END OF PREVIOUS POST:

Rain pelleted the house. The bang and crackle of lightning striking close by caused Morgan to yelp. The lights when out. Paige turned on the flashlight. Where Morgan had lain, she felt cooler air on her legs. What happened? Where's Morgan? She paused. "Morgan, Morgan, come here, boy." Paige moved the flashlight beam around, searching the room. "Morgan, I know it's scary. Where are you? Morgan?"


TODAY'S POST:

The lights were out in the house when Cash returned. "Paige! Paige!" He hurried into the library, noticed the wadded up afghan, and lifted it. The Bookman journal made a thud as it fell to the floor. She was here. But now where? With a flashlight in hand, Cash took two stairs at a time. It doesn't look like they came up here.

*****
Billy Joe entered through the front door and called out, "Paige, Cash. Where's everybody?"

"Are you guys upstairs?" asked Mary Pat as the muscles in her face tightened. "Something isn't right."

Cash stood at the top of the landing and turned off his flashlight. He motioned for his buddy to point the light away from him. "Paige and Morgan have disappeared."

"That's impossible." Billy Joe scanned the vacant areas with the light.

"Do you think the Walkers have anything to do with this?" Mary Pat clutched her husband's arm.

"I don't know. I can't believe they could've just disappeared." Cash stood beside his friends. "It looks like they were in the library."

They couple followed Cash, and then Mary Pat folded the afghan and set the journal on the table. "She was here." She glanced at the ceiling when the lights came on. "Now, we'll find them. You know how Morgan is about storms. They're hiding someplace."

Cash walked over to the open drawer and closed it. "It looks like she has a flashlight."

Nala walked in and stood in the library doorway with her arms full of grocery bags. "Boy, it's nasty out there." As she looked around the room at each person, her eyes widened and she asked Mary Pat. "What's wrong?"

"Paige and Morgan are missing." Mary Pat walked to her. "Let me help. The guys are searching for her. She glanced at the men. "We'll be right back." She took two bags from Nala and the women went to the kitchen.

*****
Within moments the ladies returned. Nala walked over to the wall with the Bookman photographs on it. She frowned and bent down and took something off the floor. Holding it up to the light she studied it. "Isn't this one of the earrings Paige wore at lunch?"

"It must have tangled in her hair and fell out." Mary Pat took it.

Nala tapped on the wall. "Uncle Amos said the underground tunnel's door used to be around this area. Do you think the storm somehow opened it and Paige went searching?"

"Don't be ridiculous." Billy Joe pointed his toothpick at the wall. "That's just an ol' legend."

"No it isn't. I'm calling Uncle Amos." Nala lifted her cell phone from her pocket. "Hi, Uncle Amos." After talking for a few minutes, she said, "Uncle Amos will be here in about forty-five minutes."

"I'm not waiting." Cash headed toward the door. "Billy Joe, let's look outside. Maybe we can find some clues." His buddy followed.

*****
When Cash and Billy Joe heard the roar of a pickup that had lost its muffler decades ago, they stood on the front lawn. Billy Joe scratched his head and Cash removed his cap, hitting it against his thigh as he grinned.

After Amos parked, Clyde stepped out and four other men jumped down from the bed. Amos walked around the front of the truck, shook Cash's hand, and said, "I heard dat purdy youn' gal of your'n done got herself lost in dem tunnels."

Cash laughed as the red-bone hound slumbered his way from the back of the pickup. "I see Dog made the trip." He petted the animal's head.

"He be de best tracker ya ever did see." Amos's chest almost burst with pride through his coveralls. "If Dog can't find dat Yankee, ain't nobody can. Dem tunnels be aweful dark."

Nala hurried down the steps and put her arms around her uncle. "I'm glad you're here. We're worried sick about Ms. Paige."

"Don't worry, youn'un. I brought Dog with me." Amos motioned to the men. "Let's get inside and see what's going on."

*****
Inside the library, Amos wiped his brow with a red kerchief. "Dis is a right fancy place. It shore would make for a nice homestead to raise a herd of youn'uns." He winked at Cash. "Shore would."

Nala pointed to the carpet by the wall. "Uncle Amos, this is where we found Ms. Paige's earring."

Amos stood back and studied the wall. After a few moments, he gently slid the palms of his hands along the wall. "I don't rightly remember where da latch be."

"If there are tunnels, why'd they suddenly open up?" Billy Joe put a new tooth pick in his mouth.

"Dat was a doosey of a storm. Sometimes de air be just right to cause strange dings to happen. It be just right." Amos searched more of the wall.

Bradley Bookman's photograph began to sway. Amos's smile was so wide his missing front teeth showed. "Dank ya." He removed the picture, set it against the wall, and slid his hand where the photo had hung. "Yep, the latch be right here." After he pressed the area, a small doorway swung open.

The eight men entered single file into the tunnel.

"Holy shit! There really is a tunnel." Billy Joe's eyes widened.

Amos led the group, knocking down spider webs as he walked. "Ain't nobody been here in years. These spiders done took over."

"Anything dangerous live down here?" Billy Joe stuffed his toothpick in his shirt pocket.

"Depends what ya call dangerous." Amos chuckled. "I figure dat pup of her's scared most critters into hiding." He glanced around. "Where's Dog?" Dog moseyed closer to his owner. He motioned for Nala to pass the afghan his way. He held in in from of Dog. "I need ya to find dat youn' lady. Now, go find her." Dog led the way.

After walking a couple hundred yards, Dog stopped and barked. Cash paused. "This can't be good." He stared at the fallen rocks and damp soil that blocked the passage way. "Paige isn't under this, is she? Is there another way in?" He dug through rocks. "Help me. She could be suffocating!

"It ain't good." Amos wiped his brow. "If dat dog barked, it probably caused dese old walls to collapse. Dey ain't been tended to for years." He pointed to the two youngest men that came with him. "You'n get shuvels and buckets from da truck, den start a'diggin'. If ya find somethin' send Nala after us. We're going to da cemetery. I know dere's an entrance dere."

Amos stood in front of Bradley's photograph. "Ya done showed me one door. Can ya show me one closer dan the cemetery? It's a good mile away. I don't know all da openin's in da house. Us'un weren't allowed much in da house."

Billy Joe turned. "Let's get going. He ain't going to show us nothing. He can't. He ain't real and we're wasting time."

Amos, Clyde, and the other two men that came with Amos followed Billy Joe.

Rumbles and loud clashes of rocks roared from the tunnel. Stale air entered the library. Mary Pat, Nala, Cash, and the two men helping dig coughed.

One of the men held up something. "Amos, wait. I found somethun'."

Cash wiped his eyes, coughed, and then said, "It's one of Paige's tennis shoes." He dug faster. "We need to hurry! We're running out of time."