Hunted|Haunted - Chapter 16 - Run, Harvey, run

— So, that's your uncle?

A short witch, whose tail was most likely longer than his stature, was fighting what looked like a giant rat for a prepackaged sandwich. Just as the Tragač have said, in a bright blue trash bag over his clothes, at the train station. Even the exact minute they saw him.

Nex didn’t look bothered, true to the words about capacity to care. Well, Nex didn’t look anything, with his mask on and all, but judging by the tone, he calmed down enough to talk to people. Cogs, however, was a whole other story, hands to where the mask covered his mouth, and displayed eyes turning into circles. In a mock-aghast tone, he whispered to Tove.

— Well, that is one crab-handed dumbass.
— Dad's side, I'm guessing.

This witch was not much bigger than Toma, half a head taller at most. His tail, though, was at least a Toma long. Nex took a liking to measuring things in Toma’s.

This small, thin man with a very long tail and hair reminiscent of a stray Calico attacked by a blind hairdresser was dressed in a manner described as “completely ridiculous” by our party. Yes, by a party of neon “Friday the 13th”, a lost Victorian child™, WWI, Sex Pistols in a blender, and Cogs.
Even though most of his outfit was covered by a blue trash bag, it was fairly obvious that not a single article of clothing matched in colour, material or texture with the others. Hell, some didn’t even match themselves. Not his blimp-shaped holographic jacket, not half-jeans half-track pants, not whatever passed as socks around here, not taped up sneakers. Honestly, sneakers were the only thing Nex understood in what he was seeing.

The rat was obviously winning. Cogs shook his head, trying his best not to laugh.

 

— I tell you, when me and Nex first met, Nex at least didn’t wear trash bags… And didn’t keep New Amsterdam ratzillas as company.
— I knew a witch who kept starfish, and yet, this is somehow weirder. Fluf, is that-

But Toma had already run off to greet Harvey.

— Guess the Tragač were right after all. — Nex shrugged, thinking aloud, then went after Toma, just in case and to be someone responsible enough and alive nearby.

Harvey proceeded to get startled, jump, and hit himself on the nearest lamppost, now lying on the ground in a rather corpse-like way. The rat appeared to be very concerned.

— Hey, Coyote, you sure he’s the witch we need? — Cogs, chuckling and shaking his head in an exasperated way, stole a look at Neven, gesturing at Harvey. — I mean, is he even breathing?
— I’d say who we need, but I haven't finished writing my will yet. — On the surface, he meant Imeje. On a deeper level, he missed Valeryagn. If he could find Neven’s will to live, he probably could find Krsto before lunch. — Harvey has been like this his entire life, and I am convinced his existence is some sort of divine joke on the universe itself.
— He’s alive, don’t you worry. — Nex announced, leaning over the seemingly-dead witch for a second, inspecting the body. — Just trying to make us believe he’s a netherite so we don’t bother him.

Harvey eventually got up.

— Bubba, you sure those shrooms were fine? I swear I'm seeing Jeje's kiddo.
— Uncle Harvey, I am very here now.
— In that case, hello. Where's mama?
— If everything is to be believed, riding after us. — Nex shrugged, interjecting. — Probably is already feral.
— Oh. Okay, hold on just a second.
Harvey laid back down.
— Bubba, you sure those shrooms were fine?
— Uncle Harvey, it's serious! I've run away to find dad, and I only have until mum finds me!
…
— I’d do the bit a third time, but to be honest, I do wish the shrooms weren't fine.
— I’ll be honest as well, we all do. — Nexialist nodded. Yeah, he really needed to get out of this situation before, but now it was too late, and he sure as fuck wasn’t dying alone, he was dragging in the whole boat. — So, mind telling me what’s next, before a furious I. Grobar comes here?
— I think I'll call-
But the phone number notebook was nowhere to be found.
— Or not. Anyway, it's kind of super suspiciously convenient you found me here.
— We asked the Tragač how to find you.
— You WHAT?
— That.
— And they actually showed you the way? Unreal.
— Well, we got here, innit?
— Usually, they send people to a very specific outhouse west of Yalleg. Okay, so the thing is, I'm kind of on the same quest, I guess.
— Why didn't you look for dad before?

