“Did these creatures have webbed feet?”
I shook my head. “Not that I’m aware of.”
“They’re also not real,” Nellie pointed out. “Most of the Greek myths were just that … myths. That doesn’t mean something similar didn’t exist back then. However, I have trouble believing a gorgon traveled the ocean and landed in Nevada no matter how you spin it.”
“I’m not saying it did,” I argued. “However, maybe someone saw a creature that they thought was a gorgon and that’s why they named the mine after the creature.”
Nellie tilted his head to the side, considering. “I can buy that. Anyway, the Gorgon Mine was about five miles in that direction, as far as I can tell.” Nellie pointed away from the city. “The workers were a mixture of get-rich-quickers, homesteaders and Asian migrant workers.”
“That doesn’t make me feel good about where this story is going,” Kade said.
“The story isn’t far from what the kid told you,” Nellie supplied. “There were forty men down in the mine when something happened. I’m not sure what that was, but they hadn’t been down there a full day when the owner of the mine – one Ned Partlow – announced that they had all died in some sort of tragedy. He expressed his sincere sympathies and immediately decided he would somehow reclaim the mine as an homage to the dead workers.”
“What a nice guy,” I muttered. “What happened?”
“He waited thirty days, according to this account,” Nellie replied. “Then he tried to dig a parallel shaft and send someone down to look around – ostensibly to make sure the environment was safe, I guess – but when they pulled the guy back up he was dead.”
“Dead?”
“Yeah, and his hair had turned white,” Nellie said, grinning. “Local legend says that he saw the dead men down there … er, well, at least their spirits … and they escaped through the second mine to seek revenge.”
“Legend has it?” I couldn’t help being dubious. “What kind of legend?”
“Don’t give me that look,” Nellie chided, wagging a finger. “I didn’t create the legend. I’m just reporting it.”
“I don’t care about that. What’s the legend?”
“Basically, anyone who tried to use that piece of land disappeared or died under mysterious circumstances,” Nellie replied. “The Partlow guy was killed on the property two weeks after the first guy died on the underground rope. Ever since then people have claimed to see weird things in the area.”
“David said the mine owner declared the miners dead even though they weren’t,” I said. “Does the website say anything about that?”
“Just that there were rumors and some people claimed they could hear cries from beneath the earth for more than a week after the supposed tragedy,” Nellie replied. “The bigger story on the internet – at least in this forum – seems to be the monsters people claim they see.”
“And what are the monsters supposed to be?” Kade asked.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Nellie replied. “I don’t know if the legends are true. I don’t know if half the legends are true and the other half are fake. I don’t know if they’re tall tales with no basis in reality at all. I’m just reporting what I read.”
I rubbed my cheek as I considered the statement. “And I don’t know if I really saw something before the storm or if I imagined it.”
“I think the only thing we can agree on is that we need to stay vigilant,” Nellie said. “I don’t know what else we can do.”
He wasn’t the only one at a loss as to where to look next.
8
Eight
“Do you want more chocolate?”
Kade waved a s’more in my face as I sat in a lawn chair adjacent to the bonfire. Dinner finished almost two hours ago, and the excited casino contingent left five minutes later. I noticed several midway workers joining the original four, but was thankful that no one else joined the purported fun.
“I’m good for right now.” I forced a tight-lipped smile. “If I eat any more chocolate I’ll get sick to my stomach.”
“No one wants that.” Kade leaned over a bit so he could look at the computer screen. “What are you looking at?”
“Stories about the supposed monster hanging around these parts,” I replied, flicking my eyes back to what I was previously reading. “There’s an entire sub-forum on this thing … although no one seems to agree on what it looks like.
“Some enthusiasts call it the gorgon, but that’s only a few people,” I continued. “Others refer to it as a dune, which I find much more intriguing.”
“What’s a dune?”
“It sounds to me as if it’s something they made up,” I answered. “The people using that name claim they saw a swirl of sand with eyes.”
“A swirl of sand with eyes?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s kind of what you saw,” Kade noted, his eyes turning serious. “Do the people on the website say what the creature is capable of?”
“Just the normal disappearances and blood-sucking stuff that we always hear about when people reference paranormal entities.”
“It can suck your blood?”
I chuckled, legitimately amused. “Just for reference – and I’m not making fun of you because I know this is all new to you – but everyone jumps to the blood-sucking bit right away when stuff like this comes up. It’s very rarely true.”
Kade pursed his lips. “I guess I’ll have to take your word for it.”
“I guess so.” I clicked a button so I could navigate to the next page. “There are even a few witnesses who claim that whatever is out here is female. Most of those use the ‘gorgon’ term, while others use ‘dune.’ Still others claim it’s the desert’s version of a yeti.”
“A yeti? Like Bigfoot?”
I nodded. “Yeah. The only thing that everyone agrees on is that something haunts this area.”
“You’ve been here before, right?” Kade asked, grabbing his soda from the cupholder in the arm of the canvas chair and leaning forward. “Have you ever seen anything?”
