Книга - Footprints

Footprints
Alex Archer


When her longtime friend claims to have evidence of Big Foot's existence, archaeologist Annja Creed can't resist checking it out for herself–she's been debating the subject for years. Annja's curiosity leads her deep into the woods of the Pacific Northwest, to meet Jenny where the supposed trail has been left by the one and only Sasquatch.But when Annja arrives at the destination, a group of armed thugs warn her to leave the area, and her friend is nowhere to be found. Now the search for Sasquatch turns into a rescue mission, and Annja has only her instincts to guide her in a forest full of predators, scavengers and spirits. And someone, or something, does not want her there….









Annja knew there was no way she could turn her back on her friend



Jenny had to be protected—if not from the external threats, like the mysterious gunmen, then from herself. Annja had seen obsession kill people and knew that Jenny could easily fall prey to the same fate. I won’t let her die, she thought.



Joey came back into the camp, dragging branches behind him. “She still out?” he asked.



“Yeah.”



Suddenly Annja heard a low howl of some sort. It sounded like a cross between a coyote and a banshee. She looked at Joey. “What the heck is that?”



Joey busied himself thatching a roof together. “I don’t know. Now, if you’ll help me make this shelter, we can get to bed and hopefully forget we ever heard that. Because it’s not something I’ve ever heard before.”



“Never?” Annja asked.



“Never,” Joey said. “But whatever it is, it sounds like it’s coming this way.”





Footprints


Rogue Angel







Alex Archer







www.mirabooks.co.uk (http://www.mirabooks.co.uk)







Special thanks and acknowledgment to Jon Merz for his contribution to this work.




THE LEGEND


...THE ENLISH COMMANDER TOOK

JOAN’S SWORD AND IT HIGH.

The broadsword, plain and unadorned, gleamed in the firelight. He put the tip against the ground and his foot at the center of the blade. The broadsword shattered, fragments falling into the mud. The crowd surged forward, peasant and soldier, and snatched the shards from the trampled mud. The commander tossed the hilt deep into the crowd.

Smoke almost obscured Joan, but she continued praying till the end, until finally the flames climbed her body and she sagged against the restraints.

Joan of Arc died that fateful day in France, but her legend and sword are reborn….




Contents


Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Epilogue




1


Annja Creed ducked around another thick pine tree and paused. A cool breeze blew through her hair, which she’d recently had cut, thinking she should take a chance and go for a new look. After her stylist had taken a good six inches off, she realized she’d made a mistake.

“You’re always on the go,” Rachel said, looking almost guilty. “It’s so much easier to take care of it like this, and besides, a lot of guys like short hair.”

“Yeah, but I’m not sure I do,” Annja said.

Rachel smiled at her and shrugged. “You can always grow it back.”

Two days after the haircut, Annja hid out in her Brooklyn loft, desperately wondering how long she could get away with her self-imposed hibernation. She didn’t have any urgent commitments and she wasn’t due to film another segment of her popular cable television series, Chasing History’s Monsters, for a few weeks. She realized that having a lot of downtime made her restless and led to rash decisions like ill-advised makeovers. Then the e-mail had arrived that changed her plans and suddenly she was flying out to the Pacific Northwest.

Now she stood in the forest on a trail that the guy who ran the combined gas station and grocery store had assured her would lead all the way to a small encampment hidden deep in the woods.

“Stay on the trail,” he’d said sternly. “Don’t get off it—whatever happens.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Annja asked.

He’d smiled at her. “That forest is like a maze of pine trees and vines that’ll trip you up and suck you under where no one can find you. You stay on the path, you’ll be all right. Venture off, and you’ll be lucky to be found by next spring.”

She could see what he meant. Since parking her rented Jeep at the entrance to the trailhead, she’d had a hard enough time just trying to find the trail itself. It was incredibly overgrown, almost as if the woods themselves were desperate to reclaim it from civilization.

The crack of a branch somewhere behind her caused her to freeze. Was someone coming up the trail behind her?

Annja hadn’t gotten the impression that this was a busy recreational hiking area. And the appearance of the trail itself didn’t exactly make a convincing argument about its popularity. So who else might be wandering in the woods?

The e-mail Annja had received was from an old friend named Jenny Chu. She and Jenny had taken many undergraduate courses together and their friendship had blossomed over in-depth discussions about American folklore and legends. Jenny’s passion was for things like the Lake Champlain monster and the legends of the Sasquatch.

The Sasquatch legend was why Annja was traipsing through the Oregon woods. Jenny’s e-mail suggested that she’d found new evidence of the creature’s existence. It was evidence she wanted Annja to see, as well, in case she wanted to do a segment about it on Chasing History’s Monsters. Annja didn’t believe for a second there would be any proof of a giant hairy creature roaming the woods, but her producer, Doug Morrell, was a sucker for those types of stories. Besides, Annja figured, I can buy some time before anyone I know sees my hair.

Annja smirked, thinking about the last time she’d seen Jenny, and their debate. Jenny had gone on and on about how it was anthropologically possible for a giant ape-man to exist in the farthest reaches of the forest of the North American continent.

Annja hadn’t been swayed. “You’re talking about a missing link, here, Jen. And it’s just not possible. Not with the technology we have nowadays. You’d think we could float a satellite over certain areas and just get readings if there was anything there.”

Jenny, her hair in two braids with her glasses slung low on her nose, had fired back. “You trust technology way too much. It’s not the magic bullet you think it is.”

“I don’t think it’s a magic bullet, per se,” Annja said. “Just that we have to acknowledge it could solve mysteries that we’ve created for ourselves.”

“I’ll prove you wrong, Annja. One day. You’ll see.”

Was this the day Jenny had forecast? Annja smiled and started walking again. She’d have to wait and see. Jenny’s campsite was supposed to be set up about two miles farther down the trail.

Annja took another five steps and paused again. She didn’t hear anything but something didn’t feel right.

She turned and looked back the way she’d come. How many times, she wondered, had she suspected that someone had followed her? The feeling was so ingrained that it had become the norm.

Still, she couldn’t discount it. Her safety might well be in jeopardy. It often was these days. And that meant she’d have to take precautions.

The words of the gnarled shopkeeper rang in her ears. “Stick to the trail.”

Annja frowned. If she stuck to the trail, there was a good chance that whoever or whatever was following her would overtake her.

Whatever?

She caught the mental slip and frowned. Was she already supposing that some giant creature might be tailing her? She chuckled. It couldn’t be helped. Despite the sunny start to the day, bloated clouds had moved in, threatening to drench the forest below. The forest itself had gone quiet, almost as if the animals and insects knew what was coming.

Or did they?

One thing was certain—if Annja didn’t make some progress and reach the campsite, she was going to get soaked to the bone and face the threat of hypothermia. Even though the day was relatively warm, it was still early spring and she knew that temperatures could fluctuate rapidly. In the space of a few hours, alone, wet and cold, Annja could easily become disoriented and disappear. Unfortuately, she knew such things happened all the time.

Not the best way to start off the trip, she decided.

Ahead of her, she spotted what looked like a redwood tree, its massive trunk almost too large to even attempt to hug. It’s been here for hundreds upon hundreds of years, Annja thought. Too bad Jenny can’t ask the tree what lives here. I’ll bet it could clear up the whole big-foot mystery right quick.

She walked around the tree, marveling at the sheer size of it, its branches reaching toward the heavens.

Fantastic, she thought. This alone was worth the trip.

She heard the noise as a twig snapped again, about thirty yards back.

Annja whirled. I need cover, she thought.

Another twig cracked. She spotted a clump of bushes and ducked toward it, squeezing her tall frame under the overhang until she could just about peer out from under the foliage.

She sensed movement farther back on the path. Was it the creature Jenny had been hunting for?

Or something else entirely?

She spotted a set of boots and relaxed somewhat. The last she’d heard, the Sasquatch didn’t wear trendy hiking boots. The feet were moving along at a casual pace. There wasn’t any sense of menace.

Annja poked her head out from under the bush and heard a shout of surprise.

The hiking boots belonged to a boy of about fourteen. His jet-black hair spiked out of his head at odd angles and he toppled back, landing on his butt as he reacted with shock to seeing Annja’s head emerge from the bush.

“Who are you?” he asked.

Annja climbed to her feet. “Sorry about that. I thought someone might be following me.”

The boy frowned. “You always go around hiding in blueberry bushes?”

Annja shrugged. “I’ve been known to hide in Dumpsters, too. Trees, sand dunes, snow caves.” You name it, I’ve done it.”

She helped him to his feet. “Who are you?”

“Joey,” he said easily.

Annja smiled. “Nice to meet you.”

He frowned. “That’s some haircut you got there. You pay someone to do that or did you hack it off yourself?”

Annja frowned. “She took too much off. I wanted a change, but not this much.”

Joey smirked. “Well, I think it looks killer.”

Annja laughed. “Thanks. So where are you heading with that backpack stuffed as it is?”

Joey pointed down the trail. “I’m spending my vacation working for an expedition that’s camped farther in. I get to hang out, run some errands and see what they’re up to.”

“That wouldn’t be Jenny Chu’s expedition, would it?”

Joey nodded. “Yeah. You know her?”

“She’s an old friend of mine. She asked me to come out here and see what she was up to.”

Joey’s eyes went wide. “You’re Annja Creed?”

“Guilty.”

Joey frowned. “Wow, you don’t look anything like you do on television.”

“Yeah, well I didn’t bother going to hair and makeup before hiking through the woods. I wasn’t expecting to run into any fans,” she said, winking. “How about you showing me exactly where the camp is? Those clouds look as if they’re going to open up any second and I don’t want to be out here when it pours.”

“No sweat, Annja. Follow me.”

Joey hefted his pack and set off. Annja followed along behind him. “You know this area well?” she asked.

Joey shrugged. “This is the land of my ancestors. We’ve been around here longer than anyone else.”

Annja nodded. “You made a lot of noise on the trail back there. Might be time to study the skills of your ancestors.”

Joey stopped walking. “What are you talking about?”

“On the trail. I heard you coming a mile away. Lots of twigs snapping, that kind of thing. Not very stealthy, huh?”

“Lady, I move pretty quiet. I don’t know what you heard, but it wasn’t me. They don’t call me Creeping Wolf for nothing.”

Annja frowned. “If I didn’t hear you, then what—”

Joey held up his hand. “Let’s not even go there, okay? No offense to your friend or anything, but she’s kind of obsessed with the whole Sasquatch thing, you know? I can dig having an interest and all, but she’s really going full speed into nut job.”

Annja smiled. “That sounds like Jenny.”

“It’s cool,” Joey said. “I get that way about things. Girls, mostly. But you have to know when to draw the line at becoming a lunatic.”

“Good advice.”

The trail started to descend into what looked like a valley. Annja could see the trees starting to part as they entered a clearing. Ahead of her, she saw the bright reds and yellows of tents.

“So there it is,” she said.

Joey nodded. “I’ve been gone all day. I had to go back to town and get some more supplies.”

“Did you drive?”

Joey looked at her. “I walked.”

“Yeah, but town’s six miles away.”

“And?”

