Winter Prey

Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Caleb rubbed his gritty eyes. Spots and letters danced in the darkness behind his closed lids. Beside him, Nodinens chuckled, and when he glanced at her, the elderly woman looked as fresh and ready for more genealogical work as she had hours ago. Her brown eyes sparkled with life, not a sign of the redness he could feel in his showing.

"I enjoy this," she said. "It has been part of my life's path ever since I listened to stories from the Elders." Then a frown marred her features. "If only it were not for such a dire reason."

"You've already done the major work," Caleb reminded her. "All we've been doing is adding a 'sort' feature to the clans. And you've got a hell of...uh...heck of a computer here."

"I buy a new one each year out of my tribal allotment. When I first tried to learn to use one of these things, more than once I would have tossed it through my window. If I had been able to pick up the darned thing. Earlier ones were so heavy. Now, I cannot imagine living without one. Besides, the typing is good exercise, to keep the arthritis in my fingers at bay."

"You could probably have done the work as easily as I could."

"We needed both of us," she denied. "You for the typing, me to wrack my elderly recollections to trace the Marten Clan members back through our history."

Caleb sighed. "I'm not sure it will do any good."

"And why not, son?"

"Nothing. I...."

"Speak, Caleb McCoy. We are all working together here. Anything might help us defeat the windigo this time, no matter how minor one of us thinks a thought might be."

Caleb rose from the chair and massaged his lower back with his fingers. The chair was set for Nodinens' smaller figure, and he'd been in a crouched position for several hours, too polite to adjust the chair height. His back was paying for it now. His bladder also made itself known, but one look at Nodinens' stern countenance indicated he better answer her rather than visit the bathroom.

"It's just that...well, no matter how hyperaware people are, they aren't going to be able to stop this creature if it chooses them for its next victim. It's supernatural. It has powers that can't be thwarted by our human abilities."

"Yet you and Kymbria kept it at bay," she reminded him. "And you gave Jimmy and his sister a charm. Plus the thing wasn't able to approach you at the wreck. Whatever protections you and Keoman had between you probably saved Keoman's life. That...evil son of a bitch would have counted a Midé from the Marten Clan as a huge...a huge coup, as our ancestors would have called it."

"I don't have enough blessed protections for everyone in the Marten Clan."

"We have our own protections. Even now, Gagewin is making sure that everyone who needs one, has one."

She studied him as Caleb turned to stare out the window into the darkness beyond her small house. But with the bright lights in here, he couldn't see anything except his drawn face reflected back at him.

"What is it, son? You are keeping back another thought that should be freed."

Caleb bit his lip, then faced her. "I'm just wondering how this damn thing will react if everyone it chooses as its next prey is wearing a protection that keeps it away."

He saw the acknowledgement of his words dawn in her brown eyes. Then she firmed her lips and stood. "We will worry about that when necessary. Now, I need to feed you. And you can stay here tonight. The couch makes into a bed. There is no sense in going back to that cabin with no utilities."