Checking Out Page 9

  Audrey, who had been listening to the conversation from the back steps, pondered whether Paul remembered why he was there and that he, Millie and her mother were dead. Mia warned Audrey a time or two about how ghosts had no idea of time passing and would repeat history over and over again without knowing it. She didn’t need him to suddenly remember the plan and give up the game. That would put her and Mike in danger. She backed up a few steps and noisily stomped down the last few treads humming a tune. She turned the corner to see all three ghosts staring at her.

  “Excuse me, could one of you get me some hot water? The taps in the bathroom aren’t hot enough, and our room is so cold,” she explained sweetly.

  Mrs. Brewster dropped her glare and pasted a smile on her face. “Dear, that will be no problem. She walked over and grabbed the bottle and shoved it at Millie. “My daughter will heat the water and bring it up to you shortly. Why don’t you go back to your room? I’ll make sure the fire’s lit.”

  “Thank you, that would be wonderful,” Audrey said. “You’re so kind. I’m so glad we stayed.” She retreated up the stairs, making sure her retreating footsteps were loud enough to be heard in the kitchen. She did look behind her and could have sworn that Mrs. Brewster had followed her up a few steps. Fearing she was being followed by the woman, Audrey cancelled her trip to the attic. She instead rushed to her room where she found it empty, and the fire had already been lit.

  Millie put the kettle on and waited for it to warm. She watched her mother as she returned from the stairs. She had seemed to have forgotten the previous argument. Instead, she started up a conversation with Paul about the dry weather they had been having. Millie looked out the kitchen window and saw snow. The realization hit her. All the nonsense that Mr. Hicks and Paul were spouting was true. She was stuck in the inn for eternity unless she found a way to escape. Paul had come for her, but the spell of the inn was causing him to lose focus. It was plain to see that she would have to step up and save both of them.

  She filled the bottle and put it on a tray with some herbal tea and a few cookies. “I’ll take this up. Mother, you rest and enjoy the rest of the evening. Paul, could you help me with laying the fire?”

  Mrs. Brewster was about to tell them that the fire had been set but stopped. If she could encourage Paul to abandon the farm and stay on as a handyman, then Millie would be forced to stay, and she wouldn’t have to look for another woman to fill her shoes. She spied the cherry cordial bottle and remembered she had left that nice Mr. Dupree in the parlor. She put the bottle on a round serving tray with two cordial glasses and left the kitchen.

  ~

  “I never quite got a grip on Mrs. Brewster,” Burt said.

  Ted refrained from adding an inappropriate comment.

  “One minute she was all nicey-nicey, the next she was Attila’s role model.”

  “Mercurial people often don’t realize what they are doing,” Cid mentioned.

  “No, this was almost a dual personality thing going on,” Burt argued. He was about to say more when Mia interrupted.

  “How was the inn to you? I mean, did the atmosphere change when Mrs. Brewster did?”

  “Aside from the fifty yard drop to the ground, no. It still wanted to be hospitable. At one point it seemed as if it wanted to keep me. Does this make any sense?” he asked.

  Mia thought for a moment. “It seemed to me the brief time I was there that the building responded to Mrs. Brewster’s needs or she to its. But I never felt threatened until Mr. Chop started bisecting the furniture. Then it became dangerous. The self-preservation mode went into effect. The floor felt like it would digest us if we slipped between the boards.”

  “We did want you to go back and talk to the inn itself,” Cid began, “but after hearing your story, I’m not sure it’s a good idea.”

  “That’s what you were talking about when I arrived. Talk to the Dew Drop, now that’s novel,” Mia said. She pushed her hand through her hair as she thought.

  Ted looked over at his wife and was mesmerized by her. It wasn’t her Nordic blonde hair and soft green eyes that made her so beautiful to him, it was her mind and her heart. He could tell that she was thinking through the situation before speaking. She was examining all the data she had stored in her head on haunted houses, ghosts and ley lines. He caught Cid looking at him looking at his wife and winked. “Quiet, computer is processing.”

