Dead Moon Awakens: A tale of Cherokee myth and Celtic magic (Mystic Gates) (22 page)

The flashlight flickered on and off, becoming
dimmer and dimmer again. She plodded ahead by nudging along the tunnel wall.
Her fears subsided to a bearable burden. But when she reached the doorway to
the cavern, her heart leaped into her mouth, fighting to escape her body. What
if the serpent waited for her on the other side? What if it was poised and
ready to strike?

I’m the only one who can save them.
“I have
to do this!” she whispered and inhaled a haggard breath. She stepped
through the doorway.

The dazzling crystals embedded in the walls of the
cavern, now lighting her way, were old friends welcoming her home. The
Uktena
wasn’t there. She rushed further into the cavern and to the far wall, waiting,
watching, gasping for more air.

Where was it?

Cautiously, she slid along the wall until she
reached the opening of the side chamber. Leaning around enough to peek into the
grotto, she saw the last of the
Uktena’s
body slide into a pool of water
beneath the waterfall.

Now!

Working quickly and quietly, she created a wide
protective barrier around herself and prepared for building a fire. After she
opened her water bottle and placed it next to the dry grasses and twigs, she
was ready.

She picked up the knife and flint and closed her
eyes, picturing the day when Lance taught them how to make a fire.

She struck at the flint, creating a couple of
sparks. Though the dry grass ignited, it only smoked.

No fire.

She tried again, and again, and again.

“Oh no,” she said aloud, after her seventh try. By
now, she was whining. Flailing her arms in a frenzy, she knocked her water onto
the grasses. “No!” she cried and tried to separate enough dry grass out from
the wet.

But all of it was wet. She would have to get more.

After grabbing her obsidian, bell, and flashlight,
she ran through an archway.

This tunnel was different, though. Huge formations
of columns and boulders lay scattered here and there, causing her to zigzag.
No,
this isn’t right. Oh Goddess! Help me!
She spun around, barreled back
through the doorway into the cavern… .

And came face-to-face with the
Uktena
.

She screamed and dropped the flashlight. In one
swift movement, she transferred the bell into her left hand then shoved her
right hand in front of her, revealing the obsidian. With her left hand, she rang
the bell, and rang, and rang.

The
Uktena
reared back. This gave her
enough time to dash for her protective circle. Just as she stepped within it,
the serpent rammed against it, bounced off, and shrieked.

She collapsed to the ground and cried out, “Why?
Why?”

The
Uktena
coiled itself around her circle
and laid its horned head down. She tittered for moments before her berserk
giggles stopped.
Now what?
She became dazed.

Time clunked by while she fiddled with her amulet,
fiddled with her obsidian, fiddled with her bell.

She studied the translucent bands of triangular
shards around the
Uktena’s
body, dully shimmering like peacock feathers.
She hadn’t noticed that before.
But wait.
A vision, memory, or dream
flashed in her thoughts. From a time before—not the last time they were here,
but a time before that! Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to focus the broken
scene, but only caught glimpses of something undulating through the trees
around her house. Was it the
Uktena
? The scene drifted into darkness.
She couldn’t retrieve it.

Upon opening her eyes again, she gazed at the
tunnel archway where she had dropped the flashlight. She remembered the first
time they had come. Lance had marked the correct entrance with his backpack.
I
should have done that.

The rainbow crystals appeared to be glowing
brighter. At least she had some consolation in her newly formed prison. How long
would the
Uktena
stay there? How long would her safety boundary hold up?
Is this how she would die, withering away, no food, no water? Or would the
Uktena
break through and kill her? She tittered again, on the verge of hysteria.

The great horned serpent closed its eyes. Was it
going to sleep? “Oh Goddess, will it never leave?” she ranted.

It opened its eyes briefly before closing them
again, her answer.

How long could Lance hold on? She
must
do
something. Was there some kind of magick or spell she could do?

As she stretched her thoughts, she remembered a
dream from a few weeks ago. She had been trapped below the water in this dream,
and she knew she would soon drown. But she heard a soft voice saying, “Breathe.
Breathe through your pain. Breathe through your grief. Breathe through the
water.”
Breathe?
What good would that do?

Her thoughts rambled on then settled on the riddle
and Eagle Woman’s letter. Could solving the riddle help her now? She found the
letter in her backpack and reread the riddle.
This can’t help!
She threw
down the letter.

As the closed is opened
…
as the closed
is opened
…
as the
—It hit her like a sudden gale. She picked up her
grimoire,
turned to her parents’ inscription and read, “Forevermore, believe in the magick
of this book, in the magick of the
Sidhe
, in the magick of our Celtic
and Cherokee heritages, in the magick within you. But remember, you must first
open
your heart and soul in order to perceive the magick. If you do, a bright light
will eternally follow you and protect you, even when total darkness surrounds
you.”

How could she open her heart and soul? As soon as
she wondered that, she remembered part of the dream when Ma told her to find
her wish box. Ma had said her sadness, her hopelessness kept her heart closed.

Maybe the breathing
would
help! She began
taking long, deep breaths, filling her lungs, blowing out all muddy, hopeless
air. As she did, more and more connections and revelations bounded into her
thoughts until one priceless answer shaped itself into a golden
key
.

