Winter Prey

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

After the isolation at the sweat lodge, the clamor in the casino inundated Kymbria. Dark and dim, even in the daytime - perhaps to give the players a measure of anonymity as they lost their billfolds - lights flashed, bells gonged, and some machines even spoke to the players. A constant, low-growl murmur filled the air as the players responded in kind, either urging the reels to stop or imploring them to continue. As one of the last bastions of nicotine, a diffuse haze of smoke hung over everything, furthering the murkiness.

Considering Keoman's continued evasiveness, Kymbria kept a tight lid on her questions, as well as her emotions. Frankly, she resented his lack of concern for her fears and turmoiled thoughts. Only he and her mother, Niona, knew the depths of her angst, how her entire future rested on the success of this venture to the Northwood. She'd spent hours on the phone with Keoman before she arrived, even telling him the truth about Risa's origin, another fact to which only Niona was privy. But since they'd left the sweat lodge, Keoman had appeared more and more preoccupied with something on his mind other than how the interruption of an extremely vital ceremony would affect her.

Or...did it all fit together somehow? She'd never know until the Midé talked straight to her instead of boomeranging her questions back at her with his own.

Just inside the entrance, they passed a tiny elderly lady who erupted off her stool as three red sevens lined up across the face of a slot machine. It startled Kymbria for a second, but Keoman took her arm and whispered a steadying word to her, and she managed to smile at the woman. Who would have thought such an ancient could move that fast? But mindless gambling did work wonders sometimes.

After the past few hours, Kymbria herself itched to drop a few dollars in a slot, focus her gaze on the reels and shut out all else. Feel the delicious tension build as the numbers flashed past and settled one by one. Pout at the near-misses and feed the slot for another chance. Right now gambling appealed more than digging deeper into the fear she'd faced in the sweat lodge. The fear that continued to dog her.

She eyed a particularly appealing video slot - one where a sappy smiley-face danced out and racked up extra points should a player be lucky enough to enter the inner Bonus domain - and sighed. Once this was over, she would give in to the idiotic diversion of gambling. For now, she was done running away from her problems.

Safely past the elderly lady's enthusiastic cheers at her good fortune, Keoman dropped her arm. They passed one aisle, and Kymbria paused and took a step back. The table games were laid out in the center of the casino building, and she thought she recognized one of the players. In order to illuminate the players' cards, there was more light in that area, and the man's blond hair shone. With his back to her, she couldn't be sure it was her neighbor Caleb, though.

"Want to play a machine while I order for us?" Keoman asked, a smile of understanding on his face.

"No," she said reluctantly. "Not right now. I didn't bring any cash."

"I can loan you a few bucks. Or they take checks or credit cards. And there are some really cool penny slots."

"I know," Kymbria admitted as they threaded their way towards the snack bar, her gaze sliding to each side of the aisle to note the various one-armed bandits they passed for future reference. "Do they have that Black Cat one?"

"Where you break the mirrors or the cat chases the crow up and down the ladder?"

"Yeah, that one," she said with a laugh as they slid into a booth in the rear of the snack bar. They both unzipped the upper part of their snowsuits and shrugged to let them lie across the back of the booth. "You play here with the customers?"