Ingress

by Mary Ann Poll

Mayor Orthell arrived at Old Town just as Bart and Ken were coming out of it.

  “What is happening, sheriff?”

  “I’d say we have a serial killer on our hands, mayor.” Bart wasn’t going into what he and Ken knew to be true. He was sure it was all the proof the mayor would need to get him thrown out of his job.

  “Mayor, you don’t look so good.”

  “I don’t feel so good.”

  “If you know something about this, now’s as good a time as any to come clean.”

  “Not now. Meet me tonight around ten at my house. I have something to show you.”

  The mayor hurried through the courtyard and into the log cabin.

  “Tonight at ten it is.”

  “The man’s involved. You know that.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t know how he’s involved. I’ve known Tommy for a long time. He’s a flake, he’s a politician and he is a real pain in my backside, but he’s not a murderer.”

  “Accomplice, then.”

  “I guess, just makes no sense.”

  “Since you seem dead-set against taking the mayor in for questioning, I think we should get to the ravine before the snow makes it impossible to find that path.

  “You guys seem to be very serious here.” Brandon McGill had appeared out of, it seemed, thin air. Bart wondered how long he’d been listening. Ken turned and felt an overwhelming urge to grab the man and beat him.

  “We’re here on police business. How about you?”

  “I’m the librarian and, due to circumstances beyond my control, a little shorthanded.” He focused on the yellow tape and body outlines in front of three buildings. “I was planning on taking some pictures of Old Town for the archives. But this was not quite the look I was hoping for.”

  “It should be back to normal soon. How about I call you?”

  Brandon continued to stare at the outlines.

  “Is there something else?”

  Brandon raised raisin black eyes to Ken. Hatred crossed the blackness before Brandon got it in check. “Just wondering if I could stick around. This should be added to the archives.”

  “How about you don’t and say you did. This is a crime scene, not some lurid story for posterity. I would expect that from the news guys, not a librarian.” Bart turned and faced McGill, planted his feet and put his hand over the flashlight.

  “I think you’re wrong and this should be documented. It’s important to remind our citizens that a small town doesn’t always equal a safe town. Call me when I can take those pictures.” He turned and walked toward Main.

  “Another satisfied customer,” Bart said.

  Angry blue-grey clouds had replaced the soft gray ones of the morning, threatening to turn the lightly falling snow into a blizzard. As if to confirm it, the wind picked up and the snow flew sideways.

  “If we’re going to get to the ravine, now’s the time,” Ken said.

  “Need to run by the office for a rope and some supplies.”

  The police station was as warm inside as the day had turned cold without. Kat’s voice added to the sheltered feeling of the place. “You’re welcome. Let me know how Benny’s doing.” She hung up. “Hi.”

  “Benny’s dead. Or has he come back, too?”

  “Nothing so dramatic. Mrs. Tellamoot thinks that the white dog is Benny reincarnated. Who am I to argue? So, she calls it Benny.” Kat shrugged.

  Bart let out a tired sigh. “You shouldn’t encourage this, Kat. That dog could still be dangerous. How did she end up with him, anyway?” He held up both hands. “Wait, you don’t have to answer that. All this supernatural gobbledygook is making me psychic, I’m sure. You took that beast out there, didn’t you? How’d you get Doc to agree?”

  “I walked in and saw it. That is the gentlest animal I’ve ever seen. Doc agrees. He thinks the infection and lack of food and water made him aggressive.”

  “Then you and Douglas are both insane.”

  Kat glared up at Bart. “And you’re a big jerk.” She turned back to the typing, tired of her cousin’s cynicism.

  Ken walked through the door at the end of the conversation. The tension still hung in the air like a dirty fog. Kat’s eyes shot up. She just glared at Ken.

  “Should I walk out and come back in again?” He turned toward the door. Kat relaxed.

  “No, just having a disagreement with my dear cousin here about animal behavior.”

  “That white dog?”

  “Yep.” Bart was behind Kat and he rolled his eyes upward in a frustrated motion.

