Book Of Days_ A Novel Part 36

Boom!

"I think you found it," Ann said.

Cameron ran his fingers over the surface of the wall feeling for an edge. Nothing. Ann did the same on the other side, where the edge of the doorjamb would be if there was one. "He put Sheetrock right over where the door would be."

A low whine filtered down from above them, almost too soft to register.

Ann looked up. "Did you hear that?"

"Sounds like a blender from two miles away." Cameron spun his flashlight around the ceiling. "Or three stories above us."

"And?"

"No idea, but it's pretty late for anyone to be whipping up a smoothie."

They held their breath and listened. Nothing.

"Let's get this done."

He dug into his pack for his climbing ax as Ann did the same.

The blender started again.

"You want to keep digging and I'll go check out whatever is making that noise?" Cameron said.

"Good plan."

The noise stopped the moment he turned. They listened. Again nothing.

"I'm going anyway."

Ann nodded.

He eased through the narrow hallway, stopping every few feet to listen. On his fifth stop the whine started again. Then stopped. He didn't hear it as he scrambled up the rope through the trapdoor into the first level of the bas.e.m.e.nt, up the stairwell into the restaurant.

The sound didn't start again till he stepped around the back corner of the building into the shadows in the alley in between. A streetlight strobed and the element inside whined. It sounded like their blender.

How could that-?

As he followed the pole down into the ground it made sense. The pole was probably directly above where they were, and the vibrations carried down into the bas.e.m.e.nt.

A car drove by and Cameron tried to push himself into the wall of Taylor's building as it pa.s.sed. It didn't slow and didn't speed up. He stood in the shadows for a minute, watching the other shadows, watching for ... n.o.body.

There was nothing out here. Paranoid for no reason.

Finally he shook his head, as if he could shake off the unsettled feeling flitting around his mind, and crept back into the restaurant, down the stairs, down into the second level of Taylor Stone's bas.e.m.e.nt.

The light from Ann's flashlight lit up the narrow pa.s.sage as he s.h.i.+mmed through it and the luminescence drew him like a moth.

"I see you're still among the living," Ann said as he pushed through the small opening at the end of the pa.s.sageway and stepped into the room.

"Just a streetlamp burning out, sending the whine down into the ground." Cameron coughed as the cloud of dust swirled around him. "Wow, nice progress."

A pitch-black hole in the wall roughly six feet by two gaped next to Ann. "Not bad, huh?"

"Not only that, but I couldn't hear you doing it from above, which means this vault is deep enough that we can relax a bit. Any noise we make down here won't be heard above."

Adrenaline pumped through Cameron. This had to be it.

He grinned at Ann and she returned it with one of her own. "You want to go first?" he said.

"Not a chance."

As Cameron stepped through the opening, he flicked off his flashlight and turned back toward Ann. "If it's real, we should see this at the same time."

She followed his lead and shut off her flashlight before stepping through the opening.

Silence surrounded them. If he didn't know Ann stood three feet from him, he could have felt like he was the only person alive on earth. Was this what death was like?

"Are you ready?"

"Yes."

Their feet scuffed the floor as they shuffled forward a few feet.

"Let's do this." Cameron snapped on his flashlight.

A moment later Ann's flicked on and their lights filled the room. They stood in a large domed s.p.a.ce with faded cedar paneling. The back wall was covered from floor to ceiling with shelves that held piles of parchments, each stack weighted down by familiar-looking rocks.

Cameron pulled Susan Hillman's stone out of his pocket. It was smaller, but it was the same as the stones on top of the parchments. Blood pounded through his head and adrenaline pushed through his body.

In the middle of the room a thick gray canvas covered a rectangular shape at least ten-feet long and five-feet wide.

Cameron looked at Ann and grinned. She raised both eyebrows and returned the smile.

The Book of Days. It had to be.

"Taylor Stone is worthy of an Oscar. He almost had me convinced it was only a legend." Cameron interlocked his fingers. "Shall we?"

As they stood at either end of the canvas, ready to throw it back, Cameron said, "Whatever is under here, thanks for going on this journey with me."

"My pleasure."

"Ready? One, two, three!"

They yanked off the cover, a snow storm of dust dancing in the glow of their flashlights.

Yes!

