by Lukens, Mark
“You next, kiddo,” Cole told David.
David climbed up into the truck.
Cole looked back at the sea of animals all around him and as soon as David was inside the truck the snakes, spiders, and scorpions shot out of the darkness for him. Coyotes bolted out of the blackness, snarling, eyes practically glowing with fury.
“Cole!” Stella yelled. “Get inside!”
Cole just got inside and slammed the door shut before three coyotes thumped into the passenger door. Joe Blackhorn shifted into reverse and stomped his foot down on the gas pedal without even looking behind them.
The back tires spun for a moment in the rutted dirt, but they grabbed quickly. The truck bumped and creaked as it picked up speed, backing up over animals. They could hear the thumps and crunches as it ran over snakes, insects, spiders, and other small animals that hadn’t gotten out of the way in time.
Joe Blackhorn spun the steering wheel around in his wrinkled hands like an expert racecar driver. They all held on while the truck spun around to head back the way it had come from.
Stella looked out the rear window of the truck. She expected to see the bed of the truck awash with spiders and scorpions, but there wasn’t a single creature there. All of the desert animals stood in a line in the darkness, all of them watching as they drove away.
She turned back around and looked at the front of the truck. David sat in between Cole and the old Navajo man who wore a flannel shirt and a red bandana over his long gray hair that he had tied back in a long braid. His skin was wrinkled and dark, but he looked trim and healthy for an old man.
He turned and looked down at David for a moment before looking back out the windshield. “It’s really you,” he said in a low voice. “It’s like looking at a ghost.”
CHAPTER 53
Joe Blackhorn’s property
“What do you mean by that?” Stella asked. “What do you mean, it’s like looking at a ghost?”
The old Navajo turned around in the driver’s seat and looked at Stella who was leaning forward from the back seat. He gave her a humorless smile. “All in good time. I’m Joe Blackhorn.”
I figured that, she almost said, but stopped herself. This man had just saved their lives. Perhaps she, Cole, and David could’ve walked all the way to Joe Blackhorn’s house in a tight group with all of the snakes, spiders, and other animals following them, but it would’ve only been a matter of time before the animals got to one of them.
“Stella Weaver,” she finally said and offered him a hand.
“Forgive me if I don’t shake,” he told her. “This road … I need to keep both my hands on the wheel.”
“Please do,” Cole said. He nodded at Joe Blackhorn and smiled. “I’m Cole. And this is David.”
“David,” Joe Blackhorn said. “Even the name’s the same.”
“What do you mean by that?” Stella demanded.
“I will tell you everything soon,” he said as he drove. He didn’t seem particularly worried about the horde of animals they’d left behind nor traumatized by what he’d just witnessed … almost like he’d been expecting something like it.
“Did Billy Nez tell you about us, Mr. Blackhorn?” Stella asked, trying a different line of questioning.
“Yes,” he answered. “And please, just call me Joe.”
“Joe,” she said.
“Billy told me that you were looking for help. He told me a little about what had happened at a dig site and …” He hesitated a moment like he wasn’t sure if he should go on. “And what happened to the boy’s parents,” he said in a lower voice.
“You’re going to help us?” Cole asked.
Joe drove for a moment, his truck bouncing around on the rutted road. He drove a lot faster than Cole had dared to drive on this rough road, but he seemed to know where all of the worst bumps and dips were and he navigated around them almost with a sixth sense. “Let’s get you back to the house,” was all he said.
*
Twenty minutes later they drove down a steep decline, and there below, tucked neatly in a narrow valley, was Joe Blackhorn’s home. The headlights from the truck splashed across several structures and the foothills of the ragged mountains rose up sharply right behind the property, like a wall of rock in the darkness. Stands of cottonwoods and junipers flanked the structures on both sides, boxing them in.
