Chapter 13
Inside her bedroom, Issa felt like a little kid again. She dumped out all the clothes on the bed, stripped down, kicking off the overlarge pants and sweatshirt, and started with the underwear. The panties were a little loose, but it was nice to have them regardless. The bra sagged slightly in the front, but it was also doable.
She pulled on a pair of leggings, thinking maybe that would be the best fit and stared in dismay as they looked more like pants than skintight leggings. But they’d have to do. She found a pair of socks, already feeling the chill from losing the heavy clothing, and pulled them on. They came up over the pants. There was one particularly heavy sweatshirt. She pulled it on, laughing as it dropped past her hips.
“Well, it’s better than what I was wearing but not by much.” She took off that sweatshirt, grabbed a smaller one, and pulled it on. That was better. There was also a sweater. She pulled it on and smiled. “Still a vagabond look,” she said to the empty room, “but it’s much better than before.”
Her feet ached. She took more painkillers and sat down on the bed, her feet propped up, and took off the labels and folded the clothing. She should go back out to the kitchen, but honestly her feet were killing her.
There was a hard knock on her door, then Eagle’s head poked around the corner. He studied the clothes she had on and smiled. “You look better.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” she said, grinning. “It’s a step in the right direction. Thanks again.”
He held up a cup of coffee. “Do you want this?”
“Yes, please. Do you mind if I stay in here?”
“I was going to suggest you stay in bed and get those feet up.”
“I hadn’t realized how much they were hurting. I took an extra painkiller before we left, but …” She shook her head.
“And you walked on them too much, so they’ll be puffy and sore.”
She nodded.
“Stay in bed, feet up, while I go deal with the animals.” He scooped up the tags she’d taken off the clothing. “I’ll get rid of these.” He pointed to the dresser on the side. “All your clothes can go in there but don’t worry about putting them away. When I come back, I’ll give you a hand. I want you to stay off those feet.”
Just like that he was gone.
She wasn’t used to being told what to do and when to do it. She’d spent most of her adult life independent and alone. And, although there’d been relationships, the other men weren’t like him. At least none she remembered. Maybe it was just that they all paled in comparison to Eagle. He was one of those big powerful all-encompassing kinds of personalities. When he was in a room, everyone else was dwarfed in size. And yet he had shown her nothing but kindness. And, of course, that capableness was what she loved about him. The sense of power inside and out was huge. It was also incredibly comforting.
Her nap on the ride home in the truck had helped, but she was still fatigued. She curled up in bed, thinking she’d just rest.
When she woke up again, it was in dismay, realizing long shadows had already appeared outside. Had she slept the entire afternoon away? She got up, used the bathroom, and then slowly made her way to the outside patio door. That was when she realized it was not only late but a storm had moved in. Moving carefully, knowing she shouldn’t be walking if she could help it, she walked out into the kitchen to see where Eagle was. There was no sign of him.
She frowned. His laptop was still up, as if he’d just stepped out. But where was he? How long had he been gone?
She sat down at the kitchen table and stared out the window, wondering how long he’d be. She turned her gaze to the laptop, wishing she could remember more of her life. She hadn’t been too concerned before—happy to be in her safe bubble. But now that she saw his laptop, it just pulled at her to do a search of her name and to see what popped up. She stared at the screen and realized it was frozen with a time stamp on the bottom. Like a security feed.
She wasn’t sure what she was looking at. There was a fence and a shadow. She bent forward, realizing a man was on the other side of this fence—and zoomed in for a better look. That profile was hard to mistake because she’d seen it before. It was one of the men who had kidnapped her.
*
Eagle found no signs of the trespasser. Most people assumed his property was just inside the interior fence. But he had acres spread out as far as he could see.
He didn’t want neighbors.
He didn’t want trespassers either. And he sure as hell didn’t want intruders. He’d checked the pens. Everything was fine, although there was a distinct air of uncertainty among the birds.
Some were fretting and cawing; others just watched in wariness. The dogs at his side picked up the pace and spread out. There were miles to check. He stooped at the spot where he’d seen the intruder on the video camera. Now it was a matter of tracking him. But so far the man had just followed the interior fence line. He’d moved from side to side. Like a caged tiger on the outside, looking for a way in. Of course that was easy. If he wanted to, he could have gone over, under, or around the fence. Which meant something else stopped him from crossing it. And that was most likely timing, or he was unsure his quarry was inside the house.
Eagle needed to know where the guy had come from. The grass on the outside of the fence wasn’t talking. There were no footprints in the sand and gravel on that section of land. But there were footprints on his side of the creek. Keeping to the grass, he tracked the footprints for several acres.
He stopped where the intruder had jumped over the creek. He could see his tracks on the other side. The good thing was there were tracks coming in and going out, so the man had left the way he came in. Eagle picked up the pace, almost running as he tracked his prey.
