The next day was taken up by the funeral. Jared wanted to stay home with Sara, but she finally convinced him it would be better for his family for him to be there. He kissed her several times. He hated the idea of being away from her. She hated it too, but there would be times when they would have to be away from each other, so she decided she might as well get used to it.
Jared crawled behind the wheel of the Mercedes and waited. The rest of the family got in. Sara watched them leave. Her heart began to pound. She rubbed her palms on her jeans. She felt guilty, but she didn’t see a way around it. Not if she genuinely wanted to know.
She went to her bedroom and retrieved the secret book. She sat on the bed, crossed her legs and leaned against the headboard. She opened the book and for the first time got a close look at the illustration on the cover page. She gasped and shivered. It was the totem pole from her dreams. She ran a shaky finger over it. There was no title on the outside of the book. That’s odd – not even the author’s name.
Sara decided, regardless of what she discovered, she didn’t care if Jared turned out to be a mythical god who jumped straight from the pages of history. It wouldn’t change how she felt about him. She turned the cover, and the title and author’s name jumped off the page at her.
Forgotten Ancient Secrets of The Dine’é Yá and The Dine'é Kay-Yah by George Washington Thundercloud.
She frowned. “What? This was supposed to be about the Navajo. Did Joel sell me the wrong book on purpose? This isn’t what I wanted! Who in the hell are the Dine’é Yá and the Dine'é Kay-Yah? What do they have to do with Jared and his grandfather?”
Feeling the unexplained need to touch them, she ran a finger over the calligraphic letters, on the slightly yellowed page. The ink felt somewhat raised. Her fingers tingled as if they’d been charged with static electricity. She frowned and rubbed her fingertips together, curiously. A fine layer of white pearlescent dust, which glittered in the sunlight, coated the ends of her fingers. The dust reminded her of the pollen from the purplish flower in her dream. She wondered if the dust had formed from deteriorating ink.
The breeze outside her window picked up.
Sara turned the page and began reading the forward.
This book was written in the hopes that it would help others to better understand my people, the Dine'é Kay-Yah. Like all races, stories and legends were handed down from father to son and sometimes these stories became distorted, twisted and some, forgotten altogether.
Although the Dine'é Kay-Yah are one entity, there are certain differences within our Clan which set us apart. There are those who will say, because of these differences, our Clan is not part of the Navajo people, but that is untrue. They only feel this way because they don’t understand or refuse to believe.
I hope, once you’ve read these few pages you will better understand why my Clan and I are considered outsiders among our own people. I believe it is these differences that make us stronger as a nation and as a people.
The Holders of Knowledge imparts of their power to all and grants understanding to those who seek it, not for personal gain, but for the sake of knowledge and understanding.
May your journey bring you peace and long life,
George Washington Thomas Thundercloud
She read the forward again, paying particular attention to certain words and phrases. Could this be the reason why Joel distastefully referred to the Thunderclouds as ‘them’? If he was referring to the way Jared’s eyes changed color, and his exceptional speed and strength, it was clear how others could look at Jared’s family as being different. But why would he say he was full-blooded Navajo? According to his grandfather, his Clan wasn’t Navajo. It was Dine'é Kay-Yah, whoever or whatever they were.
Fear crept up the back of Sara’s throat. The weird feeling was back, playing on the edge of her subconscious, like a buried memory refusing to surface. She felt as if someone or something were watching her. She shivered again, shook it off and returned to her task, now more curious than before.
The leaves of the book were thin and adhered to one another, like onionskin paper. She licked her finger to turn them. She became incredibly sleepy. The more pages she turned, the sleepier she became. She shook her head to clear her vision. Her stomach churned. Her eyes widened. “Oh, no. It’s happening again!”
A gust of wind closed the book. Sara glanced over her shoulder and frowned. “I don’t remember opening the window.” She exhaled and dismissed the idea. Maybe it was already open, and she’d overlooked it. She opened the book and began reading again. As soon as she’d read the first paragraph, the same thing happened again. Only this time, the gust of wind was stronger. It closed the book and flung it to the floor.
