The New Kid (22 page)

“Almost where! Show yourself and answer me! Almost where?”

“Almost . . . home,” the voice rumbled, and then as the mist cleared Will swore he heard faraway laughter.

“Give me back my father!” he shouted to the retreating figure. But he could only see the mist.

Natalie had slowed the car to a crawl and they were all alone now on the mountain road. Will holstered his power rod and sat back down.

“Stop the car.”

Natalie pulled the EVO to a stop. Will got out, walked around, and yanked the harpoon out of the windshield. Then he threw it in a ditch.

“How you doing?” Will asked.

“I’ve been better, but I’m alright, I think,” said Natalie, her hands trembling on the wheel.

“Scoot over,” said Will as he got in the car. Once she was buckled in again he gunned the engine, pushing the Mitsubishi through the mist. They were on an open, clear roadway now, with occasional smaller roads forking off left and right.

“They could have gone anywhere,” Will muttered. “I’ve got to find his lair. That’s the key. I’ve
got
to find his lair.” Will then pulled a U-turn. “But not with you. You’re going home.” He began driving back the way they’d come.

“I don’t want to go home.”

“It’s not open to discussion.”

“If there’s a lair up here somewhere Emily’s got to be there.”

“I said it’s not open to discussion.”

They drove along in silence, winding their way back down the mountain. Natalie watched the trees go by, teeth grit furiously as she stared at the various pale shapes of the mountain. Sure, she was scared; she’d never been more scared in her whole life. But the thought of living the rest of her life without her sister was even scarier. Will couldn’t do this to her. It wasn’t fair. There had to be a way to convince him to let her stay. Then she remembered her dream from that afternoon, how frightened Emily had seemed as she ran through the tunnel. And Natalie sucked in a sharp breath.

“I know what it looks like!”

“You know what
what
looks like?” said Will.

“The entrance. To the lair, or whatever.”

“Don’t mess with me, Natalie.”

“I swear, I’m not. I know, I really do know!”

“How is that possible?”

“You’re not the only one who has dreams, Will. Emily and I . . . when one of us dreams, we both dream. And she dreamt about the entrance.”

Will wanted to believe she was lying, that she was just trying to keep him from taking her home, but he’d seen way too much freaky
paranormal stuff over the years to rule anything out. He knew from experience that nothing was impossible.

“Okay. Tell me more.”

“She was . . . I mean, we were . . . in this tunnel, and we were being chased by . . . some
thing
, some really scary, really ugly thing with just empty sockets where its eyes should have been.”

Will’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. She was talking about the Dark Lord.

“The entrance. You said something about the entrance.”

“We came running out, in the dream I mean, and when we came out I turned around and looked back. We’d just come out of this . . . it was kind of like a huge mouth, but it was an opening, an entrance to a tunnel. And there were these huge boulders on the mountain that looked like eyes.”

“So it’s on the mountain. . . .”

“Yes, I’m sure of that. There were pine trees everywhere. I would know this place if I saw it in real life, Will, I would recognize it, I know I would.”

Will thought carefully. He’d read that it was common for twins, even when they were separated or lived far apart, to share common feelings and experiences, to have prescient knowledge of one another’s lives. So sharing dreams didn’t seem impossible. And Natalie’s description of the Dark Lord had been spot on. How else could she have known? Will put the pedal to the metal and sped down the mountain as fast as he could.

Natalie frowned.

“You don’t believe me. You don’t believe a word I’m saying.”

“Look in the backseat.”

She did, and saw a silver metal case and another backpack on the seat next to her own.

“There’s a computer in the case,” said Will. “Take it out.”

Natalie opened the case and pulled out the laptop just as Will wheeled his EVO into a coffee shop parking lot. He parked his car,
opened the laptop, and logged onto ActiveEarth, the new real-time satellite program capable of locating a pimple on a bug’s ass from space. He began typing in coordinates. Soon images of Harrisburg appeared and Will moved the cursor so that they had a clear daytime vision of Mount St. Emory. He opened another window on the laptop and brought up Web sites chronicling the history of the mining industry in Colone County. It didn’t take long to dig up a map of the old silver mines on the south and east sides of Mount St. Emory.

