Trail of Lightning

Chapter 26

I wake up just in time for dinner the next day.

“Dinner?” I ask incredulously as Grace pokes her head in the door to call me to the table.

She chuckles. “You aren’t the only one. Clive’s only been up half a minute, but then he and your boy closed down the bar with the sunrise. Didn’t stop him from doing those morning prayers for my baby, though.” She’s got that rag back in her hand and she slaps it against her hands, shoulders shaking with mirth. “That fella of yours is something. A real charmer.”

I sit up and rub the sleep from my eyes. “Yeah? You’re not the first one to think so.”

“And a dancer.” She lifts her arms like she’s got a partner and does a turn around my room. I’ve never seen her like this and I’m forced to reconsider everything I know about the woman.

“Kai danced with you?”

“And everyone else in the place last night,” she confirms. “Such a charmer.”

“Yeah, you said that.”

She can tell I’m not as amused as she thinks I should be, and she drops her arms to her hips. “Well, come to dinner. The least I can do is feed you after all you did for my twins.”

Kai, Clive, and Rissa are gathered at the eat-in kitchen table, loud and laughing and heaping food onto their plates. My stomach rumbles at the smell of carne adovada. I wonder where Grace got the meat, but then she’s probably one of the richest people in eastern Dinétah, with the gun running and the liquor business.

“Monsterslayer!” Clive calls good-naturedly. “Come join us. You missed a hell of a party last night.”

“So I hear.” I slide into the free chair next to Rissa. I notice she’s got a bowl of clear broth, not any of the red chilé-coated pork that smells so amazing. I give her a nod, and she nods back.

“Your boy here is a beast!” Clive says, boisterous as a puppy.

“Oh?” I reach for the serving spoon to serve myself. There’s yeast bread too, and I take a chunk and run it through the chilé sauce, sopping up the goodness.

“Yeah, you should have seen—”

But I’m saved from what I should have seen as the front door flies open, slamming against the wall with a boom. Clive is halfway out of his seat and reaching for the gun strapped to his hip when Freckles’s head pops through the front door. “You guys still chowing down?”

“Come in and eat,” Grace calls to her youngest son. “I made something special for our guests.”

Freckles tilts his head to the side. “There’s someone here to see Maggie.”

I freeze with my food halfway to my mouth. My eyes dart to Kai. Who would be here to see me?

“Who is it?” Grace asks.

“Says his name is Ma’ii.”

Ma’ii’s on the porch, rocking lazily in one of Grace’s chairs. He’s wearing a variation of the Western gentleman’s suit he favors, but this one is a mix of light blues and orange with his customary camel coat over his shoulders. He twirls his walking stick idly in one hand, letting it thump against the planks of the porch, the only sign of his irritation. He’s minus his hat, pale skin exposed to the setting sun and hair rustling lightly in an invisible breeze.

I lean against a post, just behind his shoulder, arms crossed. “What are you doing here?”

He surveys the yard casually, taking in the All-American, the razor-wire fencing, the long bank of garages, and says, “This doesn’t look a thing like Canyon de Chelly.”

“I’ve been busy.”

“Oh yes. I know. All too well.” He tsks at me, long tongue flicking over sharp teeth. Twists his body around to stare at me with glittering golden eyes. “I’m beginning to think you aren’t taking our friendship seriously.”

I uncross my arms and take a seat in the rocking chair next to him. “Some bad things happened yesterday.” I leave out the details. I can’t see anything positive about telling Ma’ii about Tah.

“Ah yes, the medicine man,” he says, voice theatrically melancholy.

“How do you know about Tah?”

“I am Coyote. I know—”

“Yeah, whatever. But what does that have to do with you? If you’re just here to complain about me not getting to your job—”

He lifts a hand to hold me off. “I did not just come to this . . . where are we exactly?”

“Grace’s All-American. It’s a bar.”

He sniffs. “Are you sure? No mind. I was saying that I did not just come to check on your progress in completing my quest. I came because I have learned something of the monsters you seek.” He pauses dramatically. “I believe you would call it a clue.”

“The tsé naayéé’?” Kai’s voice calls from behind us. I hadn’t realized he was there, but now he steps forward to face Ma’ii. “What is it?”

“Ah, Kai Arviso!” Ma’ii’s face lights up. “How splendid to see you again.” His sly eyes roll toward me. “Have you and Magdalena become lovers yet?”

I exhale loudly. “Can you focus, Ma’ii?”

“In time, then,” he says before he turns back to me. “A fire drill.”

“A what?”

“A drill.” He waves a clawed hand. “A tool used by Haashch’ééshzhiní to set the stars ablaze.”

Kai and I exchange a look. The same god from the Crownpoint recordings. The thing I called a firestarter.

“And that’s related to the monsters, how?”

“I have told you all I know. But there’s an associate of mine who trades in such things. She knows more, may even have this drill in her possession. You seek her out, you learn what she knows, and you may have the source that animates your monsters.”

“Are you saying this fire drill is used to bring the tsé naayéé’ to life?”

“That could be it, Maggie,” Kai says. “Could be the same thing from the CDs.”

“What’s in this for you, Ma’ii? Why are you helping us? Why should we trust you?”

His face droops and he gives me what could only be called puppy dog eyes. “You wound me. Did we not bargain? Make a deal and share a meal as friends? I vowed to tell you what I know of the monsters, and you, in return, owe me a trip to Canyon de Chelly.”

He’s shrewd. I’ll give him that. And it’s the first real clue we’ve gotten in a while, and it fits in with everything else. “Okay then.”

He leans in. “ ‘Okay then’ what?”

“Thank you.”

Ma’ii gives me a little seated bow. “The pleasure is all mine.”

“So where do we find this friend of yours with the fire drill?”

“A place I understand young Kai Arviso has frequented before. Why, just three nights ago he had a conversation with a dead man there.”

“What’s he talking about?” I look at Kai. He flinches before giving a little derisive shake of his head. He obviously knows where Coyote means.

“What’s he talking about?” I repeat. “Where did you meet a dead man?”

Kai looks at Coyote, lips pursed in thought, like he’s reconsidering every nice thing he might have thought about Ma’ii. He finally looks over at me. “The dead man is Longarm, isn’t it? So he’s talking about Tse Bonito, a place in Tse Bonito. He’s talking about the Shalimar.”