Annja raised her eyebrows. “Nothing. Never mind.”

Joey smiled. “Like I said, I’ve been cruising these woods my whole life. I know them better than almost anyone else. And as the crow flies, the distance back to town is only three miles.”

“You fly, too?”

“Sometimes that’s exactly what it feels like.”

They broke out of the forest and into the clearing. Joey walked ahead of Annja, leaving her to take in the camp.

It was strangely quiet.

“Joey.”

He stopped. “What?”

Annja frowned. “Where is everyone?”

Joey turned and glanced around. They both stood for a moment, taking in the fact that there seemed to be absolutely no noise anywhere in the camp. Overhead, the clouds jostled together and Annja felt the first few drops of rain starting to flick down at her.

She felt uneasy and turned to see the barrel of a gun aiming at her.

The man standing behind the rifle did not look very friendly.

“How nice. Another guest,” he said.

Annja turned to warn Joey, but he had vanished.

Startled, Annja turned back to the man. He was looking her up and down and then he nodded. “Walk that way. Try anything funny and I’ll be more than happy to put a couple of holes into you.”

Annja turned and started moving. One of these days, she thought, I’m going to have to find a deserted island. Maybe then I can get away from everyone who wants to kill me.




2


Annja felt the rifle barrel jab into her spine for the third time. She risked a glance back at the man standing behind her. “That’s not necessary. I’m perfectly capable of walking without you stabbing me with your gun every few seconds,” she said angrily.

“Shut up and walk.”

Annja glanced around the camp as he escorted her past the tents. Everything seemed to be in good order and there wasn’t an air of chaos. Annja wondered if the guy with the rifle had surprised Jenny’s camp. She also wondered if he was alone.

She found the answer to that question when they turned the corner and she saw two other men similarly armed. One of them looked at Annja’s escort.

“Where’d she come from?”

“She’s been on the trail leading here. I followed her for a few miles.”

“Noisily, I might add,” Annja said.

“Sit her down with the others.”

Annja felt the jab of the rifle barrel again and sat down. Jenny’s expedition consisted of a number of college students—an even mix of boys and girls who looked quite frightened.

But where was Jenny?

Annja watched as the three armed men huddled together and spoke for a few seconds. They parted and the one who seemed to be in charge, a guy of maybe forty with thick pork-chop sideburns and a long scar down one side of his face, nodded at her. “You.”

“What?” she asked.

“Stand up.”

Annja tensed. Were they going to shoot her now? She closed her eyes and pictured the powerful sword she’d inherited from Joan of Arc. The weapon was ready for her to call forth. She knew her timing would have to be perfect.

Annja stood and asked, “What’s this all about?”

“Shut up. We’ve got a message for the professor.”

Annja frowned. So this wasn’t just some random occurrence. These guys wanted to speak to Jenny. But what had happened to her?

“What’s the message?”

The man leveled a finger at Annja. “Tell her to back off. She’s not wanted here. These woods belong to us. And we’ll do whatever it takes to keep it that way.”

Annja wanted to argue, but decided it would be better to just accept things and try to figure out what was going on once the danger had passed. “Okay. I’ll give her the message.”

“You do that. And tell her we’ll be watching. If we don’t like what we see, then bad things will start happening.”

Annja nodded. “I get it.”

The lead man regarded her for one more second and then turned. The three men walked toward the trees that bordered the clearing. In minutes, they had vanished back into the gloom.

Annja frowned. She turned and pulled one of the young men to his feet. “What the hell is going on around here?” she asked him.

“Who are you?” he said, sounding terrified.

“I’m Annja Creed. Where is Jenny?”

“Jenny?”

“Professor Chu,” Annja said.

Although he was big and strapping, the student looked frightened. Probably hasn’t had the experience of being shot, stabbed and blown up, Annja thought

“Professor Chu went out on a hike this morning. We haven’t seen her since.”

Annja looked around. “None of you have seen her?”

“No. And those guys showed up about an hour ago. I guess they just got tired of waiting for her.”

Annja peered out into the woods. “Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“Perhaps they were only supposed to deliver the message. Maybe it’s a scare tactic.”

“Those guns looked real enough.”

Annja smiled. “They were.”

“Hey,” a voice called out.

Annja turned and saw Joey standing behind her, sliding his backpack off.

“Where the hell did you disappear to?”

Joey grinned. “Creeping Wolf, remember? I can disappear in the blink of an eye.”

“Yeah, well, thanks for sticking around to defend the weak and all that jazz.”

Joey smirked. “Yeah, right. You defenseless? That’s a joke. And besides, I don’t do guns, man. I’m a lover, not a fighter.”

“Great. So, my creeping friend, maybe you can tell me what happened to Jenny?”

“How could I do that? I’ve been gone all day getting supplies,” Joey said.

Annja frowned. He had a point. And none of the college kids looked as if they were going to be particularly keen to set out on a search through the woods. Annja could hear them all talking in hushed tones. She knew what was coming.

Annja looked at Joey again. “They’ll want to leave,” she told him.

Joey frowned. “Because of those guys? That’s weak.”

“Didn’t you just tell me you’re a lover, not a fighter?”

“Sure, but I don’t lay down for anyone, either. I did that, I wouldn’t be much of a credit to my tribe.”

“Well, I don’t think any of these kids signed on for this kind of thing. The thought of gun-wielding dudes is probably giving them images of Deliverance.”

“Deliverance?”

“It’s a movie,” Annja said. “Rent it when you’re older.”

Joey shook his head. “I can download it for free. But thanks for dating yourself.”

“You’ve got quite the mouth on you, don’t you?” Annja said, attempting to sound stern.

Joey held up his hands. “No disrespect intended, ma’am.”

Annja smirked. “Wiseass.” She turned back to the student she’d spoken to initially. “Get your gear packed up. You guys aren’t staying here.”

He looked as if Annja had just promised him several bars of gold. Instantly, the college students all sprang into action, taking down tents and getting their packs squared away.

Annja watched them. She felt hesitant about taking command of the situation but, with Jenny nowhere to be seen, someone had to. She couldn’t tell a bunch of kids to hang around with gun-toting nuts lurking in the woods. And she was pretty confident that Jenny would tell them to get out of there, as well. There was no way Jenny would want kids under her care to be in danger.

It took them twenty minutes to break down the camp. Annja found Jenny’s tent and started to pack it up, too.

Joey spent most of the time complaining about the supplies he’d lugged back from town. “Hey, man, I’m still getting paid for this, right? I mean, charity’s nice and all, but I have to look out for numero uno.”

Annja fished out her wallet and gave him fifty dollars. “That enough?”

Joey’s eyes lit up. “Not bad. Jenny promised me a hundred per day out here, though.”

“Don’t push your luck. Jenny’s on a university grant and has to watch all of her expenses. That fifty’s a gift and you know it.”

Joey smiled. “Can’t blame a dude for trying.”

Annja finished breaking down Jenny’s tent and wrapped up the stakes in the nylon. “I’ve got one final assignment for you, Creeping Wolf.”

“Yeah?”

“You need to lead these kids back to the trailhead.”

Joey frowned. “They stay on the trail, they’ll be fine. They don’t need me.”

Annja pulled him close. “Take a look at their faces. Every one of them is terrified. Being confronted with guns isn’t a normal occurrence for these kids. And they’re probably considering very seriously the idea that they came close to being killed. If I let them go like this, they’ll wander off the trail and die from exposure. You know that’s true.”

Joey nodded. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. They do look pretty shell-shocked.”

“As opposed to you.”

“I left, man. I don’t stick around for trouble. That’s bad medicine.”

“Well, do me this one favor and then you can get lost, as well.”

“What about you?” Joey asked.

Annja looked out into the trees. “I’ll leave with you guys as a group. But somewhere along the trail, I’ll bleed off. Don’t try to find me. I’ll search for Jenny and we’ll figure out what to do next.”

“You’re going to find Jenny in these woods alone? You?”

“I’m pretty good at finding my way around, Joey. I’ve been in a lot worse environments than this,” Annja said.

At that moment, the clouds finally opened up and rain pelted down from the sky, soaking everyone in seconds. The students shouted and complained that they had no tents to use for shelter.

Annja sighed and called them all together. “You’re leaving.”

“Now?” one of them said. “It’s raining.”

“So the quicker we get out onto the trail and headed back to the trailhead, the better off you’ll be. Move quickly and you’ll stay warm, too. Joey here is going to lead us all out.”

“Can he do it?”

Joey looked as if he was going to punch the person who asked, but Annja held him back. “Yes, he knows these woods better than anyone.”

“What if we get lost?”

“You won’t,” Annja said. “And I’ll be bringing up the rear so I’ll make sure no one gets left behind. Now, are we ready?”

They all nodded. Annja breathed a sigh of relief. If she could just keep them focused on the task at hand, getting back to the safety of town and away from here, then they’d be all right.

She looked at Joey. “You all set?”

“Of course,” he said.

“All right, then. Lead on.”

Joey started off down the trail. One by one, the students fell in, forming a ragged line. Rain continued to drench them all. Annja knew she’d have to find shelter pretty quickly if she had any hope of surviving long enough to find Jenny.

She figured the trio of gunmen were probably watching them leave. She hoped they would think that Annja had just wanted to get everyone out in one piece. Hopefully, they would believe that their threats had worked.

Even though they hadn’t.

The trees seemed to reach in over them as they walked down the trail. Overhead, the long spindly branches with leaf shoots and pine branches deflected some of the rain, but it was still getting very squishy on the ground. Annja’s boots left footprints behind her that quickly filled with water.

The trail was turning into a muddy mess.

“Joey?”

He turned back, hearing Annja call him. “Yeah?”

“Thanks for your help.”

He frowned for a moment and then simply nodded. He understood that Annja would simply take off on her own at the right time and not announce her departure. The quieter she was, the better. The last thing those kids needed was something else weighing on their minds.

Annja did find it peculiar that none of them had asked about Jenny’s welfare. But then again, when faced with mortal danger, most people do end up only considering their own personal safety.

Jenny was on her own.

Well, not quite. As Joey led the group around a bend in the trail, Annja saw her chance and quietly stepped off the trail. She crouched low and then slipped behind a thick pine tree.

The rain continued to fall and the light in the sky seemed to be dimming by the second. It was already late afternoon and the addition of bad weather meant that she was looking at spending a truly dark night in the woods.

Annja, soaked and not really knowing where she was or how to even begin looking for Jenny, was facing the very real threat of staying warm enough to survive her first night out here.

She smirked. Funny how her bad haircut paled in comparison to the dangers she faced now.




3


If Annja had initially believed that the rain would taper off as the evening progressed, she was wrong. Indeed, as the sky continued to darken, the rain increased until sheets fell from the clouds above her. The forest floor ran with mud and debris while a strong wind howled around her.

If I stay here, I’ll die, Annja decided. The good news was that the weather was a great equalizer. The men with the guns would also have to seek refuge from the storm. That meant Annja could risk setting herself up properly without fear of them showing up to shoot her dead.

