Jeni sighed. Carolyn’s upgrade to a long sleeved, tight fitting v-neck in a bold teal that set off her black hair and dark brown eyes had been the first indication of her intentions for the evening. Then came the extra coat of mascara and touch of eye shadow her friend carefully applied. But the furtive glances from both Carolyn and Tyler over dinner should have convinced Jeni to give in.
Carolyn knew exactly what she was getting into. She’d listened sympathetically many times when Jeni returned from a family function with stories of how Tyler had tricked or teased her. And Jeni hadn’t held back on her more recent observations of Tyler’s numerous female admirers, either.
They made it to the third step, and as Jeni contemplated a way to squeeze around the crowd, Tyler drew up behind Carolyn. “So, Carolyn, do you play Euchre?”
Feigning surprise to find him there, Carolyn said, “Euchre? Sure, but I’m not going to claim I’m great at it.”
“No worries.” Tyler’s grin showed his teeth. “It’s all for fun. We were talking about playing in the Iowa Lounge. You guys in?” He had the courtesy to look at both girls.
Before Jeni had a chance to say anything, Carolyn agreed. “Sure, why not?”
Tyler grabbed the rail as he was shoved from behind, his glower melting when he looked down to see Molly, his three-year-old niece. “Careful, Squirt, you’re getting pretty strong.” He ruffled her hair, making her giggle.
Tyler’s brother, Jake and his wife, Josie, appeared a second later. “Do we have four?” Jake asked.
Jeni released an inaudible sigh. Awesome. Was she the odd man out?
Josie must’ve read the look. “I can’t play.” She tipped her head to the side, where Molly tugged on her arm.
“Girls versus guys?” Jake raised his eyebrows.
Jeni shrugged and nodded. Too late, the crowd in front of them dissipated into the Forward Cabin Lounge, allowing access to the Grand Staircase and the Iowa Lounge.
As they emerged into the room, Jake said, “Go ahead and grab a table.” He continued to the outside doors. “I’ll be right back.”
Carolyn and Jeni followed Tyler up the stairs to one of the many marble-topped round tables. As they took seats in the padded leather and polished wood chairs, her cousin surprised her by asking if he could get them something to drink.
“I’ll have a Coke.” Jeni’s reply sounded mildly suspicious.
“Lemonade.” Carolyn smiled. When Tyler was out of earshot, she muttered. “Did it have to be Euchre? I pretty much suck at Euchre.”
“It’s a family thing,” Jeni said. Then she lowered her voice and leaned forward. “I’m not very good either. They’ll probably crush us.”
Carolyn laughed.
Tyler’s parents had followed them upstairs and sat with Josie and Molly. The little girl’s eyes stretched round in awe as the bartender pushed a glass toward her. The drink was pink with foam on top, had cherries on the bottom and a yellow umbrella resting on the rim of the glass. Jeni thought it looked pretty delicious.
Jake reentered the lounge and slid a deck of cards onto the table. “They probably aren’t sorted out. I’m gonna grab a beer.”
Jeni opened the box and gave Carolyn half the cards so they could sift through them. Tyler arrived with their drinks and by the time Jake returned with his beer, Jeni had shuffled the cards. She offered Tyler the cut.
“I trust you.” He tapped the deck with a quirk of his eyebrow and then turned his attention to Carolyn. “So your boyfriend must be missing you.”
Carolyn shook her head. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”
Tyler bugged his eyes out. “What? Are all the guys in your school stupid? Or just blind?”
“Actually,” Jeni said, deadpan, “all the boys at our school are both stupid and blind.” She finished the deal and turned over the trump card.
Jake chuckled and Jeni met his gaze, rolling her eyes.
The flirtatious banter continued, with occasional mocking comments from Jeni and Jake. A few hands into the game, Jeni realized that while Tyler paid attention to Carolyn, she was off the hook. A twinge of guilt accompanied the gratitude she felt about her friend providing a distraction, but Carolyn seemed to be having fun so she decided to enjoy the brief reprieve.
