Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (39 page)

“
I’m not hearing things,
Sam, and I was awake,” Emily told him, holding the baby
closer.

“
It’s probably raccoons up
in the attic. They hiss when they’re scared,” Todd said.

“
Yeah, I guess you’re
right. I’m sorry to have woken you,” she said, and smiled
slightly.

Once the twins went back to bed, Emily
turned to Sam and whispered, “Could it be the heku?”

“
I’m not finding anything,
no scents, no footprints, nothing,” Sam said softly.

Emily nodded and reluctantly went back
into the house. Sam followed her in, and both stopped at the
doorway. The kitchen table had been moved across the floor, but the
chairs were all where she left them. Every cupboard stood open, and
the fridge door was ajar.

“
That… that wasn’t like
that when I came through,” Sam said, confused.

Emily swallowed hard and looked at
him, “It’s the heku, isn’t it?”

Sam shook his head, “No, I don’t smell
one around.”

“
Come, please, stay in the
room while I sleep?” Emily asked. She knew it sounded like the
request of a small child, but she wasn’t comfortable sleeping
alone.

Emily laid back down with Alexis, who
was wide awake after being carried out into the cool night air. It
was a few hours before the baby went to sleep and Emily soon
followed, with Sam asleep on the bedroom floor.

She made extra strong coffee the next
morning, and the twins came in and sat down, also looking tired.
She poured them each a cup and started scrambling some
eggs.

“
What’s on the agenda for
today?” Todd asked her, and then yawned.

“
I say… do the least amount
we can and get to bed early. I’m really sorry about last night,
weird things kept happening,” Emily said, and set some eggs down
for the twins.

“
Like what?” Peter asked,
starting to eat.

“
The table was moved,
cupboards open, that kind of thing,” Emily said, and sat down at
the table. Coffee was all she was up for this morning.

“
Maybe you have a ghost,”
Todd said, and shrugged.

“
Great,” Emily sighed. “I
need to go into town to get a load of hay, any ideas?”

“
Sure!” Todd said. “We can
get some from ol’ Sham off of the reservation. He’ll give the best
price.”

“
Oh that would be great!
Hopefully we can harvest soon and we’ll have a supply through the
winter.” Emily poured everyone a second round of coffee.

“
Are you staying long? Sam
mentioned you’ll be gone a lot,” Peter asked.

“
No, I’ll probably head out
today if I can wake up.” Emily sat her head in her hands and shut
her eyes.

Todd nodded, “We pulling the trailer
with that old truck?”

“
No, take the Durango,
it’ll be more comfortable.”

“
Sweet!” Peter said,
grinning.

Emily helped them hook up the trailer
while Sam kept Alexis inside. She wanted to spend as little time as
possible in the house. Once the twins were out of sight, she
hesitated and then went back inside.

The twins returned several hours later
with a large load of hay. They quickly stacked it in the barn, and
then unhitched the trailer and came into the house. Emily was just
setting out a simple lunch and sat down to eat.

“
Oh great! Lunch.” Todd sat
down and grabbed a grilled cheese.

“
Sorry, it’s nothing
special,” Emily told them. She was still too tired to do much
else.

“
We aren’t picky,” Peter
assured her, taking a sandwich for himself.

Emily picked up Alexis when she
started to cry and went into the living room to nurse her in
private. She tossed a blanket over her shoulder and flipped through
the three TV channels to watch the news.

“
Ma’am?” Todd asked from
the door.

“
Emily, please,” she said,
and motioned him inside. Emily grinned when he looked at everything
in the room to avoid looking at her, even though the baby was
covered.

“
Peter and I… well we were
wondering… if we can have some friends come over. It’s… sort of…
tradition with our friends… to break in a new place to live,” he
said nervously.

“
Oh, a Crow
ritual?”

“
No, just something our
friends started.”

“
I see… what exactly is
this going to entail?” Emily asked, now amused.

“
A small bonfire… some
dancing maybe,” Todd seemed nervous.

“
Yeah, that’d be
fine.”

“
You’re free to join us, it
might be fun,” Todd said, smiling.

“
We’ll see.”

Just after Alexis fell asleep for her
nap, Emily laid down on the bed to also take one. During the
daylight hours, the odd noises from the attic seemed unimportant
and dim. She fell asleep quickly and didn’t wake up until late in
the afternoon when her phone rang.

“
Hmm?” she said, still half
asleep.

“
Em?” Chevalier
asked.

“
Yeah, I’m here,” she said,
and yawned.

Chevalier chuckled, “Were you
asleep?”

“
Yeah, rough night,” Emily
said, and looked over to check on Alexis.

“
Any idea when you’re
coming home?”

“
Heading back tomorrow. I
may try to drive straight through.”

“
Just promise you’ll pull
over if you get tired.”

“
I will, see you when I get
back.”

Chevalier sighed and hung up. She
wondered what was wrong. He seemed short-tempered, and like he was
keeping something from her.

Emily dialed the local pizza place and
ordered dinner. There was no time to make anything, and she didn’t
feel like cooking anyway. She fed Alexis while waiting for the
delivery, and ran downstairs when she heard a knock on the door.
The twins followed the pizza into the house and sat at the
table.

“
I’m assuming you two can
cook and won’t starve to death after I go?” Emily asked, taking a
piece of pizza.

“
Todd cooks, I just eat,”
Peter said, grabbing a slice.

“
Doesn’t Sam ever eat?”
Todd asked.

Emily shrugged, “He’s the quiet type.
I think he mostly eats alone in his bunkhouse.”