She hauled Jenny’s tent out of her backpack and immediately got it staked into the sodden ground. There was no guarantee that the tent wouldn’t fly away at the next gust of wind, but she was grateful she at least had something that would keep her reasonably dry.

Her next task was fire. Annja could already feel herself starting to shiver. And she knew from experience that the onset of hypothermia would render her useless very soon. Her system would literally start to shut down, as her core drew heat away from her extremities and her brain.

She pulled out her knife and started scraping at the bark of the tree closest to her. The exterior of the bark was wet but the interior would still be reasonably dry. Annja produced a handful of shavings that would easily catch a spark. She put them into a plastic bag and then in her pocket to keep them as dry as possible.

Twenty yards from her makeshift camp, she spotted a downed tree. Closer inspection showed it overhung a fairly large area and provided substantial shelter from the rain. It was almost dry under the canopy of the dense pine. Annja could see the splintered trunk and reasoned it must have come down during a recent thunderstorm.

She hurried back and pulled Jenny’s tent from the muddy ground. Back under the canopy, the ground was much drier. It wasn’t high enough to set up the tent under the branches, but she could stretch the tent out and use it as a tarp. It was perfect to further protect her from the elements.

Annja also found a large pile of deadfall and the branches were almost all dry. She hacked several into smaller lengths and then scraped out a fire bowl depression in the ground. On the bottom she laid the tinder bundle and set some thin kindling sticks above it.

Here goes nothing, she thought. She scraped her fire starter against her knife blade and saw the sparks fly into the tinder bundle. They caught almost immediately, and even with the cacophony of noise from the rainstorm, Annja could still hear the snap and crackle of the wood as it caught.

Heat radiated up toward her and Annja shivered again, as if trying to throw the water off her skin.

I need to get these clothes dry, she thought.

She added more wood to the flames and set two of the thicker logs nearby to begin burning. When she was satisfied she had a sustainable fire going, Annja removed her clothes.

Her jacket was still fairly dry, but she’d gotten wet pretty much everywhere else. She stripped off all of her clothes until she huddled around the fire nude, feeling the wood smoke curl up around her, wrapping her in its warmth.

On the branches above her, Annja draped her clothes, letting the heat and smoke dry them out.

The area was littered with pine boughs and Annja knew that sleeping on them could be almost a luxury if they were soft enough. The spring growth hadn’t occurred yet so they were obviously dead leftovers from before the winter snows. Still, when she gathered enough of them and lay down, it was quite comfortable.

The wind howled around her sanctuary. I wonder where Jenny is in this mess? Annja frowned. She knew there was a chance that her friend would not survive the night without any of her camping gear. The wind, rain and falling temperature together could kill even an experienced outdoors type.

Still, Annja knew that Jenny was remarkably resilient. And she also had a lot of training. Annja rooted through her pack and found the energy bar she always kept there along with the bottle of water she’d packed. Some feast, she thought, but at least she had something.

The rain continued to hammer the forest. Annja couldn’t remember hearing about any major storm systems threatening this area, but that didn’t mean much in the mountains where the weather could change from minute to minute.

She finished her meal and then leaned back against the thick tree trunk. Thanks to the way the branches drooped almost to the ground, the heat from the fire warmed the area nicely. Annja felt relaxed and comfortable, despite the fact that she was sitting naked in the midst of a terrible storm. If she wasn’t worried about Jenny’s whereabouts she’d actually be having a great time.

But it was definitely not a night to be out alone. Still, she had her sword. And she had a fire and shelter. Water wasn’t an issue yet. She’d just eaten. So even though she was out in the woods with three armed guys who had warned her not to hang around, Annja didn’t feel too bad. As soon as the rain let up she’d start her search for Jenny.

She touched her clothes. The heat and smoke were doing their job nicely. She pulled them down and slid them back on. Her body heat would finish drying them.

She fed another log onto the fire, watching the flames jump around in the slight breeze that had managed to work its way inside the relative safety of the drooping tree. The heat enveloped her. Annja felt her eyelids drooping. She tried to blink away sleep, but she took another deep breath and nodded off.

When she woke, the sun wasn’t shining. In fact, it was still pitch-black outside. It was dark inside the shelter, as well. The fire had died out and only red coals remained, smoldering from a lack of fuel.

Annja reached for a branch to toss onto the fire. She felt a small chill run up her back and knew she would need to keep better alert to ensure the fire didn’t die out entirely.

Fortunately, the coals were still hot enough, and with a quick huff of air over them, they flared and caught on the branches, resurrecting the fire into a reputable condition. Annja shivered again.

The rain had tapered off. But the wind continued to blast through the trees.

Had she just heard something?

It was tough trusting her ears when the wind seemed to overpower her ability to pick out details.

The fire blazed to full strength. Annja sat with her back against the tree. The fire had compromised her relative invisibility. If those goons were out there looking for her, they would see its glow through the branches and know someone was in there.

Annja closed her eyes and made sure the sword was ready to wield. It would be tough in the close confines of the overhang, so she would have to get out of it in case a fight broke out.

She paused, waiting for another indicator that something was moving around in the woods. But she doubted that she’d be able to detect a twig breaking underfoot. The wind continued to howl and it was roaring in her ears.

Any telltale sounds would die long before they reached her.

She’d have to go on her instincts alone.

Annja took a deep breath and allowed herself to relax, slowly enabling her focus to expand outward like a circle around her. She hoped it would act almost like a radar and let her know if there was any reason to be afraid.

She had no evidence but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was out there.

But what was it?

Maybe it was Jenny.

Maybe it was one of the gunmen.

Annja frowned. Did she really believe that gang would abandon the comforts of their camp to come out in the storm? It was doubtful. Having seen them up close, Annja knew they were probably sleeping off an alcohol-induced state of euphoria by now. In the morning, they would become a problem.

But right now?

No.

That meant there was something else out there.

Annja frowned. There it was again. Something. She shook her head. Being in the dark woods during a rainstorm all by yourself could certainly make the idea of something like big foot seem possible.

But Annja would have to see the creature face-to-face before she bought into that. She knew of a bunch of expeditions that had tried to prove the existence of the mighty Sasquatch, without anything to show for their efforts.

Meanwhile, the true believers insisted that something like the Sasquatch had the ability to make itself as visible or invisible as needed. Just because a bunch of humans tramped through its woods didn’t mean they’d find it.

Annja sighed. In all likelihood, there was probably an animal out there just looking for a bit of something to eat. Maybe it had gotten a whiff of the fire and had come to see if there was any food to be had.

Annja smiled. Not this time.

Suddenly, though, she felt a sense of trouble.

Annja slowly got up on her haunches. She reached for her boots and slid them on, tucking the laces inside so she wouldn’t have to tie them up. She was on full alert.

What was out there?

The wind blew another blast through the overhang, rattling the branches around her. Annja felt a small shower of water rain down on her from somewhere high overhead.

She racked her brain for all of the animals that lived in these woods. She knew that there was fox, bear, coyote, but what else might call this place home?

A wolf?

Maybe a werewolf.

Annja grinned in spite of herself. There were times when her internal dialogue made her crack up. This was one of them. She’d been working with Doug Morrell for too long. Werewolves were exactly what he’d be thinking about.

But she had to find out what was threatening her safety.

She glanced up. She could climb into the branches for a look-see. She might be able to figure it out.

The wind died then and she heard a large crack somewhere outside of her shelter.

That didn’t sound like a small animal.

Annja fed another log onto the fire, letting the flames blaze up. It wasn’t doing her night vision any good, but seeing the fire made her feel a lot better about being alone.

Annja had no idea what she might be facing. And although she had her sword, the thought of running out of the shelter, blindly hacking at something, didn’t make sense.

She’d have to go up.

Annja reached up and threaded her way into the branches. With every move, more drops of rain fell on her.

I’ll need to strip off after this just to get dry again.

More sounds reached her ears. Something was definitely trying to get closer to the shelter.

She had to move fast.

Annja let her feet carry her into the higher branches of the tree. She still had her knife on her belt. And she had her sword. But she’d left her pack down at the base of the tree.

The branches below her yawned and then snapped back.

Annja kept climbing.

Was that a snarl?

Her pulse quickened. Wild packs of dogs sometimes roamed through the woods. And they would gladly tear a lone female apart without hesitation.

She knew she was far better to be off the ground. She reached for the next series of branches and pulled herself into a seated position about twenty feet up before pausing to catch her breath.

Below her, a series of snaps made her look. Something was destroying her camp. She could just make out the black shape moving back and forth. But it wasn’t unrestrained carnage. More like calculated destruction.

Whatever it was seemed to be searching for something.

She could easily jump down and attack them, but what would be the point? She was safe, and the idea of facing an unknown adversary didn’t sit well with her. She frowned and climbed even higher.

Annja’s foot slipped. And the branch supporting her cracked.

She gulped as her stomach spasmed.

The branch gave way.

Annja fell toward the unseen danger.




4


As Annja plummeted through the branches, time seemed to slow down long enough for her to feel every poke, prod and stab from the mighty tree’s limbs. She kept her eyes closed and prayed that her body would relax enough to somehow survive the fall. As she waited for the inevitable thump, she kept her eyes firmly locked on the sword. If, as she suspected, something nasty was waiting down there for her, she’d need it as soon as she landed.

If she could move.

But instead of a hard impact and broken bones for her trouble, as Annja’s body hit the ground she tucked and turned into a roll. She exhaled hard, rolling several feet before coming to her feet.

Underneath the canopy, something still lurked.

And now she heard a distinct growl.

Last I checked, the legend of big foot didn’t include any growling. Howling maybe, but growling? No way.

Annja closed her eyes and summoned the sword. In the darkness, its blade glowed a dull silver.

A gust of wind nearly knocked her off her feet but she bent her knees and kept her balance. What was rustling through her backpack? A bear? Was it late enough for a bear to come out of its hibernation? Annja wondered if the bears around these parts were grizzlies and then decided that pretty much any animal would be dangerous.

She caught a sudden glimpse of yellow and realized that there were two eyes staring out from under the tree canopy at her.

It had to be a wolf.

Annja stepped forward, keeping the blade in front of her. The last thing she wanted to do was kill an animal but if she had to defend herself, she wouldn’t hesitate. She knew it was highly unlikely the animal was maliciously trying to kill her. She had inadvertently stumbled onto its territory and the wolf was simply defending its home turf.

Still, a threat was a threat.

The wolf growled louder now, clearly threatened with Annja’s advance. But she kept moving. There were things in the backpack she wanted, and letting the wolf tear it apart wasn’t going to happen. Annja had already suffered through enough headaches thus far on the trip and she had no intention of giving in so easily for this.

“Get out of here! Scat!”

Annja thought it sounded ridiculous yelling into the night, but if she could scare the wolf off, that would be the best outcome.

The wolf, however, continued to growl, and it grew even louder. Annja took a glance around her and tried to recall if wolves hunted alone. As pack animals, she reasoned there could be others nearby. That would drastically reduce her chances of winning a confrontation.

She heard more rustling under the canopy and frowned. The wolf was probably tearing everything apart as punishment for Annja trespassing on his land. Great.

