The Watcher

by Christina Dodd

  Behind Bryan, Marie and Naira followed arm-in-arm. They enjoyed this part of the evening at camp, when everyone was sufficiently exhausted from the day’s activities that they brushed their teeth quickly so they could fall into their sleeping bags.

  Nathan clapped Kateri on the shoulder. “Here’s hoping that did them some good! I know I enjoyed hearing someone else tell a story for a change.” He winked at her.

  “Liar! Don’t worry, I won’t enter your territory too often.”

  Nathan winked, then turned to grab his drum. He strode towards the longhouse to ensure everyone got into bed safely.

  Lily stayed behind, warming her hands by the flames, her eyes darting around nervously.

  Kateri waited until the sounds of the other kids faded before approaching her. Kateri looked into the fire. “Are you all right?” She knew that if Lily were anything like she had been at that age, not looking directly at her would allow Lily to speak more openly.

  Come to think of it, Kateri was still that way when it came to telling secrets or discussing fears.

  Lily started softly. “During your story about the Frog God, I could see two dark green eyes shining out of the darkness." Her voice gained volume until Kateri no longer had to strain to hear her. "Looking right at me.”

  Without a hint of surprise, Kateri asked, “Where?”

  Lily mutely pointed to the edge of the forest behind the fire circle’s benches. The firelight didn’t reach that section of the trees, and it was so dark under the cedars, Kateri couldn’t make out any individual trunks.

  She did not see any glowing eyes.

  But then … she didn't quite look.

  Kateri turned back to Lily. “I believe you."

  Lily furrowed her brow. “It has to be my imagination. Even if he was there, the Frog God only wants the most beautiful woman in the world. He was probably staring at Avni or Jessica.”

  "But you believe he was there."

  Lily nodded.

  “It’s not for us to know what the gods think or want. I simply tell their stories. The tales of the ancient ones have been handed down for generations. That doesn’t make them true.”

  Lily took a shuddering breath. Her bravado wasn’t convincing, but she managed a small smile, trying to mock the moment a bit.

  “Are you friends with Jessica or Avni?” Kateri asked.

  Lily laughed shortly. “Um, no. I was friends with Avni in elementary school, but then I got glasses and my parents got divorced, and well, I guess I was too much trouble for her.”

  Kateri nodded. “Getting older is hard on everyone.”

  “I know,” Lily said. “But if she was going through something difficult, I would help her.”

  “Not everyone is as brave as you. Some people keep their feelings hidden behind mauve nail polish and highlights.”

  Lily laughed for real this time. “I wouldn’t mind a little nail polish from time to time. But I play piano. It chips off the moment I put it on.”

  Kateri warmed to the subject. “Are you any good?”

  “I know I’m supposed to be modest and say no. But yes. I’m really good. When I’m practicing alone anyway. Recitals are awful.” Lily shuddered.

  Kateri felt scars burning, a sure sign that Lily was even now being modest. Lily was a piano prodigy, Kateri was sure of it. “I remember. But playing piano in public is like everything else. Practicing might not make it an easy task, but it will help you feel prepared to fight the jitters and show them what you’ve got. Speaking of practicing” — she pivoted subjects smoothly, — “let me tell you the incantation to protect against the Frog God.”

  “What if he isn’t real?”

  “Then you’ve learned something useless. It wouldn’t be the first time.” Kateri grinned at Lily.

  "Like my California state history course? What am I going to do with the information that 'The Los Angeles Angels' when translated to Spanish literally means 'The The Angels Angels?'"

  Kateri ran it through in her mind. "Wow. You're right. Interesting factoid."

  Lily stared in disgust; teenagers were gifted at showing disgust.

  "Sorry! Are you ready?"

  “Go ahead. I’m listening.”

  Kateri repeated the incantation, one phrase at a time, and Lily repeated it after her. When they finished together, the fire flared again, more quietly this time.

