Then the next morning a friend called. Their group had been asked to investigate a haunting in a town near the cabin. But the terms were they come that day, spend the night. The owner was so frightened, he was going to destroy the old, historical building if the problems continued.
Mona had appeared agreeable at first, not so understanding when he called the next morning to tell her they'd decided to extend their investigation another day, spend another night. The group thought this was a true haunting, not just another bumps-in-the-night scare exposed as a settling house. Mona didn't care that much about his ghost hunting, especially when it meant extended separations. He'd thought she'd been trying to work with their compromise, though, seek her own interests to fill the time.
It wasn't as if they didn't both have plenty of money to finance their various leisure pursuits. He'd made a killing before the financial bust and even set up a separate account for her. Yet money had seemed to foster their problems, giving them more time for their differences to complicate matters.
That second morning, while going over the previous night's evidence at the haunted building, one team member casually mentioned what he had heard a few days earlier. A windigo took a young woman from a campsite not far from Caleb's cabin. Caleb questioned the man about an entity he'd never heard of before. Then….
He drove home as fast as possible on the treacherous, winding mountain roads. At first, everything looked fine. It was one of those gorgeous mountain days, the sun shining, the view endless, the air pristine. A day similar to when he first fell in love with the cabin in the peaceful meadow, the backdrop of pines and aspen on the mountain slope behind it. No other car there, since Mona and Skippy had ridden up with him. He'd promised not to be gone long; they had plenty of supplies for his short stay away, a phone if necessary.
He hurried inside. No one answered his calls. The small local newspaper lay on the coffee table, headline about the still missing camper displayed. But…in the kitchen, the back door stood open, chairs and table overturned, dishes broken. The most damning evidence — blood on the floor, long congealed.
Panicked, he rushed outside. He found no trace of a trail, but plunged into the woods, seeking any sign of passage.
Nothing.
The lack of visible sign ascertained without doubt what had happened. No human could have broken in and left without evidence of his…or its…presence. Nothing but a windigo.
He had to get help. Continuing on his own would be foolish.
Out there somewhere in all that beauty, his wife and son were in the hands of a monster.
And he'd abandoned them to follow his own pleasure. Promised to be back the next day, which turned into two days. Carried all his protections with him.
Shivering despite the blanket, he clamped his mouth.
I didn't know the beast was hunting, damn it. I didn't even know windigos existed!
No justification helped. He should have known. He knew evil existed. Not dealing with it didn’t mean it couldn’t touch his life.
Brutal guilt zapped him. He bowed his head, slid down the pine and buried his face on his knees.
Kymbria's face swam behind his closed eyelids, but he forced the vision away. He had no right to be attracted to another woman when he had failed a woman he had promised to love and protect, along with the son born of that once-love.
In a swirl of noise, the helicopter landed on the highway above the wreck, the rotor wind stirring up snow and crackling underbrush. Hjak and the male paramedic carried Keoman up to the road, heads bowed to protect their eyes from debris. The woman paramedic stayed behind and approached Caleb. "Let me check you over. Can you walk up to our squad?"
Caleb considered denying medical attention, but he needed to see how badly he was actually hurt. Physically, anyway. He couldn't let some unacknowledged injury stew until it incapacitated him. He and the windigo would meet again. Somehow. And he would need all his strength, both physical and mental.
The chopper lifted off, and Caleb and the paramedic turned their backs against the whirling snow until the bird rose far enough for the whirlwinds to die down. Hjak was waiting by the ambulance.
"You going on in to the ER?" he asked Caleb.
"No."
"I can't examine you properly out here," the woman said in a stern voice.
"Just do what you can."
She snorted in irritation, but did as he asked. Finally, she said, "You're going to have a couple shiners, but I don't think your nose is broken. Your vitals are good, but I can't tell about your ribs. You need to go in for x-rays."
"If it gets too bad, I'll have the sheriff drop me off at ER," Caleb assured her.
