The Rising Moon (14 page)

I replied, “yes. Meet u in 20 min.”

An eerie sense of uncertainty was in the air as I drove through Main Street on my way to Centennial Park. Perhaps it was all in my head, but I had a gut feeling that something terrible was going to happen. My stomach turned in knots as I anxiously drove into the parking lot.

“
What’s up? I was beginning to think you weren’t going to show up,” he said as he opened the car door for me.

“
I over slept,” I replied, with a half smile.

“
Is something wrong?” He asked.

“
I had a rough night that’s all,” I said as I walked over to the tree lined path with Ryan close behind. We took a seat on the bench facing the playground that was usually filled with children, but today it was empty and quiet. I looked at Ryan. He looked confused.

“
But you sounded fine when we spoke on the phone last night. Did something happen after we talked?” He sighed loudly, “I knew I should’ve gone over.”

“
Relax I just had a rough night.”

“
You want to talk about it?” He said.

“
I’m going to tell you, but please promise me you’re not going to overreact and do something stupid.”

He shook his head in agreement. But I could tell he was bluffing. I folded my knees and swung my feet on the edge of the bench.

“
Emi paid me a surprised visit last night after we spoke on the phone. She was clearly upset with me for showing up at her grandmother’s funeral.” I turned to look at him. His mouth was pressed together. I could tell he was growing angry, but I continued. “Emi casted a spell on me. I laid in bed paralyzed from my head to my feet. I couldn’t move or shout for help. She wanted to teach me a lesson for not taking heed to her threats when suddenly a wolf jumped into the room and charged toward her. I could tell it wanted to kill her. But she vanished into thin air before he could do it.”

Ryan stared into the distance, tearing apart a dried orange leaf he picked up from the ground.

“
The wolf didn’t hurt me. After he left, I lied in bed paralyzed and dizzy. Something else happened last night. I had a vision from my past life…Zaria’s life. I saw what the Ulric’s did to Adam and I think I now know why he’s after them.”

“
What did you see?” He asked.

“
They killed him while Zaria watched from behind a tree. Out of desperation and heartbreak Zaria took her own life by jumping off a cliff. The same cliff from my dreams.”

“
I know I promised you I wasn’t going to overreact, but Emi stepped over the line last night with what she did to you.” He said as he stood in front of me. “I hope that now you realize how dangerous the Ulric’s really are.”

I stayed quiet. I now believed Emi was dangerous. It was apparent she wanted me dead, but what about Lyle, did he feel the same? He said he loved me. He told me I could trust him. And he saved my life last night. I kept that part of the story from Ryan because I knew that if he found out Lyle was the wolf and that I smelled blood on him he would do something stupid.

His phone rang.

“
Hold on a sec,” he said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. “Hello? What?” Yeah, we’re at Centennial Park. Ok, we’ll wait here.”

His face dropped.

“
Who was that?” I asked, as soon as he ended the call.

“
My uncle Charles,” he replied heading toward the parking lot, “he said Kima’s missing.”

“
Oh my god, what happened?”

“
I’m not sure. He said he’s on his way over here to talk to us.”

∞
chapter 19 ∞

WE WAITED in the parking lot for his uncle to arrive, when a police cruiser drove in. Denise, Tyler and a tall muscular man dressed in a police uniform stepped out of the car.

“
Lia, this is my uncle Charles.” Ryan introduced.

“
It’s nice to meet you.” He said as he extended his arm to shake my hand. He was younger then I’d expected. I could see the resemblance between the two of them as they stood beside each other. They both had the same physic, height and skin tone. Charles had small brown eyes and a nose that only a man could pull off.

“
Kima’s gone. I think something’s happened to her. I could feel it,” Denise cried out.

“
What happened?” Ryan desperately asked his uncle.

“
Her neighbor said she saw her leaving her house around nine last night. She asked Kima where she was going and she told her she was going to see a friend. This morning when the neighbor went to ask her if she wanted to join them for breakfast, there was no answer and Kima was nowhere to be found.”

“
Who did she go see?” Ryan asked.

“
She said she was going to see Lia.” Tyler answered.

The three of them looked at me.
What?
She didn’t
mention anything about coming to see me when we spoke at school yesterday. Why would she tell her neighbor she was going to see me?

“
Did you see Kima last night?” Charles asked.

“
No sir. And if she did come to see me I wasn’t home. I was at a funeral last night.”

“
Are you sure?” Charles asked. I could see the doubt in his eyes because funerals are usually held during the day time.

“
Yes, sir I’m sure. I didn’t see her.” I said defensively.

“
It’s true, uncle. She was at Ramira Lupe’s funeral last night,” Ryan said, coming to my defense.

“
We have to find her.” Denise said, tears rolling down her cheek.

“
I’m heading back to the Rez to form a search party and check the areas she frequented. In the mean time, you guys can gather your friends and meet me here in an hour.”

