Last Grave (9781101593172)

  The only reason we know of this last rumor is that a Franciscan friar at Mission Santa Cruz in 1792 made a note in a record that a young male had been brought to the mission and treated for extreme injuries incurred while checking up on the condition of the beast under the mountain. Based on what the young man said, the friar was the first to refer to the cave as the cave into hell. He also noted that the young man was out of his mind with a fever, ranting, and had sustained deep puncture wounds to the abdomen. Despite their best efforts, they were unable to save him.

  A week later, a large earthquake caused some rock slides in the mountains. When the friar finally went to check on the man’s story, he discovered the cave exactly where the man had told him, but could not pass as far into it as the man described, possibly because of collapsing walls.

  Samantha put down the book. Her pulse was racing. Drake had been studying spirits of the mountain, Winona had discovered this book, which reinforced a story her shaman father had told her. Trina had told her the witches were causing the earthquakes in an effort to look for something. Robin had been having recurring nightmares about an earthquake happening while she was standing at the entrance to a cave.

  What if Giselle is attempting to free the monster buried under the mountain?

  Everything was starting to make sense, fall into place. The witches wanted to know what Winona knew about the legend. The ritual she had seen the afterimage of in Cathedral Grove had involved a mountain with lines on the ground. She was guessing they were fault lines and that they were working to crack open a portion of the mountain in order to release the monster or to enable someone to get inside and get close to it.

  But how would they know which area to try to widen? If the caverns truly went on for miles underground in many directions, how could they be certain that they were striking in the right place?

  She was sure that this was what Giselle was trying to accomplish, but she felt like there was still a piece to the puzzle that she didn’t have. What would make her think she could target the area well enough to accomplish her goals? Moving a ton of rock debris was a challenging task for any coven, but without precise directions, it would prove fairly impossible.

  “What am I missing, Freaky?”

  The kitten just continued to snore softly.

  Samantha closed the book and put it on her end table. She turned off the light and picked up Freaky, who mewed plaintively. She lay down and put the kitten back down next to her. He snuggled into her side as she closed her eyes and prayed that sleep would come. She was going to need to be as rested as possible if she was going to stop the coven from unleashing a demon.

  * * *

  She was standing on a steep hillside, staring at the opening of a cave. There was a metal grate across the top part, leaving only a small entrance.

  “Do you think we’ll fit in there?”

  She turned to the speaker. It was Robin, who was staring at the cave with a look of dread on her face.

  “I think we have to. So, we’ll do what we must,” Samantha told her.

  “I’m afraid.”

  “Everyone’s afraid. It’s okay to be afraid. It’s what you do about it that’s important.”

  “I don’t want to go in there.”

  Neither did Samantha. There was something ominous about the entrance. Even the air itself felt somehow wrong here. She hunched her shoulders, trying to fend off the feelings of darkness and doom that seemed to be creeping up on her, as stealthy as shadows, as inevitable as night.

  “We have to go in. We have to find out if it’s really there.”

  “But what if—”

  The earth began to shake, and Samantha could feel herself shaking apart with it. She was standing there with the girl one moment, and the next moment she was gone. Samantha was somewhere else entirely. It was dark where she was.

  Where am I? When am I?

  The earth continued to move, and around her she could hear things buckling and groaning beneath the strain. And then rocks began to rain down on her head.

  * * *

  Samantha woke with a shout and sat straight up. Her bed was shaking, sliding across the floor. The book and lamp both fell off her end table and the picture of her parents flew off the wall and hit the ground, the glass shattering into a hundred pieces.

  Freaky was clawing his way up her body, eyes wide in terror. She grabbed him and leaped from the bed, sliding across the floor in her socks and slamming into the door. She cursed as she tried to wrench it open and then she sat, huddled with the kitten in the doorway as the house seemed to shake itself apart around her.

  I don’t want to die. Not here, not like this. The thoughts flashed through her mind. Freaky had dug all of his claws into her arms and was holding on for dear life. Apparently, he wasn’t ready to die yet either.

  The door to Jill’s bedroom flew open, slamming into the wall with a thud so loud they both jumped. Samantha wondered how much longer it could possibly last and whether they should try to make it outside or stay right where they were.

  At last the shaking came to an end. They sat there for what seemed an eternity, both waiting, both afraid to leave the doorway for fear it would start back up again. Slowly Freaky retracted his claws.

  “I think that was even bigger than the first one,” Samantha told the little kitten. Freaky didn’t seem to disagree. Slowly she stood up and moved back over to the bed. She dropped Freaky on the floor before she shoved her bed back in place. She picked up the book and the lamp, then headed out to the kitchen to get a broom and dustpan to take care of the broken glass.

  Once that was finished, she sat back down on the bed. The dream she’d been having before the earthquake hit came back to her, rattling her more than the quake had. She realized she knew exactly who the other woman in Robin’s dream was. It was her, because she had dreamed the same dream. And even she didn’t know where she had disappeared to.

