Awan led the group upstairs, Carma following to check on each of them. Deem found a nice room with a large queen bed, and sat on its edge as Carma stood in the doorway, asking her repeatedly if she needed anything.

"Thank you again," Deem said. "It's really great of you to help us like this."

"Oh, I'd do anything for Awan. He's my favorite nephew. There, I've said it. Probably isn't fair to my other nephews and nieces, but it's true. He was always so empathetic as a child. I don't think he has a mean bone in his body. And he's turned into such a wise young man. Sometimes I think there's a very old soul in him. So he could ask me for a million dollars and I'd find a way to give it to him." She took a drag off her cigarette and blew the smoke into the hallway behind her.

"He's been very helpful to Winn and me," Deem said. "We owe him."

"I have so many questions for you," Carma said, turning and grabbing the bedroom door handle. "But I'll ask them all in the morning, after you talk with Lyman. At least, the ones I remember to ask. Get some sleep, I'll come wake you when it's time."

"Thank you," Deem said. The door clicked closed, and Deem fell to her side, out before her cheek hit the pillow.

Chapter Thirteen.

Most of the lights in the house were off as Carma led them to the bas.e.m.e.nt door.

"The neighbors aren't right next door," Carma said, "but I don't like people thinking I'm up in the middle of the night, like a nut case, so I leave the lights off when I'm up like this. So I guess what I'm saying is, watch your step!"

She led them downstairs, where she turned on the overhead lights. It was fully furnished. In one corner were ping pong, pool, and foosball tables, and at the opposite end was a large projection TV, surrounded by oversized chairs and bean bags. Between the two was a built-in bar. A "Pabst Blue Ribbon" neon sign hung behind it, currently off. Deem thought it was as comfortable and inviting as any play room she'd seen.

Carma walked past the pool table to a door, which she unlocked and opened. Inside was a closet, lined with boxes. At the other end of the closet was another door, also locked. Once Carma opened it, they walked into another part of the bas.e.m.e.nt that was unfinished. Carma turned on an overhead light, and Deem saw the hole, angling down into the ground. It was about ten feet wide, and there were wooden steps and a handrail.

Carma walked to the steps and started down. Deem followed her, taking care with each step, but Carma practically ran down the steps as though she'd gone up and down them a thousand times, and was familiar with their placement. The distance between Deem and Carma was increasing. Winn and Awan were behind her, going as cautiously as she was.

"Come along!" called Carma. "I don't want to miss him!"

Deem picked up her pace. Soon she reached a level surface and was able to speed up and reach Carma. Deem looked up and saw light bulbs hanging from a wire that had been run overhead and tacked into the rock. It was unusual to her to be walking through a cave without having to hold a flashlight or use a head lamp.

After fifty feet the pa.s.sageway opened into a room about twenty feet wide. The ground was bare and nothing was in the cave except a small table, a chair, and an occasional rock. She noticed an opening in the far end of the room.

"This is it," Carma said. "Underwhelming after all that lead up, isn't it." She noticed Deem observing the opening. "It continues into the hill for quite a ways, it's very deep. Lyman keeps an eye on it, so I don't go back in there, but I suspect it's never been mapped out. There's a few deep holes back in there that I wouldn't want to fall into. LYMAN!"

She pulled a candle and a lighter out of the pocket on her dress and placed the candle into a candlestick that sat on the table. Then she lit it with the lighter. "LYMAN!" she yelled again.

Carma dropped the lighter back into her pocket, and removed a pack of Capris. She removed a long, thin cigarette from the pack and lit it from the candle on the table.

"LYMAN!" she bellowed. "We need to talk to you! Now, come on."

Deem could feel Lyman enter the room from the entrance in the back. She dropped into the River and saw him walking toward the table. She was surprised to see that he was young she guessed sixteen. He was handsome, with brown hair and sideburns. His shirt showed sweat stains from manual labor, and it clung to his torso, revealing the muscles of someone who worked hard. His pants looked homemade, and were too short for him, ending several inches above the ankles on his bare feet.

Carma, he said, walking toward them. Deem saw his feet move, but he moved faster than his feet, and he didn't step around the boulders on the floor, he pa.s.sed through them.

Lyman, you remember my nephew Awan, Carma said, extending her arm to point at Awan behind her.

How could I not? Lyman said. You talk about him incessantly. He turned to look at Awan and nodded. Awan, he said.

Lyman, Awan nodded back.

These are friends of Awan's, Carma said. Winn and Deem. Gifted.

Pleasure to meet you, Lyman said, turning to each of them. He lingered on Deem.

Deem, he said, studying her. That's a pretty name. I've never heard it before. Is it short for anything?

I had a great aunt who was named Adeema, Deem said. I was named after her, but they shortened it.

Good thing they did, Carma said, or your name would sound like an ailment!

What can I do for you, Deem? Lyman asked.

Deem looked at him. Somehow he knew that it was her who had the need. He had cla.s.sic features, strong, handsome, youthful. But he seemed sad, tired.

In my attempt to locate my father's journals, Deem said, I've run afoul of a secret council. My father pa.s.sed away a few years ago, but I've discovered that he was on that council when he was alive. I believe they have his journals, but they won't give them to me because they might contain things about the council.

She stopped, and, out of habit, took a breath though she didn't really need one in the River. Lyman seemed to be hanging on her words.

Last night, we came across several boxes of doc.u.ments that might help me find them. But I also think they might contain secrets about the council that they don't want divulged. They killed a friend of mine last night to get them, and it was dumb luck that we happened to acquire them.

