Lainie swallowed hard. "I'm right here, Vi. Right beside you."
"Lainie? Killian?" Viloula's voice was raspy, spiked by shallow, painful breaths.
Lainie shook her head, blinded by hot tears. "Don't talk, Vi. Don't try?"
Viloula smiled. It was weak and trembling, and the most beautiful smile Lainie had ever seen. "I'm starving," she grumbled.
Lainie let out a relieved laugh, then clamped down on her lower lip and covered her mouth with her hand. "Viloula?" she ventured. "Are you all right?"
The old lady nodded. "I had a vision."
Lainie drew in a sharp breath. Hope pounded in her chest, made it hard to hear anything but her own heartbeat. "Do I get home?"
Vi looked at her. "You leave here."
Lainie felt as if a ten-thousand-pound boulder had just been lifted from her chest. "Where?"
Viloula let out a hacking, rattling cough. "I saw de place clearly. It is a rock. . .. De Navajos call it de rock dat lightning struck." She looked at Killian. "You know dis place?"
He nodded. "Yeah. It's fifty, sixty miles due east."
"When do I need to be there?" Lainie asked anxiously.
Viloula frowned, thinking. "I saw a cross-----I t'ink
dat mean de Sabbat'."
"Okay, Sunday. What time?"
"A storm, very bad. And de sun was setting." Her frown deepened. "De storm is de key. You must be at de rock when de lightning strike again. If you miss it ... dere will be no more chances."
Lainie felt a flutter of fear. She pushed it away, refused to give in to it. "I'll be there."
216
Viloula rolled her head slightly, stared up at Killian. "You were wit' her."
He gave a hollow laugh. "Those are some drugs, Vi."
Viloula reached for the amethyst at her throat. Unhooking the golden clasp, she eased the heavy stone necklace off her throat and pushed it toward Lainie. "You will need dis, child. To find your destiny."
"No, I couldn't?"
"Dis necklace has de magic to fulfill your destiny." A smile lit her black eyes. "It will come back to me."
Lainie took the necklace, felt its cold, impersonal weight in her palm. Slowly she put it around her neck and clasped the catch. The weighty stone settled in the hollow at the base of her throat and warmed the skin. A small, rhythmic pulse seemed to emanate from the amethyst.
Viloula looked at her hard. "Use it wisely."
"How?"
"I doan know."
"I don't understand. ... I didn't need the necklace to get here."
"But you will need it to get back, I t'ink."
Lainie's voice was tight with emotion. "Thanks, Viloula. I pray to God you'll get it back."