Chills & Thrills Paranormal Boxed Set (58 page)

Lily stared in astonishment, still not quite comprehending
that they were cheering for her. At her side, Shala grinned so wide the
remainder of her face almost disappeared.

"Did you know about this?" Lily asked, her eyes
brimming with tears.

Shala bobbed her head. "That's why I told you to
hurry."

"B-but . . . why?"

"A tribute," Shala replied. "For fighting the
werewolves."

White Hawk stepped from the crowd, looking almost as bemused
as Lily felt, and took Shala's hand, then draped an arm around Lily's shoulder.
She sensed hesitation in him, but his touch felt reassuring nonetheless.

Then Star Dancer came forward, carrying an object. As she
got closer, Lily saw an exquisitely braided thong from which hung a perfectly
faceted spear of quartz crystal.

"In honor of your bravery, Lily." Star Dancer
dropped the necklace over her head.

Lily thanked her, then whispered, "Does this mean I
don't have to face the Tribunal?"

"That is beyond our power to change. It is already
done."

"I see." Lily's hand drifted to the crystal and
rested there. Star Dancer's eyes followed the movement.

"The gem may help you endure," she said, then
turned toward the crowd, cutting off the possibility of any further questions.

The villagers cheered again, repeating Lily's name, calling
her the werewolf slayer, which wasn't true, of course. Then White Hawk took her
elbow, guided her to Kessa's fire, and sat beside her. Shala took a seat on her
other side. Someone brought food.

Her thoughts and emotions were a jumble when she took the
offered plate. She looked at White Hawk. "I don't understand . . ."
She made a circular gesture, taking in the entire scene.

"This is to celebrate your help in returning Shala. We
value every one of our members and to save even one life is considered a noble
act."

"How do they know?"

"I told them." His tone suggested he'd done it
from duty, but Lily sensed qualities she'd felt from him with increasing
frequency—tenderness, protectiveness—and many more she was afraid to hope for.

Then people milled around, patting her shoulders, saying
appreciative words. More food was offered. Thanks were given to Grandfather Sky
for sending Lily to them.

What a crazy world, she thought, biting into the buffalo
steak, which tasted more delicious than anything she'd ever eaten. This was the
best and worst day of her entire life. She'd' finally earned what she'd always
dreamed of—acceptance from a loving people.

Yet they were still going to execute her.

Later, Kessa brought Lily a piece of fresh fry bread dusted
with powdered sugar. "I know it's your favorite," she said.

Then she joined the others. As if on cue, people began
drifting toward the longhouse. White Hawk excused himself, taking Shala's hand
and walking toward the crowd. The celebratory mood popped as quickly as if
someone had pricked a balloon.

Star Dancer stood at the threshold of the building, and
White Hawk took a place beside her. Soon a low murmur ran through the crowd. A
prayer, Lily realized, spoken in a mixture of English and their native
language. She heard invocations to Grandfather Sky and Mother Earth. Arlan
Ravenheart's name was mentioned several times.

So White Hawk had also relayed the young warrior's fate.
Lily felt a moment's sadness. Ravenheart's ambition had either ended his days
or cursed him for the length of several lifetimes. But she found herself unable
to condemn him. She knew too well the lure of the werewolf
 
powers.

The group began to disperse. Some headed toward the fields,
some to the pastures. Still others bustled toward the cleft in the canyon wall.
Remembering what Shala had told her, Lily assumed they were preparing for
Quakahla.

The event would happen on the dark moon rising. She'd been
so overcome by relief when Shala first mentioned it she'd given little thought
to the importance of the girl's words. Now she remembered why she'd felt this
year's fall equinox held unusual significance. It would be accompanied by a
total eclipse of the moon.

Eclipses held great import in astrology. This one obviously
heralded the end of an era for the Dawn People. And that day wasn't far away.
By her markings outside her quarters, the date was September twentieth. The equinox
would occur on the twenty-third.

