CHAPTER SEVEN
The next morning was understandably sluggish. Miguel and Will were taking up most of the kitchen, fixing the windows, so our breakfast consisted of dry toast and cereal. Dex and I ate it at the dining room table with a giant pot of coffee. Between two caffeine addicts, it didn’t sustain us very well. I thought he was going to fight me for the last cup but I convinced him I needed it more.
And I did. I was tired and drained from only getting about two hours of sleep and the last thing Dex needed was more stimulants. He was already jittery from the lack of medication and his four cups of the black drug just made it worse.
“So, have you figured out the plan yet?” I asked as he flipped through a bunch of ghost and history books he brought in from the car. His foot was tapping again to a fast, imaginary beat and he was chewing his Nicorette (while drinking coffee, mind you). >
“Yes,” he answered quickly, scanning the pages like a speed reader.
“Does it involve a nap?”
He grinned and looked up at me. His eyes were red, his complexion ashy. For once, he didn’t look too good.
“What am I? 80? I don’t need sleep. You worry too much,” he said and went back to reading.
This was true. But considering what happened last night, his withdrawal from medication, and the day ahead of us, lack of sleep wasn’t something to scoff at. I had every reason to worry about him. Besides, it made it easier to forget about what happened to me. I hated seeing those spiteful fox eyes every time I let my mind wander.
“I thought my job was to read the books,” I said, wanting him to relax a little bit.
He shook his head. “I’d like to know what the f*ck is going on.”
He glanced at the kitchen. Will and Miguel were busy hammering away at something.
“I think they know a lot more than they’re telling us.”
I nodded. I felt that way too.
“So, how do we get them to spill the beans?” I said, lowering my voice.
He shrugged and went back to his book. “Dunno. But I think Max might be able to help us out with it.”
My Led Zeppelin ringtone went off and I jumped in my seat, my coffee spilling out of the cup.
“Easy there spaz,” he said and tossed a napkin at me. Maybe I didn’t need that extra cup. Maybe I should start putting my phone on vibrate.
I quickly mopped up the table and fished my phone out of my jean pocket. It was my parents. If I didn’t answer it, they’d call every five minutes until I did.
“Hello,” I said and got up. I needed privacy.
I walked outside into the apocalyptic heat and shut the front door behind me. It was hard to believe that this arid yet outstandingly pretty place, with its detailed peaks, ridges of green and dots of sheep, was all so scary last night.
“Perry, it’s your father,” he said from the other end. “Just wanting to make sure everything’s OK. You never called last night.”
“You never called me,” I reasoned.
“Do you want us to call you more often?”
“Hell no.”
“Perry,” he warned me. And then he went off into a big long spiel about how if I was going to be a responsible adult I would have to start acting like one and that meant checking in with the elders every night. If he only knew what I was really up to, he’d be bit more understanding. Actually, he would be a million times more paranoid. Though it felt wrong to lie, the truth would do nothing to help them in this situation.
“How is this Dex fellow, is he treating you well?”
“Sure.”
“You’re not sleeping with him are you?”
My jaw dropped. My dad had never brought up sex with me before.
“Perry? You there?”
I laughed, astonished. “Yeah, I’m here. I’m sorry, I don’t know what to say, dad. What the hell kind of question is that?”
“Stop using that word.”
“Dad?”
“Perry, I am serious.”
I wiped the sweat off my forehead and looked back at the house, where Dex was probably still flipping through the books. I guess technically I was “sleeping” with him, but…
“No, dad. I am not sleeping with him, sheesh. He’s kind of my boss in a way.”
Now that was a weird thought.
He sighed, long and heavy. Silence hung in the air. I knew better than to say anymore.
“I just don’t see why you’re doing this, that’s all, pumpkin.”
“Oh, so you thought I was doing all of this for sex, is that it?”
“Ghosts don’t exist Perry. You know they don’t. Anyone who says they do are after something else themselves. You’re chasing after an illusion and the sooner you drop this charade and start putting your extra time and effort into your career, your job, the better off you’ll be. You need to get serious about your life.”
My turn to sigh. It was amazing how being in a wind-dusted barren field, with an azure cloudless sky, could feel so restrictive. Cell phones were the devil.
“Dad. We can talk about this when I get back. I’m here now, this is what I’m doing, I’m smack in the middle of it. You’re just going to have to deal with it for now.”
The front door to the house opened and Dex came out, the bigger camera hoisted on his shoulder this time. I raised my finger at him to indicate I was busy, if he couldn’t already tell, and turned my back.
“And by the way, it’s not cool to call me when I’m out here working and lay all this stuff on me,” I hissed into the phone. “That’s not being very adult.”
My dad started to say something back but the phone was suddenly snatched out of my hands. Dex put it up his mouth.
“Hello dad!”
“No!” I yelled and tried to take it back from him but he just pushed me away with the camera.
“Yes, this is Dex.” He grinned, looking far too pleased with himself. I felt sick.
“Oh, I’m taking real good care of your daughter,” he said in a tone my dad was bound to find sarcastic. “Actually, I should say she’s taking real good care of me.”
“Please give me back the phone,” I pleaded.
He gave me a dismissive look and listened to whatever my dad was saying.
