by Jenna Kernan
“Nick. Nagi has killed him,” said Jessie.
Bess understood Nagi’s trick now. By making Jessie believe Nick had gone before her, he had fooled her into giving up.
“No. He’s alive,” said Bess.
Jessie jerked her head to look at Bess. “I don’t understand.”
“A trick,” said Bess. “Nagi is using you to force Nick to call the Healer. He is about to reveal the Seer.”
“What?”
“He is with you now. Can you not feel him?”
Jessie stared down at her empty hand and then back at Bess in wonderment. “Yes. I can.”
An instant later her astral form rocketed away in a streak of silver too fast for even Bess to follow.
Hihankara grumbled, “No wonder she had no tattoos. The girl isn’t even dead yet. Impudence!” She turned to Bess. “Did you say, Nagi?”
Bess’s wings grew tired from hovering. “I did.”
“He should not meddle with the living,” said Hihankara, more to herself than Bess.
“I agree. But all is not as it should be. Farewell, wise one.” With that she turned about and began the journey back to the world of the living. She raced, trying to reach her friends, knowing that Nagi had allowed Nick to find Jessie. But she doubted their escape would be so easy.
“My lord,” said the ghost sentry to Nagi, “the wolf has arrived.”
“Excellent. Has he found the Dream Walker?”
“Yes, Lord.”
“And has he called the Healer?”
“Not yet, Lord.”
“How long has he been with her?”
“Many minutes, Lord.”
“Yet he sent no signal?” Would the wolf let the Dream Walker die rather than expose his friend? It was a course he did consider. To let a soul mate die… He couldn’t believe it.
“What about the others, Lord?”
Nagi hesitated. “What others?”
“A raven, buffalo and two Niyanoka.”
Nagi simmered. “The Dream Children are united with the Skinwalkers?”
The ghost did not answer. Caution, no doubt, kept him mum.
It was as he feared. “Who are the Niyanoka?”
“The Dream Walker’s parents.”
“Ah.” Nagi understood temporary alliances that sprang from mutual interest. “Use as many as you need, but see none of them live to tell the tale.”
“Yes, my lord.”
The ghost departed, leaving Nagi to consider his plan. It was possible that all he would accomplish was the death of three Skinwalkers and the girl’s parents. He had not considered that Skinwalkers would prove so selfless. It was maddening. Perhaps he had such low expectations because of the souls he normally judged. Still he was stronger than any of them.
The room about him went dark and he felt a presence.
“Nagi? What are you up to?”
He knew the voice. It was Hihankara.
“Why does the raven say you tricked a Dream Walker into walking before her time?”
Nagi shivered and dissolved back into the safety of his circle, leaving his ghosts to fight alone.
Chapter 24
Jessie held on to Nick’s hand, feeling it with her body as her spirit returned to him. She opened her eyes to find him there beside her, whole and perfect, just as Bess had promised.
“You’re alive,” she whispered.
Nick smiled down at her, his eyes shimmering with emotion. “Because of you.”
She reached for him and he pulled her gently into his lap, caressing her.
“I thought he had killed you, so I followed.”
Nick nodded, his cheek moist against hers. “I know. But we’re together now.”
“Always,” promised Jessie.
Her father’s voice interrupted them. “Nick.”
Jessie glanced about until she found her father, standing by the window, peering out past the blinds. Beside him, her mother stood with folded arms, her eyes glittering with fury.
“I taught you the law. Yet you left the earthly plane. That was an incredibly dangerous thing to do.”
Jessie stiffened at her mother’s words and her face flushed, but she said nothing in her own defense.
“So you are bonded to him?” asked her mother.
Jessie tried to rise and found her body stiff and numb. Nick supported her as she stood unsteadily on her feet. How long had she been on the Spirit Road?
Nick kept one arm about her waist. She pressed her hand over his, gathering strength from his courage.
“Yes,” she said.
Her mother pressed a hand to her forehead in despair, covering her eyes.