Despite their expectation to lose quickly, luck seemed to be in the girls’ favor, and they were ahead by three points when Jeni’s parents and aunts entered the lounge. Aunt Leila stopped by their table as her son climbed onto a seat next to Molly. “Oh, cool, you’re playing Euchre. Maybe Jessie and I can play the winners if Grandma doesn’t mind watching Nat.”
“So you’ll play us,” Tyler said.
Jeni stuck her chin out. “Ahem. Doesn’t look like it right now.” She tapped the score cards next to her.
The girls’ lucky streak ran out, however, and the guys won the game. As Jeni and Carolyn surrendered their seats, Jake glanced toward his wife and daughter. “Actually, it looks like Josie’s going to need help getting bedtime to stick.”
Tyler immediately turned to Carolyn. “Partners?”
Carolyn blinked, a slow smile curving her lips. “Are you sure?”
“Of course.” He flashed a broad grin.
Swallowing her exasperation, Jeni gave Carolyn’s round eyes a one-shouldered shrug. Her friend scooted into Jake’s seat and Jeni pulled out a chair at the table next to them, figuring she could text Ice while keeping an eye on the game. Their cross words earlier still itched at the back of her thoughts. “Hi. What’re you up to?”
Ice’s reply didn’t take long. “Hey. A little gaming. Gotta test the equipment.”
Good chance Ice was feeling the same way she did. He’d told her that gaming was a way for him to escape real life for a while. ”You might as well play now. Before the homework comes rolling in.” She wanted to leave their earlier conversation behind.
“Exactly. What’re you guys doing?”
“Carolyn and Tyler are playing euchre against my aunts.”
“The best of times…”
Jeni grinned. The gaming must be working. She stayed with his playful tone. “Shoot me now…I’m keeping my eye on them.”
Glancing up, Jeni saw Tyler pause in the middle of dealing cards, his gaze drawn to the bar. A sharp breath puffed up his chest and his eyes widened before he recovered and continued to deal. Carolyn noticed, but her back was to the bar area. Jeni, however, had a clear view of her cousin’s distraction: that girl had just walked in and approached the bar. The mean girl.
Jeni stared, envying her curls, shiny like warm butter, that bounced with life her own thin, honey-colored hair could never achieve. Her fair skin was unblemished and she managed to look both alluring and tasteful in a cotton blouse, short denim skirt and ballet flats.
So the girl was a passenger on the boat. How she had escaped Jeni’s notice—or Tyler’s notice—until the end of the tour was a mystery. Jeni started when her phone vibrated in her hand. She read Ice’s response: “Good luck with that!” and then returned her attention to the bar.
The girl had chosen a stool next to Tyler’s dad and leaned over to say something to him. Jeni’s mouth turned up as her uncle shifted back in his seat without responding, allowing his wife to converse with the blonde. Smart man.
Realizing she’d nearly dropped out on her conversation with Ice, Jeni typed, “Thanks. I’m sure I’ll need it! I’ll let you get back to your game and talk to you later.”
“Holy crabcakes,” Aunt Leila said. “Who’s the girl talking to your parents?”
With an excuse to look, Tyler turned and Carolyn, too, twisted in her seat. Her friend clenched her eyes, pressing her lips together.
“Can we get back to the game?” Jessie said, “Before the poor girl notices everyone gawking at her?”
The mood at the card game soured as Tyler’s attempt to toss out a few more flirtatiou
s comments fell flat. Carolyn’s responses ranged from dispassionate to sarcastic as she played her cards without looking at them. The game ended quickly.
Jeni would’ve enjoyed watching Tyler flounder and lose at cards if it hadn’t been at the expense of her friend. As he got up to relinquish his seat, she delivered a narrow-eyed glare.
The table of women monitored Tyler’s progress while starting a new game. He managed to join the conversation with the girl and his mom, although she didn’t appear to be especially interested in him. As if feeling their scrutiny, the girl’s gaze slid to the group playing cards a few times. Then she finished her drink and slipped from the stool, nodding to Tyler’s mom before turning toward the exit.
