Haunted on the Gulf Coast (Gulf Coast Paranormal Trilogy Book 2)

by M. L. Bullock

  “I’m glad you’re here. This place gives me the creeps at night,” Jada confessed. She pushed her glasses up on the bridge of her nose with a dirty hand. “Let’s go hang out in the tent; it’s a bit warmer in there. Can you believe how cold it’s gotten today?”

  “Yes, it’s like twenty degrees colder here in Wagarville than it is in Mobile. I am glad I dressed in layers,” Sierra said as she tossed her scarf over her shoulder and rubbed her hands together.

  “At least you’re wearing hiking boots. That’s smart because there are so many marshy spots up here. You wouldn’t think it, but they are everywhere. Definitely wild topography. Right this way.” Dr. Lundquist and Jada led us to a large canopy where a few of the students were hanging out and sipping coffee.

  After some small talk, I began to ask questions. “Tell us about the activity, Dr. Lundquist. What’s been happening? I figure a group of scientists such as yourselves wouldn’t be calling in a paranormal team unless you had a real head-scratcher on your hands.”

  “You’re right. You wouldn’t believe the ridicule I’d endure if my colleagues knew I had a group of ghost hunters up here. No offense to anyone present.”

  I nodded. “As far as publicity goes, we’re used to working quietly in the background. We’ll do our best to keep things low-key.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief. “Finding this lost fort, looking for any evidence of life here at the fort…it’s so important to me, to all of us, but I don’t want anyone getting hurt.”

  “You can be sure that we will be discreet, and these guys take every precaution they can during an investigation. We don’t blog about our findings or share anything on social media. Nobody will know unless you tell them. Right?” I said to my team. They all agreed, and Dr. Lundquist gave us a small smile.

  “Great. I’ll hold you to it. Jada can tell you what’s been going on. Does anyone want any coffee? We had some made right over there.”

  Too anxious to hear the news, everyone declined refreshments. We settled down in various folding chairs or sat on coolers and listened to Jada. “We all know about the legends here, about old spirits walking in the woods. Heck, most of us on the research team have a good portion of Native American blood, but this didn’t seem like a real thing until the end of October. We were out here late because we came across this cache of pottery and didn’t want to leave without securing the area. Zachary and I, he’s another archaeologist, well, we were in Pit One. Zachary thought he heard something move past us pretty quickly, but we didn’t see anything, at least not at first. Then there was this smell, like electricity in the air, almost like what you smell when lightning is cracking and you’re running for cover. Only there wasn’t any lightning and the skies were clear. We could see the stars above us.”

  Sierra had whipped out her Barbie notebook and was scribbling when she paused to raise her pencil. “Is Zachary here?”

  “Yeah, he’s at Pit One. I can take you there in a few minutes. He’ll be happy to talk with you.”

  “Great, please continue. You said it smelled like electricity.”

  “Right, then our equipment began crapping out. We had a light set up and were taking photos of the artifacts before we removed them. I’ve never had problems with that light or that camera before, but both of them flickered off and on for a few minutes until we were ready to give up. I could understand the camera going fidgety because it operates on batteries, but the light? It was plugged into the generator. Anyway, we were packing it in for the night when this light caught our attention. We saw it at the edge of the field first, but then it got closer to us. And as it did, the sound we heard earlier did too. Sounded like a low hum.”

  “Like a drone?” Aaron asked. “Some kind of small remote control vehicle?”

  “We didn’t see anything like that. We saw a light; it was almost as if it were pure energy, a ball of energy. It didn’t just move absently, either; it came straight at us—like it saw us there. We ducked into the pit to get away from it. I half believed it was ball lightning, but it had…well, I hate to say this in front of my mentor, but it’s like it had intelligence.”

  “Why do you say that?” I asked Jada, who rubbed her jacket sleeves nervously.

  “Because it passed over the pit and came back to pass over us again. Then the thing hovered above us, shot straight up and disappeared right before our eyes. Zachary and I climbed out of that pit and didn’t look back. The next day, when we came back to begin our dig, there were burn marks in the field. It was like that thing left a trail.” Jada shrugged as if she couldn’t believe her own words.

