A small gravel parking lot gave the group a place to park their three vehicles. A gravel path led from the lot to the unrestored central circular mound, which had been eroded by wind and weather. This site was not as well developed to accommodate visitors as other Native mound sites, and no interpretive signs were available.

  Using a pop-up canopy as cover, Augustus spread out a site map on a small folding table he’d brought. Along with it, he had a brief report on the site written by an archaeologist who’d surveyed the Clarksville mound area many years ago.

  “According to the report, the central circular mound is a burial mound and originally included a spiral path that led from ground level to the top,” Stevens said. “But that has all eroded away now.”

  Ethan studied the documents to verify the facts for himself. “No excavations have been conducted here, have they?” he asked Augustus.

  “That’s right, but what’s most interesting is what’s visible along the steep slope due north across the river. I think we should climb up the mound and use binoculars to take a look.”

  Brad unzipped an equipment bag and began pulling out several pairs of binoculars. He handed them out to everyone. Chigger, the most eager of the bunch, grabbed the first pair and scrambled up the hill. Quickly focusing the lenses, he found something.

  “Yep, there’s a cave over there all right!” he shouted excitedly.

  Tilting the binoculars upward, he also spied something he hadn’t expected to find. Above the cave’s entrance was the image of some kind of creature. But because it was very old, parts of it had faded and other parts had broken off, making it hard to tell exactly what it was supposed to be.

  “Good thing we brought the boat along, because there doesn’t seem to be any other way to get to the mouth of the cave,” Stevens said.

  “What are we waiting for?” Chigger asked excitedly. “Let’s go!”

  He scrambled back down the slope and headed for the vans.

  “Wait a minute,” Lisa said as she and Billy strolled casually down the hill. “Wasn’t he the one who didn’t think it was a good idea to go poking around in these caves?”

  “That’s Chig for ya,” Billy said. “He runs hot and cold. Gotta love him.”

  A quick boat ride took the crew to the north side of the river. A dead tree trunk onshore provided an anchor point that Brad tied the boat to. Everyone took turns standing on the wet bow of the boat and leaping to the nearest spot of land.

  “I don’t think all of us should try to climb up this slope,” Stevens said. “The rain has made it slippery. Brad, Ethan, and I can go.”

  “Record what you see on your phones,” Lisa suggested. “Send us pics, please.”

  The three teens remained on the shore near the boat.

  “Are you picking up any bad vibes around here?” Billy asked Chigger as they waited.

  “Only a tiny bit,” Chigger said. “About the same as at the crystal cave.”

  As he reached a flat area—or sort of shelf—in front of the cave, Ethan was first to draw the group’s attention to the partial image above the cave opening. He snapped a couple of phone pics.

  “It’s the Winged Serpent,” he said loud enough for everyone to hear. “Believed by early Mound Builders to be the lord of the Underworld.”

  He texted the photos down to Billy’s phone.

  Billy and Chigger studied the crude image, noticing that it looked a lot like the Horned Serpent but with smaller horns and the addition of back feet and a pair of wings.

  “You mean there could be giant creepy horned snakes that fly?” Chigger said in astonishment. “Boy, the situation just seems to get worser and worser.”

  The three archaeologists began exploring the mouth of the cave, snapping photos on their phones, and making notes in their field notebooks. Ethan continued texting the images down to the three near the boat.

  At first there was nothing out of the ordinary. But as the explorers moved deeper into the cavern, they turned on their headlamps and came across unexpected sights. First, there was clear evidence that a wall once blocked the entrance to a passageway that branched off the main room. Piles of crumbled stones lay scattered about.

  “Remind you of anywhere else we’ve been?” Chigger asked Billy when he saw the first photos.

  Billy just nodded.

  Stepping through the wall opening, the team moved through a narrow passage and deeper into the cave. Another cavernous room opened up, where broken pottery shards lay in clusters. Wearing latex gloves, Ethan stooped down to pick up and examine several of them. He placed several pieces together, like putting a jigsaw puzzle together, and a fractured image emerged.