Without moving her head, she scanned the room. She frowned again and pressed her lips into a thin line. “This is getting a little strange. Is someone trying to tell me something?” She picked up the book and glanced around the room. She thought about how Jared could sneak up on her without making a sound. “Is someone there? Jared?”
He would be upset if he caught her. He knew Sara had the book, but he hadn’t given her permission to read it. Did she need his permission?
She snorted when she realized how ridiculous she sounded. Regardless, she closed the window. “You might close my book again, but it won’t be because of that open window!”
Sara sat back on the bed. “All this secrecy is making me paranoid.” She rubbed her eyes, sighed, and opened to the first paragraph; the one she’d read twice already. “What the hell? This is getting ridiculous!” She rubbed her eyes again and stared at the words and strange symbols. They hadn’t changed. The words she’d read seconds ago, in plain English, were now in a strange and unfamiliar language which didn’t even look like Navajo. To her, it made little difference what language it was in. She couldn’t read it. It was distressing enough she was doing this behind Jared’s back.
“OK, this is going beyond weird.” She rubbed her eyes a third time and pinched the bridge of her nose. She closed her eyes. “I’m gonna give this one last try.” She turned her head partway to the side and cracked her eyes, peering at the words, afraid of what she might see. She shivered again and tried to look away, but something had seized her. She couldn’t turn her head. She felt as if she were in a trance.
Her breath caught. In horror, she was forced to watch as the ink spooled off the page, rearranged itself and formed new words in midair. It spelled out first, ‘Sara’, and then, ‘don’t be afraid’.
When she was able to, she jerked her head away and closed the book without even looking back. Cold sweat popped out on her forehead. Nausea crept up the back of her throat so fast she barely made it to the bathroom in time.
~ ~ ~
Several dry heaves later, Sara stood in front of the mirror. She grabbed the vanity until her head stopped spinning. She turned on the cold water and washed the vomit from her mouth. Her body shook; she was going into shock. Trembling, she filled a cup with cool water. Her hand shook so severely, she had trouble turning off the faucet. She steadied the cup with both hands, brought it to her lips and took a sip before making her way back to the bedroom.
She sat on the side of the bed and drank some more of the water, being careful not to spill it. Her head was pounding. She closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths, willing her heart to stop beating so fast. She tried to rationalize her fear, but she couldn’t come up with a reasonable explanation. What on earth had happened to her? She was so frightened, she didn’t know what to do. Jared would be home soon. She couldn’t let him find her like this. He would know something was wrong. She had to compose herself, but how?
One thing was for sure, whether the experience had been real or the result of her vivid imagination, Sara was done with the mysterious book. Despite what the message had suggested until she decided what to do, the book was going back to its hiding place. She’d read all she wanted to. She didn’t need any more prompting from Jared or anyone else. Suddenly, a hundred dollars didn’t seem such a large sum to lose.
She felt like confining the book to the flames, but it had been written by Jared’s grandfather. Destroying it wasn’t an option. It could be the only copy left, and it wouldn’t be fair to future generations. Or would it? Perhaps it was her. Maybe the words weren’t intended for outsiders, but, if that were the case, what about Joel? Surely he’d read the book. Did it carry a curse? Was this what his warning had meant? Considering what she’d found out about Jared, she couldn’t dismiss the possibility, could she?
------------
Downstairs, the front door opened. Thinking fast, Sara grabbed her bathrobe, ran into the bathroom and turned on the shower. She quickly stripped and jumped in. Maybe the water would help. At least she wouldn’t have to confront Jared until she got out. He wouldn’t take a shower with her; he wouldn’t risk losing control.
He called out to her. Sara knew trying to respond was useless until he was nearer. He couldn’t hear her above the sound of the shower, but why could she hear him, and why did everything seem more powerful and real to her? It was as if the water fell in slow motion.
