CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Native Magic

Actually, Running Cloud contacted her in two days, saying that he’d found someone willing to teach her the spear, and his grandfather wanted to meet her.

“I’d be delighted.” Taryn told him, and as she said that a feeling of wellness struck her, as if the universe had gone right for once, though she couldn’t say why she felt that way.

“Excellent.” She could almost hear the smile in his voice. “We are excited to meet you. Could you meet us at the reservation?”

Taryn bit her lip; they hadn’t purchased a big rig capable of moving their trailer, and truth be told, she was afraid of being inside a horse trailer again.

“Um, you might have to give me a few days.” She admitted. “It’s sort of hard for me to go anywhere right now not powered by my own feet.”

“Oh.” He said. “Well, let me check with my grandfather.”

There was the sound of voices, but they were muffled to be nearly indistinguishable (probably from a hand on the mouthpiece).

A moment later he came back on. “Grandfather says that he can’t show you what you really need to know surrounded by the city, you need to be out in the country.” He said apologetically.”

Taryn sighed. Of course. She would have to find a way.
v“All right. Let me make some calls.” She said.

The other girl came on the line sounding harassed.

Taryn decided not to beat around the bush, she was still a little angry about the entire Merrick affair anyway, and Sylvie knew it. “Sylvie, do we still have enough money for our truck?” she asked.

“What truck?” Sylvie asked cluelessly.

“OUR truck.” She said meaningfully.

“Oh. Oh! Um, let me find out.”

Sylvie disappeared and Taryn waited impatiently. She performed some breathing exercises to calm herself. They helped, and she felt better when she heard Sylvie pick up the receiver again.

“Tar, you still there?”

“Of course.” She said sighing.

“Well, dad said we have enough for that truck you picked out, but he wants to know why you want it.”

“Well, I’m going to be taking some spear lessons,” Taryn explained, “But they’re out on the reservation.”

“Can’t they come into town?” Sylvie asked in surprise.

“Apparently not.” Taryn told her. “I’m supposed to be learning some important lessons out there as well.”

“Oh?” Sylvie asked. Curiously.

“I know that tone Sylvie, and while I don’t mind you coming along, I don’t think you would be allowed in; as far as I know you don’t have any native blood in you at all.”

“And you do?” Sylvie challenged.

“Yeah, on my father’s side.” Taryn said tonelessly.

There came a long silence on the other end of the line.

“I see.” Sylvie said quietly. “Well, we can try and by the truck whenever you are ready, but dad’s telling me that you’ll have to talk to Ben and Bengal before you do.”

“Oh,” Taryn blinked, surprised. “I hadn’t thought about that. You’re right of course, but I hadn’t really…of course.”

“You know they only want to help mom and dad, and yours, keep us safe.” Sylvie said earnestly.

“I know,” Taryn told her, “I know that, but really, it’s almost as bad as being six again. But I will tell them, I promise.” She assured her.

“Okay. Well, let me know when you want to go to the lot.” Sylvie said.

“Probably tomorrow.” Taryn sighed, glancing out the window at the slowly darkening sky. “For now I’ll get a hold of Ben and let him know what’s going on.”

They said their goodbyes and Taryn held the receiver cradle down until she got the clear line signal, before she dialed the number left by Ben. He answered before the second ring.

“This is Ben!” he snapped his voice tense and alert.

“It’s just me, chief.” Taryn told him. “Everything’s fine, but I wanted to check in with you on going to some lessons for my spear. I have to go to one of the reservations for them, which means I’ve got some traveling to do.”

“How?” Ben’s voice came over the line in clear confusion. “And what lessons are you talking about?”

Taryn explained about Running Cloud and the offer of learning more about her heritage. She wound up quickly, saying, “I know it’ll mean staying with my costume and choosing a better name than Free Spirit, but that’s fine as well. I’d never wanted it,” she admitted heavily, “But it will help me out in the long run.”

