The Raven Mocker (17 page)

As they had done within the confines of Langston Hall, the shadows separated from one another and flew toward the spot where Hanna lay. As they neared her, the shadows shrunk in size and soon appeared as two dark Native Americans walking upon the snow. Their images became lucid once the pair arrived on either side of the naked old man, still quite taller and more repulsive than either of them. Their eyes mirrored the empty sockets of Grandma Susanne a short while earlier.

Their raven-black hair was strewn with crow feathers…each one dressed in buckskins and beads, wearing moccasins. They deferred to the old man’s authority, kneeling before him.

“
Agasdi nasgi ageyv!
” The figure’s voice rumbled unearthly as it uttered this command.

The one closest to him moved over to Hanna’s limp body and gathered her up. The master smiled in approval, closing his hand around the jewels. He turned toward the northern woods, walking out of the clearing with his companions on either side.

Just as they reached the edge of the forest, their images blurred and faded into a collective swirling mist that rose high into the air. The mist darkened and thickened, spreading like an enormous inkblot elucidated by the moon’s brightness. It continued to rise far above the tree line until all at once it exploded into thousands of small particles that began to vibrate and buzz. Carried by a forceful gust pummeling the virgin woodlands below it, the unearthly mass raced north, roaring like an immense swarm of angry hornets.

Chapter Seventeen

“
Hello, Auntie.”

David spoke quietly into the receiver of his mobile flip phone. He adjusted the seat cushion of his chair in the waiting area outside the ICU at St. Anthony’s Medical Center in Denver, where he and Miriam had spent the last forty minutes. Miriam sat across from him with her arm around Janice, whose eyes were red from the tears she’d cried for much of the past few hours after finding her close friend, Sara Palmer, lying unconscious on the floor of her living room.

“
Are the kids giving you any trouble?”

His latest comment drew a curious look from Miriam, until she saw the impish expression on his face. Ruth told him everything was okay back at the house, and then she asked about Sara.

“
Not so good, I’m afraid,” he told her, the sadness in his voice erasing the wan smile from a moment ago. “The doctors here told Miriam and Jan they have no idea when she’ll come out of the coma.”

He didn’t feel it necessary to add that one of the attending physicians, Dr. Leonard Puckett, stated he believed Sara might never regain consciousness.

“
Yeah, it’s really tough on both of them….” David glanced at Miriam, this time with a slight wince. “No, the detectives here earlier are just getting started, so there are no suspects yet… What’s that? Yeah, we believe so….”

He stood up to get a better signal, noticing the nurse attendant pointing to the sign next to her station desk that said ‘No Cell Phones’.

“
Hey, Auntie, let me call you later when we get out of here.” He spoke even softer while holding the receiver close to his mouth. “I will—I promise! Tell the kids we might have to take a rain check on the visit to the mall later. But we’re still on for Shakey’s Pizza tonight…. We love you, too, Auntie. Bye.”

David closed the phone and mouthed a silent apology to the attendant, who merely shook her head before turning her attention back to the small stack of paperwork she processed.

“
So, how are things at home?” asked Miriam, as she continued to comfort Janice.

“
Everyone’s fine,” he replied. “Jill and Chris are working a puzzle with Ruth and Ty’s occupied for now with his X-Box. Apparently he and Steve Elliston got the same on-line game for Christmas and have been going at it for the past hour. He won’t break for lunch if Auntie isn’t paying attention.”

His last comment drew a slight smile from Janice.

David wished he could lighten the load that burdened her heart. According to what she told Miriam over the phone a couple of hours ago, she went to see Sara when she failed to return her calls from Christmas Eve and again on Christmas Day. Janice became especially worried this morning, the day after the holiday, when her second call attempt of the day, around nine o’clock, again went to voice mail. She got in her car and rushed over to Sara’s Cherry Creek townhouse, arriving just after nine-thirty. She found the front door unlocked and Sara sprawled out on her living room floor unconscious, wearing the same outfit she had on Sunday night when she came to the Hobbs’ home to investigate the latest haunting.

