Bitterroot Crossing (5 page)

   
Now my eyes were really burning. “Dude, could you give me some space. You’re about to choke me with your smell.”

   
Butcher smiled back at his buddy.”Hear that, Axel. The boy ain’t impressed with my smell.” He glared down at me and blew his gross breath right in my face. I turned around and puked. Their laughter rumbled above my head.

   
I was doubled over wiping my mouth with the back of my hand when a different voice sounded above me. “So, you’re a Crush descendant?”

   
I swallowed back the disgusting taste in my mouth and peered up. Steamer was perched on the roof of the grocery store. His face was bloated red like always. Rumor had it that the guy had a trigger-hair temper so his face was always red with anger. Although, at the moment, he surveyed me with casual boredom. No hint of being pissed-off.

   
“Yeah, I’m a descendant of Zedekiah Crush, and I wonder what he would think of you guys trying to off his great-great-grandson.”

   
Steamer smiled down at me. He was missing a few pearly whites, or in his case dingy yellows. “Why don’t you ask him yourself?” He motioned toward the mountain with his giant, red see-through head. “He’s right up there.”

   
It took a second for my thick skull to register what Steamer had said. “Jessie,” her name spurted from my lips. I hopped on my bike, fired it up, and raced to the mountain with the roar of ghostly laughter following me.

Chapter 8

    I scooted back several steps, thinking, ridiculously, that I could stay out of the spirit’s reach. But seeing how he had the power to move at otherworldly speed, the attempt to distance myself was meaningless. “I’m not her. Rebecca was my great-great-grandmother.”

    He stared at me a long moment, then his gaze traveled down to my uneven boots. I may have imagined it because his expression was so fluid but I could have sworn I detected a smile.

“I always loved that sweet limp of yours, Rebecca.”

    “That’s genetics. I’m not Rebecca.”

    He laughed and the sound of it rumbled through the surrounding trees. “I don’t know who this Genetics is but I know when I’m looking at the face of my Rebecca. Heaven itself could not have created it twice.”

    “Well, I’m certainly not claiming to come directly from heaven, but I am a direct descendant of Rebecca. That’s why I look, and unfortunately, walk, like her.” He floated around me now, inspecting every angle. As he neared, my eyes watered from the bitter odor. Oddly enough, his presence didn’t seem frightening or menacing. Somehow I knew he wouldn’t hurt me.

    A thick strand of my hair floated up without a breeze. “That unforgettable hair. Like coffee swirled with cinnamon and buttermilk.”

    “Again, genet--” I stopped myself. There was no need to go the scientific route again. It was doubtful Zedekiah Crush had ever attended any school, let alone one where they spoke of genetics. He vanished and reappeared directly in front of me. He must have been extremely handsome in the flesh. “I am several months from my seventeenth birthday. Look at me closely. Do I look like a woman in her hundreds? Even if you had not shot Rebecca, she would have died from old age by now.”  I realized my mistake just as I finished my words. An icy gray mist coated the once blue sky above. It seemed to stretch over the entire valley. An uncontrollable shiver raced up my spine. “I’m sorry, I should not have brought up--” His brooding gaze made me shut my mouth instantly.

    “I didn’t shoot her. I would have protected her with my own life. But she . . . she loved another. She walked into my bullet, a bullet that was meant for Bridger.” The sky grew darker but it was not rain clouds above. It was an unearthly shadow, like one I’d never seen before and it shook me to my core. Suddenly it was as if I could feel his torment, his heartbreak. A horrible sadness flooded my senses, and it felt as if despair had sunk its teeth into every inch of me. It felt as if I would never be able to shake it loose.

    The uneven buzz of a motorcycle grew closer. The sound of it helped to lift my mind from the blackness surrounding it. I turned. Nick Crush stood straddling his dirt bike, his long hair blowing in the ghostly breeze, and his dark blue eyes staring in disbelief at his ancestor.   Then his gaze moved to me. “Are you O.K, Jessie?”

    His question stunned me at first. Had he come up here to help me? The thought of it lifted the bleakness that had crept inside even more. The sky seemed to brighten as if he’d brought some of his own light with him.

    “I’m fine.”

    “Who are you, boy?” Zedekiah’s voice had deepened to a menacing growl.

    “I’m Nick Crush, your great-great-grandson.”

    “I have no descendants. I gave my only son away.”

    “Well, pops, I’ve got news for you. Even if you gave him away, you still ended up with descendants. And I’m one of them.”

    Zedekiah’s fluid expression morphed between puzzled and angered.

    I glanced over toward Nick. “Your great-great-grandfather doesn’t have a terrific knowledge of science. The descendant idea seems to be somewhat confusing to him.”

    “Enough!” The roar of Zedekiah’s voice shattered the grayness above and a steamy mist fell in heavy droplets around us. Suddenly Nick and his bike flew off the ground. He hovered at least ten feet up in the air.

    Nick clung to the handlebars. “What the hell are you doing?” The warm droplets clung to his hair and bike. I could taste their acidity on my lips.

    “I’m keeping you away from her,” Zedekiah answered then glanced at me. “I don’t like the way you look at her.”

    “Me? The way you’re gawking at her is not exactly innocent.”  The bike lifted higher

    He floated precariously a good twelve feet above ground but he showed no fear.

