The House of Grey- Volume 4 (43 page)

“Oh my…
.
”

***

A
conflagration of different colors burst forth in beams from the
cavern
walls,
ceilings,
floors
and
pillars like laser
s
at a concert
. The colors crossed and
melded,
reflecting off the
cavern
’
s
surface
s and
combining
in
a
new and intriguing
fusion of light.
The display
chang
ed
the entire space into an abstract piece of art; art that only Mother Nature could create.

“This is what I wanted to show you
.
” Taris’ awed voice slapped him into coherence. “This is a very special place to me. It was where I found my first love
.
It’s where I
had my first kiss. It was a very
special
place that only we knew
.
”

Monson’s heart fell ever so slightly as he spoke his mind. “But
why
…”
he
strained
to
choose
the right words
,
“
w
hy show me somewhere so special to you and your love
?
I have no right to be here
.
”

Her love?
Seriously?
Who talk
ed
like that?
Dumb! Dumb! Dumb…that’s it, no more fantasy novels before bed.

“You have every right
,
” said Taris with a bit of an edge
.
“
H
e is...gone
,
and it was about time someone else enjoyed this.”

Gone? What did that mean? Did he die?

“It really is amazing,” said Monson
.
“
H
ow did you find it?”

“That,” Taris grabbed his hand with a bit of a shiver
,
“
w
ill have to wait
for another day. You have to earn it. A girl has to have
some
secrets.
”

The trembling in her hand accompanied a quiver in her voice.

Fearing that he
had
pushed her too far
,
Monson let his questions remain unanswered. They
climbed
deeper into the cave
r
n, the
multitude
of colors waving about.

“Taris
,
” asked Monson
,
finally unable to control himself
.
“
H
ow is this done? Where are all the colors coming from? I don’t see any bulbs or electrical equipment
.
”

“I really don’t know
,
”
said
Taris
without
turning
a
round
.
“
T
o be honest
,
I
’
ve never even tried to find out. I just loved the mystery. That was good enough for me.”

“There is no way this could be natural.”
H
e had to ask himself
,
could this
be
magic? Monson struggled. He struggled as he contemplated the true depths of what this undiscovered world could hold. Anything was possible. It was a little scary. 

Taris interrupted his thoughts. “Again
,
I don’t have any answers, but what I do know
is
that no matter the mood I
’
m in
,
this place always cheers me up
.
”

Monson attempted to read
into
her words and mood
,
feeling his frustration grow with every passing breath. Why was she so
difficult
to understand? 

They again lapsed into silence as the
y
moved into the center of the cave. As Monson continued to
look around him,
he noticed that this center chamber stretch
ed
deep into the mountain. Actually
,
it remind
ed
him of the central hall where the Tower was located.

Monson killed that thought. He did not want to think about that. Not right now.

The lights continued their fevered dance
around them.
S
everal large openings
in addition to
the one they had entered
were
lit up
,
clearly marking the
entrances to
additional passages.

He was about to ask Taris about the other passages when a sudden change in the seemingly random display of colors caught him. Up until
that
moment
,
the performance of colors and
images was random and unpredictable.
It felt like a warm
-
up
,
as if the lights were getting ready for something greater, bigger and more important.
But now, they were pulsing evenly focusing on different points of the room and highlighting different colors.

How was it possible that only Taris knew about this place? Certainly it would have been the topic of many a conversation if others were aware of it. There was no way it was natural—the entrance alone screamed of something man-made.

Monson’s mind again turned to magic. This had to be magical…but how could he find out for sure?

F
aced with m
y
riad question
s, he
saw no answers or even a
possible
source
of
those answers.  He sighed. Well
,
if that was not the story of his lif
e…

The lights
reclaimed
his attention. Apparently they
were preparing for
their finale. Each light froze in place
.
T
hen
,
as if directed by a conductor’s baton, every beam of color shifted
and
directed
itself towards
a spot in the very center
of
the cavern’s space. The light
s
felt upon a sunken
area
maybe
fifty
feet across and
about
half as deep. The lights, all of them, came to rest on a natural
-looking
ringed formation about
ten
feet
across,
unseen and
un
noticed
until now. Around the ring
at
the bottom of the sunken floor sat
eight
pillar-like stalagmites. The
ir
placement and uniformity
of
size and attributes
would command
the attention of any who beheld them.
The beam
s
remained settled on the
formation
for only a few moments
before
the ring started to glow
,
resembling the
smolder
of a
charcoal
grill
.

The glowing ring let off a light grayish haze.

“Wow
,
”
breathed Monson
, unable to take his eyes off
the glowing ring
.
“I
’
ve never seen anything like it.”

“Beautiful
,
isn’t it
?
”
The beams of light and hazy ring also enraptured Taris
. “Don’t get too excited
—
the best is yet to come.”

On cue,
the
lights
and
color
s
faded,
leaving only the
grayish
hue of the ring. Monson wanted to move but was reluctant. He did not want to miss anything.

He was glad he
remained still
.

The pillars, all eight of them, started to glow
;
started to glow like massive nightlights
, the outer rock lit up from within
. Monson’s eyes grew wide
at a
nother unexpected turn
as t
he glow of
each
pillar took on
a
distinct color
.
R
ed, orange, yellow, green, blue
,
indigo and violet
;
all the colors of the rainbow spectrum. The eighth and final pillar was
a
silver
y
gray
,
just like
the ring the pillars bordered.  The color of each pillar
intensified
until the
ir
radiance shone to the
upper
reaches
of the cavern
. M
o
nson placed a hand over his sunglass-covered eyes. When he opened them again, the light was gone.

Monson and Taris stood at the
edge
of the sunken space groping for words that would not come. Before long, Taris removed her sunglasses. 

“A
couple of
friend
s
and I were hiking around the peak. Exploring,
spelunking
and treasure
-hunting
used to be
very popular
activities
with the students
.
” She laughed ironically
.
“That feels like it was
so
long
ago
, but it was only two years. Man
,
how time flies. Anyway, you do
n
’
t
see much of
that
now
.
Coren
became
a different place once they made it against the rules
.
”

“What happened?”

“What always happens?” said Taris with a weary sadness
.
“A girl went missing
a
long the western border
of the school
.
Everything changed after, but
n
ot long ago we had a
lot more freedom to move about
.
I
t was great
.
”

Monson considered the information
.
“I’ve heard something about this. A girl went missing and they never found her body. Big scandal supposedly.
”

Monson thought back to a Gossip Guy post…now what did that say…
for some reason he couldn’t remember. So he asked:

“So what sort of treasure were they looking for?”

Taris chuckled
.
“
The mysteries of the unknown, Mr. Grey.
There are many
legends
surrounding those who once lived here.
T
his area
was
settled three different times. Once
was by a
N
ative American tribe that settle
d
in the
n
orthern part of the
v
alley
.
I
f you go
up
there you can still see where they lived and
some of their ruins
. Their dams are one of the reasons that the valley is so lush. The
n, the
whole society vanished.  They were gone
—j
ust like that.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that
.
”

“But
how?
” asked Monson
.
“
T
hey couldn’t have just disappeared. Were they killed? Did they move?”