Amanda hung up the phone. The cops were on the way. They were quick where bodies were concerned.

Armin said, “Amanda, I’m gonna set up a camera to monitor that last door before the hall of mirrors and one just on the inside.”

“You just have that stuff on hand?”

“Well, I got stuff for my blog on hand which includes several cameras. Easy enough to rig something up with what I have and with my laptop.”

“Guess your time in counterintelligence worked out huh?”

Armin grinned. “Guess we’ll see. Maybe I’ll catch something interesting for my web series huh?”

Amanda rolled her eyes. “Better hope that series doesn’t get you killed.”

Armin’s grin didn’t fade. “What is that some kind of prophecy from,” he made air quotes, “The Dreamer?”

“Ha ha ha. Very funny Armin. I’m glad you can make light of that dead person down there.”

“Come on, that person’s been dead for a decade, maybe more.”

“Even if they were, what about the noises”

“Yes, it was spooky, and yeah, I’m not going down there unarmed. But it’s probably a wild animal, like a bear, not some crazy monster. Which is why I’m putting these cameras up. Your mind fills in the gaps Amanda. Those noises… and well… what we’ve both seen on the battle field…” He trailed off for a few moments, then said, “The only monsters I’ve ever seen, are other people.”

Amanda couldn’t disagree with that. But the dream was tugging at her. So was the journal she was still clasping white-knuckled in her hands. Had she been holding it so firm the whole time? Maybe Armin was right though. It could be an animal. The noises could have been the sounds of the wind mixed with the mirrors? Maybe they were just rattling from the change in air pressure. If she hadn’t read those creepy occult books before she went down there the first time, would she have interpreted things the same way?

Yet, she couldn’t dismiss the dream. No matter how she or Armin tried, there was something about the dream that made her quiver. Even thinking about it, the gooseflesh rose on her arms, the light red hairs standing on end, like corpses raised unnaturally from their slumber.

“Let me see it.”

“What?” The words jarred her, ice water on a brisk morning. Her mind still roamed those reflective passages, still caught glimpses of her ugly scar, her reminder of the pain and loss and wounds that she carried with her always.

“The journal, I am going to scan it in before the cops get here like we said.”

“Oh. Right.”

But as he held his hand out, she found she was reluctant to give it to him. She felt like a teenage girl again, and Armin wanted to read her private words. Somehow it felt… wrong to hand it over to him. He put his left hand on it, but she almost couldn’t will herself to let go of it.

Armin stared at her, “Don’t you want a copy so we can see it later?”

“Yeah… it’s just… I don’t know…”

Armin tugged at his short black goatee. “We don’t have to. I just thought you’d want to.”

Amanda heard what she said next, but later she would think that perhaps there was something in the journal, some power about it, that made her say the words, because she couldn’t imagine saying them on her own. “No. I don’t think we should scan it. That feels wrong. In fact, I don’t think we should tell the cops at all. Let’s keep it to ourselves.”

Armin said, “But what if there’s something in there that reveals how they died or is important to the investigation?”

“Then we tell them we found it in the house.”

Armin stared at her for a long moment. She tried to read that expression. He had always been like a brother to her, the brother she never had. She was an only child, and when her parents had died in a car accident when she was seventeen, she had immediately enlisted in the military. She was able to stay with her aunt for the few months while she finished up high school graduation and before she went off to boot camp, but then after eight years enlisted she retired. Her squad had been her family, her proxy siblings, and then… all of them had gone and died, all of them except Armin. Armin was an orphan, and so they were like lost children, clinging to each other by the length of their scars.

Armin said, “Alright. I’ll go with it. But if you find anything in there about murder we go to the police with it okay?”

Amanda nodded and wrapped her arms around the journal, hugging it tight as if it were her own. She was backing away, and Armin was turning toward his task and pulling cameras out of his bag. She slipped out of the kitchen and made her way up to her bedroom. There she shut the door behind her and opened the journal.

On the inside cover there was a place for a name. Scribbled in a hasty scrawl the name read Celestine Gammit. Amanda frowned. It was the name of her Uncle Charlie’s wife. The one who had disappeared years ago, the one whose paintings hung throughout the house. She remembered him calling her Celly and were these truly her final words? Had uncle Charlie had some hand in her death? She turned to the first page and started reading the first entry.

