Max took the amulet from Aura Lee and put it around his neck. "You know we'll have to go down there to see if the snakes are hiding."
Kerry took a deep breath to argue with him, but Rose beat her to the punch.
"The ladder's gone. Why wouldn't the snakes be gone, too?"
"What do you mean, the ladder's gone?" Aura Lee was pale now, her eyes narrow as she searched Rose's face.
"Neal said the ladder was gone." She gestured toward Eve. "It fell as the snakes got near the trap door. We heard it crash on the stone below."
"And you didn't see it on the floor?" she asked Neal, a catch in her voice.
He shook his head. "I saw dirt and cobwebs. That's all."
Aura Lee clasped her hands at her waist. "Disappearing things is among the hardest skill there is in magic and in witchcraft."
Andrea glanced at the amulet on her necklace. "Why?"
"Energy. It can be transformed, but to make it disappear is almost impossible." Aura Lee moved to the overstuffed chair and sat down as if she'd just lost her own energy. "When you burn something, it becomes vapor or smoke. You kill something and it decays, releasing the energy that made it live. To make something not be and have no energy signature is an incredible achievement." She leaned her head back against the chair, clearly tired. "It's beyond any skill set I've encountered."
"What about the owl?" Brenna was rubbing at her brow where a headache was growing.
"Owl?" Aura Lee frowned in confusion. "What owl?"
"Precisely." Brenna held out a hand to Eve and helped her to her feet. "You really believe you saw it?"
Eve nodded. "It was bigger than any Great Horned owl I ever saw." She glanced at Aura Lee. "It flew from the shadows and attacked the snakes."
Aura Lee pondered. "Maybe a sign? Owls are powerful. Could be we have an ally in this battle."
Chapter 11
Eve put her head under the shower, enjoying in the hot water flowing over her face. She'd taken a shower the night before, after she'd been escorted to Andrea's room for the night, but she couldn't stop feeling the brush of spider webs against her skin.
Eve hung the towel on the rod beside the tub. When she picked up the comb on the counter, she examined the skin creams and perfumes arranged there. She touched the bar of soap decorated with swirls of green and gold. Then she allowed herself to look into the mirror over the sink. The fear in her eyes was a given, but what about its source? The snakes were real or they weren't. She felt a gut-punch of terror. What if none of this was real?
As she limped down the stairs, Eve recalled the speed with which the Wisdom Court women had brought her to the main house yesterday. When she'd expressed concern at being a nuisance, Andrea had patted her shoulder. "I'll stay at Neal's. I'm always welcome there, right, cupcake?"
Neal had flashed a sexy smile. "You bet, my little kumquat."
Andrea had rolled her eyes, but the color in her cheeks deepened. "See, I've got him under my thumb."
When Eve started to argue, Andrea frowned at her. "Surely you can't believe we'd let you stay at your place after what just happened, can you?"
"Don't even think about it," added Kerry. "Who knows what'll show up next? You're not staying there alone until we figure out how to deal with the monsters. Get used to it."
"Okay, okay," she'd muttered. Eve wasn't at all sure she'd be any safer at the main house, but the idea of another night alone, wherever she was, didn't appeal anyway.
Eve caught the scent of something wonderful and followed it to the kitchen. As she stepped into the room, she was surrounded by warmth. Light glowed from the cream-colored walls and polished cabinets. The copper pots hanging overhead reflected the movements of the people as they talked and ate. The herbs on the windowsill were bathed in sunlight.
Aura Lee was flipping a pancake, glancing over her shoulder with a smile when she'd caught it. "Good morning. I hope you're hungry, because I'm making pumpkin spice pancakes." Her brassy hair was upswept, but a tendril had escaped, brushing the shoulder of her green caftan.
Eve nodded. "They smell heavenly." Her gaze went from the oversized iron skillet across the dark counter to the pottery chicken next to a pot of rosemary in the window. "This kitchen is wonderful." Aura Lee smiled her pleasure.
"Coffee or tea?" Brenna asked. A carafe and a teapot were on the table in front of her. She and Noreen were seated side by side, a spiral notepad between them.
