The Darkside of Paradise
Chapter Summary: They had closed the case of the Blood Soaked Dorm and had all finally been reunited at the Kalani Mansion when, as fate would have it, Aria received a phone call from her detective friends… A formerly possible case takes a turn for the worst… What is going on?
Author's Note: I apologize again for the long time between chapters. I can not make promises about how often I will update, but know I won't be abandoning my story. I still have a lot of case ideas that I want to write about so know I will keep working on this story!
Chapter 11: The Shadow Rises
Kalani Mansion...
Aria went over to the wall phone in the parlor they were in and quickly punched in her code to answer her private line from where she was. The others fell completely silent so as to not disturb her call.
"Kalani speaking." she said. And they watched as her face became darkened by sadness.
"So there has been a third death, and all 3 victims were wearing similar pendants made of lava rock?" Aria listened to the person on the other line. "Okay I'll consult on this case for you." She listened a while longer before nodding and saying, "Goodbye Reigner. I'll see you tomorrow."
Aira turned to the group and looked at them before sighing, "I'm sure you all heard the part about 3 victims and the pendants they were wearing. Roe and Reigner will be coming by tomorrow morning with the case files and autopsy reports for the first two victims and they just found the third victim less than twenty minutes ago." She sighs again. "I told Mai about this case, everything seems to be centered around the Heiau at Ulupo… that is an ancient temple built by the native Hawaiians long ago. The Heiau is still in use today, thus it is important to figure out what is going on there. They will be here tomorrow morning around 8 am to brief us on what they know. I hope you all will agree to work with me on this case." After she finished speaking Aria bowed to the group, waiting for someone to speak.
Naru looks at Aria and asks, "Why wouldn't we help? You have helped all of us get settled with work visas so that we can remain in Hawaii for at the very least the next twelve months. Plus you are allowing all of us to stay here." He shrugs, "Besides, the case sounds rather interesting, even if I don't yet have all the details."
Aria smiles, "I'm glad to hear that, though knowing how early Roe and Reigner will get here, I think I'll head to bed to get some rest. We will have breakfast after they leave. See you all bright and early tomorrow!"
With that Aira turned toward the door, heading to her suite while shaking her head sadly and muttering softly to herself.
The others looked at each other. "I guess we should all head to bed," Monk muttered, as he scratched his neck. "I wonder what the pendants look like," with that he headed off to his room.
One by one the others made their way to their rooms also, each deep in thought about the strange case that was presenting itself to them.
The Next Day, Kalani Mansion…
Everyone met in the Library. Roe and Reigner both had serious looks on their faces. Roe turned to Aria, "I'm aware that the state asked you to investigate the Heiau at Ulupo, considering that two of the three bodies were found on the Heiau's land, I feel that these deaths are somehow connected to the Heiau. We," he said, gesturing to himself and Reigner, "are not equipped to investigate Paranormal Phenomenon, so I was glad when Reigner told me you would consult with us Aria."
Reigner nodded, sweeping his arms out towards Naru, Lin, Monk, Ayako, Yasu, John and Hara-san. "I take it everyone here is planning on helping with the investigation?" He asked, needing to have a clear understanding of what they could expect in the way of help.
Aria nodded. "You might want to consider everyone here to be a part of my Paranormal Research group for the time being. Of course each of them brings unique talents to the table." She looked at Roe and asked, "What can you tell us about the victims and how they died?"
"Well we weren't even sure the first victim was even a part of the case because it was determined that he lost control of his vehicle and went over a cliff. The pathologist isn't even sure the actual cause of death, since the body was so severely mutilated by the accident. In fact we didn't consider this case to be tied to the second case, that is until we found the third body. The second body was determined to die of a heart attack and the preliminary examination of the third body suggests the same cause of death. Heart attack. The pendants tied them all together." Roe said, sounding grim.
Yasuhara looked at the detectives. "Are there any written records on the history of the Heiau at Ulupo, or will I need to consult the oral history keepers? I am wondering if those pendants were ever mentioned in the written or oral history of the Heiau." He was already into researcher mode.
Roe and Reigner both shrugged. "There may be some written history kept in the capitol building but for the truly ancient stuff it would probably be better to consult with the oral history keepers." Reigner muttered.
Roe looked at the young man, "As for the pendants, I can't say if they are ever mentioned in the histories. Whether you are talking written or oral. The chains the lava rock pendants are on, are new and shiny silver." He actually pulled out an evidence bag from his pocket to show everyone one of the pendants.
Aria studied the pendant as she addressed Yasuhara. "I've already done some preliminary work for the Heiau at Ulupo. All we need to do is call and set up an appointment with kupunawahine Kauhane. I'll call her once we finish this meeting and let you know when she will meet with you, Yasuhara-san."
