Freaky Rites (A Mystic Caravan Mystery Book 6) Read online

  “That’s good. I thought by the way Nellie talked that maybe they were hulking beasts that could kill us all.”

  “The true danger of a wendigo is its claws … and cruelty.” I thought back to a particular encounter I’d had three years before. “They’re mostly solitary creatures. Only once have we ever discovered a nest.”

  “How many were in the nest?”

  “Fifteen.”

  Obviously stunned, Kade’s eyebrows flew up his forehead. “Fifteen? That can’t be right.”

  “Well, we didn’t take the time to conduct an inventory with the body parts when we were finished, but I’m pretty sure Nellie counted fifteen.”

  “But … how?”

  “It was in Wisconsin. They’re extremely prevalent in the Great Lakes region. They like the northwest and Canada, too. It’s the trees that call to them … and make it easier to survive. Whenever anyone sees a monster in the inner city they shoot first and ask questions later. That’s why wendigos flee to the forest.”

  “And you found fifteen of them living together in Wisconsin?” Kade was fascinated by the story. “Were they Packers fans?”

  The question was so surreal I could do nothing but bark out a laugh. “I don’t remember asking. None of them were wearing those cheese-head hats that are so prevalent there, but I hate to burst your bubble. Why do you think that’s important?”

  Kade shrugged. “Maybe the Packers were having a bad year or something.”

  “Maybe. It puts a whole new spin on the story.” I grinned as I scuffed my feet against the ground. We were close to the line and I was feeling better about our situation despite the fact that I was in the middle of telling a truly awful tale. “They were holed up in an abandoned building in a bad part of town. It was scheduled for demolition three months out, so it must’ve only been a temporary base. We were in Milwaukee for a stop – it had been quiet the whole week, something we weren’t used to – and then Dolph practically tripped over a wendigo attacking a woman in the parking lot.

  “He dispatched it quickly, basically ripped off its head with his bare hands, and we burned the body in a fire,” I continued. “The woman was so confused and shaken she was happy to get away from us and pretended she hadn’t seen anything. I could see in her mind and knew she would never tell the story, so we let her be.

  “Anyway, we thought it was only the one wendigo and carried on with what we were doing,” I said. “Saturday rolled around and another wendigo showed up. It scented the parking lot, obviously realized we’d killed his friend, and took off. Nellie and Dolph gave chase. They discovered the nest and returned for backup. Once the circus closed for the night, we moved on the nest.”

  Kade blinked several times in rapid succession. “That’s it? Come on. There must be more to the story than that.”

  I chewed the inside of my cheek as I began magically tugging on the threads of the dreamcatcher to test for weaknesses. This was the second time I’d done something similar, but I wanted to be sure before I started fortifying the security system with magic. “It’s not that interesting of a story,” I said finally.

  “I don’t believe you.” Kade folded his arms across his chest as he glared with slit-eyed suspicion. “You’re not telling me the whole story.”

  “Are you calling me a liar?”

  “I’m saying that you’re keeping something to yourself.” The fact that Kade looked more disappointed than anything else tugged on my heartstrings. “If you don’t want to tell me, I can’t make you. Let’s just fortify the dreamcatcher and get out of here. You’re right about the fog being creepy. It makes me tense, too.”

  I ran my tongue over my teeth as I regarded him. He was being combative, which I didn’t appreciate. Still, I understood his frustration. “It’s not that I don’t want to tell you.”

  “It’s that you don’t think I can handle it, right?”

  Ugh. He was purposely being difficult now. Irritation fueled me as I viciously tugged on one of the dreamcatcher strands. It showed signs of give, so I immediately funneled power into it. “I think you can handle it. I simply don’t like remembering it.”

  “Why? Did someone almost die? Did you almost die?”

  “No.” That was true. I was never in any physical danger. Still, I didn’t celebrate the nest eradication like others in our group. “You probably won’t get this, but I’m going to tell you because I’m not in the mood to argue.”

