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  In the middle of the grove was a massive Hungarian Oak. The branches in some places were so thick and huge they rivalled the truck. The lower branches reached out to you as an invitation to come closer. With Belle’s bountiful imagination and Roberts’s fear of ghosts, it was not hard to visualize a haunted tree. Especially when Belle said to poor Robert,

  “Did you know that our house used to be called Witch of the Manor?”

  He did not and it was something he did not want to know either. Belle added to his anxiety by pointing to the scary looking tree and adding,

  “That’s where the witches used to live.”

  Unfortunately for Robert, the tree house was in the lower spooky branches of the tree. It was of simple construction, four walls, each with a window looking out in all four directions. Inside was a small table and chairs. A corner of the room was piled high with various games. When they built it last year, Maria did not like the idea of a rope ladder and therefore insisted on a proper staircase with a railing. At the back of the tree house was a small porch and at the end, a slide just like in the park.

  With Maria and Helga watching from the ground, Han Lee, one of Santo’s security officers struggled out of the tree house and down the steps to both waiting mothers. He was a tall and lanky Vietnamese, one of the survivors of the destruction. He reported,

  “I installed two wireless video cameras inside, three in the surrounding trees and one high up on the obelisk. Also, and only because we had them, I put in motion detectors throughout the surrounding forest.”

  Not understanding the innate qualities of all mothers and their desire to protect their children, he added what Maria considered an insult.

  “They could not be safer if you were sleeping up there with them.”

  Helga was not as sure. With Robert’s propensity to be both adventurous and reckless, she thought it might be a good idea to join them in the treehouse.

  Back in the manor, each mother returned to their apartments and set up their remote screens in the bedroom. Just in case Robert decided to sneak out of the tree house and set off on a midnight adventure, the motion detector would sound an alarm waking Helga up.

  The small grove with the tree house was at the edge of the forest from Zak’s private quarters. It was there that he passed happy hours, indeed many happy days decoding ancient scrolls and living vicariously through the lives of ancient civilizations. Because his computer was mysteriously hacked he had followed Santo’s suggestion to decipher and translate the enigmatic third book of what he referred to as the Rosetta Stone on paper and worse, by pen. He was not happy.

  This night, the same night that both Belle and Robert received the great news that they could have a sleep over in the tree house, Zak had once again fallen asleep at his desk. His eyes were sore from staring only at sheets of paper, accustomed more to focusing on a screen. His hand ached from gripping a foreign object in his hand, a pen. With the third Rosetta Book open on his desk surrounded by reams of scattered papers, he had slumped over in his chair, chin resting on his great girth, eyes closed and soundly snoring.

  As the sun set and daylight pulled away from the tree house, the cover of night drew near. Because there was no school tomorrow, no reason to get up early, there was also no need for the children to turn the lights off and get to sleep early. As much as Helga wanted to, she managed to resist staring at her screen and yelling into the intercom to turn the lights off and get to bed. Robert had ideas other than going to bed. Looking to Belle, he produced one of his infamous grins and challenged,

  “Let’s try to stay up all night.”

  Thinking it was a great idea, Belle turned the suggestion into a challenge adding,

  “The first one to fall asleep losses okay.”

  With the challenge set, Helga, from her bedroom groaned and pulled her covers up tight.

  Hours later, because there was no clock in the tree house, neither knew what time it was. Because each was intent on playing games on their personal computers, the only light in the tree house was from the glow of their screens. Each was content in their world and determined not to be the first to fall asleep. However, well into the small hours of the night, with parents sleeping and Zak still snoring in his office, Belle looked up and saw a small glow outside in the forest. Curious, she put her game down and walked over to the window. Robert looked up from his game and said,

  “If you are going to bed, I win.”

  From the window, she saw Zak’s residence in the distance with a soft light beaming through his window. She understood that was not the mysterious glow she saw. Looking down to the ground, she saw it again. At the base of the ancient obelisk, she saw a faint undulating speck of white light. As dim as it was, almost no more than a small flame, it grew brighter. She called Robert over to confirm what she saw.

  With four little eyes looking through a tree house window down at a mysterious glow on the ground, Robert started to feel the nervous pressure of Belle’s story about witches living in the house and ghostly trees with long arms reaching out to grab unsuspecting children. The larger the glow got, the bigger his eyes grew. However, Belle’s thought was more pragmatic. She thought it might be a light from a security camera. That all changed in the next second.

  It was only a flash of light, more like a door opening and quickly closing again. Bulging eyes witnessed the dim image of a man walking out of the glow toward the light in the distance, toward Zak’s house. He was hard to see because it appeared as if he was dressed in all black. Robert was glad to see that it was not coming toward haunted tree. Because it was dark and the dim light did not allow for shadows, the walking figure soon disappeared in the distant darkness. With a fearful tone, Robert asked,

  “Was that a ghost?”

