Page 8 of Ascendant Moon
“I should be back in a couple of hours, but I need to do our laundry and make a few other stops. Besides, I believe your grandfather has something he’d like to discuss with you privately.”
Gray’s worry returned, and once they were alone, he asked what the doctors had to say about Walter’s condition.
“The chemo is supposed to shrink the tumors and keep the cancer from spreading further. After that, they want to try something called CAR T-cell therapy. If I understand it correctly, they collect some T-cells from my blood and change them so that they kill the specific cancer cells in my body. I’ll have to stay here near the hospital so they can watch for any trouble.”
Gray noticed that Walter didn’t really answer the most important question.
“But will that cure you? Will you be all right?”
Walter’s expression softened as he walked a fine line of telling the truth without scaring Gray.
“They can’t guarantee the procedure will work, and the last resort is a bone marrow transplant. If that fails, I probably won’t have long to live—which is why I need to tell you something of great importance. It is a secret held by our family alone, passed from father to son by Gray Feather himself. Your Uncle Matthew cannot be trusted with this information, and before you ask, not even my beloved Tayen knows. All I ask is that you listen with an open mind and heart.”
Gray’s eyes widened with wonder and grief. Walter couldn’t die! Not now. Not so young. And what kind of secret was so important that Gray Feather felt compelled to leave it to his descendants? Obviously, this was something dear to Walter’s heart, and despite his feelings and questions, Gray would not disappoint him.
“You honor me with your trust, grandfather. I am listening.”
Walter’s love for Gray swelled up in his heart, along with the confidence that he’d chosen the right person. But, theirdiscussion was just getting started, and his grandson was about to undergo a test rarely required for one so young.
“Thank you, but first tell me what you know of the Diné traditions regarding wolves.”
Gray wondered what that had to do with the secret, though he assumed Walter would explain.
“They were greatly respected for their skills and never killed unless necessary. Our early oral history even includes stories about wolf-people, and later they appeared in the Skin Walker legends as frightening creatures.”
Walter nodded his head.
“Correct. What you don’t know is that those stories about wolf-people are true. They often interacted with us, and when the killing of natural wolves began, the Diné stopped mentioning them in the stories to protect them. Eventually, they were melded into the Skin Walker legends and our people declined to correct anyone’s thinking. Among themselves, they are known as shifters, and you’ve already met several of them.”
Astonished, Gray couldn’t believe that Walter was serious. Had the treatment affected his mind? Was he joking? His deep respect for the man prevented him from being rude, but he struggled to come up with a reasonable response.
“I don’t understand, grandfather. Who are you talking about?”
Walter could see the conflict in Gray’s eyes and hoped the young man would hear him out.
“I understand your doubt, but you know I would never lie to you about something like this. I’m referring to Jack Eby, William, Katrine, and Mandy. In fact, all of their friends livingat Gladstone are wolf shifters, and there are many other packs living in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. With my own eyes, I have seen them change from man to beast and back again.
“The secret I told you about began when Hezekiah Matson left a set of journals with Gray Feather for safekeeping in 1853. Both he and Jack Eby are a special type of shifter called a True Elder. They are long-lived and tasked with teaching their people shifter history and practice. Since Matson was already quite old, he wanted the journals to go to Jack’s family if he died before completing the boy’s training.
“The journals were placed in a leather satchel and strapped to Hezekiah’s wolf form so he could bring them to Gray Feather and then return home. When he arrived, Gray Feather witnessed Hezekiah’s death at the hands of a bounty hunter. He then entrusted the journals to his son, charging him with finding Jack’s family so they could be returned as planned. Unfortunately, the Ebys had moved away after Hezekiah disappeared, and the contents of the satchel were handed down through eight generations of our family.
“Your great grandfather told me this story shortly before he died, leaving me with the responsibility of finding one of Jack Eby’s descendants. The study of those journals led to my work at the museum, and I spent most of my life collecting information and waiting for the day I met a real shifter.”
Gray’s head swam with the fantastic account, and though Walter believed what he was saying, he had to start somewhere and chose the most obvious.
“But I’ve met Jack. How could it be the same person?”
Walter knew this would come up, and he answered it honestly.
“I already mentioned that True Elders live long lives. In fact, Hezekiah was over two hundred when he was killed and Jack celebrated his one hundred and seventy-fourth year in April.”
Gray struggled to believe. Jack’s age. Shifters. Secrecy. He simply couldn’t accept the tale as Walter told it without some proof.
“Forgive me, grandfather, but I don’t see how this could be true…”
Gray needed to be convinced, now, and Walter cut him off with two Diné words.
“Ma'iitsoh atsilí” (wolf brother.)
