Trail of Lightning

The group rides to Rock Springs, which is silent upon their arrival. The air smells of witchcraft. Kai says that the people of Rock Springs must be hiding in nearby smuggling tunnels. Rissa suggests that they leave and return during the day, but suddenly a tsé naayéé’ attacks her, slashing open her stomach. Clive shoots other approaching monsters while Kai takes care of Rissa. Maggie reminds Clive to fight off the monsters with his flamethrower while she beheads the others. After they kill the monsters, Kai says that they need to bring Rissa home. However, a dozen more monsters approach. Maggie tries to protect the group with the flamethrower, but it is broken. Kai takes the flamethrower’s lighter and uses it to blow fire on the monsters while singing in Navajo, revealing his Weather Way (the ability to control weather). This impresses Maggie, who thinks, “I’ve never seen anything like it. Not even from Neizghání” (185). While Clive leaves with Rissa, Maggie questions Kai about his powers. He explains that he cannot create the elements, but he can manipulate them. In Maggie’s opinion this power is dangerous, and she thinks, “whatever power Kai has—medicine, foreign, clan, or some combination of the three—it’s more likely to be feared than praised” (186). However, while they both try to figure out where the monsters came from, Maggie begins to suspect Neizghání for the first time. Then the two head back to Grace’s.

Kai and Maggie arriving at Grace’s, where the light mood assures them that Rissa is still alive. Kai holds Maggie’s hand in reassurance, but Maggie feels like she was a bad leader who let down Clive and Rissa. When preparing to enter Grace’s home, Maggie thinks, “her twins trusted me. I was their leader, and it was my job to get them in and get them out safely, and I failed” (189). When they walk into Grace’s trailer, however, Grace hugs Maggie, saying that their debt is paid off and that Maggie and Kai will always be welcome in her house. Clive explains that Grace thinks Maggie saved his and Rissa’s lives by being there to help fight off the monsters. Otherwise, Clive and Rissa would have been on their own. Clive offers to buy Kai and Maggie a round of drinks, but Maggie sneaks off to a spare bedroom to sleep.

Grace wakes up Maggie for dinner the next day. She tells Maggie that Kai is a “real charmer” and thanks Maggie for saving her kids (193). When Maggie walks into the kitchen, everyone is there eating together like a family. Then, Grace’s youngest son bursts in to announce that someone named Ma’ii (Coyote) is there to see Maggie. When Maggie goes outside to see him, Coyote accuses Maggie of neglecting the quest. However, he is there to give Maggie more information about the tsé naayéé’. A fire drill, a tool used by Haashch’ééshzhiní to set the stars on fire, is somehow involved, and this information reminds Maggie and Kai of the research they did in Crownpoint. They think that the fire drill, also called a firestarter, might be involved in creating these monsters. Coyote says that Kai and Maggie now owe him his quest in exchange for the information, but they can find the person who has the fire drill in Tse Bonito at a place called the Shalimar.

Back in Grace’s trailer, Clive prepares Maggie for the Shalimar by giving her a makeover. Her new appearance makes Maggie uncomfortable, but Clive says that people at the Shalimar dress to impress. This is why Kai was so fancily dressed when he first met Maggie. Kai enters wearing a futuristic Navajo headsman costume, and he and Maggie check each other out. They go outside to meet Coyote, who is impressed with their outfits, and Coyote transports the two, via lightning, to the Shalimar. There he tells them to find someone named Mósí. After Coyote leaves, Kai gets out a secret medicine bag. When Maggie asks why he hid it from Coyote, Kai says, “It’s not something he needs to know about” (203). Kai then paints Maggie’s eyes with some magic powder that will allow her to see what is hidden. Kai tries to bring up the subject of friendship again, but Maggie tells him not to push his luck. However, she calls him by the nickname Rabbit before they enter the Shalimar together.