Veiled Existence Read online

  Feeling awkward loitering at the top of the gangway, the girls went up to the Cabin Deck and sat on a bench facing shore. The elevated view also gave a better vantage point to observe the parking lot.

  “What color is Ice’s Jeep?” Carolyn asked.

  “Dark green.”

  Despite the many reasonable explanations for Ice’s lateness, a sense of foreboding settled over Jeni. She’d pushed Ice into this trip and now something awful had happened. Feeling useless, she pressed the call button again, holding the phone loosely near her ear while she considered her options.

  She really didn’t want to call Nik. The medicine man had tried to contact her when the nightmares started over the summer, offering to help decipher the dreams in an effort to break them down into non-threatening fragments. But she hadn’t called him back, preferring her own theory that if she stopped looking into her family history the nightmares would eventually go away. And her method had worked.

  When the ringing stopped, she pulled the phone away and almost missed the voice that said, “Hello?”

  Her heart surged with relief. “Ice! Ohthankgod. What happened? Where are you?”

  “This isn’t Ice. It’s Danny. Ice’s roommate.”

  “Danny? W…where’s Ice?” Her wide eyes met Carolyn’s inquisitive stare.

  “I don’t know. I thought he was supposed to be with you.”

  Jeni rocked forward as numbing fear spread through her insides. “But…why do you have his phone?”

  A heavy breath wheezed through the phone. “Someone found it on the street. I knew it was Ice’s phone because the background of his lock screen matches all the pictures of you in our room. Figured he couldn’t find it and left without it. Then it kept on ringing and ringing…”

  Jeni couldn’t comprehend why Danny sounded more annoyed than worried. “He’s not here. Is his duffel bag gone?”

  Danny emitted a squeaky sighing sound that Jeni realized was likely a yawn. “Dunno. I’m still at my brother’s house.”

  “Okay, look, Danny. You’ve got to get back to the dorm and see if Ice is there. Something is obviously wrong.”

  “Man, you’re a pushy chick.”

  Jeni rolled her eyes. Seriously? She wanted to scream at him, but had her wits about her enough to know it would get her nowhere. “I’m sorry. I’m really worried.” She allowed some of her terror to bubble up and put a sob in her voice.

  “Okay, okay. I’ll head over to the dorm.”

  “Danny, wait!” Jeni cried, fearing he was about to hang up. “I’m going to give you my number so you can call me as soon as you get to the dorm.”

  He swore. She heard rustling.

  “Just tell me your number.” Jeni quickly put the call on speaker so she could type into her phone and then read the number back to him. “Okay, we’re going to hang up and I’m going to call your phone so you have my number.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” he rasped.

  When she dialed his number, Danny answered with, “There ya go. It worked.”

  “And now you have my number,” Jeni restated. “I’ll be waiting for your call.”

  Then he was gone. She exhaled rapidly, gulping in another breath and fighting back tears. There was still a chance Ice was at the dorm—over-sleeping because he relied on the alarm on his phone.

  Deep down though, she knew that wasn’t true

  .

  After filling Carolyn in on the situation, Jeni sent a text to her aunt, keeping it simple. “Talked to Ice’s roommate. Ice lost his phone. He’s gonna see what he can find out on his end.”

  Now that there was no use calling Ice’s phone, she had nothing to do except watch the parking lot. She stared at the entry road, aching to see his Jeep turn the corner. Even Carolyn was quiet. Until they knew if Ice was at the dorm, there wasn’t any reason to speculate.

  Replaying the call in her head, Jeni realized why Danny had sounded in rough shape; the party had been for his birthday. Her impression that he wasn’t a very nice person shifted, considering he’d agreed to roll out of bed at ten-thirty when he was probably hungover.

  The next half hour felt like half of a day. But finally her phone rang.

  “Danny?”

  “Yeah. Uh…his duffel bag is still here.”

  For a second, Jeni couldn’t breathe. Her heartbeat rushed in her ears like a wave crashing on the beach. “Oh God,” was all she was able to stammer.