Hope!

With
hope
, she could open her heart and
open her soul. With
hope
, she would find the magick she desperately
needed. Yet, everything appeared hopeless.

Again, she began taking long, deep breaths.
Find
the hope. Find the hope. Find the hope.

Wasn’t she still alive? And the
Uktena
hadn’t bitten her. It could have in the tunnel. Hadn’t she managed to get away
from it again just a moment ago? Lance was still alive. Her healing touch had
helped Kelile and Morrigan. Hadn’t she been able to make Lance somewhat
comfortable and safe? Hadn’t she made it this far? And now, she’s solved the
riddle!

“Okay, I can do this. I can find the Suti Stone.
Where the four elements meet and join. Elements … air, fire, water, earth …
elements … elements … elemental aspects …Yes! Elemental aspects.”

She opened her
grimoire
and found the page
that described her amulet.

The answer was there all along, right there! “The
elemental aspect of rose quartz is water. The elemental aspect of moldavite is
air. The elemental aspect of jet is earth.”

But, what about fire? It always came back to fire.
She moaned and picked up her obsidian stone. While rubbing her thumb nervously
over the circular, concave indention on it, she thought—
If the stones in my
amulet represent three of the elements, another stone could represent
fire.
“Oh, that’s got to be it!” She paged through her
grimoire
once again
until she found the passage describing peacock obsidian. “Yes!” she declared. “Its
elemental aspect is
fire
.”

She set down her
grimoire
and took off her
amulet, holding it in her left hand. As she picked up the obsidian with her
right hand, she realized the concave circle indention in the obsidian was the
same size as her circular amulet.
Where the four elements meet and join.

She placed her amulet facedown into the circular
indentation, closed her eyes, and hoped.

At once, she felt a quiver in the energies around
her and opened her eyes. Along the far wall, one of the crystals shimmered and
pulsated brighter than the other crystals. The crystal shook itself away from
the wall and fluttered in the air.

Spellbound, she watched as it sporadically flew up
and down, sideways, all the while edging closer to her. The stone danced and
floated like a dazzling, jeweled dragonfly.

In one final swoosh … it landed on her forehead.
The
Uktena
lifted its head, staring at it.

The Suti Stone had found her!

Though dazed, she gently lifted it off her head
and placed it in her right hand, admiring its beauty until her awareness
brought her back to Lance.

How could she get past the
Uktena
? How
could she use the stone to heal him?

As soon as she asked that question, the Suti Stone
quivered and lifted off her hand, hovering in front of her face.

“I believe in the magick. I believe in the magick,”
she whispered. Hope once again flooded her fears. She closed her eyes and
thought of Lance and Kelile and Morrigan. She imagined them alive, happy, and
laughing. This was her greatest hope. She held that vision of hope and asked
the dragonfly stone to heal them.

In answer, it danced and floated out through the
entrance of the tunnel where Lance lay. Not moving, she closed her eyes and
envisioned the stone healing each of them, once again whispering, “I believe in
the magick.” Within a short stretch of time, the
Ulunsuti
fluttered back
into the cavern and landed on her lap.

Now she had to get out of there, past the
Uktena
.
She rummaged through her backpack until she found the pillowcase where she kept
her old diary. As she placed the Suti Stone inside the pillowcase, the
Uktena
reared up and rammed into the protective circle. Though it bounced off,
screeching, it positioned itself around the invisible boundary again and began
squeezing. Its body tightened more and more, as though it thought it could
burst open the boundary.

With that, Aishling knew she couldn’t take the
stone with her. She removed it from the pillowcase and let go. The dragonfly
stone briefly landed on her forehead again—a gentle kiss goodbye—then lifted
and fluttered over to the screeching
Uktena
. It landed on the top of the
serpent’s head between its eyes, as it had done with her.

The
Uktena
stopped screeching and squeezing
the protective boundary. It uncoiled itself and slithered off toward its water
chamber, with the dragonfly stone nesting on its head between its horns.

This was her chance for escape.

Hurriedly, she gathered her amulet,
grimoire
,
magical tools and backpack.

As she dashed toward the tunnel the dragonfly
stone had used, she scooped up the flashlight. Before exiting the rainbow cave,
she turned and gazed once more. “Thank you,” she said, hoping the dragonfly
stone heard her.

When she reached Lance and bent over to examine
his bite, he groped for the flashlight in her hand and mumbled, “Let’s get out
of here. Help me get up. Hurry, I’m about to faint again.”

The Suti Stone had healed his bite, but not his
broken shinbone. She strained every muscle in her body trying to hold him up. Though the flashlight shone faintly, its glow was enough to help her find
the way to the opening.

“Not much further now. We’re almost there,” she
consoled him as he hopped on one foot, and they slowly moved out of the cave.

He lost consciousness as soon as they made it
through the gateway. She toppled with him to the ground.

As she pulled herself from underneath him and sat
up, she instantly flinched and threw her arms in front of her face. Towering
before her, five paces away, was Redhawk. He stood poised in position with a
massive bow stretched taut and ready to deploy its arrow.

