Spirit Mountain (4 page)

Chapter Nine

I dove for my phone on the carpet. “Hello?” I said, out of breath.

“Beth?” Logan sounded concerned. “Where’ve you been? I’ve been trying to call you all morning.”

I let out a slow deep breath, still trying to calm my racing heart. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Just don’t tell me your aunt and uncle saw me leaving this morning, because I thought you were in some kind of trouble. You left me a message about the windowsill, which made no sense whatsoever.”

Ignoring his statement, I pressed on. “Logan, listen to this.”

“What’s up?”

“So, I went to the top of the mountain, right? But it wasn’t actually the mountain, and my aunt’s dolls were there and—”

“Whoa, slow down, New York. I have no idea what you’re talking about. Can you meet me at Dana’s Diner in fifteen minutes?”

“Yeah, okay, sure. I’ll see you there.”

Tossing my cell phone on my bed, I hurried to my closet and put on an extra shirt, a sweater and a winter jacket with a scarf, hat and gloves. I grabbed my boots with the furry insides to complete my cold-proof outfit. Before taking off, I ran a brush through my messy hair and put on a light amount of makeup. I couldn’t wait to tell Logan about my encounter with Ty.

After arguing my case as though I was in a courtroom, Aunt Vine gave me a ride to Dana’s Diner, scolding me the entire way that it was too cold for me to be traipsing around town. All I could think about was the plethora of questions I had for her about the house and Ty. I still couldn’t believe that my room was a portal to his world on Spirit Mountain. I replayed flashbacks of the scenes on the mountain in my head, but I knew I needed time to piece everything together and talk to Logan first, so I could line up my questions to my aunt.

Arriving at Dana’s Diner, I gave Aunt Vine a polite wave goodbye when she dropped me off. “Thanks. I’ll get a ride home from Logan.”

“All right. Tell him to be careful driving.”

“I will.”

As she did a cautious U-turn, and her truck inched down the icy road, I spun around and took a deep breath. With my tablet in hand, I opened the door to the diner and saw Logan sitting in a corner booth. He immediately smiled when he saw me and waved for me to come over. I maneuvered around the empty tables and loud customers munching on their breakfast platters and pancakes until I slid into the booth across from him.

My two talkative high school friends had told me that this diner was one of the most popular breakfast spots in Castleborough. Apparently, it was their version of IHOP, where all the high school students would gather after home games.

Logan gazed at me curiously. “You made it. Was that your aunt out there? Did you get in trouble or something?”

“No, not at all.”

“Oh, okay.”

One of the two servers swung by our table. “What can I get you to drink, sweetheart?”

I glanced at Logan. “What are you having?”

“Hot chocolate.”

I smiled. Hot chocolate was always a remedy for winter. “Nice. I’ll have what he’s having.”

“You got it. Whipped cream?”

“Of course.” I flashed her a polite smile.

The second the server walked away, I leaned forward. “Logan, you’re not going to believe what happened to me.”

“Well, tell me!” He threw his hands out to insinuate he was going to drag it out of me.

“Okay. I talked to my uncle. Apparently, my aunt used my windowsill as a display for her dolls…” Glancing around to make sure no one was eavesdropping, I whispered the rest, “but the dolls kept disappearing.”

“Okay?”

“So they put a camera in the room. And what they found out was that the dolls were disintegrating, right there on the windowsill.”

Logan raised a curious brow. “Disintegrating?”

“Yeah, well, disappearing.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Where were they going?”

“They never found out. But after careful review of the camera footage, they saw that the dolls would disappear at exactly 7:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.” I cupped my hands over my mouth, almost giddy at what I’d experienced.

Pressing both palms against the table, he leaned forward, staring at me as if having figured out for himself what I’d done. “You didn’t.”

I nodded. “Yup. I sat on that windowsill at 7:00 a.m., Logan.”

“And?”

“And it took me to this strange world...”

“Strange world? What does that mean?” He sat back, crossing his arms over his chest. “You need to do better than that. This is huge. I want details.”

