Ghastly Glass (36 page)

“What do we do now?” Bart asked as I stared at the door.

“I guess we knock.” I followed my words with the appropriate action. There was no response.

“Now what?”

Light mist was forming in the streets, between the houses. It hung like wet wraiths from the chimneys and the doorways, and brought a creepy, clammy quality to the air that smelled like the ocean. I could feel it tangle in my hair as we stood there.

“I don’t know. I guess we could find someone with a master key. Merlin has one.”

Bart stepped up to the door and pushed at it. The portal swung in at first, then fell completely off its hinges. “Oops.”

I grinned. “Oops is right. Don’t worry. I won’t tell. Let’s go inside and look for Lonnie.”

But there was no sign of Lonnie, Chase, or anyone else. The two-room structure was completely empty. Only the remains of beer and pizza showed that anyone had been there recently.

“So much for that. I guess he’ll be surprised when he comes in from looking for Chase. I’m sure we just missed him at the castle.”

“Too bad. I guess I’ll put the door back up as we go. It’s the least I can do.” Bart shrugged.

We started back out of the house when I noticed a red smear on the floor near the door. I didn’t say anything to Bart, afraid he’d give it away. Maybe we were wrong about Lonnie not being here. And maybe Chase was here with him.

We looked around again, more carefully this time. We were the only ones there. “Did you see that red smear near the door?” I asked him.

“No. What red smear?”

I pointed to the floor. “What if Lonnie dragged Chase in here?”

“What do you mean? Chase is too big for that.”

“No! I mean, what if Lonnie accidentally had some red paint or blood or whatever it was on the wall in the dungeon on his shoe and walked it in here.”

Bart scratched his head. “I don’t understand.”

I got down on my knees to examine the red smear. It started at the doorway and ended abruptly within a few feet of the threshold. “Most blood or paint stains wouldn’t end with a flat edge like that, right? Something else must be here.”

I could tell Bart had no idea what I was talking about. I ignored him and followed what I hoped was telepathic messages from Chase guiding me in the right direction. I pulled back the pathetic excuse for a throw rug from the front door area, then got down close to the floor again to look at the red smear mark.

“Do you see anything?”

“Not yet. But you can see that edge of the red stuff near the door is like a spill. This end is flat like someone laid a ruler against it. There has to be a reason for that.” I stuck my fingernail into the floor (ouch), then moved it over a little. It disappeared into a deep crack.

“It looks like a trap door,” Bart said. “Sweet!”

“Help me get it up. Look for something we could stick in there and pull at it.” I searched through the room for anything that would fit in the crack.

Bart looked at the spot then brought one foot up and cracked the board with a sharp retort. “How’s this?”

“Great!” I took my flashlight out and shined it down into the darkness while Bart cleaned away the fractured wood until there was a perfect square opening. “I’ll have to go down there. I don’t think your shoulders will fit.”

“I think you’re right. When you get down there, call me. No, wait a minute. Go ahead and call me now.”

I did as he requested, wondering if my cell phone would work as I descended into the hole. “It’s like a tunnel,” I told him. It was so dark my flashlight beam seemed as bright as a street lamp. “And it’s yucky and slimy. I don’t want to think about what’s down here.”

“Just keep talking,” he urged. “Where are you now?”

“Still the tunnel thing. You know there are huge spiders down here. Probably some kind of subterranean slugs or something, too. I can’t believe I love Chase enough to do this.”

The tunnel continued for another twenty yards or so (but who’s counting?), then it started climbing upward. “I think this may be going somewhere,” I told Bart. “I’m going to be quiet now in case someone might hear me.”

Bart didn’t respond. Probably staying quiet, too, so I wouldn’t get caught. With every step forward, I could feel the tunnel getting wetter and more slippery. I saw a light from above and moved toward it, hoping it wasn’t certain doom. But I could only stand so much slime. “I’m going in,” I whispered into the cell phone. “Stand by.”

I
was afraid the other side of the tunnel might be as hard to get out of as it was to get into. But there was only a plastic piece over this end. I pushed it off easily, then pulled myself out of the tunnel.

The flashlight picked out a bunkerlike setting with low ceilings, rusted bars, and standing pools of water on the cement floor. The smell was awful. Something like a garbage truck and a sewer backup. “We aren’t in Kansas anymore, Toto.”

I’d never been here before. I couldn’t imagine where in the Village the tunnel had led. It looked almost like an old prison of some kind. Weird, since I’d calculated I was crawling toward the dungeon.

I could hear water dripping, possibly from the ceiling. Hopefully I hadn’t tunneled under the lake and this, whatever it was, would eventually collapse in on me.
Chase? Where are you?
I called out to him as telepathically as I could.

Nothing. Either I wasn’t much of a telepath (probably true) or I had a wrong number.

“Hello?” I broke my vow of silence just to hear a voice in the eerie place. I looked at my cell phone. There were no bars. Not surprising. Bart probably hadn’t answered me back in the tunnel because he hadn’t heard me.
Great!
Where were those network guys when you really needed them?

I couldn’t see an exit out, and I was afraid of going too far and not being able to find my way back. I was about to go back to the tunnel when I heard a sound, like another person. At least I
hoped
it was another person. As long as it wasn’t Lonnie.

I shined the light around the area again. Something rattled, like chains against the floor.

“Hello? Is someone there?” A pitiful voice called out of the darkness. “For the love of God, someone help me.”

It wasn’t Chase. But evidently someone had heard my telepathic outcry. I followed the sound of that voice for a few yards. I still didn’t see anyone. “Say something else,” I encouraged. “I can’t find you.”

“I’m here!” Chains rattled and the voice sounded a little more hopeful. “Come this way. I’m chained to a wall over here.”

“Keep talking. I have a flashlight. Let me know when you can see the beam.”

