a pine needle.   Her large ears were twitching slightly and she had her tail wrapped around the legs of the chair, to keep it out of the way of the other kids. She had gotten a little weary about it getting stepped on or tripped over it, given how long it was. One paint-covered paw was picking up the next brush that she needed.

After taking out a box of colored pencils and another box of watercolors and setting them both on the desk, Alex tucked hir backpack under the desk. “Hey, Az,” shi whispered as shi sat down.

Smiling and nodding, “hey Alex, what’s up?”   She asked, green eyes locking back onto her painting.

“Is it just me, or is today taking forever?”, shi asked rhetorically. “I swear that Math class felt like it was three hours long. Social studies too.”

“No.”   She said shaking her head.   “All today had done is drag on….and pop quizzes, but I did manage   to not fall asleep in class for once.”

“Really? Did you have an espresso for lunch or something? It’s been all I can do to keep my eyes open. Oh, what’s Mrs. Stanton having us do today, do you know? Or did you just start randomly painting when you sat down?” she asked, pulling a thick sheet of paper out from the desk and setting it in front of hir.

“Na, just some coffee.”   She said with a little snicker.   “And as for the work, just have to do something themed with Halloween…..so I’m using it as an excuse to finish this.”   She said, referring to the painting of a house, sitting in the woods, almost like something out of a movie.

“Of course it’s Halloween themed,” Alex said rolling her eyes. “As if they’d have us do anything else the day before. Oh well. Oh! Do you know of any old abandoned cabins on the south side of Aspen Glen? I was exploring yesterday and found a service trail that went up into the hills a ways and found this nifty aspen glade with an old log cabin on a hill. The roof had mostly collapsed and the whole thing was covered in moss and stuff.”

“Awww, not a fan of Halloween?”   She said with a snicker.   “I like all the horror and all that happens around this time.”   Azalea said pausing a moment to think.   “I think I know the one that you’re talking about.   I have been to a few of them exploring.”

“The roof on this one was collapsed in the middle, and the left side of the front porch was drooping pretty badly, like it’s about to fall. I was thinking of checking it out, but I’m afraid the whole thing might collapse.”

“Wuss.”   She said leaning over a little.   “I’ll go up there and help you look around…..at least that way if something happens we have a safe way out and all.   It’s not like I have anything better to do.”

Alex looked a bit surprised. “For real? Like...today after school?”

“Sure.   Like I said, I have nothing better to do.   Just need to change clothes….I have some more suitable clothes in my locker.”

Alex’s mouth twisted slightly as shi thought a moment. “I don’t. Want to just meet up at my house after school then, and head up there? I can ask mom to make extra for dinner, if you want to eat with us when we get back from exploring.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”   She said smiling.   “I have been wanting to go out into the woods and look for stuff to paint.   So yeah, I’ll just meet you after school.”

“Awesome. Now I just need to figure out what to draw…” Alex said, sighing. After a moment, shi slid open the box of colored pencils, pulling out an orange colored pencil.

=^.^=

Alex quickly shucked her blazer, fumbling with the ribbon tie for a moment before tossing it on the bed. It didn’t take hir long to change out of the blouse and slacks and put on hir usual black capris and a pale blue babydoll tee. Shi threw on a black cropped jacket as shi was heading down the stairs, and was putting on hir sneakers as the doorbell rang. Alex yanked open the door.

“Knock knock.” Azalea said as she stood at the door.   She had changed into a long sleeve shirt that looked a size or two too big for her, and a pair of blue jeans. Her hair was pulled back into a lazy pony tail, and had a backpack slung over her shoulder.   “Ready for our trip?”

Alex checked hir pockets to make sure shi had hir phone with hir. Shi was about to step out the door when shi stopped and turned around. “Oh, right...MOM?!” shi yelled down the hallway.

A voice echoed back from the living room. “Yes, love?”

“Is it alright if Azalea joins us for dinner?”

“Yes, dear. I was going to make chinese food, if that’s okay. Dumplings, fried rice, and vegetable stir fry.”

Alex turned back around. “That okay with you?”

“Sounds tasty to me.”   She said smiling.   “It gives me an excuse to not have to cook tonight…..sis can do it this time.”

“SOUNDS GOOD!” shi yelled back. “Okay then. Oh! Wait, just remembered...Hold on a sec.” Alex said, turning back around and darting into the kitchen just past the foyer. The sound of the refrigerator opening and closing could be heard...and again a few moments later. Alex reappeared with a small plastic container halfway full of milk. “Now we’re ready,” shi said, stepping outside and pulling out hir keys.

“Milk?”   Azalea said tilting her head a little as they started walking.   “Offering for safe travels or something like that?”   She asked half jokingly.

