Chapter 4: 4. An Alpine Encounter

Moving as quietly and carefully as I could, I pulled myself up into a sitting crouch. Lia stayed low, half hidden under the blanket and against the door behind me, while I peeked out through the window on the drivers side.

There was some faint pre-dawn light just visible above the trees to the east. It didn't do anything to help me see who or what was moving around the parking area, but the faint light helped me get a feel for what time it was.

My eyes swept back and forth but I hadn't see anything yet. Then the sky lit up with more lightning climbing up the unearthly mountain, and in that moment I spotted them.

Across the lot a dark burly figure was hunched over by one of the damaged cars. It looked like they were leaning in through the back window.

Now that I knew where to look the dim light of the aurora was enough for me to follow them as the figure started moving again. They approached another damaged car and checked inside, like they were looking for something. And given the situation, it wasn't hard to guess they were looking for food or supplies.

I continued to watch quietly as I debated back and forth whether or not to reveal myself. I hadn't got a good look at them yet, but I couldn't help feel anxious. Ok I'll admit it, I was scared.

On the one hand maybe it was another hiker, someone hurt or in need of help. So far they were only checking the damaged cars, they hadn't tried to break into any of the intact ones. But on the other hand, if they didn't find any easy pickings maybe they'd start breaking windows next. Maybe they weren't a hiker, maybe they were a looter. Or worse, maybe they were a hunter.

Rationally I was pretty sure hunting wasn't allowed in the national parks, but now I was part fox and with so many other weird things going on I couldn't help worry that someone with a gun might take a shot at me.

Finally, I knew the sun would be up before long and whoever or whatever they were they'd definitely notice me and Lia in the daylight. Hiding in the car was a safe bet when it came to avoiding local wildlife and friendly hikers, but it didn't keep us hidden and our protection could be defeated with a large well-aimed rock.

Another ripple of lightning lit up the area and the stranger moved to the last damaged car. I watched them check the interior, then they straightened up and their shoulders slumped. It wasn't hard to guess they didn't find whatever they were looking for.

I watched for another few seconds, then finally made up my mind. I decided to take the chance.

"Stay out of sight ok?" I whispered to Lia. "I'm going to talk to them."

She didn't make a sound as she stayed half hidden, but I knew she understood.

The figure spun around the instant I opened the door, despite my attempt to do it as quietly as possible.

I emerged from the car and let the door almost fully close behind me as I stood next to it. I was still dressed in my cut-off jeans and my baggy t-shirt, and for the moment my tail was straight down between my legs.

"Uh, hello?" I said as I raised my right hand in a slightly nervous wave.

The figure waved back as they responded in an uneasy voice, "Hi there."

There was a slight accent to their voice I couldn't quite place. They definitely weren't local, if anything I'd guess they were from somewhere in the states. Somewhere south.

They started to move closer, and I did my best not to act too anxious as I stood with my back against the side of the car. They stopped about two meters away and frowned as they tilted their head slightly. At that moment we were both illuminated by more of the lightning climbing its way up the side of the mountain, and both of us stared at the other in surprise.

They sounded surprised as they stated, "You're a foxgirl?"

"And you're a wolf...?" I'd been about to say 'wolf-man' but something made me hesitate.

We were both in the partial darkness again, but I kept the brief image I'd seen in my mind.

They were taller than me, at least twenty-five centimetres taller. I didn't know how tall I was now so I couldn't say how tall they were, I could just guess at the height difference. Age-wise I figured they were about the same age as me, or maybe just a bit older. Their shoulder-length black hair was shaggy and unkempt, but a few features stood out clearly.

First was the silver streak I'd seen in their hair, running back from their temple. And second were the two black fur-covered pointed ears standing up atop their head. Third was the black furry tail that was sticking out awkwardly between their pants and their jacket. And finally I was also struck by the distinct light green colour of their eyes.

I also noticed their cheeks and lips were smooth, no sign of any facial hair. That might be why I hesitated to call them a wolf-man. It wasn't unheard-of for hikers to bring a razor with them, but it was added weight. And most people would rather carry something more important.

The fact that I had a razor in my pack kind of proved my point as far as I was concerned. Up till a few hours ago I still needed it, since facial hair caused me a fair bit of dysphoria.

