Kat knew the pregnancy was over when acute pain and cramping in her abdomen doubled her over. Holding her belly, she crawled out of bed and struggled to the bathroom, expecting to find blood that confirmed a miscarriage. There was none, but the pain told her something was very wrong. Out of desperation, she called for Big Crow with Little Feet; after all, he was the one who predicted the pregnancy would be extraordinary. Upon his smokey arrival, he swept her off the bathroom floor, cradled her close to his chest, and with a wisp of smoke, they left…with her arms clinging to his neck. Kat did not know it yet, but she had much learning about the power of her blood waiting for her. Big Crow carried Kat and her unborn son through the threshold into a spirit dimension. There, she would learn about the voodoo that she did not understand, assuming she could get beyond her rage of knowing they wanted to share her baby. He was her baby, her blood, but they both had the ancient blood, their blood, that held powers not of this world.
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Chapter #17 – It’s In the Blood
On the drive home at day’s end, Kat did not listen to any music, which was a deviation from routine when behind the wheel of the limo. She could not concentrate on anything other than Big Crow with Little Feet informing her that she had so much to learn about the power of her blood and her unborn baby boy. What did that even mean? With her current knowledge, she could only assume he referenced the genetic linkage to ancient Indian blood of long-past generations. What’s the power in that? The power was real, yet it was unknown to Kat and discarded as mythical voodoo that she wanted nothing to do with. It was anything but myth, as she would soon learn.
The blood connection explained how Big Crow found her in her dream, but what else could there be that tied her to this bizarre prophecy? Her mind raced. When would it end? Would there be an end? Those questions rolled around in her brain and only pointed to more questions, most of which would reveal answers she was unsure if they were needed or even wanted.
The silence in the limo was deafening when she switched off the ignition in her assigned parking spot in the condo complex. Kat remained behind the wheel, deep in thought. She was by herself, but there was an essence of something that told her she was not alone. With additional caution, Kat retook the stairs from the fourth level where she parked, never flinching when a memory of the mugging several days earlier flashed through her mind.
Staying true to her routine, she stopped and listened from the fourth landing. When she told her body to take the first step, a wisp of smoke distracted her and instantaneously pushed tears of something…was it joy, relief, or fear of what’s next for her…out onto her cheeks. She turned and reached blindly through tears to embrace Big Crow, and her arms closed around empty air. He was not there, but his voice spoke in her head, “I’ve got you, Katherine.” A slender tendril of smoke dissolved. Her tears remained and were joined by a smile that lived in her heart and curled on her lips.
Kat was disappointed by not having the chance to bury her face in his stinking wool coat and hug him to her. His voice felt powerful; comfort swept through her even if he did not stand on the landing. She looked into the emptiness and spoke like he was there, “Thanks, Crow, I love you.”
Her mind recoiled instantly. Did you just tell him you loved him? “Yeah, I guess I did, didn’t I?” she said aloud to her own rebuke.
She wasn’t sure if she actually spoke or thought the words like she was dreaming—either way, she had exposed an unexplained truth, regardless of how it was delivered. So much of what she experienced had been a blur; parts seemed dream-like, maybe even out of body in nature, but then Big Crow had a physical presence. She never saw him dispatch the attackers in the stairwell, but she regained consciousness in his arms as he carried her back to the condo. He was real; his powerful arms were real, and his carrying her like she was a child was real. When she cried into his chest, he was real. He was always there. His presence had been a source of angst and comfort on her journey, and he’d grown on her, and she hoped she had grown on him.
Even her experience with Dew on Flowers during the first and only visit felt like a dream, a vision until they embraced and the power of being wrapped in her arms and, with a single, light kiss, sent her into a deep sleep. Both spirits had powers of which she knew little but had experienced. Both had demonstrated the ability to restrict her movements. Both had powers of persuasion that overrode decisions Kat would never have made and, in several cases, did make, though against her will. Kat wondered if those were powers of the blood Big Crow said she possessed. She had to know more.