“I saw a cat up at the cabin when I was there last night. I was thinking maybe if I put some milk out it might let me get close enough to pet it. Besides, pretty sure there’s not much to eat up there except mice and rabbits.”

“Cats are nice….but they can be little butts….at least mine is.”   She said snickering.   “And...rabbit is pretty good if cooked right.”   She said as she looked around the area, still being a little new to it.

Alex led the way through the suburb to the southeastern edge, where the street came to an abrupt end. To the left was a dirt trail that went up the gentle slope of the hill that marked the end of the Aspen Glen suburbs. “So...this trail goes up to the service road. Dunno if there’s a name for it or not, but there’s a house near the end of the service road, and another trail that goes further up into the mountains.”

“There’s bound to be a name to it.”   She said looking around, taking in all the sights.   “I knew I should have brought the map.”   Azalea said with a little snicker.   “Onward to adventure.”   She said as she started walking down the path.

“Not sure I’d call this an adventure. There’s no pirates, or ninjas, or fire-breathing dragons. Though there is a pretty cool looking juniper tree further up. Reminded me of a dryad...actually, there it is,” the tiger-cub said, pointing it out. “See? Two arms, and a sort of head thing, and the way the trunk is twisted it looks like legs.”

“You’re a little bit of a nerd.”   She said as she looked at the tree, tilting her head a little.     “Not that it’s a bad thing.”   The hybrid said as she took a small digital camera from her pocket and snapped a few photos.   “You read a lot?   Or game?”

“Not really. Blame my dad; he loves that stuff. I guess it kind of rubbed off. When you’ve watched the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies multiple times, it’s kind of hard not to see orcs and ents and dragons hiding in the trees. And don’t even get me started on Star Wars.”

“Yup….Nerd.”   She said with a snicker.   “I really can’t say anything….I’m walking through one of the forests of Ascalon.   I have never been one for Star Wars, little too….spacey   for me...I just couldn’t get into it.”

“Meh. I like it, but then...I saw it the first time when I was like six or seven. Anyway...we should be coming up on the service road here in a bit. Watch out for that root,” Alex said, pointing down.

For a few moments, the two of them were silent as the slope became substantially steeper for the last twenty feet or so. At the end, they came out at the dirt service road that Alex had found the day before. The tigress didn’t stop, immediately turning right and heading further uphill following the service road.

The two of them continued up the service road until they reached the driveway of the house at the end, and the overgrown trail Alex had taken the day before up to the old log cabin. Alex stopped, leaning against a rusted metal fence pole that marked the end of the service path. “Any idea whose house that is?”, shi asked, pointing up at the shack at the end of the driveway.

“None at all, I didn’t think that people lived this far out into the woods.”   The hybrid said, pulling out the camera and snapping a few more photos.   “I bet that the library would have some kind of info on all this….or city hall.”   She said turning and facing the tiger cub.   “Looks like we have a mystery on our paws.”

A few moments later, a light went on in the lower level, and the two of them could see the silhouette of someone walking around inside.

“Well, it’s not empty. Kind of weird though, living all alone up here.” Alex shrugged. “Anyway, the cabin was back up this way. It’s a decent hike, probably twenty minutes or so. Oh, and you’ll love the grove itself. It’s like someone drew a line on the ground, and everything past the line is all aspen trees.”

“Spooky.”   Azalea said as they started walking.   “Aspen trees are nice, but I still like my pine trees.”   She said happily, “Though there are some out here that I would love to climb.”

“Yea. I love pine trees. Especially in the snow. There’s something about the smell of pine and snow that’s...I dunno...I love it. I can’t wait to go snowboarding this year,” Alex said as they trudged through the dense underbrush. 

“I’m not breaking a bone this year….Being laid up in bed for weeks isn’t all that fun.   Not being able to paint or game….yeah that sucked.”   She said as she followed closely behind the tigress.   “I’m going to be picking twigs out of my tail for days.”

“Oh shoot...I forgot this path has burrs,” shi said, looking down. The fur of hir lower legs was already covered in tiny green balls. “Dangit! I shouldn’t have worn capris,” shi said angrily.

“Wooooo grooming party.”   She said with a little giggle.   “Don’t worry, they're not to hard to get out…..just got to make sure they don’t get stuck to the other person….and you don’t have this big thing.”   She said lifting her tail a little higher, showing off the long bushy tail.   “This thing is a blessing and a curse.”

Alex glanced back, and giggled. “There’s twigs in it already. Oh well. I’ll brush it out when we get back home. No worries.”

“Sounds like a party…..though I have to warn you...getting brushed kinda melts me.”   She said blushing a little bit.   “And I snore a little.”

“Well, it is a Friday...umm….did you want to spend the night?” Alex asked, hesitantly. Shi hadn’t invited Azalea to spend the night before, and wasn’t sure if she would find it weird or something. “I used to have sleepovers with my friend in Oregon every weekend.”

