by TM Simmons
Despite her mushrooming panic, Channing strained to hear. Her blood ran cold and the keys fell from her shaking hand when a child whimpered and sobbed. A plea — "Mommy" — intermingled with the crying.
Oh, God, Sunni was inside. Daisy's granddaughter. Nenegean probably stood guard over her. Was it a trap so the entity could strike at another woman, as she had Annalise?
Nenegean had gone through the safeguards Keoman had set up around her cabin.
Would she try to communicate again? Or would she attack?
Channing bit her lip as scenes from low-grade horror movies flashed in her mind: the dumb heroine walking straight into a dangerous situation instead of fleeing.
The crying intensified, tearing at her heart.
She couldn't ignore Sunni's fright. Disregard the danger of a monster who couldn't be analyzed and had already killed.
The entity had not harmed a child yet….
Channing tried desperately to overcome the terror crowding against her fierce need to run to the crying little girl. Given how powerful her own fear was, she could only imagine Sunni's fright. She couldn't allow the child to be alone any longer, when she was only a few steps away.
Still, she wasn't that idiot movie heroine. She took her cell phone from her coat pocket, then remembered she didn't have Keoman's number. Or a phone number for anyone else local, except the clinic, which was on after-hours now. She did have Grant's, the same one he'd had for years. She pushed the memory button, holding her breath as it rang.
"Channing?" he answered.
"Grant," she whispered. "I'm at my cabin and I think Nenegean is inside. I can also hear a child crying."
"Dear God, don't go in," Grant cautioned. "I was heading back to change clothes. I'm only a couple minutes away."
"The child, Grant…."
"You won't be able to help the child if she takes both of you!" he warned angrily. "Are you in your car?"
"No, at the front door. It's open."
"Get back in the car. Now."
Channing hesitated, but when she glanced over her shoulder, she could see a dim reflection that might be Grant's headlights far down the highway. Instead of assuring him that she would do as he ordered, she disconnected the call, replaced the phone in her pocket, and pushed open the door.
The phone immediately rang and vibrated. She took it out only long enough to put it on silent, in case the noise provoked the entity waiting for her.
Then she stepped into the cabin.
The odor gagged her, but Channing refused to cover her nose. She debated whether or not to turn on the lights, then decided not to. Moonlight reflecting from the snow behind the cabin gave enough brightness for her to see well enough to navigate. There were thick rag rugs on the floor, and she slipped off her shoes on the threshold and took two more steps, scanning desperately for Nenegean.
She could still hear the little girl sobbing, but didn't see her. It sounded as though she was on the couch, and with the back of it toward Channing, the child wasn't visible. First, though, she tried to find Nenegean.
There was no sign of the entity anywhere she looked. Could Nenegean make herself invisible? Channing hadn't heard the monster had that ability. Still, the odor clung to the air, so dense it nearly felt like she was walking through it.
"Sunni?" Channing whispered loudly.
A hiccup sounded amidst the sobs, and Channing heard something rustle.
"Mommy?" the child asked.
"No, but I'm here to take you to your mommy," Channing said in a low voice.
The little girl's head popped up over the couch. She had dark hair and appeared to be around two years old. Channing couldn't see much more in the dimness, but the child had answered to the name.
"Sunni?" she repeated, a little louder.
"You take me to Mommy?"
"I will," Channing assured her.
The little girl scrambled over the back of the couch. When she hit the floor, she raced toward Channing, crying her little heart out. Channing knelt to catch the child in her arms and held her tight when Sunni grabbed Channing's neck in a near choke hold. Wetness from tears soaked Channing's face as she cuddled Sunni and murmured soothing sounds.
A cold breeze filtered through the cabin. By the time Channing's gaze flew to the sliding glass door, it was already closed again. She hadn't seen Nenegean, but Channing didn't doubt it had been the entity leaving. Nenegean could move at lightning speed, or even on the wings of thought.
The door behind her crashed open, and Channing stood with Sunni in her arms. Grant had his pistol in his hands, crouched to face any danger.
