Jesse sat a hand on Nipi’s shoulder. “Where’s Isabel?”
Nipi glanced around as though unsure where he was, shrugged.
Heavy clouds drifted in and the sun slowly faded from Krampus’s face. Jesse knew it would start snowing again soon. He stood, headed up the steps and into the church. He blinked as his eyes adjusted to the gloom and found her sitting in front of the potbelly, her hands clutched together between her knees, staring at the stove. No fire burned, and she was shivering. Almost all traces of being a Belsnickel were gone, and the first thing that struck him was just how young she looked, a bit boyish, with a sprinkle of freckles across her nose, but pretty in her own way.
Jesse sat down next to her. Isabel didn’t look up, but when he put his arm around her, she clutched his hand and leaned against his shoulder.
They sat in silence for a long while; finally, Isabel spoke. “They murdered him. Murdered all of them. How can murder be God’s will?”
Jesse didn’t have an answer, all he knew to do was to clutch her tighter. Isabel pressed her face into his shoulder and began to sob.
After a bit, Jesse noticed that the cardboard box where they’d stashed the guns and cash still sat next to the piano. “Be right back,” he said and walked over to the box. All the money appeared to still be there.
“Isabel . . . where’s Chet and Vernon?”
“Not sure.” Isabel talked without looking up. “As soon as Krampus fell . . . well, the both of them, they lit on out of here . . . just run off. Guess I should’ve run off, too, but I didn’t. Just waited for those horrible angels to come kill me. But they didn’t seem much concerned with me. Santa took the sleigh and left . . . and them angels . . . they went along with him.”
Jesse pulled out the guns, wiped off his prints, and left them on the piano. He folded the top on the box down over the cash and tucked it beneath his arm. He walked over to Isabel. “We have to go.”
She looked up at him and he was struck by how green her eyes were.
“It’ll be trouble if we’re found here,” he said.
She nodded and stood up.
They headed out the door, down the steps. Isabel walked over to Krampus’s body, knelt next to Nipi, put her arm around him. Jesse headed over to the truck, tossed the box into the cab, then came back over and stood with them. “Isabel . . . Nipi . . . c’mon now. We gotta go.”
“Can’t just leave them here like that,” Isabel said. “Wouldn’t be right.”
Jesse let out a sigh. “No, guess not. Guess we should find a better place than this for Wipi and Old Tall and Ugly. Nipi, how about it? Sound like a plan?”
Nipi nodded.
THEY LOADED WIPI and Krampus into the back of the truck. It surprised Jesse that the Yule Lord didn’t weigh more. He wasn’t exactly light, but still, he seemed lessened, as though the body were a mere husk without the weight of the Yule Lord’s great spirit.
They drove the bodies up into the hills, the same hills where Krampus had been chained for all those years. It took most of the morning and two trips for the three of them to carry the two bodies up to the cave. Nipi led them to a pile of stones in the rear of the cavern. Makwa’s spear and bear hide lay atop the stones. They placed the bodies next to Makwa’s, with Krampus in the middle, and also covered them with stones. They laid Wipi’s cloak atop his stones, but the Yule Lord’s stones remained bare.
They stood staring silently at the three mounds.
Jesse broke the silence. “Don’t guess he would want a prayer?”
Isabel shook her head and a small smile touched her lips. “No, but I know what he would like.”
Together they gathered up an armload of mistletoe, then Nipi cut a handful of birch branches. Isabel tied them into a bundle. She arranged the mistletoe around Krampus’s mound and sat the switches on top. By the time she finished it was beginning to snow.
“We need to get on back before we get stuck up here,” Jesse said.
Isabel nodded and they headed out of the cave. Nipi stayed behind.
“Nipi,” Isabel called. “C’mon, we need to go.”
Nipi shook his head.
“You can’t stay here,” Isabel said.
“Yes, it is where I belong.”
“You don’t belong in some smelly old cave. You’re human again, in case you haven’t noticed, and you’re gonna catch your death of cold.”
“I have lived many lifetimes. Have been honored to serve the mighty Yule Spirit. If the Great Fathers call me home . . . I am ready.”
“What, so you’re just gonna sit up here and shiver to death? Well, I’m not about to stand for such nonsense.” Isabel walked back to him, took a seat on a boulder. “If you’re not coming with us, then I guess we’ll both just sit here ’til we freeze to death. How’d you like that?”
Nipi grinned. “You are indeed his little lion. Isabel, I have no intention of shivering to death. I will serve out my life guarding this sacred cave.”
“But why?”
“Tell me, what is there for me in this new world?”
She sat there for another long minute but came up with no answer. Slowly the stubborn left her face and she let out a great sigh. She stood up and slugged him lightly on the arm. “You got no sense, you know that?”
Nipi nodded.
Isabel started away, stopped, returned, and embraced him.
Nipi held her tightly. “I will miss you as well, little lion.”
“You won’t neither,” she said, trying her best to look angry. She wiped at her eyes and left him standing beside the mounds. When she reached the mouth of the cave, she called back, “You ever change your mind, you come and find me, you hear?”
Nipi didn’t answer.
Isabel and Jesse headed away back down the trail for the truck. At some point they thought they caught the sound of the Shawnee chanting.
“THERE,” ISABEL SAID, pointing to a small church.
JESSE PULLED INTO the parking lot. It was just after noon on Sunday and the church lot was almost full.
“It’s hardly changed,” she said.
“You sure you don’t want me to wait? What if your son’s not there?”
She sucked in a deep breath. “Someone will be there.” She pulled the necklace from around her neck, popped the wedding ring off the cord, and held it in her palm. She stared at it for a long moment, then slipped it on her ring finger. “It still fits.”
“Are you scared?”
She met his eyes. “I’m scared that when I do find him, he won’t want to know me. That’s what I’m most scared of.”
“Y’know, you showing up like this . . . gonna put a lot of folks off. They won’t understand. Could cause you some trouble.”
“Nobody’s gonna keep me from finding my boy,” Isabel shot back, and Jesse saw her spunk, saw the girl that Krampus liked to call his little lion. It brought a grin to Jesse’s face. “Guess they’d better watch themselves.”
“Guess so.” She grinned back and touched his hand. “How about you? You gonna be all right?”
“Not sure yet. Me and Linda, we got a lot of fixing to do . . . a lot of hurt to work through. Got my work cut out for me I guess.”
“Someone needs to tell that woman just how damn lucky she is to have someone like you loving her so.”
He laughed. “Someone sure does.”
“Well, here goes nothing.” Isabel popped the door and started to get out.
“Wait, just hold up. We got a spot of unfinished business.”
She looked at him curiously.
“Get in here and pull that door to. Don’t want no one to see.”