Eximere (The River Book 4) (4 page)

“Nothing went wrong,” Percival said. “It was perfect.”

“How would you know?” Russell asked. “You don’t have the
gift. I can tell.”

“I can tell by the looks on your faces!” Percival said,
approaching them. “You all know it worked.”

“What worked?” Myrna said. “What are you talking about? The
focus was a failure. Something disrupted it.”

“No, it worked perfectly!” Percival said.

“I think what Kent is trying to say,” Jonathan said, “is that
the purpose of the focus was achieved.”

“And how is that?” Russell said.

“Because what happened is what Percival wanted to happen,”
Roy said.

“Ah, you must be the brightest one of the bunch!” Percival
said enthusiastically, stepping over to Roy.

“Take another step and I’ll deck you,” Roy said, raising his fist.
Steven was thoroughly confused and was about to intervene when Jonathan stepped
between them.

“Roy is right,” Jonathan said. “This was by design, wasn’t
it, Kent?”

“Absolutely!” Percival said, leaving a space around Roy and
walking to the other end of the room. He retrieved a small video camera that
had been placed on a bookshelf and began looking at the camera’s footage on its
screen. “Priceless!” he said, laughing as he watched.

“Would someone please tell me what is going on here?” Steven
asked.

“You’ve been tagged,” Percival said, looking at the camera.
“All of you. The power of your little display there kicked off the wheels and
marked you.” He looked up at them. “You’ve all been saved.”

“Saved from what?” Myrna asked, taking several steps towards Percival
but stopping when Jonathan held his hand out to stop her.

“Yes, would you explain yourself Kent?” Jonathan asked.

“Don’t you feel it?” Percival asked. “Inside? Right now?”

Steven didn’t feel anything. He turned to look at Eliza, who
looked confused.

“Spill it,” Roy said, “or I’ll shove that camera up your
ass.”

“I was never able to get it to work with just one or two of
you,” Percival said. “But with seven of you doing this focus thing, that’s the
ticket! Tell me what you saw.”

“The focus had started,” Eliza said, “but the light was
darkened by something. Then it ended.”

Percival held his hands over his head, the camera in one hand
and the other clenched into a fist. “Yes!” he shouted, shaking his arms in a
victory pose. As he lowered his arms he spun once in a circle, almost
delirious.

“I’m warning you,” Roy said.

“Calm down, old man, you’ll give yourself a heart attack,” Percival
said, his excitement and energy causing him to pace rapidly around the room.
The group turned their heads, following him.

“So,” Percival continued, “as I said, you triggered a
process. It’s something my grandfather, James Unser, created. Brilliant man
with a brilliant goal, now executing upon you. You’ve got a few days, then it
will be over.”

“What will be over?” Marilyn asked.

“The disease inside you,” Percival said, smiling. “Your
perversion. It’ll be gone, and you’ll be normal. I’ve saved you! Can you
imagine how wonderful that will be?”

Steven could see the wheels spinning in Eliza’s mind. “You
mean, our gift?” she asked. “You think our gift is a
disease
?”

“And you’re going to cure it?” Roy said.

“Actually,” Percival replied, “you’re the ones who are going
to cure it. You started the process. That was enough energy to trip it, the
device James built.  It’s running now, slowly draining you of your abomination.
Tell me, does it feel different yet? Inside?”

“There’s a device in this house that can drain our gifts from
us?” Russell said. “And it’s running right now?”

“Yes!” Percival said. “You just started it! It’s running. Do
you feel it?”

“Excuse me everyone, but I think I’ve had enough,” Russell
said, walking towards the door. “I’ll make my own way back to town, Mr.
Percival.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t go out there if I were you,” Percival said.

“Why not?” Russell asked, turning.

“The marchers,” Percival said. “It’s dusk. They’ll be out.”

Steven had no idea what Percival was talking about, but he
guessed Russell might, as he saw the blood drain from Russell’s face.

“Now listen here,” Myrna said, approaching Percival and
shoving her face right next to his. “You invited us here to help you. Now you
tell us we’re being drained, and there are monsters outside?” As she spoke the
blood was slowly rising from her neck to her forehead, like a rapidly rising
thermometer. “You’re going to tell me what this device is and what these
monsters are, right now!”

 Myrna’s anger didn’t change Percival’s mood. He seemed
cavalier. “As I said, the device was constructed by my grandfather.”

