PART 5 — THE SECRET UNDER THE RANCH
They found the spring two days later.
It was hidden beneath a rock formation near the northern ridge.
The water was clear.
Almost unnaturally clear.
Gideon lowered a lantern.
Rosalie saw black threads moving beneath the surface.
She stepped back.
“What are those?”
Gideon shook his head.
He didn’t know.
But beneath the water, they saw something else.
Metal.
An old mining shaft.
Someone had been digging underground.
They returned with tools.
The tunnel
went deep beneath the ridge.
Inside were abandoned equipment crates.
Drilling tools.
Medical containers.
Records.
And a small laboratory.
Rosalie realized the truth.
Dr.
Vale had been studying the organisms for years.
The creatures weren’t supernatural.
They were rare parasites adapted to the mineral-rich underground water.
And the land above the deposit was worth a fortune.
The Ashfords and Vales had known.
They had concealed the danger.
Then Gideon’s family discovered the operation.