“Oh, I know career is very important,” he said, winking at me. “Believe me, if I found out that she’d trade in a good job for what we are doing here, well…I’d probably call her an idiot.”
At the mention of idiot, I knew my face fell. Dex didn’t know about my situation still and I didn’t want him to know but at that exact second my face probably said it all.
But if he picked up on it, he didn’t show it. He watched me as he continued, “She’s a smart girl though, you raised her well. She knows what’s important. Yes, I’ll make sure she calls you tomorrow. Okay, see ya pops.”
And with that he hung up and tossed the phone up in the air. I scrambled for it and barely caught it before it smashed on the hard earth. It’s just my freaking ultra-breakable, irreplaceable iPhone, no big deal, you stupid jerk, I thought wildly.
“What the f*ck, a*shole?” I exclaimed, and wiped down the screen.
“You’ve got good reflexes,” he said nonchalantly and started off towards the car.
I stayed put. “No I mean, don’t you dare talk to my parents again.”
He stopped and gave me a lazy look. “What’s the big deal? I only said nice things.”
“You don’t understand,” I said simply. That’s really all I could say. I was lying to both of them.
“You’re right. I don’t. Now let’s get moving.”
“Where are you going?”
“We are going into town. Meet up with Max, walk around, take some set-up shots of the town, maybe ask around, talk to some people, perhaps find those guys who got attacked a few days ago.” He walked towards the car.
“You go,” I found myself saying.
He stopped, turned and folded his arms, thinking. He looked angry at first, then confused, then concerned, all in the space of a few seconds.
“I kind of need you,” he finally said.
“No, you don’t. Not for setting up shots. And you’ve got your buddy there to help you anyway.” I put a sarcastic spin on the word buddy.
He frowned but didn’t say anything.
“I just want some time alone, that’s all,” I admitted. “I need to process everything that’s happened so far.”
He rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand. I could tell he was mulling it over.
He walked back over to me and stopped a few feet away. His eyes roamed all over my face. Sometimes Dex reminded me of a truth-sniffing dog.
“I don’t feel good about leaving you here,” he said in a low voice. “I’d feel better if you were with me.”
“Are you worried about me or about what might happen to me?”
He nodded at that and looked at the barn. “Just stay put. Stay around Will or Bird. I’ll be back soon. Call me the minute you…need to.”
I gave him a quick smile. “Thanks dad.”
He walked over to the car, calling over his shoulder, “I don’t need to be your dad to worry about you.”
I watched him get into the Jeep and speed out of the ranch, dust clouds blooming behind him until they disintegrated into the blue. I breathed out a huge sigh of relief. I know that being alone may have seemed like a bad idea, but I honestly needed some time to just be.
I thought about going back into the house and maybe reading those books again but I was sure Sarah would be prowling about somewhere. I hadn’t seen her at breakfast, thank goodness, but figured by now she was in the living room, knitting a voodoo doll version of me (I had seen traces of her yarn collection), or perhaps complaining to Will and Miguel as they worked on the window. It’s not that I was afraid of Sarah, but there was something about her that made me extremely uneasy. And I didn’t like her impulsiveness and her total lack of tact. If I was alone with her I might end up saying something I’d really regret and spoil everything for us.
I turned around and looked at the barn and the paddocks. I couldn’t see Shan or Bird but figured they were somewhere doing ranchy-type stuff. I didn’t want to bug them either.
A nice walk, alone, would do me good.
Though my skinny jeans weren’t exactly New Mexico material and they were already making me sweat, my long tank top was airy and at least I had piled sunscreen on my arms. I didn’t have a hat or water, but I did have a phone. And my Doc Martens were perfect for any potential ruggedness.
I looked up at the low ridges that snaked away from the back of the paddocks. There was something about those ridges that had looked so familiar from the moment I had arrived. I wanted to explore them, climb to the top to get a better look. Also, I had a strange affinity for climbing up low rugged hills. Something about an exposed landscape up close got me feeling so…free. So different from the dense, dark, tree-covered slopes back home.
I walked to the edge of the paddocks and assessed the best way up. It wasn’t steep at all, just a low, gradual slope through rock and the occasional cacti and scrubby brush until it flattened out amid some pine and junipers. If I followed the ridge along the trees to the left it eventually came to a clearing on a bluff. The view from that point would overlook the whole ranch, and maybe part of the town.
I walked up the hill, my footing slipping on rocks occasionally, but overall my boots held out. I kept looking behind me to make sure the house was still visible. If I just followed my route as planned, it would never leave my sight.
Sweat dripped off my face by the time I got to the ridge and I was grateful for the shelter that the sparse pines provided. It was cooler in the shade too, making the sweat on my back feel refreshing. I caught my breath and leaned against a tree. I was maybe 150 feet above the flatlands, not too shabby considering I got up there without an actual path.
Once my heart slowed to a reasonable rate, I walked along the ridge’s edge, weaving in and out among the trees and tracing the rocky slope which slowly took me higher and higher. It took a lot longer for me to get to the clearing than I had thought, maybe twenty minutes, but the trees finally ended and there was the flat butte thrusting out above the valley.
