miles away.
When we moved to Southern Arizona, I discovered a wonderland of plants, such as the humanlike saguaros, thousands of blooming cacti and unique animals called javelinas. Nothing can match skies that turn to fire at sunset or the summer monsoon rains that drop down suddenly, like a curtain of water.
As you can see, I’ve come to accept the Lord’s plan for me to be a “desert rat.” I fell in love with the Sonoran Desert and decided I had to write a story set there. I hope you love it too.
Blessings!
Tanya Stowe
Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.
—2 Corinthians 4:9
For my dad, who showed me the wonders of Arizona.
Contents
Note to Readers
Crawl! The woman woke slowly.
Wake up and crawl!
She tried to move, tried to obey the thought that was so insistent, almost desperate. She lifted her head half an inch off the ground. Viselike pain gripped her temples and she groaned out loud. She froze, trying to ease the agony, but it didn’t go away. Now it pierced like sharp blades...her eyes, her temples, the back of her head.
It hurt so much, she collapsed...breathed in dust and grit. She coughed. The pain split her head in two and she cried out again.
Where was she? Why was she on the ground?
Crawl! Crawl away or you’ll die!
That’s right. The tunnel. She had to get out. Now.
Unable to lift her head without piercing agony, she slid one leg upwards and pushed her body along the ground. The grit scraped her cheek as she moved. No matter. She had to get away.
Raising one hand, she pulled herself a little farther. After a moment she was able to coordinate her hands with her legs. She pushed and pulled herself inch by inch, through the tunnel. Her head throbbed with blinding agony. Her cheek burned and still she crawled forward, driven by fear of what lay behind her. She had to get away.
She dared to look up. Pain shot through her head. Light. Light just ahead!
A click echoed behind her.
Too late! An explosion rocked the darkness. The shock wave slammed her head onto the gritty ground and she slipped into darkness again.
* * *
The headache returned. Or maybe it had never left. She couldn’t remember. It pierced her head like an ax...right between the eyes. And the spinning. She might be awake, but the world was moving around and around, even with her eyes closed. Her body ached from head to toe. Something was pumping cool air through her nose. The rest of her body felt hot, stiff. Impossible to move. Afraid to open her eyes, she held perfectly still, waiting...hoping the world would stop shifting around her.
Wait...someone was singing. Soft, low, smooth as velvet. Beautiful. What was the song? An old hymn. She heard “saved a wretch like me.”
Strong and firm, that voice. Low but not too low. Comfortable. A bit familiar but she couldn’t quite give it a face. Couldn’t remember the name. Who was it?
She tried to speak, but all that came out was a groan. The singing stopped.
Someone grasped her hand. “Joss? Can you hear me, Joss?”
Joss? The name felt reassuring. She tried to lick her lips, but her mouth was so dry, her tongue stuck. Something cool, a dripping, welcome moisture, ran over
