Valley of the Scarecrow (10 page)

“Is that all?” Lizzy asked. “It might take days to find this place.”

“I don’t think so. According to Pat’s map, there’s another small town about ten or twelve miles north of here and if Miller’s Grove was near that, someone would have found it. Unless we’re way off base here and totally in the wrong woods, I think we’re going to hit it soon. Hope so anyway.”

“That’s great news,” Kelly said. “But we need more walking and less talking, right? So let’s get at it.”

“Yes, boss,” Dan said, and they all followed behind him and his compass again.

They’d only been walking for ten minutes when Pat cried out, “Hey, look at that!” and reached for his camera.

Everyone followed the direction of his lens and perched on a thick limb ten feet off to their left was a huge jet-black bird, its dark eyes following their every step.

“What is it?” Kim asked. “A raven?”

“It’s a crow,” Rich said.

“Wow!” Lizzy said. “I didn’t realize they were that big. That thing’s huge.”

“I didn’t think they were that big either. Its wingspan’s gotta be about three feet. Here…watch. I’ll make it fly away.” Rich walked slowly over to the tree the bird was perched in, waving his arms in the air, attempting to scare the crow into taking flight. The silky black bird never moved. Didn’t even flinch. It just stared down at Rich, its eyes cold and unreadable, but never for a moment did it appear remotely frightened.

“Ah, maybe we’ll just leave it where it is,” Rich joked, joining the gang again. “Weird, huh? It’s not scared at all. Doesn’t give a damn about us.”

“That’s a good sign though,” Kelly said. “My grandpa kept talking about the crows around Miller’s Grove. He said there was a swarm of the damn things. They used to creep him out something fierce.”

“Maybe we’re getting close,” Lizzy said.

“Let’s keep moving, then,” Dan said, walking away.

Everyone followed, but couldn’t help but look back to see what the crow was doing. It hadn’t moved and was still silently watching them as they walked away. A chill ran down Kelly’s spine, and she turned away, refusing to look back. Without giving it much thought, she brought up her left hand and lightly kissed her grandfather’s ring and made the sign of the cross over her heart. She wasn’t overly religious and if pressed she wouldn’t even be able
to explain why she’d done it, but it somehow felt right and made her feel just that tiny bit safer. She supposed that was reason enough.

The next hour was tough slugging, the forest closing in on them and making progress incredibly difficult. Just as everyone’s mood was starting to turn bitter, they suddenly came out of the trees into a wide-open field of corn. About the size of a football field, it wasn’t huge, but it was by far the biggest open space they’d stood in since entering the forest over five hours earlier. The sun was still shining in the western sky but clouds were drifting in, turning the heavens gray and dirty compared to the blue skies of this morning. It was definitely brighter and warmer here out from under the canopy of leaves; so much so Kelly considered removing her sweatshirt she’d been wearing but unzipped it instead, deciding it was too much of a pain removing her backpack and then having to gear up again. Besides, she was smart enough to know this temperature wasn’t going to last long. The sun was sliding toward the horizon and within a few hours it would be getting dark.

“We must be getting close,” Dan said, excited. “This must be one of their fields. There’s no church so it’s not the main one, but still. If this is here…and it wouldn’t be if there hadn’t been at least some settlement nearby in the past, it gives Kelly’s grandpa’s story more weight. I honestly think we’re getting really close!”

“Totally agree, man,” Rich said, walking over to high-five Dan. “Nothing’s gonna stop us now, guys!”

Everyone could feel the excitement building, adrenaline pumping back into their tired bodies after a long day of slugging around like packhorses, stumbling around in the shadow-shrouded forest without really knowing where they were going, using mostly hope as their guiding light.

“Anyone notice anything unusual about that corn?” Kelly asked, not wanting to disrupt everyone’s good mood but wondering why no one else was seeing what she was.

“What do you mean?” Lizzy asked. “Looks fine to me. What’s wrong with it?”

“Everything. The cornstalks are massive, way taller than normal corn, and look, there has to be eight or ten cobs on each stalk?”

