by Dan Dillard
Chapter 21
Rocky's car rolled along the two lane road in silence. She watched straight ahead while Jason stared out the passenger window. On the left, a gravel road grew out of the shoulder like a tributary. He touched her knee and pointed. A half mile down that road, they found a single wide trailer. Anne was out front with a cigarette in hand. She didn't flinch as they stopped the car got out.
"Not many folks come out here Wa-ya. You must be lost."
"Not lost, I need answers. I think you might have them," Jason said.
She stared at him for a moment, as if trying to size him up. The silent stare made him uncomfortable. Then her face softened.
"You met the blue wolf? The A-sgi-na?"
Jason looked on in astonishment.
"How did you know?" Rocky said.
"Women know lots of things. If you paid more attention to the world, you'd know things too."
"I know enough."
"What is A-sgi-na?" Jason asked.
Anne took a long drag from her cigarette, then pulled another one from the pack and lit it. She patted the wooden deck next to her, urging the pair to sit down.
"A-sgi-na means demon," she said. Then she watched them for a response.
"I don't want to sit. I want help," Jason said.
"What do we do?" Rocky said.
"Not sure what you mean," Anne said.
"Did you know what we were? What happened to us?"
Anne chuckled. "Yes. I wasn't sure that you kids knew, Wa-ya. Sometimes it's best not to interfere. Nature likes to make her own way."
Rocky sat down next to Anne and grabbed her hand. Anne looked uneasily at the young girl. Then she relaxed, stuck the cigarette in her mouth, and patted Rocky's hand.
"Destiny can be a bitch. I know it sounds like a story book, but it's the truth."
"Tell me what to do," Jason said.
"My father told me the story of the wolves when I was young. A woman and baby eaten by a blue demon, A-sgi-na. The woman cursed the wolf, calling on the moon spirit to bring him to justice. To make him human so he might suffer. An animal doesn't regret. It was the only revenge that would matter."
"Why did she change us?"
"Guardians. You remind him of his place. That he will never be more than he was."
Jason sat next to Rocky and put his elbows on his knees. His head rested in his hands which grabbed his hair in frustrated clumps.
"He said he was to remain until he had suffered as the young mother suffered. Until he understood. But he doesn't understand. He is bitter."
"It will take the three of you to end the cycle. The three of you together. That is why he follows you. He knows the two of you can end him. He likes the power. It is what he wanted from the beginning," Anne said. She tapped the ash from the end of her cigarette. "He has been there all along. Finding one of you or the other, in one form or another for the past many lifetimes. He has probably done whatever he could to keep you two from meeting."
"Why?" Rocky asked. "We had no idea who he was. Or how to end all this. How to cure it."
"You will figure that out. Your dreams have grown strong since you met, haven't they?"
The pair nodded their heads in agreement.
"Anne, you said your father told you this story, did he say if it would ever become right again?" Jason asked.
The old woman looked to the sky, as if asking the question to her long passed relative. "He told me that once the three were brought back together, the earth would heal itself. Then the goddess would be happy. The woman and baby would be at peace."
Jason remembered James' story, his sadness and about the return of the father to find his family slaughtered. Somehow, he knew he needed both James and Rocky to go to that place in the woods with him. Life had become surreal, even more he was used to, and the possible consequences concerned him. Rocky's safety concerned him.
"I wish I could tell you more, but that is all I know. Life will bring what it brings, Wa-ya. Try not to piss it off."
He smiled at her advice, taking a long look at her stern, wrinkled face. It looked like a dried apple with a cigarette poking out of it. He took Rocky's hand and led her back to the car. She seemed dazed by the events.
