Eximere (The River Book 4)

by Michael Richan

“It’s a long story,” Eliza said, holding her stomach. “But I really need to sleep for a while, guys. Give me a couple of hours, and I’ll go with you.”

  “Yes,” said Myrna, “a couple of hours is all I need too. I’m exhausted.”

  “Are you sure it isn’t the draining?” asked Jonathan.

  “No,” Eliza said, “I can still trance. I tried it while we were looking through the book while Steven was gone. It’s not the draining, it’s the vomiting.”

  “What came of the book?” Steven asked. “Anything?”

  “No,” said Roy, “but there’s more to search through. We could use the time while they’re napping to keep looking through it.”

  “OK,” Steven said. “It’s ten o’clock now. How about we leave at noon?”

  “How about two?” said Myrna.

  “Yes, I vote for two,” Eliza said. “I need some solid sleep, Steven.”

  “Fine, two it is,” Steven said. “Let’s all meet here, and we’ll take two cars up.”

  They all filed out of the room, and Roy closed the door behind them.

  “We did find something in the book,” Roy said. “But Eliza and I decided we only wanted to tell you rather than the others.”

  “What is it?” Steven asked.

  Roy walked to the back of the motel room and pulled the book from his backpack. The book had several sections, each made by one of Steven and Roy’s progenitors. Each section had different paper and different writing, and had been bound to the previous section, making the book irregular and oddly shaped. The most recent section was Roy’s.

  Roy let Steven use the book whenever he wanted, but to Steven most of the book was impenetrable. The words were all in English, but they didn’t make sense to him. They seemed like random words strung together with no meaning. However, once Steven had experienced something in the River, it gave him context, and sections of the book that related to his experiences began to clear up. He was able to read many parts of the book that related to things he’d already experienced, but the vast majority of the book was still a mystery to him. He was hoping that since Roy and Eliza were tagged by the device, it would give them enough context to discover something in the book that might help them. Roy sat the book on the bed and opened it to the first section.

  “My great grandfather Thomas was the first to write in this book, and he wrote about something like this,” Roy said, flipping through the pages and pointing to certain passages. “Eliza and I did locate some references to draining, but it’s very confusing, because it keeps referring to itself.”

  Roy showed the passage to Steven. He read it, but it made absolutely no sense to him.

  “Dad, I don’t think I can understand it. I wasn’t tagged. It’s just gobbledygook to me.”

  “Well,” Roy said, “Thomas keeps referencing sections in his own work, but they aren’t here. That’s why Eliza and I didn’t feel we could share any of this with the group yet. It wasn’t substantial enough. That, and I don’t like revealing family secrets if I don’t have to.”

  “Can you read me exactly what it says?” Steven said.

  “They’re small references,” Roy said. “Here’s one: ‘…to drain the power. See T, p. 90.’ I take that to mean ‘see page 90’ in Thomas’ writings. But there’s nothing about this on page 90. Another one: ‘…the discs of the drain and their spinning. No longer irreversible, but he’s succumbed. T, p. 142.’ Referring to page 142, right? Nothing there, either.”

  “Yeah, that’s not enough to share with the others,” Steven said. “Is there more?”

  “There are lots of little references like this,” Roy said, “but only in Thomas’ section. Nothing after that.”

  “So this goes back a ways,” Steven said. “Old stuff.”

  “But each comment is written like the reader would already know something else,” Roy said. “Nothing is a complete thought. Obviously something is missing.”

  “Maybe it’s a section you just haven’t found yet,” Steven said, “later in the book.”

  “I don’t understand why he’d note his section with the ‘T’, if that’s what he’s doing,” Roy said. “This is the first section. When he wrote it, there were no other sections to reference; they were all added later by his son and grandson. Why reference yourself like that?”

  “Don’t know,” Steven said.

  “I’ll keep reading,” Roy said. “We’ve got a few hours to kill before we go back up there.”

  “Leaving at 2 means we’ll have only a couple of hours to get in and out,” Steven said. “I think we ought to assume we might get stuck there again tonight. Bring your meds.”

  “I’d rather sleep there than in this rat hole, anyway,” Roy said.

  ◊

  They drove from the motel to the estate just after 2. They were driving behind a logging truck, so Steven was going slower than normal. He figured they could fit both cars in the pull off to the estate at the chain without drawing attention from the road. Roy was riding in the passenger seat, and he had Eliza and Myrna in the back seat. Jonathan and Russell were in the other car.

  As they approached the estate, the logging truck slowed a little. “There’s a van pulling out of the estate driveway,” Roy said, glancing around the right of the truck.

  “Percival?” Steven asked.

  “No, not his van,” Roy said. The van pulled out in advance of the logging truck, and began coming down the road towards them. As it passed Steven on the left he saw a sign on the side of the van that read “Aberdeen Fabrication.”

  “Must have been doing some work at the house,” Eliza said.

  “Do we still want to go through with this?” Steven said. “I figured we’d have the place to ourselves.”

  “Let’s continue on and keep our eyes open,” Roy said.

  They parked their cars in the driveway at the chain and followed their escape route from earlier that morning back into the house. There were no vehicles at the parking area inside the main gate, and they didn’t observe anyone on the brick path or at the house.