Jeni’s mouth twisted into a satisfied smirk at the look on Tyler’s face. “Looks like Tyler just got snubbed.”
Jessie stole a look at the bar. “Wonder what he said.”
“I don’t think he got the chance to say much of anything.”
“Guess that’s strike one for Tyler,” Leila said.
Carolyn spoke up. “No. That was strike two.”
Jeni’s eyebrows flicked up and she chuckled. “Hey, maybe if he blows it with another girl on the boat, they’ll kick him off.”
Ice waited outside the university dining hall. He shrugged his jacket off, wishing he’d left it in his room. After the chilly night, he’d automatically grabbed it, but the day had warmed quickly under the cloudless sky and now he was stuck carting the jacket around.
Scanning the students for his roommate’s curly yellow hair, Ice plopped the jacket on the half-wall behind him and perched on the edge, stretching his long legs and crossing them at the ankles. They’d started the day together at the freshman breakfast and then split up for specific program introductions—Ice had declared a communications major while his roommate, Danny, was studying engineering. They’d agreed to meet for lunch and attend the afternoon orientation segment together.
Feeling something cold slither across the inside of his wrist, Ice shot to his feet. Expecting to see some kind of bug, he blinked in surprise at the gnarled fingers encircling his wrist and raised his gaze to the face of a withered old woman. As much as he wanted to yank his arm from her grasp, Ice’s inbred respect for elders stilled his movement. “Can I help you, ma’am?”
Her shrewd and intense stare was at odds with the worn, lined skin of her face. She seemed beyond old—ancient—shrunken inside a belted robe-like coat. Her shriveled and darkened complexion brought to mind a childhood art project where Ice and his classmates had carved faces into peeled apples and then let them dry to make witchy-looking Halloween decorations. The old woman stared directly into his eyes, tightening her icy grip until her bones ground uncomfortably against his.
“Ma’am?” Ice tried again, slowly rotating his wrist in an attempt to break her hold. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end under her unrelenting scrutiny.
An unintelligible mutter emerged from wrinkled lips which then curled into a smile, sending a shudder down Ice’s spine. Before he could react, she released him and hobbled away.
“Way beyond cougar, brother. That’s just wrong.” Ice’s towheaded roommate wore a mocking grin.
“Aw, come on, man.” Ice looked back to find the woman completely out of sight. “She grabbed my arm like she wanted something.” He rubbed his wrist on his jeans needing to erase the feel of her cold, dry skin.
“And?” Danny waited as Ice scooped up his jacket.
Lifting his shoulders, Ice said, “She just… stared at me. Then I think she tried to say something, but I couldn’t make it out. Creepy.”
Danny cocked an eyebrow and tugged the door open, moving to the side as a few students exited. “Welcome to the big city.”
Ice produced a weak chuckle and followed his roommate, pushing the bizarre incident to the back of his mind as he swiped his campus ID over the reader and grabbed a tray. Danny was waiting at the grill when Ice collected a side of fries to go with his Reuben sandwich, so he left the food area to find a table.
Dropping into a vacant seat, Ice raised his hand when he saw Danny emerge with his tray. For a few minutes, there was little conversation as both boys concentrated on food consumption.
What Ice had learned about his roommate in the mere twenty-four hours they’d known each other made him curious how the system had matched him with Daniel Oates. Ice came from a two-bedroom home in a tiny town in sparsely populated northern Minnesota, while Danny hailed from suburban Rochester, south of the Twin Cities and the largest city outside the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington area. The Oates’ home, at least what Ice could see in the background of Danny’s prom photo on his desk, was a large two-story neo-Colonial style house typical of new neighborhoods.
When he’d explained his medicine man apprenticeship, Danny had proclaimed that he’d been brought up to believe that if you couldn’t see it or touch it, it wasn’t real. Then he’d laughed and added, “Even when you can see it and touch it, it’s still up for debate.” Danny’s father was a state representative and his grandfather had once been mayor of Rochester, but Danny held no fondness for politics. “I’ve been taking my toys apart since I was about four,” he said. “I want to know how things work and how to build things that work.”
