Footprints

7

As they approached the small house, Annja could see that the roof sagged in the middle and the gutters hung away from the roofline. The night’s storm could not have been much help to the obviously aged exterior, with its gray paint flaking off in piles by the stone foundation.

A rough-hewn wooden rail led up to a planked porch. Two rain barrels set at either corner overflowed from the rainfall.

“Great place,” Annja said.

Joey smirked. “You’re kidding, right? It’s falling apart.”

“Well, yeah, but in a nice rustic way.”

Joey turned and mounted the steps. Annja followed, and as she did so the front door opened, letting out a wash of light onto the porch. Backlit, Annja could just make out the form of a man in a wheelchair waving them in.

Joey bent and hugged his grandfather. “Grandpa.”

“Creeping Wolf,” the old man said. “I see you’ve been busy tonight.”

Joey nodded and stepped back, letting Annja into the house. “This is Annja Creed. She needs your help.”

“About the woman?”

Joey nodded.

Annja frowned. “How does he know that?”

Joey shrugged. “I told him.”

“When?”

“When I took a second to contact him.”

Annja frowned. “Telepathy?”

Joey’s grandfather coughed and waved his hand. “You see? Everyone tries to rationalize everything. That’s the problem with people these days.” He motioned to Annja. “Come in and sit by the fire. You look cold.”

Annja walked inside and saw that the interior was much nicer than the exterior had led her to believe. A large stone fireplace occupied the central place in the living room. Beautiful, intricate Native American tapestries hung from the walls. The floor was covered in a thick rug that looked like bearskin, although she couldn’t be sure.

She chose the threadbare recliner to sit in and marveled at how comfortable it was. Her spine relaxed into it and the cushions adjusted perfectly to her frame.

Joey’s grandfather smiled. “Comfy chair, ain’t it?”

“Very.”

The old man wheeled himself over to the fire. In the twinkling light, Annja could see the wrinkled skin that looked like aged leather. His beard was almost entirely white and hung about two inches below his chin.

He spun around then and eyed her closely. After a moment he smiled. “You may call me Dancing Deer.”

Annja frowned. The name simply didn’t fit, given the old man’s condition. Had it been some sort of cruel joke that someone had given him that name?

Dancing Deer merely smiled. “I wasn’t always like this. In my youth, I ran through the woods with the joy of a deer that has just found its strength. Even now, the soul of a mighty buck beats within my chest. Legs aside, I am still a mighty warrior.”

Annja bowed her head. “I’m honored to meet you. I’ve heard a great deal about you from Creeping Wolf.”

Dancing Deer nodded. “My grandson is a credit to his people. And he’s a fine scout in his own right. He has a lot to learn still, but I can see that he has been very useful to you already.”

“And I’m hoping you can be just as useful,” Annja said. “I need your help to find my friend, Jenny.”

Dancing Deer nodded gravely. “I can see that. The concern you have for your friend is evident on your face. It troubles your spirit greatly.”

“If something should happen to her, it would be my burden,” Annja said. “I do not wish for any harm to come to her.”

“Very well,” Dancing Deer said. “Then I must ask you to sit still and allow me to track her.”

Joey sat down on the couch. “I was the last to see her, Grandpa.”

Dancing Deer nodded. “Come and kneel beside me for a moment.”

Annja watched as Joey got off the couch and knelt next to Dancing Deer’s wheelchair. The old man placed one hand on Joey’s head and then closed his eyes. Annja could see him muttering something under his breath and then it was over quickly.

Dancing Deer looked at Joey. “Bring the sage, please.”

Joey ran from the room and Annja could hear him rummaging through drawers, presumably in the kitchen. When he returned, he had a large bundle of leaves in his hand. Annja recognized it as the sage Dancing Deer had requested.

“Light it and let it smolder, please.”

Joey leaned in close to the fire and let the bundle catch a kiss from one of the flames. The fire ate into the dried herbs and then Joey waved it to extinguish the flame. Smoke wafted into the room and Annja took a nice deep breath. The effect of the sage was relaxing.

