The Haunting at Grays Harbor (The River Book 8)

by Michael Richan

  “Gone with it,” Maynard said.

  “Would the graves still be back there?” Steven asked.

  Before anyone could answer, the trees returned, and then the house reappeared.

  “Come on,” Maynard said. “We need to go fix that vortex before it rips this place apart!”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Steven dialed Eliza as they drove back to Grays Harbor. Roy held the phone with the speaker turned on.

  “Maynard has seen Eximere,” Steven said. “And he thinks it’s a vortex.”

  “A vortex?” Eliza asked, her voice rising in surprise. “Like the one you were working on?”

  “Bigger,” Steven replied. “He thinks there are three vortices surrounding Eximere; the one we were working on was just one of the three. And he thinks they’re all working together to form one giant vortex, with Eximere at the center. The bodies in the backyard, Eliza… the bodies, they aren’t buried there to suppress their abilities, like we thought. They’re there to power the place, to keep it running.”

  “Oh my god!” Eliza said. “Do you believe him?”

  “I can’t see why not,” Steven replied. “It’s a theory on his part, but it all fits. Unser may have hated gifteds, or that might have just been a story Percival was perpetuating. Who knows. He wasn’t above burying them alive under that goop. He did it deliberately, not because he hated them. He just wanted to use them to build this giant vortex.”

  “I have never heard of such a thing!” Eliza said. “Have you, Roy?”

  “No, never,” Roy replied. “All this vorghost stuff is new to me. But Maynard seems quite taken with it.”

  “Well that’s not surprising,” Eliza said. “Is he going to fix the rod?”

  “Yes,” Steven said, “but he wants access to Eximere in return, so he can study the place. We’ve agreed to work something out. At one point the entire house disappeared, Eliza. All the plants and trees and everything. It came back, but what if it didn’t?”

  “Sounds like you don’t have much of a choice,” Eliza said. “You’ve got to have that other vortex fixed. And once he does it, if Eximere becomes stable, that would seem to support his theory. Maybe by studying it, he can figure out what Unser was really up to.”

  “I’m thinking we’ll offer to be there any time he wants to visit it, but that it has to stay secret, only he can know about it,” Roy said. “I’m not comfortable giving up keys.”

  “Sounds fine to me,” Eliza said. “You OK with all this, Steven?”

  Steven swallowed. “What if he finds out about Jason? He’s obviously capable of trancing, we saw him do it at Marie’s. What if he finds him? Learns what happened?”

  “At some point you may need to tell him,” Roy said. “But I wouldn’t offer it up. Only if it comes to it. Even if he does find out, he won’t be bringing in the cops to find the bodies — it would destroy his ability to study the place.”

  “So much for leverage,” Eliza said. “Seems like we have to do it his way.”

  “I think we’re only in danger if we cut the guy off,” Roy said. “Now that he’s seen Eximere, he wants to be there, just like we do. We hold the keys. If we were to deny him access, then he might cause a stir. If we work with him, I think it can be mutually beneficial.”

  Steven sighed. I should have buried Jason somewhere else, he thought. I can still move him, if I have to. The thought of digging Jason up and moving his body made him feel sick to his stomach. He’d barely been able to transport Jason’s body down to Eximere in the first place, he and Roy holding the edges of a blanket containing his son’s body, carefully carrying it down the long stairwells. The idea of disturbing him and hauling him back up those stairs was almost inconceivable.

  “I’m OK with that approach,” Eliza said. “What do you think, Steven?”

  “I’m… ” he started, hesitantly. “I’m OK too. It’s just, up until now, Eximere felt like family. It was just us. With this guy in the mix, that’ll change.”

  “It might,” Roy said. “It probably will.”

  “Can you think of any alternatives?” Eliza asked.

  “I can’t,” Steven said. “If we want to keep it at all, we have to open it up to Maynard. The cat’s already out of the bag at this point.”

  “Alright,” Eliza said. “Keep me informed, when you can. Good luck, you two. Please be careful.”

