Chapter Ten

Cal entered the administration building. The first office he came to was filled with middle-aged women answering telephones and giving out information concerning admissions and costs for the college. When one of the women hung up, Cal asked where he could find the student records archive room. "Someone mentioned a light out in there." He held up a bulb for good measure.

The other ladies in the room all turned their attention toward him, their gazes sweeping over him.

"I'll show you." The first woman he'd asked jumped from her chair and hurried toward him.

Cal resisted groaning. "No need. I don't want to disturb your work." He'd have a tough time going through student records with someone looking over his shoulder.

"No problem. I needed a break." She waved over her shoulder at the other women and trotted down the hall ahead of Cal, the color in her cheeks high. "My name is Monica."

"Nice to meet you, Monica."

"You're new around here, aren't you?" She smiled back at him.

"First day."

"Well, I hope you'll stay. We can't seem to keep the cute ones around here."

"What do you mean?"

She paused at a closed door marked Records and faced him, her blush deepening. "Like you don't know you're cute." Monica giggled. "Look at me flirting with a younger man."

"No, what did you mean by not keeping the cute ones?"

"I assume you took Kyle's place in maintenance."

"You knew him?"

"Yeah, he changed the outlet in the wall by my desk." She sighed. "Nice guy and closer to my age. Not that I wouldn't go for a younger man if the opportunity presented itself." Monica winked. "This is the place. I'd better get back to my desk. Let me know if you need anything else."

"Thank you, Monica. I'll keep what you said in mind." Cal smiled at her, just a little, not wanting to encourage her flirtation, but liking the frankness of the woman.

He made a show of fiddling with his keys until Monica disappeared around a corner. Once the hallway was clear, he pushed the master key into the lock and entered the room.

Rows of files stood in long rows. The edges of paper stuck out in many places, aging, turning yellow.

Starting at the first one he came to, he noted they were in alphabetic order, many of the files dating back over twenty years. No new students were in this menagerie, those records and signed documents scanned and saved online. He spied a computer terminal in the corner, making a mental note to attempt to research Rachel, Mike and Zoe through the database.

After scouring the first three rows, he finally made it to the records dating to the year Lion Hall burned.

With only one name to go on, he quickly searched the records for a Miss Baker, locating several. On a small notepad, he jotted down the first names of the girls in the files and the last known addresses. All together there were five girls with the last name of Baker—Diane, Brenda, Katherine, Lisa and Paula. He spent a moment in each record, looking for anything out of the norm, then he moved on to the task of finding the five sisters.

How in the heck was he supposed to know which ones belonged to the girls who'd died in the fire? He didn't even have a name to start with.

In most circumstances, he'd consider the effort futile. What could students from thirty years ago tell him about what was going on today?

Given what had happened in the garden, he didn't want to leave any stone unturned, even the really weird and bizarre. Last night's fight with killer roots had left him questioning all his beliefs.

He started with the As and worked his way through to the Cs when he came across two files where the pages were packaged in large envelopes and written across the top was the word Deceased.

The last name on top of the first one read Chattox.

Cal's skin went cold as he read the first name following the comma.

Deborah.

He breathed again and moved to the next file. Again the last name was Chattox. The first name Ellen.

Only two files.

He opened Deborah's and scanned the admissions data. Under family, he noted other siblings were Ellen, Francis, Georgia and Hannah, ages ranging from twenty to twenty-six years old.

These had to be the sisters who died in the fire.

That they had the same last name as Deme gave Cal the willies. What were the chances? And as Deme had reminded him, there was no such thing as coincidence.

Had fate sent Aurai Chattox to this school? And if so, what did fate have planned for the rest of the sisters who'd followed? Would they end up like the other Chattox sisters?

A dark lump of dread settled in Cal's gut and his hand shook as he shoved the documents back in the envelope.

He tucked the two files into his coverall and zipped it. After rifling through the rest of that year and the years on each side, he didn't find any more Chattoxes. He moved on to the computer in the corner, sat down and brought up the menu.

The computer required a log-on and password. Without the ability to hack into the system, Cal had done all he could do here. He left the room, locking the door behind him.

Once out of the administration building he headed for the quiet of the library, hoping to catch Deme and Gina to share what he'd found.

* * *

As Deme descended the staircase into the basement, the walls, air and atmosphere changed, growing darker and more oppressive.

"You'd think they'd improve the lighting in here." Gina stepped past a table laden with several boxes of old books. "Basements always seem so dark." A shiver shook her frame.

"You feel it, too?"

She nodded. "It's more than just the dark, isn't it?"

