Trail of Lightning

Maggie heads off to battle with Kai, Rissa, Clive, Hastiin, and a group of 30 Thirsty Boys. On their way to the mine, they pass the southern Wall, a 50-foot-high wall of turquoise built by the Diné after the Big Water. The sky above the mine looks green, an image that Maggie explains is like a dream she had in which Neizghání dressed as a witch. Rissa reports that there is no one at the mine, but then lightning strikes. Maggie and Kai head into battle, and Maggie finally declares them to be partners. When Maggie reaches the top of the mine’s tower, Coyote announces his presence. 

Now Maggie accuses Coyote of collaborating with Neizghání. A hundred tsé naayéé’ charge the rest of the group, but Kai calls fire down upon them. Kai runs out of power, but more monsters appear. Neizghání appears suddenly and begins to kill monsters. Coyote stops Maggie from helping, instead revealing to her, “I made them all. They are all my monsters, Magdalena. From the very beginning” (265) While at first Maggie thinks this refers to just the tsé naayéé’, it in fact refers to every monster Maggie has ever faced. Coyote says that he brought Neizghání and Maggie together to awaken her powers and make her great, and he adds that Neizghání does love Maggie, as much as he can. Maggie is distraught at the betrayal, and she shoots Coyote in the head.

Maggie joins her friends in the fight. Her accomplices have captured Neizghání, unaware of Coyote’s deception. Maggie tells Neizghání to leave, but he refuses, still believing Kai at least to be a threat. Neizghání then attempts to get Maggie to rejoin his side by revealing that Kai has betrayed her too. Maggie demands the truth from Kai, who reveals that his true clan power is Bit’ąą’nii, the ability to talk others into doing what he wants. This additional betrayal sickens Maggie, who feels used. Kai, who knew that one day a monsterslayer would come for him, decided to befriend Maggie in case she was that monsterslayer. He explains, “sometimes you defeat your enemies by making them your friends” (274). Eventually, he says, his feelings for Maggie became real. Neizghání wants Maggie to kill Kai, but she stalls for time while coming up with a plan. Without revealing that plan to the reader, she shoots Kai in the heart.

Neizghání is amused that Maggie killed Kai. He tells Maggie that it is better for Kai to be dead and that he kissed her in the arena because he thinks she is magnificent. Maggie is tempted to rejoin Neizghání, but she decides she wants something more than bloodshed in her life. She takes out the directional hoops and shoots Neizghání to slow him down, putting the hoops around him to trap him and saying, “When I kissed you, all I tasted was death. And I think I want more than that, Neizghání. I think I want life, too. And love. A love that doesn’t try to kill me” (281). In doing this, Maggie chooses herself over Neizghání. However, when Maggie turns around, Rissa points her gun at Maggie and orders her to leave. In her view, Maggie betrayed and killed Kai, even though Maggie thinks Kai will recover. Maggie leaves.

Five days later, Maggie is back near her trailer. She does not approach the trailer at first, thinking that there is someone inside and that it might be Tah. Facing Tah seems to be too much for Maggie after what she did for Kai, and Maggie also suspects that Neizghání will eventually come for her. Tah comes out of the trailer, revealing himself, and Maggie reluctantly goes to see him. Tah says that they will wait for Kai together.