  “We will,” Roy replied. “Bye.”

  Steven followed Maynard back to the abandoned house. Once they’d parked in the driveway, Maynard returned to his trailer, this time removing a metal tool chest from one of the drawers. He took it deep into the trailer, placing it on the workbench.

  “You fellers might get a kick out of this,” he said as he opened the tool chest, removing the lift-out tray and exposing the open area underneath. Inside were three sticks that looked like small tree branches, almost twigs, about fourteen inches in length. The container was lined with a grey substance an inch thick on all edges, and as Maynard placed the lift-out tray down, Steven saw that the grey substance was under the tray, too. The twigs were floating inside the container, remaining equidistant from the sides and from each other. Maynard reached in and removed one of the twigs, and the other two readjusted within the compartment.

  Maynard held the twig up for Steven and Roy to see. “Made from a tree that only grows in the River,” he said. “Very hard to grow, and very hard to transport from the River to here.”

  “They react to each other?” Steven asked.

  “Kind of like magnets, repelling each other,” Maynard said. “I have to keep them in this chest, lined with this stuff, so that they aren’t detected by treasure hunters. They’re very expensive. I’m known as someone who sells them on occasion, so I have to take precautions.”

  Maynard placed the twig in his backpack and handed one of his old flashlights to Roy. Steven reached inside his jacket to make sure the flashlight he’d brought from Eximere was still there. Then Maynard passed the gallon bucket to Roy, who took it.

  “Alright,” Maynard said, replacing the tray and locking the tool chest back up. “We go in there and talk to Christina. If she sees things our way, it would be nice if she’d give up the original location of the rod that went travelling. Balance between the rods is important.”

  “What about the rod at Barbara’s?” Steven asked. “It’s still running. A little fucked up, but running.”

  “As soon as we put this new one in place,” Maynard said, walking to the house, “we’ll go right over to her place and decommission that one. We can’t do it vice versa without making the vortex even more unstable. The new one goes in first, where it belongs, and then we take out the broken one.”

  “Alright,” Steven said, following Maynard as they opened the door and walked inside. The darkness of the first floor seeped into him, and he shuddered at the thought of the horrors upstairs. Steven started down the hallway toward the kitchen, shining his light ahead of him, everything looking dull and in shades of grey. He was met with a cold blast of air, and he paused, feeling his skin crawl. He looked down the hallway and saw a thin, starkly white woman walking out of the kitchen and into the hallway in front of him. She was tall, with long, straight hair that hung down below her shoulders. She was staring at him.

  “Guys,” Steven said, backing up into Roy. “Change of plans. Is this Marie?”

  “Appears more functional today,” Maynard replied.

  The woman continued walking down the hallway toward them, her eyes focused on the group, widening. “You have something,” she said as she walked, not dropping her gaze. “You’re carrying something. What?”

  “A new rod,” Maynard said. “We’re going to fix the one your daughter ruined.”

  “You know about her?” she asked, walking right up to them and stopping a couple of feet in front of Steven. “You’ve seen her?”

  “It’s all for the best,” Maynard said. “All part of James’ plan. This vortex must be maintained.”

  Q
uick thinking, Steven thought, appreciating how Maynard was playing things. He’s almost as good as my dad.

  Her face softened and her mouth pouted a little. “James sent you?” she asked.

  Steven was amazed at how crisp and clear she appeared - as though she really was standing right in front of them. She detected the rod and knew she should appear to us, Steven thought. And we’re not even in the River!

  Steven dropped into the flow and was horrified to see her transform into a floating half body, her hair rising wildly above her head, her upper torso hanging midair, and the rest missing, trailing white tendrils, just as she had appeared up in the attic. He dropped out of the River, preferring to converse with her as the tall, commanding woman with long, black hair.

  “Did he send you?” she asked. “Is he upset with me? I tried to stop her, but she’s willful, difficult to control.”

  “He wants the vortex repaired,” Maynard replied. “So that’s what we’re going to do. Where was the rod that was moved? Originally?”

