“Sara,” Shawn says. “This is classified information. I couldn’t just tell you—”
“I’m your wife!”
“Yes, but the Clover pack are hardly friends to us. What if you told the others and started a panic? Or even worse, alerted someone to the power of the spirit, and they decided to go after it?”
“Spirit?” I repeat, feeling a horrible chill running down my spine. “Like a ghost? Ghosts are real?”
“Actually, ghosts are something else,” he says matter-of-factly. “A ghost is an echo of someone, or something, that was once alive. A spirit is something that was never alive. Well, not the way we are, at least. They maintain a metabolism and an exchange with the physical realm that resembles life.”
“Whoa, whoa, wait,” I say, holding up my hand. “I understand maybe two words out of everything you just said.”
“Well, I’m not a science geek,” he says. “Besides, all of them left with the military occupation some time ago.”
“Military occupation?” I echo.
“Yeah. We had a full contingent here investigating the incursion site right after the snake woke up and almost blew us to hell.”
Shawn stops talking abruptly, and his eyes go wide as he realizes what he just said. The tension in the room increases, and it seems to get warmer. My heart beats so hard, I can feel it in my throat, and beads of sweat begin to trickle down my sides.
“What?” I whisper, forcing the words out. Somewhere behind me, a door slams so hard, it shakes the wall.
Great. Now the fucking house is falling apart.
“Okay,” Shawn says, waving his hands a little. “I know it sounds bad, but—”
“Let me get this straight,” I interrupt him. “The ancient evil that drove my people into isolation in the mountains woke up, almost exploded the surrounding area in the midst of a military occupation, and not only did we not know about it, you didn’t think it was worth telling me?”
“I always planned to,” Shawn says. “I just…well. It’s a lot.”
“It sure is,” I sigh, leaning back in my chair. “I thought I had problems before, but this really gives me a change of perspective.”
“Yeah. I’m sorry.”
“Wait,” I say. “Is this still going on right now? Are we in danger?”
“No,” Shawn says, shaking his head. “The stone is cold, and the snake hasn’t been seen for a long time now. Everything is quiet at the moment.”
“The snake and the stone,” I repeat. “Yes, I’ve heard that before. It was in the old rhyme.”
“Do you know anything about it?” he asks. “It would really help if your people had any information at all.”
I shake my head. “No. The only knowledge that has survived is the tale of a wall of fire so powerful, it melted the ground and an earthquake that rippled through the mountains, swallowing up whole sections of forest. I think our founders made it to this peak and watched the catastrophe, feeling as if they were beyond danger, and so they decided to settle there.”
Shawn nods. “Okay. Is there anything else about that you’d like to ask?”
“No,” I answer, shaking my head. My mind reels, trying to accept the information.
“Okay, well, I have a question,” he says.
“Oh?”
“I think your father knows about the snake.”
“What?” I ask, feeling my hands going numb with shock. “What do you mean? He’d only know what most of us know—that something dangerous is out there.”
“Look, it’s just a hint he gave me,” Shawn says. “But this is serious. Twice now, that thing has almost blown up, and it’s because some asshole wants to channel the power for himself.”
A whole new level of shock piles on top of the shock I’m already feeling. As my nerves increase, the tension in the airseems to crackle, and a mug rolls off the counter nearby and smashes on the floor.
