He supposed her rationale was that he wouldn’t want to spoil things by disagreeing with her. And he had to admit, it did make it hard for him to stand his ground. At times he’d chosen to back down because whatever the debate was about wasn’t that important to him. And then other times he’d had to come up with a convincing argument to get her to agree to what he wanted. Ice thought today’s conversation might end in a stalemate: they would agree to disagree. That would probably happen more often now that he was away at school and determined to be responsible for himself.
Sitting across from his mom in the bright light of the diner, Ice noticed that although the creases lining her forehead had smoothed considerably since last night, her eyes were bloodshot and her complexion drawn. “Have you slept at all since you got here?” he asked gently.
Her mouth curved briefly. “Last night.”
They ordered food and then filled in the holes in each other’s stories where they could. Despite her conservative Catholic upbringing, his mom had become increasingly open to the Native American spirituality that surrounded them on the reservation. Ice shared much of what he learned in medicine man training, though he did reserve the gritty details that he thought might disturb her. He didn’t want his mom to constantly worry about him.
“You know you have to make a statement to the police. What are you going to say?” she asked.
“As much of the truth as possible. I can describe the girl. Tell them she must’ve put something in my cup when she turned on the water for me. I’ll say she left me in the cave—some kind of twisted prank maybe—and I was wandering around lost for a couple days.”
His mom shrugged and nodded.
“It’s kind of crazy that Nik’s vision in the sweat lodge had to do with me and that church,” Ice said, pausing as the waitress set a plate in front of him. “He told Dale that it was like he couldn’t clear his mind. Something was holding him back.”
“I don’t know. It’s not totally out in left field.” His mom put her napkin on her lap. “After your father left and I had to decide if I should go back to Chicago or stay in Minnesota, Brooke convinced me to go to the sweat lodge. Afterward, I knew I should stay on the reservation. That decision had everything to do with you.”
Ice swallowed his bite of hash browns. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.” He’d always thought of the sweat as personal; individual. But as Nik’s apprentice, in essence, Ice was the medicine man’s future.
Fork hovering above her eggs, Ice’s mom licked her lips. “Since classes don’t start for a few days, I thought you might like to come home to recuperate.” The tight skin around her eyes belied the light tone and nonchalant attention to her plate.
The suggestion is exactly what he had expected. Skewering a sausage with his fork, Ice picked up his knife. “As nice as that sounds, I need to stay. Or rather, I should get on the riverboat with Jeni like I was supposed to two days ago.”
His mom leaned forward, frowning. “But the…witch is still out there.”
“Exactly. That’s why I need to be with Jeni.” Ice locked eyes with his mom. “Jeni was at that church, Mom. And then the girl that took me mentioned her by name. I have a hunch this isn’t over and that Jeni is the next one in danger.”
His mom had stopped eating and was mostly just moving her food around. “If so, maybe they want you to lead them to Jeni. It might be better if you weren’t with her.” She was reaching. And judging by the lack of conviction in her voice, she knew it.
Ice put his fork down and reached across the table to touch his mom’s hand. “I’m a medicine man, Mom. I deal with a spiritual realm. This is part of what I accepted—what we accepted—six years ago.”
“I know,” she acquiesced. “And I know you’re well-trained.”
Ice looked into his mom’s glassy eyes and wished he could say something to reassure her. But he didn’t know enough to have a plan yet. “At least we have an idea what we’re dealing with. And with Dale’s knowledge and connections, we should be able to figure out how to stop what’s been happening for decades.”
Her expression softened. “That’s my boy. Making the world a better place.”
Ice smiled. “I do what I can.”
“Well, you’d better keep me posted.” The corners of her mouth lifted. “And you’d better be back for classes. Your books weren’t cheap.”
Ice laughed and they moved on to talking about school while they finished eating. As they walked to the car, Ice remembered something that had bothered him since getting dressed earlier. “Mom?”
“Yeah?” She looked at him over the roof of the car as she opened the door.
