Stealing Thunder

by Patricia Rosemoor

  Free yourself of what you know, Ella. Let your mind seek a higher plane.

  Ella trembled with the effort. Her body ached as she tried to force her mind from the tangible world.

  Relax. Do not try so hard. Drift. Feel the elements inside you.

  Concentrating on her father’s instructions, Ella tried with everything she had. The ground trembled beneath her feet, and the sky seemed to stretch, pulling in a bank of clouds overhead.

  People around her gasped, and she heard a woman yell, “It’s going to rain!”

  Ella reached her mind up into the heavens. The wind picked up and the sky darkened and clouds piled up one on top of the other.

  “Aaiee!” a Lakota woman near her screamed. “What is Ella Thunder doing?”

  Ella gradually felt her mind shift.

  Focused now, she tried to seed the clouds so that rain would fall, but all she got for her effort was heat lightning that lit up the sky all around them like an electric network.

  The human agitation around her multiplied, but while she could feel the discontent and hear the sounds of voices, Ella could no longer see the faces or understand the words. Then thunder drowned out the babbling, but try as she might, she couldn’t will the clouds to open and release the rain.

  She lifted her face and silently prayed for a way to save Marisala.

  Don’t let another person die. Let me help her.

  Wind whipped around her like a cloak and pushed her toward the burning building.

  “Hey, stop! You can’t go in there!”

  A man rushed her as if to stop her himself, but when he reached for her, his hand went through her. Others made to join him to stop her, but Ella already crossed the threshold.

  Heat blasted her, making her heart thunder, smoke tried to choke her and dried her mouth and throat, but she couldn’t consider what she was doing, couldn’t give in to her fear. She focused on Marisala to keep herself going. If she stopped now, the young woman would no doubt die a horrible death.

  Flames licked at the steps. Her heart in her throat, she raced to them, took them two at a time, reached the second floor just as a terrified scream broke through the electric haze sparking her mind.

  “Marisala!” she yelled. “Where are you?”

  “Here!”

  The sob came from the other side of a curtain of flame. Ella could barely see the trapped woman. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes for a brief moment. And then she stepped forward. The flames themselves were under her power, for even as she thought it, she was able to step through without the fire touching her.

  Marisala was on the ground now, huddled below the open window. Her back was to the wall and she hugged her knees so tight she couldn’t move.

  “You have to get up,” Ella urged.

  Marisala mewled pitifully and curled up tighter.

  Ella reached down, grabbed the other woman by the wrist and pulled her to her feet. “C’mon, you can do this. Climb over,” she said, pushing Marisala onto the windowsill. “She’s coming out!” she yelled at the men below.

  As Marisala obeyed her, they formed a semicircle and one said, “We’ll get you!”

  But Marisala wouldn’t jump, so Ella squeezed herself onto the windowsill next to the woman.

  “Hold on to my hand.” When Marisla grabbed on to her, Ella said, “Together. We’ll jump together. On three. Okay? One…two…three….”

  She jumped, and still holding Marisala’s hand, pulled the woman along. Her head and stomach tumbled as strong hands caught Marisala….

  “Ella!”

  Tiernan’s voice jerked Ella out of the trance. She opened her eyes to see Marisala being set on the ground. Relief filled her. It had worked! Her journeying had saved the girl—Ella had never actually moved from outside the building.

  “Tiernan.”

  “Are you all right, then?” His arms snaked around her even as she heard the crowd rumble.

  Whispers of her using black magic surrounded her and someone yelled, “Sorceress, free Marisala!”

  “What happened?” Tiernan asked.

  “Marisala jumped from the building.” She stepped back out of his arms to take Marisala’s hand. “I’m going to take her back to the rez,” she said, hearing fire trucks in the distance.

  “You can’t take her anywhere,” Max said. “A deputy is on his way to arrest her.”

  “Did anyone see the lass set the fire?” Tiernan asked.

