Leroy Watches Jr. & the Badass Bull (Bloodsong Series) (13 page)

“Kids, do not worry. We will go home. We will play charades. I will cook dinner. You will be safe forever. I will buy a new horse for you to ride. Niles will not let you be afraid.”

The ATF agent stared at Niles. “Are you Niles Swanne?”

He blushed and said, “Ya.”

“Oh, my God! You’re
really
Niles Swanne? I’ve seen all of your movies.
Blood Moon! Zombie Lovers!
Oh, my God, you are Niles Swanne!” She searched her holster for something to sign. “I’d love to get your autograph.”

“Niles Swanne!? Really? Oh, my God!” There was a rush as everyone on the staff packed into the waiting room and went into a group swoon. They formed a line, waiting for autographs. The people in the waiting room joined them, as did many of the cops.

“You didn’t tell me you were a movie star!” Sylvia was a bit miffed.

“I am sorry. I do horror films, Sylvia. I am not proud of them. They scare
me
. They are not good for you or the kids. I came back to my grandparents’ to decide if I will stay an actor.”

Fifteen pieces of paper were thrust in his direction. More hospital staff crowded into the waiting room.

Leroy slipped into the night wearing surgical scrubs and his cowboy boots. No one noticed.

14

THE HEMI-CUDA

Leroy slowly walked out the hospital exit, remembering what his grandfather had taught him about tracking. “If you look as though you belong there, they will not see you.”

He glanced around the parking lot outside the hospital. Cop cars were everywhere. Unmarked black cars. The FBI? He should get back to the Thomas & Mack and get his horses. He would ride to Grandfather’s retreat in the desert. He would forget his prize money and the airplane ticket he was going to buy with it.

A chill went up Leroy’s spine when he thought of the plane door closing. The noise it would make. How stuffy the air would become. He would suffocate! Or the plane would act like one of the bucking horses, rearing end over end in the sky. Or worse, it would begin bucking before leaving the runway, and everyone in it would die. Or die when it fell from the sky.

Leroy had never been on an airplane. His greatest fear was getting on one. Not flying anywhere, just getting on. That would probably kill him. His heart would explode before he got off the ground.

He could ride one of his new horses and lead the other from Las Vegas to the Mogollon Bowl in New Mexico. The retreat was there, on sacred ground. Grandpa would be upset with him for being late, but he wouldn’t miss the entire Meeting. And his grandpa still would be alive.

Where was the Thomas & Mack? He realized he didn’t have to go back there. Reason Jimson would have taken them to the reservation. No, he wouldn’t. They’d go to whomever bought them. The horses were gone. He felt his hip. He’d left his wallet in the shower room. He was not going back to get it. He had a set of surgical scrubs and his boots. Could he get to New Mexico like that? With no money? Not even a drivers’ license? With the FBI and ATF behind him?

Leroy inhaled deeply. Right in front of him was the most beautiful car he’d seen. It was bright red, dulled in the light of the parking lot, but pristine. Not a scratch. Like it was new, but it wasn’t new. It was a Hemi-cuda, perhaps a 1970. Every male in the universe knew that. It had 426 horsepower, or more in some tests.

He found himself standing next to it, studying it. It was unlocked. Leroy had never stolen anything in his life. But this car? Did the Great One leave this car for him so that he could get to the Meeting quickly? But not so quickly as to draw the attention of the police?

Leroy opened the door on the driver’s side and slipped in. He pulled the lever and pushed the seat back as far as it would go. He rested his hands on the steering wheel, feeling how right the vehicle was. How perfect and beautiful. He didn’t have a key, but he thought about turning it on.

The engine turned over. Leroy jumped. That’s what happened with the bull; he didn’t mean anything then, either. He looked up. The lady and man from inside were walking toward the car with two children. They’d see him in it and think he was going to steal it. He had to hide.

Slithering in a way he didn’t know he could, Leroy slipped between the bucket seats and into the back seat. He was a very large man. They would find him when they got in the back. They would think he was stealing. And he would scare them. Leroy pulled at the rear seat. It moved forward. All the way forward, exposing a trunk in the back. The car was a hatchback whose back seats pushed forward if you wanted to carry something large in the trunk.

They were talking just outside the door.

“Why is car running?” Niles said.

“I don’t know. I don’t see anyone around. Maybe a homeless person?”

“Maybe a thief.”

“Can we go home, Mommy? I’m cold,” a little girl said.

“Yeah. My arm hurts,” said the boy.

“Oh, you poor babies. Let’s go home, Niles, and put them to bed.”

The car was speeding somewhere, Leroy didn’t know where. He didn’t want to say anything and scare them, so he lay folded upon himself, wondering if he’d be able to stand up when he got where they were going. A little heat got back to the hatchback, not enough, though. The doctors’ pajamas he was wearing weren’t worth much for stopping cold.

Leroy decided that even though the car seemed like a gift from the Great One, appearing as it had, and therefore taking it wouldn’t be bad, taking it was stealing after all. So he wouldn’t take the car when they got out to wherever they were going. Stealing was bad, especially to get to the Meeting, his grandpa’s spiritual retreat. Everyone thought it was the last one because grandpa was leaving public life. Retiring.

That wasn’t it at all. His grandpa was dying. He’d told him that very clearly. He would appoint one of his warriors to be his successor and give the power of his lineage to him, or her, maybe. No one knew who he’d choose. The Great One would tell him when it was time. His grandpa would give the new shaman the Power to hold and use for the people, and then die.

