Shadow of Time

by Jen Minkman

  In the meantime, Yazzie had picked up on her anxiety. He walked over to calm her down. “Hey, don’t worry,” he reassured her. “That was far away. They’re wild animals, but they’ll never attack humans if they’re outnumbered. This is just one coyote.”

  “You think so?” she asked uncertainly.

  “I know so. Just relax.” He put his hand on her shoulder. “There’s five of us, so we have nothing to fear.”

  Hannah glanced around. Yeah, maybe Yaz was right. Clearly, she was the only one making a fuss. Ivy hadn’t even looked up when the coyote howled, and Amber was busy snapping a few pictures of a rock pillar. She’d been the only one freaked out by the howling. She ... and Josh.

  “Shitsílí?” Yazzie shot Josh a worried look. “Are you all right, man?”

  Josh gawked at his cousin as if frozen in time, then let his eyes dart to Hannah. He let out a sigh. “Yeah, I’m okay,” he replied in a distant voice. “No worries.”

  Before they even had the chance to ask Josh more questions, he turned around and stalked away, disappearing behind an overhanging rock to the left side of Rainbow Bridge. Yazzie shrugged, stifling a curse when he followed Josh. “T’ahálo! Wait up! What’s wrong?”

  Hannah waited for a few minutes to see if Yazzie would come back with Josh in tow. When that didn’t happen, she absently made her way to the other side of Rainbow Bridge, sitting down with her back against the sandstone interior of the arch. Amber joined her.

  “It’s amazing, this place,” Amber said with awe in her voice.

  “Yeah, it’s pretty awesome, isn’t it?” Hannah smiled at Amber. “Oh, by the way, do you happen to have my iPod?”

  Amber nodded. She dug it up from her shoulder bag. “Thanks for lending it to me.”

  Hannah grinned. “I was asleep, you dope.”

  “Hey, I asked politely! But as they say, silence is consent.”

  “Hmpf. Wasn’t I even snoring?”

  Amber laughed and stood up. “You’re way too charming for that. I’m going to join Ivy to take a few pictures of the view, okay?”

  Hannah rested her head against the stone surface. After Amber left, she quickly switched on her iPod and plugged in her earbuds. She didn’t want to hear a single coyote howl anymore.

  Scrolling through her playlist, she settled on a peaceful tune from her New Age collection and closed her eyes to relax, with the sun warming her entire body. The bushes around her stirred in the wind, making a rustling sound fitting right in with the panpipe tune she was listening to. A fly landed on her forehead, and she brushed the insect away with her hand.

  The next thing she felt was an icy gust of wind stinging her face. Completely baffled, Hannah opened her eyes. The entire landscape around her had changed into a winter wonderland, covered in snow. She was standing now, still next to Rainbow Bridge. Her feet were clad in boots made out of some kind of dark leather. Snowflakes clung to her cheeks, melting where they touched her skin, the bitter wind burning her lips. The rocks she leaned against were cold as ice. And to her left was the older version of Josh from her dreams, wearing a heavy, traditional cloak and roughly woven woolen pants. He was watching her anxiously.

  Suddenly, she heard coyote howls coming from behind her.

  Turning around, Hannah saw three strange shadows standing there. They were watching her and Josh with murderous eyes, red-glowing in the scant light of the wintry late afternoon.

  Her heart turned cold as ice. One of the apparitions took a step forward and morphed into a coyote, jumping at her with flashing teeth.

  “No, please!”

  Hannah woke herself up with a scream of pure fear. She’d balled her hands into tight fists, readying herself for an attack that wouldn’t come. Dizzily, she opened her eyes and noticed she was still sitting, her back against the warm sandstone of Rainbow Bridge. This was still the same summer afternoon. Yazzie and Josh were beside her, the latter with a mortified look in his eyes.

  Josh kneeled down and stroked her hair. “Sha’di! Are you okay?”

  Hannah looked up at him. Strange. His eyes were red-rimmed, as if he’d been crying. This, somehow, caused her to start crying herself. She couldn’t stop it. Shaking with sobs, Hannah climbed into his embrace, huddling against Josh.

  “I had such a terrifying dream,” she finally whispered.

  “You were asleep again?” he asked in surprise.

