Finding Shelter

by Kathi Daley

  The old woman wore the same dress she’d worn during every other dream. I hadn’t thought to ask Bella if the old woman actually wore the same gray dress every day or if the dress was simply an effect of the dream. I supposed it didn’t matter, but I did have to admit I was curious.

  As with the other cabins I’d dreamed about, the windows were boarded, so there was no way to determine either the location or time of day, but I suspected that this cabin, like the others, was tucked away well off the beaten path.

  As with all the other dreams I’d had, once the old woman dished up the food, she’d headed down a long dark hallway, which after the discovery of the last cabin the girls had been held in, I now knew was a representation of a journey and not an actual hallway. In the second cabin, the old woman would have had to go outside to deliver the food. I wondered why the image I’d seen was a hallway and not the actual landscape she traveled through. I suspected I was viewing a memory and not a live event given the time of day when the dreams occurred, so perhaps the person I was channeling did some editing before showing me what it was he wanted to share. I know that sounded crazy, but as far as I was concerned, this whole thing was crazy.

  Tonight, the old woman had two bowls of soup or stew. I hadn’t dreamed last night, so I supposed that at some point between yesterday morning when the old woman and the boy had fled with Lily, they’d met up with the man in the ski mask, who’d taken a girl to replace Bella, and they’d found a new place to hole up. I wasn’t sure they’d stay where they were given the fact that the man with the ski mask must know that law enforcement was on his trail, but I hoped they’d stay put long enough for us to catch up with them.

  In addition to Lily, there was a girl with dark hair and a similar physical appearance and age as Bella. If this man was kidnapping girls to sell, I wondered if he had specific orders to fill in terms of age and overall appearance. I supposed that could be the case, but there was no way to know for sure at this point.

  The new girl was terrified, crying as she cowered in the corner. I could see that Lily was doing the best she could to mediate the situation by both calming the girl and offering her thanks to Fran. I wondered if that was intentional. Maybe she realized that trying to make friends with her captors afforded her the best chance for escape.

  Again, whoever I was channeling seemed to be lurking in the background. The old woman with the food never acknowledged that anyone was behind her, but tonight, I noticed that Lily glanced at something or someone beyond the old woman and smiled. Had it been the boy and not the old woman who Lily had been smiling at during the last couple of dreams? Had she decided that coaxing the boy into helping her was most likely her best bet? Had the boy decided he would help her? Was that the reason he’d let me into his head? So many questions and not enough answers, but I knew that if I was going to help these girls, I needed to do my best during these brief dreams to see everything there was to see.

  Now that I knew what was going on, I could better control what I saw. At least to a degree. I still had no idea if the old woman with the food had traveled down an actual hallway after dishing up whatever was in the pot on the old woodstove or if she’d ventured outside to an outbuilding as she had at the last cabin the group had stayed in. The windows were boarded, so I couldn’t see out, and I hadn’t actually noticed a door, but knew there was one. Based on prior dreams, I knew that once the old woman delivered the food and closed the bedroom door, I’d wake up. My time there tonight was over, but I was determined to try to communicate with whoever’s head I was in during my next dream.

  As predicted, I woke once the food was delivered, and the bedroom door had closed. I hated to wake Houston, but if a new girl had been taken, time was of the essence, so I punched in his number and waited.

  “Harmony?” He must have sat up or looked at the clock or something at this point because his next words were a lot less groggy. “You had another dream.”

  “I did. The same as the others, but there was a new cabin with a new girl. Dark hair, with similar features and age as Bella.”

  “Okay. I’m going to grab my things, and I’ll be over. You can walk me through everything. I’ll do a search for missing persons within a hundred-mile radius and see what I come up with. Put the coffee on. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long day.”

  After I hung up with Houston, I slipped out of bed and pulled my robe on. I let the dogs out, started the fire, and put on a pot of coffee. Once the dogs came back from their bathroom break, I headed into the bathroom for a shower. I’d just returned to the main room after getting dressed and drying my hair when Houston pulled up.

  “Emily Deerchild,” he said after handing me his computer bag so he could return to his truck for the maps and files he’d brought.

  “Emily Deerchild?” I asked. “Is that the new victim?”

  He nodded as he entered the cabin and set everything in his arms on the table. “Twelve years old, brown hair, blue eyes. Emily was last seen leaving school yesterday afternoon.”

  “This guy didn’t waste any time replacing Bella.”

  Houston unzipped his computer bag, slipping the laptop out and plugging it in. “If I had to bet, he’d originally planned to kidnap girl number three yesterday. If Lily was correct when she told Bella that the man with the ski mask needed three girls, he would have been finishing up and heading toward the meeting place, but now that he’s lost Bella, he’s going to need a third. I suspect he may take a third girl as early as today. Maybe tomorrow, depending on his timeline for delivery.”

  “So we need to track these girls down ASAP.”

  “Exactly.”

  I handed Houston a mug of coffee. “Okay. So where do we start?”

  Houston looked at me. “I know that to this point, you’ve been having these visions while you’re sleeping. They seem to come to you rather than you conjuring them up. I also know that when a rescue is involved, you sit and focus on the victim and that it’s your intent that initiates the contact. Do you think that if you tried, you’d be able to contact the person whose mind you’ve been lurking in?”

