Katherine (Kat) Jackson is the key protagonist in this tale. Kat is a 28-year-old Senior Project Manager at her software development firm. She was promoted to her senior role two years earlier because she was consistently one of the most effective project managers. She prided herself on being one of the best, but even the best get fried at some point. Kat was nearing burnout, fighting the fact that details were slipping, which clearly showed she wasn’t in control. Losing control was something she thought impossible, even though she never really had any to begin with – another fact she refused to believe. When her freedom to make her own choices was compromised, her only solution was to shut down, take a self-defensive posture, and step away from it all. Fortunately, an observant supervisor and good friend recognized the building pressure and suggested a week off to decompress, relax, and recharge. Kat jumped at the chance and decided to take a road trip to visit her older sister in Phoenix. Unfortunately, decompressing, relaxing, and recharging never happened; in fact, the opposite did, and for many terrifying reasons, none of which were under her control.
The story begins when Kat is awakened, rudely interrupting a rare and decidedly pleasurable dream. She was greeted by the momentary smell of wood smoke that disappeared without a trace… but the source doesn’t: an invisible spirit of a 161-year-old Arapaho Indian medicine man named Big Crow with Little Feet. Against her will, she is drawn back into deep sleep to a bizarre, vivid dream that exposed her to details that seemed random and unexplainable – none of which Kat could ignore when she resurfaced from the deep dream state. As any top-drawer project manager would, she began a path of discovery that made no sense… until it did.
When she researched the randomness of the vivid dream’s details, several unexplainable elements were emotionally upsetting and drew tears to her eyes. More upsetting than the details she discovered was that she had no idea why she’d had such a random dream that wasn’t connected to her life in any way… until it was.
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Madeline (Maddie) Jackson is Kat’s older sister by six years and one of several antagonistic characters in this story. Maddie was an imposing dichotomy of affection and abuse to her little sister. She would tolerate Kat sharing bizarre dream stories one second, then relentlessly break into attack mode at the drop of a hat. Most of their interactions were by phone since she lived in Phoenix and Kat was in Lewisville, Texas, which probably kept them from coming to blows. Their relationship was odd, with Maddie assuming the role of matriarch since their mother passed away three years earlier. Because Kat needed control over her life, Maddie’s oversight created friction. Their routine involved verbal sparring and shouting until they reached the point that neither felt they’d won the skirmish, so they buried the hatchet and settled for sincere apologies and multiple shots of tequila.
Tequila was the subject of several stories, including one from a recent visit where Maddie fell to her knees between cars in the parking lot of The Toro’s Mexican restaurant in downtown Phoenix to retrieve sunglasses she’d dropped, cursing loudly. The embellished story of that same moment, according to Kat, was that Maddie had fallen drunk in the parking lot after too much tequila and was on all fours barking at the moon. Kat’s version was more entertaining, but Maddie quickly pointed out there was no moon that night, while failing to mention how much tequila contributed to dropping the sunglasses.
Maddie lacked empathy when she harassed Kat for having no interest in a relationship with a man in her life, admonishing her for being married to her job. This lack of empathy seemed to be a routine starting point for conflict whenever they spoke on the phone and, on the rare occasions, when they were face-to-face. Despite the routine, things changed when Kat visited this time, arriving a day late with no notice. The chastisement for not calling melted away when Kat told Maddie what had happened to her on what was supposed to be only a 15-hour road trip.
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Benito (Benny) Alvarez owned The Toros Mexican Restaurant in Phoenix, had a reputation as a tequila Jedi, and was Maddie’s never-mentioned love interest. When Kat and Maddie shared a booth with Benny at the restaurant, he made no effort to avoid long eye contact with Maddie and put his hands under the table on her several times. Benny made frequent trips to visit family in Mexico and typically brought back several tequilas, which Maddie and friends tested and approved. His most recent round trip brought back several bottles of Extra Añejo Corralejo, which Maddie and Kat split with him as Kat recounted the incident with Eagle Shadow on the mesa. Surprisingly, Benny knew the Puye Ruins since his boyhood home was east of Albuquerque, only an hour’s drive away. More surprisingly, he knew of the prophecy and was visibly excited to share a booth with a real Duwit chonah mowna jawneek, which translated to “honored one who carries a spirit.” His knowledge of the prophecy was somewhat of a comfort to Kat, even if it made it more real. Having that validation cast a different light on Big Crow with Little Feet in her eyes.
After they polished off the entire bottle of tequila, Benny enlisted Alejandro, his number two, to take away their car keys and drive the inebriated women home. Benny was no longer part of a never-mentioned relationship, and Kat would address that when she and Maddie were not so polluted.
