Jericho sat impatiently on the banks of the Sacramento River. It was hot and humid, perfect swimming weather, yet no one as far as the eye could see. They all decided it was for the best to contact them in a desolate location, away from people and witnesses. He luckily was dressed for this water excursion, wearing tropical swim trunks and a red crop top, he had packed sunscreen, cucumbers, and of course, his daggers. He was happy for the light clothing but that was the only thing. When Jericho woke up that morning Marcus was already gone with a note in his place. It told him to dress appropriately and that he was going to talk to Diana about the whole Vessel thing. Now that he thought about it, he probably meant to wear his hood.

Leaning back on a rock, Jericho started to toss the dagger up in the air and catch it by the hilt. He had always known how to fight. Countless pub fights, bully scenarios, and cryptids had taught him how to take care of himself and keep him on his toes. Yet he had not so much experience with actual weapons. Luckily, Angela volunteered to train him with his new daggers as a way to pass the days for Marcus to return. But now she and her partner, Zoran, are off on another cross country road trip for god knows what. Probably sipping tea with bigfoot and solving crimes with the mothman.

Tossing the dagger into the air once again, he caught it by the hilt. The naked blades would usually be cutting into his hands, but for a strange reason, he felt nothing when he caught it. He figured it must have been the Midas making his skin thicker. The trick usually kept his hands in check when he was antsy. Tossing the dagger again, he felt like being flashy and underhand caught it.

“OoOo..”

Jericho’s head snapped up and looked towards the river. He saw nothing in the murky green river other than ripples left by the current of the water.

He cringed as he realized as he couldn’t see the bottom of the river. If you can’t see what’s in it, then don’t dive in… he learned that the hard way with a brutal encounter with a gitaskog, nasty serpent ate his motorcycle. Then again, he probably shouldn’t have crashed into it with hopes of hurting it. It did NOT turn out well.

“Again… again….” A childish voice spoke.

Jericho turned on his heels, looking at his surroundings in hopes to find where the voice was coming from. Again there was nothing, so instead of looking for a ghost he started to juggle his daggers. He usually did this trick with toys to entertain kids at the orphanage, but he never really did it with knives. A bit more dangerous but he wanted to find who or what that voice was coming from.

“OoOo.”

“Look at that…”

“I’m hungry…”

Keeping one eye on the knives, he used the other to look towards the river. There he saw three kappas. They had child like faces, round and pudgy, but that was it. Instead of skin the had brown reptilian like scales and a sharp bird like beak. Their hair resembled kelp and had light green moss growing near the indent on the top of their head where a tiny pool of water rested.

To spice things up, Jericho took a deep breath and willed the knives ablaze, earning gasps through the small crowd of kappas.

“Fire!”

“Ohmahgosh.”

“Still hungry…”

Jericho finished the routine by catching both blades by the hilt and striking a pose from an anime he had watched with Marcus. The kappas clapped their webbed hands together and laughed and pointed at Jericho. “Okay, now we can eat him.”

~~~~~

“Wait wait wait, hold up.” Jericho panicked holding up his daggers defensively, “Don’t eat me.”

The kappas had Jericho circled before he knew it. Out on the shore he could now fully see them. Jericho now could tell them apart as they each had a different shell. One was smooth, another was spiked while the other had bumpy groves.

Spikes spoke first, “Why not, entertaining human? We are hungry, we haven’t eaten in so long.”

“I have food! I have cucumbers! You can eat that!” Jericho tried to bargain. He was sure he could take the trio when they were out of the water, but he wasn’t comfortable hurting these guys. They were like children despite what they look like. Not only that but he had a problem with hurting sentient creatures or animals. They weren’t bloodthirsty and cursed like wendigos or motorcycle eating gitaskog. Even his ‘hunts’ were more like documenting expeditions. He had to think of another way to get out of this without hurting them. “Plus, it would be really rude after I put on that show for you.”

The trio paused and looked between each other, “Would it be rude?” Spiked asked.

“I don’t know.” Bumpy announced.

“Cucumbers..” Smooth mumbled, a kappa after my own heart, Jericho thought.

Kneeling down slowly, Jericho dug through his bag and pulled out three cucumbers. He debated on making cucumber rolls but he wasn’t sure on his culinary skills were able to make something like that. Slowly he handed them a vegetables.

The kappas took them with glee, sitting crossed legged and eating loudly. “Thank you human.” They said in union.

Jericho sat down beside them, setting one dagger aside and used the other to cut another cucumber into slices. “If you guys want more, don’t be afraid to ask.” Rather the cucumbers then him. Sorry veggies.

The kappas nodded excitedly, “Mhmm.” They replied with a mouthful of cucumber.

“What’s your name human?” Spiked asked.

“Jericho Jameson.” He mused as he slipped a slice into his mouth.

The kappas laughed in delight, “That’s a funny name.” Smooth announced, still giggling.

Jericho smiled and nodded, “It does sound pretty funny.” He admitted. Once giving them another slice of cucumbers he asked. “I have an offer for you guys. How would you like it if I came here every week and bring some cucumbers, and comic books then give a little show. How’s that sound?”

The kappas let out a loud happy hiss. “That sounds great!”

“Really?!”

“Food!”

Jericho laughed, “Alright, but you guys just have to answer a couple of questions.”

~~~~

Jericho smiled, walking up a path, using his crop top to dry his hair. He regretted not bringing a towel but he wasn’t exactly planning on swimming with the kappas. It was already late in the day as he was heading back from the river. Ahead of him he saw Marcus and Diana rush towards him, with worried expressions.

“My gods I’m so sorry.” Marcus nearly tackled Jericho to the ground. “Are you ok? Did you get hurt?”

“I’m fine, I can handle myself.” He hugged Marcus back, making sure to get him as wet as much as he could.

“The only thing gets stabbed as many times is you is a pin cushion.” Diana announced, “Makes me wonder how I didn’t see it…” She mumbled. She glanced at the duo and sighed, “Sorry we’re late… I wanted to inform the higher ups. Did you find them.”

“Yea. I have to visit them every Monday,” Jericho shrugged, “It could be worse.”

“What did you say to them?” Diana asked amazed.

“I offered to make the cucumber rolls and visit them with comic books and it was pretty easy after that. I’m good with children.” Jericho bragged.

Marcus chuckled and let Jericho go, sighing, “What did they say?”

Jericho winced and combed his hair back with his fingers, “They said that a group of of them were already trying to eat the… corpse when they got there. I’m sorry.”

Diana’s shoulders slumped and kicked the dirt. “Damn, anything else?” He could tell she needed something good after everything

“They said that they heard a fight on the shore, that’s what drew them to the area. Where was Akande found?”

Diana pondered for a second and announced, “He was found in the river but after following the water’s current we concluded that he died in Shasta Lake.”