  I hesitated. Even the act of being a witness and not an instigator had left me feeling drained and headachy. Initiating contact was always challenging, and each time I did it, I felt like it stripped something away from me. I knew that even if I could find a way to get inside the head of the individual I’d been channeling, it was going to take more out of me than I was sure I had to give.

  “Yes,” I eventually answered. “I think I know enough now to try.” I looked toward the sofa where Moose was curled up asleep. I was going to need him for sure. “Bella gave you a description of the boy we think I’ve been connecting with. I’m going to settle in with Moose, and you are going to slowly describe him to me while I focus.”

  “Okay. Whatever you need,” Houston said.

  I drank half my mug of coffee before heading to the sofa. I sat down and pulled Moose into my lap. Moose was not a lap cat and would often squirm away when I tried to cuddle with him, but today he seemed to know we had work to do since he snuggled in and began to purr. I closed my eyes and focused on the cabin I’d seen in my dreams just a few hours ago. I opened my mind and willed my consciousness to merge with the host who’d found me so many times in the last two weeks.

  “Bella described the boy as being around fifteen. Husky build. Tall. Strong looking,” Houston began.

  I tried to create an image in my mind.

  “Dark hair. Longish. Maybe shoulder length. Dark eyes that appeared sympathetic.”

  Houston paused, and I focused in.

  “Quiet. Never speaks. Keeps his distance and seems to lurk in the shadows,” Houston continued. It sounded like he was reading from his notes and probably was. “Bella hadn’t been with him long enough to have forged an impression of his personality or intention, but Lily had told her that he seemed kind. Bella wasn’t sure if this was accurate. If he was really kind, she reasoned, he would have found a way to help them whe
n it was just them and the old woman.” I could sense Houston looking up from his notes. “I guess the man with the ski mask might have conditioned him to do what he was told even when he wasn’t around.”

  My memory of the dream I’d had last night was vivid. When I arrived in the mind of the person I assumed was the boy this time, the cabin was dark. Totally dark. Of course, it was still totally dark outside, so perhaps I’d managed to connect with the boy in real-time. If I had, I might be able to use that connection to figure out where they were. I looked around, but it was totally dark, so I really couldn’t see a thing. I could feel the person whose mind I shared awaken. As his mind settled into an alert state, I noticed him moving toward the stove.

  “This isn’t a wood stove,” I said as I got a closer look. “It’s one of those stoves that works on a generator.”

  “A generator?”

  I nodded. “I noticed last night during my dream that the cabin didn’t seem to have a fireplace but I didn’t realize that the stove didn’t burn wood either.”

  “Maybe the man with the ski mask learned his lesson about wood smoke.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. That did seem likely.

  “What else are you noticing?” Houston asked.

  I paused and continued to look around. I felt more in control of my thoughts and movements than I did when I was the observer during my dream state. “The old woman is awake. She’s sitting next to the stove. I suppose it must be putting off some heat since she seemed to be cooking on it in my dream. I can’t know for sure, but I’m guessing the cabin is either a forest service cabin like the one we found the group using two days ago, or it might be a private fishing and hunting cabin. It’s barren, but it does seem to have a generator, so that makes me think it might be privately owned.”

  “What is the boy whose mind you’re visiting doing?” Houston asked.

  “It feels like he’s just sitting where he slept. When I first entered his mind, I believe he was sleeping. He appears to be fully alert now, but I haven’t sensed that he’s moved.” I took a breath. “I suppose he senses me and is trying to make sense of the whole thing.”

  “Any clue at all as to where the cabin might be located?”

  I looked around and tried to hone in on something, but it was too dark. I really needed someone to light one of the oil lamps. I remember seeing a lamp on the table from my previous visit, so I focused all my attention on it, hoping the boy would understand what I wanted him to do. At first, he didn’t move, but after a bit, I could sense movement.

  “He’s moving around now,” I said. “I’m focusing on the lamp. It’s dark, so all I can see are outlines of images.”

  I remembered from my dream last night that the walls were bare, the furniture sparse and very well used. The kitchen where the old woman had gone for the spoons had shelves with dishware. Not a lot of it and not matched, but it looked like the cabin was outfitted for cooking. The walls were log, the floor was natural pine with deep scratches. There was a rug toward the center of the room. It looked like it had been green at one time but had turned gray due most likely to wear and dirt.

  I smiled as the lantern was lit, and the room came into view. It was a subdued view, but I could see enough to get a feel for things. The first thing I noticed was a hallway. It was an actual hallway, not just a representation. I couldn’t see how far it went, but the hallway looked to have several rooms off it rather than only the bathroom the previous cabin had. As I noticed each of these features, I described them to Houston.

  “I’m going to try to deepen my connection. Don’t talk to me for the next few minutes, and don’t interrupt me. I might call out, or I might start to cry, but just let me do what I need to do.”

  “Okay,” Houston said. I could hear the reluctance in his voice, but he’d worked with me before as I’d made painful connections, so by this point, I supposed he knew the drill.

