“I said it’s none of your goddamn business!” Jack replied, barely able to raise his voice. “You wouldn’t understand anyway.”
“Try me.”
“No desire to.”
“Fine. Whatever. I’m here to warn you about a couple of the things I sold you.”
“Warn?” Jack replied, looking down at his arm.
“I recently discovered some information,” Rachel said, “and I thought I should give you a heads up.”
“You assured me all of your items were safe,” Jack replied.
“Well, it’s technically the buyer’s responsibility to clear everything,” Rachel said. “I can only tell you what I know.”
“Which is what?” he asked.
“I think there’s a problem with the valerian cup,” she answered. “And maybe the Tapura.”
“What kind of problem?” Jack asked.
“The cup might be tainted,” Rachel replied. “The person I got it from said it was 100% clean, but we were out late drinking the other night, and she admitted to me that she always claimed that stuff was OK when she sold people things, even though she was never sure if it really was.”
“She admitted this to you?” the woman asked.
“She knew I had sold all my objects, so I think she thought it wouldn’t matter,” Rachel replied. “However, I thought I should let you know.”
“And the Tapura?” Jack asked.
“I have reason to believe it’s miscalibrated, and throws off an occasional bad read,” Rachel said.
“Miscalibrated?” Jack replied, becoming angry. “How can it be miscalibrated?”
“It’s a technical thing I don’t quite understand,” Rachel replied, “but I was talking to a friend of mine who’s an expert in patterns, and he mentioned that they can often be miscalibrated. I had no idea. I don’t even know how you calibrate the damn thing in the first place.”
“How do I know you’re telling me the truth?” Jack asked. “What friend?”
“Dixon,” Rachel replied. “You can ask him yourself if you want.”
“Dixon,” Jack repeated. “No, if Dixon said that, I believe it.”
“So when he told me about it, I began to think through some of the times I’d used it, and sure enough, there were one or two instances where things were a little off, and it made me think that it might be miscalibrated, like he said.”
“Damn it, woman! I used that Tapura for this!” he said, looking down at his arm. Eliza stared at it a little more closely, seeing movement within the goop; what she had mistaken for veins now appeared to be long thin creatures, slithering within it.
“What are you trying to do?” Eliza asked.
“I told you, it’s none of your business!” Jack spat back. He turned to Rachel. “Who is this, anyway?”
“Friend of mine,” Rachel said. “Here for backup in case you get out of hand. I didn’t know how you’d react to the news.”
“You need to make this right!” the woman said, stepping between them. “He’s been like this for weeks. If you sold him bad equipment, I hold you responsible! We’ll sue! We’ll dig up hounds and send them after you!”
“There’s nothing I can do about the cup,” Rachel replied. “Have it tested and see. If it’s tainted, you might as well throw it out.”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass about the cup!” Jack said dismissively. “It’s your miscalibrated Tapura that angers me. If it’s responsible for the stall I’m experiencing, I’ll have your neck when I get out of this!”
“Now, now,” Rachel said. “No need to threaten. I’m here letting you know as soon as I found out about it. I think I’m acting in good faith, trying to do right by you. I want my reputation to remain solid. Dixon did mention a way to recalibrate the Tapura.”
“How?” Jack asked.
“Way over my head,” Rachel replied. “You’d have to have an expert like him do it. But…” She paused.
“What?” Jack asked.
“He did offer to recalibrate mine,” she said. “That was before he knew I’d sold it. I have a good relationship with him.”
“I think you owe us as much!” the woman interjected. “We paid for a properly functioning Tapura. You delivered a broken one! You have an obligation to fix it!”
“I’m willing to make it right,” Rachel replied. “If you loan it to me, I’ll ask Dixon to recalibrate it, and I’ll return it when he’s done. Then we’re even.”
The woman turned to Jack, and the two of them talked in hushed tones. After a moment, she turned back.
“A deposit,” the woman said. “Something we can hold in exchange until you return it.”
