Grant awoke on his room's couch with a blanket draped across him. Right, he had been watching a movie with Tanner and, oh god, did he fall asleep on the poor guy? The dishes from dinner had been cleared away, and he felt remarkably rested for having slept on a couch. A quick glance to the clock showed almost 10 o'clock. He could probably still nab breakfast if he hurried, though he didn't think the 'roo would begrudge him breakfast anyway.
He got up and pulled off his shirt, o dig out a new one, only to notice that overnight the usual bit of chest hair he had had instead filled out to a thick but short coating of white fur. He took a moment to check his back in the mirror, noticing the brown fur was actually speckled a bit grey, though the tail turned black, except the fluffy white on the bottom. Still no obvious clue, maybe a white-tailed deer? He sighed and tugged on a new shirt, squirming a little at the unfamiliar feel of fur constricted by fabric.
As he headed downstairs he could make out a few voices in a calm, but obvious debate. "I'm not just gonna wake up one of my guests because you want to chat. I'll tell him you came by and give him your number when he's up." That was unmistakably Tanner.
"Tanner, this is a time crunch, I don't need to talk to him, I need his help. I need a human, just for an hour." Came a deeper voice.
"It really is the best way." Came another voice, still male but slightly higher pitched.
"He's sleeping." Tanner began another protest as Grant stepped into the kitchen where the three were gathered, all eyes suddenly on him. The other two voices were easy to pick out who belonged to who. The deeper voice belonged to the lean-limbed canine. He didn't quite look like a wolf, his fur was shorter, brown in front and black in back, the fur on his head buzzed short to match the rest of his fur. He was also dressed in a crisp tan Sheriff's uniform. The second unknown voice probably belonged to the squirrelly, literally and figuratively, looking fellow in the tweed vest.
"I'm up, if not completely human." He had meant it as a coffee joke but the two new arrivals looked him up and down as if not getting the idiom. Tanner did, pouring him a cup of coffee and sliding it over. "So, officer, I don't suppose this really has anything to do with me?"
The Sheriff shook his head. "I'm Sheriff Joseph Niles, this is Doctor Reese Oakton, he's our local expert on the, uh, valley's unique properties. Also teaches at the college."
"Pleasure." Grant said as he raised his cup, taking a sip. "I'd love to ask you a few questions myself."
"Help us with our problem, and I'll gladly answer." Came the squirrel's reply with a friendly if nervous smile. When Grant motioned them to continue, Sheriff Niles began laying it out. Tanner, bless his soul, placed a veggie omelet in front of Grant for him to devour while he listened.
"There's a young woman on the edge of town. My Deputy managed to stop her just before she crossed into the valley, still on the boundary and still able to go back, but she's refusing. She thinks we kidnapped her brother." The jackal displayed a sour twist of his mouth.
"Is she wrong?" Grant asked.
"We think we know who. He.. attends the college. Junior year. It's been two years since he came here though." Came the answer from the squirrel. "Frankly, she shouldn't be able to remember him. Or else should have rationalized his absence. When someone decides to stay they're kind of.. wiped away from the other side so this sort of thing doesn't happen. She's in the spot where she can see across but isn't fully in our world. We can interact with her, but if she goes any further she'll be trapped until we cross back over."
"Well, then, talk her into staying quiet while she's over here, send her back. Maybe let her talk to her brother. Seems easy to me." Grant muttered around a mouthful of eggs.
Niles shook his head. "When someone leaves here back to the human side, it, messes with their memories of the place. They'll remember being here, having a good time, but they won't remember details or the like. Can't let the truth get out, and annoyingly she's a journalist. Even crackpot stories can get footing in the right soil."
Then it dawned on Grant. "You're afraid that if she can remember a brother she shouldn't, if she came over and went back she'd remember her time here. And stuff would get out. So you need a human to talk to her and convince her to turn back because she'd remember any of you."
Reese nodded his head. "A good summation."
"What's to stop me leaving?" Grant asked, and Tanner hit him with a look that made him instantly regret the question.
"We're not close enough to the human world for it two be a two-way crossing at the moment. It always flows one way though. Like the sliding glass doors exiting a department store. It'll open for those on the inside, and they can see through. But you're on the outside. You can see in, but jump and wave all you want, the doors won't open." Reese explained with the sound of a metaphor he had used often.
"And not to sound like a broken record but what's to stop her from just coming back?" Grant pointed out, stabbing some eggs with his fork.
"Nothing. We can have a better plan in place, but for now we just need her to go away." Niles stated simply.
"Plenty of humans still at the college, don't know why you need Grant." Tanner muttered, sounding oddly protective in a way that, well, normally would have confused him a little but actually made him feel a bit warm.
