Wild Keepers

by Dee Bridgnorth

  He walked towards the phone. He should do it now.

  Keeley Walters was snooping. There was little doubt of it. And now she had enlisted the tall, quiet man to her cause. Thaddeus Morgan. Was the fact that they came from the same small town and knew each other before staying here just coincidence, as they claimed? Jim Scott’s face twisted. It seemed unlikely. What were the chances that two people from the same town would choose to stay at a rundown motel in the middle of nowhere at exactly the same time?

  Exactly none. They had known they were both coming to stay here. Whether it was for the same purpose he couldn’t tell, and he hardly cared. They were working together now.

  They had both been asking questions around town too. Everyone had told him. Their eyes had been wide with fear, begging him to let them know. The townsfolk knew that if anything went wrong out there and it had originated from Farrow Valley in some way that they would pay the price. It had happened more than once over the years.

  Jim gripped the table, staring at the phone. Containment. That was what it was all about.

  He could feel the sweat dripping down his neck already. There was no way that he would be able to make the call he needed to without a little bit of Dutch courage. Slowly he walked to the desk in the corner and poured himself a shot. He downed it in one, almost gagging.

  He shuddered as the liquid hit his bloodstream, spreading warmth through his limbs. It was the only way he could deal with it anymore. He had paid a price, too. A steep price. Once upon a time he had been an average man, with dreams of settling in Farrow Valley to run a motel in the desert. A simple life but satisfying. But that had been before they had gotten to him. They had gotten to the whole town and everyone in it.

  Now he was just a messenger boy for them, or a dogsbody. They whistled, and he ran. It was the only way that he was allowed to live. He was ensnared in this life like a fly trapped in a web, forced to live in this motel that he had slowly grown to hate over the years.

  The breath caught in his throat.

  You can check out, but you can never leave.

  The line from that damn song was the story of his life.

  Never mind. Not everyone got what they wanted in life. He was lucky, in some ways. He could have been taken by them and forced to live in their compound in the desert, having god knows what done to him. No one knew for sure what they did out there, but whatever it was, it wasn’t good. Look at Old Fairley. A broken shell of a man since they had tossed him out, raving one minute and cowering in fear the next. No, he had brokered a good deal. The only deal available to him.

  His hand hovered over the phone. He pretended not to notice the tremble as he picked it up and slowly dialled. After he had finished he replaced the receiver in the cradle gently, and walked back to the forms, lying on the counter.

  He picked them up and tore them neatly through the middle, tossing them into the waste basket.

  Thaddeus Morgan and Keeley Walters had checked out of the Hacienda. Permanently.

  ***

  Thad turned the truck down the back road, pulling over to the side.

  “Ready?” He turned to Keeley.

  She frowned slightly. “What exactly are we doing?”

  He reached over and opened the glove box, getting out the old map of the area that Josiah Connelly had given him yesterday. The old man had marked the spot in black pen, and the way that they could approach it without being noticed. A back way. But it would mean that they would have to abandon the truck and walk a fair distance.

  He pointed to the spot on the map. Keeley leaned over to look at it.

  “We need to get here,” he said, tracing the route with a finger. “So, we’re going to have to hike. That’s why I’ve made sure we have our drinking bottles and enough food.” He indicated the backpack on the floor in the back of the truck.

  Keeley nodded. “Why don’t we enter it into one of our phones? The tracking system will lead us there.”

  Thad gazed at her. “I thought of that. But sure enough, when I tried to do it last night the building didn’t come up. Officially, it doesn’t exist.” He paused. “Besides, phones don’t work this far out. No towers. I’m afraid we are going to have to do it the old-fashioned way.”

  Keeley took a deep breath. “So be it. As long as you have a good sense of direction. I get lost if you spin me around twice, and I don’t fancy wandering the desert.” She shuddered. “Like my father.”