She stepped closer to the overhang and slashed the air in front of her with the sword. It cut several branches off with a dull singing sound that made the wolf stop and regard her again.

This time it didn’t growl.

Annja paused.

Had the blade convinced it? Could it see that if Annja pressed forward, it would probably die on her sword? Maybe it didn’t want any part of violence tonight. Maybe it was simply out hunting for something to eat after the terrible storm.

Annja looked around, but saw nothing else lurking in the night. It seemed likely that the wolf was alone. A lone hunter. Annja smiled. I know the feeling.

“You’re not going to kill him, are you?”

Annja nearly fainted from fright, but recovered quickly enough to pivot and aim her sword into the darkness.

“Hey, whoa, be careful with that thing, lady. I don’t want to be run through.”

Annja squinted and could just make out the form of another person in the shadows nearby. The voice was familiar enough for her to guess who it belonged to.

“Joey?”

“Yep.”

Annja exhaled. “Want to tell me what you’re doing wandering around out here in the dark?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m looking for you.”

“Why? I can take care of myself, thank you.”

Joey stepped out of the shadows, his eyes running along the length of the blade. “I can see that. Where did you ever get that thing? I didn’t see you with it earlier today.”

“It’s a tool I carry around with me.”

“Something that looks like that isn’t what I’d call a tool, Annja. That thing has one purpose—to kill.”

Annja shook her head. “You’d be surprised what else it can do other than just take a life.”

“Yeah, you’ll have to explain it to me. So you got a wolf rummaging through your gear, huh?”

“You know it’s a wolf?”

Joey pointed at the ground. “Tracks. Yep, it’s a wolf.”

Annja smirked. “One wolf under the canopy and one creeping wolf outside. I’m surrounded, I guess.”

“At least you had the good sense to find some shelter. I smelled your fire a ways back, too. I would have come in sooner, but I picked up the wolf stalking you and couldn’t interfere.”

“Why not?”

Joey shrugged. “He’s just doing what a wolf does. No sense interrupting him, you know?”

“Is it dangerous?”

“Sure. If he feels threatened. Most likely he’s just checking out your stuff. We don’t get a lot of humans out this way and the animals around here tend to be naturally suspicious, anyway. He’s probably making sure he understands what your intentions are.”

Annja raised her eyebrows and glanced back at the canopy. She couldn’t tell what the wolf was doing right then. There wasn’t any movement in the darkness under the canopy.

“You should probably put that away,” Joey said.

“Why?”

Joey smiled. “He’s not going to hurt you. Let him get on with what he’s doing and he’ll leave. He’s got other things to be doing tonight, like finding dinner somewhere. He was tracking rabbits when he veered off to check you out. Probably found you the same way I did—the fire.”

“I really needed it or else I would never have had one.”

Joey nodded. “No sweat. With all that rain, it was a good thing you did build one. You must have been soaked.”

“I was.” Annja thought about Jenny. She would be soaked, too. “You didn’t happen to find any sign of Jenny while you were out looking for me, did you?”

Joey shook his head. “No, but I thought I’d start with you first.”

“You took the kids back to town?”

“Yeah, they’re fine. I think they’re leaving tomorrow. They couldn’t stop talking about the guns and stuff the entire way back. I’ve never heard so much talking in my life. It got ridiculous and I had to tell them to shut up.”

Annja smiled. “Thanks for taking care of them.”

“They wouldn’t have lasted without me. Guess you were right.”

“Well, every once in a while I get something correct.”

Joey pointed behind her. “You really should put that away. The wolf doesn’t want to hurt you.”

Annja turned her back to Joey and let the sword return to the otherwhere. She wasn’t sure how to explain the sword’s behavior to Joey. When she opened her eyes and looked at him, he didn’t seem the slightest bit fazed by the sudden disappearance.

“I guess you don’t want me telling anyone about that, huh?”

“I’d prefer that we kept it between us, yes.”

“People find out, there’ll be way too many questions. I can dig it.”

“You sure?”

“Well, another fifty would help seal the deal.”

Annja pointed at the tree overhang. “Tell you what. If you help me get my stuff back from the wolf it’s a deal.”

Joey smiled. “No sweat.”

He knelt in the muddy ground and put his hands to his mouth. In a split second, he exhaled and made a strange sound that resembled a type of bark, but nothing like anything Annja had ever heard before.

The effect, however, was instantaneous. From under the tree, there was a rustle of movement. And then Annja saw a large shape dislodge itself from the branches and come through the darkness toward Joey.

Her heart raced but she stayed where she was. Joey must know what he was doing to tempt fate this way. She had to trust him.

The wolf trotted out and sniffed Joey’s hand. He spoke to the wolf in a low voice and a different language. With a casual glance at Annja, the dark gray predator stood at Joey’s feet and let himself be stroked.

Joey looked up at Annja. “You want to pet him?”

Annja held up her hands. “Are you kidding?”

Joey smiled. “Humans spend too much time thinking that animals are different from them. The truth is, we’re all just the same, made by the Creator. We’re not different—we all belong to the earth. And the spirit that moves in all things moves in this guy just as much as it moves in you.”

Annja watched the wolf loll its head back to better expose his ears to Joey’s fingers. From its throat, Annja heard a low rumble come out, but it didn’t sound remotely menacing. It almost reminded Annja of a cat purring. But somehow she thought maybe the wolf wouldn’t appreciate the comparison.

Joey waved her over. “Trust me, okay? I wouldn’t tell you it was safe if it wasn’t. This guy is one of the protectors of his forest.”

“You know him?”

Joey shrugged. “We’ve kind of grown up together. I’ve been coming here for years, ever since I was old enough to run around on my own. Cheehawk here has been around about the same time as me.”

“It’s got a name?”

Joey frowned. “Well, what’s wrong with that? I’ve got a name—several, actually. And so do you. Why shouldn’t this guy?”

“Cheehawk, huh?”

The wolf turned its head again to better see Annja as she started to approach. Joey held up his other hand.

“Take it nice and slow. Don’t do anything to upset him and you’ll be fine. Just like any other animal, you’ve got to give him time to scent you and get used to your smell. Once he does, he’ll be fine. Just come to him without the intent to harm him.”

Annja approached very cautiously. This was, without a doubt, one of the stranger things she’d done. Making friends with a wild predatory animal like a wolf wasn’t what she’d expected to happen when she responded to Jenny’s e-mail from her New York City loft.

Cheehawk continued to appraise her as Annja drew nearer. When she was within a few feet of the wolf, she sat down and extended her hand until it was under Cheehawk’s snout.

She could feel the wolf’s hot breath on the back of her hand as he sniffed her. And then she felt the curious sensation of his tongue lapping at it.

Joey chuckled. “I guess you passed.”

Annja let her hand wander up behind Cheehawk’s ears and ran her fingers through his coarse fur. It was almost like patting a big dog, but not quite. Even though Cheehawk seemed to have accepted her, Annja couldn’t shake the idea that this animal could easily tear her throat out if it wanted to.

Joey shook his head. “Don’t believe that.”

Annja looked at him. “What?”

“Cheehawk would only attack if he felt threatened, just the same as you.” He smiled at Annja. “Don’t look so surprised. The expression on your face was enough for me to figure out what you were thinking.”

“Oh. Well, this is a bit new for me.”

Joey nodded. “For Cheehawk, too. You’re only the second human he’s let pet him.”

“Really?”

“I’m the first,” Joey said proudly.

“I’m honored, then,” Annja said. She looked into Cheehawk’s eyes. “Thank you.”

Cheehawk rose without making a sound, looked once at Annja and then at Joey, before turning and stalking off into the night.

“Where’s he going?”

Joey got to his feet. “I told you. He’s looking for his dinner.”

Annja stood, awed by what had just happened. Then she thought about why she was even in the Oregon woods in the first place. “We need to find Jenny. If she wasn’t able to make a fire, she might die of exposure out here.”

Joey frowned. “All right, but we’ve got to be careful. Those lunatics with the guns are probably still around. And I don’t feel like running into them.”

Annja got her gear from under the canopy. Despite the awful sounds, very little of her stuff was damaged at all. She emerged and saw Joey standing on the trail.

“Ready?” the young man asked.

Annja nodded. It was still terribly dark and she had no idea how they were going to find their way. But Joey didn’t seem to notice and before she knew what was happening, they were headed down the trail.




5


“How long have your people lived here?”

Joey picked his way along the path without making a sound. Annja marveled at his ability to stay quiet. He was very much every bit his namesake.

“Hundreds of years. We’re a splinter group of Apache.”

“Apache? I thought that tribe was from the Southwest,” Annja said.

“It was. We came up north to escape the persecution of the Spaniards and the white man. It took us a long time to find a suitable home, but this was it. We had a need to remain hidden until such time as we could prosper.”

“Has that happened yet?”

Joey shrugged. “There’s always the future to look forward to. Life on a reservation doesn’t offer very many Native Americans a lot of hope. Crime’s rampant. Kids drop out of school. It’s a mess.”

“You lived on one?”

“Me? Nah. I visited a cousin one summer. It was all I could do to hope for September to hurry up and get there so I could come home and go back to school. Not the kind of place I’d choose to live, you know?”

“So you live here?”

“Sure. My grandfather takes care of me. My parents died in a car accident when I was really young.”

Annja ducked under a tree branch. The wind had died down some and she lowered her voice since shouting wasn’t necessary anymore. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t really know them. It makes me sad to think of them sometimes, but my grandfather is all the family I need. Him and the animals who live here.”

“I don’t blame you. I never knew my parents, either.” She nodded at the trail. “You really know your way all over these parts?”

“Yep. I’ve been running around here for about five years now. My grandfather insists I come out here to practice my skills so they aren’t lost. He was a scout for his tribe when he was young.”

“That must have been a long time ago.”

Joey nodded. “Yep.”

“And he taught you how to do all of this stuff? The tracking? The stalking? All of it?”

Joey paused and studied the ground. “Skills like that are what made my people such a tough enemy. They’re also what protected us when we needed them. My grandfather says it’s my duty to ensure they never die out. When I have a son, I’ll teach them to him, as well. Just the way it goes, I guess. Stuff gets passed on this way like it has for hundreds, maybe thousands, of years.”

“Incredible,” Annja said. “You’re very lucky to have someone like your grandfather in your life.”

“Yep, he’s pretty cool. He once walked from Alaska to South America. He called it the spirit journey where he learned how to beat his own limitations. Eventually, I’ll probably do something similar. Kind of a rite of passage for my tribe.”

“How many of you are left?”

Joey ran his hands over the ground. “Your friend passed this way about an hour ago.”

“Really?”

Joey glanced at Annja. “She’s stumbling, though. You see how her footprints are staggered? There’s not a rhythm to them anymore. She’s in danger, most likely from the wind and the rain.”

“You’re certain these tracks were made about an hour ago?”

“I might be off by fifteen minutes or so, given the degradation of the track from the weather, but yes, it’s pretty accurate.”

“Can you find her?”

Joey frowned. “Be a lot easier if she was in better shape. As it is, she’ll be unpredictable. Her footwork will make it tough to follow her along a set course. In her state she might easily stumble and fall and we’d never find her.”