  “Doesn’t seem anyone is around,” Eliza said.

  The side door they used earlier was locked. “Eliza?” Steven asked. “Can you pick it?”

  “I’ll give it a try,” she said, dropping to one knee and retrieving a couple of tools from her backpack.

  Eliza had the door open within seconds, and the group walked into the house and through the kitchens to the dining room. Items they’d left on the table earlier that morning were still there.

  Steven led the group through the velvet wallpaper hallway. “Roger said many of these doors are painted shut,” Steven told the group. “At least one of them opens to another hallway.”

  “Let’s start checking them,” Roy said, grabbing the nearest door handle. It didn’t budge.

  “Broom closet,” said Myrna, who’d open a door on the opposite side. She looked a little better after her rest. Steven assumed proximity to the house was helping, too.

  “We’re on the right track,” Steven said. “Keep looking.”

  The group splintered as different people went for different doors.

  “So what are these ones that are painted shut?” Eliza said, examining one of them, looking closely at the junction of the door and the door frame. “Who uses doors for ornamentation?”

  “Found it!” Russell announced from further down the hall. The group convened around him. He seemed proud of his discovery. “Here it is,” he said while waving his hand toward the open door with a flourish.

  They looked down the hallway. It looked exactly the same as the hallway they were in.

  Steven passed through to the new hallway and the others joined him. “One of these doors,” he said, “contains a room that has a lot of junk and trophy heads in it. That’s the one we’re looking for.”

  This time they progressed down the hallway as a group, with Steven in the lead. He checked each door as they passed it.

  “Painted shut,” Roy said at the f
irst one.

  “I don’t understand that,” Eliza said. “Makes no sense.”

  The next handle opened into a small modest bedroom. “Servant’s quarters?” Myrna offered.

  “Could be,” Steven said, closing the door and moving on.

  They tried several more locked doors and ones painted shut before opening the one that revealed the trophy room.

  “Ah!” said Roy upon entering. “Look at that!”

  As Roger had said, the walls were indeed covered in mounted trophies. Most were animal heads, but there were a few large fish. “Impressive,” Roy said, walking around the room, looking at them.

  The center of the room was cluttered with sofas and chairs, all pushed together so there was enough space to move around the room. There was a table that had nine or ten lamps on it. At one end of the room were a couple of rolled up carpets.

  “Roger said it was in a corner,” Steven said, making his way first to the farthest corner from the entrance. “There’s a lower panel that slides to the right.”

  Others moved to the remaining corners and began searching for the sliding panel, but Steven felt the corner he’d selected was the right one. He pressed on the wood panel on the lower part of the wall below the molding, but nothing moved.

  “I’m not finding anything here,” Russell said from one of the other corners. “You said it slid to the right?”

  “That’s what he said,” Steven replied, trying to get the panel he felt was the most promising one to move. It held tight.

  “It’s not this corner,” Roy said from another direction.

  Steven knocked on the several panels in his corner. They all sounded solid except for the one he’d been working on. It sounded hollow.

  “Roy, come see this,” Steven said, beckoning Roy over. Roy abandoned his corner and joined Steven.

  “Listen,” Steven said, repeating the knocking.

  “It’s that one for sure,” Roy said, lighting up.

  “It won’t move,” Steven said.

  “Let me try it,” Roy said, giving Steven a slight push as he elbowed him out of the way.

  Roy pressed on the panel, moving from one spot to another, trying different pressures and sliding along the edges. The other members of the group began to gather around behind them.

  “This thing isn’t moving,” Roy said. “But it’s the one, I’m sure of it. Listen,” he said, demonstrating the knocking to the group.

  “You’re right,” Eliza said. “It’s behind there.”

  “Why won’t it move?” Steven asked.

  “Maybe there’s a secret lever somewhere,” Russell said.

  “Maybe,” Steven said, “but Roger didn’t mention one. He said you just push it to the right.”

  Roy placed both hands on the panel and pushed in, hoping to feel it recede. Instead he felt it bow a little, held firm in place at the edges.

  “I say we bust it down,” Roy said.

  Eliza smiled.

  “What, just kick it in?” Myrna said.

  “Why not?” Roy said. “If they want to sue me for damages, let them.”

  “Fine with me,” Steven said. The rest of the group nodded their heads in agreement.

  “If anyone is asked,” Roy said, “none of us know who did it, OK?”

  Heads nodded again, and Roy turned to face the panel. He raised a foot and kicked. His foot went through the thin wood and into the space beyond. He pulled his foot back out, and kept kicking around the hole until he’d widened it enough for a person to climb through. Then he stepped into the space on the other side of the panel and began helping others come through.

  As Steven climbed through to the new passageway, he noticed it was dimly lit. He found his flashlight in his coat pocket and turned it on. Once they’d all reached the inside, Roy turned to examine the panel. “Steven,” he asked, “would you turn your flashlight on this?”

  Steven moved over by Roy and shone the flashlight down on the back side of the panel.

  “Look here,” Roy said. “This metal rail is the contraption that the panel slides along, and this spring is what holds the panel against the frame.”