  “It’s another Winged Serpent,” Billy said when the photo was transmitted. “It looks like the people from the mound village across the river may have left offerings to this Underworld god here.”

  The archaeological team moved on through the darkness, and more photos arrived on Billy’s phone. Billy was shocked when he saw a smooth wall panel with writing on it—writing that looked almost identical to the markings on the serpent’s door in the crystal cave. Billy explained to Lisa how the Sun Chief had given him the ability to speak the language of the markings but hadn’t given him the key to decoding the writing.

  “My mouth needed to be able to easily form the words so the Sun Chief’s spirit could speak the words using my body,” he said. “For a short time, he inhabited my body.”

  “Now I get it,” Lisa said. “You told us about that when my family first came to meet you, but I didn’t really understand it fully.”

  The three teens waited for more photos to show up on Billy’s phone, but nothing came for a while.

  What’s going on? Billy texted.

  Hang on, came the reply.

  The phone went dark and silent for a while longer.

  Hello!? Did we lose the signal? Billy sent.

  We haven’t decided whether or not to send you these pics. They’re too disturbing.

  You’d better send the photos right now or we’re coming up!

  Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

  “Never mind,” Chigger said. “I don’t think I want to see whatever it is.”

  “Too late,” Billy replied. “Here they are.”

  What the teens saw next was shocking. Human bones lay on the cave floor near a large slab of stone. Several skulls were stacked one on top of the other in a crevice not far away. One full human skeleton lay on the slab, complete with the necklaces and bracelets that the person was wearing when they were placed there.

  “What the—?” Billy said.

  “How gruesome!” Lisa said.

  “Gross!” Chigger yelled and quickly moved away from his friends to throw up.

  Chigger was exactly right, Ethan texted. People from the mound city probably were being sacrificed to the Winged Serpent god by serpent priests to appease the creature.

  After seeing the images of skeletons, the three teens climbed back into the boat to wait as the cave explorers quietly finished making notes in their archaeology notebooks. No one spoke after the crew returned and the boat headed back to the south side of the river. The team spent another night at the Mountain Shadow Motel outside Clarksville. At dinner, Stevens was ready to discuss the expedition’s next move.

  “We do have time to visit one more mound site and nearby cave before heading down to the Three Rivers Mounds,” he said. “I recommend we explore as many sites as we can.”

  He waited for comments from the team, but everyone was still in a state of shock or disbelief about what had been found.

  Chigger was first to speak. “Since you guys arranged this trip so I could come along, I vote to do whatever Digger says we should do,” the teen said. “What we saw at the last cave was bad, but maybe the next one won’t be.”

  After a little more discussion, the team agreed to follow through with the plans.

  “All right,” Stevens said. “We’ll stop at the Natchez Mounds next. This one’s been excavated and documented by archaeologists. It’s now a well-developed park that a lot of people travel to see. It sits on a high point overlooking the Mississippi River.”

  “What about a cave?” Chigger asked. “Is there one close by?”

  “There is,” Stevens replied. “About a mile from the mounds. But it’s been closed off to the public for decades. A locked gate prevents anyone from entering.”

  “Good,” said Billy. “The last time I visited a cave with a locked gate, something inside the cave broke out. It looked like a creature from Chigger’s sketchbook.”

  “You didn’t let me finish,” Stevens said. “The locked gate prevents anyone from entering who doesn’t have a key. But the woman with the key is meeting us there tomorrow morning at ten. I got permission to go in just in case we decided to visit.”

  “The gate is there to protect the priceless ancient cave drawings from vandalism,” Brad said. “Back in the 1920s, people added their own graffiti and defaced the drawings closest to the cave entrance, so it had to be closed off.”

  Augustus pulled a file folder out of the satchel he carried and placed it on the table. “Here are a few photos of those rock art images,” he said. “The first pages of pictures come from near the cave entrance. Later pages come from deeper in the cave.”

