The Blackham Mansion Haunting (The Downwinders Book 4) (13 page)

“The doctor brought the rose?” Lorenzo asked.

“No, Alton,” Emma replied. “It’s Frida’s favorite color of
all the roses we have. He laid it there, hoping it would be the first thing she
sees when she opens her eyes.”

Lorenzo felt the revelation of what he must do hit him
between the eyes as though he’d been struck with a log. He felt himself step
back in reaction to the idea, physically reacting to the shock.

“Lorenzo?” Emma asked. “Are you alright?”

He reached for the rose and picked it up. “May I borrow
this?”

“Of course,” Emma replied.

Lorenzo turned and left the room, walking quickly. Emma
followed.

“What are you going to do?” she asked.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he turned and
walked down the hallway until he arrived at the front entryway. He placed the
rose on the side table that hugged the wall, normally used for gloves and
umbrellas.

“This rose must remain here while I enter a trance once
again,” Lorenzo said. “Alton must not move it. Can you locate him and the two
of you work outside for a moment?”

Emma looked up at the ceiling, and Lorenzo recognized it as
concern for Frida, upstairs. “I will be quick, Emma. It’s important.”

“Of course,” she replied. “I’ll find Alton and we’ll remain
out back until I hear from you.”

“Thank you,” he said, walking into the parlor on the left,
sitting on one of the sofas. He waited a couple of minutes to ensure that Emma
and Alton were safely outside, then he entered the River.

He drifted to the kitchen, where he opened the door. Beyond
it was another front entryway.
No rose,
he thought as he observed the
space. He entered it, and drifted through, wanting to move quickly and
hopefully avoid Bingham. He made his way to the kitchen of the second house,
and opened the outer door. Another front entryway appeared, this one also
absent a rose.

It won’t be in any of these,
he thought as he walked through the
doorway, moving quickly through the living room and around the séance table in
the central room, until he reached the kitchen. He opened the door once again.

That’s the fourth house,
he thought.
Still no rose.

He entered it, and heard a thump in the room beyond the
parlor to his left. It was the same thump he’d heard outside the master bedroom
days ago, when he’d first encountered Bingham.

If he finds me now, I will have to wait to conduct this
experiment again,
he
thought.
I need to move quickly!

Lorenzo drifted rapidly through the house to the right,
through the rooms and to the kitchen. He stopped in front of the door, hearing
footsteps behind him. He opened the outer door.

There, in the front entryway of the sixth house, was the
peach rose he’d relocated from Frida’s bedroom, sitting on the side table
exactly as he’d arranged it.

Behind him he heard the footsteps stop. He turned to look at
the entryway from the central room. Bingham was standing in the doorway, but
he’d stopped. He was watching him. The wild eyes and the crooked smile were
still there, but he wasn’t pursuing him. He seemed more interested in looking
at him.

Lorenzo looked back at the doorway, the rose just steps away.
He considered stepping through the threshold, but stopped. He turned back to
Bingham.

He
wants
me to walk through,
Lorenzo thought.
He’s waiting for me to do it.

Lorenzo dropped from the River. He stood, walked to the
entryway, and picked up the peach rose. Then he walked back up to Frida’s
bedroom and placed it on her nightstand.

Thank you,
he thought, as he turned to find Emma and Alton.

The house with the rose,
Deem said.
It was the original?

That’s the theory I developed,
Lorenzo replied.
At the end of
all the duplicate houses, it loops back to the original.

And if you complete the loop?
Winn asked.
Walk into the
original?

A duplicate house is created, and you’re trapped in it,
Lorenzo answered.
Frida had gone
exploring, and looped back. That’s why she was trapped, whereas her brother and
mother were not. The duplicate is made using what’s inside the house at the
moment it’s generated, which is why none of the duplicate houses contained the
rose except the original — when they were generated, no rose was upon the side
table. That’s what happened to Henry, Espy, Langford, and Jonas; they each passed
through the loop, and duplicate houses were generated at the beginning of the
series. That’s why I found Jonas in the first house instead of Abraham. The new
house pushed the others out farther. Langford completed the loop just before
his brother, and that’s why his house was further out than the one that held Jonas.

But what about Abraham?
Deem asked.
He didn’t complete a loop.

