The Haunting of Pitmon House (21 page)

“This is so old it doesn’t have an expiration date on it,”
Eliza said.

“Beggars can’t be choosers,” Aceveda replied. “Do you want to
use it or not?”

Eliza squeezed some of the ointment onto her fingers and
began to rub it into her arm.

“Good, let’s try again,” Aceveda said. “Pick it up, prime it
like I showed you, and start.”

Eliza sighed and reached for the umbrella. “As long as this
takes,” she said, “I’ll be under attack from Tena and Dominic.”

“And any other ghosts who might have an interest in what
you’re trying to do,” Aceveda said. “All the more reason to learn how to do it
quickly. There’s a good chance that all of the activity in the house is because
of that broken legend shelf, so the sooner you fix it, the better.”

“I haven’t even made it through once,” Eliza replied.

“Once you get it down, repetition will help cement the
process in your brain.”

“Granger and Robert will be toast by the time I get through,”
Eliza said, trying to imagine performing the same steps on the wall in the
attic at Pitmon House.

The stick came down, whacking at her fingers. “Stop being
negative! I have something that will help them, but you need to concentrate on
your responsibility in this endeavor!”

“Hitting me doesn’t help with the pain!” Eliza said.

“And stop being afraid,” Aceveda shot back.

“I am not afraid!” Eliza replied.

“You are, and it’s holding you back. We’re not going to make
any progress until you’re unafraid of my stick. I can see right now you’re
fearful I might hit you again.”

“Who wouldn’t be?”

“I’m going to hit you hard with it right when you’re at the
most delicate stage of the lock picking. It’ll surprise you, and it will hurt.”

“I don’t see how that can possibly help!”

Aceveda sighed again. “Successfully using that pick requires
concentration to the exclusion of all else. Not only do you know that I will
hit you, you have to live with the knowledge that it’s coming. If you can’t do
it here, with me and my little stick, you’ll never do it at Pitmon House. Now
insert that pick correctly and let’s get on with it!”

Eliza positioned the tip of the umbrella at a brick in the
wall, and slipped into the River. She concentrated on the brick, repeating a
mantra in her mind that Aceveda had taught her. The tip of the rod slipped into
the brick as though she was inserting a hot knife into butter. The novelty of
it had stunned her at first; this, however, was the eighth or ninth time she’d
tried, and the sudden malleability of the stone was losing its wonder.
That’s
probably a good thing,
she thought,
considering what Aceveda just told
me. Forget about everything else, and try to sense what’s going on with the
tips of the pick.

Trying to not think about anything else caused the pick to
slip in her hands. She heard Aceveda sigh.

“I’m going to call Granger,” Aceveda said. “You’re going to
have to stay another night.”

Robert picked her up the next morning, and they made their
way back to Madison. He asked how things had gone.

“Pretty well,” Eliza replied. “I think that if I can remember
everything, it might work.”

“What’s the general gist of it?” he asked.

“You two try to keep Tena and Dominic off me while I crack
into the wall.”

“So there is a way to penetrate a legend shelf?” he asked.

“I can’t talk about that.”

“Sounds like there is.”

“I can’t talk about it.”

“Hmm.”

They sat in silence for a moment.

“Well, you crack it, what then?” Robert asked.

“If I’m successful, it should negate the legend shelf’s
boundary, and we’ll all be able to penetrate the wall.”

“We’ll want to bring sledgehammers,” Robert said.

“I guess,” Eliza replied. “Yeah, that makes sense. There was
no other way into that room.”

“So Tena and Dominic,” Robert said. “We’re supposed to keep
them focused on us while you work? I’m not so sure how well that will go. We
saw what Dominic did to Rachel.”

“Have you seen her?”

“We went by the hospital last night,” he replied. “She’s the
same. Not in the best of spirits.”

“The woman gave me something for you and your dad,” Eliza
said. “It’s a protection that’s supposed to help with the pressure. She said it
might help against Tena and Dominic, too. She thought it would protect you long
enough for me to complete the…”

She stopped. How much should she tell Robert? She’d sworn an
oath to Aceveda, and she didn’t want to break it, but it seemed obvious what
they were attempting.

“…to complete what I have to do.”

“Ah,” Robert said. She knew he observed the evasion.

“We’ll have to get up there, physically, this time,” Eliza
said. “We’ll need a route.”

“We located the stairs in the drawings we got from the
lawyers,” Robert said. “At the end of the long hall on the second story,
there’s a narrow staircase that goes up.”

“Great,” Eliza replied with sarcasm. “We have to go down that
fucking hall.”