  She forced herself to take deep, calming breaths. Freaky was burrowing under the blankets, and she reached out and petted his tail absently. Then she stood up and walked out to the family room, where she turned on the television.

  There was a news update about the earthquake and she listened. “. . . another earthquake along the San Andreas fault line. Because this quake was bigger than the one from a couple of days ago, this one is now being classified as the main earthquake and the others as foreshocks.”

  She was right. This one had been stronger than the first one.

  “For more updates on this and the unfolding story of the murder at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, tune into the news tonight at six.”

  Samantha turned off the television. She shouldn’t have been surprised that the Boardwalk scene was making news. She wondered how on earth the local police down there were going to spin everything, particularly the carousel horse who had left his post.

  She turned to head back to her bedroom and jumped when she saw Roxy come padding down the hall. She had forgotten that the energy puppy was still around. She really was going to have to figure out what to do about Jill and the dog.

  She changed into clean clothes and then sat down at her computer. She searched online for more information about the Hell Hole Cave. She found a few pictures of it, mostly of the entrance and a few from inside the cave itself. There were several short write-ups by people who had actually been inside. She discovered that in the room of clay faces there was also a guestbook that people signed. That was a cute touch.

  More information than that was sparse, though, and there was nothing about the ancient legend. She did find information on some of the other more famous caves in Santa Cruz that were home to distinct animal species and were favorite haunts of students. She read about the clean-up efforts for one of the caves. Winona’s name was mentioned in relationship to it. Apparently, she had been one of the more outspoken proponents for maintaining the cave in its na
tural state and keeping revelers out. Finally, she found a Web site that actually gave coordinates for the cave.

  There seemed to be nothing else online about the cave. She finally gave up.

  She went into the kitchen, made herself a quick sandwich, and called Lance. It went straight to voice mail.

  “Hi. Finally awake and trying to play catch-up. Checking in to see where you are and what I can do to help.”

  She hung up and quickly ate her sandwich. She kept expecting to receive a call back and was surprised ten minutes later when he still hadn’t returned the call. She finally tried calling again, but it still went to voice mail.

  “Now I know why Ed always got so frustrated when I had my phone off,” she told Freaky and Roxy, who were both regarding her with enormous eyes.

  “Are you two going to play nice if I leave you alone?” Samantha asked.

  They just blinked at her.

  She finished getting ready to go and then headed downstairs to her car. She slid behind the wheel and contemplated her next move. She didn’t want to waste time waiting for Lance to call her back. She finally decided to go down and check out the Hell Hole Cave. After that, she could check in on Robin like she’d promised she would. It had only been a few hours, but the girl had to be completely traumatized from earlier.

  She pulled a piece of paper with the location of the Hell Hole Cave out of her pocket and punched the information into her GPS. She needed to go see this place for herself.

  * * *

  It was two hours later that Samantha was standing in front of the entrance to the cave. It looked as it had in her dreams. It was in the side of the mountain, which was green and lush. The top half of the entrance was covered by a grate, leaving only a narrow slit at the bottom. A person would have to back into it to get inside. She thought of some of the pictures she’d seen online. Half the people shimmied through on their backs and half on their stomachs. She didn’t care to go in there at all. She shuddered just thinking about it.

  The air was cold and crisp, but that didn’t account for the chill that seemed to be settling into her bones. There was something deeply unnatural about the place. Samantha bent down and slowly, hesitantly, moved her hand toward the rock wall just inside the cave entrance. She hesitated. It should be cool, but it was radiating enough heat that she could feel it even before she touched it. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end.

  What would she see if she connected with the stone? Would it be the creature purportedly trapped inside or the effect of spells being cast by witches? She held her breath and put her hand on the stone.

  It was hot, but she didn’t see either of the things she expected. She saw herself, crawling into the hole, going deeper and deeper. She saw herself barely avoiding being bitten by a black widow dangling from the ceiling. She saw herself skidding down a deep incline and then losing her footing and falling headlong into the darkness.

  She screamed and jerked her hand away. “This is not the future. I am not going in there,” she vowed.

  But in her heart she knew that wasn’t true. If all fingers pointed to this place, sooner or later she was going to have to go inside. Her mouth felt dry and her stomach queasy. She wiped her hot, sweaty palms on her pants. She backed away slowly, not wanting to take her eyes off the cave. It was almost like she feared that if she turned her back on it, something would reach out to suck her inside.

  It was ridiculous, but the fear that was pumping through her system couldn’t be denied. She stared hard at the metal grate that partially barred the entrance. She wondered who had put it there and why. Why not cover the complete entrance? She had read that there were several tight squeezes once inside. Maybe to prevent more explorers from getting stuck, they had positioned the grate in such a way to restrict access to only those skinny enough to get through the tight spaces inside. Maybe the grate had originally covered the entire cave entrance and determined adventure seekers had gotten rid of half of it.

