The Forest of Forever (The Soren Chase Series, Book One)

by Rob Blackwell

  “But that’s not the weird thing,” Glen said. “He said his wife also saw visions of a kid in a Boy Scout uniform. She talked to him several times, and he kept asking her to find his troop.”

  The hairs on the back of Soren’s neck went up.

  “Isn’t that fucked up, boss? She saw the Leggett kid, but he hadn’t disappeared yet. The nudists left in 1954, a good twenty years before Leggett vanished. He wasn’t even born by then.”

  Another piece of the puzzle clicked into place.

  “He’s the Gypsy,” Soren said. “Owen Leggett is the Gypsy.”

  “You’re speaking in riddles again.”

  “I have Edolphus’s journal,” Soren said. “It was written sometime around 1812. On two occasions he mentioned seeing a Gypsy in the forest. I couldn’t figure out why, because nobody else mentioned seeing one. How would you even know someone was a Gypsy anyway? But I get it now. The kid must have spoken to him. He must have asked where his troop was. Only Edolphus didn’t hear it as a Boy Scout troop; he heard it as ‘troupe,’ as in a traveling troupe of Gypsies. Given that and the unfamiliar uniform, Edolphus made a wrong assumption.”

  “That’s not possible, Soren,” Glen said. “That was two hundred and fifty years before Leggett disappeared.”

  “He saw a soldier, too,” Soren continued. “Edolphus saw Mitchell from the Civil War. You want to remind me how that’s before his time? Good God, Glen, my crackpot theory was actually right.”

  Soren was babbling now, but he didn’t care.

  “There’s a symbol on the gem. It’s of two snakes, both of them locked together. I’d guess one signifies life and the other death, eternally at odds with one another. But it’s also another symbol, the kind they use in math equations. If you take away the snakes and make them into circles, it’s the symbol for infinity.”

  Soren thought of something Sara had told him. She’d passed on a message from John, but he’d misunderstood it.

  “He said to tell you it’s about time,” Sara had told him.

  He had taken the message figuratively, wondering if it was meant as a message for him to move on from what happened when John died. Only now did he comprehend that it was about the case.

  “This isn’t about ghosts,” Soren said. “This is about time.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Glen was silent for a moment.

  “Wait, what?” he asked. “I’m lost.”

  “Terry thought the gem was trapping the souls of the dead,” Soren said. “That’s what I assumed as well. But that can’t be right, not if Edolphus is seeing Owen Leggett and Samuel Mitchell. They hadn’t died yet—hell, they didn’t even exist at that point.”

  “So you’re saying the gem lets people travel in time?” Glen asked.

  “No, it’s not about time travel, it’s something else.”

  “Throw me a bone, boss. What the hell do you mean?”

  “I think it traps people within time,” Soren said.

  Before Glen could interrupt him, Soren continued on.

  “According to legend, the gem was created by a god who wanted his bride to live forever. It had the symbol for life and death on it. But it’s also a sign for infinity. And that’s a tricky concept to understand. Because infinity encompasses all time all at once—the past and the future. Everything.”

  Soren stopped talking as his mind raced.

  “You still there, boss?” Glen asked.

  “What if the gem opens up a doorway to a place beyond time?” Soren asked. “The gem is a key that opens this place, a small slice of infinity.”

  “Are you doing some awesome drugs down there or what?” Glen asked.

  Soren ignored him.

  “Edolphus,” Soren said. “In his journal he said he was alone, that there was no way to escape the forest. I didn’t get it because, historically speaking, there were cities and towns he could have fled to. But now I know what he meant. He wasn’t in Virginia anymore.”

  “Where was he?”

  “A mirror image of Reapoke Forest,” Soren said. “A pocket of infinity where the past, present, and future all run together. Through the looking glass. God, I’ve been so stupid. Even the name was a tip-off. The Gem of Darisam. Do you know what Darisam means in Sumerian? It means ‘forever.’ I thought it was just a flourish, not a damn clue.”

  “That’s hardly conclusive.”