  Kade remained quiet, his eyes sober as they followed me.

  “There was one other thing about the nest,” I explained. “For education purposes, it’s important to note that wendigos don’t often mate. It’s usually a solitary activity. The Wisconsin nest was different from the start. All the wendigos were living together and formed something of a community.”

  “Okay.” Kade remained calm. “Are you saying these wendigos mated or something?”

  “That would be my guess … unless they somehow convinced a human child to blacken her soul in such a way that it fractured and she willingly became a wendigo.”

  It took Kade a few moments to understand what I was saying. “Oh, geez.”

  I nodded in confirmation. “I think she was about six. It was obviously difficult to gauge age because she looked like a small monster. No one wanted to kill her. Killing children – even if they’re part of an evil species – is never easy. But we couldn’t simply leave her behind.”

  “Because she would eat people?”

  “That and the fact that she was obviously too young to care for herself. Leaving her would’ve meant a much crueler death than the one we meted out.”

  “What happened?” Kade’s voice was gentle.

  “The mother was desperate to protect the child, but Raven wrestled her down with magic and killed her even as she howled and tried to get to the little one,” I replied. “The kid was the last one left. No one wanted to take her out.”

  “Even Nellie?”

  I forced a smile. “Even he has limits.”

  “I’ve never seen Nellie acknowledge limits, so I’ll have to take your word for it.”

  “I knew what would happen to her if we simply left her behind,” I supplied. “She would starve and then die. We couldn’t risk leaving her anyway, but it was difficult. Eventually I basically put her to sleep with my mind and Nixie used some of her pixie dust and helped her slip away. It was the most humane death we could think of.”

  Kade turned pragmatic. “Well, as hard as it may have been to kill a child, I have to point out that it was a child with a propensity to eat human flesh. What else could you have done?”

  “Nothing. That’s not what’s bothering me.”

  Kade was taken aback. “Okay. What’s bothering you about the story?”

  “The part where the wendigos formed human connections,” I answered. “If wendigos have fractured souls, which in turn makes them monsters, how could that mother love the kid? How could she bond with a male long enough to get pregnant with the kid, for that matter?”

  “The mating part could’ve been a physical reaction that she had no control over.”

  “Fair enough. That still doesn’t explain her obviously desperate need to get to the kid.”

  “What are you really worried about?”

  That was a good question. “I don’t know. For some reason that old woman acting crazy in the woods has me all messed up. The fact that she recognized how Melissa was struggling and what almost happened makes me think that she’s seen a soulless creature a time or two.”

  “The wendigo,” Kade surmised. “I get that. You’re wondering why the wendigo hasn’t killed her because she’s isolated and without backup out here.”

  “I’m wondering more than that. I’m wondering how she can recognize soul injuries. If she learned to do it because of the wendigo, that means they’ve been communicating on some level. For that to happen, the wendigo has to purposely shelve his need to feed. I don’t think that’s something that happens easily.”

  “Yo
u’re wondering if the wendigo had ties to Caroline Olsen in life, aren’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well … I guess we could run a few searches and find out.” He didn’t look thrilled at the prospect, but I smiled anyway. “Not tonight,” Kade added. “Tonight, once you’re finished with this, it’s just you and me. We can run searches tomorrow.”

  “Deal.” I felt as if a weight had been lifted from my shoulders as I briefly closed my eyes and directed the magic I felt pulsing through the dreamcatcher. I recognized Raven and Naida’s energy right away, and was lost in the process for several minutes.

  Kade wisely kept quiet, keeping close to my side but letting me do my thing without interruption. When I finished, I felt markedly better. The feeling lasted only until I straightened and realized Kade had gone rigid as he stared at the trees on the other side of the dreamcatcher.

  “What’s going on?” I jerked my head to see what he was looking at, frowning at the way the fog seemed to shape and reshape itself into hints of human vestiges. “That’s creepy, huh?”