Rachel smiled and reached into her pocket. She held out the lip balm.
“What does it do?” the woman asked.
“It cures eyesight.”
Eliza saw the woman’s eyes widen behind her thick lenses. “Really?” the woman asked.
“Really,” Rachel replied. “Use it four or five times a day, and you’ll have perfect eyesight within a week or two.”
Eliza could see the woman suppressing a smile, and she quickly turned back to Jack. They talked more, and after a minute she whirled around, smiling broadly. She quickly replaced the smile with a grim frown.
“One week,” the woman said. “And if we don’t get it back by then, I was serious about the hounds.”
“You’ll get it back,” Rachel said. “Where is it?”
The woman led them away from Jack, leaving him in the dark. She approached one of the tables; it was covered from end to end with boxes, papers, and objects.
“Hold this flashlight, will you?” she said, passing it to Rachel. The woman then searched through the table, coming up empty. She moved to another and searched. “It’s here somewhere,” she muttered.
Eliza watched as the woman raised and lowered mundane item after mundane item, wondering if each of them was some kind of special River object. She didn’t know if dropping into the flow would be bad protocol, but she couldn’t resist the temptation. Once she’d entered it, dozens of items on each of the tables emitted the same cool glow she’d seen in the exhibit.
“Ah!” the woman cried, slipping a small plastic box from under a stack of books. “Here!” she said, extending it to Rachel, who took it in exchange for the flashlight. Rachel examined it, turning it over in her hands. To Eliza, still in the flow, it radiated the glow, but looked like a double pack of playing cards, the kind with a clear plastic top that showed two decks, side by side. There was an intricate black and white pattern on the top card of both sides. She dropped from the River and the pattern on the cards changed to an intricate Asian design of red and gold.
“Alright,” Rachel said. “One week, and I’ll be back.”
“Make sure of it!” they heard Jack hiss from his dark corner.
They left the house, returning to Eliza’s car. She waited until they were safely inside to say, “I presume all the stuff about miscalibration was a lie?”
“Well, it might be miscalibrated, I don’t know,” Rachel replied. “I’ve never heard that Tapuras could be calibrated at all, but he bought it.”
“So you lied to him,” Eliza said.
“I did!”
“What happens if he finds out?”
“Oh, I don’t care, I hate him anyway,” Rachel said. “You saw what he was like. He was even worse when he bought my stuff. I don’t care if he finds out.”
“Still,” Eliza said.
“Honey,” Rachel replied, “the truth doesn’t always get you what you want. Especially with men.”
●
They walked through the hallway of the hospital, trying to locate Shane’s room. He’d been moved to an older psychiatric hospital in a suburb of Madison, and Eliza was a little confused by the directions she’d been given. The sterile white walls didn’t help.
“So how exactly does this work?” Eliza asked, checking the room numbers. “It won’t hurt him, will it?”
“He won
’t even know I took the reading,” Rachel replied.
“What exactly are you reading, again?”
Rachel removed the playing card case from her purse. “I’ll use this side on him,” she said. “It’ll pick up a pattern, which will be displayed here.” She tapped the left deck of cards. “Then we’ll go back to House on the Rock, and do the same thing on the right side with those contraptions until we find a match.”
“And that’ll be the object that infected Shane?”
“Exactly.”
Eliza was about to ask “and then what?” but she landed upon Shane’s room, and decided to ask later. Inside, her brother was lying on a bed with an IV in his arm. A curtain divided the room, and she could hear movement on the other side.
“Oh,” Rachel said, as they walked up to the bed. “I’m so sorry, Eliza!”
Shane looked worse. Dark patches had begun to form around his eyes. Eliza looked down and saw that his arms were still strapped to the sides of the bed.
The curtain dividing the room was pulled back by a nurse, revealing another patient, also asleep. The nurse smiled sweetly.
“I’m his sister,” Eliza said. “Can you tell me anything new about him?”
