“Beautiful wasn’t it?” Greystone’s distinct voice came gently, deep like the voice Miranda once longed to hear on lonely nights. It drew her to the surface. The feelings were so deep, so intense, like nothing Katherine had ever felt, but like everything she wanted to feel. They were so overwhelming she let them come, let her take over. Turning she faced Greystone, expecting to see what she remembered. Expecting to see Charles.
The beast stood in the corner. With the illusion broken the room melted back to its current state. Miranda faltered started to step back, thought better of it.
“It was.” She said, holding her ground.
“It can be again.” With a placid look he moved smoothly forward.
“It’s been so long. How can you still be waiting? Why didn’t you just pass it on to another clan, like it was done to you?” One frail hand wrapped tightly to the back of one of the chairs.
“I would still be this…” he motioned to his own body, “Such a long time to be alone. After all, we did vow eternity.” Towering over her he looked down into her face, studied her eyes. “I’d forgotten how beautiful your eyes were, what color they were even.” One bent finger touched her cheek, claw carefully retracted, stroked her hair.
Katherine began to stir. To even be this close to him sent chills through her, yet Miranda’s essence let him near, longed for his touch, even as this creature. The memories weren’t like this. She’d resisted, run from him, fought. Finding herself trapped, surprised, forced only to watch she struggled. The stirring in her core churned. It escalated until she tapped into it, pulled herself from Miranda’s depths to the surface. He was only inches from her face now, bending to whisper something in her ear.
In the bowels of the house a clock began to strike the hour as his lips moved. They drowned out the words. By the sixth strike she slipped from the dream world into consciousness.
Katherine sat up as the knock came again. Peeking out of the curtain into the dim light of morning she saw Jim standing at the door. It felt heavy in her tired hand as she turned the handle, opened it, squinted into the light.
“Mornin’. Told ya I’d be back.” The bright grin spread from one deep dimple to the other. He looked different in a tee-shirt, flannel jacket and jeans. The hiking boots caught her eye.
“Um. Going somewhere particular today?” Scratching her head she looked around at the deserted parking lot.
“Yep. Goin' with ya to Shin Pond.” There was no way he was going to let her slip by now. His taste for mystery had been stirred and adventure waited in a place he thought he’d never get to see.
This proclamation brought her around. The feelings stirred in Miranda only moments before came to mind. The crush she had on this man felt more like a warning this morning.
“Uh, don’t think so.” Katherine rubbed her face with both hands. “I… I really appreciate it, I do. But there are things about me you just don’t know.” She sniffed, “Don’t ever want to know. Not really. Besides, you’re on vacation; you have plans of your own.”
Jim shook his head. “No, not really. I planned to fish and loaf, which was about it. And I know more about you than you think Mz. Katherine.”
It was crazy, she knew it was. For all she knew he could be the killer he claimed Nigel was, but she was capable of protecting herself, even if she wasn’t completely sure how to use the power she’d gotten a taste of it in the dream. It gave her the idea that she just needed to let go. There was an innate trust when it came to him that she couldn’t explain. It had nothing to do with him being a cop. She motioned him into the room, plopped down on the edge of the bed.
Being the gentleman that he was Jim pulled a little chair over from the table, sat down in front of her.
“You don’t understand,” she began, “there’re things going on with me, things I don’t fully understand myself and it’s just not a good time to be around me.”
“Ya mean it’s not safe to be with ya.” A strong serious face met her surprised expression. “I know who ya’re. You’re the long lost McKlannen heir. I know the legends, the stories about your lake, how your grandparents died, what happened to your father before he left. I also know there’s a great deal of danger ‘round ya. What I don’t know, at least clearly that is, why.”
At first Katherine only stared in disbelief. Then she realized she’d stumbled onto something.
“It sounds like you know more about my family than I do.” She studied him carefully, wondering if he had something more to do with all of this than it seemed. Was it chance they met, or intentional?
