Veiled Existence

by Barbara Pietron

  This wasn’t his first waterfall. Still he stood transfixed, as if waiting for something to happen. He patted his jeans pockets, and then moved to his jacket, looking for something. The search moved upward and when he touched his chest he felt the medal there that his mom had given back to him. Mechanically, gaze locked on the water below, he reached inside his collar and snagged the chain, yanking it until it snapped. He coiled the necklace into his right palm, and then drew his arm back.

  “What’re you doing?”

  Ice started, dropping his hand to his side and jerking his head around.

  Tyler stood behind and to the side of him, hands in his pockets, eyeballing him curiously.

  “I…” Ice brought his fist up and opened it, his jaw dropping. “I’m not sure.”

  “What is that?” Tyler took a step forward and looked into Ice’s palm.

  “Something my mom gave me.”

  “So you could make a wish and throw it in the river?”

  Again Ice experienced a sense of dumb confusion. “Uh… no.” Embarrassment warmed his cheeks. Then with dismay he noticed the broken chain links. Chin down, he shook his head.

  “Seems like the toxic gas really did a number on you. Must have killed a few brain cells. But hey, the good news is, they discovered you can grow new ones.” Tyler clapped Ice on the back then added, “Apparently not overnight though.”

  Ice rubbed his temple. “Well thanks for stopping me from…whatever.”

  Tyler nodded. “At least I’ve got an idea what level of crazy I’ll be living with for the next few days.”

  “I hate to admit it, but you’re probably right about that.” He followed Tyler’s gaze and was surprised to see the rest of the group on their way down. That they’d hiked up, taken a quick look and immediately headed back was unlikely.

  Which meant he’d lost some time.

  Goosebumps walked up his spine as he wondered how long he had stood there staring at the water. And why?

  Jeni pulled a fresh shirt from her suitcase, anxious to get out of the clothes she’d worn all day. Her teeth worried her bottom lip as she pondered the conversation she’d had with Tyler earlier. After collecting their things from the dorm, they’d stopped at the police station so Ice could make his statement. While she and Tyler sat on a bench waiting, he’d asked, “Did Ice tell you what happened at the falls?”

  Confused, her brow furrowed. “He just got tired and stayed behind while I climbed to the top. It’s no big—”

  Tyler cut her off, his fingers drumming the wooden arm rest. “Did he tell you what he did while he was waiting for you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’ve seen the necklace he wears?”

  “Yes. It’s from his mom.” Jeni’s tone had been slightly defensive.

  “Well, he took it off and was about to hurl it into the river. I stopped him.”

  Jeni narrowed her eyes. “I’m sure it’s not what it looked like.”

  “I’m not telling you what it looked like,” he snapped. “It’s what happened.”

  “That’s ridiculous. He wouldn’t do that.”

  “Right. And he wouldn’t pour water on his gaming system. Your boyfriend’s not right and I thought you’d want to know. Blow it off if you want. I don’t care.” He shrugged and took his phone from his pocket.

  “He’s fine,” Jeni insisted, hands curled into fists on her lap. “The doctors wouldn’t have let him leave the hospital if he wasn’t.”

  Tyler turned away, refusing to argue further.

  Jeni ground her teeth together, fuming. Screw Tyler. What had made her think he’d ever be her ally? He’d gotten her off the boat and then continually discredited everything that happened from that point on.

  Fortunately, Ice had finished with the police officer and joined them before Jeni had stewed too long. On the train ride to the dock, she decided she’d wait to see if Ice brought up the incident when they were alone. But it had been on her mind ever since.

  Frowning, she picked up her phone and typed a message to Carolyn. “Tyler is blowing the poison sewer gas out of proportion and claiming that Ice is doing weird stuff. I swear he’ll do anything to make me suffer.”

  “What kind of weird stuff?”

  After repeating what Tyler told her, Jeni added, “I’m sure that’s not what Ice was really doing.”

  “Did you ask Ice about it?” Carolyn asked.

  “I haven’t had a chance yet.”