“No, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything.”
“You’ve erected the dreamcatcher here before, right?”
“Yes.”
“I thought the dreamcatcher was supposed to act as an aphrodisiac for paranormal beings,” Kade pressed. “If you’ve been here before and put up the dreamcatcher, wouldn’t you have captured whatever haunts this area?”
“I guess in theory that’s a good question,” I hedged. “The thing is, we created the dreamcatcher to draw in evil paranormal beings. Intent is very important where we’re concerned. Most of us are paranormal, after all, but we don’t like to think of ourselves as malevolent.”
“I don’t know. I think you have an evil streak sometimes.” Kade’s grin was mischievous. “I kind of like it, though.”
“That’s because you’re a sick man.”
“Apparently.” Kade swigged from his soda. “What do you think is out there?”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure that’s the right question.”
“What is the right question?”
“Is anything out there at all?” I pressed the heel of my hand to my forehead as I shifted to get more comfortable in the chair. “I can’t say with any certainty that I saw something last night.”
“Is that what’s bothering you?”
“What else would it be?”
Kade didn’t hesitate even a moment before answering. “What’s going on with Luke.”
I blew out a sigh. “Luke is a grown man. He’s allowed to do what he wants to do. I mean … how much trouble can he really get in?”
“I don’t know but it’s clear you worry about him regardless.”
“Yes, well … I love him.”
“I know you do.”
“There’s something off about that casino,” I volunteered. “I can feel it.”
“Is it something you see with your magic?”
I shook m
y head. “It’s something I feel in my heart.”
“That’s even more powerful.” Kade snagged my hand and pressed the palm to his lips. “I’ll back whatever plan you want to follow. You’re smarter than I am, especially when it comes to stuff like this.”
I didn’t bother to bite back my smirk. “I like a man who can admit that he’s intellectually inferior to a woman.”
Kade smacked a loud kiss against my lips. “Somehow I knew that. In fact … .”
I wanted to enjoy the interlude, take a break from the research for the night. That wasn’t in the cards, because I sensed the incoming storm before I caught sight of it.
The sun dipped low on the horizon but the warm glow remained even as the threat of darkness increased. One look in that direction told me all I needed to know.
“Sandstorm!”
“What?” Dolph jerked his tall frame in that direction, furrowing his brow. “But how? We usually get only one or two sandstorms during a stay. Two in as many days is unheard of.”
“We can’t argue about that right now,” I said, grabbing handfuls of sand and dumping it on the fire to extinguish the flames. “Everyone needs to take cover right now!”
No one offered any argument. Kade and Dolph managed to grab several chairs and stow them under the picnic tables before Kade grabbed my arm and ushered me toward my trailer. We were almost to the stairs when I remembered the laptop and turned back.
“What are you doing?” Kade grabbed my shoulders to keep me from racing in that direction.
“I need my computer.”
“You’re more important than a computer.”
“I could already be back with it by now,” I grumbled.
“Fine. I’ll get it.” Kade exchanged positions with me. “Go inside. I’ll be right behind you.”
It was a sweet gesture. Unfortunately I got the distinct impression that he was offering only because he thought the man should be the one to endanger himself. “We’re going to talk about this later,” I muttered.
Kade ignored me and jogged toward the computer, which I left sitting on the picnic table. The storm was almost upon us, a wall of dust ready to slam into the trailers, when I heard something in the desert.
It was a scream.
I snapped my eyes in the direction of the sound, squinting as I tried to peer through the sand.
Then I heard it again. This time I was certain. It was a scream … and it was coming from a woman.
Instead of racing away from the noise I bolted toward the sound. I heard Kade swearing behind me, but I didn’t risk a glance over my shoulder, instead raising my forearm to protect my eyes and plunging forward.
The trip wasn’t long, but it felt endless. My arm wasn’t large enough to offer much protection as I leaned into the wind and sand. I closed my eyes and used my internal senses to find the source of the screaming.
At one point I realized I wasn’t alone, and when I opened my eyes I found a terrified woman standing in front of me, her eyes wide and blond hair streaming in the unrelenting wind. She was filthy, what remained of her skirt flapping in the wind as she stared into nothing.
“Ma’am?”
She didn’t answer.
“Ma’am, can you see me? Can you hear me?” I tried to project my voice against the howling wind.
“What’s going on?” Kade popped up at my side, his expression grim.
“I don’t know. I think she’s in shock or something.”
Kade glanced around, although there was nothing to see but grit and dust. “Do you think she’s alone?”
That was a good question. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see anything with my external eyes or internal sight to offer an answer. “I don’t know, but we have to get her out of the elements.”
“I’m on it.” Kade handed me my laptop before reaching for the woman’s arm. “Ma’am, we need you to come with us. It’s not safe for you out here.”
The woman remained frozen until Kade wrapped his hand around her wrist. Then she started screaming again, the sound long and drawn out. I almost wondered if she would ever stop.
Then, finally, she found words. That should’ve been a comfort. It was anything but.