“Wait,” Eliza interjected, “you’re related to this family?
The Unsers?”

“Yes,” Percival said. “Different last name. That was my
mother’s doing. My father shared my grandfather’s writings with me ten years
ago, and since then I’ve been trying to restart the work he had begun here.
Today proves that he was right!”

“Your grandfather was who, exactly?” Myrna asked. “I thought
you said the original owner’s son died in the war.”

“That’s the story, but it wasn’t true. He lived here for
years afterward, pursuing his dream.”

“And what exactly was your grandfather’s dream?” Roy asked.

“My grandfather had the gift too, like all of you. Inherited
it from his mother, Anita. But he came to realize that it was a curse,
something that human beings weren’t meant to have. He dedicated his life to
removing it from himself and from others. He was successful, too. He removed it
from hundreds of you poor souls before he passed on. Really, you’ll thank me when
it’s over.”

Steven could see that Eliza was beginning to panic. He knew
how important her work was to her.

“Now see here,” Russell said. “You’ve no right to interfere
with my gift. It’s my livelihood, how I support myself.”

“And how you became famous,” Percival said. “There’s plenty
of decent careers out there Mr. Powers. You’ll just have to go get one like the
rest of us.”

“It’s not about a career,” Eliza said, stepping in. “My gift
is a huge part of me, of who I am. There’s things I do with it that are
important, not from a money making perspective, but in keeping a certain
balance. Things your grandfather might not have known about. They are things
that have to be kept in balance, or there could be real chaos in the world.”

“That’s one of the many things my grandfather recorded in his
writings as typical objections,” Percival said. “I believe his response to that
was:
you’re
out of balance. Correct you, and balance will be restored.”

“You don’t have any idea what you’re talking about,” Eliza
said. “You’re just spouting someone’s misguided philosophy. If you knew what I
knew you wouldn’t dream of doing this.”

“Yes, but I don’t, so I am,” Percival said, and smiled at
her.

“Jonathan, Russell,” Roy said, “hold him down. I’m gonna beat
it out of him.”

“Hold on, Roy,” Jonathan said. “Beat what out of him?”

“Where the device is and how to stop it,” Roy answered,
moving towards Percival.

“I can save you the trouble,” Percival said. “I don’t know. I’ve
never seen it. It took me years to decipher from my grandfather’s writings what
the device was and how it worked. I wasn’t even sure it was here. From what I
could tell, all that was needed to trigger it was a demonstration of your
ability. He’d used it hundreds of times on you people, usually one or two at a
time. I tried the same thing, but never got anywhere. I would invite one of you
here, you’d go into a trance, and nothing would happen. Then it occurred to me:
since it had sat dormant for so long, perhaps what it needed was a huge push to
get started again. When Jonathan suggested the focus I knew that would do it. Can
you feel it now? Now that we’ve had a few minutes for it to start on you?”

 “What about the marchers? Outside?” Myrna asked.

“That’s not my doing,” Percival said. “Or yours. They’ve been
here for years. If you’re like me, you can just lie down when you see one, and
they’ll pass you over. But that won’t work for you gifted types. They spot you.
You don’t want one of them to catch you.”

“What do they do?” Myrna asked, her face boiling with anger.
“Tell me.”

“I was out there once with a medium,” Percival said. “I’d
lured her up here to help me exorcize the house. I was trying to trip my
grandfather’s device, start it working again. Her powers weren’t enough to start
it. We walked back to the parking area, must have been around 8 pm. When the
marchers come, you hear a thumping. I knew to drop to the ground and stay
still. She copied me, but when one of them got close they saw her and snatched
her off the ground like a child picks up a bug. They can see your gift inside
you, it gives you away to them. I rolled over to see the marcher strip her
flesh from her body in long pieces, and devour it.”

“Poppycock,” said Marilyn. “I know a little bit about such
things, and what you’re saying is complete rubbish.”

“Well,” Percival said, “I didn’t invite you here to see you
killed, just to fix you. But be my guest if you want to explore the grounds at
night. You’ve been warned. I’m going to head back to town. You have the run of
the house. There’s plenty of bedrooms for you to choose from, though I’d stay
out of the one next door, the corner bedroom.”

“You’re leaving us here?” Eliza said.

