Chapter OneColorado, Old Mining Museum
“Beware the goblins of the mountains,’ they say – the Tommyknockers who guard the mines,” Kay finished her spiel for the rapt audience in front of her. “So, who’s ready to get some gold?”
She nearly spun in a circle as a horde of little bodies bum-rushed her. Second graders whizzed past from every direction to get to the panning basins that were set up inside the Old Gold and Silver Mining Museum. It was August, still summer, but with school back in session at the elementary level, she’d been giving tours before her own schedule picked up again. She just had one more year and a thesis to write before she obtained her master’s.
“Make lines on either side of the stations,” a teacher called out, “and what do we say to our tour guide?”
“Thank you!” The group sang out in a chorus of little bird voices.
Kay smiled wide just as her friend, Daria, entered the room and came her way.
“Hey girl,” Daria said, “Nick asked me to take over your tour for a minute. He said he needs to see you in his office.”
Daria was smiling so Kay wasn’t too concerned. Plus, Nick was a super nice boss, always working with students from the university’s geology department like her – giving them jobs and even internships sometimes.
“Okay, thanks,” she nodded at Daria right as a high pitched screech assailed all their ears, filling the acoustic concrete room.
“GOLD!!” A little girl at the panning station wailed out. Everyone’s heads turned in her direction. At first, Kay thought the kid had found a fleck in her pan but then the tiny banshee went on.
“It’s in my eye!” She screeched in an unstoppable crescendo. “I have gold…IN-MY-EYE!!!”
The girl next to the screamer squinted at her friend’s face then took a wet finger and jabbed it in the victim’s good eye.
“Aaagh!” wailed the afflicted one, “MISS RICKERS, MISS RICKERRRSS! ELLIE JUST BLINDED ME!!”
The adults from the group rushed over. The boy next to the girl covered his ears, tipping his pan over the side of the tub to land in a wet clatter on the floor. Pandemonium then ensued as forty small bodies scrambled around the panning tables, slipping and sliding on the wet floor. Kay shrugged at Daria as she walked toward the hallway leading out of the room.
“I leave them in your professional hands,” she teased.
Daria just shook her head and sighed. The scene was all too common.
Passing by giant generators and machines from different eras of mining, Kay made her way back toward the offices. She stopped outside Nick’s door, knocking lightly.
“Nick? It’s Kay.”
She could hear him talking on the phone because the door was ajar so she poked her head in a little. When he saw her, his eyes crinkled up with a smile and he motioned for her to come in.
“Yes, yes,” he said into the phone, “the schedule has all been set. All right, we’ll see you then. Okay, goodbye.”
Setting his phone down, he turned to Kay.
“Hey there kiddo,” he moved behind his desk to shuffle some papers around, “have a seat.”
Kay pulled at the hem of her hiking vest as she moved through the cluttered little room to sit.
“What’s up?” She asked, pulling her lank brown ponytail off of her shoulder.
Nick frowned, an expression he rarely made so it immediately put her on edge.
“I got an e-mail on the museum’s website for you.”
Kay lifted her head up. That had never happened before. She was featured on the website as staff but no one had ever actually contacted her that way.
“Really,” she asked, “what for?”
Her boss kept moving things around on his desk in a failed attempt at appearing to straighten. That he was uncomfortable with the subject matter was apparent but she couldn’t imagine why.
“Ehmm,” he half grunted then pinched a folded sheet of paper off his desk between his fingers, “it’s probably just some crazy. I had half a mind to delete the message when I first saw it. You know, with the internet it could be any wacko out there with time on their hands.”
Kay took a breath to fortify her for one of Nick’s legendary conspiracy theory rants when he reached across the table and held the paper out to her. She took it but didn’t have the chance to open it before he spoke again.
“Don’t put too much store into this kiddo – like I said, wackos ─ but I thought I’d be remiss if I didn’t pass it along to you since it had your name on it,” he paused a second then let out a breath, “it’s about your dad.”
Kay brought her eyes up to Nick’s. She looked back down at the printout and unfolded it.
The subject line on the email said, “Information about Dr. Mitchell Laurens”
To: Karina Laurens
From: Esmerelda Le Coeur
She read on.
Miss Laurens,
I am contacting you through your employer with some information about your parents. Long I have held back from writing you because I know that your father tried to keep you safe from his work.
That was odd, Kay thought. Her dad was the reason she was interested in geology at all. He was a scientist, a professor of geology and an energy explorer. He’d never hidden his work from her. She’d been going out in the field with him since she was six years old. When both her parents had disappeared a year ago after going to Florida for a symposium, she’d been crushed. Their bodies were never found.
The email went on.
I have some information that might help you as, I can imagine, you are looking for answers in the disappearance of your parents. I also have a few of their personal belongings that I’m sure you will want. Please contact me.
There was a list of email addresses and phone numbers, then the note was signed,
Sincerely,
Esmé Le Coeur
Kay gave her head a little shake. She didn’t know what to make of it. Crazy or not, if there was anything to learn from this person, she had to make contact. Feeling Nick’s eyes locked on her, she looked up.
“What do you think of this?” She asked him.
