The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker

by Lauren James

  Norma cupped the back of Claudia’s head, eyes fixed on Harriet. “What’s your power, Harriet?”

  Harriet closed her eyes. “Um.” It was like her brain had been turned inside out. She was wading through slush, trying to process everything.

  Norma’s ankle was confusing her. The cast must have been taken off as soon as Harriet died. But then, Harriet had never even seen her go to the doctor’s, after it was broken. It had been so convenient, how her accident had happened just in time to keep Harriet living at home instead of moving away for uni. Keeping her within her control for another year.

  “You do have a power, don’t you, Harriet?”

  Her mind was blank. She couldn’t remember anything right now. Casting her mind back for an answer, Harriet remembered transforming into Norma using Oscar’s power, just before her gran had arrived in person.

  “I can turn into other people.”

  Norma’s eyebrows raised. “Well, well, well.” She looked down at Claudia, considering this.

  “Mrs Stoker, I really would like it if you’d give my daughter back to me,” Leah said quickly, her voice pulled tight.

  Norma rocked the baby in her arms. “Anyone that you like?”

  It took Harriet a moment to realize the question was directed at her. “I think I can turn into anyone, yes.”

  How did Norma know about powers? Harriet had needed Felix to explain it to her after she’d died.

  Norma seemed to be lost in thought. Her hand was still cupped around the back of Claudia’s scalp. After a long moment, she released her and passed the baby back to Leah, whose worried expression relaxed slightly.

  “Come with me, Harriet. I’d like to talk to you in private. It was very nice to meet you all,” she added to the others.

  She strode away from her corpse without looking back. Harriet followed her, head dipped. She couldn’t make eye contact with any of them.

  Let’s go back two thousand years. To another beginning, of the strictly chronological kind.

  When the Romans first invaded Britannia, they would take in members of the local Celtic tribes as a method of keeping things civilized. It was a kind of peace treaty – We have your son/daughter/favourite dog, so please don’t attack our fort. You won’t like what will happen to them if you do.

  Leah was the daughter of the leader of the Celtic tribe nearest to the Roman encampment, and when she was six or seven, she was “adopted” by an army general as one of these hostages.

  She was mostly happy in the Roman encampment and liked her adopted family well enough. Her Roman father had actually been to the real, proper city of Rome when he was a young soldier. Everyone respected and admired him. The camp itself was clean, with good food and sanitation, and travelling theatre troupes for entertainment. She was even taught to read, write, and speak new languages. But despite that, she always wanted to go home to her Celtic family.

  When she was a teenager, a promising young centurion named Fabian decided that the general might make a good father-in-law. He was determined to make his way up the ranks, and he would gain a lot from having the eye and ear of someone of a higher rank.

  Fabian asked the general for his daughter’s hand in marriage over a fine dinner, bought with a month’s salary. Leah was fifteen at the time, meek and quiet, staring down at her plate and barely sneaking a peek at Fabian. But the girl was practically irrelevant. It was the father that Fabian needed on his side.

  With much flattery and wine, a marriage was agreed. The girl said “Hello”, “Good morning” and then “I do” to the man who then became her husband. She could have objected. But nobody would have listened.

  Fabian took his new wife to meet his younger brothers, Rufus and Vini. They congratulated him, teasing him for his keenness to settle down. They didn’t think much of the silent girl, but said she’d probably liven up with a little time. She must have barbarian blood in her somewhere, they said, loud enough for her to overhear.

  For a while, the four of them got along well. Rufus, who was the fort’s priest, heard Aeliana singing one day while she brushed her hair. After that, the pair of them sang together after every evening meal, while Vini picked out his teeth and Fabian schemed.

  Vini, never good with numbers, used to come to Aeliana for help with his coins. And Fabian – well, Fabian had many uses for Leah. He taught her how to get information from other soldiers’ wives – explaining what he wanted to know, and how to find it without suspicion. He made her steal papers and money, intercept letters and plant rumours, working his way up the ladder until he was ranked alongside his father-in-law.