“We’ve got to try,” Annja said. “Lead the way.”

“Can you keep up? I’ll move faster if I know you can hang with me as I go along.”

“Don’t worry about me. If I can’t keep up, I’ll call out and ask you to slow down.”

Joey eyed her. “Okay, then. Let’s go.” He turned and started moving quickly. With his body stooped lower, Annja watched him move at a crouching run, checking the ground every few minutes for more signs and then continuing on.

Annja kept pace pretty well for a while, but then her own stamina took a bit of a hit. She felt herself starting to grow weary from the fast pace. Joey kept moving. Annja forced herself to push on, concerned that Jenny could well be dying somewhere close by.

Joey paused. “You okay?”

Annja bent over and breathed deeply. “Fine. Why?”

“I can hear you panting. You sound like a train huffing along back there. Honestly, I thought you were in better shape.”

Annja frowned. “I’m in fine shape, thanks. I’m a bit tired, though.”

“You want to rest?”

“No. Jenny needs us.”

Joey pointed to a nearby tree. “Stay there and get some rest. I’ll go on alone and find her. When I do, I’ll come back and lead you there. Right now someone needs to make sure she’s okay.”

“I’m slowing you down, aren’t I?”

“Yep.”

Annja nodded. “All right, then. Go.”

Joey turned and vanished into the night. Annja watched him disappear and then leaned her head back. The trunk of the tree behind her felt solid and somehow comfortable. Within a few moments, her eyelids dipped shut and she fell asleep.

And then she felt herself being shaken.

“Annja!”

She popped her eyes open. Joey’s face was close to hers. “Come on and wake up, sleepyhead.”

Annja got to her feet. “You found her?”

Joey nodded. “About a mile farther on. She was in a bad way but I got a fire going and huddled her up close to it. Hypothermia, I’d guess. The rain and wind probably took her down, but she should be okay. I made some pine-needle tea for her to drink, to warm her from the inside out. She was coherent when I left.”

“What did she say?”

“I guess she went back to camp and found it deserted.”

Annja frowned. Of course there was no way she could have let those kids stay in danger with gunmen threatening them. She had to break camp and send the students away. Jenny would understand, Annja felt certain of it.

“So what happened? She just went hiking around, looking for us?”

Joey shook his head. “Nah, she says she found her way back to the trailhead. She assumed something must have happened that made the camp leave. She was trying to get to town when the storm came down. Totally disoriented her. Before she knew it, she was in a bad state.”

“Thank God we found her,” Annja said. “She might have died otherwise.”

“Definitely,” Joey said. “Another thirty minutes and she would have been a goner.”

He led Annja over the trail and down a steep precipice. Bits of shale and gravel broke free, skittering along the path toward the muddy lower ground. Annja thought she could hear something in the distance.

“Is that a waterfall?”

Joey nodded. “Yep. Better to see it in the daylight, though. At night it’s not the same thing. Unless, of course, there’s a full moon. Then it’s pretty spectacular.”

“I’ll have to remember that. How much farther along is she?”

Joey stopped and pointed through the trees. “There. You see the fire? She’s right there.”

Annja couldn’t see Jenny but she could make out the glow of the firelight. So could anyone else who might be out tonight. “You think that was such a good move? That fire’s like a spotlight.”

“It was either that or your friend dies,” Joey said. “I thought saving her was a little more important than being stealthy about it.”

Annja nodded. “You’re right, sorry. It’s just I can’t help thinking about those guys roaming around in the night, looking for someone to kill.”

Joey waved his hand. “Those guys are probably back in their tents, sleeping off a drunk. I saw an empty beer can in one of their jackets.”

“What about animals? Would any of them attack Jenny if they knew she couldn’t defend herself?”

“Highly unlikely. Cheehawk is about as big a predator as we get around here and he wouldn’t bother her.”

“Mountain lion?”

“Last report was from twenty years back,” Joey said. “Long before my time. And I’ve explored these woods well enough to think that if there was one around, I would have run into him.”

“Okay.”

Joey led her farther down the trail and then the ground sloped upward again. “How she made it as far as she did is pretty amazing. I would have guessed that she’d lie down close to the waterfall, but she apparently wanted to get to high ground and try to use it as a navigational aid.”

“Jenny’s made of tough stuff,” Annja said. “She knows how to handle herself.”

“Well, weather can break anyone down,” Joey said. “Even with training and various other tools, the weather can still beat you. You’ve got to respect it. She should have just hunkered down and gotten shelter and waited out the storm.”

“Good advice,” Annja said. “I’ll make sure she gets the message.”

Joey smirked. “I already read her the riot act. She knows she screwed up. But she’s looking forward to seeing you.”

“So am I,” Annja said. “Is it much farther?”

“Just over the next rise.”

Annja smiled. It would be good to see Jenny again, even if she was in a state. At least she was alive. That was the important thing. All they had to do was get her back to town so she could be checked by a local doctor to make sure she had no lingering problems.

Joey ducked off the trail.

“She went this way?” Annja asked.

Joey nodded. “As I said before, in her condition, her travel wasn’t orderly. The stumbling kept her going along downhill, but once she started to climb, she veered from the trail and ended up a few yards off the beaten path, so to speak.”

“How’d you find her, then?”

“I cast around looking for her tracks and found them. As I got closer, I could hear her murmuring something and that was it.”

“Lucky the wind died down enough so you could hear her.”

“I can filter the effects of the wind on my ears,” Joey said. “It’s an old trick I learned a long time ago from my grandfather. It helps to always be able to hear even when the wind is screaming.”

“That grandfather of yours is something else.”

“Just old family traditions, Annja. Nothing more.”

“So you say.”

Joey pointed. “It’s just over the next hill there. I moved her out of the wind and got a fire wall built to reflect the heat back on to her. Then I covered her up with a bunch of pine boughs. She should be nice and toasty by now.”

Annja crested the hill with Joey still in the lead.

Joey stopped abruptly. “Hey…”

Annja came up behind him. “What’s the matter?”

Joey pointed down the hill. “What the hell?”

Annja looked. She could see the fire with its flames still eagerly eating their way through the wood. The fire wall and pine boughs were also nearby.

But Jenny was nowhere to be seen.




6


“Where is she?”

Joey shook his head. “She was here, I swear it! I left her right there. She was sound asleep. Exhausted. There’s no way she could have just gotten up and walked away.”

“Are you sure?”

Joey eyed her. “Of course, I’m sure. You don’t think I had something to do with this, do you?”

Annja had to remind herself that Joey was only fourteen years old. The way he carried himself, he seemed so much older. But did it make any sense for him to somehow hurt Jenny? She frowned. Of course it didn’t.

“Sorry. I guess I’m used to too many people in my life not being what they claim to be.”

Joey scampered down the slope and began checking the area around the pine boughs. “There are no tracks here.”

“What? How is that possible?”

He pointed. “You can see the impression her body weight made on the bed of pine boughs. That’s where I left her. But look at the ground. There’s nothing much here to read. Even for someone like me.”

“Is it possible she just got up and walked away?”

“Not without leaving some type of sign. I’d be able to read it, especially since I’ve grown pretty familiar with her track type. There’s nothing here. It’s like she just up and vanished.”

Annja looked around. The approach to the knoll was fairly well sheltered. Would the gunmen have been able to spot the fire and mount a kidnapping so quickly? And if they had, shouldn’t there be some type of track for Joey to find?

“This doesn’t make sense. She’s got to be around here,” Annja said.

Joey shook his head. “Impossible. She’d need to have a stride like King Kong in order to walk away without me having anything to follow. No way. She’s not here—she somehow got snatched by someone skillful enough to erase their tracks like they weren’t even there. And that’s some major skill. I don’t know anyone but my grandfather who could pull it off.”

“And yet someone clearly has.”

“Yep.”

Annja frowned. “My real concern right now is that Jenny might be in some serious trouble. She might be close to death again, being away from the fire.”

Joey nodded. “Well, whoever grabbed her, they at least had the good sense to take the tea I made for her. It’s gone, too.”

Overhead, the storm clouds finally broke apart and drifted away, illuminating the area with moonlight. Annja was amazed at how much better she could see the surrounding area now. It was almost, but not quite, like being out in the daylight.

“Well, that will help,” Joey said.

“How long did it take you to get her settled before you came to see me?”

“About twenty minutes to get her squared away, and it was long enough for me to make sure she was in a good state. I would never have left her otherwise.”

“I believe you,” Annja said. “And how long did it take for you to get back to me after you left Jenny?”

Joey shrugged. “Under ten minutes. It’s not that long a haul for me.”

Annja nodded. “Still that means someone had plenty of time to get to her while you were fetching me.”

“Maybe she got swiped by a UFO,” Joey said. “That would explain the absence of tracks. They could have used one of those beams that lifts people right up into the spacecraft.”

Annja smirked. “You get a lot of UFOs around these parts?”

Joey shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. This place can be a real bore sometimes.”

“All right, so that means whoever grabbed her had to be extremely capable at stealthy movement.”

“And strong,” Joey said. “Jenny wasn’t exactly light as a feather.”

“For you,” Annja said. “A grown man might have had an easier time of it.”

Joey frowned. “I’ll be grown up within two summers. It’s not such a big thing.”

Annja winced. She’d clearly struck a nerve with Joey. Teenaged boys only want to be men and she’d belittled that with her comment. “Joey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to insinuate that you were weak or anything.”

“No big deal.” But she could see that Joey was smarting from the comment.

Annja looked around. “So what do we do now? I mean, Jenny’s not here. And if we have any hope of finding her, we’ll have to do it soon. I’m at a loss as to how we should proceed.” She looked at him closely. “These are your woods. I’d be grateful for your advice.”

Joey smiled. “Thanks.”

“Well?”

Joey nodded. “Okay, we can try to search for her, but I don’t know how much good it’s going to do. Without a track, I’m not much use. I haven’t really learned how to spirit track yet.”

“What’s that?”

Joey shrugged. “You’ll think I’m being weird.”

Annja smiled. “Did you see that sword earlier? What exactly was normal about that thing?”

“Not much.”

“Exactly.”

Joey sat down. “Well, spirit tracking is when you try to tune in to the person’s thoughts or spirit. You use that to guide you to them. My grandfather says it’s one of the ultimate tests that a true scout can undertake. Learning how to do it, you can kinda tune in on them anywhere.”

“It’s not limited by distance?”

“Nope. The process isn’t one I’m really familiar with, though. I still need a lot of training before I can pull it off adequately.”

“What about your grandfather?” Annja asked.

Joey sighed. “That guy can do anything.”

“Then maybe we should get him out here to help us.”

“Yeah, that would be the best thing to do, but my grandfather’s not able to walk anymore. He wouldn’t be able to come out here unless we drove him.”

Annja frowned. “What happened to him?”

“He got hit by a car crossing the street. Paralyzed him from the waist down. He hasn’t been the same since.”

A stiff breeze blew across the hill, chilling Annja. Jenny was somewhere in the woods, probably still in pretty bad shape, and there wasn’t a thing they could do about it. All that seemed likely was that she had a cup of pine-needle tea and little else.

