Myka's Tail Ch. 04

"Alright," I agreed. "That doesn't sound too difficult."

"Yeah, that's what you think now," Ali chuckled, and in a way it sort of unnerved me. "And Gina, I think you educating Jess on the basics of magic and its various functions is a great idea, however, I do believe that it is time for us to be headed back to the party. We've been gone for more than a little bit."

"Oh shit," I exclaimed. "Dad is going to kill me."

"Which one," Jess giggled.

"Both," Kelli laughed as she started to lead everyone back to the house.

I stayed with the group on the way back, my need to wring any extra answers from Gina that I could outweighing my desire to run free. I must say that it was a pleasant walk, with conversation between friends to pass the time. We stopped at the tree where I had left my things so that I could dress before heading back, though I paused before we left the protective cover of the trees to stop Ali so that I could ask her a private question.

"Listen, Ali," I said with my hand on her arm. "I was wondering if you could do me a really big favor."

"Anything Myka," she replied in earnest. "What is it you need?"

"Are there any books with more information about the Neko, or even something about the myths and legends attached to them that I haven't seen yet? I know that you and your mom have lots of notes and some things written by past witches but I am hoping to find some knowledge that you may not have."

"By the goddess, I don't think I will ever be used to that woman's abilities," she laughed when I brought the subject up. "I have a book for you from Millicent that she told me to give you when you asked for it, but not before. She didn't even give me permission to open it either."

"Really? What did she say was in it?"

"She said it was a short history of the Neko. Where they came from, some of their powers and abilities, and theories on the binding and what it grants to each participant. You have no clue how much I wanted to say fuck it and read it anyway, but when Millicent gives you a command, by the goddess you obey it."

"No shit," I replied. "I love her like my nana, but she can be damned scary when she needs to be."

"Don't I know it? Anyway, I will give you the book before I leave and make sure the enchantment that Millicent put on it is activated before unsealing it. I think it will prevent anyone but you or Kelli from reading its pages. She also told me to give you a warning about the things you will discover from the book."

"Really? A warning?"

"Yeah. She wanted me to tell you to be careful with whom you share its information with. She recommends caution with even your closest friends because of the possibility that some crucial piece of a very complicated puzzle might get back to Mathias, and through him, the Betrayer. She was worried half out of her mind over that."

"I will be careful then," I replied and gave her a reassuring squeeze on the arm. "But let's not keep the others waiting any longer. And besides, I'm really hungry."

Ali laughed as we finally continued following the others back across the stretch of open grass that was between the tree line and the house, and she laughed even harder when my stomach expressed its discontent with me when I got a whiff of the cooked meat that my dad had prepared. I also noticed that the other McAlisters, Stuart and Kimberly, had arrived while we were gone and my sensitive ears could make out their conversation with my parents as we approached.

"I have to say Dan, this is some of the best damned grilling I have had in a long time," Stuart complimented with his wife was nodding her agreement. "If you didn't already have a career I might tell you to open up a food joint, but..."

"Well, I have thought about it on occasion," dad replied as he accepted the praise with his usual grace. "The problem is that it is really hard work to make it in the restaurant business, and the failure rate is too damn high."

"Yeah, there is that, but damn."

"If you really like it that much," Kimberly interrupted and I could hear the humor in her voice. "Then perhaps you should just bring Dan and his wife up to cook every weekend."

"Hmmm, that's not a bad idea really," Stuart agreed, until everyone's laughter proved his wife was joking.

I chose that moment to walk up and make my presence known, partly because I wanted to take some of the heat off of Stuart, but mostly because I wanted to say hi to them. It had been a long time since I had seen them last, and I was itching for a hug.

"Hi Stuart, Kimberly," I cried out and followed it up with a pair of warm embraces. "It's so good to see you guys again."

"Well, well Myka. You're actually here," Stuart replied in good humor before Kimberly smacked him on the arm.

