Carpathian 23 - Dark Storm

be able to talk about anything else, and yet, for the first
     time, the archaeologist seemed to realize something was wrong.
    He blinked, noticing the gun Jubal still held in his hand. “Something’s going on here.”
    A sound escaped her throat before she could stop it. Hysterical laughter, maybe. “Was
     it the machete that tipped you off, the diabolical chant from hell or the horde of
     crawling vampire bats?” Riley clapped her hand over her mouth. There was no doubt
     she was hysterical to answer like that. But really? Something was going on ? What was his first clue? He was taking the absentminded professor bit just a little
     too far.
    “Easy,” Jubal whispered. “She’s safe now. I think it’s over for the night.”
    Riley bit her lip to keep from retorting. The rain forest was filled with predators
     of every shape and size, all of them seemingly intent on attacking Annabel. How was
     her mother going to be safe from that? The sense of welcome, of homecoming they’d
     always experienced on their previous visits was utterly absent. This time, the rain
     forest felt savage and dangerous, even malevolent.
    She forced her attention back to the remaining bats. Thankfully they were retreating
     from the light and the stench of their roasted companions. That knot in her stomach
     eased a little as she inspected the tree trunk and the branches above her mother.
     The insects were retreating, too.
    “I should have helped you,” Dr. Henry Patton said. “I don’t know why I didn’t.”
    His two students had followed him at a much slower pace, looking as dazed and confused
     as their teacher.
    Riley bit back an angry accusation. None of this was the archaeologist’s fault. Maybe
     he had the means and knowledge to understand the properties of a hallucinogenic plant
     and the entire expedition, but what would be his motives? What could possibly be any
     of their motives?
    She swept a weary hand through her hair, exhausted. She hadn’t dared to sleep in the
     last four nights, not since entering the rain forest. Not since that terrible whispering
     had begun. The endless buzz was enough to drive any sane man crazy, and clearly she
     was the least affected of their group.
    The three guides and the rest of the porters circled Raul, restraining him with ties
     of some kind. He continued to chant that guttural, unfamiliar language, sometimes
     murmuring, sometimes shouting, and kept trying to move toward Annabel’s hammock. His
     cousins were forced to tie him to one of the trees to keep him from attacking her
     again. His hand was clenched in a fist as though he still gripped the machete handle.
     He swung his arm back and forth through the air in a disturbing pantomime.
    “What is Raul saying?” Riley asked Jubal, once the excitement died down and everyone
     returned to their hammocks. She nodded at the porter tied to the tree and watched
     Gary’s expression. “I can see that both of you recognize the language.” She looked
     Jubal right in the eyes. “Don’t deny it. I see the looks you two give one another.
     There’s no doubt that you know what he’s saying.”
    Jubal and Gary turned almost simultaneously to glance over their shoulders at Ben
     Charger. It was obvious they didn’t want to talk in front of anyone else.
    “Let me give you a hand clearing away these bats,” Gary said.
    Riley deliberately began to make a sweep of the dead and dying bats surrounding her
     mother. It was ugly, sickening work. Both Jubal and Gary pitched in, which was a good
     thing because she would have followed them back to their hammocks for an explanation.
    Ben worked with them for a few minutes, kicking the roasted bodies away from Annabel’s
     hammock, but when Gary began digging in the vegetation to dispose of them all in a
     mass grave, the engineer called it quits.
    “I don’t think you’ll need me any more tonight. Things seem to be settling down.”
    Only then did Riley realize the terrible buzzing in her head had faded away. Although
     she couldn’t hear it anymore, she could tell by the red eyes and the frowns on the
     faces of the others that it hadn’t stopped altogether. “Thank you so much for your
     help. I wouldn’t have gotten them all without you. You acted fast.”
    Ben shrugged. “They went right for her. I wasn’t going to stand by and let her get
     hurt. I’m a light sleeper. If anything happens again, give a shout and I’ll come running.”
    Riley forced a brief smile.