The next few days were occupied with producing more of the phoenix shots. It would take about a day for the machines and equipment to achieve the required conditions before another of the immensely precious and powerful bullets could be made.

Day in day out, wait for the machines, shape the crystal, pluck a hair, put it in the crystal, nearly go blind. Rinse, repeat. They kept the phoenix fox sedated by mixing laudanum in with her water and food. Even in the cage, she could present significant danger.

Occasionally, Thomas would head out to collect supplies, get any news or messages, as well as getting out for the sake of his sanity. The interior of the mine was overwhelming in its isolation, he had no idea how Mr Liu managed to stay down there all the time, so intently focused on his work.

One of the days while he was out, he called into his mothers farm to see how she was doing. Maggie, ever stubbornly independent, was offended by the insinuation that she would need help and instead Thomas wound up being fed and doted on like a child. No matter how tough he was or how many crazy situations he went through, he never seemed to be able to get his mother to stop seeing him as “her sweet little man” as she called him. As always, whenever he came to visit he was reminded that she was a typhoon of a woman and if you weren’t careful you’d get swept up doing what she wanted of you.

As Thomas sat there eating the hot meal that his mother had made he heard the sound of a horse approaching. Still on alert on account of all the people who had tried to kill him in the last few weeks, he crept to the window and peeked out to see who it was. He relaxed slightly as he saw it was just the sheriff walking up the path. Before he could fully relax he saw something enormous walking in the shadows beside the sheriff. Its skin or fur or whatever it was covered in seemed to drink in light, making it impossible to see what exactly it was. All Thomas could tell was that it was huge.

Stepping up to the door, Thomas checked that he had the magic gauntlets at the ready in case this monster wasn’t friendly. He opened the door before the sheriff could knock.

“Uh, I’m looking for Maggie.” said the sheriff, obviously caught off guard by Thomas answering the door.

Thomas’ attention wasn’t on the sheriff though, instead he stared intently at the massive monster that now stood on his mothers front porch. The light from the lanterns allowed him to make out more detail. It had to be over 8 feet tall with wings that reached even higher. Humanoid in appearance with two arms and two legs, but its head. It’s head was insect-like. A pair of giant compound eyes dominated the sides of its face with two fuzzy looking antennae sticking out of the top. Its mouth seemed to have a pair of flaps that came together to cover whatever was underneath. The whole monster was covered in a dense fur that, even with direct light, seemed unnaturally dark. He didn’t need to be told that he was looking at the mothman. He had heard the myths about it and had previously written off its existence as crazy people seeing things.

Thomas began to appraise the mothman for weaknesses or ways to beat it in a fight if it should come to it. Expect a fight before you expect a friend as Thomas often said to himself.

“Tommy, let them in ya mongrel, they’re supposed to be here,” called his mother from somewhere in the house.

Thomas stood aside and watched as the sheriff walked in followed by the mothman folding himself through the doorway while holding a cage of chickens.

The mothman handed the chickens over before slinking back outside and watching from the porch while the sheriff and his mother chatted about chickens and sheep milk.

Thomas didn’t take his eyes off the monster, trying to gather as much information as he could. He would have to make a note of this encounter and send word to Mr Porter about this.

Soon after he stepped inside the sheriff left with a self cooling milk can, taking the mothman with him. Quickly, Thomas began to make notes about what he had seen and scribbled a rough drawing of the monster while the image was fresh in his mind. Once he was done, he turned and gave his mother a questioning look.

“Huh? Oh they jus wanted some sheep milk. Well really they wanted cat milk but we ain’t got no pregnant cats. But actually what they really wanted was fox milk, but we ain’t got no pregnant foxes either. I told em that's a lotta trouble for a fox but they reckon it was a pretty special fox, so I helped em out for some new chickens”

Thomas’ blood ran cold. The phoenix fox pup. His mind spun trying to put the pieces together. How did the sheriff know? Was it the mothman? How did the mothman know? Were they taking care of the fox pup? They obviously didn’t know Thomas was involved but how long would that last? More questions than answers and asking them wasn’t getting him anywhere. The best thing to do was start to prepare everything for a fast escape should it be necessary. He would still need to give Mr Liu as much time as possible to create more phoenix shots, but he was certain that their time was limited.

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Pushing his horse and his senses he headed back to the mine as fast as he could in the dark. When he arrived he found some of the men sitting around a campfire drinking, one of them stood and tried to point a gun at Thomas to get him to stop but was too slow to really be an effective guard. Thomas would need to sort that out.

Once down in the main chamber of the mine, he found Mr Liu passed out, slumped faced down on a workbench with ink from one of his notebooks smeared on his face. This was one of the few times that Thomas had seen the man sleep and so he didn’t want to wake him.

