Rafael hadn't managed to fall asleep until late at night. He had turned over in his bed, again and again, replaying the events of the day. The disappearance of his uncle, the unexpected return of Ilona in his life, and especially the vision he had had at the nursing home.
He had woken up well before dawn and had stayed a long time looking at the ceiling, lost in his thoughts. He wanted to get up and run, but it was too dark outside. It wasn't even 7 a.m. yet.
Yesterday, Rafael and Paulina had gone to the police to report Leonard missing. He had also told it to his parents as soon as he returned. Now, there was nothing left to do but wait… Rafael wasn't sure if the police could do anything. Leonard was an adult and there were no clues, no claims, nothing to suggest any problems.
Except that he was missing and his phone had been offline for days.
Alek Dimavski, Rafael thought. He said the spirit world was merging with ours.
He had seen something at the nursing home. He had even felt it in his whole body and mind. Was the world really changing? Was it related to his uncle's disappearance? Or was he going crazy? The mirror pendant still hung around his neck. Rafael stroked it absently. There was something special about that pendant. A sense of antiquity and power. Maybe what he had seen wasn't real, maybe it was this pendant that made him feel things that didn't exist?
Rafael didn't believe this explanation.
He reached down to grab Leonard's thesis. It had been lying there in the dust since Christmas Eve. If this pendant was a shamanic artifact, his uncle probably mentioned it in his booklet. He turned on his bedside lamp, glanced at the table of contents, then turned to the appropriate page.
The Odul shamans of the Yukaghir group use many magical objects to interact with the spirits. These items can be divided into three groups: those that promote contact with the spirits, those that increase spiritual powers, and those that offer protection against evil spirits.
Ceremonial clothing, the flute, and the traditional drum are always part of this magical paraphernalia as they help the shaman and the villagers to get into the right state of mind to contact the spirits. Their nature varies greatly but one constant remains: they are only used during rituals. Outside of these special occasions, they are carefully stored with the other treasures of the shaman.
To observe the spirits, the most important object is a consecrated mirror. It is usually very old and passed down from generation to generation. The shaman I was able to follow had one of these ancient objects mounted as a pendant like a Tibetan Melong. Before each ritual, he inspected the surroundings through his reflection to check that no supernatural being would come and disturb him.
The snuff powder allows for a stronger connection between the shaman and the spirit. It can also strengthen spiritual powers. The plants used and the method of manufacture are kept secret and are only passed on to the apprentice shaman at the end of his training.
The staff, or its lesser version the amulet, can be made of wood or bone. They are covered with disruptive runes to fight against evil spirits that might attack the shaman. Some of these runes have a general effect while others target specific spirits. These objects are of great importance in the event of inter-tribal conflict.
According to tradition, shamans also possess objects that enhance their spiritual power. These are hidden and often specific to the particular spirit to which they are linked. Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to examine such objects. The Canadian Museum of History claims to have several, but their authenticity has been questioned by Dr. Harner.
Rafael paused to think. The description of the mirror pendant's effects matched remarkably well his experience, it was fascinating. He has always looked up to magic but he had never thought of shamanism as something real before… It was as if a new world was opening up to him. Why hadn't he taken his uncle's stories more seriously before? He remembered all the times he had made fun of his work with Tiffany. He felt stupid now.
The first rays of the sun finally broke the darkness. The sky was clear, a perfect weather to go running.
***
Rafael set off from the house towards the park in short strides, to warm up. In summer, he liked to look for new places to run. To explore the city or the surrounding countryside. When it was cold and less crowded, he preferred to run as close to home as possible. The streets were deserted at that time of day. No one to bother him. Yet, he had trouble finding his usual meditative state. His brain was working at full speed.
Were these Russian mercenaries only concerned with hydrocarbons or were they looking for something else? Rafael thought about the mirror pendant. It was not inconceivable that they had chased Leonard and Alek all the way here to steal it.
No, the idea didn't hold. They would have gone after the shaman or turned his uncle's apartment upside down to find the artifact. There had to be something else. Rafael arrived at the park and quickened his pace. The fuss in his mind didn't subside.
Maybe Paulina knew more than she wanted to say? Rafael found the timing of her call to the apartment suspicious. A good way to avoid being suspected is to be among those who raise the alarm.
Now he was getting paranoid. Why would she do this? She would have needed a motive... It wasn't about that thesis on shamanism, was it? Rafael hesitated for a moment. According to the old shaman, Paulina was using her uncle to boost her ego, it certainly made more sense to see her in that role rather than as a high-flying schemer, but perhaps he'd better contact Leonard's other colleagues at the university.
Was this also why Ilona was coming back to him? To reassure herself about her beauty? It was just sick!
