Winter Prey

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Scarlet's growl died in a fearful whimper. As the setter slunk back to her rug and curled her tail around her muzzle, cold fingers of fear slithered up Kymbria's spine. Yet something else filtered into her senses. Distant, barely discernible feelings loomed on the edge of clarity. As soon as she acknowledged the intruding awareness, sorrow and...evil seeped in. With a desperate effort, she forced her hand up to grasp her spirit bundle. The sensations dissipated, but lingered faintly.

Gaze wide with apprehension, she turned, but Caleb was gone from the sofa.

God! Where was he? There. Over by the front windows. Deep in the throes of her struggle to maintain a grip on reality, she hadn't heard him leave. Even now, she couldn't move to comfort her poor dog.

Kymbria tightened her hold on the spirit bundle. The terror had made her feel as though she sat in a hollow space, a roaring in her ears. She couldn't discern any words clearly through that white noise, just the impressions.

Dogs can't speak, and there were words, too. Words that nagged at me, like in the sweat lodge.

Fighting her thoughts, she surged from the sofa to stumble over to Caleb. "Did you see it?" she croaked. "What was it?"

"I didn't see anything," he admitted. "But...damn it, I swear I sensed it." He spared her a quick glance, his gaze sharp but troubled, then looked back out the window toward the lake. "Only because I believe it was trying to let us know it was out there."

"The howl did that," she insisted.

"A few seconds before the howl. You looked as though...as though the entire atmosphere was changing. You felt it. I could tell. I have imprints in my arm from your nails before I freed myself."

She bit her lip. She needed time to think. Time to rationalize. She needed the hell out of here, space between her and whatever was going on. All too well she knew how easy it would be for her to lose the little ground she'd gained on her own. The first day at the cabin, she'd felt, if not stronger, at least less controlled by the past and her guilt. She'd developed a measure of hope and a beginning confidence that she could face the future, with Keoman's help. Now she was on the verge of reaching for the meds again.

Coming here had definitely been a mistake. A huge one. Rather than the serenity she'd sought, the peace she'd gained when she was sixteen and accepted the tribal Midé's teachings, she'd stepped into the middle of a myth returned to life. One of the stories that she'd only heard around the campfire, a creature in the games the carefree youngsters played at powwows.

She'd believed once. Accepted the Midé's teachings as fact. Accepted that another realm existed, one where the spirits offered tranquility for the taking, but also held danger not to be ignored. She'd lost that from her life over the years, thought she wanted it again.

Now she wished she had never come back. Knew without a doubt that she needed to get out of here.

"How much do you know about windigos?" Caleb asked.

Windigokazo odaminowin. The cannibal game. More Old words crept up from Kymbria's memory. This time she struggled to bury them, especially when something else long buried sprang to mind.

"We are not always in control of our own destiny, Daughter of our People," Keoman's father had said so long ago. "Yes, we have free will, and our paths in life at times result from our decisions. Yet at times, other forces are at work. It was Tina's destiny to die then. And perhaps there was some reason you were injured as you were.

"Many times we do not realize these things as they happen, only when we look back over the weeks, months, sometimes years. Other times, we understand them even during our journey through a certain life period. But make no mistake, guidance happens at times, urgings we can't - and should not - control. Rarely for some, more often for others. The spirits...nearly always have our best interests in mind, their eyes on a future we cannot see ourselves."