Deme found a light switch against the wall and flipped it, eliminating even the little bit of light they had to begin with. "Oops, sorry." She switched it back on and moved toward the dusty stacks arranged in rows. "Let's get this done and get back topside. I don't like it down here."

"I'm with you." Gina rubbed her arms, hugging herself as though the cold was seeping through to her bones. "What exactly are we looking for?"

"Anything that can shed a little light on what's going on around here." Deme's mouth twisted into a rueful grin. "No pun intended."

"Right. That should be easy." Gina wandered past the first stack. "You can have this row. I'll start at the other end. We can work our way to the middle."

Deme skimmed over the titles of ancient books whose bindings were well-worn, some crumbling due to the damp. "Why would they store books down here? With all the pipes and dampness, you'd think they'd relegate the old stuff to the attic instead."

"Who knows." The sound of books being placed back on shelves came from the back row where Gina worked. "All I know is it's been more than three days since Aurai disappeared and we still don't have any leads on what happened."

Nothing on the first row jumped out at her as important. As Deme passed to the second row, Gina moved another row closer, as well. A look passed between them, their light banter forgotten as the dank air pressed in around them.

"Not liking this, sis," Gina called out.

"Me, either."

"Hey, I think I've found something here," Gina's voice was more muffled, barely making it through the stacks of books and documents. "There's an entire room filled with binders and schematics of the Colyer-Fenton campus—"

A loud thunk cut her off before she could finish.

"Did you drop a book?" Deme walked to the end of her row and looked to the rear of the room, where Gina had gone.

Gina appeared around the corner of a row. "No, I thought you did."

Deme moved toward Gina, placing her feet gently to avoid additional noise. "It came from your direction."

"No, it came from yours." Gina moved toward Deme, peering down each row as she passed. "We are alone, right?"

"I thought so." Deme glanced down a row. Nothing moved, nothing looked out of place.

As they converged, Deme looked down the only row they hadn't checked. A book lay on the floor, its pages open and yellowed with age.

Deme shot a glance at Gina. "Coincidence?"

Gina shook her head. "I wasn't anywhere near it to knock it off and neither were you."

They both looked over their shoulders before advancing down the row toward the book.

A draft of frigid air wafted over them, lifting the pages of the book, one after the other. The draft stopped as suddenly as it began, the pages settling.

"As if we didn't get that this was weird," Gina muttered.

Deme stared down at the book. "Someone's trying to tell us something."

"Wish Selene was here. Maybe she'd know who." Her sister glanced up at Deme. "Do you want to, or should I?"

With a deep breath, Deme squatted and lifted the book, careful to keep it open at exactly the page it had landed on. "I need more light."

"Over here." Gina led the way to the end of the stack to a table that stood against the wall. A bare lightbulb hung down from a cord, shedding a convenient glow over the tabletop.

Deme flipped the book over to read the binding. Tales of Myths and Monsters. A draft didn't precede the chill snaking down Deme's spine this time. "I don't know about you, but I'm not liking this any better."

"Something tells me little sis is in bigger trouble than we thought."

Deme didn't need the reminder to spur her into action. She flipped the book back over and glanced at the ink drawing of a creature, reading the title of the page out loud. "‘The Chimera, Myth or Reality?'"

"Do we have a choice?" Gina quipped.

At a sharp glance from Deme, Gina raised both hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, I'll keep my comments to myself. Read on."

"‘The Chimera is fabled to be a fire-breathing creature with the body of a lion. It has two heads—one of the lion, one of a goat—and it has a serpent for a tail.'"

"I haven't seen anything like that, have you?"

Deme closed her eyes, recalling the image in the window of her dorm room after her sister's face disappeared. She'd thought the vines on the window were teeth. Could they have been a lion's gaping jaw?

She squeezed the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes briefly before going back to the text, eyes wide open.

"‘The Chimera has many weapons at its disposal that it can use in multiple dimensions. Some say it has telekinetic abilities as well as the ability to force thoughts into the heads of the weak or impassioned.'"

"Holy crap," Gina whispered. "The attempted rapes."

And her violent sex with Cal. Deme's hands shook.

"Is this what we're up against?" Gina asked.

Deme forced herself to continue. "‘The Chimera draws on the magical powers surrounding it, twisting it to suit its own evil purposes.'"

"That's why when I tried to call on the goddess to help the girls in the garden, my magic turned against us." Deme breathed in and out, trying to calm her racing heart. "Wow, we might be in over our heads here." She looked across at Gina. "If Aurai tried to use her powers, the Chimera could have turned them against her, as well."

Gina clasped Deme's hand. "Aurai is all right. You heard Selene, and you feel it. She's still alive. We will find her and free her from whatever has her."

