Elatsoe: Chapters 6–10

She gazed at farm animals and great, gnarled trees amid corncob meadows.

According to Ellie's mother, who was a library of family knowledge (including gossip), that was a common point of contention between them. Lenore, who was a mix of Spanish and unknown ancestry, wasn't Native, but Trevor figured marriage could change that.

She remembered a story, one of many about her six-great-grandmother’s exploits.

Many heroes tried to slay the Leech, but they were encumbered by mud, wrapped—as if by spider web—in loathsome hair, and devoured.

How dangerous would its last death throes be? How could Trevor stab it with anything if he could not get past the swarm of fishing line-fine hair, each strand sharper than needles and hungrier than mosquitoes...

It should have been a proud moment, but Ellie also felt profoundly sad. The Leech was the last of its kind.

Ahead, a truck stop broke the monotony of middle-of-nowhere, Texas.

The duck feather routine got wearisome, though.

How long should she linger? Too quick, and she’d seem antsy. Too slow, and she’d seem covetous.

Ellie couldn't use the rings, however, because all portal travel had to be approved and facilitated by fairy folk, and fairies didn’t like "strangers.”

Every time she had to pay for an expensive airline ticket or miss a field trip, her disdain for the otherworldly snobs increased.

She leaned against a wall and idly looked at a chest-high, violet-tinted geode beside her.

Ellie chose a ten-dollar trilobite. The inch-long arthropod was trapped in a chip of limestone, but most of its body had been exposed and polished.

Could she entice the wild ghosts to follow her to Trevor's grave like a funeral procession? Would their little parade frighten Abe Allerton from Willowbee so much, he'd confess everything about his crime to the police?

Long story short, Abe Allerton is a family man, a Boy Scout leader, and he lives on the fringe of Willowbee.

Cacti, shrubs, and mesquite trees flanked the minivan, and tracts of grazing land were delineated by barbed wire fences.

Cacti, shrubs, and mesquite trees flanked the minivan, and tracts of grazing land were delineated by barbed wire fences.

As they neared the sign, Ellie read the cutesy-quaint slogan written in a whimsical, curling font: WILLOWBEE, TEXAS. POPULATION = JUST ENOUGH!

They passed a stretch of sprawling ranches.

Most of the house smelled like a nursery, but the guest room still had its new-house smell: fresh paint and carpet cleaner. Sterile, closer to a hotel room than a home.

“Get ready for bed, Ellie,” her mother said. “You’ll use the cot. It’s memory foam. Fancy stuff.”
Obliging, Ellie brushed her teeth in the half bathroom.

Just rage, sorrow, keen intelligence, and vindictiveness. Unlike an animal, he would know that he was dead; the awareness would allow him to fully exploit his supernatural abilities.

Gingerly, she dropped the comb into the bag and zipped it shut.

He had the kind of face that she associated with department-store clothing ads. Conventionally attractive, mature, and forgettable.

How could anybody expect Ellie to sleep while the bereaved mother and child wept outside her door?

As an arthropod, a scavenger, it probably fed on bacteria and organic scraps. Scuttling across the sea floor, glutting itself before larger predators descended.

In the underworld, the place of dreams, it continued scuttling, for what else could a trilobite do?

They sang together to communicate and commiserate.

This chasm appeared in the middle of the wilderness. And by appeared, I mean...overnight, a hole opened in the earth, and it had no bottom.

She was stubborn and very concerned about the safety of other people, even strangers. One of her flaws, in my opinion. It made her impulsive.

Poor, magnificent animals that died in darkness, often after a debilitating fall.

As the horses drank the fresh, cool water, a coyote woman approached. She was in her human guise, but even disguised, coyotes cannot hide their yellow eyes.

Judging by her deadpan stare, Vivian was unimpressed.

‘We disturbed the ancient dead!' he said. 'They demand gifts of food for our insolence!'

The animals were packed so tight, it was impossible to see her hand in front of her face, as if the darkness of the cave had been manifested in thousands of fuzzy little bodies.

"...Actually, have you ever learned about the panting caves near Austin?"
“Sure! They eat spelunkers!..."

“I have it on good authority,” Vivian said, “that the whole thing is a ruse. The bat people who live in them don’t want to be troubled.”

“Wait. Are you saying they pretend to be monsters to scare away humans? As in exactly what the trickster Coyote did?”
“With much more finesse.”

Ellie looked at her trilobite wistfully. “I want to meet them.”

“What a tragedy.”
“Are we...still talking about your divorce?”
“No,” Dr. Allerton said. “That was amicable..."