“That sounds like it would be a blast.”   She said patting her pocket before reaching into it.   “I’m sure mom wouldn’t mind.”   She said tapping at the screen.   “We can do all the fun stuff.   Hair, fur, bad movies.”

Alex smiled. “I don’t know if we even have any bad movies. Dad’s....umm….kind of a big movie buff, but he can’t stand bad movies. We do have some classics though, like Princess Bride. And Monty Python. Tons of other stuff as well.”

“Ooooh good movies make it better.”   She said smiling.   “It’s been ages since I’ve seen Princess Bride.”   Azalea said nodding, “and on a side note, all this hiking and all is good for my legs...gonna rule at soccer and all that.”

“Definitely,” Alex said with a grin. Shi was starting to pant with exertion. This path was much steeper than most of the trails she’d been on   in town. 

“Come on...you can do it.”   Azalea said with a snicker.   “Oh who am I kidding….This is a little rough.”   She said taking a deep breath.   “Is it close yet?”

“Nope,” Alex said with a grin, picking up the pace a bit. “Another ten minutes or so until we reach the birch trees, and another five to the cabin.”

“I feel like a cub.   Are we there yet?   Are we there yet?”   She said with a little snicker.   “And at least it’s nice out….so many things that I want to paint.”

Alex laughed. “Yep”

=^.^=

Alex stopped in the middle of the path. “Look,” she said, pointing up ahead of them. The pine trees came to an abrupt end, replaced with aspen trees crowned with vibrant golds and reds, in stark contrast to the washed out greens of the trees they’d been walking past for the last ten minutes.

“I love the fall colors.”   Azalea said as she looked around at all of the aspen trees.   “If only I could get colors like this in my paint.”   She said as she pulled the camera out of her pocket and started snapping a few photos.   “I can’t wait to see this cabin, it’s got to stand out with all the trees around it.”

“There weren’t any trees around the cabin itself, sadly. It’s sitting on a hill in the middle of a clearing. Still, it’s pretty neat,” shi said, taking out hir phone and snapping a few pictures of hir own.

“Oh well, I bet that it will make a good painting….I might have to come out here with my canvas and stuff…..Then again I don’t think that it would be all that fun draging all of that stuff out here.”   She said with a little huff.

“Yeah. I don’t even have an easel to use.   I don’t like painting enough to bother getting one. I might bring a sketchpad and pencils though,” shi said, putting hir phone back in hir pocket and continuing up the trail. “We’ve got another five minutes or so to the cabin, I think.”

“I can’t sketch to save my life for some reason.”   The hybrid said shrugging a little, “I think that I have a spare easel some place at the house if you want, and I can give you some pointers and stuff...painting isn’t too hard to learn….just time consuming and messy.”   She said looking down at her paws, little splashes of paint staining her paw pads.

Alex shrugged. “Meh. I’m okay with drawing. I’m getting better, I think. Mrs. Stanton’s been giving me a lot of tips,” shi said, panting a little as the trail got a bit steeper once they were in among the dense aspen trees.

“You are really good with thouse pencils of yours”   She said smiling nodding.   “Ok I think we should take a little break once we get there.”   Azalea said nodding a little.

The two of them continued up the narrow trail, walking beneath the thick gold and red foliage. Neither of them noticed when the sounds of birds chirping faded behind them, accompanied as they were by the rustle of the trees in the wind and the crunch of dead leaves beneath their shoes. Several minutes later the two of them stumbled out of the trees, standing at the edge of the wide clearing that Alex had found the previous evening. The house stood in middle of the clearing atop a small hill, just as shi remembered. There was just one thing different: an apple tree stood next to the house. It’s leaves were bright yellow, matching some of the aspen trees that surrounded the grove. Surprisingly, bright red apples hung on it, ripe for the picking.

“Huh…I don’t remember an apple tree,” Alex said, a shiver running down hir spine.

“Maybe you just overlooked it?”   Azalea said as she started walking up to it, stopping about halfway to it, to take a few photos of it and the cabin.   “It looks like a nice spot to rest for a moment.”

Alex didn’t say anything, following the squirrel-jerboa hybrid as they walked up to the house. The fur on the back of hir neck was standing on end. Something definitely wasn’t right, but shi didn’t want to say anything that might give reason to doubt hir courage. Shi stared up at the cabin itself, looking for the cat that shi’d seen last time. Just as shi remembered, the remains of the roof was covered in thick green moss, and the roof over the front porch looked to be on the verge of collapse. As they approached, shi noticed that the stairs going up to the porch were almost rotted through; they’d have to be careful if they went up them. At this point shi wasn’t even sure shi wanted to. The last thing shi wanted was to break hir leg for the second time this year.

