The Spirit Keeper Read Online Free PDF Page B

help, he has found a Creature with hair of Fire and eyes of Ice!”
    I blush now to admit how long I sat looking expectantly ’round the crowd, waiting for someone to unveil this marvelous Creature. I saw that Syawa was now standing directly across the fire from me, staring at me, but because he was always staring at me, I saw no significance in his gaze. It was only when I realized every single other person in that gathering was also staring at me that I began to apprehend the import of what had been said.
    The Creature of Fire and Ice was me.
    I swallowed hard as I slowly returned my eyes to Syawa. He was smiling, as always, but this time his smile was different—it was as if he had seen inside my soul and understood everything he saw there. From another man, I might’ve seen that smile as almost a smirk, but from Syawa it felt more like a hand extended in support, a warm embrace to bolster me in my moment of crisis. I blinked rapidly, shifting my eyes to the ground. My heart was pounding and my stomach was rolling. What in the world was the meaning of this bizarre declaration? I was not some mythical creature, worthy of a Sacred Journey. I was a middling girl in a middling family from a middling settlement which no longer existed!
    Suddenly my mother, sitting between my brother and sister, turned on me, her face red and swollen in fury. “You!” she shrieked, showering me with spittle. “’Twas all because of you ! The massacre, the murder—everythin’ ruined, everyone dead—all because some filthy wee savage wanted him a red-head gal!”
    Eliza turned on me, too, venom in her eyes. “I knowed you was responsible, Katie! We always said you was cursed, and now ’tis proven!”
    As Mother and Eliza thus condemned me, William eyed the crowd with grave solemnity, the tension in his eyes mounting. I followed his line of vision and saw Syawa coming to us, and, except for Mother and Liza, the entire populace now sat in absolute silence, watching with rapt attention. Syawa knelt before me, smiling still, compelling my eyes to meet his gaze as his hands began to move.
    The translator apologized for the fact that he must insert himself into this delicate conversation, and I nodded, not knowing if the apology came from the translator or Syawa. It mattered little. I felt as if I had floated outside myself at this point, and the real me was sitting at the edge of the clearing watching this weird scene unfold as if it was happening to someone else.
    With his hands, Syawa explained that because of the perilous nature of the Journey, it was essential the Creature of Fire and Ice accept the challenge. The translator hesitated, watching Syawa’s movements closely. He then turned to me and said the Dreamer of Dreams wanted me to understand that, for the Vision to be realized, I must choose to go on this arduous adventure.
    “Will you go with us?” Syawa’s final gesture needed no translation. He let his hands fall into his lap, awaiting my reply. His smile was confident and sure, very warm, inexplicably fond of me.
    I was near panic. My mother and sister were weeping now, snuffling on each other’s shoulders. I swallowed hard and asked the translator to help me make sure I understood the terms of this request. Was Syawa saying I might decide for myself whether or not to go, and that if I chose not to go, I could stay with my family and suffer no ill effects as the result of my refusal?
    Syawa’s answer was swift and short. I was free to go or stay, and in either case neither I nor my family would be harmed in any way. Regardless, my family members would embark on their hike to the French fort the next day.
    The translator then began speaking rapidly, waving his hands about so that everyone would know what he was saying. “This is not a decision to undertake lightly,” he told me. “I myself was taken from my white family many years ago, and I long suffered the anguish of that separation. Please understand that if you go