Shadows of the Keeper - Chapter 5: Tital Patterns

Welcome back to our weekly continuing story! In Chapter 1, we met Ali Blacksmith, the young keeper of a mysterious New England lighthouse. And then in Chapter 2, Ali investigated a mysterious figure near the treehouse and then discovered something unusual. Chapter 3 sees the gang gather for their traditional Friday Pizza Night at Ms. Greco's house where Ali and Jan share their strange shadow sightings. Excitement grows in Chapter 4 as we find out more about The Librarian’s Secrets.

The story continues here.

Ali woke before her alarm, the weight of yesterday's revelations pressing on her mind. The ancient book, her mother from another world, her father's mysterious disappearance—it was almost too much to comprehend. But most pressing was the task ahead: finding the remaining keys hiding around the island.

Despite their agreement to split up and search different locations, Ali had second thoughts as dawn approached. Last night's plan had seemed logical in Ms. Greco's hidden library room, but something kept tugging at her thoughts about the treehouse—where she'd first seen the shadow figure that was apparently her Uncle Jack.

She reached for her phone in the pre-dawn darkness and sent a message to the group chat: Change of plans. We should check the treehouse together. Meet there at 7AM. It's where I first saw Uncle Jack disappear, and Cooper's already detected frequencies there. I think we need to work as a team. This could get dangerous.

The responses came quickly, despite the early hour. None of them had slept well.
Cooper: Already here. Been monitoring frequencies all night. Something's definitely happening.
Archer: Makes sense from a scientific perspective. I'll bring my tidal data.
Brett: On my way after handling an early costume delivery at the theater.
Jan: Just finished early clinic rounds. Will join you.
Jasper: Be there in 15. Just woke up from another weird dream.

Ali arrived at the treehouse just as the first fingers of dawn stretched across the eastern sky. She had brought Muffin as her protector. Afterall, he had good instincts. As expected, Cooper was already there, his face illuminated by the blue glow of several small devices scattered around the wooden platform.

"Did you get any sleep?" Ali asked, climbing the last rungs of the ladder.

Cooper lifted his eyes, his face etched with exhaustion. "Sleep is for people who don't have unexplained frequency patterns to monitor." He gestured to a small screen where a jagged line pulsed rhythmically. "It's been doing this all night, getting stronger."

Ali knelt beside him, examining the scuff marks on the trunk she'd noticed days earlier. In the morning light, they seemed even more pronounced—five parallel lines, too evenly spaced to be natural.

"What do you think made these?" she asked, running her fingers along the marks.

Cooper shrugged. "Not any animal I know. And definitely not weather."

The sound of footsteps announced Archer's arrival. He climbed up, a rolled-up collection of papers tucked under his arm and a tablet clutched in his hand.

"Morning," he said, nodding to them both. "I brought my tidal data."

Shortly after, Jan and Brett arrived together, followed by Jasper, who looked tired with dark circles under his eyes.

"Sorry," he said, stifling a yawn. "Another night of weird dreams. Barely slept."

Ali took a deep breath. She wondered how they would possibly work this out—everyone was so exhausted. But where there's a will, there's a way. And together, they're stronger.

"We need to examine this spot more carefully. This is where I first saw the shadow—Uncle Jack—disappeared." She pulled the small metal disk from her pocket, the same one she'd shown everyone at pizza night. Its swirling patterns caught the morning light. "And this disk... I think it might be connected to the marks on the tree."

Jan leaned closer. "The patterns do look similar."

Ali nodded. "That's what I was thinking too."

Cooper's equipment suddenly emitted a high-pitched beep. "Whoa," he said, checking his readings. "The frequency just spiked."

Ali held the disk closer to the scuff marks on the tree trunk. The metal grew warm in her palm, the patterns seeming to shift and swirl like living things.
"Look!" Brett pointed to the bark where the marks were glowing with a faint blue light.
Archer was frantically comparing the pattern to his tidal charts. "The high tide peaks in twenty minutes," he said. "And according to these readings, that's when the anomaly will be strongest."

Ali pressed the disk against the glowing marks. Nothing happened.

She pulled back, frustration tightening her jaw.
"Try again," Cooper urged, eyes locked on the pulsing data on his scanner. "The frequency's spiking. This is it."

