“Fritz betrayed you?” Mira sought clarification.
“No, not Fritz! Fritz couldn’t do in a million years what them people would do! I mean the man – the one who started the whole mess and causin' them others to do very bad things. He the one that caused that major combruction all them thousands of years ago when the whole city gone under water. No one know the true story ‘cept for me. Don’t believe that Atlantis story you heard before. Don’t believe the version them so-called historians put out there. It’s all a lie. The man, they call the dark man, caused the whole city to be wipe out like a second Sodom and Gomorrah. But this city wasn’t destroyed by God; it was destroyed by the devil workin' through the dark man.”
The term “dark man” sent shivers through Mira’s spine as she recalled what Rosie had said. The thought of such an entity intruding upon Rosie’s personal space made her very uneasy.
“Tell me about him – this dark man,” she insisted.
Stefanie leaned against the wall of the porch for added support. “He started a cult in his native city and rounded up mostly young children – any between the age of five and nineteen. Some members were older, but the majority were children. He was a rich man who was able to lure them with food and gifts of all kind, ‘specially since the economy was sufferin' at that time, contrary to popular belief. The things he had them people doin’ would keep you up at night. They surely kept me up after I learned all 'bout it. Couldn’t sleep a wink for weeks. Many of them children grow up under him ‘cause him and the older ones killed off their folks, even got some of them to do the deed theirself on their own folks. Some wiped out their whole families, but in the most vicious ways: Beheadin's, poisonin's – mostly drownin's after they made them sick by poisonin’ them. A lot of them became cannibals; stalkin’ people then rippin’ them apart limb by limb and cookin’ them. The group grow to in the thousands well and all 'cause of the lure of money from who I call Lucifer son. What they didn’t know that the end would result in a tsunami sent by the devil himself to wipe them all out and everyone that remained 'cause Atlantis was his ‘gift’. And instead of a fiery hell, they gone to a watery hell where they’d continue to do the dark man biddin’. Young lady, earlier this year, January 2nd to be exact, marked the anniversary of that catastrophe.”
“January is when the first person in Mizpah went missing,” Mira stated softly.
Stefanie nodded.
“But how can what happened to Atlantis affect us here in Mizpah? We have no connection to such a place, as far as I know.”
“That’s because the water’s all connected – all linked to the ocean. Don’t matter what country it all started in. The water is continuous; so is the curse.”
Mira was silent.
“Why you look at me so strange?” Stefanie scowled. “Everything I told you is the God’s honest truth. I swear on my mama’s grave.”
“I'm just wondering how you know all this.”
“Let’s go back inside.”
Mira did the honors of putting the logs back against the inside of the door. With all that Stefanie had explained she still couldn’t quite understand the need for the logs. If those “ole people” as Stefanie described wanted to get in, she reckoned they could easily pass right through the steel door anyway, unless there was something holding them back.
“I have it right here.” Stefanie sat on the sofa after retrieving a document from a shoe box on the mantel shelf. “I usually keep these in the chest with the artifact, but took them out since Fritz gone missin’. Figured I’d be needin’ somethin’ in here real soon. Guess that time is now.”
It was a neatly folded document with multiple pages in between. “It’s all here.” She handed it to Mira.
“He gave it to me that night in January while I was sittin' outside starin' out at the beautiful water with Francesca and Drufus.”
“Who gave this to you?” Mira probed.
“The dark man.”
Mira felt chills run down her spine.
“He didn’t actually give it to me; it's more like he led me to it. I had Fritz dig in that very spot he pointed out to me and right there 'bout a foot and a half or so in we found this letter sealed in clear plastic wrappin' and the artifact on top of it.”
“Where were they found?”
“Would you believe… right here in my back yard?”
Mira nodded. “That probably explains why these things were entrusted to you, for lack of a better word.”
“Well, go ‘head and read it. That letter ain’t leavin’ this house. That’s if it don’t go on a journey like that artifact,” Stefanie said.
