Ghost Stalker (18 page)

Jessie threw off her robe and burrowed into a turtleneck sweater and a pair of slacks.

“I’ll be ready in two minutes,” she said, heading for the bathroom.

A few minutes later they had thrown a bale of hay to the horses and were driving her battered Ford F-150 toward her parents’ fourteen-acre farm, which was inhabited by one cow, two horses, an angry rooster named Giblet and her two Niyanoka parents.

Nick permitted her to drop him just short of the property line. Jessie then pulled in the drive and parked. He waited by the tall grass at the roadside for her to let herself in. She stood inside the door and waved him off, hoping he would be gone before her parents knew of her arrival.

Nick stood by the rusty barbed-wire fence, watching her until she disappeared inside the neat yellow house, and then turned and ran out into the open pasture, jumping the four-foot fence without breaking stride. The horses charged in the opposite direction, making for the barn as he called the winds. He needed to get far enough from the structures not to threaten them. He needed to get to Bess and prayed he was not too late.

The winds gusted, violently shaking the treetops. He gazed toward the overcast sky, seeing the vortex open in the clouds. Black swirling fingers reached down for
him, snatching him as cleanly as an eagle captures a salmon.

The icy air filled his lungs, and all about him the air was full of the thunder from the beating of mighty wings.

“Jessie,” her father shouted from inside the house. “Is that you?”

She stood in stunned silence, watching Nick fly up into the arms of the Thunderbirds, wondering what it was like to soar with those mighty creatures.

The gravity of her blunder settled over her with the dust. She was so absorbed in watching the twister touch down that she did not hear her mother’s approach until her gasp brought Jessie about.

Her mother had seen such clouds during the war and Jessie could tell by the pallor of her mother’s face that she knew exactly what was in that storm.

“It’s happening again,” her mother whispered.

“No, Mom, it isn’t. He’s a friend.”

The stinging slap across her cheek brought her eyes up to meet her mother’s angry glare.

“You brought it here! Exposed us to them?”

Tears welled in Jessie’s eyes as she pressed her hand to her throbbing cheek. “No. Listen.”

“It’s our only protection, our invisibility. I’ve taught you this. How could you?” Her mother’s face was flushed, and the vessels bulged and pulsed in ugly serpentine tubes across her forehead.

Jessie hardly recognized her. “You don’t understand.”

“I do! That was a Skinwalker! And you called him friend.” Her mother was shrieking now.

It was what Jessie had feared, this kind of ugly confrontation with her mother, and now that it was actually happening, she felt strangely detached.

Her father reached for his wife, but she tried to shake him off, before collapsing into his arms, sobbing.

“Oh, what has she done?”

“Easy, Mother. It’s gone.”

“It knows where we live! It might come back and kill us while we sleep.”

“No. He wouldn’t. Mom, I trust him.”

Her mother spun again, looking feral and ready to attack. “Trust? Those murderers?”

Her father stared at Jessie over his wife. “Does anyone else know about this?”

“No.”

“Then we can fix it.”

Jessie knew she should be ashamed, contrite and apologetic. But something in her father’s vow to fix her little indiscretion infuriated Jessie. She wondered what made them right and her wrong. Really, why was it impossible to love a man as noble, fearless and devoted as Nick?

Her mother was sobbing again. Her father glared at Jessie.

“See what you’ve done?” He patted his wife’s back. “We’re safe now. It’s gone and she won’t ever see it again. Isn’t that right, daughter?”

“No. That’s not right.”

Her father’s mouth dropped open. She did not know
which of them was more astonished, her father or herself.

“He’s more than a friend. His name is Nick and he walks as a wolf.”

The three stared at each other for a moment as the realization that everything had changed pulsed between them like a dying heart. And then her mother lunged at her. Jessie jumped back and her mother swept past.

She rounded on Jessie, fists flailing. “I’ll kill you myself before seeing you with a wolf.”

Jessie ducked and her father grabbed her mother.

“You don’t know him,” said Jessie, still trying for the impossible.

