She had to have hit her head. There was no other explanation. Riley felt around for a bump but found none. She closed her eyes tightly and opened them again, hoping it would reboot her vision. No luck. The blue dome around her was glowing as brightly as before, and the golden fox woman was still gaping at her.

“Everybody out of the water!” the professor demanded.

“Take your hat off and let me see your head,” Sunburned Guy said as he approached. “Where does it hurt?”

“It doesn’t,” Riley admitted, “but I...”

The fox woman abruptly turned, looking up at the hill behind her. 

Two men ran over the top and bounded down through the trees. One was glowing a light brown color, the other deep blue.

The golden woman now looked horrified. She turned back to Riley. “Pretend like you can’t see them glowing. Or me!”

That was impossible. As if she were watching a car crash, Riley could do nothing but stare at all three of them.

“Why are those guys running?” Sunburned Guy asked.

He can see the men, but not the fox woman?

“There!” one of the glowing men shouted, pointing at Fox Woman. “Get her!” And the two of them ran straight toward her.

Their quarry didn’t budge from where she was standing. Instead, she tilted her head back and yelled, “Xander, you’ve got company!”

Riley glanced at where Xander Rainey had been crouching by the river. 

He was gone.

Now at the bottom of the hill, the two men put their hands out to grab the golden woman, but their hands passed right through her. Clawing at thin air, they both stumbled into the river with a splash.

One of the pursuers came to his feet. “She’s a fox!” he sputtered.

“Keep moving! She yelled for someone... she’s not alone!”

Both men glanced at the gaping students, but they didn’t slow down or change direction. They slogged toward a patch of rocks several yards away.

Sunburned Guy looked around. “Why is everybody talking about a fox?”

“The one guy yelled ‘get her.’” The gossiping brunette’s voice trembled as she, too, looked around. “Get who?”

Somewhere deep inside Riley, a voice whispered to her.

—HIDE—

As if he heard the same voice, her professor shouted, “I want all my people out of the water. Now!”

Unnerved, Riley waded as fast as she could, away from the glowing men. Her classmates splashed in the same direction. The giant blue dome stayed centered over Riley as she moved up onto the shore.

When she was out of the river, she looked back at the luminous men. They weren’t far away, but mercifully, they were heading into the forest and not toward the Biology class. “Why are they glowing?” she whispered to Sunburned Guy.

“Glowing?” the blonde girl demanded loudly. “What do you mean, ‘glowing?’”

The two men froze.

They looked at each other, turned around, and started walking toward the students. Their gazes, now, were locked onto Riley.

“The one in the ball cap.”

“Oh, she won’t get away,” the other man replied as he pulled out a knife. 

Gasps and squeals came from the students behind Riley. Terrified, she turned toward the forest and nearly collided with Xander. He was glowing now as well, his light a smoky gray. He grabbed her and shoved her behind him. Riley lost her footing and tumbled to the ground.

“Stay down,” he hissed over his shoulder.

She was too frightened to do anything but comply.

Xander slowly approached the knife-wielding pursuers, his movements stalking and powerful. Then two more luminescent people walked past Riley: a small black woman whose light was blood red, and an unbelievably gorgeous guy who was glowing pumpkin orange. They moved to either side of the giant grad student.

The second the three of them stepped outside of the big blue dome, the two men who’d been pursuing her stopped, and one of them gasped.

Knife Man pointed and gaped at the blood red woman. “It’s... that’s her! From the cabin!”

Xander and his companions continued forward, advancing on the men. All five glowing people now wore furious expressions.

Riley closed her eyes to block out what would follow.

After a few seconds of silence, she heard, “Ah!” “What is that?” “Run, damn it!” Then, splashing.

Shocked, she opened her eyes again. There had been no fight. The men who had talked about taking her were now floundering in the water, flailing back toward the opposite side of the river where the fox woman had been.

But Fox Woman was gone.

“Stinging darts!” one of the fleeing men bellowed.

“They’ve got a force field, too,” the other panted. “There’s a huge area concealed. No wonder we can’t find anything.”

“I told you we should have brought Prophet!”

