Chapter 24

 

 

The flap covering the door had slipped down during the night and when the sun came up it sought out every crevice within the lean-to, flooding the makeshift dwelling with light. Zac startled awake. Where was he? And then he remembered. He swallowed hard but couldn’t keep the images of wolves and Pronghorn Antelope from dancing across his memory. But he was alive thanks to his friend. And the quicker he forgot what he’d seen, the better.

He stepped outside. The desert was beautiful in the morning—still, nothing moving, not even a breeze, the songs of birds all around him. But he was hungry and thirsty and lost. He saw two desert scorpions scurry past before he realized standing barefoot might not be the best thing to do. He hurriedly pulled on his sneakers. Decision time. Should he just stay put and hope someone would come his way? Or continue to walk knowing sooner or later he had to come to a road?

Walking won out. He couldn’t see any bit of civilization around him. He turned in a complete circle, but the landscape didn’t change. He tried not to think about Nathan. He knew he might not ever see him again. And he knew that Nathan had sacrificed the chance of a new life to stay with his uncle and become a part of the old ways of his tribe.

Zac’s people in Alaska wouldn’t make the same demands on him. He didn’t have to live in a village. His mother had opened a tattoo parlor in Anchorage and lived in that city for many years. But out here in the desert, one’s strength and identity came from a strange and demanding brotherhood like the one for witches. Nathan would become a witch, a Skinwalker. One who would do evil. But he had saved Zac’s life at the cost of his own. No one could ask that even of a true, blood brother.

 

* * *

 

It was eleven-thirty before Ben and the chief spotted Zac about a hundred feet from the road.

“There he is.” Ben had been scouring the landscape using the chief’s binoculars. “To your right.”

The chief gunned the Bronco up and over the slightly banked lip on the dirt road and took off in the direction of a solitary figure walking slowly toward them.

Ben jumped from the Bronco and ran to Zac, leaving Chief Billie to stay in the SUV while Ben hugged Zac and didn’t try to hold back his joy and relief. “Are you okay?”

Zac barely had the energy to hug Ben back. “Yeah, just tired. I got turned around.”

“Nathan said he told you to go to the road, but it’s tough to tell where the road starts and the desert stops. It all looks alike out here.”

“You saw Nathan?”

“Yeah, at his uncle’s house. That must have been a nasty fall the old man took. It was lucky that the herders found you guys and could get his uncle back to his house. I hope he’s checked with a doctor.”

Zac had stepped back and was staring at Ben. “Yeah, that was lucky,” he said slowly.

“I’m sorry about J.C.—sorry for the grandfather—without his grandson to help him, it’s good that Nathan could step in.”

“What happened to J.C.?” Zac hesitantly asked, “Is he okay?”

“J.C. is dead. We’ll probably never know for sure, but it looks like he lost his life when his car caught fire.”

Zac turned away, took a breath, turned back and met Ben’s gaze. “Was it drugs?” Just to be on the safe side, Zac crossed his fingers after sticking a hand in the pocket of his jean jacket. Any lie that he might have to tell wouldn’t count if he crossed his fingers. But this was unbelievable; it was as if yesterday afternoon never happened.

“Chief Billie thinks so. J.C. had the reputation of partying. You know that. Woman passing the Camaro on the road phoned in the fire, said someone was passed out behind the wheel. She didn’t stop, and help didn’t get there in time to make a difference. I know J.C. caused a lot of trouble, but a life lost at such a young age is always sad.”

Zac nodded. Wow. Just like that, everything was covered up. Just like magic. In fact, maybe it was magic.

“A penny for your thoughts.” Zac had grown quiet and was looking at the ground. A reaction to J.C.’s death, Ben supposed.

“I’m glad Nathan will be able to help his uncle.” Zac pushed his left hand in an opposite pocket and crossed the fingers on that hand, too. “But I don’t think he’ll want to leave and go back to school with me.”

“That might not be possible now. But later, maybe.”

“Yeah, maybe for high school.”

“Let’s get going. I don’t want to keep Chief Billie waiting any longer.”

 

* * *

 

The horses were already gone when they got back to the camp. Neighbors of the old man with one driving a pickup, had collected the horses’ food and even loaded up the galvanized watering tub Oscar had provided. Trini came out to say that two herders had found the saddles the boys had left in the trees and brought them in. And then she fussed over Zac as though he’d been lost a month. Finally, they were back in their own trailer. Chief Billie was going to the hospital tent to check on Charley Chase, so the two of them were alone.

“Hungry? There’s some ham and Swiss unless you guys made more omelets.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Really?” Odd. “Well, then, how about a ride out to see Nathan—maybe take them a treat from the Two Sisters.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Zac, what’s wrong? Nathan’s your best friend.”

“We had a fight.” Zac stuffed both hands into his pockets to hide his crossed fingers and added a silent prayer.

“What about?”

“He said Alaskan Natives aren’t real Indians. Not like the Navajo, anyway. He said it was a lie that the Alaskan Natives were the first indigenous tribe. That they were lying when they said they were already here when the others came. And he didn’t think we were real men because we didn’t have to fight anybody. Not like the Spaniards who had horses. And nobody forced us to leave our land and killed hundreds of us.”

Ben listened quietly. “You don’t think you can make up? Maybe text him some articles?”

“No. It’s okay. I want to go home.”

“There’s been talk about the airlines reopening for domestic travel by this weekend. Do you want to go that soon?”

“Yeah. That’d be perfect. Can you find out? And get me a ticket? I’ll call Mom and tell her. The guys have been texting me. They’re already practicing on the city’s soccer field. I need to be there.” With that, Zac hurried to his bedroom and shut the door.

Ben admitted to being a little hurt. But wasn’t this the timeframe he’d originally hoped for? A couple weeks, not more than three, before Zac’s rejoining his mother? And the spat probably wasn’t that serious. It didn’t sound like it. Maybe Zac was just homesick. After all, according to his mom he’d been quite the star of his school’s team. Getting stuck in the desert of New Mexico had probably lost its mystique. Sheep vs. a walrus … probably no comparison.

He pulled out his phone and googled Southwest Airlines—Albuquerque to Seattle.

And then his phone rang.

“Do you believe it? I’ll be on a flight to Albuquerque this Saturday. I got the first flight out once they lifted the restrictions.” Julie sounded ecstatic. “I can’t wait.“