  “You’re asking me to make an appeal to the inn for what reason?”

  “We think that you could convince it to step out of the ley line.”

  Mia walked her fingers in the air. “Walk out?”

  “Move out. We don’t think it’s trapped,” Cid clarified.

  “It stands to reason that if it can leave, why didn’t it?” Burt asked.

  “Self-preservation,” Mia said quietly.

  “There’s that word again,” Ted said.

  “Actually it’s two words hyphenated,” Cid corrected.

  “Really, you’re going to get all pedantic right now?” Ted accused.

  Mia smacked the console table lightly. “Remind me why the inn has to leave the ley line segment again?”

  Ted took her through the scenario of the built up energy and the difficulty of releasing the energy from the ley line without disastrous consequences. “Millie and Mrs. Brewster will cease to be. Them going on to their reward isn’t probable. Mia, there is also the possibility that the destruction of this ley line segment could affect the earth. Minimally, the town of Ashville will be gone. Quite possibly it will start a chain of earthquakes…”

  “Stop! I think you’ve made your point. Talk about scary,” Mia complained. She looked over at Murphy a moment. “What do you think? Is it possible to talk to the building?”

  “Through Brewster,” Murphy said for all to hear.

  “Yeah, I feared that. She’s not exactly a fan of mine right now,” Mia said.

  “Your oobed self,” Murphy reminded her.

  “But how much different am I?”

  “You’re flesh and blood,” Ted reminded her. “Not a persona.”

  “Of course, this means you’ll have to wait for the Dew Drop to reappear,” Cid reminded her.

  “Hopefully Audrey informed our hostess that they need to leave by eight in the morning, which is ten hours from now,” Mia said absently.

  Cid wanted to correct her and tell her that it was nine hours and fifty-three minutes, but he held his tongue.

  “Did we ever find out what’s stopping it from moving on to Itasca?” Mia asked as she walked over to the monitor and placed her hand on her seated husband’s shoulder.

  “We’re guessing another meteorite,” he said, pulling up the data he had worked on. He turned and looked up at her. “Even if we are able to find it and release it, I worry that it may cause the same kind of difficulty that releasing it from the Ashville end will. What do you think?” Ted asked.

  “Not too many oobers travel to northern Minnesota this time of year,” Mia said. “But if we release the dam while the inn is holding here, I’m betting there will be a lot less disruption of the remaining northern segment. I think I could make a case for the inn to travel to Itasca and leave the line there, more than I could convince it to leave it here.”

  “Explain it to us first,” Cid coaxed.

  “To stay on the line means that it will explode and cease to be. To exit here may put the inn in jeopardy, depending on what it becomes when it leaves. If it is still a building, what happens when it suddenly shows up on someone else’s property? In Itasca, the line exits in the wilderness. And if the inn should be discovered by lost hikers, perhaps it can provide the hospitality it was once so famous for.”

  “What if it’s no longer a building?”

  “Then it would be energy. Aside from blowing a few feet of snow and cracking some ice, I think it would be best sent in that direction. From what Paul told us, a tiny meteorite flattened several acres of corn when it hit.”

  “Most of that could be
from the impact, not dissipating energy,” Ted said. “You look like you’ve formed a plan. Care to share it with us?”

  Mia took a moment to make sure she was up to following through with the idea that came to mind. She looked at her husband, Cid, Burt and then over to Murphy who this plan would impact the most. “I’m proposing to bilocate and travel with Murphy north of the inn and enter the ley line there. We’ll take it to the end, exit and look around and see what we find there.”

  “Aren’t you exhausted?” Ted questioned. “You need to recharge.”

  Mia looked down at Ted, her eyes shining with pleasure at his protectiveness. “I do, but I think that I can manage a saunter up the line. Murphy will need some recharging though. Me, I’m going to lie back and have a snooze just like Maggie.” She pointed to the sleeping dog under her lounge chair. “Before I go, Burt, can you show me where the furthermost reported sighting of the inn was? It will give Murph and me an indication of what we may have to deal with.”

