As I left Allison in the bungalow, confident that she would be safe for the time being, trusting my inner alarm system - and my own gut feeling - I paused just outside the door.
As rain battered me, I decided to change plans, at least for the time being.
Instead of talking to Tara, I hung a right and headed back into the forest, and found a side trail that I had seen from high above the night before. The trail, wide at first, soon narrowed considerably. I didn't know much about forests or hiking or even trails, but I figured this to be a game trail.
I continued on, pushing through massive ferns that seemed almost prehistoric. Thorny blackberry bushes were in abundance as well, all filled with juicy berries that probably tasted heavenly. The trail angled up, as I knew it would.
Stinging nettles snagged my jeans as I carefully stepped over fat banana slugs - and even the occasional toadstool. I marveled at the mushrooms that clung to moist tree trunks. Nature at its weirdest.
Water dripped seemingly everywhere.
Lightning suddenly flashed above, zigzagging through the treetops, followed by an angry grumbling of thunder.
I continued on, slipping once or twice in the sloshing mud, winding my way up the trail that would lead to the highest point of the island.
Soon, as the trees opened and the wind and rain lashed me violently, I found myself on a steep switchback trail that afforded a majestic view of the manor far below. The trail soon led to a rounded rock dome high above the island. I didn't know if it had a name, but I called it Dome Rock.
Rain drove straight into my face, down inside my jacket collar. I didn't mind the rain all. It made me feel alive. Human.
Normal. Rain didn't judge or discriminate. Rain fell on everyone...mortal or immortal. Living or dead.
Or some of us in-between.
I slipped and slid my way over the moss-covered rock and soon looked out over the Puget Sound, to distant islands and churning seas. It was so beautiful and epic and alive that it was nearly impossible to believe that a family was being terrorized by a body-jumping demon.
Nearly.
I knew one thing, though: I wanted answers.
And I knew just where to find them.
God.