Leroy hoped he would choose Wesley Silverhorse. Wesley was everything Leroy didn’t seem to be able to be. He was neat and tidy. His powers came out in an orderly fashion the way they were supposed to. He could remember everything that grandpa said. He was beautiful. Leroy had never seen a man as beautiful as Wesley, even Niles Swanne.

Wesley could heal almost as well as his grandpa. Or Leroy.

They left the paved road. Where were they going? The air went out of Leroy in a puff. This was
coyote
, playing with him. Giving him a test, a crazy, impossible test. How could he get to grandpa’s last Meeting?

Sometimes Leroy forgot that his grandpa wasn’t grandpa to everyone. To most people, he was Grandfather, the greatest shaman in the world. Maybe the greatest shaman ever to live. He was Grandfather. When he said that word thinking of everything Grandfather was, the hair on his body stood up and he shivered. He had to get to the Meeting.

15

THE OMELET

He was in a pitch black, unheated garage. Leroy unfolded himself and climbed into the front seat shortly after he heard the garage door close. He sat, trying to figure out what to do.  After a while, he was so cold he was shaking. He needed to get warm. He needed clothes, a sleeping bag. And food. His stomach growled. They had all of those inside, but he didn’t want to scare them.

After a while, he was too cold to care. Leroy carefully closed the garage door and slipped away, surprised when he found out he was at an old, falling down motel. He tiptoed around the garage to the back door. The main part of the building was fixed up.

He focused his powers on the lock. Nothing. He couldn’t open it. He tried several times, from different angles. Still nothing. That’s what his powers were like. Shiftless. Grandfather was going to say
he
was shiftless if he didn’t get down to the Mogollon Bowl soon.

He took the door handle and shook it, then looked up at its glass pane. Niles was on the other side, pointing a gun at him.

“Oh, please. I didn’t mean nothin’. I’m jus’ cold. I’ll leave now.”

“No! You are Leroy Watches Jr. You blew up the bull. Why are you here?”

“Well, I hoped to get to New Mexico before my grandpa dies.”

“Why did you blow up the bull?”

“It was killing my pop. After the tail broke and it ran at my dad, the beams came. I thought I was jus’ lookin’ at it. But that’s how powers are for me. I never know what they’re gonna do.”

“Powers?” Niles didn’t look like he’d let him in, but he didn’t seem like he’d shoot him, either.

“Yeah, it’s on account of my grandpa, an’ my mama, an’ everyone in my family on that side, back forever. They have powers.”

“Psychic powers?’

“Yeah. An’ healin’ powers. I’m good at healin’, and with bringing rain, too. Snow, too, I guess. I can see things, like who’s good and bad and sometimes what’s going to happen. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be on my way.”

“Wait! Who is your grandpa? Where does he live?”

“Uh. He’s a shaman. Lives in New Mexico.”

“A
shaman? A holy man?”

“Yeah, he’s a really good shaman. Better than me. He can do almost anything. He brings …
God.
He calls it the Great One.”

“The great one.” Niles’ forehead was working so hard, it might have kept him warm.

“Yes. If you don’t mind, I’ll leave …”

“What is the name of your grandfather?”

“His name from the Indian schools is Joseph Bishop, but he doesn’t use it much. People call him Grandfather.”

“Grandfather!” Nile’s jumped and his eyes widened. “
The
Grandfather?”

“You know my grandpa?”

“I’ve been trying to find him since I’ve been back in Las Vegas. I had a vision of an old man. He said, ‘Come to the Meeting, my son. You’ll find what you want.’ It was a shaman named Grandfather. I knew that, somehow. No one at the reservation would tell me where Grandfather is or the Meeting, either. But you know him!” Wonder bathed Niles’ face.

Niles made them a big omelet, the best Leroy ever had, stuffed with everything and some fried potatoes on the side. And fresh orange juice. They sat at a table in the kitchen and ate.

“First, Leroy, tell me how you got the name Leroy Watches. It’s a very unusual name.” He leaned over on one elbow, bright blue eyes serious and his long blond hair falling just so. Seeing him up close, Leroy thought that Niles might be better looking than Wesley Silverhorse.

“My name comes from slavery times.” He told him all about the first Leroy and the buffalo soldiers, and their ranch.

“Tell me about Grandfather. I am so interested in him after that vision, but also because of yoga. I started to study it years ago. I love it and feel like the spiritual person I am supposed to be when I practice it.”

Leroy regarded him, sensing and feeling. “Yeah, Niles, that’s you. You got somethin’ great in you. I don’t know what it is yet, but it’s comin’ soon. You asked about my grandpa. He loves the Great One, what he calls God, more than anything. He talks about ‘The world where love is king.’ Where everyone cares more about love and kindness than anything else. That world is real for him.

“He can heal anything. He’s so beautiful, Niles. The air around him sparkles. Where his body touches the air, it shines. I can’t say how much I love him.”

Niles grabbed Leroy’s hand. “You don’t have to say. It shows. How lucky you are to have him, Leroy. I wish I was so lucky.”

Niles raised his finger. “I want you to know why I want to meet Grandfather. I have very good career as an actor. I am booked ahead for years. I make horror movies. You know what those are?”

“Yeah, but I don’t watch them, even on TV. They scare me too much.”

“That is my problem. Do I want to spend my life making movies that make people scream in terror? Do I want to have fake blood all over me and act like I am killing people? Pretending to eat them?

“I do not. But acting is I all I know. And I make money. I have lots of money. But I am unhappy. That is why I want to meet Grandfather. To find out what I want to do, and how to do it in Hollywood. They see me as the beautiful man who is a monster and nothing else.”