  “No,” the director admitted, “but she was inside the saloon when it started to burn.”

  “Then perhaps in this situation she is the victim.” Tiernan sounded reasonable and very convincing when he said, “Marisala will not be going anywhere in the state she is in. Let Ella take care of her and see to the rest later.”

  Max looked from Tiernan to Marisala and Ella. “All right, but you’ll all be hearing from the sheriff himself,” he warned them.

  “So be it.” Tiernan started herding them toward the parking lot as two fire trucks came into view. “I’ll drive.”

  Even as Ella said, “No, I need to do this,” something hard hit her in the shoulder. Her anger flared and, still hanging on to Marisala, she turned and stared through the crowd, somehow picking out the coward who’d cast the stone.

  “Aaiee!” the man cried as he ran away from her.

  “You need protection,” Tiernan said.

  Captivated by the emotion in his expression, she felt a physical response. Part of her wanted to let him put his arms around her and take her away from this insanity. But she couldn’t do that and with things spinning out of control, she didn’t want to see anything happen to him because of her. She hadn’t counted on this.

  So, regretfully, she said, “I have what I need. Go home, McKenna.”

  “I do not think so, Thunder. I am going to do whatever it takes to make sure you are safe. I have decided you’re worth fighting for.”

  Warmth spread through her. “Let me take care of Marisala…then we’ll talk about it,” Ella hedged. She didn’t know what she was going to do once she got to the rez, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. “Please, Tiernan.”

  Reluctantly, he backed off. She could feel his energy buzz around her as she pulled Marisala through the crowd to the parking lot. She piled the young woman into the passenger seat and then, voices still buzzing around her, got behind the wheel and started the engine.

  The last she saw of Tiernan was him with a small woman with wispy brown hair—he was waving a piece of paper in front of her narrow face, and they were headed away from the parking lot. Fast. What in the world was he up to? she wondered.

  A banging on the car’s hood and trunk put Tiernan out of mind for the moment. Lakota surrounded the SUV with threatening expressions and stances. Her anger flaring, Ella laid on the horn and slowly backed out of the space, gratified when two men had to scramble out of the way. She inched out of the parking lot. Next to her, Marisala moaned and rocked in her seat.

  “Are you all right? You’re not hurt, are you?” Ella asked.

  “No.” Marisala suddenly looked around as if she didn’t know where they were.

  “I’m taking you back to the rez, to Grandmother. Why did you leave the clinic?”

  “Clinic?”

  “Where I left you. Remember? I took you there this morning, because you weren’t feeling well. They were going to take care of you.”

  Marisala shrugged her shoulders. “Nathan will take care of me. He promised.”

  “Nathan.” The breath caught in Ella’s throat. She could hardly believe Marisala had brought up his name herself. “So Nathan is your friend?”

  She glanced at the other woman to see her nod.

  “Is he your new boyfriend? The one you wanted the love potion for?”

  “Love potion,” Marisala murmured, her forehead creasing as if she were trying to remember. “Need a love potion…” Then she simply appeared confused.

  Ella tried to get some clarity but Marisala wasn’t up to maki
ng any sense. She hoped Grandmother would be able to help the poor woman. She could at least take care of Marisala while Ella found Nathan and did what she had to. There had to be some way she could make him take the spell off the young woman, could make him restore her mind.

  As she drove through the rez, people left their trailers and houses to watch her. The hair on the back of her neck stood straight when she got to the center of town and people spilled from the casino and government building.

  She pulled in front of the house and helped Marisala out of the SUV. “C’mon, let me help you inside. Grandmother will give you something to eat, and then you can rest.”

  Marisala was docile, didn’t say anything, simply let Ella lead her to the house.

  The door opened before they got to it. With a fierce expression on her leathery face, Grandmother held out her arms and pulled Marisala inside. Ella glanced back once and realized people had come out on their porches and others had stopped their vehicles to watch. An old familiar feeling sent a shudder of revulsion through her, and she slammed the door shut on prying eyes.

