He turned over to his side, to face me, “I’ve always known that I was a shifter. Most of my family members are. I was fifteen years old when the transformation first happened. I remember having a heated argument with my father after I caught him cheating on mom. I was so angry with him. While I confronted him, I began to feel the blood in my veins boil. My head pounded, my breathing was short and fast. Something was happening to me. I saw fear in my father’s eyes as I began to change, so I took off running to the nearby woods. Although I was angry with him, I still loved him, and I didn’t want to hurt him. By the time I reached the center most secluded part of the woods, I no longer was human. I was a wolf.” He described the transformation exactly how I felt it in my dreams.
“So you can transform into a raven and a wolf?”
“Shifters can transform into any animal they want. That’s what makes us different from werewolves. I chose to change into my animal spirit guide. Everyone has an animal inside them we’re just more in tune with ours. You’ll learn to control the change with time and practice.”
“But I haven’t experience my first change yet,” I said. “Well…only in my dreams.”
“That’s usually how we know the first change is near. It’ll happen, Lia and when it does, I will be here to help and guide you through it.”
“If I’m a shifter, why do you worry so much about me? I could transform into an animal and protect myself again Lyle if I had to.” I said, doubting he would ever hurt me because if he wanted to, he could have done it the other night. My face blushed pink thinking back to that night and our kiss.
Ryan cleared his throat, “you’re lucky he didn’t take a bite!”
“Were you reading my mind?” I sat up, “can all shifter do that?” I should’ve been upset but I was more curious then furious.
“I try not to read your mind, but sometimes I can’t help it. You’re so hard to read at times,” he teased “But no, not all shifters have that gift. Everyone is different and so are their gifts and abilities.”
“So what’s mine?”
“You’ll know at the right time,” he replied.
The next morning when I woke up, Ryan was already gone. I dragged myself out of bed and walked over to the window. The branch outside was empty. No raven. No Ryan.
I was shocked to see Emi at school as I drove into the school parking lot. She stood outside her red mustang surrounded by her usual pack of friends. She looked different since the last time I saw her. Her face had a healthy glow and she looked prettier than ever in her black felt cowgirl hat, grey top and black jeans. Under the hat, I could tell that her hair had grown in length. It hung loose passed her hips, with a patch of white that streamed down the side of her face.
“I didn’t think I would see you in school so soon.” I said, as I walked up to her. “I’m sorry about your grandmother.”
From up close I could tell there was something terribly different about her. I couldn’t quite figure out what it was, but I felt a strange knot in my stomach when I looked into her eyes. The girl who stood in front of me was not the same Emi I once knew. The new Emi no longer had the childhood innocence about her that I've always known. She seemed mature, distant and angry. She didn’t say a word to me. She didn’t have to. The flared expression on her face said it all. She looked at me from head to toe, her lips pressed tight, and her nostrils flared. If looks could kill, I’d definitely be six feet under. Not only was her behavior toward me different, but her appearance was as well. She looked a lot like a young Ramira.
“Whatever bitch,” she snapped, with her hands on her hips.
I stepped up to her, “what the hell’s wrong with you?”
“You,” she replied, not backing down. “You’re what’s wrong with me.”
I overheard her friends whispering, ‘Who does the freak think she is?’ and ‘Emi should put the freak in her place.’ Suddenly we were surrounded by a crowd of students with their camera phones pointed at us, ready to shoot the fight between the beautiful cowgirl and the school’s weird-eyed freak.
“I know who and what you really are. My grandmother was blind and weak, but I’m not.” She stepped closer, backing me up against her car. “If you don’t want to get hurt, I suggest you stay the hell away from my brother.”
Her eyes began to glow as bright as the moon.
“Are you threatening me?”
She breathed in a whiff of air, “I can smell him on you. He’s already found you.” She stepped back and gave me a distasted look. “I’m warning you Lia, it will be a cold day in hell before I allow that bloodsucker near my family again,” she warned pointing her long finger up to my nose.
