by Otto Schafer
Her intuition, Gabi thought. And she felt it too. There was so much more.
“First off, this chamber and shaft required way too much work to simply be used for sacrifice,” Sarah continued. “Second, most places specific for sacrifices would lead to the underworld – well, at least to underground caverns or cenotes. Almost always something full of water. But there is no cavern here – no water either. Maybe it dried up, but I don’t think so. So, what then, Fredy? We’re supposed to believe this is just a shaft deep in the ground leading to nothing? I’m not buying it.”
Gabi reached out over the rim and ran her hand along until she found one of the grooves. The grooves are the key, she thought.
From across the chamber Itzel called out, “Gabi, come join me, we can work on the wall together.”
Gabi traced her finger up the groove. I know it’s the grooves, Sarah – I feel it. “Coming, Mamá!”
One hundred feet below, Sarah ran her hand along the wall until she found one of the grooves. It’s the grooves, isn’t it? The grooves are the key. She pressed the button on the radio. “It’s the grooves. They must be the key. Stand by, team.”
Sarah knelt down, following one of the grooves until it disappeared into the floor of bones. The stale air was cold, and she felt a shiver as she carefully began removing material, following the groove down the wall. A few inches down, the groove disappeared behind a skull that was held fast by a dark amber substance, like a giant bug stuck in tree sap. Very carefully she pulled it from its centuries’-old hold. She placed it on the growing mound of material behind her and continued removing bones.
She had followed the groove nearly a foot beneath the layer of decayed remains and still she couldn’t find the bottom, when Fredy’s voice crackled from her two-way, causing her to jump.
“Sarah! Status report.”
“Christ!” she said before depressing the button on the two-way. “I’m fine, Fredy, but I’m going to be a few more minutes. I have a hunch and I need to see it through.”
“Fine, just keep us posted – we’re all getting anxious up here,” Fredy said, his voice laced with worry.
“Okay. Sorry.” Sarah checked her watch and then said, “I’ll check back in ten minutes.”
“Okay,” Fredy said.
Sarah continued to work further into the strata, peeling it back like an onion until she created a deep pocket next to the wall. After another check-in with Fredy, ten minutes turned into twenty as she wondered, How deep could this be? Maybe at one time this shaft did lead to an underground cenote, but the bodies filled it up. If that were the case, forget weeks – they could spend years excavating this shaft. She began to feel like her hopes of finding bottom were unrealistic. She would have to give up for today. The team would need to set up a system for removing the material bit by bit.
She shook her head. What the hell am I doing? She had been a fool to try and follow the groove down the wall like this. How much damage to the remains had she already done? Dammit, she knew better than this. Better than to let the excitement of her theory put the material she was digging through at risk. Still, even as she thought it, she shifted her body from a squat to all fours, reached down well past her elbow, and pulled loose yet another bone from the bottom of the hole. She reached in again, and this time she felt a smooth surface.
Sarah’s heart began to pound so hard she could feel it in her ears. Frantically, she scooped and brushed clear dirt and bits of bone from the smooth surface along the bottom of the hole. Finding where the groove met the smooth bottom, she worked to clear the area. Pulling her arm back out she shifted to shine her headlamp down the hole. It was about a foot and a half deep. Did the groove stop at the floor? She couldn’t tell. She reached in again and poked her finger into the groove, trying to see if she could shove her finger below the flat surface she had cleared. Suddenly, the dirt filling the groove gave, and her finger dropped down the hollow, below the floor, all the way to her knuckle. She knew it!
She pressed the button on her two-way. “I know what the grooves are for, Fredy! I know what they’re for! It’s a lid of some kind! A lid!” Sarah shouted through the radio. “The notches are how they lowered it down. Once in place they must have dropped the ropes through the holes so that it could never be pulled back up!”
“Dios mío! Are you sure, Sarah?” Fredy asked, his voice crackling back through the radio.