“It’s coming!”
“WHAT HAPPENED here?”
Two hours later Dorsey showed up in front of my trailer, the same two uniformed officers trailing behind, and looked my disheveled appearance up and down.
“You look rough.”
“Oh, well, thank you so much for that,” I said dryly, rolling my eyes as I patted down my snarled hair. “She’s in here.”
Dorsey smirked as he climbed the stairs and followed me into the trailer. He spared a small smile for Kade, who sat in the chair across from the couch watching the woman we found in the desert. “Fancy digs.”
I ignored the snark. “We didn’t know who else to call,” I offered. “She’s kind of … messed up.”
“I can see that.” Dorsey’s lips curved as he hunkered down so he was on an even level with the woman. “How are you doing, ma’am? Can you tell me how you got out here?”
I did my best to clean up the woman, attempting to wash her face with a cloth even though she strenuously fought the effort. Eventually I left her to her filth, a bottle of water placed on the table in front of her, and paced the trailer until Dorsey arrived. She never said a word the entire time we waited. She didn’t break that streak now.
“She’s said only one thing since we found her,” Kade offered, rubbing the palms of his hands over his cheeks. I had a feeling he was trying to clean up his appearance, but he was only making things worse.
“What did she say?” Dorsey asked.
“It’s coming.”
“What’s coming?”
I shrugged. “She didn’t expound,” I replied. “She only said ‘It’s coming,’ and then clammed up again. It was a struggle to get her to the trailer. We tried to get her to follow us, but she wouldn’t move. Eventually Kade had to carry her.”
“Well, at least you found her.” Despite his earlier mirth, Dorsey seemed stymied. “And you have no idea what she was doing out here?”
“Why would we?”
“I don’t know. Are you sure she doesn’t work for you?”
I lifted a dubious eyebrow, offended. “Are you suggesting we’re so stupid that we don’t know our own employees?”
“Of course not.” Dorsey held up his hands in a placating manner. “You simply have a lot of people running around here. We counted at least a hundred and fifty people between movers, midway workers and clowns.”
I stilled, the hair on the back of my neck standing on end. “You counted?” Kade and I shared a short look, something akin to annoyance passing between us. “Have you been watching us?”
“I make it my job to make sure the people in my jurisdiction are safe,” Dorsey replied. “Given the reports I warned you about, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about a member of your team going missing. We watched you move in yesterday. We counted when we came to see you.”
“You weren’t here long enough to count.”
“We might’ve parked on the highway and watched you with binoculars.”
The admission was enough to make my skin crawl. “I see. Did you like what you saw?”
“All we saw is people erecting tents and carnival games,” Dorsey answered. “Should we have seen something else?”
He could’ve been lying. There was no way to know for sure. He could’ve sat with his friends and watched us erect the dreamcatcher and we might never know. Of course, from his point of view all he would’ve seen is four women – two with crazy hair and two tossing the occasional snarky remark at one another – wandering around the perimeter of the fairgrounds, occasionally doing funky things with their hands. He certainly didn’t witness anyone doing anything worth gossiping about. That didn’t make me feel much better, though.
“No, but it’s invasive and annoying,” I replied, my tone clipped. “We may be circus folk, but
that doesn’t mean we don’t deserve a little respect.”
“I respect you just fine,” Dorsey shot back. “But you’re completely alone out here, and we’ve had some rather troubling reports in this area over the past couple of weeks. Keeping you safe falls under my job description.”
“That’s funny, because keeping everyone here safe falls under my job description,” Kade said. “We appreciate due diligence and all – we really do – but we’re not generally keen about being spied on.”
I had to hand it to Dorsey. He didn’t back down despite being called on his bad behavior. “Something tells me you’ll survive.” He turned his attention back to the woman. “How did you know she was in the desert?”
“The storm came out of nowhere,” I replied, tugging on my limited patience. “We were sitting around the bonfire when I saw it. I told everyone to run inside. We were on our way to my trailer when I heard her scream.
“I wasn’t sure what I heard at first,” I continued. “When she screamed a second time, I knew. I followed the sound and found her. She didn’t really acknowledge me when I talked to her. Kade carried her back and she’s been quiet while we waited out the storm.”
“She hasn’t said anything other than the original warning?”
“No.”
Dorsey rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not aware of any missing persons reports that fit her description, but I’ll take her into the station. She doesn’t look as if she’s homeless. She’s dressed like a tourist, which means someone has to be missing her.”
“Unless she wasn’t alone in the desert and somehow got separated from the rest of her group.”
“That’s a fair point.” Dorsey widened his grin as he stared into the woman’s blank face. “Ma’am, were you out here alone? We need to know if we should be looking for someone else. We don’t want to leave anyone behind. It’s important.”
The words, while simple, were enough to cause the woman to sharpen her focus. She locked gazes with Dorsey and opened her mouth, licking her lips before finally finding her voice. “I was in my car and I got a flat tire. I was alone.”
[Mystic Caravan Mystery 04.0] Freaky Games Page 7