Again paranoid, I scanned around the diner before continuing, “On the mountain, Logan, Spirit Mountain, I met Ty.” I exhaled, waiting to see his reaction this time. If he believed me, it would be a miracle because even saying that made me sound like a nut.

“You met the spirit that’s been haunting you?”

Hearing him say those words reminded me how scary it all sounded. But I knew Ty wasn’t a threat. “Yes, but I think you were right. I don’t think he was
haunting
those girls. I think he was trying to warn them—just like he’s trying to warn me.”

“Hmm, are you sure?”

“Yes. And get this, there was something else on that mountain—in that world with him—something he was afraid of as well.”

“What was it?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. I got scared because by the time he was done explaining a bunch of weird stuff to me, my window of opportunity to return to my room was mere seconds away. So, he ushered me forward and I made a run for it, jumping back on the heap of dolls and landing on my bed back in my room.”

He leaned back in his seat. Running both hands through his hair, he said, “Wow. This is crazy, Beth. No one’s going to believe us.”

“Well, we’re not telling anyone, Logan. I mean, we need more information before we tell
anyone
about this. Plus, I want you to go back with me tonight.”

“Okay, but what if we get trapped?”

“We’ll be there until 7:00 in the morning. We should know what we want to ask him and prepare ourselves to be there for the entire night. Can you get away?”

He shrugged. “Yeah, since Ashlyn died, my parents hardly notice whether I’m home or not. They don’t seem to care.” He sighed. “I honestly can’t say I blame them.”

I reached out and wrapped my hand around his. I understood his pain. When my mom died, my father had lost interest in me. I knew that was why he’d sent me to my aunt and uncle, rather than take me to Europe with him. I guessed that was how adults coped with the pain of loss. I understood how Logan felt, and I wanted him to know it was okay to feel that way.

“Logan.”

“Hmm?”

“Ty said something that’s bugging me.”

“Okay. What did he say?”

“He said I have the
gift
to see into the future. It’s in our bloodline and happens every few generations.”

“Wow, really? And? Can you?”

I didn’t want to tell him about my mom. I couldn’t. So, I told him as much as I was willing to reveal at this time. “I’ve had something strange like that happen to me before, but it was just that one time.”

“Hmm. Could you be blocking your ability?” He shrugged, unsure of how such things worked, I figured. Heck, even I was unsure of how clairvoyance worked.

I gazed at him curiously before letting out a sigh. “Yeah, maybe I am? How would I even know?”

“I’ve no idea. How about I come over at 8:30 tonight?”

I could tell he wanted to change the subject because the conversation saddened me. I’m glad he did. “Perfect. Now, what does this place have to eat? I’ve been suffering through my aunt’s horrible meals for way too long.”

Logan laughed.

As the jingling sounds of bells permeated the diner with the repeated opening and shutting of the front door, we both heartily studied our menus. At least for one afternoon, we’d have lunch as ordinary teens, even though a huge, unnatural event loomed on the horizon.

Chapter Ten

The rest of the day seemed uneventful, compared to our plans for the evening. I spent the afternoon touring Castleborough with Logan, glad that the sun peeked through the dark clouds, even though the weather remained freezing. Since I’d arrived in this small town weeks ago, I hadn’t taken much time to actually explore other parts of it. I’d mostly spent my time between a house I didn’t enjoy staying in and a school I merely tolerated. So, I was grateful for today and for Logan’s company.

He took me to Town Hall to see their history room. While there, we searched for information regarding Spirit Mountain. The only thing we learned was that the original mountain’s name had been Mount Cape. Interestingly enough, that name changed around the year 1802 when the mayor and the Town Council strangely renamed it Spirit Mountain.

Fifty years later, the town stopped calling it by any name and instead, ignored it altogether. Upon the mayor’s orders, the mountain was marked with ‘No Trespassing
’
signs at its base to keep would-be hikers away. Besides that, there wasn’t much more information on the mysterious mountain. Yet, I made sure to jot down in my tablet what we’d learned from the history room.

As the skies turned grayer, Logan and I made our way out to an abandoned wishing well where there were buckets of change at the bottom. The well was built of dark bricks with a circumference large enough to fit an adult human body.