  She hesitated. “Well, it was more like some kind of vision, actually.”

  “This is a sacred place,” Yazzie pointed out, crouching down next to them. “Some Diné come here on vision quests, and some other visitors have seen or experienced strange things under this bridge. But it’s not common for people to experience visions when they’re not actively looking for them through meditation.”

  Josh frowned. He slowly let go of Hannah and shifted back. “What did you see?” His voice sounded tense, although he was clearly trying his best to seem calm.

  Hannah hesitated. What the heck was she supposed to say? “I’d really rather not talk about it.” She stubbornly crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked down.

  Josh’s gaze didn’t leave her face. She could tell he wanted to ask her more, but he remained quiet. She bit her lip. Only a few hours ago, she’d promised to tell him if there were things bothering her or making her afraid. But where to start? And how to phrase things and not sound crazy? She’d already vented this morning by voicing her irrational fears to Ben. That would have to be enough for now.

  “I’ll drop by real soon and make you a dreamcatcher, okay?” Josh then said quietly, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. It took him a long time to let go of it, like he didn’t want to leave her behind when he finally got up and walked away. He was clearly still rattled. By what, she had no idea.

  Yazzie was still facing Hannah, regarding her thoughtfully. “Maybe you’re highly sensitive to the spirits around you. Have you ever seen inexplicable things before?”

  Hannah thought back to the past week. “Lately, I have.”

  “Sometimes, such talents will bloom when you’re a little bit older and wiser,” he said.

  Hannah twisted her face in a wry smile. “That sounds awesome. Can I still swap it for something else? I’d rather learn how to fill in my tax return.”

  Yazzie snickered. “Sounds good. In that case, you can come and help me at the hardware store if you want.” He got to his feet and stuck out his hand to pull her up. “Come on, let’s take a final stroll to the viewing point.”

  Ivy and Amber joined them, and they climbed the rock rising up next to the sandstone bridge so they had a nice view of Rainbow Bridge and its surroundings from higher up. Slowly, Hannah calmed down, listening to the neighbors’ cheerful banter. She had no idea where Josh was, but it was clear he needed some alone time. His antics were starting to puzzle her more and more.

  At half past three, Yazzie suggested walking back to the docks. They descended from the viewpoint and made their way back to the path leading to the jetty.

  “Where did Josh go?” Ivy wondered aloud.

  “Oh, he went back early,” Yazzie improvised. “He said the heat was bothering him, so he wanted to get something to drink.”

  Yazzie kept up a steady pace, and it wasn’t long before Hannah was so hot she was longing for a drink as well. The water bottle in her bag was almost empty. When they rounded the last corner and saw Yazzie’s boat in the distance, all four of them were exhausted. Yazzie went to the back of the boat, where he found Josh sitting on the deck next to the wheel, staring out over the water. Hannah grabbed five cans of soda from the mini-bar, handing two over to Josh and Yazzie.

  Josh looked up. “Ahe’hee.” His eyes were distant. He got up and positioned himself behind the wheel. “I’ll steer her out, shinaaí,” he told his cousin.

  Yazzie nodded and shot a sideways glance at Hannah that was clearly loaded with ‘maybe he and I should talk alone’. A good thing Yazzie took it upon himself to interrogate Josh about what ha
d happened at Rainbow Bridge, because she wouldn’t even know where to start. Hannah took the other three cans of soda to the bow, where Ivy and Amber had slumped down.

  They both looked worn-out but happy. Hannah didn’t say much as the boat pulled out of the inlet and set sail to Wahweap. A shadow had been cast over this place, and it irritated her immensely. Rainbow Bridge was supposed to be a sacred spot, but all it did to her was give her nightmares and horrible visions. Hopefully, Yazzie was wrong about her developing a sixth sense. She really didn’t need that on top of everything else.

  With a shudder, she remembered the shadows appearing in her dream last night. And now they were here again, in her vision. Why had one of them changed into a coyote? Was it just because the howling at Rainbow Bridge had scared her so much?

  The hottest part of the day was over. The sun had moved to a lower position in the sky, so Ivy and Amber ventured out in bikinis to sunbathe on the bow. Josh had fled to the cabin to play some music on an old guitar lying around.