“Yes,” Percival answered, “You really can’t leave. I can make
it out, but you wouldn’t survive the walk to the van. So settle in, there’s
some food in the fridge in the kitchen downstairs. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

Percival turned to leave the room and within seconds had
disappeared into the hallway that led to the staircase. Once he was gone, they
all turned to look at Jonathan.

“Whoa, hey,” Jonathan said, sensing their anger. “I had no
idea! What I told you is what he told me. I’m just as surprised as you.”

“Did you check into this guy?” Russell asked.

“He seemed legit,” Jonathan said. “Relator with a ghost
problem. Not uncommon.”

“How do we know he’s telling us the truth now?” Myrna asked.
“I don’t feel any different. Might just be a trick of his to get us to spend
the night in the house.”

“I don’t really
feel
anything,” Eliza said. “I’m not
sure how I’d feel if my abilities were being stripped away. How long did he say
it would take?”

“A couple days,” Russell answered.

“So what, we just slowly lose our ability to enter the
River?” Steven asked.

“If what he’s saying is true,” Myrna said. “But I don’t trust
liars.”

“He might be a treasure hunter,” Roy said. The rest of the
group murmured their agreement. Steven didn’t understand the connection.

“A treasure hunter?” Steven asked. “You mean he wants us to
find the device for him?”

“Exactly,” Eliza said, “and the rest is just motivation. We
typically won’t work on those kinds of projects. He might be thinking he’s
tricked us into finding it for him.”

“There’s plenty of unethical people in this business,”
Marilyn said, glancing at Russell. “Why go to this extent? It wouldn’t be hard
to find some who would help search for treasure for a cut of the findings.”

“Maybe he doesn’t want to give up any of it,” Myrna said. “He
wants it all for himself.”

“Well, I’m not staying in this house,” Marilyn said, rising
from her chair, her dog clutched to her chest. “I don’t think any of it is
true.”

“You’re going to leave?” Russell asked. “Now?”

“Yes, I am,” she said, walking to the room’s exit. She turned
to face the others. “Anyone care to join me?”

“I wouldn’t do that,” Jonathan said. “He might not be lying.
Sleeping here or back in town, what’s the difference?”

“Rooms are probably better here,” Roy said.

“I’m not going to be part of his stupid plan, whatever it
is,” Marilyn said. “People like him have to learn you can’t just try to trick
people like us and get away with it. Anyone coming with me?”

“I’ll go,” Steven said. Both Roy and Eliza turned to look at
him, concerned. “My father takes medication every night, and it’s back in that
motel room. I’ll go with you, but I’m bringing the medication back here. If
we’re successful, I can let you all know.”

“And if you’re not,” Roy said, “we might never hear from you
again. I’d prefer you stayed.”

“I think I’ll be OK, Dad,” Steven said. “I don’t think I was
tagged.”

“Why do you say that?” Eliza asked.

“Didn’t you all see what happened during the focus?” Steven asked.

They looked at each other, unsure of what he was asking. “We
were all moving our energy to the center of the circle, when it all stopped,”
Eliza said. “It seemed like a normal focus until it ended.”

“You didn’t see the dark emerge from the center?” Steven
asked. “And go back into you?”

Eliza let her mouth drop. She turned to look at Roy, who
furrowed his brow.

“Why don’t you start from the beginning and tell us all what
you saw?” Roy said.

Steven backtracked and recounted his observations of the focus,
of seeing the darkness form inside the circle and travel up to each of the
participants.

“Steven is in training,” Roy said to the others. “I’ve only
been working with him for a year or so. I don’t think he’s perfected the
ability to enter a trance. Sounds to me like Steven was just a witness to what
the rest of us were doing, that’s why he could see it. We couldn’t, because we
were in the trance and concentrating on our individual part. But he saw it
happen.”

“I didn’t realize Steven wasn’t capable of trancing,”
Jonathan said to Eliza.

“Steven has skills, trust me,” Eliza replied.

“So you didn’t get tagged?” Russell said. “You saw all the
rest of us get tagged, but you didn’t get tagged yourself?”

“I don’t think so,” he said. “I felt nothing when it ended,
just saw you all knocked back in your seats. Did you feel it?”

“Yes,” Russell said, “I felt it. It didn’t just end, it felt
like something hit me.”

“You’re exaggerating,” Marilyn said. “It was only a surprise
because it ended so abruptly.”