  He passed around the loose-leaf pages from the folder. Billy was amazed at the beauty and variety of the images. The first couple of pages displayed drawings recognizable as outlines of people and animals. Later pages contained more abstract drawings, possibly depicting spirits, space aliens, suns, stars, strange-looking insects, and combination creatures. The final page was filled with various versions of Winged Serpents.

  “I’ve seen plenty of dragons in movies and comic books,” Chigger said. “But these flying reptiles don’t look like any of those.”

  “I guess you could think of these as Indigenous American dragons, but they don’t breathe fire,” Ethan said. “Some tribes called the creature the Sky Snake and believed in its power for both good and evil.”

  Discussions continued for a while longer, but after dinner, everyone was emotionally drained. An early bedtime was had by all.

  Billy took advantage of the extra time by spending it with Lisa. Standing under an awning and out of the continuing rain, he knocked on her motel door. She was surprised to see him standing there.

  “Can we talk?” he said.

  “Sure,” she replied, opening the door wider and sitting in a chair near the window.

  “I want to apologize again for not being a very attentive boyfriend lately,” he said, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. “There’s so much to do, and I’m overwhelmed with just . . . everything all at once!” He anxiously pulled at the ends of his longish dark hair.

  “My head understands perfectly,” she said. “But my heart’s not too happy about it.” She pulled the curtain back and looked out at the rain.

  “Would you mind doing something with me?” he asked.

  She looked at the bed Billy sat on with a raised eyebrow. “I hope you’re not thinking—”

  “Oh, gosh, no!” he said hurriedly when he realized what she meant. “I thought we could do some spirit traveling together,” he said after turning a bright shade of red.

  “Okay, what did you have in mind?”

  “I thought we could gang up on Miller in his prison cell and convince him to tell who he sold the Sun Priest’s bones to.”

  “Ooh, how romantic!” Lisa said with a chuckle.

  Billy looked deflated but recovered when she said, “I’d love to!”

  The couple lay down in bed on their backs, side by side. Billy began humming the melody he used to create the physical vibrations that allowed for the release of their energy bodies. In a few moments, the pair floated above the bed near the ceiling.

  Billy reached out, took Lisa’s hand, and pictured the imprisoned Miller in his mind. Off they rushed to the Texarkana prison cell where the thief lay asleep. Once inside the man’s cell, Billy sent a mental message to his companion.

  “You go over and put a hand on his chest while I begin hurling objects at him,” Billy communicated. “The coldness will wake him up.”

  This was all still a fairly new experience for Lisa, but she carried out her boyfriend’s instructions. As soon as she placed her nonphysical hand on the sleeping man’s chest, he woke up with a start. He pulled his blanket up to his chin, but it didn’t help.

  Then Billy, seeing a bookshelf above Miller’s cot, moved quickly to knock books down on the man’s head. Miller jumped up and ran to the door of his cell. He was faintly aware that some ghostly presence was with him.

  “Help!” he yelled out into the hall. “Help me! Something’s in here with me!”

  No one came to his aid, so Miller cringed in the far corner of his cell. Billy and Lisa drifted over and took up positions on either side of the man. Each one leaned in to whisper in Miller’s ear.

  “Who did you sell the Sun Chief’s bones to?” they asked simultaneously and then thrust their spirit hands into the man’s head.

  The stereo audio input, accentuated by the cold sensation in the center of his brain, penetrated Miller’s mind. He ran back to his cot.

  “Leave me alone, do you hear me?” he shouted. “I’ll tell you what you want to know!” He calmed himself down and looked up, not sure where in the cell his visitors were. “The man’s name was Coyote or Coat-ell or something like that. He’s some kind of Mexican Indian. He said he was buying ‘for his boss down in Louisiana.’”

  “Who is the boss?” Billy and Lisa asked.

  “I don’t know,” Miller replied. “I swear I don’t know.”