"Damn right we will." Deme glanced down at the book. Though it mentioned what the creature was capable of, it gave no advice on how to deal with such a being.

"We need to show this to the others," Deme said.

"What I want to know is where it's coming from." Gina's eyes opened wider. "And I might have that answer." She headed to the back of the basement. "I'd found a room filled with schematics of the buildings on campus, dating back to when it was originally built," she called over her shoulder. "I'll bring them out here where we can see them under the better light."

"I'll keep looking through the rest of the stacks for anything else that might be important, then I'll join you. Maybe there's a historical account of the college somewhere in here." Deme scanned the rows of books, brushing aside dust to read the titles, the book of myths and monsters tucked under her arm.

When she'd reached the end of the stack, a sharp scream pierced the rows of books, followed by a loud slam.

Deme's heart stopped in her chest then shot into overdrive. She ran to the end of the stack and raced toward the back of the basement where Gina had gone.

As she neared the last row of books, water pooled around her feet. "Gina!"

"Help!" Her cry came from the other side of a closed door. "I'm in here."

Deme tried the handle. It wouldn't budge. "The door is locked. Unlock it."

"I can't. It's dark in here. The light blew out."

"Hang tight. I'll see what I can find to break down the door."

"Hurry. Look out, Deme, a man tried to attack me. I called on the goddess of water…" Gina sobbed. "You were right. The Chimera is turning it against me. The room is filling with water."

Deme glanced behind her. When she saw no sign of a man waiting to jump her, she looked at the base of the door. Liquid leaked from beneath it. "How big is the room?"

"Not very. It's already up to my knees."

Deme's gaze shot right then left. Nothing struck her as useful in prying a door open.

She spun, heading back to the table. If she could break a leg off it, she might be able to pry the door open before the water got too deep.

As Deme ran past the stacks, something long, dark and thick slithered out on the floor in front of her feet.

Too late to stop herself, her foot caught on it and she flew forward, landing on her belly, knocking the wind from her lungs. She lay in the seeping water until she could catch her breath. Then she lunged to her feet.

An arm reached out to grab her from behind, hooking around her neck. Dank, moldy rot filled her nostrils as a filthy coverall sleeve pressed into her throat, cinching off her air. Her fingers pried at the arm to no avail, the pressure increasing until the air around her grew fuzzy, her vision blurring.

She had to get loose. Having lost one sister, she'd be damned if she'd lose another. Deme grabbed on to the arm, lifted her feet and pushed hard against the closest shelf of books.

* * *

Cal entered the library and took the steps to the second floor two at a time. He swallowed his disappointment when he couldn't find Gina and Deme. Retracing his steps to the first floor, he stopped in front of the information desk.

The librarian manning the computer didn't look up.

"Did you see a redhead and a sandy-blonde woman go by here?"

"A lot of people go by here." The librarian glanced up, her gaze raking over Cal and his coverall, a blush replacing the placid, bored look of a moment before. "Oh, do you mean the two who went to the basement to research the college?"

"How long ago?"

She glanced at her monitor. "Fifteen minutes."

Before the last syllable left her lips, Cal had reached the door to the stairs leading down to the basement. God, he hated basements. Like hospitals, basements had unique smells…not all good.

The concrete-and-metal stairs clanked with every footstep as he ran down. A sense of foreboding filled his chest the lower he went. The same damp, decaying scent that he'd experienced from the trapdoor in the basement of the student commons filled his nostrils, gagging him.

When he reached the bottom, he landed in a puddle of water.

What the hell? His gaze swept across a floor, the lights above reflecting across the inch of water spreading to all corners. Where was Deme?

A loud crashing sound, followed by another, followed by another roared through the cavernous area. He ran toward the sound, splashing through the water, and rounded a corner to see stacks of books toppling one after the other in a domino effect. Each shelf and tons of books slammed into the next, headed directly for where he stood.

Cal dodged to the side, hugging the wall beside him as the shelf in front of him hit the one beside him, slamming it to the floor. Books spewed out to the side and bounced upward with the force of impact, the ground quaking beneath his feet.

"Deme!"

She didn't answer. The swirl of dust was so thick it fogged the limited lighting, making the view impenetrable. "Deme!"

Sounds of a scuffle alerted him that he wasn't alone. He picked his way across the fallen books and shelves, his feet slipping and sliding on the shifting books.

As dust and shelves settled around him, he finally saw Deme.

Someone had her by the throat.

Deme hung on to the arm with her fingers, her feet flailing, trying to gain purchase.

Adrenaline pumped through Cal's veins, pushing him forward, faster and faster as he leaped and slid toward her, slamming into her attacker.