Even if the headlights hadn’t spotlighted the buildings, the full moon and the cold cloudless night sky of stars would have been enough light to at least make out what was down there: four main structures, and only one had lights on inside—a singlewide mobile home that looked like it was new back in 1975. A large shed sat a few yards from the end of the trailer. Another building—it looked like it could have been a stable for horses—was set far off from the trailer, with a large corral beside it that was fenced in with a myriad of building materials including wooden posts, wire mesh, and pieces of chain-link fencing. In between the horse barn and corral was an old hogan; it was closer to the foothills, shrouded by trees and shrubs.
Stella recognized the hogan, a traditional building of the Navajo, but this building looked (and felt) abandoned to her, like Joe Blackhorn had left that structure alone for quite some time now.
There was some debris stacked up beside the shed and near the back of the trailer: wood planks, wire mesh, pieces of metal, a few old truck rims, fencing supplies.
A squat wooden structure with a mishmash of plastic and glass panels in it that made it look like some kind of greenhouse stood between the end of the trailer and the horse stables. A metal and wood windmill tower stood behind the trailer about fifteen feet away. The metal blades turned slowly and creaked in the cold air.
There were three old vehicles parked near the nose of the trailer. One of the vehicles, a pickup truck from the 1950’s, was just a rusted hulk sitting on rotting tires. There was another pickup truck that looked very similar to the one they were in. It looked like it could still be drivable, but maybe it was reserved for parts. Parked near the truck was a 1980 AMC Concord, the paint far past faded now. It had been a while since Stella had seen one of those cars.
“Here we are,” Joe said as he parked right beside the other pickup truck and shut off the engine and the headlights.
“Is it … safe?” Cole asked.
Joe looked at his property out through the windshield, and then he looked out through the driver’s window. He looked back at Cole, and then down at David in between them like he was waiting for David’s judgement on this matter.
David just nodded.
“I think it’s going to stay away for a while,” Joe said. “But it won’t stay away for long.”
“So you know what that thing is … the Ancient Enemy?” Cole asked.
“Is that what you call it?” Joe wondered.
“I’ve heard it called the Darkwind,” Stella said from the back seat.
“It’s had many names through the years,” Joe said as he opened his driver’s door and got out.
Cole, David, and Stella got out through the passenger door, all of them looking around, trying to spot any movement in the dark, all of them traumatized by what they had just been through.
A barking startled Stella. She froze as a dark German shepherd mix ran up to them, yapping at them and wagging its tail.
“He’s harmless,” Joe said and then he spoke harshly to the dog in Navajo. The dog came over hesitantly towards Stella, Cole, and David, sniffing at the air, then the dog shadowed Joe as he walked to the steps that led up to the aluminum door that was the front door of his trailer.
Not a particularly sturdy-looking door, Stella thought.
Joe opened the door and the dog rushed inside. He held the door open for Stella. She went in first, followed by David and then Cole.
Stella wasn’t ready for what she saw inside Joe’s trailer. She had expected the messiness of an old man’s bachelor pad, or maybe the traditional décor of many of the Navajo that she’d known over the years. And there was
a mixture of those two things; plenty of clutter and plenty of Navajo woven baskets, pottery, and blankets. But the bookcases that filled the corners and wall space in the living room surprised her. The shelves were crammed with science books. There were also pieces of science equipment on the shelves in front of the books. The home was neat and orderly, but a cluttered mix of Navajo culture and modern science.
The black German shepherd rushed right up to David, pawing at him to be petted, his tail wagging.
Joe spoke sharply to the dog in Navajo, and the German shepherd sat back down, but he stared up at David with big brown eyes, panting. “I told him to quit pawing at you,” Joe told David.
“He listens to you?” David asked, smiling.
“Yes,” Joe said, smiling back at David. “I’ve taught him all kinds of tricks.”
“Can I pet him?” David asked.
Joe seemed to think this over for a moment, but then he smiled. “Only if you want a friend for life.”
“I do,” David said and giggled. He dropped down to his knees and petted the dog.
“He really likes you,” Stella said to David.
“What’s his name?” David asked Joe.