He leaned over the back of his chair then shook his head slowly.
“I don’t know kiddo. Like I said, be careful. There are a lot of people out there that aren’t above taking advantage of others. Why don’t you take the rest of the day off, things will be getting pretty quiet here once that school group leaves.”
Kay nodded.
“Thanks, I think I will. I have some things to get done for school anyway.”
She didn’t make any more mention of the email but the printout was clenched in her hand to the point of wrinkling.
“See you back this weekend. I have you on the schedule for the holiday,” Nick said, meaning the long Labor Day weekend coming up.
She nodded back.
“Yeah, see you then…thanks Nick.”
He gave her a smile before she walked out of his office.
No one was around in the lobby or gift shop when she left. Things were quiet, just like Nick had said but a jittery feeling began in Kay’s stomach and she was dying to track down more info on Esmé Le Coeur. Who wouldn’t be? For her whole life it had been just the three of them – her devoted parents and her following in her dad’s footsteps.
The Florida police had been no help in finding out what had happened to her mom and dad, their investigation turning up practically nothing. Even though she knew that Nick was probably right and there wasn’t anything to this email, she still had to investigate the lead.
In the parking lot, she headed to her car – a faded red Rodeo that she drove through mountain trails whenever she had fieldwork. Kay did not deal in fancy things, from her mid-level ponytail to her hiking sneakers; everything she did was about functionality. A Colorado native, she couldn’t understand why anyone would waste their time on fashion with all the piney mountain air and geological splendor surrounding them. It was no big wonder she felt like a gawky outsider whenever one of her friends succeeded in dragging her to LoDo to party like people her age were supposed to be doing.
The only thing redeeming she could find in town were the museums ─ history, science, art ─ she loved them all. But her time for trips into Denver was limited and she only ventured there on occasion.
One of her best friends, Cindy, worked downtown and her adopted cousin, Marlowe had an apartment there that she lived in when she wasn’t travelling for her job. While Marlowe was in town last weekend, they’d descended on Kay and coerced her into a “girls’ day.” She hated shopping, well, she liked looking and watching other people get excited over clothes and pretty things but, for herself, she really had no clue.
Cindy had talked her into getting a new haircut while they’d been out. What a colossal mistake that had been. The stylist had pretty much ignored her demands for “only a trim” and, by the time the whole experience was over, she’d ended up with an actual hairstyle!
“Your hair is so beautiful,” the girl in the salon had exclaimed, “this rich brown color, these natural highlights. It just needs a little dimension is all.”
Highlights? Uh that was called hours spent outside under the sun, which she could also thank for her dry, tan skin and ever persistent freckles. But she’d kept her mouth shut, lest the woman get any ideas, and glared at Cindy and Marlowe through the slopey side bangs the stylist hacked into her hair.
“You look gorgeous!” Cindy’d squealed.
Marlowe had nodded in agreement. “Very stylish cuz.”
Kay had frowned at them both but she couldn’t deny that it had felt great…that day. No one told her she’d have to have the skill of a Paul Mitchell to replicate the look on her own. She was a towel dry kind of girl. Those stupid bangs kept falling in her eyes until she had to resort to pinning them back with bobby pins or wearing a ball cap. Total annoying disaster!
She cranked the engine to life once inside the Rodeo and backed out of the parking lot. The road from the museum wound through the mountains then went down into the city of Golden where she lived. When she reached the side street that fed into the parking lot outside her apartment, she slowed to a stop before turning in.
“Shoot,” she whispered, looking out across the lot.
Her roommate Jenna and her boyfriend were just entering the apartment building. Crap, they were going in, not leaving! Kay couldn’t stand Brick, Jenna’s jerk boyfriend. He always looked at Kay like she was some kind of underling because his family had money. It didn’t help that he was brilliant and good looking. He called her “Dora the Explorer” every time he saw her and never missed an opportunity to make her feel awkward which, next to Jenna, she was. Normally, Kay didn’t care what anyone thought of her, but Brick hit a nerve. She didn’t want to deal with him right now, not with her emotions in turmoil from that email.
Hitting the gas pedal again, she passed right by the turn-in to her parking lot then drove straight to school. Maybe she could find a quiet spot to use her lap top there and not be bothered. She parked, grabbed her backpack then headed across campus to the geology department – her home away from home.
There was only one other person on school grounds – some guy putting blue fliers on cars. As she walked past him, he handed her one.
“New student group starting up this fall, it’s pretty cool,” he said, “Come check us out at the activities fair.”
“Thanks,” Kay said, being nice.
Yeah right, like she ever had any extra time. She looked at the flier. It read, “Blue Energy” in bold Curlz font.
“Huh? I thought it was green,” she muttered to herself then crumpled the paper and threw it in a trash can as she continued walking.
Campus was practically a ghost town with just a few students milling around, so when she made it to Professor Dime’s door she only gave a cursory knock before pushing it open. When a pair of eyes looked up at her from the department head’s desk, she nearly jumped out of her skin.
“Kay?”
“David?”
