Camp

       Taryn rested for three days after her vision utterly wiped. The Scorpion sting had vanished almost as soon as she had woken up.

       All the security people, Sylvie and Ranger Teresa, (now permanently assigned to their party,) were reporting unusual numbers of scorpions and tarantulas appearing in the deserts nearby, as well as in the park and nearby communities. Several people were hospitalized with bites and stings. Every time either species met, it triggered a battle to the death.

       “We can't get a handle on it.” Teresa smacked her palm in frustration. “There are too many of them. For every dead tarantula, at least 20 take their place. Same with the Scorpions. The local mayor and two of the tribes want to spray insecticide from the air. I can't tell you what kind of natural disaster that will cause.”

       “With their magic, it won't do anything.” Sylvie glowered, her tail swishing behind her. “Poison won't work long, and we need an army to be able to shoot them all.”

       “The National Guard has been alerted, as well as the regular Army.” Bengal said. “I'll be extending my cooperation with Major Kippy of Army intelligence in an hour. The president doesn't want to take any chances after Red Leaf.”

       Taryn thought back to her vision.

       “I don't know if we do have to kill them all.” She said, thinking carefully. “Maybe it will only be the Chiefs we have to deal with. If we can convince them that peace is an option, then they can stop this war and we can bring them up to speed.”

       Everyone looked at her, waiting. Taryn tried to create a plan in her head but continually failed. At one point, how would they talk to the two chiefs? Even more importantly, who is going to be the “Anasazi” chief?

       “This is going to be difficult.” Taryn felt compelled to say.

       Everyone snorted at the understatement. Stetson spoke up from where he'd been sitting at the table.

       “Strikes me,” he drawled, “That all this is a little too pat for my liking. It might be preordained, as they say, but by who? And why? I can't be the only person here who believes that Anasazi woman from the vision is Taryn's ancestor.”

       Taryn grimaced. She thought of that too. But what did that matter?

       “It does seem likely,” Wolfe admitted. “Though I fail to attach any meaning to it.”

       “I'm purty sure that Taryn’s blood is the key.” Stetson refuted. “But I'm not sure why. Din’t you say you was Cherokee, not one of the local tribes?”

       “So far as I know.” Taryn said.

       “That's what Little Bear told me.” Mary shrugged.

       “Although,” her eyes lost focus as she drifted through memory, “that had been on his grandfather's side. His grandmother came from another tribe, I think. I don't remember which.”

       “That might be it.” Stetson said. “Of course, we could confirm it with a call.”

       Taryn stared at him, impressed.

       “You mean call Doc and ask?”

       “If he ain't run DNA tests on you, I'll eat my hat.”

       Sylvie smiled at Stetson proudly.

       “Isn't he something?” She asked her.

       Taryn cracked a smile. Sylvia's mother grinned. She liked Stetson immensely, as did Sylvia's father.

       “Well, let me call Doc.” Taryn said, reaching for her phone.

       “No need.” Wolfe said calmly.

       He reached into a drawer and pulled out a plugin webcam that he connected to. A plug in the table one of the TV's flickered and from hidden speakers came the sound of phones ringing. Suddenly the screen came to life and the face of Sylvia's longtime rival Sara appeared.

       “Sara, how have you been?” Sylvie asked.

       “Really good. Thanks.” Sara said cheerfully. “Beth is out of the hospital now and walking again. She left yesterday, I thought you might want to know and, get this, she wants to join the defense force!”

        “Wow!” Taryn said.

       “Yep, but we can gab later. What’cha need?”

       “An odd one. We need Taryn’s family tree.” Sylvie said seriously. “We need to see what sort of genetic link she might have to the local tribes. If any.” She added.

       Sara frowned.

       “I'll check. Give me a second.”

       She started typing furiously on the keyboard. Her eyes tracked back and forth across the camera, so Taryn had no doubts what was happening.

       “So genetic testing has been done.” Sara said slowly. “But no genealogy work, I think. I'm not seeing the file at least. According to the test… I can't read this... wait! Here's something. A note on the bottom says, “Genetic tests recommended to study mutated DNA strand... genealogy unobtainable from present samples”. Maybe that's why they didn’t run one? I'll ask the doc when he gets out of his conference call.”

       “Conference call?” Wolfe asked, frowning.

       “Yep, should be done in an hour. Call you then?”

       “Yes, please.” Sylvie said.

       Sara waved and pushed a button. Moments later, the screen went dark.

       Everyone looked thoughtful as they sat around, digesting what they had heard. Taryn studied the faces around her inside, she told them before how thorough magic was. She'd even suspected the change went to her core, but no one had listened. Everyone looked disappointed except for her mother, who was smiling.

