That piercin', eerie sound warn't from Freck. If'n it warn't her, what was it? Where did it come from? How did it penetrate the sealed mind-mesh, uninvited? Gee's bulgin' eyes was dartin' 'round lookin' for the source. Freck and I didn't know what ta do. It came again, even louder. "Gee what the heck is it!?"

Gee appeared rattled, "I am not sure." he soft whispered.

If Gee didn't know, we was in BIG trouble. He's our anchor, our solid ground. All of a sudden he shouted, "Get out of this mind-mesh NOW!" We bolted out. He kept his mental voice low so's ta keep from bein' overheard "I may have made a mistake in thinking that you two had spontaneously opened the mesh. It is provable that another Cigam practitioner created it, and lured you in attempting to drain your minds. In your morose state you were vulnerable. You could not know what was happening. I knew you had gone into a mind-mesh because I could no longer hear your thoughts. So I waited for your invitation. Until then there was nothing else I could do.

"When we first heard the wild wail, I could not put my finger on it. The second one tipped me off. It came from a siren."

I was bewildered. "Ya mean like a police car, or ambulance?"

"Well, not that kind of siren. Have you heard of the sirens in Greek mythology?"

Freck answered quickly, "Ain't those the beautiful ladies that sang songs to the sailors ta enchant 'em. It was a lure ta make 'em wreck their ships on rocks."

"Excellent Freck, but they were not beautiful. If you saw what they really look like, it would turn your stomachs. The truth is they have the ability to enter a mind and make their victims see anything they want them to see. Lairbeasts, as you well know, shape shift. They alter their bodies. Sirens alter perceptions. Sailors at sea on a long journey got very lonely. They pined for female companionship. The sirens plucked these desires from the men's minds and enticed them to their destruction. The wail we heard was frustration. Your minds are protected by Cigam. Try as they might, they could not break all the way through."

I asked, my mental voice quivering, "Why did they choose us?"

"They are creatures of the brain. Your mind-speaking was like a beacon leading them straight to you. They must have sensed your battle fatigue and wrongly assumed you were ripe for the picking. They made a mind-mesh trap to catch you and literally suck the thoughts, memories, and ideas right out of your consciousness. Without your Cigam training they would have succeeded."

"What would have happened to us?" The tone of Freck's inner-voice told me she was scared.

"That is the worst part of all. You would not die. Your bodies would live, but you would not be able to form a single thought ever again. It is what your doctors call a vegetative state.

Another loud wail struck my brain. This time it sounded more like an angry shriek. It hurt. Gee slammed a lid on it though. He reflected back the howl and upped the volume. Since it was redirected we didn't hear the full blast, but they sure did. The next sound was a whimper, then dead silence.

"From what you told us Gee," I said, "there's an awful lot of terrible monsters livin' in Greenland. Why ain't we heard of this b'fore?"

"The island of Greenland is very large. It has a landmass greater than the combined areas of France, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium. In that huge, mostly empty, country there are fewer citizens than a medium sized American city, about 57 thousand. The residents live near the coastlines, because the rest of the country is always ice covered. That gives lairbeasts, Amorak, and who knows what else, plenty of room to freely roam.

"It is a rarity that Greenland's ice-sheet monsters ever see a human. When they do, and if the humans live to tell about it, the stories they share are unbelievable. No one wants to accept that things like that are real, so they chalk it up to hallucinations, insanity, or just plain old cries for attention. We know better, right? We have come face to face with some of the most terrifying creatures on earth. The thing to always remember is that our combined Cigam power is stronger than anything we are likely to encounter."

I don't know why, but this brush with sirens was actually a good thing. Instead of deepenin' our funk, it drew us out. Self-pity was gone. Cryin' time was over. Freck was smilin' again. I was energized. I began lookin' forward to completin' our flight ta Greenland, unknown monsters and all. Bring 'em on. We can handle 'em. It's easy to be brave when the danger ain't standin' right in front of ya.

◽️◽️◽️

Sermitsiaq Mountain, also known as Saddleback Mountain, was the first thing we saw comin' in to Nuuk, Greenland. It was a brilliant, clear day. The snow covered mountain, framed by endless crystal blue sky, was amazin'.

The Greenlanders liked brightly colored houses too. We were kiddin' kround 'bout the homes in Newfoundland. Now I wonder if we were right after all. I've heard about a condition called snow blindness. It's caused by constant ice-glare. Oh boy, there is a lot of ice and snow in Greenland. It's everywhere. I could go snow blind just lookin' out the window of the airplane. A long enough exposure ta bright light would affect the way ya see color. So, instead of seein' a hot red, it would appear as light pink instead. If their house was white would they see it at all? Shoot, I've done worked up my curiosity. Until I get the question answered it's gonna bug me.

We landed at another private airstrip. Our navigator announced that the temperature in Nuuk was 30 degrees. That's warmer, if you can call it that, than in our last stop. Still, for two kids from the gulf coast of Florida, where November temperatures are usually in the 70 - 80 degree range, 30 degrees is too darn cold. We bundled up like it was in the minuses. How does anyone ever get used ta this bone-shakin' misery?

We was goin' out the back of Ol' Grizz, when we was blasted with ear bustin' screams   of animals, dogs, and wolves. Holy heck!? Was every Nuuk animal sufferin' some kinda brutal torture?

Nini (pronounced knee-knee) Olsen waited for us ta deplane. She was slender and Keeper-tall with a wild cascade of blonde hair ripplin' halfway down her back. Her eyes was hollow with worry. It was hard ta tell if'n she was happy ta see us. It appeared that she was too disturbed by all the animal noises. Her blue bloodshot eyes were scourin' the terrain. Her haunted lips was pursed.