  “Could you take us there? What we’d like to do is measure the electromagnetic field in the area, take some pictures of the burn marks and verify that you aren’t being targeted for some sort of robbery. It’s amazing the things people will steal these days. By the way, have you had any thefts or anything go missing?”

  Jada laughed and covered her mouth with her hand. She had a bit of a gap-toothed smile that she was apparently embarrassed to share with us. “Funny you should ask about that. Did you tell them, Dr. Lundquist?” The chief archaeologist shook her head, and Jada continued, “We have had some things come up missing—well, not missing but relocated. Just small things like hand shovels, trowels, brushes. You’ll be using something, set it down, turn back to get it and it’s gone. That happened to me yesterday. I was working in Pit Three. I brought the hand shovel with me and had been using it all morning. I reached behind me, and it was gone. I had to come back here to get another one. When I got back, there it was on top of the shard I was working on. It’s like someone was purposefully messing with me.”

  “Has this happened to Zachary too?”

  “And me,” Dr. Lundquist confessed. “I thought I was getting senile until Jada mentioned it to me. You know, instead of walking up there, I think it would be fine if you all take the four-wheelers to the site. It’s a long walk otherwise. Jada, lead them out there, but steer clear of the moat. There are some awful deep holes in the ground, not to mention more than a few unexplored caverns.”

  “There are caves?” Cassidy asked. “What about caves high up, like on a hill? Any of those?”

  Jada’s eyes widened. “Zachary and Drew found a cave earlier this week, and it looks like it might be quite deep, but nobody’s mapped it yet. To be honest, it’s not high up on our list. Our grant is limited to the remains of Fort Dixon and any connecting buildings. But it is an odd find because this part of the state isn’t known for that type of geography.”

  “Great, let’s go see this site. Josh, do you have the EMF and the camera?”

  “Got everything. Aaron, you’ve got the audio recorders, right?”

  “Yep, got them. And the extra batteries,” Aaron said as he pulled the devices from his jacket pockets.

  “Hold on to them until we get to the site. You guys ready? Aaron, ride with Jada. Sierra and Josh, you guys take the second vehicle, and Cassidy and I will bring up the rear.”

  “Fine, but I get to drive,” Cassidy said playfully.

  “Uh, not a chance,” I replied, reminding myself to remain professional in front of our client. “Dr. Lundquist, I’ll call you this evening if that’s okay.”

  “Perfect. It was lovely meeting all of you.”

  We said our goodbyes and headed off into the frosty countryside. It felt good to get back into the field, and that’s literally where we were. There were dead fields around us, husks of forgotten corn stalks on one side of the narrow road and acres of overgrown vegetation on the other. The smell of rich soil filled my nostrils. I could see the archaeologists working on the other side of the field and a forest in the distance.

  Yeah, it felt good to be here. And it felt even better to have Cassidy holding on to me.

  Chapter Seven—Cassidy

  After our tour through the property, we headed back to our SUV to talk shop. The pits were close to one another, fortunately, but the field where Elizabeth was burned was across from it. I kn
ew that the archaeologists were close to the fort but not quite on it yet, but I figured it was best to keep quiet about what I knew. I didn’t think Dr. Lundquist would appreciate my input on the subject.

  “Let’s talk logistics. How in the world will we canvas an area as large as this? We’ve got Pit Three where things go missing and Pit One where they’ve witnessed the light zipping around. But they can’t be sure where the fort actually stood, if that’s even a source. I think we’d have to stick to the field with the thermal because those woods are pretty dense, don’t you think, Midas?” Joshua was excited but not quite sure of himself on this one. He was right, of course; the property was expansive. We were talking acres, not rooms.

  I turned in my seat to listen to Joshua and Midas talk it over. “You’re right,” Midas replied. “We can’t record everything, so we’re going to have to be selective. Put cameras on both pits, plus two pointing toward the field. And if we can get up on that ridge, where they say they found the cave, we could put two up there: one facing in and one facing down to the forest below.”