October 22nd, 1995 

I am about to die. This isn’t a suicide note, not exactly, but I thought it was important to recall the events of what happened in the past several weeks and why I am about to die. I hope that my death will serve a purpose and will seal the rift that threatens to undo the entire world.

I don’t want to die. I’m pregnant. I just found out. Charlie and I have been trying for years. So this sacrifice isn’t just mine, but that of my child’s as well. I hope whatever magic is down in that wretched place acknowledges that it’s getting two lives and seals forever this time. 

I don’t know if anyone will read this. If you do read it, then maybe I’ve failed, or only just postponed the horror. No matter who is reading this now, this is all going to sound crazy. So be prepared. I promise every last bit of this is true, and I am taking pains not to exaggerate or twist the truth because I know if I do, and the rift is still open again, misleading you could let loose hell on earth. 

I only one night left to write this, so forgive my brevity, I will squeeze in as much as I can before the ritual is ready. It takes some time to make the poison and Charlie is no master alchemist. I only hope he gets it right. If he gets it wrong… well, I suppose no one will ever read this then will they?

I haven’t told him, that I am carrying his child. How could I? He’d never let me go through with what I have to. There’s just no choice. As it is, I can hear him raging and crying in the other room as he brews the potion. We’ve loved each other, the way that few couples do. That’s probably why were damned.

It all started a few months ago really. We had no idea the passage was there. If you’re reading this, you’ve discovered it too, since I will leave this journal down below somewhere.

Charlie’s uncle left us the house and several large bank accounts. It was a blessing. Then, one day, Charlie was trying to clear the library books off the shelf, and the passage opened. He came and got me, and together, we went below exploring. Nothing much happened at first. We were down there a half dozen times before we woke it. It was the party that started everything. All of our friends got wind of this passage and suggested we should have a costume party and have people explore the maze. I only wish we would have explored the whole thing before we let people down there. I’ll never forget the screams that night, the sound of it gnawing the bodies. I hope you didn’t make the same fool mistake we did. Whatever you do don’t…

The doorbell rang. Amanda looked up. Armin was standing in the doorway.

“I think they’re here.”

“Who?”

“Who else? The cops.”

“Shit already?”

“Small town, I don’t think they have a lot to do. Come on. Let’s get this over with.”

Reluctantly Amanda closed the journal and slid it in between her mattresses and out of sight. She would read it later, but by then, it would be too late to heed the warning.

2.

“Tell us again what you saw and heard down there?”

The cop was short and round. A thick bushy mustache and beady eyes darted back and forth from Amanda’s face and to his tablet where he was scribbling hasty notes.

“How many times do you need to hear it?”

The scrawny cop, who Amanda thought couldn’t possibly be out of teens yet, shifted. He too was attempting to grow a mustache but only a few stray blond hairs, to match the short messy mop of hair had taken root. Amanda had seen his kind before, had served with men like this. When they got to boot camp, they were all mouth and could be blown over by the endless wind that they belched with their tirade of comments. He said, “As many times as we need to hear it, Ma’am.”

Armin said, “No, let’s show you what we found. Then we can tell it again if we need to. And so you know, both Amanda and I are Vets, and both of us are going down armed. We have permits for our weapons if you need to see them, but with the noises, we heard down there, there’s no way we’re going in without our sidearms. I suggest you do the same.”

Both men exchanged a look and Amanda could see the cracks in the corners of their mouths. They wanted to laugh, but something about Armin kept them from doing so, perhaps it was the tone in his voice or his steady gaze.

“You don’t have to believe me, but I am sure you’ve seen enough films to know that the one whose unprepared gets eaten first.” Armin cracked a smile, and it seemed to put both men at ease. “It’s probably just animal, but if it’s a big one, armed is the way to go.”

Amanda said, “Just follow us.”

They did, and the party of four found their way to the library.

Amanda said, “It’s behind that bookshelf.” She pulled the book, and the door swung open. The cops said nothing but their slack jaws said everything.

They made their way down the winding stairs and walked out into the great hall.

The large cop, the one with the name tag that read, Landry said, “Holy Jeez. Marcus, you ever hear any rumors or anything about this old place?”

