Hacienda Moon (The Path Seekers) (27 page)

BOOK: Hacienda Moon (The Path Seekers)
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Part 3

 

 
T
he dark ancestral cave, the womb from which mankind emerged into the light, forever pulls one back - but...you can’t go home again...you can’t go...back home to the escapes of
 
Time and Memory. …You Can’t Go Home Again”

 


Thomas Wolfe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

27

 

 

Tandie followed the little girl through the yard and deep into the woods surrounding Chelby Rose. The child’s bright light filled the forest around them. This time, the trek took her even further than it did a few days ago when she found the heart necklace. She inhaled deeply and glanced around. Eliza Chelby had disappeared. Soon, she’d be alone in complete darkness.

 

She stood inside a forest where a serial killer could be hiding out. Each bush, every cricket, even the unseasonal mosquitoes swiping at her skin seemed to be menacing. Somewhere in the distance, an owl hooted. The situation reminded her too much of the time she was left in the forest around the slave cabin. A small part of her almost believed Eliza’s spirit led her into the woods
and abandoned her on purpose. Deep in her gut, Tandie knew better. Eliza Chelby had been nothing but helpful so far. She was certain that her being led into the woods wasn’t done with ill intentions. There was something the child wanted to show Tandie.

 

“Okay, Eliza. You have to help me out here. I need to know what you want me to see,” Tandie said, her voice quivering. A snap made her jump and her heart thudded. The darkest areas within the trees played tricks on her eyes. If she had to hide she was certain her ragged breathing would reveal her hiding spot.

 

“Eliza!” she called out louder this time.

 

Another snap! The woods around her were almost dark now.

 

Stupid idiot for not bringing a flashlight.
 

 

Tandie turned in the direction of where she believed Chelby Rose was situated, and then the area around her lit up. Eliza’s ghostly light wasn’t doing it this time, though. She had been transported into a vision.

 

She now stood inside a scene that happened during the day in another time period. The trees in the forest were smaller, but denser and there was an embankment with a six-foot dip in front of her.

 

A scream made her look to the opposite end of the dirt slide. It came from Eliza. Her body slid down toward a hole. She was using a branch to hold herself up, but it was about to break in two.

 

Oh, God, no. Not that hole.

 

“Eliza!” Tandie yelled, forcing her feet to move. They didn’t budge an inch. It was the same thing that
happened in the dream on the beach, the one where Breena had led her to the warship sitting in the water. The girl stopped screaming. One hand slipped off of the branch, and then she turned her face toward Tandie.

 

“No, don’t let go of the branch!” she warned the child.

 

Eliza said, “The bad lady will hear you if you keep screaming.”

 

“Who are you talking about?” Tandie asked. And then as if Eliza’s spirit suddenly ripped itself back to the correct time period, the little girl went right back to screaming just before she thudded down through the hole under her feet. The same one the Cropseys had just buried Alice inside.

 

“Eliza!” she yelled, her heart ripping at her chest as if she were truly the little girl’s sister. The vision cleared, leaving Tandie alone in the dark forest.

 

Dropping to her knees, she allowed the sobs to take over her body. For so long, she’d been numb to the pain, all of it. The emotions raging through her now weren’t only about her daughter’s death, but it was also about aching for a father she never knew, her dead mother and grandmother, and the affections of a man she may never be able to fully enjoy because of a curse. Life didn’t get any darker than this. She was sure of it.

 

And then Tandie’s body went airborne. She sailed down in to a hole at least six feet deep and thudded to the bottom. A crack sounded as she hit the ground, and a stabbing sensation surged through her left ankle. She cried out and lay paralyzed with pain, biting her lower lip as each waved shuddered through her.

 

“Fascinating history lesson, wasn’t it? Ella glanced down in the hole and shined a light in Tandie’s face. “It’s too bad we didn’t ever become best buddies. You could’ve showed me how you do that crazy lady thing. You know what I’m talking about, right? Those visions you make.”

