Unnatural Occurrence (An Anna Morgan Novella (Part 1)) by Peggy Martinez Read Free Book Online

Julie Reese was still there, but she seemed quieter, subdued really. Her face had once again become terrifying, her mouth and eyes just gaping holes of nothingness, but the heavy sorrow that cloaked the ghost was the most chilling of all. My breaths echoed in the space, reminding me how much I disliked enclosed spaces. When I came to a small turn in the passage, I moved slowly not knowing what I might find.
    I turned and found a small door standing open that revealed a set of stairs leading down. Down into more darkness. Maybe an unfinished basement? While staring at the door, I wondered what I was thinking coming into the passage at all. Did I plan to just confront whatever was at the end of the hallway? Did I think whatever was going on in this dark house was going to be a big misunderstanding or a figment of my imagination and the people I encountered would be playing spin the bottle or Twister? What scenario in my mind justified entering a secret passageway in a house that was suffocating dozens of auras at the same time? Obviously I’d lost my mind and when I felt, rather than saw, movement I knew I was in big trouble.
    I tried to turn quickly, to think of an explanation , but I didn’t have time to get a single sound out of my mouth. Pain exploded in the back of my skull and everything went black as I fell into oblivion.

“This has gone too far, Amy.” The voices drifted to me on a cloud of pain.
    “What was I supposed to do? She knows something. How else would she have known about the passage?” Arguing voices boomed inside my splitting skull.
    “ We can’t just go around knocking people out. Haven’t we messed up enough already?”
    “We are so in over our heads.”
    “Shut the fuck up, all of you! We are all in this together now.” My eyelid twitched as I tried to open my eyes and even that little bit of motion shot needles through my head. Nausea washed over me as my eyes fluttered open and the low candlelight filtered through. Against my own will I moaned in pain.
    “Oh crap, she’s awake.” The voice sounded scared, but I was pretty sure I was the most terrified person in the room.
    “Who are you? What do you want?” Someone barked at me from above. I felt around the ground I was laying on and slowly pushed myself up on wobbly arms. The room spun, making my stomach do flip-flops. I didn’t throw up easily, but I don’t think I’d ever been hit quite that hard on the head before either. I lurched into a sitting position on the floor before I could crack my eyelids open once again.
    “I said, what are you doing down here and how did you know about the passage?” I blinked once, wondering if I were hallucinating or if the figures standing before me were real. I put my hand out and gingerly touched the sticky wound on the back of my head. Jesus, I was surprised I woke up at all. I’d nearly been bludgeoned to death.
    I glanced around the room, counting six figures wearing black hooded robes standing around me in the stone room. There were old fashioned candelabras around the room, lighting the small, damp space and casting misshapen shadows across the walls.
    “Who are you people?” I rasped out, my voice rough and dry. How long had I been knocked out? Had Christopher been looking for me? It didn’t take long for me to notice the evil smog in the room. It didn’t infiltrate every space like it did in the rest of the house, instead it coated the stone floors, caressing them like a lover would. The darkness was most concentrated near the front of the room where some symbol had been painted above a small stone bench. The bench itself was completely covered in the pulsing blanket of blackness . It moved and writhed around it and I was sure if I reached my hand out and touched the bench, I could have easily been consumed by it. No one else noticed it.
    “Hello? We asked you how you knew where to find the passage to get down here?” I glanced over at the leader of the robed group. I swallowed