He sighed and slowly rose to close the door. "I should have known you wouldn't wait if you thought a child was in danger." He kept his gun out and asked, "Is the entity still here?"
"She just left, out through the sliding back door."
Grant pushed past her, saying, "Leave the lights off, so I can see outside."
He stood by the sliding door for a moment, then opened it.
Channing sat on the couch arm with Sunni. The afghan from the back of the couch lay rumpled on the cushions, where Nenegean had probably wrapped it around Sunni. Central heat was quickly overcoming the chill in the cabin, so Channing didn't disturb Sunni's dire grip. Instead, she pulled her coat around them both.
Grant returned, his gun now holstered. "Is she all right?"
When Channing attempted to loosen Sunni's hold, the child buried her face in Channing's neck and clung tighter. "No, no," she whimpered. "Not down. Mommy."
"Shhhh, sweetheart." Channing stroked Sunni's back. "It's all right now. The monster's gone. I need to make sure it didn't hurt you."
Sunni shook her head against Channing's neck. "No hurt. Scared. Bad monster."
Channing glanced up at Grant. "Do you have Keoman or Gagewin's phone number?"
"I already called Gagewin from the car," he said. "They should be here any moment."
"Then maybe we could turn on some lights. And I've got coffee and hot chocolate."
When she said hot chocolate, Sunni's sobs quieted. While Grant flipped light switches for the living area and kitchen, Channing waited for the little girl to make her own decision to draw back. Slowly, she loosened her arms enough to see Channing's face.
"Hot choklet?" she asked.
"Yes, sweetheart," Channing said. "Grant's making some. And your mommy will be here soon." She had no hesitation about assuring the child of that. Gagewin had no doubt immediately called Nodinens to get word to the mother and grandmother that Sunni had been found.
"Want me to wash your face and hands so you'll be clean when your mommy gets here?" she asked.
Sunni stared at her for a moment, and a hint of doubt crept into her expression. The child was finally becoming aware that a strange woman held her, thinking perhaps Channing was as dangerous as the monster who had taken her from her mommy.
"I'm Channing," she said quickly. "A friend of your grandmother, Daisy. And you're Sunni, right?"
The doubt left the child's eyes when she heard her grandmother's name. "Nana," she said. "Daydee my Nana."
"That's right, dear heart. Would you like me to see if I can get Nana or your mommy on the phone so you can talk to them?"
Sunni's head bobbed vigorously, a curl bouncing on her cheek.
"Grant," Channing called. "Do you have any phone numbers from anyone local?"
He walked out and handed her his phone. "I have Nodinens'. She's with Daisy."
He returned to the stove, where he was heating milk for the hot chocolate. The coffee was already dripping, the smell helping overcome the lingering traces of Nenegean. She was glad Grant appeared to be on the same wave length. There would be time enough to discuss the entity after Sunni was reunited with her mother.
"How about we get you clean and then call, Sunni?"
Sunni nodded agreeably and cuddled into her again. Channing carried her into the kitchen so she would be near Grant rather than in the isolation of the bathroom. S
itting Sunni on the counter, she ran some warm water while she removed a clean dishcloth from a drawer.
After she washed Sunni's face and hands, she dialed the phone and put it on speaker.
Nodinens answered before the first ring died. "Mr. Stoneman?"
"It's Channing, Nodinens. Is Sunni's mother with you?"
"I'm here, I'm here," a woman said, indicating Nodinens also had her phone on speaker. "Do you have my little girl?"
"Mommy?" Sunni reached for the phone, and Channing allowed her to hold it, although she cupped her hands beneath Sunni's. "Mommy?"
For a few seconds, they only heard sobs, before another voice that Channing recognized said, "Mommy's right here, Sunni. And so is Nana."
"Nana!" Sunni looked up at Channing in delight. "Mommy and Nana."
"We're almost there, little one," Daisy said.
