Chapter Twenty
Michelle looked through the peephole to find her mother standing on the porch.
“Mom?” Michelle murmured, pulling the door open to allow Lani entrance. “Come in.”
Lani stepped over the threshold, her hands fidgeting in front of her. “Did I come at a bad time?”
Michelle glanced at Utah before shaking her head. “Of course not.” She’d give anything to be able to introduce him to her mother.
“What’s going on?” Michelle asked, watching her mother amble toward the kitchen.
Lani grabbed a bottled water from the fridge and returned to the living room where Michelle and Utah waited. “I’m just worried about you. Your father told me that they found Sheriff Dennison’s daughter. She’d been assaulted, beaten, and shot.”
Lani shuddered and took a seat on the sofa. Tears filled her pretty brown eyes. “The whole time he was telling me about that poor girl, all I could think of was you. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you.”
“Oh, Mom.” Michelle hurried over and took a seat next to her mother. “Don’t cry. I’m perfectly all right. Nothing is going to happen to me.”
Lani raised her tear-filled eyes. “I want you to come stay at the house until this monster is caught. You’re not safe here by yourself.”
Michelle wanted to assure her mother that she wasn’t alone. That she had Utah to watch over her. Instead she said, “I have protection, Mom. But if it’ll make you feel any better, I’ll have an alarm system installed on the doors and windows.”
Lani reached over and took hold of Michelle’s hand. “Promise me you’ll do that.”
“I promise, Mom.”
“I’d still feel better if you stayed at the house,” Lani pressed, squeezing her daughter’s hand. “And your father isn’t going to be happy about you staying here alone. Don’t be surprised if he pays you a visit.”
Michelle cleared her throat. “Not to change the subject, but I wanted to ask you something about this White Buffalo totem you mentioned before.”
Lani wiped at her eyes, giving Michelle her undivided attention. “Are you still seeing spirits?”
“You could say that,” Michelle responded, avoiding Utah’s gaze.
She peered down at her mother’s hand resting on her own. “Is it possible for a spirit to remain here with us? I mean— I guess what I’m trying to ask is, do they all eventually cross over at some point?”
Lani tucked a finger beneath Michelle’s chin and lifted. “What are you not telling me?”
Michelle could practically feel Utah’s anxiety, knew that he probably took her words the wrong way. “The spirit I recently told you about?”
At her mother’s nod, she continued. “He came back. In fact, he’s here now.”
Lani’s eyes widened. “Here, you mean, in the room with us?”
Michelle turned her head and met Utah’s stunned gaze before turning back to her mother. “Yes. His name is Utah. He died in a fire three years ago.”
Lani slowly got to her feet, her gaze sweeping the room.
Michelle stood as well, holding out her hand for Utah. He slipped his palm against hers.
Lani faced her daughter, a look of wonderment on her face. “I can feel a difference in the temperature.”
Staring into her mother’s eyes, Michelle was struck by a sudden idea. Her fingers shook as she lifted them toward Lani. “Take my hand.”
Lani obeyed without question, accepting her daughter’s outstretched palm.
A soft intake of breath was the only sound Lani made as her gaze shifted to Utah. More tears gathered in her eyes. “I can see you…”
Michelle felt the moisture spring up in her own eyes as her mother stared back at Utah without blinking.
Lani slowly stepped forward, lifted her arm, and attempted to lay her palm against Utah’s cheek. “I can’t feel you, but I can see you.”
Michelle watched as Utah’s eyes slid shut and a warm smile touched his face.
Lani pulled back, but kept hold of her daughter’s hand. “He needs your help, Michelle.”
“My help? How?” But she knew. Michelle was more than aware of her mother’s meaning.
Flicking her gaze back in Utah’s direction, Lani murmured, “He was drawn to you for a reason, my daughter. Partly, I’m certain because of the gift you were born with. But you are not the reason he has remained behind to begin with.”
“How do I figure out what that reason is?” Utah questioned.
Lani’s eyes grew large once again. “I can hear you.”
Michelle tilted her head up to gauge Utah’s reaction. He stared back at her with a look of wonder on his face.
“Tell me about your death,” Lani demanded, a determination in her voice that Michelle had witnessed on many occasions.
Utah took a deep breath and recited the events leading up to his death three years ago, ending with, “The only time the screams stop is when I’m able to save a life, or when I’m with Michelle.”
Lani turned her attention back to her daughter. “I will bring you some books to read over. I will also speak with Ned Riverwind and hopefully get some guidance as to what needs doing from here.”
Michelle’s stomach clenched. “What needs doing?”
“He cannot remain here,” Lani whispered, her sad gaze flicking to Utah and then back to her daughter. “It is unnatural. No good can come of it.”
With her heart pounding in protest of her mother’s words, Michelle asked, “How can you know that for sure?”
“It is not the way of it, my child. Look deep inside yourself, and you will know I speak the truth.”
Michelle released her mother’s hand, subconsciously moving closer to Utah. “When will you talk with Ned Riverwind?”
“I will go by his place on the way home. I must hurry. If I’m not back before dark, your father will have all of Walton County out searching for me.”
Following Lani to the door, Michelle pointed out, “He wouldn’t have to worry if you’d simply invest in a cell phone.”
Lani opened the door and stepped out onto the porch. “I never have cared for modern-day technology, and I’m not about to start now.”
Stopping at the screen door on the porch, Lani turned back. “I’ll bring those books by tomorrow and let you know what Riverwind has to say.”
“I love you, Mom. Please be careful on the way home and call me the minute you get there.”
Her mother nodded. “I love you too, sweetheart.”
Michelle waited for her mother to get in her car and back out of the drive before closing and locking the door behind her.
She turned to face an unreadable Utah. “I’m sorry about what she —”
“No,” he interrupted, surprising Michelle. “She’s right. No matter how much I might want to stay here, I can’t. Eventually, I’ll have to go. Whether by choice or fate. I’m not alive, Michelle. No matter how much I wish otherwise.”