“This is not how I expected to be spending my trip,” Annja said.

Joey pointed to their left. “My grandfather lives about four miles that way. If we hurry, we can reach his place in a little over an hour. But it’s not an easy trek. And I’m a little worried that you might not make it.”

“I’m not waiting here for you,” Annja said. “The last time I did that, Jenny vanished and I’m not taking the chance that whoever took her won’t come back and get me, as well. That’d just make your job that much harder.”

Joey shook his head. “Yeah, like if someone tried that on you, you couldn’t just whip that blade out and slice them apart.”

“It’s not that simple,” Annja said. “If they surprise me, for instance.”

“Like I did?”

“Yeah, like that. Then it becomes much harder to defend yourself. Plus, I’m cold and exhausted. If you leave me here, I’ll fall asleep in no time. And that would also make me vulnerable.”

Joey shrugged. “Suit yourself. But you’d better be able to keep up with me. Your friend’s life depends on me moving fast. If I can reach my grandfather’s house and get him to spirit track Jenny, then we should be all set.”

“He’ll be able to tell us where she is?”

“Almost definitely.”

Annja took a deep breath. “Then we’d better get going.”

Joey took a moment to orient himself and then set off at a brutal pace. Annja couldn’t believe how fast he moved and seemingly without getting tired. He wound his way up hills and down tight trails bordered by steep drop-offs. Streams ran parallel to their progress and, in places, the pines dipped so low that Annja had to duck repeatedly to avoid getting her eyes poked out.

Her breathing came fast and hard and, despite being bone cold earlier, the pace of the trek heated her up until she started to sweat. She could feel the rivulets running down her back and face. Her breath bellowed huge clouds of steam with every exhalation.

But still Joey kept moving.

Annja realized at some point that they weren’t on the main trail any longer. Joey was using what looked like animal runs and smaller paths that would have been invisible to her eyes if she’d been here alone. But to Joey they were the back roads and side streets of the wilderness landscape. And he knew how to use them effortlessly.

“You really do know this place, huh?”

Joey nodded. “I’ve had the time to explore it, fortunately. But there’s still plenty that I haven’t seen. It keeps me excited about it.”

Annja kept moving, focusing on the welfare of Jenny to keep her motivated. If they didn’t manage to somehow find her, then that would weigh heavy on Annja’s conscience. She just hoped that Joey’s grandfather would be able to somehow tune in to Jenny’s mind.

After a solid hour of travel, Joey drew himself to a halt. He took a deep breath and then seemed to smell the air. Annja came up alongside him and took the moment of rest gratefully.

“I don’t think I’ve ever moved so fast in my life.”

Joey smiled. “Quite the workout, isn’t it?”

“I’ll say. Are we close?”

Joey closed his eyes. “Quiet for just a moment, okay?”

“Okay.”

Annja watched as Joey turned his head slowly from side to side until he locked in on one direction. He stayed quiet for two minutes and then opened his eyes. “You ready to go again?”

“Uh…sure.”

“Good.” Joey took off, motoring across the valley in front of them. At the base of the next hill, he leaned forward, putting all his weight onto his thighs. Annja copied his lead, and instantly her thighs screamed in protest. She was asking them to bear a lot tonight, but it was all for Jenny.

She had to keep going.

Joey crested the hill and then turned onto a new track. The number of trees seemed to be dwindling and thinning out. Annja felt a change in the air.

Civilization.

They had to be close.

Forty yards farther on, Joey stepped out of the woods onto a paved road.

“Where are we?” Annja asked.

“Close,” Joey said. “Very close. This is the main road that runs from town out to the trailhead.”

“I don’t recognize it.”

“You wouldn’t have traveled this stretch coming from town.”

Annja nodded. “Your grandfather lives out here by himself?”

“He’s got me with him when I’m not out running around on my own.”

Annja kept pace with Joey, determined not to let him wear her down entirely. “You’ve got a lot of freedom for someone as young as you are.”

“You understand that, though, don’t you? The importance of being free. Not a lot of people do. I look at some of the other guys I know and their parents are terrified that they’ll get hurt so they keep them away from anything that might possibly harm them,” Joey said.

“We live in a different world now,” Annja replied.

“Problem is, we’re cutting ourselves away from the very earth that sustains us. No one understands nature anymore. It’s tragic.”

Joey stopped and pointed ahead of them. Annja could make out what looked like a small driveway.

“The house is up there,” Joey said.

“I don’t see it.”

Joey smiled. “Wait a second.”

Annja watched and then saw lights come on in one of the rooms, faintly illuminating the small home. “How?”

“He knows we’re coming,” Joey said. “Let’s go.”




7


As they approached the small house, Annja could see that the roof sagged in the middle and the gutters hung away from the roofline. The night’s storm could not have been much help to the obviously aged exterior, with its gray paint flaking off in piles by the stone foundation.

A rough-hewn wooden rail led up to a planked porch. Two rain barrels set at either corner overflowed from the rainfall.

“Great place,” Annja said.

Joey smirked. “You’re kidding, right? It’s falling apart.”

“Well, yeah, but in a nice rustic way.”

Joey turned and mounted the steps. Annja followed, and as she did so the front door opened, letting out a wash of light onto the porch. Backlit, Annja could just make out the form of a man in a wheelchair waving them in.

Joey bent and hugged his grandfather. “Grandpa.”

“Creeping Wolf,” the old man said. “I see you’ve been busy tonight.”

Joey nodded and stepped back, letting Annja into the house. “This is Annja Creed. She needs your help.”

“About the woman?”

Joey nodded.

Annja frowned. “How does he know that?”

Joey shrugged. “I told him.”

“When?”

“When I took a second to contact him.”

Annja frowned. “Telepathy?”

Joey’s grandfather coughed and waved his hand. “You see? Everyone tries to rationalize everything. That’s the problem with people these days.” He motioned to Annja. “Come in and sit by the fire. You look cold.”

Annja walked inside and saw that the interior was much nicer than the exterior had led her to believe. A large stone fireplace occupied the central place in the living room. Beautiful, intricate Native American tapestries hung from the walls. The floor was covered in a thick rug that looked like bearskin, although she couldn’t be sure.

She chose the threadbare recliner to sit in and marveled at how comfortable it was. Her spine relaxed into it and the cushions adjusted perfectly to her frame.

Joey’s grandfather smiled. “Comfy chair, ain’t it?”

“Very.”

The old man wheeled himself over to the fire. In the twinkling light, Annja could see the wrinkled skin that looked like aged leather. His beard was almost entirely white and hung about two inches below his chin.

He spun around then and eyed her closely. After a moment he smiled. “You may call me Dancing Deer.”

Annja frowned. The name simply didn’t fit, given the old man’s condition. Had it been some sort of cruel joke that someone had given him that name?

Dancing Deer merely smiled. “I wasn’t always like this. In my youth, I ran through the woods with the joy of a deer that has just found its strength. Even now, the soul of a mighty buck beats within my chest. Legs aside, I am still a mighty warrior.”

Annja bowed her head. “I’m honored to meet you. I’ve heard a great deal about you from Creeping Wolf.”

Dancing Deer nodded. “My grandson is a credit to his people. And he’s a fine scout in his own right. He has a lot to learn still, but I can see that he has been very useful to you already.”

“And I’m hoping you can be just as useful,” Annja said. “I need your help to find my friend, Jenny.”

Dancing Deer nodded gravely. “I can see that. The concern you have for your friend is evident on your face. It troubles your spirit greatly.”

“If something should happen to her, it would be my burden,” Annja said. “I do not wish for any harm to come to her.”

“Very well,” Dancing Deer said. “Then I must ask you to sit still and allow me to track her.”

Joey sat down on the couch. “I was the last to see her, Grandpa.”

Dancing Deer nodded. “Come and kneel beside me for a moment.”

Annja watched as Joey got off the couch and knelt next to Dancing Deer’s wheelchair. The old man placed one hand on Joey’s head and then closed his eyes. Annja could see him muttering something under his breath and then it was over quickly.

Dancing Deer looked at Joey. “Bring the sage, please.”

Joey ran from the room and Annja could hear him rummaging through drawers, presumably in the kitchen. When he returned, he had a large bundle of leaves in his hand. Annja recognized it as the sage Dancing Deer had requested.

“Light it and let it smolder, please.”

Joey leaned in close to the fire and let the bundle catch a kiss from one of the flames. The fire ate into the dried herbs and then Joey waved it to extinguish the flame. Smoke wafted into the room and Annja took a nice deep breath. The effect of the sage was relaxing.

Dancing Deer still had his eyes closed. “Move it around the room until we are surrounded by its essence.”

Joey circled the room, letting the smoke hang in the air until it permeated everything. Finally he set the smoldering bundle in a small dish near the fire. Smoke continued to drift toward the ceiling.

Annja could feel her own eyelids getting heavy again. She desperately wanted to stay awake and watch Dancing Deer undertake the spirit track, but she wasn’t sure that it was possible.

Dancing Deer looked to Joey again. “I am ready.”

Joey glanced at Annja. “You need to be absolutely quiet, okay?”

She nodded.

Dancing Deer’s eyes closed again, and this time he started a low chant that seemed to rumble up from somewhere deep inside his chest. As she listened to it, Annja could feel herself being carried along. A drum joined in the chant and she realized that Joey must have been drumming along in time to it.

Dancing Deer continued to chant and the drumming kept pace the entire way. Annja could feel herself starting to fall fast asleep.

She had to stay awake!

The chanting and drumming continued and now a new voice joined in. Joey was chanting along with his grandfather. How on earth were they going to be able to find Jenny? Annja desperately wanted to ask them but Joey had warned her not to make any noise. Whatever they were doing, clearly Annja saying anything would disrupt the procedure.

She relaxed and breathed deeply, inhaling and exhaling as she felt herself get lighter and lighter. The smell of sweet sage in the room drifted in and out of her lungs, and seemed to seep into every one of her muscles, making them relax even further.

The more Annja relaxed, the deeper she seemed to sink into the chair and the lighter she felt. It was an odd sort of sensation. While she’d experimented with hypnosis before, this was nothing like it. She was relaxed and deeply in some sort of state, but she simultaneously felt like she could lift right out of her chair as if she had no weight whatsoever.

The drumming and chanting seemed farther away now, as if Annja was somehow removed from it in some respects. She turned her eyes inward and saw the sword hanging in the space in her mind’s eye where it always resided. She could reach out and touch it if she wanted. But somehow she knew her attention was needed elsewhere.

She looked outward and, in an instant, found herself drifting up and out of the chair toward the ceiling. Then she was carried through the house and out into the dark night again. She could hear the wind but felt none of its cold bite.

She turned toward the woods where she and Joey had come from and let herself float that way. She drifted down the trail quickly, her feet never touching the ground at all.

Annja kept breathing deeply. Somehow the sage smell still lingered in her nostrils. Somehow it still kept relaxing her, even while she was outside of the house.

The thought that she was traveling out of her body occurred to Annja and she looked back to see if there was some type of thread connecting her body as she’d often read about. She could see nothing.

