Page 117 of Homecoming

“I’m not exactly sure what you mean, but I guess so. Kat, who are we talking about here? Surely not me?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. It doesn’t matter, just me rambling on. It’s probably the beer.”

“Is this something to do with Riley? About what happened to Matthew?”

“No. Well… maybe. I’m just… talking. I told you, forget it.”

“Okay. Here’s...” he hands her a small glass filled with the clear mountain dew liquor, “to us.”

“To us.”

Kat nestles herself between his outstretched legs and leans back against his chest as Noah points up into the sky above their heads. “Did you see it?”

“What?” she frowns, staring into the dark star-filled sky.

“The shooting stars… watch carefully and you’ll see them.”

“Oh my God… yeah… yeah, I see them now!Wow…that’s amazing! Mm… the sky is so clear up here.”

“That’s because there’s no light pollution. The light, even the faint light at the commune, muddies the sky. Up here, there’s nothing but oceans of deep dark space.”

“It’s so beautiful.” She nuzzles into his chest as he holds her tightly against him. “Noah…” she frowns, as a tone of curiosity fills her voice. “Do you own this land—the land the cabin is on. Do you own it?”

“Uh… I don’t know. I hadn’t really thought about it. I guess I must. Papa dealt with the paperwork side of things and I’ve just always lived here. I guess there must be something somewhere, but no one has ever asked me that before. So why do you ask now?”

“Oh no reason really, just… " she turns and looks him in the eyes.“Do you have any papers, land deeds or a document that says it’s yours?”

“Not that I know of off-hand. Maybe there might be some in the boxes of my father’s things. I haven’t got around to sorting through any of them yet. The loft in the barn is filled with his boxes, but I don’t ever remember him saying anything—or seeing anything. Kat, is something wrong?”

“No just… the other day when me and Digby were running along the old mountain pass the other side of the commune, we ran into this old crazy hermit. He lived up there alone, but he had this gold tube strapped to his chest. It had a document inside—I have a picture of it on my phone, I’ll show you later. It was a large parchment paper. I mean I couldn’t read what it was exactly because it was in some unfamiliar text, but I think it was deeds to the land. He kept saying the land was his—like we were going to take it from him. He said it was given to him by the wolves, and that he was a ranger. I just wondered if you had one too.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that. But there must be paperwork somewhere. My father was going to sell this place at one point, so I guess there must be some paperwork around here somewhere. Do you know who this hermit you met was?”

“No, I don’t know who he was. He seemed a little crazy—well, more than a little—he pulled a gun on me. We did find out that he lived in a rundown old shack hidden behind some bushes on the side of the mountain. Nothing as nice as this, more like a squatters’ nest. But I do think living up there alone has sent him into a world of madness. I wonder if he was still a virgin too,” she laughs.

“I think from the stories my father told, the lands of the mountain were divided between several rangers who were charged with keeping them protected. We were put here to look after the land: keep the animals in check and manage the forest. I just take it upon myself to keep the stray wolf pups from any type of danger and have always sent them back to the commune. But whether anyone really legally owns the land, I don’t know. I’ve just always been here. No one’s ever asked me about it before.”

“Well, that pack of hyenas owned land—thatMikah, he said so himself.”

“Yeah, I think he must have meant the acres at the base of the mountain between the river and the commune. The fresh water runs down the side of the mountain and feeds the towns and villages from the streams that run through that land. It divides off and runs either side of the highway into a huge lake that is good for fishing. Maybe there would be some documents about it back at the commune?”

“Maybe. There were a lot of old boxes in the basement. I remember seeing them when Darius was showing me some paperwork down there one afternoon.” She smiles and her mind is suddenly filled with a flash of vivid images—mostly Darius bending her naked over the dusty boxes filled with papers. “Anyway…” she takes a breath “… forget that. Let’s have some more drink.”

“Sounds good… Cheers. You know, I’m almost finished with the cabin and then we’ll have our own space—a real home from home. Oh, I meant to ask, is Darius getting a new architect for the house? I wondered after theincidentwith the other one.”

“No. I uh… I think he’s… he’s still going to use the one Tyler recommended.”

“But didn’t you tell him what happened when they came to the house?”

“No. Not exactly. I just told him I didn’t like him.”

“But it wasn’t the architect you didn’t like. It was Tyler. Okay Kat, so what’s going on? Tell me… I’ve waited long enough… why did you lose it like that with him?”

“It was nothing. I was in a weird place after everything and I just lost it. You know I don’t like strangers being around the pups.”

“There was more to it than that. Do you know Tyler from somewhere? I mean, you can’t have known him from the club because you weren’t there when he arrived.”

“I guess I must’ve seen him at the club at some point. I don’t exactly remember. It was just a stupid feeling. I felt odd around him. Luna felt something, and she didn’t want him near the pups.”

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