Yet I still dream about her at night.
Rafael shook his head, trying to concentrate on the cold air burning his lungs. He had to avoid getting distracted.
Now that he thought about it, he hadn't found any computer at his uncle's apartment. Had it disappeared with him? Had it been stolen? He wasn't even sure if Leonard had one of his own, maybe he was just using one at the university.
Either way, Rafael was convinced that there was a connection between his uncle's disappearance and the spirit world. He needed to know more about it. His best source of information was the shaman, Alek Dimavski. He had to go back to the old man.
Rafael arrived to the clearing where the holly shoot was. His pace slowed down and he stopped, his hands resting on his thighs, his breathing sounding like forge bellows. He felt good, invigorated by the effort. He had managed to calm the chaos in his mind and was centered in himself again. He didn't know if the world would really change as Alek had said, but if it did, it would change with him.
Pausing in his thoughts, Rafael stood up abruptly. His eyes wide open he surveyed the nearby forest.
It's not just a feeling this time. Someone is watching me.
He looked around, but couldn't see anything, not the slightest movement either near the ground or in the trees. However Rafael was sure he was not dreaming. There was something. It was then that it came back to him. The vision of the skull, the mirror pendant. He grabbed the cord around his neck and pulled carefully. The artifact slid under his clothes until it reached the open air. He pulled it over his neck and, soon, it was hanging right in front of his nose.
Rafael gazed into the reflection, keeping his emotions in check and his will stretched in case he got sucked in again. The mirror showed him nothing behind him, so he slowly turned around to inspect the entire area.
After half a turn, while his back faced the holly shoot, he saw a shimmering flash of light pass through the reflection, green, gold, and hazel. He stopped moving and directed the pendant to follow the anomaly. It was... he didn't know what it was. The creature must have been six inches tall. It looked like a strange doll with pointed ears and branches growing out of its forehead. The most extraordinary thing was its eyes, they shone with an unearthly glow like two doors opening onto another world.
A spirit?
It was radically different from the skull he had seen the day before. In retrospect, it seemed logical... why would all spirits look like a skull? In any case, Rafael preferred it like that. This spirit did not make him feel the primal fear that had seized him the day before. It rather reminded him of the coolness of the undergrowth in summer and the sweet smell of pollen.
A gust of wind came out of nowhere, almost making him drop the mirror pendant, and suddenly the spirit was there, right in front of him. Rafael couldn't see it anymore, but the air pulsed with a strange vibration. There were also two faint blue lights where his eyes should be.
He didn't dare to make any move. He didn't want to frighten the spirit, nor for it to attack him.
The palpitation slowly approached him, time seemed to have slowed down.
And then the contact was established. It was an explosion of the senses, he felt not only his body but also that of the creature. Although it didn't really have a body, what he felt was more like a node of sensation, a connection point to all the plants in the park.
A hive mind?
The spirit seemed to be searching for something, a closer connection, but the palpitation dissipated at Rafael's proximity. He was still motionless, doing his best to deal with the strange influx of sensation from the creature. The vibration changed and, without knowing how, he knew that the spirit was disappointed. That he hadn't given it what it wanted. Or was it he who was disappointed? He wasn't sure he could tell the difference anymore.
The sound of an engine was heard further up the road and a flock of frightened birds flew out of nowhere to take refuge in the woods.
Rafael realized that the spirit was gone.
He raised the mirror pendant again and inspected the surroundings through his reflection. Nothing.
I didn't dream. It definitely happened.
***
After what he had experienced in the park, Rafael went home right away. He quickly took a shower and changed his clothes before setting off again in a hurry, on his motorcycle this time. He had questions to ask Alek Dimavski.
Many questions.
He hadn't even taken the time to have breakfast. Maybe it was a good thing because the rumbling of his stomach reminded him that the shaman had asked him to bring him some food. Rafael stopped at the first grocery store he saw on his way to buy an assortment of treats. He took cereal bars, chocolate bars, and even dried meat.
He stuffed an entire energy bar into his mouth and took back the road to the nursing home. After about ten minutes of travel, without necessarily respecting the speed limits, he arrived at the parking lot. Rafael's haste calmed down when he saw the doors. He had been remarkably successful in repressing the memory of his fear from the day before, but now that he was back he was getting nervous again.
He didn't understand the spirits after all, and the shaman looked half-crazy. Who knows what dangers he was exposing himself to by coming back here? Surely it was no coincidence that these nurses refused to approach him! Rafael clenched his jaw and turned the handle with determination. What else could he do? Hide under his bed and pray that the spirits didn't exist? Wait for Leonard to magically reappear?
If there was magic, it would be up to him to put it into effect.