Perhaps this was what it was like to die?

Annja kept traveling down the path. She rolled over the hills and down into the valleys. She could taste the air. And soon enough she found herself back where she and Joey had started.

The pine boughs still held the impression of Jenny’s body. Annja rose up above the ground and looked at the area from a different perspective. Whoever had grabbed Jenny would have scared her possibly. Jenny must have felt some type of fear, even in her weakened state.

What would it be like, she wondered, to lay there so vulnerable and know that you couldn’t do anything? Her heart started beating faster. Annja felt her pulse quicken at the thought of the sudden looming presence that might have carried her off.

Who was it? she wondered.

Where was she?

The fear was palpable; Annja could feel it envelop her body and her mind like some kind of blanket. She wanted to shrug it off and feel relaxed again, but a voice inside her told her this was necessary. She needed to know this fear.

Annja embraced it then, allowing herself to be swept up into the rising tide of anxiety that Jenny would have felt. And as she did so, her body shifted. She was zooming along the ground again, but no longer in control of herself. It was as if she’d stepped on a carnival ride and been whisked away from where she was.

Something was happening.

In the far distance, she could still hear the drums and chanting. It reassured her to know they were still there, but then Jenny’s fear overwhelmed her again and she continued her journey.

Her body flew over the landscape to places that Annja didn’t recognize. Hills too steep to climb rushed at her as she continued to move on and on, higher and higher until she felt as if she was above the treeline.

And then darkness.

It surrounded Annja. She could taste the fear in her mouth. Where was she? Who had taken her? She had no sensation of what had transported her, only that she was somewhere dark and dank.

It wasn’t too cold, though. Somehow there was warmth in this place.

And then she heard the soft sound of crying in the darkness.

“Jenny?”

But no one answered her. Annja frowned. Of course not. If she was still sitting in the chair in Dancing Deer’s home, there’d be no way for Jenny to hear her.

Still…

“Jenny?”

There was no response. Annja frowned. “I think you’re in a cave up on a mountain almost above the treeline. If you can hear me, try to get out of there and work your way down. I’ll try to find you.”

It felt good saying that, and as soon as that relief washed over Annja, the darkness disappeared and she was flying back down the mountain to where she’d begun her journey. Everything happened in reverse. And then Annja was back by the pine boughs.

The drumming grew louder. So did the chanting. Annja realized that her trip was over. She could smell the sage again. She could feel the heat of the living room. She wanted to be back in the chair.

She flew down the trail. Back over the hills and valleys. And then into the air.

Annja drifted back toward Dancing Deer’s home and then down through the ceiling, finally coming to rest in the chair.

The drumming and chanting grew louder now as she felt herself sink into the flesh of her own body.

Annja opened her eyes and felt incredibly light and refreshed. Dancing Deer’s voice trailed off. So did Joey’s drumming.

After a moment, Dancing Deer opened his eyes and stared right at Annja. “Did you have a pleasant journey?”

Annja smiled. “I don’t know what happened to me.”

Dancing Deer nodded. “I think you do, actually. You were the one to whom your friend has the strongest connection. As such, you were the one to take the journey. Not I.”

“You mean I spirit tracked her?”

“I don’t know,” Dancing Deer said. “Did you?”

“I’m not sure.” Annja frowned. “There was a lot of darkness.”

“But you know where to look now, don’t you?” Annja closed her eyes and then smiled. “Actually, I think I do.”




8


Dancing Deer looked at Annja closely. “Be careful. You are still learning to trust your instincts. At this point, it can be very dangerous to be too trusting or too little trusting. Do you understand?”

Annja frowned. “I…I guess I do.”

“You need only trust in the spirit that moves in all things. The Creator will guide you to what you seek.”

The sage smoke had ceased billowing from the bundle and all that remained were the blackened bits of the herb in the dish. But Annja could still smell the sweet scent in the air.

Joey got up and took the dish to the kitchen. Annja could hear him washing it before he once again returned to the living room. “You ready to go?”

Annja rose from the recliner, feeling as if she’d been asleep for hours. She stretched and heard her back creak a bit. “I guess so.” She smiled at Dancing Deer. “That is one comfortable chair you’ve got there.”

Dancing Deer grinned. “And as soon as you’re gone, I’m going to fall asleep in it.”

Joey gave his grandfather a hug. “Thanks for your help.”

Annja could see the pride in Dancing Deer’s eyes as he hugged his grandson. “Don’t be gone too long or I’ll worry.”

“You don’t need to,” Joey said.

“You’re all I have left. I don’t have a choice but to worry.”

Joey stepped back and nodded. Then he turned to Annja. “Let’s go.”

Outside, the night sky was filled with stars not overshadowed by the brilliance of the moon in the western sky. Annja picked out several constellations and marveled at how much she could see.

“Annja?”

She looked at Joey. “Sorry, it’s just so beautiful here.”

“We can look at it later.” Joey pointed. “We need to get going. Did you see the direction we need to head in?”

“Let’s start back at where you left Jenny. I was there and then I was taken away after I tuned into her…fear, I guess.”

Joey nodded. “Dancing Deer says that is one way to do it. By tuning into the emotions of the person you’re trying to track, it’s very easy to find them. Fear is one of the strongest. Rage and lust are others.”

“Lust?”

Joey shrugged. “I don’t know much about that one yet. But the things that people obsess over are stronger than just basic emotions. Pretty interesting stuff, huh?”

“Definitely.”

Joey led them back down the road and into the woods again. Annja laughed. I feel as if this is the third time I’ve traveled this route tonight. I’m almost getting tired of seeing it again.

Joey glanced back at her. “Old hat to you now, huh?”

“I was just thinking that.”

“Happened to me, too. The first time I did it.”

Annja frowned. “I thought you said you didn’t know how to do it. That’s why we went and saw your grandfather.”

“What I said was I wasn’t skilled enough at leading someone else on a spirit track. I knew it would have to be you.”

“You never mentioned that.”

“Would you have believed me?”

“Possibly.”

Joey chuckled. “I guess maybe you would have.”

They wound their way back down the trail. Annja’s legs knew the terrain by now and she was surprised at how relaxed she felt as she moved along. It was almost as if she was able to sense the flow of the land, to read it before she reached it and adjust her body accordingly. The result was she wasn’t nearly as exhausted this time.

Joey led them back to the hill where he’d left Jenny. “Okay. Now what?”

Annja glanced around. The last time she’d been there, she’d been out of her body and tuning into Jenny’s emotional state. But now, being there in the flesh, it didn’t seem possible to do what she’d done back at Dancing Deer’s home.

“I don’t know.”

“Annja.”

Annja shook her head. “It doesn’t look familiar. I don’t know if I can do this again.”

“Of course you can. You just need to stop thinking that it’s different now from how it was when you were in the chair. It’s not different. It’s the same. It’s all connected.”

Annja closed her eyes. She tried to remember how she’d felt when she reached this point. She could feel her heartbeat increase as the waves of fear gripped her insides again. She was Jenny. She was feeling the approach of some kind of unseen danger. And then she was swept up.

Running.

Running.

Through the trees and across the hills and the valleys. Branches whipped past her face. She could smell the wet pines, the dampness of the rain on the air. She could hear the breezes rustling the leaves and the deadfall. She could feel her feet on the slippery mud, but somehow kept her balance just the same.

And still she could feel Jenny’s fear. She knew it now like it was her own. And she saw the darkness that surrounded Jenny.

The cave.

Annja opened her eyes and nearly fell over.

She wasn’t by the pine boughs where Joey had left Jenny. She was somewhere else. Far away from where they’d been. Miles away, in fact.

Joey stood nearby. He was smiling. “Hey.”

“Hey, yourself. Where the hell are we?”

Joey shrugged. “I don’t really know. This isn’t a part of the woods that I’ve explored before.”

“I thought you knew everywhere.”

“Nope. This is a lot of land. Parts of this place are almost inaccessible. Frankly, when you took off running, I was a bit concerned I’d lose you. If you’d kept up with me like that earlier, we might have found Jenny even faster.”

“Funny guy. I don’t even remember moving.”

Joey nodded. “Yeah, well, when you suddenly forget about keeping your body, mind and spirit together, crazy things can happen.”

“I guess.”

Joey glanced around. “This is some pretty steep terrain. You think Jenny’s around here somewhere?”

“A cave,” Annja said. She could see the darkness. “I think she’s in a cave somewhere above us.”

“We’re almost above the treeline as it is,” Joey said. “But these mountains and hills are packed with isolated areas that are almost impossible to get through. She could be in any one of them. Can you narrow it down some before we start poking our noses into every cave we come across?”

“How would I do that?”

Joey shrugged. “Close your eyes again.”

“Okay.”

“One thing.”

Annja opened her eyes. “What?”

“This time, try to consciously move a little slower, would you? You almost had me tired out back there.”

Annja grinned. “All right.”

She closed her eyes and tried to focus on the darkness. If Jenny was in a cave, they would need to know where it was.

But instead of feeling like she could see the darkness, Annja found that she couldn’t concentrate on the pitch-black interior any longer. For some reason, it didn’t feel right.

She opened her eyes.

“Something wrong?”

“I don’t know. I closed my eyes and tried to tune into Jenny again, but I don’t see any darkness. I’m trying to see the cave, but it’s not working for some reason.”

“Weird,” Joey said.

“Maybe I’m not doing it right?”

“Maybe, but a lot of this stuff is just done by gut instinct. If something feels wrong, that usually means it is.”

“So you think I’m doing it wrong.”

“I didn’t say that. I just said if it feels wrong, then perhaps something has changed that we can’t see just yet.”

“Like what?”

Joey shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe Jenny’s not in a cave anymore.”

“You think they moved her?”

Joey frowned. “Did you say anything to her when you were spirit tracking?”

“I called her name a couple of times.”

“Yeah, anything else?”

Annja frowned. “As a matter of fact, I think I told her to find a way out of the cave and that we’d find her.”

“There ya go. She’s probably making her way back down to us even as we stand here.”

Annja looked around. “Really?”

“Why not?”

“Well, I didn’t think she heard me.”

“She probably didn’t hear you in the way that you would if we were speaking normally. But subconsciously she might have suddenly gotten the idea to leave the cave and then done so.”

Annja looked at him. “Is that how you contacted Dancing Deer when we were on our way to see him?”

“Something like that.”

“Pretty incredible.”

“Nah, not really. That’s another problem with this stuff. When people find out, they always want to mumbo jumbo it up. Turn it into something mystical or magical when it’s anything but that. The most incredible things are inherent in everyone. It’s just that we forget about them or don’t use them enough so that, over time, the edges get dull. And eventually we forget we have them at all. It’s kind of sad, really, when you see the majority of people sort of sleepwalking through their lives. The reality of waking up to the truth is always so much more amazing than you’d think.”

“Through the looking glass, right?”

Joey frowned. “Huh?”

“Never mind. So where would you suggest we look for Jenny, then? She could be anywhere.”

Joey shook his head. “I say we stay right here and that she’ll probably be along shortly.”

“Of all the places in these woods, you think she’s just going to wander down in front of us?”