Her backpack swung off her shoulder, whipping her off balance into the doorway. Figured, whenever she was around this particular TA all kinds of inelegant things started happening, mainly because she had a crush on him the size of Mt. Evans. David Miller, tall, lanky with that sexy, soft, brown hair of his that was a little bit too long. It lent itself perfectly to his sophisticated, older guy persona. She instantly got bumbly whenever in his presence.
He smiled at her as he pulled his glasses off.
“Dime’s out till next week,” he said, “can I help you with something Laurens?”
He used her last name but in that familiar way that an athletics coach or teammate might and it made her weak kneed. She had no idea why, she’d never done sports.
“Uhh…umm,” she shook a stray hair that had fallen loose from her bobby pin out of her eye as she tried to remember why she was there, “I came to do some research for my paper.” She finally got the words out then stood there awkwardly.
She shrugged as he continued to stare at her, which made her backpack slip all the way down in front of her. She had to jerk to catch it before it hit the floor. Laptop dummy, geez!
“My roommates infiltrated my apartment so I was looking for a quiet spot,” she half turned in the doorway, jutting a thumb over her shoulder, “but I can go to the library…”
“Nonsense,” David said, “I just have a few more things to finish up here then I’ll be going so you might as well use the space.”
“You sure?”
“Absolutely,” he answered but his eyes were already on the professor’s computer screen again. Kay wondered what he was working on but didn’t ask as she took up a spot on the couch that sat across from him a little ways. She pulled her laptop and her glasses out of her backpack while her computer booted up, then took out the email Nick had printed. David’s eyes flicked her way at the crinkling sound. She gave him a sheepish smile, holding the paper in such a way as to keep it out of view which, of course brought his attention to it. But he didn’t say anything and, once again, she felt like a weirdo. Why would he care?
***
An hour later, Kay’s head was swimming. She’d started off with a simple search for one Esmarelda Le Coeur. From there, things had entered a world of weirdness. Le Coer had quite an online presence as, of all things, a psychic ─ love psychic to be exact! She touted a Basque heritage being from what she termed “old Spain,” whatever that meant, but had migrated with her parents as a child and was now located in Florida. Her web page had to do with spiritual healing and finding one’s soul mate through past lives. She cited ancient mysticisms from lost cultures for her knowledge. To Kay, it all sounded like a whole lot of bunk.
She’d just about given up on the whole thing as nonsensical when she came across a link to an article from a newsletter called The Mystos Caller ─for cripes sakes. There was a picture from some rally or festival. It was too small to make much on the feed, but when Kay clicked on the link, her eyes honed in on a man in the background.
Curly dark hair and a pair of glasses she’d know anywhere jumped out at her ─ it was her dad! Dr. Mitchell Laurens, professor of geo-thermal studies, stood in a crowd surrounding an elderly woman wearing a long beaded necklace or rosary. The small woman, presumably Esmarelda Le Coeur, smiled at the camera. Kay stared at the screen in shock.
“Laurens?”
Kay jumped in her seat then looked at David. He was standing up now. It looked like he’d tried to get her attention more than once.
“Everything okay?” He asked her, a concerned frown coming over his handsome features.
Kay took a deep breath.
“Uh, yeah,” she said, after a bit. “I-it’s all…just…okey-dokey.”
She tried smiling. His brow furrowed even deeper.
“You sure? You seemed pretty focused on something there.” He jerked his chin up, indicating her laptop.
“Oh…no,” she waved him off and blew a nervous raspberry. “I-I’m just getting into some really good stuff here.”
The statement was said with a cross swipe of her fist. God, she was such a dork! Especially around good looking guys, they brought every geek neuron in her body to the fore. No wonder she didn’t have a boyfriend.
David looked at her for a second. It was okay, she was used to the incredulous blank stare she got from people by now. Then he did something incredible. He laughed.
“Right,” he said with a friendly nod.
He grinned, as he glanced at the doorway then back to her.
“Hey, uh, speaking of ‘good stuff’, some friends of mine are coming over to hang out tonight. If you’re not doing anything…” he shrugged, in the way of the self possessed, “you should stop in.”
Kay’s eyebrows shot up over her glasses.
“Oh,” she said in surprise, “uh, thanks, yeah…maybe.”
She didn’t smoke dope, well, maybe once or twice in her past but not recently. Still, a really cute older guy that she looked up to a lot was inviting her to spend time with him. She should say yes. She looked back at the computer screen. She needed to get to the bottom of that picture. What had her dad been doing at a psychic fair in Miami right before his death?
“I’ll see how far I get with this,” she said.
David smiled, pulling his bag over his shoulder.
“Okay, don’t work too hard. The semester hasn’t even started yet.”
He flashed her a dreamy, all-male look, then swept out the doorway. What was she thinking? Of course she should go and she would ─ right after she researched that picture.
Seeing her dad in that crowd made her chest feel tight. The past year had been hell without her parents. When they’d failed to call for several days of their vacation, she’d contacted authorities with the Miami PD. A search turned up nothing more than boat wreckage on the beach and some of her parents’ belongings. A few clothing items and their ID’s were found in the Keys. That had been enough evidence to pronounce them both dead.
