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She looked outward and, in an instant, found herself drifting up and out of the chair toward the ceiling. Then she was carried through the house and out into the dark night again. She could hear the wind but felt none of its cold bite.
She turned toward the woods where she and Joey had come from and let herself float that way. She drifted down the trail quickly, her feet never touching the ground at all.
Annja kept breathing deeply. Somehow the sage smell still lingered in her nostrils. Somehow it still kept relaxing her, even while she was outside of the house.
The thought that she was traveling out of her body occurred to Annja and she looked back to see if there was some type of thread connecting her body as she’d often read about. She could see nothing.
Perhaps this was what it was like to die?
Annja kept traveling down the path. She rolled over the hills and down into the valleys. She could taste the air. And soon enough she found herself back where she and Joey had started.
The pine boughs still held the impression of Jenny’s body. Annja rose up above the ground and looked at the area from a different perspective. Whoever had grabbed Jenny would have scared her possibly. Jenny must have felt some type of fear, even in her weakened state.
What would it be like, she wondered, to lay there so vulnerable and know that you couldn’t do anything? Her heart started beating faster. Annja felt her pulse quicken at the thought of the sudden looming presence that might have carried her off.
Who was it? she wondered.
Where was she?
The fear was palpable; Annja could feel it envelop her body and her mind like some kind of blanket. She wanted to shrug it off and feel relaxed again, but a voice inside her told her this was necessary. She needed to know this fear.
Annja embraced it then, allowing herself to be swept up into the rising tide of anxiety that Jenny would have felt. And as she did so, her body shifted. She was zooming along the ground again, but no longer in control of herself. It was as if she’d stepped on a carnival ride and been whisked away from where she was.
Something was happening.
In the far distance, she could still hear the drums and chanting. It reassured her to know they were still there, but then Jenny’s fear overwhelmed her again and she continued her journey.
Her body flew over the landscape to places that Annja didn’t recognize. Hills too steep to climb rushed at her as she continued to move on and on, higher and higher until she felt as if she was above the treeline.
And then darkness.
It surrounded Annja. She could taste the fear in her mouth. Where was she? Who had taken her? She had no sensation of what had transported her, only that she was somewhere dark and dank.
It wasn’t too cold, though. Somehow there was warmth in this place.
And then she heard the soft sound of crying in the darkness.
“Jenny?”
But no one answered her. Annja frowned. Of course not. If she was still sitting in the chair in Dancing Deer’s home, there’d be no way for Jenny to hear her.
Still…
“Jenny?”
There was no response. Annja frowned. “I think you’re in a cave up on a mountain almost above the treeline. If you can hear me, try to get out of there and work your way down. I’ll try to find you.”
It felt good saying that, and as soon as that relief washed over Annja, the darkness disappeared and she was flying back down the mountain to where she’d begun her journey. Everything happened in reverse. And then Annja was back by the pine boughs.
The drumming grew louder. So did the chanting. Annja realized that her trip was over. She could smell the sage again. She could feel the heat of the living room. She wanted to be back in the chair.
She flew down the trail. Back over the hills and valleys. And then into the air.
Annja drifted back toward Dancing Deer’s home and then down through the ceiling, finally coming to rest in the chair.
The drumming and chanting grew louder now as she felt herself sink into the flesh of her own body.
Annja opened her eyes and felt incredibly light and refreshed. Dancing Deer’s voice trailed off. So did Joey’s drumming.
After a moment, Dancing Deer opened his eyes and stared right at Annja. “Did you have a pleasant journey?”
Annja smiled. “I don’t know what happened to me.”
Dancing Deer nodded. “I think you do, actually. You were the one to whom your friend has the strongest connection. As such, you were the one to take the journey. Not I.”
“You mean I spirit tracked her?”
“I don’t know,” Dancing Deer said. “Did you?”
“I’m not sure.” Annja frowned. “There was a lot of darkness.”
“But you know where to look now, don’t you?” Annja closed her eyes and then smiled. “Actually, I think I do.”
8
Dancing Deer looked at Annja closely. “Be careful. You are still learning to trust your instincts. At this point, it can be very dangerous to be too trusting or too little trusting. Do you understand?”
Annja frowned. “I…I guess I do.”
“You need only trust in the spirit that moves in all things. The Creator will guide you to what you seek.”
The sage smoke had ceased billowing from the bundle and all that remained were the blackened bits of the herb in the dish. But Annja could still smell the sweet scent in the air.
Joey got up and took the dish to the kitchen. Annja could hear him washing it before he once again returned to the living room. “You ready to go?”
Annja rose from the recliner, feeling as if she’d been asleep for hours. She stretched and heard her back creak a bit. “I guess so.” She smiled at Dancing Deer. “That is one comfortable chair you’ve got there.”
