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Having walked farther than she had thought, her mind straying too often to things that bothered her, Kaylene suddenly found herself at the very edge of the village, exactly opposite from where Fire Thunder’s lodge sat.
She looked quickly around her and saw that she had left all of the lodges behind, except for this one that was isolated from the others. It was partially hidden by a cover of trees that stood like sentinels around it.
It was a wigwam. The cattail mats that covered it were aged and brittle. There were no windows, only a door. An entrance flap made from an animal skin hung over it, swaying gently in the breeze.
“Whose lodge is that?” Kaylene asked as she gave Running Fawn an inquisitive stare. “It is so different from the others. And it sits alone. Why, Running Fawn?”
“The woman who lives here is Moon Glow,” Running Fawn said, staring at the fluttering entrance flap. “But most call her muy-trote-adore, ‘trotter.’ She has had many husbands. Most have died mysteriously. This is why she lives away from the others. People have lost their trust in her. Men avoid her, fearing if they marry her, they will also die strangely.”
“Goodness,” Kaylene murmured, finding this intriguing, to say the least.
“Come on,” Running Fawn said, grabbing one of Kaylene’s hands. “I will introduce you to Moon Glow. Rarely does anyone visit her. Only I do.” She smiled at Kaylene. “I have not visited with her since you came to my village. You have taken the place of Moon Glow. She was my confidante. Now you are.”
Kaylene arched an eyebrow. “Confidante?” she said. “How can you call me that? You have only confided in me once. Otherwise, you do not tell me where you suddenly disappear to so often. Sometimes I go a full day and evening without seeing you. If you have not come here, then where do you go?”
Running Fawn shuffled her feet nervously. “Do you remember a few moments ago when you did not wish to respond to my questions?” she asked.
“Yes,” Kaylene said, nodding.
“Well, it is the same for me now, Kaylene,” Running Fawn said, almost hoarsely. “Please do not ask questions about things I do not voluntarily tell you. What I do, I do behind my father’s back. If he ever discovered the full truth about things I do when I am away from him, he might, himself, banish me from my tribe.”
“Is what you do that terrible?” Kaylene could not help but ask, knowing that Running Fawn was referring to being with Mexican men.
“Remember, I do not wish to talk about it,” Running Fawn said thickly. Then she laughed softly. “Come. Let us go and say hello to Moon Glow.”
“What about Midnight?” Kaylene asked, giving her panther a quick glance.
“Midnight will enjoy entering Moon Glow’s lodge,” Running Fawn said, tugging on Kaylene’s hand. “Come. You will see why.”
Kaylene sighed, then went with Running Fawn. Her fingers tightened on Midnight’s leash, for something told her to never totally trust Running Fawn’s judgment about things. Hadn’t Fire Thunder warned her?
As Kaylene entered the small wigwam, she smelled such a horrible, vile smell, she doubted even more that she should have trusted Running Fawn enough to enter a lodge that the other people of the village avoided.
There was no fire in the fire pit, only glowing embers. And the only thing that Kaylene could see were many green eyes peering at her through the darkness.
When she heard Midnight emit a low snarling sound from the depths of his throat, she bent down beside him and stroked his back in an effort to calm him.
His eyes narrowed as he looked guardedly around him. When he sniffed, and his body stiffened, she knew it was not a reaction to the terrible stench that made Kaylene’s nose curl up, and her throat burn.
It was something more.
When a cat leaped out of the semidarkness, and came sniffing at Midnight’s feet, Kaylene then knew what the many green eyes belonged to in the lodge.
One by one, cats slunk from the dark shadows. They walked stealthily closer to Midnight. Some growled. Others were curious and friendly.
“Midnight, steady . . .” Kaylene whispered, her spine stiffening. “Remember that the cats are much smaller than you. Midnight, do not—”
Her words were cut off by a low, strange sort of cackling from the inner depths of the wigwam, causing chills to race up and down her spine as she peered more intently into the semidarkness.
She started when an elderly lady stepped fully into view, a cat curled in the crook of each of her arms.
Kaylene had never seen anyone as old as Moon Glow. Her copper face was a crater of wrinkles. Her dark, squinting eyes were set back deeply into her flesh. Her lips had narrowed from age into a straight, almost vanishing line.
Moon Glow’s hair was wiry gray and hung almost to the floor. She wore a buckskin robe that was loose on her extremely thin body. Her hands were veined, the skin taut on her bo
nes, like leather.
“My, my, but don’t you have the greenest eyes,” Moon Glow said, as she leaned closer to get a better look at Kaylene. “Green like my cats.”