Cameron's knees went weak as his lips curled up.

They'd found it.

Cameron stared at the book almost afraid to approach it for fear it would vanish off the rough-hewn table it sat on. The dark brown leather cover looked ancient. Cracks ran throughout the surface and the leather strap that bound the book shut was graying. At the far left end of the book, cords the color of damp straw wound through the cover and the pages.

Cameron blew out a long, slow breath. Unbelievable. A tingling sensation ran up and down his arms. His dad's and Jessie's words were true. Answers. Finally.

"We did it, Ann."

She s.h.i.+fted from one leg to the other. "I want to know, even at this size, how every event, past, present and future, of every life is supposed to be contained in this book."

"Maybe the words are really small." He smiled and circled the ma.s.sive tome slowly. "Maybe the words appear and disappear depending on who looks at the book. I'm serious. This is G.o.d we're talking about. Have some faith." He winked at her.

A t.i.tle six inches high ran across the top of the page in a language Cameron didn't know. He stared at the book wondering what to do next. Open it of course. But to where? How would he search for his memories of Jessie in a book this size? How would he read the words if they weren't in English? It didn't matter how. He would figure it out even if it took years.

"Come on," Ann said. "Let's open it."

"My thought exactly." Cameron moved to the end of the book. He reached out and touched the corner of the cover. Like his father and Jessie had done?

He closed his eyes as they lifted the cover and set it on the table. "For you, Dad; for you, Jessie."

After a moment of silence he opened his eyes and looked at the first page. What? It couldn't be. A sensation of fire started in his feet and moved up his body in surges. By the time it reached his head, he felt ready to throw up.

He swallowed, looked up at the ceiling, then back down at the paper in front of him.

It hadn't changed.

The parchment was still blank.

He turned to the next page.

Nothing.

And the next.

More pages.

More nothing.

There was no writing on any of them.

CHAPTER 38.

A dry heave pushed up from Cameron's stomach and he doubled over, then lurched forward and caught himself on the table.

"No." His knees buckled and he slumped to the floor and bit his lip. "This can't be happening."

"I'm sorry." Ann put her hand on his back.

"Where are the words? Where are they!"

"I don't know."

"I believed, I did. I believed the book was real."

"Shh, I hear something."

"I needed that book to be real. There has to be something we did wrong. There has to be some way to unlock it, some prayer we need to say, some code, maybe it's like invisible ink..."

But he knew none of those things would make words appear on the faded pages.

"Let's close it and get out of here."

She was right. It was over, time to go. He was too numb to argue.

They closed the book and packed up their gear.

As Cameron slung his pack over his shoulder he said, "It makes no sense. Why would-?"

Ann snapped her hand up to cover his mouth. "Our blender has grown feet," she mouthed. "Listen."

The faint scuffle of shoes or boots echoed off the concrete walls of the outer room.

"Cameron!"

The voice rang out like a gong and he knew instantly who it belonged to: Jason Judah.

A moment later Jason stood in the opening, bowing, grinning, and bouncing lightly on the toes of his dark green military boots. "Wowee!" Jason took a slow look around the room and then settled back on Cameron, a mocking smile on his face. "I must express my great grat.i.tude for leading me here. It is highly appreciated."

Jason stepped through the opening and continued grinning as he stared at the book. "The Book of Days, in all her glory, resting peacefully in Taylor Stone's bas.e.m.e.nt. Why doesn't that surprise me even minutely?"

Jason kept his flashlight s.h.i.+ning on the book as he strolled around it. "As you know, Cameron, I had little belief there was an actual physical book till you came along. But your dad saw it when he was a child. And children often tell more truth than most adults. Taylor Stone for example." Jason leaned back and laughed. "I love to be proven wrong and to be proven right."

"How did you know we were here?"

"I've been following you, of course." Jason studied his fingers before looking up at Cameron and Ann. "Now please, how did you figure it out? I'm curious is all."

Cameron glanced at Ann. She was pale but stood as solid as the concrete at their feet. It looked like she was holding her breath.

"You are not going to tell me. I understand. Keeping all your secrets secret, right?" Jason motioned toward the book. "Do you mind if I... ?"

Cameron stepped away from the book. "Not at all, I'll be interested to see what you think."