"I guess," they said in an uneasy voice as they self-consciously ran a hand over their head. Their ears folded back when their hand passed over them, then popped upright again as they added, "That just happened about fifteen or twenty minutes ago, right before I got to the parking lot. Same thing happened to you?"

I nodded, "Yeah. It was earlier for me. Maybe a few hours ago? I'm not sure, I had a bit of a rest once I got to the car."

"Oh, I'm Tori by the way," I added. "Well, Victoria, but most people just call me Tori."

"Hi Tori," they replied. "Cute name. I'm uh..."

Their voice trailed off and they looked a bit uncomfortable. I was left wondering if they didn't want to tell me their name for some reason.

Before I had a chance to ask they continued, "Call me Alpine. That's my trail name."

"Trail name?" I asked. "Like a nickname you use when you're hiking or something?"

They smiled, "Right. My friends started calling me that, because of how much time I spent hiking in the mountains."

"All right Alpine," I smiled back at them. "Nice to meet you. How about we take a load off and sit down, since we're talking?"

After a few awkward seconds we both ended up sitting next to each other on the hood of my car, feet hanging down in front of the grill and our tails stretched out behind us on the hood. It was hard to say who's tail was longer, but mine was definitely fluffier. I wasn't sure why, but that felt important to me.

"So are you parked in this lot too?" I asked. "Or just looking for a way out of here?"

Alpine shook their head, "Nah I'm parked over at Amqui? That's about fifty miles west-south-west, give or take."

My eyes probably bulged a bit as I turned to stare at them, "Fifty miles?! How'd you end up here?"

"Oh, me and my friends bussed it over to Gaspe, near the eastern end of the peninsula?" There was some enthusiasm in their voice, this was obviously something they were passionate about. "Then we were hiking back to Amqui. Supposed to be a sixteen-day trip, at fifteen miles a day? That's slacking it a bit, but it gave us more time to enjoy the scenery."

"Wow," was about all I could think to say. "You're a lot more serious about hiking than I am, that's for sure."

A moment later I frowned, "Wait what happened to your friends? Are they ok?"

Alpine's expression fell, "I assume so, they left before all this crazy shit happened. They bailed on me a few days ago for uh, personal reasons."

You are reading story Mountains of Magic at novel35.com

"Damn," I sighed. That brought my mood down as well, "Same here, except my friends didn't even bother coming. They let me book the trip and pay for everything, then they cancelled at the last minute and left me to come out here on my own."

For a few moments we were both quiet, with dejected frowns on our faces.

I finally gestured to the sky, "It's starting to get light over there, it'll be morning soon. I don't know yet if it's best to stay here and wait for rescue, or if it makes more sense to try and get out on foot. I figured that was a decision that should wait till the sun was up? In the meantime I guess I can make some breakfast."

"You've got supplies?" they asked.

The eagerness in their voice and the way their ears perked up made me hesitate for a moment.

"Yeah," I finally responded. "I lost a few things in the quake, but I salvaged almost everything. I was in my tent out by Lac Côté when it hit. How about you?"

Alpine shook their head and sighed, "I was camping on the side of Mount John Allen. Probably would have had a good view of the whole thing, except I was hanging on for dear life while the mountain tried to shake itself apart. By the time the shaking stopped I lost pretty much everything, apart from the clothes on my back."

"Wow," I grimaced. "That had to be pretty scary."

They shrugged, "I guess. I'm probably still in shock over it. Between that and suddenly sprouting wolf ears and a tail, it's been a hell of a night."

"It sure has," I nodded.

There was another pause, then Alpine asked "So why were you talking about walking out when you've got a car? Did the quake take out the road or something?"

"The car's dead," I sighed. "Not just the car, everything's dead. My phone, my camera."

They frowned, "Oh shit. That's not good."

Alpine turned to stare at that improbable mountain, "Going out on a limb here and saying that's probably to blame. The question is, was it a one-time thing that fried everything nearby when the mountain appeared? Or is it still happening. Will rescuers' gear get fried if they come too close?"

"I never thought of that," I frowned. "Considering it's been doing that lightning aurora thing all night long, my guess is whatever it's doing is still happening..."

"In which case waiting for rescue is probably going to be a long wait," they stated, finishing my sentence for me.

