Dead Moon Awakens: A tale of Cherokee myth and Celtic magic (Mystic Gates) (15 page)

Alerted by the footsteps, Aishling turned off her
flashlight. Someone was walking toward them. Straining to see, she tried to
make out who it was. She couldn’t warn Lance; he was too far away. She reached
for Morrigan.

“Good witch,” the person walking toward her
whispered.

“Kelile!” She jumped up.

Morrigan shot up. “What happened?”

Lance bounded over as Aishling hugged Kelile.

“What are you doing here?” Lance said.

“I’m comin’ with you.”

Friday, May 3

They had been hiking since early morning in an
agitated silence. Aishling sensed something was amiss. Kelile had worn a scowl
on his face all morning.

Lance stopped and pulled his forestry map out,
glaring over it. “Oh great. I think we took a wrong turn.” He huffed.

“Man, I don’t have time for this crap.” Kelile
pointed at him. “I need to get down the road. I’ve got to find that stupid Suti
Stone.” He stormed ahead.

“Kelile! Wait!” Morrigan raced after him. When she
caught up to him, she grabbed his shirtsleeve. “You’re going to help me find it
now?”

“Let go of me!” He jerked away and continued
walking. “And who said anything about helping
you
?”

“Well, it was
my
idea. You didn’t say
anything about finding it before now.” Morrigan ambled alongside him.

“Kelile, where are you going?” Lance called. “We
need to go back this way.”

Stopping abruptly, he jerked off his backpack and
said, “Are you sure now?”

“Here, you take the map and see if
you
can
figure it out!” Lance threw the map at him.

Morrigan followed Kelile as he jogged over to
Lance. He picked up the map and handed it back. “Sorry, man.”

They fell in pace behind Lance again, still in an
agitated silence.

As afternoon slipped into early evening,
Aishling’s patience disappeared.
Are we ever going to get there?

“Finally!” Kelile blurted.

They had reached the other end of Tatham Gap Road,
just outside of Robbinsville.

“I suggest we backtrack a few yards and camp off
this road tonight,” Lance said, looking at Kelile. “We can get an early start
in the morning.”

“Why are you lookin’ at me?” Kelile frowned.
“You’re runnin’ this show.”

Lance marched up to Kelile, planting himself in
front of him, face-to-face. “What
is
the matter with you?” he said, his
arms spiked back and hands fisted.

Kelile responded by shaking his head and walking
back in the direction they had just come from.

Glowering at Aishling and Morrigan, Lance threw up
his hands and grumbled, “Set up camp.”

After preparing for nightfall, Morrigan settled
next to the others on one of the sleeping bags and said, “Okay, Kelile, now
it’s
your
turn to talk. What do you mean you’re going to find the Suti
Stone?”

He leered at her, then Aishling, then Lance.

Lance said, “Now isn’t the time, Morrigan.”

“Oh.”

“We’re not trying to bug you, Kelile,” Aishling
said, smiling, trying to calm the angry energies.

He stared at her several moments in silence then
nodded. Glancing at Morrigan, he pointed and said, “I don’t wanna hear any
spoutin’ off of that mouth of yours.”

She puckered her face and folded her arms against
her chest.

“You don’t have to be rude,” Lance said.

“I don’t want any of her jawin’.” He frowned at her.
“Got it?”

“Okay! I won’t say another word.”

Still frowning, Kelile huffed and chucked a small
rock into the dirt beside the sleeping bag. “Man, last night I had this weird
nightmare. I woke up in a cold sweat. But, it was more than a nightmare. I
think I had a … a premonition, or something.”

“Why? What happened in the dream?” Lance asked.

Kelile wrapped his arms around his knees and
stared at his clasped hands. “I was at home by myself, but something kept
doggin’ me. It’s hard to explain what it was. At first, it was like a shadow
person or black ghost hovering around. Then, it spread out into this thick,
black fog. Everywhere it touched it clung like Saran Wrap. I tried to get out
of the house, but Mom came home before I could. When she opened the front door,
that black fog closed in behind her and trapped her. It began choking her.” He
pointed at Morrigan. “Don’t say anything. Then I heard this female voice say, ‘Find
the Suti Stone. Find the Suti Stone. She’ll die if you don’t find the Suti
Stone.’ She went on and on like a broken record, and even now she’s still
doggin’ me.” He looked at Lance. “I know it’s crazy, man, but I think something
bad will happen to Mom if I don’t find that stone.”

He dreamed of the shadow-woman and the fog?
Speechless,
Aishling began rocking side-to-side. What did this mean?

“Did you tell your mom about the nightmare?” Lance
asked.

“No. I didn’t see her again before I left.”

“How did you leave without her knowing it?”

“I wasn’t at home. She had taken me to a friend of
hers so asshole wouldn’t know I was in town. I snuck out after Marge went to
sleep.”

“So you think something will happen to your mother
if you don’t find the
Ulunsuti
?”

Kelile nodded.

“What are you supposed to do with it after you
find it?”

“Don’t know, man. I just have to find it.”

