The Library of Forbidden Books

Chapter 17

The sound of lapping water became evident as they progressed, Gretchen and Nina now holding hands.

“We must be close,” Richard announced with a restrained zeal owing to his reserved nature. By his measure he was hollering like a teenage girl at a rock concert.

Nina and Gretchen crept up behind him, cowering for whatever was ahead, spurred on only by their unbridled, morbid curiosity. His tall frame was way too thin to protect them against anything substantial, but at least he’d be between them and whatever lived in the mouth.

Down here the hissing of the ocean’s rushing waters was louder than up in the house where it was almost inaudible. Nina worried about the tide coming in and swallowing up her house’s foundations, but then again, the house was still standing after decades, so she assumed it was not an obstacle she needed be concerned about now.

The ambient sounds of the basement changed suddenly. Instead of the trickle of water and the rush of deep-moving currents, the dripping made way for a monstrous sucking sound. Gradually the hideous depth of the inhaling roar grew louder. Like a slurping giant, the large perimeter of the mouth uttered a watery sigh that ricocheted against the underside of the house.

“I found it, ladies,” Richard said matter-of-factly and turned to see the two women virtually kneeling in embrace. Clearly they were terrified of the gaping well and its inhuman gulping.

“Come now,” he consoled, “it is just a body of water caught under the rock formation the house is built on. Think of it as a rock pool.”

Nina and Gretchen rose to their feet, reluctant to face the scary pond of foaming water.

“What if the water rises?” Nina asked.

“It won’t. What you hear is the influx and receding of the current. The surface never rises or falls; like a water table it stays constant with fluctuations underneath,” he explained, keeping his tone as unyielding as the subject of his elucidation.

“You know, I never thought a boring tone of voice would be so damn comforting,” Nina whispered to her friend, who had to giggle.

“Agreed!” Gretchen whispered back as their uncertain steps brought them closer to the mouth.

When Nina and Gretchen peered over the edge of the jagged gray stone to the well below, an icy grip of terror grasped them. The water was black, so frigid that it’s frozen temperature emanated from the dark hole. Knowing that the sound came from the exchange of water by means of the current did not make it any better to stare at the onyx glint of the mouth.

“Ladies, I cannot thank you enough for allowing me to finally behold what had always just been a legend in my family!” Richard raved, sounding more lively in one sentence than he had all night. “This is such a privilege, Dr. Gould!”

“You’re welcome, Richard,” Nina smiled, content that she could be the benefactor of a lifelong dream. Gretchen grinned, patting her on the shoulder while Richard shone his flashlight beam into the water, inspecting it in silence.

“What are you looking for?” Nina asked, peeking to see what his light was revealing, but there was nothing she could see.

“I wonder if it is really here,” he remarked casually, more interested in what he sought than to answer Dr. Gould. Over the rippling black water, Richard Philips spread his light, moving it in circles, from side to side. Nina frowned at Gretchen, who just shrugged in response.

From somewhere in the house a strange scratching sounded, but the ladies thought they were mistaken. After this amount of wine, along with tales of monsters, Nazis, and creepy wells there was no telling what their imaginations would conjure.

But the sound persisted without relent. Above them a tapping ensued, then the sound of scuffling, but in the presence of the mouth all other sounds were subdued. Richard seemed to be in a world of his own, looking for God knows what.

“Listen,” Nina said, holding onto her friend. Again the sound came from overhead. “Footsteps? Are those footsteps, Gretch?” she asked.

Gretchen nodded slowly, listening carefully and pointing with her index finger where the sound moved to. It crossed the floor above them, but with the planks of the wooden floor so closely fitted, there were no spaces to see if anyone was crossing the floor. With every footfall a tuft of dust would feather down from the wood onto their heads.

“Richard,” Gretchen whispered.

“Just a minute. I have to know if it is real,” he replied, having no idea that something else was going on behind him. Nina snuck up behind him and grabbed his white shirt, motioning for him to listen.

“There it is again!” she whispered.

Richard listened and nodded, confirming that he heard it too. But he kept turning to examine the water of the well. From above, they heard a woman’s voice say, “Find her. Now. She has to be here.”

“Does that sound like the estate agent to you?” Nina asked Gretchen.

“No doubt it’s her. Should we go up and say hello?”

“If she is in my house without me letting her in, what do you think, Gretch?” Nina frowned, amazed at how naïve her friend was. “Besides, I did let her out rather unceremoniously.”

“Maybe she is pissed off?” Gretchen winced, aware of her silly remark.

“I would think so, aye!” the feisty brunette affirmed, shaking her head.

“Sorry, doll, I’m not used to being threatened. Don’t know what it’s like to have people trying to kill me all the time, you know?”

“Consider yourself lucky,” Nina said under her breath. “Richard! Richard, what the fuck is so interesting? We are being stalked, I’ll have you know.”

Nina’s whispers were very urgent, but Richard had a method to his madness.

“There! I see it! It exists! By God, it is real!” he marveled in his quiet realization. Nina had to know what he was talking about. She peeked around him and saw something a few feet below the surface of the water. It was a gigantic thing, moving from side to side like a squid. It equally slimy. gray, and hard, it rose from beyond the blackness of the well, massive and shiny under Richard’s light.