Shaking, Riley looked above her at the blue dome. Is THAT what this thing is? A force field?

Sunburned Guy crept over to where Riley was cowering on the ground. “Are you okay?”

She nodded.

“What do you think... drug deal gone bad?” the brunette wondered.

“Yeah, somebody’s smoking something. They were talking about force fields and prophets and shit.” The blonde gave a nervous chuckle as she dug around in her wet pockets. “And Riley said they were glowing. I think that’s what she said.”

“Whoa… how hard did you hit your head?” Sunburned Guy asked her.

Riley was wondering the same thing. “I don’t know.” Why can’t anyone else see this stuff? “I see... I mean, I thought I saw a...”

“She saw me,” Xander announced. He walked toward the crouching students, bent down, and reached a hand out for Riley.

She stared speechlessly at his hand, and then at him.

The giant glowing man’s frown deepened. “You’re safe now.”

Am I?

“Take my hand,” he said.

Riley hesitated, then complied. He pulled her gently to her feet.

“Everything is fine,” Xander said, staring down at her. “Those men won’t be back. But right now, I need to speak to you alone.” He escorted Riley away from the shore.

“Then we’ll… uh… wait here,” Sunburned Guy said slowly. The gossiping girls were whispering furiously.

Trembling, Riley glanced around the forest. When she noticed that Xander’s two radiant companions had disappeared, she shook harder. People are glowing, they’re appearing and disappearing... something is VERY wrong.

When he was out of earshot of the others, Xander turned to face Riley. “Many clans. Who are you?”

Many clans? Riley shook her head. The big guy may have saved her, but he was mixed up in something dangerous. Talking was not wise.

He glared down at her. “Stop shaking,” he ordered. “I won’t hurt you. But I need to know who you are.”

A loud rumbling noise pierced the quiet, and Riley jumped. Off in the forest, the hot orange man was now sitting on a mud-encrusted motorcycle. The small blood-red woman slipped on the back. The man revved the engine, then the two of them took off through the woods.

“Please,” Xander asked Riley again, this time so gently it was almost a whisper. “Your last name is Thornton. What’s your first name?”

He did save me, didn’t he? And he’s going to find my first name out anyway if he works for Miami.

“Riley,” she finally admitted. “Riley Thornton.”

A confused look came over his face. “And you’re from Oklahoma?”

“Yes. I moved here a few weeks ago. For school.”

He stared down at her for a long, awkward moment, as if he were sizing her up. Finally he said, “Your shell must be enormous. I was four yards away from you before they saw me light up.”

“What are you talking about?” Riley whispered. “What shell?”

He opened his mouth, then closed it. Twice. Finally he said, “You’ve never lifted the Veil before, have you?”

“Lifted the what?”

Xander took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair. “Do you see glowing things around you?”

After a moment of hesitation, Riley said, “Yes.”

“Okay. Tell me what you see glowing.”

“You’re glowing. And there’s a big blue dome around us that’s glowing.”

“I don’t see that, but I’m certain it’s a turtle shell, because I don't see myself glowing right now either. Turtles in their shells can’t be seen by others.”

“Turtles in… you’re not making any sense,” Riley complained.

“Describe the dome. How big is it?”

“It goes out from me about fifteen feet in every direction. And there are some smaller domes inside it.”

Xander gaped at her. “That would mean you’re a thirty foot turtle. I’ve never heard of anyone’s animal being that big. Either something else is going on, or you’re huge.” He sounded excited. “Do you see the turtle’s head in front of you?”

This can’t be right! Riley looked again at the smaller dome directly in front of her.

It was indeed a turtle’s head.

I don’t believe it. “Yes… the head is curled up inside the big dome — the shell. That’s what the smaller domes are. They’re the head and the feet,” she looked behind her, “and the tail.”

“Try to move your turtle’s head outside its shell. If you think about it moving, it will move. I’ll back away.”

Riley thought and the turtle obeyed. And suddenly, she wasn’t looking straight at Xander anymore, she was looking down at him. From above.

Xander gasped and stepped backward a few more paces. “I can see you now. You were right, your shell is that big.”