“So?” Kim said. “How many are there supposed to be?”

“I don’t know but certainly not
that
many. I think only three or four. My grandfather said they were unnaturally bountiful, remember? Unnaturally healthy…and look at their color. They’re green.”

“All corn is green,” Dan said. “What’s the problem?”

“Sure, all cornfields are green…in the summer. This is October. Harvest time, right? All this corn should normally be picked by now and the stalks yellow and dying. This corn is still growing. That’s just not right. It’s…it’s well, unnatural, just like Malcolm said.” He’d also used the words “haunted” and “evil” when describing the cornfields but Kelly decided to keep that information to herself.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Kim said. “And now that you mention it, the trees around here look different too. When we first started walking, the leaves were turning colors and falling from the trees, right. We had to plow through them. There were also lots of dead branches and fallen trees, remember? Look around.” Everyone scanned the surrounding woods. All the trees were healthy and strong, the leaves as green as the cornstalks. “See what I mean?”

“Easy now,” Rich said. “Let’s not start with the spooky stuff again, okay? I’m sure the growing season’s just different
out here in the middle of the forest. You know how the temperature always stays warmer near a lake ’cause the water heats the air a bit? It’s probably like that. The outer forest shields the fields and trees in here, keeping things a few degrees warmer. Probably extends the growing season here for an extra month.”

“I agree,” Dan said. “No offense, girls, but I don’t see what the big deal is. We’re talking about trees and cornstalks here. What difference does it make? We’re here to find Miller’s Grove, remember, and we’re losing sunlight the longer we stand here doing nothing. Let’s keep heading north and see if—”

“No, wait,” Pat said, interrupting.

“What’s the matter?”

“We need to head west, not north.”

“How do you know that?” Kim asked.

“Easy…look,” Pat said, pointing toward the setting sun.

All eyes turned that direction and nearly everyone gasped. Above the trees on that side of the field, a dark cloud was rising into the air, a swirling mass of shadows blotting out the sun. For a minute no one knew what to think, but then the mass spread out and started circling the entire area, including the field they were standing in.

“Crows!” Kelly shouted. “Hundreds of them.”

The murder of crows circled overhead, diving low to the ground and then climbing high again, a never-ending dance of black birds, hypnotic and beautiful to watch. Some of the braver birds swooped down to get a better look at the group of visitors, soaring past where they stood less than fifteen feet above their heads. Everyone screamed and ducked each time one came close, but there was never any real sense of danger. It was more out of excitement and wonder.

“My God!” Lizzy said. “Look how big they are too. Just as big as the one we saw back there in the woods, I’ll bet. Some might be even bigger!”

They watched the crows circle for about ten minutes, then suddenly, as if responding to a call or hearing a signal none of the humans had heard, all the birds flew back over the stretch of forest to the west and dove back down out of their line of sight. Kelly waited to see if the birds would take flight again, but they never did.

“My grandpa told me that the last time he was out here, the crows back then were all over Reverend Miller’s church and the main field. This could be it, guys. Dan, we gotta check out what’s on the other side of those trees.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Dan said, a huge smile on his face. “Let’s go!”

They walked in single file between the fully loaded cornstalks, headed for the trees beyond, and once they made it their excitement grew even more. Directly in front of them was a path leading into the dense forest—a man-made path by the looks of it, the first such trail they’d seen in hours. Not proof positive yet, but definitely another sign they were getting close. A few minutes into the forest, they came to a circular clearing on the dirt path and had to walk around a large two-foot-high boulder placed in the middle of the trail. On the face of the stone was a weathered carving of the exact pentacle-and-triangle-shaped design as on Kelly’s ring. She showed everyone Malcolm’s ring on her hand and there was no doubt at all now that they were on the right track. Everyone was tired but it was all they could do not to sprint down the dirt trail, practically racing one another to see where the path would lead.

