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

Chapter Thirteen

Billie left me standing with Adoette as she left to make a big breakfast for everyone else. Down the hall behind Adoette, I heard Coyote moving around. I had no idea where on the property Leonard and his beaver mug had gone.

"Ready to chat a little?" Adoette asked me, motioning to the set of couches in the living room. I nodded and followed behind her as she slowly walked and sat down. I moved to sit on the opposite sofa from her but she clucked her tongue.

"Why won't you share a seat with me?" She chided, patting the cushion next to her. "You don't always need to be on guard. Especially not with me. I won't hurt your feelings, I promise."

I blushed a little. Were my sensitive feelings widely known or something? What had Renn and Coyote told her?

I sat.

"I have heard so much about you from many sources," Adoette began. "And no matter who says it, whether they like you or not, I have made up my mind about you already."

I felt my stomach wiggle a little. I'd been weighed and measured and the decision had been made.

"I like you," she said at last. "You are a little naive to be sure, but you are plucky and brave and you won't be told what to do. That is the rarest of gifts in life and one I wished my own Asha had more of. No young man, or old man for that matter, can tell you what you see and what you feel are not real. It is the greatest gift the Ancestors can give any of us—a mind of our own."

Billie brought Adoette a cup of black coffee so strong, my toes curled when I caught a whiff of it.

"She's such a good girl, isn't she?" Adoette said of Billie as she walked back to the kitchen. I smiled. I was sure Billie had a few years on my mom—I'd hardly call her a girl, but I nodded anyway.

"I think what's most incredible about you is what you inspire in others—human and spirit alike," she said. "You bring to light beings skulking in the dark. You bring out in people emotions and secrets hidden away in the bottom of their souls. You are what I call a catalyst, Miss Henry."

A catalyst.

I guess that was one way of looking at it.

"I came from Montana to meet you and see you with my own eyes," she said. "I wanted to see if what I believed from afar was true."

I looked at her expectantly, but her gaze had softened and wandered around the room, not focusing on anything.

"Was it" I asked when her eyes had made a full circle of the living room.

"Was it what?" Adoette's eyes jumped to mine and she looked a little confused.

"Was what you believed from afar true?"

Adoette blinked.

"What are you talking about?"

She picked up her coffee mug and took a sip. I wasn't sure what to say next.

Taking a deep breath, I opened my mouth to say something, but Adoette cut me off.

"I'm pulling your leg," she said laughing. "Oh. The look your face! Priceless!"

Adoette chuckled a few moments longer. I heard the side door open behind me in the kitchen and knew Renn had arrived. I heard the low timbre of his voice and then a softer voice right behind him. Asha was here, too. Adoette's eyes lit up when she glanced in their direction and I suddenly felt awkward.

"She hates your guts, doesn't she?" Adoette whispered to me as she waved at Renn and Asha.

I made me sputter out a laugh.