 

“We can still be friends. Just help me up,” Tandie pleaded, her voice weak.

 

Ella shook her head. “No, we can’t. I don’t believe you. Mama said you and your boyfriend wanna send us away. My mama owns this town. They’ve accepted that for the last two hundred-something years. So, I’m sorry, but we can’t be pals.”

 

“No one else in this town will become your victim. It’ll all end tonight, Ella.” Tandie wished she felt as confident as her words sounded.

 

“Don’t be so sure about that. You want to know what they went through, right?”

 

Tandie stood up, winced at the razor sharp sensation passing through her foot, and slumped back down to the ground. She grabbed her sprained ankle and gasped. Laughter peeled through the air.

 

 
”You should feel honored, Tandie like Candy.” Ella’s face appeared at the top of the hole again. “You got what you wanted.”

 

“You know, Ella with no fella, you really should go put yourself out of our miseries again. Go and drink some fresh poison, or something,” Tandie hissed and then glanced around at her surroundings while she still had Ella’s light. If she were to meet death tonight, then she wasn’t about to go without at least a word fight. But she didn’t intend to go anywhere. She had survived a car crash that the doctors claimed was impossible to do. Yet she remained alive and was given a second chance to make her life right. The tiniest light found its way in through her dark mind. “I’m going to find a way out of here, Ella.”

 

More miniature giggles came from the girl. “No you won’t. Unless you got wings to go with that vision thing you do. I know what you and that carpenter wanna do. You plan to send poor little Ella back to that other place.”

 

Tandie had no idea what other place Ella referred to. She couldn’t see this girl ripping someone’s throat out the way Eric said the victims had been mutilated. That meant one or more people were helping her in some way.

 

“I’m not afraid of you, Ella.”

 

“Probably not me, but who’s not afraid of getting buried alive?” She giggled the mini laugh, grating Tandie’s nerves.

 

Tandie didn’t answer. Instead, she pushed her weight against the dirt wall, and used it to work herself into a half standing position. Just as she came to her full height, placing pressure on the ankle which felt more sprained than broken, she felt dirt trickle down over her head.

 

“What are you doing?” Tandie demanded even though she already knew the answer.

 

“Only giving you a taste of what’s to come,” Ella said in an amused voice. But first, I’ll be tending to business elsewhere. Or should I say with someone else. Two guesses who that might be with.”

 

Rage surged through Tandie’s body. She scooped up a handful of the fresh dirt Ella dumped on her head and threw it up toward the girl.

 

“Leave the Fontalvo’s alone, Ella. Leave all these people, or—”

 

“Or you’ll do what with your handicap body? In case you haven’t noticed, you’re pretty far down in a rut, I’d say.”

 

“Well, you’re wrong. I can walk just fine,” Tandie lied.

 

“Not to worry though. My sissy, Alice, will keep you company down there.”

 

Above her head, the girl shuffled around. She truly intended to leave Tandie in the hole. She shuddered at the thought and studied her surroundings highlighted only by the moonlight.

 

A large pile of dirt dropped on Tandie’s head.

 

The panic set in, and Tandie screamed Ella’s name, her stomach rolling at the thought of being buried alive. 

 

“Give my love to my little sisters buried down there, won’t you, Candy Tandie? Now, I have a date to attend with one handsome Latin lover,” Ella said and disappeared from over the top of the hole, her footsteps fading in the forest.

 

“Come back here, Ella. You can’t leave me down here.” But Tandie knew that no one but the trees heard her scream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

28

 

 

 

Eric sped toward Chelby Rose.

 

Norma answered her phone on the first ring. “Gracious, Eric, what’s going on?”

 

“They took Shania McKinnon,” he said.

 

“What do you mean they took her? Calm down and explain yourself,” Norma said, her voice rising.