Where was Quakahla? she wondered. In another deeper, better
hidden region of Ebony Canyon, or someplace quite distant? She couldn't blame
the People for retreating. She'd heard the sounds of encroachment herself, although
she'd been in the village but a short time. Hikers and campers were becoming
ever more frequent in the once remote Ebony Canyon.

Would the Tribunal convene before their migration? The
thought made her uneasy, and soon she felt immensely sad. These people had
feted and fed her, yet even this would not stop her from being judged—and
probably executed. She didn't deserve this. Sebastian had made her a werewolf,
and she'd been true to her nature. The People's stories about White Wolf Woman
showed they understood that this was so.

Why didn't they adhere to their own beliefs? Why did they
seek revenge for acts she'd committed while she was something other than what
she now was?

These charming people were hypocrites! They spoke from both
sides of their mouths! Hadn't they slain the buffalo she'd just eaten with the
same indifference that she'd once slain mortals? Although she vaguely recalled
their custom of honoring the spirit of their fallen prey, she brushed the
memory away. This was unfair! Unjust! Who did they think they were, sitting in
judgment of her?

A bolt of pure outrage shot through her, and she wanted to
howl it to the sky. She arched her neck, throwing back her head, tempted to let
the sound emerge.

The first twinge in her knee went unnoticed. Then she felt
another. And a third. A familiar stretching sensation radiated through her
fingers and toes.

Lily leaped up.

"Is something wrong?" asked Kessa, who had
returned to her hearth.

"No, no, nothing." Lily forced herself to walk
calmly forward with the plate in her hand. She gave it to Kessa, whose brow was
still wrinkled with concern. "I'm—I'm just desperately wanting a
bath."

Kessa smiled, took the plate, and turned back to her fire.
Lily headed for her pueblo, climbing as rapidly as she could without slipping,
then ran to her quarters and pulled the curtain shut behind her.

Her heart raced, but she walked calmly toward her pallet and
sat down. Shala had assured her the rapid healing came from White Hawk and Star
Dancer's medicine, and Lily had wanted an explanation so badly, she'd clung to
it without examination. But she still had scars from the wounds White Hawk had
treated on the train, while not a mark remained from last night's injuries.

Just will it, she told herself. Will it, then you'll know.

She brought her hands to her lips and rubbed them absently,
only vaguely aware her breath was coming in ragged heaves. Some time passed
before she found her courage. Staring at the backs of her suntanned hands, she
breathed the word: Alchemize.

Instantly, a layer of silver hair covered her arms and
hands. The swiftness of the transformation stunned her. She'd always alchemized
more easily than most werewolves—Sebastian had said it was because she hadn't
fought her new nature—but never this quickly. Even the Lupine King did not
alchemize with such speed.

In bewildered agony, she stared down. Where was the wiry
coat of the werewolf? This hair looked like the down of a newborn pup. She ran
her tongue along her teeth and discovered she also lacked fangs. She had no
claws, nor did she have the werewolf's height.

She recalled the fate of a man who'd fled from the
ceremonial ring into the thick woods before the ritual was finished. The pack
never found him, but whispered stories returned of a creature half human, half
monster, unable to shapeshift and doomed to eke out his existence with the
other beasts of the wilderness.

She killed the scream before it left her throat. Panicked,
she willed herself into human form. Again the transformation came instantly.

Pulse still racing, she tried to logically assess her fate.
Was the botched ceremony effecting its changes slowly? Would new attributes
appear each day until . . .

. . . until she was again filled with bloodlust?

Poor Morgan, she thought unexpectedly. All those years of
fighting his werewolf urges. What horrors the struggle had driven him to —
crawling through snow and bogs, seeking lesser forms of life to fulfill his
dark needs. But Morgan was safe now, redeemed forever, while she could only
contemplate living as he once had.

She let out a whimper. Where was God, or the Great Spirit
the Dawn People so revered? She'd been deserted.

But this wasn't a curse from the deities, it was Sebastian's
handiwork!

And she'd been moved with sympathy for him! Like a father to
her? No! He'd needed a devoted follower to keep his pack in line. See how
quickly he'd replaced her with the jealous Beryl!