“He arrived this morning,” she replied. “He’s out most of the time. Whenever he regains consciousness, he becomes very agitated and violent. So, for now, they’re keeping him sedated.”
“Thank you,” Eliza replied, returning her attention to Shane. The nurse left the room.
“It’s not physical,” Rachel said. “This is River. I’m sure of it.”
“How do you know?”
“Jump in and see,” Rachel replied.
Eliza let herself slip into the flow, feeling the room change around her. The previously silent hospital was suddenly filled with wails and cries in the distance, as though people were being tortured in other rooms. It frightened her and made her feel that she needed to get Shane out as soon as possible.
When she studied her brother, she could see his face shift slightly, as though something inside him was moving, but his physical body was restraining it. It was only a fraction of an inch, but it was there.
What is that? Eliza asked.
I think your brother is gifted, Rachel said. Maybe not as much as you, but he’s got something. Whatever they’ve drugged him with, it’s stopping him from expressing it. He’s trying; you can see that. Maybe he senses we’re in the River, and wants to communicate.
Gifted? Eliza wondered. She wasn’t even sure of her own gift; the idea that Shane might have it too seemed foreign and strange.
Shane? she called. Shane?
No response.
It might be more than the drugs, Rachel replied. Whatever infected him at House on the Rock is probably a factor, too.
A sense of helplessness washed over Eliza, and she suddenly felt the need to do something — anything. Watching Shane lie strapped to the bed, unable to communicate, was making her feel impotent, and she hated the feeling.
Do the Tapura thing, Eliza said. Let’s get it over with.
Rachel dropped from the flow and reached into her purse, retrieving the plastic case. She turned the edge of one deck toward Shane and pressed it against his hospital gown, holding it there for a few moments while she re-entered the River.
Eliza watched as the card turned white. Black lines began to form very slowly, twisting and turning until they settled on an intricate pattern. As it solidified, it gave her a chill; here was a physical manifestation of what was wrong with Shane. She looked at the pattern, horrified by it. It scared her even more to realize that she didn’t have the first clue what to do with it; without Rachel’s help, she’d be completely lost.
Rachel dropped from the River and Eliza joined her. The card instantly returned to the red and gold Asian design that was on top of the entire deck.
“There,” Rachel said.
“It holds on to that pattern?” Eliza asked, concern in her voice. “It won’t lose it if we enter and leave the River?”
Rachel held it out for Eliza to see; she dropped back into the River and saw the black and white pattern, the same as before.
It’s there, Rachel said. It’ll stay there until it’s replaced with another pattern.
Eliza left the flow. “You have to be careful not to erase it, then?”
“Not as simple as that,” Rachel replied. “It doesn’t pick up the pattern by just holding it next to something. You have to concentrate on it and make it happen.”
“Oh,” Eliza replied. “Interesting. And you think we’ll get a match somewhere at work?”
“I’ll bet my bottom dollar on it,” she said, giving Eliza a smile and returning the plastic case to her purse.
“OK,” Eliza replied, turning her attention back to Shane. “He looks worse. His eyes weren’t dark like that.”
“Whatever’s happening to him in the flow is probably responsible,” Rachel replied. “What happens to you there can impact your physical health.”
“Like rabies,” Eliza muttered. “It’s like he has a form of rabies, that only impacts his River self.”
“That’s probably the most accurate diagnosis he’s received so far,” Rachel replied. “The doctors won’t figure it out, I guarantee it.”
Eliza reached for Shane’s hand and gave it a squeeze. She was expecting it to be cool to the touch, but instead it was warm. She took it as a good sign.
“Come on,” she said, turning to leave the hospital room. “Let’s find that match.”
Chapter Six
“We’ll have the entire place to ourselves,” Rachel whispered to Eliza.
“You talked to Randy?” Eliza whispered back, trying to hide the conversation from Lois and Bernice.
“Meet me at the side entrance to Streets of Yesterday fifteen minutes after your shift ends,” Rachel replied.
“Shane had his episode at The Mikado,” Eliza said. “Shouldn’t we start there?”