  “Think about it. What do we know about what happened to Father Coakley?”

  “He committed suicide,” Glen said.

  “That was a rumor, one we were inclined to believe because people saw his ghost in the forest,” Soren said. “But all we know for sure is that Coakley and all his followers disappeared. They’re not ghosts, Glen. They’re not even dead.”

  “You can’t be serious.”

  Soren nodded his head, knowing Glen couldn’t see him. He wished Annika were here just so he could see the look on her face. He felt sure she’d understand.

  “Coakley takes himself, his son, and his existing followers into the forest,” Soren said. “Then they vanish. I think Coakley found the gem and learned to use it to open the doorway. He took his followers through and somehow rebuilt Bethlehem within this pocket of infinity.”

  “You’re making a lot of crazy assumptions,” Glen said. “Will you stop and listen to yourself? Every new piece of information you get spins off into a new theory. Then you embrace that theory wholesale. There’s no in-between with you. This could still be about ghosts, not some forest of forever.”

  “No,” Soren said. “This is the right track. I can feel it.”

  “You’re just proving my point,” Glen replied.

  “It all makes sense to me now,” Soren said. “Edolphus says the ‘forest is all there is.’ And he’s right. Bennett had the jewel, and he apparently tried to use it. Tabitha told us that he and his family were staring at the gem, completely captivated by it. What if Bennett was trying to use it to get away from the attacking Indians and into this other place, a safe zone?”

  “It’s exhausting just listening to you,” Glen said. “How would Bennett know what the jewel could do?”

  “Well, he found the jewel at Roanoke. He must have looked at it at some point,” Soren said. “Maybe he crossed over when he did and somehow came back. When the Indians attacked, maybe he thought he could use it to cross over again.”

  “How did he get there and come back? Other people get trapped in the forest, right?”

  “He had the gem, Glen,” Soren said. “That’s what makes all the difference. There must be some reason people get trapped inside this place, but my guess is they don’t have the jewel. If you have it, you can cross over and back at will.”

  “So Bennett didn’t burn up?” Glen asked. “Is that what you’re suggesting?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe he was able to take his family over; maybe some of them died when they looked into the gem. For all I know they all went over along with the Indians. Maybe they’re still there—or maybe the gem killed them. Even if they survived, Coakley might have murdered them. Who knows?”

  “Okay,” Glen said, and sighed. “I’m just going to play along, okay? Let’s say you’re right. How does that explain what’s happening in the forest? If Coakley’s gone to this other place and rebuilt his town there, why are people still seeing him in our world? How can he kill people?”

  “It’s two separate questions,” Soren replied. “Plenty of people, including myself, have reported seeing visions in the forest. Some see Coakley and his congregation, others see Owen Leggett, and a few have seen the Indians. But they don’t interact with anyone in a meaningful way. They’re just ghosts, so to speak.”

  “I thought you said—”

  “Just wait. I don’t mean they’re dead people; I just mean they’re incorporeal and mostly oblivious. Kael’s great-grandfather saw a burning man run toward him, but he wasn’t lighting the forest on fire. Several people have tried to pick up Owen, but he just disappears. Wallace Leggett s
aw Coakley and walked right through him.

  “There must be some kind of symbiotic relationship between the forest in the real world and whatever this place is. I think maybe it bleeds through a little into our world, allowing for temporary contact. The problem is it doesn’t do it according to the normal linear timeline. That’s why the nudist is seeing images of a Boy Scout who isn’t born yet, or how Edolphus sees a soldier from a war that hasn’t been fought. Something about this place—a place without time that somehow contains the past, present, and future—overlaps with our world. Anyone who comes into Reapoke Forest can see glimpses into what’s happening inside it. Maybe they can talk to Owen Leggett, but he’s not really in our world anymore. Sooner or later he disappears again.”

  Glen cleared his throat.

  “But Coakley can do more than that,” Glen said. “He killed people.”