“Just the usual creepy ones about the last owner murdering his wife.”

A chill gripped Amanda, what she had just read in the journal entry suggest that the rumor wasn’t far from the truth. “Is that what they say about my uncle?”

“That guy was your uncle?” said Landry. “Sorry, I didn’t know. Thought you folks got married up here and bought this creepy old place. Didn’t realize that you were related.”

Amanda said, “Armin and I aren’t married or anything like that, just friends.”

Officer Landry looked her up and down. He looked like was going to say something but didn’t. It occurred to Amanda that this was a small town and maybe up in these older towns, people still gossiped the way they used to.

Amanda said, “We saw a lot of combat together. He’s just up here helping me settle in.”

That answer seemed to serve as he nodded acceptance and turned his attention back towards the great hall. Both Landry and the one he had called Marcus, paraded their flashlights over every inch.

“Where’s the body?”

Armin said, “We told you. It’s down in the hall with the mirrors.”

Marcus said, “For real? I thought you folks were just making that up.”

Armin pointed. “That door up on the stage area.”

Both men looked and then exchanged a glance. Amanda couldn’t read minds, but it was easy enough to tell that both the cops didn’t like this place or anything they thought it stood for.

Landry said, “You should know. This house has been here a long time and well… folks in town. They say they used to get up to some weird stuff up here. When your uncle’s wife disappeared, there were even more rumors. But with this whole hidden underground place… I have to admit… some of those rumors make more sense.”

Amanda opened her mouth to ask what he meant, but Armin beat her to it. “What kind of rumors.”

Landry didn’t answer right away. He waited till they were on the stage looking at the strange door. His frown a mile wide, he said, “Strange rituals and dark magic. Some folks in town believe this place is evil that it was built with the devil in mind. Some say they practiced things like cannibalism and orgies and all manner of unholy things up here.”

Landry ran his hands on the door, tracing the strange images and symbols, then said, “You gotta admit, at least this door is creepy and if someone was killed down here… well… maybe you outta consider a new home huh?”

Armin nearly shoved the cops out of the way and opened the door. Something was bugging him, but Amanda couldn’t put her finger on it.

With the door open the cops peered inside lead by their flashlights. They two blinding eyes reflected right back and them and around some of the reflective corners. Armin walked over and started the generator. The noise, filling the void echoed through the large chamber, and both of the cops jumped. Both men looked at each other as the floodlights Armin set up came to life. They put their flashlights away.

Amanda said, “You’ll need those. We got a long walk ahead.”

Marcus said, “How long of a walk?”

Armin said, “A mile or two we don’t know exactly how long, and the lights only go around so many corners even with the mirrors.”

Landry said, “How do you know where to go? You memorize the directions or something?”

Armin, pulling out yet another sharpee (he had told Amanda he intended to always bring a fresh one no matter how many times they came down here) and said, “We marked the passage last time with one of these. I got another just in case we need to do some more marking.”

Landry nodded with approval. “Alright, let’s go.”

They walked along the passage for a long while following the arrows, more than once missing them and needing to backtrack. The sound of the generator slowly faded with each turn and Amanda felt the dread quiet creeping up on them. There was no wind as they there had been before in their flight. Whatever door was open before, was closed. She wondered how long this place went on for. Even at the location of the body it seemed to go on forever. She thought for a moment, that if Armin was right, and it did turn out to be nothing but a wild animal, they should mark and map every inch of this place so that no one could ever get lost again.

“This place is scary quiet huh?” said Marcus.

Landry said, “Yeah, gives me the creeps. I wonder what kind of weirdo built this place and how long it’s been here. How much longer do you think?”

Armin said, “About a dozen turns. See the number the arrow? I gave it a number so you know exactly how many turns you have to get back to the beginning.”

“That’s a good idea man. I don’t know that I would have thought of that,” said Landry. “You said you were a Vet?”

Armin nodded, though it was hard to see outside of the range of the maglites and the light and shadows did funny things with the mirrors. “Yes, I was a part of counter-intelligence.”

The scar on Amanda’s face looked so much worse in the light and in the endless reflections around her. It was one thing to have Armin there, who knew the origin of that scar, but it was another to have two total strangers gaping at it. There was no way to hide it down here, and she loathed the asking. She hated telling the story of how everyone she loved and cared about died horribly, except for Armin. Armin never discussed that day either.