“It has to be. There’s something under here Fredy – I can feel it!” Sarah said excitedly. Something important, she thought.
“Sarah, are you ready to come up?”
Sarah hesitated. The shaft was only a few feet across. If they were to just clear the bones it wouldn’t take that long. “Fredy, I don’t want to wait. Send down a basket – I’m going to clear the bones so we can figure out how we’re going to remove this lid.”
“Sí, compañera,” Fredy said. “Come up and I’ll send Andrés back down to clear the bones.”
Sarah smiled. “Fredy, you worry too much. I’m good. I want to stay and work this. If I get tired, I’ll tag out.”
“Sí, compañera.” Fredy sighed.
13
In the Distance
Wednesday, April 6 – God Stones Day 1
Petersburg, Illinois
The library basement was swallowed in darkness so absolute it almost felt crushing to Breanne. Crushing like the tunnel in Mexico. Crushing like the vine room on Oak Island. Crushing like her mother’s car right before Christmas. She felt her heart rate rise and a real fear she might lose it.
Then she heard her brother whisper, “It’s okay, Bre, just breathe.”
She took a deep breath. She wasn’t being crushed. She wasn’t in a cave or an upside-down car in the middle of winter. She was just in the dark.
Everyone froze in place.
“Guys, what the hell just happened?” Pete asked.
“I can’t see my hand in front of my face,” David said.
“Everybody, stay calm. The power just went out,” Paul said.
Next to her, Janis gasped.
“Janis? Are you okay?” Breanne asked, rifling through her backpack for a light.
“Um, yeah, I guess. But um… I can see just fine.”
“What do you mean, you can see just fine?” Pete asked.
“I mean, I can see just fine. Like the lights aren’t even off.”
“Whoa! Night vision. You got freaking night vision? That’s awesome. I’m happy for you, Janis,” David said.
In the pitch black of the basement, Breanne didn’t need to see the disappointment on David’s face to sense it. Something in his voice, beyond the excitement and happiness, betrayed his own desire for a special power. “It will happen, David. I think it’s just different for everyone,” she said encouragingly.
David sighed. “I don’t know. Mr. B said most people may not even be affected.”
“I think there is a reason you are here, David, just like there’s a reason we’re all here. Just give it time…”
“Thanks, Breanne. I’ve dreamed of having a superpower my whole life. I know this might sound stupid, but you have no idea how much time I’ve spent contemplating which superpower I would want. I have seen every superhero movie and played every game that has to do with magic or superpowers. You know what I always end up deciding on?” David asked.
Breanne shook her head, answering absently as something invaded her vision. “No, David, what?”
“Invisibility. I mean you could do so much with it,” David said excitedly.
“You realize you’re a douche canoe, right?” Pete asked.
“Yeah, and you’re a real dick,” David shot back.
“You know what, David…”
The voices were growing distant, fading into the background as Breanne was suddenly somewhere else. Or at least her mind was somewhere else, while her body seemed to stay in place in the library. What was she seeing? A basement?
And what was happening? Something unspeakable.
&n
bsp; She watched a man die. Then she saw a wounded Apep standing over him, a bloody sword in his hand. She stared into the dead man’s hollow eyes. She didn’t recognize him but somehow knew who he was. “Oh no!” she gasped.
“What is it?” Paul asked, clicking on a headlamp he retrieved from his pack.
“Dude? Why are your sister’s eyes clouded over?!” Pete asked.
“Oh, shit! They’re completely white!” David said, pointing.
“Be quiet – she’s seeing something!” Paul said, reaching for her and finding her hand.
A few seconds later her eyes cleared. “I just saw something… I think it was Garrett’s dad. Apep… oh dear god! He… he killed him!” she cried.
“What!?” Pete asked frantically. “How can you know that?”
“It’s her power, bro!” David said. “Are you sure it was Garrett’s dad? Is Garrett okay? What about his mother? Lenny?”
“I… I don’t know. I only saw Apep and this other man.”
