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  Running to him, we embraced. It felt so good to be in his arms again. Even though I knew all could not be forgotten in just mere minutes, but I hoped that, in time, he could look at me like he did before I told him about Meyers and the baby.

  We were both covered in sand and with the hot sun stalking the sky, we were starting to sweat. Even though it was considered to be winter, the desert only cooled slightly. We were lucky it wasn’t summer; we’d have a lot more to worry about than we already did. No matter what the season, dehydration was as big a threat in the desert as hypothermia was in the Arctic.

  We needed to find shelter and water fast.

  “Those mountains.” I pointed toward the nearest rocky range. “We should hike up there. There’s shade and hopefully some caves.”

  Keanu nodded and we started walking toward it.

  Fatigued from lack of food, I pushed my body forward. The weight of my growing belly, however, slowed me down. My stomach seemed to be growing bigger by the hour. Keanu took my hand and gently urged me along.

  Reaching the base of the mountain after what felt like hours, a plethora of trees greeted us. Lying down under a large Juniper tree, I rested.

  “Where do we go from here?” His voice was lethargic.

  “We have to find the cave.” My throat was dry and I felt like this venture was becoming hopeless. If we couldn’t even walk a small ways without becoming completely exhausted, how was I going to lead us to a cave that I hadn’t been in since I was a baby?

  Laying my head on a bundle of moss, I slipped quickly into unconsciousness.

  The dream swept over me like a soft, warm wind. Draping itself over my mind, it seemed to throw a blanket over my sorrows.

  No longer was I scouring the desert for a long lost cave or for a mother that time had long since forgotten, I was safe.

  The Majestic 12 and Meyers were gone, no longer my concern.

  Just peace.

  Wandering like a ghost, I found myself lying upon my back on a pedestal made of stone. Clad in a long white gown, my long hair flowed around my shoulders like a black satin cape. My eyes were closed as if in sleep and I was ever so still. Holding a bouquet of lilies close to my chest, my body lay poised like a statue.

  Death.

  Death had kissed my pale lips and left its permanent mark upon me.

  Floating closer to my body, and then hovering over it, I wasn’t sad, in fact, I felt relief. The pain and suffering I’d endured was over, I was…satisfied with my life and that I’d done what I came here to do.

  I struggled to remember what my purpose was and how I’d completed it, but the foggy amnesia that clouds the mind within dreams would not clear.

  Examining my former body and admiring the soft features of my face while embraced in a deathly slumber, I smiled as I recalled the adventures and the hardships of being trapped within that body. Though the suffering meant little to me now, I knew it was all for a higher purpose.

  I noticed movement in the corner of the cave…my grandmother.

  Frowning, I wondered why she was here. Unaware of my phantom presence, the sadness painted upon her face was heartbreaking. She moved toward my body, slowly and reluctantly.

  Confused, I noticed something shiny glint within her hand.

  A knife.

  I wasn’t concerned about her hurting me, I was already dead.

  Tears ran down her sad face and I somehow knew that she’d held a secret within her for many years and it had nearly eaten her alive.

  I watched as she approached my body. Raising her arm, she held the tip of the knife to my chest. Cutting open the bodice of my dress, she began to carve a mark into my flesh. As she pierced my skin, a white light poured out from the opening.

  Pulling her hand back, the white star that had been branded between my breasts was no longer.

  Instead of a white star was a new mark, the bane of my dreams for so long—the number.

  II.

  ***

  “Cassia! Up here!” I awoke to Keanu’s excited shouts. Shaking off the dream, it faded into the recesses of my mind like all the others.

  He had gone scouting up the mountain over an hour before, leaving me to nap at the base of the mountain. Though it probably wasn’t safe for us to stay in the same area, let alone so close to our abandoned minivan, I had no choice but to obey my body’s desire for rest. The baby was growing at an alarming rate now, there was no denying it. I no longer appeared five or six months along, I looked due at any moment.

