Free The Phantom by Rob MacGregor Page A

excused herself and stepped outside. Even though there was only an hour of sunlight left, she decided to take a walk outside the village. She tramped off into the tundra, intending to return in a few minutes.
    The sky and ground were almost an identical off-white tone, and the landscape was monotonously flat. But something compelled her to continue on. The soup, it seemed, had given her unexpected energy. A sense of well-being permeated her. She felt as if she could walk forever.
    It was dusk when she realized she was lost, that she had no idea which way to go to return to the village. She suspected the old woman had fed her a narcotic of some kind. She’d lost control of her senses, and now she was starting to panic. If she didn’t find her way back soon, she would freeze to death. Although she didn’t feel the cold yet, she knew she would very soon.
    She heard the crunching of snow . . . footsteps. It was coming from just over a rise to her left. Maybe some hunters from the village were on their way home or the old woman had put together a search party.
    Diana rushed through the crispy snow, sinking to her ankles with each step. She gasped for breath as she reached the top of the rise and looked up into the fierce gaze of a ten-foot tall grizzly bear standing up on its hind legs.
    The creature probably weighed six hundred pounds. Two quick steps and a swipe of its paw and Diana would never again see her family, and no one would know what happened to her. Slowly she dropped to her knees, then crouched down and rolled into a tight ball. She remained utterly still, tried to stay calm. She listened to the grizzly’s raspy breath, squeezed her eyes shut. Her heart pounded in her ears.
    After a couple of minutes, she slowly lifted her head. That was when she felt its paw on her shoulder. But it was a hand in a furry mitten, not a paw. A man crouched in front of her. His dark eyes searched her face as he helped her to her feet. She was so relieved that she started crying and hugged the man. He softly stroked her cheek and held her for a long time.
    She told him about the grizzly, and he assured her the bear had gone. When she asked him if he knew the way to the village, he pointed with his chin and said that it smelled in that direction. As they began walking, she realized there was something peculiar about the man. She’d never seen him before, and knew that she was at his mercy in much the same way that she’d been at the bear’s mercy.
    Then she saw lights and smoke from the village. She thanked the man for his help, but he turned away when she asked if he was coming to the village with her. She watched him as he lumbered off. He seemed to grow in bulk and height and walk with an animal-like gait. His hooded fur coat molded around his body so that he looked like the grizzly. She heard a deep growl, and then he was lost in the darkness.
    Diana felt a tug in her solar plexus and found herself on the floor of the medicine woman’s hut. As she sat up, she felt drowsy and disoriented. She rubbed her arms and felt her hands. She wasn’t even cold. “How did I get back here?”
    To her astonishment, Ella said that she’d never left. Diana told her that she was certain that she’d been outside for at least a couple of hours.
    “There is more than one way to travel, you know,” Ella replied, then asked for an accounting of what had happened to her. After Diana had finished telling her story, Ella grinned and said that the grizzly bear had been a gentleman. “It’s strange, but in the legends the animals often behave better than their human counterparts.”
    “Well, well, Diana Welcome back home. What are you doing here all by yourself?”
    She looked up, startled from her musings. Jimmy Wells leaned against the counter next to her in his tuxedo, martini in hand, watching her as she ate her sandwich. Jimmy’s features were soft but attractive. To Diana he defined the expression “idle rich.”
    “Hi-ya, Jimmy