  “I know,” Soren said. “Coakley somehow shows up in a very corporeal fashion and kills two of Evan’s friends. He kidnaps a third and Evan gets away—at least temporarily. The other people trapped inside this place, like Owen and Mitchell, appear stuck there. But I don’t think Coakley is. Somehow he can show up in the real world and hurt people.”

  “How?”

  “It comes back to the gem,” Soren said. “It has to be the key. Think of it like this. This place—let’s call it Darisam, for lack of a better word—is shut off from the real world, except for the occasional accidental bleed-through. But the gem can open and close the doorway to it. Coakley can use it to pull others inside.”

  “But how does he know they’re there?” Glen asked.

  “I don’t know,” Soren said. “There must be some pattern to it.”

  “Also, are you sure it’s Coakley that controls it?” Glen asked. “I mean, you saw the Boy Scout, right? Did it seem like Coakley had pulled him in?”

  Soren shook his head. It was an excellent question—and he didn’t have the answer to it.

  “I don’t know,” he replied finally. “Clearly I haven’t figured it all out. But there has to be a reason. The point is you need the gem to purposely go inside Darisam. Leggett got in accidentally somehow.”

  “So where’s the gem? Is it in our world or Darisam?”

  “Probably with Coakley,” Soren said. “It’s just a key, a way to unlock this other world, and my guess is Coakley has it with him for safekeeping. That solves one mystery, however.”

  “Which is what?”

  “Why the Association can’t find the gem on its own,” Soren said. “It’s not buried somewhere in Reapoke Forest—it’s in Darisam. The Association must be trying to open the doorway, but it can’t find a way.”

  “Why does it even want to go there?” Glen asked. “I mean, unless there’s a hidden disco palace in there, it doesn’t sound like that great a place.”

  “Another great question,” Soren said. “God, I wish Annika were here.”

  “While I’m at it, can I ask something else? How are you going to get Owen out of there?”

  “I have no idea,” Soren said. “I’m not even sure you can.”

  “Well, you must be able to get out.”

  “Nobody from the Lost Colony did.”

  “You’re forgetting something,” Glen replied. “Edolphus is there, right? That’s what you’re telling me. The reason he thinks there is nothing beyond the forest is because for him there isn’t. But he also wrote that journal, and you have it in your hands. And we know he’s the sole survivor of Bethlehem. So if he wrote the journal, he must have gotten out.”

  Soren’s head hurt just trying to process that information.

  “That’s a damn good point,” he said.

  “Is that even scientifically possible?” Glen asked.

  “Is a gaunt scientifically possible? How about a pretender? We’re not talking about a time machine, Glen, we’re dealing with something supernatural.”

  “Look, I don’t know if your new theory is the right one. But if it is, you need to save Leggett’s son.”

  “Not just him,” Soren replied. “Kael’s disappeared. It’s possible the gaunts got him, but if not . . . he could be trapped there, too.”

  A thought hit him even as he was speaking.

  “Oh shit!” Soren said. “He is there!”

  “Huh?”

  “Edolphus’s journal. He mentions seeing a party of Indians—and that one of them was limping. I assumed it was someone from the past, and so did Edolphus. But it’s not. Those are the Indians I know. The limping one is Mingan, Kael’s brother.”

  “So you’re saying that a two-hundred-year-old journal tells you where to find a bunch of guys who just went missing last night?” Glen asked.

  “Yes.”

  “The crazy thing is that this is beginning to make sense to me. I think I’ve hung out with you for too long.”

  “But I still have no idea how to get them out—or how they got there in the first place. If Coakley didn’t pull them in, what did? And while I’m at it, where the hell is Annika?”

  Soren glanced at the clock and noticed it was past two. Annika said she went out for food and clothes, but his frustration with her taking so long was beginning to turn into anxiety. He realized he’d felt uneasy since he woke up. The Association was a powerful enemy. What happened if she went out and it found her?

  “You still there?” Glen asked.

  “Where else would I be? My partner took my only set of wheels and I’m trapped here. Hang on one second.”

