Broken Wings (13 page)

“
Really?” There was so much
skepticism in her tone that, were it tangible, it would’ve been
dripping out of the corners of her mouth by now. “And you think
this spirit guide is going to tell us where the treasure
is?”

“
Well, if we get lucky
enough to have Maggie or Tajan as a guide…” The confidence in his
tone diminished and his voice trailed off. But that mattered little
to Rio. Her thoughts were elsewhere.

Centered totally around Tajan. Was it
possible? Was there a chance that Tajan could be her
guide?

Well hell! Billy should’ve said so in
the first place. She didn’t need to hear anything more to induce
her to throw caution into the wind. Now she was ready and willing
to partake of illegal drugs in the hopes of catching another
glimpse of Tajan.

~~~~

CHAPTER 26

Having the option of peyote dumped in
her lap, and the thought of a visit from Tajan had filled her with
anticipation and left her tossing and turning. Her inability to get
a good night’s rest brought out an unwelcome dream about her
past.

Rio’s past. Not Maggie’s.

At the age of eight, her
father had sat her down one afternoon after she got home from
school and broke the news to her—her mother had left
them.

Shocked, Rio sat there for
the longest time, thinking maybe it was a joke and her father was
going to take it back. Not necessarily because she wanted her
mother to stick around—more to the point, she was afraid her father
would blame her. She didn’t want him to get mad at her and go away,
too.

But her father didn’t take
it back.

“
Daddy…did Mommy leave
because of me?” If it was her fault she wanted to know that right
away.

She figured that must
certainly be the case. Even at the age of eight, she knew how much
her mother hated her. But what she didn’t know—was why. She’d tried
so hard; she’d attempted anything and everything she could think of
to please her mother. But nothing Rio ever did seemed to make any
difference to her mother.

“
No, honey,” her father
reassured her in the softest of comforting voices. “It wasn’t
because of you.”

“
Is she coming back?” she
asked, but deep down inside Rio knew she wasn’t.

“
No, honey.” Her father
cleared his throat. “She’s not coming back.”

Silent tears fell from her
eyes, but they weren’t for the loss of her mother. She was just
thankful her father wasn’t mad at her. And should the truth be
known; if her father didn’t mind that her mother was gone, then
neither did she. What was to miss about the spiteful
attitude?

~~~~

CHAPTER 27

Billy had a serious look on his face as
he entered the house through the front door, carrying a brown paper
bag.

Rio was on her feet before he’d made it
halfway across the room. “You get it?”

“
Yeah.” He nodded and laid
the bag on the coffee table. “He said we shouldn’t do it alone. So
I guess we should have someone watching out for us while we’re
under the influence.”

“
So …” Rio struggled to
breath around the lump clogging her throat. “I’m supposed to trust
a complete stranger to not only watch out for me.” She tried
reasoning it out so she could convince herself it was something
that was okay to do. “But also...not invade my personal well-being
while I’m out of my mind?” Her thoughts barely made it out in her
shaky voice.

“
Do you trust me?” he
asked.

She nodded. “Yes.”

“
Then you’re going to have
to trust me when I tell you that I’d never consciously place you in
danger.” There was so much determination in his eyes that she
almost believed it. “If you want to continue looking for the
treasure, this is the only hope we have.”

The
only
hope? That’s it? They
were out of options?

And then there was the warrior. She
definitely wasn’t going to see him any other way...unless she died,
and she didn’t want to go there.

“
Okay.” Rio changed her tune
quickly. “What’s next?” She wanted to find the treasure and she
needed to see Tajan. She couldn’t explain it or even understand it
entirely, but somehow she felt her life depended upon seeing him
again.

* * *

Billy and Rio sat across from his
parents at the elder Tajans’ dining room table. He explained their
plan, while Rio tried to ignore the paintings of Maggie and
Tajan—mostly Tajan. It felt like they were staring down on
her.

“
Billy...” The senior Tajan
shook his head. “I don’t see how I can be a party to this. You’re
talking about performing a ritual that neither I nor your mother
approve of.”

“
Dad...Rio and I are going
to do this thing with or without your support,” he said. “What I’m
asking of you is...that you and Mom be there with us when we do. I
need to know that you’ll be there to take care of Rio.”

Bill studied his son for a moment. He’d
never seen Billy quite so dedicated to anything. Oh sure, he was a
hard worker, and he had always done a great job of taking care of
himself. But this was different. Bill decided that maybe his
sister’s daughter coming into their lives, even though she did have
an uncanny resemblance to their ancestor, was perhaps the best
thing that could’ve happened to Billy.

His son had always had more than his
share of love showered upon him from the family, but that didn’t
stop Billy from feeling isolated. No one else in the family had
white skin, until Rio happened upon them.

“
You and Rio have bonded.”
It was a realization, more than anything else, for Bill.

“
You could say that,” Billy
said with a half-nod. His trademark, and unconscious, gesture when
he was trying to play it cool. “I feel a certain kinship with her.”
He looked at his mother. “She is, after all, my cousin.”

In the end, Bill and Carole had agreed,
with a bit of reluctance, to accompany Billy and Rio on their
mission. Even so, after the kids had left, Bill was having trouble
with the idea of summoning a spirit guide to help them find the
treasure. He had been, and still was, pacing the length of the
living room while Carole sat nearby on the couch.

“
What will you do?” she
asked, hands folded in her lap.

Bill stopped. “I really don’t have a
choice.” He glanced at his wife. “Do I?”

“
Actually…yes, you do,” she
challenged him. “You can either do it or not.” Her summation made
it all sound so simple.

