CHAPTER 60.

MARA SAT AT the cluttered desk in her mother's small office upstairs trying to figure out how to spell Hyas Tyee Tumwater. After a couple unproductive attempts, the search engine displayed a link with a spelling for which it had results. She clicked to accept the suggestion. Her eyes widened when she read the first result.

"It's Willamette Falls. Hyas Tyee Tumwater is what the settlers called Willamette Falls. It's Chinook jargon, Native American," Mara said.

Ping leaned over her shoulder "That's close to Oregon City, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's near downtown, just a few minutes from here."

"Does it say anything about an altar?"

"There isn't that much information here. Some references to Chinook languages and phrases, and the history of the area. How can an altar be in the middle of a waterfall? That doesn't make any sense."

"Perhaps the name just refers to the area. It doesn't necessarily have to be in the middle of the river. Do a search for Willamette Falls. Maybe we'll see some references that make more sense."

Mara entered Willamette Falls. The first result was a link to Wikipedia. She clicked on it and scanned the information.

"Blah, blah, natural waterfall, fifteen hundred feet wide, forty feet deep. Ca.n.a.l and locks were closed in 2011. Native American legends believed the falls were put there by a great G.o.d so they would have fish to eat. I'm not seeing anything about an altar."

"Go back to the search results. Let's look at a map of the area," Ping said.

Mara hit the Back b.u.t.ton and clicked on the Maps link. A map of the Willamette River filled the screen with a red pointer indicating the falls at its center. "I'm not seeing anything very helpful here," she said.

"Click on the satellite option. Let's look at an actual picture of the area."

The map was replaced with an overhead photograph with the red pointer positioned in the center of the river surrounded by a series of craggy outcroppings and old buildings that came together roughly in the shape of a saxophone. The mouthpiece connected to the Oregon City side of the river and the horn attached to the bank of industrial buildings on the West Linn side.

"I think that's the ca.n.a.l and locks that used to allow boats to get past the falls," Mara said.

"Perhaps she built an altar on one of those outcroppings or in one of those old industrial buildings along the bank."

"If she did, we'll never find her. Look at that place. It's a maze. It would take forever to find her, a.s.suming we could get out there." Mara clicked the Back b.u.t.ton again and returned to the search results page.

"What's this?" Ping pointed to a small square picture on the right under the heading People Also Search For. The caption under the thumbnail image read Oregon City Bridge.

"That's a picture of the Oregon City Bridge. Why?"

"Why did it come up in a search for Willamette Falls? Are they close to each other?"

"It's just down the river. You can probably see the falls from the bridge."

"Show me on the map."

Mara tapped the Back b.u.t.ton a couple times and returned to the map of Willamette Falls. She clicked and dragged the map from the upper right side and pulled it down, following the path of the river until a thick white line labeled Hwy. 43 crossed it. "That's the bridge."

"Switch it back to satellite."

She clicked and the overhead photo of the river appeared.

"Can you zoom in?"

She clicked on the plus-sign icon in the corner of the screen a couple times. The photograph updated showing the approach to the bridge. The image was magnified enough to make out vehicles and streetlights.

Ping pointed to the side of the bridge. "What are these?"

Mara shrugged. "Pylons or columns of some kind."

"Mara, those are obelisks."

"Okay, they are obelisks."

"Sam said his mother conducts rituals on altars surrounded by serpent pillars. Obelisks."

Mara paled. She turned back to the screen. "The bridge has obelisks?" Mara navigated back to the search page and entered Oregon City Bridge.

"I thought you grew up here," Ping said. "How could you not know that?"

"First of all, I generally keep my eyes closed when I cross bridges, unless I'm driving, then I just stare at the center line until I get across," she said. "Plus I think most locals don't really think of those as obelisks. Up close they look like pylons with lamps attached to them. It's not like they are monuments or something."

"Undoubtedly that is where she is going."

"Maybe not."

"I think that's our best bet with the information we have. She'll want to conduct her rites near those obelisks, and I suspect they are powerful talismans for someone with her beliefs. They could be very dangerous to someone challenging her."

"Well, if that is the case, then we're in trouble," Mara said, looking up from the computer screen. "The Oregon City Bridge has twelve of them."

"She didn't pick this place by accident," Ping said.

Mara shut down the computer. "Let's get out of here." She walked from the room. As she went down the stairs, she glanced over her shoulder. "By the way, where is Sam?"

"I asked him to stay in the car, just in case we were walking into a trap," Ping said. He slowed his pace. "He didn't want to wait outside. I'm surprised he hasn't come in yet."

They ran into the living room. Out the front window, even though it was dark outside, they could see Ping's car was gone.

"I can't believe I left him out there alone."

"Let's check outside and see if he's wandering around. If not, we have a good idea where they are going. We can take Mom's car. It will take less than ten minutes to get to the bridge from here," Mara said.

She turned toward the kitchen, heading toward the back door, when her foot hit the demantoid, her mother's green garnet. It was still on the floor where her mother's counterpart had kicked it. Mara picked it up and put it in her pocket.

A quick search in the front yard and backyard, and a few shouts in both directions down the street, indicated Diana, probably with Suter's help, had grabbed the car and Sam. Mara and Ping jumped into the RAV4 and turned down Center Street toward Singer Hill Road, the route connecting the top of the bluff on which the neighborhood perched to Oregon City's lower elevation.

"Just keep going straight until you see the road slope, swing left and go down the hill. You'll turn left on Main, and the bridge will be a few blocks down," Mara said from the pa.s.senger seat. "It's getting late. There shouldn't be much traffic on Main in the middle of the week. There's not much open down there other than some bars."

