Page 39 of Finding Chaos

Chapter 18

Destiny and Mercy stood out of the way. They each had a cup of coffee in their hands thanks to the camping gear the guys had brought. The winter weather had dissipated and snow had melted, leaving the earth a wet mush. All the guys that were digging were covered in sweat. The change in temperature was astonishing and unusual.

Even caked in mud and sweat, the guys were all gorgeous.

“So, you see ghosts?” Mercy asked.

“Yeah,” Destiny answered. “And you affect the weather?” She turned to gauge the woman’s reaction.

“I’ll deny it if you ever run the story. Trust me when I say that you shouldn’t. My family won’t like it, and they’re a lot meaner than I am.”

“I have no intention of running a story on you or Walker.” She turned her gaze back to him, and as if he’d felt the weight of it on him, he lifted his head and smiled. She returned the smile. “I appreciate you helping me solve this.”

“Family is important,” she said. “After what Walker told us about the ghost and how she could potentially be your relative, I understand why you need to find out the truth. I’d burn down the whole mountain if one of my sisters was missing.”

“Maybe we should have waited until the water dried up a bit,” Destiny said, watching the guys fling mud like snowballs.

“A little dirt and digging aren’t going to hurt these guys. They grew up on this hill. I’ve been told they’re a resilient bunch.”

Destiny hoped she was right. She and Mercy made sandwiches for the guys and were carrying them back with several thermoses only to find all of the guys standing outside the hole that they’d dug, staring down into the dirt.

“Looks like they found something,” Mercy said.

“Jane,” Destiny whispered beneath her breath, almost afraid to look. Jane stood off in the woods, watching. Hope was floating next to her, and behind them were ten more new spirits that Destiny hadn’t ever seen before.

She slowed her steps. Walker lift his gaze to the same wooded area. “Holy Mother of God. There’s a dozen more.”

Destiny moved closer to the hole, standing next to Walker, and stared down at what had stopped the others from digging. A white piece of fabric caked in dirt stuck out of the mud, along with a bony hand.

Words escaped her. It was true. There were women buried in these woods.

His dirty rough fingers slipped through hers, and he clutched her tight. “Looks like you’ve got a crime scene, Sheriff.”

Sheriff Weller pulled out the radio clipped to his belt, stepped away from the group, and started to spout orders to whoever was on the other end of that call.

The Bennett brothers clustered together, quietly talking, while Walker guided Destiny to where the other ghostly women waited.

He was her rock when she needed it most. Or maybe she was his. This wasn’t the first time he’d seen Jane. Was it the first time he’d seen the others?

“Can you lead us to where the rest of you are?”

Jane floated between them and toward the hole where her bones were laid.

“The rest of us are together in a giant hole,” Hope said.

“Hole? What hole?” Destiny asked.

“Where the ledge on the cliff is the only way across.”

“Oh my God,” Walker whispered. “You’re down in the Devil’s Pit.”

“The Banshee used to live there too.” Hope’s voice was a whisper in the wind. “She did what none of the rest of us could do. She found her way out.”

Sheriff Weller appeared next to them, and the ghosts disappeared. “Did you find out where the other bodies are?”

“Yeah. We did, but we’re going to need to rappel to get down to them.”

“Rappel?” Sheriff Weller asked.

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