Nex had a sneaking suspicion they all were going to die right here and now.

— Oh, I did, it's just I finally have time and money for a second attempt.

Tove leaned in and whispered to her ghost mates.

— Lying his ass off, corner when possible.
— He's not looking for him?
— Nah, that's true. But that's not the reason.
…
— Wanna bet I'm right?
— I'd really rather not, but what else do we have to do?
— What’s the stakes? — Cogs asked rather leisurely. — Cause I have a feeling that you’re right, but I’m sure as hell interested in betting.
— Well, I only have what I can do. You two, however…
— I'm not betting the kid.
— Hilthe, who do you think I am? Bet the doll for the night. It'd be nice to get to touch stuff and feel something for once.
— Fine. I'm betting the doll, but you'll have to match.
— Hm… I'll take half of whatever Grobar brings on your ass. Both of you.
— Sounds neat. — Cogs hummed, thinking. Then raised his hand in a “hold it” gesture. — I don’t really have things to match your bets, though, which is super awkward. I guess I could take the other half of mom’s wrath?
— Betsies then!
— What are you doing up here? —Toma asked.
— Yo mama. Aren't you talking to someone else, brother fluff?

Toma huffed, but didn't continue. Harvey seemed completely oblivious.

— So, the thing is, I think I'm on the right track right now. I've found some of his lost trinkets, and stuff he used, and strands of hair, and such. Last week I found a piece of his fur coat, you remember, the one? Well, and the things are in an almost straight line again, so I'm here.
— Why are you in a trash bag?
— Shrooms. Let's not waste minutes, I'm pretty sure we should go-

For the next two hours, they proceeded to walk from one dead end to another. Unlike dead ends in usual investigations, those were literal. Nex found himself in an awkward position of trying not to laugh at the ghost’s remarks about how Harvey looked and everything Harvey said and did. But at least he could smile behind the mask.

— I feel that the bet is winning itself.
— I did warn you that he wasn't the best Tragač.
— What is a Tragač? How do you measure that? — Harvey finally took off the bag, distracting Tove. — How do you think this jacket is not ridiculous?
— It looks like something I wore to that bar once, holy shite… Only difference is that at the time it was considered fashionable, and it was what… eighteen years ago?
— Somehow, it is more ridiculous than Krsto's bright pink leopard fur coat, and that one nearly blinded me the first time I saw it.
— I was to plenty of gay bars, and in one, there used to be a mannequin in the girls' bathroom, we used to draw on it in lipstick, yeah, it looked pretty close to this. After the bar got set on fire one time. — For the record, Tove had nothing to do with that fire occuring.
— Wait, no, I remember. He used to have a silver one. That one did, in fact, blind me.
— At least your brother had a company of people who shared his fashion sense. — Cogs snorted. Then added half-dreamily, half-sarcastic, as if feeling the exasperation radiating from Nex. — Ah, the goals in life are reached.
— I know nothing about fashion sense, I only ever wore uniforms. But Krsto's was pretty much whatever would make me fall off the broom.
— Is the momma also a car wash disco at the pasta factory?
— Surprisingly, no, she dresses like a corpse. A very, very outdated corpse.
— No wonder they married, opposites often match. — Nexialist grumbled quietly, more as a sign that he hadn’t fallen asleep yet than an actual addition to the conversation. Still, he asked. — Or was she wearing something else before her husband vanished?
— I used to see her in the oldest overalls on the continent rather often, but no, same black dresses. Sometimes with overalls underneath. Don't ask, I have no answers.
— Do you have the Tragač answers, though?
— The what- oh. Yes, that. Tragač is one of the houses of the Order, the trackers. Harvey isn't a good Tragač because he gets sidetracked. He can't tell the difference between leads, a lost button is the same as a torn-off leg.
— This is going to be a long one…
— Yup, kid’s mom will find us long before we finish at this pace.
— Hm. You know what, corner time. I have a feeling that whatever he hides is useful. — Tove cracked her knuckles.
— Okay, and how do we do that? I mean, we’re literally passing through him.
— You gotta want it, dude.
Tove grabbed Harvey by the foot and held him upside down.
— Okay, livelydudes, ya gotta help with this one, we have questions we want answered.
— Kiddo, tell me honestly, are you a loan shark shapeshifter?
— No, but the ghosts want to talk, and… Well… Tove isn't good at making friends.
— If this rat-sized hamster will not tell what he’s hiding, none of us here will be good at making friends. — Cogs crossed his arms, his mask staring at Harvey clearly less than impressed.
— I’d try to stop you, but you’ve got me on the “hiding” part. — Nex tilted his head, hands in pockets, eyes looking at Harvey, who now tried to understand what was going on. — You wouldn’t think to hide things from your friend-relative-whatever’s kid, didja?

