Page 4 of The Watcher

Right now, Kateri thought the cheeriness seemed forced. Nathan was usually the friendliest of men, but tonight the smile didn't reach his eyes. “Just thought I’d come out and see if you’ve bored any of the kids to death.”

“Marie keeps me in check more after one of the kids dramatically snored at me two summers ago." Nathan chuckled. "That punk.”

Kateri smiled, then sobered and got to the point. “Well then, I’m here to check up on a report of a creepy guy in the woods, watching the kids.”

Nathan hid his surprise well. “That’s not really police business, is it?"

Kateri raised her brows at his thinly veiled hostility. He was right. She wasn’t tribal police — she didn’t have a great argument for jurisdiction in the camp. “It’s not strictly law enforcement business, but no one likes to hear about a bunch of scared teenagers. Besides, Nathan, a creepy guy watching the kids…that's something to worry about.”

Nathan shrugged.

“Haveyouseen a guy hanging out in the woods? Or is this kids spinning tales because your stories of the ancient whale hunt traditions are so boring?”

“It’s true that their attention spans aren’t what they once were. Kids now are expecting every story to be four minutes or less, like a music video.” He sighed. “But, no. They’re not making it up.”

“That’s why you drew the circle.”

He nodded slowly. “Yes, I asked the elders to help. We let the kids watch us and they even listened to the extra protections we put on the camp. Although I suppose they couldn’t understand anything we were saying, they did seem to relax a bit after we finished the ritual."

Kateri heard the hesitation in his tone. "But?"

"But that night, one of the girls, Lily, said he was out there again, watching.” He lifted his hands and let them fall. “I’ve tried to figure out how to calm her, calm them, but if this doesn’t let up, we’re going to have to contact their parents. I can’t have a huge group of kids dealing with nightmares and jumping at every sound from the woods. This camp is supposed to be about teaching them wilderness skills, but they’re too scared to do the nighttime woods walk or the canoeing.”

“Because the canoes would have to go outside of the protective circle?” Kateri guessed.

“Exactly. I can’t protect them from the water. No one can.”

“The water has always had a power beyond our people's control."

Marie came out of the longhouse and joined them. "Kateri, you're looking good. How are your injuries?"

The scars from the Frog God’s claiming still crossed Kateri's body, marking her as his own, and she flexed her hands, once so broken, and rotated her tense shoulders. "When I crossed the border into the rez, my scars started burning." As soon as she articulated her discomfort, it grew worse.

He was near. He was watching.

"That's … not normal?" Nathan asked.

“No. And I don't like it."Understatement. "Do you mind if I talk to the kids?”

“Don’t you think that’ll just scare them more, knowing the sheriff takes their reports so seriously she comes out with her badge and her gun?" Nathan was such a guy. He didn't want to admit he couldn't handle the situation. But what she suspected was happening … he couldn't. Maybe no one could.

But she had to try.“Youmight not like that I come out with my badge and my gun" — relations between law enforcement and Native Americans were traditionally fraught with tension — "but I think knowing that someone with the power to protect them has come out to hear their reports will make them feel better."

“Nathan, I agree with Kateri. They aren’t responding to our attempts to protect them, so perhaps their urban version of the law,” Marie nodded towards Kateri’s police uniform, “will calm them down.”

“Okay,” Nathan nodded, running his hand through his hair with an exasperated sigh. “I’m willing to try anything at this point.”

Kateri snorted. “Gee, thanks.”

Nathan smiled for real this time. To Marie, he said, "Are the kids done with dinner?"

"Yes," she said, "and they're cleaning up under Naira's supervision."

Naira was Marie's sister, and she helped out every year.

Nathan started toward the fire pit. "Then let's get the campfire roaring before it gets dark."

Kids never change, really. These teenagers were the same as the kids in Kateri's middle and high school, the same as she had been, the same as her friends and enemies. They were alternately loud, dysfunctional, sweaty, cruel, ashamed, wise, lonely, awkward, too adult and blatantly childish.

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