Mira started the four-page letter and the first words intrigued her:
Let the truth be told concerning our beloved land Atlantis, a place of beauty, loveliness, saintliness and terrible sin. The depraved have ruined the innocents.
As Mira went on, she saw the image of an attractive young lady somewhere in her twenties with beautiful, golden hair that stopped below the waist. Mira knew she was the author of the note penned so long ago.
A tall man with a comely face flashed through. He was in entirely black garb and wore a distinguishable hat, which appeared to accentuate his narrow facial features. Mira could clearly see them: The parties, guests – society’s elite – laughing, dancing, feasting. Then a few commoners walked across her view. They were strolling the inner city, constructing buildings, washing windows, hanging clothes out to dry. Many children were gathered together in one place filled with shrubs and sparsely-situated tall trees right by the river. Large, wooden houses they occupied with the moon as their nightlight. Songs were sung in the black of night; melodies of a different tongue than their own. A gathering with so many of them, perhaps hundreds or a thousand, and in the midst upon a make-shift concrete rise, he stood – the tall man with those sinister eyes. He was holding something. That’s it! The object with the dagger-like handle and circular, bumpy head with teeth mark indentations. Mira’s eyes widened with shock.
“Hail to the one who has brought us all together tonight!” he said. “Without whom none of this would be possible. His magnificent symbol of dominance and strength I uphold with honor, declaring this city and all who inhabit it - his!”
Salutations and chants erupted, followed by lascivious dancing and strange prancing movements. The eyes of every single one of them had taken on a black, slimy hue, the pupils of which were as red as crimson.
“And we, his humble servants pledge to do his bidding in life and in death.”
Again, an eruption of praise ensued which suddenly halted when the moon’s bright light adopted a reddish, brownish hue which started at the left edge then gradually slid its way over the entire surface. Then there was a rippling of the water nearby, and seconds later, a series of splashes which caught the complete attention of all gathered. A slight wave formed that was quickly accompanied by several more. And finally, a tidal wave which climbed to heights that not one of them had ever seen before in the face of the shaded moon. Little whimpering among the crowd started and as the tsunami plunged toward them, the whimpering turned to hollers, then blood-curdling screams. The raging mass of water covered them all that fateful night, as well as plunging the entire city to an underwater grave. Not a soul was saved.
Mira snapped out of the vision and realized she hadn’t made it past the first paragraph of the letter. She had seen it all in her mind’s eye the way no words could ever explain.
She released a deep sigh and placed her fingers on the bridge of her nose in a triangular position.
“You all right?” Stefanie was concerned. “Look like you were in a trance the whole time. Thought it best I don’t disturb you.”
Mira tried to gather her bearings. She had literally visited another world she and many others had never considered even existed. “I’m fine,” she said.
“Somethin’ happened, young lady?”
Mira heard Bobby calling. “Is everything okay?” He asked at the door.
“Yes, Bobby
. Everything’s okay,” she replied. “I’ll be right out.”
“Your boyfriend, huh?” Stefanie pried.
Mira shook her head. “Are you sure I can’t take this with me? I promise I’ll bring it back.”
Stefanie was quiet for a while, giving the proposal much thought. “Okay then, but I expect you to keep your word.”
Mira got up to leave. “Tell me something. If this major calamity occurred in a place supposedly so far away from here, how did this letter and artifact end up in your back yard?”
“If you read the letter, you’ll find out,” Stefanie said.
“I will. But I really need to know why the artifact showed up twice at my house.”
Stefanie slowly rose to her feet. “That’s the part I been meanin' to explain. I think I understand.”
Mira was hoping that what she was about to say would put to rest that nagging question she had no answer for.
“From early January, I told my neighbors and everyone I met what happened to them ole people from long ago.”
“Excuse me. I don't mean to interrupt, but why do you refer to them as 'old people'? Are you referring to the children as old people too?”