"You leave the poor girl alone Stu," she chided. "Forgive him Myka. Your parents told us that you sometimes tried to miss your birthday but that you had promised to come today. When you weren't here, my husband decided that he was going to make fun of you when you showed up. Fat chance."

"I didn't say that," he complained, but his sly grin suggested otherwise. "Though I will settle now for wishing the birthday girl a happy birthday."

And that put me into another round of hugs and well wishes, and another round of toasts and drinks. Then everybody really started eating. Dad had grilled his amazing steaks, and between our moms, all of the other trimmings were there as well. The best thing about the day, however, was watching the way that the bonds of love and friendship changed amongst everyone there. It was like watching a scintillating web made of pure light that was firing off bright packets between its many connections. It was something that brought me a great deal of joy, and Kelli reveled in it as well.

Eventually conversations drifted to what everyone was up to, and for those that were new to the group we also talked about jobs and current projects. All of the guys thought it was really cool that Kelli's dad had been in the military, and that he turned that knowledge into a security consultancy business. It took a while to explain to them that he didn't employ or train ex-military security personnel, but that he and his small group would analyze a client's locations, equipment, routes, and such and come up with a good workable security plan for them.

The fact that my dad had used his military experience to join in the business on the cyber security side was still interesting, but for most of the guys bullets beat out bits and bytes for conversation value. Many of the girls wanted to talk about Paul, Kassidy and the band, and we all had a blast when dad got out the guitar he had never learned to play so that Paul and the others could treat us to some great singing. Then everyone's attention was returned to me because it was my party after all.

"So Myka," Stuart said after he had grabbed another beer from the cooler. "The last time we were together you had not even decided a major yet, let alone what you planned to do after you graduated. Since graduation is almost here, I was wondering what you actually chose."

"I guess I haven't kept everyone up to date," I sighed in a semi apology. "Shortly after we got back from Scotland I took a couple of courses in biology and ecology, and to Kelli's and my family's amazement, I was pretty damn good at it."

"Really," Paul gasped in surprise. "I don't think that I would have ever guessed that in a million years. I always saw you working in psychology, or something like that. You were always easy to talk to and always knew what to say."

"I actually thought about that for a while, but the more I hesitated and waffled about my future, the more the life sciences pulled me in. In fact, I will be starting the fall semester as part of a PhD group with my focus on evolution and conservation biology."

"That's outstanding," Kimberly crowed in delight and came over and gave me another hug. "And is Kelli going to do graduate work too?"

"Actually, I am going to take some time off to do some self-exploratory learning," Kelli replied. "And I will be helping Myka with the math part of her research during that time too. Our goal is to eventually establish a research and conservancy group that we can both develop over time."

"That sounds pretty incredible," Stuart commented, and I could see the gears turning in his head. "Keep me up to date with your progress and your research, Myka, and I will keep my ear to the ground for anyone who is looking to fund a non-profit like that."

"Wow! I mean, I have no idea what to say. Thank you so much," I answered and gave Stuart one more hug for good measure which he took as an opportunity to whisper for my ears alone.

"Myka, you and Kelli saved my daughter from a horrible fate, and Kimberly and I cannot in any possible way begin to pay you back for that. But that doesn't mean we are not going to try."

And with that he gave me a fatherly kiss on my temple and we stared at each other for a brief moment with tears in our eyes. And just like that the moment passed and he was back to his normal business like self.

"Now, if you'll both forgive me," he said as he was turning around. "I am going to talk to Dan and Steve about what they might be able to do for a small shipping subsidiary that I am probably going to purchase."

The party continued like that for another couple of hours, with various conversations among different groups, lots of good music, laughter, and we even cracked out a couple of yard games to mix it up. I was glad that my parent's insisted that I be here for this, and that they had arranged for my closest friends to be here for the fun. I was nice and content, so I decided to just take a while and sit with Kelli's arms wrapped around me, enjoying her loving embrace.

