Eximere (The River Book 4) (9 page)

“Don’t look so shocked,” Eliza said. “It’s a little
insulting.”

“Why didn’t you pick the lock on the gate?” Russell asked.
“Made us walk all the way around that fence.”

“I didn’t have my tools,” she said. “I’ll bring them with me this
time.”

“How did you learn to pick locks?” Steven asked.

“It’s a long story,” Eliza said, holding her stomach. “But I
really need to sleep for a while, guys. Give me a couple of hours, and I’ll go with
you.”

“Yes,” said Myrna, “a couple of hours is all I need too. I’m
exhausted.”

“Are you sure it isn’t the draining?” asked Jonathan.

“No,” Eliza said, “I can still trance. I tried it while we
were looking through the book while Steven was gone. It’s not the draining,
it’s the vomiting.”

“What came of the book?” Steven asked. “Anything?”

“No,” said Roy, “but there’s more to search through. We could
use the time while they’re napping to keep looking through it.”

“OK,” Steven said. “It’s ten o’clock now. How about we leave
at noon?”

“How about two?” said Myrna.

“Yes, I vote for two,” Eliza said. “I need some solid sleep,
Steven.”

“Fine, two it is,” Steven said. “Let’s all meet here, and
we’ll take two cars up.”

They all filed out of the room, and Roy closed the door
behind them.

“We did find something in the book,” Roy said. “But Eliza and
I decided we only wanted to tell you rather than the others.”

“What is it?” Steven asked.

Roy walked to the back of the motel room and pulled the book
from his backpack. The book had several sections, each made by one of Steven
and Roy’s progenitors. Each section had different paper and different writing,
and had been bound to the previous section, making the book irregular and oddly
shaped. The most recent section was Roy’s.

Roy let Steven use the book whenever he wanted, but to Steven
most of the book was impenetrable. The words were all in English, but they
didn’t make sense to him. They seemed like random words strung together with no
meaning. However, once Steven had experienced something in the River, it gave
him context, and sections of the book that related to his experiences began to
clear up. He was able to read many parts of the book that related to things
he’d already experienced, but the vast majority of the book was still a mystery
to him. He was hoping that since Roy and Eliza were tagged by the device, it
would give them enough context to discover something in the book that might
help them. Roy sat the book on the bed and opened it to the first section.

“My great grandfather Thomas was the first to write in this
book, and he wrote about something like this,” Roy said, flipping through the
pages and pointing to certain passages. “Eliza and I did locate some references
to draining, but it’s very confusing, because it keeps referring to itself.”

Roy showed the passage to Steven. He read it, but it made
absolutely no sense to him.

“Dad, I don’t think I can understand it. I wasn’t tagged.
It’s just gobbledygook to me.”

“Well,” Roy said, “Thomas keeps referencing sections in his
own work, but they aren’t here. That’s why Eliza and I didn’t feel we could
share any of this with the group yet. It wasn’t substantial enough. That, and I
don’t like revealing family secrets if I don’t have to.”

“Can you read me exactly what it says?” Steven said.

“They’re small references,” Roy said. “Here’s one: ‘…to drain
the power. See T, p. 90.’ I take that to mean ‘see page 90’ in Thomas’
writings. But there’s nothing about this on page 90. Another one: ‘…the discs
of the drain and their spinning. No longer irreversible, but he’s succumbed. T,
p. 142.’ Referring to page 142, right? Nothing there, either.”

“Yeah, that’s not enough to share with the others,” Steven
said. “Is there more?”

“There are lots of little references like this,” Roy said,
“but only in Thomas’ section. Nothing after that.”

“So this goes back a ways,” Steven said. “Old stuff.”

“But each comment is written like the reader would already
know something else,” Roy said. “Nothing is a complete thought. Obviously
something is missing.”

“Maybe it’s a section you just haven’t found yet,” Steven
said, “later in the book.”

“I don’t understand why he’d note his section with the ‘T’,
if that’s what he’s doing,” Roy said. “This is the first section. When he wrote
it, there were no other sections to reference; they were all added later by his
son and grandson. Why reference yourself like that?”

“Don’t know,” Steven said.

“I’ll keep reading,” Roy said. “We’ve got a few hours to kill
before we go back up there.”

“Leaving at 2 means we’ll have only a couple of hours to get
in and out,” Steven said. “I think we ought to assume we might get stuck there
again tonight. Bring your meds.”

“I’d rather sleep there than in this rat hole, anyway,” Roy
said.

◊

They drove from the motel to the estate just after 2. They
were driving behind a logging truck, so Steven was going slower than normal. He
figured they could fit both cars in the pull off to the estate at the chain
without drawing attention from the road. Roy was riding in the passenger seat,
and he had Eliza and Myrna in the back seat. Jonathan and Russell were in the
other car.

As they approached the estate, the logging truck slowed a
little. “There’s a van pulling out of the estate driveway,” Roy said, glancing
around the right of the truck.

“Percival?” Steven asked.

“No, not his van,” Roy said. The van pulled out in advance of
the logging truck, and began coming down the road towards them. As it passed
Steven on the left he saw a sign on the side of the van that read “Aberdeen
Fabrication.”

“Must have been doing some work at the house,” Eliza said.

“Do we still want to go through with this?” Steven said. “I
figured we’d have the place to ourselves.”

“Let’s continue on and keep our eyes open,” Roy said.

They parked their cars in the driveway at the chain and
followed their escape route from earlier that morning back into the house.
There were no vehicles at the parking area inside the main gate, and they
didn’t observe anyone on the brick path or at the house.

