The Night The Dreams Died - (CC, ALL, TEEN) Ch 32-55 -8/8/05

[isndbreeze]

Thanks, Melisa, Isabel, MagickFantasy86, and Veca! Loved the feedbacks! Amy will indeed have the last word... um... or something better. And it will be good! But for the moment, Judge Lewis is his usual nasty self, and he will continue to be until he either gets his way or is reined in. Well, here's the next part. I think you'll like it.

[isndbreeze]

The Night The Dreams Died



Apache Summer

Chapter 19

XIX



“How much is the tab,” Sheriff Jim Valenti asked, taking the four bags from the girl’s hand. He nodded to Deputy Dave Cotter. Cotter nodded back and took the four bags then left, heading for the stairs.

“I think it was $17.98.”

Jim smiled at the young lady from the CrashDown and reached into his pocket.

“Oh! Don’t worry about it, Sheriff. Mr. Parker said it was on the house.”

Jim slowly retracted his hand from his pocket. “Are you sure?”

“That’s what he said, sir. It’s on the house. He said to tell you it’s the least he could do… and… that he owed you.”

Jim Valenti nodded. “Well, tell Jeff I’m grateful to him, Sherrie. And… tell him we’re working on things here… I hope I’ll be able to… well… um… Just tell him thanks.”

The girl smiled. “I’ll tell him for you, Sheriff.”

Jim held out a five-dollar bill.

“What’s that for?”

“For your trouble. You had to bring this all the way over here.”

“Oh! Don’t worry, Sheriff. If I wasn’t here I’d just be waitin’ on customers at the CrashDown right now. Which reminds me… I’d better get back. Lisa’s waiting the place all alone at the moment.”

Jim tucked the five-dollar bill into the little pocket in the girl’s alien motif apron. “No argument, ya here? I’m the sheriff, and that’s an order.”

The girl smiled then turned to leave. “Yes, sir! Thank you, Sheriff.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Amy, who had just arrived, held the door for her.

“Thank you, Mrs. V.”

“Mrs. V?”

“Oh, I’m sorry! I mean, Mrs. Valenti. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful. It’s just what some of the girls call you… no disrespect intended.”

“None taken,” Amy said. “I guess it’s better than ‘Mrs. Sheriff.’ I’ve heard that one, too.”

The girl laughed. Amy closed the door behind her and walked over to Jim then sat down on his lap.

“You still putting money in girls’ waistbands, Jim?” she asked, mussing Jim’s hair a bit and giving him a stern look.

“Yeah… but these days they’re all dressed in waitress uniforms.”

Amy grinned. “Kinky! But that’s okay. I can iron the little kinks out,” she said teasingly, giving Jim a kiss before getting back up.

Amy motioned toward the door that the waitress had gone out. “Was that for…?”

Jim nodded.

“Good.”

“What you got on your mind, Amy?”

Amy opened her mouth for a moment as though to protest. “Why would you think I had something on my mind, Jim?”

“Because I know you. I can see the little gears turning in your head.”

“You can? I’ll have to get that hole plugged up.”

“Don’t bother. I think it’s… endearing.”

“And besides… I can’t hide my intentions from you, right?” Amy said with a chuckle. “Well, you’re right, Jim. I guess I do have something on my mind.”

“Maria?”

Amy looked at Jim for a moment. “Is the hole that big?”

Jim shrugged. “I know what you need in life, Amy… and where your heart is. You’ve been worrying about others for a while. It’s natural that you’d start thinking about Maria again now.”

Amy nodded. “I want to get back on the base, Jim. I know in my heart that they know something about what happened to Maria… and maybe… she might even be…”

“Alive,” Jim said for her. “I know. I don’t want you getting your hopes up, Amy, then getting hurt again… but I really can’t help but agree that there’s reason enough to… well… check things out. The army certainly hasn’t been very forthcoming and honest with us about things.”

“No, they haven’t. When can we go, Jim?”

Jim sucked some air through his teeth. “Let me make some plans, Amy. Soon. I promise you.”

“I’ll have to get used to this planning thing, Jim. My usual practice has just been to barge ahead and impale anyone standing in my way on my horns…”

“I noticed,” Jim said, smiling.

“Don’t knock it, Jim. There’s a lot of shredded red capes out there.”

“I know. And former would-be toreadors, too,” Jim said, nodding appreciatively.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<<<<<<<>>>>>>>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Deputy Dave Cotter knocked softly on the door of the third floor gym. Then he counted to ten and knocked again… two raps… then four… then three. A moment later, the door opened.

“Delivery service,” Cotter said with a smile.

Alex took the bags from the deputy’s hands. “Come in, Deputy.”

Dave Cotter walked into the gym, and Alex closed and locked the door behind him.

“The sheriff thought you might be hungry.”

Alex nodded, pulling the food from the bags. “Hungry doesn’t begin to describe it! I’m starved!” Alex handed a large cheeseburger and fries to Liz and set another one on his leg for himself. Then he opened another bag.

“Strawberry shakes! Strawberry!”

“You like strawberry,” Deputy Cotter asked.

“I love it! And it’s red! Everything’s so wonderfully… colorful!”

“Sorry about that,” Deputy Cotter said. “That wasn’t my idea, you know… the all-white food and everything.”

Alex nodded, already chewing a bite of his cheeseburger. “I know. You had to bring us that stuff. We understand. You couldn’t blow your cover.”

“What’s in the other bags,” Alex asked, opening one of the other two bags.

“Salads!” Liz exclaimed, as Alex removed two containers of lettuce, tomatoes, grated cheese, radishes, and other salad makings. Liz took the containers and began making two salads, taking care to place a liberal amount of little red tomatoes, radishes, and yellow cheese on the top of Alex’s.

Alex opened the fourth bag and removed two bottles of Snapples.

“The sheriff thought of everything, didn’t he? Tell him thanks.”

“I’ll tell him,” Deputy Cotter said.

“He ordered this from the CrashDown, didn’t he,” Liz said. “I know my Dad’s cheeseburgers. He made these. I wish he could know how much I’m enjoying this meal.” Tears welled up in Liz’s eyes. “God, if Dad knew that Jim was buying food from the CrashDown… to feed me…”

“Well, your Dad said it was on the house this time,” Deputy Cotter said.

Liz wiped her eyes with a paper napkin. “I owe Jim so much already… I don’t think I can ever pay him back…”

Deputy Cotter smiled. “I think he feels that it’s worth it.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<<<<<<<>>>>>>>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside the sheriff’s office, another person watched as the girl in the CrashDown outfit came out and walked back toward the restaurant. On the face of it, it seemed innocent enough. Jim Valenti was known to like a CrashDown coffee every now and then… probably to wash the taste of his own coffee down with. But he usually went to get it himself. Maybe he was tied up today and just ordered in. But Judge Lewis’ suspicion meter was clanging loudly in his head. He decided to follow the girl back to the CrashDown.

Lisa turned to look as the other waitress walked in. “Sherrie! I’m glad you’re back! The place is getting kinda busy. Grab a pad, okay?”

“I’m on it.” Sherrie picked up her order pad and walked over to her usual station to take an order. Judge Lewis walked in behind her.

“Would you like a seat, sir?” Lisa asked.

“Huh? No… well, uh… yeah, I guess I would.”

“Okay.” Lisa looked around. “How about right over there. We’re starting to fill up. You got here just in time.”

Judge Lewis frowned, ignoring Lisa’s good-natured pleasantries. He made his way to the booth that Lisa had shown him and sat down. A couple of minutes later, Lisa returned with her order pad.

“Sorry you had to wait. What can I get you?”

“Well… I don’t usually come in here. What do you have?”

“Oh, didn’t I give you a menu?”

“No. Never mind. I’m not hungry. Just bring me a large coffee… and three donuts… the kind with the jelly… You have those, don’t you?”

Lisa nodded.

“Make it four donuts… no, five. Make it five.”

“Five donuts… and a large coffee. Cream and sugar in your coffee or do you prefer to sweeten it yourself?”

“Just black. I’m on a diet.”

Lisa smiled. “Black it is. I’ll be right back.”

A couple of minutes passed again and Lisa returned with a large coffee and five jelly donuts on a platter.

“Will that be all, sir? Can I get you anything else?”

“Not right now. Check back with me in a few minutes.”

“Yes, sir.”

As Lisa started to walk away, Judge Lewis stopped her. “Oh, by the way…”

“Yes?”

“I noticed the other waitress over there coming back from somewhere. Do you make deliveries?”

“Well, not officially… but yeah. If someone requests it, we sometimes do.”

“Can I ask you who she was delivering to?”

“The sheriff. He called in an order about an hour ago. Sherrie took it to him.”

“Is that normal? Doesn’t the sheriff usually come in to get his own coffee?”

“Yeah. I guess he wanted to eat in his office today.”

“Eat? He got something besides coffee?”

“Yeah.” Lisa laughed. “Sheriffs eat too, I guess.”

Judge Lewis smiled condescendingly. “What did he want?”

“Nothing special… just a couple of cheeseburgers, a couple of large fries, a couple of strawberry shakes, some salad items, and some drinks, I think… Snapples, yeah, that’s it.”

“That’s a lot for one man to eat isn’t it?”

Lisa glanced at the five large jelly donuts on Judge Lewis’ platter and his ample belly and suppressed a smile. “Well, his wife was there. I guess she had to eat, too.”

Judge Lewis rubbed his chin with his left hand, as he stuffed another jelly donut into his mouth with his right hand and took a large bite. “Yeah. That could be it, I guess. She eats pretty hearty, doesn’t she… for a little thing like that, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know. I’ve seen some girls who can eat more. Besides, I know Amy. She’s a mover. She never stops going. I guess she burns it all off. She needs the energy just to keep going.”

Judge Lewis nodded. “Yeah… yeah… maybe. Okay, thanks. I was just wondering.”

Lisa turned and walked back to the kitchen.

“What was he asking about,” Sherrie asked.

“Nothing. He just wanted to know if you were making a delivery and who it was for. Then he asked what they ordered. Did you see his plate, Sherrie? Five! Count ‘em, FIVE large Jelly Martians! But he wanted his coffee black… ‘cause he’s on a diet.”

Sherrie snorted. “That’s Judge Lewis, you know.”

Lisa glanced out the door of the kitchen. “Oh, that’s the Judge? I’ve heard about him.”

Sherrie nodded. “The rumor is he’s taking kickbacks from the coyotes.”

“Well, he does seem to have a lot of cash and stuff… you know, bling-bling,” Lisa said. “What’s a coyote?”

Sherrie snorted again. “You throw around terms like ‘bling-bling,’ and you don’t know what a ‘coyote’ is?

“Yeah, well, I know it’s an animal… like a wolf.”

“Oh, Lisa! How long have you lived in New Mexico? Coyotes are smugglers who smuggle illegal aliens in from Mexico.” Sherrie lowered her voice. “The rumor is the judge takes kickbacks to look the other way and sometimes even fixes the coyotes up with transportation and a hiding place for their… special cargo. My Dad said Judge Lewis was being investigated by the Feds last year but then someone really high up squashed the investigation.”

“Your Dad was a detective… with the state police, wasn’t he?”

“Yeah. He’s retired now, but he still has friends there… and connections. He says the Judge must be into the mob or something now, because he’s got a lot of power behind him… enough to squash a federal investigation.”

“Wow. That’s pretty scary. You think he had some reason for asking all those questions about the sheriff?”

Sherrie thought for a moment. “Probably not… Probably just being nosy… People like that make it their business to know everybody else’s business. The less we tell him the better, I think… even if it seems innocent.”

Lisa nodded. “Yeah, I’m glad you told me all this. I didn’t know. I probably shouldn’t have even told him who I was delivering to.”

Sherrie shrugged. “I can’t see how it can hurt. But don’t tell him anything else. Make up something if you have to. I don’t like him. He’s not a nice person. The less he knows the better.”

Lisa nodded her agreement.

One hour, two more coffees, and four more jelly donuts later, Judge Lewis was still sitting in his booth, occasionally tapping his fingers noisily on the table, obviously heavily absorbed in thought… or perhaps scheming, Lisa thought. Given what she now knew about the judge, she felt more and more bothered about the questions he had asked her earlier as each minute went by.

“Sherrie, can you watch my station for me for a little while? I think the worst of the rush is over now.”

“Yeah, I guess so, why?”

Lisa took off her apron and headed for the back door. “I’m going to make sure I didn’t make a big mistake earlier. I’ll be back shortly.”

Sherrie nodded.

