Page 48 of Protecting the Flame

Chapter 6

Will’swalkie-talkie burped as she was melting a potful of snow, and then Mattie’s voice sounded, “Emma, are you there? Over?”

“Hey, Mattie. How’s your mom?” she said, dropping to a sit next to her grandfather. “Over?”

“Still out, but Will said her color’s better so that’s good and she…you know, she went to the bathroom.” Pause. “So we made her another diaper. Over.”

“Too much information,” Earl grumbled.

She grinned. “You want to talk to your grandfather? Over?”

“Oh, can I? Over?”

“Sure, hang on.” She showed the old man how to work the handset then scooped up Burke’s rifle and moved away from the fire to give them some privacy.

Something weird is going on. The glow from the fire at her back was a muddy orange on the snow but only reached a few feet before darkness shrouded the world beyond. The stars were out again, though, and this time, when she tilted her head to peer up, she spied the moon, now more like a thumbnail, midway up the sky to her left. With the crackle of the fire and the low drone of the old man’s voice, it was almost peaceful. Of course, if this were a novel or horror movie, right about now she’d snap on her headlamp and the green coins of a million eyes would leap from the blackness.

Don’t do it. Her hand strayed to her headlamp. In movies, a person had about a split second before the animals leapt. But this is reality, Greg. She flicked on her headlamp. A silver lance pierced the night.

No eyes. No slavering wild animals.

Idiot.Switching off her headlamp, she let out a soft snort. Freak yourself out, why don’t you?

But she was troubled. Her reporter’s instincts niggled. There was a disconnect she wasn’t seeing. Hunter said his dad, confused and disoriented, had gone off to meet “some guys.” She was pretty certain these were not friends. She stared into the darkness so hard her eyes ached with the strain. They were guys. And that whole thing about upgrading the plane, going into debt but expecting the investment to pay off? What had Hunter said? That their business would come back to bite them if they stayed in too long. What did that mean? Why would ferrying rich people around to expensive and distant locations be a problem?

“Hey.” She turned to see the old man holding up the walkie-talkie. “She wants to talk to you.”

“Sure,” she said, though she also felt the tiniest squirt of disappointment. Will had to be listening. He didn’t have anything to say? Of course, Scott would also be listening. So, maybe just as well. She wasn’t going to discuss anything Hunter had said within Scott’s hearing. Hunter had told her to watch out for Scott, which was not news. But had Hunter meant something else or more? “Hey, Mattie, what do you need? Over.”

There was a mild background fizz and then Mattie said, “It’s the fourth night. Over.”

“Ah. Sure thing.” Yippee. “You and Will got the candles ready?”

“We do,” Will said. “You say when.”

The sound of his voice made her heart leap. She wished they could talk things over. Instead she said, “When. Tell me when you’re ready.”

“Hang on…Okay, go for it.”

“Yehi ’or.”She could feel the actual blessings jostle for space on her tongue. What would it really cost her to say them? Nothing. They were only empty words that would dissipate into an even greater void. “Over.”

“Let there be light,” said Mattie.

“That’s right.” Emma cleared her throat. “Okay, talk to you guys in the morning. Over and out.”

As she clicked off, Earl said, “You going to share…what that was about?” He listened as she rattled off a thumbnail version detailing the holiday. “I heard…of that one. But there’s got…to be more to it. More words. Especially…” He drew in a long, rattling breath. “If we’re talking a miracle.”

“Yeah, well.” She gave a tight smile. She had heard that kind of rattle before and didn’t like it now any more than when it had issued from her grandmother and she had discovered that the sound was not a metaphor. “If we are.”

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