Dancing Deer still had his eyes closed. “Move it around the room until we are surrounded by its essence.”

Joey circled the room, letting the smoke hang in the air until it permeated everything. Finally he set the smoldering bundle in a small dish near the fire. Smoke continued to drift toward the ceiling.

Annja could feel her own eyelids getting heavy again. She desperately wanted to stay awake and watch Dancing Deer undertake the spirit track, but she wasn’t sure that it was possible.

Dancing Deer looked to Joey again. “I am ready.”

Joey glanced at Annja. “You need to be absolutely quiet, okay?”

She nodded.

Dancing Deer’s eyes closed again, and this time he started a low chant that seemed to rumble up from somewhere deep inside his chest. As she listened to it, Annja could feel herself being carried along. A drum joined in the chant and she realized that Joey must have been drumming along in time to it.

Dancing Deer continued to chant and the drumming kept pace the entire way. Annja could feel herself starting to fall fast asleep.

She had to stay awake!

The chanting and drumming continued and now a new voice joined in. Joey was chanting along with his grandfather. How on earth were they going to be able to find Jenny? Annja desperately wanted to ask them but Joey had warned her not to make any noise. Whatever they were doing, clearly Annja saying anything would disrupt the procedure.

She relaxed and breathed deeply, inhaling and exhaling as she felt herself get lighter and lighter. The smell of sweet sage in the room drifted in and out of her lungs, and seemed to seep into every one of her muscles, making them relax even further.

The more Annja relaxed, the deeper she seemed to sink into the chair and the lighter she felt. It was an odd sort of sensation. While she’d experimented with hypnosis before, this was nothing like it. She was relaxed and deeply in some sort of state, but she simultaneously felt like she could lift right out of her chair as if she had no weight whatsoever.

The drumming and chanting seemed farther away now, as if Annja was somehow removed from it in some respects. She turned her eyes inward and saw the sword hanging in the space in her mind’s eye where it always resided. She could reach out and touch it if she wanted. But somehow she knew her attention was needed elsewhere.

She looked outward and, in an instant, found herself drifting up and out of the chair toward the ceiling. Then she was carried through the house and out into the dark night again. She could hear the wind but felt none of its cold bite.

She turned toward the woods where she and Joey had come from and let herself float that way. She drifted down the trail quickly, her feet never touching the ground at all.

Annja kept breathing deeply. Somehow the sage smell still lingered in her nostrils. Somehow it still kept relaxing her, even while she was outside of the house.

The thought that she was traveling out of her body occurred to Annja and she looked back to see if there was some type of thread connecting her body as she’d often read about. She could see nothing.

Perhaps this was what it was like to die?

Annja kept traveling down the path. She rolled over the hills and down into the valleys. She could taste the air. And soon enough she found herself back where she and Joey had started.

The pine boughs still held the impression of Jenny’s body. Annja rose up above the ground and looked at the area from a different perspective. Whoever had grabbed Jenny would have scared her possibly. Jenny must have felt some type of fear, even in her weakened state.

What would it be like, she wondered, to lay there so vulnerable and know that you couldn’t do anything? Her heart started beating faster. Annja felt her pulse quicken at the thought of the sudden looming presence that might have carried her off.

Who was it? she wondered.

Where was she?

The fear was palpable; Annja could feel it envelop her body and her mind like some kind of blanket. She wanted to shrug it off and feel relaxed again, but a voice inside her told her this was necessary. She needed to know this fear.

Annja embraced it then, allowing herself to be swept up into the rising tide of anxiety that Jenny would have felt. And as she did so, her body shifted. She was zooming along the ground again, but no longer in control of herself. It was as if she’d stepped on a carnival ride and been whisked away from where she was.

Something was happening.

In the far distance, she could still hear the drums and chanting. It reassured her to know they were still there, but then Jenny’s fear overwhelmed her again and she continued her journey.

Her body flew over the landscape to places that Annja didn’t recognize. Hills too steep to climb rushed at her as she continued to move on and on, higher and higher until she felt as if she was above the treeline.

