The child-thing shrieked in rage. Without warning, the creature ran straight for the fallen woman.
Without thinking, intending only to deflect the child-thing so the creature couldn't harm the helpless woman, Isabel put her hand out. For a brief moment, she felt cold and hard flesh beneath her hand. Before she had time to take in anything else, the hum of a static electricity discharge crackled through the air.
A lightning bolt came from nowhere and struck the pavement nearby. The explosion rocked Isabel and knocked Jesse from his feet.
She glanced at Jesse, knowing he'd taken more of the brunt of the blast than she had. As she started to call out to him, a gray-green shape suddenly rose up from the woman.
Stunned, the lightning blast still ringing in her ears, Isabel watched as the gray-green shape grew to ten feet in height. The shape took on distinct features, becoming a stooped dragon… at least, that was as close as Isabel could come to describing the creature… with short wings, and a long snout filled with curved fangs. The scales held a shimmering silver coloration under the direct sun, but the mottled charcoal and emerald colors looked like gangrene.
The dragons eyes appeared multifaceted and actually moved back and forth in their orbits like camera lenses. A pair of antennae jutted up from the interior corner of the eyes, curving back over the dragon's head and twitching in perfect time. Unfolding forelegs that resembled those of a praying mantis and ended in serrated hooked claws, the creature swiped at her.
Isabel dodged back, unwilling to leave the unconscious woman's side. The hooked claws passed within inches of her face.
'Isabel.' Jesse got to his feet again.
'Leave!' the dragon snarled at Isabel. 'All of you need to leave this place or you will all die!'
Lightning flashed again, blinding in its intensity despite the brightness of day. This time, the lightning struck the van. Apparently enough gasoline had leaked from the vehicle to create a pool that ignited when the lightning seared into it. Isabel caught a brief glimmer of flames, then the van leaped into the air as the gas tank exploded.
The mass of flame-wrapped burning metal thudded back onto the ground hard enough to send a tremor through the earth. A blistering heat wave washed over Isabel, pulling at her hair and clothing. As she covered her face with her free hand, she watched the dragon dissipate, fragmenting like a computer-generated picture being torn away pixel by pixel.
In seconds only the unconscious woman and the burning van wreathed in flames and black smoke remained.
Isabel gazed down U.S. 285 and watched as the state police car roar toward them.
'I've got to call your father,' Jesse said.
Isabel nodded. 'Don't tell him I'm here.'
A troubled look filled Jesses face. 'I don't like lying to your dad.'
'He's not ready for this,' Isabel said.
'He may find out.'
'And he may not,' Isabel said. 'If he doesn't have to know, I don't want him to know.' She paused. 'Not yet, Jesse. Not like this.' And if there are any repercussions from that, III deal with them then, she thought.
Grudgingly Jesse nodded. He opened his cell phone and walked to meet the arriving state police car.
Gazing at the burning van, feeling the unconscious woman's hand in hers, Isabel suddenly remembered that Jesse hadn't seen the child-thing. The realization burned into Isabel's mind. The woman had seen the creature, and she'd seen the creature. The only thing different was her alienness. Even if she and Jesse got past the whole chemistry thing and discovered the attraction between them was real and not just a phase, they would still have to deal with her alien nature.
That had seemed to be a constant stumbling block for Max and Liz, no matter how much they seemed to genuinely care about each other. And Liz knows Max is an alien. Jesse doesn't have a clue about me. How am I… we… supposed to deal with that? Isabel felt all knotted up inside. She needed to do something, but she had no idea what.
The child-thing knew me, she reminded herself. Maybe the child-thing didn't know my name, but it knew that I was different. It hated me for that difference. She watched Jesse with the state policemen, knowing that one way or another her life was going to change again.
Heart pounding inside his chest, Max stopped when River Dog did. They stood in front of a small house with peeling paint and a collection of dreamcatchers and chimes hanging from the leaning front porch. The slight breeze made the chimes tinkle, and the sound was barely audible over the crash of destruction coming from inside the house.
River Dog turned to the two small boys holding his hands. 'Stay here. I will care for your mother.' He glanced up and caught the eye of an older woman, who immediately came forward and took the boys by the hands.
Something crashed inside the house.
A group of young men arrived and stood in the narrow street before the house. Max figured they'd been working on a construction project because they carried sledgehammers, crowbars, and hammers.
'This is Cathy Callingcrow's house,' one of the men said. 'What is going on here?'
River Dog held up a hand. 'Let me handle this.'
Another man elbowed his way through the gathering crowd. Max recognized George Grayhawk at once. The man didn't look any happier to see him there.
'What is goig on?' Grayhawk demanded.
'Grampa's spirit,' one of the two small boys yelped. 'He's inside the house.'
Max caught the brief blur of motion from the corner of his eye. As he started to turn, a chair crashed through the
window, hurtling glass over the porch and the gathering crowd.
The woman drew back the two small boys as they started screaming in fear. Some of the men stepped back as well, herding the small children and other women back from the house.
'River Dog,' Grayhawk spat. 'This thing with our ancestors' spirits grows worse. They've returned to our homes, to the homes of their descendants, and given us warning to leave, but never before have they hurt anyone.' He locked eyes with Max. 'This is all happening because of the Visitors. Because of your involvement with the Visitors.'
A low wail of pain and fear came from the house.
George Grayhawk led four men into the house.
'Come,' River Dog told Max.
Knowing the Mesaliko tribe blamed him, Max figured the last place he belonged was inside someone's house. He wanted to leave, just get back into his car and get back to Roswell.
River Dog never even glanced back for him, only stepped up onto the swaying porch and charged into the house after the other men.
Making his decision, Max followed the shaman into the home. The woman's screams sounded louder inside.
8
small as the house had seemed on the outside, the structure seemed even smaller on the inside. Max felt awkward and embarrassed and scared all at the same time.
A woman… Max had to assume she was Cathy Callingcrow… cowered in a corner with her hands over her head. Blood wept from a long cut on her cheek. Sobs and violent trembling wracked her slight frame. She wore jeans and a mans T-shirt, and didn't look thirty yet.
The furniture in the room had been overturned. Ragged tears across the material testified to the use of knives or claws. Holes showed in the walls. A kitchen chair stuck out from one wall, two of its legs curled and bent underneath while the other two legs pierced the wall. The chair was a match to the one out on the porch. Pictures lay scattered across the carpeted floor.
