THE WINCHESTER-NABU DETECTIVE AGENCY

AMBER LOVE 19-MAR-2018 My work is supported by the generous backers who adore my cat stories at Patreon.com/amberunmasked and they also get first access to what’s happening with my books and podcast. Also, I’m an Amazon Influencer so you can shop through my personal recommendations and buy my books with these handy links below:

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ADVENTURES WITH GUS – CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE: GATEWAYS

[accordion title=”Expand for Adventures with Gus Table of Contents”]

• Chapter One – The Great Hunt
• Chapter Two – The Great Escape
• Chapter Three – The DaVinci Plan
• Chapter Four – On the Wild Side
• Chapter Five – The Leash I Could Do
• Chapter Six – The Maltese Finch
• Chapter Seven – The Two Snakes
• Chapter Eight – Heat Wave
• Chapter Nine – The Sleepless Detective
• Chapter Ten – Baby Beasts
• Chapter Eleven – The Blue Dahlia
• Chapter Twelve – Stray Cat Strut
• Chapter Thirteen – The Strange Case of DI Nabu and Mr. Hyde
• Chapter Fourteen – Gus and the Grumpy Old Man
• Chapter Fifteen – The Night of the Hunter
• Chapter Sixteen – On Dangerous Ground
• Chapter Seventeen – Escape in the Fog
• Chapter Eighteen – World of Witcherscape
• Chapter Nineteen – Romancing the Stone
• Chapter Twenty – Where the Sidewalk Ends
• Chapter Twenty-one – Out of the Fog
• Chapter Twenty-two – The Moletiverse
• Chapter Twenty-three – To Kill a Woodpecker
• Chapter Twenty-four – Follow Me Quietly
• Chapter Twenty-five – Hell’s Half Acre
• Chapter Twenty-six – Black Snake Moan
• Chapter Twenty-seven – Night of Terror
• Chapter Twenty-eight – Spellbound
• Chapter Twenty-nine – Ghost Rider
• Chapter Thirty – Chips in the Wall
• Chapter Thirty-one – Of Mice and Men
• Chapter Thirty-Two – The Fairies’ Dancing Place
• Chapter Thirty-Three – The Lovely Bones
• Chapter Thirty-Four – Two Hounds of the Baskervilles
• Chapter Thirty-Five – Training Day
• Chapter Thirty-Six - The House on Haunted Hill
• Chapter Thirty-Seven - Guardians of New Jersey
• Chapter Thirty-Eight – The Big Country
• Chapter Thirty-Nine – State of the Agency Address
• Chapter Forty – A Real Stick in the Mud
• Chapter Forty-one – Despereaux Times, Despereaux Measures
• Chapter Forty-two – Footsteps in the Fog
• Chapter Forty-three – Four Boys and a Gun
• Chapter Forty-four – Rabbit Angstrom

[/accordion] Where we left off…

Detective Inspector Guster Nabu and Professor Oliver Winchester missed the opportunity to question a real American wolpertinger which would have been the first confirmation of the species.

THE WINCHESTER-NABU ESTATE. INTERIOR.

This week we celebrate the official arrival of Spring on March 20th. This has been a special day on the family because it was my grandmother’s birthday (b. 1920). Gus and Oliver never had the chance to meet her but she would’ve loved them. She especially would have loved Caico, the fluffball who loved snuggling. We also got to take time to celebrate Gus’ Adoptiversary which was March 17th, a St. Patrick’s Day adoption!

All the thoughts of spring stir interest in the fae world. Our local fae are part of the magings as previously discussed in the Winchester-Nabu case files. Just like with spotting paranormal activity, cats are great at tracking different kinds of faerie folk (or whichever spelling you prefer: fairy, fairie). Some writers and folklorists use fae as a broad spectrum term for creatures from little winged people to vampires. We use magings for that level of classification. To us, fae are specifically the faerie folk: sprites, garden fairies, wood nymphs, undines, etc.

The fae here do interact with the other magings and have access to the underworld and portal system. Gus often insists on going off-trail while hiking because of the detection of such portals or magical spaces above ground. This case file is to show off a few of his best discoveries.

The Boulevard Portal:

This hollow tree opening was one of Gus’ early discoveries. It’s on the big trail called the Boulevard which was a daily visit for Gus before he decided to more serious hiking. The Boulevard is close to home and the Winchester-Nabu Detective Agency. It’s where we travel to get the best views of the sunrise. It’s also where Gus and I encountered hell hounds; not sure if the hounds or the snow are the reason why Gus doesn’t take that trail anymore.

 

Point Mountain Portal:

Point Mountain is relatively close so we’ve traveled there to do some off-site investigations. It gives us the chance to see beyond the confines of the Winchester-Nabu estate. The only setback is that we sometimes run into other people and dogs which sends Gus into a frenzy. He freaks out.

Our last trip out there, Gus pulled me off the trail. I think he did this because he knew he could. It was only the two of us. When I’m trying to manage his excitement on my own and be in charge of the camera and backpack, I give in rather easily. I can’t stand when he whines and he knows it. In the winter it was definitely easier to go off-trail. The visibility is so much better when there’s no foliage. In our defense, there was supposed to be a trail there, but I couldn’t find it. There should have been orange markers somewhere.

Hunting Lands Portal:

This portal discovery falls into the sketchy classification of the “maybe we shouldn’t have been there” map sector. We discovered it while investigating what we thought was one family’s land, but ended up being someone else’s land. The outsiders. The people who bought it just for hunting. >:(

Witches’ Gate Portal:

The portal at the Witches’ Gate is one of my favorite places. There’s a circular trail that has outlets to Bunny Hollow, the north edge corner trail, and one of the private road trails. There’s a cluster of trees with a lot of overgrowth that formed a natural vine cave. The broken trees are among Gus’ favorite climbing spots.

The portal is at the western side of the circle. It’s been changing a lot since Gus first discovered it. This leads us to speculate that either the magic on them is temporary or there’s no spell at all to protect the doorway from natural erosion. The magings aren’t going to shellac wooden gateways or mortar the rocks into place. It’s possible that once nature caves in a gateway, that’s it. The magings go make another.

Cathedral Portal:

I’m adding this glorious find by Gus even after initial publishing for Patreon backers because it’s too cool not to share in this collection. Gus insisted we go up the mountain directly behind the neighbor’s house which I only did because they weren’t home. That area is almost vertical. It’s not an easy climb and I tried to get him on the trail but quickly gave up. He had his mission.

We did a lot of rock climbing and eventually I redirected him back towards the trails. On the way, Gus found this incredible tree with bark that formed doors like a church. His inspection was brief. I should add it was also freezing cold, which never stops him from wanting adventures.

Other possibilities:

These samples show only the wooden, ground level formations of doorways to the maging realm. Gus has also noticed activity high up in the trees and in rock formations. He’s not fond of the river so we have not been able to do any exploring of possible water entrances.