In response to Liz's question of which way they should go, Linda gestured with her walking stick toward the right. They did a 180 and began what they hoped was a stretch away from their car that needed some serious life-support attention.

They also dreaded the possibility that they were going to encounter the crime scene. "What if they know it was us who let those girls escape? They got really angry. Remember the crashing of metal against metal we heard from within the cave?" Linda scrunched up her face.

Liz responded with a more rational answer. "They couldn't possibly know it was us, but it will be creepy just to see the place. Hopefully, the front porch guard will have found something else to point the rifle at, somewhere else."

After walking for an extended amount of time, Linda was the first to speak. "I think I headed us in the right direction. We would have seen the car ahead of us by now. And I'm not seeing any familiar trees. Bwaaa!

Liz responded to Linda's statement with the gallows laugh. "Yuh."

Things were soon going to get worse for them.

There wasn't much to say as they trod along through the monotonous grey world surrounding them. Liz sniveled as she said, "It's like trying to move through a giant vat of cotton candy but not as sweet."

Linda's voice tone was close to a growl as she pronounced, "I wish we could set it afire. Maybe smash some more windows, set it afire. There must be something we can do, something. Set it afire." Linda had stopped in the midst of her next step.

Linda sadly said, "Then again, maybe not. We'd be destroying Rabbit's backpack that Eyes of the Owl tragically discovered. There would be no trace left of Rabbit or the other two girls. It would be as if they never existed."

"Look at the window they threw the beer bottle at. No one's done anything since their tantrum. That must be the bottle that ripped through, over there on the ground." Liz's voice quivered.

They were standing close enough to the house to see that the bulb was still burning, no van to be found, and fortunately, no rifle leaning up against the weather-beaten clapboards on the porch. The chair the guard sat on was empty.

"I kind of wish they'd left one of their rifles. I'd shoot out the rest of the windows while you made a nice fire. We of course, wouldn't stay around long enough to enjoy the coals." Liz seethed.

"Where do you suppose they went?"

"Oh, probably to that other house. The one we must not have seen over the dip, on our left. Dragonfly said a woman she named Gruff drove their van to a house to let off some guy who didn't like her grinding the gears." Liz snickered.

"Oh, that's right." Linda mused. "Since neither of us is going to go down the drive for any reason. And we're not going to set it afire. Bummer. We best be moving it along."

"Yuh, we don't need to have them come back and somehow read our minds. Let's get outta here." Liz could hear her heartbeats like explosions in her ears.

As they moved forward, Linda looked back. "I do wish we could have set it afire. How can we just leave it sitting there?"

"I know they'll just use it again"

Linda chuckled. "Yuh, after they make a few repairs." I wonder how they'll fix the windows. They won't be as confident about keeping anyone captive in there.

"It feels good to have that dark horrible place behind us." Looking back, Linda could see it was getting smaller and smaller. Still, it gnawed at them that they could do no more.

"I know even if we were able to report it to the authorities, the response would be, 'We can't do anything. It is out of our jurisdiction.' "even though that house is not part of the Reservation. It was just easier that way for
them." Liz ground her teeth as she discussed this.

Linda felt Liz's frustration. "But couldn't someone do something about it? What about the Reservation police?"

"The house is not in the Reservation's jurisdiction. They really can't do anything. They are truly powerless. That's what makes it easier to target Native children, teens, and women.

"They end up either murdered or missing." Liz continued. "A pattern has surfaced of increased disappearances of Natives and whites whenever there are large gatherings of men. It seems to occur during motorcycle rallies, hunting season, rodeos and other similar events."

"I want to put a 'hedge of protection' around them all. And put them safely in God's care," Linda prayed.

"Amen," said Liz.

"What is that I smell?" Linda asked.

"I was wondering the same thing." Turning back toward where they'd just come, Liz said, "It's not behind us. It's in front of us. What are we walking into now?"

The opaqueness made it difficult to be able to begin to guess. There was a distant necklace of distorted lights. It wasn't perfectly circular like a necklace but it had enough of an arch to remind them of one.

"Look, there's a flickering, glowing red-orange on both sides of the lights."
Linda pointed out.

"And some of the wavery yellow lights are turning to red lights." Liz observed with a seesaw tone to her voice.

"I also noticed there are yellow lights where there weren't any," said Linda.

"This is too much, there are lights up there. Blinking red and green."

"Where?" Linda looked around. "I don't see any green lights."

Liz stiffly pointed toward the sky.

Mesmerized by the illusionary spectacle, their feet moved without notice.