Between Earth and Sky | ✓

Part 5: Close to the Truth

"Earth to Mira." The familiar, masculine voice comes to me from a distance, as if the speaker is at the other end of a long tunnel.

"Yo, sis," another chimes in. The sound is much closer and there's less of an echo, making me blink in rapid succession to search for its source. When my eyes focus on the half-dozen naked young men standing in the nearby basin, I know I'm still in my previous delusion.

"You're not real," I state matter-of-factly, as if it's even worth arguing with ghosts. The realization that actual sounds escape my lips doesn't strike me for another beat, when I reach to my mouth and gasp. "Oh my dog. I can talk!"

Three body-lengths away, Sam nudges Bryce. "We just turned from fricking birds right in front of her, and all she cares about is her yapper."

They all laugh, but I put my hands on my hips and pout. "Real funny, but I'd care more if you weren't a hallucination."

"Oh, yeah?" Roland raises an inquisitive brow. "Could I do this if I wasn't real?" Quickly drawing his hand across the surface of the water, he splashes me.

The cold droplets land on my shirt, and the light blue fabric turns darker underneath. "Uhm, yeah because I'm imagining this, too." I take a small step backward to avoid any repeats, just in case.

"Good grief, kid." Lane shakes his head, scattering water from his thick, black hair onto his shoulders. "We don't have time for this."

"Why not? You got a hot date with Laura?" I can't resist teasing, especially since he called me kid. It's bad enough my oldest brothers say it. I don't need it from one who's just two years my senior. "Or was it Sarah?"

"Listen, Mira." Clay takes over. "We're very much real, and we need your help."

I wish I could believe him, but I'm still not convinced. "All right, but how is this possible?"

A muscle twitches in his jaw and I can tell he's losing patience, but he takes a deep breath before answering. "Remember Grandma Dawson's stories? All the stuff about our tribal legends?"

I nod, recalling tales of the benevolent, but trickster raven or the man-eating owl she would use to lull me to sleep when I was younger. How I never had nightmares from that, I'll never know.

"You never questioned any of those." Clay shrugs. "Why is this different?"

Because I'm not ten anymore, I think, but bite my lip from making him any angrier. I mean if this is real, then he's already had a pretty crappy day without my added sass. Because he's still waiting for a response, though, I cross my arms and let out an exasperated huff. "Fine."

"Good. Now listen carefully because we really haven't got much time." He looks over his shoulder as Cody groans; my youngest brother is cradling his limp, left arm against his body.

"You're hurt." My maternal instincts kick in and I lunge off the rock, but Sam puts up his hand to stop me.

"Whoa there, cupcake. Family or not, you need to respect some boundaries here." He points to the shallow water barely hiding them from the waist down.

"Oh." I back up as my face flushes. "Sorry. You were saying?"

"That rig shouldn't be there," Clay continues. "It can't be rebuilt, and you need to stop it."

I don't know what I was expecting him to say, but this sure as heck wasn't it. "Wh...what?" I stutter.

Moving forward, Bryce takes over. "You need to do everything you can to make sure that forty-nine isn't fixed and put back into operation."