Page 55 of Sweetwater and the Witch

“Any idea what he found?” Ethan asked.

“If I’m right, your dead prospector found Glass House, or thinks he found it.”

“What is Glass House?” Ethan asked.

“That’s just it—no one knows.” Jake’s voice was infused with controlled excitement. “It’s a legend. If it exists—and that’s a big if—it may be a cache of Alien tech. Or not. I spent a lot of years in the Underworld. Tracked down my share of legends. I never came across any proof that Glass House existed, but if it does, you can’t put a price on it. And it would be dangerous as hell.”

“Better give me those coordinates.”

Jake rattled off the details. Ethan studied them.

“Looks like the location is in an unmapped sector under Illusion Town,” he said.

“Makes sense,” Jake said. “Prospectors usually work the unexplored sectors.”

Ethan heard the trace of wistfulness in his grandfather’s voice and smiled. You could take an old prospector out of the Underworld but you couldn’t take the Underworld out of the old prospector.

“It’s possible the dead man didn’t find anything of value,” Ethan said. “He might have figured he could sell a fake mine to Spooner and get away with fraud.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time someone tried to run that con,” Jake said.“It’s also possible the so-called discovery is nothing but fool’s quartz or maybe the product of a hallucination. Some indies spend way too much time down below. They get burned. Start imagining things.”

“Maybe,” Ethan said. “But one thing’s for sure, I have to get these coordinates to Jones. He needs to find out what this is all about. Thanks for the help.”

“Anytime. Deciphering the code brought back a lot of memories. Sometimes I miss the old days.”

“Don’t tell Grandmother. I’ve got to go. Goodbye, Jake.”

“Let me know how things turn out.”

“I will,” Ethan promised.

“And tell Ms.Chastain that your grandmother is looking forward to meeting her.”

Ethan looked at Ravenna, who was on her feet, shimmying into the slip of a dress.

“You’re on speaker, Jake,” he warned.

“Well, in that case, delighted to meet you, Ms.Chastain,” Jake said.

“A pleasure, Mr.Sweetwater,” Ravenna said politely.

“We’ll have to get together soon,” Jake said.

“Goodbye, Jake,” Ethan said firmly. He ended the connection and called Gabriel Jones. Once again Jones picked up immediately.

“What have you got?” he asked.

“Some interesting coordinates. They may lead to a dead end.”

“We need to find out, one way or the other. Let me have them.”

Ethan read off the data.

“Thanks,” Gabriel said. “I’ve got a team standing by. We’ll head down now. With luck we can get there before Spooner does, assuming he’s on his way.”

“Ms.Chastain and I are going to stay out of sight until you figure out what we’re dealing with.”

“I’ll call you as soon as I get back to the surface.”

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