And then darkness.

It surrounded Annja. She could taste the fear in her mouth. Where was she? Who had taken her? She had no sensation of what had transported her, only that she was somewhere dark and dank.

It wasn’t too cold, though. Somehow there was warmth in this place.

And then she heard the soft sound of crying in the darkness.

“Jenny?”

But no one answered her. Annja frowned. Of course not. If she was still sitting in the chair in Dancing Deer’s home, there’d be no way for Jenny to hear her.

Still…

“Jenny?”

There was no response. Annja frowned. “I think you’re in a cave up on a mountain almost above the treeline. If you can hear me, try to get out of there and work your way down. I’ll try to find you.”

It felt good saying that, and as soon as that relief washed over Annja, the darkness disappeared and she was flying back down the mountain to where she’d begun her journey. Everything happened in reverse. And then Annja was back by the pine boughs.

The drumming grew louder. So did the chanting. Annja realized that her trip was over. She could smell the sage again. She could feel the heat of the living room. She wanted to be back in the chair.

She flew down the trail. Back over the hills and valleys. And then into the air.

Annja drifted back toward Dancing Deer’s home and then down through the ceiling, finally coming to rest in the chair.

The drumming and chanting grew louder now as she felt herself sink into the flesh of her own body.

Annja opened her eyes and felt incredibly light and refreshed. Dancing Deer’s voice trailed off. So did Joey’s drumming.

After a moment, Dancing Deer opened his eyes and stared right at Annja. “Did you have a pleasant journey?”

Annja smiled. “I don’t know what happened to me.”

Dancing Deer nodded. “I think you do, actually. You were the one to whom your friend has the strongest connection. As such, you were the one to take the journey. Not I.”

“You mean I spirit tracked her?”

“I don’t know,” Dancing Deer said. “Did you?”

“I’m not sure.” Annja frowned. “There was a lot of darkness.”

“But you know where to look now, don’t you?” Annja closed her eyes and then smiled. “Actually, I think I do.”

8

Dancing Deer looked at Annja closely. “Be careful. You are still learning to trust your instincts. At this point, it can be very dangerous to be too trusting or too little trusting. Do you understand?”

Annja frowned. “I…I guess I do.”

“You need only trust in the spirit that moves in all things. The Creator will guide you to what you seek.”

The sage smoke had ceased billowing from the bundle and all that remained were the blackened bits of the herb in the dish. But Annja could still smell the sweet scent in the air.

Joey got up and took the dish to the kitchen. Annja could hear him washing it before he once again returned to the living room. “You ready to go?”

Annja rose from the recliner, feeling as if she’d been asleep for hours. She stretched and heard her back creak a bit. “I guess so.” She smiled at Dancing Deer. “That is one comfortable chair you’ve got there.”

Dancing Deer grinned. “And as soon as you’re gone, I’m going to fall asleep in it.”

Joey gave his grandfather a hug. “Thanks for your help.”

Annja could see the pride in Dancing Deer’s eyes as he hugged his grandson. “Don’t be gone too long or I’ll worry.”

“You don’t need to,” Joey said.

“You’re all I have left. I don’t have a choice but to worry.”

Joey stepped back and nodded. Then he turned to Annja. “Let’s go.”

Outside, the night sky was filled with stars not overshadowed by the brilliance of the moon in the western sky. Annja picked out several constellations and marveled at how much she could see.

“Annja?”

She looked at Joey. “Sorry, it’s just so beautiful here.”

“We can look at it later.” Joey pointed. “We need to get going. Did you see the direction we need to head in?”

“Let’s start back at where you left Jenny. I was there and then I was taken away after I tuned into her…fear, I guess.”

Joey nodded. “Dancing Deer says that is one way to do it. By tuning into the emotions of the person you’re trying to track, it’s very easy to find them. Fear is one of the strongest. Rage and lust are others.”

“Lust?”

Joey shrugged. “I don’t know much about that one yet. But the things that people obsess over are stronger than just basic emotions. Pretty interesting stuff, huh?”

