The 45th Parallel Read online

  “Can we take this file with us?” Kat asked.

  “Yes, Jerry said this is a copy, so we can take all or part of it. Whatever you think would be helpful. If you are all right, I am going to go downstairs. I should be back up in half an hour or so.”

  “I’ll be here.” Kat smiled weakly. As soon as John left the room, the voices started. She tried to focus on the file, following John’s parents through the last couple days of their lives. They left Northport Harbor early in the morning on day one and arrived at St. James Harbor on Beaver Island that evening. They stayed at the Mystic Beaver Inn the first night. The next day they toured a museum and lighthouse. Kat stopped reading when she heard a scratching sound across the table. She reluctantly looked in the direction of the noise. Old man Crowley was sitting across from her scraping his long, broken fingernails along the top of the table. Each time Kat saw him, his state of decay became a little worse. His stench clung to her nose and made her eyes water.

  “I’m going to be with you the rest of your life,” he croaked. “Wherever you are, you will see me.”

  Kat slammed her eyes shut and covered her ears.

  “You can’t shut me out. I’m in your head. You are as crazy as your mother.” He cackled.

  “Go away, go away, go away.” Kat groaned and shook her head side to side. When she opened her eyes Crowley was gone. You can do this, she thought, as she tried to focus her attention on the file again. There were tiny drops of sweat covering her forehead.

  The third day they left St. James Harbor. The fourth day there was no record of their whereabouts. On the fifth day, Legalease was found floating in the middle of Lake Michigan. Kat breathed in and noticed the sweet smell of lilies. It reminded her of her mother’s perfume. She closed her eyes again and she thought she could hear the soft ringing of wind chimes. “Mom?” Kat whispered. When she opened her eyes, the conference room door was open. Kat cautiously rose from her chair and walked into the hall. The scent of lilies grew stronger as she passed the reception desk. Irene was not at her desk. There didn’t seem to be anyone around.

  Kat heard the soft clicking sound of a door unlatching. She glanced up and saw the front door to the office swing open slowly revealing the empty hallway beyond. A gentle draft of air blew in, carrying the aroma of lilies. Kat walked out the office door and followed the scent down to an exit door at the end of the hallway. She pushed open the door and looked up. At the top of the stairs was a door which opened onto the roof. It was unlatched. Kat climbed the stairs slowly. She could focus only on what was straight in front of her. Her peripheral vision was a soft fuzzy haze. All she could hear was the sound of her labored breathing and the soft ring of wind chimes.

  As she stepped out onto the roof, Kat saw her mother standing over toward the edge. She didn’t look like she did in Kat’s dreams. She looked beautiful. She had on a white sundress with small yellow flowers. Her hair was thick and blowing gently around her face. Her skin glowed with health and vitality. Her mother reached out and beckoned Kat over.

  “Mom?” Kat said as her eyes welled up with tears.

  “It’s beautiful here,” her mother smiled. “There are no more visions, no more voices, just peace.”

  “I want them to go away.” Kat felt her voice catching in her throat as she spoke.

  “I can help you make them disappear. I can help you find peace.”

  “I want them to go away. I want to be normal,” Kat sobbed.

  “Come closer and I will show you.” Her mother held out her hand to Kat. Kat thought she looked like a beautiful angel. All she could see was her mother; everything else was a soft, fuzzy ring of light. Kat moved closer to the roof edge.

  “Come into the garden,” Kat’s mother said. Kat looked beyond the rooftop and she could see a stone path floating in mid-air that lead to a wrought iron gate. Beyond the gate was the most beautiful garden Kat had ever seen.

   •●• 

  Back at John’s house, Martine continued to coach Helene. “The first thing you need to do is completely relax. Start with your toes and work up your body relaxing every muscle. Once you feel completely relaxed, focus on your breathing. Start to imagine all the energy in your body is drawn in and focused in the area just above your heart. Feel the center of energy concentrating and forming a ball. Now, transfer that ball of energy outside your body and start to fly. Tell me what you see,” Martine said.