  Hannah decided to set up an umbrella next to the wheel so she could read her book in the shade. Yazzie was steering the boat.

  “Hey, biligaana,” Yazzie called her, poking her side with his foot. “Can you get me a bottle of water? I’m starting to feel like a phoenix here. You guys should make sure the captain stays alive.”

  Hannah pulled a bottle from her bag and handed it to Yazzie. He sat down on the deck, holding the wheel in one hand, putting the bottle to his lips with the other.

  “So. What’s up between you and Josh?” he asked with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

  Hannah blushed. “What should be up between us?” she shrugged.

  Yazzie shot her a look from underneath his black hat. “Oh, come on. I may be wearing a silly pair of hippie glasses, but I’m not blind.”

  Hannah let out a disgruntled sigh. What was wrong with everyone around her? Yazzie, of all people, should be aware of the fact that Josh saw her as a member of his family. “Well, I hate to break the news to you, but maybe it’s time to buy a hearing aid,” she snipped. “He’s been calling me his big sister for the past two days now, in the presence of his entire family.”

  Yazzie started to laugh. “No, he hasn’t.”

  Hannah fell silent.

  “No? What do you mean, no?” she finally stuttered.

  He leaned back, eyeing her pensively. “He used to call you sha’di, but now he calls you shan díín. It means sunbeam.”

  Hannah’s stomach made a perfect revolution. Oh. So Josh had compared her to the sun for the past two days. She’d totally missed that he had another nickname for her, and she felt like kicking herself for even thinking her Diné Bizaad was good enough to understand him. An inane grin spread across her face. “Oh,” she said stupidly.

  Yazzie grinned back. “I mean, we as Diné can hear the wordplay on the word for older sister, but Josh doesn’t call you that anymore. He’s turned it into something more beautiful.”

  Wow. She suddenly felt so much lighter.

  Yazzie winked at her. “I hope this was a useful one-on-one.”

  “Yeah,” Hannah said breathlessly, deciding to kick Emily instead of herself the next time she saw her. Couldn’t her best friend have told her Josh called her his ray of sunshine all the time?

  When the boat arrived in Wahweap Harbor, Ben was waiting for them at the docks. He hugged her tight when she stepped ashore. “Hey sis, how’ve you been today?”

  “I’m fine. We had fun. So, did you miss me so much you decided to wait for me here?”

  “Of course. I’m glad you guys are back again. I was beginning to feel like Gandalf, sitting around in a cabin all by myself with just piles of dusty books for company.”

  Hannah snickered. “I admire your endurance.”

  “Studying is good for me,” Ben said fervently, as if he was trying to convince himself.

  “As long as you don’t take those books with you on our camping trip,” Josh warned, walking up to them. “That would truly worry me.”

  Ben scoffed. “And me. You don’t seriously think I would slog around on the rez with twenty pounds of textbooks in a backpack? That would make me certifiable.”

  Ben and Josh walked back to the harbor entrance, chatting about their planned hike, and Hannah looked around to see where Ivy and Amber were. Maybe they could all grab dinner together. She wanted to stay close to Josh for a bit longer, now that Yazzie had given her the heads-up about her nickname. Life looked a lot rosier all of a sudden.

  To her disappointment, Josh announced he was going home when they were all standing at the parking lot. He was avoiding her gaze when he said it, and Hannah tried to keep up a smile. She couldn’t understand what was up with him. Was he still upset about the howling coyote at Rainbow Bridge? That didn’t make much sense. She had far more reason to be upset after that terrible vision.

  “I’ll see you soon.” He gave her a quick hug. “Take care of yourself, okay?”

  Hannah nodded, pressing her body against his a few more seconds than usual.

  When Josh drove away, he left her in Wahweap with a myriad of unanswered questions.

  Hannah had taken a sleeping pill when she got home. Of course, she was still curious about her dreams, and whether they were trying to tell her a story, but after the terrifying vision at Rainbow Bridge she had seen quite enough of the storyline for a while. When she took a soporific, she never dreamed.

  She never really felt good after a pill-induced sleep, either. With a foggy, still half-sedated head, she stepped into the kitchen.

  “Hey sis,” Ben greeted her. He put away one of his textbooks. “I’m going to go out in a while to get some camping gear with Josh. Will you be all right?”