  As I relaxed and opened my mind, the first thing I noticed was fear. Fear of what I wasn’t sure, but I did know that the fear belonged to the boy. I supposed he might be afraid of the man who held them captive. Or his fear might have been for the girls who the boy I was channeling seemed to want to help. Just because this boy appeared to be helping the man didn’t mean that he wasn’t as much a victim as the girls he was watching were.

  “Are you there?” I thought, speaking silently to the person whose mind I’d connected with. “I can feel your pain. Your concern for the girls. I want to help.”

  The harder I focused, the more sure I was that my head was literally going to explode. The pain had grown quite intense, but still, I focused harder.

  “I know you’re scared, but I need you to help me,” I said in my mind. “I can’t help Lily if I don’t know where she is. I know you want to help her.”

  Even as I said the words, I knew they had no meaning for the boy. Bella said that the boy never spoke. Maybe he was deaf. If he was deaf and had never been taught to speak or read, the words would have no meaning. I decided to try to play out my words in my mind. I began by creating an image of Lily in my mind. Suddenly I felt an outpouring of love for the blond-haired girl who’d been with them about two weeks now. I tapped into a memory where she’d made eye contact and smiled at him. She’d seen him and acknowledged his presence when he seemed to be invisible to everyone else. It was at that moment that he’d decided to help her. It was in that moment that he’d begun letting me in.

  I focused harder. I knew speaking to the boy with words wouldn’t work, so instead, I imagined a scene where he found a flashlight and went outside. I focused intently on the door. I showed him that if he did this for me, then men would come who would help Lily escape. I imagined Lily being happy when she was rescued. I imagined her being grateful to him. I even imagined her giving him a hug.

  I could sense that the boy had gotten up. He didn’t say anything to the old woman who was still sitting quietly in the chair by the stove as he grabbed an oil lamp from the table, lit it, and headed toward the door. The old woman didn’t say anything. I actually think she might have been asleep in the chair. The boy hesitated at the door. Again, I focused on a scene where the boy opened the door, and Lily was saved.

  The boy opened the door and stepped outside. I looked around frantically. I could feel his fear, but I could also sense his resolve. He walked toward an outbuilding, which I realized must be an outhouse. I supposed that was a good idea. If the old woman woke and noticed that he was outdoors, she wouldn’t give a second thought about him using the facilities so early in the morning.

  Luckily, it was a clear night, and there was light from the stars and moon. When the boy had first stepped out, I noticed that the ground was covered with snow. Not surprising. By this point in the winter, most of the state was covered in snow. As the boy slowly walked toward the outbuilding, I looked around as quickly as I could. There were trees growing densely in every direction, so it was difficult to get a lay of the land, but I did notice a tall mountain in the distance that had a high enough summit to be seen beyond the trees.

  “Bearpaw Peak,” I said aloud.

  I didn’t mean to break the connection, but that was exactly what happened. One minute I was connected with the boy, and the next, he was gone. I opened my eyes.

  “Did you see something?” Houston asked.

  “The boy is in love with Lily. He’s scared. I suppose he’s afraid of the man with the ski mask, but he wants to help her, so he’s willing to take small risks. He allowed me to come along as he went outside. The cabin is in a deep forest surrounded by trees, but I could see Bearpaw Peak to the west.” I got up and walked over to the table. I rolled out a map. I pointed to a wilderness area, about one hundred and fifty miles away, which would take a good four hours to reach by road given the weather. “I think they’re holed up right about here.”

  “That’s only about sixty miles from where Emily was taken, so that part fits.”

  I turned and looked out the window. “We need to go have a look ar
ound.” I turned back toward the map. “There’s a town here.” I pointed to Huntsville, the town I’d visited with a mysterious man. A man who filtered in and out of my life.

  “That’s where you went with Shredder the first Christmas I was here,” Houston said.

  “That’s right,” I said. “I’ll call Jake and tell him I need a few days off. I’ll call Serena and make sure she’s okay at the shelter. And then I’ll call Justine and see if she can come and stay at my place and take care of the animals.” I looked at the clock. “The sun will rise in three and a half hours. I can be ready in less than two. We should hit the road as soon as we can. We should have around six hours of daylight today. We’ll need every one of them.”

  Houston nodded. “Okay. I’ll head back to my place and pack a bag. I’ll let my men know what I’m doing, and then I’ll come back for you.”

  “Bring any survival supplies you have. The road between here and the town where we’re heading is rustic. The odds of getting stuck are actually pretty good.” I paused to consider things. “We should bring our snowmobiles too. We’ll probably need them. I can load mine onto your trailer. If you want to bring Kojak, I’ll bring Yukon. You have an extra cab, so they can ride in the back seat. You never know when an experienced search-and-rescue dog might come in handy.”

  Traveling the road we planned to travel could be tricky during the winter, but Houston had a big four-wheel-drive truck with a long bed, extra cab, custom wheels and tires built for backwoods travel, tow bar, wench, and spotlights for additional illumination. If there was a truck that was made for a trip like this, it was Houston’s.

  “By the time we arrive in town, we’ll have less than three hours of daylight left. We’ll do what we can, spend the night, assuming we don’t find them right away, and then continue our search the following day.”