“What do you mean ‘saw’?” Pete asked.
“They were fighting with swords. There was fire and then… Apep… he… he cut off the man’s head!” she cried, burying her face into her hands. But before anyone could say anything else another flash lit up her mind. She threw her head back involuntarily, her eyes opening wider than should have been possible.
“Look! She’s doing it again!” David shouted.
She was back in the basement but now something sizzled like frying bacon, then everything exploded inward. Bricks and fire smashed into Apep’s body as he screamed in a combination of pain and rage.
When the vision was over, the voices around her turned up like the dial on a radio.
“You mean she gets visions of what’s going to happen right before it happens?” Pete was asking.
“Yeah, something like that,” Paul said.
Breanne blinked as the cloudiness cleared from her vision. “Guys, I just saw Apep screaming and then everything around him blew up.”
“What? Are you sure!” Janis asked.
“So far every flash I’ve had happens right after I see it,” Breanne said.
“I say we go up and wait out back. Maybe we can see something,” Janis said, reaching for Pete’s hand. “I’ll lead you out.”
“Or…” Pete said, rustling around in his backpack for a flashlight. He retrieved it, illuminating Janis with a soft click of the switch.
“Oh, okay,” Janis said, starting to pull her hand away.
Pete squeezed it as she tried to let go. “Or we could do the hand-holding thing, either way…”
“Are you okay, Janis?” Breanne asked, noticing her complexion had paled in the low light.
Janis nodded with a weak smile and left her hand in Pete’s. “Come on, let’s go.”
They went upstairs single file. Mrs. Cleary sat in her same chair behind the counter, reading her paperback illuminated by the golden glow of an antique oil lantern. “Ah, glad you made your way up, and I see you have lights with you. Good. The storm is coming, and I fear it’s going to be a bad one.”
“Yeah, looks like it is,” Pete said, leading the group to the front door. “Well, good night, Mrs. Cleary.”
“Peter? Shouldn’t you wait for Garrett and Lennard?” Mrs. Cleary asked.
Pete froze, hand on the door handle.
Breanne looked back at the librarian, who sat unmoving, peering at Pete over the top of her glasses.
“Mrs. Cleary, how do you know we are waiting on Garrett and Lenny? I didn’t say anything about them.”
Mrs. Cleary held their gaze for a long moment as silence filled the room.
Breanne looked at Paul, who returned the look. A look that said something was wrong.
“Peter,” the librarian finally said, “don’t go out the front. Not tonight. Tonight, go out the back.”
Pete let go of the door handle and turned to face the suddenly mysterious woman behind the counter. “Mrs. Cleary?” Pete said, swallowing hard. “Who are you?”
Ms. Cleary smiled. “I’m a friend, Peter. And tonight, you should go out the back and wait for your friends behind the library. Stay out of sight, and when they get here get on with it. Tonight isn’t a night for lingering. Now follow me. The back is this way.” She pulled her spectacles from her face, folded them gently, and placed her paperback along with her readers on the counter. She didn’t wait for anyone to speak as she lifted the lantern and moved toward the back of the library.
They all shared uneasy looks, but they followed single file.
Mrs. Cleary opened the back door and motioned them out. “I wish you the best. All of you.”
As they poured out the back of the library, Breanne watched Pete turn as if he wanted to say something but didn’t know what to say. Finally, he just said, “Thanks, Mrs. Cleary.”
Mrs. Cleary nodded and as the door swung slowly shut, she said, “We’re counting on you.”
“What the hell was that about?!” David asked.
“That was weird,” Janis said.
“Incredibly weird!” Breanne agreed.
“No, don’t you guys get it? She is a Keeper,” Pete said.
“What!” David said, looking back toward the closed door with a newfound awe. “You think so?”
“I know so. It’s the only explanation. It makes total sense. All this time she has been here observing us. Observing me. She knew all of our comings and goings. Remember what Mr. B said? There are so many.” Pete shook his head. “All this time. A Keeper was right here.”