Ice waited until they were both inside before he continued. “I’m really bummed. I lost my medal in the caves.”
“Wait.” She smiled, pulling her purse open. “No, you didn’t.” Drawing her hand from an inside compartment, she opened her palm to reveal the St. Thomas Aquinas medal. “You must have thought to put it in your jacket pocket so you wouldn’t lose it. The jacket was ruined and I told someone at the hospital to throw it out, but I’m really glad I thought to check the pockets first. This was wrapped up in a soggy piece of cardboard.”
Ice returned her smile, pushing aside his concern at having no recollection of putting the medal in his jacket pocket.
At least he hadn’t lost it.
The sun peeked out from behind the clouds as Jeni, Tyler and Dale crested a hill and Ice’s dorm came into view. Jeni blinked and then squinted, enjoying the warmth and considering her sunglasses. She’d spent a good part of breakfast typing on her phone. The riverboat had arrived that morning, as scheduled, and Jeni messaged her mom to let her know that Ice was better, but he was going to see how breakfast sat before they decided what to do today.
She also sent Carolyn a text in all caps: “WE FOUND ICE!”
Carolyn responded immediately and Jeni recapped the horrific experience in the sewers, also telling her friend how Tyler had given himself up to the policeman in the woods. They had a brief conversation about the mysteries of Jeni’s cousin that almost felt like old times.
Her upbeat mood faltered as they drew close enough to the building that Jeni recognized Ice’s mom’s car parked out front. Her heart lurched, imagining they were inside retrieving his things before his mom took him home. Like an omen, a bank of clouds obscured the sun, dimming the bright day.
Proving one of her assumptions wrong, Ice emerged from the car as they approached and accompanied them to his dorm room. Although she ached to ask if he was leaving, Jeni held out for a moment of relative privacy, not trusting her emotions to stay in check in front of the other boys. Ice unlocked the door to his room, handing the key to Dale so he could get back into the building after retrieving the rental car. He was headed back to Cass Lake today, since the others were rejoining the river cruise.
The moment of privacy Jeni hoped for came sooner than she expected when Tyler immediately closed himself in the bathroom. Ice turned to her with a gleam in his eyes and slipped his arms around her waist. Dismay closed her throat and she hugged him loosely, pressing her face into his chest. He kissed the top of her head. When she didn’t move, he drew back without releasing her, so she would look at him. “Hey. You okay?”
Expecting him to tell her the bad news, not inquire as to how she was feeling, Jeni slowly raised her eyes to his face. She couldn’t stand it any longer. “Are you going home with your mom?”
Understanding softened his expression. “She asked me to.” A smile touched his stormy blue eyes. “I declined.”
Jeni gaped. “You did?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I’m going on the rest of the river cruise with you.”
Her lips curled into a grin and she rose on her toes to plant a kiss on his mouth. Instantly, a vision she’d become familiar with filled her head—a table full of trinkets with a statue of the Virgin Mary—she stil
l didn’t know what it meant, and she didn’t care.
Ice had been taken by surprise, but he adjusted quickly, pulling her closer, and the image dissipated. She melted into the embrace, her tension giving way to excitement. They were actually going to spend some time together. Then curiosity got the better of her and she broke the kiss first. “How did you manage that?”
“Is that really what you want to do with the minute we have alone?” He chuckled.
Her giggle faded to a soft sigh as she decided she could wait to hear the explanation. They stole a few more kisses before breaking apart at the rattle of the bathroom door.
She was busy folding a pair of jeans and Ice was at the refrigerator grabbing a bottle of water when Tyler emerged. Minutes later, Dale entered the room. “You guys sure you don’t want a ride to the dock?” he asked, slinging his bag over his shoulder.
“Probably not a good idea since my mom thinks you’re long gone,” Jeni said. Impulsively, she stepped forward and hugged him. “I wish you were going with us.”
Dale let his arms drop around her awkwardly for a second and then backed away. “Hey, if you need me…” He held up his phone.
