“I hope this is working on Myrna and Russell,” Eliza said. “They must be pretty shocked.”
“Do we tell them?” Steven asked. “Now that it’s all done, should we let them in on things?”
“No,” Roy said, “I don’t think we should. The fewer people who know about our plans here, the less likely we are to have them ruined. I propose that we agree to not bring anyone in on this plan unless all three of us vote on it. You all OK with that?”
“Sure,” said Eliza, who was sitting up in her chair now, looking a little less depressed. “But what do we tell them? The conversation with Percival will have to be private so they don’t get wind of it.”
“We tell them we don’t know what happened,” Roy said. “But we’re just as happy as they are that it’s over. They’ll leave and go back to their homes. So will we.”
“All right,” Eliza said. “Hopefully they believe us.”
“And Jonathan?” Steven asked.
“I would expect,” Roy said, “that at some point this morning someone is going to find Jonathan in his bedroom. Then 911 will be called. We’ll let that play out.”
Steven looked at the glowing ball. It was now the size of a pea. Within a minute more it would be gone.
“I can’t believe it’s reversing so fast,” Roy said.
“That focus barely turned it on,” Steven said. “It was going pretty slow. If it had been at full speed, we’d have had no chance of finding it in time.”
Once the ball disappeared completely, Steven twisted the ring back to the right until he heard the ‘click’ once again. The wheels slowly came to a stop. He removed the ring from the base, and the sphere went dark.
“That’s that,” Steven said. I wonder if Eliza feels any better, he thought.
“Much better,” she said. “I can enter the River again!” She smiled.
That’s a relief! Steven thought.
“To you and me both,” she said, rising from her chair.
Chapter Thirteen
Steven, Roy, and Eliza walked back down the brick path through the front yard leaving Unser House. They were heading back to their car, parked just off the main road by the turnout to the house, where they’d left it a couple of days ago.
It was after noon, and Myrna and Russell had already left. When they’d come back upstairs, they found Myrna and Russell in the dining room, eating a breakfast and having coffee. Steven, Roy, and Eliza said they’d spent the night back at the motel, trying to put distance between themselves and the device, hoping it might slow the drain. With their abilities restored, it didn’t matter anymore. They were all in high spirits. Russell was especially excited, waiting for Jonathan to join them so he could gloat about his returned powers. When Jonathan never appeared, Russell went looking for him, and discovered him in his bedroom. Russell made the call to 911, and within the hour paramedics wheeled Jonathan out on a gurney. Their initial guess was a stroke. Myrna and Russell figured whatever happened to Jonathan must have played a role in the restoration of their abilities, but they didn’t offer any theories.
They discussed with Myrna and Russell how to inform Marilyn’s family about her demise. They all agreed that they would leave it to Percival to approach the authorities and report her disappearance. Since they all knew the cops wouldn’t believe anything about what really happened, they all agreed to a version of events that involved warning Marilyn about wolves outside, and her leaving of her own accord. When she didn’t return, they became concerned, and reported her missing. Percival was to clean her blood from the brick path, and her disappearance would be considered unresolved, since no body would be found.
Myrna and Russell left soon after that. They reasoned that since their gift had returned, it was likely the device was no longer working, and they’d be able to escape the town. Steven, Roy, and Eliza said they wanted to stay and confront Percival, but asked that either Myrna or Russell please call and inform them if they’d been able to make it past the town without getting sick. Steven received a call from Russell about an hour after they’d left, saying they were twenty miles out of town and feeling fine.
Percival showed up while they were waiting for the call. Roy gave one of his best performances, describing how they’d teleported into James’ secret lair and had found the device. Roy told Percival that it was nearly broken when they found it, and as they watched, it fell apart into pieces. Then Roy described how they’d found James’ writing, and upon reading it, had all become converts. Now they wanted to help Percival, provided he was willing to go along with a few requirements.
Percival had been skeptical, but when Steven showed him James’ ring, he nearly fell over. “That’s the symbol!” Percival had said, the same symbol on the door that James’ writings had instructed him never to enter. They learned that Percival had many times walked down to the door with the gold oval, but had been too afraid to try and enter it. He said James left dire warnings in his writings as to what would happen to those who entered that door. He didn’t seem to know or care about the other passageways either. He’d only used the door that he’d now blocked with the wire screen. Roy questioned him until he was sure Percival didn’t know of any other way in or out.
Roy told him they’d work on fixing the device as long as Percival agreed to never use any of the passageways. Roy told Percival how they’d destroyed Anita by moving the marchers downstairs. At this point, Percival was impressed, and ready to do whatever they asked. Roy told Percival they required complete privacy and solitude to work, and were going to set monitors that would alert them if Percival or anyone else ever descended beyond the level of the first floor, and that if they discovered that the agreement had been violated, they’d abandon their effort to fix the device. Percival readily agreed, grateful that they were now on his side, and assuring them that he had no interested in violating James’ directives by going downstairs. Then they told him he needed to report Marilyn’s disappearance, and use the story the group had settled upon.
As they neared the parking area, Eliza said she felt different. “Something extra,” she said. “Something I haven’t felt before.”