I walked across the butte and stopped near the edge. The wind had picked up, rushing across my body, and the view was stupendous. I could see the entire farm, now looking a lot smaller than before, like a Lego version of it. The sheep roamed the dry pastures below like tiny cotton balls. I could see the road leading away from the ranch and disappearing up and down as the undulating desert took it as far as the tiny dot of Red Fox on the horizon. Above that, the big sky enveloped everything, and I imagined I could see the curvature of the atmosphere, spreading from the jagged peaks of my right to the lower, smoother desert hills of my left.
I thought about bringing my phone out to take a photo but decided against it. No way would that camera do this scene justice. No camera could. I just had to commit the sight and feeling to memory and hope it lasted.
I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply. I really did feel a million times better than earlier and I was so thankful that I took the time to be by myself and regroup. I wasn’t used to being around people all the time. Up here, on this mesa, I felt real freedom. Miles of open desert, blue sky and intense sunlight that made me feel like anything was possible. I wanted to keep that feeling in me forever.
I smiled to myself and opened my eyes. I looked around for a tree stump or a rock I could sit down on, so I could take everything in and just meditate. But the ground here was plain, rough and dusty and the concept of scorpions, snakes and spiders was creeping at the back of my head.
The butte sloped off to the left and led back towards a few more clearings surrounded by forest. The rocks over by the base of another ridge looked promising.
I skid down the slope a bit, the tops of my boots filling up with red dirt, and darted between a few jagged edges. I reached the rocks by the ridge but they were a lot pointier up close and there were far too many dark and creepy cave-like holes between them.
I looked up the ridge. If I could just climb up the rocks – providing they didn’t roll away from under me – I would make it to the next ridge. Who knew what I’d see from that vantage point?
I paused and looked behind me. I couldn’t see the valley anymore, at least not where the farm was. So much for not letting the ranch leave my sight.
A tiny, uneasy feeling nagged at the back of my head. But that was the adventure, wasn’t it? I’d just have to tell it to shut up. I was in exploration mode and I couldn’t quit now. I’d quit at the top. That’s it. >
I looked at my phone for the time: 11AM. Dex had been gone an hour but there was no way he could be back already. I had more than enough time to climb up there, take a look around, then climb back down and head back to the farm before anyone worried about me.
Feeling better about it, I rubbed my hands on my jeans, made sure my phone was secure, and made a go for it.
I stepped up on the rock and made a grab for the next one. I tried hard not to look through the cobwebby, dark spaces in between and kept my eyes focused on the ridge ahead. Two hands, two feet, onto the next rock.
Soon I was stepping off the last rock and onto the flatter ridge. I got to my feet and looked around, feeling like Sir Edmund Hilary. The view from up here was even better and the valley sprawled out in front of it like a patched quilt. To my surprise there was some sheep below as well. I guess the Lancaster’s had more land that I thought.
I walked to the edge and looked down. There was another plateau about ten feet below which fed into the treeline leading down to the valley.
There was something on that plateau, though, that caught my eye. There was a strange, dark area on the dirt with a lot of shuffled earth around it. I put my hand up to my forehead to shield the sun and squinted.
SQUAWK!
BAM!
Something hit me on the back of the head with frightening speed. My skull was scraped. I wheeled around to see a blur of black feathers and sky.
The impact knocked me off balance and I put my left leg back. There was no stability. It sank into the slope and I fell backwards.
I smashed onto it, feeling the sharp rocks and sticks poking mercilessly into my back, and tumbled for a few dizzying feet, like a child rolling down a grassy hill. Then the rolling stopped and I was airborne for what felt like a very long time. No thoughts came into my head except the fear that I would be dead when I hit the ground.
I struck the ground with my left shoulder which sent a shockwave of brutal, nauseating pain all the way to my legs, which slammed the ground like a slab of meat.
I screamed from the pain and rolled over on my stomach, my face eating dirt.
Between the shock and the currents of pain, I had one thought: I am a f*cking idiot. How could everything go from frivolity to f*cking up my body in two seconds?
It was a damn crow. Where the hell had that come from?
When the pain subsided slightly and I was able to get my mouth away from the earth, I took in a few deep breaths and tried to assess the damage. I carefully rolled onto my right shoulder and felt my left arm. I could feel it, which was a good sign. I moved my head (another plus) and looked down at it. It was scraped, wet with blood and caked with dirt, but I didn’t see anything disgusting like a protruding bone or deep gashes. I inhaled, braced for pain and attempted to lift my arm. I let out another whimpering scream. I bent my elbow and wriggled my wrist and fingers around. They were all in working order, though the skin felt so tight and exposed that it stung with each movement.
I sat back, putting most of my weight on my good arm. My left leg didn’t feel so good and moving it was tricky. I bent over and rolled up the pant leg. The jeans had protected my legs but my ankle felt hot underneath the boots. I awkwardly tried to untie it using my right arm, loosening it, and felt around. Yep, definitely swollen.
“F*ck!” I yelled. I sat on the ground for a few minutes feeling utterly stupid and hopeless. I was hoping my ankle would be good enough to walk on but it probably wouldn’t survive me climbing up the slope I just fell down. I’d just have to find another way back to the farm. Dex was going to give me so much shit. No way could I hide my massacre of an arm.