Jim Valenti looked up from his desk, as someone walked in the front door, causing the little bell to ding.

“Lisa! What can I do for you?”

“I’m not sure, Sheriff. Maybe I’m just worrying too much, but Judge Lewis came into the CrashDown about an hour ago.”

Jim smiled. “Well, I can understand your concern, Lisa, but there’s not really anything I can do. He’s got as much right as anyone else to go to a public place to eat.”

Lisa smiled, too, understanding Jim’s intentional pun.

“It’s not just because he’s in the CrashDown, Sheriff. He was asking a lot of questions… about you.”

Jim leaned forward in his chair, and his voice took on a more serious tone.

“What did he want to know?”

“What Sherrie brought to you and why you wanted so much food. I told him maybe it was for your wife, too.”

“Good,” Jim said, nodding. “You’re right. Amy was here. So was Deputy Cotter.”

“Well, at first I didn’t think so much of it, but then Sherrie told me who the judge was and a lot of things about him, and I got to thinking maybe I had made a mistake telling him anything. I thought you should know about it.”

Jim nodded. “I really appreciate that, Lisa. You don’t know how much! Believe me! But don’t worry yourself any more about it, okay? You didn’t do anything wrong. Probably the judge was just being nosy. He has a reputation for that. I imagine it was nothing. I really, really appreciate your letting me know, though.”

Lisa smiled. “I just wanted to be sure… you know… that if I shouldn’t have told him something you’d be warned about it… I guess it’s silly.”

Jim shook his head. “It’s not silly, Lisa. With Judge Lewis… it’s just precaution. I’m grateful! Really! Now go on back to work and don’t worry any more. Put it all out of your mind. You did your duty. I’ll keep my eyes open. Maybe you even gave me a heads up on something I wouldn’t have known about.”

Lisa smiled and left for the CrashDown. As soon as she was gone, Jim picked up his hat and headed for the third floor gym. He started to knock but then just yelled…

“Alex, let me in. It’s the sheriff.”

“What’s the code, Sheriff?”

“Come on, Alex. There’s no time for that now. We’ve got to move a little faster than I had planned to get you guys out of here.”

Alex opened the door. “Did someone find out we’re here?”

Jim shook his head. “Not yet. But Judge Lewis is in the CrashDown right now trying to fit all the pieces of the puzzle together. He’s a no-good polecat, but he’s a smart one… smart at figuring things out. It won’t take him forever to put two and two together, and then he’ll be over here with a search warrant before we know what hit us.”

Alex swallowed and looked at Liz. Then he nodded. “Let’s go, then, Sheriff. Get Liz out of here. We’re not going to be sent back to that place again.”

“Or worse,” Jim said under his breath. “Come on.”

Jim pushed Liz’s wheelchair into the hall and into the elevator and pressed the down button.

“Where are we going, Sheriff?” Alex asked.

“Can’t tell you yet,” Jim said. “It’s for your own safety. Trust me.”

Alex nodded. “I’ve trusted you so far, Sheriff. I’ll trust you all the way, I guess. Lead on.”

Jim stopped Deputy Cotter in the first floor hallway and filled him in quickly.

“Check outside the door for me, Dave. Make sure it’s clear.”

Cotter looked outside casually then closed the door back. “It’s clear, Sheriff.”

“Okay.” Jim took a deep breath then he reached down and picked Liz up out of her chair.

“Close the chair up, Dave. I’ll put Liz in the SUV. You put the chair in the back. Alex, you just get yourself in… as quickly as possible without being seen.”

Alex nodded without saying anything. Jim opened the door and walked quickly to the SUV carrying Liz. He laid her gently on the middle seat right behind the front seats, and Alex hopped in beside her. Dave Cotter threw the chair in the back then jumped into the front seat beside Jim.

“Who’s going to watch the station,” Cotter asked.

“Hansen just came on duty. He already knows.”

Jim pulled away from the station and passed the CrashDown just as Judge Lewis was coming out. Judge Lewis watched the SUV go by but only saw Jim and Dave in the front seats. Alex was staying down, as he had been told to do, and Liz was lying on the seat. Judge Lewis scowled and looked at the street then back at the SUV.

“What ya runnin’ from, Jim? I know a decoy when I see one. You want me to think you’re up to something so I’ll chase after you and… and what? What are you hiding, Jim? Something in that sheriff’s building, isn’t it? Something that eats cheeseburgers and drinks strawberry milkshakes and Snapples, I’d bet.” Judge Lewis stopped suddenly and looked as though a light had suddenly come on in his head.

“You son of a…! I knew it! Those body bags… the cheeseburgers… They’re still alive! You’ve been hiding those kids in the station. Now I know what’s been bothering me so much. You! You should have been over there at my office days ago trying to blame me for their deaths. You should have been pounding on my desk… telling me how it should have been me that was shot… but you weren’t. No… you looked grieved alright. You even cried tears. But you screwed up, Jim. You didn’t come after me. That was your one mistake.”

Judge Lewis ran –as fast as his bloated body could run with 9 large jelly donuts and 3 large coffees sloshing around inside him- to his car. But he didn’t chase after Jim. He was convinced that Jim was trying to decoy him away from the sheriff’s office. Within the hour, Judge Lewis had his search warrant, and ten minutes later, he walked in the front door and ceremoniously plopped it down on the desk in front of Hansen, with a dozen state police behind him.

“What’s this, Judge?” Hansen asked.

“This, Mr. Hansen, is what’s going to free me of Sheriff Jim Valenti forever. It’s a search warrant, and I’m searching this building.”

“You could have just asked," Hansen said. "I’d have arranged a tour. We have a special rate for a dozen or more. You just qualify.”

Judge Lewis’ mouth dropped open.

“I think he meant with us, your honor,” the state trooper beside him said.

“Of course he meant with you! What else would he mean?” Judge Lewis glared at the trooper.

“Joke all you want, Hansen, but joking won’t save Jim’s sorry ass now. This place is locked down. A rat couldn’t get out of here right now without me knowing it! What Jim is hiding in here will soon be known to the world, and his involvement in the sordid kidnapping of those poor children will put him in prison for the rest of his sorry life!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<<<<<<<>>>>>>>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jim pulled through the gate and drove down the small dirt road past the orchards and small canals, finally stopping in front of a simple-looking, inconspicuous house. He had arrived at his destination. Turning the vehicle off, he looked back at his passengers.

“Stay down for a few more minutes. Then it should be alright to get up.”

Jim got out of the SUV, and an old man with long white hair walked out of the house to meet him.

Jim nodded to the old man. “Thank you for agreeing to do this for me.”

The old man nodded back. “It is only for you that I would do this, Jim. You saved my life once. I owe you for that. But now we are even.”

“Now we are even,” Jim agreed.

“I will keep my shades down… and they must always stay out of sight… until they are safe again and can leave. Those who live here take very seriously the curse of the ancestors, Sheriff.”

“I know, River Dog. I know they do. And for that reason I am all the more grateful for your help.”

“Mmm… as well you should be… and I am grateful for yours… so they may stay. I have purified the air with peyote and other herbs of my people. It will prevent the ancestors from looking inside my house… for a while. But the other Mesaliko apachii who live on this reservation would not be pleased with my decision, so the boy and the girl must always stay out of sight while they are here.”

“I’ll make sure that they know,” Jim said.

“Then it is agreed,” River Dog said, reaching out his hand and taking Jim’s in a firm handshake that took in his entire hand up to his wrist.

“It is agreed,” Jim replied.

Deputy Cotter took the wheelchair out of the SUV and carried it into the house, and Jim carried Liz inside and set her in the chair.

“You’ll be safe here, Liz. River Dog will take good care of you. He’s a stern man, and he can be intimidating, but he’s fair and honest and good… and he will keep his word. I’ll check back on you from time to time to see if you need anything.”

“Thank you, Sheriff.”

“Yeah! That goes for me, too,” Alex said. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Well, don’t say anything, Alex. Just take good care of Liz for me.”

Alex smiled. “I’ll do that. I promise.”

“I know you will,” Jim nodded. He shut the door behind him and walked quickly back to the SUV. Deputy Cotter was already in his seat. Jim started the vehicle, took one last look at the house, and drove away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<<<<<<<>>>>>>>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Call ahead next time, Judge,” Hansen yelled after Judge Lewis, as Judge Lewis left the sheriff’s station in frustration with the twelve state troopers behind him. “I’ll arrange a better tour next time. We can have some donuts on hand… and Jim’s famous coffee.”

“If I wanted to get poisoned, I’d just drink arsenic,” Judge Lewis yelled back with a tone of arrogance that belied his frustration.

“Judge, you’re going to have to write a report on this search,” the highest-ranking trooper, standing next to him, said.

“I’m not writing any report; you’re writing a report,” Judge Lewis corrected. “And be sure I look good in it. We found evidence that those children had been there.”

“What evidence? Wrappings off of some cheeseburgers and a couple of soda bottles? Like the deputy said, probably just the Sheriff and his wife were up there eating after he exercised in the gym. That’s not evidence.”

Judge Lewis winced. “Jim may think he’s beat me… but you mark my word… he’s only begun to see what I’m capable of.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<<<<<<<>>>>>>>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the night fell and the crickets began to chirp outside, Liz rolled her wheelchair over beside the window.

“You can’t open the shades, Liz,” Alex reminded her. “The taboo, you know.”

“I know.” Liz sighed, then she lifted the bottom of the shade just a bit and looked out at the stars. They were twinkling so brightly in the sky. Liz sniffed and her eyes teared up.

“What’s the matter, Liz,” Alex asked.

Liz shook her head. “Nothing. I was just thinking… the stars are so beautiful tonight. I wonder if Max can see them wherever he is.”

Alex put his arm around Liz and kissed her on the forehead. “He could be watching those same stars as we speak, Liz. We’ll find him some day. We will. You just have to have faith.”

Liz nodded and smiled.

Three houses and about a stone’s throw away, another figure sat looking under the shades at the stars from his bedroom in another house.

“You looking for your planet, Max?”

Max smiled and turned around. “No, Angie Lee… I’m just looking at the stars. They’re bright tonight.”

“That’s a good omen,” Angie Lee said. “It means you’re close to the one you love.”

Max looked down, and a tear dropped onto his hand. “In my heart… I’ve never stopped being. I guess that’s why the stars are shining so brightly, huh? You think Liz could be watching these same stars tonight… wherever she is?”

Angie Lee nodded. “I’d bet on it… and probably wondering if you’re watching them, too. The myths of our people –these people- say that if you reach up and take one of the stars from the sky to give to your love, you will be with her soon.”

Max smiled. “Then I’ll surely have to find a way to get one, won’t I?”

Angie Lee nodded and smiled. “Good night, Max. Good night, Rahn… Michael.” Then she closed the door and went to check on Maria and Isabel, leaving Max alone with his thoughts.



tbc


Coming Up: Judge Lewis’ tries to convince the leader of the Army’s vanquished alien hunter unit that Alex and Liz are still alive, and Max finds a way to search for Liz.

[majiklmoon]

"None taken,” Amy said. “I guess it’s better than ‘Mrs. Sheriff.’ I’ve heard that one, too.”

that was too funny, I just had a long discussion with someone recently about this. First you are known as Mrs. somebody, then you are somebody's mother...when do we poor ladies get to be known as ourselves

anyhow, i'm done ranting....awesome part Gerry

[isndbreeze]

Ha! Good point, Tracie! But wouldn't you hate to be known as Mr. Madonna... or maybe Mr. Britney Spears! If a famous person of either sex gets married, the poor spouse is often relegated to baggage status. Well, what's good for the goose, as they say. I don't guess "Mr. Madonna" is complaining, though. Actually, I never hear about him. I guess she's keeping him barefoot and home. :b

Here's the next part.

[isndbreeze]

The Night The Dreams Died



Ghosts & Other Strange Visions

Chapter 20

XX



“What are you saying, Judge… that the sheriff somehow brought those two kids back from the grave? They’re dead! Judge, you’ve been a great help to us so far. Don’t ruin your credibility now!”

“No, Colonel! They’re not dead.”

“Judge… whatever you may believe notwithstanding, those kids are dead! We… I mean… somebody… took care of that. And that somebody… well, let’s just say that that somebody has unimpeachable credibility. We’ve verified the information, so unless that sheriff of yours can bring dead people back to life, you’re just wasting my time right now.”

“Suit yourself, Colonel. But it seems to me they were supposed to be ‘dead’ once before and your information turned out to be wrong… or did somebody bring them back to life then, too?”

There was a long silence before the colonel spoke again.