  “Look, maybe he…” Danny cleared his throat. “Um, there were a lot of people at the party. Maybe he decided to, uh, crash somewhere else.”

  “Are you trying to say maybe he went home with a girl?” Jeni’s breath hung suspended and she swallowed hard.

  “It’s possible.”

  “You don’t know Ice very well.” Channeling her worry into anger was a brief respite. “Do you have any reason to even think that might have happened?”

  “Hey, don’t get mad at me, I’m only trying to be realistic here. We weren’t together the entire time he was at the party. And I was pretty wasted by the time he left.”

  Jeni forced air into her lungs. “Do you know if his Jeep is still there?”

  “Ah sh…hoot. I left the house without checking the street where we parked last night. I’ll call over there and have someone check. If it’s not there, I’ll look in the parking lot here.”

  “Okay.” She strained to keep her voice level. Danny was trying to help. “Thanks, Danny. I’m sorry if I sound like a lunatic, but this isn’t like Ice at all. I really feel like something is wrong.”

  “Yeah… it’s all right. Ice didn’t strike me as the unreliable type. Besides, I could tell how much he wanted to see you.”

  Jeni’s throat swelled and she squeezed her eyes shut, pressing her lips into a line until the urge to cry was suppressed enough for her to speak. “Thanks.” The word was little more than a whisper.

  “I’ll call back when I know something.”

  As if he could see her, Jeni nodded. The call terminated and her hand holding the phone dropped to her lap. Staring at the deck rail without seeing it, she struggled to come up with an explanation for Ice’s disappearance. She wasn’t sure if she should hope his Jeep was at the house or at school or missing. Nothing made sense.

  “He’s not there?” Carolyn asked even though she knew the answer.

  Jeni shook her head. “But his duffel bag is, which means he never left.”

  “Maybe he had to get something fixed on his Jeep and he couldn’t call you because he left his phone at the party,” Carolyn offered.

  “He’d figure out a way to contact me,” Jeni mumbled. “I guess I should call Nik.”

  “The medicine man?”

  “Yeah.” Jeni pulled up the contact information and placed the call. Carolyn might have questions about what she heard during this conversation, but Jeni didn’t care.

  “Leech Lake Tribal Council office, this is Trisha.”

  “Hi… um… I’m calling for Nik, the medicine man?” Afraid she sounded like a little girl, Jeni added, “It’s important. Regarding his apprentice, Ice.”

  “Can you hold?”

  “Yes.” Jeni’s knuckles protested the tight grip she had on her phone, but she relaxed them only slightly.

  A deep voice came on the line. “This is Nik.”

  Expelling the breath she’d been holding, Jeni blurted out. “Nik, it’s Jeni. Ice is missing.”

  After a pause Nik said, “Jeni? Isn’t today the day Ice is meeting you on the river cruise?”

  “Yes, he was supposed to, but he hasn’t shown up.” Jeni spelled out what little she knew. “Is everything still okay there?”

  “Yes. The ceremony will take place at noon.” He sounded distracted. “When is the last time you talked to Ice?”

  “We texted for a while last night. Then he went to a pa
rty…” She swallowed around a lump in her throat. “I haven’t heard from him since.”

  Nik muttered, cursing. “What have you been up to? Any contact with the water?”

  “Of course not,” she snapped. “I’ve been on the boat since Monday. Yesterday was a cruising day.”

  Nik grunted. “What about Monday? Where were you around five or five thirty?”

  Instantly defensive at his accusatory tone, Jeni’s knee-jerk reaction was to ask what that had to do with Ice’s disappearance. But she took a breath, and then answered. “I was at an old church. Possibly on the shuttle bus by then.”

  “Tell me about the church.” Nik’s voice was strained.

  Jeni flattened her lips. “I don’t under—”

  “The name. How old was it? Was there a cemetery?” the medicine man prodded.

  “St. George,” she spat out woodenly. “It’s…old. An Irish priest established it in the eighteen hundreds. It’s in Iowa. I’m not sure exactly where. Somewhere near Effigy Mounds National Monument. Yes, there was a cemetery, but I steered clear of it. I was careful, Nik. Why is this important?” Her question rang with frustration.