  Helene could no longer hear Martine. She was moving over the town of Northport, over Mary’s house, now over Grand Traverse Bay. She could see shoreline and the traffic on M22. Now she was over the roof of a building. Kat was standing on the edge. Helene’s eyes popped open and she reached out for Martine’s arm. “She is going to jump. Oh my God, call John. She is on the edge of the roof and she is going to jump!” Helene’s voice rose in panic.

  Martine grabbed her cell phone and dialed John’s number.

  “Hello” John said.

  “John,” Martine said frantically. “Kat is on the roof. I think she is going to jump!”

  John stood up in the middle of his meeting and raced to the elevator. His investment advisor stared after him in confused surprise. When he got to the roof, he froze. Kat was standing on the edge, peering down at the parking lot below. Her hand was extended out in front of her.

  “It is so peaceful,” she said to some unseen person.

  “Kat,” John called very softly. “What are you doing?”

  Kat turned slightly at the sound of John’s voice and dropped her hand. “John, my mother is here. She is going to help me.”

  “What is she going to help you with?” John kept his voice calm and soothing as he slowly moved closer to Kat.

  “Stop all the noise in my head. Stop all the horrible visions.”

  “Don’t focus on him, Kat. Focus on the garden,” Kat’s mother said as she stepped off the edge of the roof. Her mother was now floating several feet in front of Kat. “Come take my hand,” she said as she reached out to Kat.

  “I’m going to go to the garden,” Kat said to John as she reached out her hand to her mother again.

  “Can you look at me? Just for a minute,” John said. He was within five feet of her now.

  “Take my hand Kat,” her mother said in a stronger voice.

  “At least give me a kiss good-bye, then you can go.” John’s voice was smooth and hypnotic. Kat turned slightly to look for John, but all she saw was a white haze.

  “We have to go now,” her mother demanded.

  John reached out and grabbed Kat’s wrist and yanked her away from the edge. They both tumbled back, and Kat ended up lying on top of him.

  “I have to go back,” she pleaded and struggled against John’s firm grip. He had his arms around her in a tight bear hug.

  “Kat, look at me,” he commanded.

  As she looked into his dark eyes, she started to feel calm and her peripheral vision began to clear.

  “You are not really seeing your mother. Someone has bewitched you. We need to get you home and undo this spell.”

  “She said she could help me,” Kat said in despair.

  “I am going to get up and I want you to come with me. Do you understand?” John asked.

  “Yes,” Kat said softly.

  John led Kat back down into Jerry Nelson’s office. Strangely, there was still nobody there. Holding tightly to Kat’s hand, he went to the conference room and grabbed the file from the table. When they got on the elevator, John turned Kat to face him. “There are no more visions, no more voices. Everything is going to be fine,” he said.

  “Yes…it will,” Kat whispered as she stared into John’s dark eyes. John kept a grip on Kat’s wrist the entire drive home.

  When they arrived at John’s house, Martine and Helene were waiting anxiously.

  “Thank you so much, John,” Helene said.

  “Don’t thank me. If it were not for me, she never would have been up on that roof,” he said sharply.

  “I need her to
drink something that won’t taste very good. It will put her into a deep sleep, but she should be fine when she wakes up,” Martine said.

  John led Kat into the kitchen and sat her in a chair.

  “It’s getting fuzzy again. My vision is getting fuzzy,” Kat said, her voice rising in panic.

  John knelt in front of her and stared into Kat’s eyes.

  “We are going to give you something to drink. You need to drink all of it, despite how it tastes,” John said.