  Cid walked over to the file box labeled T for Transformers and pulled out two energon cubes. He activated them one at a time just outside the truck. Murphy pulled all the energy out of the cubes and began to sharpen his axe for the journey.

  Ted brought up Burt’s research figures along with a photo of his wall.

  Burt looked sheepish and said, “Kind of looks obsessive, doesn’t it?”

  “When I saw it, dude, I was thinking serial killer,” Cid admitted. “You stalked the Dew Drop. No wonder the two of you didn’t get along.”

  Burt ignored him and looked over the material. “There, the Dew Drop Inn stopped on Bushey Road north of Devils Lake. Ted, pull up a topographical map of the area.”

  Ted did as instructed.

  “Please overlay the ley line map,” Mia asked. She took a look at the series of lakes the original line went through on its way to Itasca. “Murph, how are you at swimming?”

  Murphy tilted his hand back and forth.

  “This time of year, doll, he can walk on that water,” Ted said.

  Mia let the doll comment go and stored it for another time. Instead, she said, “I propose going up there, taking it as far as we can and picking up the other segment to take it south. We should be able to pinpoint the disruption within a few yards. There won’t be much time to get this done. Hopefully the inn will stay in place, if not…”

  “Smasharoo!” Murphy said.

  “He sounds too happy,” Mia observed. “It’s your call, Cid. This is your investigation. I’ll abide by your decision.”

  Ted snaked an arm around Mia’s waist, drawing her to him. Pleased as he was that she was supporting Cid’s leadership, he didn’t want her to put herself in any more danger. He knew when they had married that he would face many an anxious moment when they were doing their jobs. Mia herself mentioned how difficult it was when she couldn’t hear his voice in her ear, that she too worried about losing him. But they had a job to do and people to save. The life of superheroes wasn’t for the weak. Batman would have to wait in the bat cave while Wonder Woman flew off with the Axeman.

  Cid started to speak. Ted pushed away his fanciful thoughts and concentrated on what he was saying.

  “We may not get another chance at this. I worry about Mike and Audrey. What happens if the inn takes off with them in it?” Cid pondered.

  “There’s that,” Mia agreed.

  “I think if they don’t break cover, the inn will stay put until eight in the morning,” Burt said.

  “Are you sure?” Cid asked.

  Burt knew that if he was wrong, he was putting his best friend and new girlfriend in danger. But he also knew that they were paranormal investigators at heart. They both knew the risks, although, he was sure they didn’t anticipate smasharoo when they went in to save him from his stupidity. “My gut says that it’s going to stay. Mia, can you do all this in the time left?”

  “Don’t know unless I try,” Mia said. “We can’t get you guys up there in time. I’m sure most of the route is under several feet of snow. Murphy and I will have to see what’s causing the disruption and then improvise a solution. We’ll do our best.”

  “I say let’s give it a go,” Cid said.

  Mia bent down and kissed her husband goodbye. “I promise to tell you all about it when I get back.”

  “Details, remember the details,” Ted said, his eyes watering. “No smasharoo.”

  “I’ll put it on my don’t list,” Mia said, pulling on the thermal gloves before getting settled into her cocoon on the lounge chair. She sat down and wiggled into the sleeping bag. She took a look at the men in the truck one last time before closing her eyes.

  Ted was about to ask Mia what would happen if she couldn’t get back in time to talk to the house, but she had already bilocated.

  “You married a gutsy broad,” Burt said.

  “I know. She’s lucky to have me,” Ted said and sat down at the console. He brought up her vitals and briefly put his hand on them as if he could connect with her that way.

  Burt looked at Cid. “Find me something to do. This waiting is going to make me nuts,” he said.

  “Maggie needs a walk…”

  Upon hearing her name, Maggie raised her head. Her eyes were alert, and she scrambled out from under Mia.

  “Come on, Maggie, Uncle Burt’s going to take you for a walk.”

  “Ah, Burt,” Cid said, getting his attention.

  “Yes?”

  “Walk her on the other side of the road. I wouldn’t want the inn to grab you when you weren’t looking.”

