CHAPTER SEVEN
While Joseph carried his wife back to the van, Rory and Dom lowered Fitz into the well where he found the body of Aurora Broussard. She looked as though she were asleep but he knew she was not.
“Got her,” he said calling up. He scanned the space with his flashlight and frowned. “Her and about a hundred more.”
“What the fuck?” muttered Rory.
“Dude, I’m telling you there are hundreds of bones down here. It’s going to take forensics a lifetime to identify all of this.”
“Let’s just get the Broussard woman up,” said Wes.
Sending down a litter, Fitz moved the woman’s body to the carrier and tied her down as they lifted her out, he scanned the space one more time. The bones were destroyed, as if eaten by something or someone. They were broken, brutally, skulls crushed, some with puncture wounds.
“What sort of hell did these people endure?” he whispered. Realizing that the well was more like a river leading to a well, he walked the underground corridor, disappearing from his teammates’ view.
“Fitz? Fitz, where the fuck are you?” yelled Marc.
“I’m here!” he called out. “This place is massive and there’s more than we thought. I think we need the police.”
Fitz started to walk back to the opening of the well and felt someone shove his back. He stumbled, then turned with the flashlight illuminating the space. There was no one.
When he began to walk again, this time the shove was harder and he fell to his knees. Something slammed into the side of his head and he screamed out.
“Fuck!” he yelled.
“Fitz? Fitz, I’m coming down,” said Liffey. Quickly eyeing the space, he mumbled his disbelief at what he was seeing, then spotted Fitz. His right temple had blood dripping down the side of his face.
“What the hell happened?” asked Liffey.
“I-I don’t know. Someone shoved me twice and the second time was hard. I went down and then I was hit with something.” Liffey scanned the floor of the well and frowned, pointing to what appeared to be a thigh bone with blood on it.
“There’s no one here, Liffey,” said Fitz. “It’s you and me.”
“Let’s get the fuck out,” he said.
The two men climbed up the rope and out of the hole to see Wes and Marc waiting to treat Fitz’s wound.
“I heard nothing but I damn sure felt something big push me, twice.” The others stared at him with concern but it was Julia who was looking at him with sadness and fear. “Julia I’m okay.”
“I know,” she said nodding, “but whatever, whoever is here is now angry. Very, very angry. Do you understand how much energy a spirit has to use to harm someone? Not just energy but a kind of dark magic as well.”
“Magic? Honey, are you talking witchcraft or something?” asked Joseph.
“No. No, this isn’t witchcraft. It’s dark. It’s dark and unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. It’s looking for something, or someone and it’s angry.”
“You keep saying ‘it’. Is it male or female?” asked Marc.
“I-I don’t know,” she said shaking her head. “I honestly don’t know.”
They all stayed a safe distance from the crumbling castle until the police investigators arrived, as well as the coroner’s office. When the men took them to the mouth of the well, they all looked in and then backed away.
“What are you doing?” asked Rory. “Those bones need to be examined.”
“No,” said the investigator. “We disturb those bones and we’ll all be dead by morning.”
“You’re not being reasonable,” said Joseph. Chief and JT walked up staring at the group. “Where have you guys been?”
“We walked toward the cliffs. You guys need to see this. We’ve found something,” said Chief.
“So did we,” said Rory.
“Oh, yeah? Did it have a pit with thousands of human bones?” asked JT.
“Actually, yes,” said Joseph. They all stared at one another, the investigators now realizing that they would not be able to ignore this.
“Shit. Ours had a mix of recent deaths and old,” said Chief.
“We found the Broussard woman,” said Joseph, “but there are definitely older remains. And, Fitz pissed off the evil spirt. He got whacked on the side of the head.”
“Fucking hell,” muttered Chief. “Should we call for more help?”
“Are we talking help like Noah, Mama Irene, and the others? Or are we talking about help like a priest? Or are we talking about Dad, Tailor, and Team Big?” asked Joseph.
“Maybe all of the above,” smirked Chief. “Either way, we’re going to need someone who knows more about this shit than any of us.” Rory nodded at them.
“Let’s finish up here and meet Conor and Sean back at the castle. We’ve got a lot to get through on this one.”