The Haunting at Grays Harbor (The River Book 8) by Michael Richan Read Free Book Online

said.
    Roy dashed away, checking the rooms he’d been assigned.
Steven walked into the hallway that led to the object room. He poked his head
into it, looking for anything unusual. Everything seemed in its place; the
earthquake hadn’t caused anything to hit the floor.
    He continued on down the hall until he reached the kitchen.
Things looked normal. He could faintly hear Roy yelling for him, so he turned
and ran back down the hallway and into the breezeway of the house. Roy was
emerging from the other side.
    “Come here, you have to see this!” Roy said, waving for
Steven to follow him. They walked back down the west hallway, past the library
and into the large drawing room that made up the entire west end of the house.
Steven’s jaw dropped.
    The western wall of the room was gone, exposing the outside
yard. It was as though it had been neatly sliced off. Steven could see the
trees and bushes that extended throughout that area of the grounds, all the way
to the cave wall.
    “What’s happening?” Steven asked Roy. “Why’s this happening?”
    “I don’t know,” Roy said. “I think we should check on the
projects downstairs.”
    They walked together to the bookcase in the library and
opened the passageway to the staircase that led to the basement. When they
reached the bottom they walked through the experiment tables, looking them
over, searching for any sign of something out of place. Everything seemed
normal, exactly as it had appeared the last time they’d been in the basement.
    Steven approached the legend shelf, the object Eliza used to
re-route the marchers when they’d first discovered Eximere. He could tell right
away something was wrong.
    “Dad!” Steven called. “Come here!”
    The black slate of the legend shelf normally contained blue
lines that defined different areas of the property and the house. The lines
were pulsing and changing color, alternating between blue and red.
    “Something’s up,” Roy said. “Almost looks like an alarm has
been tripped, doesn’t it? The red and all.”
    “You think someone else is down here?” Steven asked, concerned.
“An intruder?”
    “I don’t think it cares who is here,” Roy said. “I think this
is some kind of system alarm, warning us that something is wrong.”
    “Hence the lights and the missing wall? I’m guessing this was
caused by the earthquake.”
    “Could be. Something is out of balance with how things
normally run,” Roy said. “Do you see the yellow? Over there?” Roy pointed to
the side of the legend shelf.
    Steven could barely make it out. He dropped into the River
and the yellow glowed brightly, marking an area on the western side of the
house and yard. He left the flow, feeling a familiar sting on the back of his
neck.
    “It seems to mark where the wall was removed,” Steven said.
    “And that whole side of the yard,” Roy added. “Whatever that yellow
thing is, I think it’s the problem.”
    They left the legend shelf and quickly checked out the
remaining tables. Then they went into the small room where the three special
objects were sitting – including the one they assumed kept the place running.
    “Looks normal,” Steven said. He walked up to the object in the
middle and touching the glass sphere that held two gold discs – silent and
unmoving. The object to its right sat still, the broken glass cubes undisturbed.
The third object, the one on the left of the sphere, was producing a light hum,
just as it always had.
    “Things seem stable here,” Roy said.
    “Do we dare go into the west yard?” Steven asked. “That seems
to be the hot spot. Any point in checking it out?”
    “I think we have to try,” Roy said. “If something bad is
happening, we have to stop it if we can. Either that or we might have to
abandon the place; start hauling all those books and objects out of here.”
    “Jason is buried here,” Steven said. “I’m not going to dig
him up. No way. I’m not moving him.”
    “Or Thomas,” Roy