Chapter 24
The initiates began leaving, calling good-byes, which echoed in the evening air. Dusk was falling and people wanted to get off the mountain before it became dark. They were returning to their regular lives and real jobs, while Pepe and I were staying behind. Felix wanted me to leave—he said he was worried that I was getting in too deep—but I told him I had a job to do.
As I wandered back to my lodgings, I was annoyed with Felix for not trusting me and feeling lonely because he left without me. So when Fox Black popped up on the path, I was happy to see him.
“Great show your dog put on!” he said.
“
Gracias
,” said Pepe.
“Yes, he’s quite talented,” I said. “And he’s got quite an ego as well.”
“That goes along with the territory,” said Fox.
“Territory?” asked Pepe. “Is he talking about marking territory? I do that, too!”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Those who have a big talent need a big ego to handle their responsibilities,” said Fox.
“Oh!” I hadn’t thought of that. My dog was pretty talented for a dog.
“What are you doing now?” Fox asked.
“I think I’m supposed to meet my alpha,” I said, “and move my stuff to the Beta Barn.”
“How about joining me at the hot springs for a glass of champagne after ward?” Fox asked. “To celebrate your graduation.”
“That sounds lovely!” I said. “I could use a nice relaxing soak.”
“You could use a new boyfriend,” said Pepe.
“Great, I’ll see you there in ten minutes,” said Fox with a wink.
I was a little surprised to learn that my alpha was Artichoke, since she had never seemed to like me. But maybe that was what made her the ideal alpha. She was waiting in my room when I got back to the Bunkhouse and she seemed impatient.
She stood there with her arms crossed, watching as I stuffed my clothes into my suitcase. Pepe tried to help by bringing over a few nibbles of food and tucking them into various corners.
“Artichoke is such an interesting name,” I said, thinking a compliment might soften her up. “How did you get it?”
“Dogawanda gave it to me,” said Artichoke. “He said I was all prickles on the outside and a soft heart within.”
“I suppose that’s a good thing,” I observed.
“Not for you,” said Artichoke. “You will see only my prickles. My job is to teach you to obey without thinking. Only then will you be relieved of the worries that plague humans. And right now I say that you should make it snappy. I don’t have all day to stand around chatting about names.”
I tried not to take it personally.
“When do I get my name?” I asked as we headed across the compound, me dragging my bright blue rolling suitcase. Pepe trotted beside me, stopping to sniff and water various patches of the lawn.
“When you have earned it,” Artichoke said.
We stopped outside the whitewashed barn. “This is the Beta Barn, your new home.” Artichoke opened one of the doors and we were inside a gloomy hallway, with doors on either side, stretching into the distance. “These were once the stalls,” said Artichoke. “We cleaned them out and made them into bedrooms.”
Halfway down the hall, Artichoke stopped outside a door. I had noticed that each door had a placard with a name on it: C
LOUD,
L
ILY,
S
EED,
Q
UAIL.
The placard on the door we were facing read L
EAF
. Artichoke frowned at it and tore it off.
“Someone was supposed to be sure the room was clean for you,” she said.
“This was where Leaf lived?” I asked. My voice quivered a little.
“Yes,” said Artichoke. She had thrown open the door and gone inside. The room was tiny, just barely big enough for a single bed with an iron frame. A small window above the bed was too high to provide a view or any ventilation.
“It looks clean,” Artichoke said, backing out of the room so I could step inside.
“Maybe we will find a clue within,” said Pepe, running in after me and darting under the bed.
“Where am I supposed to put my suitcase?” I asked. It was still out in the hall.
“We have a storage room at the end of the hall. You won’t need any of these things you brought. We are free from materialistic concerns. We have two changes of clothing. When one gets dirty, we put it in the laundry chute and wear the other. You should have been issued a uniform. I don’t know why that hasn’t happened yet.” Artichoke frowned again.
“What happened to all of the things that belonged to Leaf?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” said Artichoke. “I assume the police took them.” She headed off down the hall. “I’ll show you where the storage locker is.”
“Did you find anything?” I asked Pepe.
“I think so,” said Pepe. “I will show you when we go back.”
“No, we didn’t find anything that would explain why she would leave. She seemed to have adjusted well.” Artichoke thought I was talking to her.
“What makes you think she was leaving?” I asked. I was still haunted by the idea that Tammy’s death was my fault.
This was the first time I actually saw a reaction from Artichoke. She stopped in her tracks. “Well, she was outside the property, wasn’t she? Betas just don’t go outside the property. Not without permission and not without a dog walker.”
“Dog walker?”
“That’s what we call them. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say a chaperone. We just want to protect them from the negativity in the outside world. It’s a critical stage in their development. Betas can easily be spoiled by too much discipline or too little.”
I hated the way she kept on talking about people as if they were dogs. But then I wondered how dogs felt about the way we talked about them. Or maybe the way Felix talked about Pepe. I should let Felix know that Pepe could talk. That would clear up so many things in our relationship.