“The details couldn’t be verified with sufficient certainty that time. There was mass confusion because of the circumstances… the graduation. This time one of our own people… uh… verified the information for us. They’re dead.”

There was a pause, then the colonel added, “Not that we had anything to do with that unfortunate incident, of course… or the unfortunate incident at the center either.”

“Uh huh. Well, tell that to Congress, Colonel, when you or that general of yours get called in to explain… whatever you may have to explain.”

Again there was a long silence.

“Judge, what makes you so sure they’re not dead? Have you seen them?”

“No, of course not. The sheriff has them hidden away somewhere.”

“Then how do you know they’re alive… if you haven’t seen them…? Has anyone else seen them… anyone who would back you up?”

“Just the sheriff… and maybe his deputy… and his wife.”

“In other words… no one who would back you up. It would just be your word against theirs.”

This time, it was Judge Lewis who was silent.

“I ask you again… what makes you think they’re alive, Judge?”

Judge Lewis groaned. “It’s a feeling… no, no… more than a feeling! I know Jim Valenti. It’s hard to explain.”

“Hard to explain… and you want me to take your… hard to explain ‘feeling’ over the word of one of our best men. Is that what you’re saying? Are you saying that one of our best men lied?”

“No… no, of course not, Colonel.”

“Then what are you saying, Judge?”

“I don’t know… Hell! Maybe he made a mistake. Maybe they tricked him…”

“We don’t make mistakes like that, Judge… and we aren’t so easily tricked as you might be. Look, Judge, when you have something real to go on, give me a call. Until then, don’t waste our time. The only reason I’m letting you off easy this time is because of the value of your assistance to us in the past. But if your conscience is bothering you or those kids’ ghosts are haunting you in your sleep, don’t expect us to come running! Call an exorcist… or a priest if you know one… or try Ghostbusters.com. You do know how to use a computer don’t you? I’m sure you’ll find someone there who believes you and will be more than happy to waste their time hunting your ghosts down… for a price. Good night, Judge.”

The line went dead, and Judge Lewis exhaled a deep breath of air along with several curses he had been holding in. “Fool! You don’t know Jim Valenti. You don’t know these kids. They’ll have your ass on a spit, and don’t say I didn’t try to warn you. Damn moron!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<<<<<<<>>>>>>>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Miles from either Judge Lewis’ office or the army base, an old Indian with long white hair sat on a chair in front of his simple house on the Mesaliko Indian Reservation, his back against the house and his chair leaning back on its two back legs, whittling on a long hollow reed of some kind. He looked up as someone approached. Then he looked back down at his whittling.

“Brother,” the newcomer said, addressing the old Indian in the chair. “Are you hiding something from the ancestors again? Your curtains are drawn.”

“It is cooler with the curtains drawn,” River Dog answered without looking up. “These are hot days, Gray Hawk.”

“Mmm.” The other Indian mumbled. “Yes, the days can be very hot.”

River Dog ran his knife over the reed in his hand again and made another notch in something that appeared to be shaping up to be a flute of sorts.

“I see your house suffers from the heat, too, these days, Gray Hawk,” he said nonchalantly.

“It is as you say, brother. It is cooler in the house with the curtains drawn.”

River Dog nodded. “So nasedo would have nothing to do with it?”

“I would not wish to risk the wrath of the ancestors, River Dog… A’in Ji Lii is not nasedo. Would you risk the ancestors’ wrath?”

“No, I would not,” River Dog replied calmly. “The ancestors know that I heed their warnings.”

River Dog might have had his fingers crossed when he said this… if he had been accustomed to that gesture. But he satisfied his conscience by telling himself that the “guests” in his house were not nasedo -not visitors- at least not of the “stranger” kind… not anymore. He knew them now. Gray Hawk, in turn, excused his own ignoring of the ancestors’ warning by telling himself that his houseguests were friends of his protégée, A’in ji Lii, and therefore not “visitors” of the “stranger” type either. However, neither River Dog nor Gray Hawk felt sufficiently comfortable with their conviction to mention their “guests” to the other.

River Dog had long ago accepted the presence of A’in ji Lii in Gray Hawk’s house, as had many, if not most, of the other Mesaliko on the reservation… after a time. But no one knew how the ancestors would feel about her being there, so Gray Hawk hedged his bets by occasionally blowing dried peyote and other herbs into the air in his house in order to keep any ancestors who might just “happen to look in” feeling good… and maybe blur their sight a bit… just enough so that they would not notice that his ward had light skin… or that she had green eyes… or that she had yellow hair. It was amazing what a little bit of dried cactus button, ground into a fine powder, could do. With enough peyote in the air, Gray Hawk could probably have housed all the soldiers in the army without the ancestors seeing them… if that were something that he was inclined to do… but he was not. Gray Hawk, like his brother, River Dog, knew that the ancestors’ warnings were always given for a reason. Gray Hawk and River Dog might hedge on their definition of a “visitor” if it seemed convenient and suited their purposes to do so, but neither brother would intentionally put himself or his tribe at risk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<<<<<<<>>>>>>>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As River Dog and Gray Hawk were speaking in front of River Dog’s house, a mere three houses away, inside Gray Hawk’s house, Max was pacing the floor restlessly. He would sit down… then he would stand up again and look out beneath the curtains. Then he would resume his pacing.

“I can’t stay here like this, Michael. I need to get out. There are things I need to do.”

Michael looked up at Max. “Well, we aren’t locked in, Max. But do you really want to cause Gray Hawk problems by being seen coming and going from his house… you know… given the taboo and all? He was pretty nice to let us stay here.”

“We promised Angie Lee’s grandfather we wouldn’t leave the house,” Isabel said, agreeing with Michael.

“I didn’t promise not to leave,” Max replied. “I merely promised to keep out of sight so that others wouldn’t see us here. Anyway, we also promised him that we wouldn’t stay very long.”

“That’s true,” Isabel said. “But… where will we go, Max?”

Max shook his head. “If we go back home… and are seen… the army will be after us by nightfall, and we will have put our families in mortal danger.”

“We can’t do that,” Isabel agreed.

“No, we can’t,” Max said. “But we have to go somewhere. I need to find Liz, and I can’t do it if I’m stuck inside this house.”

“I want Mom to know I’m okay,” Maria said. “I can’t imagine what she must’ve gone through. She must think that I’m… dead.”

Max looked at Maria, and his look softened a bit. “We’re all dead, Maria. I’m sure of it. The army made sure of that. We were never supposed to return. You… you actually were dead when they brought you to the lab, Maria… at least by human standards. Both of you were… and Michael nearly was…”

Max took a deep breath and sat down then looked at Michael, Maria, and Isabel. “They didn’t know I could still heal you. They were probably going to dissect us all in the lab. If they had known I would recover and heal the three of you, they would have put more guards on the door.”

“I wondered why there was only one guard when we tried to escape the first time,” Isabel said. “…and he looked like he was seeing a ghost when we walked out.”

“Four ghosts,” Max corrected. “That guy just stood there gawking; he was a pushover. If there hadn’t been a bunch of fresh guards coming on duty right at that moment, we might have escaped the first time and not had to go through… any of… what we did.”

Max looked away. It was hard for him to reflect on what they had been through, and it was especially hard for him to think about Maria and Isabel going through it. But he knew they had. He had been able to hear their screams. Max and Michael had been kept drugged and thoroughly restrained to prevent them from using their powers when any of the “lab attendants” were in the set of rooms that the four occupied. If either one could have moved, he would have vaporized their torturers on the spot.

There were four rooms in the underground “suite.” One of them was set up as a lab, and it was kept locked up except when in use. The other three rooms were basically adjoining storage rooms, with one bathroom between them. There were no beds. There were no covers. There was only the hard floor to sit or sleep on, and it was usually cold, being far under ground as it was. Every day was a struggle just to survive there. And Max knew that they had not yet even begun to experience the worst of what had been planned for them. No! Getting caught again was not an option. But if they left Gray Hawk’s house too soon, without knowing where they would go, getting caught was all too real a possibility, and this frustrated Max. The need to be searching for Liz was overpowering his senses… but he didn’t want to risk Maria or Isabel’s lives… or Michael’s either for that matter… because of a rash decision on his part to satisfy his own needs.

“Rahn…” Max said hesitantly, standing back up and starting to pace again… “Who would notice if a bat flew out of here at night… or maybe a small bird in the daytime… something that’s common here? You could go anywhere and search for Liz… and bring information back…”

“Yes, I can do that,” Rahn said, happy to be able to help. “What would you like me to do, Zan?”

“Find out about our parents… find out if they’re all alright… and find Liz… or find out where she is. Then… return here and tell us. Can you do that?”

“Of course. It is a simple request. Should I go now?”

Max nodded. “Now… or as soon as you’re ready.”

“I’m always ready,” Rahn said, beginning to change his form even as he spoke. Max cracked the front door just a bit and peeked outside to see if all was clear, then he turned to look for Rahn. As he did, something small and fast ran past him and out the door.

“Beep Beep!”

Max watched, with his mouth open, as the brownish bird with a long tail ran down the dirt road a short distance then launched itself, somewhat clumsily, into the air. Then he turned and looked at Isabel and Maria, who was hiding her face in her hands and trying very hard to stifle a laugh. Isabel had her hand over Maria’s head, pointing.

“It was Maria.”

Max nodded and mumbled, “Children.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<<<<<<<>>>>>>>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jeff Parker opened the window at the back of the CrashDown Café’s kitchen and wiped his brow with the back of his hand as he –and the spatula in his hand- cooled down.

“It’s hot in here.”

It’s hot outside,” Nancy said, just walking in to check on him. “You should let one of the girls do the cooking for a while, Jeff. Take a break. Go upstairs and relax in the air conditioning for a few minutes… or an hour.”

“Can’t do that, Nancy. I need them on the floor out there. Besides, who can cook hamburgers better than me, huh?”

“You really need to hire another cook,” Nancy said. “You haven’t let anybody else cook since… since the Guerin boy…”

A flutter of wings attracted Nancy’s attention as she spoke, and she turned around to look. A brownish bird with a long tail had perched itself in the open window.

“You’re looking in the wrong place if you’re looking for a place to get cool,” Jeff joked.

The bird just stood there.

“Oh, well, suit yourself.” Jeff handed Nancy a piece of bread, and she tossed a piece to the bird, which dutifully ate it off of the windowsill.

“Well, Michael Guerin was alright as a cook,” Jeff, said. “He could get it right… not always the first time, mind you… but I never saw anybody do a recook faster than he could. I wish I still had him here now. Maybe that sounds strange.”

Nancy shook her head. “It’s not strange… We both miss them, Jeff… all of them. It’s the memories…”

Jeff nodded, and his eyes teared up a bit.

“I guess that’s it. They were Liz’s friends. I still don’t want to believe that Liz isn’t… coming back. It’s just not right, Nancy. After all she went through. She was finally getting better. She was getting well… against all the odds… until Judge Lewis had her locked up in that damned… insane asylum.”

As Jeff mentioned the name, “Judge Lewis,” he brought the spatula down hard, like an ax, on the counter, startling the bird in the window and causing it to jump.

“Sorry if I scared you, little guy,” Jeff said. “I wasn’t going to chop you up… That was for someone else I was thinking about… in the snake family. But you should know all about that. Your kind kills rattlesnakes, don’t they? Maybe I could borrow you for a day. If I showed you a big, fat, ass-ugly rattlesnake, would you smack it against a rock for me?”

Nancy ignored Jeff’s self-humoring “chat” with the bird and continued her conversation. “Do you think they’ll ever catch the person who killed Liz and Alex in that place, Jeff?”

Jeff stopped and looked at Nancy sadly. He didn’t have to answer. Nancy wasn’t really expecting him to.

“I still don’t understand any of this, Jeff,” Nancy said. “Roswell used to be a peaceful place. After the shooting at graduation, this town just went to Hell. I don’t understand it. What does Judge Lewis want out of this? He had to know Liz wasn’t dealing drugs. Neither was that boy, Alex Whitman. Even I could see the judge was lying through his teeth. But why? Why did he hate Liz? Liz never hurt anybody.”

Jeff leaned on the counter with both hands and hung his head for a moment, then without warning, he grabbed the butcher knife beside him and threw it at the wall in frustration. The knife stuck in the wall, cleanly severing the cord that had held the window up… and the window fell with a thud… on top of the bird.

Nancy gasped.

