Without a word she sat down next to Faith. Her body instantly warming when Faith wrapped her arms around her.
“And how was your day today, Dear?” Faith playfully prompted her.
“There’s a secret here.”
“You don’t say.”
“Temperance Muraille knows what it is but she refuses to tell me.”
Thunder clapped frightening them. Ro jumped shaking out her clothes. “Damn, spiders!” She screamed.
Faith stepped over to help. “I don’t see anything Seriously, Ro there’s nothing on you.”
“There she is,” Shawn announced jumping to her feet. “I’m going to try and make contact with her again. Why don’t the two of you bunker down in the cottage. You’ll be safe there.”
“Come on,” Ro urged Faith who looked off into the distance. “Great, you can’t hear me.” She nudged Faith and pointed towards the path.
Shawn hurried towards the cliffs. The woman was still there, the wind blowing through her long brown hair. She tried to steady her pace, not wanting to chase her off again.
The figure turned and scowled. “Don’t,” Shawn pleaded. “I need to talk to you.”
The woman spun around glaring down at Shawn with a wild look in her eyes.
‘You need to leave!’ She cautioned shouting just loud enough to be heard over the howling wind. ‘All of you need to leave! It’s not safe here.’ She turned vanishing into the darkness. Shawn called after her to wait.
“Ugh!” She growled in frustration. She threw her hands in the air and turned. Her heart stopped, spying a slim figure with glowing red eyes standing by the cliff. Shawn felt cold and afraid when it released a terrifying hiss.
“I’m not afraid you,” she shouted knowing it wasn’t the truth. It cackled alerting her that it didn’t believe her. She steadied herself looking back towards where the campfire had been. Both Ro and Faith were gone.
Reminding herself not to give into the fear as it drew closer she stepped away from the cliff.
Ro quickened her pace the ruffling in the trees not sounding right. “Come on Faith,” she beckoned turning to find herself alone. The ruffling turned to an unnerving scratching sound. “Faith,” she called out again, a steady crunch against the ground growing as something approached her. She cursed as she turned and ran towards the cottage. Her heart pounding as the sounds grew closer. Her body trembled as she pushed herself, all the while thinking the cottage didn’t seem this far away before.
In the distance she saw it, filling her with a small sense of relief. Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! She clenched her fist turning to face her attacker. She froze and tried to scream. No sound came out as she watch in horror. Eight hairy legs, beady eyes and fangs came barreling towards her. “It’s not –“she shivered, unable to finish the words as a spider at least six feet tall came closer and closer.
Managing to push her fear aside, she did the only thing that seemed reasonable. She ran.
“Ro?” Faith called out turning around and around only to find emptiness. “How in the hell did I lose her?” She grumbled looking towards the moon. The clouds were quickly covering the only light source she had. The leaves twirled in the trees. ‘That means rain.’ She silently deduced wondering if she should go in search of her friend or head straight towards the cottage.
Reasoning that Ro was heading towards the cottage, Faith decided to do the same. Taking a step she felt the leaves crumble beneath her feet. It was what didn’t happen that worried her. She looked down taking another step, failing to hear anything. Glancing once again at the trees she could see the wind blowing, yet they made no sound. Nothing. Everything was in motion without making the slightest noise.
It was completely silent. She called out again, desperate to hear something, anything, even the sound of her own voice. Nothing, not even the sound of her heart beating. Her grey eyes fluttered shut as she willed herself to remain calm. She felt the ground moving, her eyes snapped open. The ground was silently moving. Not just moving, it was coming after her. A large oak bent backward it roots bulging from the soil, beating a path directly towards her.
“Fu-“she sputtered, frustrated that she couldn’t even hear her thoughts. She turned to run, and she felt the deep scratches of the bark against her skin and the roots wrapping around her ankles as she struggled to free herself. She opened her mouth to scream and terror gripped her when no sound came out. Clawing at the ground, she watch in horror as a black mist swirled before her. Rising up it formed into a man’s body and horns grew from its head. While she tried to scream blood red eyes stared down at her.
Shawn drew her coat closer around her as the wind seemed to follow her. She called out for Faith over and over again. She pushed towards the cottage, calling out with more and more urgency. “Where are you?” She wailed panic that somehow she had lost her. “Where are you?”
‘Go to the cottage!’ The woman from the cliffs demanded suddenly standing before her. ‘You’ll be safe there.’
“Faith!” Shawn argued.
‘Go! I’ll find your friends. Just go, you’re only making it stronger.’
The woman vanished, leaving Shawn to continue stumbling around the woods calling out for Faith. Somehow, she managed to finally find the cottage. She yanked the door open, shocked to find Ro huddled in the corner whimpering.
Chapter 34
Faith burst into the cottage and almost into tears when she heard Shawn call out her name.
Still frightened Faith managed to pull it together long enough to find an old oil lamp and light it. Mentally, she had hoped that Shawn hadn’t noticed the matches. She was in no mood to explain that in a moment of weakness after her visit to the hospital she bought a pack of cigarettes in Augusta. With the cottage now dimly lit she hurried back to the others.