  “I felt a disturbance in the spirit world on Monday and the feeling was even stronger yesterday. Now you call and tell me that Ice is missing. My gut says all of these things are connected.”

  Panic took up root in Jeni’s chest. “How?” she croaked.

  Nik’s response was grim. “That is what we need to figure out. The only lead we have right now is that the underwater monster was unexpectedly active at the same time you were in a spiritual place. Someone needs to investigate this church.” He seemed to be speaking to himself. “Unfortunately it can’t be me since I need to stay for this—probably unwarranted—ceremony. And,” he drew out the word, “all of the local medicine men are already involved in this, leaving me no one to send.”

  Shaken, Jeni had no idea what to say or if Nik had forgotten she was on the line.

  After a pause, he continued his discourse. “First I’m going to call Ice’s mother. Someone needs to get to the Twin Cities and get the authorities involved if they’re not already. Then I have about an hour to see if I can find someone who is available to check out this church. I don’t know what kind of luck I’ll have, but if I can’t get back with you, someone else will.”

  “Okay…I…” Jeni stammered and then realized the line was dead.

  She hugged her stomach as a tumult of emotions warred inside her. Carolyn reached and put a hand on her shoulder. “It’ll be okay, Jen. I’m sure Nik has some kind of connections.”

  With tears spilling over her lower lids, a derisive snort escaped with an exhale of air. Connections? Her friend had no idea.

  It was a nightmare, Ice was sure of it. He just needed to wake himself up.

  At first, the gray wall barely visible in the faint light made him think he’d woken up in the vision quest lodge. But then he realized he was unable to move his limbs or lift his head. He couldn’t move anything—as if he were paralyzed. Except for his eyelids, of course.

  That’s when he decided it must be a dream.

  The scene was probably brought on by his encounter with the manitou, North Wind. In that real-life scenario Ice had managed to best the evil spirit. He’d had a few nightmares afterward about what might have happened if he hadn’t been struck with the idea to build up the fire and chase the manitou away. In one dream he’d run out of firewood.

  Now he was frozen.

  Nothing seemed to make sense.

  He closed his eyes, imagining the comfort of his bed.

  As Carolyn opened the door to the lounge, Jeni brushed the tears from under her eyes with her fingertips. Her friend looked over her shoulder. “Hey.” She paused, letting Jeni come up beside her, and took her by the arm. “Let’s stop upstairs and get a coffee. A hazelnut latte is always good for the soul.”

  Jeni forced a weak smile and nodded. She had a feeling it was going to be a long day.

  After they placed their order, Jeni went into the restroom. She knew Carolyn would have questions about her conversation with Nik and she needed to decide how to answer them. After splashing water on her face, Jeni reached for a paper towel and blotted her cheeks and chin, avoiding her own gaze in the mirror.

  She’d left Lake Itasca with every intention to go home and tell her best friend about her spiritual ability and the underwater monster. But after returning to regular life, the things that had happened sounded too unbelievable. Jeni decided to wait, promising herself that as soon as an opportune moment presented itself, she’d tell Carolyn everything.

  Then the nightmares had started.

  As Jeni closed herself off from her spiritual association, she was glad no one else knew about it. Pretending things were normal was much easier that way.

  Using damp paper towel to wipe away black mascara smudges, Jeni stared into her own eyes. If she told her friend the truth now, and they found Ice right away, there’d be no going back.

  Carolyn would have to be on a need-to-know basis.

  Jeni blinked as she emerged from the restroom. The last of yesterday’s clouds had finally blown off and sunshine streamed through the lounge windows. Carolyn passed Jeni a paper cup with a plastic lid and the girls walked out to the deck.

  “Let’s just sit here for a while,” Jeni said, nodding to a wooden bench in a patch of sun.

  Carolyn agreed by taking a seat and for a while, they were both silent. Shouts carried from the barge parked downriver and the intermittent whine of a motor made Jeni think the crew must be either loading or unloading cargo.

