Chills & Thrills Paranormal Boxed Set (31 page)

Half paralyzed, she stared at the large cottonmouth snake,
then shoved out a rubbery arm and wiggled the doll. But now what was she
supposed to do? What chant was she to utter?

"Depart!" The word had come from her mouth
involuntarily.

The snake immediately uncoiled and fell to the ground.
Astonished but wary, Liz crept closer, never taking her eyes off the creature.
Alive. She could see the tongue twitching, see membranes close over the eyes.
So still, still as death. The doll had done its magic.

A giddy laugh bubbled in her throat as she bolted for the
cave, viewing it as a haven. The feeling of security died the instant her eyes
saw the smaller, black opening. Her memory of what would greet her inside was
still fresh in her mind. She licked her lips and walked closer, bending to see
where Maddie had gone. A stream of light wobbled against glistening walls, and
she saw the shadow of a slender figure.

"Maddie!" she called. "Wait!"

Her only answer came from the echoes of her own cry.

* * *

Heaven had exploded. The storm would take down their flimsy
shelter at any second. Naked and shivering, Zach reached out for Liz.

His hand struck an empty space.

She's gone to the cave to meet Ankouer.

No, no, he thought, lurching upright and grabbing for his
clothes. His drowsiness was ebbing now, taking his crazy conclusion with it.
Liz probably had gone to the cave, all right, but not to meet Ankouer.

He dressed quickly, then rummaged for some matches in the
food crate. After stuffing a back-up handful in his windbreaker pocket, he lit
the lantern and left behind the flimsy protection of the lean-to.

The sky was awash with sounds. Crackling angry lightning.
Booming thunder. And though the wind was heavy, rainfall had eased to a
knifelike drizzle that fairly sliced his skin.

As much as he hated that stinking tunnel, he'd have to go
through it again. Liz had gone to the cavern to rendezvous with Frank and
Maddie, of that he had no doubt. This unpalatable truth weighed heavily on him,
but he tried not to think of it as he bent his head against the wind and headed
for the trail. The woman was a liar, a consummate actress. Even her animosity
toward Mad-die was feigned. He'd already realized it, had already told himself
so, so how had he let her fool him into thinking she loved him?

A chill rushed up and down his spine, brought on by the
rapidly dropping temperature. The boulder at the base of the trail provided
some protection from the wind and rain, and Zach paused to open his flask and
take a sip of liquid heat. Delaying tactics, he realized, but he took yet
another moment to light a cigarette. Finally, holding the lantern high in the
air for maximum light, he started climbing.

He was breathless when he reached the cave's dark mouth, and
none too pleased to notice that the light made the opening pulsate in such a
way that it appeared to be waiting for him to enter its digestive tract. After
another nip from his flask—which was getting low—he steeled himself to enter
the cave.

Just then, a gust of wind appeared. The flame inside the
lantern sputtered and dimmed, then was gone. Rain drizzling on his head, Zach
stood stock-still in complete darkness, trying to find the guts to even reach
for his supply of matches. Just as he made his move, the gas jets came to life
again. But Zach's gratitude was short-lived. A mere fraction of a second later
he stumbled backward, a cry of revulsion coming to his lips.

Sticky webs covered the yawning entrance, glistening evilly
in the light. In the center waited a spider larger than his fist. Zach
swallowed a second cry that lodged painfully in his throat as he backed into
the boulder behind him. He jumped from the touch, convinced spiders were
crawling all over him, already feeling their hairy legs on his skin.

"Well, partner," a male voice drawled from behind.
"Seems you got yourself in quite a fix."

Zach whirled and saw Richard Cormier sitting arrogantly on
top of the boulder, a wry smile of amusement on his lips. "You always were
scared of spiders, Zach."

The final puzzle piece fell into place. Frank wasn't the
only one in Port Chatre with a sudden upturn in financial fortune. Why hadn't
he made the connection before? "So you're Frank's accomplice?"

"In a manner of speaking."

Zach frowned and stared up at Cormier, who balanced on top
of a slick rock as though he were ensconced in an easy chair, and again wished
he'd brought a weapon on this trip.