“Doesn’t seem anyone is around,” Eliza said.

The side door they used earlier was locked. “Eliza?” Steven
asked. “Can you pick it?”

“I’ll give it a try,” she said, dropping to one knee and
retrieving a couple of tools from her backpack.

Eliza had the door open within seconds, and the group walked
into the house and through the kitchens to the dining room. Items they’d left
on the table earlier that morning were still there.

Steven led the group through the velvet wallpaper hallway.
“Roger said many of these doors are painted shut,” Steven told the group. “At
least one of them opens to another hallway.”

“Let’s start checking them,” Roy said, grabbing the nearest
door handle. It didn’t budge.

“Broom closet,” said Myrna, who’d open a door on the opposite
side. She looked a little better after her rest. Steven assumed proximity to
the house was helping, too.

“We’re on the right track,” Steven said. “Keep looking.”

The group splintered as different people went for different
doors.

“So what are these ones that are painted shut?” Eliza said,
examining one of them, looking closely at the junction of the door and the door
frame. “Who uses doors for ornamentation?”

“Found it!” Russell announced from further down the hall. The
group convened around him. He seemed proud of his discovery. “Here it is,” he
said while waving his hand toward the open door with a flourish.

They looked down the hallway. It looked exactly the same as
the hallway they were in.

Steven passed through to the new hallway and the others
joined him. “One of these doors,” he said, “contains a room that has a lot of
junk and trophy heads in it. That’s the one we’re looking for.”

This time they progressed down the hallway as a group, with
Steven in the lead. He checked each door as they passed it.

“Painted shut,” Roy said at the first one.

“I don’t understand that,” Eliza said. “Makes no sense.”

The next handle opened into a small modest bedroom.
“Servant’s quarters?” Myrna offered.

“Could be,” Steven said, closing the door and moving on.

They tried several more locked doors and ones painted shut
before opening the one that revealed the trophy room.

“Ah!” said Roy upon entering. “Look at that!”

As Roger had said, the walls were indeed covered in mounted
trophies. Most were animal heads, but there were a few large fish.
“Impressive,” Roy said, walking around the room, looking at them.

The center of the room was cluttered with sofas and chairs,
all pushed together so there was enough space to move around the room. There
was a table that had nine or ten lamps on it. At one end of the room were a
couple of rolled up carpets.

“Roger said it was in a corner,” Steven said, making his way
first to the farthest corner from the entrance. “There’s a lower panel that
slides to the right.”

Others moved to the remaining corners and began searching for
the sliding panel, but Steven felt the corner he’d selected was the right one.
He pressed on the wood panel on the lower part of the wall below the molding,
but nothing moved.

“I’m not finding anything here,” Russell said from one of the
other corners. “You said it slid to the right?”

“That’s what he said,” Steven replied, trying to get the
panel he felt was the most promising one to move. It held tight.

“It’s not this corner,” Roy said from another direction.

Steven knocked on the several panels in his corner. They all
sounded solid except for the one he’d been working on. It sounded hollow.

“Roy, come see this,” Steven said, beckoning Roy over. Roy
abandoned his corner and joined Steven.

“Listen,” Steven said, repeating the knocking.

“It’s that one for sure,” Roy said, lighting up.

“It won’t move,” Steven said.

“Let me try it,” Roy said, giving Steven a slight push as he
elbowed him out of the way.

Roy pressed on the panel, moving from one spot to another,
trying different pressures and sliding along the edges. The other members of
the group began to gather around behind them.

“This thing isn’t moving,” Roy said. “But it’s the one, I’m
sure of it. Listen,” he said, demonstrating the knocking to the group.

“You’re right,” Eliza said. “It’s behind there.”

“Why won’t it move?” Steven asked.

“Maybe there’s a secret lever somewhere,” Russell said.

“Maybe,” Steven said, “but Roger didn’t mention one. He said
you just push it to the right.”

Roy placed both hands on the panel and pushed in, hoping to
feel it recede. Instead he felt it bow a little, held firm in place at the
edges.

“I say we bust it down,” Roy said.

Eliza smiled.

“What, just kick it in?” Myrna said.

“Why not?” Roy said. “If they want to sue me for damages, let
them.”

“Fine with me,” Steven said.  The rest of the group nodded
their heads in agreement.

“If anyone is asked,” Roy said, “none of us know who did it,
OK?”

Heads nodded again, and Roy turned to face the panel. He
raised a foot and kicked. His foot went through the thin wood and into the
space beyond. He pulled his foot back out, and kept kicking around the hole
until he’d widened it enough for a person to climb through. Then he stepped
into the space on the other side of the panel and began helping others come
through.

As Steven climbed through to the new passageway, he noticed
it was dimly lit. He found his flashlight in his coat pocket and turned it on.
Once they’d all reached the inside, Roy turned to examine the panel. “Steven,”
he asked, “would you turn your flashlight on this?”

Steven moved over by Roy and shone the flashlight down on the
back side of the panel.

“Look here,” Roy said. “This metal rail is the contraption
that the panel slides along, and this spring is what holds the panel against
the frame.”

“What is that glistening around the edge?” Steven asked,
pointing his flashlight at the inside edge of the panel, where it met the wall.

“Epoxy,” Roy said, reaching out to touch it. “Still tacky.
This was glued shut recently.”

“How long ago?” Steven asked.

“An hour? A day? Don’t know for sure,” Roy replied.

“Someone didn’t want us to find this passageway,” Myrna said.

“That’s a good bet,” Roy agreed.

“Well, we’ve made it through regardless,” Eliza said. “Shall
we proceed?”