  The pair of energy bodies floated up toward the ceiling of the cell. “Do you think he’s telling the truth?” Billy asked Lisa.

  “I think he’s too scared not to.”

  Satisfied they’d gotten what they needed, the couple returned to their physical bodies.

  Sitting up on the edge of the bed, Billy said, “You want to give Raelynn a call in the morning to let her know what we found out?”

  “How do I say we got this information?”

  “Maybe from a confidential informant?” Billy said. “Will that work?”

  “I did tell her about spirit travel,” Lisa said.

  “You mean our unique reconnaissance capabilities?”

  “I don’t think a jury would believe us, but then again, they wouldn’t believe any of this!”

  After a chuckle and a quick kiss goodnight, the two retired to their separate motel rooms.

  The following morning, Lisa called Raelynn to report what Miller told them, and the team moved on toward Natchez Mounds park.

  But when they got closer to the park, Chigger began feeling sick.

  “Something’s not right here,” he said. “The burn scars on my hands are tingling, and it feels like witchy energy is around.”

  “Maybe you should stay in the van while we go in the cave,” Billy suggested.

  “Good idea,” Chigger readily agreed.

  Following signs in the park, the three vans arrived at the cave and parked in the nearby lot. A middle-aged Native woman who said her name was Jonna Boudreaux met them at the cave entrance with the key. A bandanna with a Native design held back her long gray hair, and she wore a pendant containing greenish-colored stone that Lisa recognized as the serpentine she’d seen during her visit to Serpent World.

  Billy tried scanning her energy field but found it sort of camouflaged by a shield of dirty brownish emanation. Boudreaux stood beside a sign that announced, Entrance to the closed cave is only permitted for recognized archaeologists, tribal members with approval, and tribal ceremonial leaders.

  “It’s a good thing you called ahead to make arrangements and get permission to go inside,” she said, pointing to the sign.

  “Yeah, good thing,” Ethan replied, a little annoyed.

  “Are you that Native archaeologist I’ve heard about?” she asked Ethan.

  He nodded.

  “You must feel like a traitor to your Native people,” she said in an accusatory tone. “I know I would.”

  “You have a right to your opinion, but—”

  “Save it,” she interrupted. “I don’t want to hear it.” She unlocked the gate and pulled it open. “Be sure not to touch anything in the cave, and I mean anything. I know how you archaeologists are. If it was up to me, I wouldn’t let you in, but my boss says I gotta.”

  She left them and walked away from the cave toward the parking lot.

  “She’s wearing a serpentine stone pendant,” Lisa said quietly after the woman was out of earshot. “I recognize it from the prison’s inmate rehabilitation brochure and the stones for sale at the tourist shop.”

  Chigger had been watching what was happening at the cave entrance and saw the woman approaching. As she got closer, his pain increased, so he hid under a tarp that covered some of their gear.

  The woman passed right by the van where Chigger was hiding. When she was next to the vehicle, she stopped to peek in the back window. Seeing nothing of interest, the woman moved on. A couple minutes later, Chig peered out the van’s back window in time to see her get into her car. The farther away she got, the less his hands hurt.

  That woman is some kind of witch, he thought. Better warn the team.

  While he waited for the rest of the team in the van, Chigger got out his sketchbook and began sketching a few new animal images. These had appeared to him in the last couple of days.

  First, he drew a bat that had a sort of human face with green eyes, then a badger with a different human face wearing a bracelet containing a green stone, and finally a white bird with long slender legs that was wearing a pendant featuring a green stone. This one had a woman’s face that surprisingly resembled the woman he’d just seen. Chigger wasn’t sure at all what those three drawings had to do with anything, and he wasn’t even sure he’d keep them.

  Finally, the team returned to the van with more photos on their phones. He’d already seen most of the images from the pages in Digger’s file folder. But he hadn’t seen the images captured by the team at the deepest part of the cave, what Ethan called the Dark Zone.

 

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