“We made a promise to someone that we’d keep what we’re about to show you secret,” Roy said. “We had to consult with them to get the green light. I never break my promises, so it couldn’t be helped.”
“What could you possibly show me that would be more appealing than my easy chair next to a fully loaded stove?”
Steven looked at Roy, and they both broke into a smile. “Just follow me, alright?” Steven said, turning back to Maynard. “Before you go back, just come with us and let us explain.”
“Just explain right here,” Maynard said, sticking up his chin.
“It’s much easier if you see it,” Steven said. “And I promise it’ll be worth your time. It’s about twenty miles from here, on your way back to the interstate. No more than an hour of your time, I promise. If it doesn’t measure up to your expectations, we won’t try to stop you from leaving. My personal guarantee.”
Maynard looked between the two of them, trying to gauge their honesty. “If you’re wasting my time,” he said, “I can promise you, you’ll never get someone with my credentials again. I have plenty of friends who deal with vorghosts, and I’ll make sure they all know you’re a bad nut.”
“Actually,” Roy said, “I expect your complete and total discretion regarding what we’re about to show you. It’s something only three people know about, and you’ll be the fourth. It needs to stay private, between just the four of us. We only let someone know about it if all the others agree, which is what just happened. This is the first time we’ve shared this with anyone else. So I need your word on that.”
“If you’re pulling my leg, I will warn others about you,” Maynard said.
“I’d do the same thing,” Roy said. “But we’re not pulling your leg.”
“Then I give you my word,” Maynard said. “Lead on.”
Steven and Roy returned to their car and pulled out onto Highway 12, heading east. Steven kept an eye on Maynard in the truck behind him, making sure he didn’t lose him, which wasn’t hard; traffic was light and even though Maynard was an old man, he didn’t drive like one. When they reached the exit for Montessa, Steven gave Maynard plenty of notice with his turn signal. Maynard stayed right behind them.
They wound through the small forest roads north of the highway and passed through the tiny town. Steven turned to look at the motel where they’d stayed many months before, where Roy had bitched endlessly about the room. He passed the curio shop run by Roger’s wife, happy to see that it was still in business. Finally they passed the small café where they’d met Bess. Then the houses and buildings rapidly dried up, replaced by a sea of green trees that ran nearly to the edge of the road.
Before they reached the turnoff for the Unser Estate, Steven turned onto a forest road that took them south of the property. Now they were the only two vehicles on the road. After a couple of miles, Steven turned onto the small pullout that led to the old prohibition tunnel. They drove up to the gate, and Roy got out to unlock it, swinging the large metal barrier open until Steven and Maynard could drive through. Once Maynard’s trailer cleared the gate, Roy closed it and locked it. He stopped at Maynard’s truck as he walked back to Steven’s car. He opened the passenger side door to the cab.
“We’re going to be driving through a tunnel up ahead,” Roy said. “It’s not big, and I doubt you’ll want to bring your truck into it, especially with the trailer, since there’s no way to turn around once you’re in there — you’d have to back out. I’ll let our car through, but you park outside and ride in with us, alright?”
“Alright,” Maynard said matter-of-factly.
Roy closed the cab door and walked back to the Acura. Once he got inside, they snaked down the narrow dirt trail, crunching over an occasional fallen branch. When they reached the large metal doors that blocked the entrance to the tunnel, Roy hopped out of the car once again and opened them, allowing Steven to drive through. Maynard parked his truck and joined them, then Roy secured the doors behind them.
They lumbered slowly down the tiny road inside the tunnel.
“Old prohibition tunnel,” Roy explained.
“Uh,” Maynard grunted.
Soon they reached the end of it, and Steven stopped his car. They all got out of their vehicles and walked to the small set of stairs that led to the metal door with no handle. Roy pulled out his keys and slid one into the flush lock on the door, and pulled it open.
“Where are we going?” Maynard asked.
“Above us is the estate of Harold Unser,” Roy said. “He was a lumber baron in the early part of the last century. He had a wife, Anita, who was gifted. She passed the gift to their son, James.”
They walked into the room and to the next set of stairs, descending slowly. Roy continued the story as they walked.
“A group of us were lured out here several months back under false pretenses,” Roy said. “We were told we’d be sleuthing the house to discover why it was haunted. Instead, we found ourselves trapped upstairs, our powers slowly draining from us. A focus we held on our first day here tripped a device constructed by James. We learned that he hated gifteds, and the man who tricked us into coming here was trying to revive Unser’s schemes.”
They continued down until they reached the final door, which Steven unlocked while Roy continued.
“In trying to stop the draining, we discovered this place, buried far below the estate,” Roy said as Steven opened the door. They stepped through it and after a few feet they were in view of Eximere. Steven was grateful it appeared to be normal.
“Good gracious!” was the only thing Maynard said.
Steven led on, and Maynard and Roy followed. “It was in this house we discovered what Unser was really up to. He was in the process of killing as many gifteds as he could, and keeping their possessions. The house is full of their journals and objects, as well as Unser’s projects. We’ve been trying to return the journals to their rightful heirs.”
Maynard’s mouth was open as they walked through the yard, along the path from the tunnel doorway. “Where’s the light coming from?” he asked.