She reached over Caleb's head and retrieved a clipboard. "Then sign here, absolving us of responsibility." Caleb scrawled his name as she continued, "If there's a broken rib in there, any abrupt movement can send the point into your lungs. You'll probably bleed out or die before you can get to the hospital. We're isolated up here. There are a few doctors in Neris Lake, but our only hospital is fifty miles from there, in Grand Marais. It's small, so anything bordering on traumatic goes to Duluth."
"I understand."
"It's your neck. Uh…well, sorry about that. Bad choice of words, given the shape your friend is in."
"Is his neck actually broken?"
She shrugged. "The ortho guy will determine that."
After Caleb stood, she closed the back of the ambulance. Once she was in the passenger seat, her partner drove off, with Caleb wishing they could have left behind some of the heat in the vehicle. Then he glanced around for Hjak.
The sheriff was back at the jeep, and Caleb once again trod the wide path down to the wreck.
"I was just seeing if there was anything in here that I should take with me," Hjak said. "I'll call a wrecker, but you know kids. If they notice the wreck before the hoist truck gets here, they might decide whatever's laying around is up for grabs. I already got his case of CD's."
Caleb helped him search, and he was the one who found it. The impact had jostled everything in the jeep, and the mat in the hatchback was loose, the cover over the spare tire popped. Caleb noticed a briefcase handle protruding through the crack and pulled the entire case out. Without thinking, he opened it and stared at the contents.
Chapter 29
After she hung up from a phone call to her sister-in-law and a brief nonsense chat with Risa, Kymbria started yet another pot of coffee in the small kitchen at the rear of the tribal headquarters building. Then she looked around for her mother. Niona had been helping prepare sandwiches for the search parties, but she wasn't anywhere in sight. There were still a dozen other women in the kitchen, all busy with some task or the other. Contradictory to the usual gatherings when women chatted and gossiped while they worked, conversation here was severely subdued.
Delicious odors permeated the air, the most prevalent from the huge pot of simmering soup. An industrial-sized coffeepot gurgled, and the smell of brewing coffee tickled her nose. Stomach already roiling with acid from caffeine, she refused to give in to the desire to slip a cup under the spout.
She walked out into the deserted hallway and the silence deepened. Someone had turned off most of the lights, and the distance lengthened ahead of her, a shadowy tunnel-like opening leading to the entrance. Her hands trembled, and she stuck them in her jeans pockets. The yearning to leave had grown the past few hours. The talk with Nodinens, while liberating in some ways, had also festered things she didn't want to remember. Didn't want to face.
More to the point, wasn't sure she was ready to face.
Sharing her thoughts with the elderly woman had helped her begin to gain some understanding, something all her hours with the inept psychiatrist hadn't accomplished. Was that enough, though, for what lay ahead? She still needed to work with Keoman, as she had done with his father. Turn her burdens over to higher powers and not let her own guilt ruin what she wanted to build for her and Risa's future. She had to face it now, the fact her
own part in the failure of her marriage helped send her plummeting downward into the depths of personal tragedy.
One she had a hand in creating.
She never should have prevented Marie from her final goodbye with the father of her child. The man Marie loved. Never prevented Risa's mother from saying goodbye to her father.
Funny — not really — but Rick and Marie were together again, if one truly believed.
And Kymbria had another decision to come to grips with. She needed to bury her own pride and prejudices and make sure Risa knew she came from two people who were worthy of respect. Two good people, despite the fact both had hurt Kymbria deeply.
Distancing herself from the fact she wouldn’t have Risa without Rick and Marie hadn't helped. Instead, it landed her in the middle of a horrible situation with an effect on an entire tribe, not just her own sanity and personal life.
But was she ready? Somewhere inside her lingered a reluctance to leave just yet. Even the thought of holding that warm, chunky little girl close in her arms couldn't banish the lack of enthusiasm. She still felt uncomfortable with her mental stability.
What if she lost it while she was with Risa?
