Mountain Moonlight - By Jane Toombs Page 0,40

into a gigantic spirit snake with huge yellow eyes and two enormous fangs, a snake whose tail bore rattles. Many warriors died from the poisonous bite of Mokesh and the rest ran off, afraid of the Guardian of the Ndee."

"Mokesh turned into a rattlesnake!" Davis exclaimed. "That's why he had yellow eyes to begin with, 'cause rattlers do. And that's why Mokesh means rattler, too."

Bram nodded.

"I bet old Mokesh knew that story. I wonder why he never told it to me?"

"Maybe he didn't live long enough," Vala suggested. "He must have known many, many stories. More than he had time to tell you."

Davis nodded. "Yeah, I guess. He told me once he chose stories I needed to hear. Maybe he even knew I'd come to the Superstitions with his map and meet Bram and hear the Mokesh story."

"Who knows?" Bram said, expecting Vala to chime in with a reminder about reality.

She didn't.

"Now I know why Pauline told me to chant Mokesh's name if I met a rattler," Davis said. "Mokesh is really a Ndee spirit." He looked at Bram. "How come your father knew that story?"

Bram shrugged.

Davis opened his mouth, glanced at his mother, and closed it again. Bram hadn't seen her expression but he could visualize the quit-asking-personal-questions frown she'd given her son.

Bram wasn't sure why he hadn't admitted the truth. Davis, he knew, would be pleased. And Vala? He'd been with her long enough to believe she wouldn't care one way or the other. So why hold back? Damned if he knew.

"We all gonna sleep under the stars again tonight?" Davis asked. As soon as he said the words, he looked stricken. "Uh, maybe I won't," he added.

"I'll share the tent with you," Vala said.

Davis blinked and cast a glance at Bram.

"Don't you want me to?" Vala asked her son.

"Uh, I guess so."

Bram wondered what the devil was bugging the kid.

He hadn't behaved like this last night. Did it have anything to do with what Pauline had said to him this morning?

"I'm hitting the sack," Davis told them and scurried off to the tent.

"What's gotten into him?" Vala asked.

"Beats me. It's just as well. Having you within arm's reach with Davis between us is a waste of moonlight."

"I don't think the moon cares about your opinion. It'll shine anyway. But I agree that it's just as well you're sleeping by yourself in the moonlight."

Bram was silent for a bit. "We'll spot the last marker tomorrow," he said finally. "The place marked with the X isn't far from that point. With luck our journey will be over."

"And the treasure found."

"You're still expecting something tangible?"

Vala sighed. "I don't know what to expect. Davis needs something, some closure to this treasure hunt."

Bram pushed back the words he wanted to say. What about us? We need closure as much as he does.

"I guess I'll turn in." Vala started to stand up.

He caught her arm and pulled her back down and into his arms. A goodnight kiss wasn't all he wanted but he intended to stop there.

The kiss lasted longer than he meant it to. He'd thought he was long past the stage when a kiss could turn his world upside down. Wrong. It took a lot of willpower to end the embrace and let her go.

Vala all but fled to the tent. If she'd stayed any longer in Bram's arms she didn't know what might have happened. She changed into her sweats and slid into the sleeping bag.

"Mom?" Davis's voice was sleepy.

"Yes, honey?"

"I saw you and Bram kissing. That means you like each other?"

"You could say that, yes. Why?"

"I just wondered. I like him, too. He's way cool." Vala wasn't going to argue about that. "Is there anything else you want to tell me?" she asked, remembering her son's odd behavior earlier.

"Uh, not right now, okay?"

After they exchanged good nights, she lay awake listening to the rhythm of Davis's breathing change into the sleep mode. Then she heard a single coyote call. No answer came. Could it be searching for a mate? How sad if the coyote never found one.

When she realized she was on verge of tears, she shook her head, telling herself she was being ridiculous. More than likely that lone coyote was the Trickster, looking for trouble.

And just when had she dropped out of reality and began to believe in Apache--no, Ndee--legends? Would she never get that straight?

Still, believe or not, on those days when everything went wrong for no particular reason, it was almost as though there were