“I call him Łizhini.”
“How do you have electricity way out here?” Cole asked Joe. “I didn’t hear a generator running.”
“I have a windmill generator in back,” Joe answered. “I also have some solar panels on the roof I bought a few years back. And there’s a gas-powered generator in the shed in case of an emergency, but the solar panels do a good job of storing up the electricity throughout the day. I also have a well for water with an electric and hand-cranked pump. I have a greenhouse out there and a garden for food. Two horses and a few goats are in the barn way out there, and there are a few chickens that run around here. Totally off the grid, as they say. I still go into town about every month or so for basic supplies like gasoline, flour, sugar, any building supplies I might need.”
David stood back up, but the dog pawed at him again.
Joe looked at David. “You thirsty?”
Stella thought about all of the drinks and food they’d had to leave behind in their stolen pickup truck. At least they still had their guns and the cell phone on them, not that the cell phone was any use way out here in the middle of nowhere.
“Yes, sir,” David answered.
“I’ve got some tea made. I can put some sugar in it for you. Would you like that?”
David nodded. He followed Joe into the kitchen and watched him prepare the tea. The dog followed David and sat down near him, his tail thumping on the linoleum floor.
Cole looked at the flimsy front door like he was expecting something to burst through at any moment.
Stella knew how he felt. Joe Blackhorn seemed awful relaxed after the display of power by the Ancient Enemy that they’d just seen out there. She slipped off her coat and laid it down on the arm of the sofa, folded over gently. Cole took off his gloves and stuffed them into the pockets of his coat and then hung his coat up on a coatrack that looked like it had been constructed from deer antlers.
Stella walked from the couch over to one of the bookshelves near the TV and perused the titles. There were books on physics, astronomy, biology, business, and many books on ancient civilizations and Native American tribes. Stella had read many of the books on Native Americans and ancient cultures. There was also a fair mix of fiction among the books, many of them dog-eared paperbacks: mysteries, thrillers, science fiction, and even some horror.
She picked up an old sextant from one of the shelves, studying it for a moment.
“I’ve collected some old science equipment years ago,” Joe said as he walked back into the living room. David was drinking a glass of tea as he walked over to the couch. He set the glass down carefully on the coffee table that was cluttered with books.
“You want to watch TV?” Joe asked David.
“Yes, please,” he answered.
Joe pulled a blanket down off the back of the couch and fluffed up some pillows for David. “Lay down here,” he said as he turned the TV on. “It’s satellite TV, not the most reliable, but let’s see what we can find on there.” Joe flipped through the channels until he came to an animal show, something about animals on the African plains.
“You two can help yourself to some coffee or tea,” Joe told Stella and Cole as he set the remote control down on the edge of the coffee table. “It’s there in the kitchen if you want it.”
“Thank you,” Stella said. She followed Cole into the kitchen, which was at the front of the trailer. She fixed herself a cup of coffee. The coffee smelled strong, and she thought that both of them might need it.
After David was settled in the couch, tucked down into the blanket and stretched out, his shoes on the floor beside him and the dog on the floor right beside him, Joe came into the kitchen. He took a bowl of what looked like loose herbs and lit the concoction with a lighter. A pungent but not unpleasant smell came from the bowl. He took the smoking bowl and a large eagle feather to the front door and waved both of them slowly over the door as he chanted under his breath. The chanting sounded like a mixture of talking and singing.
“You think that’s going to work?” Cole asked.
Joe walked back into the kitchen and set the burning bowl of herbs back on the counter near the coffee pot. He slid the eagle feather back into a hook over the sink. “It can’t hurt,” he said as he turned around to look at Cole. “I’ve been performing The Enemy Way ceremony for the last few days.”
“What’s that?” Cole asked.
“It’s a ceremony to ward off evil spirits, ghosts, and demons,” Stella told Cole. “It’s the opposite of the healing ceremony called The Blessing Way.”