  Eventually, as she’d expected, her friend asked, “So what was Nik’s deal with the church?”

  Jeni sighed for effect and then answered carefully, hoping to lie as little as possible. “He said he had some kind of medicine man intuition about it.”

  “But what could that church possibly have to do with Ice missing in Minneapolis?”

  Jeni sipped her coffee. “That was my question too, and I never really got a straight answer.”

  Carolyn took the lid off her cup so she could sip some of the foam off the top of her latte. “Well, is he going to do anything?”

  “He’s going to call Ice’s mom. And he wants to send someone to check out the church.”

  “That’s so weird.” Carolyn shook her head.

  “I know, ri—” Jeni broke off when her phone rang. Although the number was unfamiliar, she didn’t hesitate to answer the call.

  “Is this Jeni Stonewall?” The deep voice had a youthful quality.

  “Yes.”

  “My name is Dale Quinn. I’m a friend of Ice’s. Nik called and asked me to uh… help with… with whatever’s going on.”

  “Oh.” Jeni didn’t know what to say. She leaned forward and stared at the deck, avoiding Carolyn’s questioning gaze.

  “Nik said I should go to a church in…” His pause was filled with the shuffle of paper. “…near Lansing, Iowa to see if there are any weird spiritual connections to the place.”

  He sounded so unsure. Jeni wondered who Nik had had to settle with to do this for him. “Are you a… medicine man? Or an apprentice?”

  He uttered a stiff laugh. “Hardly. But I owe Nik.”

  Nik was so desperate he called someone who owed him a favor? “Do you live in Iowa?” The question was unjustified, and seemed to slip out on its own accord. Embarrassed, Jeni felt her cheeks warm and rolled her eyes to the ceiling with a slight shake of her head.

  There was a beat of silence before he responded. “No. I live in Cass Lake. But I know how to drive and use a map program.” There was little sarcasm in his tone, yet his point was clear.

  Jeni smacked a hand to her face. “I’m sorry. That was dumb. I’m just really flustered.”

  “Anyway, can you meet me at the church tomorrow? Show
me where you were and what you did when you were there?”

  A flush of anger washed over Jeni. Nik had insinuated to this guy that she’d done something wrong at the church—that this was her fault! “What? I didn’t—” she cut herself off, remembering Carolyn was next to her. “I’m on a boat. Nik neglected to tell you that? I’m on a river cruise with my family.”

  His heavy exhale rasped over the phone line. “Nik was in a bit of a hurry. All right, maybe I can call you once I get there. Retrace your steps.”

  “You probably won’t have cell service. I didn’t.”

  “Frick. Great.”

  Still furious with Nik, Jeni was thinking about what she was going to text this guy to set him straight, when a thought occurred to her. She could prove this wasn’t her fault by going back to the church. Her mind raced, figuring out how she could make this happen.

  “The boat leaves for Red Wing tonight. Could you pick me up there in the morning? Is it on your way?” It was a crazy idea. How would she ever get her parents to agree?

  “What?” Carolyn whispered loudly and Jeni waved off her friend’s protest.

  “Maybe. I haven’t made any travel plans yet. I’ll have to get back to you on that.”

  “Okay, yeah…let me know.”

  As soon as the phone left Jeni’s ear, Carolyn spoke up. “Who was that?”

  “The guy Nik’s sending to the church.” Jeni rubbed her temples.

  “And you offered to go with him?” Carolyn’s eyes scrunched up as though she couldn’t fathom what was on Jeni’s mind.

  “I imagine he’ll be passing right by Red Wing. I just…” Jeni dropped her chin, head buried in her hands. “At least I would be doing something. I can’t imagine sitting back and enjoying my vacation when Ice is missing.” Her eyes stung, threatening a new batch of tears, and she knuckled the dampness from the corners.

  “Yeah, I suppose I get that.” Putting her coffee down, Carolyn gently rubbed a hand on Jeni’s back. “Is this guy someone you’ve met before?”

  “I suppose I might have met him briefly, I’m not sure. He said he’s a friend of Ice’s.”