"Hot choklet, Nana," Sunni said. "Man fixing hot choklet."
"That's wonderful," Daisy replied, also assuring her granddaughter, "He's a nice man, my little Sunni."
Then the first voice, which evidently belonged to Sunni's mother, spoke again. "Are you all right, Sunni?"
Sunni nodded, and Channing said, "Mommy can't see you nod. Can you say yes?"
"Yeth!" Sunni shouted.
Amazingly, even given a child's normal rebounding exuberance, by the time two pickups pulled up in front of Channing's cabin, Sunni was at the table, drinking her 'hot choklet.' Channing had made a stack of cinnamon toast, and she and Grant shared that with Sunni while the child talked about anything besides what had happened with the monster who had ripped her from her mommy's arms. They would have to ask Sunni at least a few questions, but it would be better to wait until she was in her loving mother's arms.
Which happened within seconds of when the vehicles arrived. No one bothered to knock. When Sunni saw her mother, she ignored the toast and hot chocolate and stood on her chair. Daisy and a younger woman rushed over, and tears filled Channing's eyes as the three of them hugged and kissed until the little girl tried to wiggle loose.
"Hot choklet, Mommy," she said. "You have some?"
"I've got more, or coffee, if you'd prefer," Grant said.
As Grant took care of the drink orders, Channing turned to see who else had come with Daisy. Nodinens, Gagewin and Keoman stood in the doorway between the kitchen and living room, Nodinens not bothering to stem the tears coursing down her face. There was also some suspicious moisture in the men's eyes. Nodinens motioned to Channing, and she walked over to join them.
"I can still smell her in here," Nodinens said. Channing realized she had looked at Keoman first, seeing an expression on this face that indicated his relief at the child's safety. She couldn't help the fleeting thought that perhaps he was glad she hadn't been harmed in such close proximity to Nenegean either.
His first words to her confirmed he was torn, though.
"You're going to have to stop confronting Nenegean," he said in a half-angry, half-relieved voice. "She's not a benign entity. She came right through the safeguards Gagewin and I placed here."
"I also tried to defend this place for you, Channing," Nodinens added. "Keoman is right. She's more dangerous than anything we've ever encountered."
Channing faced them unflinchingly. "Both of you tell me that you would have ignored hearing a little girl crying in here, and the smell coming through the door telling you this entity was inside with her."
Keoman rubbed his hand up and down her arm. "But we have hundreds of years of knowledge passed down to us. There are stronger things we can call on."
"Then I think you better start calling on them," Channing said. "In the meantime, it appears Nenegean has marked me for some reason."
"That," Nodinens said, "is what I am afraid of. You need to listen to us, Channing. We are not overlooking the fact that Nenegean has some purpose for you. But you cannot become complacent about this. I have a couple more things I want to put in your protection packet." She glanced worriedly at Channing's neck, where she only wore the gold locket with Rose's picture in it. "And please promise me you'll never forget to wear it again."
Channing hugged the elderly woman briefly, then looked deeply into her eyes. "I promise, Nodinens. Thank you so much for being my friend and worrying about me."
Chapter 29
After Daisy left with her daughter and granddaughter, along with an escort of several men from the tribe, Channing sat around the table with Keoman, Nodinens, Grant and Gagewin, sipping coffee. For a while, she remained quiet, listening and trying desperately to understand what was happening here in this far Northwood.
She had replaced her dress with a set of sweats, and the packet with the new additions from Nodinens was secure in her pocket. From time to time, she slipped her hand in and rubbed it. She had been changing clothes in the bathroom while Nodinens was adding whatever she had brought with her, and she hadn't asked what the items were. She could honestly tell the difference, though. The feel of it soothed her and fostered a new sense of safekeeping.
Still, she couldn't help but wonder whether Nenegean would be pissed if they met again, angry she couldn't get close enough to Channing to try to communicate. Channing knew without doubt she and the entity weren't done with each other.
"She had to leave Annalise somewhere," Keoman said, and Channing pulled her attention back to the ongoing discussion.
