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I reached bottoe on the creek, straddling a downed tree The movement of water was quiet here, where I sat on the bank in the sun, my feet shuffled beneath last fall’s leaves, but I could hear the roar of water just ahead, where I thought the confluence should be, and from upstream, where it obviously took a drop Hurricane Ivanna eeping slowly up the Mississippi River basin and du torrents of water to our west Projections had it turning east, right for us, with forecasts of four to six inches of rain over two days Soon this creek would be a raging torrent

Lunch was protein bars, nuts, three brownies, and two bananas It leftfull but not satisfied I stored the paper and plastic, and tossed the peels high on the bank, knowing so anihter, I headed downstrean The sound of water on stone grew and the air etter with mist

I spotted the three vertical claw ot to the confluence They were slashed into solid granite, the fresh cuts still bright in the sun I placedthe stone dry despite the heavy ," I whispered Below the slash marks were three-toed prints with claw marks deep in the soil

I pushed on another twenty yards and stopped in the vapor, above the e,The water for and rising in a foah The water churned so hard it flowed upstrea caught, swirling, and s were trapped in rocks, held fir a sieve that collected and held everything solid carried by the water Tires, two-by-fours, a torn , whole trees with leaves and roots were caught in the maelstrom

The body of a deer was trapped on the pile farthest upstreas visible, flies buzzing, even in the wet mist Downstreae filled with logs and human debris

Fro the GPS location Saate the creek, not with the sieves and strainers that clogged the ay I hadI had accomplished all day was to prove toand killing and that the grindy was on their trail Which I had presuruntled, I made my way back up the mountain to the SUV for the difficult drive back to a real road I could have taken the helo, I thought Beast hissed with displeasure

I was nodding at the wheel by the time I made it back to Hartford, on the Tennessee side of the mountains, but I couldn’t stop for the day Not yet I called Dave and Mike and both were available for an early supper/coffee/beer, as long as I was buying Leo had given me a company credit card, and I intended to use it

The afternoon was hot and airless; the air-conditioning and di of the Bean Trees Café elcoarlic cheese fries, hoh Beast turned up her nose at cooked ot beer, ht make me sleepier, even with my Beast-hyped metabolism I ordered a double espresso so I couldasleep I wasn’t a coffee lover, preferring tea, but caffeine was one drug that my skinwalker metabolism did respond to I was more ahen the food came

"Most of the creeks between here and Asheville in Buncombe County run east to west across theeven over the busload of noisy tourists "They’re confined to the French Broad River Basin and empty into the Tennessee River Basin, and then into Mississippi River Basin"

Meaning that they were attached to the Pigeon River, burbling just outside the café Got it He pulled a creased map from his pocket while I wipeddown the last er I drank so down, said, "Okay So the grindylow can get tothe water, especially when su like it’ll follow the sarindy- a red T-shirt, with a do-rag of the Ans that had been noted by the paddlers, hair-head creekers, and hikers There were a lot of theeon and the creeks nearby, and ca so like that in New Orleans But then, there were no rocks there, and I hadn’t been looking for trees with slashme time I flipped open ht-hand blood-meal

"What, Yellowrock?" He sounded irritated

"Bruiser Quick question When the grindyloi in the fountain at vamp HQ, did it leave any claw marks in the marble? Like the ones in its bedroom when it trashed the place?"

"No Is that all?"

That was just weird Whyfor the wolves I’rindy, hoping it iththe paddlers twice their going rate to take them away from their businesses I’ll need Ernestine to deposit electronic checks into their accounts I’ll e-mail the numbers to her"