Morrigan raised her hand, sniggering. “May I speak
now? Don’t look at me like that, Kelile.” She arched her eyebrows and glanced
at Aishling. “Aish and I will know what to do with it. You just need to help us
find it.”

“What?” Aishling muttered.

“My world does not revolve around
you
,
voodoo queen. The voice in my head is not sayin’ anything about givin’ it to you.”

“You won’t be able to handle it,” Morrigan said.
“In fact, the only person who
will
be able to handle it, I think, is
Aish.”

“What do you mean, Morri?”

“What are you talkin’ about?” Kelile said.

“Like the myth,” Lance spoke up. “She’s talking
about the myth. You don’t really believe that do you?”

“Yes.” Morrigan shifted her knees underneath her
and sat up on them. “I believe
her
mother is the one mine talked about.
I know we will find it there at your place, Aish. Or, we’ll be led to it from
something we find at your place. Or, maybe it’s Kelile’s purpose to find it for
us.”

“Hey, I’m not any kind of
purpose
for you.”
He swatted at her.

“Stop it!” She hit his hand away.

“I don’t know,” Lance said. “I need to think about
it.”

“Well, all of you pay attention to your dreams
tonight,” Morrigan insisted. “Your dreams will confirm what I’m telling you.”

Saturday, May 4

The next morning, after they had finished breaking
camp and were preparing to go, Morrigan asked, “Why hasn’t anyone said
anything? What did your dreams tell you last night?”

No one answered her.

Aishling hadn’t slept much. She hadn’t wanted to
have any more dreams about the serpent.
I don’t care about that stone.
Why
can’t she understand? I just want to find Ma.

“Isn’t anyone going to talk about their dream?”

Lance answered her, “Morrigan, you’re my friend,
and I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but I’m not here to find some
mythological stone. I’m here to talk to Redhawk, and he’s about four miles from
here. Now, let’s go.”

“Looks like I ain’t the only one thinkin’ you’re a
pain in the backside.” Kelile’s backpack brushed against Morrigan’s arm as he
walked past her, grinning.

“I don’t think I want his help after all, Aish.”

Only able to force a weak smile on her face,
Aishling nodded and followed the guys.

They hiked along a gravel road until it turned
into a paved road. Lance paused and looked at his map again. “We’ll get to a
fork in the road up ahead at New Hope Church. That’s where I’ll go right, and
you veer left,” he said, putting his map away. He looked at Aishling—his eyes
clinging to hers—then turned away.

As they passed a few scattered houses, they walked
in stifling silence, moving closer and closer to the moment Aishling dreaded.
The weight of the coming goodbye dragged her down, slowing her pace. Would she
be able to say goodbye to Lance? He had been her guiding light until now. What
would it be like without him? She wiped a tear off her cheek so the others
wouldn’t notice.

When they came to the fork in the road, they stood
looking at one another as if no one knew how to say goodbye. Aishling kept
telling herself not to cry in front of them. She had to think about something
else.
Focus on my sneakers.
Her sneakers were dirty
. I have to be
strong.
Her socks were worse. She swallowed again and again, willing
herself not to cry.

But … tears trickled from her eyes anyway. While
staring at the ground, she watched them drip onto her sneakers.

“Don’t cry, Aishling,” Lance whispered. He stood
next to her now.

She gave up and looked at him, her face wet.
“Please don’t think I’m silly. I’m going to miss you so much. I don’t want you
to go.”

Lance blushed, shyly smiled, and said, “I’m going
to miss you, too.” He gazed at her, his eyes tender. Alas, he gently touched
her on her cheek.

Morrigan pushed between them and swung her arms
around his shoulders, “Oh Lance, I’ll miss you so much.”

He guided her arms to her sides and let go. “Me,
too.”

Morrigan opened her mouth as though to say
something else, but closed it and stepped back, tears in her eyes.

“Later man,” Kelile said, holding up his left
fist.

“Later.” Lance bumped it. “I’ll try to get in
touch with all of you, I promise. But, who knows, we may end up back at Herald
Home in a few days. If so, we’ll have to plot another escape.”

Looking at Aishling again, he said, “From what
you’ve told me before, your house is about five or six miles that way on this
road. Does any of this look familiar?”

She nodded, sniffling.

He reached out and softly patted her on her
shoulder, “Bye.”

“Bye,” she said, smoothing the tears off her
cheeks.

“See you all.” He smiled at each one before walking
away.

Return to Beginning

a treasured link returns.

A
ishling
hadn’t expected to feel this way upon arriving at her home. But now, she
labored as if she were climbing a steep mountain. Up until this very moment,
she had believed all her problems would dissolve as soon as she arrived here—that
everything would become clear and she’d know where to find Ma.

She had been certain of this.

Yet now, walking up the gravel driveway—her eyes
drawn to a half-charred shell that was once her home—an agonizing loss crushed
her certainty.

She imagined she could still smell the smoke, as
if the fire had been just a few weeks ago.

“How did you survive that?” Kelile asked.

She couldn’t answer, couldn’t talk. Flashbacks
pressed in on her from all sides, flattening her spirits to the ground.