Tilting his head to one side he looked hard at her. “Ya mean Michael didn’t tell ya ‘bout your heritage?”
“Who?” she paused, “Oh, you mean my father.”
“Yea, Michael McKlannen. He left not long after the fire.”
“He changed it to Mitch. You mean the fire his parents died in?”
“Yea. He went bonkers or least people thought he did. But surely ya knew that?” Jim watched her face, realized quickly she didn’t know.
“The fire, was that the big house at the lake?”
“No, it was the house in town. They’d just built it not long before it burnt down with them in it. It was a mysterious thing. The fire started in their bedroom, they burnt alive. Most fires the victim dies of smoke inhalation before the fire gets ‘em. The fire started right there where they were. The report said there was some sorta accelerant. Then Michael… well,” He stopped there, waited for a reaction beyond the blank stare he was getting.
“What?”
“He went nuts right there on the scene, yelling about things out to get the family and how he was leaving and never coming back.”
“I see. Well, that makes sense.” She glanced at Jim, saw how badly he wanted to know. “What’s your interest in all of this?”
“Well, all my life I’ve been fascinated by this. I’ve studied it, researched everything I could find, collected all the stories. Wanted to know more, wanted to find out what’s truth, what wasn’t, what the real story was. To know what really happened there over all the time it’s been in your family. Some people have their Big Foot, I’ve got McKlannen Lake.” He smiled warmly, he hoped convincingly.
“Sounds like you know what you’re getting yourself into. What happened to Dad after the fire?” A little fishing couldn’t hurt, then she’d send him away.
“He went nuts on the scene and they put him up in the Bangor State Mental Hospital for a while. It wasn’t long, though, and when he got out he disappeared.”
She nodded. “Yea, he changed his name, got married, moved to North Dakota for a while and then when Mom died he moved to North Carolina. I never knew about the hospital though.”
“Ya’ll not talk much? Bad terms?”
“No, actually we were quite close. At least I thought we were. Until lately. He’s actually why I’m here,” she paused, looked closely at Jim to gauge his reaction. “They got him, except for an aunt I’m all that’s left. They’re after me now and they’re not going to stop until they either get me or I find some way out of this.”
The expression on his face didn’t change, but stayed stern and serious. “It obviously didn’t do him any good to run. Do ya have a plan? Any idea what ta do?”
“Wow, you didn’t even flinch.” A relieved grin crossed her face.
“I told ya, I’ve looked into this my whole life. People’ve disappeared up there and the stories the law’s told about looking around that lake are hair raising. It got so they wouldn’t look there anymore. I’ve seen some things in my time, like last night, that cause me to keep an open mind. There’s some very isolated places up here and some strange shit happens. They can’t all be hallucinations and drunks. Too many reputable people see stuff.” He took a breath, looked down at his hands. “What’d your dad tell you about your aunt?”
“Nothing. I didn’t
even know about her until just before he died. I was hoping to locate her while I’m here.”
“I hate ta tell ya this but Melissa’s in the Bangor Hospital. She went there when your father did, only she never left. Bein’ twins ya’d think he’d a took her with him. She developed a fascination with fire, suicide by fire to be exact. Went over the edge and just never came back.”
“Twins?” Katherine was still. “I didn’t know. Is she lucid at all?”
“I’ve tried a couple a times ta talk to her; she just looks at me like I’m some little green man. Don’t think it’d do much good to try. Sorry. Besides, ya’re a ways from Bangor now.”
“Yea, I guess you’re right. I should make it to Shin Pond today.”
“We, we should make it to Shin Pond.” Jim attempted to reinforce his determination to accompany her on the journey.
Katherine rolled her eyes at him.
“No, don’t do this to me, please. I’ve waited my whole life to find out what’s up with that place. This is the chance of a lifetime for me,” he smiled sheepishly, “in more ways than one.”
