Gatekeeper's Secret
Copyright© 2026 by Fick Suck
Chapter 46
“We only took one wrong turn,” Grady said as the forty-foot tree came into sight. “Not bad for a site I’ve never seen before.”
“One wrong turn cost us half a day and a night out in the rough,” Bri complained. “I did not see the pebble that tormented me all night, I sure felt it though.”
“I don’t know,” Jessica said. “For all the discomfort, I’m enjoying myself. While Linh has won my highest culinary award, I give Grady a fair shake for dinner over the campfire last night. Then, there was the snuggles.”
“Ah, yes,” Linh said with a sigh, “The snuggles.”
They continued to watch the tree come into view as their horses picked their way through the terrain. The ravine on their left was deep enough to break a person’s neck if they fell. The crevasse coming down from the mountain was obscured further up because of the evergreens on the mountain flank. How the alien priestess made it to this remote spot and how Grady’s great-granddad tracked her out here was another unanswerable mystery.
Grady’s face became grim as they got a better view of tree. “That tree does not look healthy.”
“The tree looks dead,” Linh said. “What do we do if it’s as dead as it looks?”
No one answered. As they drew near, the horses stopped, refusing to take another step. Grady dismounted and began to walk in a circle around the tree, being careful to look for snakes, lizards, and scorpions. There were short tough grasses, low bushes and plenty of loose stones.
Taking a closer look at the tree, the leaves were oddly shaped, about two hands breadth long with rounded ends. They were limp, some with a little green, but most tending towards brown or even black. He stepped under the canopy and touched the trunk of the tree. The bark was not rough like he expected, but almost smooth, the texture more akin to a worsted fabric.
“The tree is warm to the touch,” Jessica said. “Do you feel it too?”
Linh nodded, “Yes.” She pressed her cheek into the bark. “A tree that is not a tree.”
“Look here,” Brianna called out, pointing to something on the backside. The other three joined her and gazed at where she was pointing. “Tell me that is a seed pod.”
Grady stepped up to the head high yellow petaled sheathed pod nestled in a clump of still green leaves. “If it looks a like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. Are there any others?”
They all circled the tree. “No,” the other three called out.
“Do we take this seed pod?” he asked. “Are we supposed to take it?”
“Grady, I love you, but that’s a really dumb question,” Linh said. “This tree was sent here instead of being destroyed. For whatever reason, the tree cannot thrive in this place. I don’t know whether ‘this place’ means this remote spot or this world, but there is only one way figure it out. We harvest the pod and bring it back to plant at the ranch.”
Brianna stepped up to the pod, almost touching it with her nose. “The tree was brought here by a priestess, yes? Which one of us is going to be the stand in for the priestess? Linh leaves in a few days for college. I leave in six months; we will not be around to tend it.”
“Apparently you’re declaring that I’m the Mother Earth priestess,” Jessica said. “I’ll be here and thus, the responsibility falls upon me.”
Grady pinched his lips as an added safety measure of not saying a word. A hundred thoughts ran through his mind as he tried to come to terms with this alien seed staring him in the face. First and foremost, he was the Gatekeeper, and he had always made all the decisions concerning the gateway just as his grandfather before him. With the question of the seed, the decisions were no longer his to make. He had invited these three women into the Project, and these were some of the other consequences.
Grady walked away from the seed and stood under the canopy. At first he pressed his hand against the trunk, feeling again the warmth and texture of the peculiar bark, if it was truly bark. The three women were still discussing what to do, but he tuned out their words as he turned inward. At some point, he rested his forehead against the trunk. At first he felt the warmth on his brow and then ... something more.