Qaletaqa (6 page)

“I’m going with you,” Harvey said. “I won’t
be left behind when Melody is in danger. You can’t expect me to do
that, Uriah.” Harvey’s voice was pleading.

Uriah’s fingers began to move, undoubtedly a
subconscious attempt to subdue his itching palms. It was another of
Uriah’s tells. Every time he became nervous, his palms started
itching like he’d been pricked by a thousand tumbleweed thorns. The
fidgeting gave him away to everyone who knew him well. Fortunately,
Harvey was too absorbed in his own anxiety to notice how close
Uriah was to giving in to his pleas.

Balling his hands into fists, Uriah looked
Harvey in eyes and gave his answer. “You can’t come with us,
Harvey.”

Harvey tried to interrupt, but Uriah
continued over his objections. “Hopefully, we’ll be back within a
couple of days, but even in that short time, people will notice if
you and Melody suddenly disappear. You both have jobs, family,
school. You need to stay here and cover for Melody’s absence.
Otherwise someone will get suspicious and then the police will get
involved. I really don’t want to try explaining all this to the
police, do you?”

Harvey considered the option, and then shook
his head. “I guess not. Nobody will believe us. If it weren’t for
Melody’s dreams, I wouldn’t believe you either,” Harvey said. “I
still can’t stay here, though. I need to find her.”

“Look, Harvey, I understand why you want to
go, but it isn’t safe. Melody is protected from being harmed right
now, but you aren’t. The Matwau isn’t the only one searching for me
at the moment.” Uriah paused, perhaps to think up what else to say,
perhaps just to intensify his words. Either way, Harvey stood very
still, listening for what Uriah would say next.

“The Matwau has allies, other dark creatures.
These creatures are not held to any rules when it comes to humans
not involved with the Matwau. If they were to come across you, they
would rip you to pieces and gloat over your defeat. I will not take
you with me only to watch you get killed before I can return Melody
to you safely. If you’ll just listen to me, you and Melody will
both be fine and we can all go back to our normal lives.”

Harvey and I both smirked at the mention of
normal lives. For me, that ended the day Uriah and I went to the
tribal Elders and were denied the right to marry. For Harvey, a
missing wife and two complete strangers standing in his living room
had definitely tipped him off to the fact that he would never view
life in the same way. Still, regardless of how much our lives had
been disrupted, Harvey and I both wanted the same thing, a future
with the person we loved more than anything.

“But what about Claire? You’re taking her
with you. Won’t she be in the same danger I would be in?” Harvey
asked.

“Claire is with me right now,” Uriah said,
“but when I go to meet the Matwau, she will stay behind.” Uriah’s
quick glance in my direction asked me not to contradict him in
front of Harvey. The warning was unnecessary. I kept my lips
tightly sealed.

“Then why can’t I do the same?” Harvey
asked.

Uriah’s fingers inched up to his palms,
scrunching into frustrated fists. My reasons for not wanting Harvey
with us with were no doubt shamelessly selfish, but knowing Uriah
so well, I had the feeling his reservations had more to do with
endangering any more people than he believed he already had. He was
so out of his element lying to Harvey, and I feared he had run out
of believable answers.

“Harvey, we don’t have all the answers, but
we do know how dangerous it is to get involved with the Matwau. The
prophecies concerning Uriah and Melody are very specific.
Attempting to alter them in any way, could change the rules
drastically. If the Matwau becomes aware of your presence, it could
jeopardize Melody’s safety. He could kill her,” I said. “Are you
really willing to take that risk?”

Harvey’s eyes widened in fear. I felt bad
scaring him, but he seemed to be so overwhelmed that he was ready
to believe almost anything we said to him if it meant his wife
would return unharmed. I knew Melody was truly in danger of dying,
even if not for the reasons I had just stated, but I also knew that
the more people became involved, the more uncertain the outcome
would be. As I held his gaze, I began to wonder if what I said to
Harvey held any truth. The Matwau was incredibly dangerous and the
prophecy had been very specific. What if my refusing to let Uriah
face the Matwau alone tipped the balance away from Uriah? Was that
a risk I was willing to take?

