Dark Storm Read Free Page B

continued. “Oh, not to her face of course, but I thought her so old and superstitious. I’d heard the stories of the mountains. We lived in Peru and some of the older people in our village still whispered about the great evil that came before the Incas and could not be driven away, not even by their most fierce warriors. Stories. Dreadful, frightening stories handed down for generations. I thought the stories had been passed down mostly to scare the children and keep them from roaming too far from the protection of the village, but I learned better after my mother died. Something is there, Riley, in the mountain. Something evil, and it’s our job to contain it.”
    Riley wanted to believe her mother was delirious with pain, but her eyes were steady—even more, afraid. Annabel believed every word she was saying and her mother wasn’t given to flights of fancy. More to reassure her mother than because she actually believed the nonsense about some evil being trapped inside a mountain, Riley nodded.
    “You’re going to be fine,” she assured. “We’ve been bitten by Manta Blanca on previous trips. They aren’t poisonous. Nothing’s going to happen to you, Mom.” She had to say the words aloud, needing them to be true. “This was only a bizarre event. We know anything can happen in the rain forest …”
    “No, Riley.” Annabel caught her daughter’s hand and held it tight. “All the delays … all the problems since we arrived … something is happening. The evil in the mountain is deliberately trying to slow me down. It is close to the surface and is orchestrating accidents and illness. We have to be realistic, Riley.” Her body shuddered again.
    Riley hunted through her pack and came up with a packet of pills. “Antihistamines, Mom, take a couple of these. You’ll probably go to sleep but at least the itching will stop for a while.”
    Annabel nodded and swallowed the pills, chasing them with water. “Don’t trust anyone, Riley. Any one of these people can be our enemy. We must go our own way as soon as possible.”
    Riley bit her lip, refraining from saying anything at all. She needed time to think. She was twenty-five years old and had been to the Andes four times, not including when she was born in the cloud forest. This was the fifth trip that she remembered. The hike through the rain forest had been grueling, but she’d never felt terrified as she was now. It was too late to turn back and from what her mother said, it wasn’t an option. She needed to let her mother rest, and then they had to talk. She had to learn much more about the why of the trip to the Andes.
    She dropped the sheet in place as soon as her mother appeared to be drifting off and went out onto the deck. Raul, the porter, glanced at her and looked quickly away, clearly uncomfortable with the presence of both women. Goose bumps rose on her arms. She rubbed them away, turning to walk along the railing to try to put some distance between her and the rest of the passengers. She just needed a little space.
    There wasn’t enough room aboard the boat to find a quiet corner. Jubal and Gary, the two researchers, sat together in one of the few secluded spots, and judging from the expressions on their faces, they weren’t very happy. She gave them a wide berth, but in doing so ended up beside Ben Charger, the third engineer, the one she couldn’t quite make up her mind about. He was always courteous to both women and, like Jubal and Gary, seemed to be developing a protective streak toward them.
    Ben nodded at her. “Is your mother all right?”
    Riley flashed him a tentative smile. “I think so. I gave her an antihistamine. Hopefully, between that and the gel Gary gave us, the itch won’t make her crazy. Those are nasty little bugs.”
    “She must have been wearing something that attracted them,” Ben ventured, half stating, half asking. “Maybe a perfume?”
    Riley knew her mother never wore perfume, but it was a good explanation.