The Bone Room

R. L. Gemmill

Description

DECEIVED.  AMBUSHED.  LOST IN TIME.

In 1938, teachers in Malta took a class on a field trip to see the ancient bones of thousands of people in a cave known as the bone room.  The children and their teachers never returned from the cave. For days, screams could be heard all over the island country, but search efforts turned up nothing.

The good news?  This is the official beginning of The Demon Conspiracy Series.
 
The bad news?  It's based on a true story.
 
The Demon Conspiracy Series is a storm of heart-pounding terror, profound mystery, and unforgettable characters.  It is the only Young Adult novel series required by the American Security Administration to post a warning about potential adverse psychological effects on the reader.

READ WITH CAUTION

Sujets

• Science-Fiction
• Toute la Science-Fiction
• Fiction
• Paranormal
• Fantasy

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 02 février 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781456630515
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE BONE ROOM
 
DANTE’S TALE
 
 
Book 4.5 (Prequel 1) of The Demon Conspiracy Series
 
R. L. G E M M I L L
 
 

Cottingham-McMasters Publishing House
Copyright © 2018 R. L. Gemmill
All rights reserved.
 
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
http://www.eBookIt.com
 
 
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-3051-5
 
 
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the author.
Contents
Books by R. L. Gemmill
Dedication
AUTHOR’S NOTE
WARNING!
1
Boys Don’t Matter
2
The Field Trip
3
The Oracle
4
What the English Woman Saw
5
The Rescuers
6
Mrs. Cassar’s Plan
7
The Storm Drain
8
Into the Bone Room
9
The Hallway
10
Minions of Moloch
11
Monster Jail
12
Escape Plan
13
Trapped
14
The Surgery Room
15
Mr. Deel
16
The Anatomy Lab
17
Freedom
18
Demons
19
The Barrier
20
The Farm
21
Debriefings
22
Lost Memories
23
Relocation
24
Berlin
25
Four-Thousand Miles
26
The Ride
27
Discovery
28
Faded Photographs
29
Monsters in the Night
30
Two Hands and a Head
Character List of the Ill-Fated Field Trip
Character Glossary of The Bone Room
About the Author
 
Books by R. L. Gemmill
The Demon Conspiracy Series
 
The Demon Conspiracy
The Doomsday Shroud
Devil’s Bite
The Street Wizard
The Bone Room (Prequel 1)
Doctor Nightmare (COMING SOON)
Dead Data (Prequel 2) (COMING SOON)
When the Dark Comes (COMING SOON)
Dedication
For my friends, acquaintances, former students/parents, coworkers, coaches, and athletes at Poquoson High School, who helped make my 32-year teaching career a fun and complete experience. Bull Islanders, you are the BEST!
 
For the children and their teachers who were lost in the cave that day and never seen again.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
This novel is meant to be a fun and exciting read. I’ve done much of the general research in the series myself, but Stephanie Matzgannis Tench originally collected a lot of the scientific and conspiracy related information. The Malta research that is the basis for this book was totally done by Stephanie, and it was because of her efforts that I was able to put together this story and later link it to The Demon Conspiracy Series . Anyone interested in reading the actual article should check out the August 1940 edition of National Geographic magazine. As always, thank you, Stephanie!
Thank you to award-winning author, Mark Spencer, for his editing expertise, generosity, and constructive comments. Fiction readers should check out his books; they are excellent! Any author who needs professional editing should visit Mark's website at: http://authormarkspencer.com/Writing_Services.html .
A big thanks to the lovely and talented Laima Klavina, artist extraordinaire, for her artwork on the first five book covers. Laima's art is worth checking out at www.amunalaima.com
More thanks go to my beta-readers for the hard work they put into preparing this novel. [Pam Gemmill, Vik Vatsa, and Lauren Osborn. You helped make it right!]
Thanks to Marcie Evans for everything Demon-ish and a whole lot more.
Special thanks to Karol Clark and Dawn Olson for their business knowledge and assistance.
Thank you to Erica Robertson for the great headshot! Contact Erica at https://www.facebook.com/EricaRobertsonPhotography
 
A very special thanks to Melanie Register , Brian Lamprecht , and Travis Strickland for their participation and support in the editing and publishing of this book. You guys are awesome!
WARNING!
The American Security Administration has determined that THE DEMON CONSPIRACY SERIES can cause nightmares and unexplainable feelings of being watched. The conspiratorial thinking and utter terror within these pages may be hazardous to your psychological health.
READ WITH CAUTION
 