Artichoke continued down the hall, stopping to point out the communal bathrooms at the back of the barn, one on one side for the women and one on the other side for the men. The storage unit was against the back wall, under the staircase. It was full of dusty suitcases and duffel bags and knapsacks, and it was unlocked.
A flight of stairs led up to a large open area, what had once been the hayloft. It had been carpeted with green shag and furnished with many pillows, in various shades of green and brown. The room was full of Dogawandans, all in their regulation light green cotton skirts and pants, vests, and tunic tops. Some were sitting cross-legged, apparently meditating, and others were gathered in small groups talking.
“We encourage all the betas to spend most of their time here,” said Artichoke. “It’s important for you to establish your place in the pack.” She pointed to a whiteboard hung along one wall. “Of course, when you start out, we give you the most submissive position.” Various chores were written in felt-tip pen, apparently in the order of their preference, and in the grids next to them were written the names of the various members of the beta pack. I recognized some from the doors downstairs.
Artichoke studied the chart and then rubbed out Leaf’s name. She was listed as a food server. She bumped up the people on the chart below Leaf, so Seed was now a food server, and wrote me in at the bottom of the chart under “rock mover.”
“What does a rock mover do?” I asked.
“It means you find rocks and bring them to the rock-cleaning station,” Artichoke said. “We need many rocks for the walkways and terraces for the new structure. You’ll be doing that every morning for two hours a day. Quail will show you how to do it. He’s a rock mover, too.”
“What about the other new betas?” I asked as she wrote in my name: Geri. I really wanted a cool Dogawandan name. Maybe I would be a flower like an iris (one of my favorites) or a cool animal, like an otter.
“Don’t concern yourself with others,” said Artichoke. “They will be assigned tasks that are appropriate for them. Now I’m going to leave you. You need to find your own place in the pack. You will report to me first thing in the morning. You can find me at the level four table in the dining hall.” She turned and vanished down the stairs.
As soon as she left, several of the Dogawandans rushed over to us. They wanted to know more about the moon goddess, how I had found such a talented dog, how Crystal had learned of his amazing abilities.
“I knew he was special the first moment I saw him,” I said, remembering the day I had gone to the shelter to adopt one of the many rescued Chihuahuas flown up to Seattle from Los Angeles and how Pepe had caught my eye. It wasn’t until I got him home that I realized he could talk.
“So can you actually hear him?” asked someone else.
“Well, yes, he speaks to me all the time,” I said, glad that I had finally found people who would believe that my dog talked, yet I was impatient to get out of there to meet Fox.
“You are so lucky!” sighed one woman.
“Yes, you are lucky!” said Pepe, who was having his tummy rubbed by another Dogawandan devotee.
“There! He just spoke!” I said. “Did you hear that?”
The person petting his stomach drew back. The woman who told me I was lucky raised her eyebrows. “He just barked,” she said.
“Yes!” I said, pretending that was what I meant. “He’s very talkative.”
Chapter 25
The concrete path to the hot springs was lit by lanterns set low to the ground. It wound through the woods in back of the lodge and ended at a small clearing that had been paved with concrete as well and was circled by mighty pine trees. The steam from the hot springs shrouded the boulders that served as a backdrop. Lights set low to the ground illuminated the shape of the boulders and sparkled on the bubbling surface of the hot springs.
I laid my towel on the large boulder beside the main pool and prepared to take off the bathrobe that I’d also brought from my room. I hadn’t thought to bring a swimsuit with me to the Dogawandan compound and was clad only in my black bra and matching black panties.
I wasn’t sure about the etiquette of the hot springs and figured that in the darkness, anyone who saw me would assume I was wearing a black bikini, especially as I’d already be in the water, which was a milky white color and topped with a froth of foam.
I peeled off my robe and took a few steps into the steaming water. It was just a little over body temperature. The contrast with the cold of the night air brought out goose bumps on my skin. I plunged in to my shoulders. Wide, flat rocks had been placed as seats around the bottom of the pool. When I sat on one, the water bubbled right around my collarbone. I started to feel my tensions melt away almost immediately.
“Comfortable?” asked Pepe, nuzzling the back of my head with his muzzle.
I turned and gave him a pat. “Totally,” I said. “Say, aren’t you coming in?”
Pepe shuddered. “No way, Jose,” he said. He claims he has been afraid of the water ever since he was tossed into the deep end of a swimming pool in Beverly Hills. He took a couple steps to the right and lay down on the rock next to me, his forepaws hanging over it just above the water. “For now, I am content just to breathe in these interesting smells rising in the steam from the pool. The scents of the minerals and the warmth are quite soothing.”
“I’m glad you’re comfortable,” I told him, then turned back and enjoyed the way the various lights sparkled and danced across the water. It reminded me of the fairy tales I’d read as a child. Everything about the setting was just magical—so magical, that I expected a handsome prince to show up to take me away to live happily ever after.
And so he did.
In this case, the handsome prince was Fox Black.