  Before I could agree with Midas, Aaron spoke up. “This place needs to be respected. I say that at the risk of having you perceive me as superstitious, but I’m concerned that the elemental may not be happy about what we are doing, what these scientists are doing. Playing pranks to discourage exploration could be meant as a warning of some sort and just the beginning of its potential power.”

  I asked, “Is that what elementals do? Play pranks?”

  He stared off into the distance for a moment and finally answered, “You know, I don’t think so, but anything is possible in the spirit world. Maybe it’s not an elemental. I’ve been wrong before. I’m just saying we need to be cautious. Extremely cautious.”

  “You want out on this one, Aaron?” Midas asked as he watched him from the rearview mirror. His brown eyes assessed the younger man, but Aaron didn’t flinch.

  His tanned face flushed and he shook his head. “No way, Midas. I’m just saying it’s an ancient place. Let’s have respect for it and the old stories.”

  “We always do, Aaron.”

  “Well, if we’re going in there, I want to go protected. If it’s an elemental, they are no joke. According to what Cassidy saw in her vision, Chebola Bula didn’t look at it, and that’s what I’ve always been taught. If you encounter an elemental, you don’t challenge it—including staring at it. He must have believed he was in the presence of an elemental.”

  “What do you suggest, Aaron?” Sierra asked, her ponytail bobbing as she snapped on her seatbelt and Midas started the SUV.

  “I’m suggesting that we receive a protection blessing before coming back. Can’t hurt, right? Maybe my grandmother can bless us. And we need to be mindful during the investigation. When we’re in the field, let’s use the cameras for any viewing so we aren’t looking directly at the thing.”

  “I have no problem with either of those suggestions; there is a danger factor, an unknown factor that makes this case quite different from any other we’ve taken so far. If it’s like you say, Aaron, if we are dealing with unpredictable and dangerous elementals, I wouldn’t want to put any of you in a bad position,” Midas said with genuine concern in his voice.

  Sierra sighed as she rubbed her belly protectively, but then she squared her shoulders and said, “We’ve faced down baddies before, Big Brother. You can’t shield us, Midas. I mean, this is what we do, what we live for. Don’t be a stick in the mud.”

  “Yeah, but you and Junior are sitting this one out, remember?” Joshua reminded her.

  “Don’t call our child Junior,” she growled at him, and he kissed her cheek in response. “Yes, I’ll sit this one out. Or maybe I can sit in the van.”

  “Sierra…” he started to argue.

  Sensing that they were about to lock horns, I asked, “Even if we do confirm that the light is supernatural, that there is a presence there, how do we help Dr. Lundquist?”

  “Obviously, we can’t make an elemental leave. It’s been there a long time and probably not going to leave just because we ask it to, but we can tell Dr. Lundquist what we know. What she does with the information is up to her.” Midas drove down the highway and glanced at me with a serious expression. He reached for my hand and squeezed it, I guess to reassure me. I squeezed his hand back before releasing it.

  “Those burn marks in the field, Midas. Do you think they were man-made? Did any of that look suspicious to you?” Sierra asked.

  “It’s possible, but they look clean and too precise to be man-made. How would you control a burn like that? And we have Cassidy’s painting. I’m inclined to believe that they are seeing what they say they are seeing. Hmm…so, yea or nay on this case?”

  “Yea,” I answered and raised my hand.

  “Yea,” Sierra and Joshua said in unison. Aaron agreed, and it was unanimous.

  “I’ll call Dr. Lundquist when I get back to the office. Sierra, please call Helen and Bruce. I want them included on this one. Might be interesting to see what Bruce can recreate as a ghost archaeologist.”

  After stopping for some lunch at Myron’s Diner and Grill, we headed back to the Gulf Coast Paranormal headquarters. We got on the phones, and I called Helen for Sierra, who had a flurry of other calls to make. I really wanted to go check on Domino. Funny how just yesterday I would have never considered myself a cat person. Now I felt like I needed to watch him every minute.

  Helen answered the phone in her light, peppy voice. “Hey, your Christmas tree will be delivered this afternoon. Are we on for the investigation?”