Nina’s heart filled with terror at the sight of it. Words eluded her and all she could do was to claw at Richard’s shirt. Catching her breath at the unholy sight before her, she sank to her knees, numb with fear at the enormous object in the water. Gretchen stood staring at the floor above them, following the footsteps with her hearing. She looked at Nina, alarmed at her friend’s reaction. Racing to her side, she held Nina tightly.

“What did you see?”

“Go look.”

Gretchen looked over the brim of the mouth and felt her knees buckle.

“Oh, my God,” she whimpered, placing her hand over her mouth. “What is it?”

The trapdoor sprang open with a hellish crunch, its violent thump thundering through the underside of the old house like an ominous announcement of doom. Nina saw the beam of white light from the kitchen above streak into the basement. Shadows played on the stairs of three figures trying to ascertain what kind of place it was, but soon the stench became too much for them and they retreated again.

“She wouldn’t be down there, Angus,” they heard McLaughlin bite. “No-one can breathe down there. Besides, anyone who knows what’s down there wouldn’t even consider it.” Nina and Gretchen looked at Richard, wide-eyed and puzzled. “Just park outside the house and call me when she comes back. I don’t have time to sit around here. There are things to be done.”

McLaughlin’s high heels clicked on the rocky floor of the kitchen as she made for the front door.

“I hope she doesn’t find the books in the attic,” Nina whispered. Richard nodded in agreement. From what Nina deducted, those books were the reason he came in the first place. Obviously, as estate agent she had a spare set of keys in her possession and could therefore enter the premises at any time — a thought that made Nina very uncomfortable. In the bowels of the house they sat silent and unmoving in the dark with something big and menacing in the water of the well, hiding from what was clearly a hostile visit.

“Richard, what is in the well?” Gretchen asked with a quiver in her voice.

“Water,” he said absentmindedly. Nina gave him a deadly scowl, one of those she normally gave Sam when he said something daft.

With the front door slamming shut, they heard the other two intruders walk around the house.

“If you are here, Dr. Gould, please come out. There is no reason to hide,” one of the men said loudly.

Gretchen looked at Nina and shook her head. It would be suicide to reveal herself, she knew.

“Dr. Gould! You can’t hide forever, you know! This entire town knows what you look like, as do they know your cursed property. You have no friends in Oban, lady. No friends at all!”

His words ripped through Nina like daggers. It was the past few years all over again. Now that she had finally found peace, she was once more being threatened.

“Ex-boyfriend?” Richard asked, attempting a jest, but his first stab at humor was horribly out of timing. Nina’s eyes gave her away. Richard could see that the threats from above were not something new to her. Her demeanor appeared to sway between fear and hostility at the man’s words. In her expression he could detect disappointment, deep disappointment.

You have no friends in Oban.

The statement echoed continuously in her mind, hurting more every time she replayed it. The one place she recognized as home, as safe, was now compromised. Not only was it compromised, but it was the very center of the bull’s eye.

Of course it is. The books upstairs kind of give it away, doesn’t it? she thought to herself, feeling a severe sense of dread and unhappiness gripping her. Like waking from a nightmare to enjoy the light of day, only to be kidnapped by a serial killer — that is how her life suddenly felt to her. Gretchen’s hand gently fell on her shoulder to reassure her, but nothing helped alleviate the sorrow Nina felt at being the prey again.

Two pairs of footsteps traversed the floor, paced across the planks above the farther corner of the basement where the living room was and then casually patrolled down the corridor. So it went for what felt like an eternity to the three down in the pitch dark, smelly home of the thing that lived in the mouth. But something was different when they heard the back door open. The footsteps were more rapid now, crossing the floor with more force as if they were rushing toward something.

“There are more,” Richard whispered, his eyes closed to heighten his hearing. His index finger pointed upward as if pinpointing the position of the new feet. A mighty ruckus ensued above them, hammering down on the wooden beams above them as if to shatter them with force. Richard sheltered the two ladies with him, all three of them crouched against one of the rusty cabinets as all hell broke loose in the house. The sound of breaking glass, groans, and definite clobbering sounded from the top, followed by bodies hitting the floor.

“Good God, it’s like a feeding frenzy,” Nina told the others. “Did the sharks just attack the crocodiles? Am I that wanted?”

“Maybe it is the police,” Richard suggested.

“No, I don’t think so. Who would have called them?” Nina argued, shaking her head.

“Listen, they are moving toward the back of the house. Now is the time to make a run for it,” Gretchen urged frantically, “before they come back. We can’t sit down here for the next God knows how long!”

“I concur,” Nina nodded, grabbing the tall man by his collar. “Come, Richard.”

The three of them crept toward the wooden staircase, the moist and saline air having eroded it and carpeted it with mossy growth over the years. They waited directly beneath the trapdoor and waited for the footsteps to disappear.

“Now!” Nina yelped, and they stormed free from the subterranean hole. But the footsteps they had heard belonged to only one man, while the other remained in the kitchen to guard the door. They rushed right into him and before they knew it, he had his arms outstretched, his hands clasped expertly around a Beretta’s butt. His sharp, dark eyes looked down the top of the barrel at Nina. Her jaw dropped.

“Sam?”