The roadrunner’s wing could be seen crushed beneath the window, as the bird itself dangled just off the ledge outside. Jeff stepped toward the window to raise it, but before he could, the bird’s right wing, which was trapped under the window, began to change. The feathers were disappearing, turning into something that looked like… skin. Slowly, the whole trapped wing began to look more like an arm and a hand. They were too small for a human… but downright large –not to mention odd- for a roadrunner. The arm, or the hand on the end of it, pushed the window back up a bit, enough for the bird to get free and its wing to quickly return to normal. But as the bird leapt and spread its wings, hoping that it would still be able to fly, something jerked it brusquely back into the room… then the window was slammed shut.



tbc


Coming Up: Time to talk.

[isndbreeze]

The Night The Dreams Died



Time To Talk

Chapter 21

XXI



Rahn had been jerked back through the window into the kitchen of the CrashDown, and the window had been slammed shut, momentarily preventing his escape. Jeff held the strange bird up by the tail and stared at it. It looked like any other roadrunner, he thought, and Lord knows, roadrunners are common enough in Roswell in the summer months… in fact, they’re common most of the year. But this bird was something different. Jeff knew this for a fact. What he had just seen could not happen… but it had, and he was going to know what it all meant. Deep in his mind, Jeff suspected, even without realizing that he was thinking it, that somehow this bird held the key to a lot of the mysteries in Roswell recently… graduation, Judge Lewis, the army, Max, Michael, Maria, and Isabel’s deaths and the disappearances of their bodies… and maybe even what had happened to Liz and Alex. The answers to everything somehow lay in this common-looking little bird with a long tail… Now Jeff was going to have his answers… and nothing but nothing was going to deny him that.

Dangling from Jeff’s hand by his foot-long tail, Rahn was at first in shock. Then he began to think of escape. He could turn into a giant python… or a rampaging bull… No… These were not people whom he wished to harm… even inadvertently. He would have to think of something else.

“Alright,” Jeff said, dropping the bird onto his counter and standing over it threateningly, “now you’re going to tell me what you are. Then you’re going to tell me what you were really doing here… in my window.” Jeff felt a twinge of embarrassment at talking to a bird as though it could talk back to him… much less understand him. But he had seen what he had seen…

“Okay, that might be one solution,” Rahn admitted to himself. It was certainly not the one he had expected or wished for, but… he could simply confess everything. The question was… could these people handle the answers? Nancy was still standing speechless right where she had been standing when Jeff had grabbed Rahn by the tail and pulled him into the CrashDown’s kitchen. But Jeff… Jeff seemed very determined. Rahn suspected that Jeff was afraid, too, deep down inside. Who wouldn’t be, coming face to face with something that was totally alien to them so unexpectedly. But if Jeff was afraid, he wasn’t showing it. In fact, Rahn had to admit that the determination in Jeff’s face… and the meat cleaver in his hand… intimidated HIM more than a little. Briefly, he considered turning into a mouse and running away, but as he looked at the meat cleaver in Jeff’s hand again, he decided that turning into something even smaller might be a very bad idea.

Jeff took a step back involuntarily, as the bird began to stretch and expand, then its feathers began to disappear. Its legs grew longer and began to look… human. Arms replaced its wings, and the head began to change. Realizing what was happening, Jeff grabbed a kitchen towel and threw it over Rahn’s lap, but in the end, he needn’t have. As he watched, the legs, arms, and body seemed to “grow” clothes… clothes that fit perfectly and looked just like Jeff’s own clothing. The creature and its clothes seemed, in fact, to be made of the same… well… whatever this creature was made of. It was somehow simply growing… a new skin.

“Who are you,” Jeff asked hesitantly, not really sure that he was going to like the answer.

“Wha- what are you,” Nancy asked, finally finding her own voice, which was still a bit shaky.

“My name is Rahn.”

The man-bird spoke! It spoke in perfect English!

Rahn looked at Nancy. “As for ‘what’ I am, I’m not sure that you would understand. I am sorry that we have had to meet this way. It is not what I would have wished.”

“You’re not human,” Jeff said. He wasn’t sure if he was stating a fact or asking a question. No… No… of course it’s not human. It can’t be human.

“What are you? Answer the question… Rahn.”

Rahn looked Jeff in the eyes then looked at Nancy. “I am a member of another civilization… one that does not… come from earth.”

“You’re an alien…?”

Again, Jeff wasn’t sure if he was asking a question or stating the obvious. It’s just that the “obvious” was so… unlikely. An alien… in Roswell! The very thought seemed somehow ludicrous. He wasn’t sure why. Maybe because the residents themselves had fostered that “myth.” Aliens were supposed to be here in Roswell. A lot of Roswell’s citizens capitalized on their presence here. Even Jeff’s own business, the “CrashDown” capitalized on the alien theme. But real aliens? Jeff shook his head. There weren’t supposed to be real aliens. Not any more… if there ever were. Whatever had crashed here back in 1947 had been taken away by the army many years before. Everything else was just theory and supposition. It gave conspiracy buffs and sci-fi geeks a reason to come here and spend their money and the residents a way to get their money. There weren’t any real live aliens living in Roswell.

But then… what was Rahn?

Rahn slid off of the counter and stood on the floor facing Jeff. He was about the same height as Jeff. He was about the same build as Jeff. Rahn did have lighter hair and a slightly lighter complexion. His face… did not look threatening. It looked somehow kind and reassuring.

“Okay… Rahn…” Jeff said. “Let’s start from the beginning… wherever that is. Why are you here? What were you doing in my window? I’m inclined to believe that your being here was not an accident.”

Rahn swallowed and tried to consider the consequences of giving away any information. Rahn was no coward. If someone else had been asking, he would have been quite capable of telling them nothing. The army had tortured him for decades, and he had given them nothing. But… this man was a friend. He just didn’t know it yet. Rahn considered… and then made his decision.

“Zan sent me.”

Jeff’s face registered no emotion. Obviously this name meant nothing to him.

“I think… I think you know him as… Max… Evans.”

Nancy gasped and her hand went instinctively to her mouth. This name did mean something to them. Jeff had flushed, and his mouth was open now.

“Max Evans? Max Evans sent you? Where is he? When did you see Max?”

“I left him about an hour ago. I can’t tell you where he is. It would be dangerous for you to know… and for him if you knew.”

“But… Max is alive?”

“He is alive,” Rahn said. “He wishes to find Liz, and he wishes to know if his parents and her parents… that is you… are… okay.”

Jeff nodded but then shook his head. “No! No, we’re not okay! How can we be okay after what they did to Liz?”

“I heard you talking,” Rahn said… “about her… and about Alex. He was her friend?”

Jeff nodded. “Alex was a friend of Max’s, too.”

“Then… they are both…”

“Dead,” Jeff said. “I’ll say it. Judge Lewis killed them.”

“Doesn’t your society have laws against… killing?”

Jeff sneered. “Judge Lewis doesn’t care about laws. He is the law. He gets what he wants.”

“I think I understand,” Rahn said.

“No, you don’t.” Jeff shook his head. “Oh, Judge Lewis didn’t pull the trigger, but he had Liz and Alex sent off to that… insane asylum, and he banned us and the sheriff from having any contact with them. He fixed it so someone else could kill them, Rahn, and I want to know why! I think you can tell me that. Why did Judge Lewis want Liz dead? And why did those guys from the army shoot her and those other kids at graduation? Tell me that if you can!”

Rahn looked uncomfortable, but he answered Jeff’s question. “For the same reason they wanted me dead.”

Jeff stood silently for a moment, digesting this information. Then he shook his head slowly…

“Wait… okay, you’re an alien… Maybe they thought they were protecting the earth from some kind of… alien invasion or something. I could understand that, even if they’re a bunch of knee-jerk idiots… but Liz was no alien… Max was no alien…”

“Zan is only half of this earth,” Rahn replied. “He is also half Antarian. He is the true king… of our planet.”

Jeff began to laugh, and Rahn, finding his reaction odd, appeared confused.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! MAX? MAXWELL EVANS? …is the king… on your planet?”

“He was the true king. He was deposed by a tyrant named Kivar.”

“Oh, your planet has those, too?”

Jeff looked at Rahn, and, slowly, he realized that Rahn was being truthful. Rahn did not appear to be enjoying this or trying to put anything over.

“So… Uh uh! No! I can’t… He’s just a kid! He just graduated from high school. How could he be a king… of anywhere? And if Max was… what… half alien? Wouldn’t the army be…?”

Jeff stopped suddenly, having answered his own question. His face flushed again.

“Max is half… alien? Why… why didn’t anybody know?”

“Somebody knew,” Rath said quietly.

Jeff’s mouth dropped again… “Liz?”

Rahn nodded. “Liz… yes.”

“Liz knew everything? She… Did she… know that the army would come after him?”

“She knew everything… after the shooting.”

“Graduation? But she was shot herself at graduation!”

Rahn shook his head. “Not graduation. The other shooting… Here.”

“In the CrashDown?”

Suddenly it all came back to Jeff, and his knees started to buckle. Rahn reached out to keep Jeff from falling, but he regained his balance on his own. Then he sat down.

“Liz was shot! When those two guys were fighting in the CrashDown a few years ago… she was shot! My God. I always thought… but I put it out of my mind. She seemed like she was okay, so I thought… she couldn’t have been shot. It had to just be ketchup like she said. We all believed that. Max was hovering over her. Then the sheriff got very interested in Liz for a while. He followed her around… asking questions about the shooting… lots of questions. Eventually, it all died down. He asked a lot of questions about Max Evans, too. What did Max do to her, Rahn? What did he do to Liz?”

“He brought her back to life,” Rahn said.

There was a small thud, as Nancy collapsed on the floor. Jeff rushed to help her.

“I’m okay,” Nancy said, her voice shaking, as she regained consciousness. “I’m okay.”

“Can you stand up,” Jeff asked.

“Just let me lie here for a while, Dear. I… I’d rather not stand up right now.”

Jeff looked back up at Rahn. “Liz was… dead then?” Jeff asked again, as though he still thought he might have heard wrong.

“Not dead by Antarian standards,” Rahn explained. “only by your standards on earth. Max can heal… but not after one is… gone.”

“So he healed Liz… then he told her who he was?”

“My understanding is that she figured it out.”

Jeff nodded. “Liz would. She’s smart. She… was… smart…” Jeff choked for a moment. “She would have pursued him until he told her the truth. I know that.”

Jeff thought for several moments. “Rahn… why did Max send you? Why didn’t he come himself?”

Rahn started to answer, but Jeff answered his own question for him.

“It’s the army, isn’t it? They’re after him.”

Rahn nodded. “He escaped from the base. I was with him. We found our way to freedom. For now, we must remain where we are.”

“I understand. Was it just… the two of you?”

Rahn was silent for several moments, then he shook his head. “There were five of us.”

“Who?” Jeff asked. “Who else was with you? More aliens… from your planet?”

Rahn wasn’t sure how to answer this for a moment. “More… prisoners… from the base,” he said finally.

“Okay. Was one of them Michael Guerin?”

Rahn nodded.

“Was one of them… Isabel Evans?”

Rahn nodded.

“Was one of them… Maria… Maria DeLuca?”

Rahn nodded, and Nancy, who was still lying on the floor, let out a small but audible gasp.

“My God, Rahn, Amy has to know! She has to! She risked her life to try to find Maria, and everyone thought she was… well, deluded. If Maria is still alive, she has to know!”

“The more people know,” Rahn warned, “the more danger she will be in… and the more danger the others will be in.”

“Well, I understand that,” Jeff said, “but her mother!”

“She will know the truth soon,” Rahn said. “It is important that no one else know these things for now. I hope I have not made a mistake telling you.”

“I’ll… We’ll keep the secret,” Jeff said. “But not forever, Rahn. Max must do whatever it is he has to do so that they can be safe. Amy will have to be told… soon.”

Rahn nodded again. “I must go back to Zan and tell him the one thing that will kill him… that his chosen one has died. I do not wish to do this.”

Jeff’s face softened, as he looked at Rahn’s anguish. Perhaps for the first time, he saw something else in this “man-bird,” something which he did recognize… humanity. Jeff put his arm around Rahn’s shoulder, and his own eyes teared up. “She was my daughter, Rahn. I loved her, too.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<<<<<<<>>>>>>>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the Mesaliko Indian Reservation, darkness had come. The sun had gone down three hours before. Outside, the crickets were chirping, tree frogs were singing, and the stars were shining brightly in the sky. Inside the house, there was silence. No one spoke. There was little to say. Maria tried to sleep, but she tossed and turned and flipped her pillow over repeatedly, trying to find the driest wet side, as the tears fell silently on it. Isabel lay on her bed looking at the ceiling in silence. Sleep escaped her. Michael and Rahn were sitting on their beds, thinking.