“We don’t know,” Steven replied. “The light goes away at night. The whole place operates like a house up on the surface. It always maintains itself. The yard stays perfect. The house is always clean.”
They stepped up to the front of the house, and Maynard saw the engraving over the entrance. “Eximere,” he repeated. “What does it mean?”
“In Latin it means ‘free,’ or ‘released,’” Steven said. “What it meant to Unser is unclear.”
Maynard walked up the steps and through the open archway that was the main entrance to the house. He stopped in the breezeway, observing the smell of the place, twisting his head in every direction to observe little details.
“Wow,” he said. “This is really something.”
“Good, then I take it you won’t be reporting us to all your friends as a waste of time,” Roy said.
“No, I won’t,” Maynard replied, walking through the breezeway to the back yard. He stopped on the porch before walking down the steps, staring out into the landscaping.
“A banyan tree,” Maynard said. “Who would believe that? I haven’t seen one since I went to Hawaii, years ago.”
He walked down to the path that led from the back porch into the yard, and followed it toward the tree, looking up into the branches.
“There’s a slight wind,” he said. “That’s amazing.”
He turned to look back at the house. “This is astounding. Unser built it?”
“As far as we know,” Steven said. He pointed to an upstairs bedroom window, not far from the center of the house. “We found Unser’s body inside. In that room. We buried him out here.”
Maynard whirled around, looking down. His face turned ashen, and he walked toward the closest of the mounds.
“Oh, no,” he said, pressing his foot into the surface of the goop that covered the grave.
“Unser buried the gifteds he killed out here,” R
oy said. “Covered them over in the same crap that Christina was buried in.”
“It’s a suspension substrate,” Maynard said numbly. “It acts as an encasement.”
“He hated them so much, and their ability,” Roy said. “He covered them over with this goop to keep their power suppressed.”
“Not suppressed,” Maynard said, looking up at them. Steven could see that all of the blood had drained from Maynard’s face. “Harnessed.”
“Harnessed?” Roy said. “What do you mean?”
“I mean he used them for their power,” Maynard said. “Just like Marie buried Christina, to use her power.”
“But that was for a vortex,” Steven said. “This isn’t… Eximere isn’t…”
“Yes, it is,” Maynard said. “This is a vortex. This place — it’s the most complex, sophisticated vortex I’ve ever seen. And these bodies,” Maynard said, pointing down at the graves, “are what keep it going.”
Steven stumbled back and tripped, landing on his back. Roy rushed over to help him regain his feet.
“Jason,” Steven whispered. “Jason’s buried here.”
Maynard began walking around the graves. “There’s so many,” he said. “All buried alive. More than I’ve ever seen.”
“Unser was focused on gifteds,” Roy said. “We thought he wanted to destroy them, that he hated their ability.”
“He may have hated their ability,” Maynard said, “but he knew what it was worth. He had to have known what he was doing.”
Steven glanced over at Jason’s grave. He’s not buried in the goop, he thought. And he was dead when I buried him. Maybe he’s unaffected by all this. Maybe he’s just a normal corpse in a normal grave. The idea of Jason being used by Unser made him feel ill. He was gifted, he thought. Unser would have liked to use his power, no doubt. But he was dead when I buried him, and there’s no harnessing substrate on him. He has to be unaffected.
“Marie’s vortex has been impacting this place,” Roy told Maynard. “It’s one of the reasons we got involved. As the rod of her vortex moved, things changed here. Got weird. Sections of the yard blanked out. Lights went on the fritz. We saw strange things.”
“This vortex is many levels beyond anything I’ve ever encountered,” Maynard said, still walking among the graves. “Far more complex than Marie’s.”
“Marie’s isn’t the only one,” Steven said quietly.
“What?” Maynard asked.
“The same people who own this land own Marie’s land,” Steven said. “And they own two more properties nearby.”
Maynard stood frozen for a moment, looking down at the graves. Then he looked up at both of them. “We need a map.”
“There’s an atlas in the library, inside,” Roy said.
“Lead me to it,” Maynard said.
They walked back through the yard and up the steps. Roy led Maynard and Steven into the library, and to a large book he pulled from a lower shelf. He placed it on a table and let Maynard have access to it.
Maynard flipped to the index and searched for Washington state. Once he’d located the page, he turned to Steven. “Where are we, about now?”
Steven pointed to a spot just north of Montessa.
“And Marie’s house? Where is that? I see Aberdeen here, to the west.”
“It’s close to that,” Steven said, sliding his finger across Grays Harbor to the neighborhood of Barbara’s house. “Here,” Steven said, holding his finger in place.
“Keep your finger on it, will you?” Maynard asked. “Now where are the other two properties?”
“Matlock,” Steven said. It’s a tiny town west of Shelton, about there,” he said, pointing with his free hand. Once he saw the spot, Maynard used his finger as a placeholder.
“And the third one?” Maynard asked.
“Oakville,” Steven said, pointing to the east. “It’s south of Porter.” Maynard placed his other finger where Steven indicated, and they examined the results.
“Three spots, all approximately equidistant from where we’re standing right now,” Maynard said.
