Veiled Existence

by Barbara Pietron

  Jeni straightened. “That’s a great idea.” She curled her fingers around her chin. “The accounts in the diary said the girl enticed the men and then brought them to the witch—pretty much the same thing that happened to you. She probably hasn’t done that to Tyler because she’s using him to keep tabs on the geis.”

  Ice pursed his lips. “Whatever her intentions are, I assume that if I’d succeeded in my attempt, Tyler would be history. She made that creepy comment about life requiring sacrifice. I wonder if the deaths are connected to her immortality.”

  The idea sat like lead in Jeni’s stomach. “Ugh. You’re right. Revenge may not be her only motivation.” Leaning forward, she rested her forearms on her knees. “So if we—” She cut off when the door opened.

  A woman entered with a book in her hand and approached the book shelves. Poking the paperback between two others, she began perusing the titles.

  Jeni lowered her voice. “So if we somehow convinced her that you did what she wants, she would take Tyler to the witch, right?”

  He nodded slowly. “I think so. But how would she find out? If she’s counting on getting the news from Tyler…No, it would never work. We can’t spin that lie without your entire family being in on it. Besides, she might have a way of knowing—” He cast a glance at the woman reading a book’s back cover. He whispered, “Of knowing if you’re still alive.”

  Jeni took out her phone and flipped through the pictures she’d taken of various maps and pages from books. “Listen to this. I read it in a book on druid magic. It’s called idircheo. Also referred to as ‘walking the razor’ or ‘between mist,’ where the person exists between worlds. This says: ‘think of it as standing in a doorway between two rooms, you’re in neither room, or both, depending how you look at it.’” Jeni looked up at Ice. “It’s how druids worked their magic. I wonder if it’s something I can do. I mean, if I’m not in this world, basically, I cease to exist, right?”

  “Your logic is sound.” Ice shrugged. “But I can’t answer your questions, obviously.” He reached into his pocket. “We’ll have to run it by Dale.”

  They waited impatiently as the woman browsed three or four more books before finally choosing one and leaving the room. The first question they asked Dale was if the witch would be aware of the geis coming to fruition; if she would know whether or not Jeni was alive.

  Dale responded immediately. “A druid does have the ability to sense a physical presence. You won’t be able to just tell her that the deed is done. She’ll seek out the truth.”

  “What about idircheo, Dale? Existing between worlds. Are you familiar with it?” Jeni asked.

  There was a measured silence before Dale spoke, his words hesitant. “I spent time with a druid this summer. He introduced me to the concept of idircheo, but it’s not a simple feat. You have to do it during a between time, like an eclipse, dawn or dusk, or within a mist. And it’s tricky.”

  “Tricky how?” Jeni asked.

  “It’s a state of mind. Someone like Nik could probably master it easily. Ice would do better than either of us. But just starting out in my training, I had a tough time.” Although he didn’t come out and say that Jeni couldn’t do it because she was basically clueless about her spiritual abilities, the message came across loud and clear. “Also, from what I understand, it’s best learned with a guide.”

  “But it would work?” Jeni persisted. “If I successfully went between worlds would the witch sense that I was gone? Would she think that I died?”

  “Essentially, yes, it would be as if you no longer existed in the living world. Although,” he warned, “she could find you in the between, if she thought to look.”

  Ice spoke up. “If the witch can sense whether Jeni is alive or not, then she definitely doesn’t need Tyler to monitor my geis.” He met Jeni’s eyes as he told Dale what Elletre had said about life requiring sacrifice.

  “Something is keeping her alive,” Dale responded soberly.

  Looking as though he’d just tasted something sour, Ice said, “And she let me go.”

  “To get to me,” Jeni countered.

  Dale sounded reluctant when he said, “But that sacrifice is for the witch’s master.”

  Jeni’s face fell. “So Tyler’s being held in reserve? So the witch can have him after the…the job is done?”

  “It’s a theory.”

