Grace knew she should step back, get out of reach, but when Nick leaned in to kiss her, she took hold of his jacket and pulled him closer.
And when he slid his hand around her nape and knocked her headlamp askew, she was lost. Lost in the taste of him, his spicy scent, his sound of satisfaction when she wound her arms around his neck. The walking stick slid from her hand to dangle from her wrist. Nick groaned when she opened her mouth to him and his fingers combed into her hair.
He tasted of champagne and stars—
She broke the kiss with a gasp, lowering her head until his lips were in her hair. Both of them were breathing hard. “This is crazy. We need to get moving,” she said, although her voice shook.
“I know. I’m sorry.” Nick’s voice was hoarse above her. “But Grace, all of this feels a little crazy to me—like I’m still out cold back there.” He hooked his fingers under her chin and lifted her eyes to his. “I need for you to be real.”
She stepped away from him. “I’m real, Nick.” But what you’re feeling isn’t. I wish it was. I really do.
Readjusting her headlamp, she took his hand.
“Hang on. Wherever the mountain takes us, we’ll be together.”
Grace could tell it wasn’t exactly the response he wanted, but she started walking again with his fingers clasped firmly in hers. Where they couldn’t pass side-by-side, she made him go ahead of her and hung on tight.
Then she realized, as they walked, the mountain’s song had grown louder—thrumming beneath their feet, swirling in the air around them.
“Do you hear that?” Nick asked, looking in the direction they were headed.
“You can hear it too?” Grace replied, surprised. “Like the mountain is humming—singing?”
“It’s not really hearing though.” Nick looked as if he didn’t want to think about it too much. “More like feeling—or something.”
“Hopefully it means we’re close.”
“To the exit?” Nick reached under his jacket.
“No. That place I was telling you about. The carvings.”
Nick relaxed, but pulled the shotgun off his shoulder and held it loosely in one hand. She tugged him forward and felt her heart speed up as they went around a corner and found themselves in a room—the room. She squeezed Nick’s hand as the light from her lamp danced across the carvings.
Nick gazed at them, amazed. “Wow.”
Grace didn’t respond. She was staring at the carvings. The handprint was there. It hadn’t disappeared or gone invisible or whatever it had done when Pops had come down here with her.
Nick let go of Grace’s hand and walked closer, shifting the shotgun back to his shoulder and the flashlight into his left hand.
“You know, I’ve— I think I’ve seen something like this before somewhere.” His tone was reverent. “But I don’t know where it would’ve been.”
Grace watched him closely. Can he see it?
“They look a lot like some prehistoric petroglyphs in the area, but these are more intricate. And they’re so well-preserved. It’s as if they were carved yesterday,” she said.
“I guess we shouldn’t touch them,” Nick said in a hushed voice. His fingers drifted near the handprint.
The chances of Nick seeing it were probably nil, but after Old Annie, after today, she couldn’t be certain. Why had she been able to see it, and not Pops? Why had Lily been able to see it? Who else had seen it over the years…or hadn’t?
“The old magic does what it will, Gracie-girl. It’s not ours to command.”
Grace stepped back. “I’ll make sure the way is clear up to the entrance.”
Nick made a noise of assent, but didn’t move. And neither did Grace. She watched him as he stood there, his hand outstretched. When he finally stepped back without touching the wall, she let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. She looked at the opening that led to the great staircase. Darkness loomed beyond it. She edged out to shine her light up the series of steps.
“So far so good,” she said.
Nick turned, rubbing his hand on his arm as if he were chilled. His flashlight flung dancing shadows around the walls. “What?”
“The way is clear to the exit,” she said. “It’s not far now. This staircase—”
“A staircase? Down here?”
“The ledges form something like a set of giant steps.” She pointed her headlamp so he could see them.
“So we’re close.”
“Yes. And at the top it gets pretty narrow and tricky to navigate.” She grabbed the walking stick again.
Nick nodded, pulled the pack over his shoulders, and motioned her on to the first huge step ahead of him. Grace watched as he glanced back at the wall of carvings before following her.
