American Heroes Series - 03 - Purgatory (27 page)

Alec nodded seriously. “I’ll be
careful, dude.”

He took the flashlight on the
counter and disappeared into the dining room.  When Alec was gone, Nash got up
out of his seat, went to where Elliot was sitting, pulled her up and took her
chair, and then sat her back down on his lap.  He hugged her close, his head
against her cleavage.

“Honey, I think the first thing
we need to do is call the State of Louisiana and have them send archaeologists
or anthropologist down here,” he said. “That hidden room down there is an
intact treasure trove and they’re going to want to study it before we do
anything to it. I’ve never heard of anything like it, not in all my years.”

Elliot had her arms wrapped
around his neck. “If you think so,” she agreed. “And I’ll think on your offer
of letting us stay at your house. That’s very generous.”

He smiled up at her. “You’re my
family now,” he murmured. “My house is your house.”

She laughed softly. “Does that
mean I can redecorate your house and spend all of your money?”

He snickered. “Somebody should,”
he teased. “I sure don’t have the time.”

Elliot’s laughter grew. “Oh,
sweetie, I can
make
the time,” she hugged him, sobering. “You realize
when we get married that Purgatory will belong to the Aury family again,
right?”

He lifted his eyebrows. “That’s
not
why I proposed to you.”

“I know that, but it’s kind of
ironic, isn’t it?”

“It’s like it was meant to be.”

She liked the sound of that. As
she and Nash hugged each other and spoke of things related to their future
together, down below, Alec was standing at the base of the hidden stairs with
the flashlight in his hand, carefully inspecting every aspect of the room.

He shined the flashlight on the
ceiling, realizing that there was a layer of planks and more mud or earth
between the ceiling and the floor above.  The crypt was well insulated. He
stepped into the room, listening to the mud and water making sucking noises
around his shoes, shining his flashlight on the first crypt far off to his
right.

Two of them were tucked off
against the walls of the hollowed-out hole and as he made his way towards them,
he noticed that the walls of the room seemed to have been reinforced with
planks of wood that had long since rotted away.  He could still see their
imprint in the walls.

The room itself wasn’t the length
or width of the house – in fact, it only seemed to encompass the area of half
of the central hall and a small portion of the ballroom.  The room had no
windows, no vents, no other connection with the outside world than that
cobwebby, narrow staircase. The whole thing looked a lot like the vivid
graphics in his zombie-killing games.

Alec wandered to the two crypts
that very nearly blended in with the wet and moldy surroundings.  He peered at
the heavy stone, wondering how in the world they moved the thing down the
stairs. There was no way they could have moved the crypt down that narrow
passage which led him to think the obvious, that there had to be another way in
to the room.

Alec was extremely intelligent in
spite of his rather juvenile social skills and he did what he promised Nash he
wouldn’t do; he began to drag his hands over the crypt, wiping away the mold so
he could read the names and epithets on them.

It was very fascinating stuff for
a young kid from California who had never seen such old and decrepit things. He
moved to all of the crypts, wiping away at the epithets and reading the names
on the stone and the dates birth and death.  

On the largest crypt of stone and
damp, it read:

Paul-Michel Aury

1813 – 1830

à tous qui sait

Alec’s brow furrowed as he read
the epithet in French. Having taken four years of French in high school, he was
surprised to realize it would actually come in handy. French was like Algebra,
learning something he would never use, but today, his French classes had
actually served a purpose today. He could read what was written.

“’To all who know’,” he mumbled
the translation. 

With a shrug, he moved to the
second crypt purely out of curiosity and wiped away the moss that covered up
the lettering on the stone.  More words came into view.

Joseph Aury

1820 – 1830

La question d'avidité est décidée

Alec read the epithet four times.
It was an odd one just like the one on his brother’s crypt.  He shook his head.

“’The matter of greed is
decided’,” he muttered, then shook his head again. “Dude, what a weird family.”

He moved to the third crypt,
wiping of the moss and growth because now he was curious what this epithet
would say. This one was the woman’s crypt.

Felicity Lydia Aury

1816 – 1830

Avec le sang et maudit nous avons
trouvé

Alec’s eyebrows lifted as he read
this particular epithet. “’With blood and curses we found’?” he translated
verbatim, suddenly looking between the three crypts, repeating what all three
epithets had scribed.

“’To all who know the matter of
greed decided, with blood and curses we know’….”

Realization slammed him.
Electrified, Alec ran to the fourth crypt, a smaller one off from the rest. 
This one was nearer the floor, sinking deep in the stinking mud of the room as
if set apart from the others. It looked pathetic, beat-up, and untended. Alec
scraped of the mud and moss of the smallest crypt, straining to read the words.

Saturnine Aury

1822 – 1830

L'enfer que nous avons condamnés
à dans les intestins de Purgatoire

Alec didn’t remember running from
the crypt until he was already upstairs in the great central hall.

He had to find Nash.

***

“Well,” Nash said slowly as he
read the epithet on Saturnine Aury’s crypt. “You were right. That’s exactly
what it says -
To all who know the matter of greed decided, with blood and
curses we know the hell we have condemned ourselves to in the bowels of
Purgatory.
Good job with your French translation, son.”

Alec was standing behind Nash
with the flashlight, feeling anxious and a jumpy. “I wasn’t sure if you could
read French or not. I figured you could, living in Louisiana and all. It’s kind
of like knowing Spanish in Southern California just by association.”