They pressed on and time stretched long. She noted how time seemed to change it routine, as if the minutes stretched longer down here. It was hard to get a sense of things in this place.

Armin grabbed her arm. “Do you hear that?”

Everyone stopped dead. Amanda listened. There was a strange buzzing noise. It was faint but now that she heard it for herself she couldn’t unhear it.

Just above a whisper armin said, “And the smell.”

Amanda sniffed. She knew that scent.

Armin said, “It’s like… after. After we’d baked in the hot sun a while.”

Their convoy had been hit hard on a mountain pass. Both her and Armin had lost consciousness. When they awoke, it was the heat of the day. Armin had broken his arm and had a concussion, Amanda had lost half her face and shattered her leg. The roadside bomb had thrown their vehicle clear off the edge of a cliff, and the only reason they survived was that they had fallen so far that the insurgents didn’t climb down to check on them. They survived for nearly two days laying in the heat of the car eating the last of their supplies and struggling to stay cool before rescue came. If there was such a thing as hell, Amanda had seen it. The smell of the bodies grew more potent with each passing hour in the car. It was a pungent smell that burned its way into Amanda’s nostrils and never fully left them. Anytime she got in a car she could smell it. Anytime she thought about her gun she could smell it. Anytime she thought about Roger or Clement or her time in the Army she smelled it. It was like the period at every important sentence of her life, the mark and the reminder of the things that shaped her, and here it was. And the buzzing, the buzzing was the like the sounds of the drones overhead. Amanda could almost hear gunfire, could almost hear the cries of battle, the screams of the wounded. When she looked into one of the mirrors, for a moment she could swear a battle scene was played out.

“Amanda?”

It was Armin, he was shaking her. “You okay?”

She shook her head.

Armin frowned, “Yeah me neither.”

Landry said, “What’s wrong with her? She okay?”

Armin said, “You ever see combat? A firefight? Anything?”

Landry worked his teeth and then spat. “Nah. Stay pretty quiet around this town.”

“Never had to deal with a body or anything?”

“Yeah, a few in my time. Why?”

“Don’t you smell it?”

“Just smells like a musty old cellar to me.”

“You smell it don’t you Amanda?”

She nodded but didn’t say anything. She was trying to keep her eyes forward, keep her eyes away from the mirrors but it wasn’t possible. She needed to stop seeing her scar, her little reminder, but the only way to do that was to turn out the light or close her eyes. She felt her knees weaken, her stomach was turning. But then there was a hand on her shoulder.

“Come on,” said Armin. “Let’s go. This place is making me jump at shadows.”

Amanda said, “Me too.”

They walked on. Following the dark arrows and path turn after turn. The more they walked, the better Amanda felt. Sometimes, when the flashbacks came, the best thing to do was to keep moving. If you let them take you over, you might shut down completely.

As they rounded the second to the last arrow, Amanda said, “Thanks Armin.”

“No problem. This place feels… different than it did before doesn’t it?”

Marcus said, “Different how?”

Armin said, “I don’t know. It’s like there’s a weight to it now, like it’s pressing in on you. Don’t you feel it? It’s a strange sensation.” 

Landry said, “All I know is this place gives me the creeps.”

Marcus gestured agreement.

Then they were at the last arrow number 26. Amanda said, “Okay, this is it, should be just around this corner.”

“How do you know?” asked Marcus.

Amanda said, “See how the arrow is kind of faded and scribbled over several times?”

Both men nodded ascent.

“Well, the sharpie ran out, and me and Armin agreed that we would go around just one more turn and then, there it was.”

Armin drew his gun and Amanda followed suit.

Landry chuckled, “Going in hot?”

Amanda said, “If there’s an animal down here, I don’t want it to catch us unarmed.”

“Well, you two lead the way then, Marcus and I, ain’t going in front of two twitchy armed vets.”

The man had meant it as a joke, but a wave of anger stirred in Amanda. Before she could reply, Armin put his hand on her shoulder as if to say, let it go. She turned and walked around the corner, flashlight in one hand and pistol in the other. In the corner, exactly where they left it, lay the body. But it was different somehow. It was back underneath the cloth and, was that movement Amanda saw or was it just the light and mirrors and shadows?