  “Well, I’m sure Ice will be fine once the gas is out of his system.”

  “He’s probably fine now. Tyler’s just a jerk.”

  “That’s true lol.”

  Jeni smiled. It was nice to have Carolyn on her side. “How are things there?”

  “I’m bored to tears. I’m so bored I’ve been spying on the cute neighbor boy when he’s out riding his skateboard.”

  “What’s wrong with that?” Jeni opened her make-up pouch and began touching up her eyeliner.

  “He’s probably about thirteen!”

  Her friend’s nutty humor helped dissolve Jeni’s frustration. Then Ice showed up looking refreshed and alert, reinforcing her opinion that he was fine.

  “So what are we doing?” Ice asked.

  “Probably cards or something. Do you know how to play Euchre?”

  “Euchre?”

  Jeni eyes sparkled as she looped her arm around his. “I’ll teach you.” This was the kind of thing she’d been looking forward to. She could ask him about the necklace later. Or maybe tomorrow after he had a good night’s sleep.

  In the Iowa Lounge, she did her best to explain the card hierarchy and how trump cards worked. They played a couple practice hands before joining an actual game. They lost, but not without winning a few hands first.

  “Sorry,” Ice said as they relinquished their seats to the next players.

  Jeni laughed. “No worries. You’re actually catching on quickly.”

  “Go for a walk?” He held his hand out and with a smile playing on her lips, she slipped her fingers between his.

  His hand was warm and her heart fluttered. The quick flash of mental images was gone before she could decipher any detail.

  They stepped from the lounge into the cool night, pausing to watch the paddle wheel rhythmically swish through the dark river leaving a swirl of lace in its wake. Once past the lighted windows of the lounge, Ice pulled her into an alcove, backing her against the wall. “I didn’t realize this boat would be such a tough place to get a moment alone.”

  Jeni rested her hands on his arms and sighed, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “Yeah, it’s pretty hard not to run into someone. Especially people I know.”

  He stepped closer, and she stretched up to meet his lips with hers. She closed her eyes and soon the rest of her senses were inundated with only Ice. She breathed in the clean smell of his soap and another slightly citrusy, musky scent mingling with his own underlying essence. The warmth of his hands moved from her waist to the small of her back; his chest pinned her to the wall.

  She loved the way he kissed her, beginning slowly. Her few previous experiences were with guys who just plowed forward, open mouthed and sloppy, immediately turning her off. Ice always allowed the embrace to build until her lips parted to let him in—which seemed to happen more quickly the longer they were together.

  His hands traveled up her sides, skimmed her shoulders and then cupped her face. Trailing his fingertips over her cheeks, he pulled away, rotating his wrists so he stroked her jawline with the back of his fingers. Her eyes slid open lazily to meet his indigo gaze, while her chest rose and fell with the pounding of her heart.

  “I had a lot of time to think,” he whispered. The absent motion of his fingers, now buried in her hair, sent shivers down her neck. “All I could think about was you—if I’d ever see you again.”


  Jeni’s eyes stung. “I know. I felt like that too.”

  “I should have told you this before I left Michigan, but I didn’t realize… our relationship was too new. After that, I didn’t want to do it over the phone.”

  The racing of her pulse took on an edge of anxiety. His face was stiff, his eyes deadly serious. Jeni swallowed, suddenly, inexplicably, afraid of what he was leading up to.

  “The longer I was in that cave, the more I regretted never telling you.”

  His fingers at the base of her head seemed to pick up a tremor, and Jeni realized Ice’s features were tense from nervousness. She felt his heart thudding rapidly.

  “I’m in love with you, Jeni.”

  Her chest flooded with warm emotion as she released the breath she’d been holding. She tightened her arms around him, tucking her head under his chin. “I love you, too.”

  His arms fell around her in a strong embrace. When he loosened his hold, she smiled up at him and then they were kissing again. His hands moved, igniting heat where they touched.

  “If I didn’t think my family would come looking for us, I’d show you my stateroom,” she murmured.

