Fall into Fire (Shamans of the Divide, Book 2)

Chapter Three

Sitting around the kitchen table later that night, I listened as Leonard recounted the tale to

Billie. Billie and I sipped some fancy tea made for people who did a lot of yoga, which to the best

of my knowledge, no one around the Whalen ranch did. Leonard drank iced tea. Even close to

midnight, the man drank heavily sweetened iced tea.

I made a face as he tipped the sugary syrup back and emptied his glass.

"Don't judge me," he growled with a wink as he set the tumbler down with a plunk.

"I don't know what to make of it," Billie said, her hands tracing circles on the wood.

"I've never heard of anything like that."

Glancing up at the clock above the stove, I stifled a yawn.

"Sorry," I mumbled, pulling myself together. "I can't help but try to put two and two

together and wonder if what we saw has anything to do with what I've been hearing."

Nobody said anything for a stretch, but I knew they felt the same way. I could see it on

their faces.

"It makes sense in a way," I said. "Ernie told me once that the wind was speaking my

name back in Shades. I could never hear it, but maybe it's the same thing?"

Billie sighed and ran her hand over her face. I could tell she was tired, too.

"I wish I had a better answer for you," she said, looking at me. "But you defy just about

everything we know, even without meaning to. The same rules that apply to the council don't

necessarily apply to you."

"Like hearing the spirit in the fire?"

Leonard stood up to get himself another glass of tea.

"Just like that," he said, stirring half a pound of cane sugar over the ice cubes. "My whole

life, my visions have seemed perfectly clear to me. Misty and unfocused, sure, but I could always

glean from them what I needed. No sound. I've always been deaf when I'm dealing with the spirit

world."

I thought about the woman in the smoke. There was nothing unclear about her.

"And then you finally get access to a vision," he continued. "And it's like you get this all-

access glimpse into the divide. I don't get it."

A cell phone on the counter chirped an alert and Leonard handed Billie her phone. She

squinted at the screen and frowned. Leonard noticed and raised an eyebrow at her.