River: The Suicide Forest Part 22

"I don't mind," Eliza said. "It's nice to visit with you two again, regardless. I was telling Steven I feel like I could stay here forever."

"That's the problem with this place," Steven said. "It's like heroin. When it's time to go home, you go through withdrawals."

"Just tell me one thing," Roy said, turning to Steven. "Are you comfortable with the terms? Do you feel one hundred percent confident you can handle your end of the deal? I need to know if I'm gonna have to step in at some point."

"I feel confident," Steven said. "I can't see any reason why I can't pull it off myself. You'll just have to take some vague answers from me sometimes."

"Alright, I can do that," Roy said. "And hey you learned how to trance."

"Yes!" Eliza said, raising her gla.s.s again. "Here's to Steven and trancing!"

"Here here!" Roy said, raising his gla.s.s.

"Does this make me a full-fledged member of the club now?" Steven asked.

"Well, let's see," Eliza said. "You've got this place here, Eximere, so you've got a worthwhile project. You've learned how to trance. And you've got your own deal with the devil. Yes, I'd say you've made it to the big leagues!" She smiled.

"The only thing left to do," Roy said, "is to talk to Jason. Bring him into the fold."

"I'll do that as soon as I get home," Steven said. "Although I don't think I ever want him to know his father made a deal with a demon. It's not something I'm proud of."

"There's nothing wrong in what you've done here," Eliza said. "Not that I can see. You have nothing to be ashamed of."

"Maybe" Steven said, rising from the bench, troubled. "I hope so." He walked off the porch and into the house.

Eliza stared out over the porch handrail, into the slowly dimming light. "Remember when we sat over there on the other side of that banyan tree and watched as the marchers came through here?" Eliza asked Roy.

"I do," Roy said. "I don't think I'll ever forget it."

"As wonderful as this place feels," Eliza said, "I remember feeling dread while we sat there, waiting for them to come. I feel the same way now."

When Steven returned home from dropping Eliza at the airport and Roy at his house, there was a message waiting for him. It was from Jason: "Dad, if you try to reach me and can't, don't worry. I'm going to be out of town for a few days, in fact I'm in the car now, heading south. I should be back next week. I don't know if there will be much cell reception where we're going. I haven't heard from you in a while. You haven't returned any of the calls I left you. But I don't want you to worry, I've found someone who is like you and me, and he's agreed to teach me what I want to know. Turns out he's my next door neighbor. I met him last week when I first moved in, and we've become friends. The two of us are taking a trip to Nevada to see someone there that Michael learned from. He's going to give us both lessons. Say 'hi' to my dad, Michael."

Steven's blood ran cold and he felt frozen, waiting for the voice on the other end. It couldn't be that Michael, could it? Jason had just moved into a new apartment. Where was it again? He'd told him the address in an earlier voicemail. He'd moved there with his girlfriend. It was a room in a house what was the address? Was it on 34th? Could it be the same Victorian mansion where he and Roy had met college students last year, as they searched for Ben's murderer? Could the next door neighbor be Michael?

"h.e.l.lo, Mr. Hall," the voice came. "Jason's in good hands. All the best to Roy."

Michael Richan lives in Seattle, Was.h.i.+ngton. He was born in California and raised in Utah.

You can contact Michael at www.michaelrichan.com.

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The next adventure awaits!.

Far away, in the remote deserts of southern Nevada, lies a cave with secrets: strangely twisted creatures, ma.s.s deaths, and a hole so deep, anything that goes in, never gets out.

Steven's son Jason has been taken to this desolate place by someone bent on vengeance. Steven and his father Roy pursue them in a desperate attempt to save Jason's life.

However, the River is different here, where fallout from nuclear testing has altered the ghosts and ent.i.ties inhabiting the many abandoned mines and hidden caves surrounding Devil's Throat. Steven and Roy are on unfamiliar ground; they seek the help of locals Winn and Deem to save Jason from a horrific ghost town, once submerged, now revealed.

Devil's Throat is a fast-paced and suspenseful paranormal novel that confronts evil, ghosts, and the dead.

Pick up your copy at Amazon today!

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The River series:.

The Bank of the River.

Residual A Haunting in Oregon.

Ghosts of Our Fathers Eximere The Suicide Forest.

Devil's Throat The Diablo Horror.

The Haunting at Grays Harbor It Walks At Night.

The Downwinders series: Blood Oath, Blood River.

The Impossible Coin.

The Graves of Plague Canyon.

The Dark River series:.

A.

All three series are part of The River Universe, and there is crossover of some characters and plots. For a suggested reading order, see the Author's Website.