  “Well, tell me about that later, since that snow is getting heavier by the minute and we need to get to the ravine before there’s no more daylight.”

  “You going to the ravine? Not without me.” Kat jumped up and grabbed her coat.

  “Thanks a lot,” Bart mouthed from behind Kat.

  Bart grabbed the rope. Kat was already sitting in the center of the bench seat in the truck by the time he got in.

  “We need to make a stop before we go to the ravine. Seems Kal didn’t show up last night for his shift at the Watering Hole. His girlfriend’s saying she hadn’t seen him since around five. He’d said something to her about the Kumrande and stopping by the Old Town before he went to work.”

  “Looks like the ravine trip is off.”

  “Just delayed.” Bart looked at the snow. “We got to get there today. The deeper this snow gets, the harder it’s going to be to find that path.”

  “Maybe we should go get Josiah. He knows where the path is.”

  “I really don’t want to bring any more of us out than have to come out tonight.”

  “No, you’re just a stubborn jerk and want to find it by yourself—heaven forbid you’d ask anyone for directions.”

  “She’s right, you know.”

  Bart shot Ken a scathing look.

  “Not about the jerk part, but the need for directions part.”

  “Fine, let’s go get the old guy right after the bar trip.”

  The Open sign was unlit. Bart tried the door.

  “Barbara Manchester said she’d meet me here.” Concern laced his voice.

  He doubled his fist and banged on the metal door frame. Barbara answered and let Bart, Ken, and Kat in. The smell of cigarettes and old beer accosted Kat’s nose. It wrinkled involuntarily in response.

  The bar owner pointed to a petite, blonde-haired woman at the bar.

  “That’s Kal’s girlfriend. She showed up a couple of hours ago. After we talked, I thought we’d better let you know.”

  Bart walked to the blonde. “Kimberly, isn’t it?” She nodded. It was obvious from the red eyes she’d been crying for quite a while. She picked up a napkin and blotted her nose.

  “I won’t keep you long. Did you and Kal have a fight?”

  “No. He kissed me goodbye and said he was heading here after Old Town. I told him not to go there!” She broke into fresh sobs.

  Bart willed himself to be calm and compassionate. “The only other question I have is what was Kal wearing the last time you saw him?”

  “His norm—plain black T-shirt and blue jeans. He kept a clean work shirt here at the bar.” Kenneth joined Bart, leaving Kat and Barbara chatting by the door.

  “Alright, Kimberly. That’s all for now.” Bart motioned Barbara over. “She’s in no shape to be by herself. The girl broke into uncontrollable sobs over the one question I asked.”

  “I’ll keep her here with me. Let me know if you find him.”

  “That’s what the corpse had on,” Ken said, once they were out of earshot.

  “Yep. I think we just identified our John Doe.” Sadness and defeat laced Bart’s words.

  “We’ll stop this.” Kat responded as if she could hear his thoughts. “I promise, Bart. We’ll stop this.”

  “Too late for some.”

  “Yes, it is. But, you can’t muddle in it or we will lose. Come on, focus on the here and now so we can end this before someone else dies.”

  Bart straightened.
“What do we know about Kal and his involvement here?”

  “I met him last night. He was a wealth of information on those weird creatures that attacked us. He said he’d seen their shadows. Can’t believe he was foolish enough to go back.”

  “I do.” Bart flipped his notebook open and wrote Kal’s name next to John Doe, then flipped it shut.

  They drove in silence to Grandma Bricken’s. Kat had called ahead to make sure Josiah was willing to go to the ravine. He was standing on the porch, bundled in the old coat and boots Kat had first seen him in.

  “We got to do something about that outfit.” She smiled at him. “You look like an escapee from the second-hand store’s trash bin.”

  “If we get through this siege, I’ll take you with me to get a new one. Gentlemen—and lady—time is much shorter than I thought.”

  “Why would you say that?” Ken asked. Josiah had not been privy to any of the most recent occurrences at Old Town.

