Trickster s Girl - By Hilari Bell Page 0,47

next campground, which would be somewhere in Banff National Park. The craggy, ice-capped peaks with glacial blue streams running below were different from the uplift mountains Kelsa was used to, and so beautiful that she kept slowing the bike to stare. Raven seemed to enjoy them too - he didn't start nagging her to speed up till clouds began to gather among the peaks.

Kelsa didn't realize they were approaching the provincial border till she saw the sign, LEAVING ALBERTA: WILD ROSE COUNTRY. Her heart rate accelerated, but she didn't stop the bike - there were cameras posted on the approach to any border station, watching for just that kind of suspicious behavior. She did slow down enough to talk to Raven.

"What are we going to do? You didn't warn me about a border station! In the middle of a national park? They'll run my PID card, and I'm here illegally, and you don't have one!"

"Don't worry about it," Raven told her. "Just keep driving."

"But there's no way they won't..."

The next sign said WELCOME TO BRITISH COLUMBIA: THE BEST PLACE ON EARTH. Kelsa drove several hundred more yards, then pulled off at the widened patch of asphalt where drivers could check their brakes.

She turned in the bike saddle and looked at the back of the welcome sign. It said LEAVING BRITISH COLUMBIA: THE BEST PLACE ON EARTH.

"But ... where's the border station? Where's the scanner, the guards, the ... the security?"

"Maybe," said Raven, "the Canadians didn't want to waste their money on something that doesn't seem to stop either terrorists or crime."

"But ... but..."

Kelsa half expected the border station to appear around the next curve of the road, or the next. She'd ridden five miles, or in the Canadian system about eight kilometers, before she was forced to accept that there was no border station. It seemed even more alien than seeing "100" posted on a speed-limit sign.

The clouds were looming heavily when they reached the tourist town of Lake Louise, and Kelsa had only one set of rain gear.

"You could shapeshift and keep warm that way." But she said it reluctantly. Now that she knew what his enemies were capable of, Kelsa wanted him behind her, in human form, able to come to her defense at a moment's notice.

"I've got a better idea," Raven told her. "Why don't we get that shower and go shopping?"

Kelsa hesitated. Paying their way into the park, plus the fee for a night's camping, had almost exhausted her debit account. On the other hand, if it was raining tomorrow, all the thermal knit she could loan him wouldn't keep him warm on the bike.

"OK. But it'll have to be cheap clothes. Off the sale rack."

"Yes, madam." A mischievous flash in the dark eyes negated the meek voice.

Kelsa sighed.

***

They had to shower one at a time because Raven had to borrow her account card to pay the dollar it cost to turn on the water. Kelsa didn't mind waiting. An amazingly tame herd of elk was grazing in the meadow next to the shower building, to the delight of all the passing campers in this large, crowded campground. There were even more tourists here than in Craters, but if Kelsa got off on one of the lonelier trails she could probably find a place to work her healing without an audience.

If the power of the nexus manifested itself in physical beauty, the one under this park must be incredible.

By the time they rode into the parking lot that served the cluster of shops, it was raining in earnest, and it had gotten cold enough to make Raven's point about both of them needing tempcontrol clothes.

Eyeing the glass and flowstone buildings, Kelsa had some misgivings about the state of her debit account. By her loose tally, she had about a hundred dollars left.

"The sale rack," she said, following Raven into the store. "The cheapest possible sale rack."

"Don't worry about it," he said. "I'll take care of that. Why don't you see where we can get something warm for dinner?"

What did he plan to do? Mesmerize the sales clerk into thinking he'd paid? That might work on the clerk, but it wouldn't work on the store's security cameras. Kelsa probably had enough money to pay for a cheap bike suit. Barely.

She wasn't surprised to see him go straight to one of the most expensive brands and pull a jacket off the rack.

Bike suits were designed to be worn over other clothing, so he didn't have to go to