Ben was silent; he knew why she had said that, and the fact that he said nothing was strangely comforting to her.

“How are you going to get there?” Ben asked suddenly.

“Well, after the Halloween gig, we’ve got enough to buy a used semi to hook up to our trailer.” Taryn told him. “It’s a bit old, and has something close to three hundred thousand miles on it, but it recently had a tune-up; if it’s still available that is. It’s been a couple of weeks since I checked.”

“Actually,” came a new voice. It was Bengal’s. “I might be able to do something for you, Miss Grogan. You’ll still need agents with you when you go to this meeting, and I would advise against it; however, the agency does have use of semis and I should have no trouble borrowing one.”

“What’s wrong with the one I want to buy?” Taryn challenged, instantly disliking the notion of being bribed by the government; they’d gotten Sylvie by threatening her parents, damned if she’d let them get her by using the honey!

“Well, for one thing it won’t have the armor plating and bullet-proof windows.” Bengal pointed out in his unruffled voice. “And another is that its tuned and designed to be much faster and tougher than it looks. I should like to armor your trailer as well, but I don’t think we’ll have the time for that. Instead, we could use one of our mobile command posts, as they are armored…”

“No.” Taryn said firmly before he could continue. “I’m sorry for interrupting, but our trailer is modified specifically for our long-term use. All the furniture and safety features that were built into the trailer are centaur-friendly, your command posts aren’t.”

“Hmm. Good point.” Bengal admitted. “So I guess we’ll just have to armor your trailer.”

“Armor our trailer?” Taryn said in disbelief. “But that’s a lot of money and effort! How are you going to get approval for something like that?”

Bengal laughed, much to her surprise. “I think that we could manage to accomplish something.” He said dryly. “Considering this order I was just sharing with Chief Bengal.”

“What order?” Taryn cried, lost.

“This one that I’m holding from the governor of the state,” Bengal said, “Informing us that the state has authorized funds for your continued protection.”

Taryn nearly sat down, she felt so flummoxed. She couldn’t understand how she could qualify for state protection, especially since she’d certainly never asked for it. She posed the question to Bengal.

“I can’t answer that.” Bengal admitted. “I can only guess, but I would say that; as the people that are trying to acquire you and Sylvie are instigating riots and outright wars in desperate bids, the governor feels the situation is dire enough to demand action by the state to keep its people safe.”

“Safe from me, you mean.” Taryn broke in, the first stirrings of anger at the thought rising in her.

“No, safe from Tenebrae Cultor and others.” He said, unruffled. “You’ve apparently become a key figure in their dogma, and already there are other religious figures questioning whether or not you are a demon in disguise.”

“WHAT!” Taryn shrieked, gripping the phone so tight in her hands her knuckles turned white as she used her height to keep her mom from tugging it out of her hands.

“Sorry, hadn’t meant to break it to you, I’d have figured you’d have seen it on the news.” Bengal apologized.

“I don’t watch much TV anymore.” Taryn replied automatically.

“Oh, well, there have been some figures that have sprouted up demanding that you be exorcised or destroyed.” Bengal replied casually. “They’ve sent their demands to the Cardinal, and for all I know, the Pope, but I don’t see that going anywhere. Their argument that you’ve clearly been touched by dark magic and are therefore a danger to all people everywhere is just horseshit…um, no offense.” He stammered.

“None taken.” Taryn said, her mind whirling. She’d never imagined such an attack on her being, and what was worse, she couldn’t confront those who were doing it to her!

Or could she?

“Wait, isn’t that considered Defamation of Character or something?” Taryn asked.

“How did you know?” Bengal asked, surprised.

“Hello, my best friend’s mom’s a lawyer?” Taryn snapped. “But isn’t it true? I can sue these people for defamation or something?”

“I think today you can sue anybody for just about anything, even breathing wrong.” Bengal said dryly. “It just depends on the lawyer and how much you’re willing to shell out for the courts.”