Tuff charged through the door in human form. “They’re coming. We have to go now.”
Nick helped Jessie to the door, where she froze and staggered backward. Outside the guests and employees of the ranch gathered, their ghostly yellow eyes turned toward the little cabin.
Above them came the cry of a raven as Bess soared over them, returning from her long journey to fight by their sides.
“This is bad,” said George.
It was bad. Nick knew it, sensed it as he crossed the threshold of the cabin door. How could there be so many? Nick could not fathom the number advancing toward them. He knew that the only way for him to free a human from possession was to kill him. He felt sick at the prospect of killing so many innocents.
“Here they come,” said George. He closed his eyes for a moment as he stepped back and then opened them again, staring out at the mob. He turned to Nick, looking worried. “My suggestions don’t work on the possessed.”
“Get back,” said Nick.
George cleared the doorway just as three men barged in. Nick had time only to step in front of Jessie before they were on him.
The odor of death would have been enough to recognize them as possessed. But Nick could see the deathly yellow glow of their eyes.
They came at him all together and without weapons. It was a costly mistake. He threw the closest out the window. The second got one hand on Nick before Nick broke his arm. The man staggered away, howling in agony, his elbow bending backward at an unnatural angle. Nick ducked to avoid the swing from the youngest of the three and went for his legs, driving his shoulder into the man’s stomach as he carried him backward. They hit the wide pine floorboards together and with enough force to knock the wind out of the man.
Tuff glanced out the door. “More coming. Best face them in the open.”
Tuff stepped onto the porch. Nick followed, carrying Jessie, who was still barely able to stand. Beyond the gleaming varnish of the log rail, three dozen men and women, still as zombies, stood in a rough half circle surrounding the cabin. The stink of death made Nick gag. He lowered Jessie to his side, keeping her close, knowing he could not fight and protect her. She bore her own weight now but clung to his middle.
Her voice was hushed as she stared out at the army of possessed humans. “Oh, my God.”
Nicholas judged the half dozen horse wranglers to be the biggest threat. They looked young and strong. The cowboys stood side by side with paunchy tourists who wore an odd assortment of sneakers, ball caps and new denim. One woman stood in a bikini and had bare feet, as if she’d just been summoned from the pool. Suntan lotion made her bare legs gleam in the sun.
They crept relentlessly, steadily forward, tightening the circle.
“We can’t kill them,” said Jessie. “It’s my duty to preserve human life.”
“We’ll make a run for it. Try to reach the woods,” said Nicholas.
He could smell Jessie’s panic.
“There are so many.”
He clasped her hand. “Get ready.”
He didn’t think they’d make it, but he would not retreat into the house. Better to fight on open ground than be trapped in the cabin.
The bellowing made him glance away from his foe for just an instant. Beside him, Tuff had taken his animal form. The horde before him made no indication that they heard the war
ning cry of the bull buffalo before it charged. The beast tossed its massive head as it plowed forward, knocking people aside like bowling pins. The bull cleared a furrow through the enemy; then it turned around, pawing the ground.
Nick needed no further invitation. He grabbed Jessie, tossed her over his shoulder and ran down the steps. Then he threw her up on the buffalo’s back.
“Hold on,” he shouted, then turned to the bull. “She’s on, Tuff. Go! Go!”
The buffalo lowered its head and charged. Several of the humans managed to clutch at Jessie’s legs, but Nick ran beside the bull, throwing off the humans who grabbed and tore at her. He retained the speed of his wolf self in human form and easily kept up with the buffalo. He heard Jessie’s mother scream and turned to see George swinging his fist as the enemy overwhelmed them.
He turned back, throwing off the men and women that attacked her parents.
Behind him, Tuff bellowed. Nick saw him slow under the sheer number of people crowding, screaming, clawing. As Tuff knocked them away, more poured from the cabins, replacing the fallen. Cooks with knives appeared and valets, women who worked in the spa and at the front desk, their cheery country-style uniforms now a mocking aberration.