“
Well unfortunately, what I
can’t do...is tell our son what to do anymore.” With that notion he
started pacing again. “I don’t want him to do this thing. But he’s
clearly made up his mind. And I can’t send our son and my sister’s
daughter out there all alone. This thing might turn out to be their
worst nightmare.”

“
Then again,” Carole said,
“maybe they’ll find what they’re looking for.”

~~~~

CHAPTER 28

Across the Washoe lands, specific areas
had been deemed divine locations long ago and were still widely
recognized as sacred sites for conducting consecrated ceremonies.
The Tajans had opted to follow tradition and use one of those sites
in their attempt to induce a vision quest.

After selecting Hot Springs Mountain,
Rio, Billy, his parents and several tribal members—Billy’s most
trusted friends—headed out in Jeeps and Pickups. The ride was
off-road. They climbed the mountain for more than half an hour
after leaving the last remnants of a would-be trail.

Arriving at their destination, everyone
emerged from the vehicles simultaneously. The black SUV following
the party had not gone unnoticed.

Carole approached Billy. “What about
those men following us?”

“
They want what we’re
after.” Billy shook his head. “I doubt they’ll bother us until we
find it.”

The group set up camp in a clearing
snuggled securely within a wooded area at the top of the mountain.
In no time they had several tents pitched and then began
concentrating on forming a five-foot circle made of rocks. In the
center they dug a fire pit. They’d brought firewood with them, and
now a couple of the guys began unloading it from the
truck.

Rio stood alone, leaning against
Billy’s Jeep. In her preoccupied state she was a bit apprehensive
about their plans, but she was doing a good job of hiding it. She
wanted so badly for Tajan to show up in her vision, but she was
afraid she wanted it too much. Rio had learned a long time ago not
to want things. When you want things you’re vulnerable. She knew
nothing good could come from this...but still, she longed to see
Tajan.

By the time the sun drifted behind the
mountains, a fire was blazing in the pit. Rio might have found the
mountain’s summit spooky if she hadn’t been so anxious and
preoccupied.

A distinct chill had settled around her
so she grabbed a blanket from the jeep and headed toward the fire.
She stepped over the rocks, entering the sacred circle and
methodically laid out her blanket near the fire.

“
God, I’m so hungry.” Her
stomach grumbled as she sat down.

Billy was already sitting on the bare
ground on the other side of the fire. “Sorry, dear...” He chuckled.
“Your dinner is limited tonight.”

“
How come we can’t have any
food?” It wasn’t so much a question as a complaint.

“
Don’t you know anything
about fasting?”

Apparently not.

“
So what happens if I can’t
hold this stuff down?” Rio asked.

“
From what I understand,”
Billy said, almost laughing, “it’d be really surprising if you
did.”

The farther the sun sank behind Lake
Tahoe, the cooler the temperatures dipped on the mountaintop. Even
so, no one but Billy and Rio was allowed inside the sacred circle,
unless the fire needed tending. If that were the case, Bill stepped
cautiously over the border, but only long enough to fuel the blaze
with more firewood. Once he’d done that, he’d step back out just as
carefully as he’d stepped in.

To avoid as much outside contamination
as possible, they’d stoke the fire prior to the ingestion of the
peyote. The others lingered outside the circle while Billy and Rio
choked down about a dozen buttons between the two of
them.

Soon, less than half an hour later, Rio
wasn’t feeling so hot. She stretched out on the blanket and let out
a whimpering moan. “Oh, my God…I think I’m going to be sick…” Rio’s
words trailed off.

Carole sat a bucket at Rio’s side
without stepping inside the circle. Rio pushed up from the ground
and latched onto the bucket, with barely enough time to pull it
into her lap before she started vomiting.

Carole passed a moist towel to
Rio.

“
You okay, Rio?” Bill asked
calmly.

“
Yeah…” she
muttered.

Billy glanced through the fire at Rio.
He wished he could go to sleep. Maybe that way he could ward off
the nasty feeling in the pit of his stomach. He wondered briefly if
it’d been rocks instead of peyote that he’d eaten. Then the
sickening sensation emerged and crept up his chest. He gagged and
grabbed the bucket someone had placed at his side.

Rio dropped down onto the blanket again
and curled up. She closed her eyes and drew her hands up, using
them as a pillow.

Billy sat cross-legged on the bare
ground, staring mindlessly into the fire. His eyes had dried up
from a lack of moisture. They stung. He lowered his head, closed
his eyes and rubbed his eyelids.

After what seemed like an
eternity, at least to him, he opened them back up and looked
around. He was no longer sitting by the fire. Now he was standing
on the edge of a jagged cliff. From out of nowhere, Tajan
effortlessly climbed up from the side of the ridge.

“
Hello, Billy,” he said
with a smile. Tajan’s greeting came in perfect English.

“
Is this a dream?” Billy
asked. Taking a peek over the edge, he saw nothing but a straight
drop into darkness that seemed to go on forever. “How’d you do
that?” He looked back at Tajan. Billy’s newfound cousin was at
Tajan’s side, but she was dressed in Indian garb. “Rio?”

“
Close.” The girl shook her
head. “But no.” She giggled. “Well, actually that’s not altogether
true. We are, after all, one and the same...but I’m here as
Maggie.”

“
You and Rio are the same
person?” The ability to be shocked or surprised by this episode was
just beyond Billy’s reach. And so was the knowledge that he had
achieved his goal. He was in the midst of a vision
quest.

“
We share the same soul.”
Maggie clarified her relationship to Rio.

Tajan cleared his throat.
“There are two things I need to tell you,” he said to Billy.
“First, you need to stop hating the color of your skin. Be proud of
who and what you are. Secondly, you need to stop blaming Maggie for
my death.” His tone softened as his eyes drifted to her. “She died
too.”