“Definitely.”

Joey led them back down the road and into the woods again. Annja laughed. I feel as if this is the third time I’ve traveled this route tonight. I’m almost getting tired of seeing it again.

Joey glanced back at her. “Old hat to you now, huh?”

“I was just thinking that.”

“Happened to me, too. The first time I did it.”

Annja frowned. “I thought you said you didn’t know how to do it. That’s why we went and saw your grandfather.”

“What I said was I wasn’t skilled enough at leading someone else on a spirit track. I knew it would have to be you.”

“You never mentioned that.”

“Would you have believed me?”

“Possibly.”

Joey chuckled. “I guess maybe you would have.”

They wound their way back down the trail. Annja’s legs knew the terrain by now and she was surprised at how relaxed she felt as she moved along. It was almost as if she was able to sense the flow of the land, to read it before she reached it and adjust her body accordingly. The result was she wasn’t nearly as exhausted this time.

Joey led them back to the hill where he’d left Jenny. “Okay. Now what?”

Annja glanced around. The last time she’d been there, she’d been out of her body and tuning into Jenny’s emotional state. But now, being there in the flesh, it didn’t seem possible to do what she’d done back at Dancing Deer’s home.

“I don’t know.”

“Annja.”

Annja shook her head. “It doesn’t look familiar. I don’t know if I can do this again.”

“Of course you can. You just need to stop thinking that it’s different now from how it was when you were in the chair. It’s not different. It’s the same. It’s all connected.”

Annja closed her eyes. She tried to remember how she’d felt when she reached this point. She could feel her heartbeat increase as the waves of fear gripped her insides again. She was Jenny. She was feeling the approach of some kind of unseen danger. And then she was swept up.

Running.

Running.

Through the trees and across the hills and the valleys. Branches whipped past her face. She could smell the wet pines, the dampness of the rain on the air. She could hear the breezes rustling the leaves and the deadfall. She could feel her feet on the slippery mud, but somehow kept her balance just the same.

And still she could feel Jenny’s fear. She knew it now like it was her own. And she saw the darkness that surrounded Jenny.

The cave.

Annja opened her eyes and nearly fell over.

She wasn’t by the pine boughs where Joey had left Jenny. She was somewhere else. Far away from where they’d been. Miles away, in fact.

Joey stood nearby. He was smiling. “Hey.”

“Hey, yourself. Where the hell are we?”

Joey shrugged. “I don’t really know. This isn’t a part of the woods that I’ve explored before.”

“I thought you knew everywhere.”

“Nope. This is a lot of land. Parts of this place are almost inaccessible. Frankly, when you took off running, I was a bit concerned I’d lose you. If you’d kept up with me like that earlier, we might have found Jenny even faster.”

“Funny guy. I don’t even remember moving.”

Joey nodded. “Yeah, well, when you suddenly forget about keeping your body, mind and spirit together, crazy things can happen.”

“I guess.”

Joey glanced around. “This is some pretty steep terrain. You think Jenny’s around here somewhere?”

“A cave,” Annja said. She could see the darkness. “I think she’s in a cave somewhere above us.”

“We’re almost above the treeline as it is,” Joey said. “But these mountains and hills are packed with isolated areas that are almost impossible to get through. She could be in any one of them. Can you narrow it down some before we start poking our noses into every cave we come across?”

“How would I do that?”

Joey shrugged. “Close your eyes again.”

“Okay.”

“One thing.”

Annja opened her eyes. “What?”

“This time, try to consciously move a little slower, would you? You almost had me tired out back there.”

Annja grinned. “All right.”

She closed her eyes and tried to focus on the darkness. If Jenny was in a cave, they would need to know where it was.

But instead of feeling like she could see the darkness, Annja found that she couldn’t concentrate on the pitch-black interior any longer. For some reason, it didn’t feel right.

She opened her eyes.

“Something wrong?”

“I don’t know. I closed my eyes and tried to tune into Jenny again, but I don’t see any darkness. I’m trying to see the cave, but it’s not working for some reason.”