Her mother’s laugh was a fearful sound. “Oh, I do.”

“He’s protecting the last Seer of Souls.”

Her mother hesitated and she and her father exchanged a look.

“Lies!” hissed her mother.

“Mother, the rumors,” said her father.

“No, I said.”

Jessie’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve heard of her.”

Her parents were suddenly silent. “What rumors?”

It was her father who broke the silence.

“Word came from Seattle that a Niyanoka was seen in the company of a bear several months ago. But she refused help, choosing to stay with a Skinwalker.”

“But she claimed to be a Seer,” said Jessie, leaning forward toward her father as if his answer could not come fast enough.

Her father nodded. “The council rejected the report as false. It
has
to be false.”

“Because she chose to stay with her husband?” asked Jessie.

Her mother’s voice was an angry hiss. “Because no Niyanoka would
ever
choose a Skinwalker as a mate.”

Her mother’s eyes dared Jessie to say otherwise.

“But she did and so our people abandoned her.”

“She
abandoned
us
.”

“Did they offer help?”

“Of course they did. She refused.”

Jessie snorted. “Protection from her husband when Nagi still hunted her?
Is
still hunting her.”

“How do you know that?”

“The Skinwalkers told me.”

“You have spoken to more than one?” Her mother’s voice remained sharp as a shard of glass. “Have I not told you their trade is lies?”

“I was attacked by a possessed mountain lion. I saw the ghost leave its dead body. This is no lie.”

Her father paled. “We must warn the council. If a ghost attacked one of our own, they must know.”

“But then they’ll know she has been with a wolf.” Her mother waved her hands before her in a gesture of dismissal. “There is no Seer. There was no attack.” She pointed a finger in Jessie’s face. “Do you know what will happen if any of the others learn of this?”

Jessie knew. To fraternize with the enemy was to face banishment from her community. The gravity weighed upon her. Once the others learned of her disgrace, her parents would have to shun her or lose their place in the
community. By choosing Nick, she would bring shame on her parents.

She glanced at the sky, wondering if Nick would find Bess in time.

“Are you even listening to me?” asked her mother.

Everything was as it had been before the winds had dropped Nick at her feet. Only she had changed.

The path she had thought to walk all her life had become a charade. She no longer wanted to be one of them—not if it meant giving up Nick. Her duty to her race faded when faced with her duty to the last Seer. The Skinwalkers were not the threat, Nagi was, but only she knew the truth.

She had already chosen her place and she was sorry only for the pain she would cause her mom and dad.

She would follow Nick’s example and fight Nagi.

Without realizing the exact moment it had happened, Jessie had already left them.

“Nick wanted me here because he is afraid the ghosts might hurt me again, use me to force him to seek the Healer.”

Her mother’s eyes widened, but she refused to fold. “There are no ghosts!”

“Let her in, Mother,” said her dad.

“Not unless she assures us that she will never see this monster again.”

Jessie felt sad and tired and disappointed that her enlightened parents were so sure of what they believed that they would entertain no doubt.

“I can’t do that.”

“Then I’ll have nothing more to do with you.” Her mother actually pointed down the steps. “Get out.”

Jessie nodded, accepting their decision. “Goodbye, Mom. Bye, Dad.”

Jessie drove back to her place, and found three ranchers waiting beside their truck. She recognized them from town. Cal and Carlos and the third name she could not recall, but all were hands on the Diamond Bar.

They were well dressed for a Saturday night and waiting beside their spotlessly clean truck. One held a clipboard, making her wonder if they were after signatures for some political initiative. She slid from the truck, thinking it was filthy by comparison, and then paused, feeling suddenly uneasy.

“Hello, boys.” She kept a hold on the open door, standing between it and her cab. The forced smile died on her lips as she noted the glowing yellow eyes.

Ghosts,
she realized and slid back into the vehicle, slamming the heavy door shut as they reached her. With a touch of a button she locked the doors. All three faces filled the window. One rattled the door handle as she fumbled in her pocket for her keys. Her hands shook as she scrambled to slide the key into the ignition.