  There was always a new political goal, something he needed or wanted or wanted to avoid. Leah enjoyed the intrigue, even if nothing they achieved actually helped her. Fabian controlled everything from behind the scenes, planning out all of the three brothers’ moves in minute detail. Rufus had a lot of leverage as a priest, and he did everything Fabian told him to. Vini was the muscle, of course.

  Even after Fabian made it clear that he didn’t love her the way that she wanted to be loved, all was not lost for Leah. She had a baby to give all her love to, anyway.

  But good things don’t last. When Leah was seventeen, there was a rebellion in the local Celtic tribe. They were upset with the amount of taxes being taken by their Roman overlords. They infiltrated the encampment and killed everyone inside by putting poison in the water supply. Or at least that’s how the story goes. At any rate, it’s true enough that the five of us all died without warning on one cold evening.

  That was just the beginning, of course.

  Chapter 22

  KASPER

  “What do we do now?” Rima asked, once Norma had walked off down the corridor, with Harriet trailing after her like an obedient dog. Harriet’s grandmother was clearly taking delight in embarrassing her granddaughter in front of other people.

  Norma was just like Harriet, Kasper realized. He’d seen that look before, in Harriet’s eyes: blank and condescending. There were two of them now.

  “I don’t like this,” Felix said.

  Kasper had no idea what they should do next. He wondered what would happen to their living arrangements if Mulcture Hall continued to acquire new ghosts at this rate. He would probably have to take in a roommate.

  “Maybe she’ll calm Harriet down,” Kasper suggested, even though he suspected it was more likely to end in another battle. But Felix seemed like he was about to start hyperventilating.

  Kasper was ready to fight now. He wasn’t scared any more. He almost wanted to thank Rufus, for giving him this ability to protect them. Now, he wouldn’t hesitate to do what was needed. He was willing to disintegrate to make sure his friends were safe.

  “Is it just me, or was that thing with Claudia kind of weird?” Rima asked, baffled.

  “It was.” Leah had her lips pressed against Claudia’s forehead, holding her tight. “We should be ready to use the eyelid to subdue Harriet if Norma can’t calm her down. Or worse, if she riles her up even more. I know we’re all hoping for the best here, but we need to prepare for the worst.”

  Kasper nodded. “I don’t think this is over yet. Not by a long shot.”

  They walked to Rima’s room in quiet shock, as they tried to process everything that had happened.

  “How can one family be filled with so many creepy people?” Rima asked. “Her gran gives me the shivers.”

  “But they both have such great hair,” Kasper added.

  “How did Norma know what to do?” Leah asked, ignoring him. “She didn’t miss a beat. She knew exactly how ghosts work.”

  “Maybe that’s her power,” Felix suggested, mainly joking. “Infinite knowledge of ghost mythology.”

  Rima let out a tired laugh, trying to be appreciative but mainly sounding exhausted. “I hope not. That sounds like the last thing we need right now.”

  Kasper couldn’t stop looking at the shape of Felix’s shoulders under his shirt. He used to avoid looking at Felix. Now, he cou
ldn’t remember what had been so frightening about that.

  “Can you come with me?” Kasper asked Felix, stopping him before he could follow the girls inside Rima’s bedroom. “I have something I need to say to you.”

  HARRIET

  “Now, Harriet,” Norma said, once they were out of hearing distance of the others. “We have some work to do. We need to move quickly. There’s a ghost here called Qi, is that right?”

  “How did you know that?” Harriet asked, hurrying after her.

  Norma shook her head once. “Never mind that. She lives on this floor?”

  “Yes…” Harriet said, a little late. She was too confused to pay attention to where they were going, until she realized that Norma had led them right to Qi’s room.

  In a lowered tone, Norma said, “Right. I have a job for you. I need you to turn into one of your friends. The plump girl, maybe. Knock on Qi’s door and make up a lie to get her out of her room. Say there’s been an accident or something – you make it up, you’ve been here longer than me. Then I want you to lead her down to the basement.”

