What Hides Inside: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 2

his friends’ faces told Sam they were all thinking the same thing.
“Before Patrick disappeared, the tunnels were just another place to go to smoke or drink or make out,” Sam continued. “Just like when you were in school, Dean. Karen even mentioned that she’d refused to ever go in the tunnels because of the bugs.”
Leaning back on his hands, Bo pinned Sam with a penetrating stare. “Okay, so, there were no stories about things in the tunnels until last month. After the first student vanished, the rumors started up. What sorts of things have the students seen and heard, exactly? Other than Karen’s experience, poor kid.”
“The two we talked to before Karen hadn’t experienced anything themselves,” Cecile told him, shifting in David’s lap and winding an arm around his shoulders. “They’d mostly heard stories third and fourth hand. But the things they’d heard actually reinforce the theory that the tunnel contains a dimensional gateway. They were talking about seeing strange fogs in the tunnel, and hearing hissing or other frightening noises both in the tunnel and in the courtyard.”
Frowning, Dean shoved his bangs out of his eyes and leaned back in his chair. “There’s something I don’t understand, though. The tunnel where we found the old pit was bricked up until we had it opened. If the students saw things in the main tunnel, how could it be the beings from the other dimension? It sounds like they were operating almost like a trapdoor spider, lying in wait and taking kids as they passed through the courtyard, rather than snatching them from the tunnel.”
“I’ve been wondering that myself.” Bo pushed away from the desk and started pacing. “Okay, here’s a thought. Karen said that the ground opened up, right?” He glanced at Sam and Cecile, who both nodded. “We saw nothing but solid grass and concrete walkways when we explored the courtyard. I don’t think there’s an actual trapdoor, because I believe we would have noticed. There’s just no way to hide such a thing from anything more than superficial investigation, and we were hardly superficial.”
“If there’s no trapdoor or something like that, then what do you think it is?” Andre asked, crossing his arms and raising his eyebrows at Bo.
Bo smiled, eyes glowing with the thrill of discovery, and Sam’s chest constricted. He loved seeing that look on Bo’s face, the childlike excitement that came from putting another piece of the puzzle in its place.
“I think maybe these beings can manipulate matter on an atomic, or possibly subatomic level,” Bo told them. “If they can control a doorway between dimensions, I think it’s reasonable that they would also have the technology—or, hell, the psychokinetic brain power—to rearrange atoms to create a temporary opening where there normally isn’t one. Matter is made up of mostly empty space anyway.”
“That might explain a few other things as well,” Cecile mused. “You remember how we had so much trouble finding the spot in the courtyard where the pit would be, in spite of having Dean’s measurements of the tunnel to go by. And Karen said that when she looked for the place where Patrick disappeared, she couldn’t find it again.”
“So you think these things might be able to camouflage their hiding place, is that it?” Dean’s eyes shone with the light of pure scientific curiosity. “Wow.”
Bo nodded. “I hadn’t thought of that, Cecile. That’s a good point.”
“We were able to see every inch of the courtyard perfectly well, though. But we still couldn’t find the spot. We felt like we kept getting lost.” Curling one foot underneath him in the chair, Sam chewed his thumbnail as he worked out his thoughts. “Maybe it’s a psychic camouflage rather than physical.”
David’s eyebrows went up. “You mean they just make people think they can’t find it?”
“Kind of, yeah.” Sam shrugged. “It’s just an idea. I don’t know, obviously.”
“The big question here is, why?” Andre stared at the floor, a muscle in his jaw twitching. “Assuming this really is a dimensional portal, and that those fucking things are opening it at will, snatching innocent kids and most likely killing them, why are they doing it?”
A heavy silence fell. After a few tense seconds, Cecile’s voice broke it, soft and hesitant. “I’m not sure we’ll ever know, Andre. They’re intelligent, we know that, but their minds are so different from ours that I