Nick saw there were too many, that they would lose. The humans who were seriously injured or unconscious lay useless as old snake skins as more unseen ghosts took possession of healthy hosts to manipulate.
The buffalo came to a standstill. Nick ran to Jessie, dragging her from Tuff’s back. He curled about her, protecting her from the shower of blows with his body. Tuff stamped and circled, swinging his great horned head to drive back those he could.
Above them, Bess flapped and cried, helpless to defend her friends.
The winds increased to a roaring gale that knocked the people flat. Only Tuff retained his footing as the tornado touched down beyond the corral, scattering the horses.
The Thunderbirds had arrived, carrying help. Nick thought of all the Inanoka he had met and wondered who had responded to his urgent call.
The answer sent a shiver of dread down his body, for there in the clearing stood the great grizzly bear. Nick recognized him instantly.
Sebastian, the Healer, his best friend and the husband of the last Seer of Souls, had come.
But his wife? Please, thought Nicholas, don’t let her be here.
He strained his neck to see. The winds lifted, and Sebastian roared and then fell to all fours, charging forward. And then he saw Michaela, running swiftly after her husband, her long braid bobbing behind her. She was slim and sleek again. How long ago had she delivered her twins?
The ghost army turned from him in unison, responding to some signal he could not hear. En masse, they charged the bear and the Seer, breaking through the wooden fence in the paddock.
Nicholas’s heart sank. All his efforts to protect the last Seer of Souls had come to nothing. She had followed her husband, coming to rescue his miserable hide.
They would be killed.
And it would be his fault.
Nick saw the horses in the paddock now charging Sebastian. He called a warning.
Sebastian reared to attack the horses. Hooves flashed as the bear swung his massive arm. Beside him, his wife, Michaela, gripped a medicine wheel and chanted. The horses leaped back, trembled and then fell to their sides, kicking wildly.
“Go back,” shouted Nick. “Call the winds.”
They could not hear him, for they continued toward the army of howling ghosts. Behind them the horses rolled suddenly to their feet, kicking and bucking as they made their mad escape from the bear.
Sebastian moved to stand before his wife. He was mighty and brave. But Nick knew that even he could not win against such numbers.
Nick glanced at Jessie. She was flushed and shaken, but uninjured.
“Hurry,” she urged. “Help them.”
Nick ran toward his friends, pushing and shoving this mass of manipulated humanity as he passed. How many would he kill before they killed him?
Michaela raised her face to the wispy white clouds, holding the medicine wheel up to the sunshine. Her chanted song rose clear and true above the moan of the approaching horde. In unison the people halted, clamping their hands to their ears as if her lovely prayer was some heinous screeching. They dropped to their knees, still clutching their heads, and together collapsed on the ground.
Nick examined the fallen. They all lay in the same direction, heads pointed north, lying motionless, as felled wheat.
He crouched down to stare at a woman. Her eyes were open but had rolled back in her head, making them a disconcerting white. Her muscles were rigid, as if some invisible current ran through her body.
Jessie ran to him, wrapping an arm about his waist. “What’s happening?”
Nick glanced this way and that. He, Jessie, Michaela, Sebastian, Bess and Tuff, now in human form, and Jessie’s parents were the only ones still standing.
“She did something to them,” said Tuff, gazing with caution at Michaela. “What is her power?”
Nick smiled at Michaela, who lowered her wheel as he spoke to Tuff. “This is Michaela, the last Seer of Souls.”
She shook her head, beaming a great smile. “Last no longer.”
Nick’s eyes widened as he remembered. Her infants were now in this world. Were they Seers, as well? It explained Nagi’s impatience to kill her.
Sebastian transformed to human form and strode forward. He was a great mountain of a man with more height and brawn than Nick. He clasped Nick’s forearm, using it to drag him forward for a hug so tight several of his ribs popped.
“Easy, bear, you’ll crush the life out of me.”
