Page 6 of The Watcher

Joe said sarcastically, “Oh good, the cops are here! We’re saved!”

“I imagine she’s here to take you in, Joe,” Avni said sarcastically.

Jessica joined in. “I bet Nathan brought in the reinforcements. Did you run out of stories, Nathan?”

Nathan wasn't ruffled. “My dear, I never run out of stories. But Kateri here is the sheriff for Virtue Falls and surrounding area. As a fellow member of the tribe, she knows all about our gods, including one of the most powerful beings on earth – the Frog God.”

Bryan guffawed. “The Frog God?Seriously?”

Nathan continued as though Bryan had not spoken. “Actually Kateri is a true expert on the Frog God. After the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Virtue Falls, Kateri was washed out to sea. So, unlike the rest of us, she has met the Frog God in the depths of the ocean, been imbued with his powers and lived to tell the tale.”

“What kind of powers?” Samson said with trepidation.

“The power to make you listen for a while. A power I don’t appear to have tonight,” Nathan retorted. “Anyway, she’s heard about our protective spells and the reason for them, and she wants to help us out. Please give her your attention before we head off to bed.” Nathan picked up his drum and began play the drum in a slow, intense beat.

The kids settled onto the wooden benches surrounding the fire. As the beat and the increasing darkness surrounded them, the kids’ sarcastic and confused grumbling died away. Kateri moved to stand by the fire and in her mellifluous voice began the legend of the Frog God:

Long ago when the world was new, the most beautiful maiden in the world ran free in the woods, not wanting to tend a fire and a family, but wanting only the independence to come and go between her tribe and the wild places. She avoided her chores of gathering berries and shellfish so she could swim in the inlet and run barefoot in the woods. …

In the woods, the owls were grew quiet. The bats hid in their caves. No sounds of deer or wolves disturbed this clear, moonlit night. …

One day, as the maiden roamed the wilderness alone, she met the most handsome man in the world. His hair was dark, his body was strong, his eyes were wide and intense. She was his equal in looks, and soon she found that he was graceful like a deer. He swam the inlet faster than she could, and he ran through the forest barefoot without a scratch on his dark limbs.

At first she was bewitched by his charisma and his romantic words. Within hours, he convinced her that she was deeply in love with him. …

Lily watched Kateri, her eyes large and afraid, straining to hear each word. She almost seemed to know the tale, to know what came next. …

But gradually the maiden realized the handsome one watched her constantly. He watched her while she slept, while she ate, while she wandered through the cedars and swam in the cold waters.

She knew what he wanted.

He wanted to catch her, hold her, fence her, never release her.

But the maiden did not want to be caught. …

The darkness seemed to bear down on the group, the fire at the center of the ring of benches the sole focal point. Nathan’s drumbeat was soft, constant, hypnotic. The teenagers were still, hanging on Kateri’s every word. …

The maiden turned to an old friend for help, a man who had long wanted to love her. Her friend told her this beautiful man was a sorcerer who would trap her and eventually consume her.

At first, she did not believe him. Perhaps he said this only to possess her for himself.

But as the days went by and the mysterious man continued to haunt her, she could see the truth in her friend’s words.

Then she feared the handsome one.

She asked her friend how to free herself from this powerful sorcerer. He left the tribe and searched the world over for the answer, and when he found it, he wrote the words on a piece of birch bark. …

The beat of Nathan's drum rose to the heavens and shook the stars. …

But before he could deliver his message, the sorcerer found him. They fought, and her friend, the only one who knew how to vanquish the sorcerer, was killed. His body was found in the waves that washed on the shore.

There was no sign of the birch bark message.

Knowing she would not survive once the sorcerer possessed her, the maiden ran away, far to the south. …

The popular girls clung to each other and whimpered. …

The sorcerer pursued the maiden.

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