  He walked over to the window. He pulled back the curtain and looked down to see the car Annika and he had borrowed from Kael still sitting in the parking lot. No one was inside it.

  His anxiety turned into full-on dread.

  “Annika’s gone,” he said. “I think she’s been taken.”

  “But you said—”

  “I’m a fucking idiot,” Soren replied. “Look, I’ll call you back. I’ve got to call Wallace.”

  He ended the call before Glen could reply. He was in such a rush that he kept stabbing the wrong numbers on his phone. Finally, he got it right and heard Annika’s voice mail again. He left her a panicked message and then tried another number. He listened to the phone ring.

  It took Wallace Leggett several minutes to answer, but Soren still had the distinct impression that he had been waiting for him, just like everyone else today.

  “Wallace,” the gruff voice said.

  “Listen, I think the Association has taken Annika,” Soren said. “She left a note that she was going out to get food, but the car she supposedly took is still in the lot. I’ve got a terrible feeling about what happened to her. Can you give me her new phone number so I can check up on her?”

  There was silence on the other end of the phone.

  “Wallace?” Soren asked.

  “God, you’re fucking good,” Wallace finally responded. “You actually sound worried about her.”

  Soren stared at the paintings in his hotel room as if to ask them what the hell was going on.

  “Of course I sound that way!” Soren shouted. “Listen to me, you stupid bastard. Annika is in danger, serious danger. She needs your help.”

  “She needs nothing of the kind,” Wallace said.

  “What?”

  “I just spoke with her. She told me about what you did. You have a lot of balls to call me and try this shit. She said you’d try to spin me about my boy, maybe even tell me you could save him.”

  Soren didn’t know how to respond. He tried to process what Wallace had said but couldn’t make sense of it.

  “You spoke to her?” he asked. “Is she okay?”

  “No thanks to you,” Wallace said. “You tried to rape her. When I get done with you, there won’t be a hole small enough to bury you in. I want you to know that. She told me I was right about you, that you couldn’t be trusted.”

  Soren felt his world tipping dangerously. The puzzle he’d been assembling in his mind was finally coming together, and this threatened to blow it to pieces.r />
  “Wallace, I didn’t try to rape her,” Soren said. “I don’t care if you believe me, but it’s the truth.”

  “No one believes you anymore.”

  “Are you sure it wasn’t . . . ?” He hesitated to say the word but forced himself. “A pretender? Could she have been a pretender? When I last saw Annika, we were on good terms. We were close to figuring this out. I don’t understand why she would tell you something like this. Maybe the Association got to her.”

  He considered telling him his theory about Owen but decided against it. Wallace was waiting for him to “spin” a story about his son, and he knew it would be a bad idea to raise it.

  “Like I said, you’re good,” Wallace said. “I almost believe you. But ‘almost’ isn’t good enough. Don’t ever let me hear from you again, Soren Chase. If I do, I will tear you limb from limb, so help me God.”

  There was a click and the line went dead. Soren sat in stupefied disbelief. He didn’t know if Annika had been kidnapped and replaced or if Wallace was the victim of an uncanny imitator. But what mattered was that she was gone. Kael was gone. Glen was too far away to help. Once again Soren was on his own.

  But he couldn’t sit there and do nothing—and he couldn’t run away. His instincts told him Annika was in danger, and they were seldom wrong.

  His phone rang and buzzed in his hand, startling him. He recognized the number and picked it up.

  “Next time give me a chance to say good-bye,” Glen said. “You hung up before I could tell you what else happened today. It’s probably unimportant, but I thought you should still know.”

  After the morning he’d had, Soren wasn’t sure what other surprise was in store, but he knew he wouldn’t like it.

  “Go ahead,” he said.

  “Your friend Sara called,” Glen said. “She said she wanted to talk to you. She said she’d received a call from a . . . Meredith Townes—does that sound right to you? She said she had to speak with you before she saw her.”

  Soren felt like the floor had dropped out from underneath him. A week ago the name Meredith Townes wouldn’t have meant anything to him. But Sara had reminded him of John’s sister and who she was.