Spirit Warrior

Chapter 1

1

The wind picked up, carrying with it the smell of late fall, of damp vegetation and sour apples. It played with Adi’s hair, although she barely noticed the cold breeze. Too many eyes were staring at her. Adi’s skin itched with the attention. She wasn’t usually this shy, but the weight of all the glares made her afraid to lift her head.

“Come on, Adi, they won’t bite. Let me introduce you. They’re my family—they’ll love you.”

As much as I do. Adi understood Honi’s unspoken words.

How many people were there? Forty? Fifty? Had the entire Mekui’te tribe come out to greet them? Adi shivered. The smell of early snow made her nose twitch. It brought bad memories of a woman with white eyes, forcing her to make a choice between Honi’s life and a lifelong thrall.

She shuddered when an ice-cold gust blew across the open space where Honi had parked their rental. He had called ahead, laughing and joking with his old friend and mentor, John. The shaman of the Mekui’te tribe had expected them hours earlier, but they’d gotten held up at the airport. Their luggage had gone missing for a few hours, plus the rental car hadn’t been ready yet.

When they’d finally driven the five hours from the airport to the reservation, they had to take turns because both of them had been exhausted after the long trip from Germany back to the U.S. The closer they’d gotten to their destination, the more Honi’d woken up. His excitement to see his family again after more than a year had been so infectious that Adi’d swallowed down her apprehension.

Until now. She kept a smile on her face, trying to appear relaxed and at ease. Inside, she was anything but. There was something disconcerting standing in front of such a large group of people, most of who looked at her with suspicion.

Was it because she was a stranger? Had John told the community she was a spirit walker? She couldn’t imagine he had. So why the hostility that wafted from the silent group like an invisible cloud?

Honi was talking to a tall man with a black Stetson pulled deep into his craggy face. His eyes were warm as he hugged Honi to him. Adi remembered meeting him in the hospital when she’d sat next to Honi’s bed, waiting for him to wake up from a coma. His name was Jim Fisher, and he was Honi’s father.

She watched him for a moment as the two men chatted excitedly. He looked just like Honi would when he got older. Still tall and lean, only the lines around his eyes betrayed his age. Her boyfriend turned towards her and waved her over. She kept her eyes on Jim Fisher’s face as she approached, smiling politely.

His expression changed from one second to the next. Gone was the warmth, the humor. Instead, he crossed his arms and spread his legs, anchoring himself. Adi had already stuck out her hand, ready to shake his. Confused, she pulled it back. She looked at Honi, who seemed equally baffled.

After an awkward silence, Adi spoke, still keeping a timid smile on her face. “Mr. Fisher? Do you remember me? We met at—”

“I know who you are.” The words were harsh, underlined by his angry expression.

“You are the woman responsible for Honi giving up his entire future. For you, he dropped university, and followed you to Germany. And now you have the nerve to come here, with him, asking for my blessing? You, an outsider to this community?”

He stared at her, his dark eyes blazing with fury. Adi swallowed hard. She hadn’t been sure how she would be greeted. She’d been nervous about meeting Honi’s family, but had not expected this level of hostility towards her.

Her eyeballs grew hot, and tears welled up. Driving all the way to the reservation had taken forever. During the entire journey, Honi had told her stories about his family. About his relationship with John and many of the elders. He’d made her laugh so many times with funny stories about how lovable and unique the tribe’s people were. Adi had expected that they might be slow to accept her. But she’d been unprepared to be shut out like this from the very first moment she met Honi's family.

Adi's hands balled into fists. She fought back tears of exhaustion and humiliation. Then she blinked her eyes open again, fiercely determined to not show any weakness. A familiar emotion welled up. How dared they treat her like this? They didn't even know her. They had no idea what Honi and Adi had been through. It was a miracle that they made it out the other side alive and well. Adi had sacrificed the rest of her life in servitude to the faerie queen, with the understanding that Honi could never find out.

“Honi,” she whispered. When he didn't turn around and continued staring at his father, she repeated louder, “Honi!”

He whirled around. His obvious confusion and sadness calmed her down a little bit and softened her next words.

"I'm really tired. Can we please postpone all this until tomorrow? I don't want to stand here in the freezing wind and argue with these people."

She waved her hand dismissively at Honi's tribe—not the nicest choice of words, but she was pissed at her treatment. Honi's eyebrows drew together as the only outward sign of irritation with the way she’d just shrugged off his entire family. He took her arm and without saying another word to his father, he led her back to the car.

The plan had been to stay with his parents, but instead, Honi drove to the only motel within ten miles of the reservation. After he’d checked them in, he silently carried their suitcases into the double room. Adi was glad he’d done so without asking, because the tiredness was now so enveloping that she could barely keep her head up.

It wasn't a five-star luxury hotel, but the linens were reasonably clean, and the room smelled only a little. Adi sat down at the edge of the bed, too numb and exhausted even to cry. Honi sat next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. He looked as upset as she felt.

"I'm so sorry. I don't know why he acted the way he did.” He pulled her in tighter, and Adi put her head on his shoulder. “Let's get a good night’s sleep, and tomorrow we’ll go back and start over."

Adi nodded, and after they’d gotten undressed and slipped under the covers, she cuddled close to Honi's warm body, and immediately fell into an exhausted sleep.

She woke up in the middle of the night, her stomach grumbling, reminding her they had skipped dinner last night. When she checked her cell phone, it was only three o’clock in the morning. Too early to get up, yet she was too wired to go back to sleep.

Her head churning, she threw on some comfortable clothes from her suitcase and walked outside. She closed her eyes and allowed the darkness to wash over her. This was very different from Germany. It was cold up here, yet more refreshing than chilling. There was very little light pollution, and the stars shone clearly like diamond pinpricks in black velvet.

She sat outside the room for a while, ignoring the creeping cold moving up her legs. Coyotes were howling in the distance, too far away to be a danger. Adi closed her eyes and allowed herself to slip into a light trance. She tentatively pushed her mind into the dark to see who or what was out there. So many animals that her eyes couldn’t see but her spirit walker mind touched briefly before moving on.

None of the creatures were spirit animals, just ordinary run-of-the-mill mammals. The coyotes were blue dots at the outside range of her vision. Closer-by were green and pink spots, rabbits, and some foxes. There were larger animals in the forests behind the motel—elk, deer, even some antelopes.

As she was about to pull out of her trance, something moved beyond the distant blue of the coyotes. It was fractured, like light reflecting from a broken glass bottle. It was nothing that Adi had ever experienced, either in the human or the spirit world.

She sat up straight, the surprise of her discovery drawing her mind back to the surface. She took a deep breath, centered herself, and tried to get back to the calm, perfectly even state. But it was no use. Whatever had been there, was now gone. Adi opened her eyes and shook her head.

Maybe it had been her imagination. She was exhausted, the jet-lag hitting her hard as it always did. She couldn't be sure if what she’d seen had really been there. She shrugged it off and went back to slip under the warm covers with Honi.