"Liz is inside. Maddie took her. Why don't you go after
them, partner? It's what a man would do."

Zach looked over his shoulder. The spider had crawled down
the web, closer to the ground.

"Then you never were much of a man. Scared of spiders,
tsk, tsk, tsk."

Zach barely registered Richard's jibe, so caught up was he
in eyeing the small space between him and the dark, spotted monster. His hand
flew to his back pocket.

"That's it. A little more Smirnoff's and you can take
on the world." Richard's syrupy drawl lingered in the air long after he'd
stopped speaking. "Creepy things, spiders. Kind of make you want to piss
your pants. But so small. You can wipe 'em out like this." Richard slapped
the rock, causing Zach to recoil. "Go ahead, Zach. Take another drink.
You'll find your guts in that bottle. You will. You know you will."

Zach's hand lingered over his pocket, poised to drop and
pull. Such a tiny movement, and some of these jitters would ease. Richard was
right. Richard was right.

"Hurry, Zach. Ankouer is waiting and he grows
impatient."

Richard was wrong! Was everyone on this island crazy but
him? Zach abruptly dropped his hand and whirled to face the web. The spider
dropped to the ground and scuttled forward. With a hissed intake of breath,
Zach brought up his foot and slammed it down. When he lifted it, only a small,
spotted blob remained.

"I'm going in for Liz, Cormier," he said, still
staring at his smashed opponent, thinking even as he spoke how truly easy it
had been to kill it. "When we get back, I'll be coming for you."

Richard's laughter split the air, joined an instant later by
a clap of thunder. Zach turned his head and saw in the flash of ensuing
lightning that Richard had disappeared. He expected a shock of surprise, but it
didn't come, and he supposed the many unexplained events had made him virtually
immune.

Then he thought of Liz getting mixed up with this sleazeball
just to protect her father. He'd put a stop to that right now. He'd go in
there, drag her out by that short curly hair of hers and, if he had to, swim
with her on his back all the way to Port Chatre.

He turned to face the web, fighting off waves of terror and
revulsion. Dozens of small spiders had shown up in place of the larger one.
Funny how Richard's taunts shored up his nerve, how notably absent it now was
as he faced these tiny foes.

God, he hated spiders, hated them with a vengeance that
stirred a fury he hadn't felt since the day he had identified Jed's tattered
body. Filthy, crawling things! They didn't deserve to live!

With rage as his guide, he took a long deep breath that did
more to boost his courage than a liter of vodka, and swung the lantern
vehemently at the web.

* * *

Maddie still wasn't answering as Liz crept, stoop
shouldered, through the dripping smelly cavern. The flashlight beam was not far
ahead, and it reflected off the damp walls and shallow pools of water, creating
a hazy glow that allowed her to see. She kept it in her sight, clutching the
doll so tightly her palm was getting sweaty. She did her best not to allow her
gaze to take in the clusters of bones and occasional decomposing animal, but
sometimes she simply couldn't help herself. The final resting place for
Ankouer's fallen servants, she thought, recalling the raccoons dragging away
their dead companion.

At one point the tunnel curved and she lost the light. Small
squeaks issued involuntarily from her throat, ricocheting off the walls until
she jumped from her own sounds. Taking tiny steps, she rounded the curve an
eternity later, and stepped straight into the path of a glaring mask.

Another raccoon. Its pointed snout curled over its small
sharp teeth, and it approached with a snarl. Without thinking, Liz stuck out
the doll. The creature continued bearing down on her.

What in the hell had she said before? Her mind refused to
bring it up, and unintelligible sounds came from her mouth. What had she said?
What?

"Go away, beast!" she shouted, although it didn't
come out that way . . . more as a series of whispers.

Like the snake, the raccoon fell over. Lying supine and
breathing heavily, it stared at her with small, dark eyes. Liz gaped at it,
terrified to move, knowing she must.

Beasts lay panting on the trail.

The first line of the quatrain. Suddenly she realized the
poem was a guidepost to let her know when she was taking the correct action.
This realization allowed her to quickly hop over the raccoon, and with Maddie's
flashlight as her beacon, she hurried down the tunnel with renewed courage.

