The day before the winter solstice, four of the five members of the Paranormal Patrol gathered at Dr. Stevens’s house. The team had gear to pack and plans to make. Chigger, who was nervous and excited, chattered a mile a minute.
“I knew you guys would come around,” he said. “Paranormal Patrol is the perfect name for this group.”
“We’re calling ourselves by that name as a joke,” Billy said with a laugh. “It’s too ridiculous to take seriously.”
“Joke or not, it’s what the professor and the scientist are calling us,” Chigger said. “Isn’t that right, Digger?”
“Please call me Augustus,” the archaeologist said as he packed supplies in a box. “I don’t like the name Digger.”
“I like it, though,” Chigger replied. “Augustus is too long and sounds like you’re the king of Rome or something. Digger rhymes with Chigger, so it sounds like we could be pals.”
Dr. Stevens thought about that for a moment and then reached a conclusion.
“All right then, young man,” he said at last. “You may call me Digger. The rest of you,” he said, speaking to the group, “shall continue calling me Augustus.”
Chigger reached out his hand toward the man.
“I’m happy to make your acquaintance, Digger,” the boy said. “I’m Chigger.”
The two laughed as they shook hands.
“So to answer your question, I’ve labeled all the gear we’re taking with the letters PP, for Paranormal Patrol,” Augustus said. “It’s easy to write and takes up less space on the labels.”
“See?” Chigger said in a childish taunting voice. He was looking at Billy.
“But we would never use that name in public,” Billy’s dad, the professor, said as he finished packing a box. “It’s a silly name.”
He carried the box out to the van, which was parked in back of the house next to Dr. Stevens’s boat.
Chigger looked absolutely deflated.
“Well, I still like it,” he said as he finished stuffing freeze-dried food packets in a backpack. “Paranormal Patrol is just the greatest name in the history of names.”
“Now we’re ready to load the most important items of all,” Augustus said. “The falcon cape and diamond staff.”
He removed a large piece of the floor near the back of his office, revealing a hidden space underneath. A metal ladder led down to an underground vault. He climbed down the steps and turned on a light. The rest of the team watched from above.
“This is why the serpent couldn’t find the diamond,” Augustus said.
Turning around in the tight space, he reached out and spun the dial on a combination lock. Although this safe was built into the wall of the underground space, it reminded Billy of the safe in the shed behind Wesley’s house.
“As soon as we’re loaded up here, we’ll head to Grandpa’s house,” Billy said. “He’s expecting us in about an hour.”
With one final spin of the lock, the safe was open. Augustus pulled out a long tube that held the cape and staff that he’d stored in the safe. He handed the tube up to Billy.
“Ever since I was attacked by the serpent, I’ve stored the cape and diamond staff in this new tube,” Augustus said as he climbed back up the ladder. “It’s lined with lead. I think that has made it hard for the beast to find the diamond.”
“Good idea,” Billy’s dad said as he carried the tube to the van.
Within half an hour, the team had the van loaded and the boat trailer hooked up.
“Off to Grandpa’s house we go,” Chigger said excitedly as he jumped in the van.
When they arrived at Wesley’s place, the elder was not waiting out front as expected. Billy tried the front door and found it open. He stepped inside while the rest of the team waited on the front porch.
“Grandpa,” Billy called several times as he walked through the old house. As he passed through the kitchen, he heard the faint words “out here” coming from the backyard.
Stepping out the back door, Billy saw his grandfather in the field in the back of his house. The elderly medicine man was picking up broken pieces of wood that were scattered through the tall grass. Wesley was stacking the pieces in a pile.
Then Billy looked toward the woods farther away. There, where Wesley’s shed once stood, was only the bank safe. It was lying on its side. Scratch marks scarred its surface.
“What happened?” Billy yelled as he ran toward his grandfather. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Wesley replied as Billy reached him. “What a mess. Good thing I finished making our eye-in-hand medallions.”
He pointed toward the safe using his lips, as many older Natives did.
“Our serpent friend put in an appearance this morning,” he said. “He was after the dark crystal.”
“He didn’t attack you, did he?” Billy asked as he helped Wesley pick up pieces of wood.
“No,” his grandfather answered. “I was just finishing up the last medallion when I heard a loud crash from back here. Still holding the piece in my hand, I ran to see what had happened. That’s when I saw him.”
For the first time, Billy noticed the withered trail of grass heading off to the east.
“He had already destroyed the shed and was trying to break open the safe,” Wesley continued. “He heard me coming and spun around to face me. Boy, is he big! And scary!”
“What did you do?” Billy asked.
“The same thing Dr. Stevens did,” Wesley replied. “Without thinking, I held up my hands as if they could somehow protect me from the beast. I forgot I was holding the eye-in-hand medallion. The beast quickly pulled back. That’s when I realized I was holding the medallion. The serpent tried to come at me from the side. When I turned the medallion toward him, he pulled back again.”
“So that image really does repel the thing,” Billy said.
“After that, he just gave up and slithered away,” Wesley said, completing his story.
