The House of Grey- Volume 4 (44 page)

“Wait
.
” Taris gave another one
of
her little laughs
.
“I
’
ll get
there
. After that
,
no one came to this
v
alley for at least a couple hundred years
, maybe longer
. In the
late 1800s
a miner from California found a gemstone deposit within a fairly
developed
labyrinth
of caves.”

Monson interrupted
.
“
G
emstones
?
Have you seen any gemstones?”

Taris shook her head
,
then said teasingly, “Look up
,
idiot.”

Monson glanced skyward to see a glittering ceiling. How
had
he miss
ed
that?

He turned to Taris. She nodded before she continued. “The Spanish miner from Cali found
a
gem deposit; a deposit with the oddest gems in existence, truly unlike anything ever found before.
A hand
ful of the
m
were tested with the best technology
available at
the time as the miner and his
backers
attempted to figure what the heck the stone was.”

Monson tried to stop himself. “So what was it?”

Taris giggled
.
“You are seriously so cute
,
do you know that?”

Monson flushed red
.
Taris touched his face fondly. “To answer your question
,
they
n
ever figured it out. They did report that the gem held a strange sort of
low-energy field
.”

Monson’s eyes narrow
ed
and his mind raced. “
Like radiation?”

Taris shrugged. “No idea.”

“So what happened?”

Taris
smiled in only the way that she could
. “Before you knew it
,
this town was booming with people coming in from all over the place
.
A
ctually
,
many of the older buildings you see around here are left over from when that settlement was thriving
, and they
were the ones
who
developed the pass where the highway is now. Everything was going well until
the late 1800s,
right around the time when Washington entered the
U
nion in 1889. For the second time in this valley’s history, the occupants disappeared.
”

Monson
’
s
disbeli
ef
came spilling out. “No. They disappeared without a trace?
”

“Yep
,
” said Taris with a tone of finality
.
“
A
nd the rest is history
,
as they
say
.”

Monson ran his fingers through his hair
.
“I’ve never heard anything
remotely
resembling this. How is that possible?”

Taris laughed
.
“
W
ell
,
Mr.
Horum Vir
, you’re well
-
versed in the ancient history. Maybe this will force you to look a little closer to home.”

“Yeah,
” conceded
Monson
.
“I
’
ll have to do some reading. So let me ask you this,
after
the people disappeared
,
right? Did
anyone
actually look for them?”

Taris’ tongue dabbed at her lips
.
“Of course.
The governor
of
Washington
had a
relative
who
lived out here at
the
time. There was a manhunt like you would not believe. There were hundreds of people living here at the time and in the space of a day
—a
single day
—
they just vanished.”

“Amazing,” said Monson
,
truly intrigued. It was like walking into one of those murder mysteries you see all the time on TV. What could have happened to hundreds of people to make them get up and
leave
their homes without a trace? Monson gazed up to the glittering ceiling and walls
,
taking a breath as he medi
t
ated on Taris and her story.

“That’s not even the half of it,” said Taris quietly
,
interrupting Monson’s contemplation
.
“
T
he most interesting thing is what happened after.”

“You’re baiting me again.
”
Monson grinned at Taris’
love for
dramatic effect
s
. Taris, however, was not listening to him but looking at the clock on her phone.

“Of course I’m baiting you. How else
am
I supposed to get you alone?”

She watched Monson fidget before she continued.

“That story is truly going to have to be
saved
for another time. It
’
s getting late
.
We’d better go
.
”

Taken aback by the sudden end
to
the conversation, Monson wanted to talk more but controlled himself
,
feeling that she was probably right. They needed to get going.

With the light in the once-brightly illuminated cavern now very dim and pale,
Monson quickly gathered up the various items they
had
brought with them
,
as Taris made no move to do so. .
H
e switched on the flashlight
and
grimaced with the realization that it did not work. He groaned. Walking in the dark was not going to be fun.

“Something wrong
,
Monson?” came Taris’ voice from seemingly far
away.

Monson held up the
flash
light
.
“I hope you don’t mind my company
,
because we aren’t going anywhere soon.”

Taris cocked her head
,
tossing back her bound hair. “Hand it here. That thing can be a bit on the temperamental side.”

Monson shrugged and handed it over.
She
gave the light a tap on the side before she went for her pocket. She hesitated. “Monson
,
I can’t seem to find my lip
gloss
. I think I dropped
it
over there.
W
ould you be a doll and look for it for me?”

Monson raised his eyebrow as
she smacked her
cell phone against his chest
.
He
surveyed Taris wryly before turning around. He touched some of the buttons
to illuminate the screen and started
his search for
the
lip gloss
. How on earth was he going
—

“Found it.”

Monson whipped around. Taris held up a tube of
gloss
in her hand and a flashlight shining bright
ly
in the other.

He studied her
,
bemused. “Are you ready?”

She nodded but remained seated. A resounding click and the lo
s
s of most of their light surprised
him
. He moved closer to Taris.

He
tossed his head in confusion. Why
was
she
not
getting up
?
Hadn
’
t it been
her suggestion that they leave?

His
eyes took a few moments to adjust again. Taris watched him
as
the gem
-
light sparkl
ed
in the gloom
like
dusky
twilight.

“Help me up?” murmured Taris under her breath
.

What a simple ph
r
ase, casual and carefree. He returned her innocent gaze
and
felt his heart skip a beat. 

He
moved towards her
,
resolute; he could feel his wit diminishing after all the
day
’
s
excitement. Monson offered his hand
s
and she
took hold of
them with
a
delicate grip.  Unfortunately, as
she
started to stand
,
something went awry with her footing
,
causing her to slip back to the ground. Monson, in an awkward position, was not able to keep her from falling
,
so he did the only thing he could
:
H
e fell with her
,
wrapping
her head
in
his arms.

Monson Grey
now found himself
lying on top of Taris Green.

They held that position for longer than
he
might
have
expect
ed,
neither making a move
or
sound
,
or even breathing.
He
really did have terrible luck with girls
.
W
hat kind of
guy
falls on a member of the opposite sex not once, but twice?
Granted this was a much different situation than what happened with Kylie…but still.

Taris
’
breathing
quickened, and s
he spoke.

“Sorry
,
” she whispered
,
her lips right next to his ear. “I’m so clumsy sometimes.”

What
…
?
T
hat
wasn’t right
…w
hat was she saying?

“No you’re not
.
” Monson’s head shook his disagreement. He was having a hard time answering
as her
breath
was
tickl
ing
his left ear. He found it very distracting. “There aren’t many people I know
who
are as graceful as you.”

“Yeah...I guess you’re right
.
”

He heard the smile in her voice as s
lowly her face inched towards his.

“Taris
…
I
—
”

“Shut up
,
Grey
.
Y
ou talk too much.”

Monson felt his body move almost of its own accord
,
forcing him closer and closer to the young lady he held in
his
arms. His eyes were playing tricks on him now, as even through the darkness he could see the
shimmer
of glossy lips and the tint of warm
,
blushed skin. Something was wrong here
,
he knew
it
, but her aroma, her touch
,
and her
…
everything was encircling him. A finger slid
up
the base of Monson
’
s neck
,
running around his ear. She kneaded his hair and neck
,
drawing him closer to her. Monson closed his eyes as he felt…
as he
felt…felt
….

Pain?

He
stopped a finger
’
s
breadth
from
her,
trying not to move or even breathe.  Their lips were now so close to touching that the hypersensitive skin in that area was responding
to the heat in the negligible
distance between them.
He
was not sure what to do at this point
.
S
o
,
he did the only thing he could think
to do.
H
e picked her up.