Thunderstone

by Barbara Pietron

Jeni looked from Tyler to Ice, face troubled. “My dad gets up early.”

  ***

  Jeni shifted impatiently from foot to foot. Where was he?

  As they’d rushed to their cars, Tyler called out that he’d be a few minutes behind her and to wait for him. He’d followed her until she turned west on 113—he continued south.

  As soon as she arrived at the cottage she got out of the car. Better to get caught outside than to get caught driving without permission—or a license for that matter. She fought the urge to pace, afraid to activate the motion sensor light.

  Jeni jumped when a bright square appeared on the ground—the bathroom light was on. She prayed whoever it was would do their business and go back to bed.

  How long had she been here? Where was Tyler?

  The lighted square disappeared. She held her breath, waiting to see if the kitchen light went on. Shadow and light flickered across the outside wall of the cottage. Jeni turned to see headlights bobbing on the resort drive.

  “Please be Tyler, please be Tyler,” she whispered under her breath.

  With no attempt at stealth, Tyler pulled up and parked, exiting the car with a box in his hands. “Doughnuts,” was his reply to her raised eyebrows. He slid the box onto the roof of the car, then hit the lever to hinge his driver seat forward and reached into the back seat.

  Jeni frowned and shot a glance at the cottage. “Someone was up—in the bathroom,” she warned.

  “Score,” Tyler said and emerged with a bundle in one hand that he thrust at Jeni and a box of baby wipes in the other. “Put this on. Throw your jacket in my car.”

  Jeni unfurled a seriously wrinkled sweatshirt. “I don’t—”

  “We smell like we had front seats at a demolition derby. Now hurry up,” he urged, peeling off his own jacket and tossing it into the back seat. Then he held out a baby wipe. “I’ll have to thank Josie later for leaving these in my car.”

  Jeni wriggled out of her jacket. The sweatshirt bore the name of a Wisconsin college, but she supposed that was easier to hide than a smell. Swallowing her reluctance at wearing something that looked as though it’d lived in Tyler’s car for months, she pulled the shirt over her head. By the time she’d wiped her face and hands, Tyler stood at the door, doughnuts in hand, and she hurried to join him. He swung the door open and stepped into the kitchen without hesitation. Jeni followed his lead, eyes darting nervously around the empty room. She breathed a sigh of relief.

  Tyler slid the box of doughnuts on the table while Jeni kicked her shoes off. Before she could confer with him about their story, though, her dad walked into the room.

  “Wow, what’re you two doing up?”

  Jeni busied herself by digging in her purse for some scented lotion, leaving Tyler to field the question, but when she turned, he was looking at her expectantly. With her back to her father, she gaped at her cousin.

  “What?” Tyler returned an angelic gaze. “It was your idea.”

  “Yeah…uh…” Jeni looked daggers at Tyler then dropped her gaze to the table. “Doughnuts. We went for doughnuts.”

  “Really,” her dad said. “You and Tyler? At six a.m.?”

  Jeni rubbed the lotion on her hands and turned only slightly toward her dad, “Well, I couldn’t drive by myself,” she said, avoiding the real questions.

  Tyler lifted the lid on the box of doughnuts. He looked them over and selected a nut-covered cake doughnut. He ate a third of it in one bite. “Fresh,” he mumbled around the food in his mouth. “Gotta get them when they’re fresh.”

  “It’s vacation dad,” Jeni held her hands in front of the writing on the sweatshirt, still rubbing them together. “I figured we gotta have doughnuts.”

  Jeni’s dad turned away, apparently satisfied with the explanation, “I’d better get the coffee going.”

  Jeni selected a glazed doughnut, quickly set it on a napkin, and then slipped from the room before her dad could press the issue of going for doughnuts at the crack of dawn. She paused in the living room waiting for Tyler to follow. He sauntered in, still chewing the last bite of his doughnut, a glass of milk in his hand.

  “You could’ve let me in on the plan when we were out by your car,” she hissed.

  “You’re welcome for saving your ass.”

