14

That night, I tossed and turned in my sleep. It was good to have Veruca back in bed with me, but even her presence couldn’t pry me free from the thoughts than ran untamed through my mind. Weather reports, unexpected FBI visitors, secret societies, both ancient and modern, all darted haphazardly through my consciousness.

Around one AM, I gave up on sleep and went out into the main room, I listened to the national weather service while meditating in the middle of my circle. Pittsburgh was being blanketed by a turkey day blizzard. I made a mental note to have Veruca check the missing person reports Monday. The distances between Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Joplin, Saint Louis, Memphis, Nashville, and Pittsburgh were sorted, analyzed, then re-sorted. I tried to remember if that was the route Veruca and I had driven in Dora, but found my memories badly entangled with my nightmares and personal suspicions. Still, if I was making this up, how had I known a storm would hit Pennsylvania this weekend?

“Yeah, but you predicted Philadelphia, not Pittsburgh,” my dark voice noted.

“I was wondering when you would show up.”

“Your thoughts seemed plenty dark and desperate without any help from me.”

“I did expect Philly. Makes me wonder if I’m wrong...”

“Or if it’s speeding up.”

“Something like that. There won’t be any bodies this time. It’s getting smarter, covering its tracks.”

“If there’s another wendigo out there. It could just be a copycat. There’s some really sick people out there.”

“What about the missing people in Memphis and Nashville?”

“Plenty of unexplained missing in every major city. Again, there’s some really sick people out there.”

“And the weather patterns?”

“It’s late November, Colin. Snow happens.”

I paused and worked on clearing the clutter from my head. Deep breath in, deep breath out. I counted backward from 33 before turning to the next topic. Where had I heard of the Faceless before?

“The Eye of Winter. Something about faceless men who had trained the wendigoes in ancient times.”

“Is that the connection? Are one of these people the shadowwalker?”

The lack of response scared me. Did the monster living inside of me not know the answer? Or worse still, did it know, but was too afraid to tell?

Even in a deep trance, I nearly jumped out of my skin when Veruca slid an arm around my shoulders. “You okay, Colin?”

The concern in her voice was touching. I just wished I knew the answer to her question.