  As she stared, the grate suddenly seemed to be brighter, shinier. There was less grime covering it, and it was more easily recognizable as metal. She blinked, wondering what was causing the illusion. She glanced up at the sky, but the clouds were obscuring the sun. She stepped forward hesitantly and touched the metal, trusting her other senses. It felt clean.

  “What is happening here?” she wondered out loud.

  It could be a glamour spell, but for what possible reason? It made no sense. A glamour spell would be more likely used to obscure the cave entrance altogether. The clouds overhead began to darken, and a light drizzle of rain started. She gazed around apprehensively.

  The last time she had been in these mountains, the rain had been accompanied by thunder, lightning, and a witch bent on killing her. She turned and began the hike back to where she’d left her car.

  She turned for a last look back at the cave. Through the thin veil of rain, she could barely even see the barrier anymore. It certainly wasn’t shining like it had been a minute before.

  She turned, hunching her shoulders up against the cold, and walked. Around her, the trees seemed to be whispering to one another. It was just the wind blowing through them, but after her experience the other night, she’d never look at trees the same way again.

  A high-pitched scream caused her to whip around quickly. It had come from the direction of the cave. Was someone trapped in there? She stood, hesitating. She didn’t want to get near the thing again, but if there was an innocent hiker trapped, she should help. A second scream drove her forward until she dropped on her knees in front of the cave entrance.

  “Hello!” she shouted. “Can you hear me?”

  There was no answer. “Hello?” she called again.

  It might not have even been coming from the cave. The mountains were loaded with trails. Someone could have slipped and fallen on one of them. She put her hand inside the mouth of the cave and touched the stone. It was considerably cooler than it had been when she touched it before. As she pulled out her hand, she noticed something else that was different. The barrier that was blocking the top portion of the entrance was no longer made of metal. It was wood, old and faded. The word DANGER had been scrawled across it.

  She touched the sign. It felt old even. Her confusion mounted. Something was happening here, changing this place, in ways that she couldn’t explain.

  She thought about the scream she’d heard. Was it real, from a living, breathing person, or some sort of ghost or echo from the past?

  Magic is simple.

  She placed both hands on the rock just inside the cave and felt the buildup of energy in her body. “If there is a living human down there, this energy will go to them. If there is no living human down there, it will come back to me.”

  She pushed the energy into the rock and then waited. A minute passed, two. She knew the caves were supposed to be extensive, but a person shouldn’t be able to reach that far into them. Maybe there is someone down there, trapped. God, please, I don’t want to have to go down there.

  And then she felt a surge of energy hit her fingertips and pass into her body. Her energy had come back. “Nothing living down there, at least not human,” she whispered.

  She stood shakily to her feet, relief flooding her. But the cave mouth just gaped at her, as though it were laughing. She could almost hear it whisper, Another day.

  Not if I can help it, she vowed.

  The rain had ceased. It was just a cloud burst apparently. She felt her spirits lighten slightly as she hurried away from the cave. She couldn’t help but feel that she’d dodged a bullet. However it had happened, she was truly grateful.

  Samantha returned to her car and breathed a sigh of relief when she hit the road. She hadn’t liked what she’d felt at the cave, and she just wanted to put as much distance between it and herself as she could.

  Her mind churned as she drove, conjuring up all sorts of gruesom
e images for her to ponder. Finally she came to the turnoff, and a minute later she was parked outside of Robin’s house.

  There was no sign of the car her aunt had been driving the night before. Hopefully, that meant the problem had fixed itself. She sat for a moment, trying to compose herself. She didn’t want to alarm Robin. The poor girl had been through enough already.

  Samantha got out of the car, remembering that she had forgotten Robin’s T-shirt in the clothes dryer. Oh well. I’m sure I’m going to be out here fifty more times this week, she thought drily.

  Robin was outside, picking some herbs from the garden along the side of the house. She seemed none the worse for wear and very focused on what she was doing.

  She looked up as Samantha approached.

  “How are you today?” Samantha asked. “Feeling better than last night? I know I certainly am.”

  “Who are you?” Robin asked, fear flashing across her face.

  “What do you mean?” Samantha asked, taken aback.

  “You . . . you’re like me.”

  “Yes, we’ve been through this,” Samantha said.

  Robin dropped the flowers and backed toward the house. “What do you want?”

  “Robin, is something wrong?”

  She could see the girl’s eyes. Unlike the night before, they looked normal. But what was this if not some sort of spell? Could the girl’s mind have finally shut the door on the traumatic events of the past few days, similar to what Samantha had done with most of her childhood?

  “Stay away from me!”

  Robin turned and ran up the steps to the house and inside, slamming the door behind her.