They huddled together listening to the thunder boom while lightening crackled all around them. “Great, lightening.” Faith snarled secretly thrilled that she could hear the thunder. “With all of the other natural conductors around us a storm ought to make things really fun.”
“Ro, what did you see?” Shawn timidly asked.
“A spider.”
“A spider?” Faith scoffed.
“It was bigger than my truck!” Ro hissed.
“Spiders don’t get that big,” Shawn tried to reason.
“Sure they do,” Faith wearily supplied. “Not in Maine, mind you. Shawn what did you see?”
“Nothing,” she shook her head. “It’s what I didn’t see.”
“Which was?”
“You. I couldn’t find you.”
“How about you Faith? You’re not looking so spry yourself,” Ro questioned.
“The trees came alive and tried to eat me,” she almost laughed. “It was something out of an old movie I snuck out of bed to watch when I was kid. I also couldn’t hear anything. Not the wind, not the rain or even my own heart beating. I was in a void. Whatever is here certainly knows how to push our buttons.”
“It knows,” Shawn trembled. “It knows what we are afraid of. The great Temperance Muraille warned me that we are feeding it.”
The door swung open with a loud clap causing everyone to jump. “Room for one more?” Delia shyly inquired.
“So, it is safe in here?” Delia seemed skeptical as she looked around the cottage.
“Yes,” Shawn confirmed taking a seat on the bed. “Someone went to a great deal of trouble to purify this place. Delia you have a problem.”
“I know,” she huffed folding her arms across her chest. “Even with the new crew there’s something out there screwing with me. Hopefully, the holy water and salt will help keep things at bay.”
“Therein lies the rub.”
“Oh, crap,” Delia sank down into a chair.
“There are at least two active presences here. One very dark and one definitely good.”
“Okay, all of us have dealt with that before. Well, the three of us. I don’t know about the Beatles fan over here.” She jerked he
r thumb towards Ro who was happily sitting in a corner listening to her music. “Does she know how loud that is? It can’t be good for her hearing. So, darkness and light. Again, we’ve dealt with that before.”
“The darkness at Whispering Pines pales in comparison to what is buried here.”
“Are saying, that we are about to face something that makes Captain Stratton look like a pussy?” Faith blurted out.
“You do have a way with words my love. But, yes.”
“Oh, goody.”
Feeling a little bit more at ease Ro, removed her earbuds. When Delia first arrived, her mind was in overdrive.
“Nice of you to join us,” Faith commented with a smile.
“There is good news and bad news,” Shawn carefully began. “The good news is the things you’ve done should be very effective. The bad news is the dark entity wants you to dig. Also, the good entity doesn’t want you to dig up stuff and she’s the one screwing with your equipment.”
“I’m guessing that since she’s the good guy what we’ve done is the equivalent of pissing up a rope without a penis.” Faith looked as if she was going to cry. “Wish we had known that before we had to beg every member of the clergy to bless all that water.”
“I can’t imagine, most of the responses you received were positive.”
“More than one priest threatened to call the authorities.” Delia explained. “Why?” She added expectantly.
“I don’t know.” Shawn confessed. “Miss Westbrook, might know. The hiccup with that is I’m fairly certain, I am not one of her favorite people right now.”
“Because?”
“As you know, from the first time we met, my gift can be viewed as intrusive.”
“And annoying,” Delia concluded. “Any clue as to who the bad guy is?”
“Begins with a ‘G’.”
“She hid something,” Faith casually offered. “Look at this place. She put talisman all over it. Lady knew what she was doing. If ‘G’ is the bad guy and Temperance is in fact Temperance and not some mischievous spirit. Then I would have to guess that she hid something.”
“That makes incredible sense,” Delia stammered.
“You don’t have to sound so surprised.” Faith snapped. “Sometimes, you lot are focused on looking solely for the mystical. Sometimes it really is the practical.”
‘Beauty and brains.’
“You don’t have to tell me,” Shawn gloated casting her attention to the figure lurking in the corner. “What did you hide?”
‘Go. It’s not safe here.’
“Any response?” Faith perked up.
“The usual, leave it’s not safe. Oh, and she thinks you’re pretty.”
“Awe shucks,” Faith quipped before pulling a small notebook from her pocket.
“Bit old fashion,” Delia frowned.
“I gave up on relying on modern technology a long time ago. It’s all good until your batteries die. While waiting for your arrival I’ve been busy. My visit to Mr. Conklin was enlightening to say the least.”
“Did you find anything that would explain how Temperance went from being completely devoted to Ella, to calling her a stupid whore?”
“Nice,” Ro spat out with disgust.
“I don’t know,” Faith blanched. “Here is what I do know, everyone loved Ella and Temperance. Nice good hearted ladies. Folks in town still feel that way about them. Those that are still alive to remember the days before Temperance Muraille’s death swear that this was a delightful place to come.”
“They loved coming here,” Shawn supplied. “It was in many ways a sanctuary for them. I got the impression that they weren’t as far in the closet here, as they were back in New York. Until, Temperance’s death.”
“So, basically,” Ro thoughtfully began. “Everything was honky dory until the lady of the house took a header?”
“According to my brother in-law it was more of a shove down the stairs and a kick to the face.”