Maybe she could beg Keoman to at least spend one more evening with her before she left. Give her something to hold onto, to strengthen her until she could work with him again.
After her talk with Nodinens, she inwardly felt she was closer to the road to recovery. But her own training told her in no uncertain terms she would need reinforcement to gain the top of the mental health mountain.
And how could she even think about her own problems when this monster was killing her people? People she had grown up with, cared about. People who welcomed her back whenever she visited. People who had helped her overcome the trauma of guilt once before.
Why had this beast zeroed in on her? She hadn't even known about it until she arrived for her counseling sessions with Keoman. She couldn't have anything to do with this current situation.
So why was the monster targeting her? Asking her to come to it! Or was it? Was she imagining part of this situation, a result of her PTSD?
Would running away protect her growing mental stability from further erosion? Or did she have some purpose here? Some path she should walk, rather than run from?
Or would escape mean another situation buried in denial in the bottom drawer, one that would eventually emerge with all the roiling clouds of guilt to batter her in unexpected moments? Was she done running from appalling situations, done telling herself she just needed time to deal with everything? Or did she have the stamina now to take on the major turmoil in her life?
And…which one? The one here, which had somehow drawn her in without knowing why this beast singled her out? Or the lingering turmoil of dangling threads involving her personally: dealing with the reality she had finally faced about her own part in the relationship between Rick and Marie. Even facing that guilt wouldn't assure she could overcome it without some support and help from Keoman's Midé abilities. Without Adam before, she would still be carrying Tina's death on her shoulders.
But Keoman was tied up right now. Perhaps the talk with Nodinens would put her on the right track, and she could handle things until a couple months down the road. After all, she was a trained counselor. Perhaps she could work with some journals….
A door at the end of the hallway slammed. The noise sliced through the silence, and Kymbria jerked around, hands instinctively out of her pockets and in the air in a protective gesture. Her foot slipped in a puddle of snow-melt, and she fell against the wall.
Niona rushed towards her as Kymbria recovered her balance. She expected concern from her mother, but as soon as Kymbria assured her that she hadn't been hurt, she noticed the distraction — and fear — on Niona's face.
"What is it?" she demanded. "Mom, what's happened now?"
"A lot," Niona muttered. "We've got to get out of here. I've already got Scarlet in the car and told the garage I'll be back later for my car. I'll explain while we drive."
Kymbria stared in astonishment as her mother reversed path down the hall. Mutinous, she called, "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on."
Door half-open, Niona turned. "They've flown Keoman to the hospital trauma center in Duluth. They're not sure if he will live or die. Now are you ready to go home?"
Kymbria gasped as she rushed after Niona. "Caleb. Wasn't Caleb with Keoman? What — ?"
Niona was already out the door. By the time Kymbria caught up to her, she had the SUV engine running. Kymbria grabbed the driver's door as Niona started to close it.
"Stop it, Mother! Damn it, I'm sick and tired of your evasiveness. What happened?"
Rather than meet her gaze, Niona stared out the windshield. "That fucking beast took another one. A man. Will Birch."
"Another Marten Clan," Kymbria said.
Niona continued as though Kymbria hadn't spoken. "And Keoman chased the damned monster. Wrecked his Jeep. Yes, with him and Caleb in it. From what I understand, Caleb's all right, only some minor injuries. But they medi-vacced Keoman. His neck's broken."
When Kymbria only stood there stunned as she tried to process everything, Niona glared at her. "Get in. Adam would want us to be with Keoman."
Kymbria backed away several steps. "You go on. Call me. Let me know how he is."
"I'm not leaving without you," Niona gritted. "Get the hell in this car!"
For a long moment, Kymbria contemplated her mother. She loved her deeply and something told her Niona needed her desperately right now. But…was it need or control?
"You've been lying to me," she said. "And until you come clean, I'm going to do what I can here."
"I'm not lying! Keoman's hurt! Maybe dying!"