Kay hadn’t made the trip south because there was nothing she could do down there. The case had been closed as it was pretty obvious that her mom and dad had drowned somewhere offshore. Everything that had turned up was mailed back home to her and she’d been so grief stricken that she couldn’t move much less travel all the way across the country.
After another hour of sifting through Le Coeur’s website, Kay was certain that she had to make contact with the strange woman. She started an email to the given contact address, but after deleting several drafts, she finally dragged her phone out of her backpack.
“Hello,” a woman’s voice answered on the second ring.
“H-hello,” Kay stuttered, “’this is Karina Laurens. May I speak with Esmarelda L-Le Coeur?”
“Karina!” the old woman exclaimed. “I’ve been waiting for your call dear. I wasn’t sure if you’d get my email.”
“I got it today,” Kay said.
“Yes, well good, and just call me Esmé.” The woman’s voice had a southern lilt. “I’ve been anxious to talk to you but the crystals told me to tap into my inner calm, wait for you to respond in your own good time and now you have. The hardest part of the human world I think is striving for patience, don’t you agree?”
“Uhh, yeah sure,” Kay said. The old gal was ‘out there’ for sure!
“Well, anyway,” Esmé went on, “I knew your father, dear, and your mother too. Such wonderful people, their auras were so well matched. Both of them emanated so much love for each other and for you. May the Mother protect their souls.”
Oh boy.
Kay didn’t say anything. She was starting to get uncomfortable. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea. Her dad was a respected scientist and her mother was a teacher. They didn’t have any ‘auras’ that she knew about.
“Are you still there dear?” Esmé broke in on her thoughts.
“Y-yeah, I’m here,” Kay didn’t know whether to end the call or try to delve a little more…
What the hell?
“So, how did you know my parents?”
“Oh,” the woman laughed, “I met your father six years ago at a fair outside of Sedona.”
Huh? What had her dad been doing in Sedona ─ crazies capital of the Southwestern U.S.?
“I’d been speaking at an annual metaphysics retreat and happened upon Dr. Laurens outside an artisan’s stand. His whole chakra system jumped out at me the moment I saw him. I struck up a conversation and we ended up having coffee.”
“What was he doing in Arizona?” Kay wondered out loud.
“Red rock formations, geo-thermal energy,” Esmé answered.
“Huh?” Kay asked dumbly. Hours spent staring at her laptop had resulted in some serious mind melt.
“He was studying the rock formations after giving a lecture,” Esmé prattled, “your father was curious about the vortices in Sedona. He was trying to find scientific explanations for the spiritual resonance of the place, like so many do.”
Kay stared at the wall in Dime’s office. That was an interest her dad had never expressed.
“You know dear,” Esmé said, breaking the silence, “I think it would be best if you came down here. I could explain things so much better in person.”
“Oh, uh, yeah,” Kay said, not meaning it. She didn’t even know this lady. “I’ll have to see about that. Maybe after I’m done with school I…”
“You don’t want to miss the alignment.”
“The what?” Kay didn’t like the sound of that.
“Your sky patterns are set to align this month, in about a week or so I’d say.”
“Sky patterns? I’m pretty sure I don’t have any of those.” She wanted to end this conversation fast. Esmé sounded like a nice person and all but she was way off her rocker!”
“Oh, everyone does,” the love psychic chuckled, “they can’t be avoided dear. If my calculations are correct, Pari will be in your fifth house right in time for the equinox. Pesky things those equinoxes sometimes.”
“Pari, who's that?” Kay asked, before she could stop herself.
“Oh, hmm, she’s your fertility goddess star.”
“Right, well, I don’t really believe in any of that stuff.”
“I know you don’t dear but, all the same, I have your father’s notebook and some things that belonged to your mother.”
“His notebook,” Kay repeated. Her dad never went anywhere without one. It probably had notes, observations of his work and who knew what else. She thought it had been lost at sea but, if it was still around, maybe there were some clues to be found in it.
“I didn’t want to mail the items for fear they would get lost in transit.”
“Of course,” Kay agreed numbly. “I’ll have to come get them. It just, it might take me a while to plan a trip down to Florida.”
She hardly had any money in her bank account. She’d just paid for her books, her rent and she was waiting on her check from the museum to get groceries next week. There was no way she could just up and buy a plane ticket to Miami.
“I bought you a ticket already,” Esmé said, surprising her again. “I can email you the confirmation if you give me your private email address.”
“You…what?” Kay was thrown. “How did you even know that I would call you?”
“Oh,” Esmé chuckled, “well…let’s just say that I had a feeling.”
Kay rolled her eyes. This was seriously weird.
“And you can stay with me dear, I have an extra room. We’ll have a nice chat in person and I can tell you all about your father’s secret project.”
Kay’s brow furrowed, a headache was starting.
“What secret project? My dad didn’t have any secret projects.”
Esmé just made one of those small sounds that only older southern women were allowed to make. The kind that managed to be sympathetic and condescending all at the same time.
“Look, I can’t just jet off to Miami. I have commitments…” Kay started to say.