Then suddenly they were out of the trees again and
looking down a gradual slope at a sight none of them could believe. Below them was the largest cornfield any of them had ever seen in their lives. It was so massive, in fact, they could have dropped five city blocks—the entire downtown core of Cedar Rapids—into the middle of it, and still had room for parking. It was incredible, all this untended crop out here in the middle of nowhere surrounded by the dense oak forest. Making the sight look all the more impressive was the corn itself. If they thought the last field had yielded a bountiful crop, it now seemed stunted and shriveled compared to this field. The cornstalks were gigantic, standing at least ten or eleven feet off the ground and covered in twenty or more massive cobs. It was a cornfield on steroids, bursting with life and an amazing abundance of food.

“Guess fall hasn’t made it to this part of the woods either, huh, Rich?” Kelly asked. She was only giving him a little dig, but once it was out of her mouth it made her once again realize just how unusual this place truly was. It was an abomination of nature, for sure—an eerie place undisturbed by man for decades yet still growing stronger than if it had been tended by a whole army of modern-day farmers. She felt a chill pass through her again, bringing goose bumps onto her arms, and at that moment she could totally understand how her grandfather had considered this field corrupted and haunted. She couldn’t put her finger on why, but something was just so…so
wrong
about all of this.

“Will you look at that!” Dan said in a quiet tone, awe in his voice.

Kelly thought he meant the endless rows of corn and was thinking the same strange things she was about it, but everyone was looking over the cornstalks and across the field to her right. When Kelly saw what they were
looking at, she gasped, feeling like a fool for not noticing it immediately like the others. She needed to stop daydreaming and get her grandfather’s superstitions out of her head. There were more important things to worry about at the moment.

“The church!” she said. “We found it!”

Far larger than Kelly had been expecting, the Miller’s Grove Brethren in Christ Church sat in the dead center of the field, a majestic white castle in a sea of green. Its painted white boards were cracked and fading, and even from this great distance, the gang could see the front door and all the windows on this side of the structure were sealed up with rough wooden planks. On its sagging roof and bell tower, a moving layer of crows covered every square inch.

Kelly noticed the crows, but they weren’t what scared her at the moment. She was looking at those boarded-up windows and entrance door and wondering if Joshua Miller was still inside, and if so, would he really be crucified on the altar cross? She believed he would be; what was left of him anyway. So far, everything Malcolm had told her was true, so there was no reason to think anything would change from here on in.

“You think he’s really in there?” Lizzy said, someone finally saying out loud what they were all probably thinking about.

“Cliché time,” Rich said with a grin. “But there’s only one way to find out.”

Everyone in the group looked expectantly toward Dan, eager to move. Dan winked at Kelly and gave a quick nod, leading the happy gang of friends down the slope into the corn and heading straight for what had once been the dark heart of Miller’s Grove. Inside the dilapidated church they all hoped to find adventure and incredible
wealth, but unfortunately something else would be waiting for them inside those desecrated walls.

Something that had once been holy.

Something that stood watch over this corrupted and forgotten place.

Something that straddled the razor-thin line between man and beast, life and death, heaven and hell.

Dan walked the gang into the field and within seconds the towering rows of corn had swallowed them whole.

It was difficult to know which direction they were heading inside the massive rows of corn. The stalks towered over their heads, making it impossible to see much of anything except the sky straight above their heads. There was a dizzying, claustrophobic feel to it, like they were walking in a fun house maze, but thankfully Dan had taken a compass reading and kept them moving in the right direction. They broke free of the corn sooner than anyone expected, and came out onto a flat area of hardy grass that appeared to circle the perimeter of the church.

Up close, the main building had weathered the years remarkably well, the paint peeling away but the wood underneath still seemed fairly solid and free of rot. There were remnants of red paint here and there on the walls as well, perhaps from when the Grove teenagers had vandalized the church all those years ago. On the roof, some of the crows were squawking at their arrival and taking to the air, but for the most part the birds remained calm and in place, content to just look down on the new arrivals and keep an eye on them.

“Whew! Would you look at that?” Rich said, pulling Lizzy into his arms. “Pretty cool, huh, sweetie?”

