Young man. Henry liked the sound of that. “Um … how about maybe just another order of pancakes?”

He looked to Brianna for approval, but she rolled her eyes and climbed onto Coralis’s lap. “Fine. Just let us know when all four stomachs are full, cow-boy.”

Nothing could spoil Henry’s mood. He glanced out the window at the dry riverbeds of Colorado rolling past. “We’re out west, Brianna. It’s a good place for a cowboy to be.” While he couldn’t say why, that statement summed up something he had been thinking about. The farther west they traveled, the more at home he felt. His instincts were telling him that this was where he belonged. It wasn’t just an adventure anymore. In some odd way, he felt as if he were going home.

He looked up at Coralis, who was staring at him. His thoughts silently entered Henry’s mind. “There will be plenty of occasions going forward when you will experience a sense of déjà vu—as if you’ve been somewhere or seen something before, even though it couldn’t have happened. In this case, I believe it is your tribal roots calling to you, Henry. In a very real sense, you are going home.”

Henry’s jaw slackened. “How did you do that?”

“Do what?” Brianna demanded. “What did I miss?”

“Nothing.” Coralis stroked her head gently with his finger. “Henry and I are just beginning to connect.”

“Well, stop connecting and finish eating. I feel a nap coming on.” She curled on his lap in comfort.

“Think of the universe as an isolated physical system with a predetermined amount of energy.” Coralis flexed his fingers, preparing to resume his role as professor. “No more energy can be created or destroyed. It will change form … or re-manifest itself … but never disappear.”

Henry’s glazed look and slack jaw told him he had overestimated his audience. He needed to simplify things.

“The easiest way to explain what is happening is to think of Earth’s water cycle. Water evaporates, condenses in the atmosphere, forms clouds, and descends back to Earth as rain.

“It’s the same with energy. Energy doesn’t just disappear. It transfers. And in the case of bad energy, it is absorbed by the moon and transferred into moonbeams that shower the Earth. You hear the nightly news reports, Henry. There is quite possibly more evil in the world today than at any other time in history. And that makes the moon an extremely dangerous and volatile place. It has now reached a saturation point.