Nash glanced around at the other
crypts. “En effet je peux,” he said fluently, pointing to the other crypts.
“Each one of these has a part of a message that, when put together, reads
a
tous qui savent la question d'avidité nette, avec le sang et maudit nous savons
l'enfer que nous avons condamnés à dans les intestins de Purgatoire.
  It’s
really quite fascinating.”

“Fascinating?” Alec repeated,
wondering why the man was so calm. “But look at the year of death on all the
crypts. They all died the
same year
. They were just kids, dude. What in
the hell does that mean?”

Nash made a career out of
remaining cool in a crisis, no matter what it was. It was perhaps one of his
greatest attributes.  He stood up from where he was crouched over Saturnine’s
crypt and brushed his hands off on his jeans, outwardly much calmer than he
felt inside. Secretly, he was just as baffled and disturbed as Alex was, only
he wasn’t going to show it. At least, not at the moment.

“I don’t have a clue,” he said
honestly, turning to Alec. “But I do know one thing; you’re not going to tell
your mother or sister about this. They’re already upset about living on top of
a crypt and this will send them from this house and we’ll never get them back.
Okay?”

Alec pursed his lips, unhappy but
understanding. “Okay,” he agreed. “But what are we doing to do about it?”

Nash shrugged. “What can we do
about it?” he asked the obvious.  “I’ll be the first to admit that this is
bizarre, but the fact of the matter is that we can’t do anything about it
today. I’ve already put in a call to the State of Louisiana Department of
Culture and it’s my intention to get them out here to check all of this out.
Maybe they can help piece it together. Meanwhile, I’m going to call my dad and
see what he knows about Louis-Michel’s children. Maybe there’s some explanation
to all of this, like they all died of Yellow Fever at the same time. I’m sure there’s
a logical explanation.”

Alec wasn’t convinced but Nash
made sense. “Doesn’t this epithet make you wonder at all?” the young man
pushed.

Nash grinned. “Of course it
does,” he said. “As you would say, that’s some crazy shit.  But it’s also
really, really intriguing. I’d like to find out what happened as much as you.”

Alec didn’t have any more to
say.  He still thought it was all creepy and mysterious and weird, but he
followed Nash out of the crypt chamber and up to the dining room above.  Nash
pulled the panel closed as much as he could, leaving it cracked about an inch. 
He and Alec went into the kitchen where Alec put the flashlight back on the
counter.

“Now,” Nash said in a quiet tone.
“Your mother is upstairs doing something on her computer and your sister is
taking a nap with the dog.  Not a word of this to them, Alec. I’m serious.”

Alec’s features hardened. “I
heard you the first time,” he said. “I’ve been taking care of them a long time.
I don’t need you to tell me not to upset them.”

Nash could see had offended the
young man and immediately backed off.

“I’m sorry,” he said sincerely.
“I know you’ve been taking care of them and you’ve done an excellent job. I
didn’t mean to insult you. I guess… I guess I just want to take care of them
too, like a natural instinct. I don’t mean to step on your toes, Alec. I would
never knowingly do that. It’s just that I love your mom and sister too.”

Alec’s anger cooled somewhat,
knowing that what Nash said was true.

 “Well,” he said after a moment,
kicking at the floor as if embarrassed he had become snappish. “If you want to
know the truth, I would have punched anyone else who talked to me the way you
just did. But you… I know you mean well. Just don’t treat me like I’m an idiot.
I know I sound like one sometimes, but I’m not.”

Nash threw up his hands. “God,
no,” he insisted. “I’m truly sorry if it came across like that, Alec. I didn’t
mean it.”

Alec gave him a quirky grin. “No
worries, dude.”

Nash returned the grin, thankful
that he hadn’t irrevocably upset the young man. “Good,” he replied.  Then he
threw his thumb in the direction of the front door. “I’ve got to run some
errands. Dog food and all that. Are you going to hang around here?”

Alec shrugged. “Yes,” he said,
sitting heavily at the breakfast table. “Where am I going to go? I don’t have
any friends, no one to hang out with.  I’ll be here.”

Nash regarded him a moment. “It’s
pretty boring for you, I would guess.”

Alec shrugged again, fidgeting
with the marks on the tabletop. “I’m so used to having my friends around all of
the time. This has been an adjustment, not being able to pick up the phone and
call ten people to come hang out.”

Nash scratched his chin and began
to head out of the kitchen. “I’ll see what I can do about that,” he told him.
“I’m going to say good-bye to your mom. I’ll see you later.”

Alec watched him go, his thoughts
inevitably turning to the creepy crypt down below.  He just couldn’t stay away. 
When Elliot ended up going with Nash to run his errands, Alec slipped back down
to the crypt for a second round of inspections.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The sun wasn’t even up yet on
Monday morning when a team from the State of Louisiana Division of Archaeology
and Office of Cultural Development were in Purgatory’s driveway.

Nash heard the cars roll in and
saw the headlights reflecting in the windows of the upstairs bedroom.  He
lifted his head and looked at the clock, seeing that it was a little before 5
am.  Then he looked down at Elliot, curled up against him and sound asleep.  He
kissed her gently, twice, before carefully disengaging himself and going in
search of his clothes.

In jeans, a long sleeved pull-over
tee shirt and shoes, he closed Elliot’s door behind him quietly and peered
across the hall into Alec’s room to see if the young man was awake.  He had to
grin to see the kid all spread out over the bed, covers on the floor, sleeping
the sleep of the dead. His boys slept much the same way.  He called out
quietly, three times, before Alec finally stirred.

The blond head came up from the
bed, eyes still closed. “What’s up?” he mumbled.

“The people from the State of
Louisiana are here,” Nash whispered loudly. “Do you want to come down and meet
them?”