Shadowline Drift: A Metaphysical Thriller by Alexes Razevich

the ‘discovery.’”
    “People don’t appear out of thin air.”
    Pilar stood and paced the small room , her arms wrapped tightly across her chest. “The Lalunta have a whole array of spirits both good and bad, but the Tabna—they regard the Tabna as evil beyond evil. If Naheyo knew you’d been staying with them, I doubt she’d do the exorcism.” She rubbed her hand across her mouth. “In any event, Naheyo and the Helpers aren’t going to let you leave until your demon is driven out. Their beliefs are real to them, and as I said, it’s their world, not ours. They set the rules.” She stopped and turned toward him. Her voice dropped low. “Jake, this is bad.”
    His mouth felt like he ’d been chewing dirt.
    More logs must have been thrown on the fire outside. Light filled the room like a sudden explosion. A couple of Helpers passed by, talking. Jake and Pilar waited until the women were gone.
    “ I’ll tell you something else about the Tabna,” Pilar said. “They’re supposed to be nomadic, right? They stayed hidden all those years because they kept moving all the time? But while Father Canas stayed with them, the Tabna never strayed from where they’d been found. The Salesians took their position with GPS. I’m willing to bet that’s how you found them yourselves, with GPS coordinates. If they’re nomadic, how could you have known where they were?”
    “ The people at FUNAI arranged the visit,” Jake said. “The Tabna, knowing we were coming, were in a prearranged spot at a prearranged time.”
    “ Maybe,” she said, but he could tell she didn’t believe it. He was beginning to wonder if he did.
    “ How do you know so much about all this?” he asked. She was standing in front of the cot, and he was seated. He hardly had to look up at all to see her face. It was confusing still, this vantage point, but he wouldn’t want to give it up.
    “ Everybody knows everything out here,” she said. “The forest is an insular world. Gossip, information, is valuable coin. There are precious few secrets.”
    He nodded. It wasn ’t only the forest where that was true.
    “ If what you’re saying about the Tabna is right,” he said, “that’s all the more reason to help me reach the people who can stop benesha meat from being eaten. You have to help me get to a phone.”
    The firelight died down, leaving Pilar and the room in shadow. “I’m trying to help you, Jake. Naheyo won’t let you leave as long as she thinks you’re a threat.”
    “ I don’t think she can stop me.”
    His ankle felt almost healed. Probably was healed, given the amount of time he’d actually been in the compound—the stiffness and soreness more from lack of use than the sprain. It would take time, but he could walk to Catalous on his own if he had to. He stared at Pilar a long moment, gauging whether she’d help him leave the camp. She stood with her hands on her hips. She tilted her head and her eyes shifted to the small window, toward the ground space beyond the room’s walls, where the women were. She wouldn’t go against Naheyo.
    Her gaze came back to him. “This is the Amazon,” she said, her voice so low he could barely hear her, “not Eden, and not America. The rules you live by don’t apply. Infanticide is common here. Indians and Anglos murder each other all the time, and neither side thinks much about it. I told you, the Lalunta don’t consider you human. You try to leave before Naheyo is willing to let you go, and she’ll kill you like she would any other dangerous beast. I wouldn’t be able to stop her.”
    Her voice wavered just the slightest bit. Someone not paying close attention would n’t have noticed, but Jake did. She was frightened. He was frightened himself.
    “ If I let her do what she wants, can you guarantee I’ll be helped to reach a phone?”
    Pilar exhaled, and Jake realized she ’d been holding her breath. “Naheyo says you can leave as soon as your demon is gone. She knows you