  Jeni closed her mouth on what she wanted to say next. She hated it when he was right. “How do you come up with this stuff anyway?”

  “Years of practice,” he said, draining his glass of milk and grinning at her. “Take this in the kitchen for me, would ya?” He handed her the empty glass. “I’m going to sleep for a couple hours.”

  “Sure thing,” Jeni said sarcastically, but she took the glass. Peeping around the doorway, she saw her dad at the kitchen table. She set the glass in the sink without a sound and then quickly grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator.

  Her head throbbed so she stopped in the bathroom for a couple of acetaminophen tablets, which she washed down with half the bottle of water. Careful not to wake her grandma, she tiptoed into her room and set the doughnut on the nightstand. She was far too nauseated to think about eating it.

  She slipped out of her filthy jeans, grateful her dad hadn’t noticed how dirty they were—her mom certainly would have. Dropping the pants next to her suitcase, she peeled off the sweatshirt and then her exhaust-permeated pajama top and found a clean t-shirt to put on. The night’s events whirled in her head as she sank into the pillow. Her body ached for rest and she closed her eyes, though she didn’t think she’d be able to sleep.

  She was wrong.

  ***

  “Be out in a minute,” Jeni yelled through the bathroom door to her aunt. She spit toothpaste into the sink and looked in the mirror. Her hair was still damp but at least it no longer reeked of fumes. She tucked her toothbrush into its travel case and headed for the kitchen.

  Ice sat at the table with a cup of coffee, listening to Tyler’s mom chatter as she pulled food out of the refrigerator. He smiled when Jeni entered the room. “Hey, I heard you got up early to get doughnuts,” he nodded at the box on the table.

  “Yup. Want one?” She had to remember to act as if she hadn’t seen him since last night.

  “Actually, I wondered if you wanted to go out for breakfast.”

  A chance to talk—alone? “Yeah.” Jeni caught her aunt’s smile and knew the eagerness in her voice hadn’t gone unnoticed. She felt her cheeks flush. “Let me check with my mom.”

  Jeni found her mom making the bed.

  “Hey Mom, is it okay if I go get breakfast with Ice?”

  “I thought you got doughnuts?”

  “Hours ago,” Jeni replied, although she’d devoured her doughnut only forty-five minutes ago when she awoke ravenous. “I need real breakfast.”

  Her mom straightened and Jeni recognized the ‘thinking about it’ look on her face. “Well…I guess so. But you realize today is our last day here and I expect you to spend time with the family.”

  “It’s just breakfast, Mom.”

  “All right then.”

  As Jeni retrieved her purse she realized this would be their first real “date”—the first time Ice was picking her up and taking her out somewhere.

  Too bad it was also the last.

  How suckish. She finally met a guy who wasn’t an idiot and he lived twenty hours away.

  Her pensive mood must’ve been evident, because Ice paused before starting the Jeep and looked over at her. “Are you okay?”

  Jeni nodded. “I just need to eat.”

  He studied her for a few more seconds then started the car. Once they were on the road, he tried again. “Did something happen? I mean, at first you seemed pretty upbeat—considering the night you must’ve had—and now it’s like the wind has been taken from you sails.”

  Jeni didn’t respond.

  Ice reached ov
er, rubbed the top of her leg lightly, and left his hand there.

  Jeni sighed, knowing that if they were any other couple, he’d be holding her hand right now. “It’s my last day here,” she finally said.

  “I know,” he said quietly. “That’s why I came over early.”

  “Well it’s a good thing you did because my mom expects me to spend the rest of the day with the family.”

  “Oh.”

  “It’s not really fair. They’re my relatives, I’ll see them again.”

  Ice glanced at her, eyebrows raised. “You think you won’t see me again?”

  “I…it was a long drive here…how…” Jeni trailed off, not sure what to say. She didn’t want it to be over with Ice. She assumed they might keep in touch for a while but eventually things would just fizzle out because of the distance between them.

  They were both quiet for a minute and then Ice spoke, his voice soft and low. “Do you want to?”

  “Yeah.” Jeni said it with conviction, and peeked through her hair at him. He had to ask?