Aishling peeked through her arms and stammered,
“We took it back! The
Uktena
. We took it back! But it broke Lance’s
leg.” She lowered her arms.

Redhawk remained in position, his arrow aimed for
her heart.

“Redhawk! Lance!”

He gradually released the pressure holding the bow
taut and lowered it. Without saying anything to her, he laid down his bow and
arrow and rolled Lance on his back, examining his shin.

Lance stirred. His eyes opened, grabbing
Aishling’s eyes first with a questioning stare. He looked next at Redhawk and
uttered, “My leg.”

“We’re taking you to the clinic,” Redhawk answered.
“Hold his leg steady as I lift him up.”

Monday, May 27

When they left the clinic with Redhawk that
afternoon, Aishling squeezed as close to Lance and as far from Redhawk as she
thought possible. Her whole body had remained strained and as taut as Redhawk’s
bow. She couldn’t get over the feeling that earlier he had been a fraction of a
second from releasing his arrow. Lance’s broken shin had been the only thing
stopping him.

Redhawk hadn’t done anything since to show otherwise,
either. In fact, every time he had looked at her, his eyes stabbed at her
heart. She had wanted to ask him about Kelile and Morrigan. Yet each time she had
tried speaking, she became breathless, unable to form words.

Lance broke her aching dilemma. “What day is this?
I mean, how many days were we in the cave?”

“You’ve been missing for nine days.”

“What about Kelile and Morrigan?”

“They’re still at my house.”

“Are they …”

“They’re healed.”

“The bite marks are gone?” Aishling said, feeling
blood rush to her head.

“Vanished.”

“Vanished?” Lance said.

“Yes.” Redhawk turned into his driveway.

Both Kelile and Morrigan flew out the front door.
They helped Lance get out of the truck, almost knocking him and his crutches
over when they latched on to him and Aishling and pulled them into a group hug.

She couldn’t decipher what the others were saying
because everyone talked at once. Wanting to leap, swirl, and dance, she didn’t
care. They were okay! She wanted to kiss them all. The dragonfly stone had
healed them. The magick had healed them.
Hope
had healed them. She had
found the
key
.

Screeching car tires crushed their reveling as
Kelile’s mother drove up and slammed her car into the driveway, stopping inches
before hitting Redhawk’s truck. She burst from the car and yelled, “Kelile
Manannan King, get your things, now!”

“Mom?”

“Now!”

He ran into the house. His mother pointed at
Aishling, saying, “I don’t want any of you near my son again, especially you.
Do you hear me? You stay away from him.”

Aishling raced into the house after him, choking
on her tears. When she hugged him, she babbled, “Your mother said you’ll have
to stay away from us. I won’t ever see you again. I don’t think I could bear
that.”

He hugged her, too. “Listen, good witch. I’ll talk
to her. I’m not goin’ to let anything come between us. The four of us are a
team. Stop cryin’. I’ll figure out a way to get in touch with you. Okay?
Besides, girl, come to me in my dreams. You know, like you did when you healed
me last night. You can do it.”

“What?”

“When you came to me last night and healed me.”

Aishling muscled a heartsick smile on her face.
She hugged him again and said, “I’ll try, Kelile.”

“Don’t try. Do!” He clutched her shoulders with
his hands. “Listen good witch, remind the queen to get in touch with me. She
knows how. Okay?”

“I thought you didn’t like each other.”

“I told you the first day we met that I like
trouble. Now promise me.”

“I will. I’ll tell her.” She hugged him again.

“Come to me in my dreams,” he said as he walked
back outside.

She followed close behind. He and Lance gave each
other a pat-hug as he said, “I’ll find a way to keep in touch, brother.”

When he paused in front of Morrigan, she sniffled
once. “I’m not going to miss you … Kelile.”

“Yes you will … my queen.” He smiled a lingering
moment, and then jogged to the car.

Aishling stared through tears at the space where
he had been moments before. She and the others didn’t move until Redhawk
ordered them to come into the house.

They had barely sat down in the living room when
another car pulled up into the driveway. Morrigan jumped up and looked out the
window. “It’s Ma—my aunt.”

Aishling’s heart stopped beating and splintered.
“No, Morri,” she murmured.
Not you too.

The doorbell rang.

The look on the aunt’s face confirmed Aishling’s
fear. She
would
have to say goodbye.

“You’re that girl that made my niece run away,”
she said, glaring at her.

Unable to find her voice, Aishling jumped off the
couch and leaped into Morrigan’s arms. They hugged and cried. “I’m going to
miss you so much, Morri.”

“Morrigan, that’s enough. Get your things. You’re
going home, now.”

Morrigan released Aishling and nodded, then,
“Can’t you foster her? We want to be together. She’s like my sister now.”

“No. I do not want you anywhere near her. Come
on.” She looked at Redhawk. “Thank you for taking care of my Morrigan.”

Aishling disintegrated. She knew Morri and Lance
were saying goodbye, but didn’t hear anything, see anything.

As Morri lumbered out the door, Aishling’s heart
cried out.

Was Lance next? She gagged at the thought.