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

Chapter Eighteen

It was early the next morning and Billie had made her breakfast tacos again. At this rate, I was going to graduate with an extra 90 pounds on my frame thanks to the chorizo and the beans. Coyote and Leonard were gone—they'd left earlier in the morning for a ride together on the property.

Cody had arrived right before Billie started cooking and he was sitting next to me, telling me all about a rodeo he'd driven out to in South Dakota over the weekend. Skye was sitting across from us, hanging on every word about some groupies and an after party. I rolled my eyes.

"I had nothing to do with them," Cody said, holding his hand up like some sort of scout.

Renn and Asha were gone already, disappearing somewhere out the front door.

"Cody, I'm not judging," I said honestly. "You're a grown man. You're allowed to shoot real guns on a gun range and everything. Groupies are part of the territory."

"I need a map to that territory," Skye said as a glob of egg and salsa dripped out of his mouth. I frowned and tossed him a napkin.

"You gonna be around at lunch?" Cody asked me.

I nodded.

"As far as I know," I said. Most of the writers from Billie's last group had left the day before. Two more would leave later this morning when their airport shuttles came to collect them. "I don't have much going on today."

"Good," Cody said and took a sip of coffee from his mug.

He stood and took his dishes and mine to the sink and rinsed them off.

Skye watched wordlessly and raised a single eyebrow in my direction when Cody was gone.

I shook my head at him and frowned.

"I'll see you later then?" Cody asked as he walked toward the door. He mentioned having some fence line to fix.

"Sure."

Cody said his goodbyes and left toward the horse barn.

"You need a hobby, Skye," I said after Cody shut the door behind himself. Billie was washing dishes and Adoette was sitting on the sofa watching Price is Right.

"I need a girlfriend is what I need," he said as he leaned back and rubbed his overstuffed stomach. "Summer vacation's been shot thanks to ol' Red-Woman."

"Big plans back in Shades?"

He shook his head.

"Big plans in Fort Hall," he said. "We missed last week's big pow wow. I could have gotten at least half a dozen phone numbers from it."

Poor Skye. Here he was stuck out in the middle of nowhere stuck on the sidelines.

"Why haven't you ever told me what your abilities are?" The question threw him a little and I even surprised myself at the change in conversation. I'd been wondering the past few days if he was still able to make out the dead like I could. He always knew when Ernie was around.

Skye shrugged his shoulders.

"That's the question of the year," he said.

"Can you still see the outline of the dead like you did in Shades?"

"Sometimes," he said. "I can tell when you're friend is around, especially the closer he stands to you."

That was interesting.

"What happens when he's not?"

"The outline is a lot less clear," he said. "The night my dad lost his stuff and your ghost was standing right next to you, I could pretty much make out his entire outline."