“What are you?” Michelle whispered.
“I am Audra. You saw me as you expected to see me. Now, you see me as I am. There are different kinds of blindness in the world. My powers have come down to me through the ages. I’m a witch.” She laughed. “I know you don’t believe in my kind, but we exist just as the other things people would like to believe are imaginary exist too. There is good and evil in the world. Like you, I’m good. Welcome to my home. I’ve been expecting you.”
Michelle stared at the enchantress, and in spite of the cataracts in the woman’s eyes, she sensed the woman saw her clearly. The only sound came from a large, pendulum clock on the far wall. Her heart beat at the same pace as the clock ticked. She shivered as if someone had walked over her grave, and realized what Audra had said.
“What do you mean, you’ve been expecting me? How did you know I was coming? I didn’t even know.”
“The spirits told me, princess.”
“Princess? Why on earth would you call me that?”
“It’s what Akuti, the name your birth mother gave you, means. She had the sight. She knew who you were before you were born and the spirits called her home.”
Michelle shivered. “How do you know that?”
“I know it just as I know you’re of the blood. Your Mohawk bloodline is a proud one.”
“It isn’t one I recognize.” Michelle’s voice was belligerent.
Audra nodded her head. “While my eyes can’t see in this world, they see clearly in the next. We are what we are, and wishing it were different doesn’t make it so. You were a proud maiden whose spirit sought to oppose the traditions of her people. Now, pride tears your spirit between two cultures.”
“Your spirits,” she emphasized the word, “have misinformed you.” Michelle’s anger suffused her. How dare this woman talk to her that way? She might think she knew it all, but she was wrong. “I didn’t turn my back on them—he didn’t want me.”
The old woman shook her head.
“I’m sorry, princess. Sometimes the choices others make are hard to understand. Your father did what he thought was best for you. In the past, you turned your back on them, thinking what you did was also what was best for you. You’ve travelled a rocky road to get where you are today, but all the paths lead to the same place. The dreams and fears have gotten worse, haven’t they?”
Michelle nodded, and her discomfort grew. She clasped her hands together, surprised to see her fingers were as cold as ice while perspiration beaded her forehead. How can she know that?
Audra answered as if Michelle had spoken aloud.
“I walk with the spirits, just as you do, but I hear them all—those here now, and those who’ve found peace. Today, I’m their messenger. They have a task for you. If you do this, you’ll end the curse plaguing you for two centuries. Did you think this was the first time you’d come back?”
“I don’t understand. Are you saying I’ve come back before?”
“Yes, child, and you know it’s true. Your own spirit is with you now—you’ve seen her, yet you reject her. The cycle has repeated itself several times. The circle of life continues, and our fate is tied to it. Humanity has changed a great deal in the last hundred years. People have forsaken tradition, and no longer respect Mother Earth and the spirits. They’ve poisoned the land, the rivers, and the air. Someone seeks to despoil the Lake of the Gods. The Three Sisters need you to stop them.”
“If they’re gods, why don’t they do it themselves? What can I do that a god can’t?” Despite the bravado in her voice, fear made Michelle’s heart pound.
“Gods and spirits get their powers from the faith people have in them. People have lost faith, and the gods are powerless to protect themselves from evil. You and your mate can stop those destroying the lake.”
Michelle choked out a laugh. Seriously? “My mate? Give me a break. I don’t even have a boyfriend. Looks like the spirits are out of luck.” She made a move to stand.
Audra’s voice filled with anger boomed in the small room, and Michelle dropped into her seat, chastised. “Don’t mock me. Long ago, you sinned against your people and violated the sacred waters. You paid the price with your life and his, and your spirits have been punished for it. The Three Sisters are ready to set aside their anger in exchange for your help. If you succeed in saving their home, you’ll be reunited with the one you lost, the dreams will end, and you’ll have the life you’ve always wanted.”
Some of what Audra had said seemed to ring a bell. The woman’s anger had evaporated, and the serene smile returned to her face.
