Dead Moon Awakens: A tale of Cherokee myth and Celtic magic (Mystic Gates)

by Teresa Joyce Jackson

  But, who had told her to cast the caim? Was it Ma?

  She recounted the scene just before the bear appeared and realized they had been sitting by a hazelnut tree. Now she remembered hazelnuts were the trees of wisdom, the trees that helped you connect with your own inner knowing and intuition. It must have been the tree.

  Her backpack weighed heavier than before. Why couldn’t it have been Ma? She swallowed the tears clamoring for her eyes.

  Half an hour later, Lance said, “Finally!” He pointed right to a narrow, carved ledge progressing up the side of a steep hill. “Here’s where we get on the A.T. We go north now. Silerbald is about five miles from here.”

  He stepped onto the ledge and balanced himself against the hill as he ascended to the top.

  Pausing with the others, Aishling watched and wondered if she would be able to follow him.

  Morrigan called out, “Lance, I can’t do that. Is there somewhere else we can get on that silly trail?”

  Kelile brushed her arm with his fingers and said, “You mean you didn’t bring your broom?” He grinned, showing his teeth.

  “Don’t touch me.”

  “Come on, Kelile,” Lance said. “I know the ledge is narrow, but just lean into the hill some as you come up.”

  Once Kelile made it to the top, the girls followed. Though they struggled, they used each other for balance and reached the top without any significant problems.

  Walking along the Appalachian Trail turned out differently than Aishling had imagined. There was no wide gravel or woodchip pathway. Instead, the trail varied between ten to eighteen inches wide. Aboveground tree roots and brush encroached on the narrow path in some areas; but in other areas, grasses and flowers just beginning to bloom bordered it. In many places, the path was rocky. Not wanting to trip and fall, she continually scanned the ground, staying focused on where she stepped. Would they meet another bear or something else along the trail? What about snakes? Or spiders? Her arm and leg muscles ached from the tension. Her hands became clammy.

  “As long as we follow these A.T. blazes—” Lance pointed to a white rectangle painted on an oak tree “—we’ll be good. If we meet anyone on the trail, remember our story. We’re on a school project.”

  “What if someone asks us where our chaperones are?” Morrigan said.

  “That depends. If we meet them, we say our chaperones are behind us and that they’ll probably run into them later. If someone comes up behind us, we tell them we’re being picked up tomorrow at Wayah Crest—just in case we see them later tonight at the shelter. And if that were to happen, we’ll let them move ahead of us in the morning, because Wayah Crest is further north of the shelter. But don’t say anything unless someone asks you first.” He slowed while stepping over several large tree roots. “Also, it’s best if we keep talking to each other and make some noise as we walk.”

  “Hey, man, what about snakes. I don’t want any more run-ins with them.”

  “That’s one reason to talk. It alerts wildlife that we’re coming and usually scares everything away. What you really need to watch for are ticks. Check your clothes and hair often. You want to get them off you before they stick their heads in your skin and start sucking your blood.”

  “Ooh! What do they look like?” Morrigan said.

  “Well, before they start sucking on you, they’re a little bigger than an ant, and they’re black and round with tiny, hair-like legs on each side. But when they start sucking your blood, their bodies swell up, and they can get as big as the tip of your finger, or even bigger. Also, if they do embed in your skin, you’re supposed to remove them the first twenty-four hours. Like I said before, just check yourself often.”

  Cringing, Aishling brushed her arms and legs, looking for any kind of bug. “Can we change the subject?”

  “Lance,” Morrigan said, “tell us about your family.”

  He didn’t answer for a few moments.

  “Please?”

  Aishling moved as close as possible behind Kelile, concentrating on keeping pace with him so she could hear Lance.

  “My parents were the greatest.” He cleared his throat. “Dad was a forest ranger. He used to be stationed at Cheoah Point, you know, where I’m headed. But about a year-and-a-half ago, he transferred to the Wayah Station, and we moved to Franklin. Mom was a nurse, but she was also, as I said before, considered a medicine women or healer. Many of the tribe came to see her when we lived in Bryson City.”