Neven was still not over the fact that Tove could just grab whatever she felt like, and thus stayed quiet.

— I might've… understated the scope of what I've found… but it's nothing that important, really!

Tove threw him in the air and proceeded to catch him by another leg.

— Spill the beans or spill the guts. We’re on a tight schedule.
— The left outside pocket of my bag

Broken glasses with dim, pink lenses took Toma by shock, and perhaps some things he didn't yet understand.

— I found them in the forest on my way here. Nothing else in the vicinity.
— I… Never seen dad without them.
— I know, right?
— So, the bet won?
— Nope, that ain't it. But I'm one stubborn bitch. Cogs, take the kid around the block, sister is about to add a new one to the Geneva's n’ Genevieve's

— Alright. — Cogs seemingly wasn’t sure which kid she referred to, but then grabbed Toma by the shoulder. — Toma, come on. Nex, stay here and do your thing if needed, you’re the only one here who can talk to him.

Tove clawed a brick out of the wall and smashed it to dust right next to Harvey. Then took another and held it before Harvey's face.

— You don't have to do that. I just… didn't want kiddo to know. I don't think I want Jeje to know either, to be honest. You know why he's missing, right?
— Supposedly.
— I'm living with Lara. She's from Liokks. A real good one. Well, we didn't know what happened yet, just that there was trouble and.. A lot of dead bodies. I went with her, so she doesn't waste too much on the way, you know? And, well… that's another story. She's a doctor in Woodmur. She works a lot, and-
— To the point.
— She likes to listen to people saying nice things to her, left on the answering machine. We have a tape one. So, I cut it for her, so it's just nice things, and nothing else. And I found this unmarked tape a couple of weeks back, and I listened, and… the night he left, he called me. Heck, he must've called a hundred or so times. A whole half of the tape of just him calling over and over from payphones all over the country, asking to meet him, to.. To stop him from walking… somewhere. Never said where. I don't know how many times he called, I skipped. I couldn't take it. But the last one was just him calling, saying nothing for a minute or so, and then just going “never mind” in this quiet, dead voice he has when he talks about Miloš. Just that. He probably filled the tape while we were away, dealing with the aftermath, and Lara threw the full tape to the rest when we returned. It just slipped through.
— Huh. And here I thought he just left.
— I don't know if you know, but there's this thing he does sometimes. He just walks in this one particular direction. I don't know when he started doing it, or why, but by the time I joined the circus, he was already like that. Jeje said that's how they found him after he got a concussion from a grenade that one time. Whenever he's not all here, he just walks. And, well.. I've been putting the things together, and I don't think he left because he wanted to. It's that same direction again, and sure, Jeje said he looked fine when she saw him, but… I sure believe in my friend, but there's no way he left the mansion with no scratches… The coast isn't far from here, and I doubt he'd make it to the other side, so I'd say we're pretty close.
— Okay. So, you think he’s still in Redar?
— Hard for me to say. There's too much of his things around here. But, there's this one odd spot on the map… I use pendulums for the general area, and I understand why it might swing to the North Pole, or to the ocean, Nipher's place and all, but I don't think he ever went to the mountains in the East. I might be wrong, though, and I'm far too afraid to ask Jeje at this point.
— Hm. — That was all Nex had to offer on the matter, however, he was trying his best to come up with more questions that could help the case. — And how far East are we talking?
— There's no way he could've made it there on foot, even in eight years. Even if he could walk on water. He can't, for the record. But he tried to learn once.
— Sure there’s no way for him to be there? — Nex tilted his head slightly to the left in either a sarcastic or simply quizzical manner. — Because it seems like you don’t know what got him. And if that’s true, he could even be kidnapped with some kind of magical bullshit.
— Hey, I only know what I know, and I only recently learnt to read. Lara says there's a name for it, but it obviously wasn't made for someone with it to be able to find out what it is.

