Page 14 of Signs and Wonders

He started a game, but his attention was split watching his surroundings. They had agreed to stake out Lacey’s to get a feel for Cameron and the bar’s patrons. Unlike the old camp, Evan didn’t get a bad feeling about Lacey’s. He’d been to some seedy places, tended bar in a few during his leanest times, but Lacey’s lacked their bone-deep sense of despair.

A few hours later, more men trickled in. Most sat at the bar, and it was clear from their cheers or groans that they were betting on the games. Seth played the machines for a while, then got a poker game going. Between practice, skill, and a penchant for counting cards, Evan knew Seth could probably hustle the whole bar, but he trusted his partner not to get them thrown out.

Evan’s thoughts drifted to Seth’s “bucket list” comments.That’s new. He didn’t use to talk about “after.” When he started the hunt, I’m not sure Seth expected to survive destroying the coven. Then we got together, and now there’s a future. I want to make it over the finish line with him. We’ve earned a happily-ever-after.

When he couldn’t make himself play another game, Evan gave up his seat and walked back to the bar, moving close enough to the guys watching sports and cheering for their teams. He suspected that betting added to their investment in the outcome.

I’ve got enough stress hunting dark witches. I don’t need anxiety over a stupid game.

Seth joined him a few minutes later, patting his pocket to let Evan know he had walked away from the table a winner. He settled his tab and left a generous tip.

“You sold us on this place,” he said to Cameron. “We’re in town for a few days. We’ll definitely be back.”

Once they were back in the truck and Seth had pulled out of the lot, Evan shifted in his seat to look at him. “Well? What did you make of him?”

“Seemed like a decent enough guy in that he wasn’t an asshole,” Seth replied. “I didn’t pick up even a tingle of energy, so I doubt he has any magic of his own.”

“How hard do you think he’ll be to convince?”

“Depends on whether he’s noticed the pattern and thinks the family deaths aren’t quite right. Guess we’ll find out once we break the news.”

“Where are we going?” Evan asked. “The campground is back the other way.”

“I’d like to hit the local library. We found a lot online, but little towns don’t have a budget to digitize everything, and the volunteers aren’t likely to go back through decades of old records. Now that we have a couple of names, maybe we can find out more.”

“That’s not much to go on,” Evan warned. “And over a century of records.”

“It’ll help if we start with the missing persons reports. Buckhannon isn’t a big place.”

“The people who disappeared might not have been from here,” Evan pointed out. “Back in his preacher days, Swain moved around a lot.”

“Gotta start somewhere. I don’t think the names of the ghosts match what Brent found. So it’s worth a shot. We might find connections.”

Evan stayed back while Seth sweet-talked the librarian into giving them access to the microfiche room and the public records. Seth shot him a wink as they followed her to the lower level and waited while she unlocked a door.

“Prop the door if you need to go to the restroom, or it will lock behind you,” she warned. “No eating or drinking; don’t make any marks on the pages. There’s a copier, but it only works part of the time, and coins get stuck. You’re better off taking photos on your phone.”

The first two hours found no matches, which didn’t surprise Evan. Seth focused on the area right around Buckhannon while Evan looked further afield. One set of records caught his eye.

“I didn’t realize it was so close,” he muttered, intrigued.

“What was?” Seth looked up from his stack of records, blinking like he was chasing away the need for a nap.

“The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. It’s become quite a tourist attraction.”

“Sounds like a lovely place,” Seth remarked, sarcasm thick in his voice. “Haunted as fuck, I bet.”

“Definitely.” Evan’s voice trailed off as his thoughts ran ahead of him. “I wonder…”

Seth watched him for a moment as if expecting him to finish his sentence. When he didn’t, Seth returned to paging through his documents until Evan gave a muted shout of triumph.

“Find something?” Seth took a deep breath and stretched back in his chair.

“I found an Amy Johnson and a Kevin Adams who were patients at the asylum back in the day. They were just teenagers, locked up on what looks like bullshit ‘diagnoses.’ Their records say ‘died while trying to escape’—like that’s not ominous.”

“The hospital’s been closed for a long time,” Seth noted.

“Amy died in 1925, and Kevin died in 1932. And get this—one of the hospital chaplains during that period was Pastor Eli Fletcher.”

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