by JL Bryan
Chapter Thirty-One
I sealed Gwendolyn's engagement ring in a ghost trap. The plan was to swing by Valdosta on our way home—not that it was really on the way home, but it “kinda-sorta” was, as Stacey put it. We'd discreetly bury the ring in the soil at her grave; hopefully no groundskeepers would catch us in the act.
Before any of that, Stacey and I stayed on at the campground an extra couple of days to make sure we'd truly cleared out the haunting. All seemed calm, but we'd been wrong before.
We helped with a pleasant daytime project that originated with an idea from Shiloh, who'd said “the people in the woods” might be happiest if we planted some of their favorite plants around Stony Owl.
The family tilled the soil along the inside of the chain-link fence surrounding the ancient effigy. Guided by archaeological research, we set out sunflowers, a major local food source in ancient times, as well as mulberry trees, grapevines, a trellis with strawberries and blackberries, a few hazelnut and chinquapin shrubs for nuts, and more. There would be fruits and flowers aplenty to feed the local birds and wildlife... and the owls who preyed upon them.
By late afternoon, everyone was dirty, sweaty, and worn out. The place was looking great, though, a garden oasis. The weeds around the owl had been mowed nice and short, too.
“Not a bad start,” Josh said, wiping his dirty face on his sleeve. “Now we can go up in the tower for a real bird's eye view, huh?”
His sons groaned and shook their heads at the idea of hiking up the winding tower stairs.
Allison cut him a burning look. She was still understandably angry at him for holding back so much of the past from her. That was going to take a while to heal. Fortunately, I didn't have to stick around for that drama. Just take your check and leave town, that's how private investigators get to play it.
“The people in the woods are quiet now,” Shiloh said, looking out the open fence. “They like the plants. They'll keep us safe from the bad things, as long as we're good. We're good, right, Mommy?”
Allison nodded. “I think so. We're not so bad, at least.” She looked at me and Stacey. “Thanks for all your help.”
“No problem,” I said, still trying to calculate their final bill. “We should be able to wrap up over the weekend.”
“So what's the fate of Camp Stony Owl?” Stacey asked. “Do y'all think it's safe to open this summer?”
“We'll get it inspected if we do. Multiple times.” Allison glanced at Josh, who nodded, abashed.
“I think we should,” Ephraim said. “We got rid of the bad ghosts, right? And we put all this work into it.”
“Hey, I nearly died here,” Nate said. “But it was kind of cool. I mean, the good ghosts saved me, and that evil ghost girl was also totally hot and really into me. Obviously she was never going to go for Effie—”
“Don't,” Ephraim said.
“Probably that other ghost chick with the antlers was into me, too,” Nathan said. “That's why she saved us. Good thing it wasn't Effie, because she probably wouldn't have bothered—”
“Shut up!”
“Next time, wear a life vest,” Stacey said. “And use the buddy system. And don't go out on the water in a storm. I cannot emphasize this stuff enough.”
Nate nodded. So did Josh, or at least he gave the ghost of a nod.
We started down the hill together, and the woods were serene.
Chapter Thirty-Two
“This place is positively haunted,” Jacob said as we approached the chain-link gate to the owl effigy.
“Really?” Stacey groaned. “After all that work we did?”
“Ghosts?” Michael said, pretending to be scared. “Nobody said anything about ghosts!”
“I'll protect you.” I took his hand with my non-flashlight one.
Michael had surprised me by riding up with Jacob from Savannah. As far as we could tell, the case was closed, but a sign-off from a reliable psychic was needed here. That was Jacob.
Stacey had secretly arranged for Michael to come with him; the idea was we could all enjoy a weekend at the camp together, which is a thing many people apparently do for recreation, so I went along with it. Just a couple of ghost trappers and their boyfriends.
It was around midnight on Friday, and the guys had arrived in time for a moonlit walk where Jacob could put out his psychic feelers all over the campground. The moonlight was so strong we barely needed flashlights.
Now we stood at the gate to the effigy mound, and Jacob had made a most unfortunate pronouncement.
“I mean, they're a positive presence,” he said. “It's gentle. Like the background noise of the owls up there. There was something here long ago...” He shook his head.
“Will this help?” I unlocked the gate with my borrowed key and opened it wide.
Jacob took a deep breath and nodded as he looked at the effigy. He made no move to go inside the fence, despite the open gate.
A long minute passed. Maybe two or three, I didn't track it. I looked up at Michael; I was still a little flushed with excitement from his surprise appearance. Maybe another night at the campground wouldn't be so bad. We could pick any cabin we wanted.
“It's fine,” Jacob finally said. “They're content as long as they're treated with respect. Leave the gate closed except for gardening. These aren't spirits your clients need to worry about. They could actually help against more negative influences. But this area here...” He gestured at the Stony Owl effigy. “Needs to be respected. Otherwise things could go wrong.”
“No kidding,” Stacey said, drawing a questioning look from Jacob, but she didn't elaborate.
“This area has a strong, strange energy. The old spirits left a little of themselves here as permanent guardians of it.”