“We’ll be dosed up on the old woman’s protection,” Robert said.
“We’ll be fine.”

“There’s more than just Tena and Dominic haunting that
place,” Eliza replied. “That thing I saw walking up the stairs. It’s somewhere
in there, too. Who knows what we might run into.”

“You want to do it, right?” Robert asked. “You didn’t spend
two days with that woman just to back out, did you?”

“No, I’m going to do it,” she said, looking down at her
hands, remembering what Aceveda said about fear. “I have to.”

“You don’t,” Robert replied. “We can stop this anytime.”

“And what about Shane?” she asked.

Robert didn’t reply.

“Everything has lined up for this to happen,” she said. “I’d
feel like a loser if I didn’t see it through.”

They came to a red light and Robert slowed the car. He turned
to her. “Whatever you want. You’re calling the shots. I know it can seem like
my father barrels forward a million miles an hour, but I’ll stop it all with a
single word from you.”

She looked at him, and knew there was something more in his
words than just concern and courtesy. For a moment she was tempted to jump into
his thoughts, but she resisted, feeling it would be an invasion, and part of
her didn’t want to know if he really felt a different way than his words were
portraying.

“Thank you,” she said. “But I’m going forward.”

He smiled. The light turned green, and they continued west.

●

“Damn, these things are heavy!” Granger said as they walked
from the iron gate to the front door of Pitmon House. It was noon, but the
spring sky was overcast and everything looked pale.

“Why’d you bring two?” Robert asked.

“I thought we’d get through that wall faster,” Granger said.
“I didn’t realize how tired I’d get of carrying them.”

“Leave one down here,” Robert said. “One sledgehammer is
enough.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Granger said, opening the front
door and letting them inside. Once he’d closed it, he placed one of the
sledgehammers on the floor near the door.

“There, that’s better,” he said, lifting the other to his
shoulder.

“I’ll carry it if you want,” Robert offered.

“I’m not so old I can’t carry a tool,” Granger replied.

“But you’re old enough to bitch about how heavy they are,”
Robert replied.

Eliza walked to the staircase. In her hand was the umbrella.
Granger and Robert had asked her about it, but she’d rebuffed their questions,
and they quickly realized she wouldn’t be discussing why she needed it.

“Come on, you two,” she said, walking up the stairs. When
they reached the landing, she stopped and passed around the flask that Aceveda
have given to her.

“She said this was tailored?” Granger asked, sniffing at it.

“Yes,” Eliza replied. “It’s supposed to help with the
pressure.”

“God, it tastes awful!” he said, passing the flask to his
son. Once they’d all swallowed it, they continued around the landing and to the
base of the next set of stairs that led to the second floor, and ascended.

Light from the hazy day filtered in through large windows,
casting patches of light onto the carpet that ran the length of the hallway.
They passed Agnes’ room. Eliza felt her senses go on high alert as they walked
into uncharted territory, the place where Nick had lost his life years ago.

You can lose your life anywhere in this house,
Eliza thought.
Rachel was attacked
downstairs, Granger on the landing. We’ll be attacked in the attic, if we make
it there. No place is safe. Maybe that was Nick’s mistake.

When they were halfway down the hall, Robert said, “There — on
the left, the last door.”

Eliza turned to glance behind them as they approach the door.
The hallway looked long, stretching back to the stairs, and she felt panic
rise, knowing they were now very deep into the house. It was a much farther
trek to reach the landing and the front door than from Agnes’ room.

Robert reached for the door handle and pulled it open. Beyond
was a short hallway, and at its end, narrow wooden stairs ascended.

“After you,” he said, allowing Eliza to enter. There was no
window or light, so she turned on her flashlight and took one step at a time.
Robert and Granger were right behind her.

The stairs turned to the right and continued up, making one
more bend before turning to the left and rising into the attic. She stepped
from the last stair onto the bare floorboard and looked around, surprised that
they’d made it this far without encountering resistance. They were at the far
end of the attic; she recognized some of the piles of furniture farther down,
and after they made their way around several stacks of boxes, the brick wall
came into view.

“It’s so obvious, once you know,” she said, looking at it.

“Yeah, definitely constructed after the house was finished,”
Granger said. He placed his hand against the bricks. “I don’t feel anything.
Whatever was in that woman’s juice, it’s completely removed the pressure.”

“Me too,” Robert agreed. “I hope it doesn’t wear off quickly.
I’d hate to have the pressure return, being this close to it.”