  Grandmother got Marisala to sit in the living room and fussed over her to make her comfortable.

  “Where is her mother?” Ella asked. “I’ll go find her and let her know Marisala is here.”

  “Her mother died years ago. Starved to death,” Grandmother said.

  “Oh, my God,” Ella whispered, some things about Marisala becoming very clear to her. No wonder she had wanted power over a man. She hadn’t wanted to be abandoned again.

  “What happened to this poor girl?” Grandfather asked.

  “Something warped her mind.”

  “Something…or someone?”

  “I don’t know for sure.”

  Ella prayed she wouldn’t have to tell them that Nathan—their other grandchild—was evil. She wouldn’t do it yet, not until she was certain. A little spark of hope still burned in her breast that her cousin was innocent.

  “Ella, I have some soup on the stove.”

  “I’m not hungry, Grandmother, but perhaps Marisala could eat.”

  “It’ll be there when you’re ready.”

  Though Ella didn’t know that she would be here.

  Going to the window, she peered out at the street, now crowded with people, all surrounding this house. Her chest went tight and she felt sick inside.

  “What is wrong, Ella?” Grandfather asked.

  “They think I did this.” She indicated Marisala, folded in on herself.

  “They think you harmed someone? Why?”

  “Because they think I’m…like Father.”

  Indeed, it wasn’t long before she heard someone shout, “Come out and meet your accusers, sorceress!”

  The deep voice rumbled through the walls to get to her. Though she was no longer thirteen, Ella felt a lump in her throat as she returned to the window and saw the familiar angry faces. She was hurt and afraid, but she was angry, too. Was this how her father had felt when he’d been betrayed by the very people he’d helped?

  This couldn’t be happening again.

  “Come out, sorceress!” demanded a woman. “Before we burn down your house!”

  Ami Badeau! A lump in Ella’s throat threatened to choke her, and her eyes burned as she went to the door. She couldn’t let an out of control crowd hurt anyone else when it was her they wanted. That’s why her father had gone out to reason with The People—to protect his family. Knowing she had to do likewise, Ella turned back to see the grandparents staring at her, eyes wide with horror. No doubt they saw the past repeating itself.

  “Stop them, Ella,” Grandmother said, her dark eyes shiny with wetness. “Do not let them do to you what they did to your father. Use your power to stop them!”

  “I can’t, Grandmother. You know that. The People are not evil. They are superstitious. Afraid. Possibly under the spell of the true sorcerer.”

  Like her father before her, she knew it wasn’t right to use her powers for self gain, especially not if it meant hurting innocent people in the process. That was left to someone with evil in his heart. It had taken all these years to understand that. The People were innocent, victims of their own narrow lives and real fears, their minds twisted by the frightening things that had been happening all around them again. And, yes, they could be under the spell of the evil one, as well.

  “Don’t open the door!” Grandfather said.

  “I must. It is my destiny to do this.” Remembering Father’s words, she echoed him. “It is time.”

  She felt it in her blood, in her heart, in her whole being. It was time to face her fears and somehow beat them.

  The grandparents huddled together as Ella finally opened the door, and exchanged the safety of the house for the fear-charged dusk. Raising her voice, she said, “I have done nothing to any of you. I’ve done no evil—”

  “Liar!” came several voices.

  “We saw what you did on the set!”

  “The fire started before I got there.”

  “Not the fire, what you did to make Marisala leave the building.”

  “What is it you think you saw?” Ella asked, looking around to those who’d been on the set.

  A wide-eyed woman looked around wildly and told the others, “She made Marisala fly with her!”

  Ella started. Through journeying, she’d made a mental connection with Marisala—had others been able to see what had been in their minds?

  “Black magic! Evil!”

  “I saved a woman’s life!” Ella countered. “Someone else is at work here—someone who lives on the rez.”

  “Get her!” came an hysterical voice. “Keep her from hurting anyone else!”

