...otherwise, the face that greeted me, glaring down at mine, wouldn't have been such a heart-stopper.

Eyes like cold sapphires surrounded by red blootshot rivers stared down at me from a white, skull-like face.

I cried out, too surprised even to let out a full scream and jumped up--or almost--only to knock my own handbuilt invention of a shelter down on my head.

The backpack's strap lay under my hand and I gripped it and swung, again and again. The battered shelter fell away and I was on my feet, my improvised weapon in hand.

But she--a better look at my visitor had confirmed it was a female--stood beside the stream, cackling in a low chuckle as she stirred the water with a broken branch.

As I stared at her, pondering over whether to attack or not, she dropped the branch in and nudged a few more she'd gathered into the water. Without looking at me, she bent down and drank from it, cupping her hands, then motioned to the water.

"It's bitter water. The petidemi love bitter water. The tree's sap makes it sweet--keeps them away." She spoke in a voice as grating and painful as biting down on aluminum foil.

There must've been a reaction from me because then, she faced me. We pondered each other. Her face wasn't a skull, but the thin white skin pulled over the bones so tightly that it only appeared so. She couldn't have even been five feet tall and was slightly stooped under her loose fitting clothes. The garb had a certain aura of authority, as if they were once part of a uniform or official regalia. A thought blazed across my mind--was this to be my own future, years from now half-starved and wild-eyed in this place--one that I didn't even know the name of?

She shook her head and that voice came out of it again. "No no, you'll not come to this. You are of the invaders. I thought this costume would appeal to your kind."

For a moment, I didn't breathe or think. When my bearings found me, I managed to speak. "Y--You can read thoughts."

"Ah, don't pretend you cannot do so yourself. It is a nice trick, no?"

Every word made me wince.

She spoke again, but this time the voice was deep and smooth as a good glass of Merlot. "Is this better, child?"

"It was you! Last night! And at the jumpsite! It was you!"

She laughed. "Oh, my child, you ARE wise, but not wise enough in this suggestion. It was not me as you see me now, but it was my mind, yes. My mind to yours. There are many in your camp that have the gift--different levels--some strong--some not so strong..."

"So why did you choose me?"

Shrugging, she bent and took another drink. "You were the weakest."

A pain went through me.

"Oh, do not be so hurt, child. You are strong in the gift--or you will be. It will take time--and discipline--something you have been lacking. Oh, do not sull--you know in your own heart that you have yet to do the work needed to fulfill your own abilities."

"You sound like my father."

"Yes, your dislike of men made it much easier for me to get you here, though I would've liked it more if you were elsewhere--nearby. Do not argue with me--I felt your abilities from the moment you arrived--and your most sensitive weakness. You fear men--you distrust them and, yet, have an odd need to be accepted and approved of by them. Very perplexing. To make you come to me, it was only a natural choice to use..."

"...my father and the Colonel. But why the big bird thingie? He damned near killed me!

"Regretable. I do apologize for that. I sensed the hunting pack nearing their prey and thought it would be the perfect cover to attract you to me--to the plan I've set out for you. I did not count on your being mistaken for prey--or what happened to your Colonel--but did what I could to keep you save afterward. I told the creature to bring you to me. I must say, he wasn't all too interested in my suggestion! Hungry old buzzard! I've saved his pack from utter extinction more than once so you might say that he owed me."

I stood dumbfounded, trying to take all of it in.

"Is the Colonel dead?

"Not dead, but badly injured. Pity. The spirit is so intriguing and strong, I hate to see it lessened in any way. But those in charge now will do nicely--once we make them see. I've already begun feeding messages to some of them--one very strong in the gift, but very suspicious."

Gee, I wonder why?

The old woman shot me a look, then motioned to the stream. "You should drink before the sap wears too thin and the petidemi return. The walk is not far but I fear you've had little refreshment since your arrival."

Since I'd seen her drink earlier, I did so as well, hoping that the sap wasn't actually a drug or poison. The water was as she said, sweet with a slight syrupy taste, but I could also taste the bitterness creeping back into it. When I looked up, she was standing at the edge of the woods, waving me on.

"Come! I have been preparing for you and a feast awaits us both."

With this, she stepped into the woods. I scurried up the bank, grabbed my backpack and my other necessary gear from the heap of fallen palm fronds and headed after her. Something in me said to trust her, but I couldn't at the moment decide if it was my own intuition or if I was being influenced by something being forced into my mind. I could very well be headed into a trap. Then again, what was my alternatives? Was I to sit on the stream bank, waiting to see if the big dino bird got hungry enough to change his mind and come looking for a snack? Should I wait for a rescue that may or may not come? If this woman was right, she was messing around with my crew. Even if I couldn't get back to the jumpgate in time, at least I may be able to stall her plans long enough that they had a chance to get home. Steeling my mind as best I could to block my thoughts, I sprinted into the woods after her.