When she closed and locked the door to her condo, there was only one objective, which would require a corkscrew until a new thought threw a wrench into the gears. She was pregnant, wasn’t she? And then she wasn’t pregnant, or was she? Dr. Sun could not see evidence and blamed the blood on an ordinary period, but the presence of blood contradicted what the test said. She was pregnant, had to be – technology and two ancient Indian spirits said she was. That made it unanimous.
The corkscrew dropped back into the drawer as she remembered Big Crow saying the pregnancy would not be ordinary. His statement sounded spot on with today’s conflicting assessments, not just today; nothing had been ordinary since she went to Phoenix.
What basis did she have to work from? She’d never been pregnant, so what did she have to compare with? Kat felt like a spectator, like she was along for the ride and had no power over anything that happened to her. Kat did not do well as a spectator without control over her circumstances. She had even less tolerance when there was no reliable knowledge of where the past week’s events originated. Everything happened to her…not because of her, and the contradictions in Dr. Sun’s office deepened her lack of control. Big Crow told her she had powers she knew nothing about that did little to settle her nerves. What he said was a catalyst to discover those powers, why she had them, and how to live with them…if they existed. Curious but not convinced best described where she was in her mind.
With a glass of cabernet out of the question, Kat decided on a favorite playlist filled with the smooth, electronic sounds of Tangerine Dream. A growl from her tummy prompted the desire to feed, and she ordered her usual from The China Wok – hot and spicy soup, crunchy noodles, and veggie spring rolls – for delivery. The music had lulled her into a light sleep when the doorbell rang with the arrival of her meal. The food was hot, and she added more heat with spicy mustard on the spring rolls. Kat’s mom always cooked with extra spice, so adding hot peppers or spicy mustard to most dishes was always part of her flavor choices.
When the feed was over, Kat headed for a hot shower, a favorite old cotton sleep shirt, pajama pants, and her nest of pillows scattered on fresh sheets on her California king. The bed had a thick down mattress pad under high-end, hotel-quality sheets with too many threads to count, and it swallowed her whole. What could be better? Full tummy, body prewarmed by a hot shower, lying in a cloud of luxury, and dressed to dance into dreams with the Sandman. He showed up when her head hit the pillow, and Kat slipped away dreamlessly…at first.
A sharp pain, much sharper than menstrual cramps, woke her up. Doubled over, she stumbled to the bathroom to remove the pad, anticipating distressing news. Was it over? Was this it? Had she just lost her baby boy? The pad revealed no blood at all. Something was wrong, and no evidence of blood only compounded her concerns. Another wave of pain dropped her to her knees, and she cried out, “Crow?”
Smoke announced his arrival, and powerful arms swept her off the bathroom floor like she weighed nothing. He whispered into her ear, “I’ve got you, Katherine.”
She drew her knees up when another cramping wave of pain surged in her belly. “O, Crow, it hurts. What’s wrong? What’s happening to me? Is my baby in trouble?”
Big Crow cradled Kat in one arm, placed a finger over her lips, and breathed warmth into her ear, “Ssshhh. Put your arms around my neck and hold on.”
The bathroom disappeared as darkness flooded her sense of sight, and smoke momentarily filled her nostrils. It felt like she had become untethered, weightless, and in flight, with warm wind caressing her body. She strained to look beyond the darkness but only sensed the sound of rushing water in her senses. Though her arms were wrapped around Big Crow’s neck, it felt like she floated and tightened her grip. The pain disappeared like a switch had been thrown, releasing tears of relief. She exhaled deeply, blessed with the chance to cry into his chest and the comforting stink of his wool coat. Why was his scent so overpowering? Kat had no idea what was happening and did not care. She was safe in Big Crow with Little Feet’s arms, and he was taking her somewhere, and not knowing where did not seem to matter.
When the sounds of rushing water and sensations of flight melted away, Kat opened her eyes to dim light with forms of five or six people standing close to her. It felt like she was on a soft surface, a bed possibly, but she could not see clearly; her eyes refused to focus. She blinked and rubbed them, but her vision was like looking through a frosted glass. Panic began to rise, and she reached out, “Crow?”