I could have stayed there forever, but something started to tickle at the back of my mind and I knew a warning when I felt it. I could not place the feeling, but after a fair amount of time trying to figure it out I realized that someone had apparently wandered onto our property without permission. Normally this wouldn't really bother any of us, my neighbors or my family, because we had all given permission for different people to cross our yards into the public lands that all of the properties butted into. Once I began observing and thinking about this interloper I realized that whoever it was, was the source of my worry.

Once I focused on the lone figure that had crossed over the stone wall that divided our place from the Jensen's next door, I realized that he was a surveyor. I watched for a few more minutes as this unknown man used his equipment to take measurements over varying angles on our land, but it was when he began measuring lines to my parent's house that I decided to say something about it.

"Hey dad," I called out over the others, and the tone of my voice seemed to attract everyone's attention.

"What is it Little Girl," he asked.

"Do you have any idea who the hell that is and what he is doing on our property," I said, pointing out the surveyor for him.

"Umm... I have no idea. Did anyone contact you about this Steve?"

"I haven't heard anything about it," Kelli's dad replied, looking just as confused as the rest of us.

"Well," dad spoke up after a few seconds. "The utilities or the county have always given us notice when they sent someone out, so I guess I need to go over and have a quick chat with our new friend."

Once dad had decided that, he started off at a leisurely walk across the grass in the direction of our unknown surveyor. In fact, many of us decided to follow along as well, and within a couple of minutes there was a somewhat intimidating number of people that had made their way over to where the worker was taking his measurements.

"Hey there," my dad called out as he approached. "My name's Dan Carlisle, and I was wondering what you were doing out here."

The young man, possibly in his mid-twenties, finished marking down a few notes in his record book before he looked up to acknowledge my dad. When his eyes fell on the small crowd he had drawn I watched as his face rocketed through irritation, followed by confusion, before finally settling on a fearful nervousness. This many people taking such an interest in his work was probably not something he was used to, or had ever really seen.

"Uh, I was sent out here to do a site survey for a client," he replied, his voice as anxious as his body language.

"Oh, got it. And who is this client," dad asked in his easygoing manner.

"Um, I can't say sir. That's privileged information."

"Oh, I'm sorry for pushing like that," dad continued, and I could tell he was about to pounce on this poor guy. "You see, the only reason I ask is because we've had surveyors out on our land here before, but we always had at least a week or two of notice before anyone came out, and you kind of surprised us. Is this a county issue?"

Now things got a bit more serious, and it was clear that the man that was sent here to do this survey did not expect to be called out like this. I watched as he shuffled his feet, and I almost chuckled that it was taking him so long to answer. Finally he grabbed a tablet computer from his gear bag and came over to where we were all standing.

"Listen, I was told that all of the land on and around these sites," and he pointed out a large section of map that had been brought up on the tablet screen. "was already under contract to be purchased and that I was clear to start the site measurements."

I looked at the section of map that he had pointed to while he continued to talk with my dad about proper notification. He was arguing that he was authorized due to the pending sale that was already on the books. What I noticed was that the land that was marked off included all of our neighbors for a couple of miles, and much of the county and state land that all of our properties bordered. That this included our clearing caused a tight knot to form in my gut, which I pushed down so that I could listen to what my dad was arguing about.

"Look son," my dad began, with irritation creeping into his voice. "I can tell you that I have not had anyone contact me about the purchase of our property, nor has my best friend and neighbor, Steve Harrison. So if someone told you that this land was under a purchase contract, they were dead wrong because I will not sell, ever."

"I won't either," Kelli's dad agreed. "So since you are operating under bad intel, I think it is about time that you left our property."

"Hey, I don't want any trouble," the young man cried out as he backpedaled away from the group. "But I have to get this job done, and we were assured by the client that they were purchasing this area and that our company was clear to do the site survey. I'm telling you, I am authorized to be here."

