Shadow of Time (a YA Paranormal Romance novel)

Chapter 12

On Friday morning, she finally decided to go back to the Page library and bury herself in history books. If that didn't help, she could ask Nick for help. After all, he'd been reading up on Navajo history a lot.

"You're all set for a day trip to remember?" Emily asked dryly, when Hannah clomped out of her bedroom with a shoulder bag crammed full of notebooks, pens and a big bottle of water.

"Yeah, I'm off to the library. I want to read up on Navajo history, now that my dreams about the past have stopped."

"Ah. Because of the reincarnation hypothesis," Emily nodded. They'd talked about it last night, Amber playing the part of talk show host, making her case for her past-life theory.

"Well, yeah. I really want to find out whether all those images I've been seeing are real memories. Maybe not the most exciting trip ever, but hey."

"Why don't you just take Ben's laptop to Grassroots?" Amber asked. "They have free WiFi there. Seems a lot easier than perusing books in the library."

"Are you kidding? Ben's laptop is carbon-dated. There's no WiFi adapter on that thing," Hannah complained. "He hasn't bought new stuff in years. He'd rather wait till things disintegrate before he replaces anything."

Emily suppressed a giggle. "Poor you. Well then, the library it is."

The three girls cleaned up the kitchen. Emily and Amber went on a trip to Water Hole Canyon, while Hannah drove off to Page Library to plow her way through piles of books, seated on the very same couch where she'd met Nick the week before. Her cell phone was switched off. She'd called her mother in Alaska – who was staying with their aunt for the summer – for a quick chat, but now it was time to leave the modern world behind for a while.

The hours flew by. Hannah completely lost herself in the nineteenth-century history of the reservation and the Diné people. She was so focused on her books that she forgot to have lunch altogether. When she finally switched on her phone again and read a text from Ben saying they were on their way back, she felt weak with hunger. The good thing was that she had ten pages of notes. All the info she'd gathered in the library made her head spin. The more she'd learned about Diné history, the more she'd gotten convinced she really was seeing images from the past in her dreams. The descriptions of the tumultuous time period between 1800 and 1840 on Navajo soil exactly matched her dream experience – she'd lived an unsafe, troublesome and dangerous life.

On her way back to the Datsun, Hannah's stomach no longer twisted with hunger pangs, but with nerves. She'd see Josh again, and last time they spoke he'd said he needed time. How would he react to her after three days of separation?

Heart in throat, she drove back to the log cabins and bit her lip when she saw the empty driveway. Okay, so they weren't back yet. No problem – she was in dire need of a fresh shower and some serious lunch anyway.

After showering, Hannah settled on the porch steps with a book. Her heart sped up to a hum when at three o'clock sharp, she could hear the Chevy's engine rumbling in the distance.

Josh parked the car on the drive and turned down the volume on the radio to shut up Ben, who was singing along.

"Hey, sis!" Ben bounded out of the car and up the porch steps. His nose was sunburned, and his blonde hair had gotten even lighter in the past few days. "You still alive?"

"Barely. I was bored to death without having you guys around, obviously."

As Ben hugged her tight, Hannah was acutely aware of Josh turning off the engine, locking the car door and approaching the steps leading up to the porch. When her brother let go of her and popped open one of the beer cans on the table, Josh sidled up to her. A blush crept up her face as she gazed into his dark brown eyes.