“Hmm.” Taryn shrugged, and then put the matter out of her mind; there were other things to worry about that were more immediate and pressing.

“So how long will it take to get the trailer and truck?” she asked.

“A few weeks.” Bengal said firmly. “It’s not simply a matter of slapping on the armor, you know. Your axels will have to be strengthened, the shocks must be bigger to handle the weight, the tires will have to be filled with foam to make them bulletproof, the frame has to be strengthened to handle the stresses of turns and bounces, a lot will have to go into the trailer. But you’re right, I think, in sticking with your trailer; you will have the ability to keep it after we’re done, and it will be, as you say, already set up for your use.”

“All right.” Taryn sighed, glancing out her window. “I’ll try and talk to Sylvie and see if she agrees; we are the joint owners, after all.”

“Very well. Just give me the word, and I’ll get the ball rolling.” Bengal said.

“Thank you.” Taryn told him sincerely.

A thought occurred to her, “wait, can we still keep the mural?” she asked.

“Ah yes.” Bengal nodded and laughed. “The mural. I’ve seen it, and it’s pretty good. Yes, I think we could definitely keep the mural.”

“All right. I’ll call Sylvie and find out.”

Sylvie answered on the second ring.

“Taryn!’ she said. “What’s up?”

Taryn explained Bengal’s offer in a few terse words. Sylvie was silent for a while when she’d finished.

“Hmm, well.” She said at last. “That’s…that’s really something.”

“I’ll say.” Taryn admitted. “I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, but I hope it won’t take too long.”

“With the speed you pick up things, I can’t see it taking long either.” Sylvie told her dryly.

Sylvie continued. “Well, I don’t have a problem having the trailer armored; it could come in handy. How long does he think he’ll have it?”

“Hopefully? Not longer than a couple of weeks.” Taryn told her.

“Okay. Well, whenever he wants to come pick it up.” Sylvie said in a distracted air.

Taryn thought about hanging up—after all, she still felt angry at Sylvie’s hiding her visits to Dr. Merrick—but she thought against it; it sounded more like Sylvie was contemplating doing something she thought was right and hadn’t gone as far as working through all the details.

“Sylvie, what are you thinking about?” Taryn asked bluntly.

“Huh?” her friend asked, startled.

“I can hear it in your voice, you’re thinking about something really hard and are wondering how to do something no one else will want you too.”

Sylvie started to laugh. “I guess so.” She said. “I mean, I don’t think anyone has thought to warn Megan and Cindy of the danger yet, up at Luna Lake, but if we take a lot of people they aren’t going to come. I’m thinking of trying to get just my parents there with me up near the rock Ben says she likes to hang out at?”

“You mean Mermaid Rock?” Taryn asked dryly.

“Oh, it’s got a name now?”

“Uh, duh?” Taryn giggled slightly. “I mean, it’s only one of the most famous places in America right now according to Josh.”

“Hmmph. I can guess which is number one.” Sylvie said dryly. “Even if I wanted to get up to Luna Lake alone, I don’t think I can with this crowd. There are literally hundreds of people out there.”

“I know.” Taryn nodded, coming to her window and peeking through the curtains. “There are nearly as many on my lawn as well, lots of locals too, but there are so many strangers.”

“Dad’s thinking of trying to implement a city ordinance against campers now.” Sylvie told her, “because of all the people trying to camp on our street. The campgrounds overflowing, and the hotel and motels are so filled with guests right now that some are sleeping in their cars, and the parking lots are so packed it looks like a used car lot in town.”

“Not much we can do about that.” Taryn said philosophically. “It’s not like we could stop them if we wanted to.”

“True, true.” Sylvie agreed.

They stayed silent a few moments, each wrapped in her thoughts.

“Well, if you want to talk to your dad about it, I’m sure he and the agents could come up with something.” Taryn said at last. “After all, you’ll be on a boat and have to be safe there, right?”

“I don’t think either of us are safe anywhere, not anymore.” Sylvie said with a sigh.