Slowly, the doubt and fear dripped from
Harvey’s features as he considered my words, and were replaced by
determination. “What do you want me to do?”

Uriah breathed a deep sigh of relief. “The
most important thing is to pretend Melody is still here. Tell
anyone who asks that she’s sick, with the flu or strep throat,
something contagious. If she’s supposed to be at work, call her
boss and tell him she won’t be in for a few days.”

“Melody took the whole week off so she could
get the house settled.”

“Good. Now for your part, I need you to stay
inside the house as much as possible and be very vigilant. The
other creatures I mentioned, they’re still looking for me. I think
they might even come back to check and see if I stopped here,”
Uriah said. “The Matwau led me here on purpose. I don’t know why
for sure, but he’ll have someone watching.”

Harvey’s eyes narrowed at the thought of one
of the Matwau’s creatures walking around on his property.

“Call me right away if you see anything
strange lurking around in the woods. They look like wolves, but
bigger and much scarier. You’ll know one if you see it,” Uriah
said. “Now the other thing I need from you is information.”

“I doubt I’ll have any of that. I’m still
trying to process what you’ve already told me,” Harvey said.

“This is different. I know where the Matwau
will take her. Well, I know what the place looks like at least,”
Uriah said. “It is in the desert, absolutely barren, but somewhat
near a very heavily forested area. I’m not familiar with, really,
anything outside of New Mexico, but if we can figure out where he’s
taking her maybe I can get there first and get Melody away from him
before he’s ready to defend himself.”

Harvey rubbed his fingers in little circles
over his temples. “How am I supposed to figure out where he’s
taking her? I don’t know anything about your legends.”

“This won’t take knowing about Tewa
mythology,” I said quickly. “The answer won’t be in a legend. It
will be on a map. You need to find places where the forest meets
the desert. Once you have some ideas, Uriah can help you narrow
them down.”

“Maps, I can do maps. I’ve hiked all over
Colorado using nothing but maps, and I work as a mountain guide,
but there are thousands of deserts and thousands of forest in the
world. How am I going to narrow that down?” Harvey asked.

“It will be in the Southwest,” Uriah said.
“He’ll stay in the Southwest, where he’s most familiar, but
probably not in New Mexico. He’ll most likely expect me to know my
own state the best.”

I chuckled to myself at that thought. Before
my father drugged me with the Shaxoa’s potion, Uriah had been away
from our small town few enough times that he would need only one
hand to count the trips. Unless the Matwau was waiting somewhere in
the valleys and mesas just outside San Juan, Uriah would have as
much hope of being familiar with some random spot in New Mexico as
he would be with any patch of desert in the Sahara.

“Well, that’s something to start with, I
guess.” Harvey looked down at his worn out tennis shoes as he
considered Uriah’s plan. “How will I get in contact with you if I
find something?”

“Do you have something I can write on?” Uriah
asked.

Harvey ducked into the kitchen and returned
with a little notepad and plain yellow pencil. He handed them to
Uriah expectantly.

Uriah began scribbling down the number I had
learned by heart on my drive from San Juan. Handing the pencil and
notepad back to Harvey, he said, “This is my cell phone number.
Call it anytime you need an update on what we’re doing or if you
have something to tell us.”

“Are you sure about me staying behind? I
can’t stand the thought of Melody being alone and scared,” Harvey
said.

“I’m sure, Harvey. You staying here is the
best way to help her. I promise,” Uriah said.

“Does your phone have GPS on it?” Harvey
asked.

Uriah shook his head. “No, but it has the
internet, if that helps.”

“Here, take this with you,” Harvey said after
grabbing a small device and charger off a shelf. “It’s Melody’s
cell phone. It has full GPS capabilities on it. We use it when we
go hiking sometimes. If I find anything on the maps, I can give you
the coordinates and you can use the phone to find the right spot.
Keep the phone on while you have it so you can let me know where
you are if you need to.”

