Chapter Thirteen

 

Turn off the light or we will be revealed.

Jameson obeyed the raven and crouched behind a large tree. From her vantage point, she saw Devon sitting at the base of the embankment. Devon’s beauty astonished even in light of her current state of disarray. She listened as Devon spoke, knowing she was with Wabun.

“I want to know about realms and spirituality, but right now I want to find my dog. I’m worried if she survived the fall.”

She survived the fall.

“Where is she? Can you tell me that? Can one of you animals out here tell me that?”

The answers you seek are hidden deeper within the wood. Follow the light of illumination.

Wabun vanished.

“Great,” Devon sighed and flopped back onto the ground.

Jameson retreated. She danced her flashlight beam back toward Devon in hopes she would follow. She shoved Devon’s loafer into her back pocket knowing she would have a good head start. When she arrived at the clearing by the stream, she sat at the bank. The water was black slate. She tossed a rock and watched the ripples it created. She thought about the great Medicine Wheel, the circle we walk toward perfection of being. She’d designed a small medicine wheel in this clearing and went to it now. She took a rock from the formation and tossed it into the stream.

Life is an endless circle and Jameson found herself back at a point in the circle where she started. She began to collect rocks and arrange them in another formation, pausing to bounce the beam through the trees. When her raven emerged, Jameson turned off the flashlight and melted into the shadows of the dark woods.

“Are you are responsible for bringing her back?” Jameson asked the raven.

Long Snows Moon needed my assistance. There is more to life than work and study. You must experience other facets to a human life.

“I am accustomed to your riddles and cryptic ways, but tell me what other facets must I discover?”

Love and intimacy.

Jameson snickered. “I am not discussing those things with you, never, Sir Bird. Now, be quiet, here she comes.”

She watched Devon lurch into the clearing and collapse, face first, to the ground. Jameson resisted the urge to rush to help her.

* * * *

“Moon?”

An animal slithered across her back and Devon screamed. She found the energy to sit up. She strained to see in the darkness. Its eyes glimmered like tiny diamonds by the light of the moon. It raised its head and flicked its tongue, mesmerizing Devon with it gaze. Devon was unafraid.

“The animals in these woods all speak, do you?” Devon asked the snake as she pulled her jacket around her.

Of course.

“They all have advice for me,” Devon added as she found her flask. She took a long pull and started to laugh. “This is nuts.”

It is not advice we offer. It is our magic.

“What is your magic?”

Transmutation.

“What am I changing into?” Devon asked amused.

A believer. A seeker.

Devon nodded and drank some more. “I thought snakes represented the underworld.”

I teach death and rebirth, new awakenings, sexuality.

Devon nodded and said, “I’ll drink to that.”

Keep your wits about you. We are all prey to some other creature.

The snake slithered away and blended with the ground. Devon shivered and looked around the clearing. She saw Jameson’s rock formation. She crawled over and strained to make out the form. “Weareallone. That doesn’t make sense,” Devon muttered. She separated the words. “We are alone,” Devon, breathed, “hell, that’s spooky. Others must have been lost out here.”

“She read it wrong,” Jameson whispered to the raven.

For now. She will understand in time.

“I’m going to her. She’s freezing and scared to death. I can’t leave her.”

Patience.

Jameson reclined on the cold ground scowling at the moon. “Patience is for the birds.”

Sometimes, but you do try mine, my dear.