“Why not?”

Annja smiled. “Methinks you’ve got a lot of faith.”

“Just a confidence in the way the Creator works, that’s all. If that’s faith, then so be it. But I don’t get all religious about it. Just appreciative.”

“Thankful.”

“Exactly.”

Joey hunkered down on a nearby log and started studying the ground. Annja watched him as he ran his hands over the dirt. “Any tracks?”

Joey shrugged. “Not sure, actually. I see some depressions, but I can’t tell what made them.”

“Really?”

He looked up. “Well, like I said before, I’m still studying. I can’t get out here every single day when school’s in session. I still have to do homework.”

“Sorry.”

“Forget it.”

Joey went back to studying the ground. “Funny thing, though, whatever made this was pretty large.”

“Meaning?”

“Nothing, I guess. I’d sure like to know what track this is. There are no real impressions, just a displacement of dirt. It’s weird.”

“Why are you guys looking at the ground?”

Annja glanced up. Coming out of the trees in front of them was Jenny Chu.




9


Annja couldn’t contain herself. She rushed up and grabbed Jenny in a bear hug. “Thank God you’re alive!”

Jenny nodded and Annja let her go. “I don’t know what happened exactly.”

Joey frowned. “When I left you, you were passed out asleep.”

Jenny smiled. “I think it was that tea you made me. It was so warm and delicious. I just about went out after a few sips of that stuff.”

“Old family recipe,” Joey said. “But what happened? I wouldn’t have left you if I’d known you were going to up and leave like that.”

Annja brought Jenny over to the side of the trail. “Are you feeling all right? Joey can make a fire if you need one.”

“I’m okay, actually,” Jenny said. “Getting down here helped warm me up, so that’s a good thing.”

Joey squatted and looked closely at Jenny. “Well, considering how bad off you were when I found you, I’d say that’s definitely a good thing. You made a remarkable recovery for someone who was struggling with hypothermia. Pretty impressive.”

Jenny nodded. “I feel a lot better.”

“So,” Annja said, “can you tell us what happened to you?”

Jenny took a deep breath. “I left the camp early this morning. I’d come because a contact of mine out here found some tracks.”

“Tracks?”

“He believed they belonged to the Sasquatch.”

Joey rolled his eyes and Annja resisted the urge to. Instead, she smiled. “All right, that made you launch the expedition. But what happened this morning when you left camp?”

“I was getting a feel for the lay of the land. There’s something incredible about this forest. I’ve been to plenty of places but it’s almost as if this location has some type of spirit watching over it. The trails aren’t beaten down by humans. There’s very little, if any, litter anywhere, and the majesty of the place can be overwhelming.”

Annja glanced at Joey. “I tend to think our friend here helps keep the place looking better than average.”

Joey shrugged. “Part of my duty.”

Jenny smiled. “Well, you’re doing a phenomenal job. But I tend to think there might be another presence here. And the footprint casts that I saw in pictures made me desperately want to come here and find out for myself.”

“And drag along your skeptical friend,” Annja said.

“Sure. Why wouldn’t I?”

Annja nodded. “So you were out hiking this morning…”

“I hadn’t planned to do much. Maybe a few miles on one of the trails. I didn’t take a pack with me. I felt I needed to be out by myself, you know? Away from everyone else. I love my students, obviously, but the chatter can get annoying sometimes. I don’t imagine you’d understand.”

Annja frowned. “Actually, I have a pretty good idea.”

“I was out for a good long time. Again, I just got caught up looking at things. I lost track of time. By late afternoon, I was heading back, but instead of the camp, I found it deserted.”

“We had some nasty visitors while you were gone,” Annja said. “They were very persuasive when they asked us to leave.”

Jenny looked at her. “The students?”

“Safe back in town, thanks to Joey.”

Jenny smiled at Joey. “That’s one more I owe you, huh?”

“Added to the tab, no worries.”

Jenny looked back at Annja. “And you stayed?”

“Sure, I wasn’t going to desert one of my friends. Especially not one who went through so much trouble to get me to come out here in the first place.”

“Thanks. I mean it. And thanks for making sure my students got taken care of. If anything happened to them—”

“Let’s not think about that right now. They’re safe. So are you. That’s what matters.” Annja glanced at Joey. “Would it be too much to ask you to make a fire? Some of that tea you made Jenny sounds really good, too. I could certainly use a cup and I’m sure Jenny would like another, as well.”

Joey smiled. “Consider it done.”

Annja watched him vanish into the woods to find the necessary ingredients. Annja looked back at Jenny. “All right, now what the hell is really going on here?”

“What do you mean?”

“What I mean is, you bring me out here to some camp in the middle of nowhere. I get here and instantly I’m faced with three mean dudes with guns. I have to shepherd your students back to town. Then I have a run-in with a wolf. It’s been pouring buckets and you almost die from exposure. I visit some old Native American man who surreptitiously teaches me how to do something called spirit tracking and we manage to find each other.” Annja took a breath. “You’re sure this is all about some set of tracks?”

Jenny took a deep breath. “I don’t know.”

“That’s not much of an answer.”

Joey emerged from the brush and started making the fire pit. “I take it you want this thing kept low profile?”

Annja nodded. “The lower the better.”

Joey nodded and within a few seconds had a small blaze started. Annja watched him fix several sticks together to make some sort of grill. On top of this, he placed a small container of water to boil. Where he’d managed to get the water, Annja had no idea. She wondered what else Joey had hidden away in the small pack he carried.

She glanced back at Jenny who wasn’t looking nearly so happy. “Tell me about this contact of yours,” Annja said.

“David? He’s just a friend I met through an online site for Sasquatch aficionados. We hit it off and started comparing notes. He mentioned he was out here and that he’d come across something he thought I might find interesting.”

“The tracks.”

“Yes.”

“And he showed them to you?”

“Via e-mail. He sent me a digital photo of them.”

Joey sniffed. “Any fool with Photoshop can alter a picture and make it look like something else.”

Jenny sighed. “Maybe I was naive.”

“Have you seen this David guy since you’ve been out here?” Annja asked.

Jenny frowned. “That’s the odd thing. He was supposed to meet up with me in town to discuss the search pattern we were going to run to find the creature.”

“You actually thought you were going to find the Sasquatch?” Joey shook his head. “And they say kids are crazy.”

“Make the tea, Joey,” Annja said. She turned back to Jenny. “You really thought you might catch one?”

Jenny shook her head. “That’s a bad choice of words. By find I meant that we would get some type of evidence on film that the creatures exist. I didn’t mean that we were going to trap one and cart it off for study.”

Joey sniffed again, but this time didn’t say anything.

“What’s the background on David? Is he local? Would Joey know him?”

Jenny shrugged. “I thought he was local. But I guess I don’t really know.”

Annja sighed. “For someone as intelligent as you are, Jenny, you really dropped the ball on this one. How in the world did you ever convince the university to back this expedition?”

Jenny smiled. “I used to date the head of the department of anthropology. He owed me a favor.”

Annja took another breath. “So let me see if I’ve got this straight—you hook up with some guy on the Net. He sends you pictures. You agree to come out and meet with him and manage to convince people to give you money to do so.”

“That’s about it, yes.”

“You realize this sounds exactly like some type of exposé on the dangers the Internet poses to children, don’t you?”

Joey stirred a handful of pine needles into the boiling water. “Tea will be ready soon, everyone.”

Annja frowned. She wished she had some whiskey to go along with that tea. The thought that Jenny would be so reckless, not just with her own safety but with the safety of her students, really bothered her. Annja couldn’t believe it. It didn’t seem like something Jenny would do, and yet here she was.

She decided to change the subject. “David never showed up, huh?”

“No.”

“And just what did this guy look like?”

Jenny shrugged. “He was sort of tall. Nice face. Clean shaven. Kind of that scholarly look—you know the one I like.”

Jenny had always had a thing for bookish guys.

“Yeah, I know what you like.” Annja glanced around. It didn’t seem as if this David had any connection to the angry gunmen. None of them fit that description. That was at least something in his favor. Still, Annja wanted to know more about this guy and why he hadn’t shown up when he said he would.

“Did you have any established communication routine at all? Would he know how to get in touch with you?” she asked Jenny.

“He had my cell-phone number.”

“And did he call you at any point?”

Jenny frowned. “No. He didn’t.”

Joey handed Jenny a cup of the tea. “Drink this. It will make you feel better. I added a few extra touches to it.”

Annja accepted tea from him, as well. She could feel the heat emanating from the cup and sniffed it. “Smells good.”

“It is,” Joey said.

“So does this David guy sound familiar to you? You seem like the type who would know anyone in town, and this guy sounds just different enough that he might stand out in your mind.”

Joey shook his head and sipped his own cup of tea. “Sorry, no. I mean, every once in a while, we get some kooks through here who think they’re on the monster trail and all, but it’s happened often enough that we just get bored with them. They camp out for a week or so, don’t see anything and then pack it in. When the Sasquatch doesn’t come out of the brush and sit in their camp, they tend to lose patience and move on.”

Annja nodded. “Looks as if David is a ghost, then. If he even existed at all.”

Jenny sipped her tea. “But I spoke with him.”

“Online,” Annja said. “There’s no guarantee that it wasn’t someone else on the other end feeding you a fake picture of who you thought David was.”

“But why go through that trouble?”

Annja shook her head. “I don’t know. But someone did apparently. Or else, there’s the other option.”

“What’s that?”

“That David has either been kidnapped or killed.”

Jenny gasped. “You’re not serious.”

“Why not? Missing people who don’t turn up when they’re supposed to? Let’s not be foolish here and discount it so fast. Given the other characters I’ve run into since I arrived earlier today, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that something bad happened.”

Jenny shook her head. “I don’t believe it. I think he’s still around. After all, look what happened to me. I vanished and yet you found me.”

“You found your way down the mountain, Jenny,” Annja said. “I didn’t do anything.”

“You spoke to me in a dream,” Jenny said. “It was very clear to me.”

Joey raised his eyebrows. “Wow, pretty good for a first timer.”

Annja shushed him. “You heard me?”

Jenny nodded. “When I was in the cave. It was completely dark. Couldn’t see a thing. And yet, in the darkness, you spoke to me as if you were right next to me. I’d been crying softly and then it was like you were there. Pretty amazing.”

Annja took another sip of tea. “You remember anything else about getting to that cave?”

“Not really. I had the distinct sensation of someone lifting me up and running with me in their arms.”

“They’d have to be pretty strong to do that,” Annja said. “Maybe you were just hallucinating or sleepwalking?”

Jenny shook her head. “No way. This was for real.”

“And just who do you think snatched you up like that?”

Jenny took a sip of tea and then looked right at Annja. “Why, big foot, of course.”




10


Joey glanced at Annja and rolled his eyes. Annja herself wasn’t quite sure what to make of Jenny’s statement. She seemed so utterly certain that it was almost hard to argue with her conviction.

“Big foot?”

Jenny glared at her. “I know you think I’m being crazy.”

“I don’t—”

“I do,” Joey said. “Completely bonkers. You need serious help for that condition.”





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