Trailer

In a washed blue sky Taryn could see nary a cloud, but the space was not empty. A large, solitary eagle floated in sight of the cameras above a golden-brown landscape that looked plopped out of some fantasy land or torn from the surface of another planet.

The three of them were webbed in watching the monitors as the armored trailer jounced and swayed. Sylvie and Taryn might have been mistaken for statues so easily did they ride. As for poor Joshua, the best that might be said was he no longer looked quite so green.

“How much longer until we stop?” he gasped. Taryn could see his hair plastered to his forehead and wondered if she could lean away a little further, just in case.

“Not long, maybe a couple hours.” Sylvie commented, eying him warily as well.

“That's not long?!” he gasped incredulously.

“Just be thankful this bucket isn't going along some twisty road on a steep mountain with no way to look out and know what's happening, that really makes the time drag on.” Sylvie said.

He muttered something then went back to watching the monitor.

Taryn shared a small smile with Sylvie. She had to admit the novelty of being able to see outside had worn off by the time they crossed the mountains. She'd read a book or two from the small stack she had in her cabinet but now she was starting to lose the fight with her tired eyelids.

The last thing she remembered seeing was the eagle on the screen swerving to apparently follow them.

Campground

She woke to the trailer shuddering as the brakes were applied to bring the vehicle to a stop. A glance at the monitor showed the dim outlines of a truck stop in the evening light.

“I sure could use a stretch.” Josh groaned, leaping to his feet. He'd apparently already undone the webbing.

“Ah, it wasn't bad at all.' Sylvie retorted, getting to her feet as well. “At least the roads were smooth and not some dirt strip mostly washed out on the side of some mountain!”

Taryn couldn't help but agree, as she removed her restraints and stood up.

They walked to the back and pushed a button, opening the door and dropping the armored ramp. Fresh air blew in.

Josh leapt down the ramp, surging to the open field on the far side of the pumps, sending people scattering as he raced to the grass.

Taryn shook her head in exasperation. Boys!

She and Sylvie walked with dignity to the field.

People gaped, pointing at them or pulling out their phones to snap pictures. Others stood outside the cordon of bodyguards watching Josh as he ran back and forth.

“C'mon Taryn, Sylvie! This is fun!” he laughed, running past, his dark hide shining now from exertion.

Taryn met Sylvie's eyes and shrugged. Why not? Not like it wouldn't be.

Rearing a little she frisked slightly as she started after Josh like a racehorse leaving the block, Sylvie right beside her. The turf shook beneath their hooves, clods of green grass hurtling through the air.

Taryn could see the rest of the security teams take up position around the grass along with their parents. Sylvie's mom smirked beneath black wrap-around sunglasses at their antics while her mom laughed openly.

Taryn slowed to trot over to them.

“Are we spending the night?” she asked.

“Yes; I think everyone is feeling tired honey.” she said.

“Plus, the randomness works in our favor. Less chance of ambushes.' Bengal said, coming up with Wolfe.

Taryn nodded her understanding. Hearing her friends thunder by again she turned to join them, pulling abreast until all three ran in a line back and forth in front of the cheering crowd.

Well, she amended, the dozen or so other people at the rest stop. They ranged from a family of six, to three truckers, a college-bound graduate and a pair of retirement couples.

One, a white-haired motherly sort walked up to Taryn's mother and struck up a conversation. Meanwhile the youngest of the four children slipped his star-struck brother's grasp and toddled right in front of Josh. With one smooth, easy movement Josh bent and snared the boy, holding him securely while the boy shrieked and giggled. Cantering to a stop he gave the child back to his mother. With an easy smile and wave, he came back to them.

“We're spending the night.” Taryn told Josh and Sylvie.

“Cool.” Josh said stretching. “It's odd; I used to like travelling, but something about being inside anything now drives me nuts.”

“I know what you mean.” Taryn said, remembering the old horse trailer. She shivered; despite the warmth of the day, it seemed to have gotten very cold.

They didn't do much else that night, enjoying a nice dinner they went inside the semi-trailer to sleep, Taryn sleeping pressed against Josh like two horses in the field while Sylvie, lying on her side, held her boyfriend Stetson against her human half.