  Kade didn’t immediately answer, instead swallowing hard. I instinctively moved closer to him and grabbed his hand. “Kade?”

  Slowly, he turned to gaze into my eyes. “Something is out there.” His voice was barely a whisper.

  “How can you be sure?”

  “I don’t know.” His face was white and I could practically feel the terror pulsing through him. “I just know.”

  I didn’t know what to make of the utterance. Kade had never displayed a psychic streak, but that didn’t mean what he was feeling wasn’t real. He was the son of a mage, after all. Max was the strongest being I had ever come into contact with. It would only make sense for Kade to inherit something from his father. Of course, the odds of his powers suddenly flaring to life right now seemed long.

  “Tell me exactly what you feel,” I prodded.

  “I can’t explain it.” Kade’s frustration was palpable. “I don’t know how to explain it. Something is out there. It’s watching us.”

  I didn’t doubt he believed what he was saying. I worried my tale about the wendigo mother triggered something, but that was for later contemplation. For now I simply needed to soothe him. “I don’t see anything. Maybe … .” I drifted off, my eyes narrowing when I caught a hint of movement between two tall trees. “What the … ?”

  “Do you see it?” Kade was beside himself.

  “I saw something,” I replied after a beat. “I’m not sure what it was.” I squinted as hard as I could and stared at the spot where I’d seen the movement. A few moments later what I was sure was a face appeared in the darkness. It was hard to see – and even harder to make out features – but I was almost positive it was a face. “Holy … !”

  “What do you see?” Kade was practically breathless. “I think I see a man in a hat.”

  That was surprising because I thought I saw the opposite. “It’s a little girl.” My heart rolled. “She’s in a dress … like a Little House on the Prairie dress. I think she’s smiling at me.”

  Kade balked. “It’s not a little girl. It’s a man.” He pointed for emphasis, making me realize we were looking in two entirely different spots. “That’s definitely a man.”

  I stared at the place he indicated for a long time, letting my eyes adjust as if I were looking at one of those mosaic posters that were all the rage when I was a kid. After a few seconds I saw what he was talking about. The figure standing in front of him was definitely a man … and he looked demented. His features were impossible to make out because they were muted and flat, but his gestures were obvious … as was the way he bobbed his head.

  “That’s a little creepy,” I muttered, shaking my head. “He looks like a character in every bad horror movie I’ve ever seen.”

  “He’s most definitely not a little girl.”

  “No, but she is.” I forced Kade’s chin to the right so he could see the girl in the trees. She looked amused and offered up a cheeky wave. There was nothing corporeal about her. She was very clearly a ghost or manifestation of the fog. She was there, though. “This is so weird.”

  Kade widened his eyes. “Oh, no, don’t say that. This is completely normal.”

  He sounded as if he was about to lose it. “It’s going to be okay.”

  “Really?” Kade flicked his eyes to me and I cringed at the fear and discomfort I saw there. “I don’t see how this will be okay.”

  I swallowed hard and forced myself to remain calm. “We’ll figure it out.”

  “How? There are weird ghost things in the woods and possibly a wendigo running loose. How will you figure it out?”

  “The same way I usually do. We’ll research it and come up with a plan.”

  “Well, great.” Kade focused on the filmy man again, grimacing when the ethereal figure smiled. He looked more like a ghostly skull with mayhem on the brain than a despondent spirit who needed help. I had no idea what to make of the phenomenon.

  “We’ll figure it out,” I repeated. “I promise. Just … don’t panic.”

  “Do I look like I’m going to panic?”

  He definitely looked like he was going to at the very least freak out. “Of course not.”

  “Good. I’m not going to panic.”

  “Great.”

  “Really. I’m fine.”

  “Good to know.”

  Kade was silent for about ten seconds. “We need to get out of here. I can’t keep looking at this. It’s too freaky.”

  “I’m right there with you.”

