The Cascades shone in the afternoon sun, white snow caps above forested slopes. Several of the highest peaks were rounded since the massive eruptions that occurred in conjunction with the Great Ghost Dance forty years ago. Ryan had been only five years old when that had happened—four peaks erupting simultaneously in the most massive display of ritual magic ever. The Native Americans had gotten fed up with the oppression against them and had called on their shamans to stop the government troops threatening to destroy them. Many, many shamans sacrificed themselves to power the ritual, or so the rumor went, and all that magical power was channeled into the volcanic Cascades.