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

Chapter Six

I watched Renn dip his head closer to whatever monitor he was looking at and narrow his eyes, making sure it was me. He sat back and cast a glance to his left at his uncle. My heart slammed erratically in my chest at the site of him, but judging by the lack of reaction on Renn's face, it was a minor surprise that he was now over.

Coyote kept his face neutral but on Leonard's high definition television, I could see Coyote's mouth tighten into a taut line when he saw me. Part of me liked the reaction, honestly. Leonard stood closer to the television's small camera and crossed his arms.

The gauntlet had been thrown and it was Coyote's turn to react.

Wisely, neither he nor Renn did.

"Hello, Coyote," Leonard said. "Renn, good to see you."

Both men on screen nodded but still said nothing. Renn was staring ahead still looking at the screen. Was he looking at me?

"We've had some interesting developments around here we thought you should know about," Leonard got straight to the point. "We think something is planning to break across the Divide."

Leonard explained the morning voices, the vision in the smoke, and the slaughtered livestock around the ranch. Watching Coyote for a reaction, it surprised me that he didn't have an answer at the ready.

"Do you have any idea what you're working with?" Coyote asked.

"No," Leonard said. "But July seems to think it's a female spirit. That narrows it down a little."

Renn muttered something unintelligible toward Coyote who shrugged. What had he said?

"How can you be sure of what she saw?" Coyote said. "Did you see it too?"

Leonard moved to sit down next to Billie as he spoke.

"I saw some of what she described, yes. But I didn't see anything near the level of detail she did. It was remarkable what she could describe."

Renn whispered to Coyote again and they had a short, impossible-to-hear conversation among themselves that was entirely rude. I got a little fidgety and scooted forward on the sofa, unsure of whether I should sit, stand, or back flip down the hall to get rid of these annoying nerves and mixed emotions. I hated Renn. I needed to see his face again. He broke my heart. He made my heart beat for the first time in seventeen years.

"The dead animals outside the wards is troubling enough," Billie said. "What's worse is the attempt the spirit made to get through the vision at the campfire. From what Leonard described, the force was strong enough to knock them both over. That's rare—and very dangerous."

Coyote leaned forward to speak and when he did, it was apparent he was uncomfortable with the idea of a hidden microphone in the laptop because he spoke really, really loudly.

"That's quite a story," he began and I bristled. I knew where he was going with this before he even started. Jerk. "But even if it's true, do you think maybe the spirits are reacting to an outsider disturbing them?"

Damn. There it was.

I felt myself deflate even further when Renn didn't register a reaction to his uncle's words. I truly was an outsider to him, too. All of that crap about his mother and his worries that I'd end up hurt, too? Garbage. I looked up at the large version of Renn in front of me on that screen and felt a little something break inside of me. I'd thought I was already damaged, but he'd just crushed the last shred of hope I'd held for us by letting his Uncle use the word outsider like an insult.