  “I can track,” said Thad slowly. “One of the advantages of having an inner wolf. My sense of sight and smell is sharper than average, too.” He smiled at her. “Besides, I’ve brought a compass. We won’t get lost.”

  Keeley stared at him, not saying anything. Thad could see the doubt in her eyes, and something else. Fear? Wariness? She wasn’t comfortable with him talking about the wolf, however casually. She still thought that it was all fiction. That he was crazy, just like she thought Old Fairley was.

  But she wasn’t about to challenge him about it. He could see the determination in her eyes, too. That was one of the things he admired about her. Once Keeley Walters made up her mind about something, she would see it through. And whatever doubts she had about everything they had heard she had obviously decided to put it aside. For the moment at least.

  She smiled slightly, reaching for the door handle. “Let’s get to it, then.”

  ***

  Thad stared back at her, a slight frown puckering his brow. She was struggling in this heat. He could see sweat pouring off her, and her face was a rosy pink. But she wasn’t complaining. Not yet, anyway.

  He stopped, reaching into the backpack for his drink bottle. He passed it to her.

  “Drink,” he said.

  She took the bottle gratefully, pouring the liquid down her throat. Then she handed it back to him.

  “I could drink the whole thing,” she admitted, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. “Are we getting close at all, do you think? We’ve been walking for over an hour already.”

  He got out the map, squatting down and spreading it out on the desert sand. She was right. They had been walking for too long. He had been positive they were heading in the right direction, but now he wasn’t so sure.

  His frown deepened. “We should have passed this landmark by now,” he said, pointing to the map. “Josiah told me there was a rock formation only two miles from it. It’s called the Eagle’s Nest.” He looked up, gazing around the landscape. “But I can’t see it.”

  Keeley breathed deeply. “Maybe we’ve taken a wrong turn. We could be heading in the wrong direction.”

  Thad straightened, tucking the map in the back pocket of his jeans. Then he got out the compass and adjusted it.

  “Strange,” he muttered, staring down at it. “It’s going all over the place. I can’t seem to get a clear reading with it.”

  Keeley’s eyes widened. “Thad, if its broken we could be heading in any direction. Didn’t Josiah tell you it should only take half an hour of walking to get there?” She gazed down at her wristwatch, then she turned to him. “Thad, my watch has stopped.”

  He gazed at her. “What?”

  “I looked at it before we left the truck,” she said, frowning. “It was half past eleven. It obviously worked for a little while but stopped at noon.” She laughed uncomfortably. “There’s probably something wrong with it. It’s an old analogue, a family heirloom. My grandma gave it to me when I was thirteen. I’m surprised it’s lasted this long.”

  Thad nodded slightly but glanced down at his own watch. His heart started to quicken. It had stopped at noon, as well. And his wasn’t an analogue. It had a sophisticated digital screen telling him not only the time but the date. It had frozen.

  He raised his eyes to the sky. The sun was hovering directly above them. He could tell the time by its position. He could track his way back to the truck. That wasn’t the issue.

  The fact that all their devices were going haywire was troubling. The compass was in perfect working order. And
what were the chances that both their watches would stop at precisely the same time?

  “We are close,” he said, staring at her. “There must be an energy field coming from the building that is affecting the compass and the watches.” He paused, shielding one hand above his eyes and staring into the distance. “This more than anything tells me that we are stumbling towards it.”

  Keeley bit her lip. “An energy field?”

  Thad nodded. “They are doing something there, just as I’ve suspected. Centralising power. It’s draining everything in the vicinity.”

  “How is that possible?” She stared at him.

  He shrugged. “Anything is possible with the Vilgath.” He dropped his hand. “We have to keep going.”

  She reached out a hand, grabbing his arm. “Thad, the compass isn’t working. We haven’t spotted the landmark. How on earth will we know which direction to go in? We can’t see it.” She gazed around the landscape. “There’s nothing as far as the eye can see. Just endless sand.”

  He gazed back at her. “Trust me.”