“You came down these when you were what, eight?” Nick asked as they reached the top.
“Almost nine.”
“Brave little thing,” he said, looking back the way they had come.
Grace glanced down. “Not so much. I was very…safe in here.” Was. She turned toward the entrance and realized the mountain was silent.
“It’s quiet,” she said.
“Yeah,” Nick agreed.
“I mean the mountain. It’s gone quiet.”
“Wait a minute.” Nick stopped, his hand on her arm. “Is this the only way we can get out?”
“Yes. Why?”
“It just felt—” Nick peered into the dark, as if he could see the threat. “—wrong for a second there.”
“Wrong?”
Nick rubbed the base of his neck. “Probably just me. Rough day.”
“Understatement,” Grace said.
“But I want you stay here,” Nick pulled out his gun.
“No way. I have no idea what the mountain will do if I’m not with you.” Grace grabbed his hand. “You could end up wandering off down another corridor, like Pops did, and then where would I be?”
“Safe?” Nick said.
“No. I’m going with you.”
“Dammit, Grace.” He glared at her for a moment, then back at the steps. “Okay. Get behind me.”
Men. But Grace stayed close as they negotiated the slope upward.
The ceiling gradually lowered and the air grew colder, carrying the distinctive crisp scent of fresh snow. Nick had to stoop to avoid cracking his head on the ceiling as they navigated around an icy patch. A moment later there was a painful thunk and a grunt.
“We need to go on hands and knees from here,” Grace said, pulling on her gloves.
“Yeah. Concussions are bad.” Nick rubbed his head and stuck his flashlight into the pack, but kept his gun out.
It was a short, awkward crawl before Grace’s headlamp picked out the stark white of snow piled up in the crevice beyond the cave entrance. It was still coming down.
Nick had to drag the pack the last few feet and crouched inside the entrance as Grace crawled up to kneel beside him. He pulled out the flashlight playing it around the opening and onto the rocky wall beyond.
“No footprints,” he said, examining the snow. “How wide is the crevice?”
“Maybe eight or ten feet, and about that deep.”
He moved around the opening, playing the flashlight beam as far as he could in the crevice beyond.
“What’s the terrain like up top?”
“A rocky outcropping—pretty flat—in a clearing surrounded by trees,” she said.
“Any cover? Any place for someone to hide?”
She nodded. “Too many.”
“Damn.” He pulled out his phone. “I’ll try this from here first.”
But there was no signal. Nick tucked the phone away.
“You’re right. We’ll go back and wait,” Grace said. “I don’t want you to go out there.” Something just felt wrong. Nick’s instincts were right.
Without a word, he slipped his hand behind Grace’s neck, pulled her forward, and kissed her hard.
“Stay here until I give the all clear.” He pulled the shotgun off
his shoulder and handed it to her.
He crawled out, pistol in one hand, flashlight in the other, and Grace leaned to watch as he stood and rapidly aimed the flashlight beam and his gun all around the crevice.
There was a cackle of laughter from behind her and Grace felt the cold bite of steel against her neck.
“You ain’t the only witch on this mountain,” Old Annie hissed in her ear.
Nick knew that laugh. He spun around, going to his knees in front of the cave opening and shining his light into the darkness.
What he saw froze the blood in his veins. Old Annie was crouching back in the cave holding Grace in front of her, that deadly little gun of hers pressed under Grace’s chin.
“Mr. DEA, slide that gun of yours in here and don’t take too much time about it,” Old Annie said. “I been waiting in here a while and I’m freezified. I might just twitch and pull the trigger.”
He hesitated.
“Now!”
The word exploded inside his head and the gun and flashlight both slid out of his hands, falling with dull thunks into the snow. What the—
“Ain’t you a nice, polite fella. Slide ’em in here.” Her words were painful echoes, slicing through his head. He pushed the gun and flashlight through the opening. Annie awkwardly dragged Grace with her to the cave mouth and snatched them up.
“What do you want?” Grace asked.