“What’s going on?” Ryan asked, as he pushed his way through the crowd.
He stood between Emi and I. She grinned, turned, and walked away. I stood wide-eyed. Frozen, but not because I was afraid of Emi or her threats but because I realized that the man I met at Sinks Canyon was Adam and indeed he did find me.
“Are you alright?” Ryan fanned my face. He held his hands on my shoulder and tried to shake me back to life. “Lia. Are you alright?” he repeated.
Blink. Blink. Blink. “I think I’ve seen him.”
“What are you talking about?” He asked, “Who?”
“Adam. I think I saw him at Sinks Canyon.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because, I thought it was a dream. He appeared out of nowhere. He stepped out of the shadows. I didn’t think he was real.” I shook my head and scratched an invisible itch on my head.
“It’s no longer safe for you to stay at the ranch. I’m sorry to tell you, but your friend Emi isn’t the same person you once knew. If she threatened you in front of the whole school, there’s no telling what she’s capable of doing to you on her own property.” I could tell he was concerned for me. He didn’t try to hide it in his voice.
“I know you’re right, but I can’t leave John alone. He needs me. I’m the only one he has left in this world, and he’s the only family I have.”
“But you’re not safe there. Emi and her brother could try and use you as bait to get to Adam.”
“So what do you suppose I do? Try and convince John to move to the Rez? We both know he won’t agree to that. So for now, I’m staying with him at the Ranch and that’s that.” I replied with strength in my tone. I wasn’t going to allow a spoiled little brat like Emi intimidate me or run me out of the only home I have left.
“Well I’m not taking any chances. I’m going to follow you home tonight and every night if I have to and if Emi or her brother tries to do something to you…oh so help me God, I kill them,” He said, meaning every word.
∞chapter 16 ∞
AT LUNCH, Ryan and I met the rest of the gang out on the school courtyard. The boys were up to their usual playful scuffle and pestering the girls by throwing spit balls at them. The rule of the game was the first one who got his spit ball stuck on any of the girls hair won. Ryan joined in on the game, but I was too distracted to be entertained by them. Today my thoughts were somewhere else.
After confronting Emi this morning, I finally realized I have had enough with being the weak link…the ‘freak’. Yes, I’m an orphan, a reincarnated shifter and yes, my eyes may be different colors, but I’m human too. I bleed red, just like anybody else. I felt a strong vibration rising from the inside of my chest. I took a deep breath; it was as though I was breathing for the first time. The air smelled fresh and crisp. The breeze brushed my nose with all sorts of scents of juniper, grass, musk, and woodsy. My left eye began to throb as though it had a beat of its own. I closed it and pushed into it with a closed fist. An image flashed through my mind like a slide show of pictures: A soaring black bird, full moon, black wolf and a pool of blood. And then it stopped.
When I opened my eyes, I saw Kima.
She was staring at me with her usual piercing looks. Only this time they didn’t cut me. Instead, it fed into my newfound strength. I didn’t know what the flashi
ng images were about and why it happened but something told me to go and talk to her. And so I did. She looked at me with as much shock in her eyes as I had at attempting to accompany her. “Mind if I sit with you?” I asked.
She didn’t reply.
I dropped my bag on the ground and sat on the grass directly in front of her. She had dark brown, almond shaped eyes. They were so dark it was hard to see the pupils inside them.
“Do you have a problem with me?” I asked. I was beginning to really enjoy the recent blast of courage that suddenly consumed me.
She ignored my question. So I spoke again. “Listen, I don’t know what your problem is, but I never did anything to you. And if I did, I’m sorry.”
She bit her bottom lip and began to pick on the grass. “I’ve known Ryan all my life. As children, we used to kid around and say that when we grow up, we would get married,” she said with a smile. “But as the years passed we both changed. Life pulled us in different directions and our friendship ended all together until a couple of years ago, when we began to hang out like old times. He was broken after his parent’s divorce and I was the only friend he confided in when he needed someone to talk to or listen. My parents divorced when I was eight, so I knew what he was going through. The more we hung out, the more I realized that I was falling in love with him again. I thought he might’ve been falling for me too, but then he met you. So imagine how I felt seeing him with you.”
