River: The Suicide Forest Part 17

"What made you decide to change your father's recipe?" Steven asked.

"Not change," Roy said. "Enhance."

"Enhance then," Steven said. "How did you figure out the mineral would pep it up?"

"By accident," he said, placing a lid on the Mason jar and swirling the ingredients around inside. "Mine shaft in Utah. I thought I was chasing a ghost there, but it turned out to be something from the evil side of the fence, as you put it. This mine was unstable, and pieces of the walls would fall as I walked through it. Lots of abandoned mines like that in Utah. I had just swallowed some protection from a canteen I brought in when a section of the roof ahead of me dropped, billowing up a huge cloud of a thin, white powder. I couldn't help but inhale it. I noticed I felt stronger. So I stopped and took a sample of it, so I could have it a.n.a.lyzed and figure out what it was. I experimented with adding it to protection until I got just the right amount, which is why I measure it out carefully whenever I make a batch. It's G.o.dd.a.m.n expensive. And, if you use too much, you have hallucinations and you become useless."

"That's why you wanted to buy a large quant.i.ty from Jurgen?" Steven asked. "A lifetime supply?"

"Exactly," Roy said. "That and I wanted to buy in bulk for a cheaper price. You know, like Costco. I have enough to last you and Jason for years."

Steven stopped for a moment. He tried to imagine showing this process to Jason, and he couldn't. I still don't know enough, he thought. Until today, I didn't even know how to make protection. I'm still a million miles from being prepared to tutor him.

"Buying from Jurgen was a mistake," Roy said, "but at the time I didn't know where else to go to get it. Dixon and I were young, and we didn't know many people with the gift. Since then Dixon has met a lot more people, and keeps track of them, better than I do. What do they call that, when you meet lots of people and then meet their friends? There's some word people use to describe that nowadays."

"Networking?" Steven asked.

"Yes," Roy said, "that. He has a lot of people in his network. There's a lot of places we could go now to get more if we needed it, from legit dealers, not sc.u.m like Jurgen. We didn't know any better at the time."

Steven watched the liquid slowly settle down inside the Mason jar as Roy stopped swirling it.

"Do you think you could make it, if you needed to?" Roy asked.

"I think so," Steven said. "Of course I don't have all the ingredients."

"I want you to start collecting them," Roy said. "After we're past this mess, I want you to make your own batch and see how it works."

"Then I can try a good vodka instead of this s.h.i.+t," Steven said.

Roy glared at him again, then softened. "I improved my father's formula, so you will too. But wait to do it until we're in a risk-free situation. Don't mess with what works when we're in the middle of the s.h.i.+t."

"Makes sense," Steven said. He picked up the bottle and held it up to the light. The liquid was clear; he couldn't see any particles in it.

"Everything dissolves completely," Steven noted.

"That's the Popov," Roy said. "It'll eat through anything."

"It was bound to happen," Eliza said. "And it'll happen again. You're going to run into a lot of strange things as you return these books, Roy. You'll see a lot of things you normally wouldn't run into."

"I suppose," Roy said. "But I'm sure you run into lots of strange things down in California with your barrier, no?"

"Oh, I do," Eliza said, smiling at him. Her wildly chaotic hair was even more wild, having survived the plane flight from Sacramento. She leaned back into the sofa at Steven's house and sighed. "Sometimes I'm amazed at the characters that try to dig things up inside the barrier. I wasn't sure if you were prepared for the variety of characters you might run into, that's all."

"Comes with the territory, I guess," Roy said.

"Are we allowed to talk openly about your barrier here in my house?" Steven asked. "I have a few questions. I don't want to violate my oath."

"I appreciate your concern," Eliza said. Steven and Roy had taken an oath to not reveal anything about Eliza's work in California, and he wasn't sure if he could discuss it openly in front of her given their current circ.u.mstances. "We shouldn't discuss California unless we're in a protected area where others couldn't overhear us. I'm guessing your house isn't protected, in light of the recent demon appearance."

"Not to mention Ben's death here," Steven said. "My house is probably still full of bad mojo."

"You should consider getting it professionally cleaned when this is over," Eliza said. "I know some good people who could do it for you that are experts. They can tell you right up front if they can do it, or if your house is beyond hope."

"Really?" Steven asked. "Beyond hope?"