Not until he was right on him did Cal realize the man holding her wasn't right. His face was black with decaying skin and the rot of polluted earth. Blank, soulless eyes stared at nothing. As if powered by some unseen force, he continued to choke Deme.

Cal hit him in the side, taking the man and Deme down in a flying tackle.

The arm holding on to Deme loosened and she managed to scramble free.

As she crawled across a pile of books, the creep snagged her ankle with a clawlike grip.

Cal rolled to his feet and stomped the man's wrist, again and again until the hand released Deme. "Run!" he yelled.

She crab-crawled over fractured bookshelves and the mess of tumbled books to a clear area where shelves still stood, the books still neatly aligned. Deme reached for a wooden splinter the size of a sword sticking up from a jumble of broken shelves and damaged books. She headed for the back of the room.

The vacant-eyed man pushed to his feet and lumbered toward her.

"Look out!" Cal yelled, his feet moving, but the books slipping from beneath him hampered his progress. He wouldn't get to her before her attacker did.

"I don't have time for this." Deme raced around one of the shelves still standing and rammed into it with her shoulder. "Get back, Cal!"

The shelf teetered toward the creepy dude and back at Deme. She hit the shelf again. This time it leaned far enough to fall, crashing down on the guy in the dirt-caked coverall.

Cal jumped back, avoiding the worst of the wreck.

Deme didn't wait for the dust to clear. She dove behind the next stack, disappearing out of Cal's sight.

His heart hammering in his chest, and with Deme out of sight, Cal could imagine all kinds of horrible things happening to her. He leaped over the downed shelf and the piles of ruined books, splashing through two inches of water.

When he rounded the corner of the last stand of shelves, he found Deme.

She had the large splintered board in hand, shoving it against a door frame. "Help me!"

"Where's Gina?"

"In here. We have to get her out."

Cal ran the last few steps, his hands closing around her shoulders. "Move."

"But it's locked. We can't get in and she's going to drown." Deme hit the door with the board, tears running down her cheeks.

Cal took a deep breath and threw all of his weight into the door. The door frame split, but the lock held. Water leaked from beneath the door at an alarming rate. "What the hell's happening in there?"

"She tried to use her ability to influence water to slow down the man who attacked me. Only she got locked in and water is filling the room now. We have to get her out before—"

Cal stepped as far back as he could get and slammed into the door. Pain shot through his shoulder, but the door gave enough for the lock to break loose, water rushing through the gap at chin level.

"Help me!" Gina called through the crack as the pressure of the water forced the door shut again.

"Get back," Cal yelled.

Deme joined him this time, and together they hurled themselves at the door.

Once they had the door open a foot wide, Deme shoved a book in the opening sideways as high up as she could reach, creating a six-inch gap.

Water rushed through.

Gina squeezed into the space, creating a damming effect, the water pushing against her back, running over her head. "I can't do it," she gasped.

Cal grabbed her hand and leaned as hard as he could on the door panel. He pulled her through, water gushing out, carrying Gina past Cal and Deme. The pressure on the book made it pop out of position, forcing the door closed again.

Gina washed to a stop, sprawled across the soggy books, coughing and sputtering, soaked to the skin and pale. She sat up, pushing hanks of blond hair out of her eyes. "What the hell happened?"

"That's what I'd like to know." Deme rushed to her sister's side and helped her to her feet. "Are you okay?"

"I'll live, but I don't understand what happened with my precious water. It's as if it turned on me."

Deme hugged her sister. "Things just aren't right around here."

Gina laughed and coughed. "You're telling me."

"The man who attacked you didn't look right, either. I want to get a look at him." Cal walked over to the shelf unit beneath which their attacker lay. He shoved and tugged, lifting the heavy case off the man.

Together he and Deme dug through the books until they reached him.

Deme reeled back first, and Cal followed, the stench from the man more than either could stand.

"He smells dead." Gina held her hand over her nose and mouth.

Cal reached out and felt for a pulse, finding none and the skin cold and sticky. "If he wasn't dead before, he is now."

With her hand over her nose and mouth, Deme shook her head. "He looks and smells like he's been dead for days."

"That's impossible." Cal flipped the man over. Beneath the dirt and stains, he recognized the coverall of the Colyer-Fenton maintenance staff. "He attacked Deme."

"And a room filling with water isn't any less impossible?" Gina asked.

"One thing is for sure." Cal stood and wiped the grime against his trouser leg, his mouth set in a grim line. "I think we've accounted for one of the missing persons."

Beneath a smudge of grease, the name tag read Kyle Scruggs.