“Here,” Eliza said, removing the flask. She took a final
swallow, and passed it to Granger. “You guys keep this. Keep dosed up.”

“How do you want to play this?” Granger asked. “Our physical
bodies where?”

Eliza walked around the eight foot wall, choosing a side that
buttressed against the wall of the attic, feeling it was less out in the open
than the other sides. “I’m going to start working here,” she said, kneeling
down. “My body will be right here with me, although I’ll be in the River. I
need you to keep Tena and Dominic busy. They’re gonna show up as soon as I
start, I just know it.”

“Tell you what,” Granger said. “We’ll go around the corner of
the wall here, and start sledgehammering. That’ll keep them focused on us, and
hopefully they won’t even realize you’re here.”

“Alright,” Eliza said. “I’ll let you know when I get
through.”

She lifted the umbrella, aware that Granger and Robert were
watching her. “You’ll have to turn away, at least,” she said.

“Oh, right,” Granger replied. “Come on, son. Let’s start
banging on this wall.”

They walked around the corner, and Eliza heard the
sledgehammer striking the bricks. She felt nothing from their repeated blows;
the legend shelf inside was doing its job, repelling the force of the hammer.

She dropped into the River and raised the long metal
lockpick, pressing its tip against the brick and watching as the stone melted
around it, allowing a couple of inches to sink in.

The clang of the sledgehammer continued while she worked, and
she forced herself to ignore it. Robert and Granger were now talking, too, but
she didn’t allow herself to listen to what they were saying; she focused on the
resistance she felt along the pole, responding by tipping the rod slightly in
the opposite direction, slowly working it deeper and deeper into the brick.

I’d be surprised if it’s more than a foot thick,
Aceveda had said.
The legend
shelf is doing most of the work to keep people out, not the bricks.

Granger and Robert were yelling now; something was with them,
and the repeated hammering of the sledgehammer had stopped. She felt a massive
plume of fire spread past the edge of the wall where she was working, its heat
warming a side of her body, startling her.

Dominic has arrived,
she thought; his red eyes entered her mind, distracting her.

Focus! All that matters is the next pin; all that matters is
the next milling.
Resistance
on the upper left; she countered by lowering the handle slightly to the lower
right until it slipped another quarter inch. More resistance mid-rod, on the
right. She moved it laterally to the left, not letting the tip dip. Another
quarter inch.

In her peripheral vision she saw a body fall to her right,
just past the edge of the wall. She wanted to turn and look, to see who it was.
The body slid out of sight.

Have I made a mistake?
she thought briefly, then pushed the idea immediately from
her mind, knowing it could collapse the entire enterprise if she entertained it
for more than a second. There was resistance on the rod at multiple points, and
she gently moved it in a slow spiral, as Aceveda had taught her, probing,
looking for the next weak spot that would allow the pick to sink farther into
the wall. It wasn’t coming. It was as though she’d hit a solid surface inside,
with no place to penetrate.

Another giant plume of flame raced by, this time reaching
around the corner of the wall. She wondered if any of it had touched her body
as she continued to spiral the rod slowly, looking for the next groove she
could use.

She had the sense of something coming around the corner;
someone walking.
I’m being watched now,
she thought.
Maybe Tena and
Dominic won, maybe their attacks worked. Maybe Granger and Robert are down.
Maybe…

Her arm began to give out. The rod was heavy, and holding it
by the handle for a long time made unused muscles in her forearms ache. She
doubled her effort to maintain control, and continued the spiral.

The flame roared again, coming from her right, and this time
it passed in front of her eyes, obscuring her vision of the rod just as it
slipped forward, its tip having found a hole. Suddenly the entire pole moved
forward in her hand, almost pulling her forward, and she realized she had done
it; she had penetrated the barrier. It slipped farther, and she allowed her arm
to follow it, moving through the flames and to the brick surface, where instead
of meeting the rough resistance of the stone, her fingers passed through it and
into the wall.

She knew she was leaving her body outside the wall, but she
didn’t dare reverse course. She’d cracked the wall, and she wasn’t going to let
whatever hole she’d managed to open swallow shut. She was going to see what was
inside.

Her face passed through and emerged. She found herself in a
small dark room with no light, unable to see anything.

I have to let them know I made it in!
she thought, moving through the room
to an adjacent wall where she figured Robert and Granger had been working on
the other side. She slid her upper body out, allowing her head to see what was
going on.

Another giant plume of flame raced toward her. Granger and Robert
were still standing; the flames engulfed them, but didn’t take. She could see
Dominic behind them, raising his blowtorch for another attack.