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“My bad,” he says without a hint of apology in his tone at all. I roll my eyes as I start flipping through it, finding the survey halfway down among newspaper articles and random documents.
“No, the line was a good couple acres into the woods, meaning everything we see is Marx’s property. The guy was delusional,” I say. “Why would he want it then?”
“He could just be a dick,” Eli muses. “It wouldn’t be unheard of.”
“No, it has to be more than just causing chaos, right?” Lucien asks incredulously.
“I thought the same,” Jayce admits as he snatches away the stack. “Which is why I printed off some things from Alexander as well. And both of the land. I found this.”
He pushes a paper in front that is a scan of an old map. But it’s like studying a foreign language I’ve never seen.
“Uh, I have no idea what I’m looking at,” I offer.
Jayce pulls it back and traces what looks like a road with his finger.
“This here? It’s underground, guys,” he says excitedly. “From the old barn to the house, and all the way past the neighbor's house into the woods. There was an old church that rested in this area, and those were the steam vent tunnels that ran under it to keep the heat going from the coal silo over to the other buildings.
“So, what building was our farm?” I question. It’s more out of curiosity than anything.
“The church. Then between the properties was a huge cafeteria where they offered community dinners. The neighbor’s was the dormitories. They ran a boarding school as well.”
“Okay, now I know this may not be significant to what we need… but why did it close down?” Eli asks. “It can’t be just me. Old, abandoned churches are terrifying. This just upped the creep level.”
“Here, I printed out the history of St. Joseph’s Church and School,” Jayce offered. “To summarize, it was supposedly funding but that came after one of their clergy members went insane and burnt down the dorms. No one died but him and after that speculation was high and parents were reluctant. No kids, no funding, I assume.”
“Well, this took a turn,” Lucien adds. “How do things always end up so complicated?”
“And what does this have to do with Pandora?” Eli asks.
But I know the answer.
“Everything. She’s probably in those tunnels,” I say, the words hanging heavily in the air as reality sinks in.
Lucien
Raven and I work side by side as we clean up after breakfast. It’s nice to have these seemingly mundane moments together. Especially since I share her with two other men. Just having her attention for that time keeps me going most days.
“The shop is closed, but I have the phone forwarded to my cell. So, if there is an emergency we won’t miss the call,” Raven tells us, before she turns to Jayce. “You mister, bed now.”
Jayce’s face lights up as she bosses him around. I have to admit to myself that I find it a little hot.
“Yes, ma’am,” he says with a little salute.
She moves to give him a kiss.
“Would you like me to tuck you in?” I joke, a smile tipping my lips.
Jayce rolls his eyes at me and continues on to the bedroom, but Raven winks at me.
I take a seat on the couch near Eli. He is rifling through all the pages that Jayce printed out last night.
He glances up at me and thrusts a couple of the papers in my direction, “Can you read this? It’s Greek to me.”
I take them and look them over before I reply, “Well, I don’t think they are Greek but maybe Latin. This must be something that Jayce found about the boarding school. There should be a professor at the local college that could help.”
He waves me off, “I bet I can scan them in and see if there is a program on the internet that can do all that for us. Unlike the movies, the teachers at colleges aren’t willing to help for free,” he tells me.
“Oh, that certainly is disappointing,” I comment. In my time as a professor, I was always willing to help anyone who needed it. But I guess that was due to the time I grew up in. They’re from a very different generation. As much as I love being here with them and being given a second chance at life… There are moments when I feel like an outsider.
