Blood of the Rainbow (35 page)

She turned the blank page, and began reading the introduction. All of a sudden the breeze outside her bedroom window began to pick up.

‘
This book was written in the hopes that it would help others to better understand my people, The Dine'é Kay-Yah. Like all races, stories and legends are handed down from father to son and sometimes these stories become distorted, twisted and some, forgotten altogether.

Although the Dine'é Kay-Yah are one entity, there are certain differences within our Clan that set us apart from the other Clans. There are those that will say, because of these differences, our Clan is not even part of the Navajo people, but that is untrue. They only feel this way because they either don’t understand or refuse to believe.

I hope, once you’ve read these few pages you will better understand why my Clan and I are considered outsiders among our own people. I believe it is these differences that make us stronger as a nation and a people.

 The Holders of Knowledge imparts of their power to all and grants understanding to those who seek it, not for personal gain, but for the sake of knowledge and understanding.

May your journey bring you peace and long life,

 George Washington Thomas Thundercloud

Sara read the introduction again, paying particular attention to certain words and phrases. Could this be the reason why Joel referred to the Thunderclouds as ‘
them’
distastefully? If he was referring to the way Jared’s eyes changed color, and his exceptional speed and strength, it was clear how others could look at his family as different. But why would Jared say he was full blooded Navajo? According to his grandfather, his Clan
wasn’t
Navajo. It was the Dine'é Kay-Yah – whoever or whatever that was.

Fear crept up the back of Sara’s throat. That weird feeling started coming back. Almost like a distant memory, one that was on the edge of your subconscious mind, but refused to surface. The one she’d had before. Suddenly, Sara got the feeling she was no longer alone. Like someone or something was watching her. A cold chill went down her spine. She shook it off, determined to complete her task. She was even more curious now than before.

The pages of the book were thin, like onion-skin, and stuck together. Sara licked her fingers to turn the pages. For no apparent reason, she started to feel incredibly sleepy. She shook her head to clear her vision. She turned a few pages and notices, the more pages she turned, the sleepier she got. Her stomach started to churn. “Oh no,” she mused. “It’s happening again.”

A gust of wind came through the open window, and blew the book shut. Sara glanced at the window, furrowing her brow.
I don’t remember opening the window.
She shook her head and dismissed the idea thinking, maybe the window had been opened, and she’d overlooked it. She opened the book, and started reading again. As soon as she’d read the opening paragraph, the same thing happened again. Only this time, the gust of wind was stronger, closing and flinging the book to the floor, it landed with a loud thud.

“Ok,” she mused.  “This is getting a
little
strange.” She quickly glanced around the room, not moving her head.
Was
someone trying to tell her something? She shook her head again and smiled, dismissing her misguided notions. All this secrecy was making her paranoid. Jared would be upset if he caught Sara reading the book. He knew she had the book, but he’s never given her permission to read it. But then, did Sara actually
need
his permission to read it?

Sara picked up the book, looked around the room, just to make sure she hadn’t missed anything. She remembered how easily Jared could sneak up on her without making a sound. “Is somebody there? Jared?” She shook her head, realizing how ridiculous she was being. Regardless, she pulled down the window. Sara was determined, if a gust of wind closed the book again, it wouldn’t be coming from
that
open window!

Sara rubbed her eyes, sighed, and opened to the first paragraph - the one she’d already read twice. “What in the hell!” she all but shouted. “This is getting ridiculous,” she grumbled, rubbing her eyes again. She stared at the words and strange symbols. They hadn’t changed.

The words Sara had just read - seconds ago in standard American English - had now been translated to some strange and unfamiliar language. It didn’t even look like Navajo. To Sara, it made little difference what language it was. She still couldn’t read it. She was starting to get downright suspicious, and aggravated. It was distressing enough that she had to do this behind Jared’s back.

“Ok, this is going beyond weird,” she mused, rubbing her eyes a third time, and pinching the bridge of her nose. “I’m going to give this one last try,” she said, turning her head partway to the side and peeping at the words through narrow cracks, afraid of what she might see.