  She hesitated. Then she took a deep breath. “God help me.” She hoisted up her bag that she had thrown on the sand. “Lead the way.”

  ***

  Keeley stumbled slightly in the sand. She could feel her heart like a dull thud in her chest. Frustration tore through her, and she stopped, throwing her bag on the ground.

  Thad kept walking for a minute, then sensed that she had stopped. He gazed back at her, frowning.

  “What’s wrong?”

  She took a deep breath, widening her arms and gesturing to the landscape. “This is wrong! Thad, we’ve been walking for hours and we’ve seen nothing.” Wearily she wiped the back of her neck. “I’m boiling and I’m tired. I think we are going to have to admit that we can’t find it.”

  He sighed, walking slowly back towards her. “We’re getting closer,” he said through gritted teeth. “I can feel it.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “That makes no sense,” she spat. “Nothing makes sense out here! Josiah has led us on a wild goose chase. The map is wrong. The compass doesn’t work. We are going to end up lost out here!”

  He sighed heavily. “Sit down, Keeley. We’ll rest for a minute. Have lunch and more water.”

  She stared at him, her chest heaving. She wanted to spit in his eye and march back the way that they had come. Except she couldn’t. She had no idea of how to re-trace the route they had taken. For the first time, the enormity of what she had committed to hit her.

  She was in the desert. Seemingly lost, with no way of getting back to the truck except for him. And he was determined not to go back. She could see it in the steely glint of his eyes.

  She was totally at his mercy.

  A cold shiver went through her despite the heat. She had let her growing attraction to him blind her to the reality. He was crazy. He claimed to be a shapeshifter and that the building they were trying to find was controlled by demons. How on earth had she let herself get into this situation?

  She swallowed down the anger with difficulty. But it wasn’t anger at him. He was just Thad. Amazingly sexy Thad who also happened to be crazy. He hadn’t deceived her. He had stubbornly stuck to his wild story and she was the one who had followed him regardless.

  No, she was angry at herself. Blindingly angry. She should have known better. She was a grown woman. A journalist, who was logical and methodical. She had never done a thing like this in her life.

  She might die out here.

  The thought struck her like a sword. Her own father had been found wandering out here, incoherent. Changed forever. Who knew what exactly had happened to him? Maybe he had been lost for days, and the desert sun had cooked his brain in some way.

  Maybe the same thing was going to happen to her.

  “We have to turn back,” she said, her mouth dry with panic. “Now.”

  He simply gazed at her. Then he sat down on the sand, opening the backpack. He took out the salad rolls they had bought at the Farrow Valley bakery that morning. He held out one to her.

  “Keeley,” he said softly. “You must eat.”

  She stared at him, not taking it. He sighed, then reached for the water bottle.

  “Drink,” he said. “Sit down and rest. We’ll talk about what we’re going to do after.”

  She hesitated, then sat down, grabbing the water bottle. The cool liquid felt like heaven as it trickled down her throat. She knew that he wasn’t about to give in easily, but she had to try to find a way to persuade him that this was a fool’s errand.

  She was just about to hand him back the bottle when he jumped to his feet, pointing into the distance.

  “The Eagle’s Nest,” he breathed, his eyes shining.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Thad stared up at the jutting rock formation. The Eagle’s Nest. At last.

  He glanced back at Keeley. She was craning her neck, staring up at it as well.

  “See?” he whispered excitedly. “I told you we were getting close.”

  She nodded, but she still didn’t look happy. It had taken all his powers of persuasion to get her to continue after he had spotted the landmark. He knew she was panicking. She thought that they were hopelessly lost.

  His excitement faded a little as he gazed at her. She wasn’t coping with this. He should have known that it would be too much for her. He sighed, struggling to resolve it in his mind. Perhaps they should turn around now and head back to the truck. He could take her back to the Hacienda, and then come back out himself and complete the search.