"Coffee, please," Eve replied. She gestured at the notebook. "What are you working on?"
Noreen lifted one shoulder. Her mouth was pursed, causing wrinkles to fan out from the corners. "It's our latest attempt to make sense of events. We've been listing details of your adventure yesterday. Now you're here to fill in some blanks."
Pulling out a chair, Eve sat, reaching for the cup Brenna extended. "Thanks." She poured a dollop of cream from the glass pitcher and took a sip. "Good stuff."
"Mmmm-hmmm." Brenna drank more of her own and set down her cup. "Soon I shall take on the characteristics of a human."
"I'll catch up as soon as I can."
Aura Lee brought a stack of stoneware plates to the table and set them near Eve. "Start these around. Everyone will show up in a bit, but that doesn't mean you three have to wait for them."
Eve parceled out the plates while Aura Lee fetched a full platter. This she set at the center of the table. "We have butter, syrup, and jam. Dig in now, don't let them get cold."
"Thanks, Aura Lee." Brenna unfolded a napkin and draped it across her lap. "These look so good." She speared a pancake and put it on her plate.
Eve served herself and waited for Brenna to hand her the syrup. As she poured it, she realized the warmth she'd initially felt in the room was fading. A cool breath against the back of her neck brought out goose bumps. Before she could react, she heard a faint sound and turned to her right to see what it was. A sibilant string of almost-words were flowing past her ear, like the hissing of a snake.
Eve breathed in sharply, turning her head the other way, but the sound was only on her right side. Frowning, she took the syrup bottle from Brenna.
"Something wrong?" Rose stood in the doorway from the dining room, a halo of light gleaming on her curling silver blonde hair. She watched Eve with worried eyes.
Deliberately Eve let out the breath she'd been holding. "A sound, almost like hissing. Can you hear it?"
Rose turned and threaded her way between Aura Lee and the kitchen island, slanting a glance at the burner knobs of the stove along the way. She closed her eyes and listened. After a moment she shook her head. "I can't, but that doesn't mean it isn't there." She asked the others. "Do you hear anything?"
Brenna came round to Eve's side of the table. She was quiet, with her eyes closed as she tried to hear something. Her eyes widened and she turned her head, meeting Eve's eyes. "I do hear it! It's very low, but it's definitely a hissing."
Eve sagged against the back of the chair.
Noreen looked between the two of them. "Coming from where?"
Rose cast a look around the room. "What could the source be and why can't the rest of us hear it?" She frowned. "Do you think it might be the furnace?"
Brenna sat in the chair beside Eve and closed her eyes as she focused. She tilted her head closer to Eve. With a gasp, she put ear directly against Eve's. When she pulled her head away, her face had lost color. "It's coming from you! From your ear."
Rose stared. "That's beyond crazy. Have you ever heard of anything like this?" she asked Aura Lee.
"No." She started to say something else but spun around, lunging for her spatula. "The pancakes!" Quickly she flipped one off the griddle and turned off the burner at the same time. "Somebody get Max. Maybe he's heard of such a thing."
"Someone's trying to frighten me," Eve said in a hard voice. She put her hands over her ears and pushed hard. The sibilance grew louder. "And they're doing a great job." She straightened her backbone and scooted her chair closer to the table. "I'm going to finish this
wonderful breakfast. Nobody's going to spoil it for me." She cut a chunk of the golden hotcake with the side of her fork and speared the piece, bringing it to her mouth. It tasted like ashes, but she chewed with determination and looked around at the others. "Have some. It's really good." She had a hard time hearing herself speak thanks to the noise in her ear.
Brenna moved back to her place and resumed eating as Rose took her seat and served herself. "You've got the right idea," she said to Eve. "It's impossible to know if what's happening here is real or not, but we have to live our lives regardless. I'm sorry about yesterday," Rose added abruptly. "I had to check you out, but I hated keeping you out of the loop."
Eve nodded, feeling a smile tug at her lips. "We all have to do what we think is right."
