The Twelfth Insight - James Redfield [70]
“What about the Egyptian guards you mentioned?” I asked.
“We will come to a guard station,” she replied. “Before we can go past it we must open our perception and learn from those in spirit.”
Without saying anything else, Tommy and his mother set a rapid pace through the desert. Eventually, we came to an area where the terrain inclined upward and we began to see enormous boulders dotting the landscape. After another hundred yards, we came to a group of the big rocks circled together. Tommy led us through the maze until we came to an open, sandy area completely surrounded by the rocks.
“We can camp here,” he said.
Rachel and I pitched our tents beside each other, and I could see Tommy was intentionally laying out the tent he shared with his mother beside Rachel’s as well.
When the tents were up, I built a small fire from the dead limbs of some scrub bushes that grew around the edges of the boulders, realizing as I did so that the circle of huge rocks was reflecting back at us in the light of the moon, creating what felt like a curtain of security.
Rachel seemed to be looking out at them as well and glanced at me as she took out a small cooker and began making freeze-dried stew near the fire. I sat down beside her.
“You know,” she said, “Native Americans never camp somewhere unless it has high energy. I talked to Tommy’s mother, and of all the mountains she has visited, the Sinai group are her favorites.”
Rachel shot me a smile. “She said they are the easiest to light up.”
The next day, I was first to awaken. As I climbed out of the tent, only a partial light was appearing in the east. Gathering up some more wood, I stoked the fire and sat down. Traces of red sunlight began to highlight the swirls of clouds overhead.
Tommy’s mother came out of her tent, walking around as though she was looking for something. She left the circle of rocks and was gone a long time before returning. Several other people were now out of their tents as well.
She finally walked over to me and asked, “Have you seen Tommy? He left sometime during the night.”
“What?” I said, jumping up.
She waved her hand as if to calm me down.
“Don’t worry. He’s done this before. We’ve been here many times and he knows the area well, so unless you sense something different, I think it is best to just wait for him to return.”
I tried to tune in, but I couldn’t really concentrate. I didn’t know how she could be so calm. We had just been warned that the Apocalyptics were still looking for us, and anything could happen out there. She left to tell the others as Rachel walked up and sat beside me.
“What’s going on?” Rachel asked.
I told her that Tommy had left.
“By himself? Shouldn’t we go looking for him?”
“His mother doesn’t seem that worried. She wants to wait and see if he will return.”
Rachel nodded and sat down, and our gazes met. There was no reluctance on my part, and we held the stare until we both smiled. Suddenly, I saw an image of Tommy in my mind’s eye. He was higher up in the mountains … and I was with him!
The vision was clearly an intuition, and I looked back at Rachel, who was now deep in thought herself, appearing slightly sad.
“I think I should go look for Tommy,” I said. “What about you?”
She shook her head, still looking away. “I have to stay here.”
I gathered my pack, and Rachel walked over to her tent and returned with a feather.
“This is a feather guide that Wolf gave me,” she said. “He joked that it was useful to bring two spirits back together, and that I would know what to do with it when the time came.”
She handed the feather to me, and I took it and smiled, then turned to go.
“Before you leave, I want to tell you something,” she said. “Don’t forget where we are in the Integrations. We have to open our perception as quickly as we can.” There was still a hint of sadness.
“I saw you tuning in just now,” I said. “Did you see something?”
A tear