“So you do believe me,” said Natalie.

“It sounds like you were describing an entrance to a mine shaft. And according to these charts there shouldn’t be more than a dozen or so of those on the mountain.”

“And for sure I’ll recognize it.”

“Let’s get going.”

 

They drove back up the mountain and for the first hour or so their search was fruitless. The majority of the mines were totally sealed up or buried under landslides. And it became harder and harder to see because the sky was becoming crowded with dark clouds. Far away thunder rumbled. But then they had a stroke of luck. Natalie spotted a narrow roadway that eventually led them where they wanted to go and there it was, across a clearing, the tunnel entrance: the same tunnel entrance that Natalie had fled out of in her shared nightmare. About fifty yards away were a series of huge slag heaps, mountains of dirt and debris. They looked fresh.

“I thought these mines weren’t active,” said Will. “What’s going on?”

“I have no idea,” said Natalie.

They parked the EVO and got out to gaze in wonder at the mine opening. Standing there looking at the side of the mountain Natalie remembered it all too well. With the boulders and the huge dead stump and the tunnel opening, the whole thing looked like a human skull.

“T
his is soooo it.” Natalie felt a chill scamper up and down her spine as she looked at the tunnel entrance. Entering it would be like walking into a huge mouth and it didn’t take a whole lot of imagination to think of them as being swallowed up. Will touched her gently on the shoulder.

“I can’t begin to thank you enough, Natalie. You found it. Now stay here with the car and be ready to take off if I call you on your cell or come running out with something horrible chasing me.”

Will pulled a backpack from the EVO, whipped off his sports coat, and pulled on a hiking jacket with tons of pockets. He was so focused on getting ready he hardly noticed that Natalie, digging around in her own backpack on the other side of the backseat, was fast-changing her clothes, too. She pulled jeans on under her dress and turned around to put on a long-sleeved shirt.

“You know I’m coming with you,” said Natalie. Will looked at her just as she finished pulling the shirt down over her stomach.

“No.”

“
So
not in my vocabulary at this particular time,” she said.

Will clenched his jaw, then relaxed and spoke in a calm voice.

“Be reasonable.”

“We were just attacked by flying demons and you’re asking me to be reasonable? Forget that. I’m going in.” She shut the car door firmly to underscore her determination.

“Natalie—”

“The only way you’re going to keep me out of there is if you kill me right here on the spot. Barring you slicing me in half with that thing of yours, there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

Will took a deep breath and looked at the mountain and then at Natalie.

“Okay, rule number one. Keep up with me and don’t ask questions about what I’m doing. Rule number two. When I say run, you don’t hesitate, you don’t stop and think about it, you just run. Got it?”

“Got it.”

Will un-holstered his power rod and did a quick check on it, watching the luminescent blades closely as they cut through the quiet night. Satisfied, he put the weapon away as Natalie shook her head.

“I feel safe with you. Especially when you have that thing.”

“Well, that’s a mistake. You should never, ever feel safe when there are demons around. Don’t ever let your guard down.”

“Right. Okay. I get it.”

“You know when people say things like ‘I’m not trying to scare you’? Well, I
am
trying to scare you. I want you to be totally scared, so scared it’s like you’re walking on the edge of a razor. That way you’ll be alert. Don’t let fear be your enemy, Nat. Fear can be your friend, it can keep you alive.”

She blew out a breath. “I understand.” Then she smiled. “You called me ‘Nat.’”

“Sorry.”

“No, that’s okay. I like it.”

Will looked at Natalie and she could tell he was clearly mulling something over. She wondered if he was actually considering offing her on the spot just to be done with it. But then he
reached into his backpack, dug around, and pulled out the boltdriver, the same wicked weapon she’d seen Rudy mistakenly fire in Will’s basement.

“Here, take this. You may need it.”