Settling into another seat, he made himself comfortable intending on keeping watch. As he sat there, his eyelids became heavy, and his vision blurred. The next thing he knew he was being woken up by Mr Liu.

“”Wakey wakey my friend. We have more work to do”

Thomas stirred and stretched, working out the tightness in his muscles from sleeping on a chair. Mr Liu had prepared some thunder root drink and a simple porridge and although Thomas was appreciative of the warm food, he decided that at some point soon he would cook both his mother and Mr Liu a proper meal. This was simply no way to live.

After breakfast, Mr Liu got the machinery set and made another of the bullets. Thomas wasn't sure if repeatedly being exposed to the blinding light was good for him, but Mr Liu didn’t seem concerned and he had grown to trust the man.

Several more days passed by of doing nothing by producing phoenix shots. After fishing each phoenix shot from the oil, Mr Liu placed it in a sturdy wooden box with the others. The dancing light in each bullet still as bright and lively as when they were first made.

Thomas was unsure how many days had passed when Mr Liu finally turned to him and said “We have used all null crystal. We must procure more if we are to continue.” while removing his goggles and heavy gloves.

“Well” Thought Thomas, “It seems like we will have to go send word to Mr Porter. This is also a good enough excuse to get out of here and have a proper meal”

Gesturing with his thumb he let Mr Liu know that they should leave for a bit. Understanding, the Han man went about shutting down the equipment and topping up the food and water for the phoenix fox. On their way out they instructed the men guarding the mine to tend to the animal and to not let anyone else in, then they rode off towards Maggie's farm.

One of Thomas’ favorite things about working in New Orleans with Mr Porter was the food and he had been missing it. Dropping Mr Liu off at the farm, he headed into town to pick up some ingredients for a Cajun style gumbo. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the general store was very well stocked with almost everything he needed.

Back at the farm with his haul, Thomas stood over an iron pot, stirring a dark roux with a slow, steady hand, watching as the flour and fat transformed from pale to a rich, nutty brown. Onions, bell peppers, and celery released a sizzle and a burst of fragrance as he added them in. He stirred until the vegetables softened and the roux deepened then tossed in sliced andouille sausage followed by tender chicken pieces, browned just enough to add flavor. Next came a handful of bay leaves and a sprinkle of cayenne. Finally, he poured in a ladle of rich, homemade broth, letting it bubble and thicken as it absorbed each element into a unified blend. As the gumbo simmered, he covered the pot, letting the flavors meld. His only disappointment was his inability to source shrimp on such short notice.

Thomas poured the rich, steaming gumbo over mounds of fluffy white rice, the thick broth pooling around the grains as tender pieces of sausage and chicken came to rest on top. Bowls were placed in front of Maggie and Mr Liu before Thomas sat down and began eating with gusto. The flavors warmed and relaxed him, he hadn’t realized how much he had missed it. Although it wasn’t as good as the gumbo he would get in New Orleans, it was heaven compared to the stale preserves and flavorless porridge he had been subsisting on.

After two more bowls of the gumbo, Thomas let out a content sigh and melted into the chair almost feeling like he could fall asleep. The gumbo seemed to have the opposite effect on Mr Liu, filling him with energy.

“Very good! But now there is much work to continue. We must go. I thank you for your hospitality, Dr Gardner” said Mr Liu with a bow towards Maggie.

“Just Maggie will do.”

Getting back on their horses, they rode into the post office in order to get a message passed along to Mr Porter requesting more null crystal if he wanted more phoenix shots to be made. As they stepped into the post office, the man behind the counter looked up but barely acknowledged them. Thomas was used to this now and just slipped the note to the man, who picked it up and read it. His eyes appeared to glaze over and he began to slowly tilt to one side. Suddenly he snapped back like he had just woken from almost falling asleep.

“Mr Porter says he will organize more of the item if you are able to keep the specimen safe”

Thomas nodded and turned to leave

“I should also tell you that the sheriff has been asking around town about things that may pertain to your operation. Mr Porter suggests laying low and asks that you not take direct action against the sheriff.”

Thomas disliked such restrictions on his actions, but would do as the boss asked. The sheriff continuing to sniff around concerned him and he decided that the best course of action was to bunker down at the mine and focus on the work.

Getting back on their horses the two men rode out of town and past Maggie's farm. As they were heading towards the hills, Thomas spotted two figures coming from the direction of the Picacho mountains. At this rate they would intersect before Thomas and Mr Liu could make it into the hills.

The haze of the heat made it difficult to pick out who they were but Thomas’ gut told him to be worried.