“Ella, be angry with me if you must, but please call me and let me know you are safe.”
An exhausted Tiernan took a quick shower and put on fresh clothes. He desperately could use a lie down, but he couldn’t rest until he knew Ella was unharmed.
Where could she be? Surely, she hadn’t gone back to the reservation.
Which is exactly what Tiernan feared.
Perhaps Ella had gone to look for Nathan again—she had told him that she had never found her cousin the night before. Or perhaps she’d just gone to check on her grandparents, to make sure they had not been harmed.
Whatever reason she might have to return to the reservation, she would be giving the people who might have killed her a second chance to do so.
There was only one thing for it, then, Tiernan thought. He had to go after her. The truck was on the set, so he saddled Red Crow.
“Sorry, lad. I know you were ridden hard yesterday, but you’ve had more rest than I, and I need to find Ella as swiftly as possible.”
Riding a horse wasn’t all that swift, but it gave him a flexibility that a vehicle couldn’t. He didn’t have to follow the roads, and a comfortable trot would take him to the reservation in less than half an hour. On the way, he tried to stay in a positive frame of mind. Even if Ella was there on the reservation, she would be all right. Perhaps she wasn’t answering her cell because she’d run out of battery.
When he arrived at her grandparent’s house, he tied up Red Crow in the shade of an elm tree. Before he could even reach the front door, it flew open. Ella’s grandmother, Dina, grabbed his arm and rushed him in, then peered out the doorway as if expecting he’d been followed.
“We don’t know where Ella is,” she said, exchanging significant glances with her husband, who came out of the kitchen to join them.
Worry pulsated from both elderly people. While they appeared exhausted, as if they hadn’t slept all night, Marisala Saldana serenely sat in a rocking chair by the window. Humming under her breath, she was lost in her own head, not even seeming to notice his presence. Indeed, though he tested her, he got nothing but confused thoughts and images.
Ella’s grandfather said, “Someone rescued Ella from an angry crowd last night….”
“I’m the one who rescued her with the help of a makeup artist,” Tiernan admitted. He wasn’t about to detail the way they’d connected, so he skipped to the important part. “Later, we fought. I wanted Ella to leave, to go someplace safe. She was angry with me. She took the horse and headed off. I fear for her safety, for I do not know where she went, and she has not contacted me since.”
“We tried to find out what happened to our granddaughter.” Samuel Thunder sat down hard as if he couldn’t control his ire. “Jimmy Iron Horse was no help!”
Dina Thunder cast forth both dread and anger. “We went to him, demanded he find Ella and protect her, and he told me that if she turned herself in, he would be glad to help. As if she was the one who had done something wrong.”
“A shame on The People,” Samuel muttered. “They took our son from us, and now they want to take our granddaughter. I am ashamed to call the rez our home. When you find Ella, do whatever you must to get her away from this place. We should have left years ago when our son was taken from us, but even then we were too old and without resources to start over.” He mourned. “If we had gone then, Ella would never have had a reason to come back to this cursed place!”
Tiernan’s heart went out to the couple. “I can try to convince her again, but as I am sure you know, Ella is very strong-willed. And she blames what happened only on one man—the sorcerer who put fear in the hearts and confusion in the minds of your people. She is determined to find and stop him before he can do any more harm.”
The grandparents gave each other a significant look, then Dina said, “Her father wouldn’t use his power to fight for himself, and I do not think Ella will, either. You must convince her to do whatever she must to protect herself…or to leave forever. We would rather lose her to the white world than see her die. That would break our hearts all over again.”
“Can you think of anywhere I might look?” Tiernan asked. “Or anyone I might speak with who could help?”
“Our grandson Nathan will help you find Ella and protect her,” Samuel said. “Go to him.”
Tiernan didn’t argue. Let them believe what they would. Though he didn’t expect help from Nathan, he wanted to see the man anyway. If Ella’s cousin was the guilty one, he would know soon enough. Her grandparents could wait for the bad news until he was certain.
“Would you know where I might find Nathan?” he asked. “Ella was looking for him yesterday but never found him.”
“He has a cabin out of town halfway to the top of the mountain. Perhaps he went there,” Samuel said, then gave directions on how to find it.
Tiernan thanked them and was about to leave when Marisala suddenly awakened from her stupor.
“He took Ella,” she muttered darkly, her eyes unnaturally wide and bright. “He stole Ella Thunder and won’t give her back. With Ella out of the way, he’ll be able to do whatever he wants to any of us. No one can stop him now.”
“He, who?”
Did she mean Nathan or not? He didn’t ask, not wanting the elderly couple upset if it wasn’t necessary.
Tiernan’s hopes that Marisala would clarify were soon dashed, for she quickly became lost in her own world again. He could feel her spirit retreat and her mind lose focus. He thanked the Thunders and promised he would let them know when he found their granddaughter. Waves of hope warring with fear washed over him as he left the house.
Once out of town, he turned Red Crow onto the gravel road and pulled out his cell to call Kate. He was relieved when she answered on the second ring.
“I’m off in search of Ella, Kate. After she brought Red Crow back, she simply disappeared.”
“Ella didn’t bring back Red Crow, Tiernan. He found his way home on his own. When I left the house at dawn, he was wandering outside. I fed and watered him and then put him in the pasture myself.” Kate heaved a worried-sounding sigh, yet said, “I—I’m sure she’s fine.”
He couldn’t shake the sense of doom that hung over his head. “’Tis the prophecy, Kate.”
“Then fight for her, Tiernan. Don’t give up. It’s not too late. It can’t be.”
He couldn’t keep thinking about it. If he did, he would be lost, unable to do what he must so that he could save the woman he loved.
Twenty minutes later, having taken the road higher into the mountains to a small log cabin, he tied Red Crow to a hitching post with a trough where the horse could get water. Before he could approach the cabin, the front door opened and Nathan stood there, silent, staring at Tiernan as if he could see right through him.
“What is it you want, McKenna?” Nathan asked.
Tiernan didn’t stop until he was directly in front of the man. The closer he got, the better chance he had of reading him. Of knowing the truth. “I am looking for Ella.”
“Ella’s not here.”
When Nathan easily blocked him from getting anything off him, Tiernan bit down his frustration. He needed to feel, as well as hear, what Nathan Lantero had to say in order to know the truth.