Nex huffed. This was a start at least. But they needed more than a start by this point.

Neven facepalmed so hard, Tove got startled and dropped Harvey.

— Are we having a goddamn competition in the “who knows less” category?
— Didn't he just give a bunch of info?
— Which sums up to “he is here, unless he isn't, in which case he is somewhere else”.
— It would be great if I ever studied geography. — Nex grumbled again, louder this time. — Mountains in the East. There’s a fuckton of mountains in the bloody East.

— Don't look at him like that, he doesn't know geography either! — Neven growled.
— Okay… Then we’ll go the other way. — Nexialist tried, and failed, not to show his annoyance with the whole situation. — You said you used a map. Do you remember how those mountains looked?
— I can just show you, it's no big deal, just give me a minute, this fall hurt really bad.
— All of us will be hurt really badly in somewhere near an hour if we don’t get out of here.

Another half an hour of confusing running, surprisingly with little remarks from Toma, led the party back into the forest, where in the clearing stood an old concrete shack.

— Ya know, discorat leading us to an outhouse in the middle of the forest is so poetic in a trashy way.
— Kiddo, are you any good at tied doors? — “discorat” said.

Said kiddo was unresponsive, and would rather stare at things through glasses far too big for his face.

— Tove, I need you to teach me to grab things, because one more artefact, and I might just as well spontaneously combust. Because if this moron used tied doors, he might as well be three dimensions to the left.

Tove, however, just opened the door.
On the other side was a sheep.

— I didn't know sheep could do that. Anyway, off we go.

The sheep wouldn't move, so Harvey sort of squeezed past it.

— Where exactly does that door lead?
— Hold on, let me ask. Excuse me!
— Tá mé gnóthach anseo! — Someone answered on the other side of the door.
— Leytra. — Harvey concluded.
— Let me get this straight, this is a door to Leytra, which is literally on another side of the goddamn kingdom?
— … Yeah. To be honest, this explains how shaky my pendulum was. Are you going? Tied doors get tangled sometimes.
— … Eh, why the hell not? Everything would be better than dying from an angry mom.

But the sheep wouldn't move. In fact, it decided to get firmly stuck.

— I remember you talking about horses. Do you know what to do with sheep?

Toma just mumbled something, being too preoccupied with a rock.

— Kid?... Great, the kid broke. Those glasses make you way too weird, even for this party, give 'em here.

The glasses turned colder by the second, soon freezing Nex through the lining of his pocket.

— The fuck is wrong with these?
— Oh, yeah, I don't know how to turn them off. If they can be turned off, never had money for quartz goggles. Though I'm not sure if those can be turned off because-
— Point!
— Oh, yeah, you can see magic in stuff with these. To think about it, it probably wasn't a good idea to give them to the kid, they probably are pretty expensive to use… Give him sugar, and he should get better.
— Hilthe, how are you alive?! HOW? — Tove contemplated. The way in which Harvey told the important things last deeply unsettled her.

Nex sighed, but procured a very sweet chocolate bar from his pocket and gave it to Toma. Great thing he's goddamn adorable, the savtpunks probably gave them a month's worth of stuff for the road.

— Here you go, chew. — Then he mumbled. — Good thing the poor hamster-man can’t see or hear you, Tove.
— Look at him! How did this man make it to his age?!
— Divine joke, I'm telling you. Do you mind trying to bark at the sheep?
— Do I look like an effin’ collie?
— I mean, cats see ghosts, why wouldn't sheep see ghosts?
— … I'm gonna bark, but only to find out whether sheep see ghosts.
— Whatever you tell yourself to sleep at night.

 

Whether ghosts are visible to sheep remains unknown, but witchen hissing definitely makes them nervous enough to leave. Even at the edge of the country, Toma wasn't safe from hedgehogs, making Nex wonder whether he was already cursed by Toma’s mother, and if yes, then how.

Maybe he was cursed the moment he met the kid.