 

“Somebody kidnapped her. But they spelled the demands out pretty clearly. No police.” He hesitated and sighed. “They want me to gather a group of people. And then I’m supposed to bring them all to the old Catsburg Store. Norma, you’re one of them.”

 

“Oh. But why?” she asked. “Does it have something to do with the Cropseys?”

 

“Norma, don’t you start that spirit rising mumbo talk, too. Nobody came back from the grave. These are real people we’re dealing with,” Eric said.

 

The Atwaters were the only one out of the four families that was never cursed by the Cropsey witches. Payback time had arrived. And Norma was the only Atwater left in the area.

 

“So be it. What time do we meet?” she said, her voice sounding strong.

 

“You don’t have to do this, Norma,” Eric said.

 

“Yes, I do. I read up on some things. I can help you. Freedom has come for Bolivia. The psychic—”

 

“You mean, Tandie?” Eric interrupted.

 

“I have some ideas about the trinity she mentioned. But all of that can come later,” Norma said. “Let’s focus on getting your friend back.”

 

“I tried to call Saul Chelby five times. No luck. And I’m almost at Tandie’s house now. I have this bad feeling about her that I can’t shake. We still don’t know who these people are or if Shania’s all right and…” His voice trailed off.

 

“Don’t worry, Eric. We’ll find Shania, and I’m sure Ms. Harrison is just fine, too.”

 

“I can drive you to Catsburg, Norma,” Eric heard Gus’s voice say in the background. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”

 

“How kind of you, son,” he heard her say to Gus. “Don’t worry about me, Eric. I won’t be there alone. What time?”

 

“Was that Gus Taborn’s voice I just heard?” Eric asked. Something about Mr. Handyman Taborn just rubbed him all wrong.

 

“What did I just say? Go pick up your friend and we’ll see you at the store in an hour,” Norma said and ended the call.

 

Eric was already pulling into Chelby Rose’s driveway by the time she hung up. He didn’t even bother turning off his lights before he got out and dashed past her Camaro. He stormed through Chelby Rose’s entrance. A keen sense of dread crept its way along his body, eating away at his resolve to be strong no matter what he faced tonight. He felt her fear before he even realized she wasn’t in the house.

 

“Tandie!” he called as he trudged through each room. The house where they had connected with each other seemed so different now. It was as if the heart of it had been ripped out, and there were only old memories to console what was left inside the rooms. Tandie’s presence filled the place with a new life. And with her gone, emptiness haunted Chelby Rose once again.

 

Placing his hands behind his neck, he glanced around. Surely, she wouldn’t have gone out into the woods by herself. And if she did, then where would he start looking for her?

 

“Don’t panic. Just stay calm. She’s here somewhere,” he said aloud, his breaths increasing. He rolled his shoulders back and forth, focusing on rational thoughts and not the last memories of his dead best friend.

 

“Cell phone.” He removed his phone from his pocket and punched in Tandie’s number, his posture stiff as he waited to hear her voice. No luck. Instead, the rings echoed around him. Her Blackberry was on the table in the hallway. “Fuck!”

 

On Tandie’s writing table, the little girl in the photograph smiled back at him. She might be gone from this world, but she left a vivid image to watch over her mother. His scalp prickled as he clutched the golden clover secured in his shirt pocket. Something was standing behind him.

 

Inhaling, he slowly turned around. The light surrounding the little girl-- the same child that stood in the picture on Tandie’s desk--throbbed in his eyes. The glow surrounding her body was brighter than the last times their paths crossed, the night she healed him after the accident.

 

Eric stared at her, unable to speak. She held out a hand toward him. Instinct told him to run; but logic made him realize he’d never see Tandie again if he did. He glanced back at the photograph and then moved his gaze back to Breena’s ghost. Her smile reminded him so much of her mother.

 

Her body stayed planted firmly on the ground. Taking one step in front of the other, Eric slowly walked over to Breena and took her hand. Their journey had begun.

 

 

 

 

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