As she felt it engage, she closed her eyes and thought of her mother, knowing that she could hear her daughter’s cry for help. The engine growled to life and Jessie opened her eyes to see Cal haul back his fist and punch the driver’s-side window.

The pane exploded in tiny cubed pieces, cascading over her in a shower of glass. Jessie flung up her arm and screamed. A moment later she was hauled from her
seat and dragged through the shattered window, kicking and clawing, toward the unfamiliar truck.

Cal lifted his bloody fist and punched her in the temple. The explosion of light and pain felled her like a tree. She pitched forward onto the possessed men. Stupefied by the blow, she lay limp as a rag doll. Her head lolled, giving her a view of the toes of her boots as they were dragged over the grass and onto the gravel of her driveway. A door opened and they stuffed her into the backseat of the shining blue pickup.

Truck doors slammed and tires squealed.

Jessie struggled with the door and received another vicious slap across her cheek, stunning her. She floated in and out of consciousness as the truck sped through the night. She did not know how much time had passed when she became aware of her surroundings again. They had tied her legs and wrists together. She lay under a greasy blanket on the narrow backseat of the large pickup. The vibration of the engine and the smoothness of the ride made her believe they were on a highway.

Where were they taking her?

She needed help. She closed her eyes and concentrated, breathing the stale air and resting her muscles. Long practice made the relaxation technique second nature. Soon she floated in a state of peaceful well-being.

A moment later she slipped from her physical self, projecting her astral body out to search for Nick.

But she soon realized that the only way to speak to Nick was to visit his dreams. That left only her mother. Would she even listen?

Jessie didn’t know, but she had to try.

T
he scented trail grew stronger as Nick loped along on the pine-needle loam. It did not matter that Bess traveled in the sky, for his gifts allowed him to find the trail of any living thing he had ever met, over land, water or air. She was faster than he was, but the winds had brought him close. He increased his speed, breaking into a streaking run, until his muscles burned with fatigue.

The scent trail ended so abruptly that he skidded to a halt beneath a huge Douglas fir. He looked up and found her, in human form, reclining on a massive tree branch, like some female Peter Pan. She maintained all her abilities when in human form, which meant she need not worry about falling. He was jealous at times of her gift of flight.

“Hello, Nicholas. You look well.”

He called his power to shift, momentarily overcome
by the surge of power blasting through him. Standing now in human form in his cloak, he found Bess already on the ground beside him.

“Did you discard her already?” she asked, the wicked smile curling her full lips.

He did not register her gibe in his rush to speak.

“How close are you to them?” he asked.

“I should think—”

“Don’t answer that!”

She scowled. “Nicholas, what has gotten into you?”

“You’re being followed.”

Bess made the low gurgling sound of a raven’s displeasure as she glanced about and, seeing nothing, deferred back to him. Her expression now registered confusion. “Are you sure?”

“A ghost of Nagi’s guard.”

She gasped. “I can’t see them on this side,” Bess said, referring to her gift of speaking to souls who had crossed to the Spirit World. Her gift was strong, for only the raven could cross to the other side and return to tell the tale. But not even Bess could see the ones who chose to walk the earth or who were cast from the Spirit Road and into Nagi’s realm of the Circle of Ghosts.

“They possessed three humans and attacked me. I heard one shouting not to lose sight of me until I led them to the Healer. The Thunderbirds came and they left their hosts to follow. I can no longer see them, but I know they are near. One attacked Jessie last night.”

Bess glanced about and shivered. If anyone knew the power of ghosts, it was Bess. “Why didn’t your Niyanoka tell me?”

“She didn’t know that Sebastian was the Healer.”

Bess made a sound of annoyance.

“I know you, Bess. You said something to insult her, didn’t you?”

“The little fool is in love with you. No surprise there. Every female who meets you falls in love with you, Nick. It’s as common as bees around a hive. Not that I’m jealous. We all need variety.”

“And you told her about us. Didn’t you?”

She glanced away. “I didn’t say we were a
current
item.”