Ali took a breath and pressed the disk back against the bark—harder this time—rotating it slightly until the swirling patterns on the metal aligned perfectly with the glowing marks.

For a heartbeat, nothing. Then—

A low hum rippled through the air, vibrating deep in their chests. The blue light flared, spilling out from the tree like cracks of lightning slicing through the night. The scuff marks burned white-hot, and with a sound like tearing fabric, reality itself seemed to peel open.

Before them, a shimmering portal bloomed to life—a swirling vortex of light and shadow, the edges rippling like liquid glass. Wind rushed out from the opening, carrying the scent of rain and something electric, something impossible.

Silence fell over the group. No one dared speak. They stood frozen, awestruck, staring into the swirling unknown before them, as if the very air held its breath.

Then, breaking the spell, Muffin trotted forward without hesitation, tail wagging and ears perked as though this shadowed cavern were an old, familiar friend. With a happy bounce, he disappeared into the darkness, as if he had known the way all along.

And then Archer whispered, "Well... I guess we're going in."

The portal deposited them in a dark cave, the blue light fading behind them as the doorway closed. Their phone flashlights clicked on one by one, illuminating a large cavern with glistening walls.

"Where are we?" Brett whispered, her voice echoing slightly.

Archer pulled up a map on his tablet, the screen's glow casting shadows across his face. "Based on the geological formations, I'd say we're in the north cave system. Near Montauk Bluff."

"That's on the complete opposite side of the island," Cooper said, checking his equipment. "We just traveled over three miles in an instant."

"Look at the walls," Jan said, directing her flashlight beam to reveal strange markings etched into the stone—swirling patterns identical to those in Ms. Greco's ancient book.

"These are the same markings from the book in the library," Jan whispered, tracing one with her finger. "The same writing system."

"Blood calls to blood across the stars," Ali murmured, remembering the phrase from the book. "These must be messages from my mother's world."

"This is Colebrook Cave," Archer said in awe, pulling out his grandfather's journal and flipping through the yellowed pages. "My grandfather wrote about it, but I never thought I'd actually see it. According to legend, it was discovered in the 1800s, then rediscovered in the 1920s, only to be lost again."

"Some thought it was a hoax," Bett added, her voice hushed with reverence.

Archer examined the markings on the wall. "These match perfectly with the water current patterns around the island," he said, excitement coloring his voice. "Look—this one is the rip current off Windmill Point, and this one is the whirlpool that forms near Stoney Ridge during spring tides. It's like whoever created these symbols understood how water moves around our island."

Ali stepped closer to a section of the wall where the patterns fanned out like the iridescent tail of a peacock, each feather etched with impossible precision. One feather near the center was slightly raised, just enough to catch the light—and her attention.

Compelled, Ali brushed her fingertips over the edge. At her touch, the metal stirred beneath her hand, the feather shifting with a faint, mechanical sigh. Slowly, it detached from the wall, revealing itself not as a feather at all, but a small disk.

She turned it over in her palm. It was nearly identical to the one she already carried—same strange, swirling patterns shifting just beneath the surface like liquid metal, same gentle, radiant glow. Heat bloomed through her fingers, steady and familiar, as if the two pieces were somehow connected, calling to each other across time.

Ali looked back at the others, her heart pounding. "It's another disk," she whispered. As soon she uttered those words, suddenly the light spread, following the carved channels in the rock, illuminating the entire chamber with a pulsing azure glow. The disk began to rotate in its socket, locking into place with a satisfying click.

A rumbling sound filled the cave, and a section of the wall slid aside, revealing a dark passage beyond.

The sound of water echoed deeper in the cave system, and Brett called out nervously, "Whatever you're going to do, do it fast! I think we might flood in here."

Cooper's equipment was going wild, beeping frantically as the readings spiked off his charts. "I'm detecting the same frequency pattern as at the treehouse, but much stronger now."

Ali stepped toward the newly revealed passage, her flashlight beam disappearing into darkness. "This has to lead us to another one of the portals."

"The portal opening must have affected the local tidal patterns," Cooper theorized, already backing toward the new passage. "We need to go—either out or in."

Ali made a split-second decision. "In. We might not get another chance."