Niles patted the duffel that sat on the stool next to him. "Because they're too young. I need someone who can, well, convince her he's a deputy and that the road is closed out for safety. Take her number, promise to look into it, be sincere and she should go back. Problem solved for a bit. Also, from what my deputies at the boundary report, the Valley is getting, well, agitated. It sees her as a threat. I've never seen the like."
"I have." Reese chimed in. "The results were not good. Normally our valley is quite gentle with crossovers, especially compared to other sites. But, it doesn't have to be."
And so, after a change of clothes and Niles annoyedly shoving Grant's longer hair up into a police cap to hide the unprofessional cut, Grant outright refused to shave his beard, he sat in the front seat of the cruiser next to Niles, Reese in the back looking anxious.
"Thank you for this, Grant. I'll remember it." Niles stated, actually sounding grateful.
"Well, you're lucky. I've started changing into, well, whatever I'm changing into, good thing those bits can be hidden though." Grant said, trying not to sound nervous as they approached the end of town.
"Hair." Niles spoke just the one word.
"Yeah, on my chest, and around the tail, that's it for now." Grant said, confirming the guess.
Niles laughed. "No, not that type of hair. What you're becoming, a hare. I'm a jackal, I know a hare when I smell one. And you're already putting out the right scent."
"A bunny? Really?" Grant said with a moment of annoyance. Of all the things.
"Hares are actually larger, less fluff and flop, more leggy, and wickedly fast. You'll be surprised how often disappointment in what one is becoming turns to acceptance, or enjoyment." Reese's voice was reassuring, obviously he had had this talk with plenty of students. "Tanner is always complaining there's not enough jumpers about." He laughed and Grant tried to smile.
Finally they pulled up to the boundary, a cruiser with tinted windows across the road blocking another car from passing, the trees on either side too dense to just go around as hey came right up to the road. Almost as if it was designed to be a bottleneck. A woman, twenty-something with long red hair stood next to the blocked car, holding a camera and shouting. "Oh! I see! Bringing in more to try and intimidate me!"
Niles just sighed and held out an earpiece. "I'll walk you through this. Just be calm, polite, but firm. Road is out ahead, it's too dangerous to proceed. We will look into her concerns and call her. We need this done soon, parents will be leaving soon to head home."
"No pressure." Grant shifted uncomfortably, already disliking having his tail confined in normal pants again. He put the earpiece in his ear and stepped out of the cruiser, on the side away from the young woman of course so she couldn't see in and get a look at the two occupants.
"Oh, so someone is finally going to talk to me." The other cruiser shifted a little to give Grant a walking path to the woman, he tried to affect a cop strut and instead got a sharp reprimand in his head.
"Cut that out, you're a deputy not a cowboy." Though Niles sounded more amused than offended, luckily.
"I'm sorry, miss." Grant began, going for direct and simple. "The road is out ahead, it's not safe for anyone to go down there while the emergency crews are working."
She was already snapping pictures of him, which made him sigh, but he didn't stop her. "There's something weird about that town. I know my brother is in there, but everyone refuses to acknowledge it. Even my parents. Someone is blackmailing them, I'm sure of it! You need to let me in! Now!"
Grant was blown back by the vehemence of her words. "Miss. If you give me your number, I'll look into it. Your brother you say? What's his name?"
"Max. Maxwell Howel, I'm Janey. I know he's over there. If I can't drive then take me in one of the cars." She started moving forwards, but Grant moves to step in her way. As she drew closer, the air around them seemed to thrum. He felt like every strand of hair and fur on his body was standing on end.
"It's the valley." Came Reese's voice over the earpiece. "If she gets any closer, it's going to act."
Grant cast a worried look into the sky. It was blue but it felt like there should be black clouds swirling overhead. "Miss Howel. Please, for your own safety back up. Give us your number and we will be in touch, but it's not safe, you need to go." He knew there was some panic in his own voice, but maybe that would convince her.
Janey moved to shove by him, as he stepping into the way, but it was like he wasn't even there, or she wasn't. They passed through each other, it was a weird sensation. Just a window Reese had said. But Janey, having expected resistance went stumbling forward, and he hands hit the hood of Niles' cruiser with a solid thunk.
The air cracked. It was thunder with no lightning and it drove Grant right to his knees. Janey jolted and fell to the pavement. Niles was already getting out of his car. Pain squeezed at either side of Grant's head as his cap fell off and went rolling. He could feel something yanking at his ears. He hadn't felt a change up until hat point, and was promised none of them felt bad, but this hurt like a son of a bitch. He could feel his ears elongating, pulling up to the top of his head and growing long. Sounds flooded his brain. "We need to get them both to the clinic. Shit." And then he blacked out.