Adam has found, through talking with people, that the whole area seems to have this psychic ability. Some people can apparently block it--that is, prevent their minds from being read. They can spot people like "The Enquirer" investigators from a mile off, don't talk to them, have been able to stay off the map. (In his questioning of Mrs. Ekloff, Ray had also found that the whole area, not just Bowersville, has this psychic ability.)
Adam also looked into Missing Persons reports and noted an increased number of disappearances over the last two years. Bowersville was sort of the epicenter, but the phenomenon was throughout the county and seemed to have no pattern.
On Monday, Hazel continues work on translating spellbook, Alastair and Adam go talk to more people, particularly the Bowersville librarian Dwight Lang, and Didier and Ray drive out to survey the Tucker house.
Didier's better at breaking-and-entering than Ray is, so he goes into the house while Ray stays out by the road to keep watch. They had been watching the house and saw the father and his three sons all leave together, and determined that there was no dog, at least not outside.
Inside, Didier found some interesting things: quite a lot of guns, a very expensive entertainment center, and a workshop full of boxes of cocaine. . . oh yeah, and a prisoner in the basement.
The woman's name was Tessa Jurgens. Didier found her tied to a chair, blind-folded and gagged in the basement. She was barely able to walk, had been a prisoner for several days. We figured she was what was in the box those bastards carried out of the shack.
Didier helped her out of the house, where Ray took over getting her to the car, then Didier set the cocaine (and the rest of the house) on fire. We drove hurriedly away from the expanding black plume of smoke.
We decided to take Tessa back to her friends' house rather than taking her right to the hospital. In theory we wanted to keep a low profile. Didier was disgusted with Ray for trying to question the woman after such an ordeal; we dropped her off at her friends' and got her contact information. She was visiting and had been abducted. But yes, she was psychic too; she had been born in the area and left to go to college. We figured she had been abducted for her psychic abilities, to be handed over to Temco like the others. Like Kathy.
What we learned from the librarian:
A book was written by a local woman in 1934, about the history of Bowersville and the area, recounting events from the late 19th century in which the swamp "lifts its roots and hunts like an animal," taking its life from the people around the swamp. But then a priest, Father Vance Mueller, "forced back the swamp" and put a seal on it, thus saving the town but in the process losing his own life. The key to the seal, it was said, was "hidden between the wings of cherubims." [Relevant excerpts from that book that Alastair copied?] Shortly after she wrote the book, her house burned down, killing her and destroying all copies of the book except this one that made it into the library.
Lang (the librarian) said that the swamp had been growing the last couple of years, taking more people. The church where Father Vance had preached was "Old St. Mary's," a small country church that served several local communities. It was abandoned now and surrounded by the swamp. When he saw a picture postcard of the old church, Adam recognized it as the church depicted in one of Samuel's drawings.
The Church
Armed with the knowledge that the old church must hold some key to what was going on with the swamp, we prepared for another excursion. Samuel had said that HE was the priest. The book in the library had predicted that the priest would be reborn, come back to save the people from the swamp again. Thinking Samuel was a re-incarnation of Father Vance, we wanted to have him on hand (albeit indirectly) when we went to poke around the old church. Alastair, Adam, and Hazel went out to the Ekloff estate so they could consult with Samuel while communicating with Ray and Didier via cell phone.
Ray and Didier go out and find the abandoned church. It is surrounded by the swamp, but not inundated enough that an old track leading to it was inaccessible. They drove their truck in and found the ruined church without trouble. The roof was fallen in, the walls still partially standing, hard-packed earthen floor. They poked around a little and found the old wooden altar (or pulpit?) on which they found a carved image of two angels facing each other, and between them what was probably meant to be the Cup of Christ. We called Hazel, who relayed this information to Samuel (sort of) and she asked him if he wanted them to bring him anything. He was busy coloring, but said distractedly, "The cup."
Before Ray or Didier could do anything with the carving, however, the swamp started to move in. Ray looked up and saw THINGS with tentacles and big eyeballs and teeth and slime and mud, oozing their way quickly toward the ruined church. They were horrible. Something snapped in his mind and he took off, leaving Didier behind in his dust--and, unfortunately, without the key to the truck.
Didier got into the truck and tried desperately to hotwire it as the creatures started attacking the vehicle. Their tentacles and slime got into the engine, started to come through the vents. Didier shot one at point-blank range through the window, covering himself in exploding glass, but knocking the creature back. He got out and ran, heading after Ray, frantically calling Adam to let him know what had happened.
Adam, Alastair, and Hazel jumped in their vehicle and drove as fast as they could to the location of the church. Ray passed them on the track, so blind with terror he didn't even see them. Not until they stopped directly in his path could they get him to notice them. Adam opened the door and hauled Ray inside, who sat petrified and huddled in the back seat.
They found Didier nearby locked in combat with the creatures on top of him. Alastair tried to shoot the thing but hit Didier instead, narrowly missing his kidney. A few more shots and they were off him, dissolving into nothing but vines and mud. Didier's shoulder and arm had been mauled and he had a bullet in him.
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