“I don’t know what to say,” I replied. “But Ryan and I are just friends. He knows I don’t see him as anything else.”
“I know Ryan and I can tell he’s in love with you.”
“I’ve already made it clear to him, that there’ll never be anything between us,” I assured her. “Why don’t you just tell him how you feel?”
“I don’t know,” she replied ripping at the dried grass beneath her feet.
“Well how else are you going to know if he feels the same about you unless you talk to him?” We both looked over to Ryan, who made his way through the glass doors at the sound of the bell.
“You really think I should?”
“Well I can tell you this much…he was hypnotized by you the other day when you danced at the powwow. You should’ve seen how he couldn’t take his eyes off of you. I may not know Ryan for as long as you have, but I know there was something there,” I assure her.
“Really?” she asked with tint of pink on her cheeks.
I nodded with a smile.
“Maybe you’re right. I should talk to him,” she said. “And Lia…I’m glad we had this talk and sorry I’ve behaved like a total bitch. I know see why everyone likes you.”
I smiled, “so we’re friends now?”
“Friends.”
After school, Ryan stood waiting for me by my car. I looked over at Emi who stood outside her car with a group of friends who surrounded her as if she’s some kind of celebrity. She looked past them and stared back at me, with a warning reflecting in her eyes. I walked past her tall and strong not once taking my eyes off of her and showing no sign of intimidation. She gnashed her teeth and I felt her eyes rake over me with disdain as she wrapped her arms across her chest.
“So, have you changed your mind about staying at the ranch?” He asked noticing Emi’s threatening stares.
“I already told you I’m not leaving John alone.”
“Fine, I’ll follow you home then,” he said as he headed toward his truck.
Suddenly the images I saw earlier of the black bird came into mind. Was it a warning? It had to have been a warning. Ryan told me that shifters had special gifts. I think I just discovered mine. Perhaps the bird I saw in the vision was Ryan. I had to find a way to keep him from following me tonight.
“Don’t follow me home tonight.” I urged him. “I’m going to be fine.”
I could tell by the look on his face that I was not convincing enough.
“You’re not going to talk me out of it,” he said.
“Oh, come on! I’m warning you, if you want to remain friends, then you better not follow me home tonight. I mean it.” I had to resort to threats in order to keep him from following me home. Especially, because I had plans to meet with Lyle at Ramira’s funeral tonight. I shoved the key into the ignition and felt the car rattle to life.
“Lia, listen to me---.”
“I’ll call you,” I said as I waved out the window and sped out the parking lot.
∞∞∞∞
When I arrived home, John was sitting in the dark living room watching T.V. and drinking a can of beer. I plopped on the couch beside him. He was watching a classic Clint Eastwood movie. I scratched my throat, trying to get his attention but he just took a sip of his beer. I rested my elbow on the side of the sofa, cupping my chin in my hand. I sighed loudly and looked at him from the corner of my eye, but he didn’t look over at me.
I felt like a toddler, trying to get her father’s attention after he’s had a hard day at work, and all her dad wants to do is relax.
I attempted to get his attention one more time. I leaned back on the couch, sinking into the large, oversized pillows. I chewed on my finger, nervously thinking of a way to begin a conversation with him. Finally, I just breathed out, “Did you hear Ramira’s dead?”
“Yup,” he replied than took another sip of beer.
I blinked hard and long. I wanted to talk to him like old times, try, and hold a conversation with him for more than two minutes. “Will you be going to the funeral tonight?” That was such a stupid question. I knew very well that he wouldn’t be going, but I asked anyways.
“Nope,” he replied never taking his off the T.V.
I sat staring at him, at his aging face and the blank look in his blue eyes as he watched the screen.