He handed it to her and she took it. It felt more than just heavy, it felt like she was holding a compressed Volkswagen in the palm of her hand. He slid a lever on the boltdriver, which exposed several cartridges.

“It’s pre-loaded. All you have to do is cock it like this,” he showed her, “and fire.”

Natalie gulped at the thought of firing the thing and put a hand to her chest. “Don’t mind me, I’m just having a heart attack.”

“Hey, if you don’t think you can—” Will stopped in mid-sentence as Natalie suddenly gripped the weapon tightly and aimed it right at his forehead.

“You don’t get it do you?” she said, her voice firm now, all traces of her timidity gone.

“Apparently not—if you’re going to waste me with that thing.”

“Emily’s my sister. My twin sister. I can’t rest until I know she’s safe. And nothing’s going to stand in my way. I just . . . had a moment of hesitation, that’s all. I’m good to go now.” She lowered the boltdriver and clipped it securely to the sequined belt in her jeans.

Will smiled thinly and patted her on the shoulder.

“Okay then, Lara Croft, let’s move it.”

He flipped on a halogen light and they approached the tunnel opening. Though the timbers that supported the tunnel were rotted and looked like they might collapse at any second, the tracks for the old mining cars were smooth, the metal shiny.

“Look at the tracks,” said Natalie. “This mine closed forty years ago, there’s no silver left in this mountain, but it looks like someone’s been using them. I wonder what they’re taking out?”

“By the looks of those piles out front someone’s been taking out plenty. Searching for something or maybe making room for something,” said Will pensively.

“Yeah, but what?” asked Natalie.

“Hopefully we’ll find out,” said Will. “Whatever it is, it’s not going to be particularly fun, that I can guarantee.”

Will paused and then turned to Natalie and held up a hand.

“Okay, this is strictly a recon mission, we’re not going to engage.”

“In English, please?”

“We’re just going to go in and have a look around. We’re not here to kick ass. I can’t risk anything . . . happening to you.”

“Gotcha. Strictly recon. No engaging. Roger that, Captain.”

“And don’t call me captain.”

“Yes, sir. And Will?”

“Yeah?”

“My little moment of bravado back there? It was really more for me than for you, you know? I mean, sometimes I have to psych myself up. I wasn’t going to shoot you.”

“Thanks for that.”

“To tell you the truth, I’m petrified.”

“I know. Me, too.”

“Oh, great,” said Natalie.

 

As they entered the black-walled tunnel they fell silent. Will’s halogen torchlight danced along the walls and illuminated the path in front of them. The rocks inside were moist and they could hear the sound of creatures scuttling about. But the sounds weren’t coming from the ground, they came from above. When Will and Natalie reached a larger, more open area, Will shone his light up and they saw dozens of bats clinging to the ceiling.

“Should I be afraid of them?” asked Natalie in a whisper.

“No, they’re just regular old bats, they won’t hurt you. And
didn’t I say no questions?” Will shot her a look and moved forward. As instructed, Natalie kept close.

They moved farther down the tunnel in a gradual descent. The place smelled of mold, the air stale and fetid. Will dug into his backpack, took out a small device, and gently tapped it into a crevice in the side of the tunnel. After another twenty yards or so he repeated the process.

“What are those?”

Will turned and looked at her, his eyebrows arched.

“Sorry, that was a question, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, it was. And these are micronic ultra-high frequency speakers. They send out high-pitched sound waves that demons can’t tolerate. In case we have to retreat, I want a way to dissuade them from following.”

“And you trigger them by. . . .”

“Using this switch,” said Will, holding up a device that looked like a small flashlight with a red button on top. “We need to keep moving.”

“Will, stop for a second,” said Natalie. “If I’m going to be any help to you, I need to know what I’m looking for. You want to find information about your father, but what else?”

Will knew she was right. This just wasn’t the best place to have this conversation. He pulled her to the side of the tunnel, so at least their backs were protected.

“You know the weapon I’ve been using tonight, the power rod? And how there are three of them?”