Her joints creaked again. A sharper pain streaked through
one knee, jolting her. Swiftly she calmed down and willed the changes to cease.
They stopped immediately, but now she knew this wasn't a fluke. Her werewolf
nature had returned. What was she to do? She'd already brought danger to the
Dawn People by leading Sebastian to them. Now she herself was the danger.

She saw only one solution. And she would have to carry it
out that night.

"Why
 
didn't you
tell me?” Tony demanded without preamble, not bothering to hide his anger from
Riva.

She looked up from her work at the loom, the corners of her
mouth lifting. "Tony it's always a pleasure to see you."

"Cut the crap, Riva! I want to know why you kept this
from me."

"My, I see your time in the mechanical world has
renewed your colorful vocabulary " She cocked her head to the right.
"Let's sit on the dais. We have much to discuss. I want to hear of your
vision quest."

"Not until you tell me about Lily's part in the journey
to Quakahla." But he moved to the platform anyway, knowing Riva would
reveal only what she wanted and only in her own time.

 
After they settled on
the sheepskin, he turned to her, his eyes still blazing. "Lily may not
have understood your parable last night, but I understood it fully, and
deserved to have been given this information before I went after her."

"Would it have changed your feelings toward her — this
woman who killed Tajaya?"

Tony shifted his weight and readjusted his legs. "No,
but I would have better understood the purpose of bringing her back
alive."

"Yet you did bring her safely back even without that
knowledge." Riva rose and went to the table, lit incense in a pot, then
brought it back to the sheepskin. "I observed you with Lily last evening,
Tony. Your feelings for her are changing."

Breathing in the sweet scent from the burning pot, he slowly
shook his head. "I am in her debt for saving Shala, that is all."

Riva's sharp glance told him she knew he was hedging. But if
he revealed his turmoil — if he said out loud what he feared was happening
between him and Lily. . . . He couldn't speak of it. Even thinking the words
dishonored Tajaya.

"I don't understand, Riva. Tajaya was your daughter,
yet you still respect her killer. How are you able to do it?"

"Sometimes . . ." She glanced away for an instant.
"The absence Tajaya's death left in my heart cannot ever be filled.
Sometimes I do hate the wolf woman. But then Quetzalcoatl comes to remind me
the world is as he made it. You must also remember that."

He took another whiff of incense.

"Speak to me of your vision quest, Tony."

"White Bear came to me . . ."

"A powerful animal guide. You were greatly
honored."

"Yes, but that is of little consequence. His words
were—they were harsh, yet heavy with truth."

Tony paused. After leaving Lily's side the night before,
he'd lain awake thinking of Riva's parable. As a latecomer, he hadn't grown up
listening to tales of White Wolf Woman like the trueborns had, and in his
skepticism about the existence of Quakahla, he'd paid them little attention.
Not until the previous night had he connected Lily with the legends. If they
were true, then Lily was the bridge between the two worlds and they couldn't
pass successfully without her.

The urgency of the council's request should have triggered
the memory, but it hadn't. Bear's message implied Tony's reasons for hiding the
truth from himself went far deeper than revenge. Revealing this to Riva made
him feel vulnerable and unworthy of his shaman's title.

But she'd been his teacher for years and had never condemned
him when he faltered. He had no reason to believe she'd do so now.

"Bear told me my hatred for Lily comes not from my love
of Tajaya," he said, feeling his spirit lighten even as the difficult
words left his mouth, "but from my own self-deception."

"What do you think?" Riva probed. "What true
reason lies behind your hate?"

"I'm questioning whether I want to remain with The
 
People," he replied, heart aching at the
thought of leaving, yet feeling the call of the outside world. "Since
 
. . .
 
since Tajaya died, something has been missing from my life. I can't put
my finger on it, but . . .

"Shala begs to visit the mechanical world and tells me
she doesn't want to go to Quakahla When I explain how wonderful our new home
will be, I feel the falseness in my assurances . . . I miss computers, Riva. I
miss the feel of the wind from the back of a horse, automobiles, and . . ."
He smiled wanly. "I miss Snickers candy bars."