“You weren't kidding about this place being on the edge of falling over.”   Azalea said as she stopped at the tree, looking up at the branches.   “You want an apple?”   She asked before skillfully starting to shimmy up the tree.

“Umm...sure, I guess,” Alex said, only half paying attention. Shi was inspecting the house, standing a few feet from the front stairs. “Huh. Looks like someone busted down the front door at some point. The inside doesn’t look too bad. Just water damage from the hole in the roof.”

Climbing down and holding out an apple.   “Someone could have broken in to loot the place after the owner’s left.   Can you tell if it was kicked in, or out?”   She asked taking a bite out of the apple that she had for herself.

“Definitely kicked in,” shi said, accepting the offered apple and taking a bite. It was surprisingly sweet and delicious. “Oh, right,” she exclaimed, taking the small plastic container out of hir jacket. “I don’t see the cat...it might be inside though. Or hiding from us,” shi added, taking another bite of the apple.

“We can step in and look around.”   Azalea said as she stepped up to the door, having to nearly hop up onto the patio to get past the one or two rotten steps.   “This place screams twisted ankle.”   She said as she looked at the door, nudging it.   “It looks mostly sturdy inside.”

Alex hopped up onto the patio as well, standing next to Azalea as the door creaked loudly, swinging open a few more inches. Motes of dust and pollen danced through the air, lit by the evening sunlight coming from the west. The cabin itself was one wide, open room. Broken and rotten furniture littered room, and a huge circle of moss covered the middle of the room directly under the hole in the roof. Big, white and red mushrooms dotted the edge of the circle. “Yeah, it looks sturdy,” shi said, tapping the floorboards with one foot. Before shi forgot, she popped open the little tupperware container and set it down on the patio next to the front door. Then shi stepped inside, glancing around.

“Well that’s something that you don’t see often.”   Azalea said as she stepped into the room and to the side, letting her friend in.   “It looks like this place has been empty for a while.”   She said glancing around, looking for anything that might point to the old owners.

Alex walked over to the stone fireplace to one side, making hir way between broken tables and chairs. “Looks like whoever they were, they’re long gone now. This place doesn’t look like anyone’s lived here for half a century at least. Maybe more.” Noticing something on the fireplace mantle, shi reached up and took down a metal fork, brown with rust. “Ever seen a fork with only two prongs?”

“It looks like a tuning fork.”   The hybrid said as she walked over to get a closer looks.   “Looks like the on my music teacher used back in the day…...try tapping it on the table.”

Walking over to the side of the table that was still upright, Alex tapped one prong on a board that didn’t look like it was crumbling. The tine snapped off, bouncing down the table and falling into a crack in the floorboards. “Well, that didn’t work,” shi said, setting the broken utensil down. Shi sighed, looking around, and stepped over to the circle of moss, kneeling down to look at some of the mushrooms around the edge. “Hey, check these out. They’ve got some kind of red goo on them. Almost looks like blood. Or strawberry syrup.”

“Well then….that might have been a busted fork.”   She said walking up and pulling out her camera.   “These things are kinda of gross looking…..and neat.”   She said taking several photos.   “I will call them….zombie shrooms.”

Laughing, Alex leaning down to inspect the strange mushrooms. “Never seen anything like these before. Weirdest mushrooms ever. I’m guessing they’re not edible.” After a moment, shi stood up, then stepped over, onto the moss. Shi pressed down, testing hir weight, then stepped over the ring of mushrooms and into the circle of dense, green moss. A moment later, the floor beneath hir gave a loud groaning noise, and suddenly the floorboards gave way beneath hir.

Alex screamed as shi fell through the floor in a shower or rotted wood and moss, down into some kind of pit, deeper than either of the two girls could have expected. Hir scream lasted longer than expected, then was abruptly silenced as shi landed on hir back on hard ground, many feet below. 

“Hey, you ok down there?   All five of your extremities attached and all?”   The squirrel asked carefully peering over the edge of the hole.   “Looks like a basement.”

The little tigress lay sprawled on hir back amidst a pile of decaying wood and moss, clearly unconscious, and barely visible despite the illumination of the evening sky above them through the hole in the roof. Shi’d fallen into some kind of dirt cellar underneath the house.

“Well then….This is something out of a B-horror movie.”   Azalea said standing up.   “You just stay there.”   She said to Alex, not even sure why she said it.   The hybrid turned and made her way out of the house, the moment that her foot paw hit solid dirt she started sprinting off back to the path, making her way back to the shack at the end of the service road.

=^.^=

Alex woke up a few moments later, staring up through the hole in the floor and roof. The cloud floating by overhead looked vaguely like a big fluffy white polar bear. Shi blinked, wondering what had happened, and looked around. Shi was in some kind of dirt cellar underneath the house. Several large heater trunks and barrels lined the walls, and nets filled with onions, apples, cheeses, other food hung from the rafters. A staircase went up one side, ending at some kind of trap door in the floor above.