"And we're telling you that you are trespassing," dad countered.

"Look sir," and now the surveyor was becoming agitated in an angry way. "If you don't leave me alone to do my job, I will have to call the sheriff and file a complaint of harassment."

"Sounds like a plan," Kelli's dad almost shouted. "Call the sheriff and get someone out here so that we can file a complaint of trespassing."

I could feel the tempers rising and I was sure that soon things were going to get out of hand given just a little nudge over the edge. That was when I noticed Stuart had been talking on his phone for much of the exchange between us and the surveyor. And just as I thought it was going to come to punches and that some or many of us would end up in trouble, Stuart stepped forward and took charge.

"Young man," he said in a calm and composed voice that was as steady as a rock. "Do you have a business card with your company number on it? My attorney would like to talk to your supervisor."

Saying the word attorney was like throwing a bucket of ice water over all of us, and it caused everyone to take a moment and think. During this break in the argument Stuart maintained his polite demand for the surveyor's company contact information, and it didn't take long for him to get it. The proper names and numbers were relayed over his phone and then Stuart ended the call.

"Ok," he said, as he addressed both the surveyor and my dads. "We are just going to wait here, calmly, and this should be sorted out in a few minutes."

"Uh, what's going to get sorted out," the surveyor asked.

"Well young man, umm, I mean Aaron," Stuart replied, getting the poor guy's name from his business card. "I am going to guess that in a few minutes, perhaps fifteen at the most, you will receive a call letting you know that you are done for the day here. When that happens you can go back to your office, and we will get back to our party."

The surveyor, Aaron, shook his head in what looked like disbelief and frustration before he said anything else.

"Listen, I don't know who you are, but the clients we work for do not make errors like this, and I can guarantee you that I will be allowed to do my job here today."

I almost laughed out loud when his phone chose that moment to ring, and I had a feeling that he was about to have a lousy afternoon. Within a couple of minutes we all watched as a confused look on Aaron's face faded into fear with the blood draining from his now pale skin. Yeah, he was having a bad day.

"Uh, I'm sorry for the trouble. I'll go ahead and pack up my gear and get out of here," he mumbled, before he looked Stuart and my dad in the eyes. "Who the hell are you people?"

"Just a dad and his family and friends having a party in our back yard," my dad replied, and then he turned around and led everyone back to the house.

On the way back our dads and Stuart talked about what the next steps would be and how things needed to be handled. Both of my dads said that they would get into it with the county and state offices to find out what was up with this supposed sale, and why it was not brought up in a public forum, and Stuart promised to keep his lawyer on the task of finding out who was trying to make such a purchase in the first place. He said it might take some wrangling but that his guy was good at sussing out this kind of information.

It bothered me that this had happened, and from the behavior of the poor surveyor, Aaron, I knew that something was not right. I could feel it in my gut, like a bout of nausea that doesn't make you throw up, but never goes away. The biggest thing for me about the whole situation was that it made absolutely no sense. Every one of our neighbors had moved here to this little area of the county to slow down and enjoy a quiet life. Most of them had been part of our lives ever since our family moved here when Kelli and I were toddlers. I hadn't heard of anyone dying so a member of the family settling an estate wasn't the problem either.

The fact was that none of the people who lived within five miles of us would have sold their property to save their lives. It was just too nice here, and the community was so closely knit that we would have heard something and would have intervened. I realized that the only thing I could do at that point was wait it out and trust in our dads and Stuart to figure out what was wrong.

By the time our crowd had returned to the back porch and explained the situation to everyone else, it had become clear that for now the party was probably over. It was a real bummer because I really wanted things to continue for a while longer, but once people had begun making their excuses and started getting ready to leave, that was it.

"Dan, Steve," Stuart said as he shook our dads' hands before handing them each a business card. "I'll stop by tomorrow before we head back and make sure that we're all on the same page. And who knows, we may already have some information by then."