Marcus Conn
Deputy Director
American Security Administration
1
Boys Don’t Matter
Malta, 1938
KLOKE
Kloke watched the old woman, waiting for the chance to make her move. She didn't care about the woman, and she certainly had no particular feelings for the island country of Malta. Kloke had a job to do, and if things went according to plan, the Concern would most likely offer her a generous bonus and more work. She needed all the work she could get, and this was just the kind of project that would show off her specialized skill sets. Nobody manipulated humans better than Kloke, and that included the project manager, Mogen Deel himself, no matter how important he thought he was.
Mrs. Valentina Cassar set a silver tray on the table next to where Kloke sat in a ladder-back chair that felt like a stool. Steam rose from a copper tea kettle on the tray. Next to the kettle were two china cups on saucers, a matching sugar bowl, and a pair of handcrafted silver spoons, one by each cup.
Mrs. Cassar was seventy, though she looked eighty with her pulled-back, wiry gray hair and wrinkled tan skin. Her arthritic knees made her waddle around the quaint little house like a duck. She poured tea for her guest, almost giddy about having a visitor.
“I only have sugar cubes,” she said, speaking her native Maltese in a husky, yet feminine, voice. “We can’t get the fancy powdered sugar here very often. One of the problems living on an island, you know.”
“Oh, I know,” said Kloke. "I prefer cubes. Do you have cream?"
"Certainly! I don't use it myself, but I should have realized a guest might want some." She hurried back to the boxy little kitchen.
As soon as Mrs. Cassar was facing the other way, Kloke brought out a metal box the size of a bar of soap and opened it. Inside were several sugar cubes, all identical. She snatched one up and closed the box, putting it back into a hidden pocket inside her white, wool sweater. She checked to make sure her host wasn't looking, then dropped the cube into the other woman's cup of tea.
Mrs. Cassar returned with a pitcher of cream. As she added two more lumps of sugar to her tea, Kloke poured cream into her cup and set the pitcher on the tray. She took up one of the spoons and stirred, noticing the delicate carving of a young child's face in the spoon's handle. The craftsmanship was a bit crude, but the details around the child's eyes and mouth were surprisingly authentic. She sipped the tea noisily, pretending to drink it. Kloke despised tea almost as much as she hated the flavor of white potatoes, and that was saying a lot.
"I don't often have guests," said Mrs. Cassar. She grimaced as she sipped her tea. "It's too sweet! Did I put sugar in twice?"
Kloke nodded around another pretended sip. “You must have a sweet tooth."
Mrs. Cassar laughed and shook her head. "I rarely eat sweets, though I do have a fondness for honey toast. Where did you say you were from, Miss Kloke?"
"Popeye Village," replied Kloke. "On Anchor Bay. My father is a fisherman." With her dark eyes, waist-length raven hair, and fluent Maltese, Kloke knew she could fool just about anyone on the island into believing she was one of them. Mrs. Cassar had no reason to think otherwise.
"Everybody's father, uncle, son, and brother are fishermen in Malta," said the old woman with a chuckle. "There isn't much else to do for a living, I suppose. If only they saw educating their children as important as catching fish. We have thirty-one children enrolled in the school, you know. The entire school. There are many more children on the island than that, though I suppose I should be grateful to have any show up at all."
"I totally agree. Thirty-one children? How many girls?"
"Seventeen. Some of them have had rather boorish upbringings, but we will turn them all into proper ladies before they graduate. That is, assuming they keep up their grades and manage not to…get married before they turn fifteen. A few may even attend universities in Europe."
"Thirty-one children," repeated Kloke. "You're right, Mrs. Cassar. It's far too few to be attending school these days."
Mrs. Cassar lived in a two-story stone house that had been in her family for over a hundred years. Kloke knew all about it because she'd read the old woman's mind as soon as they'd met.
The house sat at the edge of a low bluff with an open view of the Mediterranean that most people would kill for. Kloke looked around at the simple furnishings. The woman had three tall bookshelves loaded with volumes on teaching and textbooks on a variety of subjects about languages, such as English, Italian, Maltese, and French. She also noted science and math books for kids from first grade through high school. A worn flower-print sofa that looked as old as the house was the only other seat in the room. Hung above the sofa was a seascape showing waves crashing on a rocky part of the island's long coast.
"I understand you are the school's headmistress?"
The old woman smiled with pride. “I am. I have one other teacher who helps me, Lena Schmidt. Her Maltese is quite good, you know. She’s a German national who wanted to teach in a school where she could also practice speaking English. Her family is wealthy, I hear, and her uncle is a big-time general in the army, but we’ve never discussed it.”
Mrs. Cassar stirred her tea again before she sipped. "We have one young boy who is gifted in the speaking of languages, Dante Gallo. He's a bit spoiled, but I believe he may someday attend school in Germany or Italy; maybe even England."
"So, you teach English in the school?"
"Oh, yes. Every Tuesday the children must speak English the entire day.”
Kloke took a small watch from a different pocket in her sweater. It was time.
“Mrs. Cassar, you are now under my control. Nod if you understand.”
Mrs. Cassar became silent. Her eyes went blank as she sta