Miranda whispered in her ear, but she didn’t hear the words as she gave in to her attraction for this handsome man. Nodding she got up and walked to her suitcase, tossed it on the bed.
“Let me get dressed. Is there a place to get breakfast around here?”
Jim let out a sigh of relief. “Yep, just up the road. Now that we’re in agreement, mind telling me what ya know ‘bout what’s going on?”
Over breakfast they discussed what Katherine knew from the book, the dreams, her trip to Salem minus the dramatics. Then Jim filled her in on the more recent family history. Throughout the morning she became more and more comfortable. It felt right to let him come along and Miranda receded until Katherine hardly felt her presence at all. It was comforting to know she wouldn’t be alone physically. He felt familiar, as if she’d known him before. The mutual attraction between them made promises of its own.
By the end of breakfast they’d decided to take both vehicles. The truck was better suited to the off road experience ahead, providing the road in was not completely overgrown. As they pulled out of the parking lot and onto the highway Jim led the way. Two hours later they pulled over in front of a Mom and Pops gas station on route 159 ten miles outside of Shin Pond.
Sliding out of the seat Jim proceeded to pump gas as Katherine lined her car up on the other side.
“We’d best top off he’re.” He said as she climbed out. “It’s the last gas station unless we want to go into town. Ya didn’t want to stop in the’re for anything did ya?”
“I thought I might ask around about the place.”
Jim laughed, raised his eyebrows. “Well, ya could do that. But that’d make ya quite the spectacle. This’s McKlannen Lake central without going to the lake itself. They haven’t seen a family member in fourty years.”
Considering this Katherine nodded, “You’ve got a point. Maybe we’d better go check out the lake first. There’s not likely to be anything there anyway. Doubt there are many left who’d have even known the family.”
“There’re three. One that went to school with your father and his sister and two that knew their parents.” He smiled. “Historian of McKlannen Lake he’re, remember?”
With a chuckle he set the gas pump to run on its own and headed inside. “I’ll pay, just come on in when ya’re done. I’m gonna get somethin’ ta drink. Want anything?”
“I’ll look after I’m done.” Watching him go she couldn’t help but smile. That gnawing inside was Miranda complaining about adding company, but she ignored it. That strange feeling slid around in her belly, then was still.
‡
Bells jangled as Jim opened the door. Going to the cooler he gathered a Coke and a water, picked up a box of granola bars and stood by the window watching for Katherine to start replacing the pumps in their cradles.
The old man at the counter eyed him, then Katherine curiously.
“She looks a might familiar,” he said. “You ‘all from round these parts?” His blue eyes shifted back to Jim. He was short, with thin pale grey hair barely covering his shiny head. Coveralls over a thin flannel shirt covered a sizable barrel round the middle and he looked like he might be in his seventies.
“Well, I am. She’s not. From North Carolina, down past Greensboro. She’s up he’re on family business.”
“She sur resembles the McKlannens. Used to own the lake up on the road past Shin Pond Village,” he motioned in the direction they were traveling.
“Well, she’s kin.” Jim fell silent, wondered if he should have offered the information.
The old man placed a withered hand over the lower half of his face and looked cautiously at Jim. His piercing blue eyes communicated all too clearly his suspiciousness and fear.
“If’n you’re smart you’ll listen close,” he spoke in a conspiratous tone, removing his hand to brush back the thin hair. “That place’s nowhere to be. It’s evil that dwells on them shores. Hardly a beast alive’ll enter the’re. A pack a wolves all that roams and they’re of an unearthly sort. Taint a person within three states hasn’t heard of the goin’s on and won’t even a non-believer in the nether worlds go the’re. Ever now and then somebody foolish tries to prove the tales wrong.”
He stood silent as he glanced back out at Katherine, who was now putting the pumps back in their cradles. Jim stood looking at the store keeper, spellbound.
“Well, how do ya know so well ‘bout the lake and the family?”