He (at least it sounded like a man) started singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” It’s amazing what we revert to when we’re stressed. He probably hadn’t sung it in years, because he couldn’t remember most of the words and had to just hum in some spots.

I kept walking and looking around. This place had to be an old jail or a torture chamber. There were overturned, rusted metal bed frames and broken, dirty toilets. I half expected to see skeletons hanging from the walls and ceiling.

“I see it! I see it! You’re close!”

Everything was damp and covered with moss. Water dripped everywhere. I tried to dry my hands on my jeans but they were too wet and muddy. The flashlight was slippery in my grip. I couldn’t believe someone was down here. I hoped Chase wasn’t here.

“Yes! Look to your right,” the voice (starting to sound familiar) instructed me.

I turned to my right and shined the flashlight against the other side of the wall that had prevented me from seeing him. “Jeff? Is that you?” As I rushed over to him, I noticed another form close by.

It was Chase. He was still in his boxers and lying silent on the concrete floor.

“Thank God you found us,” Jeff cried. His dirty, heavily bearded face was streaked with tears. He pulled at the rusted chains to show me he was bound to the wall. “He just brought Chase in last night. He’s still out. We have to get out of here before he comes back.”

“You mean Lonnie?” I shined the flashlight on Chase and took a deep breath before I touched him. He was still warm, still breathing. It might be just as well that he wasn’t awake, although we’d have to rouse him somehow to get him back out through the tunnel. I couldn’t even imagine how Lonnie had fit him through it.

“Yeah. The little snake. He hit me in the head and dropped me down here. I don’t even know how long it’s been. He fed me, but that’s about all. Didn’t anyone even notice I was gone?”

“Of course. Everyone noticed. Your sister came looking for you. It’s just that we thought you’d moved on.” I shined the flashlight on Jeff’s wrists. I wanted to help Chase, but I would need Jeff’s help. My plan was to free him, then Chase, and get us all out of this nightmare.

“What is this place?” I asked, trying to divert Jeff’s attention as I examined the manacles around his wrists. “Are we under the dungeon?”

“It’s the old Air Force jail. Chase knew it was under here. I guess everyone assumed when they built the dungeon over the top of it, there was no way into it. They were so wrong. Can you unfasten the manacles?”

The manacles attached to the chains that held Jeff prisoner were rusted but still strong. I doubted if even Bart could break them. The skin on Jeff’s wrists was bloody and raw. I winced when I looked at it.

“I don’t know.” I pulled at the chain and Jeff moaned. “Sorry. I just wanted to see how strong they were.”

“I thought of that. Actually I haven’t thought of much else for . . . how long have I been down here?”

“About a month. It looks like there’s a screw thing holding the manacles together. Maybe I can unscrew it.”

“Don’t you have a two-way with you? Can’t you call for help?”

I didn’t go into why I didn’t have a two-way. Instead I handed him the flashlight with instructions to shine the beam on his left wrist. “I have a cell phone with no bars. We’ll have to get out of this ourselves.”

The screw thing wouldn’t move when I tried to turn it. It was too rusted. I needed to get a better grip on it. I pulled my T-shirt up to use it as a buffer between my fingers and the rusted metal, then tried turning the screw thing again. This time it budged a little. Now I really wished Bart was here. He could probably get this open in no time.

I kept working on it, conscious of every little sound, worried about Lonnie coming back and hitting me in the head. Who knew someone so small could be so vicious? He had to be strong, too, since he took out Chase and Jeff. I thought about him carrying that heavy keg of ale by himself.
Good going, Sherlock. You could’ve remembered sooner.
But who knew that would make any difference?

I finally got the first manacle off. It dropped to the concrete with a loud clank.

“Geez, Jessie! Don’t make so much noise!”

“Hey, I’m doing the best I can! I didn’t know it was going to do that.”

Jeff was going to take off the second manacle while I went to revive Chase, but he couldn’t move his hand enough to work the screw thing free. “You’ll have to get this other wing nut off of here,” he said. “And hurry. I don’t want to be here when Lonnie comes back.”

“Like I want to!” I gave him the flashlight to hold in his free hand while I worked on the wing nut (yeah, like that’s a real name).

I heard a sound off in the darkness. “Is that Lonnie?”

“No. That’s just the rats. Ignore them. They won’t bother us as long as we’re moving.”

I worked on the wing nut until I felt the manacle loosen. This time I held it in one hand so I could catch it when it opened. I put the manacle on the floor and took the flashlight from Jeff.

He massaged his wrists, probably trying to get some feeling into them. I helped him to his feet. Thankfully he could stand without falling over. “Is Chase chained, too? Let’s see about getting him up.” I shifted the light to Chase’s inert form.

“Whatever. I’m out of here. That lunatic could come back any minute. Don’t worry. I’ll send help.”

“You can’t do that! I need you!”

But it was too late. Jeff had already melted into the darkness. I silently called him every foul name I could think of. Not that it did much good. I was so going to hurt him if I ever saw him again. How could he leave me down here with Chase unconscious after I’d freed him?

“I guess that’s an important lesson to learn, Jessie,” I said to myself. “Never help the other guy before you help yourself.”

I turned Chase over so he was on his back. He was manacled as well but only by one hand. Lonnie must have been in a hurry when he locked him up. Maybe there was only one manacle over here. Whatever the case, I applied myself to opening that manacle, going over and over my escape plan in my mind to keep from panicking.
Free Chase. Wake Chase up. Get both of us the hell out of here.

The single manacle was harder to open than both of evil Jeff’s (I guess
that’s
why Lonnie used only one on Chase). I fought with it, gritting my teeth and swearing under my breath, but I couldn’t get it open and my fingers were already raw and painful from twisting the rusted metal on evil Jeff’s manacles.