  “What is that glistening around the edge?” Steven asked, pointing his flashlight at the inside edge of the panel, where it met the wall.

  “Epoxy,” Roy said, reaching out to touch it. “Still tacky. This was glued shut recently.”

  “How long ago?” Steven asked.

  “An hour? A day? Don’t know for sure,” Roy replied.

  “Someone didn’t want us to find this passageway,” Myrna said.

  “That’s a good bet,” Roy agreed.

  “Well, we’ve made it through regardless,” Eliza said. “Shall we proceed?”

  “Just be careful,” Steven said, moving to the front of the group so he could lead with the flashlight. “Things have obviously changed since Roger saw them.”

  The passageway was about three feet wide and seven feet tall. It twisted and turned. Steven remembered Roger saying it passed behind other rooms. He let his flashlight drift up from the floor occasionally to look at the walls as they passed. He spotted a small device and stopped the group.

  “Look,” he said, shining his light on a small, round brass fixture about five feet off the ground. It was covered with a small metal flap, which he lifted.

  “Peephole,” Roy said. “For looking into the room on the other side.”

  Steven held the flap up and moved his eye to the fixture to look through. “Whatever is on the other side, there’s not enough light to see it.”

  “Light probably turned off in that room,” Roy said.

  “Do you think there are passageways like this upstairs, behind the bedrooms?” Eliza asked. Steven suddenly wondered if they’d been spied on as they slept the night before.

  “I would bet there are,” Russell said.

  “What are these rooms we can’t see?” Steven wondered aloud. “The doors sealed shut, but a peephole to see in?”

  “Let’s keep going,” Roy said, and Steven turned his flashlight back to the passageway in front of them.

  After a minute more of twists and turns, Steven saw the door at the end of the hallway. “We’ve reached it,” he said back to the group. But within a few steps he knew something was wrong.

  Covering the door was a heavy metal latticework. It was welded within a frame that was bolted into the wall surrounding the door. It effectively sealed the door – there was no way through it.

  Roy inspected the metal. “This has been welded into place recently,” he said. “Within a few hours. It’s still warm.”

  “The fabrication van we saw leaving,” Steven said. “They just put this in place? Just now?”

  Russell grabbed the metal latticework, giving it a shake. “We won’t be getting through that without a lot of heavy duty tools.”

  “Now what?” Steven asked.

  “Well, we know two things at least,” Roy said. “Whatever is behind that door, Percival didn’t want us to find it. So we’re on the right path.”

  “And the other thing?” Steven asked.

  “Someone told him we knew about the door,” Eliza said, looking around at the others. “Someone is a rat.”

  Chapter Six

  It was four o’clock by the time they left the passageway and returned to the dining room. It would soon be dusk.

  “Well,” Russell said, “I don’t think we’ve got enough time to make it out. I guess we’re here for the night.”

  “I’m a little disturbed about those peepholes,” Eliza said.

  “Me too,” said Myrna.

  “How do we know someone like Percival isn’t prowling around outside our bedrooms upstairs?” Eliza asked.

  “We don’t, but I think it’s unlikely,” Jonathan said.

  “I don’t think it’s unlikely at all,” Russell said. “I think he’s capable of anything, including that.”

  “I suggest we each inspect our rooms carefully,” Steven said.

&nb
sp; “It’s not like we’ve got anything better to do,” Eliza said.

  “Indeed,” Russell said. “What now, card games for the rest of the night?”

  “I think we ought to try another focus,” Roy said.

  The group turned to look at him.

  “A focus?” Myrna said. “Are you crazy?”

  “I think we need some answers,” Roy said. “There’s something behind that door in the passageway, and we need to know what it is. A focus might get us the information without having to go through the door ourselves.”

  “And it might accelerate the draining,” Jonathan said. “Bad idea.”

  “We’ve already been tagged,” Roy said. “The damage is done. Now we need to use our gifts to figure this out, not shy away from them. Not using them is what Percival wants.”

  “What do you think, Eliza?” Steven asked, hoping she’d support Roy.

  “I think it’s our best option,” Eliza said. “With a trance we might figure it out, but with a focus we’d have a better chance at it.”

  “There’s a lot about this house and its previous inhabitants we don’t know,” Roy said. “We need to learn more if we’re going to locate and stop the device Percival mentioned. I suggest we meet upstairs and try again. I think this time we focus on the owner’s son, James. The device and the writings are his. We need to know more about him.”

  “Well, it’s better than sitting here doing nothing,” Myrna said. “I’m game.”

  Jonathan looked reluctant. “OK,” he said, “but I still think it’s a bad idea.”

  “Russell?” Eliza asked. “Will you do it?”

  “If everyone else is going to,” Russell said, “sure, I’m in.”

  ◊

  “You all know I’m not as accomplished as you,” Steven said to the group seated in a circle around him. They were in the upstairs room where they’d conducted the first focus the day before. “I’m not sure I can enter the trance, like last time.”

  “Actually, I’d prefer you didn’t try,” Roy said. “Turns out having you in the River observing spared you the tagging, and gave us useful information about what happened. So don’t sweat it. Just observe in case something unusual happens again.”