Paranormal Summer (Indigo Moon Rising) (11 page)

"The library closed at 5:30 so we brought some work to do here." Ryan said pointing to the papers.

"Work? Ah, come on, I’m tired. I didn't sleep well last night,” she said, grabbing her ribs and trying to take a deep breath.

"This is about the cabin, the owners, maybe who's still there. We have to tell you what happened to us, “Jillian said to Sonya. Then, turning to Ryan, "And then we have to tell you what happened to us, too!"

Sonya sniffed and took a deep breath. She grabbed Jillian's arm and took the two around the back. Here was another smaller house. It was beautiful; it could have been a summer house, but they called it the servant's quarters. This was Sonya's "house". They were greeted by Lucky, who seemed to be waiting for them at the door. Sonya and Jillian told Ryan the story about how they met in the meadow, her ankle and the regression.

Then Ryan told Sonya about the woman he saw in Jillian, Emmy, and that she was looking for her daughter, Elizabeth.

The research materials were left on a large table in the kitchen while the three talked about the previous two days, and they started recounting what happened to them at the cabin. After a bit, they started laying the papers in an order which seemed to make sense to them.

"It's not like we can get on Google and put in Elizabeth and Emmy in Bakersburg, TN and get the answers we need. I didn't see anything about any witches at first glance. But the property was first deeded to an AC Cooper. He got 800 acres, mostly cleared land, with some woods. That must be where the cabin is. We need to look at the courthouse for the legal transactions, and find the succession of owners," Ryan said looking as if he were quite proud of himself. “And, let’s see what this is all about. One of the local authors, her name was Thelma something, had a drawing here,” he said as he pulled out the paper, “Said that there were tunnels underneath the entire town. A man named Messenbaum had dug them.“ He held the paper up so the girls could see them.

“Messenwhatever, he's the guy that built my aunt’s house.” Jillian said.

“Yep, and the Bed and Breakfast, and about a dozen other houses here.” He explained as he pointed out all of them on the map. “And there are supposedly tunnels connecting them.”

“Why would he do that?” Sonya asked.

“The lady that wrote the book said that he was a genius. He had been a geologist, an astronomer, all kinds of geeky stuff, and when he moved here he just crazy digging and building. He came to town well to do, but died filthy rich. He found all kinds of precious stones and gold while he was digging.”

“Well, that's just crazy. If you look at the map, this line goes from my aunt’s house, to Cemetery Hill, to out in the woods, and into town, and all the way through to the Smokey's with about 12 circles on the end of each of the branches.”

“And there is a circle that looks like it could be near here,” Sonya said pointing. She had followed along the line that Jillian had.

“Aaannndd...passing through GG's property, too!” Ryan said with a smile. “Do you think the circles represent a dead end, or… or where it connected to something on that property?”

His eyes got large, and he stopped smiling. Slowly he turned to face the front door. "Hmm, was that Mrs. Baker?" He asked Sonya as he turned back to see if the girls had seen her too.

"Who?" Jillian said getting up and walking to the door.

"Short, in blue, with white hair? Probably, she comes and goes. I think she wants to make sure I am being an angelic little girl. She has been around my whole life. She doesn't get in my way and I don't get in hers," Sonya said as she turned her focus back to the cabin research.

"Really, you have a spirit here? Isn't that creepy?" Jillian said as she kept looking at the front door to see if she was still there.

"No, she doesn't do anything but keep an eye out I think. A few years ago I had the feeling that someone was standing in the doorway, so I looked and saw her as she turned her head and looked up at the house. So I went in just to check everything out, and there was my Grandma Hilde sitting on the floor. She asked, '"So, read any good ghost stories lately?" I think that was how she covered her embarrassment, and I think she was trying to tell me that she sent Mrs. Baker to me for help.

This morning I kept seeing her out of the corner of my eye...like she wanted to let me know something. And so I went and checked on Grandma Hilde, and she was sitting in her rocking chair in her room, staring out the window, and she had a scrapbook on her lap, and it was open. I had never seen it before. But I must have startled her, because she jumped and closed the book before I could see anything in it. She was sad, but she wouldn't tell me what was wrong. I thought maybe one of her friends passed away and she didn't want to talk about it. But later on, when she was in the kitchen, I had to run some clean towels up to one of the guests’ bathrooms. I...I went in her room and looked at the book. I don't know where she's kept it, because I have never seen it. But she left it on the rocking chair. In the front was a piece of paper with a family tree. Underneath my mom there were three names. I thought I was an only child. But the first name was Serena, then Sonya, then Stormy. I stared at that paper, and I felt like I was falling. My heart started pounding, and I started shaking. How could I have two sisters and not know about them?”

“Nobody ever told you? Not your mother?” Ryan said, knowing in his gut this was true.

“Nope. I don't know where they live or anything. Hell, I don’t even know where she lives. I don't know why she would keep it a secret. Or Grandma either.” She sighed. You could tell she was hurt. Again, she grabbed her ribs and rubbed, they were aching and tender to the touch. She pulled up her shirt and walked over to the window where there was some light.