I got to my feet, very slowly, and tried to put pressure on the bad ankle. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as bad as I thought, though I wasn’t going to be walking properly for a while. I dusted off my pants and eyed my dirty arm. First things first, I had to go back to the farm and douse it in extra-strength antiseptic.
I looked around for the best way down into the forest when the dark patch caught my eye again. Now that I was down here, I could see what it was. I limped over and saw that it was a fire pit of some sort. The ground was blackened and a few pieces of burnt kindling were in the center of the circle. Around it there were a few holes in the earth and piles of dirt, as if someone had been digging. I looked closer at the ground. Footprints of different pairs of shoes, at least two, led to the fire and back into the trees. From the other side, near the ridge I just fell off of, there were more markings leading to the fire. Not footprints, though. I moved closer to them. I could make out one of them and it made my heart dislodge with one giant skip.
A paw print.
I shuddered and quickly looked around me. I didn’t want to be here anymore. Forget the fact that I mangled one half of my body - that was the least of my worries now. I didn’t want to be somewhere where paw prints and footprints intermingled. Especially around a fire. I could almost see the flames blazing, the embers flying up into the air…
And that’s when it struck me. This was the setting of my dream. My dream where I was sitting around the fire while the lady with the yellow eyes told me that something had been unearthed here.
I looked down at my feet, at the holes. Something had been unearthed here. I don’t know how I dreamed this but there was no mistaking it.
I glanced around me again, scrutinizing the landscape for any extra signs. To the right, as the foliage from the trees crept up onto where I was standing, something foreign poked out. I hobbled over and saw a rusty shovel lying in a scrubby brush. I picked it up and looked at the spade. It was dark and stained with something. I smelled it. It smelled like blood…or rust. Of course I’d think the worst thing first.
I peered over into the forest to see what else I could find. There was nothing except what looked like a path. Maybe if I followed it, it would take me back to the ranch.
CAW!
A crow’s call resounded from the trees. I looked up fearfully but didn’t see anything in the branches. I waited a few moments, tense and listening. Nothing.
I looked behind me at the fire pit and the holes. Perhaps if I started digging, I’d find something. I didn’t know what but there had to be something here. Why on earth would I dream about this place?
SMACK!
My head whipped back as I was hit straight in the forehead. I fell again but this time I caught myself on the ground with my good arm.
I never saw it coming. Then I saw the shadow as it flew underneath the sun. The crow had returned for me.
I looked up just in time to see it dive. Instinctively, I reached for the shovel but I had dropped it too far away from me. I barely had enough time to shield my face with my hands as the crow came by again and swooped at my forearms with its outstretched claws. I felt them sink into my thin skin with sickening clarity. The bird made a go through my hands with its lethal beak, trying to get at my eyes, and pecking bloody holes into my palms.
I summoned all my fright and used it to fling my arms to the side until the crow released its grasp, then I made one chop into its chest. Feathers flew and the bird was flung backward into the air. It cried, which sounded too much like laughter, and landed on the ground with a dusty thump.
My eyes were raging; adrenaline flowed through every inch of my being. I was ready to kick the f*cking hell out of that god damn evil piece of shit.
The crow flapped its wings a few times, creating a thick cloud of dust, but to my dismay it was still able to fly off. I watched it soar over the trees in a crooked line. I held my breath, poised, waiting for its return.
It didn’t come back right away, so I quickly looked at my hands for damage assessment. I looked like I had f*cking stigmata. I gently placed them on the dirt, wincing at the sting, ready to push myself up again, when, out of the corner of my eye, the cloud of dust where the crow had been stirred. I froze and looked over.
At first I couldn’t see anything but a low, hazy shadow. Then through the cloud, a snake emerged. It was no more than four feet away, slithering slowly along the rough earth, heading in my direction.
I was transfixed, paralyzed in total fear. My breathing stopped, I felt encased in ice. I watched it come closer, watched the details of its movements, the way the scales ebbed and flowed with each slink, the way the forked tongue slid in and out of its angular mouth…and its eyes. Its eyes weren’t like snake eyes at all.
I had barely any time to think about my actions. The snake was coming for me. It wasn’t going to stop. It would strike me, it would hurt, and there was no way of knowing how fast the venom would kill me. I was at least thirty minutes from the farm and that’s if I ran, which I knew I wouldn’t be able to do with my ankle, not to mention the f*cking venom coursing through my veins. I took my eyes off the snake for a split second and noted how far the shovel was. If I made a move for the shovel, would I get to it first or was the snake able to strike faster than that?
It seemed like my only option and with each second I spent thinking about it, I knew I was losing the battle. The snake was unbearably close now. Would I even be able to move?
I took a deep breath and was about to go for it when the snake pounced in one quick movement. I had no time to react, no time to scream. I could only sit there and watch in slow motion as the snake coiled its head back and flung itself at me, mouth open, fangs protruding.
I braced for impact.
And heard the loudest BANG rip through the sky and shake the earth. Before my eyes, the snake suddenly exploded into a million pieces. A plume of dirt flew straight up into the air like a geyser and my ears throbbed with the sonic boom.
I felt wet. I looked down. Bloody bits and pieces of snake were sticking to me. But the snake was gone and dead.
“Are you OK?” a voice shot out from behind me.