“Oh, of course dear. I guess it can wait. The next alignment in your house will happen in about forty years so there’s no rush. Time is all relative anyway, right?”
Oh man.
Kay blew out a breath then ended the call as politely as she could…after giving Esmé her email address.
Chapter TwoNew York City
“I have a Paulo on line one, Mr. Amphere.”
Xieran turned to find his sultry blonde coordinator standing behind him and strained to set a painting back down on the floor. It was a heavy oil from the seventeenth century. Damn French, they were always piling on the paint.
“Thank you René, I’ll take it in my office.”
Dusting off his hands, he left the priceless piece of art propped up against a crate, then walked out of the storage area of the gallery. His oxfords clicked against the Italian tile floor on the way to his office and he shook his head at the latest alias the caller had given his assistant, ‘Paulo’ indeed. As he moved, he saw that the gallery had a lone visitor. He wondered if the man was a collector or just a passerby looking to avail himself of the free pressed coffee they offered. Either way, he didn’t have time to play the indulgent host right now. René would handle it. He shut the door to his office behind him then sat at his black walnut desk and picked up the phone.
“Amphere,” he answered in lieu of a greeting.
“My loyal servant,” the cool baritone on the line made Xieran’s jaw muscles bunch.
“Hermes,” he responded evenly, “why don’t you call my cell?”
“Oh, I don’t know friend. I guess I’m just old fashioned…like you.”
The god chuckled at his own joke. Xieran pulled the phone away from his ear. Sometimes Hermes amused himself so much that he forgot to temper his voice down. Living under the Olympian’s rule for eons as he had, Xieran had learned when to dodge and duck.
“So,” he said into the phone, “why are you calling?”
“Right, I need you in Miami in the morning,” Hermes declared.
“What?” Xieran asked. “We have a showing here tomorrow. I can’t just skip out, it would look suspicious.”
“You’ll come up with something,” Hermes said, “tell them your mother died and you have to leave town.”
“She already died,” Xieran noted the excuse he’d used the last time he’d been sent off on a wild goose chase, “twice.”
The god laughed again, but this time it was more of a derisive snort than anything.
“It’s taken me months to get some of these dealers to commit. One, in particular, specializes in ancient Mediterranean work. I would have thought you’d want me to follow that up.”
“Put your best people on it,” Hermes commanded. “There’s a precious gems shipment coming in for buyers in Miami tomorrow. I’m sending you information on a particular stone I want to take a look at. It needs to be brought to Olympus for testing, so you will have to…acquire it…by any means necessary.”
That meant one of two things ─ a whole lot of cash or theft. Xieran hoped it wouldn’t come to the latter but it wouldn’t be the first time. Hermes didn’t care how he got his hands on whatever item he was seeking, be it priceless art or the fucking Hope diamond. Xieran didn’t either, as long as it bought him his freedom from the god.
Hermes wanted a specific jewel with certain properties from the ancient world. What those properties were, he wouldn’t say. Xieran’s search had yet to yield the piece that the god sought but, once it did, Hermes had promised to free him from his life of servitude on Olympus.
“Use the Tides for travel but don’t let yourself be followed,” Hermes said, then ended the conversation.
He spoke of Poseidon’s vortex portals between dimensions. Xieran had met a few divinities working for Hermes but Poseidon had not been one of them. He tried to keep it that way. His use of the Tides was, essentially illegal and the sea god was famed for his violent temper.
The phone stand rattled when Xieran set the receiver back in its place. He stood, rounding his desk then stepped out of his office to go find René. Hopefully, their one customer had left by now. The gallery didn’t make any money from walk-ins and he’d rather not play the well-to-do art dealer right now.
He did look the part, that couldn’t be denied. His tailor cut Armani suit, Rolex and perfectly styled dark blonde hair fit right in with the upper echelons of the arts and archaeology community. Top the whole effect off with a discerning pair of green eyes that missed nothing and you had the appearance of a highly successful buyer.
That was one thing that could be said for his employer, Hermes didn’t skimp on appearances. To create the charade of Xieran’s presence in the human world’s art scene, the god had set him up with several galleries and homes around the world. Each was complete with high end luxuries, cars, wardrobes – anything he could want. It all served him well in dealing with dealers and potential buyers.
As irritated as he was right now though, he had no patience for tourists or window shoppers. Exiting his office, he walked towards the show floor. The hallway was lined with contemporary art. His New York gallery boasted current artists to showcase. It would soon be part of his new “Gems and Art” series – Xieran’s brainchild exhibit. It combined Hermes’ interests and would, hopefully, make finding the damn stone the god wanted easier. So far though, that hadn’t been the case.
Before he could make it all the way to the gallery, René rounded the corner, nearly colliding with him. She looked frantic, not at all normal for the blonde sophisticate.
“Sir,” she started out, sounding breathless, “that man…”
“What is it René,” Xieran urged when she trailed off. He reached out to put a steadying hand on her shoulder.
“He wanted to see our back stock. When I told him no, he became agitated. I explained that we didn’t have anything more in storage besides antique articles but that just seemed to make him angrier. He…he grabbed me but then he let go and just ran off.”
Xieran scanned the gallery.