    “Please be careful, Nick.” I yelled up to him. I wasn’t sure how to reason with Zedekiah, but it occurred to me that the thick-headed ghost still believed me to be Rebecca. I used my firmest tone. “Zedekiah Crush, you put that boy down instantly.” Again, I should have chosen my words more carefully. The bike came down fast. Obviously deciding mid fall to distance himself from his bike, Nick pushed it out of his path and smacked the grassy ground with his body, several feet from his bike.

    I ran to him. “I’m so sorry. That was my fault. Are you hurt?”

    Nick lay there for a moment with his eyes closed. Slowly his dark lashes lifted and he stared up at me. “Ouch.”

    I brushed the hair off his face and smiled down at him. “I guess I could have worded that differently.”

    “Yeah, maybe, but at least you got me down.” He scrunched his face up as he sat up slowly. I reached back and dusted off his shirt.

    “What a tender, little scene.” Momentarily forgotten, Zedekiah now drifted above us. The sound of horse hooves pounded down the path. We turned in their direction. Nana trotted Mandy toward us.

    “Not that wretched, old woman again,” Zedekiah hissed.

    “Yes, it’s me, you disgusting, horrible demon.” Nana pulled Mandy to a halt. “You leave my granddaughter alone.”

    Zedekiah’s laugh reverberated through the air. “Or what? You’ll send me to hell?”

    “Exactly. And don’t think I can’t. I know about the locket, and I know exactly where it is.”

    Zedekiah’s image tightened. He looked nearly flesh and blood. The sky above darkened again. “How do you know about the locket?”

    “Let’s just say it’s been handed down through the generations, and it is now in my possession. So get back to your swamp, Zedekiah. We don’t need any trouble from you.”

    I had no idea what the locket was or what significance it held, but if we arrived home safely, I intended to find out.

    His image flickered in and out of focus, but it remained for a long moment before disappearing completely. The eerie darkness flickered away with Zedekiah, and everything returned to normal. Nana looked down at me from Mandy’s back. “Climb on, Jessie.” Then she motioned her head toward Nick. “You follow too. You’ll both want to hear this.”

Chapter 9

    My handle bars were completely tweaked but at least my bike fired up. The garden outside the little farmhouse was thick with red and green vegetables. Someone had created a scarecrow that looked strangely familiar.

    “It’s Paul McCartney,” Jessie said as she walked up behind me. She smiled at the scarecrow. “My mom loved him, so we fashioned our scarecrow to look like him. Although I doubt he would be too flattered by the likeness.”

    I followed her up the porch steps and through the screen door. I could swear her limp had all but disappeared since we’d reached the farm. She smiled back at me as we entered the tiny kitchen. “Just step over the dog. He spends most of his day pretending to be a rug shaped like a bloodhound. Jasper used to be able to smell a squirrel four acres away, now the only thing he seems able to smell is Nana’s cooking and only when it’s in front of his nose.” Jessie pulled out a white wooden chair. “Nana is putting Mandy in the barn. She said she had something to fetch. Something to show us. Have a seat.”

    The kitchen cabinets were painted shiny white and the knobs were shaped like daisies. Every inch of wall space was covered with framed pictures made of yarn. The fridge and stove were sparkling white, but they looked like they were from an antique shop. It felt like I’d walked into an earlier century.

    Jessie walked over to a tall cabinet and opened it. She peered inside for a moment then glanced around the edge of the door at me. “Nana keeps the first aid things in here. Do you need anything? Sterile gauze, antiseptic, aspirin, or an ice pack?”

    I smiled back at her and realized I wasn’t used to smiling this much. “Do you happen to have a body cast in there?”

    She reached inside and pulled out the gauze. “I could mix up a batch of plaster and make one.”

    “Sounds like fun.” I laughed. “I’m fine. Amazingly, nothing hurts much except my as--, except my tailbone.”

    She walked over to the sideboard. “I think I have the perfect remedy for a sore as-- tailbone.” She winked at me and it was the cutest damn wink I’d ever witnessed. Jessie lifted the lid off of a cake plate. “A slice of Nana’s Tit-Tat-Toe Cake should to the trick.”

    The second she lifted the cover from the cake, the kitchen filled with the awesome aroma of cinnamon, lemon, and cocoa. “It must be a miracle cake because I feel a whole lot better just smelling it.” She cut off a huge slice and set it down in front of me.

    “Nana baked this last night to celebrate my first day of school.” She reached over, took a crumb off my plate, and pushed it between her lips. “Unfortunately we were both too nervous to eat it.”

    “I guess your first day of school wasn’t exactly what you were hoping for.” I put a forkful of cake in my mouth. “This is the best thing I’ve ever eaten in my life. Seriously, I’m fighting back tears of joy with every bite.”

    “Nana will be happy to hear that. And, yes, the school day did seem to be a long trail of disappointments.”

    “Sorry about Tina. She is mean as a snake sometimes. Not totally her fault though. She has horrible parents.”

    Jessie nodded and a soft curl of auburn hair fell onto her face and curled at the bottom, nearly outlining her incredible lips. “Tina is the lovely girl in pink then? Your girlfriend?”