“They all are ole people 'cause they are hundreds or thousands of years old. Don't matter if some of them still look like children,” Stefanie clarified. “Going back to what I was sayin’. I really tried my best to get the word out ‘cause seem like they wanted the truth be told, but nobody listened. So I believe for revenge sake, the dark man and children was gon bring terror on them with the stiff ears and one by one they was gon pay. But he promised that me and my family would come to no harm. Even so, just for safety reinforcement, I had a company put up that tall fence 'round this house. Just wanted to be sure. Know what I mean?”
Mira nodded.
“I know all along when them people started disappearin' it was the work of them ole people. But I kept my trap shut – didn’t even speak a word to Fritz ‘cause I know it was gon upset him. Now look, Fritz gone too. The dark man betrayed me.” She sauntered over to the nearby window. “I realize now when the artifact disappeared from this house the first time, it was a sign them ole people was fixin’ to be done with me. Now since it got up and gone a second time, so did Fritz by their hand.” She looked at Mira. “So you know what this might mean for you?”
“No. What?” Mira asked.
“I hope I’m wrong, but they seem to have passed the baton on to you and yours. Be careful, young lady. Watch out for any odd happenins’. Now that they started, I ain’t know what gon make them stop.” Stefanie glanced at the artifact on the table. “If this old thing show up again at your place, I think it would mean…” She stopped and turned around to take her seat.
“It would mean what?”
Stefanie waved her cane. “I don’t know. Time for you to git goin’ now. Your boyfriend out there waitin.’”
Mira stared at Stefanie for a few long moments. She saw the worry and sadness in her eyes. “I really hope they find Fritz, Mrs. Brussels.”
“I hope so too.” She sighed.
* * * *
“So what was that all about?” Bobby asked, behind the steering wheel. “I thought you got lost in there. And what was that thing I found?”
“I’ll explain when we get home.” Mira massaged her temples. “I feel a headache coming on.”
Bobby knew better than to press the issue, particularly when Mira was stressed. The risk was 'total shutdown'.
If anything Stefanie Brussels just said in there was true, Mira knew she had to get her guard up and keep it up. She had a sneaky suspicion her family's safety depended on it.
7
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Sara had left with her friend Beverley for their outing around six-thirty that evening. Mira found that explaining to her mother and Bobby what she learned that day without alarming them proved difficult, but she felt she had succeeded. And revealing anything concerning the matter to Rosie was out of the question, especially since she hadn't seen the dark man anymore.
After seeing Rosie off to bed and returning to her own room, Mira picked up the handwritten letter from the nightstand, stretched out in bed and continued where she'd left off. In each line, she could sense the young woman’s concern and the agony she'd felt when she learned her mother, aunts and all her cousins had perished that fateful day. Her beloved hometown was no more than a massive graveyard. Josephine Gouthro didn’t consider herself lucky that she married a foreigner and moved far away just one year before the catastrophe. Instead, she harbored intense guilt for being the only member of her family to have been spared such a misfortune. The letters her mother had sent over the course of the year had explained everything – how James Christopher Newton had formed the previously unheard of cult and how many children and young adults of the city had gone wayward. Talk of devil worshipping, murderous crime sprees and relentless horror. Yet no matter how much Josephine begged her mother and aunts to migrate to where she was, they refused to leave the land of their births. Now gone forever.
“Whomever finds this note will someday know the depth of the tragedy which befell that lovely city I once called my beloved home. I pray the new owners of this land on which I currently live will know that Atlantis was one of the most beautiful cities with rich natural resources that any country had ever seen. My beloved city – I miss you greatly and my heart grieves for you.” – Mrs. Josephine J. Gouthro
Mira sat straight up in bed. “This means Stefanie lives on the same land where Josephine lived. That explains why the letter was found in her yard. That’s where Josephine buried it. But wait…” She grimaced. “There was no mention in the letter of that odd-looking artifact being buried there too.” Then suddenly, after minutes of trying to wrap her head around the question as to why both would be discovered in the same place, a light bulb went off in Mira’s head. “Makes sense,” she muttered. “Just as it’s been traveling between Stefanie’s house and ours, it conveniently appeared in the ground when Stefanie had Fritz dig for that letter. Josephine never buried the artifact.”