  She raised her arm and pointed into the living room. “Behind the wall, in there. I’ll show you.”

  She drifted into the living room, moving to a far wall where the plaster had fallen, exposing the boards inside. “Here,” she said, pointing at a hole in the wall.

  “I want you to coil this rod,” Maynard said, removing his backpack and opening it up. He reached in, removed a pair of gloves which he slipped on, and then pulled the twig out, holding it in front of the woman. “Then we can fix things.”

  She looked down at the twig, and back up at the others. She seemed distraught.

  “Come on, now,” Maynard said. “James wants the vortex repaired immediately.”

  “Will he come see me?” she asked, her voice revealing the years of waiting she’d endured. “He promised me.”

  “If we don’t get this vortex fixed, he’ll be angry,” Maynard said. “I’ll have to tell him you slowed us down.”

  She reached for her hair, and Steven saw her isolate a strand, which she plucked from her head. “I only want to see him again,” she said. “He told me he would come back.” She plucked a second strand, and then a third, twisting them together between her fingers, rolling them into one thick strand. Then she took the end of it and wrapped it around the end of the twig, and began to spiral the rest of it down the length of the rod.

  Steven watched as the hair came into contact with the twig, and at that exact spot, the hair transformed into copper wire, and the twig underneath expanded and became blue. As she wound the hair further down the twig, the rod continued to change, looking more and more like the one he’d seen in Barbara’s attic, but without the damage.

  “He promised,” she said, slowly continuing to wind the hair. “I know he’s in the dark, but it’s been a long time. I’ve been here for many years. He said he’d come back to me, and take me with him.”

  “He will,” Maynard encouraged her. “But you’ve got to finish this first. Keep going.”

  Marie continued to wrap the hair, slowly working her way to the other end of the twig, and completing the rod’s transformation. It hung in the air, suspended above Maynard’s gloves. Once she’d finished, Maynard carefully placed the rod into the hole in the wall, and pushed it up behind the boards to conceal it.

  “There,” Maynard said, stepping back.

  “You’ll tell him I helped you?” she asked. “And that I love him, and that I wish that he’d come and take me from here?”

  “I will,” Maynard said. “Please return to your vortex now, and work on keeping it running smoothly until we can decommission the rod that was lost. I’m sure James would appreciate it if you’d take better care of your rods in the future.”

  “I will,” she said. “Please tell him I will.” She nodded at them all, then slowly rose from the floor until she had passed through the ceiling above.

  “At least we don’t have to go back upstairs,” Steven said.

  “I suggest we stop by Christina’s grave downstairs before we head over to Barbara’s,” Maynard said. “Explain things to her. We don’t want her wrecking our work here before we can finish it up.”

  They walked to the kitchen and down the wooden steps. The basement seemed less daunting to Steven this time; brighter, easier to maneuver. Probably because I have my own flashlight, he thought. They walked to the small back room and opened the door. The plywood was lying on the ground, as though it had never been disturbed. Roy lifted it, resting it against a wall, and Steven felt a chill as he once again saw Christina’s pale, dirty fingers emerging from the grave.

  “Alright,” Maynard said, sitting down. “I’ll trance again. Join me when it’s ready to go. Either of you see the trowel?”

  They glanced around the room, looking for the small hand shovel that had been in the bucket. It was nowhere to be seen.

  Maynard sat on the ground next to the grave. “Never mind,” he said, “I’ll just use my hands.” He took several handfuls of the dirt and spread it liberally on the top, pressing it into the spongy surface. Then he began the trance. As Steven waited, he couldn’t help but look at the small fingers in the ground, motionless. He imagined for a moment what it would be like to be buried alive, and he felt a wave of claustrophobia wash over him. Not just buried alive, buried in this goop, he thought. He dropped into the River, watching as Maynard’s trance slowly formed and he opened it to them. When they entered, Steven expected Christina to be sitting on the grave as before, but this time she didn’t appear.