  “Your mom sounds a lot like mine,” Aishling said.

  “No,” he blurted, glaring at her over his shoulder. “My mother was not a witch!”

  “I wasn’t saying anything bad about—”

  “What about other family?” Morrigan said.

  He walked a few steps then answered, “Both Mom and Dad were only children. Dad’s parents passed away before I was born. I only knew my mother’s mother, my Nana, but she died suddenly a couple of years ago. No one knew why.” The volume of his voice had dropped before he finished talking.

  He abruptly stopped walking, causing a chain reaction with the others.

  “That wasn’t a car was it, Lance?” Aishling said.

  “Yeah. We must be getting close to Highway 64. We’ll stop when we get to the steps leading down to the highway. I think we should take turns crossing instead of all of us going together. Kelile, you should put your hood over your head and tuck your hands in your pockets. That way people can’t easily tell you’re black.”

  Kelile raised his head and shoulders and barked, “What? There’s nothin’ wrong with my blackness, man. My blackness is divine. It makes me special.”

  “Oh, you’re so full of yourself,” Morrigan said.

  “And who are you? Nothin’ but a skinny, prissy white girl. No color. No spice.”

  Morrigan stuck her tongue out at him.

  “Whoa, there you go again.” He spun his head around in different directions. “Do you all see any flies around here? Cause this girl’s ripe for catchin’ them.”

  Morrigan kicked him in the shin.

  “Ouch! You little—”

  “Stop it!” Aishling said, grabbing Morrigan’s shoulders, pulling her away from him.

  At the same moment, Lance clamped his arms around Kelile’s upper body, forcing him to stand in place. “That’s enough, you two. I’m not going any further with you if you keep this up.”

  “She kicked me, man!” Kelile struggled against Lance’s grip.

  In a standstill, Aishling stared at Kelile and Lance as they stared at her and Morrigan. Frustrated, she said, “Morri, you should apologize.”

  Morrigan flashed a stone-cold look at her, hesitated, and then smiled as if she had changed her mind. “Gee, Kelile, I’m so, so, sorry.”

  “Right, voodoo queen. It’s written all over your face.”

  “Oh, I am. I shouldn’t have kicked you. I forgot how fragile you are.”

  “Morri!”

  “Morrigan, that’s it.” Lance let go of Kelile and walked away.

  “Lance,” she cried, pulling away from Aishling and following him. “I’m sorry. I won’t say anything bad anymore. I’ll be good. I promise!” She revolved toward Kelile. “I really am sorry. I won’t say anything bad to you or do anything bad to you again. Please forgive me.”

  Kelile nodded once at Lance and dropped his fist.

  As Lance walked back to them, he said, “Kelile, I wasn’t trying to insult you. But the fact is you are black. If the four of us have been reported missing, people will be looking for three white and one black teen. That’s why I suggested we cross separately, and that you hide your hands and face so people can’t easily tell you’re black. Okay?”

  “Yeah, man.” Kelile pulled up his hood, situated his backpack, and tucked his hands in his pockets.

  When they reached the notched-out, manmade steps, Lance said, “Okay, I’ll be waiting across the highway. After I go, wait a few minutes then follow one at a time and meet me on the other side.” He didn’t wait
for a response before turning and treading down the steps.

  Something was wrong. He had stopped at the bottom and was wildly looking around. Moments later, he tromped back up the steps.

  In between pants, he said, “I’d forgotten … the trail doesn’t pick up straight across the road. You’ll have to move up the highway to the right about a hundred paces before crossing. Give me five minutes, Kelile. Try to move as fast as you can when you come.” He inhaled deeply before leaving them again.

  They waited in tensed silence before Kelile mounted the top step. “See you witches on the other side.”

  After he had reached the bottom, Morrigan turned to Aishling. “Why don’t you support me? I feel like I don’t have any friends.”

  “Well, you haven’t supported me, either. Why haven’t you helped me defend who we are?”

  “Because, sometimes it’s best not to say anything.”

