Day 3 -- 10,540 (41,608 total)

I didn't think I was going to do more than 7 or 8k today because of some problems early in the day. I finally got there, though, and it's looking good now.

So here is today's snippet:

I'd get this worked out. The trouble with the barrier would go away soon. It never lasted more than a week or two, and a feel of the area showed it calmer already. Okay, there was the problem with the peripix, but I suspected that the cats might be just about enough to take care of that on their own. I had things in hand.

As long as I didn't think about ghost riders in the forest.

"Damn. Out of the chair, George. I want to sit down for a while and relax. Anything on the Peripix?"

"Fast little buggers."

I grinned and waved him out of the chair. He stood, stretched and got down in his own good time. "I have a hole open in the backyard to drop them through. I can even set it to kick out a treat each time, if that would help."

"Do you really think you can bribe us that way?"

"Absolutely."

"Good. Yeah, that will help, especially with all the work it takes to catch them. If you don't want them disappearing inside Pawford's tummy, then making certain that there is something better to be had for dropping the little monster down the hole should help."

I nodded, pretending that the same did not apply to him. What I didn't tell him, and never would, was that I didn't want any of the local cats ingesting that much magic. The mere thought of it made me queasy. Cats acquiring magic... no, not here.

I sat down and leaned back, content to have a few hours rest here before David showed back up. Tomorrow I'd find a way for him to get his pictures. We'd talk about future projects, and I'd gently nudge him back out of the way, and hope that he came back later.

It was the wise thing to do, and even if I'm not always known for my wisdom, I'd hold to it this time.

I closed my eyes... and almost immediately felt the surge of a message coming through from fae. Good thing I was here, because it had an odd, urgent feel to it. I lifted my hand and opened the portal.

The message came, but garbled like something on a television with bad reception. The picture fuzzed in and out, but I saw my father standing in the room where I'd last had contact with him. Others were moving frantically behind him. I saw Timber wave his arms in a very un-Timber-like gesture of frustration.

The sound was worse. I couldn't make out much of anything my father was saying.

"I can't hear you," I finally said and hoped he understood. I shouted it a second time. He spread his arms in much the same gesture as Tiber had and looked up at me. For a moment the sound almost came through, and I thought I could make out the words.

"All hell is breaking loose."

And then the picture and sound faded.

"Halo of hell, and with a pain -- not hell shall make me fear again!"

I looked over at Shakespeare and shook my head. "Thank you so much for that commentary. That's very helpful."

The bird nodded several times.