Water and Stone (15 page)

Between the two of them they had managed to talk Lester Craven into trading his ranch for a dilapidated house in Mexico that supposedly belonged to Evalena. Church had never seen that property but he'd been by old man Craven's ranch many times. It wasn’t far from where he lived at the end of Cherry Creek Road.

Craven's land was fed by one of the few rivers still running through north Texas so the myriad trees growing on it were green year around even while most of the surrounding countryside turned brown and burned up under the hot summer sun. Church had heard Rancher Ford speak of the ranch many times... how he wanted to acquire it not only to bring together two giant swaths of land he owned on either side of it but to take advantage of the riparian rights of owning both sides of the river running through the property... plus there was a tunnel under the highway which meant cows and equipment could move back and forth easily.

He had once overheard Lester Craven talking to some men at the café in Guthrie where he'd stopped to get a bite of lunch while in town to buy treats for the ponies. The only restaurant in town had high-backed seats so Lester Craven didn't realize Church was sitting in the booth right behind him and could hear every word he said.

The man seemed to be snickering over having thwarted Rancher Ford's latest attempt at prying his land away from him. Listening to the conversation it became clear to Church that the man would never sell the ranch to his father... he'd rather give it away to strangers than to see it become a part of the Triple Six.

It seemed as if some bad blood had formed between Craven and Ford decades before when Rancher first appeared in town. Hank Jordan, the man Rancher worked for when he arrived in Guthrie, had purchased an estate that belonged to Lester Craven's father... one that the son felt was his heritage. Apparently the old man sold the entire contents of his home upon going into a nursing home and having had no communication with his boy Lester for many years took it for granted he didn't want any of the old stuff.

The story went how Rancher had been at the house loading up the furniture in the back of Hank's truck when Lester and a pair of his thug friends showed up. They were all big men and Rancher was just a kid and so it went that when they attempted to put a licking on him the boy surprised them all by pulling out a .38 special from the ankle holster he wore threatening to shoot the first one who came close to him.

Lester Craven had been so frightened staring down the barrel of that pistol that he soiled himself and his two friends made sure to spread the word so that a day later the entire town of Guthrie had heard about it. Though Rancher Ford had nothing to do with Lester Craven losing his father's estate to Hank Jordan he blamed the boy from that day on and never missed an opportunity to stick it to him any way he could.

Evalena could be a temptress when she set her mind to it. She surprised not only him but Billy Ford on the day Church took her swimming at the hacienda by taking off her clothes and swimming in her underwear which when wet showed all her assets. Evalena seemed to revel under the boys' gaze, especially Billy's.

The woman seemed to grow younger each year or perhaps it was he who grew older while she simply stood still. He couldn’t blame Billy Ford for taking up with her... Evalena was as stunning a beauty as there was in the entire county.

What had Billy been saying about witches just now? Something about whether he believed they were capable of casting spells on people... was that what happened with Lester Craven too?

Church decided to go into Guthrie the next day and visit the library to do some investigating.

There were worse things in the world than no.

"Has your mother ever said anything about a special stone?"

He felt cheap asking Church about the stone but Evalena made him promise to do it if she helped him acquire the Craven place. Besides, what did it hurt to ask? He figured the most that could happen might be how Church would say no.

"I have no idea what you mean, Billy. Stone? What kind of stone? We have lots of stones around the chabola."

"She said you'd know what I'm talking about, Church. She said it's so special that anyone who sees it is instantly caught up in its beauty and power. Those who possess it could have wealth beyond imagination just for the asking."

"Why would my aunt think I'd know anything about that?"

"I'm not sure... she told me that you might know where it's hidden. If you help me get it, she said she would share its wealth with us. We'd be rich, Church."

"I'm sorry but I don’t know about any stone like that and if I did I don’t think I'd help my aunt... she's lying to you, Billy. I've been trying to tell you that she isn’t a person to be trusted... she'll turn on you in the end and keep everything for herself."

"She helped me get the Craven ranch though. I don’t think she's the kind of girl you think she is, Church. She's good to me... she never asks for anything in return... and she could, you know. I see how you live at that shack."

"We don’t have it so bad there, Billy."

"You don’t even have electricity or running water. If she asked I'd talk father into putting some money into that place... fix it up. Make it habitable. But she's like you... she doesn’t say a word about the hardships she faces."

"To tell you the truth, I never realized how poor we were until I came to your house for the first time, Billy."