  “I’m sorry.” Aishling shrugged. “This is all so stressful. I’m scared. Please, forgive me and let’s work together and get through this.”

  Morrigan patted her on the arm. “I’m sorry, too. I’m not going to be bad to Kelile anymore, I promise.” She paused, looking around, then, “You think I should go now?”

  Aishling nodded and watched as Morrigan raced down the steps and out of sight.

  She searched around and behind her, hoping she wouldn’t see anything. As the minutes crept by, imaginary threats poked at her causing an eruption of goose bumps along her arms. Unable to wait any longer, she ran down the steps, almost tripping at the bottom.

  26

  Soon after crossing Highway 64, they came to a waterfall and river. Wooden planking with a dilapidated railing on the right side provided the only means over the fast-moving water below.

  The last to cross, Aishling held her breath when she stepped onto the planking. As she grabbed the one-sided railing, a piece of it came off in her hand. If it hadn’t been for Lance standing on the other side, holding his hand out and encouraging her, she couldn’t have crossed.

  She straddled the planking, moving as fast as she could, and jumped the last three feet onto the bank. Lance clasped her hand, pulling her away from the edge. For timeless moments, as their eyes met, his grip softened into a caress.

  “Come on, you two,” Kelile said.

  Blushing, Lance let go and took the lead again.

  Morrigan jostled in front of her—almost stepping on her feet—and glared at her.

  “Move on, voodoo queen.” Kelile nudged Morrigan.

  “Don’t touch me!”

  As Aishling followed from behind again, she watched Lance with intense concentration. He was quiet too, appearing to be in thought. Had she blushed the way he had? Did her touch make him feel the way she felt from his? Did her eyes affect him the way his affected her?

  They didn’t arrive at the shelter until dusk. Already full of hikers, there was no room for them inside. Two friendly guys from a small group of college students greeted them and told them they were welcome to use the fire burning in the fire pit as long as they put it out when they were finished. Since it was so late in the day, Lance quickly collected water and left the girls his camping pan to boil it while he and Kelile set up the pup tent away from the shelter.

  A chill crawled along Aishling’s arms when a couple of harsh-looking, middle-aged men walked over. One was chunky with short auburn hair and a potholed face. The other, taller, had ragged, greasy hair which he repeatedly brushed back from his eyes. Her apprehension grew when she noticed them eyeing her and Morrigan as if they were picking out a new car.

  Lance returned, and she moved as close to him as possible, busying herself by filling their water containers. He greeted them, but didn’t stop to talk. Instead, he helped her.

  The two men hung around trying to start a conversation with Morrigan until Lance said, “Sorry guys. Since we arrived so late, we really have a lot to do before it gets too dark.”

  The men still lingered while he added rice to some of the already boiled water in his camping pan. Aishling stared at the pan, wishing the men would leave them alone.

  After moments of silence, the chunky man said, “Well, we’ll catch you young‘uns tomorrow morning.”

  Aishling and the others gobbled the cooked rice mixed with their one can of tuna. Afterwards, Lance showed them how to hang their backpacks so bears couldn’t reach them and how to stuff a couple of garbage bags with leaves to make a bed. They needed their flashlights by the time they finished cleaning up and squelching the fire.

  Since only two people could squeeze into Lance’s tent, he and Kelile settled outside in the sleeping bags.

  Even though they were in the tent, it was still late April, and the temperature had cooled enough to make Aishling and Morrigan shiver. They snuggled closer together to keep warm.

  “I hate this,” Morrigan whispered.

  “I do to. But, at least we’re away from Herald Home … right?”

  “I guess.”

  Worn out, Aishling fell asleep at once.

  Tuesday, April 30

  The next morning, Aishling awoke when she heard Kelile and Lance talking. Her body ached, and her stomach grumbled. She crawled out of the tent and stretched, saying, “Good morning.”

  “Hey. You two sleep okay?” Kelile asked while getting out of his sleeping bag.

  “We were cold.”

  “Girl, at least you got to sleep in a tent.”

  Morrigan clambered out, yawning. “What time is it?”