Max slipped on his pants and shirt and headed for the door.

“Where are you going,” Michael asked.

“Out… for some air. No one will see me. I can’t stay in here any longer.”

“I’ll go with you,” Michael said.

Max shook his head. “No. You stay here. I need to be alone.”

Max cracked the door and peeked outside. No one was out, so he edged out the door and quickly walked across the dirt road then down the path toward the river. He didn’t have to go far. The river was only a short distance away. Five minutes later, Max stood on the river bank, tears rolling down his cheeks.

For a time, Max stood silently, reflecting on his life with Liz, occasionally looking up at the stars then down at the deep darkness of the river’s waters below. Then he sat down beside a large rock and took off his shoes and shirt, placing them neatly beside the rock. He took one final look up at the stars and took a deep breath then stood up. As he did, a faint noise attracted his attention. It was almost inaudible, but Max’s hearing was excellent.

Fearful that if he made any noise himself, whoever might be coming would find out about them staying in Gray Hawk’s house, Max decided to sit back down behind the rock until he knew if it was a person or an animal… or just the wind blowing in the leaves. He waited… The noise, though soft, grew steadily louder. It didn’t sound like footsteps. It was more like something being dragged stealthily down the path. It was much closer now. From the sound of it, it could be a bear, he thought… or someone dragging a dead body to throw in the river. Max huddled out of sight behind the rock.

The noise stopped just on the other side of the rock. Whatever it was, it had decided to rest there. Just his luck! Max waited silently. Five minutes passed… then ten. He wondered when the bear would leave. He figured it wasn’t someone dragging a dead body… They would have thrown it in the river by now and left. But there was still the small chance that it could be someone dragging a canoe or something. He waited. Max looked up at the stars above. They were shining so brightly… they seemed to pop out of the sky. He almost felt like if he just reached up… What was it that Angie Lee had said to him… “When the stars are so bright…” yes, he did feel closer to Liz now. It was a strange feeling… a tingle that ran through him from head to toe. “And if you reach up and take a star from the sky, you will soon be with the one you love.” Max reached up toward the sky, framing a star inside his cupped hand…

“Ah-choo…”

Max stopped and listened intently. That was a pretty small sneeze for a bear.

“Excuse me,” someone behind the rock added quietly, probably out of habit.

“Excuse me?” When did bears… Max felt a tingle surge over his whole body. He’d know that voice anywhere! Max jumped up and rushed to the other side of the rock, almost tripping over his own feet in his haste.

Sitting on the other side, in a wheelchair, was Liz, with her back to him. She was looking up at the stars, lost in her thoughts. Liz reached one hand up… toward a particularly bright star, and as she did, a hand took hers and closed it around the star.

Even in the starlight, Liz recognized Max’s hand… its feel… the tingle it gave her. She spun around in her chair, almost overturning it, and Max scooped her up into his arms.

“Max! Omigod, Max! Omigod!” Liz cried over and over, wrapping her own arms tightly around Max and smothering him with kisses. “I’ve missed you so much! I knew you were alive! I knew it! I always knew it! But I thought I might never see you again.”

Max hugged Liz to himself and kissed her face, her hair, her neck, her hands… as tears of pure joy ran down his cheeks.

“I knew you were alive, too, Liz,” he said breathlessly. “I felt you. I always have! I was told that you were dead… and for a while, I thought maybe I was feeling you, because… because I couldn’t let you go. But deep inside, I knew it was you I was feeling, not just a memory. I came down here to be closer to you… to try to be near you. And I thought I’d take a swim to relax… maybe help me to sleep. It’s been kind of a… a rough day.”

Liz pressed her lips to Max’s and kissed him with all the passion that had been pent up inside her for so long. After several minutes, she pulled back and smiled, running her hands lovingly over his face. “Did that help any, Max?”

“A lot! But I think I’m gonna need intensive therapy tonight… all night.”

Liz smiled. “I can handle that.”

At that moment, Max thought that the smile on Liz’s face rivaled the stars in lighting up the night.

“Liz, where in the world did you come from? What are you doing here… on the reservation?”

“I’m staying in River Dog’s house… with Alex. You remember River Dog. Sheriff Valenti arranged it… It’s kind of a long story.”

“I know what happened to you,” Max said. “I heard already.”

“Max… where did you come from? I can’t believe you actually found me here!”

“I’m staying in Gray Hawk’s house… with Michael, Isabel, Rahn… and Maria.”

Liz gasped, and her smile grew even larger if that was possible.

“Omigod, I knew she was alive! I saw her! And Michael and Isabel are okay, too! But who’s Rahn?”

“You’ll meet him. You think maybe we could swap him for you tonight?”

Liz smiled. “Why don’t you send Isabel over to stay with Alex… and I’ll come over to where you’re staying.”

Max smiled. “I guess I’ll have to fill Gray Hawk in… and River Dog. Gray Hawk said something about River Dog having his curtains all drawn. He was suspicious, but he thought it was just because of the heat.”

“Can you walk, Liz?”

“No.” Liz shook her head. “I haven’t been able to move my legs since… graduation night.”

Max ran his hand up and down Liz’s back, while still supporting her in his arms. “When we get back to the house, I’ll see what I can do. It’s more than I can handle out here.”

“Would you push me back, Max?”

Max smiled. “I’ve got a better idea.” He picked Liz up in his arms. “I’ll send Rahn back for the chair later. He can slip out of the house without being noticed.”

Liz put her arms around Max’s neck, and her body relaxed in his arms. She looked at his face… God! How much she had missed it! And she looked at the stars. They were bright tonight… very bright… and oh so beautiful.



tbc


Coming Up: Rahn gets to deliver good news… to Jeff and Nancy Parker… and to Jim and Amy.

[vecastone]

Wow !! a new update I was going to leave fb on the 20th part

I can`t believe they are that close !! please I want them to discover they are all alive pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee !!!
The suspense is killing me !!

[Anonymous]

I missed three parts?! How did that happen?? Two wonderful parts bt the way. I have no nails left with all the tension!

I'm so ecstatic that Liz and max found each other I'm doing cart wheels of joy!!! That was fantastic! I really, really like Rahn! Oh and Isabel is going to get some alone time with Alex!! Go stargazer!

I just loved Amy!! She's so fabulous and she'll be over joyed to hear Maria's alive and so will the Parkers to hear about Liz! More! More! Soon!

[vecastone]

*****i´m doing the happy dancing*******

*****i´m doing the happy dancing*******

*****i´m doing the happy dancing*******

[isndbreeze]

Thanks for the great feedbacks, Veca and Isabel! It's greatly appreciated! Well, the story moves along. Here's the next part. Hope you like it!

[isndbreeze]

The Night The Dreams Died



Starry Nights & Apache Justice

Chapter 22

XXII



Max tapped lightly on Gray Hawk’s front door with his right foot. A moment later, the door opened a crack, and Michael looked out. Seeing Max’s face, he quickly opened the door wide enough for Max to come in.

“I hope you weren’t seen, Max. What’s that?” Michael pointed to the object in Max’s arms. It was wrapped in an Indian blanket. Liz had had it over her shoulders while she sat by the river watching the stars. But it only took one good look for Michael to realize that what Max had in his arms was far more than just an “object.” Michael’s jaw dropped, and his eyes opened wide.

“Omigod, Max! You found her… She’s alive,” Michael stammered, in an excited whisper. “Where… How did you… Where did you… Don’t move! Maria’s got to…” Michael didn’t finish his sentence, as he rushed toward Maria and Isabel’s room and knocked quietly but excitedly on their bedroom door.

The door opened a crack, and Isabel looked out.

“Michael? We’re trying to sleep in here. You may have just woke Maria back up, and it took me hours to get her to sleep. What’s so important that it couldn’t wait for tomorrow?”

Michael turned around and saw Max walking up behind him with Liz in his arms.

“Is this important enough,” Michael asked, moving a portion of the blanket that had blocked Liz’s face. Isabel let out a loud gasp, and Maria, behind her, rolled over in her bed.

“Is something wrong, Iz? Was that you?”

Isabel tried to say something, but at first, no words would come out.

“Isabel?” Maria asked again, the concern in her voice rising.

“No… Uh… No,” Isabel stammered, finally finding her voice again. “Nothing’s wrong, Maria.”

“Okay.”

“Uh… Maria?”

“Yeah?”

“I think… I think you should really come here a minute… You need to see something… NOW…”

“Are you sure you’re alright,” Maria asked, coming awake completely now and rolling off the bed. Something in the urgency in Isabel’s voice alarmed her. It wasn’t like Isabel. Even in the tunnels, when Isabel had been dying, she had never requested Maria’s presence quite so urgently. Maria walked quickly to the door. Isabel opened it, and Max stepped forward with Liz in his arms.

“I would run and hug you,” Liz said, tears rolling down her cheeks even as a huge smile covered her face, “but I’m afraid I can’t walk anymore, Maria.”

Maria gasped, her eyes shot open wider than saucers, and her mouth dropped. In fact, it’s unlikely that her jaw could have fallen any further if she had had Rahn’s amazing stretching talents. Before anyone could react, Maria had her arms around both Liz and Max together, and the tears were rolling down her cheeks again… for only the hundredth time tonight.

“Omigod, Liz! You’re alive! You’re really, really, really, really ALIVE! And here! How did you get here? Let me look at you!” Maria looked at Liz and moved a tress of hair off of her face, then a huge smile came over her own face, and she hugged Liz and Max again, almost crushing Max’s ribs in her joy.

“Omigod, Liz! I don’t believe this! Where did you come from? …Max?”

“I found her down by the river. I made a wish and… there she was.”

Maria looked at Max for a moment silently but then turned her attention back to Liz.

“Liz… you’ve got to stay here with us. You’ve got to! I want to have you here where we can be together now… at least for a while! We’ve got to talk! The rest of us can’t go back home until it’s safe. The army thought we were all aliens or something, and they locked us in these dreadful rooms way down inside some huge tunnels where they were going to keep us until…” Maria waved her hands around in the air… “I don’t know what… maybe forever, I think. Rahn helped us escape from them by going deeper into the tunnels then into a cave. Then we found Angie Lee in the cave, and she led us here…”

Liz smiled. “I think we really do need to talk, Maria. Sounds like you’ve got a lot to tell me.”

“Me!? Oh… No! No! Not me… What about you, Liz? I want to hear about you since we were together. Since… Since…”

“Graduation, yeah,” Liz said, holding onto Max, who was still holding her in his arms. “That would be when we saw each other last. I woke up a couple of months later… completely paralyzed. But I can move again now! All but my legs…”

Maria’s eyes misted up, and she hugged Liz again.

“I’m so sorry, Liz. Hey, maybe Max can make you walk again! He healed Iz and me, and we were dead!”

“Yeah… he’s gonna see if he can,” Liz said. “It’s alright, Maria… Really! Hey! Tell me what happened to you?”

“I don’t remember everything before Max healed us… just some of it. Max said I was dead… me and Isabel… and Michael almost. The rest is just… a long story. I’ll tell you everything I can remember later… after I’ve heard all about you!”

“Good! I want to hear it all,” Liz said.

Max set Liz down on Maria’s bed and gave her a kiss, which Liz returned with a passion that was still unfulfilled after having been apart for so long… and given the heartaches that both had endured while on the run. After a couple of minutes, they separated, somewhat reluctantly, and Max stood back up and breathed a deep, refreshing breath, one of the first he had taken in a long time.

“I’ll have to tell Gray Hawk,” Max said… “I’ll see if I can get him to let you stay here, Liz.”

“Uh, you may not have to,” Michael said, pointing behind Max. Max turned around. The old Mesaliko Apache was standing right behind him, with a very stern look on his face. Max momentarily flushed and found that he had to moisten his lips and swallow before he could speak again, but then he steeled his resolve. He was determined that he was not going to be separated from Liz again… not now. Not after all that they had been through to find each other. It was Gray Hawk, however, who spoke first. He held up one hand, as though requesting their undivided attention… and he got it.

Gray Hawk looked at each person in the room, then he spoke slowly… deliberately. “I heard. It would seem that A’in ji Lii was correct. You do need my help. So I will allow it. There will be no more talk about the matter. But you…” He looked sternly into Liz’s eyes. “You must sleep in this room… and you…” He looked at Max. “You must sleep with the bird-man.”

Max just nodded and swallowed. “Thank you. That… that would be great…”

“UM! …Good! It is settled then. I will speak with my brother, River Dog, in the morning. He will understand. What is justice for one is justice for all. It is the way of our people.”