Just then, Billy’s dad approached from the house.
“What’s going on out here?” he asked. “We need to get going.”
Billy gave his father a quick summary of what had taken place.
“I think we should load up and get out of here before it comes back,” Professor Buckhorn said. “We’ll come back later and help you clean up after the beast is no longer a threat.”
Agreeing with his son’s suggestion, Wesley opened the overturned safe and took out the pouch that held the dark crystal. Then the three Buckhorns went back in the house. Wesley grabbed his overnight bag and his medicine satchel. With a quick look around the house, he locked the front door. The team was now complete, and off they went in the van.
After hearing what had gone on behind Wesley’s house, the group rode for a while in silence. Each member of the team was realizing the dangerous nature of their expedition. Was this going to be harder than they had imagined? What if the beast had other powers no one knew about?
Wesley began singing an old Cherokee warrior song. The words spoke of strength and victory. In the old days, the men in a war party would sing this before facing an enemy. Billy recognized the song. It was one he’d heard his grandfather sing before. He joined in. Billy’s dad also remembered hearing Wesley sing it long ago and followed along as best he could.
Wesley kept singing the song over and over. So Chigger and Augustus picked up on the tune and began singing along as well. Wesley was the only one who knew exactly what the words meant. But all of them felt the strength of that song. And each one of them became more certain of his mission with every passing mile.
Arriving at the boat landing on the river, the team transferred their gear to the boat. Quickly they shoved off, heading south down the river. They reached the campsite near the cave in the middle of the afternoon.
Everyone on the team was eager to get started setting up.
“Hold on, everybody,” Wesley said as he took his medicine satchel out of the boat. “First things first. Let’s form a small circle.”
He set his bag down on the ground and opened it. The other team members gathered around him.
“All great endeavors should begin with prayer,” Wesley said as he removed his pipe and tobacco from the satchel. “We are here by the river, so when we’ve finished, we’ll purify ourselves in the water.”
Augustus, the scientist, was not sure what to expect. He didn’t begin most of his projects with a prayer. But, as a loyal member of the Paranormal Patrol, he followed along.
Wesley placed a small amount of natural tobacco in the pipe and lit it. Then, in the Cherokee language, he prayed on their behalf asking Creator to bless their task and protect them from harm. After taking four puffs of the pipe, he passed it on. And so it went around the circle.
When all the tobacco had been smoked, Wesley and Billy sat down and removed their shoes. The others did the same. Wesley and his grandson waded into the shallow part of the river. The others watched.
“Cherokees call this ‘going to the water,’” Wesley said. “It purifies us inside and out.”
He and Billy demonstrated the process. Each of them cupped their hands together and scooped up a handful of water. Then, as Wesley recited another Cherokee prayer, they threw the handfuls of water over their shoulders. This was done four times. The rest of the team did the same thing.
“Now we’re ready to do this thing,” Wesley said, and led them back to the riverbank.
The first task was to have Chigger remove the dark crystal from its case. He would carry it around for a while. The team hoped this would reopen the beast’s connection to the boy. While everyone else unloaded equipment and set up camp, Chigger walked around with the crystal. It wasn’t long before he started feeling weird.
“I think something’s happening,” he said in a loud voice. “The stone is getting warm and beginning to glow. And I’m beginning to feel light-headed.”
“Good,” Wesley said. “Hopefully the serpent has learned of the gem’s new location. It’s time for the next step. It’s time to put the dark crystal back in its original place.”
With Chigger and the crystal in front, the team climbed up the steps that led to the cave. They stood on the ledge at the cave’s mouth and turned on their flashlights. Gathering all the courage he could, Chigger headed into the darkness.
All five team members walked down the lower path and headed for the stone door. Once they arrived, they watched Chigger place the crystal back on the pedestal. They waited to see if anything would happen. Would the gem begin to glow brighter? Or would a strange wind come blowing into the cavern?
Nothing changed. So the team headed back to their camp.
Little did they know that something had actually happened. An unseen signal went out from that dark stone. The bats that had lived in that cave felt it. So did the serpent. And so did the ghost of the Dark Priest.
For the bats, it was like a homing beacon. They somehow knew it was time to return to the cave. For the Dark Priest, it was his signal to guide the serpent back to gather up the stone. After all, it did belong to the serpent. And soon the serpent would once again do the Dark Priest’s bidding.
As for Billy and the team, they could only hope that the beast would show up at the right time. But they had to be ready in case it came earlier or later than planned. So there was a twenty-four hour watch schedule set up. Each member of the team would take a four-hour shift. Around the clock someone would be on the lookout for the beast.
Before the first shift began, Wesley passed out the eye-in-hand medallions.
“Wear this at all times until we’ve completed our mission,” he instructed. “Don’t take it off to sleep, eat, or go to the bathroom.”
Billy volunteered for the first watch. That way he’d be able to sleep most of the night and get plenty of rest. He had to be ready. Who knew when the serpent would actually show up? Who knew how soon he’d have to allow the spirit of the ancient Falcon Priest to possess him?