I’ve had a long time to think about this. I’ve come to
believe that Abraham, Joseph, and Althea were taken by Bingham, body and soul,
and Bingham created a house for each of them, like cells in a spider web, where
he could keep their bodies while he fed on them. Things changed when Henry
conducted the séance against my wishes. I believe their efforts were so focused
and concentrated that they pierced the veil — things were already thin at the
mansion, with the years of séances that had already occurred. They pierced it with
enough strength that they were able to see the houses just like you and I do,
and that made the entire mansion much more accessible to the common mind. I
also believe it started the house’s ability to spawn copies of itself, to
expand its web. Henry, Espy, and the Orton brothers were trapped by completing
the loop as they explored within the duplicate mansions. Bingham didn’t have to
do a thing, just find them within their individual prisons. And with the
opening they created, Frida, simply by falling asleep and thereby altering her
state of consciousness, was able to enter the houses. She made her way through
them and completed the loop, trapping herself.

What became of her? And Henry?
Deem asked.

I received word from Emma that they both passed, while she
was in Cedar City. I remember thinking, at the time, that it had been
inevitable. Each trapped inside a duplicate house, it was only a matter of time
until Bingham found them and destroyed them, causing their physical bodies to
die.

And now there are dozens of houses,
Deem said.
It’s been over a
hundred years, Lorenzo, and people have come into this place exploring, taking
a dare to spend a night inside. Sleeping. It’s added to the number of duplicates
over the years.

That would explain why the houses changed from derelict to
this,
Winn said,
looking around.
Each was a copy produced at the time the person in them
completed the loop.

What about you?
Deem asked.
How did you wind up trapped?

Lorenzo sighed.
The things I discovered festered in my
mind after Emma left the house. I went to see Jacob’s father, and he told me
that he’d given his son a substance which would collapse the houses into one.
Jacob was going to execute his father’s plan the night he disappeared. I
presume he failed. I prevailed upon his father to let me try to finish Jacob’s duties,
and he agreed, but the plan was slightly different in my case. Jacob was to
have burned the substance with elemental fire in four corners of the house.
Jacob’s father could provide me with elemental fire rightly enough, but not the
means to transport the substance to be burned. He’d given Jacob a tin box with
special properties; it was able to make the substance usable while in the
River, and without the tin, he could give me all of the substance on God’s
green earth but it would be useless as I couldn’t transport it. We devised upon
a plan where I’d locate Jacob, just as I’d found Abraham — and perhaps the tin
would still be on him. If it was, I would use it to complete Jacob’s task, and
the houses would all collapse into one, the original.

What then?
Deem asked.

That would bring all of the bodies back into one house, and
eliminate the duplicates.

Yes, but what about Bingham?
Winn asked.

Jacob’s father felt it might kill Bingham in the process.

Winn turned to look at Deem. She looked skeptical, and he saw
her recognize the same look on his face.

What?
Lorenzo asked.
You do not think it would have worked?

We still haven’t heard why you’re trapped,
Winn replied.

Well,
Lorenzo said, continuing with his story,
I planned it out, as much as
I could. It took several days, but by the time I was ready to go in, I’d
prepared several contingencies. The mirror, for one; it would provide a way to
communicate to someone gifted if need be, and I left instructions with my wife,
Tabitha, that my journal was to pass to my brother, similarly gifted, should
something happen to me. Jacob’s father gave me a device which I use to map the
houses — that’s how I knew to direct you to my location. Once I had everything
planned, I reentered the mansion, intent upon locating Jacob.

What happened?
Deem asked.

I chose the wrong night,
Lorenzo replied.
It had been a stormy day. The
winds from the canyon can sometimes become quite strong at certain times of the
year, and the evening I sat here, preparing to drop into the River, I could
hear them rattling the windows of the house. I’d placed two roses; one on the
side table in the front entryway, and the other in the kitchen on the counter
just inside the door.

I hunted for hours. I had just a few more houses to search
when I made my mistake. I entered a kitchen, and saw that the door to the next
house’s front entryway was already open. I thought it strange, since the doors
were normally closed. I looked inside, and seeing no rose on the table, I
stepped through. It was only after I’d walked past the side table that I
noticed the rose, lying on the floor. I’d walked back into the original house,
completing the loop. I was trapped in my own duplicate.

The wind?
Deem asked.
The wind blew the rose off the side table?

In the many years I’ve had to rethink everything, I believe
Bingham set me up. I’d been elusive for him, and I believe he knew he’d never
catch me with a chase or by pouncing on me from the shadows. He’d seen me drop
out of the River multiple times, and knew how quickly I could leave. No, he
knew the only way to trap me was if I trapped myself. He opened that door and
saw my rose. If the wind didn’t do it, he did it. Either way, I found myself
unable to leave the place.

With Bingham unable to get in?
Winn asked.

Lorenzo removed an object from his pants pocket and held it
up for Winn and Deem to see. It was a small leather square about an inch and a
half wide, with colorful embossing and a fringe. He waved it a little in the
air as it hung from his fingers.

What’s that?
Deem asked. It reminded her vaguely of the circle emblem
Awan had used to wall off thoughts.