  Harriet’s mind raced. She was asking her to do the very thing that Harriet had been attempting only a few days ago. It was uncanny. How did Norma know all this? “Could you hear ghosts when you were alive?”

  It was the only way to explain it. She must have heard some of the ghosts talking about Qi and the basement.

  Norma nodded shortly. “Yes, of course. I heard the ghosts talking before I died. They were saying that it’s very important to get the ghosts in the basement on our side if we want to survive here.”

  Harriet considered this. Norma was right. She did need to get help from the Tricksters, and they wanted Qi more than anything in the world. By giving her to them, they’d be in debt to Harriet and Norma. Harriet had a power that might help her do it, unlike last time. But choosing to condemn Qi wasn’t the easy decision it was before. Now it made her stomach twist into knots. The only reason she’d ever considered it was desperation, when her emotions had been burnt away by her energy highs.

  “I don’t think I can, Gran. I’m sorry, but you don’t really understand. Once they get hold of Qi, the ghosts down there aren’t going to have a friendly chat with her.”

  “Harriet,” Norma said sharply.

  Harriet took a step back, flushing hot in panic. Every muscle in her body knew what was coming.

  Norma pinched her ear between two sharp fingers. “Harriet, I am a fragile, elderly woman who has just died, all alone. You are already going against my pleas for help. Out of everyone, I thought you’d support me here. Are we not a family any more?”

  Harriet tried to shrink away, but Norma’s grip on her ear kept her close.

  She continued, “Have you no compassion for what I’ve been through? You’ve been defying me for your entire childhood, and you’re going to continue doing so now that we’re both dead? It’s clear from the state of you that you’re still not mature enough to make responsible decisions. It’s a good job I’m here, for your sake.”

  “Sorry, Gran,” Harriet mumbled.

  Norma’s touch gentled, releasing Harriet’s ear and moving down to cradle her cheek. “It’s time that you grew up, young lady. I’m only looking out for you. Doing what’s best for us, as a family, like your parents would have wanted. Only, you’re making it very difficult. Don’t you want me to look after you, like I always have? I need you to do this. For us. Please, darling?”

  “OK. Whatever you need, Gran.” Something had shrivelled up and died inside her.

  However wrong it might be to send Qi down to the Tricksters, she would do it. No amount of guilt was worse than disappointing her grandmother.

  “I love you, Harriet.” Norma kissed her forehead, hand cupping the back of her scalp, just like she’d done to Claudia. Her voice was satisfied, like a cream-filled cat. “Good girl.”

  KASPER

  Kasper drew Felix away from the others. He couldn’t stop staring at him. He knew Felix’s face so well, yet it seemed completely new. There was no longer a lens of fear distorting everything between them.

  Kasper touched Felix’s cheek with the back of his fingers. Something had been building up inside him since they’d left the basement that he could no longer ignore. He wanted him. He couldn’t hold back any longer.

  Felix blinked at him, startled. Then his expression changed. The sudden awareness between them felt familiar. Felix had always watched Kasper through half-dipped eyelids, with a barely-there intensity that made Kasper shudder. The only difference was that now Kasper was looking back.

  Kasper had told himself that everyone looked at men, as well as women. He’d thought that he could still be straight.

  Now he was fearless, it was so easy to see the truth. He had been frightened that people would think he was greedy, or a cheater, or confused. It had been easier not to think about it at all. But he wasn’t straight. He’d never been straight. Felix had always been more than just a friend.

  He couldn’t take his eyes off Felix’s lips, plump and dark and parted just slightly. His breathing kept hitching. Kasper was overcome with the trembling feeling that he didn’t deserve this. This delicate, new thing was going to be torn away from him before it had time to solidify.

  “What is it?” Felix asked, the words barely a whisper, like he didn’t want to interrupt the moment.

  Their mouths were so close. Kasper bent his head, infinitely closer. He wanted Felix so badly that his teeth ached.

  Land this plane, Kasper, he told himself. Land. This. Plane.