I wrapped my arms across my chest. I wondered if he knew Veena was a shape shifter. And if he did, did he know I was one too? I assumed he didn’t know.
I took a deep breath, “have you ever heard Veena mention a friend by the name of Galilani Wahya from Wind River?”
The mere mention of Ani’s name took his attention away from Clint shooting at some bandits on the T.V. screen. He sat up looking uncomfortable. His eyes were wide as he pressed his thin lips together, “yea and why you asking?”
He squeezed the can of beer tightly, his knuckles turned white from the grip. I swallowed hard, and sat up as tall as I could trying not to sink into the cushions with fear.
“She told me Veena was my aunt.”
I wasn’t sure what his reaction was going to be, so I leaned slightly back. I crossed my right leg over my left one, and began to rock my foot unsteadily back and forth.
“Why would she go and do that for?” The tone in his voice sounded disappointed. He knew! He knew all along that Veena was truly my aunt. His nostrils flared and three deep creases appeared on his forehead. He took a long sip of the beer and slammed the can on the side table.
“Veena made her promise she’d never tell. It’s just like that witch to dishonor the wishes of the dead.”
I quickly leaned over to him and placed my hand on his arm.
“It’s alright. I’m not upset with Veena for keeping it from me. I’m sure she had her reasons. Did you know why she kept it from me?”
“Not really,” he replied with tears filling his eyes. “All I know was that you were so broken when she brought you to live with us. I asked her why she never told you and she said she had her reasons and so I just went along with it.” He lifted his hat off his head and ran his fingers through his sweaty, wet hair, “she eventually was going to tell you everything. She wanted to tell you after your eighteenth birthday, but she died taking the secret with her. I never told you, because I felt it wasn’t my place to tell you and because…” he paused for a second. “I was afraid you’d be so mad at us that you’d pick up and leave.”
“You’re the only family I have left. I’m not going anywhere,” I replied flashing him a smile.
He smiled back. It’s been a long time sin
ce I’ve seen a smile on his face. For the rest of the evening we sat on the couch watching T.V. together.
∞ Chapter 17 ∞
I SEARCHED IN THE FAR END of the closet for the black dress I wore at Veena’s funeral. And as I slipped into the knee length dress, I couldn’t help but remember the last time I wore it.
Veena’s funeral was small and simple. John had her remains cremated. And on an early spring morning when the sky was clear and blue we scattered her ashes in the nearby River to always keep her spirit close to home.
I reached for my phone and dialed Lyle’s number, but the call went straight to voicemail. I grabbed my bag and headed to the living room, when there was a loud quick knock on the front door. I was surprised to see it was Lyle. He was dressed in black with his hair wild and rugged. His face was frail as if he hasn’t eaten in days.
“Are you alright?” I asked.
“I’m just feeling a little tired that’s all. I didn’t get much sleep last night. I hope you don’t mind me showing up unannounced.” He hunched over holding his stomach.
“Are you sure, you’re ok? Do you want to come in and rest for a little bit?” I asked, placing my hand on his shoulder and taking a look into his eyes. They were dark.
“I’m fine,” he replied, standing tall and trying hard to hide the fact that something was terribly wrong.
As we walked, Lyle reached for my hand. It felt cold and sweaty. The dark hairs on his hand and knuckles felt hard and brittle. I rubbed my fingers on them, brushing them flat. He stopped to look at me. He brushed the curls that hung on the side of my face with his fingers, pulling them behind my ears.
“You shouldn’t hide your face behind a veil of hair.” He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him. He took my hand and placed it on his chest. I felt his heart throbbing beneath his dress shirt and tie.
“My love for you is as real as the beating of my heart and no one will ever change what I feel for you in here…no one,” he said and then he kissed me. I gave in to it breathlessly as our lips danced together to a rhythm that made me feel déjà vu. As though the feeling of love that was beginning to grow inside me, were once feelings Lyle and I had shared in another time, and perhaps in another life.
The Rising Moon Page 8