  “How did you add chemicals to the logs?” Lily asked. “I didn’t even see you do it.”

  Kateri didn’t answer because she hadn’t added anything to the logs. Not this time. Instead she said, “Don’t worry. You know the incantation now, and like you said, the Frog God probably isn’t real. I guess if I want you to take away something from this whole night, it would be to never allow a man, especially a stranger, to convince you that you’re in love before you’re sure of it yourself.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Kateri saw Naira coming back from the longhouse. “Someone is looking for you,” Kateri said.

  Lily looked down at the dirt and sighed. “I’ll remember what you said. Thanks for talking to me.”

  “Thanks for keeping me company,” Kateri replied.

  “Lily! There you are. Better hit the head before lights go out!” Naira called.

  Lily waved goodbye to Kateri and headed outside the fire circle. She didn't hesitate to step over the line in the dirt.

  Kateri waited until Lily and Naira were out of hearing distance before she said, “Joe, no one likes an eavesdropper.”

  Joe came out of the shadows beyond the firelight. “I wanted to see what she would say. Every night, Lily has been freaking everyone out with her nightmares.”

  Kateri mocked him. “I doubt a guy like you puts much stock in what she says anyway.”

  Joe scowled even more. “I don’t.” He stalked toward the fire and stared into the flames. “Lily lives on my street. Always has. She’s always been a loner. She reads all the time,” He sneered as though this were the most detrimental thing you could say about a young woman. “Everybody picks on her, and she just takes it.”

  He hadn’t said he didn’t like Lily. He seemed almost annoyed with her for being an easy target. But he was hard to read with the flames flickering in front of his face, turning his dark cheeks a flushed red and flaring in the darkness of his deep brown eyes.

  “You don’t believe Lily then? About the man in the woods watching her?” Kateri moved to the other side of the fire pit so she could see him straight on.

  Joe shoved his hands into his pockets and glared at her. “I believe her,” he said angrily. “I believe her because I’ve seen the creepy stalker at the edge of the woods. But c’mon, I don’t believe that he’s this Frog God of yours.”

  “You think it’s just a story? Some silly Native American legend?” Kateri asked softly.

  Joe looked at her as if she were pulling his leg. “Yes! Besides, you told Lily it wasn’t real."

  "I said probably wasn't real."

  "That's what I said. Hopefully it worked to calm Lily down, so she’ll stop ruining the camp for everyone else. I heard Nathan earlier. He’s going to send us all home early because Lily is such a wimp.”

  “The legends are often based in fact, but perhaps I told you the legend of the Frog God because there are lessons to be learned from it.”

  Joe just raised his eyebrows at her, daring her to find a lesson in the story of a giant frog jumping up to catch the sun. “Yeah, I heard what you said to Lily about falling in love. Not much of a lesson."

  Kateri sighed. He was so angry. How did he get to be this way? What had life served up to him? Either way, his attitude towards Lily wasn’t something Kateri could ignore, and this was her only chance to steer him to a different future. She knew she couldn't change his whole mindset. Too many people had tried to do that with her when she was a teenager, and even when she recognized that they were right, she still fought, trying to keep the upper hand in a world that tried
to crush the life out of her. “That’s not your lesson. That’s hers. Look, the Frog God knows something you don’t. In a few years, Lily is going to be the most beautiful woman in the world.”

  Joe snorted.

  “Do you look the same as you did when you were eleven?” Kateri said sarcastically.

  Joe sobered quickly, but his stance didn’t soften. Inside his pockets, his hands clenched in clearly defined fists.

  “I didn’t think so.” Kateri continued. “What’s more, Lily will do amazing things."

  "How do you know that?"

  "The Frog God chooses his obsessions based on more than mere looks. Which may be why he’s able to see her for what she is and what she will be, as opposed to you who can only remember her glasses and her braces and her bookworm persona. She'll earn an Olympic medal in karate, or win the Nobel peace prize, or be concert pianist. Where will you be, Joe? What will you do?” Kateri glared right back at Joe. What could she do to make this kid pay attention, change his ways, reach for his dreams? “When the Frog God comes back for her, will you be ready to defend her?”