There was a tap on the door. “Sara, honey, are you in there?”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Yes, Jared! Wait for me downstairs? I won’t be long.”
~ ~ ~
He hesitated. “Sara, why are you taking a shower this early in the afternoon?”
“Because I was hot and wanted to cool down!” she said, blurting the first thing that had come to her.
He arched an eyebrow. “Oh! Right. I’ll wait out here.”
“You could always come in here with me.”
For seconds, he considered her offer; his eyes responded, along with other parts of his body. He stood inches from the door. His desire became a dull ache. He reached for the handle. Abruptly he stopped and stepped back, breathing deeply and rebuilding his willpower. “I’ll make us something cold to drink, and bring it up.”
“A tall glass of iced tea sounds nice, with a slice of lemon, please?”
“Anything for my angel.”
~ ~ ~
Sara waited until he closed the door and let her breath out. “Phew! That was close. I knew you wouldn’t come in here with me!” She grabbed a towel, wrapped it around her wet hair and hurried back into the bedroom. She put on some jeans and a T-shirt. She was towel drying her hair when he came back with their drinks. He sat them on some coasters on the nightstand. “Hi, beautiful,” he said and sat on the bed beside her.
She smiled. “How did things go?”
Jared cradled her face in his hand and kissed her. “It went OK.”
“Was Joel there?”
“Yes,” he snorted and handed her a glass of tea. “He was so smug. I wanted to rip his damn head off. He’s not expecting us to do anything.”
“Then it’s a good thing I didn’t go. With my being there, it might’ve been harder for you to control your temper.”
“It would’ve been,” he chuckled. “If he’d so much as looked at you, I would’ve torn into him.” He took a long drink of his tea, hoping the cold liquid would quell the fire building inside him. “I told my parents we needed to talk to them tonight. Mother gave me a sly grin. I’m guessing she knows why.”
“Where are they?”
“I gave them some money and told them to go out and eat. I didn’t want Mother worrying about cooking tonight.”
“That was sweet. What are we doing?”
“You mean before they get home?”
“Yeah. How long will they be gone?”
“Probably around 6:30 or 7:00 tonight. Mother said something about doing some shopping. With Myra with them, they’ll be that long if not longer.”
Sara laughed. “Myra loves shopping for clothes. I can vouch for that. Which reminds me, how did you like the selection of clothes I bought you?”
He grimaced. “Most of them were OK, apart for the deep maroon western shirt, with black leather trim. I don’t think I’ll wear that one. It makes me look like a gothic cowboy.”
She laughed again. “I was afraid of that. It was her idea. She thought you would look smashing in it. She insisted you would wear it.”
Jared narrowed his eyes, determined. “Well, I’m not!”
“Can you exchange it?”
“Hey, that’s not a bad idea. It wouldn’t hurt us to do some shopping too. We should buy some clothes to wear for the reunion gig.” He stood and smirked. “Change of plans. Let’s go shopping. I’ll show you some of the sites in Phoenix.”
“Shouldn’t I change first? I might look a little underdressed beside you in your suit. I’m dying to try my new dresses.”
“How long will it take you to get ready?”
“Fifteen - maybe thirty minutes – fast enough?”
“I’ll water Mother’s roses so she won’t have to do it when they get back. I’ll leave them a note, not to wait up for us. We’ll have a night on the town.”
“Oh, wait! You told them we needed to talk to them.”
Jared waved it off. “We can tell them in the morning or tomorrow night. We’re not in a hurry… are we?”
“No, I guess not. Go do whatever you need to do. I’ll be down in thirty minutes, tops.”
“I’m looking forward to this.” He kissed her. “It’ll be the first time I’ve seen you in a dress. That might not be a good thing.”
“Why?” Sara frowned.
“If it makes you any prettier, which I doubt, I might not be able to control myself.” He kissed her again and left.
Sara grinned mischievously. “Is that a fact?”