Bad Moon Rising - Paranormal Romance (8 page)

Of course he was right. Her mother didn’t want her to know what had happened to her as a child, at least not yet. Regardless, Mya felt it was important that she know.

Leaning back in her seat, Mya folded her arms in front of her. “At my age … don’t you think that it’s a little ridiculous to keep this a secret … especially if it concerns me?”

His lopsided grin was wary. “I guess you’re right, but I don’t want Joan mad at me.”

“My mom will get over it, but I really think this is something that I need to know about?” she pleaded.

Donny shrugged. “I’ve actually been thinking about it, and maybe it’s a good thing that you know. Maybe it will help you to stay out of trouble while you’re here.”

Her nerves were fried, but Mya tried to maintain and wait for Donny to tell her what he knew. She found it maddening the way he would prolong a conversation by stopping to do other things. Right now he was pulling a can of soda out of the refrigerator.

“Do you want something to drink?” he asked.

Mya shook her head. She seriously doubted that she could drink anything at the moment. The butterflies fluttering in her stomach were making her feel sick.

“Your parents warned me that you seemed to have no memory of what happened that night,” he said, just before taking a big drink of his soda.

“No I don’t remember anything … except I did have a really odd dream last night. I dreamed of being here when I was younger. That’s why I asked my mom about it.”

“I’m not surprised. When they found you that night, you were scared stiff.” Donny had settled in the bench seat across from her.

“So what happened?” Mya was getting impatient.

Donny stared at her, seeming to gauge her emotional state. Finally he took a deep breath and started talking. “Steve had brought you and your mother down here for a visit. I think it was early summer … June maybe.” Donny stopped long enough to take another gulp of his drink.

“You guys were staying with me. Well … it was about the third night you were here … your mom got up to get a drink and found you gone. That was around midnight. At first we just thought you’d gone outside and wandered off. We searched without any luck. Finally we had to call in the police. They put together a search that lasted the rest of the night and into the next night.”

He grew quiet - lost in that long ago memory. “At last we got a call from
Chinle
. You were found at a gas station. There were some witnesses that claimed someone in a truck let you off in front of the station.”

“It is a powder used by skinwalkers. It’s made of ground human bone and other things … I don’t know what. That is information only a skinwalker would have. But I can tell you that corpse powder is used to witch people.”

Mya stood up and began pacing the floor. “Why would skinwalkers take me?”

Donny shook his head. “I would only be guessing. The elders believed the skinwalkers put some kind of spell on you … a spell that was meant to come to fruition at a later time. The truth is … we have no idea. Right after that, your family left.”

“Was I? Is it possible?” Mya asked, wondering if her mother’s suspicions could be a real possibility. Maybe the dream she’d had was a masked version of what really happened?

“I doubt it.” Donny was shaking his head. “You were taken to the hospital after they found you. The doctor said that you had not been assaulted in that way. Plus … there is still the corpse powder. That for sure came from a skinwalker.”

Mya was chewing on her bottom lip, a habit she fell into whenever she was feeling particularly agitated. “Did they ever find out who it was that left me at the gas station?

“No … but one of the witnesses swears it was Old Man,” he answered.

At Donny’s words, Mya suddenly remembered the old man in her dream. That is also when she realized that it was the same man that she’d asked for directions to Red Canyon.

“I know who it was,” she whispered.

Donny’s face was a mask of shock. “How could you? Even if you remembered something from that night, it’s doubtful you would know the person … especially if it really was Old Man.”

“I saw him on my way out to Red Canyon. He was on the side of the road selling souvenirs. I stopped to ask for directions.”

Donny wrinkled his forehead. “And he told you he was Old Man?”

“No,” Mya shook her head. “I didn’t ask him his name, but the guy in the dream said he was Old Man and I’m sure it’s the same person.”

“You must be mistaken. Maybe you heard the name somewhere else,” he suggested.

“Well I know what I saw,” Mya was irritated that he didn’t seem to believe her.

Donny’s smile was tolerant. “If you actually saw him, then you’d be the first … at least that I know of. Old Man is a myth of the
Sinapu
. He is their spirit protector.”

“Okay … just suppose that he is real and not just a myth. If he is their protector … and he is the one that returned me that night … wouldn’t that mean that the
Sinapu
had me?”

“Hmm … that’s a far stretch. Everything about your abduction pointed to skinwalkers, and the
Sinapu
are not skinwalkers.”

“How can you be sure?” She wasn’t convinced.

“Take my word for it. They are far from being skinwalkers. The
Sinapu
hunt skinwalkers … remember?”

Now Mya was really confused. If the skinwalkers had been the ones to take her, how did she end up with an old man who was associated with the
Sinapu
?

If you can make yourself remember what happened that night, you would have your answers,” he pointed out.

Mya knew that remembering might be the only way she’d get answers. The events of that night were the key to unlocking the mysteries that seemed to be closing in around her. She had a very strong feeling that what was happening now was somehow connected to what happened the night she was abducted.

Sliding the chair back, Donny stood up. “Well kid … I need to be going.”

