Chapter Twenty-Four
Michelle had never felt as helpless as she did watching Utah fade from her sight. No matter how hard she tried holding on to him, he simply vanished before her eyes.
“Oh God. No. Utah?” She ran through the living room into her bedroom, only to find it empty of his presence.
Darting back into the hall, she checked the bathroom before turning and running into Cassie.
“He’s gone,” Cassie stated, grabbing on to Michelle’s arms.
Michelle shook her head, her heart pounding with adrenaline. “He can’t be gone. He just can’t.” Her voice broke on that last word.
Cassie turned her and guided her back to the living room. “Have a seat. I’ll get you some water.”
Michelle dropped heavily into the chair she’d recently vacated, her hands and legs trembling with dread.
She raised her gaze to find Malik on his haunches in front of her. “I’m sorry, Michelle. I really am. What can I do?”
“Bring him back,” she whispered, unable to prevent the tears from gathering in her eyes.
He briefly lowered his gaze. “You know I can’t do that.”
“I thought we’d have more time together,” she choked out, attempting to pull herself together.
Cassie returned with a bottled water. “Here, honey. Drink this.”
Michelle drank deeply, using the time to get her emotions under control. She finished off the bottle and set it on the floor next to her chair. “Thank you.”
“Sure thing,” Cassie soothed, laying her hand on Michelle’s back. “It’s okay, honey. Everything will be okay.”
Michelle shook her head, fighting the damnable tears once more. “No, it’s not okay. I was seriously falling for him, Cass. Faster than I ever thought possible. I know he’s not alive, but neither are you, and you are able to love.”
Cassie flinched. “I’m alive, Michelle. Sort of. Only I need blood to survive where you need food. But I get what you’re saying.”
Malik appeared uncomfortable. He stood and moved off toward the kitchen. “I’ll just be in there if you need me.”
Cassie nodded to her husband and once again knelt at Michelle’s feet. “Maybe Utah will be back. We don’t know the reason for his disappearance. It could be temporary.”
Hope fanned to life inside Michelle’s chest. She jumped to her feet, surprised to find Cassie standing as well. She hadn’t seen the blonde move. “I need to go see Riverwind.”
“The old shaman that lives on the Shoal River?” Cassie followed Michelle to the door.
Michelle grabbed her keys and cell phone from the small table situated against the wall and jerked the door open. “Yes, him. I’m sorry to run off on you like this. Make sure that Peanut doesn’t get out, and lock the house up when you leave.”
Without waiting for an answer, Michelle hurried from the porch and jumped into her car before she realized she still wore her robe.
She dropped her head back against the seat, blew out a breath, and went back inside to change. She grabbed her pistol for good measure.
* * * *
“Is everything all right?” Lani questioned, opening the door.
Michelle had been standing on the porch, ringing her parents’ doorbell for the past several minutes. “I need to talk to you.”
Her mother pulled the door wider. “Well, come in. How long have you been standing out here?”
“Not long,” Michelle murmured. “Am I interrupting anything?”
Lani shook her head. “Of course not. I was just getting out of the shower. What’s wrong, love? You said you needed to talk.”
Michelle glanced around the familiar living room, noticing how nothing had changed since her childhood. “Where’s Dad?”
Something flickered in her mother’s eyes. She shrugged a dainty shoulder. “Who knows. We had an argument. He left hours ago and hasn’t returned yet.”
“I’m sorry, Mom.”
“Ah, don’t worry about him, sweetheart. Come, tell me what’s on your mind.”
Michelle followed her mother into the kitchen, watching as she poured herself a glass of wine.
Lani offered one to her daughter.
“No thank you,” Michelle politely declined. “I need to talk to Ned Riverwind. Will you come with me?”
Surprise registered on Lani’s face. “Why do you need to see the shaman?”
“It’s about Utah.”
Lani simply set her glass of wine aside and turned back toward the front of the house. “Give me a minute to change clothes and put on some shoes.”