Yasu nodded his understanding as he jotted some notes into his notebook. Three dead huh? And no clue as to why this is happening. I wonder what connection the pendants have? He thought to himself, and was shocked when he heard Naru speak.
"Do you have any idea where the victims got the pendants in the first place?" Naru asked the two detectives. They had definitely brought the pendants up both this morning and last night when they talked with Aria on the phone. His eyes focused on the two detectives who had asked for their help in solving this case.
Roe shook his head, "I've no clue on the significance of the pendants, but I think that is where your team will come in actually. Right now we are testing the lava rock of the pendants to see where they may have come from, but that process may take some time."
Naru's face became more determined. "We can't necessarily wait for your tests to come back. I think we need to look into who is selling these lava rock pendants and set up equipment to monitor the Heiau. We will also need to learn as much of the history of the Heiau as possible. Who, what, where and when."
Roe nodded, "I agree, we have far too little information on these pendants. We have men looking at where each victim lived, perhaps we can get someone to research the area they all could have gone to, to buy the pendants. Having three victims allows us to triangulate a possible location for where people are buying the pendants."
Yasuhara nodded. "That's a good idea. If you give me their addresses I can look that up while I'm researching the history of the Heiau at Ulupo. Once Aria sets up my appointment with kupunawahine Kauhane, I'll head over to speak with them right away. By the way, Aria, what does kupunawahine mean? And I hope I didn't butcher it."
Aria laughed, "It means grandmother in Hawaiian. Kauhane is almost one hundred years old, but she still remembers many of the old stories from O'ahu. She will be a very good source of information."
Detective Roe looked over to his partner. "Can you think of anything else to add? I feel like we need to get back to the office soon."
Reigner shook his head. "Nope, and you're right. The Chief will want to still have a meeting to discuss the case and we need to be there for the general department meeting as well."
"Right," Roe muttered. "If there are no further questions, we should be going. And Yasuhara, thank you for taking on looking for the shop that is selling the pendants."
"Yasu waves a hand in front of his face as he says, "No worries, I live for research, and my handsome Bou-san!" he says, wiggling his brows at Bou-san.
That statement causes the Monk to shudder and slide further away from the young researcher, "Do you have to keep doing that?" Bou-san asked, obviously disturbed, which caused everyone except Naru and Lin to laugh.
Shortly thereafter, Roe and Reigner left to head to the police station. In the silence that followed their departure Naru looked at Aria and asked, "So, you were asked to investigate the Heiau at Ulupo by the State of Hawaii before or after the deaths started?"
"I was asked before the deaths started. They were having too many instances of people being pushed yet no one being near the person. They were also having reports of apparitions and things being moved or going missing. There were also auditory phenomena happening. Screams, banging and in some cases very creepy laughter was heard. Considering I had three interesting cases come in at one time, I figured Mai could choose… but the choice was made for us when she started having dreams and well here we are."
Mai looked pensive, "Why would so much activity start in a place that has been calm for years? I mean the reports you're talking about sound like they just started up right?"
Aria nods. "From the file that was sent to me the appearance of apparitions and the auditory phenomena started up maybe six weeks before the first student went missing at the University of Hawaii."
Ayako's eyes narrowed, "Wouldn't it be something if somehow the two cases were related in some way?"
Everyone groaned, "No way." Bou-san exclaimed. "There is just too much distance between the two cases, old hag!"
Before Ayako could chastise Bou-san and hit him over the head, Aria spoke, " I hate to say this but Ayako might be right. Only time will tell. The dorm we investigated in the last case is almost as old as the Heiau at Ulupo. So only time and research will tell for sure. Considering what I know of Hawaii the likelihood of that being the case is pretty high."
Later that afternoon…
Naru looked around at the park he found himself in and sighed, "Why, pray tell, are we here Aria-san?" his voice dripped with boredom.
"We're here to have lunch. We have to eat after all, so it might as well be some place beautiful. After lunch we'll be taking a walk around the nearby shopping district," Aria replied, her eyes dancing with amusement. She continued, "Do you have a problem with that?"
Naru rolled his eyes, "No. That I understand… but why is HE here?" he questioned as he gestured to Marcus.
Naru is such a jerk sometimes! Mai thought angrily. Glaring indignantly at Naru, she grabbed Marcus' hand, "He's my friend and I invited him to join us for the picnic!"
Naru took one look at Mai's indignant face before looking down at their linked hands and sighed realizing he'd pushed the wrong button this time. Turning his back to them he stoked over to a picnic table and sat down to stare at his black notebook. I think it will be better to just keep my mouth shut right now, he thought, sighing to himself.
Lin watched his former charge with a smirk on his face. That boy really needs to learn to curb his mouth sometimes. He thought, chuckling inwardly, as he helped Aria set up the picnic table.