On impulse, Mya went to Donny and gave him a hug. She felt incredibly fortunate to have her step uncle there to help her work through it all. There were still questions she wanted to ask him about David, but they could wait for another time. In any case, she wasn’t anxious for the scolding she knew was coming as soon as Donny found out whom she’d been talking to.

When Mya followed him outside, her eyes drifted to the western horizon. She was suddenly awestruck by how beautiful the desert could be at this time of day. It was like she was seeing for the first time how the sunset cast the red cliffs and desert floor in enchanting shades of pink and orange. As the day cooled, the sweet - tangy scent of sage became even more pronounced. She couldn’t help but wonder how a place of such beauty could hold so many dark secrets.

“Call me if you have any problems,” he told her before getting into the orange and primer gray truck he drove when he wasn’t on duty.

“I will,” she promised.

“Oh,” he popped his head out of the truck’s window. “Lock your doors and stay inside tonight. It’s a full moon.” Donny pointed to the ghost moon that had already started its ascent in the eastern sky.

“There’s a certain breed of shifter that likes to hunt by the full moon.” He gave her a sly smile. “They too can shift at will, but they like hunting when the moon is full.”

Mya wasn’t sure if he was serious or just trying to scare her. “You’re kidding … right?”

Donny shrugged. “Well you never know. I might be … but then again, maybe not.”

Mya watched Donny drive away, but it wasn’t until she could no longer see him that she felt the loneliness and isolation sneaking up on her.

For a long time she just stood there in the deepening shadows of night, not too anxious to face her lonely trailer. In the distance she could hear the baying of wolves and she shivered as goose bumps spread over her flesh. She rubbed at her bare arms, trying to ward of the chill that suddenly had her in its grip.

Mya turned toward her dark trailer, wishing that she’d had the foresight to bring along a TV and DVD player. At least then there would be some noise to distract her from the sounds of night creatures.

When she heard a rustling noise in the brush near her trailer, she had a sudden flashback of what Donny had said only moments before. But then she scolded herself for even thinking about something as ridiculous as shifters. Donny had just been teasing her - he had to be. There just wasn’t any such thing as skinwalkers that could take the shape of animals, or werewolves hunting by the light of a full moon.

Of course he was just teasing her!

Mya didn’t doubt that the skinwalkers could be dangerous, but only because of what they believed they could do. Of course Donny had been teasing, but when Mya went inside, she was careful to lock the door behind her.

The heat in Arizona was unbearable and could suck the energy right out of you. A combination of heat and an emotionally taxing day left Mya feeling drained. When she went to bed, she fell asleep almost immediately, but it was a troubled sleep.

Her dreams were haunted by the ghostly howls of wolves and those eyes - those eyes that reminded her of a moonlit night sky. Those beautiful - enchanting eyes that were simultaneously serene and lethal.

Suddenly Mya was awake. She was so alert to her surroundings that she had to wonder if she’d been asleep at all. Something had startled her - stirring her from sleep. The atmosphere in the room was so thick with tension that the air felt too heavy to breathe. Her sixth sense was screaming warnings at her. She could feel that she was in trouble, but couldn’t decipher what the danger was.

Moving her head slowly, she looked to the side of the bed, but couldn’t see anything. That’s when she heard it - the steady rhythm of the snake’s tail rattling. The sound seemed to be coming from the foot of her bed.

Feeling movement near her feet, Mya froze. She barely dare breathe for fear of provoking the snake. If it was rattling, it was likely coiled and ready to strike.

She had to fight off the urge to jump from her bed and run. It would be a fatal mistake to make any sudden movements with the snake so close. Her only option was to be as still as possible and wait. As long as the snake didn’t feel threatened, it would slither away eventually. At least she hoped that’s what it would do.

It had to have crawled into bed with her and when it felt her move, it had coiled.

As she lay motionless, each second went by so painfully slow that in a short time Mya was ready to crawl out of her skin. There was no way for her to measuring the passing of time, so she had no idea how long she laid there before the snake finally slid off the bed. Still, she didn’t dare stir. Though it was no longer on the bed, it could still coil and strike if she moved.

Mya continued to wait, giving the snake enough time to crawl away. Finally she moved, slowly getting into a sitting position. Taking a deep breath, she reached for the light that was attached to the wall near her bed.

There was a click as she switched the light on. In the utter stillness of the moment, the sound was deafening. Mya held her breath, hoping that wherever the snake was, the sound would not provoke it. Though she couldn’t see it, she knew the snake had to still be in the trailer, maybe even nearby.

Her eyes scanned the little area of the trailer that passed for her bedroom. She was watchful for any movement that would alert her to the snake’s location. After a few minutes of no sound or movement, she carefully slid from beneath the patchwork quilt. Without taking too much time to think about what she was doing, Mya leaped for the little doorway that led to the trailer’s living area.

She made a beeline for the door, stopping only long enough to close it behind her.

Mya caught sight of the phone that she’d left on the table and made a dash for it. Her hands were shaking so badly that it was nearly impossible to hit the right buttons on the phone. Taking a deep breath, she willed herself to be calm.

Mya had never considered herself to be the most courageous person in the world, but she didn’t scare easily. That was unless it concerned snakes. Those slithering - slimy reptiles had always scared the hell out of her.