  Joe made a face. “You’re not serious.”

  "I’m dead serious.”

  "You can't be." He got madder. "He doesn't exist."

  "Then how am I able to do this?” Crouching down, Kateri touched the dry earth by the fire pit.

  Beneath her palm, the fires from below flared. The cool earth buckled and heaved. The trees slapped their branches and flapped their tops. Screams rose from the bathrooms and the longhouse. Kateri rode the ground waves, anticipating each buckle and swerve.

  Joe yelled. "What the hell!" He stumbled. He sat down. Put his hands flat to the ground to hold himself in place. Yelled again. "How could you do that? No. No! Damn it, no."

  She lifted her hand from the earth. She stood. The shaking stopped.

  Nathan stepped out of the longhouse. "Kateri! Do you mind? We're trying to calm them down, not shake them up!"

  Joe sat cross-legged, looking incredulously between her and Nathan.

  "I'm done," she called, and waved Nathan back inside.

  "You didn't do that," Joe insisted. "You can't do that. That's impossible. How could you do that?"

  Kateri dusted off her fingers and looked down into his eyes. "Do what?"

  "No. I don't believe it. No. Are you serious?"

  But he did believe it. She could see that in the appalled terror and awe that lit his face. "Am I serious about you? I’m not sure. Perhaps you won’t be around to protect Lily. Who knows what will happen to you? All you are is a jock, right? What kind of trajectory is that when less than 1% of football players even get drafted?”

  “What do you know about it?” Joe shouted. “I’ll make my father proud!” Much more softly he whispered, “I have to. He'll kill me if I don't.”

  There it was. The reason for his hostility, the reason why he hated Lily's nightmares and wanted so desperately to stay at camp. He feared his father. He feared his abuse. He wanted to stay far away.

  “Okay, Joe, I understand." Kateri held up her index finger. "Before you say I don’t, please remember that you have no idea what my own father was like."

  "A mean bastard?"

  "Cold. Cruel. Manipulative. I came out all right, but it took major work."

  "At least you can create earthquakes."

  “I went to hell to be able to do that. You don't want to go there."

  "I grew up there."

  She couldn't call him a liar. She didn't dare say he was exaggerating. She didn't know what his life had been. "What can you do?" she asked. "Not just football. There must be something you enjoy, something you’re really good at.”

  His answer was quick. “Math, especially geometry. I want to be a civil engineer one day, build bridges and roads. Travel away from home, from … just get away from where I'm from.”

  “It sounds to me like you have a great back-up plan, in case football is too much of a long shot.” Kateri smiled.

  Tentatively, he returned her smile. “Not much of a back-up plan when there’s a crazy lady running around creating earthquakes. I’ll have to make my bridges extra strong.” He looked suddenly serious again. “I’m sorry I yelled a minute ago. Life gets … hard sometimes.”

  Kateri cocked her head to one side, fascinated that this young man was full of so many conflicting thoughts and emotions. "Think about what I’ve said. About you and about Lily. About protecting her. That’s all I ask. Okay?”

  Joe seemed surprised to not be in trouble for his outburst, so he stood and put his hands back in his pockets, and headed to the longhouse and to bed.

  After Joe trudged away, Kateri pulled logs from the wood pile and built up the fire until it was tall and hot. The kindling at the bottom was long gone, turned to ash. The logs glowed orange under their bark covering.

  She scanned the surrounding woods, but the glowing eyes, if they had ever been there to begin with, were gone.

  Kateri took Naira’s place by the fire. The chair was none too comfortable, but it was better than the wooden benches, and she might be able to sleep a bit. She needed to keep the fire going until morning. It would give the children a sense of protection and keep her from getting freezing in a night where the low was predicted to be in the fifties.