  Jeni exchanged a look with Ice. “That still makes my idea plausible. Once she’s fulfilled her duty—getting rid of me—she’ll take Tyler to the witch. The question is, do you think you can teach me idircheo, Dale?”

  Dale muttered something that sounded like “cheeses.” “Didn’t I mention that Nik wouldn’t train me because my ability wasn’t Native American in origin?”

  “Yes, but…” Jeni dropped her gaze from Ice’s face to the phone. “I don’t know the origin of my ability, so why not try anyway? We only have a matter of hours to figure this out, Dale. And I doubt we’ll come up with a better plan.”

  Dale didn’t hold back his heavy sigh. “We’re having people over later and I need to cut the grass and wipe down the lawn furniture. I’ll call you back in an hour or so and see what I can do.”

  Jeni released her breath. “Thanks, Dale.”

  “Don’t thank me yet,” he said.

  Though Jeni had only started beginners’ yoga classes earlier that summer, the basic principals she’d learned seemed to be paying off. She’d caught on quickly to the mind-clearing and breathing exercises Ice showed her while she waited for Dale’s return call. Now, sitting cross-legged on the bottom bunk with her phone on speaker, she felt she’d conquered the first step toward idircheo.

  “Okay,” Dale said. “I’ve thought about it, and you can’t practice going between worlds unless you’re in a between place or time. So the best I can do right now is try to teach you to shapeshift.”

  Jeni’s mouth fell open. “Uh…excuse me?”

  “It’s not what you think. The Gaelic term means a guise or appearance. What you’re trying to do is become like something. So much like it that you almost are it. You shift to that reality.”

  “But what does that have to do with going between worlds?”

  “Well, the between is like a veil between worlds. Your reality is on one side and the shape you want to become is on the other side,” Dale explained. “To shapeshift, you pass through the veil.”

  “And I can do this without being in a certain place or time?”

  “Right. You can shapeshift any time because you’re merely passing through the veil. If you want to exist in the veil—stand in the doorway—you have to do it at a between time or be in a between place.”

  “All right, I think I get it.” Jeni absently traced a pattern on the quilt with her fingertip. “By learning shapeshifting, I’ll learn how to access the place between worlds.”

  “Exactly. The best shapes to start with are animals.”

  “So I just pick any animal?” Jeni cocked an ear toward the door as hollow footsteps sounded on the wooden deck and murmured voices became audible, but both faded.

  “Is there an animal you feel closest to or identify with?” Dale asked.

  Jeni’s first thought was a cat. She loved cats. Then she had another thought. “The owl is my spirit guide.”

  “Perfect. I’m glad you know that,” he said. “So empty your mind, and then think about an owl. What does it do? Where does it go? Imagine seeing through an owl’s eyes.”

  Dale coached as Jeni cleared her mind and then brought up images of owls. After a few minutes, she said, “Honestly, I feel like I’m just picturing owls. Like, I’m not going any deeper.”

  He sighed. “It would be better if you were actually in the woods.”

  Jeni saw the truth to that. The sounds and smells of a forest would be much more helpful than human activity filling her ears and fruity shampoo, show
er gel and lotion invading her nose. “I will be later. But for now, the boat is underway so my stateroom will have to do.” Then she had a thought. “Hey, what if I brought up some videos on my computer? We have Wi-Fi.”

  “It can’t hurt,” Dale said.

  Jeni searched for videos, finding a few which included owls indigenous to the area. The clips entertained two of her senses: sight and sound. After watching for a few minutes, she was ready to try again.

  Hands resting on her knees and eyes closed, she pictured an owl’s world: seeing the trees from top-down, attuned to rustles and movement on the forest floor, launching from a branch, wings flapping and then gliding on the wind currents. A birds-eye view of the river materialized, bluer than it looked from the ground. Bluffs, covered in a riot of fall colors, lined the water. Jeni’s stomach lurched, and she opened her eyes, fingers gripped on the edge of the mattress. “Whoa, I think I might have done it, Dale. Jeez, I felt like I was on a roller coaster.”

