Page 48 of Faun Over Me

A slow, tight-lipped smile stretched his mouth, taunting Cricket as it crinkled his cheeks. He opened his eyes, pinning her to the chair with an amber-hued gleam. “Found you.”

“Pick up, Aves. Come on, come onnnnn.” Cricket danced hoof to hoof, wincing whenever the weight came down on her still sore injury. It had healed enough to not need a crutch, but oak and ivy, if it didn’t ache like a son of a gun. The line rang and rang, the sun hovered over the hills, and Cricket was about to truly start freaking out. The moment Wilkolak drove away, she had sprinted from the Assessor’s Office in search of a payphone, wanting to warn Avery before the investor’s dinner, but what good was a warning when she wouldn’t pick up? “Pick up, pick up, please.”

“To continue your call, please deposit twenty-five cents.”

“Shit.” She dug in her beltbag, pulling out a handful of coins and dropping a few on the ground. Earpiece pinched between her cheek and shoulder, she crouched, fumbling at the ground to pick them up. Her nail-less fingers slipped against the thin edges. She cursed again, this time at herself, for leaving the remainder of her caps on the small birch table in her bedroom. Finally, she managed to pluck dimes and a nickel from the ground, slamming them into the payphone as the automated voice started up again.

The robotic woman stopped, the ringing began again, and Cricket thought she was well and truly going to lose it in a phone booth in the middle of Marlinton, West Virginia. She needed to warn Avery and Mac, tell them what she found, and warn them about the Georgia Man. About Wilkolak.

“Please, please, please.” She pounded a fist against the payphone, praying to the Gods that they pick up. Avery, Mac, a camper, anyone, but the phone rang and rang and—

“Elkwater Music Camp, Assistant Director Payne speaking.”

“Aves!” Relief flooded her veins with adrenaline. Oh, Gods, she could warn her, tell her everything, but she needed to speak quickly. How long would twenty-five cents last? How much time did she have before the robotic voice cut her off? “Avery, I found him. He found me, it’s the man from the camp, the Georgia Man. He was here, and he had these papers at the assessor’s office, and he was filing more with Charlie. Avery, your signature is on everything going back four years. You’ve got to call the cops, or, or, the tax man or something; I don’t—”

“Cricket, geez, take a breath.”

“I am breathing!”

“No, you’re freaking out,” said Avery. “Slow down and tell me what happened.”

“I was at the County Assessor’s Office,” she panted, “looking over the property tax filings.”

“Okay.”

“Your name is on everything.”

Avery sighed, and Cricket could easily envision the human girl pinching the bridge of her nose. “Isn’t that what your cousin said?”

“Yes, but I got copies and your signature—there's something weird about it. Like, it stays the same.”

“Signatures tend to do that.”

“No, but you have to see it, okay? It’s like whoever did this was careful at first, then got better at your hand, but it never got sloppy. You have to see it; I got copies.”

“Oh,” she said. “Okay, so that’s something, right?”

“It’s more than something!” Cricket hollered. “And then the Georgia Man walked in—”

“While you were there?”

“No, while I was taking a nap. Of course, while I was there, and he saw me, I think he recognized me from the camp.”

“When did he see you at the camp?”

“The day you went to lunch with your dad, they had a meeting with Mac. It was something about funding or investments, I don’t know, but he saw me.”

“In the meeting?” Avery asked, her voice muffled. “Hang on a second.”

Cricket wanted to scream. How was this so hard to follow? The Georgia Man, Wilkolak, had the paperwork with her signature. He was at the camp; he worked with her dad. Why couldn’t she just pay attention?

“Avery.”

“One sec,” she answered. A shuffling static muted her end of the line. “It’s Cricket.” A pause. “No, I know, I’ll make this quick.” The static again, and then Avery’s voice came clearly over the line. “Crick, I’ve got to go. The investors from Lunar are due any minute, and Mac needs to me to—”

“He saw me, Avery. He smelled the air and got all weird and said he found me.”

“I thought you said you weren’t in the meeting. Are you sure he saw you?”

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