Mira’s excitement started to dwindle again. “But why would Stefanie be led to the letter in the first place by the souls of those who wreaked so much havoc on the city? Were they that pleased with their handiwork, wanting the truth to be told through Josephine's writings? It's certainly possible. Moreover, what’s the real purpose of the artifact?”
8
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“Mom, Daniel wants to go for a walk. Can I walk him today?” Rosie asked, climbing onto her mother’s bed.
“What time is it?” Mira rubbed her eyes and peeked at the alarm clock.
“Seven-thirty. Can I take him? Can I?”
Mira remembered sitting awake until well after 2:00 a.m. thinking about Josephine’s account and the incidents she'd witnessed in her mind’s eye. “I don’t want you going out alone this early, honey. Give me a few minutes and I’ll go with you,” she said.
“I was only going around the corner, Mom. Why can’t I just go?”
“Because I said so, madam.”
Rosie’s famous pout had surfaced again.
Mira threw the covers off and sat up. “Look, there’s a lot going on right now and I don’t want you going out of this yard on your own. I want to make sure you’re safe,” she explained.
“But I’ll be safe! Daniel won’t let anything happen to me.”
“I know, but right now I have to take extra precautions. I’ll be ready in five minutes.” Mira got up and went into the bathroom.
Ten minutes later…
“Okay, let’s go!” she said.
Sara was in the kitchen making omelets when Rosie and Daniel headed out the back door.
“Wait up for me!” Mira yelled behind them. She turned to Sara. “So you said you had a nice time last night, huh, Mom?”
“I confess I stayed out a little later than expected.” Sara looked guilty. “But didn’t we talk about this last night when I
got in?”
“So, I guess that answers my question then.” Mira grinned. “There’s no shame in admitting you had a good time, Mom. I’m sure Dad’s proud of you. You finally got out of this house with someone other than Rosie and me, and chilled out. Besides, it’s not like you went on a date or anything – not that there’s anything wrong with that.”
Sara was silent.
“Tell me all the juicy details when I get back, okay?”
“Couldn’t convince Pumpkin to eat breakfast before walking the dog, huh?” Sara shifted the conversation.
“Nope. We won’t be long though. Don’t want the breakfast getting cold.”
Rosie and Daniel were waiting at the end of the carport when Mira caught up.
“Let’s go, you two. Who’s into jogging part of the way?”
“I am!” Rosie exclaimed. They took off and Daniel ran along.
It was a bright, sunny summer morning; not a single cloud was in sight. Birds were chirping and butterflies pollinating brightly colored blooms in many yards.
It seemed like everyone in the neighborhood was out in their front yards that day. Most were doing yard work or washing their windows or their cars, while Mr. and Mrs. Jameson down the street were sitting out under their veranda enjoying a hot pot of coffee. Their half-filled coffee pot sat on the round, glass table between them.
“Morning, Mr. & Mrs. Jameson!” Mira and Rosie shouted. They hailed every neighbor they passed. Bad manners in Mizpah was practically unheard of!
“Y’all going to the picnic this weekend?” Mrs. Jameson hollered.
“Sure thing!” Mira answered while slowing her pace just a tad.
“See y'all there, then!” Mr. Jameson chimed in.
Mrs. Constantakis who lived a couple of houses down from the Cullens had long passed away. Mira recalled it wasn't long after her childhood experience with Karlen Key at Cornelius’ former plantation house that the gorgeous senior citizen was knocked right off her feet by a passing motorist. Her husband Charlie lasted another decade at least with heart problems until he finally succumbed. Charlie had pretty much kept to himself, but Mira remembered her mom regularly going and checking up on him to make sure he had something to eat.
The Cornelius Saga Boxed Set Page 39