  “Good,” he said, sounding mostly surprised and a little bit impressed. “So what you’re going to try to do later, is start to shift, but stop between the realities.”

  Jeni tilted her head, lips pursed. “It didn’t seem like there was an in-between stage.”

  “That’s why you practice,” Dale said. “Your plan is to go to a waterfall at dusk, so you’ll be doing this at a place and time when the space between is open to you. Since you’ll be in the woods, I think we should also try shifting to a nature element. Nik said you have a connection to stone?”

  A worm of anxiety rolled over in her gut. Becoming a stone sounded claustrophobic. “Right.”

  “You can try the same thing with stone. It’s stationary, which might make it easier.”

  “But what does a stone do?” Jeni asked, scrunching her nose.

  “Think about it. They provide foundation and structure, line creek and river beds, house plant life…”

  “All right.” Jeni sighed. She thought about what Dale said and countless images flashed though her head. Nothing happened. She groaned. “I’m having trouble imagining what it’s like to be a rock. I mean it doesn’t really do anything, yet it’s everywhere.”

  “Yeah, you probably need to focus in on a specific sort of rock formation.” Dale sounded tired. “Did you try pulling up images of mountains or anything?”

  Jeni contemplated what terms to type into the search engine box, then snorted and stood up. She went to the window and stared at the bluffs, remembering the things she’d seen on her hike to Bridal Veil Falls: the oaks and maples shedding their bright foliage mixed in with green pines and cedars, the forest undergrowth of saplings, shrubs and vines. Visible wildlife consisted primarily of birds, darting from tree to tree, but Jeni knew other woodland animals must live there, tiny rodents, raccoons, deer, and much more. She added water to her picture, springs, creeks, wetlands, and then she imagined harboring all these elements of nature.

  When her point of view shifted, Jeni felt a pull in her guts as the weight of thousands of years pressed down on her. If not for the expanse of the wide river and the sky above, the feeling would’ve been oppressive.

  Immediately upon return to her own reality, she gasped in a lungful of air. “That was freaky.”

  “I bet. I’ve never tried that,” Dale admitted.

  Jeni sank back down on the bed. “So how do I stop myself from shifting?”

  “As you practice, pay attention to how it feels as the shape comes over you. Suspend the shift.”

  “Riiight.” Jeni frowned. “And how will I know if I’ve stopped in the veil? How will it feel? What will it look like?”

  Dale was silent for a moment. “I don’t know if it’s the same for everyone, but for me, it was sort of…translucent. I definitely felt like I was in an alternate reality, looking out.”

  “Translucent? You could see through things?”

  “Yeah. That’s the only way I can think to des—”

  A clunk, followed by rustling and a faint voice made Jeni think Dale had dropped his phone. Then he was back. “Sorry. Okay, I have to make the rest of this quick. People are starting to arrive and my mom wants me outside. There are a couple other things you should know about the between. The first is teleportation.”

  “You mean like traveling?” Jeni asked.

  “Yes. It’s possible, particularly in the between. I wanted to mention it because I think it’s probably how Elletre and the witch managed to get to Minnesota and then back to Iowa so quickly. You need to be careful not to run into them between worlds or your cover will be blown.” He paused for a breath. “The other thing to remember is that once you leave the between, the witch will be able to sense you if something makes her suspicious enough to search for you again.”

  “Can I hide in the between?”

  “You can shift to a different reality: like the owl or stone. But if you shift back to our reality you’re at risk.” Dale said something away from the phone’s receiver. “Hey, I gotta get going. Practice this stuff. I’ll keep my phone with me so if you have other questions you can text me. Or call if it’s an emergency.”

  “Okay. Thank you, Dale. I really appreciate it.”

  “If you get rid of that witch, I’ll be thanking you guys.” His voice was grim. “The situation needs to be taken care of.”

  “Let’s hope we can pull this off,” Jeni said, realizing his statement confirmed what she’d gleaned from their earlier conversation.