“Creepy, if you ask me. Impressive…but definitely creepy. Do we really have to go inside?”

“’Course we do,” Dan said, “but not yet. Let’s drop our gear here and have a walk around the outside first.”

Everyone did as he instructed, with Pat immediately grabbing his camera to silently start taking pictures before he lost all his light. Everyone just watched him do his thing, relieved not to have to hike any farther.

It felt great to drop her heavy backpack, and Kelly stood up to lift her arms high in the air and curled her sore back like a stretching cat. “God, that feels good!”

“Sure does,” Dan said, taking a minute to stretch as well. “Glad I gave you the heavy pack.”

“You would, you bastard,” Kelly smiled, punching him tenderly, knowing he was only joking and that all the boys’ packs had been considerably heavier than the girls’. This was one time she wasn’t going to complain about women’s rights and was completely fine with the guys thinking they needed to prove how strong and macho they were. Dan had always been a bit of a Neanderthal that way, but that was one of the things she loved about him. He always put her best interests and needs in front of his own, the polar opposite of that rich butthead, Blake Wheeler, back in Cedar Rapids.

Kelly pulled Dan’s face down toward her and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. It wasn’t something she’d planned to do, but she didn’t regret it. His lips felt warm and smooth and familiar, instantly stirring up dozens of warm, fuzzy memories and excited feelings inside her.

“What was that for?” Dan asked, his eyes searching hers, happy but confused.

“No reason. Just for being you.”

“Well in that case…remind me to be myself more often, okay?”

“Will do,” Kelly said, and kissed him again.

“Hey, break it up, lovebirds,” Lizzy said, all smiles. “You guys are supposed to hate each other, remember?”

“We do,” Kelly said, slightly embarrassed. “I was just showing him what he’d been missing out on these last few months.”

Everyone laughed except Kim, who stood back from the group and secretly pouted. Dan caught her shooting daggers at him with her eyes, but he ignored her, happy that Kelly seemed to be warming up to him again. He’d waited a long time to kiss her lips again, and he already missed them but romance would have to wait. They were losing their light and he really wanted to have a look around before the sun set behind the trees.

“Come on, guys, let’s have a quick walk around the church to see what we can find. If we’re lucky every window and door will still be sealed shut.”

“Why’s that?” Pat said, snapping a flash unit to the top of his camera.

“Because it will mean we might be the first people to find this place. If someone else has already been inside, I doubt they’d have stopped to reseal the door when they went home, right?”

“And the treasure might still be inside,” Kim said, the exciting thought erasing most of the anger off her beautiful face.

“Exactly,” Dan said. “If this is where Reverend Miller hid the gold, that is. Let’s check it out.”

As the sun continued its plunge into the western sky, the gang took a leisurely stroll around the outer limits of the church. Just as Dan had hoped, the windows and doors on all sides were nailed tight, presumably still sealed by the hands of the village elders after committing their sins inside on that fateful night nearly three-quarters of a century earlier. Behind the church, directly opposite
where they’d left their belongings, Lizzy spotted a well-worn trail leading from the church into the fields and looking like it might head all the way into the woods on the far side of the clearing.

“Maybe that’s where the village is?” she said, proud of her discovery.

“Was, you mean,” Rich said, slapping her lightly on her backside.

“Is…was, whatever. You think I’m right?”

“Probably,” Dan said. “But that’s something we can worry about tomorrow. It’s almost seven o’clock and it’ll be dark soon.”

“We gonna try to get inside the church tonight?” Rich asked.

Dan took a hard look at the darkening western sky. “I don’t think so. It’s too late and it’ll be pitch-black in there. Let’s wait until tomorrow. Besides, we better get back out front and see about setting up camp. Last thing we wanna do is try messing with those damn tents at night.”

“I hear you there, brother.”

Returning to their backpacks, Dan and Rich started unpacking the tightly rolled tents and started setting up camp in the short, stubby grass near the front steps of the church. Pat was there too, but he ended up snapping more pictures for his photo journal than actually helping out. Nothing wrong with that though. Dan and Rich had things under control and didn’t really need any help.