  9

  Nine

  Calming Kade wasn’t easy. I readied for bed, pulling on simple cotton shorts and a T-shirt, and found him standing in front of the bedroom window in nothing but his boxer shorts. He seemed intense.

  “Do you see something?”

  He jumped when I moved closer to his side, my presence clearly catching him off guard. “Just the fog.”

  “Okay, well … .” I ran my hand up and down his strong back as I debated how to soothe him. “Do you want to christen the new bed with me again? I know we already did it once, but it can’t hurt to make sure we did it properly.”

  Whatever he was expecting, that wasn’t it. He barked out a laugh, his face lighting with mirth as he shook his head. “That’s possibly the bluntest invitation I’ve had all day.”

  “I certainly hope it’s also the best invitation you’ve had.”

  “It is.” Kade shifted to slide his arm around my waist, his eyes drifting back to the fog. “I’m not sure I’ll be able to sleep knowing those things are watching us.”

  “You don’t know that they’re watching us.”

  “You saw them by the woods.”

  “I did. I don’t know what we’re dealing with, though. They might not be real.”

  Kade furrowed his brow, confusion evident. “I don’t know what that means. How can they not be real?”

  “They could merely be figments of our imagination,” I offered, although I didn’t truly believe that. “They could’ve been created by another creature to distract us.”

  “The wendigo?”

  “We don’t have conclusive proof that we’re dealing with a wendigo yet,” I cautioned. “It’s dangerous to assume one thing and find we’re dealing with another. All we have by way of proof that it’s a wendigo is Raven’s assumption that what she heard was a wendigo howl. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

  “So … what do you think it is?”

  I hated being put on the spot but it was clear Kade needed answers. “I don’t know.” I exhaled heavily as I sat on the bed. “There are a lot of possibilities.”

  “Like what?” Kade joined me in sitting, but his eyes kept drifting toward the window.

  “Like maybe Caroline is a witch and I somehow missed the signs when we met. She might not like us being so close to her place, so maybe she cast a spell to make the fog look like ghosts to keep us away. Maybe she’s trying to scare us off with tales of shadow hunters and
this is how she plans to do it.”

  Kade looked intrigued by the suggestion. “Do you really think that’s possible?”

  “Honestly? Yeah. I don’t know if it’s probable, but we need more information before we assume we’re dealing with a wendigo.”

  “Fair enough. How do we get that information?”

  “Well, for starters, we need to get access to the missing persons reports for this area,” I answered. “If people are going missing, that might indicate there’s a predator running loose. We might especially want to see if there are any reports about Amanda Stevens, for example. She would be a good place to start. A wendigo can’t go for more than a week without a meal. That means there’s no reason to stay here if it doesn’t have ready access to food.”

  Kade’s lips twisted. “And that means humans, right? I mean … you’ve never heard of a wendigo opting to be a vegetarian, have you? Or what about a wendigo that eats animals instead of humans? You said that crazy lady had a goat. Maybe she was taking it into the woods to feed the wendigo. Maybe they’ve come to an agreement of sorts.”

  That was an interesting hypothesis, although I had trouble putting much stock in it. “I guess it’s possible in theory, but the main reason a human turns into a wendigo is cannibalism. I can’t see a wendigo suddenly turning vegetarian.”

  “That doesn’t mean our wendigo isn’t an anomaly.”

  “No.” That was absolutely true. “Like I said before, though, we might not be dealing with a wendigo. We might be dealing with something else.”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You must have an idea.”

  His determination to pin me down to a specific ideology was frustrating. “Kade, I don’t know. We’ll do some research tomorrow and see what we can come up with. That’s the best I can offer.”

  “Fine.” Kade made a face as he flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. “I thought you knew everything. I guess I was wrong.”

  He was very obviously teasing, so I didn’t lash out. “I’ll go back to my genius status tomorrow. I’m too tired to claim the title tonight.”