The Star-Fire Prophecy

by Jane Toombs

  “Gone,” Maxwell said. He frowned. “All gone.”

  Yes, Danica thought with a pang. I’m going, too. Amy had said Maxwell didn’t like very many people. Now two of them would disappear. Oh, Amy would still be at Star-Fire, but she was Melantha’s now…

  I can’t just let this happen, Danica told herself. I must at least try to talk to Galt.

  She let the children help her clean the kitchen, then got them ready for bed and read them a story.

  “‘…I will then,’ said the little red hen, and she ate the bread all up.”

  “No,” Maxwell said. “No, no, no,”

  Danica didn’t know if he was protesting the end of the story or Amy’s not being here. She waited for Lydia’s return with some impatience.

  I’ll have time to talk to Galt before I leave tonight, Danica thought. If Lydia ever gets back.

  But after the suitcases were all packed, Lydia still wasn’t home. It grew later, midnight came, and Danica realized she’d have to wait until morning to get away from Star-Fire. She sat on the couch, reluctant to go to bed with the door unlocked, not wanting to lock it because Lydia wouldn’t have taken a key, not expecting a locked door, and would have to knock.

  She dozed off and on, jerking awake to confront the confusion of her own thoughts. It was two a.m. before Lydia came in.

  I won’t talk about leaving now, Danica decided. I’ll tell her later in the morning. No point in upsetting Lydia’s sleep.

  I won’t sleep, Danica thought, as she got into bed after locking the outside door. But she did, waking to bright November sunshine. She dressed and made breakfast for the children.

  Lydia, yawning, came out of her bedroom in her robe as Danica finished the dishes. “What time is it?” she asked.

  “Lydia…” Danica began, but the other girl broke in.

  “Oh, I know—I’m sorry I was so late. Dave’s taking a pack trip with the horses and he’ll be gone most of this week. I guess we got carried away and forgot the time.”

  “Oh, that’s all right. But…”

  Lydia wasn’t through talking. “Galt lets Dave rent out the horses now and then to outsiders, and Dave gets rented right along with them.”

  “Lydia,” Danica began again, “I’m leaving. Leaving Star-Fire, I mean. This morning, right after I talk to Galt.”

  “But why?”

  “It concerns Amy. Melantha is mistreating her and…”

  “How?”

  Suddenly it seemed impossible to explain. Stated as fact, the whole series of events was unbelievable, just as Evan had told her. “I’ll write you,” Danica said. “I’ll tell you what happened in a letter. I’ve got to see Galt now.”

  Galt won’t understand either, Danica thought, as she lugged her suitcases down the steps to the parking lot. But I have to try. She locked her belongings in her VW and climbed the stairs to Galt’s house.

  “I must talk to you,” she said as he opened the door.

  “Come in and join us,” he said. “Melantha and Amy are having breakfast with me this morning.”

  Danica took a step backward. “Oh, no thanks.”

  There was a silence.

  “I—I’m leaving Star-Fire,” she said.

  His face was guarded, she couldn’t read the expression. “I’m sorry to hear that. Are you sure you can’t wait and discuss it with me?”

  His words seemed chill to her, formal. Employer to employee. “You aren’t surprised,” she said.

  “Melantha told me already.”

  “Yes, of course she would.” Danica’s bitterness broke through the words.

  Galt made an abortive movement toward her. “Danica,” he said. “Wait.”

  “I—I can’t.” To her distress, tears came to her eyes. “But Amy, you have to know about Amy…”

  She stopped talking as Melantha’s husky voice spoke from behind Galt.

  “Who are you talking to? Ask them in, it’s cold with the door open.”

  “I—I’ll write you,” Danica said, the tears blurring her last sight of Galt. “Goodbye.”

  She had stopped crying by the time she got to her car. There’s no place here for me, she told herself. I have to leave before Galt hears the whole story as Melantha will tell it. He’d ask me to go if I didn’t leave. When he has to choose between my story and Melantha’s, what choice would he have? She thought of the three of them having breakfast together, a cozy domestic scene…

  I can’t do anything for Amy. Amy really wants to learn from Melantha. She told me so. Now she’s accepted her and rejected me. Danica pushed down the formless terror that lurked under the surface of her mind. Insignificant thoughts, like minnows darting in the shallows, were all she allowed.