“We’ve got you, Katherine. You are safe,” came his deep voice.
Her hearing was not impaired, and a defensive tone came with tensing muscles, “WE?”
Big Crow said, “There are others here. They are friends you will meet soon.”
“Why can’t I see? Why is everything blurry?” Kat asked, panic creeping back into her voice.
A woman spoke, “Katherine, we are not ready for you to see.”
Kat asked, “Dew, is that you?” Hoping that the voice belonged to the only other person she trusted.
“No, Katherine, but we met once. I am Desert Breeze. We met awkwardly at the beginning of your journey, and yes, Dew on Flowers is here, too.”
She looked around at the blurry human forms, and her panic grew stronger. Agitation, not having control of her surroundings, not to mention being virtually blind, because they, whoever they were, were not ready for her to see, was enough, and her OCD launched an angry tirade, “Okay, that’s it! I’m calling bullshit on this noise. I want to know what the fuck is going on right fucking now! I’m still tangled up in this conspiracy, right? If so, let me in on it…all of it.”
Kat felt the soft hand of Dew on Flowers come to rest on her shoulder. Her next breath was deep, filling Kat’s lungs with a relaxing calm. She heard, “You are safe with us and have nothing to fear. We are here to teach you about the powers you and your baby have in your blood. You just experienced one of the powers when you transitioned through the spirit threshold with Big Crow.”
Kat put her hand over Dew on Flowers and said in a voice no longer stained with anger but no less direct, “Please tell me where I am. Who and why are WE together? And… how did I get here, wherever here is?”
Crow leaned closer and said, “Katherine, I brought you here. We traveled through the threshold into the spirit realm. You and your baby have come through the threshold into a dimension where the spirit realm exists. You are presently in the realm where your son’s Indian spirit will live when he is born. You are here to learn. Much of what we will explain about this realm will seem foreign. We will answer all your questions, but you need to understand where your journey is taking you. This prophecy has never happened before, and we need to navigate what is to come at a pace you can tolerate, and our job is to help you with the powers of which you know little.”
Kat, not one to be thought of as slow to learn, said, “I think my pace to understand will be just fine, Crow. I’m not an idiot, and I’m getting really tired of being blinded by this fog over my eyes.” Waving her hands in front of her face, she fired off an accusatory question, “What are you hiding here?”
The need for control was getting in the way of Kat’s understanding. Her persistent pushing to get a grip prevented attaining anything that would quell her push for answers. When the unknown woman said they were not ready for her to see, they were also not prepared for her to understand, but Kat was ready, and her patience wore thin.
“Katherine, we are not hiding anything,” explained Big Crow, “we are easing you into a place you’ve never been, a place you never considered as real. How often have you referred to our spirit world and what we do as voodoo? It’s not voodoo; it’s a reality you need to learn more about because it is in your blood and that of your baby boy. You are in a dimension where our spirit world lives; this is our realm. The Indian spirit of the baby boy growing in your womb will thrive here, and the power in your blood will give you capabilities that others in your world will not understand and will seem voodoo-like in their eyes. You must be prepared to know for yourself and your son.
Kat was hammered with a thought, “Dew on Flowers eliminated the Indian spirit connection from my baby. Why is a spirit part still there? I don’t want this. I never wanted this. Don’t you understand?”
Big Crow said, “I do understand, but you must also understand that your role as Duwit chonah mowna jawneek has not ended. It will take the power of your blood to fulfill this prophecy, and you will be honored forever as the reason for the fulfillment of the Puye Prophecy. You are the only path for the prophecy to move ahead. We are here to teach you and to protect you from any evil that wants to prevent the birth of our boy child.”
“MY boy child, goddammit,” shouted Kat, still not hearing or seeing anything but her rage.
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I hope you enjoyed chapter #17! I’m still editing and writing, so this is a work in progress that may become a novel one day. I’ll continue to share each chapter, so keep checking back. I would love to know your thoughts so far at gdogwise@live.com Enjoy the read!
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