“Weird,” Joey said.

“Maybe I’m not doing it right?”

“Maybe, but a lot of this stuff is just done by gut instinct. If something feels wrong, that usually means it is.”

“So you think I’m doing it wrong.”

“I didn’t say that. I just said if it feels wrong, then perhaps something has changed that we can’t see just yet.”

“Like what?”

Joey shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe Jenny’s not in a cave anymore.”

“You think they moved her?”

Joey frowned. “Did you say anything to her when you were spirit tracking?”

“I called her name a couple of times.”

“Yeah, anything else?”

Annja frowned. “As a matter of fact, I think I told her to find a way out of the cave and that we’d find her.”

“There ya go. She’s probably making her way back down to us even as we stand here.”

Annja looked around. “Really?”

“Why not?”

“Well, I didn’t think she heard me.”

“She probably didn’t hear you in the way that you would if we were speaking normally. But subconsciously she might have suddenly gotten the idea to leave the cave and then done so.”

Annja looked at him. “Is that how you contacted Dancing Deer when we were on our way to see him?”

“Something like that.”

“Pretty incredible.”

“Nah, not really. That’s another problem with this stuff. When people find out, they always want to mumbo jumbo it up. Turn it into something mystical or magical when it’s anything but that. The most incredible things are inherent in everyone. It’s just that we forget about them or don’t use them enough so that, over time, the edges get dull. And eventually we forget we have them at all. It’s kind of sad, really, when you see the majority of people sort of sleepwalking through their lives. The reality of waking up to the truth is always so much more amazing than you’d think.”

“Through the looking glass, right?”

Joey frowned. “Huh?”

“Never mind. So where would you suggest we look for Jenny, then? She could be anywhere.”

Joey shook his head. “I say we stay right here and that she’ll probably be along shortly.”

“Of all the places in these woods, you think she’s just going to wander down in front of us?”

“Why not?”

Annja smiled. “Methinks you’ve got a lot of faith.”

“Just a confidence in the way the Creator works, that’s all. If that’s faith, then so be it. But I don’t get all religious about it. Just appreciative.”

“Thankful.”

“Exactly.”

Joey hunkered down on a nearby log and started studying the ground. Annja watched him as he ran his hands over the dirt. “Any tracks?”

Joey shrugged. “Not sure, actually. I see some depressions, but I can’t tell what made them.”

“Really?”

He looked up. “Well, like I said before, I’m still studying. I can’t get out here every single day when school’s in session. I still have to do homework.”

“Sorry.”

“Forget it.”

Joey went back to studying the ground. “Funny thing, though, whatever made this was pretty large.”

“Meaning?”

“Nothing, I guess. I’d sure like to know what track this is. There are no real impressions, just a displacement of dirt. It’s weird.”

“Why are you guys looking at the ground?”

Annja glanced up. Coming out of the trees in front of them was Jenny Chu.

9

Annja couldn’t contain herself. She rushed up and grabbed Jenny in a bear hug. “Thank God you’re alive!”

Jenny nodded and Annja let her go. “I don’t know what happened exactly.”

Joey frowned. “When I left you, you were passed out asleep.”

Jenny smiled. “I think it was that tea you made me. It was so warm and delicious. I just about went out after a few sips of that stuff.”

“Old family recipe,” Joey said. “But what happened? I wouldn’t have left you if I’d known you were going to up and leave like that.”

Annja brought Jenny over to the side of the trail. “Are you feeling all right? Joey can make a fire if you need one.”

“I’m okay, actually,” Jenny said. “Getting down here helped warm me up, so that’s a good thing.”

Joey squatted and looked closely at Jenny. “Well, considering how bad off you were when I found you, I’d say that’s definitely a good thing. You made a remarkable recovery for someone who was struggling with hypothermia. Pretty impressive.”

Jenny nodded. “I feel a lot better.”

“So,” Annja said, “can you tell us what happened to you?”

Jenny took a deep breath. “I left the camp early this morning. I’d come because a contact of mine out here found some tracks.”