  His chest rumbled as he chuckled low in his throat. The energy between them grew more primal, his mouth transferring to her neck and the hollow of her collar bone. Jeni simultaneously thought, “Oh God, yes,” and, “Shoot, anyone could come by right now.”

  She snaked her arms under his jacket and over his back, relishing the feel of his muscles flexing beneath his t-shirt. Without warning, he grasped her upper arms and pulled her from the wall into the walkway.

  “We were barely hidden in the shadows,” she whispered, giggling. “What are you doing?” Then his face moved into the soft glow of the recessed lights and she saw the maniacal gleam in his eyes. She jerked her arms down, out of his grasp. “Ice!”

  He spun her around, captured her wrists and pulled her arms behind her back. Shuffling toward the railing, he hauled her along.

  Pulse hammering, Jeni scrambled for an explanation…he was hallucinating. He thought she was the girl who took him. “Ice! It’s me, Jeni.”

  Wooden spindles pressed into her hip and Ice leaned over the handrail, trying to drag her with him. Glimpsing the black water eddying beside the boat, Jeni squealed, hoping he would snap out of the delusion before their scuffle drew attention.

  Her bones ground painfully against each other as Ice squeezed her wrists together in one hand while using the other to try and scoop her legs from the deck. She kicked wildly, pushing her feet against the rail as hard as she could. “Please Ice, it’s me, Jeni. You love me. I love you. Don’t do this!”

  Her words had the opposite effect she’d hoped for as Ice doubled his efforts. The battle was weighted in his favor; even weakened, his strength exceeded hers. She needed help or she was going overboard.

  Jeni screamed, letting loose a sob when the door of the Iowa Lounge burst open, flooding the deck with light.

  As Ice was pulled away from her, she collapsed to the deck, blubbering. “It’s not his fault…not his…”

  Ice too, was on the ground, his arms held by a passenger and the bartender. When she met his horrified gaze, she crawled toward him, crying softly. “What did she do to you?”

  As Jeni babbled a story about Ice not feeling well and that it wasn’t what it looked like, the passenger and bartender released their hold on his arms. Trying to wrap his head around what just happened, Ice scrambled to his feet and lurched away from the others. Faces peered from the windows of the Iowa Lounge and a few passengers trickled out the door to see what the commotion was about. His heart broke as he took a last look at Jeni’s crumpled, sobbing form and then fled to his stateroom, praying that Tyler was elsewhere.

  Relieved to find the room dark, he slammed the door behind him and clambered onto the top bunk, not bothering with the light. He pounded the pillow with his fist and then slumped, face down. What had he done? As his racing pulse slowed, the manic compulsion that clouded his brain began to fade, allowing him to form coherent thoughts.

  Tears of anger and frustration dampened the pillow case. He was doing a hell of a job taking care of things himself, he thought bitterly. He couldn’t wait to get on the boat so he could protect Jeni, now it seemed she needed to be protected from him.

  He should have known. As a medicine man, he should have recognized that the gnawing feeling in the back of his head was more than the effects of poison gas.

  His phone rang, and at first Ice ignored it. He wasn’t fit to speak to anyone. After the second ring, he fumbled the device from his pocket to see who was calling. Nik.

  Ice swore. He hadn’t spoken to the medicine man since his rescue from the sewers. When he tried earlier, Trisha at the tribal office said Nik was at the vision quest lodge. Reluctantly, Ice pressed the receive button. He didn’t look forward to telling his mentor how he’d failed epically, yet no amount of time would put a shine on this crap-pile of events.

  “Ice. It’s good to hear your voice. How are you?”

  “Not good, Nik.” The admission weighed heavy in his chest. “Everything is a mess.”

  Nik listened as Ice described his odd behavior leading up to and including trying to throw Jeni off the boat. “This can’t be an effect of breathing methane or whatever was down there. I felt compelled, Nik. Driven.” Ice shuddered.