  Burt shook his head. “I never thought of that. Good thinking, boss.”

  Cid smiled and waited until Burt left before sitting down. He looked over at Ted who was avoiding looking at him.

  “You’re not mad at me are you?” he asked.

  “No. I think you made the right call. It’s just tough. The wait, I mean. I realized that Mia was hell-bent on doing this. I’ve learned to support her efforts, but I still worry,” Ted admitted.

  “She’s lucky to have you, dude, and she knows it. Don’t worry, she’ll be back with a story that will curl all of our toes, but she will be back,” Cid said with growing confidence.

  “She has just under nine and a half hours to do it in.”

  “Nine hours twenty-six minutes and thirty-four seconds,” Cid corrected.

  Ted looked over at his pedantic friend, knowing that every second that Mia was gone was being counted by Cid too.

  Chapter Ten

  Entering the ley line wasn’t difficult but working against the pull of the inn was. Mia and Murphy held on tight to each other as they trudged the first hundred yards. Mia thought it felt like wading through flood waters. Murphy imagined it was what salmon must be feeling as they worked their way upstream to their spawning spot. After they pulled away from the gravitational pull of the house, the line shot them forward at a comfortable pace. Mia didn’t know what the end of the disrupted line would be like, so she had taken the time before they entered to work out gestures of communication with Murphy. One squeeze meant to stay put; two, jump to the right; three, the left.

  Traveling ley lines at night was scary. Unless you had the benefit of the iridescent lights from a city or a moonlit sky, you traveled in darkness, except for the eerie greenish glow that seemed to permeate the energy stream. Mia didn’t have time to think much about why the energy was always green because soon they were experiencing turbulence. Murphy squeezed her arm once. They clung to each other as the line pulled them around and around as if they were looping. As soon as they straightened, Mia felt they were moving southeast instead of northwest. She squeezed Murphy’s arm twice, and they jumped free of the line.

  Mia found herself in snow. This was expected. The depth, however, was surprising. She moved upward and looked for Murphy. He stood studying the ley line. He pointed out the loop of energy. They moved past the loop and saw another loop start up, heading northwest through the tall trees.

  “The disruption
has to be here somewhere,” she said, wading through the deep snow of the small clearing between the line segments. She mentally marked off the area, not having the ability to even move a flake of snow in her bilocated state. She pondered whether or not she could use telekinesis but reasoned now was not the time to experiment.

  Murphy found a large piece of bark and began shoveling down to the ground. He smiled, waved at her and started to sink through the frozen ground.

  “Show off,” she said. Mia wasn’t jealous, but she envied the things a ghost could do. Physics professors could argue all they wanted about how it was impossible to do what Mia had seen ghosts do with her own eyes. And a ghost powered up like Murphy was amazing. Good thing he was a friendly ghost. She started humming the theme from Casper the Friendly Ghost to herself, partly in fun, partly to keep her sanity in the dark woods.

  She was looking up when an arm pushed out of the snow and grabbed her leg. She didn’t have time to protest as she was pulled under the snow through three feet of soil and tree roots until she landed on top of Murphy in a cave of some kind.

  “Damn it to hell, Murph, you could have warned me,” Mia said, getting up.

  “Which one?” Murphy asked, tapping his axe on top of a pile of rocks.

  Mia thought back to the display of meteorites the Field Museum had assembled over time. “It isn’t going to be pretty. It will be very heavy. She bypassed the large rocks Murphy was looking at and knelt on the ground. Bilocation had is benefits, but it also left her without the ability to feel, taste and smell outside of the ley line. She had to depend on the light Murphy was able to generate in order to navigate around the small cave. She took a moment to study the structure they were in. It was conical in shape. The roots of the trees joined above her, giving a ceiling to what would have been an open pit at one time. She closed her eyes and envisioned meteorites hitting the earth and the craters they left. She opened her eyes and moved to the middle of the western wall of the cave and pointed. “Here, dig here. It shouldn’t be far,” she instructed.