Trey walked up to stand close behind Spence and Morgan. “Are you two like having a séance or something and making weird sounds?”

“Sure, genius. That’s exactly what we’re doing. And instead of summoning a Native American spirit, we summoned a living Neanderthal,” Morgan replied.

Spence turned his head, grinning.

“What are you smiling at, dork? And we need to chat about you almost getting me into trouble earlier,” Trey said, stepping closer to Spence.

“You freakin’ dumped him out of his wheelchair, thug! That’s a new low even for you,” Morgan said.

“Shut up, Twilight. Now, Spence. What can we do to teach you a lesson?” Trey grabbed the back of Spence’s shirt.

A shuffling of feet at the edge of the clearing caused Trey to release Spence and turn around. Spence pulled his shirt down in the front and looked past Trey’s side to see a tall, lean boy standing at the trail's end. He wore camouflage pants and a tight green T-shirt. His face was gaunt and chiseled, with thin lips and deep brown eyes, and his brown hair was cropped close to his head. He held a pocketknife in one hand with the blade extended, using it to dig dirt from underneath the fingernails on the other hand.

“Wow. This place attracts freaks!” Trey said.

“And apparently big piles of shit,” the boy replied, not looking up. “Guess the buzzing I heard were the flies on you.”

Morgan cackled, and Spence, despite his fear, couldn’t suppress a smile.

“Don’t think I’m scared of you just because of what you did to Austin. You just got in a lucky sucker punch anyway. What are you going to do, stab me with your pocketknife?”

Spence froze. Caleb Stone was a loner. Despite being athletic, he wasn’t a jock, and he wasn’t a nerd or Goth or part of any other clique. Caleb didn’t bother anyone, and nobody messed with him. Some thought both he and his father were crazy. They were rumored to be preppers—preparing to survive some kind of global disaster. Caleb usually wore some camouflage articles and was frequently seen with knives, despite the school strictly banning weapons. Most suspected he had guns in his locker and car too.

A few weeks prior, Caleb had walked past Trey and Austin Parker and some other football players in the Wal-Mart parking lot. The story was that Austin had insulted him and his crazy father. When Caleb stopped and walked over to him, Austin continued insulting, followed by a shove. Caleb wordlessly erupted with a fury of blows on Austin’s face and head. He added some kicks, even after Austin lay unconscious on the pavement. Austin was rushed to the hospital with a broken jaw, a fractured eye socket, a punctured lung, and several broken ribs. Some thought the jocks might retaliate, but they must have deemed Caleb too much of a loose cannon. Spence was surprised Trey confronted him now, alone.

“I can field dress a deer with this knife in ninety seconds. I’m thinking I could do you in seventy-five.”

The two stared at each other like old-west gunfighters facing off. Trey was much larger and probably stronger, but Caleb’s dark eyes stared calm and cold. His body language didn't reveal whether he was scared or nervous. Spence glanced at Morgan. She met his gaze and then turned back to the showdown.

“Whoa, do you feel that?” Morgan suddenly asked.

Trey warily turned away from Caleb, and the three stared at Morgan. She spun around in the middle of the cairn circle with her arms spread wide. The air shimmered in front of her like heat rippling off the desert.

The humming sound intensified, and Spence felt it throughout his entire body. The hair on his arms and the back of his neck stood. His body tingled as if a weak electric shock coursed through him. The air shimmered close to him now too. He felt warmth, but comforting warmth, unlike the miserable desert heat. “Is this a vortex?”

“I think so!” Morgan exclaimed.

The shimmering began to tint with color, taking on a blue hue. Then the shimmering began swirling, with flashes of light and streaks of blue, forming a mini-tornado, except with no wind. The air hummed, along with occasional crackles and pops. The funnel was just a couple of feet from Spence and Morgan. It slowly expanded in size until it was several feet wide and taller than Trey.

“What the heck is that?” Trey asked. He walked over next to Morgan.

“It’s called a vortex. Some people claim there are centers of energy in Sedona that give off positive energy. This area is one of the four main sites. I’ve never heard of them being visible, though,” Morgan explained.

“Sounds like a bunch of new-age hippy babble,” Trey replied.

Caleb had joined the three, standing on the other side of Spence. His knife had disappeared into a pocket. Spence assumed they all felt the same energy now. He glanced behind them to see if any other students or Ms. Stephenson happened to be witnessing the event. There was no one else. He turned around just as Morgan stretched her hand into the vortex. He considered shouting a warning, but he didn’t speak, too curious to see what would happen.

Morgan let out a little squeal of delight as her arm slowly disappeared into the swirling chaos. She ceased smiling when her arm had vanished up to her bicep. After a brief struggle and scream, her entire body was sucked into the funnel. A few flashes of her black clothing swirled amid the blue and white, and then she was gone.

“Holy shit!” Trey exclaimed. He began to retreat when the vortex suddenly expanded as if eating Morgan caused it to swell.

Spence tried to roll his chair backward too, but the vortex tugged at him. Out of the corners of his vision, he saw Caleb and Trey fighting similar losing battles. The vortex moved closer, and the pull intensified until Spence’s grip on his chair finally gave way. He flailed his arms wildly, striking Trey once or twice, and then was jerked headlong out of his wheelchair and into the energy tornado.