“What do you mean?” Steven asked.
“I feel like I got my gift back,” she said, “and something more. More ability than I had before. I don’t know what it is exactly, but I can feel it.”
“I know what you mean,” Roy said, shifting his bag from one arm to the other. “I can feel it too.”
“Well,” Steven said, “some of Marilyn’s abilities had been drained before she died. What happens to your gift when you die?”
“She’d been tagged,” Roy said, “so it might have transferred to the device.”
“We saw the glowing ball empty completely when I reversed things,” Steven said. “That would have included Marilyn’s gift, too. Do you think it dished it back out to all of you? You each got some of her ability?”
“Could be,” Eliza said. “I don’t know what Marilyn’s abilities were. Perhaps we should find out. But I do know I’m leaving with more than I came with.”
They passed by Percival’s van in the parking area, and walked through the main gate, which Percival had left open for them.
“How soon do we come back?” Steven asked.
“As soon as we have Eliza on the plane,” Roy said. “I want to come back with some supplies to make sure we can get in and out of those doors in the tunnel when we want, and seal up the wainscoting in the pantry.”
“It’s a long drive out here,” Steven said. “If we need to stay overnight, we can’t stay down there, due to the marchers. We’ll have to stay at the motel in town.”
“Oh no,” Roy said. “That won’t do. We’ll have to figure something out. We’ll stay in Aberdeen, or Olympia. Or maybe we’ll get a camper we can leave parked by the tunnel, something like that. I’m not staying in that shithole. I’m going to have to fumigate my luggage as it is.”
“Wouldn’t it be nice if you could stay down there,” Eliza said, a dr
eamy sound in her voice. “It’s such a lovely place, so open and calm.”
“What keeps that running?” Steven asked. “What controls the light?”
“Don’t know,” Roy said. “Could be another device in his workroom in the basement, or maybe he had another contract with someone. I guess we’ll find out.”
“What a crazy eccentric,” Steven said, stepping over the chain that stretched across the driveway. “Some rich people build crazy things with their money, but he used his money and his gift to build that strange place underground. So bizarre. I looked up ‘Eximere’ by the way - it’s Latin for ‘free’ and ‘released.’”
“Free from what?” Roy asked.
“From so many things,” Eliza said. “The house upstairs, Anita, the gift he hated. That’s why the house feels so open and inviting, almost the opposite of the house upstairs – it was his sanctuary, a place where he could leave everything he hated behind.”
“But eventually Anita found it,” Steven said.
“And maybe that’s what ruined it for him,” Eliza said. “Maybe that’s why he sacrificed himself to get back at her.”
“But it also means ‘to remove,’” Steven said. “Perhaps he named the place after his goals.”
“If we’re lucky,” Roy said, “we’ll find some of his writings in that house, and discover his real reasons.”
They reached the car and piled in. They drove back to Seattle, talking about their plans for Eximere. Roy was focused on securing the place, while Steven was interested in how to proceed with the books. Eliza chimed in with suggestions as they planned.
After they reached Seattle, Steven and Roy waited while Eliza packed a few things at Steven’s place, then they drove her to the airport. They waited while Eliza dealt with an agent at the ticket counter, then she joined them to say goodbye.
“I’m all set,” she said, brandishing her tickets and boarding pass.
“Please say hello to Troy for me,” Steven said.
“And me too!” Roy said. They both gave her a hug.
“Thank you both,” Eliza said. “I know I said I was sorry I wrapped you up in this, but I’m also glad.”
“I am too,” Steven said. “Involving us turned out to be a great idea. Roy has a project now, it’ll keep him busy.”
Roy started to say something sarcastic, but instead he stopped and took a breath. “He’s right,” Roy said. “You’ve given me something worthwhile to do, something I feel strongly about. Something that will make a difference to a lot of people. Thank you,” he said, reaching out to give Eliza another hug.
“And if you need any help in the future,” Roy said, releasing her and looking at her as he held her at arm’s length, “call someone else.”
She laughed, grabbed her bag and walked away from them towards the security checkpoint.
◊
Steven waited behind the wheel of Roy’s truck as Roy jumped out of the passenger side and walked towards the tunnel entrance. A month ago, they had Aberdeen Fabrication install two large metal doors on the front of the tunnel. Now it was secured with a lock and key, giving Roy the assurance he wanted that no one would be able to go in or out of the tunnel. Roy swung the large doors wide, and Steven drove the truck inside. Once he’d cleared the entrance, Roy closed the doors behind them, and locked them. Then he returned to the passenger side of the truck and hopped in.
The lights from the truck shone into the darkness of the tunnel, lighting their way as Steven drove the truck through it.
“You know, every time we go through this tunnel, I think of hunting Lukas,” Steven said.
“I think the same thing,” Roy said. “I keep thinking we’ll make a turn, and there will be the lake we found him in.”
Once they completed the turn they found themselves at the metal doors, which now had locks accessible from inside the tunnel. Steven turned off the truck, and Roy brought an electric lantern out of the cab while they loaded items from the back of the truck into backpacks.