  “Yes, but it isn’t until tomorrow. We’ll go up in the afternoon, spend the night investigating and head back late. Dress warm, Helen. It’s cold as all get out up there.”

  “Can I bring some of these decorations over after work?”

  I smiled. “Fine, but for the love of God, no cookies, cakes or treats. I might see if Midas wants to hang out. He’s hardly been over.”

  “Wonderful. Can I invite Bruce too?”

  “Could I stop you?” I grinned into the phone.

  “Probably not.”

  “All right, then. I’ll see you when you get off work.” I hung up with Helen and walked into Midas’ office. “I’m headed home. I have a cat to worry about, and Helen is bringing a Christmas tree and some ornaments to my house. She’s invited Bruce too. You want to stop by?”

  “Sure, I’ve been waiting for an invite.”

  “You’re always invited to my bungalow, Midas Demopolis.”

  “Good to know. I’ll see you this evening.”

  “Bye.” I smiled flirtatiously and added in a whisper, “Why don’t you pack an overnight bag?”

  “Roger that.” He flashed a white grin at me as he picked up the phone to call Dr. Lundquist. My heart was full as I headed home.

  I scrambled through the house tidying up the place while I wondered what to cook for supper. What would my friends think if I ordered pizza? Domino hopped behind me. “You must think you’re half rabbit, Domino.” I laughed at him, but he kept on hopping as he trailed behind me, happy that I was home. I straightened my bed and searched the closet for something enticing to wear for Midas later. I planned on having a very special after-hours show with my favorite guy.

  I found a red silk nightgown that I’d been saving for just such a special night. I’d picked it up on a whim at a pre-Christmas sale, and as this was close to Christmas, it seemed like a good idea to bring it out. I laid it on the bed, smoothing out the fabric to keep it from wrinkling. Yep, leaving this here would be perfect. Midas would see it, and hopefully that should “pop his tops.” I smiled at my brilliant idea.

  After my cleaning spree, I glanced at the clock, surprised to see it was already half past four. I raced to the phone to order pizza, fed the cat and set out a few seasonal candles that Uncle Derek had tucked away in his linen closet.

  Now, where was a match or a lighter? Where would you put one, Uncle Derek?

  I couldn’t fin
d any and didn’t want to take a trip to the store just for a lighter, not with company arriving soon. I decided to go back to the linen closet and look in there; maybe I missed it the first time. It made sense that he would keep a lighter there with the candles. I opened the closet and nearly fell on the floor. My red nightgown was folded on a shelf.

  “Holy heck!” I said as I picked up the silky garment. Was I losing my marbles completely? I knew for a fact I left this thing on my bed. Didn’t I? I walked back to the bedroom and looked on the bed. Nope. The only red lingerie in this house was in my hand. I clutched it to my chest and wondered how I’d accomplished such a thing. The only other being here was my cat, and I doubted very much that a kitten the size of a sock could drag my lingerie off the bed, open a linen closet and stuff it in there. And now where was my cat?

  “Domino?” I called. “Kitty?” He was just here attacking my ankles. I didn’t spot him in my bedroom, so I walked into the hallway to search for him there. “Domino? Where are you?” Tossing my lingerie on the bed again, I looked under it, in the closet and everywhere else I could think of. I began to feel desperate and imagined the worst. Near tears now, I found no trace of the furry monster until I walked into Uncle Derek’s room. Somehow, Domino had scaled the comforter and was sitting in the center of the bed, his blue eyes wide and watchful.

  I fussed at him, “You can’t answer when you’re called? What’s up with that? How in the world did you get up here?” He answered with a bored meow while faux fighting me as I picked him up. “Now cut that out. Let’s get out of here. We’ve got friends coming over. Please behave yourself and show some manners.”

  As I turned to leave, I saw exactly what I’d been looking for: a lighter. It was lying in plain sight on the half-circle table by the door. As Helen would have said, if it had been a snake, it woulda bit me. I paused in front of it, unsure whether to take it or leave the proverbial snake alone.