“Which way did he go?”
“I don’t know. I came to find you as soon as he left.”
Xieran nodded.
“Take the rest of the day off…” he started.
“But what about the show tomorrow?”
“Cancel it.”
His assistant looked at him incredulously. They’d been planning this show for months, bringing in dealers from everywhere. It had been a huge undertaking.
“We’ll reschedule. It will add an air of mystery.” Xieran said. She kept staring at him like he’d lost his mind, until finally he sighed then went for it. “My mo…ehm…sister has an emergency and I have to leave town. Our mother’s death has been very hard on her.”
“Oh,” René came blinking back to life, “o-of course. I’ll call everyone on the list.”
“Thank you René.”
She got her things together and left the gallery minutes later, still rattled by the encounter with the strange man.
Xieran made a quick search of the showroom to see if the stranger had left anything behind but found nothing. When he went to the front to lock up though, something caught his eye. It was a business card lying at the foot of a sculpture on display in the front window. The area was pristine so the small black rectangle stood out.
Bending down, he picked up the card. It was blank on one side so he flipped it in his fingers. There was nothing more on the other side but two embossed capital letters in metallic blue – N and B. That didn’t mean anything to him but he pocketed the card, then got his things together for the Miami trip and left out the back.
Chapter ThreeGolden, Colorado
God she needed a drink! What was she thinking accepting Esmé’s offer or demand actually to drop everything and fly to Miami? It was weird how the old lady managed to convince her right on the spot but Kay had to find out what had happened to her parents. She knew she was letting herself believe in the possibility that they’d turn up somewhere alive and well after surviving on some island together as castaways. Who was she kidding though? This whole situation was nuts. She needed to get some perspective.
Darkness had settled over the campus by the time she made her way out to her car but she was grateful for the rush of cool air across her face. Fall was coming. Before she’d lost her parents, it had been her favorite season. This year, she dreaded the prospect of enduring it without them. Stray blue papers swirled around the pavement in the breeze and Kay shook her head thinking of the guy with the fliers earlier.
“So much for clean,” she grumbled under her breath.
She climbed into her rodeo, started the engine then sat there. Hopefully Jenna and “Brick the Dick” had moved on to more exciting pastures. Kay blew out a breath of relief at the thought of an empty apartment then almost choked on it. She didn’t want to be alone right now. After she drove out of the parking lot, she started off in a direction that was familiar but one she’d never really spent much time in.
Turning left at an intersection, she went down a couple of blocks then stopped in front of a narrow two-story Victorian and turned off her car. This neighborhood was where most of her schoolmates’ house parties took place, though she hadn’t been to very many. A year ago she’d come here for a department mixer which had consisted of a bunch of geology nerds like her, kind of an obligatory get-to-know-you. Thinking that wouldn’t be so bad, she walked up the steps, knocked on the old style door and waited.
The brass knob turned even as the door swung inward.
“Kay-Kay! Hey, what are you doing out there?” Jenna’s voice shocked her out of her skin. She looked up. “Get in here,” her roommate laughed, “it’s about time you came out.”
Past her friend’s blonde head, Kay saw people moving through the house and heard music. It looked more like a party then the little get together David had described earlier. Maybe it would give her head a chance to clear, could be just what she needed…or not.
“Uh, I was just here to drop something off,” she lied, “but maybe I’ll come back tomorrow…”
“Whatever,” Jenna said in that tone that made the word acceptable to use in any situation even though it made no sense. Grabbing Kay’s arm, she yanked her inside. No sooner was she dragged into the kitchen and had a beer pushed into her hand, then the one voice that made her skin crawl boomed from the doorway.
“Ahh, it’s Dora the Explorer,” Brick said, eliciting a few chuckles from the kitchen crowd. “Have you come back from a big adventure little girl?”
To think that he had asked her out in their first year, worse still, she’d actually considered the idea. He’d come off as nice and interesting at first. Then she’d overheard his buddies talking about some nerd-girl list they had. Bunch of douche bags! When she’d turned him down he must have lost a bet or something because, after that, he’d become a real a-hole and hadn’t let up ever since.
“Guess so,” Kay said, pasting on her good sport smile.
She knew better than to spar with Brick. Pointing out what an ass he was would only make him meaner. She knew this from experience.
“Brick,” Jenna whined but he’d already honed in on his prey for the night and wouldn’t back down.
“Nice vest Dora,” he kept on, “I like the hair pins too. You have a very ‘Gorilla’s in the Mist’ thing going on.”
Kay couldn’t help but glare at him. She didn’t know why he got off on making fun of her so much. Shifting to move out of his line of fire, a movement behind him caught her eye.
David was standing just off of Brick’s shoulder. She hadn’t noticed him there. He’d witnessed the whole humiliating exchange. Maybe he’d say something that would put the toad in his place in some super cool intellectual way and they’d all have a good laugh at Brick’s expense. Maybe he’d kick the jerk out of his house and Brick would get hit by a truck right in front of their eyes to the roaring cheer of the masses!
Kay swallowed, waiting with baited breath for David to deliver the grown-up set down she imagined. Her eyes locked on him, nearly bugging out of her head.
