Page 17 of Seer
Because Taylor was a fucking bear-man!
Werebear, like a werewolf? Werewolves must be real too, right? What about weresquirrels and werefish?
But wait, did he change into his bear, or was the bear like an animal mentor or sacred animal? Taylor could be of indigenous descent. Oddly, the thought of the bear being an ethereal being was more reassuring than imagining Taylor running through the woods all furry.
Did Delphia Shaw know about bear-people? She’d said she could see people’s second selves, so she must have seen a bear person, right?
I shook my head as I parked in front of my apartment building. Maybe the whole encounter had been a dream.
No, the coffee and the bear claw—which I would never be able to order again—had been real. Butch, nightmarish though he was, had been real.
Taylor and his bear-self had been real.
Fuck.
I spent my evening unable to concentrate, googling bear people—or bear shifters as they were called in romance novels—and going back and forth on whether to ask Delphia Shaw exactly what kind of second selves she’d seen.
Around 11pm I gave up. I’d do more research over the weekend. The bear people weren’t going anywhere.
Knowing I’d have a hard time dropping off to sleep, I dug out the bottle of tequila Steve had brought over a few years agoand poured myself a couple of shots before going to bed. That’d relax me. I just hoped I wouldn’t have a vision about bears.
EMAIL TO CALVIN STEADHAM FROM PENELOPE RAMIREZ
FRIDAY, MARCH 24
Re: Letting you know just in case
Hi, Cal. I wish I could say it’s good to hear from you, but.... Anyway, thank you for letting me know about your vision. I was able to borrow an IT resource, and based on the mailboxes and road you described, they identified the area as part of Ranch to Market Road 2241 northeast of Llano. I sent a highway patrol officer to look, and they did find a duffel bag as you described. They didn’t find evidence of any person or foul play on either side of the highway, but it rained last night and this morning.
The crime scene techs are reviewing the contents of the duffel bag and hopefully they’ll be able to determine who it belongs to.
Thank you for contacting me, and don’t hesitate to reach out in the future. I hope you’re doing well.
Warm Regards,
Penelope Ramirez, Ranger
Texas Rangers
CHAPTER 5
GREG
“It’s toobad you don’t live closer to Bent Oak,” I told Jon, one of the Wonders I was connected to. “I would’ve just had you come work at the pet resort. I know what a dedicated employee you are.” I’d give a lot to have someone as reliable as Jon on our payroll.
He sighed. “That would’ve been nice. But I’m excited to learn to be an administrative assistant. I don’t know anything about construction management, but it’s probably a better career path than the garden store anyway.” He paused. “You really think he’ll be okay with me leaving my desk and going outside every couple of hours? I’ve never had a completely indoor job before.”
“Like I said, Ruben is a Wonder too, so you can be up front with him about your needs. He’ll treat it like a medical accommodation for a human employee.”
I idly straightened my laptop so its sides were parallel with the edges of the desk.
“Thank you so much, Greg. I didn’t know what I was going to do when the garden store closed down.”
“This is what I’m here for. Keep me posted on how you like the job, okay?”
“Will do. Thanks again, Greg.”
After hanging up with Jon, I worked on the pet resort’s financial reports for the previous month. I enjoyed dealing with the numbers side of the business. Spreadsheets were so structured and informative.