"Did you have time to check out the cave where we found the two children?" Channing asked.
"We got the call about you finding Sunni too quickly," Gagewin replied. "I sent some other men out there. Gabe went with them, since he knows where the cavern is."
Channing frowned. "Why is she doing this? There has to be a reason."
Nodinens shook her head in bewilderment. "You are right, Channing. But what?"
"I've studied similar situations during my career," Grant said. "I agree that most of the time an entity has a certain amount of reasoning capability and a purpose in mind for the destruction it wreaks. It might just be that it's protecting its territory. That could be taken as wild animal instinct, too. We never spend much time trying to understand those things. Our main purpose is to destroy them, halt the killing."
"Were you always successful?" Gagewin asked.
Grant stared directly at Gagewin. "We had a couple cases where nothing we did worked. One day, the destruction just stopped. The thing disappeared. No rhyme or reason to it."
"The Northwood windigo came back every forty years," Keoman said. "After it achieved the number of kills it set out to do, it disappeared again."
"That could be what happened in those two cases of ours," Grant responded. "We didn't think to search out whether the thing had appeared years and years before. I'm going to add that to our knowledge about dealing with these entities."
"What were they?" Nodinens asked. "And where?"
"They were both in West Virginia," Grant told her. "And they never left anyone alive to tell us what they were. But we believed they were two different entities. Their manner of kill was different. Nothing about those cases — or any others that I've dealt with, for that matter — are in any way similar to this Nenegean. Even the lore about La Llorona, the Spanish monster, doesn't fit here."
"What is that story?" Nodinens asked him.
Grant rose and refilled his coffee cup as he spoke. "The lore says that La Llorona was in love with a man who, she believed, didn't want her because she had children. So she drowned her children to be with him."
Channing smothered a gasp, but Grant heard it and covered her hand with his as he sat back down. "I'm sorry. If it's too hard on you for me to tell this —"
"No," she assured him. "Please. If there's a chance it will help someone understand this situation, please go on."
"All right." He drank some coffee, grimaced, then went on, "The man still wouldn't have her, so La Llorona then drowned herself. But when she got to the afterlife, she was refused admittance because of what she had done. She was sent back to wander and search
for the children she killed. But of course, they were already accepted into the afterlife, so she's trapped for eternity in a half-life between the spirit world and the living one."
He inattentively added some creamer to his coffee, and Channing knew this story also upset him. Grant never used creamer in his coffee. She thought about taking his hand in comfort again, but didn't feel comfortable with Keoman at the table.
"They say," Grant said, then corrected, "well, lore says La Llorona will take a child that it finds far enough away from the parents to indicate the parents are lax in watching it. Especially if the child looks similar to one of hers."
For a few seconds, silence met the end of Grant's story. Then Nodinens said, "There are some things the same, but not enough to make them fit Nenegean."
Grant shrugged. "La Lorna's story is more fantasy than anything else, although it could be rooted in an actual happening sometime. Still, it's sort of evolved into a boogeyman type tale, to frighten children so they won't wander off into dangerous places. None of our men have ever heard of a case where La Llorona came to life and took a child. It's just one of the stories we file away in case we might need it in the future."
"When we were little ourselves," Channing mused, "a fear of monsters seemed born in us. Rose wasn't old enough yet to ask us to check her room for monsters before she went to sleep. But I can recall a period in my own childhood where they seemed as real to me as the living people in my life. My parents never let me watch scary movies or read creepy books until I was older. This fear was just there. Instinctual."
"Our culture tells our children boogeyman tales, too," Nodinens said. "But you are right that this fear seems instinctual. And for a reason. Some entities are actual beings, real monsters."
"We're getting off track here," Keoman said. "We need to figure out how to destroy Nenegean, before she takes a child and something does happen to it. She did attack that snowmobiler. And she killed Alan."
Grant sighed. "I hope you won't take exception when I point something out." He stared at Gagewin as though asking permission.