  When Dale called the night before, he’d told Jeni about a passage in the diary. Father Kerr had reasoned that if he went back to his homeland and retrieved the remains of Deirdre’s lover, perhaps he could end the deaths. With the intention that the two should rest in peace together, he’d inscribed an Irish saying on Deirdre’s grave marker in Gaelic. But the diary ended without mention of Father Kerr going back to Ireland.

  Dale had pulled some strings and found out that bodies had continued to be discovered near caves or water sources in the area far beyond the priest’s lifetime. But enough time passed between occurrences that no one ever linked them.

  Dale intended to go back to Iowa and make things right somehow.

  If they succeeded tonight, he wouldn’t have to.

  If they succeeded tonight, Jeni took a step toward redeeming herself for her cowardice.

  The other thing Dale told her during the call was that his uncle had translated the verse from the stone—the stone he’d taken a picture of the day they were at the church.

  Love Lasts Beyond the Grave.

  The words hit Jeni like a punch in the gut.

  Clearly, the stone was Deirdre’s grave marker.

  Since Nik’s odd vision, Jeni had been fully aware that she was the link between the church and Ice’s disappearance. But she’d convinced herself that it was a wrong place, wrong time scenario, after all, she’d been careful.

  Now she could no longer deny what her subconscious had been whispering for days: she was more than a link. She’d touched that stone.

  She was the catalyst.

  The sun had sunk low enough in the sky that it was eclipsed by the river bluffs. Jeni sat in Jake and Josie’s SUV watching the gangplank, her thumb beating on the door handle. Moments later, she spotted Ice on the Iowa Deck, head down, hands in pockets. He descended the steps quickly and headed in her direction.

  She rolled down the window as he approached. Part of her wanted to tell him to hop in. They’d go to the movies in Prairie du Chien, which is the reason she’d given Josie for wanting to borrow the car. Although in retrospect, Prairie du Chien was on the other side of the river and there was a chance that Ice would jerk the wheel and send them careening off the bridge to the water below. Scratch the movie idea.

  “Tyler’s still in the room?” she asked when Ice reached the car.

  “Yep. Playing a game on his laptop. Killing time.” He s
miled, but the shadow behind his eyes gave away that it was for her benefit. “You know where you’re going?”

  Jeni held up her phone showing the route to Pike’s Peak State Park. “And I have the trail map from when I was there a few days ago.”

  “Practical shoes?”

  That coaxed a smile. “Yes.” She moved her hands to the wheel to stop fidgeting.

  “It’s a good plan,” Ice said, reading her mood. “I know you can do this.”

  She studied his face, the earnest shine in his crystalline blue eyes. Somehow, despite her own crisis of faith, Ice still believed in her. She nodded, not trusting her voice.

  He bent down and poked his head through the window to peck her cheek.

  Jeni caught him with a hand on the back of his neck and kissed him full on the mouth.

  “Okay,” he said with a genuine grin. “That’s a better send off.”

  Her lips curved, fingers dancing in the ends of his hair and then tracing the chain on his neck. “You fixed it.” Ice had told her about the episode at Minnehaha Falls.

  “Yeah. I might need a new chain though, this one is corroding. But it’ll do for now.”

  Jeni nodded, reluctantly drawing her arm back inside the car. “I guess I should go if I want to get to the falls before dark.” To double her chances of success, she was going to try shifting between worlds at dusk and in the mist of Bridal Veil Falls.

  She let out an uneven exhale. So much could go wrong.

  Ice locked eyes with her. “Be careful. I love you.”

  “I love you, too,” Jeni said. He stepped back and she shifted gears, closing the window as the vehicle rolled through the parking lot. At the Great River Road she turned south, toward McGregor.

  She’d practiced the shapeshifting, sometimes successfully, but failing often. The irregularity made her wonder what her chances would be when she was out in the woods alone, pressured to do something she’d never done before. Her brain was overloaded with what-if scenarios.