  HARRIET

  Harriet could barely focus enough to make a transformation stick. Every time her body changed to Rima, she caught sight of Norma watching her, and flickered back to herself again. Norma’s frown was growing deeper and deeper.

  She paused and took a large breath. She could do this. There was no way that she could let her gran down.

  Harriet focused on Rima’s smile, her constant laughter, her compassion. She let memories of her fill her mind and the transformation took hold. Harriet didn’t pause to give it a chance to flicker away. She strode up to Qi’s barricaded room. She could feel the electric buzz of the lightning barrier run over her as she approached.

  “Who’s there?” Qi asked.

  “It’s me, Qi!” Harriet said, imitating Rima’s sweet, chirpy tone.

  “Rima, come in! I have some new research to discuss with you.” The lightning barrier dropped away.

  Norma nodded encouragement from further down the hallway. She gestured for Harriet to go inside.

  Qi was bent over a desk in the far corner of the room, inspecting something. “Hello, dear. Did you bring that sweet little fox of yours?”

  Harriet cleared her throat, pitching her voice high again. “Actually, I didn’t. I came to get you because we’ve finally got Harriet under control, and we need you to lock her behind the barrier, in the basement.”

  Qi wiped her hands on her trousers. She had been handling a thick misty liquid that was pooling into a puddle.

  “Well done!” Qi said, impressed. “How did you catch her?”

  Harriet rolled her eyes. “She got into a fight with some other ghosts and they took most of her powers.”

  Qi hummed, clearly amused. “Well, let’s go, then.”

  It was working! She really believed that Harriet was Rima.

  “Do you not need to –” Harriet gestured vaguely at the puddle of goo, lacking the words to describe it –“finish up?”

  “The ectoplasm can wait,” Qi said, as they left her bedroom. Harriet couldn’t see Norma anywhere in the corridor. She must have hidden out of sight.

  A beat too late, Harriet replied, “Is that what it is? What are you doing with it?” She should keep her talking, to stop Qi from thinking too much about where she was taking her. Harriet barely wanted to think about it herself.

  “I’m researching disintegration. That ectoplasm used to be a mouse. I’m trying to find out what happens to ghosts after
they disappear. I managed to break apart the spirit with a careful application of electrical shocks, until it lost its form. The next step is trying to track where it goes when it disintegrates fully. I’ve not managed to get that far yet.”

  Harriet remembered how her atoms had started separating when she’d tried to leave the building. It would be impossible to track where they all went. Qi had a long road ahead of her.

  “Where do you think we go when we disintegrate, then? Do spirits just dissolve into the air?” Harriet could feel something tingling across her shoulders. Was her transformation fading?

  Qi shrugged. “I’ve always been a fan of the reincarnation theory, myself. All our energy has to go somewhere, doesn’t it? There must be a finite supply of spirit that gets recycled, somehow.”

  Harriet focused hard on Rima’s face, trying to keep it from sliding away from her. It was like flexing a muscle that had never been used. She was already trembling with the effort.

  Drawing in a quick gasp of breath, she said, “But surely if that was possible, people would remember their past lives?”

  “That’s true,” Qi conceded. “The very oldest ghosts would see the same souls appear repeatedly. Though maybe they wouldn’t notice if the souls were in different bodies. It’s a weak theory, which is why I’m researching it. I’d happily switch to a more convincing hypothesis if I found one.”

  “How intriguing.” Harriet could feel sweat trickling down her brow. One more flight of stairs and they’d be at the basement. She was so close.

  “How is Harriet, then?” Qi asked. “She’s a troubled one. I think there’s been a lot of disturbance in her life.”

  “She’s fine, actually. Misunderstood, more than anything.” Harriet tried not to sound too offended. The muscles of her upper back tensed as she hid her intense concentration.

  They turned the corner to the stairs outside the basement. Harriet was so busy concentrating on keeping Rima’s face that it was only when Qi said, “Hello, little one!” that Harriet noticed the fox sitting on the stairs.

  Cody was stretched out, licking her paw. Harriet froze in her tracks.