  Not prone to believing her own scary stories, Belle did not think so. Besides, who ever heard of a black ghost? Shaking her head, she whispered,

  “No, it was a man wearing black clothing.”

  “Who?”

  “I don’t know. It’s probably just one of dad’s security men checking out the grounds. Go back and play your game okay.”

  Chapter 30

  The excitement the next morning was not that Belle and Robert had seen a black ghost but rather that Zak was furious. When he woke up, his third book of the Great Grays and all his translated notes were missing. In a snit, he yelled into the phone for Santo to come over to his office and investigate the horrific crime. For Santo, getting out of bed that early in the morning was not something that excited him. With the sun barely up, the air still chilly, as Santo walked over to Zak’s house no doubt to hear more ranting and raving, he saw Belle and Robert sliding down from their tree house. After a hug from both, he told them to go to the mansion and get some breakfast. As that sounded like a great idea, both scurried off in that direction.

  Entering Zak’s office, Santo saw him frantically pacing around his desk and practically foaming at the mouth. When asked why he was dragged out of bed this early, Zak was less caring about Santo’s discomfort and more troubled about what had happened to his notes. He pointed to his desk and bellowed,

  “They are gone!”

  “What is gone?”

  “All my notes are gone.”

  Looking down at his desk, Santo saw a scattering of papers and the book he was ranting about was still there. Pointing to the mess on his desk, Santo said,

  “What are you talking about, they are right there.”

  Thinking that Zak had gone too far into a dark forest, in fact, had gone crazy, with a patronizing tone he added,

  “I told you to get some sleep or this would happen.”

  Taking quick steps to the desk, Zak grabbed a handful of scattered papers and held them to Santo’s face, saying,

  “No, you don’t understand. They are all blank. The days I spent writing down the translations have all disappeared.”

  As if to underscore the truth of evidence, he shook the papers and bellowed, “Look.”

  San
to did not need to take the papers from him. It was clear that even in a shaking hand the papers were all blank. Zak then pointed to the book and yelled,

  “The book too. It’s blank. All the pages have been erased.”

  Santo picked up the book and flipped through the pages. They were all blank. Zak screamed,

  “All is lost.”

  Then, as if it were his fault Zak yelled,

  “What are you going to do about it?”

  As Santo walked away leaving Zak to his misery, he said,

  “I’ll look into it.”

  A few minutes later Santo was sitting in his office calling up video surveillance of Zak’s office. All he saw on the screen was Zak asleep slumped over in his chair. The desk was cluttered with papers and the Great Gray book was open next to them. After zooming in, it was clear that at least at that time, there was writing on the scattered pages as well as in the open book. It was what he saw next that bolted him to attention.

  A soft glow showed up on the far wall and out of it stepped a black shadowy figure. Santo thought it was most certainly a humanoid. However, it did not walk toward Zak and his desk but rather seemingly floated toward him. Indistinct, only a dim darkness, at the desk a hand reached out for the book but did not pick it up. Instead, the hand rested on the pages and then slowly passed right through them. It was the same for the scattered pages on the desk. The black hand swept over them and then pulled away. Finished, the dark ghostly figure exited the room the same way it came, through the wall.

  Confused to silence, for it definitely seemed as if the glow somehow erased printed words on both paper and the book, he did not know what to make of it. Maria’s voice came through the computer speaker.

  “I pushed Rada out of the kitchen and am making pancakes for the children and Helga. If you have time, breakfast is ready.”

  “Be there in a minute.”

  Slow steps carried him back to the mansion and into the kitchen. Still pondering the mystery, he absently kissed Maria on the cheek and turned to his place at the table.

  With spatula in hand, she turned around and while using a commanding tone said to an escaping Santo,

  “You missed. Get back here.”

  Recognizing his mistake of a blasé kiss, he froze in his tracks, winked at the children and returned to his commander. Santo grabbed her tight and planted a kiss generally saved only for the bedroom. The children giggled.

  It was at that moment Helga walked into the kitchen. On her way to the table she commented,

  “Get a room you two.”

  Usually on weekend mornings, Helga came over to their suit and enjoyed breakfast with them. Although Waldorf tried to be home on the weekends, it was not always possible. This time he was in Australia evaluating a team of scientists asking for House of the Nazarene funding for a secret project they were working on. It was Waldorf’s job to evaluate and decide if it fit the new House of the Nazarene protocols.

  After flipping a pancake, Maria turned to Helga and said,

  “You look like you haven’t slept all night. Were you up till the wee hours watching your monitor and the kids?”

  Helga, always proud of her appearance, took pretended objection to the comment. While fixing her hair, she confessed to being caught. Belle snapped her attention to Robert. It was only then she realized the parents were watching them through cameras. She cast an accusing eye at mother who saw the objection and said,

  “Oh get over it. I told you I was worried about you spending the night outside.”