“What did you do?” Jillian asked as she approached her, seeing an enormous bruise.

“Nothing,” she said, shocked to see it. “I woke up during the night because it was hurting. I thought someone was standing over me with a flashlight shining in my eyes, but it must have been a dream.”

“Bad dream and bruises? Something’s not right,” Jillian said.

Ryan just sat there, having a feeling, but not sharing yet. He sensed that she was more connected to her sisters than she could imagine, and the injury and the pain were just the first of many signs. As a matter of fact, he felt that there was more than just a connection with her two sisters. There was something else, and it didn’t feel good. ‘Could she have an attachment?’ he wondered.

“Well, anyway, have you seen the new store that is opening up downtown on Front Street? The sign company is supposed to be there tomorrow to hoist the sign up in place. It's called the 'What Not Shop.' The owners, Doreen and Thomas, may be able to help us with some information on the cabin. They have been going to the estate sales around here. They have a lot of things in storage, because the store is already filled up. They are going to sell antiques, handmade stuff, oh, and the original soda fountain is working. They are gonna have snacks and books, all kinds of groovy stuff."

"Really? Aunt Jana and Uncle Tim must know them because I saw their names on the fridge the other night," Jillian said, feeling some linkage going on.

Jillian turned back to the matter at hand. "So what does it matter who owned the cabin? Perhaps Emmy was just renting.  Why can't we just go help her? I can feel her. Ryan, you can see and hear her. Sonya, what about you?" Jillian asked because she was feeling like Emmy had been there long enough without peace, the pain was unbearable for her.

"I don't know. I can't heal her if she's already dead. Sometimes I can make things move, even disappear, but I have to either be extremely upset or really, really able to focus on it," Sonya said, suddenly wondering if she was going to fit into this paranormal puzzle. “I have had some awfully strange dreams, not about dead people though. Did you ever have one that is like you are looking down into a tornado, but then you see it’s made of Dominoes, and when it trips all the way to the end there is a pool of water and one drop falls into it, and it is propelled back up and out, but it also created all of these ripples that go on forever, effecting all of the water? You’ve had that one right?”

Jillian and Ryan shook their heads no. Awkward moment.          Ryan put his hands on his hips, as he was changing the subject. "Well, let's meet at the cabin at 10:00 tonight. We will do a full blown investigation. I will bring all of the equipment. And let's see if we can document what happens. The more information we have, the more proof, the better equipped we will be to help Emmy."

"But we don't know if someone kidnapped the little girl, and maybe they will try to keep us from finding out the truth," Jillian said again, letting fear get in the way.

"It was so long ago. I really don't think we have anything to worry about from the living," Ryan said, thinking he was making a valid point. And he was, but later it made them all wonder if he knew more than he should have.

This
night was not like the other. The girls were waiting at the same place on 'Wicked Way', but as the sun set, there wasn't any moon. They decided that maybe they were late, so they headed on into the foreboding woods. It was so dark that they had a hard time walking the trail from the main road to the cabin. The girls stuck close together, but there seemed to be a lot of noises that weren't there the other night. Every time they heard the leaves move, or a branch snap, they stopped dead in their tracks.
Where is the moon?
Jillian thought. It seemed like it was taking five times longer to get to the cabin than it did the other night, and this time they knew where they were going. Or maybe they didn't.

"This has to be the right way," Sonya said, stopping.

Jillian relaxed and thought '
focus'
. She pictured the cabin in her mind's eye and tried to feel it. She opened her eyes, "Yeah, up a little bit more," she said and walked in front of Sonya, leading the way. Up just a little further. There it was. But tonight it looked, felt, like impending doom. The cabin, desolate and dreary, looked like it was out of a horror movie.

"Ryan?" Sonya spoke softly. No answer. "Okay, we will just sit here and wait," she said sitting on the step. After a few seconds she got up and started walking around on the small porch. "Sorry, I don't like keeping still." She said as she held the flashlight under her chin, illuminating her face from underneath.

"Now that is something we should be afraid of!" Jillian said snickering. It seemed unusually noisy, probably because the girls were so focused on listening to the sounds of the woods and wanting to be prepared for anything. They were also extremely nervous about what else could happen after all they had been through in the last few days. The manic-depressed ghost here at the cabin, the regression, what Ryan saw with Jillian. But Jillian still had not told Sonya other things that had happened to her alone.

"Snap." The sound of a branch in the woods. The girls froze. They looked at each other, and Sonya put her finger up to her lips, made the "Shh" sound, and turned off her flashlight, and Jillian followed. Their heats were racing, pounding in their ears.

"It’s 11:00 right?" Ryan said so close to them they jumped. They never heard him getting near.

"Oh my God!" Jillian said. "Don't ever do that again,” she said, thinking he could have given her a heart attack. Sonya started laughing, thankful that it was Ryan.