Carefully, Armin and Amanda fanned out, one on either side of the corridor, weapons pointed and ready to open fire if necessary. The only sound was their well-placed footsteps.

The cops were behind them, the thin reedy voice of Marcus broke the silence. “That it?”

Armin said, “Yes.”

“No way that’s a body.”

Amanda didn’t take her eyes of the covered corpse, but said, “What do you mean?”

“It’s too small. Look at it. Unless that thing’s been down here a thousand years and some of the bones are dust, but that’s not what you told us upstairs.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Amanda.

Marcus walked between the both of them and pulled back the cloth. Amanda’s heart pounded and her finger went to the trigger ready for the thing underneath to jump up and attack the cop.

But nothing happened.

Instead, all they saw was the small half decayed body of a rabbit. Part of its skeleton was open, and there were maggots at work, with hatched flies buzzing around it. The smell of roadkill filled the hall, as if the shroud had only just kept it’s stench at bay.

Landry said, “You gotta be shitting me right? Is this some kind of joke?”

There was real anger in that voice, and Amanda knew that it was anger born of fear. They had said they were creeped out coming down here, but Amanda realized that wasn’t the half of it. Both of them had probably been on the verge of peeing their pants.

Amanda lowered her gun. “That’s not what was here before. Tell him Armin. Tell him about the skeleton.”

Armin said, “It was definitely a corpse before.”

Landry said something under his breath.

Amanda said, “What was that?”

Landry said, “Look, Armin here just asked me if I saw combat right? I am assuming you both had. Hell, that scar on your face tells a story doesn’t it?”

Amanda holstered her weapon and reached up to hide the scar. It was almost involuntary, almost. She felt the rage rise. She knew what the cop was about to say and she felt her pulse quicken in her temple.

Armin said, “Despite what you think, were not a pair of twitchy vets. We can handle ourselves. If we hadn’t seen a corpse down here, we never would have called you.”

Marcus, his voice a bit lower and softer said, “Look. This place is creepy as hell. All the shadows and reflections and lights play tricks on your eyes. Hell, I’ve been jumping at shadows all the way down here. No question this place would mess with your mind if you were down here a while, and you said you went exploring, so you were what, down here a few hours?”

Armin nodded.

“I’m not even saying it was your fault. You probably saw this cloth covering a lump, and your mind filled in the gaps, you know what I’m saying?”

Amanda said, “But that’s not how… It was just… I know what I saw.”

Armin said, “I know what I saw too, and this wasn’t it.”

Landry said, “Well, whatever you saw then, isn’t what’s here now. Hell of a creepy place though, you should board this place up so no one gets lost down here.”

“But what about the cloth?”

Landry said, “What about it? Someone was marching around down here and lost a garment ages ago. Who knows how long this place has been down here.”

The man’s skepticism was well earned. They had led them down here expecting a corpse, but now nothing? She imagined he probably got dozens of calls a week, even in a small town, with all kinds of wild claims. She looked to Armin for help, but he just shrugged. What could they say or do to convince them? She thought about the journal, and despite what she said before to Armin, she needed them to understand they weren’t crazy, that they weren’t making it up.

Amanda said, “There’s something else. We… found a journal of some sort by the body. I took it upstairs with me. I can show it to you when we get back up there.”

Landry’s eyebrows rose. “Really you took something from what you thought was the scene of a crime? You know that’s a problem right?”

She nodded. “I know I shouldn’t have, but now I’m really glad I did. It’s evidence for you and evidence of what we saw down here.”

Marcus looked at his partner and then said, “Alright, I’m about done with this place anyway. I’ve had enough of mirrors to last me a lifetime. I think I am gonna take the ones at home down. The girlfriend won’t be happy but…”

For a moment, no one moved or said anything, then Armin said, “What did you see in the mirrors that bothered you?”

Marcus said, “I… well… it was… It was nothing. Like I said, the light and the shadows and all those reflections, they mess with your mind. Let’s just get out of this place.”

Amanda waited for a moment for him to continue, but he didn’t. Was that terror in his eyes she saw? Something unsettled the both of them, she was certain of that. Maybe there was something about these mirrors, in this place, that made you see things, or experience things. She was sure of what she and Armin had found, and soon they would have evidence that they weren’t crazy.

