At least she wasn’t a SPAz. The members of the Society of Paranormal Abnormalities were a bunch of idiots who thought they knew all about the Fringe. Turned out they knew only enough to be truly annoying.
No, smartass Carrie Benton worked for a tabloid that liked to print fuzzy pictures of Bigfoot. Just so happened Tim was Bigfoot. Cupid definitely had a sense of humor sometimes, the little bastard.
Fry’s undignified snort made Andy give his friend a warning glare. Not that Fry ever heeded Andy’s warnings. Fry usually brushed Andy off like a fly, which was a damn weird analogy considering Fry had wings and only stood about five-ten, while Andy topped out at seven feet and looked like the Viking offspring of the NBA and the WWE.
The fact that Andy could crush Fry like a bug—pun definitely intended—never entered Fry’s mind because he knew Andy would never hurt him.
Hell, violence of any kind was abhorrent to Andy. Why tire yourself out and risk bodily injury beating on someone when you could cut them down to size with a few sarcastic remarks?
Or just terrorize the shit out of them by shifting into his fur coat.
“What?” Andy demanded when Fry just continued to look at him.
Fry rolled his eyes again and lifted his drink for a long swallow. “Dude, do I really have to spell it out for you?”
Well, maybe he did, because Andy wasn’t getting Fry’s meaning. Which probably had more to do with Fry’s attitude than Andy’s comprehension skills.
“You’re jealous,” Fry answered as if Andy had told Fry to go ahead and insult the hell out of him.
Andy drew himself up to his full seven feet, towering over Fry and making the sylphs sigh in unison.
“I am not.”
Fry’s wings gave a dismissive shake. “Of course you are. Your mom’s right, man. We need to find you a woman.”
“I cannot believe I allowed him to talk me into this.”
Jenna checked the GPS unit again and shook her head when the annoyingly smooth female voice said, “You have arrived at your destination.”
“And you’re sure this is the place?”
“You have arrived at your destination.”
Had her GPS unit just given her attitude? Hell, if a television network—one that had paid real money upfront—had given her brother enough funds to go to Scotland, she figured pigs could fly and GPS units could be snotty bitches.
Considering she’d been bitching the entire drive, she wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d heard a disgusted sigh issue from the stereo speakers of her new Honda Civic.
But really, what kind of idiot believed in fairies and dragons?
Apparently the kind who got paid actual money to go find them.
Didn’t that damn network have better things to do with their money, like make another Saturday night movie as epic as Mega-python vs. Gatoroid?
Debbie Gibson and Tiffany catfight. A Monkee being eaten by a giant snake.
She’d nearly laughed herself sick.
Or it could have been the fact that she was watching that movie alone on a Saturday night after turning down a friend’s request to barhop.
With a sigh, she looked out the front window of the car again.
The next time her brother asked her to investigate some weird bar that catered to monsters in the middle of the freaking Pennsylvania Grand Canyon, she was saying no.
Which would seal her fate as the most boring person in the world.
But really…
Jenna eyed the run-down shack in the middle of nowhere, trying to see beyond the peeling paint and the shuttered windows for any redeeming qualities.
So far, all she saw was a lawsuit waiting to happen when someone put their foot through the rotting floorboards on the porch.
Had someone sent Joss this address as a way to play with his mind?
For the past couple of months, as Joss had gotten more and more convinced that he was close to proving the existence of some of the most incredible creatures in the world, Jenna had considered the fact that maybe someone was leading Joss on. Was there someone out there who had it in for her brother? Who might actually try to lure him out to this remote area and harm him?
Or maybe she’d simply traded Joss’ delusions for her own conspiracy theories.
Jenna stared out at the unrelenting forest, the sight of all that forbidding darkness reminding her of the horror that had been sleep-away camp as a kid.
All those trees. Bugs the size of her hand. And animals that belonged in a nice, safe zoo wandering around without a leash.
What had her parents been thinking when they’d forced her to spend two weeks there?
Hell, she’d always given a wide berth to the neighbor’s overly friendly handbag-sized Chihuahua.
Today, camping to Jenna meant a hotel without room service. And she refused to stay in one of those.
This… This was hell.
“I can’t believe I let him talk me into this. Jesus, I’m an idiot.”
She should just turn around and head back to the lovely bed-and-breakfast about fifteen miles down the road where she’d booked a room for the weekend. It boasted gourmet food, a world-renowned spa and free WiFi.
Civilized.
This place didn’t look civilized. It looked almost…prehistoric.
Except for the parking lot beside the shed where six cars sat. Mocking her.
Shit.
Come on, Jenna, you know I wouldn’t ask you to do this unless it was important, right?
She and her brother had extremely dissimilar views of the meaning of important.
Joss thought it meant proving there really were prehistoric monsters cruising the Great Lakes. Jenna believed important meant solving childhood hunger and the crisis in the Middle East.
But Joss had pleaded with her, begged and bribed and finally guilted her into promising to check out this place.
Come on, Jenna. If there’s nothing there, at least you’ll get a weekend away out of the deal and make a couple thousand bucks.
It had been the money that had sealed the deal. She had her eye on a new refrigerator.
“Jeez, maybe you really are the most boring person in the world.”
She half expected the GPS to agree. Luckily for its health, it stayed silent. But she knew it was mocking her. She just knew it.
With a sigh, she forced herself to put her car in drive and inch down the lane, which was more like a path, rutted and muddy and suited more for the SUVs and Jeeps she saw in that makeshift lot next to the building her brother thought might hold the Holy Grail of his career.
Career. She snorted. What kind of career could a grown man have chasing myths and legends around the world?
He’s getting paid more than double what you made last year, though, isn’t he?
Yep. She’d definitely rather fight with the GPS. It was much less snarky than her own brain.
She was happy for her brother. Really, she was. Usually she just nodded and smiled when he talked about the pitiful grants he received from groups like UFOlogists United and The Center for Cryptids and Unexplained Phenomena to “investigate” Bigfoot attacks and poltergeist damage. The UUs and CCUPs of the world were plentiful but they didn’t pay very well.
And Joss didn’t have a reputable career to fall back on. He was like Indiana Jones without the college gig.
She was the person Indiana Jones would hire to do his taxes.
Damn, she needed to get a hobby. Maybe she’d learn how to skydive. Or maybe she should start with crocheting.
And yes, she was stalling.
The closer she drew to the building, the more her heart started to pound. Instead of pulling into the lot, she parked just shy of it, turning off the car but not removing the key.