"As pretty as she is Evalena could have any man in the world and they'd take care of her like she was a princess. Instead she stays with you. She's been there for years now. Do you have any idea why? I think it's because she loves you and your mother."

"That may well be... but I think the truth is she's looking for something that she thinks we have... isn't that more like it? And now she's recruited you to help her steal it from us. Billy... on the other hand if we had something like that stone she's talking about, do you think we would be living the way we do?"

"No... I guess not..."

"Evalena's always telling my mother how unlucky I am... that whoever comes around me will have terrible misfortunes. I never understood why until now."

"Why would she do that, Church? She's your aunt."

"She wants me to leave the chabola so she can make my mother give her what she doesn’t have. Evalena knows I'll stand up to her. She's afraid of me... she's always been afraid of me. Do you know what she told my mother to do the night I was born, Billy?"

"No... how'd I know that, Church."

"She told my mother to drown me. Evalena wanted me dead before I ever had a chance at life. I'm telling you, Billy... nothing good will come of you being with her. She'll make you do horrible things and in the end she'll turn against you anyway."

Though Church seemed sincere his words angered Billy. What did his brother have against Evalena that he'd make up lies about her? Turning away from him, Billy told himself how it was better not to have a brother than to listen to the insults Church was heaping upon Evalena and with no good reason.

He didn’t believe the boy. Evalena wasn’t like that, not like he said. She was a good and a caring woman who loved her family and who'd made many personal sacrifices to be with them. If Church couldn’t understand that then it was better their friendship ended.

He didn’t want to admit to Church that he'd fallen in love with Evalena... he didn’t want anyone to know, not even his father. Somehow he knew his brother would object and what was more, so would his father. Still, Billy wanted to run and shout to the entire countryside how he felt for the beautiful girl who'd come into his life unlooked for and who taught him what it meant to be loved by a woman... a real woman.

"Do you have a girlfriend, Billy?"

He thought she might be teasing him the way she'd made a habit of doing and for just a moment he was tempted to lie to her... to tell her yes, he had many girlfriends. But something told him that Evalena would see through the deception even before he uttered the words.

"No, not really... why do you ask, Evalena?"

"I'm sort of thinking about applying for the job... if you wouldn’t mind, that is. Would you like me to be your girlfriend, Billy?"

Thoughts he never dreamed of having rushed through his head as she started to remove her blouse, unbuttoning it so slowly that it was all he could do to keep from ripping it from her body hearing the buttons bouncing off the thin walls as he forced her back onto the bed.

"Yes, I'd like you to be my girlfriend, Evalena."

"Good... because you have to choose me, Billy. I can't choose you. That's how it works."

"That's how what works? What are you talking about, Evalena?"

"Hush now, Billy."

He was twenty one years old and ashamed to admit he'd never slept with a woman before. Oh sure, he'd made out with a couple of the local girls after Saturday night dances and even managed to cup Becky Thompson's left breast—or was it her elbow... he could never be certain—before she jumped up and ran off into the night but Billy had never dreamed of actually having a woman like Evalena.

The fact that she kept an odd and somewhat bizarre altar in her bedroom at the chabola with what looked like a human skull in the middle of it with a red candle melted into the top of the head and wax running down between its dead eyes pooling around the base like puddles of blood made no difference to Billy... not when she pulled off her clothes to reveal all the mysteries of the world to him for the first time.

Sometimes when he looked at Evalena in the early light of day she seemed as old as time but the next moment she was a young girl again softly moaning as she rocked back and forth on top of him with a look on her face he never thought he'd see while calling out strange names in a language Billy had never heard before.

"Ahora... somos amante, Guillermo... we are lovers now, Billy. We are joined forever."

"I'll never leave you, Evalena. I love you."

As she lay soft and warm in his arms and Billy felt like a man for the first time Evalena whispered into his ear things that he couldn't quite understand in a visceral sense yet some deeper part of him was ready to act at her every suggestion. He didn't know if she spoke in English or in Spanish or a mixture of both or neither... that didn't matter. All that he desired was for her to never leave his side.

"Bring me something pretty next time you visit, mi amor. Prove how much I mean to you... be the one who catches all my tears."

"Do you love me too, Evalena?"

She didn't answer in words... rather she coiled her body around his once again like a serpent strangling its prey and gasping as he entered her and rolling over to ride him like something darkly wild until she collapsed and melted back into him.

Sleep pulled at him dragging him down into a deep and a dark pit where naked whispers echoed off unseen walls. A moment later he was flying across a forest so expansive he could see neither beginning nor end of it. About the time he marveled at his ability to fly he plummeted to earth.

