When the two vehicles arrived back at Jaspers house, Milat and Valery ran to them to tell Jasper and Michael something urgent. Dan was picking up a call on his police radio at that moment, as well. The excitement was not something any of them wanted to share with the two guests, so Blake and Russel reluctantly went upstairs to recoil from the long day. When the young Valery appeared to give them fresh bedding for the evening, she was still noticeably shocked, and it was clear still frightened by what ever happened, apparently  not long before they arrived.

"What was that all about?" Blake asked her.

"Just something weird," she said, placing the fresh sheets on the bed and trying to remain silent and aloof.

"Come on, Val," Russel said. "You can tell us. Nothing surprises me anymore about this place out here. So, was it . . . animal, mineral or vegetable?" He smiled at her.

The teen managed a momentary smile on her attractive face. "None of the above," She answered softly.

"Valery, just tell us what happened," Blake said. "We won't mention it to the others."

She continued to look at him, weighing if she should comply or not.

Finally, she looked at the closed door and spoke in a whisper. "Well, it was my first time seeing one of those things . . ."

Blake's eyes met Russel's momentarily, then he flashed his gaze back to the anxious girl.

"A lot of people here in Kayenta will tell you they've seen them," she went on reluctantly. "But I was still shocked."

"So . . . what did you see, Valery?"

"OK. It was this sort of . . . flattish, round thing. Slowly moving across the sky. But eventually toward the house. It came closer and closer. So, I yelled to my mother to come outside. She came out and watched it with me."

Both guys were silent.

"Then it came even closer. Like floating. Down . . . really low . . . and then it was like . . . right over there."

She pointed in a direction toward an interior wall which meant nothing to either Blake or Russel, though she was confident of the direction and the image of what she had seen.

"It then kind of just stayed there . . . in in one place making no sound. My mother and I were too scared to move or say anything. We just froze, watching it. We honestly couldn't speak while it was there."

"Damn! " Russell replied.

"I just heard ranger Dan talking on his radio, down stairs," she continued. "He told my grandfather a lot of people saw it."

"So . . . what did it do?"

"After it just hung there, in the air near the house . . . it zoomed off. Super fast! Out of sight. It was so creepy! Like it was spying on our house or something."

"Jesus," Russel said. "Blake, we've got to get back on the road, buddy. This whole desert is becoming too much for me."

His friend didn't answer.

"OK, look," he went on. "I'm willing to forget everything I've seen and heard out here. I just want to get back to California. Alright, guys?"

Blake turned to Valery and looked at her more critically. "Are you sure that's what you saw? That it wasn't just some . . ."

"No!  It was right over there. Just off the ground . . .the size of a school bus. Only it was silver and roundish. I know what I saw, you guys."

"Alright," he said, looking at her more sympathetically. "You gonna be OK?"

"Yeah, fine . . . you hear about these things all the time around here. My grandfather tells me he's seen them many times. He says they're real. A lot of our people know they are. They've seen lots of stuff like that. We try to keep it down to outsiders, though. It was just my first time and . . . wow. Scary!"

"I can imagine," Russel said.

"Please don't tell them downstairs. OK? . . . That I told you about it?"

"Come on, we won't. But thanks," Blake assured her. He reached out toward her and her hand met his in agreement. She then turned, opened the door and went anxiously down the hall toward the stairs.

With Valery gone, Blake surprised Russel with his decision to remain in the area a few days more.

"Are you crazy, Blake?" His friend seemed both frightened and angry with the notion. "I mean I understand your feelings about your father and all. And OK . . . it makes sense that you want to get to the bottom of his death. But come on pal . . . I'm just worried about what could happen to you here . . . alone. I'd feel pretty shitty if anything bad went down."

"I get that, Russ. But I'll be OK. Really. You can see that Michael's a good guy. He's invited me to stay until Saturday. Here. While they go out and search for stuff."

Russel hung his head and did not answer.

"OK, Russ. Look. I know you want to get to San Diego tomorrow. It's your vacation, man. Let me get you to the nearest airport and you'll be in San Diego in a few hours. That gives you four days to catch up on the partying. You'll just have to tell me all about it when we 're back on campus. Deal, man?"

"I don't know, Blake. I mean . . . you sure?"

"Yeah, man. I'll be fine. I'm kind of hooked on this stuff. It's crazy. But kind of cool."

"Not cool, man . . . terrifying!"

"Yeah, OK. It sorta is. So . . . there's probably a two-hour flight to San Diego from Albuquerque or someplace out here. I'll help you with the ticket, man. You can get a ride back to Santa Cruz with some students we know will be there."

"Yeah I know a few . . . who'll be really pissed you never showed up."

"Stephanie?"

"And her girlfriends . . . yeah."

"I leave you in charge of them, pal. But the girlfriends only!"

"You're too generous, man."

Blake laughed.

"Come on, Captain . . . You're positive? Staying out here where all this ET shit's happening?"

"I've got to find out, Russ. What this is all about. How William figured in to all this."

"OK, I hear you, man. So just get me on that plane tomorrow."

Blake smiled and nodded.

"I'll come back after Easter," Russel added quietly. "To look for your bones out there."

"That should be pretty easy, you know."

"Yeah? Why"

"They'll be glowing in the dark."

"You're crazy, man. This place is crazy. Let's go down and see if any dinner is included in this theme park."

* * *

Dinner was indeed graciously included that night, but with no one willing to talk about the sighting which occurred sometime before they had returned. It was decided that in the morning Ranger Dan would drive Russel to the Santa Fe airport for his flight back. Michael and Blake would then travel south on the Harley Davidson. There was apparently something pressing the young shaman had to look into before returning to academia on the East coast. Something he told Blake he was best to see for himself.

* * *