"It's rare," Eliza said, "but some houses are. They're better off torn down. They can tell you. In the meantime, I can inst.i.tute a temporary protection. It'll only last a short while, and we'll have to converse in the River in order for it to be private."

"Let's do it," Steven said, closing his eyes. Soon he slipped into the flow, seeing both Eliza and Roy. He glanced around the house, looking for signs of trouble or the demon from last night. Everything looked normal.

Within a few moments, Steven felt that the consistency of the flow around him had changed. He saw Eliza open her eyes, and they started communicating.

We're OK to talk now? he thought.

Yes, she thought back. We've got a short while to talk openly.

I wanted to ask you about demon fighting in general, given your operation in California. What do you think of our plan? Do you think it will work?

What I'm doing in California, she thought, is a little different than this. The demon buried there has been underground for centuries. It was buried by others; I don't have any direct experience with how they incapacitated it enough to bury it. The people I work with now are all focused on keeping people away from it that's one of the reasons for the barrier.

As if it could be set free, if someone could get at it? Steven thought.

Yes, Eliza thought. Exactly. So my experience has been all about that. I've never had to face the thing directly, since that work was accomplished years ago. As for your plan, I can only guess that the book you've got here is correct. It seems consistent with other things I've read about demons. I know they can be shocked, I've heard of people doing it. But I've never done it, and I've never seen it done.

I wonder if there's a way to bury Aka Manah, Steven thought, the same way that your demon was buried years ago?

It was done by people with greater knowledge than I, Eliza thought. It might have been a whole team of people who had been trained for generations to fight it. They might have been executing a huge plan. I don't think we've got that kind of firepower here. If your plan is enough to put Aka Manah off so he moves on to easier targets, you should go with it. It's something we might be able to achieve. I don't think any of us has the expertise or ability to actually kill or bury it. We'll have to stop talking about the California demon now, I can't keep the protection going much longer.

Steven let himself slip out of the River and soon Roy and Eliza joined him. He felt a sharp pain shoot down his back; the exit was more painful than normal. Maybe because of the protection Eliza was using, he thought.

"Where did you want to do this?" Eliza asked.

"Well," Roy said, "maybe you've heard of this place in j.a.pan, it's a forest at the foot of Mt. Fuji. People go there to commit suicide by the hundreds. The tops of the trees form a canopy that makes it hard to know where you are, so it's easy to get lost. Years ago the j.a.panese would abandon their elderly there to die. The ground is riddled with holes into the earth, a result of volcanic flow. It's said the place is a home to demons, because of the deaths and because of the holes."

"j.a.pan is a long way away," Steven said.

"What many people don't know," Roy said, "is that there's an American equivalent, right here in this state."

"I've never heard of it," Steven said.

"That's because the authorities quashed it before it could become popular, like the one in j.a.pan," Roy said. "The j.a.panese try to discourage people from killing themselves in that forest, but it's become too well known to suppress. There are signs encouraging people to remember their families, contact help lines, that kind of thing. When people began to kill themselves in the forest here in Was.h.i.+ngton state years ago, the state government kept it quiet so it wouldn't become an attraction."

"Where is it?" Eliza asked.

"It's just like j.a.pan," Roy said. "It's a forest at the base of Mt. Rainier. It's got a canopy that makes it easy to get lost, and the ground is full of volcanic holes. Hundreds of people died there more than forty years ago. It's east of Eatonville. It's had the same reputation for demons as the one in j.a.pan, to those of us who know about it. I can't think of any other place close by where a demon would be more comfortable."

"So we go into this forest," Eliza said, "and set up our trap."

"Essentially," Roy said. "We'll take camping equipment, since it might take a while to work. I'm going to rig two large mirrors that we can raise with ropes. All we have to do is get the demon between them when Steven is ready to perform the amplification."

"Can I see them?" Eliza asked Steven. "Your markings?"

"Sure," Steven said. "Let me get the gla.s.s."

Steven walked into his bedroom and retrieved the planchette he'd brought back from Eximere. He showed it to Eliza.

"Oh, I remember seeing this!" she said as she took it from his hands. "These markings are quite beautiful."

Steven held out his hands, and Eliza held the gla.s.s up to them and looked through it.