The police, who arrived with the paramedics, found no evidence of forced entry, and nothing of value was missing from the home...just the four precious gemstones that David entrusted to her care. He prayed Janice’s presumption proved correct—that Sara had deposited them within the heavy-duty vault secured to the floor in her bedroom closet. The police were reluctant to have one of their specialists open the vault, since a clear link between what lay hidden safely inside and the attack on Sara needed to be established first.

She’d been left with a deep gash that extended from just below her left eye all the way down her left arm, ending inside her palm. The injury could’ve been caused by any of a number of sharp objects, and Janice heard one of the officers speculate the weapon might not ever be recovered, since that’s the way it often turned out in assault cases.

The immediate issue was how to get Janice to not feel personally responsible for what befell Sara. She blamed herself for waiting until after Christmas to check on her. His and Miriam’s initial efforts to reassure her that none of what had happened could’ve been prevented by her went ignored. But as the afternoon wore on, she eventually became more receptive to their comfort, and Janice’s spirit finally lifted from the terrible despair she’d fallen into.

Dr. Puckett returned to the waiting room with the latest update on Sara’s condition around 2 p.m. The handsome young doctor advised that although she remained in the coma her vital signs were good. Her wounds dressed, the prognosis for successful healing was positive, though still too early to determine the coma’s duration. Curiously, Dr. Puckett also shared the fact that the medical staff remained at a loss as to how Sara fell into unconsciousness. The x-rays, CAT scan, and an MRI had uncovered no physical trauma to her skull. This knowledge only added to the mystery of what happened and why.

With nothing more that David and Miriam’s presence could accomplish on behalf of Sara, Janice insisted they return home to be with their family. As for joining them tomorrow on a planned trip to Breckenridge, Janice admitted she felt uncomfortable leaving Sara for two days, even though she was under the finest care in the greater metro area. David told her they would hold off on leaving Littleton until noon tomorrow, to give her enough time to decide if she’d like to accompany them to the ski resort.

Dying to ask Janice if she knew of any other place Sara might’ve chosen to hide the jewels, it just wasn’t the right time to do so. Miriam would agree it best to wait until after the initial shock of Sara’s attack wore off, perhaps after they returned from Breckenridge. But he worried what to tell Ruth in the meantime, since she never wanted to leave the heirlooms in Sara’s possession to begin with.

There now was much to consider in light of the attack. Did the sudden cessation of paranormal events in his household have anything to do with what happened to Sara? The fact her coma wasn’t due to physical trauma fueled this line of thought. He pictured Christopher’s description of the withered ‘tree man’, and how this thing later ransacked Auntie’s room. Was it too far-fetched to think such a malevolent presence would follow an unsuspecting middle-aged woman home and viciously attack her before she even had the chance to take her coat off?

“
Thank you for being here with me this afternoon, David,” said Janice, coming over to where he now stood with Miriam, just inside the exit from the waiting area. They hugged, and he patted her shoulder affectionately as they let go. “I’ll call Mir first thing in the morning to let you guys know if I’m coming along or not.”

“
Take as long as you need, Jan,” he told her.

“
I’ll call you later tonight,” said Miriam.

Miriam and David headed for the elevator, waving goodbye before joining another nurse in the elevator, whose shift had just ended. They soon returned home in David’s pride and joy, his cherished midnight black BMW Z4. He suggested she drive, hoping it might help lift her spirit. When she pulled the car into the exit lane for Littleton from I-25, David’s cell phone rang.

“
It’s John!” He smiled broadly. “I was just thinking about calling him once we got home.”

Miriam smiled as well, and motioned for him to take the call.

“
Hey, John!” he nearly yelled into the receiver of his cell phone. “It’s about time we talked, eh?... Yeah, it was good. Here’s wishing you a belated
very
Merry Christmas! How was your holiday?... Oh, yeah?....
What??
... What do you mean she’s gone??”

