Shadow Cave (4 page)

Mike would come back and we would have a good laugh over all of this.
Only it wasn
’
t all that funny.
It wasn
’
t a big joke that John had known too much, had even had my brother
’
s personal belongings stolen from his apartment.
I
didn
’
t
give a shit about John, or money, or buried treasure.
But I would find my brother.
I cringed as I looked at the three notebooks I had finished translating.
In order to do that it looked like I would have to make a trip to crazy town.
As entertaining as the little story was turning out to be it was nothing short of bizarre.
I sat back and glanced through it one more time, summarizing the material as best I could.

“
A peaceful utopia, blah, blah, blah
.
War torn history, a princess lies in wait.
”
I checked dates again.
“
And what a long wait.
Let
’
s see, that would make Princess 500 years old.
Nuts for you, lady.
Ok
ay
, where was I?
Ah, yes, war torn lands…blood, guts, revolts.
The people of the land are under the cover of darkness, and in a constant and terrible danger.
There are few safe havens left throughout the lands.
It is a mystical land of ice and snow, rich jungles and seascapes.
Strange and wonderful things are possible
t
here.
It is a land that knows no true passage of time.
The darkness threatens to overtake all in its path.
He cannot be stopped.
”

“
Doing a little light reading, Claire?
”

If it were possible to actually jump out of one
’
s own skin
,
I think I would have done it.
As it was, I jumped and whirled around, dropping my notes.

“
Megan!
Yes, light reading.
”

“
Uh-huh.
Nice little story there.
I thought you would be asleep by now.
”

“
I should be.
This is just so good I couldn
’
t put it down.
”

Megan nodded.
“
I know it
’
s late, but my new washer and dryer aren
’
t being delivered for another two days. I let myself in hoping I could do a load here?
”

“
Of course you can. You need soap?
”

“
Nope, got it, but thanks.
How
’
s life, little sister?
”

I shrugged.
Crazy
, I thought.
“
It
’
s fine.
”
I said.
“
I
’
m thinking about becoming a cocktail waitress.
”

Megan laughed as she stuffed her clothes into the machine, measured out a capful of soap
,
and quickly set the dials.

“
Don
’
t laugh, I
’
m serious.
”
I regarded her as I leaned against the counter.
“
Are you hungry?
”

“
I could go for a snack.
Whatcha
’
got?
”

I pulled open the refrigerator door and peered inside cautiously.
“
Nothing that
’
s any good by now.
”
I started rummaging through a deep kitchen drawer.

“
Chips?
”

I came up with a large bag of chips.
“
Chips.
”

Megan grinned and we commenced with the ripping open of the bag.
“
So
,
about this waitressing gig.
”

“
Well, I
’
m still working out the details.
How bad do you think
Mom
and
Dad
would hurt me?
”
I laughed.

“
Pretty bad.
”

“
Yeah.
”
I smiled.
It would almost be worth it to see the looks on their faces
, I thought wistfully.
As far as I was concerned
,
you were never too old to give your parents a hard time.
We had been too easy on them anyways.
Well, most of the time.
Megan definitely
had been too easy on them.
I couldn
’
t remember the last time Megan had gotten in trouble.
Although
, I mused,
it
’
s
probably too late now
.
Megan had turned
thirty-
two
six months ago.
I, however, was only
twenty-nine
.
There was still plenty of time for me.
Wasn
’
t there?
I shook my head,
smiling
across the counter at Megan.

“
Why are we still in Seattle, Megs?
”

She looked at me like I had grown a second head.
“
We grew up here?
I don
’
t know.
What
’
s wrong with Seattle?
You and Mike have jobs here; I have my design business;
Mom
and
Dad
live here.
”

“
Yeah, I guess so.
”
I sighed.

“
What
’
s wrong, Claire?
”
She set a chip down and eyed me as she drank her soda.

“
Just feeling restless, I guess.
Bored?
Ready for a change?
I don
’
t even know.
This too shall pass?
”
Like my life
, I thought,
in slow and regular intervals
.
Except for this week; it made me feel like a heel for even thinking of complaining over the ordinary.

“
I
’
m thinking about switching jobs.
Different focus, maybe.
Being in a basement all the time must be getting to me.
The deprivation of natural light and all.
”
I smiled and scooted another chip towards my sister.

“
Huh.
Must be.
Well, go for it, Claire.
I mean it.
I
’
m behind you 100%, whatever you want to do.
You could even come to work with me for a while, if you want.
”

I laughed now.
“
Not a chance.
Get that out of your pretty head right now.
”

“
So what
’
s your book about?
”

“
My book?
”

“
The happy little bit you were reading when I came in?
”

I tensed but forced myself to shrug and look nonchalant.
“
Nothing really, just some old ghost stories I found in the attic.
Looks like that and someone
’
s old journals.
”
I actually was still cleaning out the attic space from the previous owners
,
an elderly couple who I hoped had found Tampa to their liking.
Did I mention I procrastinate from time to time?

Megan leaned forward.
“
Ooh, sounds good.
Any torrid love affairs?
”

“
Nope.
”

“
Love triangles?
”

“
Not that I know of.
”

“
Weird fetishes?
”

I shuddered.
“
God, I hope not.
”

She sat back then, deflated.
I
didn
’
t
know why I didn
’
t tell her the truth
...
I didn
’
t want to mention John
’
s part in all this, for one thing.
I mean, I
refrained
from slugging him
, but
I wasn
’
t sure that she would be able to.
Megan was
one of those people who
took
care of her own.
She
could
take quite a bit of insult and injury in her own life
, but
mess with her family and you were toast.
I also
took
care of my own
, and
so far I was staring at a nightmarish fantasy world, embezzlement, and disappearances.
Danger, I admitted.
I didn
’
t want Megan involved
—
I didn
’
t even want her to worry.
She
’
d had her share of worry for, oh, the next ten years, I figured.

Besides, I wasn
’
t even sure I could explain the mess in which I presently found myself.
I really needed to find Mike first.
Until then I figured it was best I kept quiet.
In order to find my brother, I would have to figure out where he had gone.
That meant figuring out what he
was
working on before he disappeared.
John said he would call in one week, after I
’
d had time to go through Mike
’
s notes.
Now there was a call I was looking forward to.
I entertained brief fantasies about flushing my telephone down the toilet.

“
What
’
s so funny, Claire?
”

“
Um…nothing; I was just thinking.
Listen, Meg, you remember that summer a while back
,
when
I was
twelve?
”

“
Mikey had just turned
ten
.
Yeah, talk about a while back.
”
She smiled and a dreamy look came into her eyes.
“
That was the summer I was
—
officially
—
allowed to date.
I seem to remember a Cadillac and a brown
-
eyed boy.
“

“
Adam Jones
,
”
I supplied helpfully.

“
He was my first serious boyfriend.
”
She grinned like a fool.
“
You know, I wonder what he
’
s been up to.
”

I shook my head,
smiling
warmly at her.
“
We had a lot of good times
,
Megs.
”

“
We did, didn
’
t we?
As I recall, you and Mikey were almost grounded for life after that summer.
”
She winked at me.

“
Grounded?
Oh yes
—Mom
wasn
’
t too happy about our little end of summer hurrah
,
was she?
”
I chuckled.
“
She always worried about us so much
—
snakes in the woods, poison ivy, and what was it? Wild bears?
Runaway bears?
”