“Thank you, Harvey,” Uriah said. “We’ll find
her. I promise.” Uriah’s hand came up and squeezed Harvey’s
shoulder. Harvey clenched his jaw in fearful determination.

Taking his wallet out of the back pocket of
his jeans, Harvey stuck the paper with Uriah’s phone number inside.
He began folding the creased brown leather back up when he suddenly
stopped. His fingers went right to the little plastic envelopes in
the center and removed a wallet sized picture from the first
plastic cover. He held the photo out to Uriah and I held my breath
as I waited for his reaction.

Uriah put his hand up, turning the offered
picture away. My heart leapt at the gesture.

“Keep it,” Uriah said. “I already know what
she looks like.”

An unwelcome heat spread through my chest at
his words. He already knew her, knew her well enough never to
forget her brilliant green eyes or soft auburn waves. How tight of
a hold did the bond already have on him? I wondered. Did he even
realize the danger he was in? The two wrapped up their plans as I
stood next to Uriah, not hearing anything beyond my own trembling
thoughts.

6: Answer

I closed the driver’s side door of my old
pickup and sank into the seat. When we had pulled up to the little
cottage I never expected to come face to face with the husband of
my Twin Soul. The pressure to find a way out seemed to keep
mounting no matter what I did. The one option I thought I’d had
never really existed in the first place. How strong was I? I knew
the strength of my love for Claire, but I knew the strength of the
Twin Soul bond as well. As I sat shivering in my seat I wished I
knew which one was stronger.

Claire’s soft hand reached over and took my
bandaged one in hers. She stared at the tightly wrapped gauze with
a frown, but remained quiet. I had no doubt she knew where the
injury had come from. The smell of the potion I gave her held the
unmistakable scent of blood.

Talon slipped into my thoughts. “We should be
on our way, Uriah.”

I hesitated. Putting the key in the ignition
meant letting go of Claire’s hand. Loosing Claire’s touch meant
feeling Melody that much more clearly. Hearing about Melody had
been harder than I’d expected. There were so many similarities
between us they were impossible to miss. I knew Claire had
recognized the same things, and I was thankful that she didn’t feel
the need to discuss them.

Glancing at Claire, I studied her face,
trying to forget the picture Harvey tried to give me. I needed no
more reminders of her. The pull of the bond was more than enough.
The touch and sight of Claire helped me push the bond away, but
Talon once again nudged his way into my mind.

“Uriah, what you said about the Matwau’s
creatures coming back to this place is most likely correct. I would
like to put some distance between us and this cottage before
stopping for the night,” Talon said.

I sighed. Talon had of course heard
everything I said inside the cottage, because I thought it first.
Sometimes our ability to communicate through our thoughts was an
immense blessing, but sometimes I wished for the peace of a quiet
mind.

“I will teach you when we stop,” Talon
said.

“Teach me what?” I asked.

“How to keep the thoughts you do not want to
share from reaching my mind.

I grunted, realizing that Talon had heard my
complaint. “I didn’t mean that badly, Talon. I am very grateful of
your help. I just need some privacy sometimes.”

“I understand. I will teach you, but first we
should leave this place.” Talon’s paw reached up to scratch against
the glass, bringing my eyes to his. I never realized how much
emotion could hide in a cat’s eyes before meeting Talon. His eyes
held urgency, and I knew better than to ignore his advice.

“Are they close?” I asked.

“I think a few are already here.”

I jerked around to stare out the window. The
low bushes and sprawling undergrowth that filled the forest floor
prevented me from seeing anything outside the glow of the cottage’s
porch light. I looked for the small flashes of canine eyes
reflecting the light, but found nothing. Either their eyes were
somehow different from what they once were, or they had concealed
themselves too well for me to see them. Neither possibility sounded
very comforting.

“I don’t see any of them. Are they very
close?”

“I do not know exactly where they are, but
every other forest animal has abandoned this spot. They fear these
creatures and will not abide their presence,” Talon said.

“What are they doing?”

“Watching, I think. They are not here to harm
you, simply to watch you for their master.” Talon paused, searching
the forest again. “Even still, I do not think it is wise to remain
here. We need to leave.”