At the back of his property, in the farthest corner, he found a cigarette butt. He bagged it, then put it away in his pocket for safekeeping. He had zero tolerance for people who weren’t mindful of the damage a forest fire could bring. In July, the state had burned badly as two out-of-control forest fires had swept across the land. This asshole needed to learn a lesson about leaving his cigarette butts on the ground. Eagle would gladly take on that job when he found him. And there was no doubt in Eagle’s mind that he’d catch him. If not today, then soon.
The tracks ended at the road. A vehicle had been parked on the shoulder but was long gone. The intruder was probably on his way back with reinforcements.
Yet why? None of this made any sense. She’d already escaped. If she hadn’t told them what they wanted to hear after three weeks or so of torture, surely they now realized she didn’t have the information they wanted. So why worry about her now? She’d also been away long enough to tell her story. Shutting her up wouldn’t stop anything she’d already put in motion. Although it would stop her from giving witness against them in a criminal court. Was that what this was all about?
Eagle wasn’t too worried about justice at a trial. He didn’t figure those men would make it that far. It was too damn bad she hadn’t had a way to kill more of her captors before she left. It would have saved them all this trouble. But her priority had been getting away, and, given the condition she was in, he knew she wouldn’t have survived another day. Something had given her the strength to take advantage of the moment.
Did the kidnappers follow her, either physically tracking her or via an online search of satellite images? The internet made life a lot easier for both the good guys and, unfortunately, the bad.
Eagle was pondering whether he should take a different route back when a truck came barreling toward him. He recognized the old white Ford as the brakes were slammed on, and Gray came to a screeching halt. He rolled down his window and called out, “Hey, what’s the matter?”
“An intruder,” Eagle snapped.
Gray’s jaw dropped. “In the house?”
Eagle shook his head. “By the interior fence line, outside of the house.”
“Oh, shit. You think they saw her?”
“No idea.” He didn’t say that they hadn’t been home, so they couldn’t have seen her because what he really didn’t know and hadn’t checked on the time stamp how long the man had been here. Neither had Eagle checked the earlier days to see if this was a second visit or a third. He nodded. “What are you doing here?”
Gray shrugged. “I came to make sure my patient was okay.”
Eagle motioned to the cab. “How about you give me a ride back?”
Gray nodded, and Eagle walked around to the passenger side and hopped in, the dogs jumping into the back of the box at his command. It was only a five-minute drive to the front gates. He hopped out and unlocked the gates to let Gray in, then promptly locked the gates again.
When Gray got out, he asked, “Anybody tried to break through the gates?”
Eagle shook his head. “They’re steel. Who would even try?”
“Anyone who doesn’t know what they are made of might try to just drive right through.”
“Not if they’re trying for a silent approach,” Eagle snapped.
But the thought had already occurred to him. The double-doored gate was on steel poles four feet into the ground with crossbeams. A pickup truck could do some serious damage to it, but it would also do some serious damage to the pickup. He doubted that an engine would survive a head-on collision with his gate. That was enough to make him happy.
He led Gray inside. There he saw Issa curled up on the couch, a blanket over her shoulders. Asleep.
Gray stopped beside Eagle, his expression softening. “At least she’s walking.”
“Doing too much walking,” Eagle snapped. He walked over and put on the coffeepot. He was still on edge. He noticed the laptop was still up, showing the intruder at the fence line too. He closed the lid to not be questioned about it by Gray and walked over to check on Issa.
“Her color is much better,” Gray announced. “I don’t want to disturb her while she’s sleeping.”
Just then she bolted upright, shuddering with pain and panic. With her hand to her chest, she took big gulps of air. “You scared me.”
“I didn’t mean to wake you,” Eagle said as he neared her. “How are you feeling?”
She pulled her knees up closer to her chest and murmured, “Cold.”
He grabbed another blanket from the stack off on the side and tossed it to her. She smiled and tucked it up close to her neck.
“Were you always cold before you got hurt?” Gray asked.
She raised her gaze to him. Eagle couldn’t help but notice the shuttered look on her face. She shook her head. “Not that I remember.”
He nodded. “I’m Gray, by the way. The retired doctor who helped fix you up. Do you remember me?”
“Yes, slightly.”
“Good. I came to check up on you. I need to look at that head wound and check over the rest of you. You were pretty badly hurt, young lady.”
“I’m doing much better.” She relaxed. As if realizing there was no getting out of it, she slowly sat up, dropped the blankets, and said, “Maybe you could do it fast, so I can warm up again.”
Eagle helped her out of her sweatshirt. She was wearing a sports bra and one strap had folded the bandage on her shoulder over. He should’ve helped her get dressed. Inside, he cursed himself. She needed help to do the simplest things as she was still injured. But she hadn’t complained all day. He admired that.