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Casandra (Cassie) McBride was the Project Lead, Transition Team Director, Katherine’s supervisor, and recognized the onset of burnout in a top performer and made the suggestion for Kat to take some vacation time and regroup. They were friends as well as coworkers, and their relationship was based on trust; more than once, Kat felt comfortable enough to share what was going on in her life, knowing she would not be judged. Cassie respected Kat’s privacy and always reserved their personal conversations for shared bagels and coffee behind closed doors.
The pressure of work lifted from Kat’s mind when Cassie reminded her to take care of herself now that her deliverables for the current project were complete. They had another conversation when Kat returned a week later, with Kat more distracted and anxious than before she left to decompress and regroup. It was obvious she had not accomplished either. Cassie, still Kat’s friend, also had to be the boss and inferred firmly that Kat needed to find a way to refocus on work.
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Three Women in Kat’s Vivid Dream – None of the women had been at Sand Creek when the massacre occurred; they were waiting for their men to return from hunting rabbits at the Puye Ruins for a wedding feast. Kat overheard parts of their conversation as they panicked when the sound of horses approaching was not their men returning late. A roving detachment of U.S. Cavalry dropped a bloody burlap sack at their feet, and three heads of their men rolled out. At that point, the Cavalry soldiers opened fire at point-blank range, killing all three of them. During the dream, Kat doesn’t realize there’s any attachment to her, and it all seems completely random, but she’ll later learn that two among the dead would define her unwilling role in a prophecy.
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Desert Breeze is the first spirit Kat meets on her road trip to Phoenix. After driving the Limo, the black 1968 Chrysler Imperial rebuilt and left to her by her grandfather, for the better half of a very hot, dry Texas day, she needed to refuel, use the bathroom, and acquire a big glass of iced tea. Entering the only diner attached to a dilapidated old Sinclair service station off I-20, Kat’s adventure began when she met Desert Breeze, a stooped, shriveled old Indian woman who stood barely five feet tall behind the counter, wearing a disarming smile and gesturing toward one of the stools. Her face held a kind smile, framed by thick braids of long, black hair woven with multi-colored beads that dangled on either side of her head. She had leathery brown skin with deep lines earned from a hard life, years of toil under an unforgiving sun, dry winds, and general exposure of West Texas living. Her eyes were a striking pale blue, conveying a comforting smile. Kat decided instantly she was harmless… until she wasn’t.
A revealing conversation with Desert Breeze painted the complex history behind the ancient Puye Prophecy and the spirits Kat would soon meet in her role as the Duwit chonah mowna jawneek, which translated to “honored one who carries a spirit.” Desert Breeze never threatened Kat, but terrorized her when she made it clear Kat had been expected to arrive at the diner that afternoon and that her role was not optional.
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Big Crow with Little Feet was the second and most significant spirit Kat met, transitioning from a terrifying abductor to a trusted guide and ultimately a protector from evil during her harrowing journey as a duwit chonah mowna jawneek, which translated to “one who carries a spirit.” On November 11, 1864, as a young Arapaho medicine man, Big Crow was murdered along with 160 other Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians in the Massacre at Sand Creek in Colorado by a detachment of U.S. Cavalry. Two-thirds of the dead were women, the elderly, and children. As a tribal medicine man, Big Crow’s spirit was released into the spirit realm, where he was tasked with fulfilling the prophecy that would bring together the wandering spirits of two lovers he was scheduled to marry. Shadow Eagle, who was in line to become the future tribal chief before his murder, and his bride-to-be, Dew on Flowers, were destined to wander in the spirit realm when their spirits were released.
Big Crow’s spirit was released into the realm when he died in the massacre and was tasked with fulfilling the prophecy: to find and reconnect the spirits of two lovers separated by violence. Shadow Eagle and Dew on Flowers escaped the initial massacre because they were at the Puye Ruins, hunting rabbits for the wedding feast on the mesa above the ruins, two days’ ride from Sand Creek. Both died at the hands of a roving cavalry patrol several days later. Their spirits were never joined in marriage and were destined to wander the realm, never to marry unless they found one another.
Big Crow could travel through the ether between Earth and the spirit realm, leaving a wisp of smoke whenever he moved between them. He could remain invisible or manifest as a real human on Earth, as he had in 1864, when he appeared as a young man. The only difference was that his long black hair was now gray, braided, and framing a handsome, weathered face with icy blue eyes of a Siberian Husky that belied his Indian heritage. Big Crow stood well over six feet tall with a powerful, slender body hidden under a long black wool trench coat that smelled of smoke. The crumpled top hat he wore made him seem nearly seven feet tall.