You think it was dumb luck that you had the idea in that restaurant to go visit Claude? Lyman asked.

Deem pulled back, startled. Did Lyman know about that, or was he just reading her mind? Proceed with caution, she thought to herself.

At the time, Deem slowly said to Lyman, I thought it was luck, yes. Are you telling me it wasn't?

It wasn't, Lyman said. Please, continue.

Deem was a little thrown off her game. She began to wonder if Lyman already knew the whole story. If so, asking her to continue seemed condescending.

If you already know why I'm here, Deem said, what's the point of me telling you?

Because I love the sound of your voice, Lyman said.

Deem began to heat up, irritated. There's no sound in the River, she said. You're toying with me.

Drop out, Lyman said.

Deem left the River, feeling its waters recede. There was Lyman, standing behind the table as though he was flesh and blood.

"That's impressive," Deem said. "Winn, are you out of the River? Do you see him?"

"I do," Winn said. "I don't know that I've ever seen a ghost who can manifest that strongly outside of the River."

"For the longest time, I couldn't," Lyman said. "About fifty years ago, things changed. I got stronger and stronger."

"The radiation?" Winn asked.

"Probably," Lyman said.

"You're lucky it didn't turn you into a zombighost," Deem said. "That's what it did to most of the ghosts around here."

"Maybe there's something in the rocks here," Lyman said, looking up. "Or maybe it was my sense of purpose. It just made me more powerful. You do have a lovely voice, you know. Sweet and cheerful. Reminds me of Sarah."

"Sarah?" Deem asked.

"Love of my life," Lyman said. "The girl I intended to marry."

"What happened?" Deem asked.

Lyman turned away from her. "The boxes are in the side room upstairs, correct? I'll make sure they stay safe. No one will bother them. You can come and inspect them any time you like. On one condition."

"Name it," Deem said.

"That you come visit me down here, once in a while," he said.

"Alright," Deem said hesitantly. "I can do that."

Lyman picked up on Deem's hesitation. He turned back to her. Again, she was startled by how young he looked. "I only want to hear you talk, that's all," he said. "You sound so much like her."

"Just come down here and talk to you?" Deem asked. "Sure, no problem."

He smiled weakly. "Thank you," he said. "And I hope you find your father's journals."

Deem smiled back. "I know there's something in them that I need to read."

Carma jumped in. "Good, it's settled. Lyman, before you blip out on me, I need to talk to you about the Jeppsens next door. Their dog keeps breaking into the pecan orchard."

"I like that dog," Lyman said, still looking at Deem.

"Yes, but he s.h.i.ts all over the orchard and it makes irrigating a nasty affair."

"Think of it as fertilizer," Lyman said, cracking the first real smile Deem had seen him give.

"Why, that's a disgusting idea, Lyman," Carma said, becoming animated. "I do not want dog doodoo as fertilizer for the pecans! I think it would ruin their taste. Can't you make it so it goes back onto the Jeppsens yard if it needs to do its business?"

"Alright," Lyman said. "Anything else?"

"The fuses you wanted are going to take a little longer to arrive than I thought," Carma said. "The government tracks that kind of thing now, so to get them without a paper trail, it'll take some fancy footwork."

"I don't care how long they take," Lyman said wearily. "As long as we get them."

"Alright," Carma said.

"Anything else?" Lyman asked.

"No," Carma said, shaking her head. "Anything else I can do for you?"

"No," Lyman said, "but thank you for bringing them down to meet me. It seems like a long time since I've met other gifted people." He turned to Winn and Awan, telling them goodbye. They each nodded back at him.

"Deem," he said, turning to her. "You're kind to agree to my terms. It's a little pathetic, I know."

"I don't mind," she said. "You like my voice, and I think you're easy on the eyes. So it'll work out."

"Easy on the eyes?" Lyman asked.

"It means you're handsome," Carma interjected. "You're not hard to look at. She's flirting with you."

"Oh," Lyman said. Deem could swear he blushed a little. "Well, thank you. I guess I'll see you the next time you come around?"

"Yes," Deem said.

Lyman turned and walked back through the opening at the far end of the room, and was gone.

"Well," Carma said, turning to Deem, "that's a first."

"What?" Deem said.

"You're the first woman he's asked to come visit him," Carma said, turning to walk back down the pa.s.sageway that led to the house. "He might actually be getting over Sarah. Never thought I'd see the day."

"That seemed like a touchy subject," Deem said, following her.

"Let's get back upstairs," Carma said, "and I'll tell you the story."

"Coffee?" Carma asked Deem. She'd just filled Winn's mug and was working her way around the table, where everyone was seated eating breakfast.

"No, thank you," Deem said.

"Ah, there's a little bit of Mormon left in you yet!" Carma said, moving on to Awan and filling his mug without asking.

"I like how it smells," Deem said, "but not how it tastes."

"Oh, if I had a dime for every time I've heard a Mormon say that," Carma said.

Deem thought for a moment that she should be a little offended at Carma's comment, but she found it impossible to go there. Carma was too warm, and even when she said something marginal, it came out more as entertaining than as insulting. Deem expected Winn to jump on and make a comment about the coffee, but he surprised her.

"Please don't take this the wrong way, Carma," Winn said, "but Deem's not in any danger coming here to visit Lyman, is she?"

"Well, if Lyman didn't like her," Carma answered, "I'd say maybe. But since he's enamored with her voice, I'd say not."

"And he's enamored with my voice," Deem said, "because I sound like Sarah?"