He was dreaming and he knew it. Evalena was with him. They were standing naked together upon a precipice overlooking a volcano vomiting magma over the land and belching filth into the air. When he drew a breath he choked upon the sulfur and ash burning his lungs and charring his throat.

"Unless you help me, my love, I'll fade into nothing."

As he stood watching, Evalena began to crumble away like dust... first her skin peeled back to reveal the white of bone beneath and then her skeleton began crumbling. He began to open his mouth to scream but he knew if he drew another acrid breath he would be dead before he could exhale it.

In the distance he saw a vast green tree throwing its limbs up to the sun, flourishing as if it was being fed the nectar of the gods. He recognized it as the enormous sycamore tree that grew in the middle of the long abandoned church not far from the chabola.

"This is called the Church of Five Angels... this is where you'll find what you seek."

The words seemed to be set to some sort of music that came up out of the ground from under the tree roots. Pain blossomed in his ears as if the melody was instead razor blades cutting into the tender flesh yet he was drawn to the spot anyway.

He had played at that place many times with Church. The building was but adobe brick walls now and above the main door frame was an ancient stone carving of Lucifer—or was it Jesus?—lying upon the ground with five angels dancing over him... their soft white wings fluttering and their dainty feet scarcely touching the stone.

"Help me, mi amor..."

Evalena's words sounded in his ears as he rose to break the surface of waking. What was under that tree that made it grow so splendidly while all the vegetation around it withered in the summer heat?

Easing out of Evalena's warm embrace Billy dressed quickly without waking her. Dawn was a long ways off yet when he started to set out from the chabola leading his horse to the road along with a spade he had found in the shed around back tied to his saddle.

And then someone stepped out of the shadows.

When she woke he'd gone.

She lay in bed a moment stretching and yawning and wondering what it was that had brought her out of her slumbers and if she might roll over and go back to sleep for a few minutes. Still, the sunlight piercing the window shade made it impossible to keep her eye lids closed and it was too warm to pull the covers over her head.

Evalena heard it now... a soft thumping... that must have been what woke her in the first place. Initially she thought it might be her own heart beating but then she realized the sound was coming from under the chabola... like something deep underground begging to be released from its prison.

Listening to the rhythmic drumming she understood it as a sign informing her that her will had been done... the woman was dead. Billy was such a good boy for bringing his mother's necklace to her as a gift. Oh, but she knew he'd be distraught and filled with remorse over having a hand in his own mother's death... it'd be the final melancholia of his short and unhappy life.

He brought it on himself.

During the night she'd dreamed that she heard someone talking... at first Evalena thought she was awake it. She'd rolled over and saw Billy was gone so she got up and went to the single window and peered out.

"Billy? What are you doing out there?"

The window was open and when she leaned out to call to him the boy ignored her. Either he had gone deaf or else she wasn’t actually standing by the window calling to him... she was still asleep in bed inside a dream.

Billy was standing in the yard with her sister—a pair of wraiths dazzled by moonbeams—and though their voices were but whispers in the dark Evalena cast an ear toward the speakers the way dreaming had taught her to do and it all became clear.

They were conspiring against her.

She knew her sister held an old grudge against her but Billy? Why would he listen to the lies of a woman he barely knew, especially after the love they just made? Men were all the same... once they got what they wanted they moved on to other things. Their attention spans were so short they could scarcely remember their own names.

Billy had brought her a splendid gift... one he must've pilfered from his mother's jewelry box at her urgings. The necklace was even engraved with her name which made it all the more useful though apparently the silly boy had overlooked that.

"Bring me something pretty, Billy."

"Like what, Evalena? I don't know what you like."

"Your mother must have lots of fine jewelry, Billy. She wouldn’t miss one little trinket, would she?"

"I guess not... why do you want something of my mother's?"

"It'll make me feel all the closer to you, Billy."

At the time Evalena didn't know Billy would scheme against her with her sister but she suspected it. Billy and Church were thick as thieves. She envied them how close they were. She'd never been that way with anyone... even her fathers kept secrets from her.

Conjuring a familiar was a difficult proposition even with a personal article of the intended... without it... she stood no chance. Evalena couldn't risk doing what needed to be done in person. It had to look like an accident... a medical emergency unanswered.

