When he arrived at her grandparent’s house, he tied up Red Crow in the shade of an elm tree. Before he could even reach the front door, it flew open. Ella’s grandmother, Dina, grabbed his arm and rushed him in, then peered out the doorway as if expecting he’d been followed.
“We don’t know where Ella is,” she said, exchanging significant glances with her husband, who came out of the kitchen to join them.
Worry pulsated from both elderly people. While they appeared exhausted, as if they hadn’t slept all night, Marisala Saldana serenely sat in a rocking chair by the window. Humming under her breath, she was lost in her own head, not even seeming to notice his presence. Indeed, though he tested her, he got nothing but confused thoughts and images.
Ella’s grandfather said, “Someone rescued Ella from an angry crowd last night….”
“I’m the one who rescued her with the help of a makeup artist,” Tiernan admitted. He wasn’t about to detail the way they’d connected, so he skipped to the important part. “Later, we fought. I wanted Ella to leave, to go someplace safe. She was angry with me. She took the horse and headed off. I fear for her safety, for I do not know where she went…and she has not contacted me since.”
“We tried to find out what happened to our granddaughter.” Samuel Thunder sat down hard as if he couldn’t control his ire. “Jimmy Iron Horse was no help!”
Dina Thunder cast forth both dread and anger. “We went to him, demanded he find Ella and protect her, and he told me that if she turned herself in, he would be glad to help. As if she was the one who had done something wrong.”
“A shame on The People,” Samuel muttered. “They took our son from us, and now they want to take our granddaughter. I am ashamed to call the rez our home. When you find Ella, do whatever you must to get her away from this place. We should have left years ago when our son was taken from us, but even then we were too old and without resources to start over.” He mourned. “If we had gone then, Ella would never have had a reason to come back to this cursed place!”
Tiernan’s heart went out to the couple. “I can try to convince her again, but as I am sure you know, Ella is very strong-willed. And she blames what happened only on one man—the sorcerer who put fear in the hearts and confusion in the minds of your people. She is determined to find and stop him before he can do any more harm.”
The grandparents gave each other a significant look, then Dina said, “Her father wouldn’t use his power to fight for himself, and I do not think Ella will, either. You must convince her to do whatever she must to protect herself…or to leave forever. We would rather lose her to the white world than see her die. That would break our hearts all over again.”
“Can you think of anywhere I might look?” Tiernan asked. “Or anyone I might speak with who could help?”
“Our grandson Nathan will help you find Ella and protect her,” Samuel said. “Go to him.”
Tiernan didn’t argue. Let them believe what they would. Though he didn’t expect help from Nathan, he wanted to see the man anyway. If Ella’s cousin was the guilty one, he would know soon enough. Her grandparents could wait for the bad news until he was certain.
“Would you know where I might find Nathan?” he asked. “Ella was looking for him yesterday but never found him.”
“He has a cabin out of town halfway to the top of the mountain. Perhaps he went there,” Samuel said, then gave directions on how to find it.
Tiernan thanked them and was about to leave when Marisala suddenly awakened from her stupor.
“He took Ella,” she muttered darkly, her eyes unnaturally wide and bright. “He stole Ella Thunder and won’t give her back. With Ella out of the way, he’ll be able to do whatever he wants to any of us. No one can stop him now.”
“He…who?”
Did she mean Nathan or not? He didn’t ask, not wanting the elderly couple upset if it wasn’t necessary.
Tiernan’s hopes that Marisala would clarify were soon dashed, for she quickly became lost in her own world again. He could feel her spirit retreat and her mind lose focus. He thanked the Thunders and promised he would let them know when he found their granddaughter. Waves of hope warring with fear washed over him as he left the house.
Once out of town, he turned Red Crow onto the gravel road and pulled out his cell to call Kate. He was relieved when she answered on the second ring.
“I’m off in search of Ella, Kate. After she brought Red Crow back, she simply disappeared.”
“Ella didn’t bring back Red Crow, Tiernan. He found his way home on his own. When I left the house at dawn, he was wandering outside. I fed and watered him and then put him in the pasture myself.” Kate heaved a worried-sounding sigh, yet said, “Tiernan…I—I’m sure she’s fine.”
He couldn’t shake the sense of doom that hung over his head. “’Tis the prophecy, Kate.”
“Then fight for her, Tiernan. Don’t give up. It’s not too late. It can’t be.”
He couldn’t keep thinking about it. If he did, he would be lost, unable to do what he must so that he could save the woman he loved.
Twenty minutes later, having taken the road higher into the mountains to a small log cabin, he tied Red Crow to a hitching post with a trough where the horse could get water. Before he could approach the cabin, the front door opened and Nathan stood there, silent, staring at Tiernan as if he could see right through him.
“What is it you want, McKenna?” Nathan asked.
Tiernan didn’t stop until he was directly in front of the man. The closer he got, the better chance he had of reading him. Of knowing the truth. “I am looking for Ella.”
“Ella’s not here.”