Noreen nodded sharply. "'Keep a steady course though the waves pound against the hull. All will come aright at the end.' Parminta Edgerston Winslow, eighteen thirty-two to eighteen ninety. She was married to a ship's captain, raised three children with him on their ship."
"Now that was a brave woman." Eve took a swig of coffee to wash down the pancake. "I'd almost rather be trapped with snakes than have to keep three kids from going over the side."
"Not very maternal, are you?" Kerry said from the arched doorway to the dining room.
"No reason to be," returned Eve.
Max edged around Kerry, his eyes trained on the pancakes. "Are there enough for us?" His hair was windblown and his eyes were blurry with fatigue.
"Of course." Aura Lee brought the other platter of cakes to the table. "Sit down."
"I'm glad you're here," Noreen said to Max as he pulled out a chair for Kerry and slid into his own. "We have a new... uh, symptom, if you will." She turned toward Eve. "Tell him."
Eve described the hissing in her ear as Max polished off two pancakes, his gaze focused on his plate. When she'd finished, he glanced at Brenna. "And you heard this sound as well?"
"I heard it coming out of her ear," Brenna said.
"What's that you say?" Max set down his fork and reached for his cup.
Kerry took it before he could pick it up and when he shot her a look of protest she nodded toward Brenna. "Pay attention. She said she heard the hissing coming from Eve's ear. That's just weird." She filled his cup and handed it to him.
"The sound was coming from her ear?"
"Yes. It was faint, like an amp turned really low, but I heard it."
Max gazed at Brenna, his thoughts busy behind his eyes. "I've never heard of such a thing," he said finally. He appealed to Aura Lee. "Have you?"
"No. Rose?"
She was rubbing one eyebrow. "It sounds vaguely like something I might've read once. I think I'll call Jerri."
"Who's Jerri?" Eve was halfway between worried about her ear and amused at the whole thing. "I've had more oddball conversations since I got here than in my whole previous life."
"Wait'll we get to the good parts," muttered Kerry.
"Jerri's our house doctor," explained Rose. "She has a practice here in Boulder."
Max had drunk half his coffee, unlocking his mental gears. "Have you ever heard odd sounds in that ear before today?"
Eve sighed. "I don't think so."
"So you haven't been diagnosed with tinnitus." Max tilted the carafe and topped off his cup.
"No."
Kerry nodded at him. "That's a good question. I wonder if you can develop tinnitus in an instant."
"What is it?" Brenna asked.
"Strange sounds in your ears, intermittent or constant. People complain of whistling, clicking, roaring like waves. It's fairly common."
Brenna reached for the coffee carafe. "I was thinking more about getting radio waves thanks to a tooth filling, or something like that." She smiled at Eve. "Great party trick."
Eve snorted. "I'm not that cool."
"Do you still hear it?"
Eve closed her eyes and concentrated. "It's gone."
"Thank the stars for small favors." Aura Lee sat at the table and served herself. "Now we can talk about what happened yesterday." She paused, her knife poised over the butter. "Did you find out anything about the snakes?"
"None of the books I brought with me have anything close." Max reached for another pancake. "Were you able to find any spells that could explain what happened?"
"No." Aura Lee frowned at her teacup. "I wish any of the books I checked had decent indexes." She sipped her tea. "I found articles about transposing matter, though many examples were obscure. Most were small things: rose petals, bugs, in a couple of cases, birds."
Kerry narrowed her eyes. "Wait a minute. You're saying those small things were sent from one place to another through magic?"
Aura Lee nodded. "According to several of my books, yes. Spell work developed by longtime practitioners."
The disbelief on Kerry's face was blatant. "Were there any trials to verify the validity of those claims?"
"Don't you have it backwards?" Noreen asked in a dry voice. "We saw the snakes, yes? How would you explain their appearance or presence?"
"Or the blisters on Eve's hands?" Neal said from the archway. He slipped out of his leather jacket and hung it on one of the hooks by the door to the porch. Andrea handed him her sweatshirt and headed for a chair.
Eve raised her hands to show off her bandages. "Living proof."
Neal and Andrea sat down and were given plates.