  Martine handed Kat a cup, and she took a sip and cringed. John looked into her eyes and pushed the cup back up to her lips and held it until it was empty. “You’re going to lie down now. You will be all better when you wake up.” John took Kat’s hand and led her to the room she had stayed in before. “I want you to go to sleep Kat,” he said as he sat on the bed and pulled her down next to him. “I’m going to stay here with her in case she wakes up and starts to see things again,” John said as he looked over to Martine who was standing in the doorway.

  “Thank you,” Kat mumbled as she started to drift off to sleep. Martine looked doubtful, but then she stepped out and shut the door behind her. John wrapped his arm around Kat as she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  When Kat woke in the morning she had one arm and one leg draped across John. His arm was around her shoulders and he was lying on his back with his eyes closed. Kat tried to get up without waking him, but as soon as she began to move, he sat bolt upright, gasping for breath.

  “John?” she said softly. “Are you all right? Do you always wake up like that?”

  John took a moment to catch his breath and looked around the room as if he was trying to figure out where he was.

  “Yes…since the day my parents died I have acquired strange sleeping habits.” John slowly turned to face Kat who was now sitting up beside him. He was still wearing jeans and a North Light Winery T-shirt from the night before.

  “Are you better?” he asked.

  “Yes. I don’t have that strange fuzzy vision. Thank you for staying with me.” Kat slid off the side of the bed and went to the bathroom. After brushing her teeth and her hair, she came out to find John standing by the window holding two mugs of coffee.

  “Here, I brought you some coffee,” he said as he handed her a mug.

  “Thank you,” Kat said. As she took a drink of her coffee, there was a knock on the door. Helene and Martine opened the door and came in when they saw John and Kat were up.

  “You look so much better, Kat. You don’t have that crazy look in your eyes,” Helene said. Kat smiled. Leave it to Helene to tell it like it is.

  “I feel so wonderfully normal. No voices, noises, visions. Unless the three of you aren’t really standing here,” Kat said.

  “When did all this start?” Martine asked.

  Kat thought back over the last week. “I guess it started when we went to the trail opening.”

  “Do you remember anyone giving you anything to eat or drink that tasted funny?”

  “The only thing we had was wine. But Anna and Helene had some too.”

  “I remember you complaining that your wine was bitter, Kat,” Helene said.

  “Bitter,” Martine said softly to herself. “I have heard stories of belladonna being used in potions to cause hallucinations and even madness. It has a bitter taste.”

  “Belladonna?” Kat asked.

  “A plant which is also known as Devil’s Cherries or Deadly Nightshade. The plant is poisonous, so it would have to be properly prepared,” Martine said. “Would those creatures have the knowledge to prepare something like that?”

  “Anna was getting the same strange emotions from the crowd that night as she got from the crowd on the Full Moon Celebration. Those creatures were there somewhere,” Helene said.

  “I want to try the bowl again,” Kat said. They all looked at her in surprise.

  “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” Martine said.

  “The effects of the wine are gone and I want to try again,” Kat insisted.

  “Can I talk to Kat alone please?” John asked. Helene and Martine nodded, stepped out of the room, and shut the door. John turned and looked out the window to the lake.

  “Kat,” he said after a moment of silence, “there are things I need to tell you about my parents.”

  “What things?” Kat did not like the tone of his voice. John turned back from the window and looked into her eyes.

  “I need to show you something. Come with me,” he said as he took her hand.

  “Where are we going?”

  “To the wine cellar.”

  Kat let John lead her downstairs, through the large wooden doors into the wine cellar. He turned on the dim lights and walked to the back wall and pulled a bottle of wine out of the rack.

  “I think I have had my fill of wine for a while,” Kat said.

  John ignored Kat’s comment and said, “Behind this bottle of wine is a switch. I found it by accident in April.” He reached into the space the bottle had occupied, and Kat heard a click. A section of the wine racks swung open revealing a dark room beyond.

  “A secret room,” Kat said.

  “Come here,” John said. “I want you to see this.”

  Kat followed John into the darkened room, and the door snapped shut behind her.