Nini spoke rapidly to Gee, "I cannot say what is happening. This howling, and strange animal behavior has been going on for two days. I am at my wits (it sounded like vits) end."

Gee mentally asked her, "Has anyone gone missing, or have there been any attacks that you know about?"

She mind-spoke, "There is a group of hunters still out, but they are not expected until tomorrow. The last radio contact we had with them, they said everything was fine."

"Topside scientists have studies linking odd animal behavior to earthquakes. They believe that animals can sense when one is coming," Gee suggested. "Is it possible that the earth is shifting?"

"We have not had a really big one since 1933, but anything is possible. We are not immune to earthquakes."

I interrupted, "Could it have anythin' ta do with Amoraks?"

She gave me and Freck a sideways look, then turned ta us sayin', "I am very sorry. This is no way to greet our famous guests. Here we are standing out in the cold when we could be inside the cabin sitting by a warm fire with hot mugs of chocolate. Let us continue this after we warm you two up."

I always thought cabin meant a small house made of logs. Her cabin was made of logs, alrighty, but you couldn't call it small by any means. It was taller than the surrounding pine trees. It reminded me more of a hotel than a house. There was a very wide covered front porch big enough to hold at least a hundred guests. It faced west. I'd bet they hosted a lot of sunset and northern lights watchin' parties on that porch. I hoped we would see both.

Freck read my thoughts, "I knows what ya mean. I've loved sunsets as long as I can r'member. My daddy used ta carry me down ta the beach. We'd sit in the sand waitin' for the sunset. Sometimes the clouds would look like pink cotton candy. Often there'd patches of crimson chased by carnival orange. It was different everytime. When it started ta turn purple, he'd say, 'Sunsets are a promise. It's Mother Earth's way of sayin', I'm givin' ya this amazin' gift of beauty ta carry you through night until mornin'. When you awake, I'll give ya a glorious sunrise. For the rest of your life I promise to bring these two gifts, so ya will always know ya never need ta fear the dark of night.'"

"That's beautiful, Freck."

"I know. It was better than a bedtime story. I would fall asleep thinkin' about sunsets, and sunrises. Night was just the sleepin' time between 'em."

"Ya know I think that someday when I b'come a daddy, I'm gonna tell my kids about the earth's promise."

◽️◽️◽️

True ta her word, Nini Olsen got us settled inta our rooms, then invited us ta join 'em downstairs by the fire. I shucked off the big snow boots, removed my giant fur lined hooded coat, put the gloves in the coat pockets, and wiggled out of the ski bibs. Dressed more comfortably in jeans, after-ski boots, flannel shirt and sweater, I walked out inta the hallway. Freck was still in her room. She was prob'ly still decidin' what ta wear. Girls, ya know, dress ta make a statement. Boys dress just 'cuz they have ta, otherwise we just might settle for loincloths, like Tarzan.

I sent a mind-message to Freck, "I'll meet ya downstairs."

"Okay. Just a minute."

For bein' a tomboy she's such a girly-girl sometimes. It was warm by the fireplace. I sat down in a deep maroon-colored overstuffed chair. Nini's butler brung me a hot chocolate in an elk horn mug. It was topped with a generous mountain of whipped cream. Delicious. I was sure Freck was comin' down right away. She took her time. I was well inta my second hot cocoa b'fore she appeared.

Maybe it was 'cuz our host was an attractive woman that Freck had fixed her hair real nice. She was wearin' a long skirt, a silk blouse, earrings, and if I warn't mistaken, a touch of makeup. Freck can be quite pretty when she dresses up. I tried not ta stare. Instead I said somethin' dumb. "Wow, Freck ya looks . . . kinda . . .nice." My face got hot when I realized how awkward that was.

Freck didn't seem ta notice. She was feelin' too good 'bout herself. I could tell by her glidey walk, the relaxed smile, and her grownup response, "Why thank ya Wishes, I'm glad ya noticed."

◽️◽️◽️

The wind kicked up. That was good. It kinda drowned out some of the strange animal cries. Ta hear the critters in such sufferin' was b'yond awful. They knew sumpin' was a comin', and it warn't good.

After a dinner of roasted caribou and herbed potatoes, Nini asked me and Freck if we wanted to join her on a walk ta the barn. Freck said no, but I was purty eager. I wanted ta see the distressed the animals—up close—for myself.

I hustled upstairs, struggled into my cold weather clothes again, and clomped back down ta walk with Nini. She mentioned, "I am glad to see you dressed for the storm. It came in shortly after your arrival." I figured she didn't know how ta make a personal weather shield (PWS), 'cuz she was dressed for  freezin' blowin' snow. She warn't showin' off in a bikini or sumpin' like Merklin did.

The barn warn't far away, but fightin' against the strong winds made for slow goin'. On our return the wind would push at our backs. I'll bet was goin' ta fly back unless the wind changed direction. We struggled with  the heavy barn door just ta make a space big enough ta ease in.

Just inside the doorway we was blasted with an excruciatin' torrent of sound. The screams of cows, horses, and sheepdog, nearly caused my ears ta bleed.

Suddenly!

HOLY CRAP!

My heart jumped so high it nearly smacked me in the chin. I was terrified by what I saw. Not thirty feet away—toward the back—was a huge white, hairy, two-legged beast. It was hunkered down, rippin' bloody chunks of horse meat from a freshly killed mare. It must've seen our movement, 'cuz it glanced up from its gory feast, and glared at us with glowin', scarlet, demonic eyes.