  Ducking into the tent behind her, Lance pulled out the garbage bag beds. “Tomorrow night, we’ll make extra bags for covering so you won’t get cold.”

  Aishling picked up one of the bags, untied it, and began dumping the leaves out around a nearby alder tree. “Has everyone already left?”

  “Everyone except those two guys that kept bugging us last night,” Lance answered.

  At that moment, one of the two men walked around the corner of the shelter. “Are you kids getting ready to take out?” the short, stocky one said.

  “In a bit. We’re going to finish packing and eat a bite first,” Lance answered.

  “Gunner’s getting your backpacks down for you. We’ll join you for breakfast,” he said before turning and walking away.

  Kelile frowned at Lance and whispered, “We don’t want to eat with them, do we?”

  “No, but they might suspect something if we aren’t friendly.”

  Aishling and Morrigan looked at each other. In unison, they moved closer to Kelile and Lance.

  The stocky man returned carrying two of their backpacks, followed by the greasy-haired man carrying the other two.

  The stocky man said, “Here you go. We didn’t really introduce ourselves last night. This is Gunner”—he pointed to his hiking partner—“and my trail name is Piper.”

  Though they both smiled and were friendly enough, Aishling cringed. Her whole body warned her something was wrong.

  Piper moved closer to her, “Is this your backpack, honey?”

  Almost throwing up, she looked at Lance and saw alarm spreading in his expression.

  He took the backpack from Piper. “That’s mine. Thanks. You can set the others down here.” He smiled at Piper and then went back to breaking down the tent.

  The men lingered, watching them.

  Aishling bent over to finish emptying her garbage bag bed.

  “Where’s your sleeping bag, honey,” Piper asked.

  Chills overpowered her, causing her to shake. She mumbled, “I forgot it.”

  Piper moved in on her, startling her again. She flinched. “It’s okay. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’ve got a double sleeping bag. Tonight, you two could share it.” He pointed back at Morrigan.

  She hadn’t meant to, but she whimpered.

  Lance came to her and put his arm around her. “You okay?” He looked at Piper. “That won’t be necessary. We won’t be on the trail tonight. My parents are picking us up at Wayah Crest this morning.”
He squeezed her before dropping his arm and clasping her hand. He pulled her around Piper and stationed her next to Morrigan. “We’re not ready to go yet.” He positioned himself in front of the girls. “You guys can go on. You don’t need to wait on us.”

  Kelile shifted next to him. They looked like they were ready to leap.

  Gunner smirked, “Well, Piper and I were talking this morning, and we don’t think we should leave y’all alone. You look too young to be out here on the A.T. by yourselves.”

  “Like I said, my parents are picking us up at Wayah Crest. That’s only a couple of miles from here.”

  Piper stepped in front of Gunner. “We’ll just make sure you get there.”

  “Whatever,” Lance replied. “We’ve got to finish packing up and eat.”

  Piper grabbed the trash bag that hadn’t been emptied of leaves yet. He untied it and spread the leaves on the ground. When he raised his head, he looked at Aishling and winked.

  Did the others see that? Why was she so scared of these two men? Was she just being silly? They hadn’t done anything suspicious.

  Lance moved between Piper and her again, and whispered to her, “Help me fold this.”

  The two men continued watching them until they finished breaking camp. When they sat on the ground to eat a breakfast bar, the two men sat with them. Piper squeezed between Aishling and Morrigan, and Gunner between Lance and Kelile.

  Though she had woken up starving, Aishling now had no desire to eat. She stared at Lance, but he kept his head down, looking at the ground while he ate. Morrigan and Kelile did the same thing. She didn’t know what to do.

  “Really.” Kelile broke the silence. “You two don’t need to wait on us. We want to spend some alone time here with our girlfriends.” He was sitting closest to Morrigan, and he reached out and took her hand.

  Morrigan played along. “You’re not mad at me anymore?” She smiled sheepishly, scooting closer to him.

  “No. Sorry.”

  “You know—” Piper winked at Gunner “—I think we do need to stay with these kids until their parents pick them up. We wouldn’t want them to get into any trouble, would we?”