  His fists clenched. He didn’t want to go back now. They were so close he could almost taste it. And by the time he took her back to Farrow Valley and returned, retracing their steps, it would be getting into late afternoon. The sun would start to set. And he knew from long experience that trying to find something in the dark was like looking for a needle in a haystack, even with his heightened senses.

  “Keeley.” He looked at her. “I’ll take you back now if that’s what you want.” He held his breath, waiting for her reply.

  She turned her head slowly, staring at him. “You would?”

  He nodded with difficulty. He could wait, couldn’t he? The building was going nowhere. It had been here for years, after all. Today would be wasted, but he could come back out first thing tomorrow. But even as the thought slid into his mind, impatience started snapping at him.

  She blinked rapidly. “It means a lot to me that you would offer that, Thad.” She took a deep breath. “I can see how keen you are to keep going.”

  He gritted his teeth. “Just say the word.”

  She sighed heavily then shook her head. “It’s okay,” she said slowly. “I was just so hot and overwhelmed. But if we are getting close now, we might as well finish it.”

  “Are you sure?” He tried to keep his voice even.

  She nodded. “I’m sure.” She took the lens off her camera slowly, and raised it towards the rock formation, taking a few photos.

  Thad stared at her, hesitating. He knew that she still wasn’t one hundred percent on board, but time was ticking. He stared up at the sun, blinking. It was mid-afternoon already. They had to keep going if they were going to achieve anything today.

  “Okay, then.” He kept staring at her. “Ready?”

  She lowered her camera. “Ready.”

  They kept trudging through the sand, over dunes. As they climbed to the top of one, his heart almost stopped.

  There it was. Shimmering in the distance like a mirage.

  The building. At long last. The Glory.

  It was almost exactly like it had been depicted in the painting at the motel. His breath caught in his throat as he gazed at it.

  It was perfectly round, soaring into the sky, seeming to float on the sand. The sun glinted on the surface, which appeared to be made entirely of glass or crystal. Hexagonal patterns were etched into its surface, woven perfectly, joining together like a jigsaw puzzle. He knew that it wasn’t random. Those pattern
s meant something.

  He opened his mouth to say something, but his voice seemed to have left him entirely. It was one of the most magnificent buildings he had ever seen. Almost a wonder of the world, like the Pyramids of Egypt, or the mythical Hanging Gardens of Babylon. For some reason, pictures that he had seen in books of the Alhambra in Spain popped into his head as well. How was it possible that such a structure existed out here in the depths of the desert and wasn’t widely known?

  But he knew the answer, of course. The Vilgath needed to keep this secret. It had been built for a purpose, and that purpose was not good. The last thing that they wanted was hordes of sightseers traipsing the desert to gawk at it.

  The locals knew, of course. But they weren’t speaking. Either through fear or cowardice.

  “I never believed it.” Keeley’s voice was a whisper beside him. “I thought it was a story. It actually exists.”

  He nodded his head slowly. “It exists.”

  She tore her eyes away from it, gazing at him. “I’m sorry, Thad. Everything that you have said is true.”

  He sighed. “Keeley, don’t say sorry. I understand how difficult it’s been for you.”

  “It’s like the kingdom of Oz,” she whispered, turning back to it with shining eyes. “In The Wizard of Oz. Did you ever read that story, or see the movie?”

  He nodded. “I saw the movie when I was a kid.” He turned to look at her, frowning slightly. “Just remember that it’s evil, Keeley. Don’t get seduced by it. Just like the kingdom of Oz, it’s an illusion.”

  She nodded but couldn’t tear her eyes away from it. “I know, but how is it possible? It’s so beautiful! Look at the way the sun glints on the crystal, making prisms of colour on the sand.”

  Thad’s frown deepened. “Beauty isn’t everything. It’s just a mask. A front.” He paused. “It’s part of the evil. Keep remembering why we are here.”

  She nodded again, but he could see that she was overcome. If he hadn’t been here, he knew that she would barely be able to restrain herself from tearing through the sand towards it.