George stepped over one of the smaller graves and inched closer to the dark soil. He pointed his brother at another spot and then leaned mirrors up against trees so they faced the grave. Amber figured out the pattern and added her mirror to complete the diamond.
A cloud passed over the sun and crows called to each other.
It felt like they were trespassing. Amber stood back and watched the brothers as they cleared the leaves away. George found a stick and began digging into the loose soil.
Ricky pushed up from the dirt and watched George for a moment before he came and stood by Amber.
“Do you think he’s down there? Under the ground?” Amber asked.
Ricky shook his head. “You?”
“I did two days ago, but not anymore. It feels empty here now. Creepy, but empty.”
“Yeah,” Ricky said. He looked up towards the sky.”
The butt of George’s stick thumped against something under the soil.
He tapped it twice more and then started pushing dirt away from the hard surface. Ricky went to join him. Amber held her ground.
“This is a pretty shallow grave,” George said, pushing dirt away from the surface.
From where she was standing, Amber could see that it was a big wooden surface, made of planks. That’s what they were unearthing. It looked like a coffin was buried only a foot or so under the loose soil.
“It’s not a coffin,” Ricky said. “It’s too big.”
George pushed up to his knees and glanced around himself. Amber figured it out the same time as George.
“You’re on it,” she said.
He nodded at her and crawled backwards, expanding the area where he was digging. He went back to the stick to chop at the dirt. Ricky got up to his knees and then squatted with his hands down in the soil.
“Help me,” he said.
The tendons stood out on Ricky’s neck as he strained and pulled upwards. George circled and joined his brother.
Amber took a step back.
Everything shifted. The wood groaned and the dirt and leaves began to rise.
The brothers were lifting an enormous door that was submerged in dirt. It creaked and cracked as they lifted.
Amber stepped to the side as the brothers flipped the big hatch open and it flopped back down, leaning on one of the trees.
Under the hatch, they had found a burrow that was at least a few feet in diameter. The sides of the hole were smooth and it descended straight down, disappearing in blackness.
“That’s where he hibernates,” George said.
George leaned forward to get a better look down into the abyss. Ricky grabbed his shoulder and steadied him.
# # #
They convened a dozen paces away. The three of them stood in a tight circle and talked quietly about the hole like it might overhear them. Amber glanced over at it and saw the reflection of the three of them in one of the mirrors.
“He’s not down there now,” George said. “Right?”
“I don’t think so,” Ricky said. “I think he’s still down south, near our house. I don’t think he would have come back here yet.”
George chewed on his thumbnail and looked off at nothing as he considered that idea.
“The door,” Amber said. “How old would you say that thing is?”
“The hatch? It looked like was made from oak plants. Not very rotted. With that wet soil, in the dirt, couldn’t be more than a few years old or it would have rotted and the nails would have rusted away.”
“So who’s maintaining it?” Amber asked.
Ricky frowned and shrugged. He looked back towards the hatch.
“I don’t know.”
“It couldn’t be them, right? They were like clever animals—barely human. I don’t think they’re undertaking many construction projects,” Amber said.
“They have a helper,” George said, “a Renfield.”
Amber recognized the name. Ricky looked confused by the reference, so she began to explain.
“Renfield was the servant of…”
“I’ve read Dracula,” Ricky said.
“You listened to it,” George said.
“Same thing. So you think they have a human who is helping them?”
Amber turned back in the direction of the car. She was thinking about the house and the woman, Jan, who lived there. She was certainly close enough, but without Jan’s information they never would have found Prescott’s graveyard. If Jan was on the side of the creatures, she wouldn’t have helped at all.
“It’s probable,” George said. “That the cover was made by human hands with human tools. Maybe the monsters stole it and brought it here, but I think it’s more likely that they have a caretaker.”
George walked back towards the hole and circled it twice. When he came back to them, he led Ricky and Amber a few more paces away from the hole.
“I have an idea of what we can do. But first we have to know that Alan and his family are still okay. When’s the last time anyone talked to him?”
“I spoke with him yesterday afternoon,” Amber said. “He wanted to make sure we were safe. I told him that we postponed the trip and that we were staying at my uncle’s. I can send him a message on the satellite device.”
“Good,” George said. “Ricky—did you bring rope?”
Amber turned away from the brothers and got the satellite messenger from her bag. She tapped out a message and sent it off to Alan. He responded right away.
George was tying the rope around a sturdy tree.
“They’re fine. Nothing at all happened last night.”
“Good,” George said. “We’re going to have to get just as far away tonight.”
“What’s your idea?” Ricky asked.
George led them away from the hole again.
“I think it works either way,” George said. “I’m going to go down into the hole and set up the mirrors down there. If they mirrors are up here in the woods, it’s too easy to spot them and then find a way to avoid them. Down in the hole, I think they won’t be ready. We get out of town, the monsters retreat to this den, and then they
