page58 (2/2)

“The old ways can never die as long as they live in your heart,” he cried “I was too foolish to see that until now!”

The lightning struck He felt as if his soul were on fire

“Sienna,” he whispered

The lightning struck again and he fell, unconscious, to the ground

Sienna had vowed never to return to Blackwolf Canyon

It held too many memories that broke her heart

She’d buried herself in work, going on digs in Mexico and in Belize She’d explored sites no one had seen in thousands of years, unearthed pottery that noas on exhibit in the great American Museum of Natural History in New York She’d written endless papers She had her doctorate

But nothing would ever fill the void in her heart

She lived in Manhattan now, in a sht, of Jesse, awakening eachwith her pillow damp with tears

But thiswas different

She awoke very early, and with a sense of anticipation It made no sense This would be a day like any other She’d work all day, come home to an eain of all she had lost

The only thing different was that this was theof the winter solstice

“So what?” she said into the silence

The answer ca speed

Sienna You ht

Wonderful Now there were voices in her head

It was crazy and she wasn’t going to do it Hadn’t she vowed she would never go back? But the voice inside her was persistent, and finally she stopped trying to figure out ifcrazy There was only one way to find out

She rushed to Kennedy airport, went to the American Airlines ticket counter and said she had to be in Boze

There was one ticket available; it took her to Denver, where she changed planes Once in Bozeman, she rented a Jeep, drove like a madwoman across the wild, empty land with Blackwolf Mountain on the horizon first as a speck, then a dot, then as a towering presence