  “Let’s just say a little birdie told me, rather showed me, some not-too-pleasant visions. Iconoclast’s army is assembling.” He looked at Bart and Ken, “but you knew that already didn’t you?”

  “What aren’t you guys telling us?” Kat pulled forward on the bench seat from the tiny back well of the truck. She had been chosen for this honored position, as she was the shortest of the group.

  “We don’t know anything for sure. Just have a lot of similarities between this case and the murders last fall,” Bart said.

  “It is a certainty.”

  “What other explanation is there, Bart? Have you found an explanation for the Kumrande, too?”

  Bart and Ken sat silent, both knowing they had no explanation for the small, nasty creatures.

  “Does Grandma know?”

  “Indeed. She knows we only have a few hours.”

  They had arrived at the ravine. The snow wasn’t letting up. The increasing wind sent stinging flakes onto any exposed skin. They stopped and walked past the ravine path. The hag tree guard caught Kat’s attention. She walked to it and touched it. It shivered.

  “Bart … Ken …”

  “What?”

  “That thing moved.”

  “It’s windy. Of course it moved.”

  “It shivered.”

  Ken walked up to Kat and looked at the tree. He reached a hand out and gave it a slight flick with his finger. It shivered again. By this time the small group surrounded the tree to scrutinize it more closely.

  “That is a very bad omen, as it were.” Josiah remarked. “If it is showing signs of unnatural life, it has been awoken by someone or something.” Josiah leaned over and stared at the old path.

  “There are tiny footprints, numerous footprints.” He walked toward the path. Ken grabbed his arm.

  “Not a good idea. If those are what we think they are, you are walking into certain death.”

  “It is still light. I can hurry. I am drawn but do not know why.”

  “Then we all go—except you, KittyKat. You go to the truck.”

  “I don’t think so, FBI. I’m not going to be a sitting duck. You guys are stuck with me.”

  “Light’s fading. We go now or not at all.” Bart urged.

  They took the path in pairs, holding onto the scrub and alders lining the trail. A few feet in they stopped. A small, ugly skeleton lay at their feet. It had been slashed in two.

  “Blood’s still evident. Something sure picked this thing clean.”

  “Look at the feet.”

  “I know those feet. What killed it?”

  “What is the correct term. If that is a Kumrande, it wasn’t killed by a man. Only a demon can destroy them—and God’s angels.”

  “I’m hoping for the latter.”

  They stepped over the small lower half of the being and continued to the end of the path. The rock stood as strong as ever. They scoured the floor.

  “This is a waste of time.”

  “Not so much.” Josiah walked to the left wall beside the boulder and touched it. A purple and black liquid dripped from the rock.

  “Look familiar?”

  “Unfortunately, it does.” The smell of sulfur and decay was still in the air, faint though it was.

  “But why here and what does it mean?”

  “Don’t know. But I do know it is Iconoclast’s mark.”

  Kat walked up and looked at the purple and black, tinged in an ochre yellow. “That’s the mark of Pet. I thought that thing had died!” Fear gripped her and she wished she’d stayed at Grandma’s. She cursed her need to be a part of things and not just let them lie. They were all staring at her, waiting for an explanation.

  “I know those colors. I was entranced by them, remember? I know that thing’s smell. Can’t you feel the evil? It’s odd that evil has its own feeling, isn’t it? That sensation is the one I had when I was deceived by that horrid little rock and that smell is its smell.”

  “Let’s assume you are right. Then where is it?”

  “It’s not here anymore. I know it. I think it was in the ravine all the time. It must have gotten on this side of the doorway.”

  “It hid in plain sight.” Bart said. Everyone’s eyes turned to him.

  “My grandma told my mom about these demons that specialize in shapeshifting. It was easy to trick people into hell.” He felt foolish. He shrugged. “Just saying.”

  “This is very dangerous. If Pet has returned to Iconoclast, well, their power will be complete.”

  They climbed back up the ravine path, turned right and skirted the large chasm that opened onto the ravine floor.