"We need to discuss what we're going to do when we get there," Ping said.

"I guess that depends on what we find, doesn't it?"

"We need to get the Chronicle back. You need to be prepared to confront Diana and stop her from whatever she's attempting to do."

"Why are you so sure I can stop her?"

"You're a progenitor. You have the ability to stop her. I believe that. Diana and Suter also believe that, or they would not have confronted you in the kitchen at your house. It was a delaying tactic so Diana could complete crossing over, possessing your mother. Why bother if there was nothing you could do?"

"First, I'm getting my mom back. Then Sam. After that, we can worry about the Chronicle. I'm not sacrificing anyone just to get that d.a.m.n medallion."

"It might not be that simple." He squinted and leaned forward. "What is that?" He pointed into the air above the street ahead.

A small bright light came directly toward them, growing as it descended, glowing violet, throwing off red and yellow sparks. As it got closer, tree limbs along the road waved in its wake, pointing toward a black smoky contrail in the night sky. A cometlike fiery ma.s.s-now the size of a large truck and just a block away-plunged out of the sky.

"I think it's another delaying tactic, and it's coming toward us," Mara said.

"No, it's coming at us," Ping yelled, slamming on the brakes, reaching for the door handle. "Get out, now."

Ping dissolved, filling the air inside the vehicle with swirling gray particles.

The fiery purple meteor struck the windshield, cracking it and rocking the car on its shocks. It splattered on impact. Burning gelatin enveloped the car, flowed lavalike to the street and wrapped the sides of the vehicle.

Mara swatted at the air, trying to keep Ping out of her eyes. She unhooked her seat belt and reached for her door. While it was unlatched, she could not push it open. The flaming blob had encased the car and would not give when Mara pushed against the door. Light pa.s.sed through the undulating ma.s.s, giving the vehicle's interior a swimming violet tinge.

A front tire exploded. The car lurched toward the driver's side. The smell of burned rubber filled the car. Another explosion rocked the car to the pa.s.senger side. Two more tires blew, and the back of the car sank to the ground with a m.u.f.fled thud.

The windows around her spidered, bowed inward. Metallic groans shuddered throughout the vehicle as the ma.s.s constricted, compacting the vehicle while squeezing out what little air remained. The interior baked. Heat and dust made it hard to breathe.

"Ping, it would help if you could-"

The windshield buckled. The roof crinkled; its upholstery ripped. It pressed down on Mara's head. She slouched down in her seat. Something snapped in front of her, emitting a loud crack. She pulled up her feet. The dashboard collapsed into the footwell. Her seatback warped as the floor and the ceiling closed in.

Gasping for air, she curled into a ball, closed her eyes.

She saw her mother's face.

Mara felt relief, until ink seeped out of Diana's pores, flowed on her forehead and took the shape of an inverted serpent. Her mother's eyes opened, blue and familiar at first, then the pupils folded into slits and the irises turned yellow.

"I can't let this happen. If I die, she dies," Mara said to herself. She felt something push against her legs.

"Push back," she said.

Metal screeched so loudly Mara could feel it vibrate in her bones. Plastic snapped, cloth ripped, and gla.s.s crackled. She scrunched her eyes tightly, trying to concentrate, trying to push back. She sensed movement around her. Something hot oozed over her foot. Her seat lifted up, pressing her head into the tattered ceiling.

"Enough!" she yelled.

The car exploded.

Cool air rushed in. Then there was silence.

Something metallic clattered next to her. Her eyes snapped open.

A hubcap spun on its edge, a foot from where she sat, on top of a disembodied car seat in the middle of Center Street. Metal, plastic, gla.s.s and wire littered the ground around her for half a block.

She sat up, stared at the swirling, tightening cloud of dust over the sidewalk. Ping.

Porch lights came on at a nearby house. An elderly lady looked out the door, squinting into the night. She flapped an arm at Mara to get her attention.

"Young lady, are you okay?" She didn't step outside.

"Yes, ma'am" Mara said. "I just need to call a tow truck."

The woman shook her head and went back inside.

"A tow truck? I think you need to call a junkyard," Ping said. He walked over and offered a hand. She kicked the steering wheel out of her way and stood up.

She looked up at the street signs. They were at the corner of Sixth and Center. "Come on. We'll have to walk. It's not that far."

A thunderclap from the northwest made them jump. They turned and gazed upward. Blue lights danced off low-hanging clouds. It wasn't a storm brewing. This light came from below the clouds, not within them. Something was going on near the bluff.

"It looks like it could be coming from the bridge," Mara said. "Come on, let's take a look."

She pulled Ping's arm directing him down Sixth Street instead of continuing on Center.

"I thought we need to go this way to get down the hill," he said.

"We're going to do some reconnaissance first."

CHAPTER 61.

MARA JOGGED TOWARD the blue light in the sky, crossing High Street and continuing into an empty parking lot next to a small office building. Streetlights provided some indirect light, but Ping had trouble discerning where she was going. Without pausing to get her bearings, she turned right on a sidewalk bordered by hip-high stone pillars linked by square wrought-iron rods. After a few feet, she stopped at a sign that read McLaughlin Promenade, Est. 1851. Ping turned to see a series of office buildings and retail fronts facing the sidewalk from the other side. Mara had her back to the storefronts, staring at a structure with two closed garage-style bay doors.

"We can't see anything from here. Where are we?" Ping asked.

"This is the Oregon City Munic.i.p.al Elevator." She pointed to the rolling metal doors. "There's an observation deck in there that looks out over downtown and the bridge."

The door on the left began to roll up of its own accord.

"That sign says there are video cameras. There is probably an alarm system as well." Ping looked around to see if anyone was nearby.