  She dozed off and on until the sun began to rise, then woke with a start. It was a beautiful sunrise, the kind missed by most as they slept. And indeed the camp was still slumbering. Who could blame them? When the sun rose at 4:30am, as it did in the Pacific Northwest in the summer, few could claim to see the golden clouds and the moment when the sunlight touched the trees and the fields, turning them a burnished emerald green.

  When the sun finally filtered through the trees and shone brightly upon the longhouse, Kateri rose stiffly from the folding chair. The air smelled like cedar and seashore, like dirt and smoke. Like camp. She was alone, and all was quiet, still. Even the morning birds sounded subdued, barely chirping. The fire smoldered, without active flames, just the glow of the lower logs as they disintegrated into the fire pit.

  She stretched her arms above her head in a sun salutation and reached towards her toes. The popping of her spine both alarmed and satisfied. Sitting up all night should be a job relegated to the young and uninjured. She rubbed her eyes, then walked across the sunny field behind the fire pit. She moved stealthily, watching the parameter, listening for any sound that might signify danger.

  When she reached the area Lily had pointed to, the place where she had said the glowing eyes were watching her, Kateri crouched down, her gaze still scanning the area, to pick up a freshly fallen red cedar branch.

  There, at the edge of the circle, she whispered under her breath the words that would once more banish the Frog God to his cold and watery kingdom.

  When she had finished, the fire behind her gave one last valiant flare.

  Then, and only then, did she step outside the line and use the swooping cedar branch to brush a man's clearly defined footprints from the dirt.

  I hope you enjoyed THE WATCHER, an exclusive thank you gift for you for being a mailing list member. Want to read more about Kateri and Virtue Falls?

  The Virtue Falls series in order:

  THE LISTENER

  E-book: Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iBooks

  VIRTUE FALLS

  E-book: Kindle, Nook, Kobo, GooglePlay, iBooks

  Hardcover: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound

  Paperback: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, IndieBound

  Audio: Amazon, Audible, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, iBooks

  THE RELATIVES

  E-book: Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iBooks

  OBSESSION FALLS

  E-book: Kindle, Nook, Kobo, GooglePlay, iBooks

  Hardcover: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, IndieBound

  Paperback: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million

  Audio: Amazon, Audible, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, iBooks

&
nbsp; LOVE NEVER DIES

  E-book: Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iBooks

  THE WATCHER

  BECAUSE I'M WATCHING

  E-book: Kindle, Nook, Kobo, GooglePlay, iBooks

  Hardcover: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, IndieBound

  Paperback: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, IndieBound

  Audio: Amazon, Audible, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, iBooks

  THE WOMAN WHO COULDN'T SCREAM

  E-book (Preorder): Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Google Play, iBooks

  Hardcover (Preorder): Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, IndieBound

  A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT: A compilation of the Virtue Falls short stories and extras about Virtue Falls. Available for Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iBooks!

  Want my printable book list sorted by genre/series/in order? Find it here.

  Here's my, "Books by Series and in Order,” page.

  Want to know more about the creation of this series? Here's an article on how I built Virtue Falls.

  Enjoy more Christina Dodd suspense.

  Enjoy more Christina Dodd paranormals.

  Enjoy more Christina Dodd historicals.

  Thank you for your support through my journey building the world of Virtue Falls!

  Who is Christina Dodd? http://christinadodd.com/meet-christina/

  Readers become writers, and Christina has always been a reader. Ultimately she discovered she liked to read romance best because the relationship between a man and a woman is always humorous. A woman wants world peace, a clean house, and a deep and meaningful relationship based on mutual understanding and love. A man wants a Craftsman router, undisputed control of the TV remote, and a red Corvette which will make his bald spot disappear.

  So when Christina’s first daughter was born, she told her husband she was going to write a book. It was a good time to start a new career, because how much trouble could one little infant be?