Myra felt a chill fall over her again when she realized what she had done. It was tricky keeping her gift at bay in such situations. Coupled with her nature to help those in need, it proved almost impossible. But it appeared no one questioned how she got the falcon to come to her. Even Simon asked how she did it. “It wasn’t me, Simon, ’twas you.”

Simon kept the conversation up most of the way home. Todd said very little.

After they dropped Lizzy and Simon off, Myra turned to Todd and asked, “Why are you so upset?”

“That thing could have ripped you up.”

“But it didn’t.”

“But it could have.”

“Aye.” She held on tight when he took the corner a little to fast.

“It was a stupid thing to do,” he scolded her.

“I am not stupid.”

“I didn’t say you were stupid, I said it was a stupid thing to do.”

“I heard what you said. Tell me, Todd, would you rather have had that woman lose her skin?”

“Better her than you.”

She paused, knew his anger came out of concern for her safety. “I’m sorry I upset you.”

“You didn’t upset me, it’s just...” He shook his head and gripped the steering wheel harder. “Every time you use your...”

“Gifts.”

“Yeah, gifts. I’m forced to believe everything you’ve told me. It would almost be easier if you were just a little crazy.” He looked over at her. “At least there’s medication for crazy.”

“So you would rather I be mad than who I am,”

she said.

“I don’t know what I want. You confuse me.”

They drove the rest of the way in silence, both caught up in their own minds

Once home, Myra went straight to the room that had been labeled hers, the one she hadn’t slept in since they became intimate.

Todd stopped in her doorway, watched her gather her nightgown and turn her bed down. “So this is where you want to sleep?”

“I don’t want to confuse you,” she tossed at him.

“Too late.”

“There is no reason to pretend we have a future.

If you can’t accept me for what I am, then it is best we don’t let anything more happen between us.”

“How can we have a future, Myra? You’re going back. I plan on staying here.”

It broke her heart, hearing him map out their groundless relationship. Ask me to stay. “Aye, I’m going back. I have imposed on you long enough.”

There was no longer a reason for her to stay.

Later, she sat on her bed alone in her room, and wept. She softly spoke her prayers and confessed her love for the man in the next room, and she choked back a sob at the unfairness of her life.

Her mind slipped into sleep, finding peace in oblivion as her tears wore out. In her dreams, she heard the chant she had shared with Tara.

Unknown to her, the stones hidden in the folds of her bed started to glow.

In this day and in this hour, we call upon the sacred power. I choose to give my blood to thee, I choose that you are a sister to me.

Her dream shifted from the time she had pricked her finger and sat with Tara. She saw instead the image of Todd, naked and lying beside her, tangled in sheets moistened by their love. She held his head, looked into his mind and changed her chant.

In this day and in this hour, I call upon the sacred power. If you give your love to me, I will give you my love times three.

In her sleep, her body shuddered with the thought of Todd sliding into her.

Restless and tossing in his big bed all alone, his body stiffened with Myra’s vision, mixing with his.

Her body wrapped around his in his dream, pulling a gasp from his sleeping lips.

The stones from the Ancients hummed and lit, bringing both man and woman together in their sleep.

Chapter Eleven

It was Christmas Eve and Todd watched her from the doorway. Myra shuffled her things and packed them into glorified carpetbags. She wore a long skirt and simple shoes. Her hair fell free in front of her eyes each time she bent over to pack something new.

They’d barely spoken since their fight. When she had announced her departure date the night after they’d come back from Renaissance Times, Todd did his best to be agreeable. He spent more time at work, which made it easier in some ways.

Simon wouldn’t miss any school and Lizzy had a week off for the holidays.

He knew the real reason she was leaving.

He couldn’t blame her.

Myra tried lifting the mattress to get at what was underneath.

“What are you doing?”

She tossed him a look over her shoulder. “The stones are hidden here.”

Todd lifted the mattress so Myra could retrieve them.

He sat on the bed and picked one up, turned it over several times and gave a short, “Humph.”

“What?”

“I thought they would be...I don’t know...gold or something. They look like ordinary rocks.”

“Look closer.” She placed a hand to the stone, giving it a small amount of energy. The words carved in it faintly glowed, almost causing Todd to drop it.

Does everything she touch light up?

Quickly, she placed all the stones in the sack, and then put out her hand in a silent request for the sixth one. Her hand brushed his when he gave it back. A small amount of static gave him a charge.

He drew back.

“That’s everything.” Myra kept her eyes down when he got up to take a load to his car.

The night fog was dense driving up the mountain roads and into the Angeles National Forest. Streaks of white fog would sometimes glare the windshield, making driving difficult. Behind them, Liz followed with Simon in her car.

The road was almost deserted. Few people needed to drive it on Christmas Eve. Todd concentrated on his driving, and tried his best to keep his thoughts away from what was happening. A part of him, the skeptic part of him, didn’t believe anything would happen once they were isolated and Myra set up her rocks.

The other part of him, the part he didn’t recognize and had just started getting used to, realized she was leaving and he may never see her again. “Will you bring Liz and Simon back?” he asked unexpectedly.

“One of us will.” She lifted her chin, refused to look his way.

But not you.

The parking lot was deserted. Simon jumped from the car and started grabbing the packs. Liz huddled under her coat to ward off the cold. “This is crazy.” Myra couldn’t help but smile. “That is what I thought before I came here. Everything will be fine.”