Forbidden Ground (Cold Creek #2)(67)
She wondered if those were Bright Star’s words, not Lee’s. And it annoyed her that he seemed to be on Grant’s side. “But we can learn from them,” she said. “What they did, what not to do, since they disappeared almost as quickly as they arrived in this area.”
“A warning then that modern men and women can disappear in death as quickly—or so Bright Star says.”
“What does he mean by that?”
“Just that life is short. Living people matter, not dead ones, not places.”
“But I heard somewhere that he’s buying the old insane-asylum grounds outside of town. I can see why he’s attracted to it. That place must matter to him.”
“Are you implying something is off with Bright Star? It will be Eden on earth for us there. We pray it will come to pass soon. So, will you heed the warning about not digging up the mounds, clinging to the demonic past?”
“Demonic? Look, Lee, the Adena hardly had the benefit of hearing vast pseudo-wisdom from the blessed lips of Bright Star Monson.”
She’d done it again: let her temper get the best of her. For the second time, she’d managed to insult Bright Star, but the drivel Lee was spouting really upset her. He looked shocked.
She forced her feet up the hill before she could say something more direct about that horrible, screwed-up cult leader. Monson was the one who was demonic! He obviously went to great lengths to control people, scare people. She was certain he’d left those stars on the mounds and that was what poor Grace was trying to tell her. He no doubt wanted Kate out of the area at any cost.
21
“Okay, I get it,” Grant said with a tight smile when they’d finished a fish-and-chips dinner uptown at the English pub that evening.
“Get what?” Kate asked.
“You’re fidgeting like a kid having to wait to open presents Christmas morning. Let’s head back, and I’ll show you the vein of mica. We’d better take a spade and trimmer out with us, because, like I said, it’s pretty hidden by undergrowth.”
“I have tools in my car—but right. We’ll use yours. The foliage is probably why I didn’t spot the seam when I was looking for a water source out there. That was the day I saw Brad and Lacey together.”
“Maybe she’s going to be good for him. But he said she’s only here for a few more days visiting her parents before she heads back to Cleveland. I think he may be the one who got her to disband her greeniacs, because it sure wasn’t me. I got the idea they intended to protest at the mill at least a second time. Brad was also helpful today, telling people he was just filling in for Todd, so maybe everything will work out if he can sell his paper mill or get it back on its feet. And stay off the booze.”
They went home—was she thinking of it as home now?—changed their clothes and headed out back with a spade and large pair of hedge clippers. Kate was excited to be walking out toward the mound with tools, even though they were soon headed past it.
After they’d returned from Keith and Velma’s and Grant went back to the mill, she had spent the afternoon at Tess and Gabe’s new place, making sure it was ready for their homecoming. Workers had completed the remodeling of their old house on the other side of town, and Tess’s attached day-care center was almost finished. The sawdust on the floor and sawhorses still there reminded Kate of the sad remnants they’d found of Grant’s bird’s-eye maple tree up on Shadow Mountain. The precious, living heirloom that had held his childhood tree house and had watched over Mason Mound for decades had been slaughtered like some Adena had been in death chambers uncovered in this area. And she was still as far from getting into Mason Mound as—as she was from forgiving her father.
Once Tess and Gabe returned, if Grant still refused to let her excavate the mound, what excuse would she have for staying here? She couldn’t impose on him longer. And she certainly wouldn’t stay with newlyweds setting up a house and business. Should she work with Carson to convince the state legislature to force Grant to let them dig, and turn him against her forever? Carson had hinted at marriage more than once, but that once-cherished goal of them as more than research and excavation partners seemed all wrong now. She wanted to hold Carson off, as much as she wanted to urge Grant on.
As they approached the mica seam, she saw that Grant was right. The side of a shallow ravine they walked into was completely overgrown with ivy and bishop’s weed spilling over it from a treed ridge on top. But she could tell there was something dark beneath the drooping foliage. A frisson of excitement shot through her. She would feel this way if she was about to uncover the entrance to the mound, but at least she might find some clues that the Adena had used the mica here. She was going to find the right moment and ask Grant for permission, hoping he’d give her that, at least.
“So how did you know this was here, since it’s obviously been overgrown for years?” she asked as he began to cut some of the foliage back, then pulled the tangle of vines away. In the dim light under the forest cover, the rock beneath glinted.
“Our gang of friends knew every foot of this forest when we were growing up. In the autumn, when the leaves were off the trees and we’d had a couple of frosts, we used to be able to see this from the tree house, and we checked it out.”
“Did you make things out of this mica, like little arrowheads, or something like that? Adena usually used flint or chert for their working arrowheads and spear points, even ax heads. But mica is so shiny, they liked it for decorations and oversize ceremonial weapons—like those left in their tombs.”