Even their appearances seemed to contrast: Ice’s jet black hair, copper skin and lithe build versus Danny’s straw-colored hair, pale complexion and sturdy bulk. The only feature they had in common was their eye color: blue. Even there, Danny had all-American deep blue eyes where Ice’s irises were broken into gray-blue fragments.
Danny set his burger down and rubbed his fingers on a napkin before removing the phone from his pocket. “Isabelle,” he mumbled, reading a text. He took a bite of macaroni and cheese and chewed while he typed a response. “She wants to come up this weekend to celebrate my birthday.” He didn’t sound pleased.
“Well, I’m leaving tomorrow morning and will be gone through Labor Day, if it matters,” Ice offered.
Danny tapped his phone screen. “I definitely won’t mention that. She’ll want to come up and play house for the next five days.”
Ice’s head flinched back and he narrowed his eyes. Another difference between them. Ice would love to have five days to spend alone with Jeni. A slow grin tugged the corners of his mouth upward as he contemplated the idea. Then, remembering he’d muted his phone in the auditorium earlier, Ice drew it from his pocket to see if he’d missed anything. His brow puckered when he saw that Nik had left a voice mail.
Ice was about to listen to the message when Danny spoke first. “Hey, speaking of my birthday, my brother, Doug, is having a party for me tonight. You’ll be there, right?”
Ice shook his head. “Nah, I don’t think so. I need to pack and be out of here early tomorrow morning.”
Danny stopped chewing and gave Ice a hurt puppy-dog face. He swallowed. “But you’re my roomie. You have to be there.” Then he chuckled at his own mockery. “Seriously, though, it’d be great if you could come. Doug rents a house with a few other guys so there’s usually a pretty interesting crowd. We can go together and if you want to take off early, I can crash there.”
Ice sighed, his apology dying before it was spoken. This was the guy he’d be living in close quarters with for eight months; he should probably make an effort to get their relationship off to a good start. Agreeing now would contribute to that effort, even if Nik’s message meant he had to cancel later. Plus, Danny had given him an opening to leave whenever he wanted. “Okay, sure,” he said. “What time is the party?”
“We can head that way at like ten, but it probably won’t really get going until eleven or so.”
Ice nodded, although inside he groaned. Leaving early would be at least midnight and he’d wanted to take off by seven the next morning. “Hey, meet me outside,” he said, rising from his seat. “I need to make a call.”
By the time he hit the outside doors of the dining hall, a frown etched his brow as he listened to the message: “Ice. It’s Nik. Give me a call when you can.” The lack of detail seemed ominous.
Pacing the sidewalk, Ice listened to Nik’s phone ring. Just as he thought the call would transfer to voice mail, Nik answered. “Ice. Sorry, I was in a meeting and wanted to step out before answering your call.”
Ice’s heart skipped a beat. “A meeting?” His mentor attended many meetings with many purposes, but a heavy rock of dread weighed in Ice’s gut.
“Yes. With the Midewiwin.”
“What’s going on?” Ice asked. Calling together a group of medicine men was a deliberate action.
“The underwater monster was active yesterday, so we called an impromptu meeting. I wanted to check and see if there was any chance Jeni came in contact with the river.”
“No way.” Ice had stressed the precaution of not going in the water above all others. “She was on a land tour yesterday.” A group of chattering kids burst through the doors and Ice stepped around the corner of the building.
“All right. Well, the manitou has been quiet ever since, but I thought I should ask.”
“I’ve been doing my best to make sure she stays safe—to the point where she’s annoyed with me—but she is being careful,” Ice assured his mentor. “What do the other medicine men think? Has there been a consensus?”
“Because there has been no further activity, the belief is that it was a false alarm,” Nik said. A bitter note tinged his words.
“It sounds like you weren’t part of the majority,” Ice commented.
“Have you consulted your inner spirit, Ice? Have you had any gut feelings?”
Veiled Existence Page 2