  “Yeah, I’m going to grab lunch with Emily.” Hannah hesitated. “Say hello to him, okay?” she added.

  “Will do.” Ben put his thumb up. “Have fun with Em. Say hello to her from me as well. And drop by the police station when you have the time.”

  Hannah nodded, plodding to the fridge to get some juice. Just when she’d poured herself a glass, she heard her cell phone beep in her room. Still groggy, she walked back and read the text message. ‘hi han! can u make it @ 2? nick will b there 2. xoxo em.’

  She texted back and felt a dull headache coming on. It seemed she only had two choices – having night terrors or feeling confused and slightly dazed all day. Maybe it was a good idea to cut back on the sleeping pills next time. Half a dose would probably work as well.

  When she stepped onto the porch, she saw the Greenes’ car was gone. Shame Amber and Ivy weren’t there to hang out with. She wouldn’t have minded some company and letting off steam about all the things keeping her mind busy since yesterday. Her strange vision. Her discovery about Josh. His strange reaction to her at Rainbow Bridge.

  Hannah sat down, staring out over the lake. A glance at her phone told her it was already quarter to twelve. She actually still needed to drive to Page and contact the police again – after all, she promised Ben – but she didn’t see the point. Victim service was there for victims, but nothing had really happened to her. And Police Officer Curry was a nice guy, but hopelessly unqualified to deal with strange visions, looming shadows, or dreams about coyotes and murderous Mexicans.

  At quarter past one, Hannah packed up to go to Grassroots and meet Emily. She stepped inside and spotted her friend sitting at the same table they’d sat at before.

  “Hannah!” Emily called out, waving at her.

  “Hey Em! Nick’s not here yet?” Hannah pulled out a chair and flopped down.

  “He’ll be a bit late. He just texted me.”

  “Oh, no worries. In fact, we need some private time, my girl. I officially want to blame you for holding out on me. You’re the worst BFF ever.”

  “Huh? Why?” Emily raised her eyebrows.

  “Like, couldn’t you have told me that Josh has been calling me ‘sunbeam’ for the past few days?!”

  Emily gave her a baffled look. �
�Oh, I thought he would tell you himself at some point. Or you’d ask him what it meant. Cute nickname, isn’t it?”

  “Uh, no. I thought he was calling me his older sister.”

  “Why the heck would he? Isn’t it glaringly obvious that he’s in love with you?”

  Hannah stopped short, her face flushing. “You ... you really think so?”

  Emily sighed theatrically. “Yes. I really think so. And so do you. Come on, admit it. Even a blindfolded mole can see he’s interested in you, you nutcase. I had no idea you’d misunderstood him or I would have told you, of course.”

  Hannah bit her lip. “Okay, I hope you’re right. He was suddenly keeping his distance yesterday. Weird things have been going down at Rainbow Bridge.”

  “Oh?” Emily grabbed her hand. “That’s true, I’ve been meaning to ask you. Amber told me last night you urgently needed company on Wednesday and Thursday evening, because Ben will be gone for two nights and you feel jumpy. Plus, for some reason she was grilling me about people without auras, and she went all secretive on me and told me I should ask you when I wanted to know more. So here I am, asking you, wanting to know more.”

  Hannah felt a grin spread across her face. “Hold on, Em. When, exactly, did you see Amber?”

  Emily suddenly turned a bit red herself. “Just, last night,” she mumbled evasively. “I met her ... we met at the beach.”

  Hannah sucked in a mock scandalized breath. “You truly are the worst BFF ever! You don’t share things with me anymore, not even going on a date with my neighbor girl.”

  Emily cleared her throat and shook her head. “Let’s skip that for now, okay?” she deflected. “First, I want to know about the strange things you mentioned.”

  Talk about changing the subject. Now she had to fess up to being stark-raving mad – there was no way around it. Hannah looked around furtively, when the door swung open and Nick stepped into the café. “Let’s wait till we’re all properly sitting down,” she stalled.

  “My dissertation is well under way,” Nick beamed, once he’d ordered lunch. “It should be, too. I’m off on that trek through the rez with Ben and Josh in two days. We’ll take three days, they said. And how are you doing? Seriously, you look like a car hit you.” He gave Hannah a questioning look.