  “Oh my God,” Kat gasped. The room was pitch black for only a second or two before John turned a light on.

  “I’m sorry, I should have warned you about the door. It automatically shuts behind you.”

  Kat took a deep breath, trying to slow her racing heart. The room looked like a dungeon. There were medieval weapons mounted to the stone walls. The swords, daggers, and bows looked like they belonged in a museum. There were only three pieces of furniture in the room, two wooden chairs and a bookshelf that went from floor to ceiling. The lower three shelves displayed more weapons, but the top three shelves contained books.

  “The Coast Guard found some of these weapons on the boat during the investigation. I told them my parents were collectors and since there was no blood on the weapons, they bought my story.”

  “You mean they weren’t collectors?”

  “They liked to collect art and antiques but I had never seen the weapons before. I also found it very strange they would be keeping them on the boat.”

  Kat walked over to the wall and took a twelve-inch dagger off the mount. “My God, what were your parents into?” she said softly.

  John walked over to Kat. “They didn’t go to Beaver Island for a weekend cruise. They were hunting something.”

  “Were they hunting those creatures?” Kat asked, holding up the dagger.

  “Look at the handle,” John said, taking the dagger from her hand. “Does that look familiar?”

  Kat studied the handle of the dagger before recognition set in. “My pendant.”

  “Yes, it is the same Celtic design,” John said as he reached out and lifted the pendant from her neck. Kat suddenly became acutely aware of how vulnerable she was just then. She was locked in a secret room with a powerful man holding a twelve-inch dagger, standing less than a foot away from her. A man, she now realized, she knew very little about.

  “Why are you telling me this now?” she said as she took a step back.

  Seeming to sense her discomfort, John placed the dagger back up on the wall. “If I had shown you this room before, you would’ve thought my parents were crazy.”

  “I’m not so sure they weren’t,” Kat said as she looked at a long silver chain hanging from the wall.

  “Those creatures that killed my parents do not want you to help me find them,” John continued. “I am showing you this room because I want you to understand what we are dealing with before you decide to continue. I want you to understand how much danger you are in.”

  “Let’s see,” Kat said angrily. “I am almost torn up by some hellhound, a zombie tries to crush my skull, and then I am given poisoned wine, and now you
decide to tell me I’m in danger.” Kat’s voice was rising with each word. “You think I can just stop helping you now and go on my merry way? You think those creatures will just leave me alone?”

  “I thought I could get the information I needed and then take it from there without involving you any further.”

  “How do you know your parents were fighting for the good side?”

  Kat could see anger flash across John’s eyes. “There is more I need to show you,” he said. His words were slow and measured. Kat felt her heart starting to jump. John walked over and pulled a book out of a wooden bookshelf.

  “This was a journal my parents kept.” John flipped open the pages. “It starts the night Martine’s Aunt Netta disappeared. It seems that is when they began to hunt these creatures,” John said as he handed Kat the journal.

  Kat started to flip through the pages, skimming for pertinent information.

  “They found an increase in the number of unexplained deaths on Beaver Island and on the Leelanau Peninsula every three years. The rates would rise steadily for a period of six months before dropping back down to normal. The end of the cycle always seems to coincide with the full moon closest to the Autumn Equinox.”

  “In September?” Kat asked.

  “Yes. It is sometimes referred to as the Harvest Moon or Reaping Moon. My parents knew the creatures could only feed at night and they could take on animal forms. They refer to them in the journal as the Reaping Moon Witches.”

  “If you knew all this already, why didn’t you just tell us?” Kat said as she stared at the journal.

  “Because I needed you to verify the information in the journal.”

  “You didn’t believe what your parents had written?”

  “I needed to know they were sane,” John said. “Now that we have verified the existence of these creatures, I have to destroy them.”

  “We are coming up on the third anniversary of your parent’s disappearance.”

  “Yes, and Martine’s Aunt Netta and your mother’s death also fit into the three year pattern.”