A simple grain of sand along with a breath sufficed to draw what she required from the stone even without it being in her possession... she had to take care, however, for there was precious little material left and without the stone there was no way to procure more. One of her fathers had taught her the trick... by taking a handful of sand, dropping it through the box, and then carefully collecting it, the granules possessed some small part of the magic of the piedra.

The stone acted as a portal to another realm... not a world so much as an entire universe all its own. Those who were adept at tapping into its power could draw demons and saints from that alternate universe. For her purposes, Evalena summoned an old friend. Her name had once been Josephine.

The woman had been with the family for ages. As time wore on Josephine slowly succumbed to the lure of the piedra but not without the help of Evalena.

She had teased the woman with the stone, told her tales full of half truths and even outright lies, all to tempt Josephine into becoming what Evalena most needed: an ally against the storms of the world raging around her.

"The stone has music for those who listen."

"Is that what I hear, Evalena? I could never be sure if it's music or simply the wind or perhaps even the sound of water upon stone."

"If you hear the music, Josephine, you're forever marked by the piedra. It's calling to you. Only a special few notice the melody."

"May I see it, Evalena?"

"Of course you can, Josephine. Would you like to hold it?"

As soon as Josephine uttered the words Evalena knew she was ensnared within the spell of the stone. If the woman ever wondered why she had lived so long while those all around her perished of old age Josephine had never said. Perhaps she understood there was a price to pay and didn't wish to call attention to it.

It happened to everyone who encountered the piedra. No matter how well-meaning they were in the beginning, eventually they gave in to the desire to possess it and in doing so were instead possessed. That was the great enigma upon which the known world was built. A person was bound to draw upon themselves the thing they feared the most.

"When did I grow so old, Evalena? It seems only yesterday that I was still a girl."

Josephine was right. Age had caught up to her with a punishment not dissimilar to the divine retribution normally reserved for the wicked.

"Hush, Josephine... save your strength."

The old woman died with a wild light in her eyes, as if she had seen too much to continue to live in the world of the everyday. Now, she belonged to the stone and to Evalena by proxy... and she was back if only for an instant.

She hadn't lived so long by being careless. By foreseeing every possible eventuality it was possible to not only forestall death but to eliminate it all together. Her fathers taught her many things not the least of which was how not to die... yet she didn't fear death.

Her time at the Triple Six was limited. Even now the word was out that she was here. More men showed up each day obstinately to pay their respects yet one morning she might well find the one person she feared at her door.

She kept to the shadows. She wallowed in the filth and the disease of the world drowning in its feces and urine and slime. If she had the piedra in her possession none of the hiding would be necessary. At the same time, however, she recognized its pull.

That was why she gave it away so long ago... she felt the emptiness of the thing that promised fulfillment. Had she kept it she too would have become trapped in its promise of forever while simultaneously being pulled into the chains of desire.

She'd seen it happen time and again and to people with far more strength than she possessed. Josephine had been a girl hardened by the trials of five hundred years yet within a fraction of that time her willpower to live had been dissolved as if in acid.

Josephine wouldn’t have been her first choice in doing away with Lorraine Ford but then that was something rarely allotted to those who did the conjuring. What did she care anyway... as long as the job was done.

Billy would be devastated... doubtlessly he would blame Yani. She was the one who made him swear on his mother's life. The simple people of Texas were much like the Cubans she once knew and tolerated. They were a superstitious lot ready to believe in anything that promised a solution to the great unknown.

He wouldn't be alive much longer anyway, but it'd pay to stay close to Billy now. If someone—anyone—came between them it could prove fatal to all her carefully laid plans. She wouldn't have to chase after the piedra... it would be laid at her feet just as she'd foreseen. Yet she also knew how fickle the Fates could be when they started playing their infernal games.

Billy didn't know where the stone was hidden yet he needed to figure that out for himself. That was the key. If she pressed him too hard he would turn on her like a rabid dog might its owner. The piedra slowly drove the lesser ones insane while at the same time strengthening those who were equal to its powers. Billy was one of the former while Church the latter.

She indulged herself in Billy it was true but only to guide him into realizing that which he already knew. Most people were like that... they had no idea of the power they held and had even less inclination to seek for it.

It was pointless to prolong the agony any longer than necessary but she did find herself enjoying the touch of the boy. It'd been too long since she'd felt as close to anyone as she did to Billy. Yet she knew the love they both sought could never endure.

He was a method... a way to reach the treasure she sought. Still, when he looked at her she sometimes found herself wishing she was simply a girl and not what she was. If she could, she'd trade places with Yani in an instant.

Billy'd be back soon... and then it would be time to begin.