       “Mom?” Taryn frowned.

       “Taryn,” she looked around, “We have your DNA from before you changed! I kept your baby teeth in my keepsakes on the shelf. All they need is one to test, right?”

       “That's right.” Wolfe said in answer to her look.

       “Then that's that.” Taryn said. “We'll have Doc run the test. Even so, we'll have to see what we can do about containing the threat.”

       Taryn stared at the map someone had laid on the table in front of her, trying to guess how they could possibly cover so much ground with so little time. It did not seem possible especially against such numbers in such hatred. This was a war thousands of years old how could they stop it?

       “This seems impossible, Taryn.” Sylvie said.

       Taryn looked at her melancholy friend. She had to admit to herself that it all seemed too much to handle, despite it all.

       She laid a comforting hand on Sylvie’s flank.

       “Don’t worry Syl.” She said as cheerfully as she could manage. “We’ve handled worse!”

       “Right enough.” Wolfe agreed smoothly. "And this time we have more resources available. All the closest bases have been placed on standby alerts and the National Guard is mobilizing, just in case. The President is watching events with the utmost concern.”

       “The FBI is monitoring everything as well.” Bengal agreed. “So, we will have the earliest warning available to us at this time.”

       “The resources are staggering.” Josh agreed. “But there are still so many things to find out. I can’t help but feel things are supposed to play out in a very specific order. But who wants that order, and why? And should we be helping it along, whatever “it” is, or should we try and find our own path?”

       Bengal and Wolfe frowned, obviously trying to think.

       Suddenly Sylvie’s father spoke up.

       “All right. Look, we’ve stared at this problem so much that it’s become fuzzy and in distinct. We should call it quits for tonight. And then tomorrow I think we should all go to the visitor center with Ranger Teresa.”

       Teresa looked startled.

       “Me! Why?!”

       “Because a lot of this boils down to the history of the Grand Canyon. The oldest histories of the place that we know of at least. I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t have enough grasp of the people that live here as I would like. I think a day to learn more is just what we need to approach this thing from a new angle.”

       Everyone looked at one another, and then Sylvie laughed.

       “Why not? It’s not like we can do anything now until we get some new information. We need to understand more. And, anyway, doesn’t the visitor center here have a huge diorama of the entire canyon? A 3D map?”

       “Yes.” Teresa nodded.

       “Cool. Well, we can take a look at that and see what we find as well.” Sylvie suggested. “The digital maps are all well and good, but there is something more…visceral I guess, about looking at a physical object to really bring it into focus.”

       Taryn wanted to object to taking time away from the cave and their search, but she had to admit her friends had a point. There was nothing here that she could be doing anyway now that she’d had her vision. She was sure there was more that she was missing, but perhaps Josh was right in that it would only come when the time was right or other events had taken place. She just wished she could shake the feeling that the “events” would mean a lot of people getting hurt first.

Visitor Center

       They went to the visitor center the next day. It was set along the rim of the canyon in a small center with maybe a dozen faded log buildings clustered around a granite plaza. One of the buildings had burros for rent, the others were food courts and gift shops, with three buildings dedicated to the visitor center.

       “The central complex houses the 3-D map.” Teresa said in her best tour guide voice as she led the way to a long, low-slung building with the timeless rustic look of National Park buildings everywhere. “We can start there.”

       They went inside. Just to the left was the welcome desk manned by an alert looking park ranger with a nervous smile on her face. On the right was a long gallery with pictures about the discovery of the Grand Canyon by European explorers and later prospectors and Presidents. Opposite of that was the 3-D map on a raised table. It stood about fifteen feet long and about three feet wide. Above the table and along the wall were exhibits and signs explaining the geologic origins of the canyon and the estimated timeline of its formation...

       Taryn went immediately to the map and started studying it minutely while the others went from gallery to gallery reading up on the rich history of the area and occasionally calling to one another when they found something interesting.

       It wasn’t long before Taryn found herself mostly alone, with the exception of her omnipresent guards.

       She tried to figure out where her vision had taken place. She peered into every box canyon or crag or spinoff she could find, but nothing stood out to her as the place She supposed geologic forces might have erased the battleground, or magic might have sealed it off from the outside world leaving the two chiefs ready to battle it out in the dell with the tree. With magic anything was possible.

       The back of her neck started to prickle. Instantly her head snapped back, and her eyes swept the room, her hands filled with her war shield and spears. Her guards instantly sprang to high alert, their eyes sweeping the lobby of the building.

       Taryn locked eyes with a young woman in the gift shop. She was dressed as one of the park employees, her hair done in a native braid casually draped down her shoulder to her breast. Dark eyes widened in shock and fear from under raven-haired locks framed on a solid but very pretty face.

