Authors: Leighann Dobbs
“So Jolene was right,” Celeste said.
Morgan frowned at Celeste. “Right about what?”
“She had a hunch that Mom didn’t jump off that cliff. She was investigating it and had come up with some compelling evidence, too.”
“Like what?”
“Well, for one, their one witness, Earl Whiting, seems to have acquired some items beyond his price range. Mae told her the truth was on a boat in Perkins Cove.”
Jake narrowed his eyes at Celeste. “You mean the
Andrea June
?”
Celeste nodded.
Jake snapped his fingers. “I
knew
you guys had something to do with that boat blowing up!”
“I always had a feeling Mom didn’t kill herself … but how does this help us find Jolene?” Fiona asked.
“I’m not sure it does,” Celeste said.
“Right, then we can revisit it later, but now we need to get to Jolene before she gets hurt … or worse.” Morgan slid the locket over to Eliza. “Open it.”
Eliza eyed the locket suspiciously. “Are you sure? What makes you think it will help us find Jolene? It could have been planted by Bly and there could be anything in here … once I open it, we may not be able to stop it.”
“You think it could be a trick?” Fiona looked uncertainly at Morgan. “You have to admit it’s kind of strange that the woman who brought it seems to have mysteriously disappeared.”
“No. It’s not a trick,” Morgan felt sure of it. “I can feel it. Plus Celeste said that grandma
told
her the key was in the locket.”
“My mother would know. She wouldn’t steer you wrong.” Eliza picked the locket up in her hand and closed her eyes.
Morgan watched in fascination as pink energy swirled out of Eliza’s hand and encased the locket. The energy swirled tighter and tighter until it looked like it was strangling the locket. The locket bulged impossibly, and then a blue mist puffed out of it turning into tiny particles that floated through the air like dandelion seeds before disappearing in a poof of white.
Eliza dropped the locket on the counter and staggered into a chair.
Morgan rushed to her side. “Are you okay?”
Eliza’s lips curled in a wan smile. “I’m fine. It’s just such an energy drain to unlock a cypher. I believe I was successful, though. Why don’t you see if you can open the locket.”
Morgan’s stomach twisted as she looked at the locket sitting innocently on the counter. What if she was wrong and it was a trick sent by Dr. Bly to harm them?
She reached out, her fingers curling tentatively around the locket.
“Go on,” Eliza prompted.
The room fell silent and Morgan put her thumb on the clasp.
She pushed.
Click.
The locket flipped open.
Chapter Twenty
Morgan jumped back as a beam of bright white light spread out from the locket, projecting itself into the middle of the room. She watched, fascinated, as the projection formed into a 3-D image of a rocky island.
“It’s a hologram,” Cal whispered.
Fiona walked toward it, waving her hand in the middle of the projection, then turned to face the rest of them. “But what
is
it?”
Morgan shrugged. “Looks like an island.”
“It’s Fury Rock.” Eliza stared at the hologram that was still forming. “Bly has a research facility there now. It’s at the very top, although it’s not part of this hologram.”
Morgan frowned at the top of the hologram. The surface of the island was flat and looked large enough to house a compound of buildings. But the hologram showed much more than that. The high cliffs that rose out of the ocean contained several caves and what appeared to be a map of those caves seemed to be forming in the image. “What’s all that in the cliffs?”
“A tunnel system.” Luke walked around the hologram, looking at it from all angles.
“That’s where they’re keeping Jolene,” Eliza said. “That’s why my mother said the key was in the locket. It’s a map of the tunnels.”
“We can use the map to break her out!” Fiona pulled open a drawer, took out a pad of paper and a pen and started to quickly sketch the map of the tunnels.
“Good idea.” Jake started toward the east parlor. “I’ll get the laptop and we can figure out where this island is and how to get there.”
“It’s in the Caribbean,” Eliza said. “But it’s going to be tricky. As you can see, there’s not much around to camouflage your approach. I’m sure Bly has staff disguised as security guards that are monitoring the entrances and exits of the building as well as looking for approaching vessels.”
“I’m sure he’s expecting us. That’s why he took Jolene, right?” Luke rasped his hand across the stubble that was forming on his chin. “So, he’ll be on alert—waiting for our arrival.”