“Thank you,” Max managed to say again.

“Gray Hawk…” Liz whispered hesitantly.

The old Indian turned around and looked at Liz again but did not speak. Liz understood that he was waiting for her to say what was on her mind.

“Thank you… for me, too.”

“Um.”

Liz’s uneasy gaze remained on Gray Hawk, and she bit her lip.

“Is there something else,” Gray Hawk asked, seeing in Liz’s face that there was.

Liz breathed deeply. “Well… somebody will have to tell Alex that I’m here… tonight. He’s at River Dog’s house, and he’ll be really worried if I don’t return tonight.”

Gray Hawk looked at Liz, as he thought about what she had said, but this time, it was Max who spoke first.

“Liz had an idea that was pretty good earlier.”

Gray Hawk looked at Max.

“Isabel could deliver the message to Alex that Liz is okay… then Isabel could stay there tonight… It would balance things out again… where everybody would sleep and all… There would still be two sleeping at River Dog’s house… and Liz could sleep in Isabel’s bed here.”

Gray Hawk nodded silently. “I know my brother. He would make the same arrangements that I would make. It is acceptable. But it will be her decision.”

Isabel looked at Max then quickly back to Gray Hawk, as the full force of what this all meant suddenly hit her.

“Alex is alive… and he’s only three houses away! I want to see him! When can I go?”

Gray Hawk reached for a blanket from the chest at the foot of the bed.

“Take mine,” Liz said. “It belongs to River Dog anyway… and Alex will be expecting to see it.”

Max turned to Rahn, who had been listening silently.

“Rahn, Liz left her wheelchair down by the river. Could you bring it back here for her?”

“Yes, I can do that,” Rahn answered, happy to finally have something to contribute to this conversation.

“Um! There are several wheelchairs on the reservation,” Gray Hawk said, thinking. “No one would think much about it if they saw you in the chair… if you had the blanket over you.”

Several minutes later, the front door of Gray Hawk’s house opened just a bit, and a small brown bat flew out headed towards the river. Fifteen minutes later, an old Indian in a wheelchair rolled up to Gray Hawk’s house, and Gray Hawk let him in. Once inside, the old Indian began to change into a young man again… though perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he assumed the “appearance” of a young man again, because Rahn was actually older than either Gray Hawk or River Dog even though he appeared to be in his twenties and had the physique of a twenty-year-old. Physically, he was a twenty year old, but Rahn had been born some 127 earth years before and was not long out of adolescence for his kind.

Isabel sat down in the chair, and Max put Liz’s blanket over her shoulders and head, covering her hair and clothes. Then he nodded.

“You’re all set. Whenever you’re ready…”

“Third house?” Isabel asked. “The one with the spear in the ground beside the front door?”

“That is my brother’s house, yes,” Gray Hawk confirmed.

“Push me out, Max.”

Gray Hawk opened the door, and Max pushed Isabel to the door. She took the wheels in her hands and rolled the chair the rest of the way to the street, then taking one quick look back, Isabel headed quickly to the third house, where Alex was waiting for Liz to return.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<<<<<<<>>>>>>>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The door opened slightly, and Alex peeked out at the girl in the chair. Her head and shoulders were draped in River Dog’s Indian blanket.

“Come in… quick. God, Liz! I was getting worried! Do you know how long you’ve been gone? I was about to go look for you myself!” Alex pulled the chair into the house then turned around to make sure they were still alone.

“I’m not mad at you, Liz. I’m just concerned about you. You said you’d only be gone for a little while.”

Alex turned back around to face Liz, and Isabel removed the blanket that had been covering her head and shoulders. It was probably a good thing that Alex was young. The surprise could have been too much for a weaker heart.

Alex stumbled backwards a step then looked at Isabel as though he were seeing a ghost. His voice somehow got lost in his throat.

“Well? Aren’t you glad to see me, Alex?”

“Isabel?” Alex managed to whisper, finally finding his voice. “Omigod! Yeah! Yeah… sure, I’m… I’m ecstatic! Of course, I’m glad! Omigod, Isabel! What are you doing here? Where’s Liz?”

“Liz? You mean the girl you’ve been living here with?”

“Yeah, that would be the one, Iz. Where is she? You didn’t leave her down by the river did you?”

“Alex! No, of course not! Liz is fine. She’s at Gray Hawk’s house.”

“Who’s Gray Hawk?”

“River Dog’s brother.”

”River Dog’s got a brother?”

“Several of them… sisters, too.”

“I didn’t know.” Alex looked at Isabel again, and a huge smile came over his face.

“You came here… to be with me?”

“Well, I don’t see any other handsome, zany guys around here anywhere, Alex… so… yeah! I guess I did.” Isabel smiled. “Are you happy that I came?”

“Happy? I’m… I’m overjoyed!”

“Well, are you going to do something about it or are you just going to stand there and be overjoyed?”

Alex started to lift Isabel up out of the wheelchair, but then he hesitated.

“You’re… uh… I mean… You’re okay then? I won’t hurt you?”

Isabel smiled and stood up. “The chair is Liz’s, Alex. I’m fine. She just let me take it to come over here. Max is at Gray Hawk’s house. Max is taking care of her now.”

Finally realizing that Liz really was okay and that Isabel really was standing in front of him… in the flesh… alive… and not just another cruel dream… Alex grabbed Isabel, lifted her off her feet, and swung her around and around in circles. Then he kissed her. Then they both stopped spinning as they concentrated on each other and on all the time they had to make up for. If their bodies were no longer spinning, though, the same cannot truly be said of their heads or their hearts, which were certifiably higher, at this moment, than the stars on this starry, starry night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<<<<<<<>>>>>>>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jeff Parker was sitting in his apartment upstairs over the CrashDown, taking a much-needed break from the grill -at Nancy’s insistence- when something attracted his attention at the window. It was the roadrunner. It could have been another roadrunner, of course, but Jeff knew that it was not. Roadrunners were common enough, but seeing one sitting in a window, especially upstairs, was not common. Seeing one racing along the street in the desert was common. Roadrunners can and do fly, but they prefer to run, and their flight is somewhat limited by the shortness of their wings. Rahn had made his wings slightly longer than the average roadrunner’s in order to sustain his flight longer and more easily. This roadrunner was not common. It had a name, and Jeff knew it…

“Rahn!”

The bird hopped out of the window into Jeff’s apartment over the CrashDown and quickly morphed into its human appearance.

“You looking for more information for Max,” Jeff asked.

“No. This time I’m bringing information,” Rahn said.

Jeff put his newspaper down. He didn’t know why, but something told him that this was important. He guessed it was because Rahn had risked this trip to bring this information.

“I’m listening, Rahn. What do you have to tell me?”

“Your daughter is not dead,” Rahn said straight out. “Liz is alive.”

For a moment, Jeff wasn’t sure that he had heard right, but deep inside he knew that he had, and his pulse began to race even as the blood drained from his face, leaving him paler than Rahn on Rahn’s palest day.

“Liz… is alive? Are you… Are you sure, Rahn? Sheriff Valenti said…”

“I saw her and spoke with her myself. She is well… She is with Max. He’s taking care of her until they can return home and be safe again. The sheriff hid her and her friend, Alex. Unfortunately, it was necessary for everyone to believe that they were dead, even you, in order to make those who are trying to harm them believe that they were dead, too. That was the only way to give the sheriff time to plan what must be done to save them. Liz said to tell you that the sheriff is doing everything to try to help her, and that he saved her life. She said to tell you that you should not be angry with him.”

“No… I’m not. Well… I am… kind of… I don’t know. Why couldn’t he tell me? Where are they, Rahn? I have to know where Liz is!”

“Would you want to put her in the same danger that she was in before all over again? Because if you know where she is, she will be in danger… and so will you… and your wife. There are people who will use every means to force you to talk. I know, Jeff Parker. I have seen their methods personally. I don’t think a human could survive it for long. Some of my own people did not. I was fortunate to be young and healthy.”

Jeff put his hand over his eyes, and his eyes misted up, but then he realized that the fact that he could not see Liz right now was only the bad news… and the least news. The real news was the good news… Liz was alive! A smile began to grow across Jeff’s face, and the blood returned.

“Liz is alive? Liz is alive! Oh, geez! Liz is alive! NANCY!”

Nancy came running into the living room and found Jeff hugging Rahn. For a moment, she stood watching, not sure what was going on. Then Jeff turned to her with tears in his eyes.

“Liz is alive, Nancy… Our Lizzie’s alive!”

Nancy gasped, and her hand went automatically to her mouth. Rahn guessed that this habit was one of practicality, as it kept anything from flying into one’s mouth when it was wide open, as humans’ mouths so often tended to be.

“Liz is still alive?” Nancy repeated. “Where is she? I want to see her!”

“We can’t see her right now,” Jeff said. “She’s hiding, with the sheriff’s help, and everybody’s supposed to think she’s dead… but just until Jim can fix things… right Rahn?”

“That is what he hopes. That is what we all hope,” Rahn said. “Liz said that the sheriff is working very hard on it. I must go now and tell him that Max and the others are alive.”

“Amy will want to know about Maria,” Nancy said. “She really should know.”

Rahn nodded. “Zan… I mean, Max… and Liz agree with you. They believe that you and Jeff will keep their secret, and Amy already has kept Liz and Alex’s secret, so they believe it will be best to tell her and Sheriff Jim about Maria and the others, too. It might make it easier for him to coordinate a plan to help them all.”

“That’s good thinking, Rahn,” Jeff said. “Jim will do everything he can to help all of them… but he can’t if he doesn’t even know they’re all alive or where the rest of them are. I would tell him.”

Rahn smiled. “At least this time I am delivering good news. I did not enjoy delivering bad news before, Jeff Parker.”

“Most people don’t, Rahn,” Jeff said. “Most good people don’t.”

Nancy hugged Rahn, and Jeff put his hand on his shoulder. “Thank you, Rahn! Thank you so, so much! You don’t know it, but you gave me my life back today.” Jeff wiped the corner of his eye and handed Nancy a napkin to wipe her eyes with.

“Go tell Jim and Amy the good news, Rahn. They deserve some.”

Moments later, a brownish bird with a long tail flew out of the upstairs window of Jeff’s apartment in the direction of the Sheriff’s office. Sitting in a car not far away, just out of sight, another figure watched the bird fly away.

“Now what is Jeff Parker up to?”

Judge Lewis scratched his head. “Has he gone into breeding roadrunners? Maybe he’s serving them on the menu… as alien chicken or something.” A brief smile flickered over the judge’s face at this thought, but it was quickly gone again. “Or maybe… he’s using them like carrier pigeons… to fly messages to those kids. I wonder if roadrunners could be trained to… Naw! …or can they? I wonder.”

Judge Lewis cranked his car and drove off in the direction the bird had flown. He didn’t see the bird again, but he did pass Sheriff Valenti’s office, and he decided that that was reason enough to park for a while and see what the sheriff might be up to today. Finding a nice shady spot in the shadows of a nearby building, Judge Lewis parked his car and waited. He really didn’t know if he would see anything unusual or not. Most days he saw nothing worthy of his interest. But it was the one day that he might see something that kept Judge Lewis coming back. Perseverance. It was the one thing the judge had in spades. He could be like a pit bull hanging on to the seat of someone’s pants… and even more annoying… though he preferred to think of himself as a mighty super hero… or super villain, he really didn’t care much which… who never gave up.

Twenty-five minutes passed uneventfully, and Judge Lewis stretched and looked at his watch. Just then the upstairs window of the Sheriff’s office opened and something flew out.

“Another roadrunner? What is Jim up to? Something that involves Jeff Parker obviously.”

Judge Lewis cranked his car quickly and spun it around, determined to follow this bird and see where it was going. He knew that he would probably lose it, but he hoped to follow it long enough to see where it might be going. The bird headed in the direction of the desert, and Judge Lewis followed as fast as he could. The roadrunner had a fair lead, but he could still just see it far up ahead… and he saw something else, too… something circling high in the sky, well above the furiously flapping little roadrunner… a much larger redtail hawk.

“Well, Valenti, if you’re sending messages by roadrunner courier, this is one that’s not going to get there,” Judge Lewis gloated.