“Do you guys hear that? Sounds like sirens,” Paul said.
The group walked to the north edge of the building, carefully peeking around the corner toward the town square.
“Holy shit! The whole side of the town square is on fire!” David said, pointing.
Sirens could be heard as firetrucks, ambulances, and squad cars poured onto the square in an effort to stifle the flames.
The burning square held no interest for Breanne as she focused all her attention toward Garrett’s home. She prayed he was okay. She needed him to be okay. “Is this the direction Garrett lives in?” she asked, pointing. Her brow crinkled as she squinted into the shadowed evening.
“Yep, that’s right,” Pete said, following her finger with his gaze. Squinting himself, he removed his glasses to clean them on his sleeve. With his glasses off he glanced back up toward Garrett’s place. “Holy hell!” he shouted.
“What? What do you see?” Janis asked.
“There in the distance, don’t you see it? It looks like Garrett’s house is on fire!”
Everyone was looking in the direction Pete was pointing now.
“I don’t see anything?” David said, standing on his tiptoes.
“No, me either. It’s too dark,” Paul said.
“Right there!” Pete said, pointing between the buildings toward Jackson Street, then holding out his hands pleadingly. “Come on, none of you see it?”
“Whatever you see, Pete, I don’t see it either,” Breanne said apologetically.
“The orange fiery glow rising up… the smoke in the distance. You guys really can’t see it? It’s right where Garrett’s house would be.”
“That’s like eight city blocks, Pete. No one could see that through town and all the neighborhoods. Especially not in the dark,” David said.
“I’m telling you…” Pete began.
“Um, follow me for a second,” David said.
They jogged back around the stone library to the south parking lot with everyone in tow. “Okay, now look down the street to the DQ. Can you see the sign?”
“Of course.”
Breanne could just make out the sign, about two blocks away.
“Okay, now can you read the sign?”
“Duh, it says DQ,” Pete said with a scowl.
“Okay, you knew that. What about underneath the sign. The smaller sign. From here can you see what is says underneath?”
Everyone squinted into the distance. Breanne
couldn’t make out a word in the darkness.
“Dammit, David, don’t be an ass. You know I have bad eyes as it is, and no one could read that from here. Not even if I had perfect twenty-twenty vision,” Pete said, placing his glasses back on his face then pushing them onto the bridge of his nose.
“Just try, Pete,” David said.
Pete squinted toward the DQ sign. “No, jackass, I can’t see it. In fact, I can’t even see the Dairy Queen that well – everything is blurry.”
“Take off the glasses and try.”
Pete made a show out of sighing in great annoyance then removing the glasses in an exaggerated gesture. He looked back out toward the Dairy Queen. Then he froze, studying something in the distance for a long moment. “New Summer Blizzard Menu.” Then, squinting, he said, “Today’s special was a cheeseburger basket for five bucks.”
David raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Wait a minute, how do you know that? They don’t put specials up on the sign.”
“No, they don’t. It’s posted on the counter inside. I can see it through the glass door,” Pete said, turning back to the group, a surprised smile spreading across his face.
“Ha!” David said. “That’s crazy cool – you have super-vision!”
Everyone squinted in the direction of the DQ, trying to see if they could see inside through the door. No one could make anything out. Breanne couldn’t even see this sign they were talking about.
“I can see in the dark like it is daytime, and I can’t see that sign from here,” Janis said.
Pete shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s weird. It’s still dark. And when I glance back now, I can’t see it.” Then he paused, appraising the glass door in the distance again. “It’s just that when I focus on the sign, it’s like it magnifies. Pete started to put his glasses back on then stopped abruptly. Still smiling, he tucked the glasses into his pocket. He turned, looking back in the direction of Garrett’s house, his smile falling away. “I’m telling you guys,” he said, hitching his thumb toward his friend’s house, “something is wrong at Garrett’s.”