“Who are The Three Sisters? I’ve heard the term before, but I can’t place it.” If there was even a remote chance she could rid herself of the nightmares and fears, she’d jump at it, and if there was a happily ever after in it for her, so much the better. She thought of the dream lover. Was he her mate? How would she find him? He was dead, right? Come to think of it, where was this sacred lake?
“The Three Sisters are the sustaining spirits of your ancestors. They have not revealed the nature of the task itself to me, but it is dangerous, and you cannot do it on your own. Don’t trust your senses. Let your heart guide you.”
Great, go do this job and save the sisters, but guess what, I’m not going to tell you what to do, how to do it, or where to find the help you need.
Skeptical and frustrated, Michelle stared into Audra’s blind eyes, as if she could somehow look into the woman’s mind and see what she was seeing. The truth had to be written there.
“You’ve said they cursed me. How do I know if I do this they’ll follow through on their end of the bargain and release me?”
“The sprits will honor their word once you save Onokenoga, the Lake of the Gods.”
“Where will I find this Lake of the Gods?”
“You journey there tomorrow.”
Michelle recoiled. “The Lake of the Mountain?” If the lake was the sacred place, then was one of the two men she’d seen pictures of her mate? How would she know which one?
“Yes. It’s in the land of your ancestors.”
“And is my mate there too?”
“He waits for you.”
“After I manage to protect the water, will I have peace? Will all the spirits leave me alone?”
Audra smiled. “Would you really want them to? You’ve been given a great gift. You’re a bridge between this world and the next for those who die in water. You bring justice and peace. That gift is yours, and can’t be taken away, but all the nightmares and this terrible phobia of water will end.”
“All the dreams?”
The old woman nodded and chuckled. “When you have a live lover, you’ll have no need of a dream one, princess.”
Michelle reddened. Was there anything Audra didn’t know?
“Go home. Open the box your aunt sent you. Inside you’ll find your past and your future. Take two of the objects you’ll find inside with you. Leave the third. You’ll know which one to leave.”
The woman reached across the table and grasped Michelle’s hands in a tight grip. Heat flowed from her, and Michelle felt her frozen palms begin to sweat.
“You’re confused now. You don’t know whether to believe me or not. A final word. A warning. All is not what it seems. Don’t let your senses deceive you. You will have to choose, but choose wisely. There is far more at stake here than you realize. As a show of good faith, you will have one more dream. Learn from it. The rain will make driving hazardous. Go. I’m tired.”
The woman seemed to implode, and when Michelle looked again, the old crone she’d seen earlier sat at the table, her blind eyes staring into space. Michelle pushed aside the curtain, and Tasha jumped up.
“Holy cow. You were in there over an hour. I was about to go looking for you. Well, what did she say?”
“She spoke in riddles. She said I’m going on a trip and the roads will be bad. Let’s get out of here. I need a beer.”
Promise or no promise, there was no way she�
��d share anything Audra had said with anyone, not even Tasha.
Chapter Five
Tony sipped his beer. What Joseph had revealed flabbergasted him. If what the elder Mohawk said were true, he’d been reincarnated to right a wrong and be reunited with the woman he loved—the ghost who walked the beach and inhabited his dreams—the one he’d failed to save two hundred years ago. To the best of his knowledge, the only way you could “be” with a ghost was to become one yourself. Would dying be the price for helping The Three Sisters? His death didn’t really matter to him, but surely they could have found a better way to get his attention than by letting innocent kids die?
He let another mouthful of beer slide down his throat. The locally brewed ale wasn’t bad, in fact, he enjoyed its slightly hoppy taste. He scanned the room. Lindsay’s parents and her uncle sat at one table intent on their conversation. No one blamed him for the deaths, but they had too many questions—questions he couldn’t answer.
Aaron’s parents had arrived earlier than expected because they’d been able to get on the first flight out of Calgary. Lissa sat with them. She’d told them about the baby and it had brought a measure of bitter sweetness to the sad occasion. Their son might be dead, but part of him would live on. Lissa and the baby would always have a place with them.