Blinking, Alex stood up and brushed some of the debris off of hir jacket. As shi did, the sound of brief laughter echoed from above. After a few moments it was followed by several loud coughs. Alex brushed some of hir hair back, still wondering if it had been a good idea to let it start growing out. Mom was though, and Alex figured shi would give it a try as well.

The stairs down here were in much, much better shape than the rest of the house; still sound as the day they’d been made. Alex made hir way up, stopping at the trap door and giving it a good push. The door swing up, hanging for a moment before falling back the other way with a loud bang. Sticking hir head up, shi glanced around, looking for hir friend Azalea. What shi saw made hir wonder if shi was dreaming.

The furniture in the house had somehow miraculously been restored, and hand-woven rugs covered the floor and hung from the wall around the cabin. A fire burned in the fireplace and a pair of young whitetail deer sat at the table, staring at hir with big, brown eyes. The nearest of them had a five-point rack of antlers atop his head.

“How’d you get in here?” The boy asked nervously, picking up a small knife from the table and standing up to face hir. After a second he raised one hand to his mouth and coughed a few times with a harsh, wet sound.

Alex raised an eyebrow, staring at them from the stairwell. Shi’d never actually seen someone dressed in trousers and suspenders in hir entire life. And the girl on the other side of the table was wearing a floor-length dress and a bonnet. The two of them looked like characters from The Adventures of Huck Finn, or something. “Uhh...I fell. Through the floor,” shi said in confusion. The floor in the middle of the cabin was empty except for a large round rug.

Neither of the two cervines looked like they believed hir. After a few seconds, the girl pulled a handkerchief out of a pocket in her apron and blew her nose into it. 

“Look, I’m sorry,” Alex said, looking at the buck with the knife. “If you don’t mind, I’ll...um...just let myself out.”

“Good luck with that,” the doe in the bonnet said. “It’s snowing.”

A moment later, the girl broke down into a coughing fit, doubled over. After a moment the boy set the knife down and went over to help her, slapping her on the back a few times until the coughing fits came to an end.

Surely enough, it was definitely snowing outside, from what Alex could see through the thick, wavy glass that lined the windows around the cabin.

“Look,” the girl said, “You can wait here if you want to wait until it stops snowing. We’ve got plenty of apples. The apple tree finally started producing this year. Good thing we picked them all before this snowstorm blew in.”

The boy eyed hir suspiciously, but nodded. “Yup. You can have a few if you’re hungry. Father should be home sometime soon. He’s gone to town to get some medicine.”

Alex stepped up the last few stairs, looking around for a moment before walking over to the table. “Are you two alright? You sound sick.”

“We’ll be fine as soon as father gets back, I’m sure,” the boy said, trying to sound confident. His look of confidence faltered as he tried to hold back a cough, and failed, falling into yet another coughing fit.

Alex wasn’t so sure; the fur on their foreheads was matted with sweat, and the two of them looked like they should be in bed...or a hospital. Still, shi had nowhere to go, if it was snowing outside. So shi sat down at the table and took one of the bright red apples from the bowl in the middle, next to a saucer of cream. It looked just like the one shi’d eaten earlier.

“I would-nay eat that, an I were ye,” said someone with a thick irish accent.

Alex’s head jerked, staring at the fireplace. Shi hadn’t seen anyone else in the room. For that matter, there still wasn’t anyone else in the room. However, there was a feral black cat sitting on a small rug in front of the fire, licking it’s paws.

The cat looked up at hir. “Might give ye a rather nasty belly-ache.”

Alex jumped, startled to find that the cat was a throwback; a sentient non-anthro. They were extremely rare. Almost as rare as brutes. Mentally handicapped, she mentally corrected. Calling someone a brute was terribly rude. 

“Umm...Why?” shi asked, glancing at the apple and setting it back on the table.

“‘Tis sommat complicated. Suffice to say that when ye awake, that apple ‘twill still be in yer belly, but ‘twill be a hundred years older. I do nay know exactly what ‘twould ‘appen, but I be pretty sure ‘twouldn’t be good for ye.”

Alex raised one eyebrow, looking quizzically at the tiny black cat sitting on the floor. “Huh? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Probably not, but since ye put out some milk for me, I do feel sommat obliged to keep ye from doing anything else stupid, and eating that apple ‘twould be monumentally stupid. Has nay anyone told ye not to eat faerie food before?”

“Uhhh...yes, now that I think about it. But faeries aren’t real.”

“Riiiiiight,” The cat drawled. “So that ‘twould make me a figment of yer imagination. Just like those two corpses sitting next to ye,” the cat said, pointing with one tiny paw.