What Sara saw when she looked at the book again sent chills down her spine, and she started to shake. She tried to look away, but something had seized her. She couldn’t even move her head. She felt as if she were in some kind of trance.

Sara gasped. Her mouth gaped. She was forced to watch in horror as the ink began to spool off the page. It rearranged itself, forming new words in midair. Spelling out first, ‘
Sara
’, and then the words, ‘
don’t be afraid
’.

When she able to, Sara jerked her head away, closing the book without even looking back. Cold sweat popped out on her forehead. Nausea crept up the back of her throat so fast she almost didn’t make it to the bathroom before she bent over the bowl, and spilled the contents of her stomach.

After several dry heaves, she stood in front of the mirror, holding on to the sides of the vanity to steady herself while her head stopped pounding and spinning. She turned on the cold-water tap and with her free hand washed off the vomit. She was so cold and shaking. She was going into shock.

With trembling hands, she took a paper cup from the dispenser and filled it with tepid water. Sara’s hand was shaking so severely that she had trouble turning off the water. Steadying the cup with both hands, she brought the cup to her lips, and took a sip before making her way back to the bedroom.

She sat on the side of the bed, and drank some more of the water, being careful not to spill any. Her head was still pounding and whirling around. She closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths, willing her heart to stop beating so fast. Sara tried rationalizing her fear, but she couldn’t come up with a reasonable explanation. What on Earth had just happened to her? Sara was so scared she didn’t know what to do. She knew Jared would be home soon, and she couldn’t let him see her like this. He would immediately notice something was wrong. Sara had to find a way to compose herself. What was she going to do?

One thing was for sure – despite what the message said - that book was going back to its hiding place until she could decide what to do with it. Whether what she’d just experienced was real, or a result of her own vivid imagination, Sara had read all she was going to. She wouldn’t need any more prompting from Jared, or anybody else, for that fact. Suddenly, a hundred dollars didn’t seem like such a large sum of money to waste.

Although, right now, Sara felt like confining the book to the flames, because it had been written by Jared’s grandfather, destroying it didn’t seem like an option. She couldn’t make herself do that - it might be the only copy left, and that wouldn’t be fair to future generations. Or would it?

Maybe, Sara theorized, what happened, was her fault. Maybe the words just weren’t meant for outsiders. But, if that were the case, what about Joel? Had he read the book? Was this what Joel meant in his warning to Sara?

------------

The front door opened down stairs. Thinking fast, Sara grabbed her bathrobe, ran into the bathroom, turning on the shower and jumping in. Maybe the water would help. At least she wouldn’t have to confront Jared until she got out. Sara knew Jared wouldn’t come in the shower with her; he wouldn’t risk losing control like that.

Jared called out, searching for her. Sara knew trying to answer him was useless until he was nearer. He wouldn’t be able to hear her above the sound of the shower. But why could she hear him, and why did everything seem more powerful and real to her? It was as if the water coming from the showerhead fell in slow motion.

There was a tap on the door. “Sara, Honey, are you in there?”

Sara closed her eyes, took a deep breath. “Yes Jared! Why don’t you wait for me downstairs? I won’t be long.”

Jared didn’t answer straight away. “Sara… why are you taking a shower this early in the afternoon?”

Sara blurted the first thing that came to her, “Because I was hot and wanted to cool down!”

“Oh… all right, I’ll just wait for you here.”

“You could always come in here with me….”

Jared considered her offer for a few seconds. His eyes starting to respond, along with other parts of his body. He stood a few inches from the bathroom door, his desire becoming a dull ache. He reached for the door knob, stopped abruptly, and stepped a few paces back, breathing deeply and rebuilding his will power. “I’ll go down and make us something cold to drink, and bring it up.”

“A tall glass of iced tea sounds nice, right now, with a slice of lemon, please?”

“Anything for my Angel….”