  Pushing myself to sitting, I followed the direction of his voice and saw him several meters up the mountain, waving for me to follow him. Struggling, I managed to get myself to standing and waddled a ways up the path. Bending over, I stopped to catch my breath. The steep terrain was wearing me down fast.

  “Here, let me help you.” An unfamiliar voice said to me. Whipping my head up, I saw a man, obviously Hopi Indian, extending his hand to me. His face was worn like old leather; he’d obviously seen his fair share of the desert sun. He wasn’t an old man compared to my grandmother, but he was likely in his mid-fifties. Beyond his tanned and weathered appearance, however, his eyes shone with the warmth of a hundred elders.

  He must have sensed the alarm in my face when he quickly introduced himself. “I’m Tanaka. I live in these parts.”

  “Cassia.” I responded warily, accepting his offer to help me up the hill.

  “Come with me.” His voice was calm and soothing. Somehow he put me at ease, and stranger still, I felt like I knew him or that I’d seen him before.

  Struggling up the side of the mountain, an excited Keanu stood before the mouth of a large cave. His happy expression melted into disbelief when he saw my swollen belly.

  “What the…? You weren’t that big an hour ago!” His eyes were wide.

  “Thanks.” I responded sarcastically, still trying to catch my breath from the jaunt up the hillside.

  Tanaka took his backpack off, opened it and then offered me a leather bladder with what I assumed was water and a strip of jerky.

  “Oh thank you!” I snatched them away with unintentional rudeness. Plopping myself down on a nearby boulder, I devoured the jerky and then nearly drowned myself as I poured the water down my parched throat.

  “I see you’ve met Tanaka.” Keanu stated as he attempted to reach for the water bag, but was met with a look of sheer contempt. Pregnancy does weird things to a person, especially when hungry or thirsty. Eventually, I shared the water…but not the jerky.

  Nodding, Tanaka added as he pointed to Keanu. “Yes, I saw this one wandering around on my mountain and I came to check him out.”

  “Your mountain?” I wasn’t sure if he actually owned this land or had merely claimed it.

  “Yes, I have an acreage a few miles from here. I was out checking my traps.”

  “What are you trapping?” Keanu inquired with interest. He really seemed to take an instant liking to this old fellow. I had to admit, Tanaka was rather soothing to be around, I wondered if he was a shaman or medicine man.

  “Coyotes. They’re a nuisance.” He explained, then asked. “So what are you folks out here for? It’s dangerous to be wandering about the desert.”

  Keanu and I exchanged a quiet glance, both of us unsure if we should trust a stranger. Tanaka picked up on our hesitation.

  “You on the run?”

  Sighing, I nodded. I was tired. Tired of running. Tired of lying. I just wanted to lie down, I didn’t feel well.

  “Why?” Tanaka’s face was so…innocent. I felt guilty that I couldn’t spill every single detail to him. I wanted to release all the fear and anxiety I had bottled up inside me. Part of me so desperately desired to just blurt out everything, get it off my chest.

  But how could I? I’d have to tell him why. I’d have to tell him that I wasn’t human.

  It’s not every day, I’m sure, that someone meets a…a…what was I exactly? An alien? Yah, that would go over well, I’m sure. Mutant sounds a little better, sor
t of, but I wasn’t willing to call myself that. I may as well start calling myself freak if that was the case.

  He must have sensed my internal struggle with divulging any more information and turned to walk into the cave.

  “Come, let’s look around.” His native accent was strong; I wondered what tribe he was from. I would’ve recognized him immediately if he were from ours. He dressed rather modern for someone who lived in the desert. Wearing dark jeans and a short sleeve shirt, I suspected he had lived in the city at some point.

  Our tribe wore more traditional clothing. We tried to make most of our own clothes from leather and light cotton fabrics. Of course we had to buy some of the fabrics from nearby towns but we preferred to be as self-reliant as possible. Some modern people mocked our ways but we preferred to live with the land rather than just on it.

  After I moved away to university, I had to retrain my thinking to blend with society. I didn’t miss a lot of the traditional ways of the Hopi tribe but one thing I did miss was being surrounded by people who respected the land.