"I believe that part of it, Mom. And maybe lying isn't the right word. But — I reiterate — you're hiding something. Something that might help this monster keep killing our people!"
Niona's face crumbled into a mixture of defiance and abject terror. "I wouldn't do that, Kymbria. How can you say such a thing?"
The sound of an engine drew Kymbria's attention away from Niona, and relief filled her as Caleb's vehicle drove in the driveway. He was at the wheel, and she instinctively started toward him. Then halted to look at her mother again.
"Please, Kymbria," Niona pleaded. "It's not safe for you here."
"I'm not Marten Clan, Mom. Or…is the Wolf Clan also involved in this?"
"Yes, yes. I'll tell you about it — all of it — if you'll just come with me. Away from here. I'll tell you everything I know. Just not here. Let's get back to Risa."
As Caleb pulled up beside them, Kymbria shook her head. As much as she yearned to be with her daughter, she knew she couldn't be the woman Risa needed for a mother if she went back into the chaos of her life since Rick's death. The long, sleepless nights. The fear she would snap and hurt someone, perhaps her own daughter.
"Here is where it's going on, Mom. Here is where the fight is. Here…." She took a deep breath and went on, "Here is where that thing is making me a part of this."
"No," Niona whispered. "Oh, no. Not you, too."
"Too?" Kymbria stifled her gasp as she heard Caleb turn off his engine. She glanced at him, hoping the expression on her face told him not to interrupt her and Niona. He gave her a slight nod and sat back on his seat, making no attempt to open the driver's door. She turned back to her mother.
"Mom — "
"Get in the car," Niona insisted. "Then we'll talk."
Kymbria sighed in defeat. "Let me tell Caleb we're leaving."
"He'll know when we pull out."
Kymbria ignored her and walked around Caleb's truck. He rolled the window down and she said, "Are you all right?"
"Just a few bumps and bruises. You've heard what happened?"
She nodded. "That it took Will. And somehow caused the wreck that injured you and Keoman. That Keoman's…badly injured."
"He is. He might not…." Caleb shook his head,
then whispered in a ravaged voice, "I actually saw the thing, Kymbria." His expression was a direct reflection of what he must have gone through.
Oh, God. What that must have done to him. Coming face to face with the monster that had taken his wife and son. She laid a comforting hand on his arm.
"I think my mother is ready to talk. But only if I go back with her, so we can be with Keoman."
"I think that's a good idea," Caleb agreed.
"My leaving, or checking on Keoman?"
"Both. You can call me and let me know what your mother has to say. And how Keoman is."
She bit her lip. "I'm not sure…."
"I am. Go. You can do your part by finding out what your mother's hiding. See if it will help us track this thing down. Kill it this time."
When she still hesitated, he opened the door and slid gingerly out of the truck, indicating to Kymbria his injuries might be more serious than he let on. Hands on her arms, he said, "It's the right thing to do. Trust me. You're about ready to collapse. You need to distance yourself for a while."
She jerked away from him. Anger flaring, she spat, "Oh, yes. I collapse easily! No one takes into consideration that maybe I've got a few things on my mind. Gone through several situations the last eight months! Like being with my husband while he died and him wanting another woman to share his last minutes! Like falling deeply in love with a tiny baby that should have been a part of my marriage, not my husband's affair. Like coming up here to get my shit together so I won't snap and hurt someone, then having a monster start talking to me! Leaving dead bodies on my doorstep!"
She leaned close to him. "Well, let me tell you this, Caleb McCoy. I'm not going to end up one of those broken-down Vets on the streets."
"Ah, baby," Caleb soothed in a soft voice as he ran his hands up and down her arms. "Is that what you're afraid of? Because let me assure you, even though I haven't known you very long, you're one of the strongest women I've ever met, Lieutenant Colonel James. This is the first I've heard about some of those things that happened to you. And it only makes me admire you more. If you want to stay here…help chase this monster down…then I'll support you."
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