Sara waited until Jared closed the door before coming out of the bathroom.
Phew! That was close. I knew you wouldn’t come in here with me!
She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her wet hair, hurried back in the bedroom and put on some jeans and a t-shirt. She was drying her hair with a towel when Jared came back in the room with their iced teas. He sat them on some coasters on the nightstand. “Hi beautiful,” he said, sitting on the bed beside her.

Sara looked at him and smiled. “How did things go?”

Jared cradled her face in his hand and kissed her. “It went ok.”

“Was he there?”

Jared scoffed and handed Sara a glass of tea. “Yes. He was so smug; I wanted to rip his damn head off. I don’t think he’s expecting us to do anything.”

“Then it’s a good thing I didn’t go. With my being there, it might have been harder for you to control your temper.”

Jared chuckled. “It would have been. If he’d so much as looked at you, I would have torn into him.” Jared took a long drink of his tea, hoping the cold liquid would quell the fire building inside him. “I’ve told my parents we need to talk to them tonight. Mother gave me a sly grin, so I’m guessing she suspects what our conversation will be about.”

“Where are they?”

“I gave them some money, and told them to go out and eat. I didn’t want Mother worrying about cooking tonight.”

“That was sweet. What are we going to do tonight?”

“You mean before they get home?”

“Yeah. How long will they be gone?”

“They probably won’t be home until half past six, maybe seven tonight. Mother said something about doing some shopping after they finished eating. Myra is with them, I know they’ll be that long if not longer.”

Sara laughed. “Myra loves shopping for clothes. I can vouch for that. Which reminds me, how did you like the selection of clothes I bought you?”

Jared grimaced. “Well… most of them were ok, apart for the deep maroon western shirt, with the black leather trim. I
don’t
think I’ll wear that one, it makes me look like a stunt man for a gothic western movie.”

Sara laughed again. “I was afraid of that. It was Myra’s idea. She thought you would look smashing in it, and she
insisted
you would wear it.”

Jared narrowed his eyes, determined. “Well, I’m not!”

“Can’t you just exchange it?”

“Hey, that’s not a bad idea. It wouldn’t hurt us to do some shopping too. We should buy some clothes to wear for the reunion gig.” Jared stood and grinned. “Change of plans. Let’s go shopping, and I’ll show you some of the sites in Phoenix….”

“Shouldn’t I change first? I might look a little underdressed beside you in your suit. Besides, I’m dying to try one of my new dresses.”

“How long will it take you to get ready?”

“Fifteen - maybe thirty minutes – fast enough?”

“That’s fine. I’ll go water Mother’s flowers, so she doesn’t have to do it when they get back. I’ll leave them a note, not to wait up for us. We’ll have a night on the town.”

“Oh wait! What about your parents? You said we needed to talk to them.”

Jared waved it off. “We can tell them in the morning, or tomorrow night. We’re not in any hurry… are we?”

“No, I guess not. Go do whatever it is you need to do, and I’ll be down in half an hour, tops.”

“All right. I’m looking forward to this,” he said, kissing her. “This will be the first time I’ve seen you in a dress. That might not be a good thing.”

“Why?”

“Well, if it makes you any prettier, which I doubt, I might not be able to control myself.” He kissed her again and left.

Chapter 15

Sara put on her red satin, halter-top dress and red satin heels. She was a little self-conscious. The dress was lower in the front than she usually wore it, but Myra had convinced her that Jared would love her in it.

She pulled the sides of her hair to the back, held it with a red glitter barrette, and then put on her makeup. She took a deep breath and with one last look in the mirror made her way down stairs. Jared was sitting in the lounge watching the country music channel when she walked across the floor, her heels making a clicking sound. She stood between him and the TV, twirling around. “Well, what do you think?”

Jared took one look at her, and his eyes turned as red as Sara’s dress. “I think you should go change!”

Sara furrowed her brow. “Why?”

Jared embraced Sara and kissed her passionately. “Because if you don’t, one of us is going to regret how this evening ends.”

Sara smiled. “So you
do
like it then?”

Jared grinned wryly. “Like doesn’t touch it. You look absolutely delectable, and you’re going to drive me mad.”