Ayako and Bou-san were soon into another argument while John tried his best to calm the couple down. However Yasuhara was not helping matters with his flirty comments to Bou-san. Masako had joined Naru at the picnic bench, sipping a lemonade that had been provided while the food was being set out. Both Naru and Masako were deep into their own thoughts.
Mai and Marcus were walking around the park hand-in-hand and talking quietly with each other, when Mai spotted something nestled in the grass at her feet. Bending down she picked up a black shiny stone with a broken silver ring embedded in it. The moment her fingers touched the stone her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed to the ground.
Everyone was alerted to the fact something was wrong when Marcus cried out, "MAI!"
The Dream…
Mai opened her eyes to darkness, as she slowly turned to take in her surroundings a point of light began to grow in front of her. It soon resolved itself into a lush garden area with many people hurrying about. Not far from her stood what looked to be an altar built of a black rock very similar in look to the stone she had been picking up in the park. Only they were much larger, about the size of a child's head. Mai continued to survey the area. All around her there were fields of lush plants being tended by workers. Some were pulling weeds, others applied something pale to the soil. Still others were harvesting ripe fruits and vegetables from the fields.
Soon a furtive acting man drew her attention. His face was hidden in the shadow of his cowboy hat. His jeans and plaid shirt were dusty, as if he too had been working in the fields most of the day. He crouched down near the altar and quickly looked around. Mai looked around with him to see no one else nearby or looking in their direction, looking back she watches himsnatch and pocket three or 4 stones. He remained there for a bit longer as if praying, before standing and calmly walking away from the altar. Mai watched him greet passers-by as he unhurriedly left the area.
A strong wind blew dust into Mai's face causing her to quickly close her eyes. Feeling the breeze suddenly stop, Mai opened her eyes to find herself in a quiet room, the man from before was sitting with his back to her at a table filled with jewelers tools. On the table the rocks he had picked up earlier were broken down into smaller pieces that he was preoccupied attaching to silver chains, creating pendants like the ones that had been found on the victims they had been shown that morning.
There were dozens of pendants hanging on a display wrack and it looked like the man could make dozens more with the stones that littered the table in front of the man.
She heard a voice, next to her ear, say, "Return what is ours! Or more shall die!" following those words the voice let out a terrible scream and Mai tried to cover her ears to block it out, as she glanced around the area to find the speaker. Seeing something out of the corner of her eye made her look back at the man. A ghostly figure, with arms spread wide, flew through the man and straight at her, it's mouth open wide as if to swallow her whole.
A scream ripped it way out of Mai and the world melted into darkness...
At the park…
Mai sat up with a scream trapped in her throat, her eyes wide with panic and fear. She felt an arm settle around her shoulders and a hand gently rubbing up and down her arm. Calming down slowly she was able to look around herself, though she was still confused and disoriented. Marcus was kneeling by her side with his arm wrapped around her. "Are you okay Mai? You worried me when you collapsed like that!"
Mai quickly realized that they aren't alone. Looking around, she sees the others gathered around them. Naru still wore the same sour expression he'd had on the entire picnic but now his arms were crossed as well. As she watched, his gaze narrowed as he looked from Marcus to Mai. His eyes traced the arms around Mai before he clenched his jaw and looked away. He focused back on her face. "What did you see," came his words in the usual, no-nonsense fashion.
Mai gave Naru a sour look of her own before sighing and describing the details of her dream. She finished by saying, "The scariest part was the ghostly figure that seemed to want to swallow me after uttering these words… 'Return what is ours! Or more shall die!' And it was screaming as it flew towards me. I'm kind of glad I woke up when I did. I don't know what would have happened to me if I didn't."
Naru and Aria exchanged looks before she spoke. "Well, There is only one way to tell if your dream is right about why the spirits are angry.. We need to find that altar you saw in your dream, but my gut is saying that it was the Heiau at Ulupo." Aria trailed off deep in thought.
Soon everyone was seated at the picnic table to eat lunch, however, the conversation was subdued as they all thought about the fact Mai had a vision when things hadn't really started for them yet. And the fact that Naru was tense made everyone stay quiet. He was obviously upset by Marcus' presence.
Lin thought. Noll must be jealous of Marcus being the one to comfort Mai when she woke from her vision. He really needs to admit his feelings for Mai or he will lose her. After all Marcus seems to be a companionable young man who would no doubt make Mai very happy. Get it together Noll!
Next time: Searching the Heiau at Ulupo
Author's Note:
A big thank you goes out to Koujinbutsu who beta read the chapter for me! You are so awesome!
Hawaiian Translations:
kupunawahine = grandmother
Kauhane = "the spirit" in Hawaiian and is a person's name.