‘They kicked me!’
“Oh, you’re back.” Shawn scowled rolling her neck. “You don’t remember?”
‘I was drunk,’ she sounded embarrassed. ‘I remember the feeling of being pushed. I remember falling. The next thing I knew the house was empty. One of them was gone. The other looking for it.’
“What were they looking for?”
‘They couldn’t find it. I hid it well before I died. He found it when the fisherman came.’
“What is it? Tell me and we can stop this.”
‘Had to move it. Had to move it quick. He won’t find it.’
“What, is-“She released a frustrated scream. “Just tell me?” She shouted throwing her hands in the air. “Not one to stick around are you? I don’t know who is more frustrating, her or her girlfriend.”
“I thought Miss Westbrook was delightful,” Ro chimed in.
“So, did I,” Delia agreed. “Loved the building.”
“What?” Faith questioned having missed what Delia had said.
“She loved the building Miss Westbrook works in.” Ro loudly clarified.
“She lives there as well,” Shawn added still slightly distracted.
“You saw the penthouse?” Delia was practically drooling.
“That’s what you’re focused on?” Faith blinked with surprise. “Not, the hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment that was disabled?”
“You don’t understand, buildings like that are works of art,” Delia stressed each word. “It was built during a time when buildings were losing the ornamental look. It was designed by Thomas Hastings for the Morris family. Thomas Hastings was half of the firm that designed the New York Public Library. The Morris family lost everything in 1929 when the stock market crashed. Rumor has it they were hanging by a thread before it happened. The building was already falling into disrepair. Temperance Muraille bought that building for song. But it took almost every penny she had to restore it.”
“Because it was a work of art,” Shawn supplied. “Books, buildings, paintings, theatres, she spent her life preserving art in all forms, from masterpieces to kids finger painting. She was a wealthy woman who didn’t care about money. Although, she was grateful for what it allowed her to do. This is all according to Ella. How do you go from that to whatever is going here?”
“Is there a possibility that ‘G’ and Temperance are one in the same?” Faith pressed. “We’ve seen that before.”
“I’m not getting that, but it could be. She was gifted. She kept a sketch pad near her. What she did was a form of automatic writing or spirit art. Completely unaware of what she was doing, she would sketch pictures that made no sense until later. For example, she drew images of planes and ships burning two days before the attack on Pearl Harbor.”
“Great,” Delia grumbled.
“I need another look around. I saw something in the penthouse and here again when I was up by where the house stood. It was the same but different.”
“What was it?” Ro prompted.
“In New York, I saw an older woman’s hand pouring something into a decanter. It was bourbon, I know that because that is something Faith likes to indulge in on occasion. Here the powder was poured into a decanter as well only this was clear liquid. It had pine smell to it. The hand that poured it was slender, but I think it was a man.”
“Did you say it smelled like pine?” Ro perked up.
“Yes.”
“Juniper,” she smirked. “It was gin.”
“That’s it, I don’t know why I couldn’t place it,” Shawn mulled over the information. “Gin drunks can be nasty. That could explain Temperance’s mood swings.”
“Sounds like someone was spiking her drinks,” Faith threw out. “More than one person apparently. All you saw were the hands?”
“Yes,” Shawn rolled her shoulders again. “Ella said, that Temperance had been drinking a lot. Her personality changed, she was confused and in a constant state of agitation. I suppose it could have been chemically induced.”
/> “I’d bet on cocaine,” Faith offered earning her a round of curious looks. “You’d be surprised how some of your favorite newscasters keep going. Plus, coke back in those days was probably more readily available than it is today. I’m not even sure it was illegal yet. They used to put it in everything, from soft drinks to cough drops.”
“Sounds like a question for your Mom.” Shawn was shocked by the information.
“Mom, is loving Temperance Muraille,” Faith explained. “The whole thing about her possible involvement with the SOE already had her over the moon.”
“And that is?”
“Special Operations Executive,” Ro gushed. “They were volunteers, for this covert operation in England. They weren’t just British, there were operatives from all over the world. They went through an intense training before being dropped behind enemy lines. Sabotage and reconnaissance was their main objective. It was the first time Brits were trained in hand to hand and told there’s no need to be a gentleman. Go for the throat or a good kick in the balls.”
“You are way too fascinated by that.” Delia choked out.
“Yes, I am,” Ro boasted. “Because there were a lot of women in the SOE. They were fighting on the front lines decades before they were allowed to. She wasn’t an operative was she?”
“No,” Faith clarified. “But she would have been in a position to get in and out of places that the average citizen wouldn’t. Which begs the question why would a woman like that take in a couple of escaped Nazi’s. An average German citizen sure but Nazi’s I don’t see it. Plus it was 1952, the war ended seven years earlier.”
‘Refugees.’
“She thought they were refugees,” Shawn grimaced as she rolled her shoulders.
“Okay, that’s like the third time you’ve done that,” Faith snarled. “What is wrong? Do we need to leave because if this is too much on you,-“
“No, it’s nothing,” Shawn winced. “It’s just he tried to jump me.”
“What? He who?” Faith demanded.
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