“Then we’ll sneak in at night,” Celeste said.
Morgan turned to Eliza. “He won’t know we have this map, will he?”
Eliza chewed her bottom lip. “I don’t think so. There’s no way for him to know this map—or the locket for that matter—even exists.”
“Then we have an advantage.” Jake slid the laptop onto the counter and started tapping on the keys. “He’ll expect us to land on the island on the beach side, but since we have a map of the caves, we can surprise him with an approach from the cliff side.”
“Excellent. Let’s go.” Celeste started for the hall.
Luke held up his hand. “Wait a minute. We need to plan this out properly and make sure we have the right equipment and people. I know you’re in a hurry to get to Jolene, but if we don’t do this right we may all end up captured by Bly and that won’t help Jolene at all.”
“Luke’s right, but that’s not all we need to do.” The tone in Eliza’s voice caused everyone to stop what they were doing and look up at her.
“What do you mean?” Morgan asked.
“We need to find something to bring with us. Something that I’m sure is in this house. Something that could mean the difference between life and death for all of us.”
***
So, Eliza
had
been searching the house for something
, Celeste thought, remembering how Jolene had found her in the attic and how they’d seen her come up from the basement the twice now.
“What could possibly be in the house that would mean the difference between life and death?” Cal asked.
“An obsidian amulet,” Eliza replied.
“Is that why you were in the basement?” Morgan nodded toward the basement door.
“And searching the attic the other day,” Celeste added.
Eliza nodded. “I know they are both filled with old family stuff. Heirlooms. I searched the areas where the older items are in the attic, but didn’t have any luck. I remembered that there were rumors about a maze of tunnels under the house with a supposed buried treasure. The basement was loaded full when I lived here so I never really explored down there, and since I couldn’t find the amulet in the attic …”
“But you didn’t find any treasure,” Morgan said.
Eliza shook her head. “Nope, just a bunch of damp, dark tunnels. I almost got lost down there.”
Celeste glanced at her sisters. There
was
a treasure down there … just not one that you could get to right now.
“We’ll fill you in on that later. Right now we should try to figure out where the amulet could be.” Celeste hoped it wasn’t in the treasure under the house since no one would be able to access it for another three hundred years—at least not without specialized equipment.
“I still don’t get why this amulet is so important.” Jake’s green eyes were loaded with skepticism as they peered over the laptop screen at Eliza.
“Obsidian absorbs paranormal energy, but this one is special.”
“Special? How?” Fiona tilted her head.
Celeste was wondering the same thing. She wasn’t as well versed in crystals as Fiona, but she did know obsidian could absorb energy … she just couldn’t imagine how that would help save them from death.
“It belonged to Mariah Blackmoore. She had very powerful paranormal abilities,” Eliza said.
“You mean our great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother? … or did I miss a few ‘greats’? Fiona asked.
“Yes, Isaiah’s wife. She wasn’t from here. He met her in his travels in the Caribbean and she was very powerful. It’s her power that is handed down through the generations to us,” Eliza replied.
“And the blue eyes?” Morgan asked.
“That, too. Anyway, they fell in love and he brought her here. Built this house for her … well, the original parts anyway. ” Eliza looked around the newly remodeled kitchen. “Mariah was a healer and had a way with crystals much like you, Fiona. She imbued the obsidian amulet with an energy infusion which makes it much more powerful.”
“Okay, but why do
we
need it so bad?” Celeste asked.
“Bly has an army of paranormals that will try to push bad energy at you. The amulet will help protect the wearer by absorbing the bad energy, rendering it harmless.”
“There’s just one amulet?” Morgan looked around the group. “What do the rest of us do?”
Eliza shrugged. “Yeah, unfortunately Mariah only infused one. So whoever wears it will have to take the lead in absorbing any negative energy.”
“So regular obsidian won’t help at all?” Morgan asked.
Eliza shook her head. “In its natural state, it won’t be able to absorb enough of the energy. It needs to have its power boosted in order to be effective for our needs.”
“We should split up and look for it,” Celeste suggested. “We’ll be able to cover more ground and hopefully find it faster.”