Dancing Deer grinned. “And as soon as you’re gone, I’m going to fall asleep in it.”
Joey gave his grandfather a hug. “Thanks for your help.”
Annja could see the pride in Dancing Deer’s eyes as he hugged his grandson. “Don’t be gone too long or I’ll worry.”
“You don’t need to,” Joey said.
“You’re all I have left. I don’t have a choice but to worry.”
Joey stepped back and nodded. Then he turned to Annja. “Let’s go.”
Outside, the night sky was filled with stars not overshadowed by the brilliance of the moon in the western sky. Annja picked out several constellations and marveled at how much she could see.
“Annja?”
She looked at Joey. “Sorry, it’s just so beautiful here.”
“We can look at it later.” Joey pointed. “We need to get going. Did you see the direction we need to head in?”
“Let’s start back at where you left Jenny. I was there and then I was taken away after I tuned into her…fear, I guess.”
Joey nodded. “Dancing Deer says that is one way to do it. By tuning into the emotions of the person you’re trying to track, it’s very easy to find them. Fear is one of the strongest. Rage and lust are others.”
“Lust?”
Joey shrugged. “I don’t know much about that one yet. But the things that people obsess over are stronger than just basic emotions. Pretty interesting stuff, huh?”
“Definitely.”
Joey led them back down the road and into the woods again. Annja laughed. I feel as if this is the third time I’ve traveled this route tonight. I’m almost getting tired of seeing it again.
Joey glanced back at her. “Old hat to you now, huh?”
“I was just thinking that.”
“Happened to me, too. The first time I did it.”
Annja frowned. “I thought you said you didn’t know how to do it. That’s why we went and saw your grandfather.”
“What I said was I wasn’t skilled enough at leading someone else on a spirit track. I knew it would have to be you.”
“You never mentioned that.”
“Would you have believed me?”
“Possibly.”
Joey chuckled. “I guess maybe you would have.”
They wound their way back down the trail. Annja’s legs knew the terrain by now and she was surprised at how relaxed she felt as she moved along. It was almost as if she was able to sense the flow of the land, to read it before she reached it and adjust her body accordingly. The result was she wasn’t nearly as exhausted this time.
Joey led them back to the hill where he’d left Jenny. “Okay. Now what?”
Annja glanced around. The last time she’d been there, she’d been out of her body and tuning into Jenny’s emotional state. But now, being there in the flesh, it didn’t seem possible to do what she’d done back at Dancing Deer’s home.
“I don’t know.”
“Annja.”
Annja shook her head. “It doesn’t look familiar. I don’t know if I can do this again.”
“Of course you can. You just need to stop thinking that it’s different now from how it was when you were in the chair. It’s not different. It’s the same. It’s all connected.”
Annja closed her eyes. She tried to remember how she’d felt when she reached this point. She could feel her heartbeat increase as the waves of fear gripped her insides again. She was Jenny. She was feeling the approach of some kind of unseen danger. And then she was swept up.
Running.
Running.
Through the trees and across the hills and the valleys. Branches whipped past her face. She could smell the wet pines, the dampness of the rain on the air. She could hear the breezes rustling the leaves and the deadfall. She could feel her feet on the slippery mud, but somehow kept her balance just the same.
And still she could feel Jenny’s fear. She knew it now like it was her own. And she saw the darkness that surrounded Jenny.
The cave.
Annja opened her eyes and nearly fell over.
She wasn’t by the pine boughs where Joey had left Jenny. She was somewhere else. Far away from where they’d been. Miles away, in fact.
Joey stood nearby. He was smiling. “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself. Where the hell are we?”
Joey shrugged. “I don’t really know. This isn’t a part of the woods that I’ve explored before.”
“I thought you knew everywhere.”
“Nope. This is a lot of land. Parts of this place are almost inaccessible. Frankly, when you took off running, I was a bit concerned I’d lose you. If you’d kept up with me like that earlier, we might have found Jenny even faster.”
“Funny guy. I don’t even remember moving.”
Joey nodded. “Yeah, well, when you suddenly forget about keeping your body, mind and spirit together, crazy things can happen.”
“I guess.”
Joey glanced around. “This is some pretty steep terrain. You think Jenny’s around here somewhere?”
“A cave,” Annja said. She could see the darkness. “I think she’s in a cave somewhere above us.”
“We’re almost above the treeline as it is,” Joey said. “But these mountains and hills are packed with isolated areas that are almost impossible to get through. She could be in any one of them. Can you narrow it down some before we start poking our noses into every cave we come across?”
“How would I do that?”
Joey shrugged. “Close your eyes again.”
“Okay.”
“One thing.”
Annja opened her eyes. “What?”
