Mack returned, handing over recipes. I left them to it so I could finish my breakfast—I only had two bites left. Hannah and Quinn were already cleaning up the kitchen, so I ate quick.
Mack’s estimate of us being ready to go in ten minutes was right on. We all loaded into the SUVs, as no one wanted to walk up that very horrible dirt road. Melody drove up with us, hauling the horses, and helped get the horses off and into the right hands before she promised to come back at five to collect them again. She turned the huge truck and trailer about expertly and was off.
I felt better about having the four-wheelers and the two horses. It would definitely help us cover more ground faster.
“Everyone, gather round,” Seiji called to us. He had a paper map spread out on a nearby dry-rotting porch.
We gathered in a close circle to see the map. He had colored markers in his hand and an already written out legend of who was which color. He was an organized sort of man, Seiji. Which was interesting since he was called a chaos magician.
“All right, who’s taking what and going in which direction?” Seiji looked around the circle. “I want to know where to look if people get lost. Although, please don’t get lost.”
People threw out which direction they wanted to take. Mack and I volunteered for one of the four-wheelers, leaving Beau and Hannah the SUV; it would be far more comfortable for them. They’d be mostly going up and down the roads, marking the easy sections. Which was fine, it needed to be done anyways.
Davina paired off with Booker to search the east side, Eli and Quinn taking west. But Lachlan? He stayed planted. Considering Seiji had to stay in the center to tie the threads of the boundary together—or so he’d explained last night—it made sense to me. He would guard both Seiji’s and Gwyn’s backs as they worked. I was of two minds on leaving Gwyn here with a we-don’t-know-what in the mines, but to be honest, she was safest with Seiji right now. He had the best chance of combating the thing—him and Lachlan. I still didn’t like her there, but I wasn’t going to pull her out until I was forced to. It was too good of an opportunity for her to learn.
Seiji once again explained how this worked. “The tuning forks, once I hand them to you, will vibrate continuously until you have exited the locker. Once the tuning fork goes still in your hand, mark it. Please remember this doesn’t have to be exact down to an inch, but try to get within a foot of where the vibration stopped.”
Even as he explained, he’d pick up a tuning fork, hold it for a solid five count, then hand it to someone. Mack automatically took a tuning fork from him, then almost dropped it, the fork bouncing from hand to hand like a hot potato for a second.
“Whoa, whoa. Didn’t expect it to be so strong!”
Booker jolted when he took his. “Damn, that’s like a vibrator. I was worried it would be so soft I couldn’t tell.”
“Very charged area,” Seiji deadpanned, handing the last one to Hannah. “It’s supercharged because of it. Call me with questions or concerns.”
“Wait, am I the only one not sure how…uh…” Quinn clearly rephrased and tried again. “Is the locker any type of shape? Or is this like an amoeba?”
“I don’t know.” Seiji shrugged. “Nature likes symmetry. Snowflakes, for instance. But it also likes purely chaotic shapes, like rivers. We’ll see before the day is out.”
Nothing much else to say. We split up at that point.
Mack had no experience with a four-wheeler, but I did, so I chose to drive it. He was my passenger, riding along behind me. I wasn’t gunning the engine because there were no trails out here, only lots of sagebrush and possible rattlesnakes or whatever other predators to be wary of, so a sedate pace suited us best. I set off, going about ten miles an hour, just focused on maneuvering and keeping an ear trained on Mack for cues.
He had one arm wrapped around my waist, his chin sort of resting against my shoulder for a few moments. “Cher?”
“Yeah?”
“I’ve been thinking about our wedding.” His tone sounded ruminative. “We saw places that were nice online, but I kept thinking—that doesn’t feel like us.”
I sort of understood what he meant. While those venues had looked nice, none of them had appealed strongly enough for me to pick up a phone and make some inquiries. “I hear a but coming.”
“But I can think of a place that is very much us. The Crescent Hotel.”
The moment he said it, I knew it was perfect. What better place to marry than the (very haunted) hotel where we’d first met? And the Crescent was a stunning hotel, truly a great place for a wedding venue. Plus, added bonus, the hotel was so old Jon was more or less safe to be in the building. Both he and Don would be able to relax and enjoy our wedding.
I stopped the four-wheeler for a moment just so I could look at him, see his face. He seemed hopeful right now, mouth parted, eyebrows lifted in question.
“I truly love your idea,” I admitted. “Do they even do weddings?”
“I don’t know. But I think we should call and ask.”
I pulled my phone out and looked online to see if their website said anything about weddings. It took barely a Google search to get an answer—yes, they did. In fact, they had a whole wedding staff and a point of contact to call.
Mack leaned over my shoulder to see my phone screen. “Ooh, they do! Cher, really, truly, I think that’s our best wedding venue.”
“I’m so sold on this idea, I don’t even want to look anywhere else. You content to wait on them? They’re probably pretty booked.”
“We’re not in a rush, are we?”