“Good idea.” Cal turned to Eliza. “Can you describe what we’re looking for?”
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Fiona cut in. “We won’t need to split up. I think I know exactly where the amulet is.”
***
Fiona started toward the stairs with Celeste, Morgan and Eliza close behind.
“I searched the attic pretty well and couldn’t find it,” Eliza said.
“That’s because it’s not in the attic anymore,” Fiona shot over her shoulder as they spilled out onto the second floor.
“You already found it?” Eliza asked as they followed Fiona down the hall to her room.
“We didn’t know there was a special amulet in there, but we found an old sack filled with crystals when we were up in the attic a couple of summers ago.” Fiona referred to a trip they’d made up to the attic in search of clues to the treasure Isaiah Blackmoore had buried. “I bet it’s in there.”
They’d come across the crystals among some of the older items. Fiona had fallen in love with the old stones and rescued them from the attic. It turned out to be a good thing she had, since a couple of those stones helped save them.
Maybe this amulet would prove to be just as helpful
, Fiona thought as she reached into the top shelf of her closet and pulled out an old, worn burlap bag, which she placed carefully on the bed.
Eliza sucked in a breath. “The initials, MB … those are Mariah’s.”
“We thought so,” Morgan said as Fiona carefully opened the flaps on the bag to reveal a selection of crystals in various shapes, sizes and colors.
Eliza pointed to a small, black oblong stone with a crude silver ring at the top. “That’s it!”
Fiona reached out and picked it up. “I wonder if all these stones are boosted to be more powerful.”
“Why do you say that?” Eliza tilted her head to look at the array of stones.
“A couple of them seemed to exhibit extraordinary behavior,” Fiona said.
“You mean that white one that showed us the way in the tunnels?” Celeste pointed to a large moonstone.
Fiona nodded, remembering how the moonstone had lit the way and helped them navigate the tunnels under the house.
“Mariah might have infused all these stones,” Eliza said. “That would make sense. But I was only told about the obsidian pendant. That’s the one that will help us now.”
Morgan reached out for the pendant and Fiona handed it over. She held it up in front of her eyes, then looked at the other girls. “So who is going to be the lucky one that gets to wear it?”
“The wearer of the pendant will have an important and dangerous job. They will have to take the lead and make sure they intercept the negative energy for all of us. One wrong move could mean certain death.” Eliza’s mouth tightened into a grim line. “I’ll wear it.”
“Wait. Shouldn’t we draw straws or something?” Celeste asked. “It doesn’t seem right that you wear it. It should be one of us … Jolene’s sisters.”
Eliza shook her head. “I can’t risk anything happening to one of you. I came to protect you.”
“Protect us?” Morgan’s brows scrunched together. “You mean you knew all of this was happening?”
“Yes. That’s why I came.”
Celeste narrowed her eyes at Eliza. “Why didn’t you say something sooner? You could have warned Jolene—maybe she would have been more careful and she’d be her with us now!”
Eliza face flushed. “I wish I had. But no one knew exactly what would happen, just that you girls were in danger. I was told to just quietly look for the pendant and be on alert.”
“So some secret society of paranormals sent you to save us?” Morgan crossed her arms over her chest. “I find that hard to believe.”
“It does sound kind of crazy, but it’s true. You girls have been sheltered from it while your gifts mature, but there are others out there like us. Both good and bad. But you girls … your gifts are extraordinary. That’s why Bly is after you.”
Fiona, Morgan and Celeste looked at each other. “What do you mean?”
Eliza pointed to the monogram on the sack. “Mariah’s people come from a small island. Paranormal gifts have run strong in her family since ancient times. When Isaiah Blackmoore landed on that island three hundred years ago, they fell in love. She came back here with him and they built the original house here.”
“We know all that,” Celeste said impatiently. “Well, except for the ancient paranormal gifts part, I guess.”
Eliza nodded at Celeste, then continued. “Mariah’s people came from the south side of the island. On the north side was another clan whose paranormal gifts were just as powerful. The two clans were always at war and eventually they killed each other off. It was said that any offspring of the two clans would have extraordinary gifts.”