Like one predator judging another, Judge Lewis was not off the mark about the hawk’s intent. Almost as soon as he thought it, the hawk went into a dive. Judge Lewis wasn’t sure if he should be happy that the message would not arrive or disappointed that he would not get to see where the bird was going now. He wasn’t sure if the smaller bird ever saw it coming or not. The hawk hit the roadrunner with all its fury, its claws extended, knocking the smaller bird into an uncontrolled death spiral toward the ground; then, as the roadrunner dropped, the hawk swooped in for the kill. Judge Lewis couldn’t see either bird now, because his line of vision was blocked by nearby trees, but that was about to end. He was coming up on open desert. Maybe the hawk would leave a leg or something for him… If he was lucky, he might find the message Jim had been sending. Then he would have him!

A couple of minutes later, the judge arrived at the area where he had seen the hawk kill Jim’s roadrunner, but he didn’t immediately see either bird, so he drove around the area several times, tightening his loops each time. If anything was there… if the hawk left him anything…

Then he saw it. Feathers… lots of them… all over the ground.

“Jim, Jim, Jim…” Judge Lewis sneered, smiling in spite of his probable loss of any message. “Big ole’ bad hawk made a mess of your little roadrunner. I’m afraid there’s not much left!”

Judge Lewis put his car in park and got out. Maybe the message might still be here among the feathers and carnage. He leaned over and picked up some of the feathers.

“These are mighty large feathers for a roadrunner.” Judge Lewis picked up some more feathers… then some more. All of them appeared to have come from the hawk. Judge Lewis scratched his head and looked further, still intent on finding the message he was sure Jim had sent. Then he saw a different kind of feather and picked it up.

“Aha! So you did not escape after all, did you, little roadrunner?”

As he held the feather in his hand, it suddenly seemed to melt and fuse together. Surprised, Judge Lewis dropped it. Then he squatted down and looked at the small, still-writhing oddity on the ground. It no longer looked like a feather at all. It looked more like… skin. Hesitantly, Judge Lewis picked it up again, but then he dropped it again as something red oozed out onto his hand.

“Blood! What the hell is going on here!?”

Judge Lewis took a small rag out of his car and picked the piece of skin up with it then wrapped it several times in the rag.

“I don’t know what happened to the message or the hawk… but I’ll bet this will turn some heads when those asshole agents see it! They’ll be groveling at my feet and apologizing to me now for not believing me before.”

Judge Lewis got back into his car, put the rag on the seat beside him, and turned the key. Nothing happened. He turned it again, and again, nothing. Huffing, he got out of his car. Then he reached back in and popped the hood. Working up a bad mood now, he walked to the front and lifted the hood. His eyes grew suddenly wide, and he tried to shut the hood back quickly, but it was already too late.

The huge snake uncoiled like a sling shot, wrapping itself around the judge numerous times before he could react. Soon, Judge Lewis found his ribs aching and his diaphragm unable to move enough air into his lungs to keep him conscious. He cursed his luck and the snake, even as he gasped his last conscious breath and reluctantly watched the daylight fade into darkness… and inescapable unconsciousness.



tbc


Coming up: Rahn returns to the reservation. Amy and Jim celebrate the news Rahn brought them and plan a way for themselves and the Parkers to see their children on the reservation. A disheveled and half-hallucinating Judge Lewis walks out of the desert with a story that no one will believe… until he shows them something that can’t be explained.

[Anonymous]

Thank god the Parker now know! And I'm so ecstatic about the Alex/Isabel reunion!!!! Ohh but Judge Lewis makes me so mad! Why can't he keep his nose in his own business??? Why didn't Rahn just kill him!!

[vecastone]

Poor Rhan what happened to him ?

I am so happy about this chapter. The Max and Liz reunion was beautiful though María`s hug and Isabore/Alex reunion was also very touching.

I can picture Alex staring at her without moving a single muscle !!! Beautiful !!

I am not very fond of the Judge either , though I think he got what he deserved *****evil grin***** Can´t wait for the next part and I have a last question, when will the interplanetary help arrive ?

[roswellkitkat]

What wonderful kick butt updates! I had forgotten how great this story was!!!

[isndbreeze]

Thanks so much for the great feedback everyone! Well, Isabel, Rahn is a young guy still (only 127 earth years old), and he has not yet had to become a killer. He is really rather innocent despite his awesome powers. I admit, it was very tempting to have the snake squeeze a little harder or just swallow the judge, but then Rahn would lose some of his innocence. Before it's over, he may anyway. I can't say yet, though we are in the final stretch now.
Which brings me to your question, Veca. The interplanetary help is on the way but we know that, don't we? Will they arrive in time to help? I can't tell you (Well, I could, but I don't want to! So I guess you'll just have to wait and see. But I can tell you that the clouds are gathering in the sky, and a huge struggle is looming. Our beloved heroes could never be truly free hiding for the rest of their lives. Have faith! Here's a new chapter!

[isndbreeze]

The Night The Dreams Died



A Feather Of Doubt

Chapter 23

XXIII



Upstairs over the sheriff’s office, safely locked away from prying eyes, Jim and Amy hugged each other. Then Amy bounced, pirouetted, and danced around the gym, wanting to scream for joy but trying not to make so much noise that anyone else might hear and wonder what was going on up there. Unable to scream, Amy let out her feelings by leaping and dancing all over the room. Then she literally leapt into Jim’s arms.

With a huge grin on his own face, Jim stared at the coffee cup Amy had been drinking out of only a few minutes earlier.

“I’m really gonna have to add some water to that coffee pot downstairs one of these days. I knew it was getting to be pretty strong stuff, but this is bordering on illegal! I wouldn’t want Hansen doing flips and pirouettes around the office… and if he jumps into my arms, that’s it! He’s goin’ in the tank till the caffeine wears off!”

Amy ran her hand over the side of Jim’s face and up through his hair then smiled at him.

“Go ahead and arrest me, Sheriff! I surrender!”

Jim just smiled.

“Jim… can we see her,” Amy asked, suddenly turning more serious again, though still smiling from ear to ear. “We could go out to the reservation… You could make up some excuse or something for going out there, couldn’t you?”

“What about Jeff and Nancy… and Diane and Phillip… or the Whitmans? They’ll want to see their children, too.”

“Well… yeah… I know. Maybe we could take them with us!”

Jim gave Amy a skeptical look, but then he seemed to consider it.

“I could think on it, Amy… maybe… I don’t know. I’ll see if I can come up with something believable. But don’t put too much hope into it. Their safety is the most important thing right now. It comes first.”

“Of course it does,” Amy agreed. “I wouldn’t do anything to hurt Maria. She’s my daughter. I just need to see her… you know… for myself… to know that she’s really okay. You understand? I… I thought she was dead for so long, Jim…”

In spite of the smile on her face, Amy’s eyes began to mist up.

Jim nodded and swallowed. He knew he was up against a force that no law officer had ever been trained to deal with. And besides… he kind of relished the idea of seeing everyone alive, well, and together again himself. Jim sighed a half-resigned sigh and looked at Amy…

“I understand how everyone feels. I just don’t know if I can do anything about it.”

He looked at Amy’s pleading face.

“But I’ll try. I promise. I’ll see what I can do.”

Amy smiled again. “I know you’ll come up with something, Jim. You’re the smartest man I know.”

“Ah! Watch it!” Jim said, turning back around. “That’s bribery! Keep that up and I may HAVE to arrest you.”

“Well, it wouldn’t be the first time,” Amy said.

“No… No, it wouldn’t,” Jim agreed.

“Anyway… I’m already serving a life sentence,” Amy added. “What else can you do to me?”

“A life sentence? Is that what it is?”

Amy grinned. “Oh, I hope so!”

Jim nodded. “Well… with good behavior… and continued bribes like that to the sheriff… yeah… you can count on it being life. Besides, I can’t let you go… I threw the key away.”

“How convenient. Do you think you’ll ever regret it, Jim?”

Jim shook his head. “Not for a moment.”

Amy smiled. “Me either.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<<<<<<<>>>>>>>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~ three days later, on the Mesaliko Indian Reservation ~


Angie Lee sat in the living room of Gray Hawk’s house talking with Maria and Liz. Though she was officially on summer break now, she had spent the last four days in Las Cruces taking care of some unfinished college work and other business. Max and Michael sat at the table nearby discussing plans with Alex and Isabel, who somehow had managed to convince River Dog to sneak them over to Gray Hawk’s house for the day to be with the others… as they had every day for the past three days. It was Angie Lee who first noticed the faint sound, like something flopping around outside the door. She looked at Maria for a moment then at Max, then she ran to the door and opened it. A roadrunner limped into the living room and flopped over with its wings outstretched on the floor… heaving from exhaustion. Its head sank slowly to the floor, then it didn’t move. Its eyes were closed.

“Max!” Angie Lee cried, but Max was already there.

“Rahn? My God! We were afraid something bad like this had happened when you didn’t return! Can you change back?”

The bird just lay there, its wings outstretched, its eyes closed, and its head on the floor. Max reached down and carefully picked the little roadrunner up. He looked it over, then his hands began to glow with a soft green glow. After a short time, the bird pulled its wings in next to its sides… then, moments later, it tried to stand up. Max set it back down on the floor gently.

The roadrunner did look a hundred percent better, all things considered. It was still missing a few feathers, including one of its long tail feathers. But it was breathing more normally, and its eyes were open. It was also able to stand on its own feet now and hold its head up.

“Can you change back,” Max asked again.

Little by little, the bird began to stretch and expand, its feathers began to disappear, and Rahn began to assume his “human” form. As he did, the extent of his injuries became more obvious. Everywhere that a feather had been missing, there was a deep gouge or abrasion on Rahn’s body… including one that must have been very painful across his hips and up to the tailbone, where the tail feather had been. A sizeable patch of skin was missing there, and there was a deep gouge, probably from one of the hawk’s talons. There was another deep gouge on his back and upper left side just below the shoulders.

As Rahn morphed back into his human form, he automatically replaced a thinner outer skin that mimicked human clothing, but in his present injured condition, he was unable to create new skin or “clothing” over the injured areas. Because of this, he looked like he had been in a fight with a tiger and was wearing clothes that were all ripped up. Max placed his hand over one of the wounds, and his hand glowed for about twenty seconds. As it did, the wound began to close… then skin covered it… then the “rip” in Rahn’s biological “clothes” closed up. Max repeated this until he had healed all but the one remaining wound, the large one across Rahn’s derriere. Max looked at Michael and at the girls.

“What?” Michael asked, grinning in spite of his best efforts to feign nonchalance. “You want me not to look? It’s Rahn’s butt! He’s the one exposed, not you.”

“Come on,” Angie Lee said to Michael. “Let’s go in the other room.”

“I don’t see what he’s being so prudish about,” Michael said. “He’s not the one lying there exposed. I mean, if Rahn’s okay with it…”

Angie Lee pushed Michael into the other room, and Maria and the others all followed.

Max placed both his hands on top of the large wounds on Rahn’s hips, and there was a glow from his hands for almost a minute. He had to repeat the process several times on different parts of Rahn’s wounded rear. Then he repeated the procedure on his tailbone. Finally, he removed his hands. The skin had grown back, and the biological “clothes” were starting to fill in.

“You’re all fixed, Rahn.”

“Thank you,” Rahn said, but he looked somewhat puzzled. “Was that hard for you? You seemed… concerned.”

Max shook his head. “No. No, it wasn’t hard. You’re wounds were relatively superficial… except for a couple that were deep… and the one on your… uh, your butt. There are just… well… some things that… well… I wouldn’t do for just anybody, Rahn.”

“I don’t understand.”

Max looked unsettled, as he tried to think of some way to explain.

“It’s just that Michael knows about this now.”

Max could tell that this information hadn’t enlightened Rahn at all. If anything, Rahn simply looked more puzzled than ever.

“Never mind,” Max said. “Michael and I are kind of… competitive. He won’t let this opportunity go by. You can count on it.”

“Is that bad?”

Max sighed. Clearly, he was going to have to explain a bit more appropriately for Rahn to understand.

“Michael and I… we sometimes kid each other about stuff… you know, just because we’re friends and we’re close and all… Touching someone in certain places sends kind of a sexual message…”

“Oh,” Rahn said, seeming to understand. “So when you healed me… but don’t your doctors touch people if they need to to heal them?”

“Yes, of course they do,” Max admitted. “There’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just, well… it’s… Never mind, Rahn. It’s just childish.”

Max heard muted laughter coming from the other room.

“You hear that, Michael? Childish!” Max said, raising his voice in the direction of the room the others had gone into. “You can come out now. It’s all over.”

The door opened and Michael and the others came back into the living room. Michael was grinning, but he didn’t say anything.

“Rahn’s as good as new,” Max said, waving his hand in Rahn’s direction.

