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“What’s that mean?” Austin asked.
I considered how to explain it. “Ever heard of a wendigo? It’s similar. It starts out as a human, but it turns to cannibalism, which turns it into… Well, into what got inside the resort.” I shuddered.
“This is ridiculous,” Nicole said, throwing up her hands. “Sabotage I believe in, but monsters?”
“It’s real,” Ila said, deflating before our eyes. “When Toklo told me what happened, what kind of injuries you had, I knew it to be true.”
Yuka whined, and I reached down to pat her head. Even the dogs believed it. They knew before we did.
I sighed, continuing to pet the dog. “When we crashed, we found shelter in a set of natural catacombs. There had been others there before us, and I don’t know if he was one of them who resorted to eating the rest because of starvation, or if he was already here and they were unaware, but all that’s left is a pile of their things and a pile of their bones.”
“That’s horrible,” Nicole said.
I nodded. “But that’s how I figured it out. That, its appearance, and the way it went at Austin.”
“I’m not turning into a werewolf or anything, am I?” Austin asked, wide-eyed.
Laughing felt ridiculously good under the circumstances. “No. Not that dating an alpha wolf would be so bad, but as long as you don’t start eating humans, we’re okay.”
“Anaq!” Toklo swore, and Ila glared at him. “Tell them,” he begged.
“Tell us what?” Nicole asked, pushing between us.
Cora plopped down on the ground and hummed, laying out cards in a semi-circle. Austin knelt to play with Yuka. It was like they wanted to pretend they weren’t part of this conversation, and I couldn’t blame either of them.
“We think,” Ila began, glancing at me over Nicole’s shoulder, “the outcast the tupilaq was created to seek out is the creature you seek.”
I paled as the story she’d told me came rushing back. The murderer. The pedophile. The man that disappeared into the tundra. He’d spoken to me—toyed with me like a serial killer would. And what had he said? Almost as good as a young one.
“I’m going to be sick,” I said behind my hand. Toklo took my arm and walked me to the office, where he helped me into a chair. Behind us, Ila retold the story to Nicole and the others. As hard of a time as Nicole was having with believing this, I was already certain it was the truth.
“He was a monster, and he turned into a literal one,” I said as Toklo squatted beside me, letting loose a huge lungful of air.
“I grew up hearing stories about him from my father,” he said. “Mom hated it and always scolded him for scaring me. Never thought he was real.”
Boy, did I know what that felt like. “So any idea what can stop an atshen?” I asked.
Toklo shook his head, mouth pursed as he considered. “Well, according to the stories, a tupilaq. The one that was created to kill him specifically is now missing from the museum. Not that it was doing its job anyway.”
“That thing gave me the creeps, to be honest,” I said. “The way it’s made maybe? I don’t know exactly, but is there another way to make one?”
Toklo grinned up at me. “No, but that’s one of the many reasons I decided not to follow in Great-grandad’s footsteps.”
“Do you have abilities?” I asked, swiveling toward him, surprised at his admission.
He shrugged. “Supposedly, my family inherits it. But all I ever got was a dream predicting Yuka.”
A smile tugged at my lips. “You dreamed her?”
“Yeah.” Toklo brushed at his hair. “I dreamed I’d find a pure-white pup, and the next day I caught her following me through the village. Not that surprising though since I was picking up fish for dinner.”
“Hey!” Cora called from the other room. “Get in here!”
Toklo and I rushed back in, fear gripping my stomach. But the look on Cora’s face was excitement and not terror as she stared down at her cards.
“What is it?” Nicole asked, and it could have been my imagination, but she seemed frazzled for the first time since I’d met her.
“I did a line for each of us,” Cora said, indicating three columns of six cards each.