*
Stefan woke in the morning. Instead of feeling rested and calm, his mind soared through the sky. It was frayed, unraveling outward. First he was in a jungle, and then the scene switched to a rain forest and thereafter to a mountaintop. He didn’t know what in hell was going on, but he couldn’t seem to ground himself to one reality. Like there was no ground. As if his silver life cord floated in the sky around him, disconnected from everything and yet … connected to every bit of the world.
Birds flew at his side; tigers roamed below. He could hear the cry of other birds and other animals. They were one with him, and he was one with them, racing across the fields, climbing up the mountains, jumping from hillside to valley. He’d never seen anything like this. But layers and layers of different geographical areas overlaid each other as he stared in surprise. He glanced to the left to see the ocean and trees swimming together.
It made no sense. He sat up slowly and looked down at his bed. Instead of the cloud he expected to see, he found a tree branch—big and thick, like from an ancient banyan tree. He reached down, so sure the branch was solid, and yet his hand went right through it. He touched where the bedpost should be, trying to keep his rational mind solid and forward thinking.
His mind knew the bedpost was there, but his eyes couldn’t see it, and his hand couldn’t find it. He stood and walked, only to find he was in the air. As he glanced down at the ocean, he swooped down lower, his feet now above the water. He frowned and sank lower. The water came to his knees. What bizarre magic was this? He turned around and realized, although it felt fantastic, he seemed on overload. Energy and sparks flew off him constantly.
This wasn’t a good thing. More and more and more animals raced toward him. They whispered through him, around him—hiding him, lying on him, smothering him—and then suddenly he was gone.
“Stefan?” The voice came through the energy around him.
“Tabitha?”
“Yes. I’m here.”
“Where’s here?” he asked softly. “I feel like I no longer exist. That the only part of me that’s real and true is the pieces that each of these animals carry with them.”
“You’re scaring me, Stefan. Remember to stay grounded.”
“I think it’s too late for that. I feel lost. I don’t know what’s happened.”
“We have to get you back. Hold out your hand.”
He stretched out what he thought was his hand. But, as he stared at it, he saw it was a wing. A big eagle’s wing. “Bizarre and yet so wonderful. It’s glorious out here.”
“Stefan!”
He struggled to return, listening to the voice.
“Follow my voice. Reach for me.”
“Why?” he asked simply. “This is beautiful. Why change it?”
“Celina. Have you forgotten her?”
He tilted his face to the sun. “How can I ever forget her? She’s the love of my life.”
“Are you expecting her to live alone, to understand you chose this disassociation over her?”
“And yet there is this connection,” he murmured, “to everything else.” He struggled as he sorted through the different realities in front of him. But Celina’s face forever in his heart slid into the forefront of his consciousness.
She laughed, reached up, and kissed him on the forehead. “Do what you must. Know that I’m always with you.”
He smiled. “It’s okay, Tabitha. Celina says it’s okay to leave.”
“No,” Tabitha said in a stern voice.
He felt that tone. It was a shock, but it was bigger than that. It slipped through time; it slipped through whatever wormhole he was caught in. The animals disappeared. The world around him steadied. He opened his eyes to his bedroom, and standing over him was an ethereal form. He gazed at Tabitha for a long moment with a sense of disappointment and loss.
She smiled and whispered, “You can go back. Even visit with any and all of them. But you must remain grounded.”
He whispered, “How is it you can spirit walk when you’ve never done it before?”
“Look a little more carefully,” she whispered. “Now that you are back, I have to get to work.” And she disappeared.
He studied the space where she had been and realized she had been held there by somebody he knew well. Then Dr. Maddy, one of his closest friends, was a help to psychics all around the world in too many ways to count. And she always kept a watchful eye on him. “Maddy?”
“Yes, I’m here, Stefan.”
“What happened?” he asked as she materialized before him.
“I’m not sure,” she admitted. “Your vitals are solid. However, your energy is thin. I think your psyche just got lost in the moment.”
“But I was thinking that to be lost was a good thing,” he murmured.
“Maybe it’s time for a holiday. Leave some of these ugly cases behind and find a way to enjoy life in the physical form for once.”
“It’s Humbug,” he said. “Humbug and Roash.”
Her voice curious, Maddy asked, “And who are they?”
He smiled at her and chuckled. “Two birds with very strong wills. They are trying to get to somebody. But they’re both injured. And they’re drawing me in, drawing on my strength to get where they need to be.”
She stared at him in fascination. “So maybe what you were doing was opening up your own energy soul so they could access what they needed without you having to participate?”
He studied her carefully. “It’s never happened before.”
This time her laugh ran free. “So what? Every day in our world, something new is shown to us. Hug Celina, and go back to sleep.”
While he absorbed her words of wisdom, Dr. Maddy disappeared from his bedroom. He closed his eyes, wrapped his arms around the woman he loved and slept.