It wasn't the answer I was hoping for, but I had to agree with them. Whatever it was, it was still happening. Odds were rescue would be a long time coming, so we needed to fend for ourselves.

"Ok," I said as I started thinking about survival again. "I've got enough food to last me for ten days. Split it and that's five days for the two of us. I've never walked more than about twenty klicks at once and the prospect of covering fifty miles of rough terrain kind of scares me, but if you know where we're going and how to get there then I'll defer to your expertise."

Alpine turned and gave me a funny look, "We just met and you're going to offer me half your food and trust me to get you to safety? You don't know anything about me."

I shrugged, "I know you're called Alpine because you have experience hiking in the mountains. I know you're a serious long-distance hiker. And I know you've got a car at Amqui, which I hope like hell is far enough away that it hasn't been affected by this mess. And I know you have no supplies or gear."

"How do you know I won't just take the food and leave you behind?" they asked, sounding genuinely curious.

"No idea," I shook my head. "Maybe it's something about your scent, or maybe it's intuition? It feels like we're both in an impossible situation, I mean we've both sprouted tails right? Even if nothing else happened that'd be reason enough to stop and talk, compare notes. As it is, I've got food and you've got experience and a car. It's a perfect match."

Alpine grinned, "Ok Tori. Not going to try and argue with that logic. Apart from supplies and gear, I'm assuming you also have hiking boots?"

They gestured at my bare feet, "You're not going to cover fifteen miles a day barefoot."

"Oh," I hesitated as I looked down at my cute feet. I wiggled my toes as my mind raced. I couldn't think of a way to tell them why my boots didn't fit without explaining how my whole body changed. And explaining why that didn't make me upset probably meant telling them I was trans.

After a few long awkward seconds I finally decided to just get it over with. If we were going to trust each other and try to get out of this mess together, I needed to know up front that they weren't going to flip out on me for who I was. Not that I got those vibes from them, the opposite in fact, but I couldn't help being cautious.

"So yeah this is going to be awkward," I sighed then cringed slightly. "I have boots but they don't fit anymore. When I changed last night, it wasn't just the tail and the ears? I also uh... I'm trans ok? I was AMAB, just started my transition less than a year ago. I've only been out to friends and coworkers for about two months. But last night when this happened, it completely changed me. Made me smaller, made my body cis-normative? Except for the ears and tail obviously. I don't know how much smaller I am, or what size my feet are now, but my men's size-eleven boots are impossible to walk in."

I glanced over at Alpine, and found them staring at me. They weren't glaring or looking disgusted or angry. The look on their face was hard to place at first, until they finally spoke.

They responded quietly, "That's uh, that sounds really cool."

I ended up staring back at them as a bunch of questions popped into my head. Were they interested because it's a cool and interesting situation? Or were they interested because they're envious? My heart and mind were both racing as Alpine and I continued to stare at each other.

After another couple seconds I finally had to say something, to break the silence that had settled between us.

"So I have a few more questions if that's ok?" I asked. "To try and get to know you better. Where are you from? Are you working or going to school? And what pronouns do you prefer?"

Alpine looked like they were about to answer, till I got to the pronouns question. Then they sort of stalled for a few seconds, like that question struck a chord with them.

"I'm from near Toronto," I added since they were still quiet. "I'm working, it's not a great job but the folks there have been really good and accepting about me being trans. And my pronouns are she-her."

It took another few seconds before they finally replied, "I'm from near Nashville originally, but living in Williamsport Pennsylvania now. And I just finished school, just finished earning a comp-sci degree. This was our big graduation trip."

The fact that they didn't mention pronouns was another hint, as far as I was concerned. And by that point the sky was getting lighter in a hurry, it was probably less than twenty minutes till the sun was fully up.

"Why don't I get started fixing breakfast," I suggested as I turned to look in the car where I left my pack. "Then we can..."

My voice drifted off as I found Lia sitting on the drivers seat with her head cocked slightly to one side. She was quietly watching me and Alpine, and I got the distinct impression she wanted to ensure I stayed safe. She seemed wary of the wolf-kin.

"We can what?" Alpine asked. "What's wrong?"

I grimaced, "So I actually have another friend here, and I guess now's the time to do the introductions?"

Alpine turned, and their eyes went wide as they saw the small fox staring at them from behind the wheel.