“Just because he started exhibiting signs at The Mikado doesn’t mean that caused it,” Rachel replied. “It might have incubated. We need to do it methodically, and check everything from the start.”
“Alright,” Eliza replied, trusting her friend. “Don’t start without me.”
Rachel left her and walked to the counter, where the last of the day’s patrons was waiting to ring up a souvenir purchase. Eliza checked the time; it was 5:00. She wouldn’t be meeting Rachel for another hour.
She busied herself restocking shelves and clearing out the fudge counter. Why do we even sell fudge? she wondered. Lois and Bernice nibble more of it every day than we actually sell. Bernice always slowed down this time of the day, so she stepped in and picked up the slack, completing her own tasks as well as most of Bernice’s. When 5:45 rolled around, they’d been closed for fifteen minutes, and everything was in order for tomorrow’s opening.
Everyone said their routine goodbyes, and Rachel said she wanted to take a smoke before heading home. Bernice and Lois made straight for their cars, and soon Eliza found herself wandering alone to the employee entrance of the Streets of Yesterday. When she opened it, she found Rachel inside, her purse in hand.
“What happens if we get caught?” Eliza whispered.
“I already talked with Randy,” Rachel replied, not trying to lower her voice. “He does his sweep right at five, so we’re past that. He said he was fine with us wandering around for a bit.”
“Randy?” Eliza asked. “Since when?”
“Since I told him it would probably make us all hot and horny!” she giggled.
“Oh, Rachel, you didn’t!” Eliza protested.
“Don’t worry, you won’t have to sleep with him!” Rachel replied.
“Good, because I have no intention of doing that! I can’t believe you said that to him! Now he’ll be expecting something.”
“I’ll go out with him for dinner down the road,” Rachel replied, dismissively. “Trust me, it was the only way to get him to agree. I know what make
s his mind tick.” She rummaged for something in her purse. “Here, take two long gulps.” She handed Eliza a flask.
“No, thank you!” Eliza said, refusing the drink.
“It’s not booze, it’s protection!” Rachel said. “It’ll taste like bad booze, though, so be ready for that.”
“What do you mean, protection?” Eliza asked.
“If we run into whatever item caused Shane’s problems,” Rachel said, “I don’t want it to impact either of us. This’ll help. Just drink it. Two large gulps, at least.”
Eliza took the flask and sniffed at it; it smelled like vodka. She raised it to her lips and let two large mouthfuls slide down her throat. They burned immediately, all the way down to her stomach. She resisted the urge to feel regret. In for a dime, in for a dollar, she thought. She handed the flask back to Rachel, who followed her, drinking liberally, then capping the flask and slipping it back into her purse.
Eliza’s eyes had adjusted to the dark inside the exhibit, and she dropped into the River. None of the items in the first room appeared to glow.
“Nothing here,” Rachel said. “Come on, let’s get to main street.”
They wound their way through the dark displays, Eliza not entirely excited at the prospect of seeing the riverboat again. As they entered the long exhibit, lined with recreated facades, she could see the dimly-lit menagerie at the end of the walk, waiting. She couldn’t help but picture the creature she’d seen on it, scraping the strings of the musical instruments, delighting in the screech and pain. The protection she drank moments before was beginning to radiate outward from her stomach, giving her a sense of confidence, making her feel she could take on the creature if it came to it.
She followed Rachel to the first window. “There’s nothing in this one,” she said. “Plenty in the doll one, though.”
Rachel crossed the street to the doll shop, dropping into the River. Oh, that is totally creepy! she said. They’re all looking at me!
Good, it wasn’t just me, Eliza replied.
As they dropped and turned to go to the next storefront, Eliza stopped Rachel. “See these little ones?” she said, approaching a small display behind a piece of glass no more than two feet square. “They’re easy to miss because they’re stuck between the big shop windows, but they were all glowing when I saw them before.”
The Haunting of Pitmon House Page 5