I turned my head and looked up at the slope. At the top of the ridge was Bird, white Stetson on his head, pistol in hand, looking like something out of a Gary Cooper film. He was staring down at me, his face stern.
He may have just saved my life. I looked at where the snake was, just to make sure it really was dead, that I really managed to escape that. It was gone. I was safe.
I nodded, not sure what to say.
“Stay there,” he commanded and quickly slid down the slope, jumping down the last bit. He knelt beside me, sorrow etched into his knobby forehead. He looked me over and nodded to himself a few times.
“You’ll be OK. Can you walk?”
“Yeah,” I croaked out. I cleared my throat, trying to seem more in control and less stupid. “I can, my ankle kind of hurts but I don’t think I sprained it.”
He walked around behind me and pulled me up from underneath my arms, careful not to hurt me. I got to my feet, too embarrassed to even look him in the eye.
“Thank you,” I said quietly.
“A snake is a bad omen. Killing one can be even worse,” he said. “But it would have been far worse if that one had gotten a hold of you.”
“Was it poisonous?”
“The worst. But it can’t hurt you now.”
“You must think I’m a total moron. Going off into the mountains by myself, not even telling anyone. And now my whole left side is a disgusting mess.”
He lay his hand lightly on my shoulder and looked me in the eyes. His own were gentle, as always, and seemed to possess endless wisdom.
“I don’t think you’re a so-called moron. Though you should have told someone where you were going. But I was watching you, the whole time, until you disappeared from the mesa. I know now I don’t have to tell you that these hills aren’t as pretty as they look. There’s a lot more things out here than snakes, worse things. I know you won’t be doing that again.”
I shook my head, looking at the ground, feeling like a child.
“And your arm isn’t as bad as you think.”
He licked his finger and brought it down against it. The dirt lifted clean off showing the skin beneath had only superficial scratches.
“We’ll get you cleaned up. Come on, would you like me to carry you?”
I smiled anxiously. “No, I’m good. Really. Lead the way.”
He walked down through the trees, through the makeshift path I saw earlier, offering his hand every few steps. I stubbornly refused in the nicest way possible.
We walked through the forest for about five minutes. I felt the elevation dropping and the air growing warmer, even underneath the fragrant shade.
“So,” I said. “I noticed someone had been there before.”
“Sure,” he replied and kept walking forward.
“There was a fire, a shovel, footprints. Looked like people were digging for something.”
“It happens all the time here.”
“Is it Miguel or Shan?”
Bird laughed and skirted around an outcrop that stuck out into the trees. “No, not them. New Mexico is a lot different from Oregon. We don’t have a lot of property laws. People generally come and go on your land as they please.”
“But digging up stuff, I mean whatever it is, isn’t it yours?”
“It depends. If they are looking for Navajo objects, it’s probably everyone’s. Everyone Navajo that is. To be honest with you, if a fellow brother finds something Navajo on the Lancaster’s property, it’s better off in their hands anyway. Will and Sarah wouldn’t care, they don’t follow that way anymore.”
Interesting. I almost detected a hint of animosity in Bird’s gentle voice.
“Is it a big problem when people give up their…way?” I asked.
“It can be. It usually is for their families. But, you know, people in town, we’ve all become a lot more tolerant. It’s a shame but you can’t blame them in this day and age. It wasn’t working for them, maybe. Maybe being a Christian has been more rewarding.”
I stifled a laugh.
>
“You can’t tell me they feel more rewarded,” I said. “For someone as blatantly Christian as Sarah…” I shook my head. “That woman is not rewarded. She’s a hypocrite.”
Bird stopped and I almost ran into his back. I was suddenly afraid I had angered him. There I was shooting my mouth off again.
He turned and looked at me, eyebrow cocked. “You think Sarah is a liar?”
“No. Not at all, I just don’t get how she can be all Christian and religious and stuff and then act like the complete opposite. Maybe it’s just me though. Maybe she just rubs me the wrong way.”
He nodded, musing it over. He looked up at the trees and the sunlight filtering through the needles. Bird always seemed so poised.
“You have to understand…she wasn’t always like this. Even years ago, when she was still blind, she was a lot better. I don’t know what happened. Especially lately. But Will and Sarah are not an easy pair to figure out and I can only say that forsaking the Navajo way can’t have been easy, ever. Growing pains. Besides, all religions are full of hypocrites.”
“True.” I nodded.
“What do you believe in?” he asked gently.
“I believe in God. Or some great power beyond what we can imagine. But I think religion is a manmade prison,” I answered honestly. Try telling that to my father, though, I thought.
“You’re a smart woman, Perry. There’s a lot more to you than some people give you credit for. I know you feel that.”
I smiled shyly. “I guess.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. I think you’re going to need every ounce of confidence while you’re here.”
His last words had a bit of an edge to them. I didn’t like that.
“What do you mean?”
“I think you know. Will explained to me what happened last night. And look what happened just now. You…being here…is not going to be easy.”
“I can handle it,” I said bluntly. He was starting to sound like Miguel.
He chuckled but his lips quickly turned down. “That’s the spirit. I believe you can. But…what I’m trying to say is that you, you are causing this.”
I stiffened.
“And it’s going to follow you, wherever you go.”