  No matter that she’d tried to talk them down with truth and logic, they weren’t listening.

  Two men grabbed her and Ella prayed that she could survive without resorting to magic. She couldn’t hurt them—that wasn’t the way, she reminded herself even as the frenzied crowd surrounded her and the men dragged her toward the church. Though she screamed inside, no sound passed her lips.

  Wearing a venomous expression, Ami Badeau walked alongside her, saying, “I told you we take care of our own!”

  This wasn’t happening, Ella thought, her chest squeezing tight. Not again. Not to her.

  She’d been so careful not to raise suspicions. Knowing using her powers would be dangerous, she’d refused until today, but she hadn’t been able to let Marisala die.

  Why couldn’t they see that?

  As had happened fifteen years ago, The People weren’t themselves. Their faces had changed, their eyes burned with madness.

  All but Leonard, who came running from the direction of the casino. “What are you doing? Have you all gone crazy?”

  “We’re taking care of the plague that threatens the rez,” someone said.

  Leonard argued, “Wasn’t it enough that you killed Ella’s father?”

  “We destroyed but one evil,” Ami reminded him. “She is following in Joseph Thunder’s footsteps!”

  Leonard tried to get between Ella and her captors, but two men waylaid him and dragged him away.

  “You won’t stop us,” Ami said.

  A man added, “It’s the only way to cleanse the rez!”

  As she was dragged along, Ella looked around frantically. Where were the tribal police to stop this madness? She spotted Jimmy Iron Horse in front of the government building. He wasn’t with the crowd this time, but he wasn’t trying to stop it, either. He stood, staring out at the scene, grasping the railing, his posture stiff, his expression intent.

  Was he the one responsible for the green-tinged sky? Ella wondered, suddenly noticing the shift in the elements. The wind soughed and the earth itself tilted under her feet and the air grew thick with evil promise.

  Nathan was nowhere to be seen! Was he sitting back and laughing over her plight?

  Her gaze went back to the government building. Or was Jimmy Iron Horse manipulating them all?

  Voices rose
into a chant and Ella smelled smoke. One woman was dancing, another singing a death chant. She was pulled into the open circle and stopped before a post on which the track of a raven had been burned. Wood was stacked nearby, some of it already burning.

  What should I do? Tell me!

  Her heart thumped with a strange beat. As men with burning torches approached, her head went light. The flicker of power blossomed inside her even as she fought the two men who were holding her from tying her down.

  Terrified, Ella felt her mind opening….

  The sky darkened…the clouds stretched…the earth rumbled….

  Then the pounding of hoofbeats made the crowd turn and split in two as a big red roan thundered through the town, straight for the church.

  “Aaiee!”

  “No, it’s not possible!”

  “He’s come back for revenge!”

  The rugged man seated on the horse had long hair decorated with a single feather and features as craggy as the Badlands. He raised bronzed arms as if he were going to strike them all down with magic.

  People scattered, and one tripped, then screamed while trying to get away.

  Ella couldn’t believe her eyes. This couldn’t be happening. Could it? What she was seeing couldn’t be real.

  Still, she whispered, “Father?”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Take my hand.”

  Ella did as he bade. As they touched, her expression changed and her eyes widened. “You’re not—”

  Before she could finish and give him away, Tiernan pulled her up and she hooked one foot in the stirrup and swung her other leg behind him. Her arms wrapped around his waist and she lay her head against his back and his body responded with repressed emotion. Letting go of a war cry he’d heard from many a cinema sound track, he urged the roan forward and headed straight out of town. People had to jump out of the way so he didn’t hit them. He didn’t look back, didn’t stop until they were far up into the hills and away from the insanity.

  Only when he was certain they were safe, when he could no longer sense the evil that had overtaken Ella’s old neighbors, did he look for a place to stop Red Crow. He found it in a dense area of ponderosa pines through which flowed one of the area’s many mountain streams. A two-foot ribbon of water rushed over chunks of rocks.