Wondering why the cat had called the two deer ‘corpses’, Alex glanced back around...and let out a blood-curdling scream. Both of the cervines sitting at the table next to her were nothing but skeletons dressed in tattered clothing. The tiger cub panicked and threw herself back from the table, landing on the floor and scrambling away. Both the two deers’ skulls tracked her movement, watching as shi crawled into the corner. Shi stared at the two skeletons, but the two of them didn’t do...or say...anything. After a moment, the buck’s head swivelled back around, and then one bony hand reached out to pick the apple up off the table.

Alex watched in horrified fascination as the deer’s lower jaw opened and took a bite out of the apple. Juice ran down the skeleton’s chin, dripping on the tattered remnants of a shirt that it was wearing.

“They’re not really corpses. At least not here. They’re corpses in the mortal realm though. Here...well...ye might call them my guests. They never left milk out for me, so when their souls were set to depart from this mortal coil, I invited them to keep me company. A cat has needs, ye know. Something soft and warm to sleep on, a person to be petted by, and a bit of milk every now and then.”

After explaining, the cat sitting by the fireplace went back to grooming itself, licking one paw and rubbing it across the side of it’s head. 

“And where exactly is ‘here’?”, Alex asked, still weirded out by the fact that there were a pair of skeletons sitting at the table across the room.

“The Underhill. I’d have thought ye’d have figured that out, seeing as ye were the one who stepped into the faerie ring in the first place. And on the day before Samhain Sabbath, no less. Are ye completely daft?”

There didn’t seem to be any good reply to that. Even if there were, Alex was distracted when the cervine skeleton wearing a dress stood up and walked over to a rocking chair by the fire and sat down. Almost immediately, the black cat walked over and hopped up onto it’s lap and curled up. The skeleton raised on bony hand and ran it across the cat’s side, petting it.

There was something decidedly creepy about watching a skeleton pet a cat, Alex decided. At least the fur on the back of hir neck was starting to lie back down. 

“Any other questions with obvious answers ye wish to ask, oh oblivious one?”

Alex pondered the situation for a moment. Everything sort of made sense. Except for the fact that it was snowing outside. “Why’s it snowing?”

“Because that’s the way these two remember it, the night they died. I wanted to keep things a bit homey for them. After all, they’re going to be here for the rest of eternity.”

A shiver went down hir spine. Something about the way it said ‘eternity’ somehow managed to encompass everything from the birth of the first star in the sky to the moment that the last of them flickered and went out, leaving the universe cold, dark, and empty.

Somehow the thought of these two poor cubs, trapped in a one-room cabin, coughing and sweating, caught in the depths of a fever for the rest of eternity was horrifying. Alex gaped at the casual cruelty the cat’s words implied.

“Forever? Isn’t that somewhat...cruel?”

“And what, exactly, be cruel about it? They ‘twill be forever blesséd by my presence. I can nay imagine a more pleasant afterlife. Tír na nÓg ‘twould surely be boring in compare.”

The sheer unadulterated egotism in the cat's words let hir speechless for a moment. For a moment Alex was overcome by rage and sorrow when shi realized how utterly pointless it would be to try and convince the cat to let the two poor souls go. Nobody deserved a fate like that.

“Now, if ye don’t mind, oh oblivious one, I am going to doze for a bit. I suggest ye do the same,” the cat said, lifting a paw in the direction of a trio of beds along the far wall. “Yer friend will be coming to rescue ye shortly, and I cannay promise ye’ll awaken again in the mortal world if ye’re nay asleep here in my cnoc. On the other paw, if ye wish to join these two for the rest of eternity, ye’re more than welcome. The more, the merrier they say.”

Something about the way the cat said it caused the hair on the back of Alex’s neck to rise again. Shi was absolutely certain that if shi wasn’t asleep in a few moments, shi’d never awaken again from this nightmare. 

Suddenly more afraid than shi had been when the two deer had turned to bones, Alex scrambled for hir feet and pelted across the room. Yanking back the covers on the nearest bed, shi threw herself down on it and drew the covers up, laying hir head upon the soft down-filled pillow. The only question now was: how did one fall asleep while your heart was pounding in sheer terror?

=^.^=

“Who the hell is bothering me at this hour?” the old badger loudly grumbled as he made his way through the darkened hallway. “Better have a damn good reason is all I can say,” jerking the door open to find a youngster standing at his door.

“Me and a friend need help, is that good enough?”   The hybrid asked with a little huff.   “She fell down and she’s out like a light.”

Leaning forward and glaring at the young cub standing on his porch Aengus Dowdy furrowed his brow. “An that has exactly what ta do with me?”

“Well I need someone to help me get her out of the hole in the floor that she fell through.”   The hybrid said looking up to the badger.   “We were looking around the old cabin up the path and she fell through the floor and got knocked out…..I know that honey badgers don’t give a shit most all of the time, but I need you to just this once.”