The hostess greeted him with a smile. "Hello, you're here to see Mr. Dimavski I suppose?"
"Hello," he replied, returning her smile. "You remember me!"
"Of course," she quipped. "We don't get many visitors your age, especially with such beautiful green eyes."
Rafael paused. He had barely noticed the hostess the day before, too obsessed with his uncle's disappearance and his meeting with Paulina. Besides, no woman had ever been so direct with him. It felt weird. He looked at her, she must have been between twenty-five and thirty years old, with medium-length bleached hair that fit well with her blouse and a lovely nose.
He swallowed silently and did his best not to stammer, "Thank you, I'm here to see Alek indeed. Is that okay?"
The hostess reassured him. "No problem at all. I'm free, I'll take you to his room."
Rafael refrained from commenting and followed the woman through the corridors. It didn't take them long to get to Alek's room. He was about to knock on the door when she stopped him by handing him a card.
"My name is Sarah. This is my number, in case you need help." The hostess punctuated her statement with a suggestive wink. "I have to get back to my office now, see you soon!"
Rafael was left breathless, watching the hostess walk back down the hallways as if she were an alien. What had just happened? Alek was right, something had changed and life as he knew no longer existed… He shook his head to put this incident behind him, stuffed the card in his pocket, knocked, and entered without waiting for an answer.
Alek Dimavski was there, in a big worn-out armchair, mumbling to himself. When he saw Rafael he gave that big toothless smile that Rafael still had trouble getting used to and said: "Hi kid, are you here for the seduction tips?"
Rafael dropped into a chair not far away with a sigh. "Honestly, I don't think I need them."
The shaman raised an astonished eyebrow. "Really? That's a first." Without transition, his eyes fixed on the plastic bag Rafael was carrying, he added, "Did you bring me something?"
Rafael nodded and passed him the bag of junk food. "I didn't know what you liked, so I got a little bit of everything."
Alek greedily grabbed the bag then flipped it over onto the corner cabinet next to him. Without even looking at the flavor, he stuffed two cereal bars into his mouth with a grunt of pleasure.
"Perfect," he managed to say with his mouth full. "This will revive me, not like all those useless drugs they force me to take." The shaman made a gesture that made Rafael notice the procession of bottles sitting on a tray near the bed. There must have been a good twenty of them.
Half mad and half dead, indeed.
Alek stretched his arm to catch new bars and shouted like a child when he discovered the dried meat. Rafael had done well to take some... but he was getting impatient. He decided to jump in without waiting for the shaman to finish eating his treats, "About the spirit world you were talking about..."
Alek turned away from his food to look at him intently.
Rafael swallowed, then continued, "Do you think shamanism could help me find my uncle?"
Alek nodded several times. "It might, yes, it might."
"But there's one question kid," the shaman added in a serious tone that didn't match the traces of chocolate that smeared around his mouth. "What are you going to give me in exchange?"
Rafael opened his mouth and then closed it again. What did one give to become the disciple of a shaman? Was he risking offending him by offering something inappropriate? Damn, he should have read this thesis in more detail. Surely there was some information about it in there.
"What would you like?" asked Rafael.
"Do you think you can convince Paulina to give me a massage? My poor feet are killing me."
Rafael held back a sniffle. Okay, some mundane stuff then.
"How about some more treats?"
The shaman's face lit up with greed. "One bag a day," he negotiated.
Rafael rolled his eyes. "One bag a week, these things don't come cheap."
"Great," Alek replied with a laugh. "What do you want to know kid?"
Rafael took a deep breath, it was time to talk about what he had seen. He had decided to be upfront with the shaman so he pulled out the mirrored pendant. "You know what this is, don't you?"
A glint of sadness passed through the shaman's eyes. "Of course, it was me who gave it to your uncle, to thank him for saving my life."
Rafael nodded, he had suspected as much. He went on explaining to Alek the visions he had had and then asked, "These spirits, are they real?"
"As real as you and me kid," affirmed Alek. "And more so than ever." He paused briefly, "Spirits didn't live in our world before, you had to cross the barrier between dimensions to be able to exchange with them."
"And now?" asked Rafael, holding his breath.
"Now? I don't know why, but the barrier has fallen and spirits are being born on our side. This has never happened before."
"What does that mean?"
The shaman threw him a sideway glance. "It means the connection is easier, more intense, it means our magic is more powerful."
Then after a time, in a lower voice, "It also means that the ancient spirits from the other dimension could pass into our world without needing us to summon them."
Rafael didn't quite understand the implications of such a thing, but that didn't stop him from shuddering. The vision of the skull and that of the plant spirit came back to his mind. Were these newborn spirits?
What were these ancient spirits like?
The world he knew suddenly seemed very fragile.