  I’ll go back to Guiding Hands Manor. Miss Defoe wants me back, the children will be glad to see me. I’ll be happy to see Angie again—poor Angie, I never did write her—and live in our apartment with no children underfoot. Best to keep away from close attachments with the children I work with, everyone says so. I won’t have to watch Galt with Melantha—careful, don’t think about Galt. Evan? I really don’t care. He said he’d help me and he didn’t. Face it, he couldn’t. Who’d believe your story? You won’t believe it yourself, once Star-Fire is behind you. Don’t think of Star-Fire either. Use the energy, calm yourself.

  Danica pulled off the road and tried to gather awareness, but too much of her mind was shut off, hiding what was lurking in the depths. After a bit she started the car again and drove toward Bakersfield, hands gripping the wheel, muscles so tense that her shoulders began to ache.

  Time to eat lunch, she told herself as she passed the Bakersfield city-limits sign. She’d only had coffee for breakfast and now felt nauseated and shaky from lack of food. Pulling off the freeway, she found a drive-in and ordered a malt. The thick mixture stuck in her throat, but she forced herself to finish it. The car needs gas, too, she thought.

  She threw the empty container in a trash can and as she turned to go back to the car, she bumped into a young girl carrying a Coke. The child stumbled and dropped the drink.

  “Oh!” the girl said. Narrowing her eyes to blue slits she stared crossly at Danica. “You made me drop my Coke,” she said.

  “I’m sorry, it was my fault, I wasn’t looking. I’ll buy you another.”

  The child’s face brightened. “Okay,” she said.

  The girl chattered to her while they waited at the window for the Coke to arrive. “My name’s Cindy. It’s really Cindy Lou but that’s stupid, so I just say Cindy. You’re nice, you’ve got pretty hair. What’s your name?”

  “Danica.”

  “I never heard that name before. Do they call you Danny? That’s sort of a boy’s name but not really, I guess.”

  Danica paid for the Coke and handed the container to Cindy. “Sometimes I’m called Danny,” she said.

  Cindy stared up at her, blue eyes wide. “I wish we could be friends,” she said. “I like you.”

  “I like you, too,” Danica said and the words stuck in her throat like the malt. She got back in the car and sat a moment, eyes closed.

  I’m abandoning Amy, she thought. I can’t do that, I’m her only friend. Amy has no one but me. She started the VW and headed for the northbound freeway ramp. I’m going back and get Amy, take her with me. I’ll manage it somehow. If they send the police after me and we get caught, I’ll tell the whole story. Maybe no one will believe me, but it’ll blow Star-Fire sky high. And the authorities will protect Amy. Maybe we won’t get caught. I’ve got a little money. We can leave California.

  When she started up the last stretch of winding road toward Star-Fire, the shadows were lengthening. Good, she thought. I’ll park off the road, not go into the parking lot. No one will know I’m there and the dusk will cover my movements. Amy and I can slip away and no one will know we’re gone, at least for a while. Even when Amy’s missed, they won’t know she’s with me. She does hide, maybe they’ll think she’s hiding…

  When it was dark
enough, Danica moved stealthily toward the corral. She had decided not to risk climbing the central steps, and, since Dave and the horses were gone, there was little chance of anyone’s being nearby.

  She approached the houses from the other side of the hill, hidden by the rise. She stumbled on unseen rocks, and thought of the snake. Had there been one? Would there be one tonight? But snakes didn’t like the cold, and this was a chilly evening.

  She took up a position even with Melantha’s house, peering through the bushes at the top of the hill. After some time had passed, she saw Melantha come out in her dark cloak, a child with her. Amy? She watched them go into Evan’s house. What should she do? She was afraid to go into Melantha’s house and hide, afraid the cat would follow her. And afraid, too, that Melantha would somehow sense her presence. She shifted to a more comfortable position and waited.

  There was a stirring in the bushes and she started as fur brushed her hand. Dido. “Scat!” she hissed, and heard the cat scramble away. Now the cat knows I’m here, she thought. Was it so ridiculous to think the cat could communicate with Melantha?