Joe just nodded and stared at her. “I could feel something out of balance for at least a week now. A disharmony in nature … an evil that was approaching.”
“Is that how you knew we were out there?” Cole asked.
“Billy Nez sent a friend of ours to come see me not too long ago. He told me what happened to …” Joe glanced into the living room at David, and then he looked back at them and continued in a low voice. “He told me what happened to David’s parents and what happened at the dig site. He asked if I could help. I told him I would do what I could. So I knew you were coming tonight. When you didn’t get here …” He let his words trail off.
Stella crept back into the living room and looked at David. The German shepherd looked up at her from the floor, watching her.
David looked like he was already asleep, breathing deeply. He was so exhausted, so traumatized by what had happened so far. He might be the key to their survival, to many people’s survival, but he was still just a kid who got tired, a kid who couldn’t stay up for two days straight like she and Cole could. He needed some more sleep. He needed to rebuild his strength … and rebuild his power, wherever that came from.
Stella walked back towards the kitchen and stopped and looked at another piece of science equipment.
“I used to be a scientist,” Joe said as if Stella had asked a question. “A theoretical physicist.”
“I remember someone telling me that,” Stella said, joining them in the kitchen.
Joe gestured at the small table and chairs in the kitchen. “Please … sit.”
Cole sat down near the wall with his hands wrapped around his steaming cup of coffee. Joe sat at the head of the table facing towards the living room, and Stella sat down on the other side of the table.
“I’m sure you’ve heard stories and rumors about me,” Joe said to Stella.
“Yes. I heard you were a scientist, but then you gave it all up to come back here to become a medicine man.”
Joe nodded. “I came back here for a certain reason.”
CHAPTER 54
Joe Blackhorn’s home
“When I was young,” Joe Blackhorn said, “the Diné culture was drilled into me. I resisted it; I knew there was a huge world outside the Rez and I wanted t
o explore it. So many of my family, especially the elders, looked at me like I was a traitor to my people for wanting to leave, like I was some selfish bastard who was willing to turn my back on my people and their ways. They promised me that I would only get hurt if I went out there into the white man’s world and became indoctrinated into the white man’s ways.”
Joe took a sip of his tea, thinking for a moment.
Stella glanced at Cole. She could see he was impatient to find out what they were going to do about the Ancient Enemy roaming around out there in the darkness somewhere, but she didn’t rush Joe Blackhorn.
“I had tired of what I called the mumbo-jumbo of my culture,” Joe continued, “of the fear and suspicion they lived with, and the depression and apathy I sometimes saw. But I was young then. I was seeing everything through a young man’s eyes … a selfish young man’s eyes. I got a scholarship from the government to go to college, some kind of program to help Native Americans or something, and I enrolled at Arizona State.”
“I went to Arizona State,” Stella said.
Joe just nodded, but he didn’t look very impressed with the coincidence. “I think I was there a few decades before you were. And it was a different time then. People weren’t as tolerant to other cultures as they are now. But I toughed it out. I learned and I got a degree in quantum physics and a minor degree in molecular biology. Of course I explored other sciences while at college and afterwards, but I wanted to learn how things worked. There was so much I wanted to learn, and I sought it all out.”
He paused for a moment, taking another sip of his strong tea, and then he continued. “After college I worked for a research company in Phoenix. But I learned rather quickly that sometimes science can be a whore sold to the highest bidder. I began to realize that as a scientist I didn’t work on whatever project I wanted to … many times research projects were funded by either the government or large corporations. And believe me, they expect certain results when they’re shelling out the money; they expect data to be skewed their way. You learn to play along with their rules or you get thrown out of their private club. You don’t buck the system or you get ridiculed. You don’t ask questions, you just accept their beliefs like dogma. I began to realize that the pursuit of knowledge of new truths wasn’t cultivated like I thought it would be. I had this fantasy of scientists discovering things like the great scientists of the past had done: Newton, Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Plank, Einstein—scientists who discovered things for the good of all humans, scientists who sought out the truth.”