Excerpt
“What is this place?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know? You have to know, you brought me here.”
“I don’t know what it is though. I have my ideas, but….”
“What do you mean you have your ideas? Do you think it has something to do with Taz disappearing?”
“I don’t know.”
Esther was becoming impatient. Her quest for answers superseded any crush or would-be relationship. Now was not the time to be charming. She would grab him around the neck and choke the answers from him if need be.
“You do too know. You thought it was important enough to check out. I want to know why. Tell me what you’re thinking.”
Reed continued to hold the torch in his hand. It lit his face, outlining his strong features. Usually Esther would be nervous in his presence; tonight it was Reed that seemed anxious.
He stepped up close forcing her against the trunk of a tree his face directly in front of hers. She swallowed hard, taken back by the unintended intimacy of the moment.
“Promise me you will not tell anyone about this place.”
Emotion choked the voice from her throat. She managed a hoarse whisper.
“I promise.”
“I think it’s some sort of gateway.”
She swallowed hard.
“Gateway to where?”
Reed bit down hard clenching his jaw. “I know it sounds crazy, but I think it is a passageway to the afterlife.”
A cold chill passed through Esther as terror invaded her. She glanced at the vapor hovering near the well and the gnarled trees standing vigil and she began to tremble. This was too much. She wanted to turn and run as fast as she could, removing herself as far from this bizarre place as possible. Instead she grabbed Reed’s hand.
“Okay, I am scared to death right now…I may pass out at any minute.”
Reed’s lips gave way to a smile.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t bring you here to scare you.”
“Then why did you being me here?”
Reed moved in pinning her closer against the tree. He placed his mouth close to her ear and whispered as if he feared being heard.
“To see if there was water. When there is water there is activity…..it means they have come.”
Esther wanted to scream and run like a banshee through the woods. Reeds words made her legs shake uncontrollably. She wished she were anywhere but where she was, yet the intimacy of the moment made a fire burn in her belly.
“Who are they?” she whispered back
She didn’t know why, but his next words chilled her to the bone, and for some reason she wished she had not asked the question. It’s better not to know some things, because sometimes with certain knowledge comes great misfortune. Yet, she had asked; and, he had whispered back into her ear. She never could have dreamed that the two words he spoke would change her life forever.
“The Harets.”