When Nathan easily blocked him from getting anything off him, Tiernan bit down his frustration. He needed to feel, as well as hear, what Nathan Lantero had to say in order to know the truth.
“Where is she, then?”
“How would I know?”
“She’s your cousin.”
Nathan dipped his head in agreement. “We are related…but I hardly know her anymore.”
“You saved her from burning to death once.”
“In another lifetime.”
“Are you not concerned at what happens to someone you once cared about?”
Nathan let down his guard for a moment and the rush of regret that wrapped around Tiernan put him on edge.
“As hard as it might be for you to believe, I still care about her,” Nathan said. “What is it you want from me?”
“I already told you.”
“Yes, you’re looking for Ella, but there’s something more. Something darker.”
Was Nathan reading him? He seemed to be in tune with Tiernan’s fears.
“There’s Marisala.”
Nathan started. “What about her?”
“Something happened to her. Something bad.” The rush of panic suddenly enveloping Tiernan made him realize Nathan had just lost control. Good, then he would get to the truth. “Marisala is gone, Nathan. She’s a shell. Out of her mind. Someone did that to her purposely and with malice. The question is—was it you?”
“I would never hurt Marisala!”
The sense of shock and disbelief whirling around them almost convinced Tiernan, but he had to be certain.
“You’re not wearing your buffalo totem,” he said. When Nathan didn’t answer, Tiernan filled him in. “Yesterday morning, Ella found Marisala out of her mind and took her to the reservation clinic for observation. Afterward, we went back to her trailer to see if we could figure out who did this to her, and we found your totem.”
“I must have left it there when I was with her a couple nights ago. I would never hurt Marisala,” Nathan repeated. “Because I love her. She swore she loved me, too, but she wanted off this rez and I finally found where I belong—right here!—and I wouldn’t leave again, not even for her. I wasn’t enough for her, couldn’t offer her enough, so she told me she found someone else. Obviously someone dangerous.” He shook his head. “Whe
re is she now?”
“With your grandparents.”
Nathan slammed the door behind him and started to push by Tiernan. “I must go to her.”
Tiernan put out an arm and stopped him. “For now, Marisala is safe. Ella…I am not so confident.”
“How long has she been missing?”
“We were together last night, but we fought, and she went off alone. Something happened to her.” Then he faced the truth. Warped mind and all, Marisala had been spot on. “The villain took Ella…stole her,” he said, remembering Marisala’s words. “He has her now. If she was safe, she would never let us all worry like this.”
“She would have called someone,” Nathan agreed.
“How the hell will I ever find her?”
“If she is aware, she can find you.”
Startled by that, Tiernan echoed, “Aware? What do you mean?”
“On another plane. If she were to call on the abilities she inherited from her father—”
“Which she is afraid to use.”
“If she were to journey, and if you were receptive…open to it…”
Tiernan remembered Ella saying that, of all her da’s apprentices, Nathan had held the most promise. “She told me you had abilities, as well. Why can’t you use them to find her?”
Nathan shook his head. “I gave up the Lakota mysticism I practiced to fit in with the white world. While I still walk a more aware path than the majority of The People…I can no longer do this or I would.”
If he wasn’t lying through his teeth, Tiernan thought, though he got nothing from the man that would tell him otherwise.
And then Nathan said, “Perhaps you can find Ella yourself,” which made Tiernan’s heart skip a beat.
“What makes you think that?”
“I can still sense power in a man,” Nathan said. “I sense something in you. Besides, you’re the one with a connection to Ella. If that connection is strong enough, you will be able to reach her.”
Tiernan tried to get a handle on what Nathan was saying. Reach her how? On this other plane? Before he could settle it in his mind, Nathan pushed by him, so determined to go after Marisala that Tiernan didn’t try to stop him.
As Nathan got into his truck, he called out, “I hope you find her in time.”
“In time?”
But the sound of the truck’s door slamming drowned out his question. Nathan took off and Tiernan ran for Red Crow.
In time…
The clock was ticking.
COLD SEEPED THROUGH her thin cotton clothing and enveloped her flesh, making Ella wonder why she had ever thought the mine would keep her warm. She’d been fine when she’d been moving through the tunnels searching for answers, but now that she was tied up and on the ground, a cool stream of air blowing over her, she was chilled straight through.
To make it worse, her head ached and every time she tried to lift it, she felt the tunnel whirl around her. Before she had been able to identify the villain, there’d been a loud crack and a flash of light, after which she’d felt a sharp pain in her thigh. Then she’d dropped to the tunnel floor.
Another dart, she assumed.
Though she worked at the bindings keeping her hands behind her back, she made no headway at removing them. Her feet were secured, as well, and the two sets of rope were attached one to the other, so she couldn’t even stand and try to hop out of there. She lay on her side in a soft arc.
How long had it been?
Was it day or night?
What was he planning on doing to her?
As if she’d sent some kind of signal that she was awake, footsteps echoed down the tunnel toward her. She rolled over so she could see in that direction and realized the man was carrying a battery-powered lantern in such a way that she still couldn’t see his face.