He wore flip-flops and a deep green, short Japanese-style bathrobe and carried a bottle of champagne.
He smiled when he saw me—a brilliant white smile, quite apparent even though the night was half upon us. His pale skin contrasted sharply with his long, jet-black hair.
I smiled back. Even though half of me started to feel half guilty about accepting his invitation, the other half of me felt like screaming and giggling and jumping up and down with the same hysteria that young women always exhibited at his rock concerts. Unfortunately, my parents had never let me attend one, so I had only seen him perform on MTV.
“You beat me here,” he said, walking around the pool toward me. “And you have Towering Cedar with you. Greetings, blessed dog.”
“
Hola
, yourself,” Pepe told him.
Fox stopped a few feet away, set down the bottle of champagne, and took off his robe. He was totally nude! I tried my best to look only into Fox’s eyes as he kicked off his flip-flops and slid into the pool beside me, but I couldn’t help but notice that his entire body was covered with tattoos and that he was definitely well endowed.
“Ah, that’s better,” Fox said, his bare hip brushing against mine as he sat down beside me. I shivered.
“Keep your hands above the water, mister,” warned Pepe.
“What did you say, Towering Cedar?” asked Fox. “Or should I call you Moon Goddess?”
“You can call me
el jefe,
” Pepe told him.
Fox nodded as if he’d understood my dog’s remark, which of course he couldn’t have, then turned his intensely dark eyes to me. “Like some champagne?” he asked.
Before I could respond, he picked up the bottle, pointed it away, and untwisted the wire that held the cork in place.
Pop!
It went flying into the nearby woods, and a froth of bubbles spilled out of the neck and into the hot springs, blending in with the froth already on the surface of the water. I giggled. I couldn’t help it. This was a fantasy come true, sitting in the hot springs, with the stars overhead and the smell of the pine trees all around us.
Fox took a swig off the bottle and handed it to me. It was chilled. I followed his example and tried to take a delicate sip but got a little more than I expected. It ran down my chin. I felt so decadent. Fox leaned over and licked the extra champagne off my chin. I almost swooned.
“Hey,” Pepe told me. “I am the only one who can lick you.”
“Shhhh,” I told him.
“What?” said Fox, drawing back.
“Oh,” I told him. “I was, uh, just stifling a sneeze, that’s all.”
“Bless you, then,” he said.
“Well thanks, Fox,” I said.
He smiled.
I smiled.
There was an awkward silence. The mood had somehow changed. It was almost like a first date that had started to go south (except for the fact that I was clad only in my underwear while sitting beside a naked rock star).
“We should try and get some information from him,” Pepe told me. “Since Senor Fox has been coming here for a long time, he may know something that could help our case.”
“So, Fox,” I said, “how long have you been coming here?”
“Almost ten years,” he said thoughtfully, taking another swig of champagne before passing the bottle along to me.
“So you have been a Dogawandan for a long time?” I asked, taking another swig from the bottle. The bubbles fizzed through my brain.
“Yes, I attribute all of my success to Dogawanda. I was a nobody when I first met Crystal. It was Dogawanda’s advice that got me to where I am today.”
“Wow!” I said. “Like what kind of advice?” I handed back the champagne bottle.
“Dogawanda encouraged me to play the guitar instead of writing songs and singing. That was the turning point in my career.”
“Oh! I didn’t know you sang!” I said. He was famous for his guitar riffs.
“Yes, well, I’m getting back into that,” he said.
“I’d love to hear you sing,” I said.
Fox smiled. He had a wolfish face in the moonlight: a long snout and glittering golden eyes. “I’ll write you a song,” he said.
Wow!
I almost swooned.
“It’s nice to meet someone who isn’t judging me. Or trying to put me in a box,” he said. “Everybody thinks they know me. Nobody listens except for what they want to hear.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Fox.”
“Nobody hears me either,” said Pepe.
“I really appreciate your listening, Geri,” Fox said, putting his arm around my bare shoulders. Pepe growled softly. “Your little dog is very protective,” Fox said with a laugh.
“The moon goddess is not amused,” said Pepe.
I felt the sudden urge to tell Fox about my talented dog. Maybe it was the wine talking. “I guess I am good at listening,” I said. “For instance, I can hear my dog talking.”
“That’s amazing!” Fox said, putting his fingers under my chin and tipping it up. “I wish you could teach me how.” He studied me, his eyes half closed, those big, luscious lips so close to mine. The moonlight poured down on us, and the warm water surged around our bodies. All thoughts of Pepe evaporated. Only he was talking.
“Geri!” said Pepe. “You are about to be interrupted.”
I waved my hand at him, trying to shut him up. I didn’t want to spoil the moment.
“I think you might want to back off!” said Pepe.
“Never mind,” I said. “You were saying, Fox?”
“I was saying—” He moved his lips closer to mine.
“What a surprise!”
I looked up. It was my sister. She was standing in the moonlight, just a few feet from the hot springs, completely nude.