Riley looked over her shoulder. There was a shell behind her now. Then she looked down at her feet. They were wrinkled and green and as big around as tree stumps.

She screamed.

Startled, her turtle pulled its head back inside its shell. As soon as that happened, Riley was a human girl again inside the dome. “Why do I have a turtle on me?!”

Xander walked forward until he was standing inside the shell again. “We all have an animal inside of us. Mine is a panther.” And before Riley’s eyes, his body changed shape like the fox woman’s had. In a matter of seconds, he was a huge black cat, still glowing gray. The panther looked up at her and spoke. “You can transform into your animal, like I’ve done, or you can simply use its abilities, like you’re doing. Your animal spirit stays with you as long as you’re alive. And when you die, it lives on.” He morphed back into a man.

Shaking hard, Riley looked over at her classmates. Some of them were staring in her direction and whispering, but it was clear from their expressions that they had neither heard her scream as a turtle nor seen Xander and her change shape.

What is going on? And how is any of this possible?

“Why am I a giant turtle when you’re a normal sized panther?” she whispered. “And why am I blue when you’re gray and that fox woman was yellow?”

He shrugged. “You were born that way. We all were.”

“We?”

“Miyala,” he replied, looking down at her. “The Faded Ones. At least one of your ancestors belonged to the people that are now called the Shawnee.”

Riley blinked. “Shawnee? You mean Native American? That Shawnee?”

“Yes.” Xander stared at her arms and legs. “And you’re filthy.”

What the...? “Of course I’m filthy. I fell in a river.” Riley self-consciously rubbed her arms.

“That’s why you can see me glowing and your friends can’t,” he said. “You’re a Shawnee descendant on Shawnee land. You’re in physical contact with your native soil. That’s what’s making all this visible.” He gestured around them. “We call it ‘lifting the Veil.’”

“No. I... look, I am not Shawnee.” Riley wanted, and did not want, to run away.

“No, you’re Miyala. There’s a difference.” Xander’s expression was sympathetic. “I’m sure this is a lot to take in, Riley.”

Understatement. “Who were those two men?”

“Fire warriors.”

“What did they want?”

“Xander?” the professor yelled. “I’ve called the Park Rangers about the men we saw. If we don’t leave now, we’ll be late getting the students back.”

“One minute!” Xander replied.

Riley shook her head. “This is... it’s just... I have to go.” She started to walk away, then stopped and scanned the forest again, wondering if she’d be safe from random knife-wielding men.

“They’re long gone,” he reassured her again gently. “Do something for me, though, before you leave. Hold up your hands, palms facing me.”

“My filthy hands? What for?”

Xander somehow managed to look amused even though he was scowling. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“How do I know that?”

“Riley, if I wanted to hurt you, I wouldn’t have protected you. Please hold your hands up.”

Deep inside her mind, Riley heard another whisper.

—Trust him—

She took a deep breath and complied.

Xander slid his warm palms against hers and closed his eyes. “I claim you, Riley, for the Miyala Greenwood clan.”

She jerked her hands away. “What?! You can’t just… I don’t want to be claimed. I’m not a door prize.”

Xander looked astonished. “I’m protecting you from those men!” He pulled out his wallet and withdrew a card. “Look, here’s my number,” he said as he handed it to her. “Call me. We have a lot to talk about.”

Riley took the card and stalked back toward her classmates.

—Trust him—

The wind had picked up, and clouds were moving in. Riley peeled her wet baseball cap off her head and untwisted her wet hair, wringing it out.

“You were holding hands!” the blonde said breathlessly. “Did he ask you out?”

“What? No.” Riley informed her. “He just… wanted to make sure I was okay. Because I was seeing things.”

“I wish I was seeing things,” the brunette grinned and raised an eyebrow.

The beleaguered Biology professor waved his hand. “Come on, everybody. We’ve had enough excitement for one day.” Riley and the other students followed him back in the direction that they’d come from.

“Riley?”

She looked back over her shoulder. Xander was staring at her again.

“Call me or I’ll come and find you.”