Would he continue to hide his identity from her?
Not if she could help it.
Tuning in to her higher self, Ella quickly grew aware. She analyzed every sound and movement the villain made, and when he stopped, the lantern held out before him illuminating her and the surrounding area and little else—certainly not him—it no longer mattered.
“Afraid of me?” she asked. Maybe he should be—even she didn’t know what she might be able to do once her head cleared of the drug. For now, however, she subdued the anger that seethed inside her—she needed answers first. “Maybe you should be afraid.”
“Big talk for someone who is in my power.” He disguised his voice with a low, raspy tone.
“So why haven’t you killed me?”
“I don’t need to,” he said, laughing. “The mine will do it for me.”
Just as she’d thought—he didn’t want to do the dirty work himself. He would just as soon leave her to die of thirst and then let her rot.
“And yet you had to come to check on me, to make sure I was still here,” she said.
“You’re not going anywhere. And I’m not here for you. I have work to do.”
She analyzed the way he spoke, the cadence and intonation. And promptly eliminated one of the three suspects. “Need more gold?”
“So…you figured it out.”
“Kind of hard not to after seeing that vein. I made the mistake of assuming the rock I found in Marisala’s trailer was fool’s gold.”
“Marisala was a greedy bitch!”
He nearly lost it, she thought, nearly gave up the altered voice.
She asked, “Is that why you took Marisala’s mind?”
His harsh laughter filled the tunnel. “She stopped being interesting and fun and became a problem.”
“Which you never liked dealing with, did you, Leonard?” she asked, now certain of the villain’s identity. “You might as well step into the light, let me see the man responsible for my death.”
“How did you know?” Leonard Hawkins asked, now in his normal voice.
“If I hadn’t already sensed you, the conversation would have done it. You always did shy away from dealing with anything that was too difficult.”
“You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve done.”
“Like set up my father? I didn’t know you had it in you, Leonard—the abilities, I mean. But what did Father ever do to you?”
“Joseph interfered with my plans. He discovered my secret—the gold I’d found and sold. He said it belonged to the tribe, that I couldn’t keep it for myself even if I was the one who spent years looking for it. And when I did make that first strike, it wasn’t like I was able to get a fortune out. I was only using the old tools. It was barely enough to give me a better life.”
“But apparently, you improved your skills. Then you made sure the casino was approved and built and demanded to run it. Great cover. No one would question why you had so much more than anyone else. Did you ever think that if there was a concerted effort by the tribe to remove the gold from this mine, there would be enough money for everyone to have a better life?”
“I couldn’t let them in here. They would have ruined everything.”
She didn’t know if it was the confusion caused by the drug or if he was being purposely cryptic. “I don’t get it.”
“The Paha Sapa gives me my powers.”
Her father had made the same claim. “What does that have to do with the mine?”
“I need to be inside the mountain. I developed my powers in here when I was messing around one day. And this is the only place I can use them effectively.”
Leonard was so superstitious that he believed he could only journey in this specific mine, Ella realized.
“The reason you never left the rez.”
Sounding angry, he said, “Now the movie company will invade the mine—”
“And you’re afraid they will find your gold.”
“They plan to blow up the entrance. Not only would I lose the gold—”
“You would lose your power,” Ella finished for him.
She wondered if he’d considered the caves. There were a couple on rez land tha
t would bring him inside the mountain just as well as did this mine. Not that she was going to give him any ideas.
“Enough! I have work to do!” Leonard picked up his lantern and walked past her.
Ella rolled to watch him as he approached another branch and, circling what looked to be a mine shaft that would take him even deeper in the mountain, chose the left tunnel.
At least she knew who and why. Now all she had to do was figure out how to free herself.
And how to bring him down.
If only she didn’t have to face this alone….
If only she hadn’t let her temper best her and make her leave Tiernan, she wouldn’t be in this fix.
Or they would be in it together.
Together…as they should be. She’d felt the connection all along, but she’d wanted to deny it. No longer. If only he were here. If only she could do something to let Tiernan know where she was.
A thrill shot through her as she realized that maybe she could let him know.
If the mine had truly augmented Leonard’s powers, maybe it would do the same for her.
Closing her eyes, Ella focused, sought help from the elements. The air current circled her and the tunnel floor below her began to gently vibrate.
Give me the ability to reach the man I love.
You have it in you, Ella, her father says. You always have. It’s time.
The journey? she asked.
Your other half will make you whole.
Her other half…Tiernan. She focused inward, drew on her memory of him the last time she saw him.
I’m sorry, Tiernan. I never should have left like I did. Hear me. Please.
She hurtled through the clouds, and propelled by the wind, she sought him in every direction.
Tiernan, I need you! she called.
The air shifted and she slowed and her surroundings came into focus. She was in a stand of ponderosa pines like the ones where they’d lain together the night before. She felt his essence and followed the trail, eventually catching sight of him, straight-spined and determined, riding one with Red Crow.
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