  Ice let his breath out, as if he’d been holding it in. Apparently he hadn’t known how she felt. “Me too,” he said, the corners of his mouth curling upward.

  The diner was a little mom-and-pop place in nearby Lake George. Ice parked and they both released their seat belts. Instead of opening the door though, Ice turned to Jeni. “Hey,” he reached to brush her hair back, retaining a lock to twist between his fingers. When she met his eyes he said, “We’ll find a way, okay?”

  Jeni nodded. Swallowed.

  His fingers slid into her hair, cradling the back of her head.

  A small table littered with trinkets clouded her vision.

  He leaned forward to kiss her. Jeni closed her eyes.

  A new image—a trio of lit candles, flames dancing.

  It was like trying to watch TV while someone kept changing the channel.

  Then Ice kissed her like he was making a promise. He filled up her senses, dispelling the visions.

  When he pulled away, Jeni opened her eyes to his hungry gaze. His intent stare fanned the flames he’d already started. “We probably should go eat,” her strangled voice forced the words out.

  The public venue had a normalizing effect, and when they were seated, Jeni filled Ice in on the second dream.

  Ice’s eyes widened. “Did you find the statue?”

  “No. There was a cloth, but it was empty.”

  He frowned. “Nik mentioned the statue was wrapped up inside his duffle bag.”

  “So the statue was there, I was just too late.” Jeni’s insides turned cold. “So if that dream was true, the first dream is going to happen. Just like I saw.”

  “Not necessarily. Remember, what you saw is a possible future. It’s not predestined.”

  “So what will you do without the statue? What will change to make tonight different than my first dream?”

  Ice didn’t reply as a waitress poured coffee for him and set a glass of orange juice in front of Jeni. He used the interruption to change the subject. “What happened at the cellar? And what was Tyler doing there?”

  The aroma of bacon and hash browns hung heavily in the small diner, and Jeni’s stomach growled. She intermittently examined the menu as she recounted the crazy mishaps of the previous night, leaving out Tyler’s thought that she might be out for a rendezvous with Ice.

  “So someone tried to kill you.”

  Jeni’s eyes rose from the menu to meet Ice’s. “Absolutely.”

  “Presumably the same person who stole the statue.” Ice glowered into his coffee cup.

  “It’s the only thing that makes sense.” She took a long drink of her orange juice, guessing that, at this point, the dull throb at the base of her skull was more due to low blood sugar than breathing fumes in the cellar.

  Ice scanned his menu, frowning. “Nik’s puzzled about this human minion. It’s not how the underwater manitou operates. He tricks people into serving him, not killing for him—he prefers to do that himself.”

  “How did you guys find us anyway?” Jeni spied the waitress heading their way as Ice began to explain. Once their food was ordered, she picked up the conversation thread. “Seriously? You found me by using a piece of my hair? From your jacket?”

  Ice nodded and chuckled.

  “I guess I should give you something so you can always find me.” Jeni grinned.

  “Oh. That reminds me,” Ice reached into a jacket pocket and handed Jeni a small brown bag, “I got this for you.”

  Jeni withdrew a bundle of tissue and unfolded it to reveal a necklace or pendant of sorts—a painted stone laced through with a soft piece of hide. The top half of the stone depicted a blue sky and green forest. The bottom appeared to be grey boulders lining black water. In the center was the face of a beautiful Indian girl.

  “Itasca,” Ice explained. “The world above and the underworld. It reminded me of the day we met.”

  “It’s perfect.” Jeni smiled up at him. She thought she noticed a blush surfacing on his cheeks, although his tan skin made it hard to say for sure. Sliding from the booth, she perched on the edge of Ice’s bench with her back to him and passed the necklace over her shoulder. “Put it on for me?”

  “I chose stone because Nik said it’s your elemental source of strength.” He finished tying the knot and when he lifted her hair over it, Jeni shivered. “I wanted you to have a souvenir of your time here, since the one you bought has disappeared.”