Getting up early they breakfasted and got on the road again.

So far, they'd traveled almost four days, with two of them simply spent in getting the heavily armored vehicles over the passes. Wolfe thought it might be mid-afternoon or late evening when they would reach their campground.

He was only a little off, the party arriving during the gloaming hour--that time of gathering twilight before it gets really dark.

Their campground was only a little way from the canyon walls, in a small gully sheltered from the hard winds by walls of red rock and from the sun by sparse stands of desert pine standing guard over a tiny little watercourse. The other patrons of Standing Pine had likely never seen such a procession before. Two black SUV's entered first leading a flashy semi-truck and trailer bearing a brightly colored mural that seemed painted specifically for the country around them, followed by two more SUV's pulling trailers with dirt bikes in Desert Camo and three military style humvees with troops in them.

They all pulled into one side of the blessedly sparse campground and slid into the slots.

Before the engines stopped the campground came alive with activity. Agents and guardsmen hurriedly swept the campground for anything unusual, much to the discomfort of the four people that were using the campground at the time. they were allowed to spend the night, but Wolfe quickly made new reservations for them and gave them all bonuses to shift to a new campground as he unashamedly reserved every spot.

“I didn't want to alert any potential enemies to which campgrounds we would be using beforehand.” he explained later. “As this is a National Park, and we have no idea how long it is going to take to find Taryn's signal, we need to be close and there aren't any secure bases capable of handling that.”

Once the campsite was empty save for them and the nervous employees, they set up camp. Some pulled dozens of tents and set them up in straight rows, far too many tents. Some would no doubt be filled with gear, but Taryn suspected others were going to be decoys for anyone sneaking into camp, and others would be sleeping quarters for the soldiers.

Only after the camp had been secured were they allowed to step out.

Taryn felt the heat push down on her as soon as she dropped the ramp. However, with the light almost gone it seemed almost comfortable.

Wolfe caught up to her as she walked around to work out her stiff muscles.

They strode in silence as Josh and Sylvie with Stetson riding her back fell in.

“Tomorrow we'll need a new destination.” Wolfe eventually said.

Taryn knew it already, but she still had no idea how to get to her dream place looking on a map. She hated that about magic: the feeling of bumbling around in a coal mine looking for the light switch. You might find it, but it could take seconds or days and you could run into pitfalls, traps, or animals in the dark without knowing.

“I guess we'll go to the nearest visitor center.” She said calmly. “I want to look at a physical representation of the canyon to see if I can match the features with my dream, since the basic photos from the web didn't pan out. After that we'll start hiking trails. We'll find the spot, eventually, or a sign to show us the way.”

Canyon Trail

She wished she could take those words back now. They'd been hiking along the rim trails for hours now, searching for the elusive spot. her mother rode her back while Stetson and Mrs. Mathison rode Sylvie and Mr. Mathison rode Josh's back. As for Wolfe, Bengal and the six men and women with them, they rode on sturdy little burros. All of them carried packs of water, food, and ammunition along with the saddlebags filled with other rations and stores.

To their surprise, both Sylvie and she seemed to be faring better in the dry desert heat than anyone save the burros. The humans had already drunk much of their water and plodded along, riding like sacks. Josh's black hide was flecked with foam and his mouth was open as he breathed harshly, peering out from under the brim of his cowboy hat.

The party seemed alone, this far from the main visitor center and Grand Canyon Village. Dry sage, dust, and of course, the canyon was omnipresent.

Teresa, the ranger who'd accompanied the strange group, seemed curious, but kept her mouth shut. She had short black hair, green eyes bright with interest, and a kind smile. She listened much but spoke little, a trait Taryn admired.

A flash of movement caught Taryn's eye. She froze, hardly breathing.

“Tar? What is it?” Sylvie asked softly, sensing her tense. She hadn't looked at her, but her rifle had come free of its sheath and now pointed ahead of them, ready to spit her special rounds at whatever enemy might appear. The soldiers spread out, looking tense and wary.

Taryn didn't answer, staring hard at the small sage bush where she'd seen it.

From under the brown branches scuttled an enormous scorpion. Coal black, with a long, curved tail arched high over its back, pincers waving and snapping, eyes locked on the enemy that backed slowly away from it.