Logan told me about the legend behind the well. “If you throw change inside, you’ll receive a year of good luck, but if you take money from it, you’ll be cursed for seven years.”

I flicked a quarter in it and wished I knew what the heck was going on in this town.

I shook my head. “Your town is full of legends, isn’t it?”

“Aren’t all small towns?”

“I guess. I’m from New York, so we have things like rats and traffic instead of curses and legends.” I shoved my gloved hands inside my winter jacket. “I’m not sure which is worse. Those rats can grow as big as dogs, I’m telling you.”

Logan chuckled as he leaned down, grabbed a handful of snow and made a quick ball before throwing it at my head. The white powder stuck to my eyelashes, cheeks and lips.

“Really?” I laughed, running for cover. “You’ve no idea what you’ve just got yourself into.”

“You don’t scare me, New York. I’m the reigning champ of snowball fights around here.”

I smirked. “You really should get out more.” Reaching down and scooping up a handful of white powdery snow, I formed a loose snowball and threw it at his head, nailing him in the mouth. Between laughs, I yelled, “See? I’m the reigning softball pitcher in my softball league. Know your enemy, Logan. Sometimes, there’s more there than meets the eye.” His next snowball hit me in the shoulder, driving me to my butt on the snow.

He ran over to me, using his hands to shovel snow over my body as if he was trying to bury me.

“Wait, wait, wait.”

“What?” he asked, still smiling from his bullseye snowball strike.

“That’s it.”

“What’s
it?
” He couldn’t stop laughing at my legs, now half-covered in the cold, white substance.

Pushing myself up, I brushed the rest of the snow from my clothes. “This legend about the mountain, it’s full of holes. We need to put a list of questions together for Ty. That way, we can make good use of our time while we’re up there.”

“You say
there
like it’s an actual place outside your bedroom.”

I narrowed my eyes. “It is. I told you what happened.”

“And I believe you, but do you think it’s possible that you fell asleep and dreamt the entire thing. I mean, is that really possible?”

“You don’t believe me?” For some reason, I felt hurt by his doubt. “Why would I lie?”

Logan reached out and tried to take my hand, but I pulled my arm away. “I’m not saying you’re lying, Beth. We’re going tonight, right?”

I nodded.

“Then I’ll meet Ty and see everything you’ve seen. Small-town folk like to think seeing is believing, except when it comes to religion.” Logan’s face assumed a serious countenance. “Beth, something killed my sister, and you’ve inspired me to find out what did. I’m not convinced it was her time to die. I mean, she was very young and healthy.” He ran his gloved hand over his hair. “I don’t know. I do believe you, but I want to see what you saw for myself.”

“Logan, listen to me. Something’s happening in Castleborough. There are clues all over the place, but it’s going to be up to us to figure it out and put it all together. Like I said, sometimes, there’s more under the surface.” I patted his arm. “Okay, I’m going to take off and get everything set up for tonight.”

“What do you need me to do?”

“Questions. Write them down. I need relevant questions to ask Ty while we’re there. Knock on my window at 8:30. I’ll make sure my aunt and uncle think I’m exhausted from the day out and I’m going to bed early tonight. That way, they won’t check on me at ten.”

“Sounds like a plan,” he said. “I’ll see you this evening.” He leaned down to kiss me on the cheek. Flashing a smile, he took off in the opposite direction while I stood frozen like an idiot, blushing as I watched him leave.
Logan Hall kissed me on the cheek again. Hillary and Emmy wouldn’t believe me even if I told them.

As I turned to leave, a hard snowball hit me in the chest and sent me flying back. I gasped for air, but when I whipped my head up to see who’d thrown it, there was no one on the street, nor anyone near me. I was alone on the side of the road. Startled, my brows came together at the bridge of my nose as I wondered what on earth was going on. The cracked snowball lying next to me was odd—with a black, onyx-like rock wedged in the middle now half-exposed.

Picking up the peculiar snowball and brushing it off, I inspected the small rock inside. “Where’d you come from?” I asked myself. Shoving it inside my front pocket, I headed back to my aunt and uncle’s house to set up everything for my adventure with Logan for later that evening.