Soon the beam vanished, but she wasn't in total darkness.
Light flashed on and off, sometimes nearly as bright as day, and sounds of
thunder again reached her ears. She walked on haltingly, moving only during the
bursts of light, knowing she was nearing the cavern.

Then she heard Maddie screaming. "Leave it, Frank! Do
not tempt Ankouer!"

Liz sprinted forward, holding the red-eyed doll in front of
her and dashed through the opening.

"Frank, no!" Maddie cried, standing in front of
the lake. Through the hole above, the storm-tossed sky spilled flashes of
lightning, and raindrops struck the lake, causing ripples that were swallowed
by dancing flames. As the fire sparked and ebbed, it sent out waves of icy air
that told Liz she'd entered Ankouer's lair.

Liz followed Maddie's distraught gaze and saw her father
creeping onto a narrow ledge. Just beyond him sat the lifeless fire opal. Above
him, a swirling black shape sporadically formed itself into a parody of man.

"Papa!" she whimpered.

Her father jerked his head around. The apparition paused. A
pair of blazing eyes appeared and fixed her with a stare.

"So, Guardian, prepare for your night of reckoning.

A surge of overwhelming malice swept over her, dulling the
shocking realization that Ankouer's spoken threat must herald his
transformation into human flesh.

* * *

Wisps of web and fried spiders still clung to the lantern,
but Zach refused to look at them.

Would he make it through this stinking tunnel a second time,
or would his resolve evaporate? Would he fail here as he'd failed with Carol,
Rita, and Vera . . . with Zettie and Jeff . . . with Jed?

Would he turn back and take the easy way?

Liz would be okay. It wasn't as though she really was about
to face the phantom. She'd come to meet her father, as Cormier's presence at
the opening proved.

Where had the man gone? Where, in fact, had he come from?
Storm or not, Zach had a sixth sense that usually alerted him to another's
presence.

Which obviously hadn't come through this time.

His journey through the slimy tunnel had given him time to
examine his thoughts, but he remained as confused as ever. Images of Liz
talking quietly with Richard on his veranda came to mind. What had they been talking
about? Of all those present at Ellie's wake, Cormier had seemed the least
bewildered by Liz's sudden reappearance from the dead.

But no matter how he turned it over in his mind, Zach could
not see Liz becoming involved with Richard. As a kid, the guy had tormented her
unmercifully. Of course, there was the old saw about strange bedfellows, but
the more likely guess was that Liz was only trying to protect Frank.

Could he blame her? Wouldn't he have done anything to save
his father? Jed? Hell, wouldn't he have gone to his own grave before seeing his
brother die?

At this moment he wasn't so sure.

Zach had known how headstrong Jed was, yet he'd insisted on
keeping his tryst before joining the manhunt. True, the lady had been
delicious, but he would never have sacrificed his brother for her. And what
about Liz? Maybe she was right, maybe he'd refused her plea to take her from
Port Chatre the night of her grandmother's funeral. He'd only been a kid. Who
could remember? The hell of it, though, was the ring of truth her accusation
held. Didn't he feel like running now?

And what were these things that scared him so bad? Filthy
dripping water, rotting animal corpses and bleached bones, dead spiders and
their sticky webs. Minor threats, none at all, in fact. So why did his gut keep
screaming for him to turn back?

As he took step after tentative step toward the waiting
cavern, quaking like a first-grader at the shadows in the tunnel, he thought of
Liz traveling through it alone. What had she used for light? How had she
withstood the darkness? Her courage suddenly put him to shame, and for the
first time he wondered if he deserved her.

A sudden shiver reminded him he was wet and cold and he
stopped for a moment. Despite the discomfort of standing in a hunched position,
he pulled out his flask. He swallowed quickly, and the warmth eased his chill,
absorbed some of the nagging doubts that plagued him. Or so he told himself as
he cast a longing glance at the entrance to the tunnel.

He started to recap the flask, then hesitated. One more sip,
he told himself. One more sip and he'd go on.

* * *

"Izzy! Run, girl! Run now!"