  A shaft of light cut into the darkness and disappeared. Evan’s door, opening and closing. Was that someone coming along the path? Yes, a small figure…

  Danica stifled her impulse to call Amy’s name. It could be another child. But the figure began climbing the hill, heading for her, and finally burst through the bushes and clasped her around the neck.

  “I knew you’d come back for me,” Amy said. “She told me you went away, but I knew you’d come back.”

  Danica hugged the thin body. “We have to leave Star-Fire,” she said.

  Amy pulled away. “She won’t let me.”

  “We’re not going to tell anyone. Come on.” Danica took Amy’s hand and led her toward the corral. “I’ve got my car parked on the road.”

  Amy hesitated. “The arrow,” she said. “I haven’t got the arrow with me. We won’t have our lucky charm.”

  “It doesn’t matter. Hurry.”

  “Yes, it does too,” Amy said, but followed her.

  “How did you know I was in the bushes?” Danica said.

  “I could feel you there.”

  “You mean you were in my—in my mind?”

  “Oh, no!” Amy sounded shocked. “I wouldn’t do that unless you knew ahead of time and said it was okay. I’m not going to be like her. And anyway, I don’t know if I could, yet, with you.”

  “But you could tell I was in the bushes?”

  “Yes. I can feel where you are if it’s not too far away.”

  “Does Melantha—can she do that, too?”

  “I don’t think so. Not with you, anyway.” The concept seemed unreal to Danica even as she accepted it. But no more unreal than creeping through the night, kidnapping a child. No, not kidnapping—she was rescuing Amy.

  All went well. They reached the car undiscovered and started down the road toward the highway. They’d gone about a mile when the VW began to jerk and cough, and then stopped. A terrible realization flooded Danica’s mind: she’d forgotten to get gas in Bakersfield; the car was out of gas and could go no farther.

  She slumped against the seat. They were trapped. Unless they went on foot, of course.

  I won’t give up, Danica thought fiercely. But she remembered the long stretch of road with no houses. Four miles away, maybe more. Amy might be missed before they reached a phone, and any car coming would be from Star-Fire.

  Wait—hadn’t she seen a ranch across the fields that day she and Galt went horseback riding? Yes, south of Star-Fire. Surely the ranch house had not been more than a mile from the corral. They could find a phone there and call the police. If she couldn’t get Amy away, at least she could have Star-Fire investigated. Probably the local authorities were already suspicious of Star-Fire. Whatever happened, Amy would be taken away from Melantha, would be safe.

  “We’re going to walk,” she told Amy. “We could take the horses, but Dave has them on a pack trip. We’ll have to cross the fields to the nearest house. I’m going to call the police.”

  Amy pulled her hand from Danica’s. “I don’t like policemen. Can’t we just go away?”

  “I’m afraid not. Sooner or later we’d be caught. We couldn’t keep on running forever. It’s better to go to the police than have them chasing us.”

  “Galt’s got a phone,” Amy said.

  “But he wouldn’t let me call the police.”

  Danica tried to fix their position by the stars. “We have to head south,” she told Amy. They started to walk away from the road, stumbling on the uneven ground, and Danica hoped what she remembered about the constellations was accurate.

  “We won’t have to go back after you call the police?” Amy asked.

  “Back to Star-Fire? No, I won’t let them take you back.”

  “You can’t go back after tonight,” Amy said. “Because tomorrow night there’s going to be one of those fires.”

  “A ritual fire?”

  “Yes. With the chanting.”

  “I know you don’t like those fires, Amy.”

  “That’s not what I mean. I saw a fire and you were there and someone whose face I couldn’t see and an awful thing happened. What I saw was the ritual fire, yet different. But somebody died, and I couldn’t tell who.” Amy clutched at Danica’s hand. “I don’t want it to be you,” she cried.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Fire, Danica thought. Again, fire. “Don’t worry about it,” she said to Amy.

  “But what I see is always so,” Amy said. “And you’re there. There where the fire is.”

  “This time will be different,” Danica promised, but Amy didn’t respond.

  A meteor streaked across the November sky, then another and another.

  “Shooting stars,” Amy said.