  “I may have a bit of insight on that,” the medicine man said. “Originally, I sought out the spirits to help find you. But even after I knew you were safe, my gut told me to stay. I met the otter, your spirit guide. He was tethered at the edge of the woods. When I offered to free him, the otter said that he was bound to the owl’s tree and would remain there until the owl ceased to fly.”

  “The owl,” Ice said softly, squeezing his eyes shut. The owl was Jeni’s spirit guide. “My spirit is bound to see to her death.”

  “So it would seem.” Nik’s voice was grim. “The message from Dale said you were up against a witch and a reincarnated spirit?”

  “That’s the conclusion we’ve come to so far.” Ice had to push the words around the lump in his throat. “I’m under a spell, aren’t I?”

  “I would like to say no. But from what I saw in my vision and what you’ve told me, it is probable.”

  Ice stared at the dusky ceiling. “What do I do?”

  “I’d wager the hex is druid in origin. Your best course is to first confer with Dale. If he doesn’t have the answer, he has connections to others who might. In the mean time, I can ask the Midewiwin. Perhaps someone has experienced this sort of mysticism.”

  Ice sighed. “Yeah. I figured Dale would be the place to start.”

  “I’ll let you go then. Take heart that the spirit of a medicine man is already conditioned for forces beyond nature. I have no doubt you will prevail, Ice.”

  “Thanks, Nik.” Ice appreciated his mentor’s vote of confidence; he only wished he felt the same way.

  After ending the call with Nik, Ice was about to dial Dale when the door lock clicked. Low voices and a soft giggle drifted through the crack in the door. Before he could say something to let Tyler and whoever he had with him know that he was in the room, a familiar female voice turned his blood to ice.

  No. He must be more deranged than he thought. Tyler was not with Elletre.

  “…still early,” Tyler’s hushed voice persuaded. “We just can’t stay long because my cousin’s boyfriend is rooming with me now.”

  “What?” The girl’s voice was no longer demure and flirtatious.

  Ice lowered his chin so he could see out the door.

  “Wait.” Tyler’s voice. “Seriously, he won’t be back here until late tonight. She has a room to herself. I’m sure they’re making up for lost time.”

  The words stung. That’s exactly what he and Jeni should be doing right now—making up for lost time
. The silhouette of Tyler’s shoulder blocked most of the opening, then a flash of white-blonde hair jolted Ice’s heart to a quicker pace.

  “I’m not taking the chance that someone will walk in on us,” the girl said. “Forget it.”

  The string of words revealed an unusual speech pattern that scattered a wave of goosebumps over Ice’s shoulder blades and down his back. Afraid she was about to stalk off, he twisted his head farther, craning his neck to see part of the girl’s face. He caught only a glimpse of one thickly-lashed dark eye and the corner of her mouth before Tyler’s head eclipsed the view.

  “…Marquette tomorrow. My car is there. We can go out. Just the two of us,” Tyler coaxed. He pulled the door closed, cutting off the girl’s reply.

  Ice vaulted off the bed and dashed to the window, but very little of the deck was visible in either direction so he cracked the door open. Tyler and the girl had disappeared.

  It was Elletre. He knew it. He could feel it in his gut.

  His heart pounded as a gamut of emotions wracked his body: alarm, terror, panic, anger. Part of him wanted to hole up and hide. Part of him wanted to chase her down and make her tell him what kind of spell he was under. After he punched her.

  As he stepped from the room, he thought of Jeni. He typed a quick message, then stuffed the phone into his back pocket. A moment later he was trotting toward the Iowa Lounge.

  “Hang on, Dale.” Jeni took the phone from her ear to check who’d sent a text message.

  Her heart leapt. Ice. Stay wherever you are. Elletre is on the boat.

  “OhmyGod.” She exhaled the phrase in one stream and sprang to her feet. Her thumbs flew over the keyboard asking if he saw her, where she was.

  “What’s wrong?” Dale asked.

  “Ice just texted me that Elletre is on the boat.” She hurried to the window.

  “What? Is he sure?”

  “He’s not answering me. I bet he went after her.” Jeni slid her feet into her shoes. “I gotta go. I’ll call you back.”