“I used to live on the property next to the McKlannens. My daddy bought huntin’ rights to a cabin the’re when I’s real young. Knew the McKlannen boy growin’ up. We hunted the’re a few years, saw stuff now and then we couldn’t quite explain, but daddy, he didn’t believe in such things as unnatural stuff, so he ignored it, until one day he saw somethin’ he couldn’t ignore and we never did go back to that place.” The old man’s face was stern.
“I thought I knew everyone who’d ever known the McKlannen’s round here.” Jim put out his hand. “I’m Jim Lancaster. I’ve researched the McKlannen family for a long time.”
The old man did not take the hand, but just stared at it as if it were a foreign concept. “That so. Well, ya missed one sonny. People go out ta that lake and they don’t ner come back. The Sheriff won’t go looking for ‘em either! Sent a couple deputies looking once. One came back scared crazy. Still resides in the Bangor Mental Institute. The other one ner come back.”
Turning his head so he could see Katherine coming across the parking lot, but still see the old man Jim kept up the conversation. “Yea, I know. I’m a state trooper. Know some of the guys who’ve been on searches in the area.”
“Well, then. You should know better,” the old man huffed, stared him in the eye.
“Say ya spent time at a cabin up the’re. You know anything about the layout of the road up there?” Growing uncomfortable with this character Jim looked for an out.
A paper bag snapped and the old man put it on the counter as he rang things up and put them in it. Then he took out another bag and drew a map on the back.
“Yep, best turn back now while ya still can. If she carries McKlannen blood ‘taint no way it’ll let either of ya back out. It needs her ta carry on the family heritage,” he paused, looked into Jim’s eyes. “It’ll need you for a breeder.” A sly smile crossed his face. “If ya’re going to keep goin’ at least ya should know where ya’re goin’. Here’s where ya’ll come in. The’re’s a road goes up this way…”
Jim stood listening carefully to the old man’s directions. Katherine entered, caught the end of it, looked curiously at the two, but said nothing. The place felt strange. She hadn’t been there before. There was a presence there she knew all too well and she fought a desire to grab Jim by the arm and flee. She knew she had to learn to stand her ground; that sh
e offered something for them to fear.
“Ready?” Jim turned his back to the old man, made his face stern and his eyes big, clearly encouraging a yes.
“Yea, we really gotta get on the road.” She gladly turned and headed out the door. To her dismay it shut behind her, but she kept walking.
“How’d ya really know the family?” he asked, laying a hand on the door to push it open.
“Oh, let’s just say we’re close personal friends. Once upon a time.” For just a moment Jim thought he saw the old mans’ eyes glimmer. They were a malevolent green, like the one a camera flash elicits, then solid black. He blinked, looked again. Only old grey eyes looked back.
Chapter thirteen
As Shin Pond passed and Shin Pond Village came into view Miranda began to stir and emerge. Katherine’s angst grew as she approached the place she knew only in dreams. The personality that was slowly becoming part of her was a welcome thing.
Again she tried to recall the children. This time she was allowed happier times at the lake, canoe rides with the kids and Charles before the change. The children running through the house laughing and playing, the day that each was born and placed in the arms of a proud father.
With intent Katherine recalled them as they stood by their father in the forest, the day that Miranda almost made it out with them. She recalled the ceremony performed on the ring. Bringing Miranda back to these things suppressed the desires she felt rise in her at thoughts of Charles and even the thing he’d become. Again she tried to recall the children.
‘Later.’ She heard Miranda whisper in the corridors of her mind.
Letting it go she concentrated on the truck as it drove along. Jim maintained a steady five miles an hour above the posted speed limit.
“A man who likes to push the limits,” she muttered, then laughed.
That wasn’t all bad, at least he wasn’t a stick in the mud. Thoughts shifted to Jim the man, not the companion. How tight the tee-shirt was, how it made his muscles bulge. How much she liked to see a man with bulging muscles.
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