David smiled benignly then nudged Brick’s shoulder with his own.
“Play nice with the other kids Brick,” he said, chuckling. His eyes passed over Kay in a way that said he found her totally uninteresting, probably border-line disgusting then said, “Kay is comfortable in her skin that’s all, right Kay?”
Kay’s heart sank. She wished she’d get sucked into the floor right then.
“Sure,” she forced a smile and pushed a dry, two-note laugh through her vocal cords for emphasis.
Brick laughed again until Jenna finally managed to pull him out of the kitchen.
David shook his head at the guy then winked at her in a completely condescending manner before moving into the living room. It shouldn’t have, but after the day she’d had, that moment crushed her. For a fleeting second, she really had expected the guy she’d looked up to since freshman year to treat her with some kind of regard. The fact that he thought of her as just another kid in his classes made her chest twinge deep inside. She knew her looks were nothing remarkable and she did tend to dress down for any occasion but Brick always knew just what to say to make her feel like total crap. She’d been off her guard tonight just looking to be around people, to take her mind off of her parents and all the feelings that talking to Esmé had stirred up. What a mistake.
Her cup clunked down hard on the table. A splash of cold beer wet her hand before she left it behind and moved out of the kitchen toward the front door. Nobody stopped her, not that she expected them to. Jenna was busy keeping Brick away from the public and David had moved on. To everyone else, she was invisible. Usually that was okay but tonight she’d been hoping for a little more – for some kind of connection to the world that she hadn’t felt in a long time.
Tearing out of the house before anyone could see the wet streams start to track down her face, she ran for her car.
“Kay,” Jenna called after her from the front door but it was too late. She didn’t stop until she was in the driver’s seat. Even then, she didn’t look up as she turned the engine and ripped away from the curb.
Before long, she found herself turning down a familiar side street. She drove until she came to a dead end then turned the only way she could and kept going further to the outskirts of town. Passing a couple neighborhoods, she finally turned off on the road that led to her childhood home.
No porch light lit the driveway with a welcoming glow like it would have a few months ago, so Kay cut the lights on the Rodeo to sit there in full darkness. The skin on her face was stiff when she ran the back of her hand over where her tears had dried. What an idiot thing to cry over. It wasn’t like anyone at that party meant anything to her. She’d been an outsider her whole life, always too engaged in her or her dad’s work to care that she didn’t belong to any real “crowd.” She was fine with being the geeky, smart girl. It had never bothered her before but tonight’s events had unraveled her.
It had to be the conversation with Esmé. She should have taken Nick’s advice and not even called the woman. There was no way she was going to Miami now. The best thing for her to do would be to keep her head down, finish school then try to move on with her life.
With that decision made, she got out of the car and walked up to her old front door, digging house keys out of her pocket as she went. The door creaked when she opened it, something it had never done when her mother lived there. Mara Laurens had always kept their home in tip top shape. Kay frowned at herself, closing the door behind her. She should be taking better care of this place.
She walked all the way through the house to the kitchen in the dark before turning on a light. Once the heart of family activity, it was eerily cold and still now. Kay waited for some memories of baking cookies with her mom at the stove or holiday dinners to fall over her like the comfort of a warm blanket, but they didn’t. That made standing there alone even worse.
The walls echoed her steps as she made her way toward the stairs. It was an older home with the original wood floors. Newer homes had sprung up in the area but Kay liked to think that this place had retained its charm through the decades. One of her favorite things was the curved banister that led to the upstairs bedrooms. Passing her dad’s office, she kept going all the way to the end of the hall then opened the door to her old room. The space came to life when she flipped on the light; the colors of the Hummingbird quilt on her bed bouncing at the welcome illumination.
Kay sat down on the edge of her bed across from the little desk where she’d done her homework as a kid. It was neat with disuse, meaning her mom must have straightened before they’d left for Florida.
She scanned the bookshelf that held all of her old journals and the books she’d read as a kid, then her old manuals she’d used back when she’d thought that a career as a gemologist would have been just about the most exciting life ever. Who wouldn’t want to dig up diamonds by the handful? When she’d found out that the glamour of gem hunting rarely extended further than the occasional quartz geode, her dreams had been so dashed that she’d moved on to more practical geology, like her dad.
A thought suddenly popped into her head with that memory. She moved out of her old room, walking back down the hallway until she came to her dad’s office at the top of the stairs. What was it crazy Esmé had said about some secret project? If her dad had been working on something out of the ordinary, then there’d be something in his office to clue her in. She flipped on the light in the cramped little space where her dad had kept his life’s work. His desk was strewn with papers ─ Mom had given up on him and resorted to the closed door approach to cleaning a long time ago. A few thick tomes were stacked haphazardly at the back so Kay walked over to look at the top book that was lying open, draped over the rest.
“Theoretical physics,” she read the first heading out loud.
Thumbing through a few pages, she found a picture section her dad had earmarked. Several different sketches and diagrams of extra-terrestrials stared up at her through black oval eyes. Kay snorted.
“Aliens dad?”