       Taryn slowly forced herself to relax. It was just a curious employee staring at her, nothing worse. She was really getting jumpy now. She had to pull herself together!

       “I’m getting spooked.” She muttered to herself.

       She sighed, waving down her guards she went to see the woman.

       “I’m sorry for startling you, miss. You simply caught me by surprise is all. My name is Taryn.” Taryn smiled as reassuringly as she could.

       “I’m Little Cloud.” The woman said, still staring. “Um, could you tell me what you might be looking for?” She asked curiously.

       Taryn hesitated. She didn’t want to say too much just yet as she wasn’t sure if it would be safe or not. So she settled with a vague, “There’s a place I’ve been thinking about for a while now that I’d seen once in a picture a long time ago and was hoping to find it again. But I’ve been unable to locate anything that looks remotely close.” She admitted.

       “Well, I don’t know if I could be of much help there.” Little Cloud said thoughtfully. “I’m not much of a outdoor person myself, you understand. But my sister loves these lands and she might know the place you are looking for. I could ask her tonight when I get home if you are staying here for a couple of days?” She said.

       Taryn hesitated, then mentally shrugged. Why not? An expert in the area might come in handy. Teresa was a great ranger and knew a lot of the land, but she hadn’t remembered anything like what the cave had described. Perhaps this person did.

       What was more, Taryn had a sudden good feeling about this idea. She couldn’t say why it felt that way, but she’d learned to trust her instincts. For a moment, she wandered if it was magic guiding her, or perhaps the hand of fate, or maybe her life really was a story and some idiot author was fucking with her and leading her on. Either way, she’d go with the feeling for now.

       “That sounds like a great idea.” She said with a smile. “I’m here for a while, and would appreciate the help. If she’s willing to meet, that might help matters. If not, then I can at least tell you what I remember of the pl-picture.” She remembered to say.

       She spent a few minutes with Little Cloud going over the grotto, describing it down to the color and texture of the bark on the tree. When she finished Little Cloud looked thoughtful.

       “That place…strikes a chord with me somehow…like something I’d seen in a dream once…” her voice trailed off as she stared into the distance, lost in thought.

       Taryn waited a while and then, seeing how absorbed Little Cloud was, quietly walked away.

       Further down the gallery she found the others clustered around the native displays where various cultures were being showcased.

       Taryn came up just in time for Stetson to spot her entourage and join her.

       “Hey Stetson. What’s going on?” Taryn asked, seeing the bowed heads murmuring back and forth as they looked at something in Bengal’s hands, to the wall, and back again.

       “Translating that picture story you found to somethin’ we all can understand.” He said. “They got a translation guide up here. Teresa’s wonderin’ when it came up, she wasn’ aware of anythin’ like this in the archives and storage.” He added meaningfully.

       Taryn hesitated, then hurried forward to view the exhibit.

       She found a stone slab about five feet high, carved with bunches of native pictographs in what might have been a story, next to a rough English translation. It felt a bit like the Rosetta Stone to her, and she was instantly suspicious.

       “There is magic here.” She said, fingering the magic beryl and feeling the response in her fingertips. “But I can’t tell if it is good magic or a trap meant to slow us down.” She said.

       “I know I haven’t seen it downstairs with the other exhibits before.” Teresa said firmly, suddenly eyeing the stone with an unfriendly eye.

       “Do you believe then that this may be a deception?” Stetson asked.

       “I do not know.” Taryn said. “I am not a magic detector, you know.”

       Everyone looked at her weird.

       “Let me rephrase that. I am not a magic forgery detector. I don’t know the first clue as how I could find out whether or not this was faked. I suppose we would have to look to an expert on ancient languages.”

       “We should check at the local university then.” Bengal said. “Any expert is likely to have set up a laboratory there.”

       “I will send out a worldwide search. The university of London has a very reputable translation department.” Wolf said.

       Sylvie nodded. Taryn too. It seemed like such a logical idea. So why did she have this nagging feeling that they were going about this all wrong?

       They remained at the visitor center most of the day. Despite the wonderful exhibit and a helpful staff, Taryn didn’t feel that they had really expanded their knowledge of what was going on. She suspected, that they would have to try and do more interviews, likely with the local tribes.

       Taryn lay in his entire bed that night in the trailer, feeling a bit miffed and annoyed. She knew they were on the cusp of some thing. She didn’t know if it was good, bad, or just something that they should be aware of in preparation for whatever they had to face in the future. It annoyed her that she had so little detail.

       Josh’s arm suddenly reached over and wrapped around her torso, pulling her upper body closer to him as he shifted slightly in his sleep. Taryn’s heart melted. She snuggled against his massive frame, closed her eyes, and slept.