Page 49 of Smoky Lake

Don’t get carried away, idiot. You have to survive “all this” first.

After they’d placed their orders, he dug out Victor’s leather pouch and set it on the table. “You said you had a dream about Victor, right? Maybe it’s telling you we need to take another look at his notes.”

“You mean his hallucination journal?”

“I’ve been wondering if it’s some kind of code. Maybe he was worried about someone else finding it, so he wrote it in a cryptic way that sounds like gibberish.”

“Then he did an excellent job. It is gibberish.” She tugged one of the slips of paper from the pouch and read out loud. “The curl of smoke winds through valleys where silver strikes sparks of cosmic delight. The connections are electric. We know nothing, and everything.” She shook her head ruefully. “I’m sorry, but he was on something when he wrote this. I’m thinking…LSD? Do people even do that anymore? Does Victor?”

He had to think about that. “I wouldn’t be surprised. He’s the kind of guy who wants to try everything for himself. Whenever he worked with indigenous groups, he’d eat the food they made, and try their medicinal cures on himself. He told me he got rid of his eczema that way.”

“Okay. Well.” She scanned the paper again, running her finger along the words. The bangles she wore clinked against the glass tabletop. She was so beautiful to him, it was hard to focus on anything except her slim brown hand. “Do you think he was trying some kind of medicinal cure that caused hallucinations?”

“That’s a strong possibility. I like that.”

A plate of garlic naan arrived, and they tore off pieces while they brainstormed.

“I’m still confused about why he’d bury this in the yard. He obviously wanted you to find it. But it’s so cryptic that it means nothing to anyone except him.”

“Maybe not.” Something occurred to Gil that he should have remembered a long time ago. “I’ve heard Victor mention a research assistant. Maybe he’ll talk to us.”

“Gil! Lachlan’s not the only genius in the McGowan family.” Ani gave him a radiant smile as he did a quick search on his phone.

“Got him. Nyx Polestar. Some name, huh? Should I call him?”

She set down her naan and blinked at him. “That fast? How?”

He grinned. “I move like a shadow in the dark. I’m a man of mystery and intrigue. I’m a ghost you’ll never see coming, but you’ll know when I was there. I’m?—”

“Okay, okay, give it a rest. You’re James Bond, blah blah blah.”

“Actually, I remembered that Lachlan had mentioned his name, and it’s not exactly a common one.”

Nyx Polestar agreed to meet them in the office that he shared with Victor, so long as they brought him some extra vindaloo. They packed their food into takeout containers and said goodbye to the first chance at a sit-down meal since “all this” had begun.

Victor’s research assistant turned out to be a wiry young man with a face tattoo and a half-shaved head. The other half had long black hair to his shoulder. He dove into the takeout they brought him as if he hadn’t eaten in days, and didn’t seem to notice that they carefully avoided all physical contact, even shaking hands.

“I haven’t seen Victor,” he told them through a mouthful of samosa. “But I know he came through here a couple days ago. He took some samples and left. Didn’t even write a note. Only reason I knew was because I’d checked that batch the day before. Is he okay?”

“That’s what we’d like to know,” said Gil. “Has he ever disappeared like this before?”

“Yes, but he’s usually in phone contact, unless he’s somewhere super-remote. He likes to blow up my phone twenty-four-seven with every random idea he gets. Right now the silence is messing me up.” He tapped the shaved side of his head, where an inked design swirled. “I got this so I could channel the ancestors, other planes of existence, you know? Not even a blip from Victor.”

He caught Gil’s expression, and flipped him off. “I’m open to all kinds of learning. Science isn’t all tests and labs, you know. We Natives have our own ways, and we’ve been here a lot longer.”

Gil flung up his hands, conceding the point. “Whatever works.”

Ani stepped into the awkward moment. “I can see why Victor chose you as his research assistant. He’s very open-minded too. Isn’t that why he tries a lot of the indigenous treatments he studies?”

“That’s one reason. Also, he’s a crazy mutha.” Nyx finished his container of samosas and glugged down half a bottle of water. He propped his legs, crossed at the ankles, on a free chair. “Victor is a cool dude. I like working for him. I don’t want to get him into trouble.”

“He might already be in trouble, that’s what we’re doing here. We just want to talk to him. I’m a friend of his from Firelight Ridge.”

Nyx swung his gaze toward Ani. “And you, beautiful?”

Tension ran through Gil’s muscles, which was an absurd reaction to an innocent compliment. He forced himself to relax.

“I only met him recently,” said Ani. “I’m a doctor and he seemed ill. I tried to help him”

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