One in the Morning, Five Miles from The Ranch:
Alya manages to guide her car onto the shoulder of the road, just as it stops running. She tries to restart it, but all she gets is a clicking sound each time she turns the key. She picks her cell phone up and notices it didn't charged while it was plugged into the power outlet. She listens as the rain starts pounding against the roof of her car.

“Great! What else could go wrong tonight?” As Alya sits there looking out through the windshield into the darkness.

She was tempted to summon the fox spirit that resides in her necklace. At least the rain wouldn’t soak through the magical garment that protected her. She takes a deep breath and says “tracks” in native Cree tongue. There is a flash of orange light as her outer garments disappear and a form-fitting body suit appears on her body. A bright red tail with a white tip sprouts on the lower part of her back and red ears with white tips appear on her head.

Her hair changes from a dark brown color to a bright red color with frosted white tips. Her eyes change from brown to emerald green, as a mask of red and white appears on her face. Her ears twitch as the sounds of raindrops hitting her roof make a musical melody.

She grabs her car keys, and cell phone and puts them in one of the hidden pockets on her suit. She locks the passenger side door and gets out of her car. She made sure the driver's side was locked. She looked up the road from where she broke down and knew there was a farmhouse just up the road that maybe the occupant might be able to help her.

She starts jogging up the road as quickly as she can. The suit she was wearing kept her body warm and dry. As the rain just slides off of her. Her tail helps her balance as she runs down the state route towards the farmhouse.

Normally, she would never uses her Native American totem spirit for personal reasons. But in this case, with how hard the rain was coming down and the chill in the air. Plus, she was out in the middle of nowhere late at night. She felt better using her gift to protect herself and not getting soaked and catching a cold.

She was glad the talisman she wore changed her appearance so no one would recognize her. Also, the suit and the fox-shaped boots she wore made her footprints look like an oversized fox. It takes her very little time to cover the five miles from her broken-down car to the farmhouse.

Just before she reaches the farmhouse, she changes back to her normal-looking self and lets the rain soak her some. It would look kind of strange to be broken down five miles up the road and not look wet from walking down to the house. She notices the porch light is on as she walks down the long driveway.

Jasmine, Ada, and Clair are woken up by the doorbell ringing. Clair looks at her alarm clock and wonders why someone would be ringing her doorbell at one thirty in the morning. Just as she is about to get out of bed.

“I got it, grandma.” Jasmine grabbed her robe and Glock as she walked out of her bedroom and down the stairs towards the front door. She covers up a yawn as she flicks on the downstairs foyer lights.

She walks over to the front door and turns the deadbolt. She unlocks the door handle and slowly cracks the door open. When she does, she spots a young Latino-looking woman with shoulder-length hair, wearing a rain-soaked light blouse and dark dress slacks.

“Can I help you?” Jasmine wonders who she is.

First Ada shows up two days ago, along with Becky crashing into her grandmother’s wooden fence. Which, Becky was lucky that the car she was test-driving was equipped with a rollbar and five point harness racing seat belt. She only suffered minor injuries and was at home recovering.

Becky’s great-uncle wasn’t happy with her. He told her that the fuel she was using was unstable, but Becky wouldn’t listen to his advice. She had been lucky that she wasn’t in the car when it exploded. Now, this woman has shown up at her grandmother’s farmhouse.

“I’m sorry for bothering you, but my car broke down about five miles up the road from here. Can I use your house phone to call triple A, please?” Alya tries to keep her teeth from chattering.

“Jasmine, let her in.” Clair comes walking down the stairs.

“Yes ma’am.” Jasmine opens the front door wider for the girl to enter.

“Thank you.” As Alya enters the warm house.

She looks at the older woman and notices she is wearing a worn cream-colored house robe and slippers. She looks towards the woman named Jasmine and notices she is wearing an aqua-green nylon nightgown and a pair of socks. She couldn’t see any resemblance between the two women.

Jasmine closes the front door and secures it. She turns to face the woman standing close by.

“You must be cold. Jasmine, get our guest a towel please.” Clair looks at her granddaughter.

“Yes ma’am.” Jasmine walks past the young woman and her grandmother back up the stairs.

When Jasmine goes upstairs, she spots Ada standing at the top “Who is it?”

“Beats me. The woman said she broke down about five miles away from the house.” Jasmine walks over to the hallway closet to grab a towel for the woman.

“And she walked here in this weather?” Ada knew it was raining outside. She could hear it hitting against her bedroom window.

“Yeah, and she is soak to the bone.” Jasmine grabs a towel from the stack in the closet.

Downstairs:
“So, what is your name and how did you end up out in the rain?” Clair was curious about the woman.

She noticed the woman looked like she was of two different races. She also notices the red-shaped fox head totem hanging from the woman’s neck. She knew of a Native American legend that the fox shared its spirit with its chosen ones.

“By the way, my dear. My name is Clair Williams. You met my granddaughter, Jasmine. How did you end up broken down on the side of the road, Mrs.?” Clair was watching the young Latino woman.

“Alya Fuks. I was on my way home from a conference in Charlottesville, on Native American history. When my car started acting funny and my check engine light came on. The next thing I knew, I started losing power and I was forced to pull over. I was hoping to make it back home tonight because I work in Washington D.C. at the Native American Museum.”

“Well, you’ll be lucky to get triple A out here tonight. Why don’t you spend the night and dry off and you can call them in the morning?” Clair knew getting road service out here at this time of night was out of the question.

Alya looked kind of uncertain. She knew she could handle herself because of the martial arts training she took while growing up. Her father and mother made sure she could defend herself while growing up. She was always teased and picked on in school, because of being from a multicultural family.

Clair noticed the uncertainty in the young woman’s eyes and body language. She could understand why the young woman would feel the way she did.

“Look, I promise you are safe here. My granddaughter is in college and we have a person who works for the DOJ staying here as well. Plus, I know for a fact that getting someone out here tonight isn’t going to be easy.”

“I guess.” Alya reaches up with her right hand and rubs her amulet.

“That’s petrified wood, isn’t it?” Clair finally figured out what the amulet was made of.

“Yes, how did you know?” Alya was surprised.

“I have some in my collection. Your amulet looks to be of an old Native American design.” Clair recognized the design of the amulet.

“Yes, it was given to me by my grandfather before he died. He was a Cree medicine man.”

Jasmine comes walking back downstairs with a powder blue towel in her hand. She hands it to the young woman “Here you go. Why don’t you dry off and I’ll put some tea on for you to warm up from. You look to be about my size. You can get out of those wet clothes and I’ll toss them into the drier for you. If that’s okay, grandma.”

“That’s fine dear. Also, Mrs. Fuks will be spending the night with us as well. Why don’t you prepare the spare bedroom.”

“Okay.” Jasmine runs back upstairs to her bedroom and grabs one of her spare nightgowns.

Jasmine heads back downstairs to the foyer. She hands the nightgown to the young woman.

“If you would like to change. There’s a bathroom at the top of the stairs and another one just under the stairs here.” Jasmine walks into the hallway and opens the door to the bathroom.

“Thank you.” Alya starts walking towards the bathroom.

“While you are changing, I’ll get some water brewing for you and Grandma.” Jasmine heads for the kitchen with Clair following her.

Ada stayed at the top of the stairs and listened to everything going on. Since there seemed to be no problems. She grabs some sheets and blankets from the hall closet and starts making up the spare bed for their guest.