“Just you shush up and get over there,” Annie snapped, waving her gun as she tucked Nick’s into her waistband.
Grace scuttled away, disappearing from Nick’s view.
“Now you crawl on in here,” she said to Nick.
He pulled himself through the opening. Grace was crouched against one side of the cave. Her headlamp kept him from seeing her face clearly, but he saw her hands pressed to her temples and empathized. The old witch packed a mental punch.
Annie stood with her pearl-handled 9mm in one hand and the flashlight in the other. Their daypack and the walking stick lay at her feet along with Grace’s shotgun.
“I knew you was off studying doctoring, but doctoring didn’t fix that.” Annie aimed the flashlight at the torn and stained edge of Nick’s vest. “That’s the power.”
“What do you want, Annie?” Grace asked.
Annie cackled. “Never you mind what I want. I want what’s in there,” Annie said, waving her gun back into the cave. “Put your hands up on your head, Mr. DEA, and get down on your knees.”
“No!” Grace started forward.
Annie pointed the gun right at her and Nick went to his knees.
“Grace, take it easy,” he said softly.
“Yes, Princess. ‘Take it easy’.” Annie mocked her in that same sing-song tone Boyd had used. She kept the gun on Grace as she patted Nick down, her bony fingers searching for hidden weapons. She pulled out his sat phone and stuck it in a coat pocket along with the flashlight. Then she picked up the daypack and pulled it over her shoulder.
“That’s Pops’s,” Grace said when she picked up the walking stick.
“Now it’s mine,” Annie retorted. “And you wanna know what else I want? I want everything you have, everything you Woodruffs have always had. Everything you stole from the Taggarts. This mountain.”
“You—” Grace began. Her voice shook. “Is that why you killed Pops? For the mountain?”
“Oh shut up. Everything old Zach Woodruff touched turned to gold. And my grandpap knew what it was. He knew it was in this mountain somewheres, that power. Lily’s power.”
Nick watched Grace as she listened to this evidence that the ancient feud still raged on, at least in Annie Taggart’s withered heart.
Then Grace’s headlamp bobbed wildly when Annie grabbed her arm and shoved the gun against her face.
“Hey!” Nick said.
“You shut up. And you hold still.” Annie shook Grace’s arm. “Now, you are going to lead, Mr. DEA, and we are going to follow. You’re bright enough to know what I’ll do if you try something, right?”
Nick glared at the woman, then looked at Grace, who looked more furious than frightened. He tried to reassure her with a nod.
“Now!” There was a strange echo and a painful snap in his head, like she’d smacked him.
Nick swung around to begin the laborious crawl under the low cave roof.
“Whoa. Stand up there, Mr. DEA. There ain’t no need to crawl. And put your hands back up on your head.”
Nick looked up then stood, ignoring the instinct to duck. This was all wrong, wasn’t it? The ceiling had been really low. He had a knot on his head from running into it. And now there was a wall of rock blocking his way. They couldn’t have taken a wrong turn—they hadn’t moved from the entrance.
“All he found were dead ends and loops.”
“No tricks now. See that opening?” The light illuminated a dark passage where the wall met the side of the cave. “I couldn’t see it where it was when I first come down here, but then the Princess come through it with that stupid headlight of hers and I hid myself, real tight. She walked right past.” She cackled.
Looking back, he saw Grace frown at the opening until Annie poked the gun at her again. He started walking.
“What do you want, Annie?” Grace asked, after they negotiated the opening and walked into a dark, twisting passageway that was completely unfamiliar to Nick.
Annie ignored her question. “She healed him, my grandpap. He had the whoopin’ cough and your Granny Lily healed him. And he was the one told me there was something in this mountain. Something that made old Zach rich. Grandpap said it healed Lily too—made her all purty again,” Annie said.
Not according to the Woodruffs, Nick thought, remembering Grace’s story of her Granny Lily hiding her scars and withdrawing from society.