  “We can hide here for the day and then travel by night. It will be harder for them to spot us…if nothing happens, I mean.” Keanu said eyeing my belly nervously

  “If I may ask, where are you going?” Tanaka inquired, his voice smooth and relaxed.

  I glanced at Keanu, wondering how much information he was going to supply this perfect stranger.

  Keanu sighed and seemed to have an internal debate within himself, obviously thinking the same thing as me. After a moment, he blurted out. “We’re trying to find a certain cave…a special cave…where Cassia was born.”

  The man paled instantly, his eyes moved to mine.

  “You…were born in a cave? Here, in Sedona?”

  My voice wavered as I answered. “Yes.”

  Fumbling as he nearly fell over; he managed to sit down on a large rock before falling.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, frowning and touching his shoulder.

  “Yes, I’m sorry.” He composed himself. “Are you from a nearby tribe?”

  “Yes, the one in the far south, near Sedona.”

  Standing, he stated with a look of trepidation dancing across his face. “We need to go there…now.”

  ***

  “How much further?” Tanaka asked as we sped along the Arizona highway. The headlights shone like two moons on the black asphalt, guiding us through the dark.

  “Make a left up here and it’s about twenty miles from there.” My voice shook with anticipation. We hadn’t seen any sign of the Majestic 12 since the helicopter incident and I kept feeling like they were going to jump out from behind a tree or bush at any moment.

  Keanu curled and uncurled his fist beside me. Staring out the window into the pitch of the night, his aura exuded stress. I could see how he would be tense, I looked like I was going to pop at any moment and we could literally be driving directly into the arms of his fiendish former employers.

  Sandwiched between the two silent men, I couldn’t stand it anymore. Leaning forward and switching on the radio, I breathed a sigh of relief as Johnny Cash began serenading me with one of his classics.

  After the song ended, the radio announcer began his top of the hour spiel.

  “Good evening everyone. That was the one and only, Johnny Cash with his number one hit, Walk the Line. On to the weather, we’re expecting rainfall for this evening and into the morning. Tomorrow should get to a high of 86 with the occasional cloud in the sky. Sunday will be smokin’ with a high of 95 degrees, but will cool down by Monday to 84.”

  Waiting for the next song to start, I smiled at the newscaster’s jolly weather report. He continued.

  “That’s all for the weather. I hope all you lovebirds are prepared for tomorrow. Valentine’s Day is upon us and if you men out there want to keep your ladies happy, you best be hurrying down to the local flower stores tomorrow!”

  “Valentine’s Day!” I exclaimed with a twinge of excitement. The men on either side of me jumped with my spontaneous outburst. “It’s my birthday tomorrow! I’ll be twenty-one!”

  With the all the upset and upheaval in my life over the last few months, I realized that I didn’t have clue what day it was…let alone what month.

  I’d always loved my birthday! Grandmother made it such a special event that it warmed my heart.

  Keanu turned and grinned at me but Tanaka’s entire body stiffened and his face fell like he’d heard disturbing news. Slightly offended and annoyed with his reaction, I chose to ignore him and enjoy the fact that tomorrow was my birthday.

  Resting my head on Keanu’s large shoulder, I closed my eyes and let myself drift off a little.

  ***

  “Cassia. We’re here.” Keanu gently shook me awake as we approached the glow of a bonfire in the distance. Even in the dark, the welcoming ambiance of my village warmed me from head to toe.

  With the light of the large fire, I scanned the entirety of the township, making sure everything was okay. If the Majestic 12 had been here, it didn’t appear that they had destroyed any of the homes or buildings. I’d had terrible visions of them desecrating our entire village in their fury to locate me.

  As soon as Tanaka’s truck stopped, I began shoving Keanu to get out. I needed to find my grandmother. She was old and frail and if she had gotten hurt by the Majestic 12, it was my fault. I had to know she was okay.

