A Trip to the Ravens Cove Librar

Kat Tovslosky, from the Iconoclast series, writes:

“Ravens Cove is approaching the darkest time of the year. It is so easy to stay home and sit by the woodstove with a soup-cup mug of hot chocolate. But when I do that for too long I tend to get a little crazy. I know because BC keeps his distance. So, when my feline companion started avoiding me today, I knew it was time for a mental health trip into town.

I toddled myself down to Jo’s Bakery — Josephina Latrell owns this place (she’s another story) — and it was closed. The sign on the door said, “Gone to Anchorage. Back tomorrow.” I deflated like the well-known balloon.

No mocha today. Rats!

I scanned the street and decided on the library as my next choice of entertainment. There was usually one or two of my neighbors in there. Except for today.

I wandered the quiet, book-lined aisles feeling lost. I stopped in front of the Alaska History and Legends section. I picked a book entitled, A Dena’ina Legacy K’TL’EGH’I SUKDU The Collected Writings of Peter Kalifornsky from the shelf. I love to read our history. Grandma Bricken tells me so much, and yet I feel a craving to know more. One story caught my eye.

If you know anything about Ravens Cove and the attacks against us in the past few years, you’ll recognize one of the nasty entities from this story told by my ancestors. The evil entity’s name is Pet. Such a small thing can cause such great destruction. Forgive me, I am off subject. Here’s the part of the story that reminds me of Pet.

It is a supernatural story that starts with the people known to steal children and ends with this: “Then there is a really bad one, called Gilyaq. This one, they say, senses people’s thoughts. If you’re thinking hard, if you’re longing for someone, he’ll become that person and come to you…” Although Pet isn’t exactly as Gilyaq is described, he was close enough to give me shivers when I read this. By God’s grace, I survived that brush with evil.

It was strangely comforting to know that Ravens Cove is not the first town to experience the horrors we have. Now, if I just knew why we continue to be a hotbed of activity for these nasty guys, I would sleep so much better. A mystery yet to be solved…