  Suddenly Danica recalled the date. November twenty-fifth.

  “My birthday’s tomorrow,” she told Amy. “When I was born there was a meteor shower, lots of shooting stars.”

  “My birthday’s the last day of November,” Amy said. “I wish I’d had time to bring our amulet.”

  The fused meteorite seemed to come from another existence. I wonder if it really fell the night I was born? Danica thought.

  “If we had the arrow, she couldn’t find us,” Amy said.

  “Melantha won’t find us anyway,” Danica told her. But they’ll find the VW, she realized. They’ll know I came back, know Amy’s with me. She tried to hurry over the rough ground, but Amy tripped and fell.

  “I’m tired,” Amy said.

  “Let’s rest a minute.” Danica knew she couldn’t force Amy, but the urgency to put distance between them and Star-Fire made her uneasy.

  “I see some lights out there,” Amy said. The lights were behind them, from the way they’d come. Was somebody following, already searching for them?

  “We’d better keep going,” Danica said. Another meteor arced in a death dive.

  “Where do all the shooting stars go?” Amy asked.

  “Some fall to the ground like our arrow and some burn up before they get that far.”

  “Was it important that you were born when there were shooting stars?”

  “I don’t know.” Danica paused and looked at the sky. Four streaks of light shot across the heavens. “I think so. But I’m not sure why.”

  “Then maybe we’ll be lucky tonight,” Amy said. She was moving slower and slower.

  “Let me carry you for a while,” Danica said. She picked up the child and looked behind them at the bobbing lights. Flashlights?

  “We might have to hide,” she told Amy. “If I find a good place, that’s what we’ll do.”

  After what seemed like hours of stumbling numbly over the uneven ground, climbing up and down hills, Danica saw a stand of trees etched against the sky. “We’ll go over there,” she said. Amy was walking again, she’d grown too heavy for Danica, but they traveled at a snail-like pace.

  The trees grew along a small strea
m. Danica heard the water before she came to it. Huge boulders, several times again as high as she was, towered above them. “We can hide in here, no one will find us.”

  “She will,” Amy said. But she followed Danica under a rocky overhang where the bushes grew close.

  “We won’t be found here,” Danica said. She sat on the ground with her back against the rock and took Amy in her arms. The child gave an exhausted sigh and collapsed against Danica.

  “Rest,” Danica said “Go to sleep.”

  “No, I can’t,” Amy said. “I won’t know if she’s coming then.”

  The sooner the child was taken away from Melantha’s influence, the better. How terrible for Amy to fear sleep because of this woman’s influence.

  “I’ll keep watch,” Danica said.

  “You can’t help that way,” Amy told her. “It’s nothing you can see with your eyes. But I can tell if she’s coming. If I’m awake I can stop her from—from…” Amy’s words trailed away. “Sometimes she makes me go to sleep and then I can’t keep her out. Don’t let me fall asleep.”

  “You need rest,” Danica repeated.

  “But she’ll find us. If you talk to me I can stay awake.” Amy put her hand inside Danica’s, and all at once Danica remembered the dream she’d had about the night of shooting stars.

  A dog howled in the distance and Danica shivered. The sound was part of the dream, too. Then she shook her head. The dog meant they must be near the ranch. If Amy wasn’t so exhausted…

  “Does Maxwell miss me?” Amy asked.

  “Very much.”

  “I think he can get to be smarter,” Amy said. “When I look in his head I can see a funny round thing in the way, like it’s growing there. Couldn’t a doctor take it out?”

  My God, Danica thought, a tumor? Does Maxwell have a brain tumor? And Amy can sense it? What is this child I hold in my arms?

  “I’m awfully sleepy,” Amy said. “If I fall asleep you wake me up.”

  “All right,” Danica said to soothe Amy. “Rest now.”

  At first Danica was tense, and every slight noise made her start, but as the night wore on she found herself dozing, then jerking awake, uncomfortable in her cramped position. Amy had long since fallen asleep. Closed in by the bushes as they were, Danica couldn’t see if the lights were still following their track. Should I wake Amy and start walking again? she wondered. But she knew she had no idea now which direction to take. In the dark they might head back to Star-Fire and not even know it.