“We need to know how they feel about living people coming here,” I said. “Do they want this whole area left vacant? Or is it okay if Josh and Allison revive the campground?”
Jacob looked into the fence, then shrugged. “Just stay out of here.” He stepped forward and began to close the gate. “They have a positive outlook on the camp, because the camp is mostly children, mostly innocents.”
“Good enough for me.” I locked the gate.
“There's a lot of thin trace apparitions here,” Jacob said as we all started down the hill together. “Not surprising, I guess, if people have lived here so long. What's weird is the sort of basic, calm happiness of it. All the little ghosts of the past, all the little parts of themselves that people left here—pieces of their childhood, you know—those are still here. And they're a little extra charged up, because this was a sacred place. It was long ago, and still is.”
I felt relieved as we walked down the hill. This had been a strange case, certainly. There was magic in these hills, as so many former campers recalled fondly, even in the darkest times.
We passed the lake. Jacob glimpsed a few boys and girls out there, seen only to him, but they vanished as quickly as he described them. “They seem happy enough, too.”
“Did someone order a bonfire?” Michael asked as we started up toward the trail toward our now-familiar cabin area. Glowing red light flickered ahead.
I put on speed, worried that our cabin might have somehow caught fire. Perhaps a final attack from a vengeful spirit.
We emerged into the cluster of boys' cabins to see a large fire raging. It was in the fire ring where it belonged, though, where Ephraim and Nathan now stood and called to us.
“Isn't it a little late to start a fire?” I asked, slowing to a normal walk.
“It's only one in the morning,” Stacey replied. “Given our usual hours, it's almost too early.”
“Hey, who wants marshmallows?” Nathan held up a bag as the four of us arrived. “Anyone? Stacey? Anyone?”
“How was the walk?” Ephraim looked at us carefully.
“Things seem fine,” I replied, taking a seat on a log and accepting a marshmallow from Nathan, after he'd pressed a couple into Stacey's hands. “The local spir
its are okay with the campground being revived, as long as everyone respects their area.”
“That's basically what Shiloh says,” Ephraim told me.
“But she's always making stuff up.” Nathan looked at Jacob as if sizing him up. “So you're really Stacey's boyfriend?”
“Yep.” Jacob gave him a dubious look, adjusting his thick glasses, and took one of the marshmallows.
“You must have mad game,” Nathan said.
“Don't say stupid things, Nathan,” Ephraim said. “Let's tell them the new story.”
“What new story?” I asked, watching the marshmallow on my stick blacken beautifully.
“For when the camp opens,” Ephraim said. “We figured we need a new—”
“—totally new version of the Trailwalker legend,” Nate said.
“Now that we know more about her,” Ephraim added.
“Oh, I definitely want to hear this.” Stacey leaned against Jacob while she started to toast a marshmallow.
“Yeah, so it starts like...” Nate frowned. “You start it, Effy.”
“Don't call me that. So anyway...thousands of years ago, a powerful queen lived here, at the top of Stony Owl Hill. She ruled over all the tribes in these mountains, and she wore a crown of deer antlers. She was buried under Stony Owl, along with her favorite weapons, her obsidian knife and her ax. And sometimes, late at night, you can see her out walking the trail with her troop of ghost warriors... ”
The boys passed their updated legend back and forth, one picking up whenever the other paused too long, making up the rest of it as they went.
I sat close to Michael—his smiling face a welcoming and soothing sight—and watched the smoke and embers spiral upward and vanish into the starlit sky above.
FROM THE AUTHOR
I hope you enjoyed this latest ghostly adventure with Ellie and Stacey. A few historical sites in Georgia inspired this tale, most notably Rock Eagle, located in the Chattahoochee National Forest. A large 4H campground is adjacent to the site, and like many elementary-age Georgians I spent a few nights in a cabin there as part of a school field trip. The sister site, Rock Hawk, is much less known, and I’d never heard of it before researching for this book. Another inspiration was the Etowah mounds, also in north Georgia, once home to a sizable town of hilltop buildings. The Woodland period remains a fascinating and mysterious era of ancient American history, one that left us fascinating artifacts indicating continent-wide trading networks.
Next up, Ellie and Stacey land a case back home. A quirky young family has a vision to restore a old drive-in theater that has stood abandoned for years on a highway outside Savannah, a symbol of a lost era and a forgotten time, but something evil waits in the darkness when the lights go down and the illusions light up the screen.
Come along with Ellie and Stacey as they investigate a menacing and murderous presence in the next book, Midnight Movie, currently on pre-order. It should be quite a show!
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Also by J.L. Bryan:
The Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper series
Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper
Cold Shadows
The Crawling Darkness
Terminal
House of Whispers
Maze of Souls
Lullaby
The Keeper
The Tower
The Monster Museum
Fire Devil
The Necromancer’s Library
The Trailwalker
Midnight Movie
Urban Fantasy/Horror
The Unseen
Inferno Park
Time Travel/Dystopian
Nomad
The Jenny Pox series (supernatural/horror)
Jenny Pox
Tommy Nightmare
Alexander Death
Jenny Plague-Bringer