Food and drink—the great sustainers of life. They’d all gathered in the resort’s restaurant for dinner and afterward stayed in the bar where they sought comfort and closure, but with the release of the bodies in limbo, resolution wasn’t something they’d get tonight. Liam Moorcroft had admitted the delay was his fault, but contrary to what Mayor Ron had said, Aaron’s parents were pleased his death wasn’t going to be considered an accident without a proper investigation. Liam had said the provincial coroner was sending his top forensic pathologist to handle the case. Dr. Thomas was the foremost authority on deaths involving drowning.
“Colin’s a good friend. He knows how hard this is, and he won’t let it drag on. Dr. Thomas will be here by noon tomorrow, and then we’ll get to the bottom of things.” Moorcroft’s confidence had brought everyone some measure of comfort.
Jackson brooded alone in the far corner. Although he hadn’t known the others on the team well, Tony knew the tragedy had touched him deeply. The young man had the potential to be a great researcher. Tony hoped this wouldn’t change him too much, but how could it not—he’d been the one to find the bodies.
He noted his student’s beer stein was empty. He ordered another round from the girl tending bar and walked over to the solitary young man.
“Can I join you?” Tony set the glass of beer on the table in front of him. Normally, he didn’t socialize to this extent with his students, but tragedy forced exceptions to a lot of rules.
Jackson looked up, and Tony read the misery and guilt in his eyes.
Guilt? What did I miss?
Tony sat, not giving him the chance to say he’d rather be alone.
“Are you okay?” He took a mouthful of his beer and watched the young man look down into his.
“It’s all my fault Lindsay and Aaron are dead.”
The words, barely above a whisper, were wrenched from Jackson’s heart.
“Why would you say that?” Had something been going on his students had kept from him?
Jackson, a haunted look on his face belying his twenty-one years, stared into Tony’s eyes.
“After our discussion yesterday afternoon, we went out and collected more samples as you’d suggested. I started checking them. Those we’d collected from the southwest section of the lake had a higher concentration of toxins than the ones from the southeast section. It was as if the chemicals had settled right there. With the recent rains, that stream is running high. I thought maybe if we could test the stream’s water in a few different places, we might be able to narrow the entry point. I wanted some water from there to compare with what I’d taken from the center of the lake yesterday afternoon. That whole bottomless thing had me guessing…If you wanted to dump something no one would find, properly weighted, that’d be the place to do it, but how would you get the stuff out there? I mentioned my idea at supper time. Lissa felt like crap, and Lindsay needed something from Picton, so Aaron offered to take her into town and stop to get water samples on their way. The weather wasn’t the greatest, but they figured they’d have time before the storm hit. I’d pulled an all-nighter the day before and fell asleep watching a movie on my laptop. When I woke up around two—I saw you run down to the lake…”
“Did you see anyone else on the beach?” Tony interrupted. If Jackson had seen the woman too, then Tony would have corroboration for what he’d seen, an alibi at the least. Maybe Joseph was wrong.
“No, just you, Professor. You looked a little crazy to me, but I was half-asleep, so I thought I might be dreaming. You looked like some kind of avenging warrior from one of my video games. The rain was really coming down at that point. What were you doing out there?”
“I thought I’d seen someone on the beach, but I was mistaken.”
“That woman you mentioned the other day after the break-in? I’ve been watching for her, but I haven’t seen her. She’d have to be nuts to be out last night.”
Not if she was a ghost. The weather wouldn’t bother her.
Tony looked at the young man. “No matter what you might think, it wasn’t your fault. If they did go looking for samples in that weather, then I’m ultimately to blame. ”
“But if I hadn’t said anything…Why else would they have gone out on the lake? Maybe it was before the storm, but what I don’t understand is why didn’t they come and get the life jackets off the cabin railing? Aaron was anal about wearing the life jackets especially if we went out in the evening. He said the fish jumped at night. A big enough fish could startle you, and it didn’t take much to tip a canoe. He never got over ending up in the water that first afternoon. Those waves had to be running two to three feet high last night. I don’t understand. It doesn’t make any sense. And another thing—how could they have gotten together like that? I should have followed protocol and come to you with my findings, but I wanted to prove myself…”
Tony’s heart went out to the boy.