Emily started to get up when she heard
a knock at the door, but Todd beat her to it and was followed into
the kitchen by eight other Crow, all dressed in fringed leather
tribal outfits. They also had their hair in tight braids and blue
paint on their faces.

Emily grinned, “Time to start the
party?”

“
Hey, you’re right. She is
cute,” one of the men said, and Peter hit him on the arm and glared
at him.

Emily blushed and picked Alexis
up.

“
You’re joining us, right?”
one of the Crow asked.

“
That would all depend on
what exactly you’re doing,” she said, and watched as Alexis shied
away from one of the men and smiled.

“
Dancing, drinking, that
sort of thing,” Todd said, and Emily noticed he genuinely wanted
her to come.

“
Ok, ok, I’ll come out in a
bit after the baby’s asleep,” Emily said, smiling.

Emily watched from her window as the
bonfire grew and the alcohol was passed among them. She laughed as
their dancing became more erratic and they started to trip over one
another.

“
Are you sure about this?”
Sam asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

Emily nodded and whispered, “Yeah, why
not? Alex is asleep. Come get me if you need me.”

Sam nodded, and Emily slipped out of
the house. She walked timidly toward the bonfire.

“
She’s here!” Todd yelled,
and grabbed her hands to swing her around. One of the Crow brought
a drum, and that was the sole sound used for their dance around the
fire. Emily laughed and watched them, unsure exactly what to
do.

“
You are the ultimate of
pale faces,” Peter said, and looked at her.

Emily shrugged, “I’m an Irish
girl.”

“
Here…” Peter said, and
grabbed a little cup sitting by the fire. He dipped a finger in it,
and Emily winced as she felt him paint her face.

“
That’s great!” Todd yelled
when he saw Emily.

“
Yeah, great,” she said,
looking at them skeptically.

“
Iáxuhke!” Todd yelled, and
the others looked at Emily and then began to dance
again.

Emily frowned, “What was
that?”

“
We gave you a Crow
name.”

“
How did you say
that?”

“
It’s ia-ch-oo-hk-ay,” he
said slowly, but his words were still slurred. Emily wasn’t sure if
she could even pronounce it with the guttural sound in the middle,
something similar to the Germans in her Dad’s old
movies.

“
I’ll just take your word
for it,” she said, and turned when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
One of the men handed her a large clay cup.

“
Drink some,” he told her,
and she smelled the contents of the cup before handing it
back.

“
No seriously,” he said,
and handed it back to her.

Emily took a hesitant sip, but the
Crow pushed the cup so she ended up with a mouthful of the
bitter-tasting liquid. She swallowed it with a grimace, and handed
it back.

She watched the others dance, but soon
found that the flames from the fire would move away and start to
dance with them. She frowned as the Crow and the flames danced in
unison around the bonfire, then she sunk slowly to the ground and
looked up at the stars. They swirled above her head and spoke to
her softly about the heku and her life with them.

The stars showed her life before the
heku, and the constant stress over running a farm, working
full-time, and trying to keep from making Keith mad. She saw
visions of him as he cheated on her, and then accused her of doing
the same. The beatings flashed before her eyes. How pitiful she’d
been, how self-conscious, and submissive she once was.

A flash from the sky changed to the
present, with Allen, and Alexis, and how she couldn’t imagine
living without Chevalier. She watched as he walked through the
palace alone, looking around him for anything out of the ordinary.
Kyle stopped to talk to him for a bit, but soon left. Chevalier
wandered slowly up to the bedroom and looked around at the empty
room, the dark TV, and the perfectly made bed.

Emily was barely aware that she was
being carried, but fell fast asleep as soon as she was laid in bed
and covered with soft blankets.

Emily pulled the Durango into the
palace garage and cut the engine. She kept her sunglasses on, even
though it was night time. Her head was pounding since she’d woken
up after the party, and though she scrubbed, she still had blue
streaks painted across her face that she couldn’t seem to get
off.

Chevalier appeared by the door and
opened it, then pulled Emily into a tight hug. Her stomach lurched
at the sudden movement, and she fought to keep from throwing up
right in the garage.

“
Mmmm, I missed you,”
Chevalier said, kissing the top of her head.

“
I missed you, too,” Emily
finally managed to say. Chevalier pulled away from her and looked
at her oddly.

“
Have fun?”

Emily nodded, and watched as Chevalier
opened the door and picked up the sleeping baby.

“
What’s with the war
paint?” he chuckled.

“
It won’t come off,” she
said, sighing.

“
Did you join a Native
American tribe while you were gone?” Chevalier took her hand and
they started into the palace.

“
To be honest, I don’t know
exactly what I did last night.”

“
Must have been
fun.”

“
No, I don’t think it was.”
Emily tried to remember any part of the night, but couldn’t seem to
recall anything.

“
I see. Well you must be
exhausted. Why don’t you go lay down.”

Emily nodded and followed him up to
the room. The stairs seemed gruelingly longer than normal, and all
she wanted to do was go to bed.

Once in the bedroom, Emily slid off
her jeans and crawled into bed. Chevalier put Alexis down in the
bassinet and sat on the edge of the bed.

“
Ugh, my thigh is burning,”
Emily said softly.

Chevalier frowned, “When did that
start?”

“
The night we got back from
Paris.”

“
Em?” he asked, touching
her hair softly.

“
Hmm?” Emily was too tired
and too comfortable to answer.

“
You smell like peyote,”
Chevalier chuckled.

“
I wondered what that drink
was,” she mumbled.

He seemed highly amused, “I’m
surprised you didn’t stay an extra day so you would feel
better.”