Grateful beyond words, Michelle followed her toward the living room. “I’ll be in the car.”
The drive to Riverwind’s was spent with Michelle answering Lani’s many questions.
“He just faded, Mom. I tried to hold on to him, but he slipped away like air. Some White Buffalo I am.”
Her mother glanced over with a stern look on her face. “You should not mock your gifts, my daughter.”
“How is it a gift?” Michelle shot back, anxiety riding too close to the surface. “If I’m the reason Utah’s gone…” She couldn’t finish the thought.
Lani ignored her daughter’s outburst, jerking her chin toward the windshield. “Turn right at the next road.”
Michelle squinted against the glare of oncoming headlights. “I don’t see a road.”
“Slow down,” her mother gently scolded, gripping the armrest attached to her seat. “It’s a dirt road. You’ll miss it if you’re going too fast.”
Easing off the gas, Michelle noticed a break in the trees up ahead. She flipped on her blinker, turning off Highway 90 and onto a narrow dirt road faster than was necessary.
“You love him, this spirit,” her mother quietly pointed out.
Michelle’s heart squeezed. “I don’t know what I feel, Mom. I haven’t known him long enough to love him. I—“
“Love doesn’t require time,” Lani interrupted in a soft voice. “It needs only acceptance.”
Glancing at her mother’s profile, Michelle asked, “Do you love Jack?”
Lani met her gaze. “I thought I did, once upon a time.”
Michelle had never before heard her mother talk about her feelings for Jack. Though her answer didn’t come as a surprise, it still felt strange to hear it voiced.
“If you’re unhappy, Mom, why do you stay?”
Lani shrugged. “That is not the way of it, Michelle. I come from a different era. One where divorce was unheard of. Besides, I am getting up in age. I really do not want to start over in life.”
Michelle eased her car over a small wooden bridge that had seen better days.
A two-story house perched high on the banks of the river came into view. Michelle pulled up close to the porch and switched off the car.
Opening the door, she got out, noticing Lani did as well. They trailed up to the porch, and Michelle stood back as her mother knocked on the door.
“,” a voice rasped from the darkness.
Michelle spun around, her gaze scanning the trees for movement.
A rather handsome older man stepped from the shadows, wearing buckskin pants, a T-shirt, and moccasin boots.
Michelle had heard her mother speak about Ned Riverwind many times, but she had yet to meet him.
He brought a cigarette to his lips, the tip glowing red as he took a long draw. Smoke billowed around his face with his exhale. “I have been expecting you.”
Goose bumps peppered Michelle’s skin. Though she couldn’t make out his eye color in the darkness, she somehow knew they would be black as onyx.
He stepped forward, the beam of his porch light spilling across his face to confirm Michelle’s suspicions. His eyes were exactly as she imagined them.
“We need your help,” her mother softly confessed.
Riverwind shifted his gaze to Michelle. “You mean she needs my help. I saw her coming long ago.”
Michelle’s mouth went dry. For some reason, Ned Riverwind scared the hell out of her.
He lifted his hand, curling his fingers forward in a come-hither motion. “What is it that you seek, White Buffalo?”
Yeah, that wasn’t spooky in the least. Michelle inched forward, somehow drawn to his voice. “I’ve lost someone, and we—I—was hoping you could tell me what to do to bring him back.”
“Once a spirit has crossed, you cannot bring it back. That is not the way of the White Buffalo.”
Michelle stared, wide eyed and surprised. “I don’t know that he’s crossed. And how did you know it was a spirit?”
“Come,” he rumbled, turning back toward the darkness. “Time grows short.”
Michelle looked over at her mother to find her staring at the place where Riverwind had stood.
“Go with him,” Lani whispered. “He is the only one who can help you in this.”
More than a little nervous, Michelle reached over and touched her mother’s hand. “Aren’t you coming?”
Lani shook her head. “You must go alone from here, my daughter. I will be right here when you return.”
Michelle squeezed her mother’s hand and hurried through the darkness in search of the shaman.