3.

When they surfaced into the library, Amanda immediately headed to her room to retrieve the journal. Since there was no corpse, she would be allowed to keep it right? For a moment, she thought she made a mistake in telling them. But she wanted so badly for them to believe her. Why was that? Was it the twitchy vet comment? She didn’t know.

When she got to her room, she lifted her mattress and reached to the spot under her pillow where she had left the journal. It wasn’t there. Second guessing herself, she went to the other side of the bed, lifted the king size mattress again and still there was nothing. Out of sheer frustration and despite the ache growing in her leg, she threw herself against it and heaved the mattress off the boxspring. All that greeted her was the smell of an ancient and well-used mattress. No journal met her gaze, only spots, and stains from ages of use.

“What the hell is going on?”

Armin was behind her, and she startled as he said, “Where is it?” The tone was an accusation. Armin was just as frustrated as she was with their adventure and the cops attitudes weren’t helping.

“I don’t know. I left it right here between the mattress.”

His frown could swallow her whole. It was more than a frown though, most of the time Armin was level headed and cheery, but once in a while, he let his temper show.

“Dammit Amanda, I told you we should have scanned it in.”

Amanda opened her mouth to reply, but then didn’t. Somehow, she had known it was a bad idea to scan the journal. She still felt that to be true.

“Well?” Armin said.

“Well what? It’s gone. The corpse is gone. We have nothing for them.”

Armin chewed on this. For a moment, she thought he was going to shout at her. There was something in his eyes, a kind of brief insanity that only dared to show a hint of its depths before it buried itself again. “Alright,” he said. “I’ll tell them to take a hike.” He turned and left her alone.

Amanda struggled to get the mattress on by herself. The damn thing was heavy as hell, and her leg ached from all the walking in the past few days. She’d need to pop a painkiller if she was going to sleep tonight. She sighed as she slid the mattress back into place. She lay on the bed staring at the faded off-white ceiling. Was she losing her mind? Was Armin? Did they have some kind of joint hallucination?

She heard the door shut hard below. It wasn’t quite a slam, but it wasn’t a normal amount of force either.

“Armin?”

There was no answer. Maybe he left with the cops? If Armin had one flaw, it was that he liked to be in control of a situation. He was adaptable too, but if he felt like something out of his control, he was bound to do something unorthodox. That thought sat on her mind for a moment, and then, panicking she jumped up. Even if there was nothing down in that strange hall of mirror’s she didn’t want him to go down there alone. She ran to the library as fast as she could with her aching leg. She ignored the pain and pushed through.

The door was still open. Had the closed it, or was Armin already back down there?

She shouted down the spiral staircase. “Armin? Are you down there?”

Nothing.

She glanced out one of the library windows to see if his car was still out there. It was. A red Chevy pickup was parked just where Armin had left it.

She walked back over and shouted down the stairway again. “Armin if you’re down there answer me.”

Still nothing.

She still had her gun on her, and she looked around the room. Her maglite was sitting on one of the armchairs. She grabbed it and worked her way down the stairs. Every step was agony now, her leg needed rest, she hadn’t meant to push it this hard this long.

“Armin? If you’re down here at least wait for me.”

From above her came a reply. “Amanda?”

She looked up but couldn’t see around the spiral stairs.

“Armin are you up there?”

“Yes, are you going back in now?”

“No, I was looking for you… making sure…”

Silence for a moment and then, “Come back up.”

She did, and as she crested the stairs a long low roar, the likes of which she had never heard before came from below. It shook the stairs and Amanda to her bones. She didn’t want it to happen, but a scream escaped her lips. Armin grabbed her out of the doorway and shut the bookcase. He was shaking too. What had she almost walked into? She fell into Armin’s arms and found them warmth and soothing.

“Please tell me you heard that?”

He said, “I was about to ask you the same thing.”

“What the hell is going on? Where did the corpse and the journal go? What the hell was that roar just now?”

“I don’t know Amanda, but I just made a call, Beth and some other friends of mine are going to help us find out.”  

Next Chapter: Excerpt from Chapter 5 Rescue Party