There’d always been the discussion between the two of them that somewhere out there intelligent life did exist, but it wasn’t something either of them had put any time into studying. At least she hadn’t. Her eyes went to what her dad had written in the book at the top of the page, squinting without her glasses to read his scribbling.
“Not an accurate depiction,” it said. Huh? Must be one of her dad’s off color jokes. There was more, “Notebook 144c.”
She twisted around, looking for her dad’s journals. There wasn’t one on the desk so she scanned the bookshelf, her eyes landing on a stack of skinny composition books laying sideways in the center row.
Lifting the first book, she brought it up to the light. Sure enough, the number 144c was scrawled in black sharpie across the white space. Kay blew out a breath, glad she didn’t have to dig through the boxes of notebooks that were stored in the attic. There were hundreds of the things that her dad had amassed over the years, all labeled with numbers and letters according to which project he was working on.
Cracking open the notebook, she leafed through a few pages trying to find something that made sense. At the back, her dad had written a passage letter style, which was unlike the normal notes and sketches he usually filled his books with. It was like a diary entry.
“They are among us…” It started out.
“…creatures, beings from other dimensions, not only outer space as I had once imagined. Some of them can not even be classified as alien because they have walked the earth far longer than humans.
I have made encounters while out in the field, unexplainable happenings, disturbing sightings and sometimes just hair raising feelings of an unknown presence. Supernatural, paranormal, extra-terrestrial ─ are these the correct terms to define what I have seen? All I can say for certain is that these beings are powerful. They have been around for a very long time, probably since the beginning. Once, they lived in concert with mankind but something happened long ago and they now have an acute contempt for modern humans.
Through my research, I found that many of earth’s geological and atmospheric disturbances may find their root not in seismic, climatic, or weather related occurrences but, actually, are being set into motion by these supernatural beings. For what reason I cannot conjecture, but judging by the increasing frequency and intensity, it can be assumed that their intent is not of a benign nature.
I’ve made plans to study the geological link. Many of the paranormal hotspots are located at earth’s vortexes. What was once a guilty fascination, a diversion from my actual work, has become a matter of dire importance as all evidence points to a rising insurrection coming from these powerful beings. Their presence has steadily increased over the past two or three decades, as I have noted on my charts. All my research suggests that there is a sea floor link to nearly every troubling account of man meeting with these destructive otherworld forces.
I fear for my wife and daughter. I have to gather more information but am assailed by the feeling that time may be running short before something truly harrowing occurs that will affect the entire world.
I leave for Miami tomorrow for a close study of the Bermuda Triangle ─ one of the world’s most hostile vortices…”
And there the entry ended though it was obvious that her dad had written more. Kay flipped the page but it was the last one in the notebook. Paper had been ripped out. He never did that, his notes could be chaotic and disjointed but he never mangled his pages. She had to know what else he’d written! She searched the bookshelf but that notebook was the highest numbered in its group. That meant that if Esmé had a journal in Miami, it was probably the next one.
Just as all her thoughts came crashing together, bright lights blazed into the windows then a car door slammed shut. Someone was coming.
Rushing to the window, Kay looked down at the sidewalk in front of her house. A car was there but no person. As her eyes swept the street, a rattling sounded at the front door. Her heart pounded in her chest when she heard a loud noise like a hammer striking against wood and then the door coming open.
They were breaking in! She switched off the light and ran back down the hallway to her room, turning off lights as she went. Stopping, her mind raced to come up with what to do then her eyes fixed on her closet. She dashed inside it, her heart beating harder and harder in her chest.
A man’s deep voice spoke downstairs, but only one, like he was talking on the phone. The sounds got closer then heavy footsteps thudded up the stairs. Her breath caught in her throat as she heard the intruder enter her dad’s office. She could hear him shoving things around. Hugging her dad’s notebook to her chest, she sank to the closet floor, feeling against the wood plank wall. Gratefully, her hand found the painted over knot of rope she’d nearly forgotten about and pulled hard just as a super loud bang came from down the hall. The bastard was wrecking her home!
A three by three square of the paneling came away from the wall as she pulled with all her might. Then Kay dove into the dark space, holding back a cough as dust particles flooded her lungs. She hadn’t been in here since she was ten. It had been her favorite part of the house when she was a kid ─ a laundry chute that her dad had closed off or thought he had. He’d actually just painted over the wall thinking that was a good enough seal to keep his daughter away from it. Kay had worked it free though. The chute came out in the laundry room off the kitchen on the main floor. It was a pretty steep slide which probably should have resulted in a few broken tailbones for her and her friends but never had.
The noises at the end of the hall stopped suddenly then those heavy footsteps started coming toward her room. Sitting back on her butt, Kay yanked the panel back in place from the inside and sat down on the chute in the cramped dark space. She took a deep breath, trying to ignore the surge of claustrophobia she felt coming on. This space hadn’t been so crowded when she was little. A clatter came from the other side of the closet then the panel started to pull away just next to her head. Horrified, she watched as the intruder’s hand reached around, prying the thin piece of wood loose. He’d found her! Not thinking anymore, she stretched her legs out in front of her and flew down the chute.
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