Big Crow’s role was to fulfill the prophecy by bringing them together, even though he had roamed the spirit realm unsuccessfully for 160-plus years searching for them. He discovered Katherine Jackson in a dream through ancient Indian DNA in her blood that she didn’t know she had, which came from her mother’s side of the family and had been acquired generations earlier. He first visited Kat as an invisible spirit, announcing his presence only with a wisp of smoke. He drew Kat into a sensual, vivid dream that never finished when she suddenly woke in a panic to the smell of smoke. Big Crow remained invisible and silent while she calmed and went back to sleep, where he continued to orchestrate the dream. He wanted to test her to confirm she was the right choice to help him fulfill the prophecy. He exposed her to a moment in November 1864, where the women gathered around a fire anxiously waiting for the return of their men from the hunt, before the cavalry showed up, dumped a burlap sack with the heads of their men at their feet, and then murdered them at point-blank range.
Big Crow arranged for Kat to hear some parts of the women’s conversation to see what she would do with the knowledge. He observed her research the words he wanted her to hear from the women, noting the research drew her to tears, demonstrating the purity he sought when she learned of the senseless massacre at Sand Creek and then witnessed a brutal triple murder of three innocent women as they lamented over the deaths of their men. At the time, Kat had no idea who any of the women were, nor did she realize the spirit that seamlessly entered her came from one of the women, Dew on Flowers. She also didn’t know that one of the severed heads belonged to the future groom, Eagle Shadow. Big Crow was committed to seeing his mission succeed, and he knew Kat would connect the dots soon enough. He had no doubts that Katherine Jackson was exactly who he was looking for to fulfill the Puye Prophecy.
He returned to the spirit realm, leaving Kat to wonder why she kept smelling smoke with no fire.
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Shadow Eagle – an Indian warrior destined to become chief was a shapeshifting spirit that soared on evening thermals above the Puye ruins as a huge eagle. He was one of the braves in the hunting party that was killed by a roving U.S. Cavalry detachment several days after the massacre. He and two other braves were not scalped, but decapitated, and their heads were stuffed into a burlap sack.
On the mesa above the Puye Ruins, the giant eagle swoops down and lands in front of Kat, shape-shifting into human form, tall, broad-chested, powerful, and quite naked, his long black hair swirling in the evening breeze. Around his neck hung a feather-adorned dreamcatcher on a leather cord. Dark brown eyes, almost black, bore into Kat, but they held no malice or evil intent. He said nothing to her at first, smiling broadly, then spoke softly, “Duwit chonah mowna jawneek.”
He opened his arms and reached for her; his touch diminished the paralyzing terror that kept her from fleeing. A calm and completely compliant Kat levitates against her will, and her now-naked body settles in his embrace where the ultimate connection is made. The spirit of Dew on Flowers is finally reconnected to her lover. Shadow Eagle leans back in his moment of bliss with Kat locked in his powerful embrace, as he slips from the edge of the mesa and falls toward the rocks below. Had the prophecy finally been fulfilled? Did that encounter really happen, or was everything just another vivid dream Big Crow orchestrated?
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Dew on Flowers – Big Crow orchestrates a vivid dream where Dew on Flowers, Shadow Eagle’s bride-to-be, is murdered at the hands of roving U.S. Cavalry. Her spirit is released and enters Kat when she dies during the dream. Kat didn’t realize it at the time, but during that dream she unknowingly became the Duwit chonah mowna jawneek carrier of Dew’s spirit and part of a prophecy she knew nothing about.
After Kat had her pregnancy confirmed, Dew sensed her consternation and visited her for the first time in the middle of the night, causing Kat to panic. Dew touched her, exerting a calming influence that swept over Kat and temporarily paralyzed her. Dew delivered a frightening message that there were evil spirits who would stop at nothing to end her pregnancy, even if Kat needed to die.
Dew put Kat’s mind at ease by offering to protect the unborn child growing in Kat’s womb from evil spirits who did not want the prophecy fulfilled. When Dew placed her hand on Kat’s belly, the touch calmed Kat further and lulled her into a deep sleep, while she blocked the child’s identity, hiding any connection to the prophecy… until her efforts failed.
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Puye Prophecy– bit.ly/44euZzV
Video Trailer – https://bit.ly/3JAantV
Puye Review by Jill Rey – https://bit.ly/4fPqa49
Goodreads Reviews – https://bit.ly/4rqIdTF