He turned toward Miriam, whose expression mimicked his own shock. Meanwhile, he continued to listen, offering only short, stunned comments to whatever John Running Deer told him on the other end of the line. For the next few minutes it continued like that, while Miriam deftly navigated the snow-packed shortcuts to their neighborhood. David hung up, promising to be there for John if he needed anything—to call him when he knew more information, regardless of the hour.

“
What’s going on, hon’?” asked Miriam, her countenance clouded with even more worry than before.

At first, David could only shake his head. “It took John’s granddaughter, Hanna, from his cabin late last night,” he told her, his voice a mere whisper.

“‘
What’ took her?” she asked, the nervousness in her voice revealed she knew the likely answer.

“
The spirit that’s been haunting us both,” he said, his voice cracking.

“
What?
How’s that possible??”
She began to weep. Pulling the Z4 into the long curved driveway in front of their home, her shoulders heaved as tears flowed down her face. David ignored his own shock and remorse in order to take her into his arms.

Jillian and Christopher dragged Aunt Ruth outside to meet them at the car. Holding Miriam even tighter, David had a clear view through the driver’s side window. He greeted their alarmed expressions with a worried smile, silently mouthing ‘everything’s going to be all right’.

But it wouldn’t be.

Chapter Eighteen

Evelyn put her arms around John’s shoulders after he disconnected his call to David in Denver. He turned toward her with the receiver in his hand, his bottom lip trembling.

“
Don’t give up hope, Grandpa—we
will
find her.”

Her expression confident, she fought hard to restrain the wave of dread that threatened to overtake her. She had to be strong, if for no other reason than to keep him focused on finding Hanna.

The first to notice her younger sister gone, when she quietly moved into the kitchen at daybreak, she assumed Hanna might still be sleeping. Evelyn carefully took out the skillet and bacon and eggs to start breakfast, making as little noise as possible. It wasn’t until she glanced into the living room that she saw the empty couch. She didn’t panic until a little later, after she searched the entire cabin, gently opening John’s bedroom door after failing to find her anywhere else.

That’s when he awoke. He immediately joined the search, his worried murmurs growing steadily worse. After seeing Hanna’s faint slipper imprints alongside a set of much larger bare footprints on the back porch, he and Evelyn dressed hurriedly. With Shawn’s help, they tracked the footprints until they disappeared in a clearing located less than half a mile from the cabin. Thick cloud cover from earlier had dispersed, allowing the sun’s light to bathe the near-pristine wilderness.

The butchered wolf remains were still covered with ice crystals from the early morning frost that for the moment escaped the sun’s warmth. Evelyn paused when she saw the garish sight, casting a suspicious glance toward her grandfather who hurried to track the trail of footprints now threatened by the sun. She ran to catch up to him. Once they reached the clearing together, he moved over to the slab-shaped boulder, dropping to his knees while rubbing his hands across its cool surface.

Unbeknownst to Evelyn at the time, the alter-shaped rock was once just that, according to what she would later learn from John. Sobbing, he cried out to his ancestors for help—to bring Hanna back to him before the entity could sacrifice her life. He spoke in the native language of his forefathers, and Evelyn was appalled by his plaintive words that echoed around them, which he may have forgotten she could translate, based on her own shamanist training from three different tribes spread out across the country. She waited for him to finish, helping him back to his feet. Together they returned to the cabin, keeping watchful eyes out for any sign of Hanna. But other than her melting footprints in the snow, there was nothing.

When John regained enough of his composure, he told Evelyn about the altar, once part of an ancient chain of shrines in the Smoky Mountains created by an early North American people that had long since disappeared. Long before their Cherokee ancestors moved into this region from the north a thousand years ago. Two Eagles Cry, John’s grandfather, showed him a similar altar as a boy, and told him how this earlier people often sacrificed their captive enemies to their bloodthirsty deities. Aware of the altar in the clearing near his cabin, John had disregarded its importance, since this earlier culture had long since disappeared.