“
Yes sir,” replied Ryan. “Tyler, Denise why don’t you guys head to Rez and get the rest of the gang and ask around if anyone has seen her.” Ryan tossed the keys to Tyler, “Take my truck. Lia and I are going to search the Ulric’s ranch.”

“
Ok. Keep your phone close so we can keep in touch.” Tyler replied as he and Denise headed toward the truck.

Ryan sped out the parking lot, pushing my car to its limit. When we arrived at the ranch, John was cutting lumber from logs. He didn’t hear us approach through the sound of the chainsaw. He stopped cutting when we stood in front of him.

“
What’s going on? Who’s this?’ he asked looking at Ryan.

“
This is my friend Ryan Woodruff.”

John lifted his hat, and extended his arm to meet Ryan’s.

“
What you kids up to?” John asked, as he wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.

“
Did someone named Kima come looking for me last night?” I asked.

“
No.” John rolled a log up the ramp up to the saw mill.

“
She told a neighbor she was coming to see me, but I wasn’t home last night. And now she’s missing.”

John paused. I could tell by the look on his face that he thought back to the night Veena went missing.

“
Missing?” said John.

“
Yeah, everyone at the Rez is looking for her.”

“
We should search the woods.” Ryan suggested.

“
Hold on a second,” John walked to his truck and pulled out a shot gun from the back seat. “Take this with you. God only knows what animals might be lurking in there.” He handed the gun to Ryan.

“
Thank you, sir,” he said.

John nodded, “you kids be careful. I would help, but I have to get these damn lumber cut.”

“
It’s ok sir, we understand. And rest assure we’ll be careful,” Ryan replied.

Ryan and I headed back to the car. “I’m going to call my uncle and ask him to meet us near the Louis Lake campground. I have a gut feeling that we should begin our search there.”

“
Ok.” I replied nervously biting my lower lip.

An hour later, Deputy Woodruff and a large group of people arrived at the campground. Some of the volunteers were on horseback, ATV’s and the others on foot. There must’ve been about fifty people in all. I overheard Deputy Woodruff tell Ryan that the police went to the Ulric’s residence earlier and spoke to Emi. She cooperated with them and allowed them to search her home and property, but there were no sign of Kima anywhere.

I tried calling Lyle again, but he didn’t answer his phone.

“
Lyle, it’s me Lia. Please call me when you get this message,” I whispered into his voicemail.

The volunteers were divided into groups, except for Ryan and me. He insisted we search together.

“
Be careful, and make sure to call if you find anything.” Deputy Woodruff told Ryan.

“
Yes sir.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me beside him as we headed inside. He handed me a long branch he picked up from the ground, to help push through the heavy bushes and branches that reached toward us.

“
Why don’t we stick to the path?” I asked, dodging a slap from a branch.

“
Be careful and try and stay close,” he said reaching for my hand.

“
Do you suppose something happened to her?”

“
Nothing better had happened to her,” his voice was angry, “if someone did anything to hurt her in any way, then there will be hell to pay.”

I wanted to tell him she would be found and that she would be fine, but I couldn’t. This morning I awoke with a feeling that today something terrible was going to happen. I was afraid of what we were going to find in the woods.

My stomach turned into knots as we neared the Shoshone Lake. The sky peeked through the tall aspen trees as small drops of rain broke from the dark grey clouds above. The wind picked up as the rain began to change from a soft drizzle to a full blown storm. I stumbled as I tried to keep pace with Ryan through the blinding rain.

“
Come here,” he said as he pulled me close to him and wrapped me inside his jacket. I buried my face against his chest and tried to keep dry from the rain.

“
Much better?” he asked. Water rolled down the tip of his nose unto the top of my head.

“
Uh huh,” I replied wrapping my arms around him.

He looked at me with a half smile on his face. I could see the worry built up in his eyes. We stayed silent for awhile, trying to keep dry and ride out the slow moving storm.

“
Kima called me last night,” he said.

“
She did?”

“
Yeah…she told me she loved me. She said she always did. I guess I kinda knew it.”

“
And what did you tell her?”

He took a deep breath, “I told her I wasn’t sure if I felt the same. Which was very stupid of me to say, because I do have feelings for her? I thought I didn’t, but when my uncle told me that she went missing, it’s as if a knife was thrown into my heart,” his voice cracked. “I don’t know what I would do if she’s gone. I guess I left the man in me take over and I allowed my feeling for you blind me from the one I truly loved. And now she might be gone.”

“
Don’t say that. Kima isn’t gone. She’s going to be found and when she is, I know she will be ok and you can tell her how you truly feel. Don’t blame yourself for not being open to her. She loves you and I’m sure she will forgive you.” And in an instant, the rain subsided. “You’re ready to keep going?” I asked.

“
Yeah, let’s head that way.” He replied pointing to a heavily wooded area on our left.

I followed as close as I could, pushing through the wet branches, tall grass, and trying to keep from falling on the muddy ground when suddenly Ryan stopped. He took a deep whiff of air and flared his nostrils as he exhaled. Quickly his eyes changed from brown to black.