“Listen to me. Yes, you should have come directly to me with your findings. Where are your samples?”
“That’s the other thing that doesn’t make sense. I can’t find any of my samples, and the ones Lindsay had are gone too. They’re all gone. Everything we’ve taken within the last two weeks. I thought Aaron had given them to you for comparison, but from what you’ve just said, I assume you haven’t got them. Aaron and Lindsay must have taken them, but why? There’s a collection kit missing too.”
Tony’s stomach clenched. All the samples gone? They don’t exist? Was the mayor clairvoyant? Wasn’t that a bit too convenient?
“They gave me their results, not the physical samples. You must still have the results somewhere, right?”
“Oh yeah.”
Jackson pulled a USB drive shaped like R2D2, the Star Wars robot, out from under his shirt.
“All my results are backed up in the cyberspace, on the hard drive, and here. I’m kind of paranoid about losing stuff, which is why I’m so upset about losing those samples. I still have my shots. I keep them separate, but…” Shots were what the students called the minute plastic cylinders used in the chemical analyzer.
“That’s great. Give me that USB drive, and I’ll check your results on my laptop. I want you to go and get the shots right now—in fact, I’ll come with you. Something doesn’t feel right.”
Tony stood. “Let me say goodnight to the others. We can’t walk away from this. The mayor may not understand the danger, but Moorcroft might, and I’m hoping that pathologist will. We can’t abandon this project now. Two people are dead, and who knows how many others are in danger. We need proof, irrefutable proof.”
Tony turned and walked away from the table, said goodnight to those remaining in the bar, and followed Jackson to his
cabin. With the shots in hand, he retraced his steps to the house he’d chosen for himself. Of the three buildings his team had occupied, the tree house was the closest to the lake. The night was clear and cold, as different from the previous night as it could possibly get. Steam rose off the lake, and in the mist he imagined canoes setting off from shore. Thanks to the beer he’d consumed earlier, and the story Joseph had told him, he visualized a canoe, paddled furtively along the shore by one person, a woman, dressed in light-colored buckskin, her black braid a dark shadow against the pale background of her dress. She glowed in the moonlight. From the beach, another larger canoe set off, two men after her, paddling hard. He blinked twice and the fog settled into its low, seething mist again. He shivered.
He turned away from the view and unlocked his cabin door. He locked it behind him and closed the drapes. He thought back to his conversation with Jackson and remembered the mayor’s words.
They don’t exist.
“You know something, Mayor Ron, and I intend to find out what it is,” he vowed to the empty room.
Tony walked over to the chemical analyzer set up on the table. That piece of equipment had arrived only three days ago. He opened the chamber, dropped in the water to be analyzed and closed the door. Let the magic begin. This device was far more accurate than the one Lindsay had used.
As Tony looked through the information on the USB key, he understood the young man’s consternation. He compared Lindsay’s findings to Jackson’s and frowned. The boy was right. His concentrations were much higher than hers. That stream and swamp area had to be the key. There were farms, wineries, and a slaughterhouse along that side of the lake and stream too. That meant private land. The only way he’d get the samples from there would be if he convinced the coroner his students’ deaths were related to their findings. Without the original samples…He rubbed his forehead to ease the ache behind his eyes. The migraine was back in full force. He looked at the clock. Ten-thirty. He reached for the packet of herbs Maggie had given him and put the kettle on. He’d have another cup of willow bark tea and try to get some sleep. It had been a hell of a day, and tomorrow wasn’t looking so hot either. Tomorrow afternoon—what the hell’s supposed to happen then?
Echoes of the Past Page 7