“So?” Roy asked, leaning over the map, looking at the places they marked.
“That’s how you place rods when you’re making a vortex,” Maynard said. “He’s using vortexes the way a vorghost would use a rod.”
“Wait a minute,” Roy said. “You think the other two locations contain a vortex like Marie’s?”
“Yes, three of them, surrounding a giant, complex center. One of the most unusual ones I’ve ever seen. I’ve heard this theorized and speculated about, but it’s never existed before, that I know of. I think Unser pulled it off. If the other two locations contain a vortex like Marie’s, then he’s using those vortices the same way a regular vortex uses rods. He’s created a kind of super-vortex that’s almost fifty miles in diameter.”
“With Eximere at the center of it,” Steven said.
“Yes,” Maynard said, looking up from the map. “Someone like Christina would have been enough to keep a small vortex like Marie’s going. He may have made similar arrangements at the other two locations. But this place — this is unbelievable, the size of it, the complexity of what he’s created. That’s why all the bodies out there in the back yard. It must take a tremendous amount of energy to keep it all going.”
The lights began to flicker and then went out, leaving them in total darkness.
“Hold on,” Steven said. “There’s flashlights in the breezeway.” He stumbled out of the room, feeling his way as he went.
“This is what I meant,” Roy told Maynard. “Lights going out. Didn’t happen before the trouble with that vortex in Grays Harbor.”
“It makes sense, they’re all connected,” Maynard said. “All four vortices act in harmony to create one, very large vortex. If one of the satellites surrounding the center were to go out, it would impact the energy here.”
Steven bumped into the hallway table and reached down, searching for a flashlight or lantern. He found one and switched it on, casting a beam of light through the darkness. He walked back into the library, and just as he entered, the light overhead returned.
“It’s unpredictable,” Steven said, switching the flashlight back off.
“So this is something you’ve never seen before?” Roy asked. “All just theory amongst vorghost specialists?”
“I have friends who think this type of thing has been created before, historically,” Maynard replied. “But no one I know of has any knowledge of one currently.”
“Maybe they do, but they’re sworn to secrecy,” Roy said. “As you are, now.”
“Right, right,” Maynard said.
“We brought you here because we’re not sure what to do next,” Steven said. “We were concerned that if you took down Marie’s vortex, it might impact things here.”
“Oh, it probably would have brought down the whole enterprise,” Maynard said. “Just like Marie’s one rod going wrong was bringing down her vortex. You’ve got to have at least three rods to keep a vortex going. I’m going to guess it’d be the same with a super vortex like this — take out one of the three vortices, it’d come apart.”
Maynard paused and thought. “So, that said, I’m guessing you’d prefer we fix Marie’s vortex rather than destroy it.”
“Can you do that?” Steven asked.
“I can, but what about Christina?” Maynard asked. “She’s the reason Marie’s vortex was coming apart in the first place. I don’t think she’ll stop.”
“Could we move her?” Roy asked. “Replace her with one of these bodies, from out in the backyard?”
“Besides how much I hate digging up bodies,” Maynard said, “you don’t know what that’d do to the power situation here. For all we know, Unser had just the right number of bodies out there to make this place work. You might be robbing Peter to pay Paul, might just make things worse.”
“I think we have to open up to Christina,” Steven said. “She thinks her father is up to no good, and that�
�s why she’s ripping the vortex apart. If she understood that we’re trying to reverse things, that we know all about what Unser was trying to do, and that we’re fighting against it, we’re on her side, we might be able to convince her to maintain the vortex so we can keep reversing Unser’s work.”
“We’d have to repair the rod,” Roy said.
“Nah, just replace it with a spare,” Maynard said. “I got a couple in my trailer.”
Bingo, Steven thought.
The lights went out again, and Steven turned his flashlight back on. “You know, when we were here before, I saw a ghost that we eliminated many months ago,” Steven said. “Anita, James’ mother. She caused the most intense coldness. I can feel it again.”
“Vortex defenses,” Maynard said. “Just like at the abandoned house. Uses what you’re afraid of against you. Since Roy here is afraid of the dark, it doesn’t surprise me that we keep losing the light.”
“We’ve been coming here for months since we killed off Anita,” Steven replied, “and there were no disturbances. If Eximere is a vortex, and these appearances are vortex defenses, why is it only kicking in now?”
“That is interesting,” Maynard said. “I don’t know.”
“If we want Eximere to get back on its feet,” Roy said, “we need to get back to the abandoned house and get that vortex squared away.”
“I’ll do it on the condition that you let me back in here to study this thing,” Maynard said. “If this really is a super vortex, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
“I’m sure we can come to some type of agreement,” Roy said.
They followed Steven out of the library and into the breezeway, where Roy and Maynard grabbed lights from the table, then they all made their way out the front door. As they stepped into the front yard, Steven saw the plants and trees flash, then disappear.
They turned around, and the house gone. The entire space was an empty cavern, the ground below them dirt and rocks.
“It’s never done that before,” Roy said. “The whole place disappear like that.”
Steven felt panic, worried about Jason’s grave. “What happened to all the books and objects inside?”
The Haunting at Grays Harbor (The River Book 8) Page 14