I felt currents of electricity spark at the base of my skull and travel down my nerves in waves.
“I don’t understand,” I said.
“I’m not the wisest man. I’m not the most powerful. I am just a man amongst others just like me. But I do know I have more connection, more…heart,” he reached over and tapped my upper chest with his hand, “to people, to the earth, to the spirits. I listen closely and I hear things. I open my eyes wider and I see things. You’ve got a lot of energy, a lot of power in your little form, and there are some things in this world, and in other worlds, evil things, that are going to want to take that from you.”
My first thought was that I was living Poltergeist and I was the little girl and Bird was that creepy midget psychic woman. My second thought was a sick sort of relief. I wasn’t sure if I believed it entirely but what Bird said confirmed a few thoughts I had of my own. Yes, I had always felt I was different. Only to think that there was something special about me was rather egotistical, so I avoided it.
“I don’t think I’m all that special,” I said.
He smiled. “I know you don’t. And that’s part of your ‘charm.’ But the sooner that you own it, the sooner you’ll be in control over what happens to you. You must prepare for anything now and you must, must realize that whatever happens to you, it’s not going to be easy.”
“My life has never been easy,” I mumbled.
“No one’s is, even the lives we think are effortless. Some people take a longer time to open their eyes to it though. But you’re open. And that’s irresistible to some things…and some people. Like Dex.”
My heart skipped.
“He sees it too.”
I nodded and felt my cheeks growing hot. I wasn’t sure what to make of that.
“So what do I do? Should I leave? I mean, I don’t want to bring this stuff here to you guys.”
“Will and Sarah are being tormented by something terrible,” he answered gravely. “It would happen whether you were here or not. But now that you are here, these things are going to come after you and they are going to do whatever they can to destroy you. The good news is, that in the end, that very power they want is the very power you have to defeat them.”
“Uh, this is really starting to sound like some epic superhero movie.”
He laughed. “It’s not. This is just what happens. And it happens a lot here. The Navajo deal with the spirits, or what you call the supernatural, very often. It’s not supernatural to us, it’s just…natural.”
“So you’ve dealt with stuff like this before?”
He nodded.
“Well, what are we dealing with?”
He eyed the trees, not quite worried but still with the barest hint of trepidation.
“I’d rather not discuss it yet, not till I’m sure. This isn’t the time. We better get moving.”
I glanced around me at the forest, feeling the shadows reaching out from the depths. This whole conversation made my paranoia level amp up to eleven.
We continued walking, a bit quicker now, as the ground became level and the trees thinned out. Soon we were out of the forest and making our way across the craggy desert, coming towards the house and barn from the far left. It was closer to noon now and the sun was at its grandest. My shadow stuck as close to me as possible, as if it was afraid to stray.
In the distance I could see the Jeep. Dex was back. Suddenly I didn’t want to go any further.
Sensing this, Bird stopped and looked at me.
“Want to rest your foot here?”
I nodded.
He gave me a gentle smile. “You’re worried what your husband’s going to think?”
I tried not to flinch at that term.
“Yeah,” I admitted.
“He’s an interesting fellow,” Bird said with no hint of irony. “I can see how you guys found each other. You’re very similar.”
I tried to hide the annoyance that must have splashed across my face but Bird caught it and only smiled. “I can back you up in any way you need me to.”
That came as such a sweet relief to me. It was so nice to know Bird was on my side. Maximus was right about that. I could trust him.
“Thank you Bird,” I said sincerely, hoping he really knew how thankful I was. “That means a lot. But I mean, what can I say? I was an idiot. You saved me. That’s kind of the story of my life.”
“It’ll get better,” Bird said and patted me affectionately on the shoulder. “Just remember what I told you.”
That I was the target of whatever the f*ck was happening? How could I forget?
“Let’s get you fixed up.”
I was about fifty feet away when the front door was flung open. Dex came out, followed by Maximus and Will.
I half expected Dex to hang in the background, but the moment he got a better look at me he came running over. He looked livid.
“What the f*ck happened to you?” he yelled at me, hands in the air. I looked at Bird. Suddenly, I wanted Bird to explain everything.
“She took a little tumble, she’s fine.”
“She’s not fine,” Dex spat out angrily. He looked at my arm, then at my face. I couldn’t really tell if he was just pissed off or extremely concerned.
“I’ll go find the first aid kit,” Bird said quickly and walked off to the house, leaving me with Dex. Maximus and Will were still hanging out around the porch, trying not to watch us.
I avoided Dex’s eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I said sheepishly. “It’s no big deal.”
He rubbed his chin quickly.
“What happened?”
“I went for a walk–”
“God damn it, Perry!” he exclaimed.
“I’m sorry, I just thought I would go up to that ridge there.” I turned and pointed at the ridge but he grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him rather roughly. My fists clenched in surprise.
“Ow!” I cried. I opened up my palm. The holes from the crow’s talons stung and looked nasty. He loosened his grip on my wrist but didn’t let go and peered down at my hands.
“Ah, jeez. You’re a f*cking mess.”
“You can let go now.”
He shook his head. “I’m going to need to leash you to me from now on.”
My shoulders sank. There went my freedom. Maybe I did need a babysitter. I always thought it would be the other way around.