“I’m so glad to see you safe,” said Sebastian, now thumping Nick on his shoulders in a steady rain of affectionate blows. “I got your distress call.”
Nick grabbed his hands to still them. “I didn’t want you to come.”
“I know, but Michaela has learned a few tricks since you’ve seen her. Her father’s been teaching her. She can send them for judgment now.”
Sebastian seemed to only just notice Jessie. He released Nick, who tried not to sag with relief.
“So, this is the little Spirit Child who saved your life. We have heard of you.” Sebastian grabbed Jessie about the waist and spun her in a circle. “Thank you.”
Michaela reached her husband. “Put her down now. You’re frightening her.”
He did, his face reddening as he lowered her back to the ground. “Was I?” He leaned toward Jessie for confirmation.
“Well, maybe a little.” She motioned toward the slim native man beside her. “This is Tuff. He fixed Nick’s injuries.”
Sebastian bowed to the buffalo. “Thank you, brother, for your sacrifice.”
Tuff returned the bow. “It is my duty.”
Michaela came forward and kissed Nick. “We’re so happy you are all right.”
It was then that the moaning began. All around the injured humans began to cry out in pain and confusion. The ground, once as still as a graveyard, now undulated with writhing humanity.
Nick shook his head, suddenly at a loss. “How could there be so many?”
Michaela answered. “Nagi has not been collecting the evil souls who refuse to walk the Spirit Road upon their death. Or, rather, he has been collecting them, but instead of taking them to his circle, he has recruited for his earthbound army.”
“Great Spirit save us,” whispered Jessie.
The wounded continued to call for help, while the uninjured sat up, shaking their heads in bewilderment.
Tuff surveyed the scene. “There are many here in need of help.”
Sebastian rested a hand on him. “We can manage it together.”
Jessie gaped at the fallen army. “But what about our oath to keep our world secret? They’ve already seen too much.”
Her father interrupted. “I can help with that.”
They turned to see Jessie’s parents hurrying forward. Nick recalled that her fa
ther had the gift of suggestion. But to influence so many, was it even possible?
Jessie swayed and Nick caught her.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’ve been out of my body so long, I’m just…”
“Exhausted,” finished her mother, slipping her arm about Jessie’s waist. “That’s why we set limits. It’s bad for the body to be alone so long.”
Nick retained his hold on Jessie’s shoulders, ready to engage in a tug-of-war with her mother.
Mrs. Healy fixed her cold stare on him. “I know how to care for her. Do you?”
Uncertainty stirred in him and he looked to Jessie.
“It’s all right. I’ll just be in the lodge, waiting for you,” she said.
“I’ll come along.”
“You have to protect the Seer. Make sure she and Sebastian get away safely.”
Nick knew she was right and let his grip relax, but only enough to capture her hand. He trusted her, but he did not trust her parents.
“Please,” whispered Jessie, swaying.
The exhaustion in her face convinced him. He released her. “I’ll be quick.”
She nodded wearily as her mother guided her away.
Her father paused in the center of the men and women, now rising from the grassy lawn.
“Folks, I think you’ll all want to gather around me now. You’ll want to hear this.”
They did. Everyone who could stand now followed this pied piper as he led them toward the lodge. It made separating the injured an easy matter.
“We’re all going into the lodge for a meeting and we’ll fill you in on this crazy weather. Boy, I’ll bet you all feel lucky to have safely come through it. I know you admire the way the staff protected you from injury. Quick thinking on their part to get you out of those buildings.”
Nick watched in wonder as the men and women nodded their heads in agreement with his version of events.
“They won’t remember the possession,” said Michaela. “That will just be a blank spot. It’s good to have someone fill in the pieces, even if they aren’t the actual ones that happened. I take it he’s a Peacemaker.”
Nick nodded. “So he said.”
He turned to the injured, assisting Sebastian and Tuff as they assessed the damage from the battle. Together the bear and buffalo began the process of restoring the injured.