“The old cabin up the path…” he asked, his eyes widening slightly. “Are ye and yer friend completely daft? No one goes near the place, haven’t in years. What in the name of the almighty were two cubs doin out galavantin around in these woods near dark in the first place?”

“Well it wasn’t dark when we started.   And we wanted to get a look at the old cabin that she found when she was hiking and all that.   Come up here, take a few photos of things to paint later….you know...kill a friday afternoon.”

“Or get yer damn fool selves hurt or worse tramping around on other people's property. Get off my porch,” he added backing away and starting to close the door.

“Well the getting hurt parts already happened, I’m trying to keep it from getting worse.”   She said lightly stomping a paw.   “Just help me get her out of the hole and you can go back to being a boring old fart…..or would you rather the news and all that know that I came to get help and you didn’t do anything about it….young girl dead cause old fart wouldn’t help, tonight at nine.”   She said glaring up at the badger.

“Look here missy,” Aengus nearly shouted, quickly checking himself and glaring at the cub. After a momentary pause he asked, “If I do, will it get you and your friend out of my fur and the hell off my property?”

“Yes….Just help me get my friend out of the hole and we will get out of your hair…...or lack there of…..and we need some water or something to wake her up….”   Az said nearly snickering at the joke.

“Fine, let me get my coat, and a few things to help get your friend out of a hole and we’ll go and get her. Go and wait in my truck out there,” the old badger said pointing to the old rusted vehicle parked in the driveway. “An do na be fiddlin with anythin either.”

“Yes sir.”   She said heading off to the truck rolling her eyes.   With a little huff she climbed into the truck, taking a moment to look around the interior as she waited for the badger.   “Come on slow poke….”   She muttered to herself.

A few minutes later Aengus shuffled out the front door, stopping to lock it and check to be certain that it was secured before going to his truck. “Damn fool cubs, sticking their muzzles inta places they don’t belong,” he grumbled, eyeing the young hybrid as he drew closer to the old truck. Setting the old, heavily worn military pack in the bed of the truck he glanced to the sky. “Saint Patrick help me, dunna let anythin bad happen to this lasses fool friend,” he muttered before opening the door and hoisting himself into the seat. “Alright lass, let’s go an see about your friend, then ye both can get out of my fur and leave me be.”

“Awww.   And you were just starting to grow on me.”   She said with a little snicker.   “But really, in all seriousness.   Thank you for the help.”   She said smiling at the old badger.

“Thank me when we get your friend out of that cabin safely lassy, Neither of you had any business trodding inta such a place,” the old badger said, his tone suddenly less gruff and more concerned.

“I’m sure that she is ok….I bet that she’s up and trying to get out of the hole now.”   She said as the two took off down the old road, the truck rocking and shaking as it went over the uneven terrain.

The trip was much shorter than it had been for the cubs hiking along the old trail. Even more so with the badger in a seeming hurry to get to the old rotted building. Asalia had more than once clutched at the seat and dash as he drove between trees that were barely separated enough for the old truck to pass between. “Damn it,” he growled as the old Ford slip to an abrupt halt barely inches from two large Aspens too close together for him to get between. 

He flung open his door and bolted from the truck the instant it stopped moving, grabbing the old pack from the trucks bed and tossing it into his seat. Rummaging through it as he spoke he said, “we’ll have ta hoof it from here. Take this,” he added, thrusting an old army issue canteen at the jerboa hybrid, “and go ahead of me. If your friend isn’t out of that hole already you may need that to try to wake her up. I’ll be right behind you as fast as these old paws will take me.”

“Ok.”   Az managed to squeak out as she took the canteen, rushing off ahead of the badger to check on her friend and wake her up if she needed to.   “Come on Alex….be up and ok and all that.”   She muttered as she ran up to the building, nearly tripping over the root of a stump that she could have swore was a tree, not giving it much thought as she had something bigger to deal with.

=^.^=

“You still alive down there?”   Azalea asked as she poured the water from the canteen down the hole and onto the unconscious tiger.   “I got help.”

Alex sputtered as water splashed onto hir face, rolling over and coughing. “What? Ow, my head,” shi added, sitting up clutching hir forehead. “What happened?”

“You stepped into the ring of zombie shrooms and fell down into the pit.”   She said peering down into the hole.   “You ok?”

“I...I think so...I think I hit my head. I’ve got a really bad headache,” shi said, massaging hir temples. For a moment shi wondered if shi’d imagined everything. It had felt so real.

“Just don’t go to sleep or anything….we might need to get your mom to take you to the ER or something.”   She said looking back as the old badger walked in.   “She’s down here.”

“Saints preserve us,” the old badger muttered to himself s he drew near the hole the young cub was kneeling beside. Looking over the edge as he peered into the gloomy pit he said “Oy, are ye alright down there missy?”