  Christina? Maynard called. Christina? We need to talk to you. We need to explain some things to you. Come out and speak with us.

  Steven felt a chill as something passed through him. A second later he saw Roy react the same way, pulling his chest back suddenly.

  Christina, Maynard said. We’re here to help. Come out and talk to us. Listen to what we have to say.

  Another chill, and Steven felt himself reach up to clutch his chest as the chill turned to a stab. He wondered if he might be having a heart attack.

  He turned, and little Christina was behind him, the garden trowel in hand, stabbing its sharp pointed end into his body. He stepped back from her and she followed him, raising her hand to swing the sharp edge into him, causing another slash of pain to ripple through his torso.

  Stop! he cried, raising his arms to defend himself, but the blade passed right through them. He felt a new slice of pain explode in his hands and wrists.

  Christina, Maynard said. Stop! You’re making a mistake!

  You helped her! the girl screamed, raising the trowel once again. You fixed it!

  Listen to me! Maynard insisted. Let me explain it to you. Stop! It’s all just a trick!

  When Maynard said the word trick, Christina pulled back. She lowered the trowel and turned to Maynard.

  A trick? she asked.

  Yes, it’s not what it seems, Maynard said, sounding conspiratorial. We’ve uncovered what your father was up to. This vortex your mother made, it’s just one of several that James Unser had built. We’ve discovered his plan, and we’re trying to stop it.

  How? Christina asked, eyeing Maynard suspiciously.

  They did it, Maynard said, pointing to Steven and Roy. The man you’re stabbing over there. He found James’ hideout, where he’s been controlling things. Did you ever see his estate? His huge home in the forest?

  I lived there until I was five, Christina said. I hated it. My grandmother was very mean to me.

  Steven thought of Anita, roaming the halls of the Unser estate, and he felt for the child. Anita’s anger was like torture.

  Steven discovered a place under the estate, Maynard said. A secret place, where your father has been conducting his work.

  Is he there? Christina asked. Under the house?

  He’s dead, Steven said. We found his body there. We buried him.

  He’s not dead, Christina said emphatically. Just because you found his body doesn’t mean he’s dead.

  Steven considered t
his. The corpse they’d found in the bed upstairs at Eximere sure looked dead. If he’s not dead, do you know where he is? he asked her.

  No, Christina replied. I don’t know. But I can promise you he’s not dead. She ran her hand absently over the garden trowel.

  I believe you, Steven said, thinking it was the right thing to tell the child. We believe you.

  Steven and his father are working on a way to stop your father’s work, Maynard said. They’re trying to figure out what he was attempting to achieve. But if your mother’s vortex doesn’t stay up and running, they can’t access his secret place under the estate. They won’t be able to figure it out. They won’t be able to help.

  Why? she asked. What will happen to it?

  Parts of it disappear when this vortex becomes imbalanced, Steven said. It’s been going haywire ever since you sent that rod home with Georgina.

  Good! Christina said. That’s what I want to have happen!

  Don’t you see? Maynard said. Think about it, Christina. If James isn’t dead, as you say, then he must be alive and up to something. The vortex has to stay up and running if they’re to figure out what it is. Your vortex here is only one of three, surrounding the estate. It’s part of a much larger vortex, with the estate at the center. He built it for a reason, Christina. He had your mother kill you for a reason. Don’t you want to know why? If we destroy it before we find out, we may never know. In fact, that might be just what James wants — for us to destroy the vortex. Maybe that would eliminate our ability to discover what he was up to. You might be doing exactly what he wants you to do!

  Christina dropped the garden trowel and walked close to Steven. She seemed to be thinking things through.

  You promise you’re really against him? Against my father? she asked.

  One hundred percent, Steven said. A device he made attacked me and my friends. My father, too. It tried to drain us of our abilities, of our gift. And he buried my great-great-great-grandfather at his secret base. He’s using him for power, just like he’s using you to keep your mother’s vortex going. So I’m on your side. I hate him.