  It was getting dark as they approached a tiny, almost invisible path. “I’ll go first.” Bart tied the rope off to an alder branch that looked like it would hold. Ken held the rope just in case.

  Ten minutes later he heard, “All clear.”

  Ken sent Kat down, then Josiah. He checked the woods around the path. The Kumrande were here once, who was to say they’d left. Satisfied he was alone, he started down the rope.

  “This one can die now.” Nihilist came out of his hiding place, unsheathed his razor claw and sawed the rope. Ken was fifteen feet above the ravine when he felt the rope give.

  He grabbed at bushes and small plants, hoping for anything to break his fall.

  Kat had been watching for him to come down and screamed when she saw him tumbling toward the ravine floor.

  “God help him,” Josiah said.

  Ken hit an outcropping of rock and bounced to the left. He grabbed a tree, much larger than all the rest. This one held. He managed to snag a branch with his right hand.

  “Let go.” Kat yelled. He did and dropped to the ravine floor. His legs buckled and he fell to the ground.

  “That was close.”

  “What happened?”

  “The rope was fine one minute and went slack the next. I guess it must have rubbed on something enough to make a weak spot and break.”

  Bart yanked the rope down from above. “This rope has been cut.” He held it out to Ken.

  “I double checked the woods before I came down. I was alone.”

  “You’re alright. That’s what matters.” Kat squeezed Ken’s hand.

  “Anyone know where that tree came from? Crazy as it seems, I would swear it reached for me before I ever saw it. And, then I thought for a moment that it wrapped its branch around my hand, not the other way around.”

  “Trauma does play tricks on the mind.”

  “More likely, God answers prayer.” Josiah said with a big smile.

  “It’s out and out hot down here.” Kat unzipped her coat. “It must be a good sixty degrees warmer.” The smell of fresh air tickled Kat’s nose. She could not find a source or a breeze. It was as if she’d walked into different world.

  “I think it is a taste of heaven.” Josiah remarked.

  “Where’s the light coming from?” They looked around and could see no reason for the ravine floor to be glowing, but it was. They could see as clearly as if it were day.


  They walked to the gurgling stream and a small bush full of ripe red berries. The rest of the ravine was green.

  “I don’t understand it but sure enough, you could have lived here. There’s no wind, there’s not even any snow getting in here. It’s melting before it reaches the bottom.”

  Josiah walked to the wall he had slept near for those months.

  “There is something new. It was not here before.” He pointed at an etching. “It’s a directive.”

  “Find the Book of Fallen Angels.”

  “I wonder if someone wants us to find that book Mrs. Tellamoot talked about.” Kat said, humor her best defense when confused.

  “Seems so.” Next to it were written the words Podratshrell and Orthell.

  “Podratshrell was one of the names on the ledger from the Forgotten Place. Orthell wasn’t mentioned at all.”

  Josiah knelt down and started writing in the loose dirt. He played with various ways the letters could go together.

  Ken walked over and crouched down beside Josiah. “What if we do this?”

  They all watched as he erased the p, d, a, s and r.

  “That spells Orthell,” Kat whispered.

  “His family must have changed its name. That name Podratshrell had a large “S” next to it with a symbol that Mrs. Tellamoot says means one that has caused great harm.

  “I knew I should have questioned him when I had the chance. We had better get back to town. I need to find that man and find out what he’s done. By the way, you’re off the hook, Josiah. You are no longer my prime suspect.”

  Good to know, Agent Melbourne.”

  Brandon McGill came out of the forest right after Ken and Bart left Old Town. He headed into Old Town and directly to the outlines.

  “Amazing. In a horrible sort of way.” He snapped a picture then walked to the log cabin.

  Brandon located the mayor. He was kneeling in front of a dark wood stool, a deep red candle set in the center.

  “What are you doing?”

  “You must leave. You are in danger.” He hurried over and began yanking on Brandon’s arm. Brandon jerked his arm free.

  “Danger from what, mayor? Do you know who is committing these murders? You do, don’t you?”

  “It is my fault. You must leave now. There will be another murder soon. I can do nothing to stop it now.”