My salvation,
Lorenzo replied,
and my damnation. This is the arrowhead
I placed in my pocket, thinking it would offer some degree of additional
protection. Once inside here, it became this. And it’s the only explanation I
have for why Bingham is unable to enter the house I’m trapped in. It saved my
life — this life, at least — but I’ve been kept prisoner here for so long,
there are days I wish he could get in and finish the job. Bingham used to come
to the door and taunt me. For years he tried to find ways to pass through and
couldn’t, so he regaled me with horrific stories of what he’d done to the
others. I’d hide in other parts of the house at first, but over the years I
became so bored I actually sat across the threshold from him and listened as he
described his grisly killings, always accompanied by the threats of what he
would do to me if he ever got in. Eventually he tired of me and I saw less and
less of him. I’d watch as additional houses were added. I stopped paying
attention to that after a while, too.

He paused, turning the leather emblem over in his hands.
Who
knows, perhaps it protected me from the bombs, too. If what you’re saying is
true, they changed Bingham into whatever he’s become. But here I sit, same as
always.

Did your brother — the one who was supposed to receive your
journal — own an 1830 Book of Mormon?
Deem asked.

He did,
Lorenzo replied.
A family heirloom.

I’m afraid your brother died in Left Hand Mine, near
Escalante,
Deem
said.
I found his satchel. It was a trap, designed by Porter Rockwell’s gang
to kill gifteds.

Well,
Lorenzo said, rising to his feet.
That would explain why the mirror
remained silent all these years. Until you came along. And now that you’re
here, you must complete what I was unable to finish. You must find Jacob, and
collapse the house. Bingham will be finished, and those of us still trapped
here will finally be free.
He looked down at the ground, emotions
overtaking him.

When he raised his head back up, Winn saw his eyes widen. He
was staring at something behind them.

Drop out of the River, now!
he shouted, lurching forward but stopping at the
barrier.

Winn felt the blow, and was faintly aware of Deem at his
left, turning to see whatever had landed on him from behind. He was going down,
headed to the floor. His first instinct was to brace himself from falling, and
it distracted him from leaving the River. He landed on his side, rolling to
face whatever was on top of him.

Winn!
Deem called, but he hoped she was smart enough to just leave. He knew he
should close his eyes so he could concentrate on dropping out, but the sight
above him was so bizarrely unusual he wasted precious seconds trying to
comprehend it.

The man had landed on top of him on all fours. Where the
man’s head should be was only an open orifice, bloody and gaping, and out of it
slipped a long, sharp prong that positioned itself above his chest. It paused for
a second, then plunged into him.

I’m leaving the River,
he thought, hopelessly trying to escape as pain raced
through his body.
I’m dropping out. I’m…

Then he was gone.

▪
▪
▪

Deem felt the vibration from her phone, tucked tightly into
her pants pocket. She was on the interstate, speeding ninety miles an hour back
to Leeds. She lifted her hips to create an angle where her hand could slip into
her pocket, and fished out the phone. It was Winn.

“Deem?” he said.

“Winn, thank God it’s you! Where are you?”

“I’m, I’m kind of lost, Deem.”

She could hear the confusion in his voice. “Look around you.
What do you see?”

“A sign.”

“What does it say?”

“University Daycare.”

“University Daycare?” Deem repeated. “What university?”

“I don’t know,” Winn replied. “Wait, wait — there’s a car
going past. The license plate is…Montana.”

“You’re in Montana?”

“There’s another sign…University of Montana. I’m in Missoula.
I was just here, yesterday, with David. I can’t remember why I came back,
though. I know this sounds bizarre, but I’m having trouble remembering why I’m
here.”

“Don’t worry why you’re there,” Deem said. “Carma will
arrange a flight home for you. Find some place to hang out until I can call you
back. And conserve your battery, I assume you don’t have your charger.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Stay calm, Winn,” she said, quieting herself as she spoke.
No
sense in amping him up because I’m all amped up. If it’s like what happened to
David, he has no memory of what just occurred.
“I can explain everything
when you get here. Just concentrate on getting home, OK?”

“Alright,” he said. “I’ll wait for your call.”

She hung up.
Fuck!
she thought.
Montana? Winn went
back to Montana, David went back to…Leeds. In both cases, where they were the
day before.

In her mind, she saw the Creepsis landing on Winn, injecting
him. It all happened so quickly, she hadn’t had time to react. Winn was down
and screaming within seconds, and she didn’t have any idea what to do. Lorenzo
urged her to drop out immediately, and once she saw that Winn was gone, she
did. Then she woke up in the house, with no Winn anywhere to be seen.