“Look. Dex. I am sorry. But this isn’t about you. It’s my problem. I took the tumble. That crow attacked me.”
“Crow?” he repeated, his tone perking up.
And here was the can of worms.
“Yes. Some crow attacked me out of nowhere, that’s what these are from.” I pointed to my hands and wrists.
“And what the f*ck is this?” He picked a piece of bloody snakeskin off my shirt and held it up.
“That…that was a snake. Bird shot it.”
He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Unbelievable. I leave you alone for two hours and you fall off a cliff, get attacked by a crow and a snake explodes all over you.”
“Pretty much.”
He grimaced but seemed to be calming down. “Well I hate to say I told you so but…I so f*cking told you so. You wanna listen to me next time?”
I glared at him. “It depends, Dex. You’re not normally the voice of reason here.”
“Neither of us are,” he said and finally let go of my wrist. “You better wash up.”
We walked to the house. I smiled awkwardly at Will and Maximus as I went up the front steps.
“My Lord,” Maximus said, shaking his head as he looked me over. Neither of them looked very impressed. I tried to brush it off.
I shrugged. “I’m a klutz, what can I say?”
I walked past them and straight up the stairs before they could see how it was so much more than that.
I entered my room and quickly shut the door behind me and made a beeline for the bathroom.
I looked in the mirror and gasped. I had a huge gash across my left cheekbone, with trails of blood and dirt streaking off of it. There were twigs and dust in my hair and my tank top was absolutely ruined with snake guts, blood and caked earth. No wonder everyone had been looking at me like that, I looked far worse than I actually was. In fact, I looked like I walked away from some sort of murder.
And it could have happened. There was no way I could pass that crow and snake off as just mere animals. They had to have been under the power of someone else. Maybe that’s what Bird wasn’t saying – maybe what we were dealing with here was witchcraft. Perhaps some evil shaman, or something to that extent, was trying to get me and Dex away from the ranch. But even if that was the case, why would they be harassing the Lancasters to begin with? The stones, the dead sheep, the birds, the fox, the snake…it was all so scattered and disjointed without a real pattern. What if it really was all just a bunch of coincidences?
But I knew in my heart they weren’t. I just couldn’t figure it out yet. I hoped I would be able to by the time the weekend was over.
As I pondered that, I stripped out of my clothes, a pile of dirt collecting on the clean floor, and ran the shower until it was abrasively hot. The steam fogged up the window and I stepped in. The water was painful on my scratches and I winced at the sting, but after a few moments it faded into a happy numbness, as the murky water swirled down the drain.
It was Saturday. We only had two more days to capture everything we needed, but it no longer felt like the show was the only goal of the weekend. Even if we did get more strange happenings and scenarios on camera, even if we compiled some interesting interviews with Bird, Maximus and whoever, and walked away with a fairly solid body of work…I didn’t want to walk away. I couldn’t. I felt as involved with the “case” as the Lancasters were. We were just the eyes, sent here to film it all, but we couldn’t do anything about it in the end. We weren’t shamans. We weren’t exorcists. We weren’t even ghost hunters. We were exploitive journalists (and that was pushing it) who would go on our happy way and leave the Lancasters to deal with a problem they might not ever solve. It suddenly felt so…pointless. Why did Will want us there when we couldn’t do a thing to help?
My brain felt stuck on that question as I reluctantly turned off the hot taps and wrung my hair out in the tub. It felt warm at first in my sore hands but quickly turned cold as the beads of water moved down my arms.
I stopped and froze. I had that dreadful feeling that I was no longer alone in the bathroom.
I couldn’t see anything through the white shower curtain, though I was certain I’d see a Ma Bates figure rushing towards me with a raised butcher knife. I listened hard, trying to steady my breath as quietly as I could.
“I can smell blood on you,” Sarah’s voice echoed across the bathroom. It wasn’t particularly sinister or accusing but it was creepy as hell. How did she get in here without me hearing her? And what the hell, I was in the shower, hadn’t she heard of a little privacy?
I didn’t know what to say, so I pulled back part of the curtain and stuck my head out to get a look at her.
There was no one there. The door to the bathroom was closed.
Total mindf*ck.
I stepped out of the shower and quickly wrapped a towel around me. It was a bit too small and barely covered my rack but it would have to do. I looked around the tub for her but I was alone in the room. The clothes on the floor looked undisturbed. The window was open only a crack and a hot, sweet-smelling breeze was blowing through in mild bursts. Did I really hear Sarah? Or was I imagining things? I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples, trying to get the clarity I had back on that open mesa. >
A knock at the door.
I yelped despite myself, my wet hair flinging water droplets around the room.
“It’s Dex,” I heard him mumble from the other side. The handle jiggled.
Heart in my throat, I cautiously opened it. Indeed, Dex was standing outside the door, a first aid kit in his hand. He looked wary of me until his eyes drifted onto my chest and legs, on display courtesy of the bathmat-sized towel.
“Hello there,” he said, the corner of his mouth twitching into a smile.
I didn’t give into the embarrassment of him seeing me half-naked.
“How long have you been standing there?”
“I just got here,” he said, still staring at my chest.
I rolled my eyes and reached over, pushing at his forehead until he was looking me in the eyes.