  Keanu smiled at my impatience and quickly opened the passenger door and hopped out of the truck. Extending his hand to help me out, I wriggled myself and my big belly across the bench seat.

  Tribal members had already started wandering toward us out of curiosity. Once close enough, a few of my friends recognized me and moved to hug me.

  One such friend was Nova.

  “Nova! Where is my grandmother? Is she alright? Is she here?” I couldn’t hide the panic in my voice.

  “Of course, Cassia, she’s fine. She’s probably gone to bed already, that’s all.” Her chestnut eyes filled with worry as she scanned my face and then glanced down at my stomach. “Are you alright?”

  “Um, I can’t really talk about it right now, I’m sorry.” Pushing my way through the crowd, I made my way to my grandmother’s house.

  My lower back ached as I walked through the dark paths of the village. Stretching, I tried to release the tension that was pinching the nerves and muscles.

  Nearing my grandmother’s tiny home; I was suddenly self-conscious about my pregnant belly. Would she be disappointed? Surprised? Yes, definitely surprised. Hopefully she wouldn’t be too upset.

  I walked up to the door of the familiar home. Rustic, yet enchanting, it always reminded me of the homes described in The Hobbit. A wooden shack was surrounded by vegetation; her house seemed to invite nature to rest itself upon it. Large trees hung their heavy branches, lush with foliage, like a protective umbrella over her house. Shrubs and cacti had nestled themselves close to the side of the house as though protecting the old woman’s home from intruders. An enormous Aloe Vera, with its mystical healing properties, grew close by in case of an emergency.

  Knocking lightly on her door, I cringed as I imagined her sleeping and then being startled awake by my intrusion.

  I hope it’s not too late.

  I realized that my thought had two meanings. Too late in the evening and, of course, too late to save her from the evil that killed Amy.

  With my heart thudding hard in my chest, I was nervous when I couldn’t hear anything from inside the shack. Then, I recognized a familiar shuffle emanating from within. She’d always had a bit of a limp, but refused to use a cane. Hearing a click on the other side of the door, I waited with trepidation as the old door groaned open.

  Tears filled my eyes as I saw my grandmother for the first time in at least two years. Clad in her nightgown and robe, her long gray hair, normally held back in a tight bun, flowed passed her shoulders and draped over her forearms. Her ancient brown eyes, shrouded by the weathering of time, stared at me with a
calm that only comes with the wisdom of the ages.

  Speechless, I reached out to hug her. I had to stoop over a little to wrap my arms around her tiny frame. Enveloped in her loving embrace, I sobbed tears of relief and gratitude. After several blissful moments, I stepped back.

  “Hi Grandma.” I spoke in the Hopi tongue.

  Taking my hands into hers, she held them as she stared affectionately into my eyes and said, “Child, you’ve come home.” Glancing once at my enlarged belly, she added. “And I see that the prophecy is once again at hand.”

  Chapter 18

  “Would you like some tea?” My grandmother shuffled slowly through her tiny adobe toward the kitchen to heat up some water.

  “Sure.” I tried to sound calm, but my insides were churning with anticipation. What was this prophecy? Did she know what I was?

  Sitting on a wooden bench propped before a homemade table, I waited and tapped my fingertips anxiously against the knotty surface. Normally I felt calm in her cozy home but tonight, I felt nothing but the angst of uncertainty.

  “How was your trip?” She asked casually as she placed a cup and saucer in front of me, tendrils of steam rising into the air from the confines of the teacup. Setting one on the table for herself, she groaned as she sat down across from me.

  Wrapping my hands around the teacup, I absorbed the soothing heat into the palms of my hands. Taking a long breath in, I let the atmosphere of my grandmother’s home embrace me. She always had a way of helping me center myself, to clear my thoughts.

  “Well…some was good. Some bad, I guess…there’s a lot going on right now.” I fumbled, honestly not knowing how to answer. As much as I didn’t want to worry her, I needed her to understand the gravity of the situation. I needed her to tell me whatever she knew about me. I needed answers.