"We went on a shopping expedition this morning." Neal poured a generous stream of syrup over the cakes.
Rose eyed him with narrow eyes. "What did you buy?"
Neal took a big bite and chewed happily. "I'm eating." He nudged Andrea to continue.
She swallowed a bite and grabbed for the coffee carafe. "We bought another ladder." She caught the grimace on Eve's face. "And we're going back down to check things out." She drank from her cup. "Any volunteers?"
"I'll go." Eve poured cream into her fresh coffee as the others expressed their dismay. "I won't go alone," she said calmly. "That experience cost me something. I want to know what happened down there and why. It's the why that makes me crazy."
"It's all about Cottie," Aura Lee said. "From the beginning, everything that's happened has had to do with her here at Wisdom Court. You're the latest to arrive, but you've already had signs in your life of what's been happening here."
Eve stared at her disbelievingly. "I don't understand how she and I could be connected."
Brenna nodded in understanding. "I felt the same way, but it's happened to me, too. The connection has to do with Wisdom Court. I'll go down to the mystery room with you, but I'm bringing my phone so I can take pictures of everything."
Andrea took another bite and continued around it. "That's great." She swallowed and shot a smile at her. "We figured as our architectural expert, you might have ideas of what to look for down there."
"Sounds good to me." Brenna turned to Kerry. "You want to join this expedition?"
"You bet. Can't wait to check it out." Kerry grinned at Max. "There'll be no keeping him out of there."
"Do you think there are more rooms?" Aura Lee asked. "Cottie never said a thing about there being any."
Rose let out a short laugh. "She never said a lot of things."
Max's expression had turned thoughtful. "We could all go. We all have different vantage points. That makes finding anomalies easier. I'm hoping we can gain more information." He reached his hand to clasp Kerry's. "Evidence of where the snakes came from, for example."
"If there was any funny business about that left behind," Neal said, "there's been more than enough time to clean it up. I'd love to find a projector or bits of squirmy rubber, though."
Brenna finished her coffee and set down her cup with a thump. "So we're going to explore the secret chamber, right?"
"I guess so."
Rose looked at Neal in inquiry. "Do we have to go down the ladder?"
"Yeah. If anybody's not liking that idea, I'd suggest waiting in Eve's place until we've figured out what
's what." Neal pushed his plate away. "There might be a more accessible entrance, though I can't think where it would be."
Rose stood up. "Let's meet at Eve's in an hour. That'll give us time to get ready. Any objections?"
"Only a question I always ask when I'm on a site." Brenna looked up at Rose. "Do you have any problem with my recording this trek?"
"Great idea." Rose scooped up her dishes. "We can catch a ghost or snake on film. I'd love some evidence for once."
"Of what?" Kerry stacked her cup onto her plate.
"Of anything." Rose's voice was grim. "It's about time we had a fact or two to rub against our theories and legends."
Brenna grinned. "I'll do my best."
Chapter 12
Eve stepped off the ladder's bottom rung onto the stone floor. She'd put her protective boot on her recovering leg and it made a scuffing sound that echoed in her ears. The air around her was dank and the walls were closer together, the darkness deeper. She fought the panic nibbling at the edge of her mind.
She felt a touch on her shoulder and jerked around.
"Hey, it's just me." Brenna lowered her cell phone she'd put into camera mode to search her face in the heavy shadows. "You okay?" With her dark clothes and black tomboy haircut, her face appeared to float in the gloom.
Of course not, Eve thought savagely. "This sweater isn't heavy enough." She wrapped her arms around herself.
"You want my jacket?" Already Brenna was pulling one arm out of its sleeve.
"No, no, don't." Eve grabbed for the sleeve and pulled it back up her arm, feeling guilty at her generosity. "No reason you should freeze in my place." She peered around, trying not to freak as her gaze touched on the spider webs. Kerry and Max were in a shadowy corner, their movements setting the strands of the things in motion heightened by the glow of their flashlights. Eve shuddered at the thought of touching them. But they were nothing compared to the writhing snakes, their glittering eyes holding hers as they slithered across her memory.
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