the flap, and both girls slipped to the other side. Tally had just finished securing the flap again when she heard something. The faraway drone of an engine. She’d heard it before from her tucked-away hideouts in the compound. A small plane. Sometimes a helicopter. At different times, she’d seen them descend to the private airstrip behind the camp, always at night.
As the girls plunged back into the dark of the woods, something her mother once said returned to Tally, making her stop and turn toward the sound of the plane: “It’s a powerful place, Tally,” Mona Greyson had told her daughter. “And powerful men go there.”
“What are you doing?” Denise asked. “Come on.” Tally still heard bare fright in her voice.
“You know the way home, Denise. Can you get there by yourself?”
“What? Aren’t you coming?”
Tally wondered how much more to tell her, how much her over-sheltered friend could take. “Listen. That plane. I have to see who’s on it.”
“Are you crazy?”
“Maybe. But I’m going back, this time all the way to the school.”
Denise gaped at her. “You think Curt Vandoren is going to let you in there?”
“I’m not asking permission.”
“This is nuts, Tally. You don’t know anything about that place.”
But Tally did know. After leaving the University of Miami to keep a closer eye on her mother, Tally had made it her business to know the compound and those who had lured others into their cosmic web.
Charismatic Curt Vandoren had swept into Anhinga Bay from nowhere, she was told, just eight years ago, moving into the quiet camp and setting up shop like just another medium. Only he quickly gained a following of people from around the world who began filling the hotel on weekends. Then he started the mass séances. They were spectacles that the camp old-timers protested. Vandoren had stirred their waters too many times, and they finally made him leave. But he didn’t go far.
Either from spite or an irresistible land deal, he bought the property behind the camp, all the way to the bay, and built what he called the University of the Spirit. He brought in his own faculty who taught Vandoren’s clairvoyant protégés about channeling spirit guides and the departed loved ones from the far reaches of the etheric planes. About paranormal contact between humans and the all-knowing others who’ve passed on to that other side. About psychic healing and counseling.
There was something else working there, though. Tally had overheard her mother confess suspicions to another patron of the camp, who, like Mona, was attending some of the few university classes offered to the public. Just home from Miami and needing a closer look at the school, Tally had joined her mother in those classes. It was during a break one day that Tally heard her mother admit sensing “an evil presence in this place.”
The whine of the engine grew louder and Tally looked up. Through the trees, she now saw the blinking lights on the plane’s wing tips. There wasn’t much time. “Denise, you’ve got a whole family and lots of friends. I’ve got no one but my mom, and she’s in trouble. I have to go back.” She pointed the way through the woods. “Take this path and keep going. Pretty soon, you’ll see the streetlights. Okay?”
“Okay,” came the weak reply.
Without waiting for further objection from Denise, Tally spun around and ran hard toward the bay, just outside the camp’s fence. She knew she’d abandoned her friend in a place that was frightening to her, and for that, she was sorry. But Tally was riding a runaway locomotive and didn’t know how to get off, refused to get off while her mother was still on board.
Chapter 13
N ear heedless, again, of her own safety, Tally sprinted toward the bay, her ear tuned to the incoming aircraft. Where the camp fence ended, a cement wall began, enclosing the campus of the University of the Spirit. It wasn’t what she’d expected that first visit with
As the girls plunged back into the dark of the woods, something her mother once said returned to Tally, making her stop and turn toward the sound of the plane: “It’s a powerful place, Tally,” Mona Greyson had told her daughter. “And powerful men go there.”
“What are you doing?” Denise asked. “Come on.” Tally still heard bare fright in her voice.
“You know the way home, Denise. Can you get there by yourself?”
“What? Aren’t you coming?”
Tally wondered how much more to tell her, how much her over-sheltered friend could take. “Listen. That plane. I have to see who’s on it.”
“Are you crazy?”
“Maybe. But I’m going back, this time all the way to the school.”
Denise gaped at her. “You think Curt Vandoren is going to let you in there?”
“I’m not asking permission.”
“This is nuts, Tally. You don’t know anything about that place.”
But Tally did know. After leaving the University of Miami to keep a closer eye on her mother, Tally had made it her business to know the compound and those who had lured others into their cosmic web.
Charismatic Curt Vandoren had swept into Anhinga Bay from nowhere, she was told, just eight years ago, moving into the quiet camp and setting up shop like just another medium. Only he quickly gained a following of people from around the world who began filling the hotel on weekends. Then he started the mass séances. They were spectacles that the camp old-timers protested. Vandoren had stirred their waters too many times, and they finally made him leave. But he didn’t go far.
Either from spite or an irresistible land deal, he bought the property behind the camp, all the way to the bay, and built what he called the University of the Spirit. He brought in his own faculty who taught Vandoren’s clairvoyant protégés about channeling spirit guides and the departed loved ones from the far reaches of the etheric planes. About paranormal contact between humans and the all-knowing others who’ve passed on to that other side. About psychic healing and counseling.
There was something else working there, though. Tally had overheard her mother confess suspicions to another patron of the camp, who, like Mona, was attending some of the few university classes offered to the public. Just home from Miami and needing a closer look at the school, Tally had joined her mother in those classes. It was during a break one day that Tally heard her mother admit sensing “an evil presence in this place.”
The whine of the engine grew louder and Tally looked up. Through the trees, she now saw the blinking lights on the plane’s wing tips. There wasn’t much time. “Denise, you’ve got a whole family and lots of friends. I’ve got no one but my mom, and she’s in trouble. I have to go back.” She pointed the way through the woods. “Take this path and keep going. Pretty soon, you’ll see the streetlights. Okay?”
“Okay,” came the weak reply.
Without waiting for further objection from Denise, Tally spun around and ran hard toward the bay, just outside the camp’s fence. She knew she’d abandoned her friend in a place that was frightening to her, and for that, she was sorry. But Tally was riding a runaway locomotive and didn’t know how to get off, refused to get off while her mother was still on board.
Chapter 13
N ear heedless, again, of her own safety, Tally sprinted toward the bay, her ear tuned to the incoming aircraft. Where the camp fence ended, a cement wall began, enclosing the campus of the University of the Spirit. It wasn’t what she’d expected that first visit with
Similar Books