“Did you see just see Sarah leave?”
He shook his head. “Why?”
I closed my eyes, feeling worse. “Nevermind.”
I started to close the door on him but he stuck his hand out and stopped it. “Nuh uh.”
He pushed his way into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. “You need some attending.”
“Oh yeah, you’d like that wouldn’t you,” I sniped.
He sighed as he opened the kit and spread it out on the standalone sink. “Actually I’d like it if you were being the sexy nurse, not me.”
He opened a bottle of rubbing alcohol and splashed it on sheets of gauze and held it above my arm, warning me, “This is going to sting, probably.”
“Can’t be worse than your tongue.”
“Ha,” he said and pressed the gauze forcefully into my arm. I flinched. It burned like a motherf*cker.
He took the pad and, more gentle this time, pressed it further down my arm, dabbing it on each cut. His brow was furrowed intensely as he worked. It was vaguely charming to see him doting on me.
After he worked his way down, he lightly stroked the tops of my forearms where the crow’s talons had scratched away. The hair on my arms rose in response. Only this time not in fear. His fingers felt nice.
He slowed them and raised his brow at me, eyebrow ring glinting. “Did the crow do this?”
I nodded and turned over my hands, opening the palms.
He held the backs of my hands in his for a few seconds, giving them a warm but barely perceptible squeeze, before he returned to the kit. He ripped open a packet of iodine-soaked pads and pressed them into my palms. That hurt even more than before. My face scrunched up with the sharp bursts of pain.
“Sorry, kiddo,” he said softly. “I don’t think we can be too careful. Crows are dirty f*ckers.”
When he was done, he started to wrap my hands like you would a boxer.
“I’m sort of waiting for you to tell me how this happened,” he said as if I had missed my cue or something.
“Well, I don’t really know. I had climbed to this ridge and was just looking at the view when I guess it came at me from behind. Messed up the back of my head and knocked me off balance. I rolled down this slope, and actually was like airborne for a few seconds before I landed on this arm.”
He let out a low whistle, “Perry…”
“Anyway,” I said before he could lecture me, “I didn’t break anything and wasn’t really all that hurt so I got up and then saw this fire pit. I guess someone had a fire there at some point. There were footprints, maybe a paw print too.”
He stopped wrapping, his complete attention on me.
“And there was a shovel and holes in the earth, like someone had been digging for something.”
“Those boys who were attacked by the fox,” he said, thinking out loud.
“That’s what I thought. I didn’t see anything else though, there wasn’t really any evidence but I know there’s something about that place. I had been there before. In my dream.”
He cocked his head. His eyes grew from mahogany to a steely shade of brown, as if the moon passed in front of the sun.
“You had a dream about this?”
“Yeah…it was earlier in the week.”
“You had a dream and you didn’t tell me?” he sounded slightly offended.
I shrugged, carefully, so that my towel didn’t spring open and said, “It was just a dream. How was I supposed to know it would…mean something?”
“Because of what happened last time, you tard. Don’t you see? You dreamt about being in the lighthouse and then you were there. You can’t pass these things off as dreams anymore. Those days are over.”
I started to protest but he cut me off, “What happened in your dream?”
I told him everything and then added, “But maybe it’s not the same place anyway.”
He fell silent. He finished wrapping and then started on my other hand. “Pretty big coincidence to dream about that when you were back in Portland and had no knowledge of the desert, coyotes, and stuff being unearthed, you know.”
I tensed up as he applied the iodine on the other hand.
“Almost done,” he said, gesturing to my palm. “So then when did the crow do this?”
“When I was looking things over. I don’t know how it happened without me seeing it but I think it hit me in my head from the front. I fell down and it just started attacking me, like f*cking claws out and everything. I stopped it with my arms but it was still using its beak to like try and peck my eyes out or something. Then I like flung it on the ground somehow and it flew away. Then the snake appeared, from out of nowhere.”
Dex closed his eyes briefly but continued wrapping. “And then…”
“Bird shot it. Just as it was going for me. If he hadn’t followed me, I-”
“I know,” he interjected. He finished wrapping my hand, then looked at me and gave me a terse smile. “I can only imagine.”
I could tell Dex was genuinely worried about me. Even though it caused butterflies at the base of my stomach, I felt like an idiot again for putting myself in that situation.
Dex let go of my hands and put one of his hands under my chin. He took the iodine pad and aimed it at my cheekbone gash.
“You know the drill,” he commanded and turned my face, gently dabbing it against my cheek. I barely felt it. I only noticed the strange look in his eyes as they stared into mine. Though they were tinged with sadness, their intensity made me feel weak in the knees and I was once again very aware that I was a shuffle away from being completely exposed.
I don’t know how long that moment lasted, or even if it was a moment, but eventually he looked away and did a final dab on my cheek. He let out a large puff of air, smelling faintly like sweet tobacco, and stepped back.
“You’re going to have a rusty blotch on your face from the iodine, but I think if you wash it in an hour you should be good to go.”
“Thanks, Dex,” I said softly.
He gave me a quick smile and then opened the door. “I’ll be downstairs.”
And with that he was gone. I was alone again in the bathroom, my wounds cleaned but my mind more infected than ever.