“This is the part I like the least,” Roy said, “hauling all this stuff in on foot. We should put in an elevator.”
“We spent enough money buying the property the tunnel was on,” Steven said. “We need to economize until we can recoup some of the expenditures we’ve already made.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Roy said as they walked through the metal doors and secured them. Then they made their way to the stairwell that led down to Eximere.
“Perhaps if we sold one of the objects,” Roy said, “we might make enough to pay for the land and an elevator.”
“We don’t even know what they do yet,” Steven said, “or who they belong to. If we find one without an owner, maybe.”
They walked down the steps, Roy grasping the handrail he’d installed for safety. At the bottom of the steps Steven inserted a key into a new lock. Roy had removed all the old locks and replaced them with new ones. He’d spent some time and expense finding locks that were difficult to pick.
Once they were all the way down the stairs, they walked into the open space and the brightness and calmness washed over them.
“I guess it’s worth the hike down,” Roy said. “Every time.”
They walked to the house and deposited the items they’d brought with them in various rooms of the house. Most of it was food, and wound up in pantries in the kitchen, but a few of the items were to outfit Steven and Roy’s bedrooms they selected on the second floor.
Steven left Roy unpacking items in the kitchen and went upstairs to his room, which was on the opposite side of the house from James’ room. It faced the back yard, and the view of the banyan tree filled Steven with peace. He knew what they were doing was right, and important. They already returned two books to their rightful owners, and those owners had been ecstatic to receive them. Kind of like delivering gold to Amy Maysill in Medford, Steven thought.
From his window he could see many of the graves outside, under the tree. The open grave was now filled in, containing the remains of James Unser. They found some of the rubbery substance in a barrel in James’ workroom, and they used it to cover him over. He was now suspended in the goop just like the others. Like a scorpion in a paperweight, Steven thought. Neither Steven nor Roy wanted James to get wind of their goals, or worse, interfere with them, so they made sure he was under as much goop as possible.
Roy discussed the possibility of digging up Thomas senior and reburying him properly, without the goop. He wanted to be able to hear from him without having to whip up a batch of dirt. Steven had mixed feelings about it. He understood Roy’s desire to communicate with his great, great grandfather, but he also thought the dead should be left alone. Not everything has to be convenient, Steven thought. We don’t need an elevator down here, and if Roy wants to talk to Thomas senior, he can make a batch. With his power restored, Roy had the ability to make some on his own, so it was only an extra step he could take anytime he wanted. Not worth disturbing Thomas’ peace over – unless he specifically requests it, Steven thought.
He strained to hear Roy rummaging downstairs, but couldn’t. The house was remarkably quiet. Someone could be in the room next door, or overhead, and you wouldn’t notice. The only thing you noticed was the slight, warm breeze.
Steven checked his watch. It was 5 o’clock – Eliza would be there in an hour. When Steven and Roy explained to her how they were able to eliminate the marchers, she said she wanted to visit for a vacation, to relax and get away from California, and see what they’d accomplished. They told her they’d meet her at the tunnel’s entrance at 6.
Steven thought about how easy it had been to get rid of the marchers. They contacted Malachi, asking about how it could be done. They were expecting to hear an astronomical price, but instead Malachi told them the price to turn them off was no charge – it came with the cost of turning them on in the first place. Roy asked Malachi to turn off the boundaries of the legend shelf immediately, and that night the marchers moved on. Since then, the place was
available 24/7.
I wouldn’t mind being buried down there, Steven thought, still looking at the graves under the banyan tree. Where else would I be buried? Can’t think of a more beautiful spot. I wonder where Roy wants to be buried? Probably next to Mom, back in Seattle. But I wonder if he’d say this place, if I asked him.
Steven had been worried that the place might stop working at some point – the lights just shut off, and the whole house become unusable. They had explored James’ workroom and found the third object in the room with the draining device was indeed the object keeping the place going. Roy checked it for a signature, and recognized it as Albert’s. They called Albert, hoping to find out more about the device and the terms James had arranged. Albert was characteristically silent on all questions, honoring his client’s anonymity above all else. But he did say that since it was an old contract and that the owner of the contract had been deceased for a long time, he didn’t mind telling Roy that there was no chance the arrangement would cease anytime soon. “He said a long time,” Roy told him. “And Albert’s time scale is much longer than yours or mine, so I think when he says long, it’ll outlast you and me.”
Although they worked on returning books to others and setting up shop in the house so they’d be comfortable, Steven and Roy agreed that while Eliza visited they’d lay off the work and just relax. Neither of them had stopped working since they’d shut down the device months back, and they were due for some down time. They’d talk shop if it came up, but they agreed to give up active searching for book owners while she was there.
Steven knew he should walk back downstairs and see if Roy needed any help, but instead he fell onto his bed and stared up at the high ceiling. The bed was incredibly comfortable, and he knew if he didn’t get right back up, Roy would find him napping. Eximere is addictive, he thought. When I’m not here, I think about it. Now that I am here, I feel better. Eliza was right, I’m too cynical.
Eximere (The River Book 4) Page 21