“Uhh...I think so,” the little tiger said, looking up through the ragged hole in the floor above. “Who are you?”

“An old man being kept from his supper by a couple of cubs wandering where they have no business ta be is who I am,” Aengus said tersely. “The sooner you’re out of that hole and we’re out of this place the better too.” As he slipped the army pack from his shoulder he asked, “if I toss ya down a line can ya tie it around yourself so as ya don’t slip out and bump yer head again?”

“Yeah...I think so…but…” Alex paused, looking around. “Wouldn’t it be easier just to go up the stairs?”

“If ya think they’ll hold ya then get your tail outta there lassy, we need to not be here as fast as we can,” he said with a stern, yet worried look on his face.

Alex nodded, and rolled over, pushing hirself to hir feet. Shi stumbled a moment, then caught hirself. “Ow...,” shi muttered. Looking around a bit, shi spotted the stairs that shi’d seen in hir dream. It was far too dark to make anything else out, and shi pulled hir phone from the pocket of hir jacket, activating the flashlight. 

Strands of long-decayed string and rope hung from the rafters, and there were moldy barrels and wooden boxes around the walls. The stairs along the far wall looked like they would crumble at the slightest touch. “I’m not sure this is going to hold me, but I’ll give it a try…” Alex said, turning and glancing up at the two faces visible through the hole in the floor. “Can you see if you can get the door open? It’s over there.” Shi said, pointing.

“Aye, we’ll see what we can do with it, come give me a hand,” the old badger said turning to the hybrid and nodding in the direction her friend had   pointed out.

“Just grab and pull?”   Azalea asked as she kneeled down and dug at the metal ring under her paw.   “I can’t get a grip on it.”

The old badger dug through his pack for a moment before holding out the handle of an old army issue knife to the cub, “use this ta pry it up. Then we’ll try givin it a good tug and see what happens.”

While the two furs above attempted to open the trapdoor, Alex cautiously tested the old rotted wood as shi made hir way up the stairs. Two of the boards crumbled as shi put hir weight on them. In the end, shi had to hop over them, holding onto the spongy wood railing. 

“Giving a cub a knife….this is a good idea.”   Azalea said shaking her head.   “So just wedge this in here.”   She said as she wiggled the blade of the knife between the ring and the hole it was recessed into and put her weight into the handle of the knife to budge the ring looser.   “Try grabbing the ring.”   She said looking to the badger.

“Aye, that got it, lend me a paw now girly, you’re younger than I am and these old paws don’t work as well as they used to, “ he said hooking two fingers into the rusted metal ring. “When I get it budged up, see if ya can get a hold on the edge an help me get it open.” Pulling with what strength he had the trapdoor began to move, creaking loudly on the old rusted hinges . 

“Ok.”   She said as she took ahold of part of the trapdoor and started pulling up.   “This thing is heavy.”   She said with a little huff, soon getting the door opened and out of the way.   “You’re freed m’lady.”

Alex made hir way cautiously up the last few steps, testing them. None of the upper steps were nearly as bad as the lower steps, and a few seconds later shi wrapped the jerboa-squirrel hybrid in a tight hug. “Thank you!” 

Blushing a little at the hug, she gave the tiger a squeeze back.   “You ok there?   Head feeling better?”

“No...I think I need some Tylenol,” shi said, letting go. Then shi turned to the old badger. “Thank you very much, sir.”

“Aye,” the old badger said simply with a nod of his head. “You don’t look to much the worse for wear. Hanged if I’ll see a pair of fool cubs traipsing down the mountain after dark, I’ll take the pair of ya home if ya point the way.”

“Umm...A few hundred feet from the house at the end of the service road, there’s a path on the side of the road that goes down to Aspen Glen. That’s how we got here,” Alex said blinking. “Wow. It really did get dark early today,” shi said, looking up at the sky through the hole in the roof above them. The sun was probably past the horizon at this point, and the sky was rapidly turning from blue to black. Using hir phone light, Alex picked hir way through the decaying furniture and over to the front door. 

“Home is sounding good right about not.   Get all the twigs and stuff out of my tail and a bath.”   Az said, her tummy letting out a little growl.   “And noms too.”

Alex nodded. “Yeah, I’m hungry too...” Shi said, using the phone to light the porch and steps.

“Don’t forget….you get to help me groom my tail.”   Az said as they walked back to the truck.   “I just thought about it, will the truck fit us all in the cab?   Or can I ride in the bed?”

Aengus hung back a little, letting the cubs walk ahead of him a short distance. Turning to look back at the old cabin he had the distinct feeling they were being watched by unseen eyes. “Ya du na tread the home of the faye without paying the price,” he muttered before turning away and quickening his pace.