Both Mac and I fell asleep quickly, that hike was quite tiring. At about 3 am Storm put his paw on Mac’s mouth, to wake him up. Mac knew that meant to be quiet. He continued to lie there, but he got his gun ready. Meowr.=Someone outside tent. Mac listened, but could not hear anything. But he did not doubt Storm. Then Storm woke me up the same way.

He woke Mac first since Mac is my bodyguard, and he has a bigger gun too. We both sat up slowly. Meowr!=Lie down! We did, in a hurry! Then there was a loud screech and a machete sliced through our tent, cutting the top nearly right off. There were more screeches and we were on our feet, shooting in the direction of those screeches.

But they were already too far away. The girls had awakened as well and came out of their tents. Oddly, even though we reacted fast, we did not see anyone. How could they run off so quickly? It was rather dark though, the moon had already set. We then heard that screeching again, but far away. “Sounds like a lynx,” said Kyan. “Yes, that is it,” I said, “I knew that it was familiar.”

“A lynx does not use a machete,” said Mac, “this one was very sharp too.” Muffin and Tiia had awakened the girls in their tents too, so that is good. None of us felt like going back to bed now, but I told the girls to try and sleep some more, Mac and I would stay up and watch. I was expecting a lot of mosquitoes, but there were none. That was nice.

I had brought some duct tape along, so Mac and I repaired our tent the best we could. Then we got a nice fire going which made things feel better. Meowr!=Fall! Mac and I did, and an arrow flew past us and stuck in a tree. If we had not fallen, it would have hit Mac in the back. I shone my bright flashlight around, but could see nothing.

“I will go take a look,” said Kate. I did not realize she was behind me and her voice made me jump! “Nervous?” she asked smiling. “That was not nice,” I said, “and no, you cannot go look around.” “I will be fine,” she said, “they cannot kill a ghost, remember?” Off she went, silently, through the forest. “How?” asked Mac. Both Mac and I made noise walking through that forest earlier, but Kate was silent.

“I do not know,” I answered. “More and more I am beginning to believer her,” he said. Poor Mac, he likes to have a firm answer to everything. Must admit, it would be nice. “That arrow is from a crossbow,” said Mac, as he looked at it. “Well, now we know for sure that someone does not want us arriving at the tower,” I said, “that makes me very curious.”

“That makes me angry!” said Jinni firmly. I did not realize she was behind me, so I jumped. “Are you nervous?” she asked. “Second time tonight,” said Mac smiling. “Hmm, no, I am not nervous,” I said, “but you did sneak up on me.” Meow,meow.=You sure jump high, must be nervous. Sigh. “I am not nervous,” I said. Kate came back at that moment.

“I found where he had been sitting by a tree,” she said, “he left an arrow behind, it has poison on it.” “Are you going to turn back?” asked Jinni. “No, we do not give up on a case because problems show up,” I said, “we keep on going and try to find out what is happening out here.” “I just never thought anything like this would happen,” said Jinni, “I do not want anyone getting killed.” “Hopefully none of us will,” I said.

It was starting to get light, so we had breakfast and continued our hike. Since we left earlier than expected, we arrived at the tower a bit earlier, around 11am. It was a tall tower, about 6 stories tall actually, and made of rock. There was also a long building attached to it, also made of rock, both were obviously very old. We entered the building first since the door was missing.

It was all one room, with a large stone fireplace on each end. There was broken furniture all over the room, but one large wood chair was in perfect condition, as was a table next to it. That was very odd. Next we went into the tower. Everything was in beautiful condition there, nice, and very old, furniture. We followed the winding staircase to each level, all the way to the top.

The whole place was immaculate, which made no sense. “Does this mean that someone is living out here?” asked Jinni, her voice shaking. She seemed scared, for the first time. “Well, it does not look like anyone is living here,” I said, “but they must be living close by and they are looking after this place for some reason.”

“Everything seems to be about a thousand years old,” said Cinnamon, “except the glass windows, they are more recent.” Cinnamon is our historian, which is why I wanted her along on this trip. We decided to look around and see if there were any other buildings in the area. But as soon as we got outside…

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.