Tyler lifted his chin. “Let’s try not to do this again anytime soon.”
“Agreed,” Dale said, cocking an eyebrow.
Ice held out an open hand and when Dale took it, Ice drew him forward, circling his other arm around to clap Dale on the back. “Seriously, thanks, man.” He held Dale’s gaze for a moment before letting go.
Dale shifted his feet and then in a low voice said, “I feel like I’m finally redeeming myself.”
“You don’t have to redeem yourself for something that wasn’t your fault,” Ice replied. “But I’m glad you’re moving beyond all that.”
Ice had never told Jeni the full story of what happened with Dale, only that the incident had put an emphasis on finding Native American artifacts, which is what Ice had been doing when he and Jeni first crossed paths. Now that she’d met Dale, Jeni was curious, and made a mental note to ask about it.
Dale lifted his shoulders in a brief shrug and then turned toward the door.
Jeni gave a last wave as Dale stepped into the hallway. Then she called her mom.
“Hi, honey. How are things going? How’s Ice?”
“He’s doing a lot better. We just got back from breakfast.”
“Great. Are you interested in meeting us at Minnehaha Falls? It’s an easy hike. Do you think Ice is up to it?”
“Yeah, I think so. He’s got his appetite back, too. He recommends trying Juicy Lucys for lunch. They’re hamburgers stuffed with molten cheese. He knows the best place to get them.” Jeni met Ice’s eyes as he gave her a thumbs-up, appreciating the full credit she’d given him for the idea. He finally cracked open the water he’d gotten out earlier.
“In St. Paul, I think,” she responded to her mom’s question, still watching Ice. “Let me—” Her mouth dropped open. Ice had turned the open bottle of water upside down over his new game console. “Ice! Hang on a second, Mom.”
Jeni dropped her phone on Ice’s bed, dashed into the bathroom and yanked two towels down. Rushing back to the room, she threw them on top of the layers of paper towel Ice was using to sop water from the top of the component while swearing under his breath.
“What’s going on?” Tyler rose from the futon where he’d been absorbed with his phone.
“Ice… uh… spilled water on his gaming system.” She looked up to see Ice’s eyes clouded with confusion. Retrieving her phone, she said, “Sorry, Mom. We just had a spill. Text me the address of the park. Okay. Bye.” She turned to see Ice on his hands and knees, drying the floor.
“I’ll get that,” she said, kneeling next to him. “See if your system still works.”
Ice powered up the game system, his face a mask of shock. Tyler had come forward, watching the television over Ice’s shoulder. The gaming logo appeared for a second, and then the screen went black.
Ice flung the controller on the bed. “Son of a…” He pressed the heels of his hands to his forehead. “What’s my problem?”
Jeni put a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, you spent the last day or so breathing poisoned air. You’ve gotta expect side effects. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
“It might be fine once it dries out. Do you have a heating pad?” Tyler took in their questioning stares. “I’m serious. A few years back I dropped my cell phone in a lake. We wrapped it in a heating pad overnight. It worked fine after that.”
“I don’t have one,” Ice said. “But I wonder if that’s something an RA might have.” He was instantly out the door.
The resident adviser referred them to the medical center where Ice was able to put down a deposit and borrow a heating pad. Because of sports-related injuries, the center had a selection of sizes and they were able to get a pad that was twice the size of the usual home-use version. They wrapped the gaming unit in a towel first, then in the heating pad.
Ice paused before plugging the pad in. “It doesn’t seem like the best idea to just leave this here. I’m going to see if Joe will be around for a while.” He gathered up the bundled game console and was out the door, returning from the RA’s room a minute later empty handed.
They took off then to catch a train and meet the others at the park, but Jeni noticed a crease had taken up residence on Ice’s forehead.
Ice peered past Jeni to the cityscape flashing past the Metro train window, frustrated with his poor start to independence. What was up with his odd compulsion to pour water on his game console? Jeni and Tyler seemed to pass it off as a kind of black out or something, as if his hand faltered. But that wasn’t what happened. He deliberately turned the bottle upside down, thinking nothing of it until Jeni shouted his name.