  Jeni fingered the stone, and smiled shyly, touched by Ice’s gesture. She returned to her side of the booth just as the waitress arrived with their food. She dug into her food as soon as the waitress turned away. A few bites later, a thought occurred. “Ice, you explained how you found us, but why were you looking? How did you know we were in trouble?”

  He looked up from his plate. “The dream stone. Nik sensed trouble and he knew you used it.”

  “And he called you in the middle of the night to come get him from the hospital?”

  “Not exactly,” Ice paused, an odd look on his face.

  “What are you not telling me? Is Nik even madder at me now?”

  Ice shook his head and regarded her warily. “We got a report that a girl went missing last night. The boy with her said a monster took her.” His eyes fell to his plate where he aimlessly pushed his scrambled eggs around. “When Nik said you were in trouble…” he looked up at her, “…I thought it was you.”

  Jeni’s eyebrows shot up. “You thought I went after the monster?” She snorted in disbelief. “Ice, I’d have no idea what to do if…” she let the comment die, choosing not to put the unthinkable scenarios into words.

  Ice’s lips curled in a playful smile. “You sounded ready to go to war yesterday.”

  “I still am,” Jeni retorted, her face serious. “Maybe if Nik would’ve let me do something, that girl would be alive right now. And while we’re on the subject, you never answered my question. What are you guys going to do without the statue?”

  She picked up a piece of bacon and watched him expectantly. He made a small project out of selecting a jelly and then spreading it on his toast. “You said something has to be done, Nik must have some idea,” she prompted. He wasn’t going to get away with changing the subject again.

  Finally Ice lifted his eyes to hers and Jeni glimpsed his internal struggle. He opened his mouth, closed it, and took a bite of his toast.

  “What?” Jeni’s mind raced, trying to figure out what Ice didn’t want to say. Suddenly, it stuck her. “You need me,” she whispered.

  The immediate widening of his eyes gave away the truth even though Ice shook his head. “No, I told Nik no,” he muttered.

  “No to what?”

  Ice dropped his toast, pressed his hand to his forehead for a moment and then swiped his fingers through his hair. He scanned
the diner, his gaze eventually returning to Jeni. “I told him I wouldn’t ask you. Not after yesterday.”

  “I thought you had to do whatever he said,” she shot back and watched as Ice’s mouth twitched up at the corners. Good. He’d caught the irony she was going for. “So he changed his mind about me after the statue was stolen?” Jeni ate a bite of hash browns.

  “Not exactly. After you and Tyler left this morning, Nik and I went back over any clues we’d received from the spirit world and he came to the conclusion that you should be there.”

  Jeni swallowed and her mouth dropped open. “What kind of clues?”

  Ice retrieved his toast and consumed a mouthful of eggs while considering his answer. “To start with, I dreamed about you—after we met that first day.” After telling her about his dream he recounted Nik’s vision quest. “In my dream an owl warned me to get out of the water. Nik realized the bird that sent the lightning bolts in his vision was also an owl. He thinks the owl represents you.”

  “So…what? Are you saying I can shoot lightning bolts?”

  Ice smiled. “No. When lightning strikes a beach, the sand melts into a fragile tubular stone. We call it a thunderstone. Remember I told you about the Thunderers?”

  “Sure, the spirits that fight the underwater monster.”

  “Right. Thunderstones are a gift from the Thunderers. Nik thinks his vision revealed a way for us to influence the underwater monster—even without the statue.” Ice hesitated. He fiddled with the handle of his coffee mug then lowered his voice and continued. “He thinks a thunderstone in your hands would be powerful medicine.”

  Jeni blinked as conflicting emotions barraged her all at once: surprise, vindication, disbelief, and ultimately, fear. “Nik thinks I can control the monster with a thunderstone?”

  Ice set his fork down and sat back. “Basically—yeah. You’ve shown an aptitude for stone—first the statue and then the dream stone.”

  “My…what did you call it? Elemental source of power?”

  Ice nodded. “In Nik’s vision, an owl bestowed the gift…” he shook his head again. “No, I won’t try to talk you into it. It’s way too dangerous. You already almost got killed over this whole thing.”