The Graves of Plague Canyon (The Downwinders Book 3) Read Online Free Page B

slapping at
Winn’s hand as he attempted to pick up her plate. “You two get off to New
Harmony before it gets too late. Batchelder probably retires before the sun
sets.”
    “You’re sure?” Winn asked.
    “Yes, I’m sure,” Carma replied. “Go.”
    Deem and Winn walked out to the front, past the hallway of
pictures that showed scenes from the house’s history.
    “Who’s driving?” Deem asked as they opened the door and
stepped down to the gravel driveway.
    “I’ll drive,” Winn said. “You’ve already hauled out to
Fredonia and back today.”
    “You’ve still got that letter?” Deem asked.
    Winn slapped his ass, holding his hand over his back pocket.
“Right here!” He gave Deem a wide smile.
    Deem rolled her eyes and got into his Jeep.

Chapter Three
     
     
     
    “You’re an immoral degenerate, aren’t you son?” the old woman
asked Winn as she sat across from him in her living room. Deem watched Winn’s
face as he reacted with surprise.
    “Now, you,” the woman said, turning to Deem, “you’re one of
the Lord’s pure vessels, aren’t you my dear? But you’re lost, pathetically drifting.
Hold to the iron rod, child. ’Tis strong and bright and true.”
    Deem was at a loss for words, so she just stared back at the
woman.
    “We’ve come to see if you…” Winn started, but the woman held
up an old, gnarled hand for Winn to stop.
    “My house is not to be further soiled with the words of a
debauched sodomite!” she said, silencing him.
    Winn turned to Deem, looking pissed. I guess we’re
beginning to understand what Carma meant by c-word, Deem thought.
    “Why don’t you tell me why you’re here, my dear?” the woman
asked Deem. “My soul would do well to hear the musical strains of a virginal
voice.”
    Deem began to turn red, a mixture of embarrassment and anger.
She held up the envelope. “You sent this to a woman in Fredonia. She’s
unconscious and can’t read it. Neither can her mother, so she asked us for
help. We can’t read it either, not all of it. We were hoping you’d tell us what
it says.”
    “Fredonia?” the woman replied. “Oh, yes, her. Poor soul. Very
sick.”
    “Is this a diagnosis?” Deem asked. “What did you recommend to
her? Tell us, and we’ll relay the information.”
    “Hand it to me, would you dear?” the woman asked.
    Deem rose from her seat and passed the envelope to the woman,
who had introduced herself to them as Sister Batchelder.
    As she read the letter, the old woman mumbled. “Oh, yes… yes…
I should have written that differently, I suppose.”
    “You say Lizzy is bad off?” Deem asked.
    “Very bad. Her soul is diseased. There’s nothing I can do on
my own to cure her,” Batchelder replied.
    “Surely you wrote more than that,” Deem said. “Even I could
make out some of the words. You were suggesting something.”
    “I wrote of two options,” the woman replied. “One, she could
kill herself before the disease cripples her soul any further. That would
arrest it.”
    “Doesn’t seem like a good option,” Winn said.
    “Be silent, fiend of perversion!” Batchelder spat at Winn,
who shrunk back in his chair from the angry woman.
    “What was the second option?” Deem asked Batchelder, wanting
to speed things up.
    “The disease she has is very rare,” the woman replied. “I’ve
seen it only once before. It was cured by callum. So that’s why I offered the
first option, killing herself. A lot easier.”
    “Callum?” Deem asked. “What is that?”
    “A substance so rare, it’s only been found in one place
around here, as far as I know,” Batchelder replied. “And getting to it is
nearly impossible.”
    “Where?” Deem asked.
    “Plague Canyon,” the woman answered. “Ever heard of it?”
    Deem wracked her memory. She came up blank.
    “No, I expect you wouldn’t,” Batchelder said. “No one’s been
in that canyon in a hundred years, and no one will be going in anytime soon. So
best you go back to