Enemy.

Taryn shivered, staring at the huge spider backing slowly away, huge hairy forelegs raised in front of it; looking for any opening to make a kill. Its hairy body was a rainbow of bright colors; red for the body, except for a black patch on its swollen abdomen that looked, at first glance, like an antelope skull; brown segmented legs with orange bands and eight bulbous, glistening eyes full of malevolence for all living things.

“What kinda spider is that?” Josh asked, spotting the duelists.

“I don't know!” Teresa said. She sounded excited, not recognizing the danger here. “It must be a new species!”

Taryn agreed, it certainly did not look like any spider she'd ever seen before. But somehow, she felt it wasn't a true spider.

Evil magic. She shivered.

“This is not a normal spider.” she said, almost to herself.

“What?” her mother asked.

“There is magic here.” she warned. “A lot of it.” she could feel it, like a tingle in her skull, but which side should she take?

Unsure, she whipped her spear out and drove the butt between the contestants with such force they were peppered with sand and rock.

The spider rustled its back legs in fright and raced away.

The scorpion, in contrast, clacked its pincers but beyond that they did not move. Taryn had the feeling she was waiting for something to happen.

Abruptly the scorpion turned and sped off, stinger curled straight up in a clear signpost.

“Follow that scorpion!” Taryn said, jolting from her trance.

They followed for some distance at a ground-eating trot, much to the ranger's shock and bewilderment.

“Scorpions can't move that fast.” Taryn heard her mutter, “and it's the biggest I've ever seen.”

“Magic.” Taryn said.

Abruptly the scorpion dove under a rock.

“Wait!” Taryn cried, reaching for the rock and came to a stop--it was stuck! Immediately she started to dig. Everyone joined in, using their hands and small camping shovels the soldiers had brought. Sand flew and dust coated the workers, but slowly a larger cavity began to appear.

Bit by bit, a cave opening appeared, dark and yawning before them.

“What is this?” Teresa exclaimed.

“Part of why we are here.” Taryn replied, though she wasn't really paying anyone attention. With the uncovering of the opening, she'd felt a tingle in the back of her mind. Magic was here, and a great deal of it too.

It took them most of the day before they could make the opening big enough to let her through. Long before though they'd sent one of the guards through and she'd shimmied out baffled, reporting nothing but an empty cave as far as she could see.

Taryn refused to be dissuaded, however, and everyone kept digging, trusting in her ability to understand magic.

Ha! That was a laugh, but she knew there was something there.

Now she stepped inside for the first time as the earliest star began to rise from the horizon. Her knees stung, there were open wounds on her hands and legs, and her coat and clothes were choked with dust, but she noticed none of the discomforts of her position, looking on the walls of the cave as one upon the holy rock of Mecca. She moved slowly deeper into the cave as Sylvie and Josh followed.

“There's nothing here.” Josh said disappointedly.

Sylvie said nothing, only watching her.

“Only for those that cannot see.” Taryn replied absently. She ran her fingers along the wall, tracing the feel of the rock as the others came in.

“Huh?” he asked bewildered.

Taryn ignored him, feeling magic gathering around her. Throwing her arms wide, she called out in ancient tongues “Make what is unseen, seen! Show us the truth!”

Nothing happened at first. Then faintly, but growing ever brighter, thin, spidery lines of silver and gold appeared. Shapes grew clearer and sharper, until the entire dark cavern seemed bright as day, lit by the native pictograms shining on the rose-colored walls.

“What the-” Her mom's whisper seemed magnified in the cavern while a gasping sob burst from Teresa, her hands were clapped to her mouth as tears fell from her eyes.

“I've never seen-”

“Shh!” Sylvie's mom shushed her. “Let her concentrate!”

Bengal and Wolfe seemed to be taking video, holding their phones out, which wasn't a bad idea.

Taryn left them to it, concentrating on the pictograms. Despite her crash courses, they were quite unlike anything she'd encountered before. And yet she couldn't shake the feeling that she knew them somehow, like a secret handshake between best friends learned as a child and not used for twenty years until they met up by accident one day.

“What do you say?” she whispered mostly to herself.

The images remained glittering in the dark of the cavern as stars in the night.