“I’m very pleased to see that you’re back to normal,” Michael said politely to Rahn.

“Thank you. I am a bit pleased myself,” Rahn admitted.

Michael grinned.

“Go ahead, Michael,” Max said. “You know you want to say it! Say what you want to say! Get it over with.”

“What?” Michael asked, acting offended. “Make fun of you for healing someone? That would be childish, Max. What do you take me for?”

Max looked at Maria. She shrugged.

“Okay,” Max said quietly, still not sure if he really believed it. “Maybe I was wrong.”

“I’m hurt, Maxwell! I think you owe me an apology.”

Max looked at Michael’s pleading face for a moment then sighed.

“Okay. I’m sorry.”

“That you would even think I would be so crass,” Michael continued.

“Michael! Don’t push it! I said I’m sorry.”

“Well, I’m very grateful to you,” Rahn said, interrupting Max and Michael’s exchange. “Zan… I mean, Max… you are a wonderful healer.”

“Thank you,” Max said, some of the smile returning to his face.

“I was afraid I would not be able to sit down again after that hawk slashed my tail,” Rahn said.

“Did Max make it feel all better,” Michael asked, with innocence painted all over his face.

“Oh yes! Very much better!”

“Really? I expect he ran his hands all over the, uh, injured area afterward to check for healing anomalies… you know, unevenness, unusual coloration, odd misalignments… silver handprints…”

“No… I don’t think so… Should he have?”

Michael smiled. “Naw… It’s nothing to worry about.”

“It’s nothing to worry about?” Rahn asked, sounding concerned.

“Well, it’s just that the last guy Max touched there, his butt turned silver and was all uneven afterwards, and then it started to grow and grow. Now the poor guy has to be rolled everywhere he goes.”

Angie Lee put one hand over her mouth and eyes but then broke down and giggled in spite of herself. Maria gave Michael a “Shame on you” look.

Max nodded. “I knew it! I knew you had to do it! I know you too well, Michael.”

“Michael is playing a joke,” Rahn said, seeming to understand what was going on.

“Yeah, I’m just pulling your leg, Rahn,” Michael said. “But Max has been known to leave silver handprints. Did you check that out, Max?”

“No, and I’m not going to,” Max said. “It’ll wear off soon enough… if there is one.”

Michael snickered. Alex shook his head but smiled, too.

“Well, Rahn,” Liz said, “From where I’m sitting, you don’t have any silver handprints on you anywhere, so don’t worry about it.”

“I’m not worried,” Rahn said.

“Maybe his body doesn’t get silver handprints from being healed by an alien,” Alex mused.

“Or maybe they’re under his clothes or whatever that is that he wears when he turns back into one of us again,” Michael suggested.

“Well, either way, it is no problem for me,” Rahn said. “I am very happy to be all well again with no injuries. That is all that I care about. Max pleased me very much.”

Michael snorted, and Max ran his hand over his face.

“We understand, Rahn,” Liz said.

“Don’t pay any attention to Michael,” Max added. “His hormones got all out of whack being away from Maria for so long.”

“Maybe it was something they did to him in the army lab,” Rahn said seriously.

Max shook his head. “No, I don’t think so.”

Max started to turn away but then seemed to stop and think for a moment…

“Then again, though… you could be right, Rahn. I probably ought to check that out.”

Max turned around and took a step toward Michael.

“Uh, Max… what are you planning to do here,” Michael asked warily, backing up then dodging to the other side of the room.

“Well, if you’re still you, Michael, and they didn’t change you, your butt will hold a silver handprint nicely.”

“No! Uh, uh! No way! You stay away from me, Max! I like my butt untattooed, thank you very much!”

Max leapt, and Michael dodged back to the other side of the room again, keeping Alex and the others between them. Max feigned a dash to the left but then cut to the right instead, closing in on Michael. Seeing his escape path blocked, Michael sat his butt down the only place he saw available… on Maria’s lap. By now the entire room was in tears from laughter.

Maria smiled and put her arms around him. “I’ll protect your butt, Michael.”

Alex couldn’t help letting out a little, “Awwwwww,” which didn’t go unnoticed by Michael.

“Watch it, Alex! You can’t make silver handprints on my butt! You’re vulnerable!”

“Naw,” Alex said, shaking his head. “I’ve got Isabel to protect me.”

Michael knew that Alex was poking fun at his seeking refuge in Maria’s lap, but he also knew that there was more than a little bit of truth to what Alex had said. Getting Alex back would be a challenge with Isabel around. Michael wasn’t sure he wanted to risk it.

At that moment, the front door opened, and Gray Hawk came in. Gray Hawk looked around the room as though taking inventory of who was there, then he motioned to someone behind him. As he moved out of the way, Jim Valenti walked in with Amy, and right behind them were Jeff and Nancy Parker, the Whitmans, and Diane and Phillip Evans. Compared to the scene that erupted next, everything that had gone before seemed as solemn as a church service. Amy dashed straight to Maria, who jumped up, forgetting that Michael was on her lap, and ran to her mother. Michael grinned sheepishly and stood back up, brushing himself off.

Jeff looked at Liz for a moment and smiled, as tears came into his eyes, and Nancy dropped down onto her knees and hugged Liz in her chair.

Phillip and Diane Evans looked at Max and Isabel for several moments, unable to speak. Then Diane pulled Isabel into her arms and reached over to touch Max, as Phillip reached his own hand out to Max.

The Whitmans had Alex in an embrace that would have held a struggling bull down, but Alex wasn’t complaining. In fact, he was smiling.

Gray Hawk stood by his front door, which he had closed again so no one would see. This was going to take a lot of peyote dust blown into the air later… but he felt that somehow it was worth it.

Everybody was talking at once, asking questions, convincing themselves that this was really happening.

After hugging Liz for several minutes, Jeff walked over to Max and looked at him. Then he smiled. “Max, it’s good to see you again.”

“You, too, Mr. Parker.”

“I, uh, I take it you couldn’t heal Liz? The sheriff thought you might try to… you know…”

Max’s smile disappeared, and sadness seemed to come over him momentarily.

“I tried, Mr. Parker. But what’s wrong with Liz is something… that I can’t fix… something beyond my powers. I’ll keep trying, though. I won’t give up on Liz.”

Jeff nodded. “I know…”

“Mr. Parker?”

“Yes?”

“If Liz doesn’t… walk again… I just want you to know… It won’t make any difference. I love her. That’s not going to change.”

Jeff smiled. “I know that, too, Max. I don’t know whether that comforts me more or scares me more. I guess I’ll get used to it, though… eventually. It’s kind of hard, you know, knowing that there’s another man in my little girl’s life now. If you’re going to be my son-in-law, Max, you’re going to have to settle down and take care of Liz.”

Max blushed slightly. “We haven’t actually got that far yet, Mr. Parker. I don’t even know if Liz will want me… I mean, forever, you know.”

“Don’t you?” Jeff asked with a smile. “Then you’re the only person who still doesn’t know it, Max.”

Jeff turned and went back to Liz and Nancy, leaving Max to think about what he had said.

It was hard to tell who was asking a question and who was answering one, Amy or Maria. Both were alternately hugging, crying, kissing, and talking at the same time. But, somehow, they seemed to understand each other perfectly. And along with the never-ending words, enough tears were falling to fill a rain barrel.

Phillip and Diane Evans were hanging on to Isabel and Max’s every word now. They had dragged Michael over to where they were sitting and were acting as though he were their other long lost son. Michael, who was at first somewhat embarrassed by all the unexpected attention, had to admit to himself that it gave him a warm, good feeling inside; and before he realized what was happening, he found himself falling into the part of the second son as though he had grown up in their home.

Jeff and Nancy were both huddled around Liz, as Liz told them what had happened to her and Alex in the asylum and about finding Max by the river and all about their time in River Dog and Gray Hawk’s homes. Nancy was alternately gasping, hugging Liz, crying, and asking more questions, as Jeff stood by her side, a smile on his face that Liz guessed would take a month of Sundays to wipe away.

It was Mrs. Whitman who first seemed to notice that there were other people in the house. She already knew who Gray Hawk was, because Jim had introduced them all briefly before they had come to the reservation, but she knew that she had never met the blonde headed girl with the green eyes or the handsome young, light-skinned man with blondish hair, who stood nearby watching everything going on with smiles on their faces.

“Alex?” Mrs. Whitman nodded toward the young couple.

“Oh! Yeah! Mom… Dad, this is Angie Lee… and Rahn.”

Everyone else turned to look at Angie Lee and Rahn, too, as Alex introduced them.

“Angie Lee lives with Gray Hawk. She’s his adopted daughter. And Rahn is… is… well… a friend of Max and Michael.”

“We’ve met,” Jeff said, holding his hand out to Rahn. “It’s good to see you again, Rahn.”

Then Jeff turned to the girl. “I don’t think we’ve met, though, Angie Lee… I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in town.”

“I don’t go into town ever… well, not much,” Angie Lee said. “When I do, I kind of… uh… disguise myself. It’s better if no one knows about me living here. I would like it if you kept my secret for me.”

Jeff shrugged. “Sure… if that’s what you want… but you’re welcome in the CrashDown… or in our home… any time. I want you to know that.”

“Thank you,” Angie Lee said, smiling politely. “I’ll remember that.”

“Well, here’s to everyone being together again,” Mr. Whitman said, and everyone in the room nodded and voiced their agreement. “I never thought this day would come. I thought we had lost Alex forever. I can only imagine how some of you must have felt after so much time… not seeing your children since… that terrible day… at graduation… thinking they were dead. But we’re all back together now, all of us, for good!”

Jim looked around somewhat uncomfortably. “Well, you know that they’ll have to stay here for a while… I still don’t know how long that will be… and nobody else can know that they’re here.”

“We understood that,” Mr. Whitman said. “We can live with that to get our son back alive and safe.”

Jim smiled.

“I am very happy to see all of you together, too,” Rahn said. “But there is a saying where I come from… ‘It is of no use to inventory the glahkies while the boryx is still nearby.’ I don’t want to worry anyone, but it is a wise lesson to remember.

Jim nodded. “I guess that would be like saying, ‘Don’t count your chickens while the fox is still in the coop.’”

“Well, these animals are somewhat smaller,” Rahn said. “A boryx is something like your weasel, but it is a big one, as big as one of your bears… and glahkies are… kind of like small sheep. But what you said is a good analogy,” Rahn agreed. “It has the same meaning.”

“You mean… Judge Lewis,” Jeff Parker said.

Rahn nodded. “Yes… and the special unit agents. There are still dangers for you to beware of. I remind you of this… because you are my friends.”

Everyone nodded. They understood. But neither that nor anything else now or ever could spoil this day. For this moment in time, all the boryxes, all the foxes, and all the Judge Lewises and special unit agents in the world didn’t exist. There was only them and their children… and they were finally, finally together again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<<<<<<<>>>>>>>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the desert, about a mile outside of Roswell, a passing car stopped, and the driver looked at the short, pudgy, profusely sweating, older man plodding away under the hot sun.

“Can I give you a ride? It’s got to be awful hot out there in the desert. Where’s your car?”

The man didn’t answer immediately. He just climbed into the car beside the driver.

“My car broke down a few miles back.”

“Oh yeah? I didn’t see it.”

“It’s off the road. You wouldn’t see it from the road.”

“What you got there?” the driver asked, noticing that his passenger was carrying something in his hand.

Judge Lewis held up his hand and the dirty folded rag in it and smiled for the first time.

“My proof. I win.”



tbc


Coming up: A weasel by any other name

[Anonymous]

The idea of Amy dancing and prancing all over the room had me in fits! And what an amazing reunion!!! But what excuse did they make??

Oh and the entire silver butt handprint was hilarious

[vecastone]

WOw I am glad Rhan is okey now !! that judge will be in trouble soon !!! Luckily him I can´t put my hands on his face jeje !!

The parent´s encounter was sweet though i believe it was toooo risky.

great work !!!

[roswellkitkat]

Yay...everyone is together!!!!!

Can't wait for the next update!!

[majiklmoon]

Little by little, the bird began to stretch and expand, its feathers began to disappear, and Rahn began to assume his “human” form. As he did, the extent of his injuries became more obvious. Everywhere that a feather had been missing, there was a deep gouge or abrasion on Rahn’s body… including one that must have been very painful across his hips and up to the tailbone, where the tail feather had been. A sizeable patch of skin was missing there, and there was a deep gouge, probably from one of the hawk’s talons. There was another deep gouge on his back and upper left side just below the shoulders.

OMG, the imagery. I cannot beleive it. This is so awesome