“So, Ice.” Jeni turned from the window. “Do you know what the word Minnehaha means?”
He focused on her, letting his brow soften. “Well, if you read Longfellow’s poem, Hiawatha, you’d think it means ‘laughing waters,’ but it actually means ‘waterfall’ or more literally, ‘rapid water.’ The Minnehaha Falls are what inspired his poem.”
She wrinkled her nose. “The falls? What about the legend of Hiawatha?”
Ice shook his head with a small smile. “No such thing. Longfellow borrowed elements from Native American lore, but his poem is just a poem.”
“Huh. I think I saw a Hiawatha movie when I was little. I figured it was based on something true, like Pocahontas.”
Ice exhaled a mocking chuckle. “The Pocahontas movie you saw probably had as little truth as the Hiawatha poem.”
Jeni sighed, squeezing his knee. “Yeah, I guess those animated kids’ movies are going for entertainment value, not accuracy.”
Tyler shifted in his seat. “Ever read any of the original Grimm’s Fairy Tales? They’re nothing like the kids’ movies. If I were one of the Grimm Brothers, I’d do some serious haunting of screenplay writers and producers.”
Ice bit back his urge to laugh at Jeni’s wide-eyed reaction to her cousin’s comment about literature. Her lips parted but whatever she was going to say was cut off by an electronic voice announcing their stop.
As they disembarked and spotted the group of family, Ice felt the familiar tangle of nerves in his gut at the prospect of being around Jeni’s parents. Although in reality, any time he’d spent with them was always fine. Her dad was usually pretty funny and her mom was laid-back. Because of the visions he caused Jeni to see when he touched her, they rarely expressed any public displays of affection, so he didn’t have that to worry about. Still, they were Jeni’s parents, which made him feel under scrutiny whenever he was around them.
Jeni’s mom hugged him. “How do you feel?”
“Better.” He smiled. “Not quite a hundred percent, but much better.” He reached out and shook Jeni’s dad’s hand.
“We s
pent the morning at the Walker Art Center—mostly in the sculpture garden,” Jeni’s mom informed them. “The rest of our group took the kids to the Mall of America, but we thought we’d stay in the cities.” She waved her hand over her shoulder, indicating Jake, Josie and Aunt Jessie.
“Grandma and Grandpa are letting us have a grown-up day,” Jake explained.
As they entered the park, Ice sent mental thanks to the universe that they weren’t going to the Mall of America. He didn’t have the patience for something like that today. As if reinforcing that thought, the closer they got to the trail leading to the top of the falls, the more agitated he felt. Maybe he’d misjudged how much the poison gas was still affecting him.
As the group advanced up the trail, Ice and Jeni fell behind. Ambling along the riverside pathway, Ice’s skin began to crawl. His steps dragged.
Jeni looked sideways at him then stopped with a hand on his arm. When he paused, she studied him, her brows pulled low. “Ice, are you all right?”
“Yeah.” He did his best to smile reassuringly. “Just tired.”
“Well let’s find somewhere to sit, then.”
“No, you go on ahead. It’s not too late to catch the others.” He was struck by an unwarranted urge to make her go away and leave him alone.
“It’s no big deal, Ice. I can see the falls from here.”
“Jeni, I’m going to be here for the next four years, at least. I’m sure I’ll be back. You should catch up with the others. I’ll be fine. I think we passed a bench back that way.” As he pointed, Ice wondered why he’d said that. He had no recollection of a bench. He just wanted—no, needed—her to go. “Hurry,” he urged, as if the matter was decided.
She looked at him doubtfully, then pecked his cheek and hustled up the trail.
Ice gripped the wooden fence bordering the edge of the bluff, which dropped to the churning river, unsure what was happening to him. His rubbery knees told him to sit down, yet he was unable to pull himself away from the sight of the water as it cascaded over the limestone, crashing and roiling before joining the current and rushing downriver.
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