She tried to suppress her surprise, but Steven could see her suck in air as she got a glimpse. He waited for her to say something, but she didn't. She moved the gla.s.s closer to his hands, really examining the detail. After a minute, she stopped looking and leaned back. She handed the planchette back to Steven and looked up at him.

"Wow!" she said, and smiled. "You're special! But we knew that already."

"I don't know why I have them," Steven said.

"It's something you're born with, right?" she asked.

"I think so," Steven said. "Have you ever met anyone with them before?"

"No, never," she said, and smiled at him. If he felt any concern that the marks might somehow change their friends.h.i.+p, her smile put it to rest. "So, demons avoid you because of them?" she asked.

"That's what I was told," Steven said, "and it's what seemed to happen at June's house. Somehow I made myself 'intriguing' to Aka Manah during this whole process and they don't seem to repel him like the others."

"Well," she said, "repelling demons seems like a good thing to me. Sounds like they're useful."

"Unless the demon wants to cut them off," Roy said, "as a trophy. Not so useful then."

"When do we go to the forest?" Eliza asked.

"Tomorrow," Roy said. "I have a few more things to pick up in the morning before we go. We should be able to get set up by the afternoon, well before it gets dark."

"Alright," she said. "What will you want me to do?"

"Well," Roy said, "we're hoping we can set Steven out, like bait. The demon should feel comfortable there, and we're hoping it'll approach him."

"What if it doesn't?" Eliza asked.

"I'll try to invite it, somehow," Steven said.

"How?" she asked.

"The book said that openings are mainly mental," Steven said. "I'll try to trance or at least concentrate on inviting it."

"And then what?" she asked.

"I've built the mirrors on hinges," Roy said. "We'll cover them with leaves. As soon as the demon is between them, Steven can perform the amplification and we'll raise the mirrors with ropes. If he gets a good enough shock, he should back off for good."

"That is according to the book," Steven said. "Provided it works."

"It's too bad we can't run the plan past an expert," Eliza said.

"In a way, this plan has come from an expert," Steven said. "Judith gave me the book. I think she knew I'd come across the interior book. I don't know why she didn't just tell me about it."

"Since it took your markings for it to manifest," Eliza said, "she must have known you'd figure it out. And perhaps it's important to keep the information as secret as possible?"

"Who knows with that nut job," Roy said.

"I don't know any other experts," Steven said. "Dixon seemed to think she was the best around."

"I've heard of her," Eliza said. "She was a big deal years ago. Haven't heard much about her recently though."

"I think she's retired," Steven said. "Every time we saw her, she was resting on a day bed. She hardly moved."

"Do you trust her?" Eliza asked.

"I don't," Roy said.

"I think I do," Steven said. "She steered us in the right direction with Evie. And she's been right about a lot of what's happened. She's probably right about this."

"OK then," Eliza said. "Let's hope you're right."

Chapter Twelve.

By noon the next day they were in Roy's truck, traveling east of Eatonville on a small road through the national forest. Steven was navigating from an old faded map that Roy handed to him, a red 'X' penciled on it.

"How did people ever get to this?" Eliza said. "It seems so remote. I can't believe anyone would even try."

"It was easier to get to back then," Roy said. "The forest service has cut back on the number of roads in here and made it hard to pull off to the side. There's nothing but a deep ditch down there," he said, pointing to the edge of the road.

"They used to send out patrols," Roy said, "back when people would come out here. They wanted to remove the bodies before wild animals drug off the remains. It wasn't hard to do, practically no animals come into this part of the forest. Don't know if it's because of the ground itself, the demons, or what. But the bodies would stay hanging in trees for weeks until someone cut them down."

"Hanging?" Steven asked. "That's how they'd do it?"

"It was the main method," Roy said. "It was the surest way to do it. If you didn't snap your neck, you'd eventually strangle to death. Sure, people would shoot themselves, or try to overdose on something. But those methods didn't always work, not unless you put the gun in your mouth, which most people can't bring themselves to do."

"It's got to be around here, on the left," Steven said. "Your red 'X' is off the road in this area."

Roy drove the truck until he found a pull off, and parked the truck about two hundred feet off the main road. "That's far enough it shouldn't catch a ranger's eye," Roy said. Steven removed his handheld GPS from the glove compartment and marked their location. "I hope that thing will work in there," Roy said. "The rumor was that a compa.s.s wouldn't work. One of the reasons people got lost."