  When Helga asked Robert how their sleepover had been, Belle thought it was a futile question. Obviously she already knew. Beaming with pride, Robert announced,

  “I won the bet. Belle fell asleep first.”

  Belle was going to challenge that boast but on reflection, realizing there was going to be video proof, thought better of it. Still excited, Robert then announced another highlight of their night.

  “We saw a ghost.”

  Both mothers recognized fertile imagination. Perhaps they should not have tried to stay awake all night. However, Santo stopped chewing and intently listened. Belle, forgetting about her defeat, nodded and confirmed the strange report.

  “Yea, we did. It looked like a soft light and a man dressed in black walking through the forest.”

  Robert added,

  “It came back a few minutes later and disappeared.”

  Belle looked to Robert and confirmed her exaggerated story,

  “I told you the forest was haunted.”

  After breakfast, with a promise of seeing each other later, Helga took Robert back to their suite to be cleaned up. Maria might have succumbed to a motherly instinct to make breakfast for her family but that did not include cleaning up. A messy kitchen was left for Rada and her crew.

  Returning to his security office, Santo again called up video tapes but this time of the tree house. He watched as both kids sat silently playing their video games. A few minutes later, he saw Belle curiously look up from her game as if hearing or sensing something outside. He watched as she got up, looked out the window and called Robert over. Because whatever they were looking at was not visible from that camera, he switched to the outside camera that Han Lee had set up to monitor the steps leading up to the tree house.

  As there was no indication of a glowing light from that angle, he switched over to the camera high on the obelisk. Looking down onto the ground, he saw a glow at the base of the stone pillar. Because of the angle of the camera, he could not see where it originated but it looked suspiciously like it came out of the stone. Coming out of the glow, as if coming out of nowhere, there was no disputing the eerie image of a darkened humanoid walking toward Zak’s office. A few minutes later the apparition returned to the obelisk and disappeared into it as did the glow.

  Reaching for his cell phone, Santo called one of his security officers. Recognizing that it was his boss calling, Han Lee snapped to attention. Although of Chinese decent, Han was born in London and very much considered himself a British Subject. He joined the House of the Nazarene as a paranormal investigator. Though a handsome young man, he was not prone to smiling. Most thought it was because he had seen too much misery and a smile was no longer possible. Santo said,

  “Mister Lee, I could use your expertize. Bring your equipment over to the children’s play house immediately.”

  “Yes sir, right away. May I ask what sort of equipment I will need?”

  It was a sharp reply, certainly one Santo had never uttered before,

  “We will be looking for a ghost.”

  Han Lee gathered up all his specter detection devices and ventured forth to meet Santo.

  At the treehouse, Santo was surprised to see Han Lee coming at him with an assortment of gauges hanging around his neck as well as carrying a few. Stopping in front of his boss, he was ready for whatever Santo wanted done. After looking at all the gauges Santo asked,

  “What’s all that for?”

  Pointing to each one, Han Lee answered,

  “Because ghosts give off a lot of electromagnetic discharge this Air Ion instrument detects it.”

  Pointing to all the others, he continued,

  “This one is an EMF Detector, electro-magnetic field detector. This one is an infrared and Thermal Scanner, heat variances and such. This one is a thermal imaging scope.”

  Santo was beginning to wonder if he would ever get straight answers from scientist. Seeing his disparaging look, one Han had seen many times, he asked,

  “Did you expect me to show up with a dowsing rod and compass?”

  Santo tried not to nod for that was truly what he expected.

  Santo pointed to the base of the obelisk where the dark phantom had appeared and Han Lee got busy with his full complement of mysterious detectors. Contrary to testimony of the cameras, only a few minutes later Han Lee had to report that there was no evidence of a ghost being in the area. He then asked Santo an experienced question,

  “Are you sure it’
s a ghost we are looking for?”

  “Well no, not really a ghost.”

  He explained to Han Lee his experience on the disappearing island where he encountered Niko Waltz. Han Lee then said,

  “Well, perhaps we should be looking for evidence of a temporal disturbance then.”

  Reaching for another instrument, Han Lee scanned the base of the obelisk, read the gauge and announced,

  “It was not a ghost Sir. I am reading a gravity drain, a sure sign that a dimensional portal had been opened. It’s weak and that could explain the luminescence of the person coming through, sort of half in this dimension and half in wherever this other dimension is from.”

  With that confirmation, Santo knew that it was either the Great Grays coming back for their book or the Anannaki wanting the secret of their DNA manipulation of the human genome kept that way, secret. His problem was how to recover the information in the book detailing how to reverse the Anannaki passive colonization of earth. It was then that a thought struck him.