While they were busy, the girls worked on making another meal, hopefully the last they’d have to eat cold. The plan was to collect firewood for tomorrow but everyone was too tired to worry about it for tonight. Lizzy had packed a container full of Kentucky Fried Chicken, which a lot of people preferred to eat cold, and they mixed a big bowl of romaine lettuce and croutons to go with it.
Their frozen ice packs had held up fairly well, but they wouldn’t be much good to them for long. Best to eat the things that might spoil first, and the Caesar dressing was certainly one of them.

It wasn’t until the tents were up and they were all sitting down to eat that Kelly finally keyed into the fact there were only three tents to use. Rich and Lizzy would obviously grab one of them, and surely Pat was hoping to jump in with his sexy new girlfriend Kim. That would mean she and Dan would have to sleep together in the last tent. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem and there was a huge part of her that really wanted to fall into his strong arms tonight—especially after their recent kiss and how great they’d been getting along—but she wasn’t ready to do that. Not tonight. Not yet. As much as she wanted things fully back the way they’d once been, she was determined to stick to her guns about making him earn his way back into her life and heart. Not to mention her pants. If she gave in to him tonight, she’d be furious with herself in the morning and it could potentially ruin all the progress they’d been making. She could at least make him suffer through one night on his own.

The new girl, Kim, was the only person Kelly could approach about this. She didn’t want to bug Rich and Lizzy, and although Pat might be a little pissed off, Kelly figured he and Dan would get over it. Besides, if all went well, Kim and she could make it up to the boys soon enough. She waited until they’d all finished eating before bringing the matter up. It was quite dark now, the moon overhead thankfully casting a decent amount of light on their makeshift camp.

“Hey, guys? Hate to do this but I’m hoping to grab a tent with Kim tonight if that’s okay?” Kelly heard Pat groan and saw the disappointed look on Dan’s face, so
she hurried to add, “Just for tonight, Dan. Nothing against you, I’m just trying to do what I think is right. Please, baby, don’t be mad. We’ve taken some great steps. I don’t wanna wreck it. Just this one night, okay?”

Kelly thought for a moment that Dan was going to get angry and yell at her, but she should have known better. He was disappointed, sure, but not mad. “Okay, Kel…whatever you think’s best.”

Relief flooded through Kelly’s heart and she hugged him, whispering, “Thanks,” in his ear. “I’ll make it up to you tomorrow night. Promise.”

“Wait a minute,” Pat said, realizing he’d somehow just had a potentially great night with a smoking-hot woman yanked away from him. “Don’t I get a vote on this?”

“No,” Dan told him, and everyone started laughing. Even Kim, who seemed to be fine with the idea.

“That’s what I thought!”

With no wood to build a fire, and everyone exhausted after the long day of hiking, they decided to just hit the sleeping bags and get to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be an interesting day and the plan was to take a crack at getting inside the church as soon as the sun came up. They’d also have to make several trips into the nearby woods to stockpile some logs for a fire. If all went well, they’d find the treasure and by this time tomorrow night they’d be celebrating.

Rich and Lizzy disappeared into their tent first, already kissing each other and playing grab-ass before they’d even made it inside. Kelly just hoped she wouldn’t have to listen to them grunting and moaning all night, but they were just as tired as the rest of them and Kelly figured everyone would probably fall asleep in minutes, soon as their heads hit the ground. That was her plan, anyway—lie down and crash. As much as she missed the
thought of lying in Dan’s arms, a good night’s sleep sounded even better. Unzipping her tent, she missed the wink and the smug look Kim gave Dan before she followed Kelly into the tent.

Twenty minutes later, everyone was asleep and Oak Valley settled in for another long, cool night in lonesome October. Even the crows on the roof soon drifted off to sleep, silent sentinels waiting on high for the sun to return and warm their wings. There was only one thing still awake and aware in the Grove tonight.

…And he was still strapped tightly to a wooden cross.