Morrigan’s light touch on her shoulder momentarily
pulled her back to the present, but she retreated into her memories again. As
she stared into her past, her eyes glazed over. “Ma and I were arguing. We’d
been doing a lot of that. She had been acting so weird. I was mad because she
had taken me out of school. I didn’t want to be home-schooled.

“It was
Samhain
. I had gotten really mad
because she wouldn’t let me go to the school’s Halloween party and haunted
house. I could tell she was scared about something.” Aishling hesitated, shook
her head. Becoming more alert, she whispered, “Oh my.”

“What?” Morrigan asked.

“That’s what your mother reminded me of, Kelile,”
she answered, turning to him.

“What are you talkin’ about?” He squinted.

“Both times I’ve seen your mother she’s had this
fearful look on her face. It was how Ma looked the night of the fire, and even
a few days before when she took me out of school. She had been afraid of
something … like your mother is.”

“I still don’t get what you’re saying.”

“The first time I met your mother at Herald Home,
she looked scared when I told her my name. And then when I saw her the other
day and she tried to put a spell on me, she—”

“Spell? What!”

Aishling hugged herself. “You know, Kelile, when
she was arguing with you and saw me. She tried to put a spell on me, but I was
in the circle of safety. I don’t—”

“Girl, I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.” He
huffed and frowned.

“But, you asked her yourself what she was doing.”

“No. She didn’t try to put a spell on you. She’s
no witch! Don’t you
ever
accuse her of that again.” He stormed away.

“Kelile?” Her heart pounded so hard she thought
she would choke. Coughing, she lowered her head and shuddered.

“Don’t pay any attention to him,” Morrigan said,
putting her arm around Aishling’s shoulders. “It’s a good thing Lance wasn’t
here, though.” She squeezed Aishling and dropped her arm. “Come on, you can
tell me what you remember.”

Aishling sighed as she stared past Morrigan, once
again into the past. “Ma and I had gotten into a terrible fight. I told her I
never wanted to talk to her again.” Her eyes flooded with more tears. “Was it
all my fault? Maybe Ma doesn’t want to see me. Did I somehow cause the fire?”

“I don’t know. What else do you remember?”
Morrigan asked. “You argued about not going to school for Halloween. What
happened next?”

“I went to my room.” She pointed to the left side
where the majority of burned remains were. “I slammed my door, and … and …
cried myself to sleep, I think.” Aishling stared past the remains. “No!” she
cried, ousting flashes of a giant serpent from her mind.

Morrigan grabbed her shoulders and shook her.

This briefly jolted her into the moment, but she
swooned back into her past. “No. No.”

She vaguely felt Morrigan shake her again, but the
slap brought her back. She rubbed her stinging cheek, confused. “Why did you
slap me?”

“Aish, you were hysterical. I kept calling your
name, and you didn’t hear me,” Morrigan answered.

“Girl, you were freakin’ out,” Kelile chimed in,
now standing next to her.

“And screaming for help,” Morrigan added.

“Oh.”

“You were shouting about that dragon-snake comin’
for ya. Girl, you’re mixing your nightmares with reality.”

“What?” She closed her eyes to see if she could
get a vision. Nothing. “Well, maybe the
Uktena
is somehow connected to
the fire, and that’s why I’ve been dreaming about it.”

“You’re crazy.” Kelile rolled his eyes. “Do you
really believe a giant snake could crawl here and start a fire?”

“I don’t know. I don’t remember. It’s like a
window shade that drops in front of my vision. I can’t see what happened.”

“How did anyone pull you out of that?” he asked.

“I don’t know.” She gazed at the burned remains
again. “I just stood here with my backpack, watching them put the fire out.”

Turning to Morrigan again, she wailed, “Oh, Morri!
I didn’t even ask where Ma was. I just stood here!” She shuddered again. “The
fireman who saved me asked me where my parents were. Only then did I realize Ma
wasn’t there. He told me I was the only one they had found.” Her eyes glazed again.

“They didn’t find your mother’s body?” Kelile
whispered.

She turned to him, crying, and shook her head.

“Come here,” he said, holding out his arms.

“Are you sure that’s all you remember? You had
your backpack? Did it have the stuff we tried getting from the shed in there?
You never told me what else was in that box. Was the Suti Stone in there? Maybe
that’s why your things were cursed.”

She didn’t answer.

“Aish, is the Suti Stone back at Herald Home? I
know it’s not in your amulet.” Morrigan tugged her away from Kelile. “Do you—”

“Why are you doggin’ her about that now? Can’t you
see she’s upset?” He guided Aishling free from Morrigan’s grip.

But Aishling slid out of Kelile’s hands and stumbled
to the front porch steps. Sitting on the blackened brick steps, facing away
from the house, she could almost make herself believe nothing had happened.
Yet, as she peered out over the overgrown yard, the rundown detached garage,
and the hawthorn tree that had grown tall enough to shade a corner of the weed-infested
garden, the finality of what had happened hit. She lowered her head and sobbed.