“Everyone in the family thought my grandpap was a bit teched in the head. ’Cause he’d nearly died when he was a babe and Lily was burnt so bad she’d never be beautiful again,” Annie went on. “But he weren’t teched. He told me I was gonna be a witch, just like Lily. And he was the one found that cave.”
Something poked hard into Nick’s ribs. He stumbled a bit as Grace gasped in dismay. Annie just laughed and waved the walking stick.
“Mr. DEA, you can blame the Woodruffs for that meth lab. When Gabe stopped sending money, I asked her Pops real nice about where all his money come from, seeing if he’d tell me about the power. I thought he’d found it, ’cause those herbal remedies of his cured me up just fine. But he just kept saying that the boys and me could be rich if we ‘just tapped the mountain’s bounty’.” She cackled. “Stupid old fool.”
Nick kept moving, wondering where the hell this passage was taking them.
“Yeah, I tapped the mountain’s bounty just fine. I recollected the cave where my grandpap made his shine. I hated that cave. Near got myself killed when that Revenuer followed me in there. But it’s a great place for making stuff you don’t want folks to know you’re making. And I never had to go in there again,” she said with pride in her voice. “The boys did a fine job cooking up that crystal stuff just exactly like I told ’em. Just like on that show. Real fine. They’re good boys. Always do what I tell ’em, most times.”
Nick knew why the boys always did what she told them. But she doesn’t. She doesn’t have any idea she has a gift. Nick wanted to look back at Grace, to see if she had reached the same conclusion.
“But your Pops would be ashamed of you, Princess,” Annie chided, her voice echoing in the passage. “You left a trail back there that even Mitch coulda followed, if he weren’t deaf as a post and all cut up from them damn explosives. At first I was worried Boyd might find ya before I got what I needed. But he’s probably out there wandering around in the snow. Couldn’t find his ass with both hands.” She made a tsking sound.
“But I found ya. And surprise, Mr. DEA is here. And all healed up too.” She tsked again. “Your Pops didn’t have any idea what you’d really found, did he? Or did you even tell him?”
Ni
ck stopped. The floor dropped away into blackness in front of them.
“What’s this?” Annie said, suspicious.
“Steps,” Grace said.
“Steps, my ass. It’s a drop off,” Annie complained.
Nick turned around. Annie poked the gun into Grace’s chin.
“No,” he said firmly. “It’s a giant staircase. Whoever made this place carved them out of the walls.”
“Heh. ‘Whoever made this place’,” Annie replied in that mocking voice. “It was the real old uns made this place. Way afore the Cherokee. You don’t know shit. You just go down those stairs there, Mr. DEA, and I’ll see what happens.”
Grace’s eyes were filled with terror as he backed toward the edge. Nick looked down and jumped, then looked up to see Old Annie’s face appear over the edge.
“Well,” she said. “That ain’t far at all. You go on down to that last step over there, Mr. DEA, and stand right there where I can see ya.”
Nick kept his eyes on Annie and her gun as he followed the steps around the wall and down until he was almost directly across from her in front of the opening. But something wasn’t right. He should be directly below her. The opening into the room of carvings had been below the ledge, not across from it.
Annie waved Grace down. “Go on down and you stay right here in front of me.” Grace sat on the edge and slid down to the step, then stood obediently. Nick could only see the halo of light from her headlamp, and her copper hair, lifting upward in an unseen breeze from below.
“All this time, and I coulda got here through my grandpap’s cave, like you done.” Annie sat awkwardly, letting the walking stick drop until the tip touched the step below but managing to keep the gun trained on Grace. “Your Pops wouldn’t bring me here. I told him we’d stop making the meth if he’d just show me where the power was hidden. But he wouldn’t.” She shook her head. “I didn’t kill the stubborn fool. I just let him fall.”
And as Annie slid down, Nick saw Grace lift her hand to her head, and the light went out.
“Grace!” The ground shifted and he fell to his hands and knees, losing all sense of direction in the darkness.
Then silence. No one had screamed. There was no echo of the earth’s sudden movement, of anything falling. Nothing.
More Than Magic (Books of the Kindling) Page 25