“Oh, you’re some kind of ghostbuster?”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Oh, you’re sooo original! I’ve never heard that one before!” She shot a peeved look back at the house. “When that stupid movie came out, Lawrence played that theme song night and day for a month!”
I crossed my arms. “But you are, right?”
She waggled her eyebrows at me. “More like a ghost whisperer actually. I nudge them along to the next plane where they belong. Sometimes it’s really hard when they fear that level. It’s still an unknown for them as well as us. And it gets a lot more,” she cleared her throat, “complicated if they’ve lived a bad life, because they’re afraid they’re going to hell.”
“Is there? Is there a heaven and a hell?” I still had my arms crossed, because I hadn’t asked the big question yet.
Her face took on a thoughtful look as she shook her head slowly. “To tell the truth, I really don’t know for sure. I’ve not yet gone to the other side of The Veil. I believe it’s a better place, and I’m convinced it’s where we belong after we die.”
“So you’ve made it your life’s work to help people cross over this Veil thingy.”
“Yes. Now ask your question out loud.” She gazed at me with steady eyes.
“Why? Why can’t they stay here if they want to? Who are you to get them to move on?”
“And that’s the sixty-four thousand dollar question, isn’t it?”
“Why sixty-four thousand?”
She gave a small wave. “Just an old-fashioned figure of speech dear. Before your time.” She slowly blinked and went on. “It’s a question of balance.”
“Balance? What does that mean?”
“It’s how the universe works. A caterpillar can’t stay a caterpillar. It has to become a butterfly.” She pointed at me. “You couldn’t remain a child for all time, you had to follow the path of nature, which is the path of the universe. Just as you had to learn to walk and talk,” she arched an eyebrow, “and go through puberty; these spirits need to move on. It’s what the universe needs to maintain balance.”
“How do you know that? What makes you so sure? Maybe these ghosts do belong here?”
She shook her head vigorously. “Absolutely not; I learned that the hard way.”
“Oh? What happened?”
“That story is for another time, perhaps. For now, you just need to understand this: we’re meant to go from this plane to the next one. The Veil that separates the living and the dead is delicate. Too many spirits on this side weakens it.” GM took a deep breath. “It’s not just pushing souls along for their own well-being, Keira. It affects us all; the living as well as the dead. The universe depends on this separation. Time and space become affected.”
She was losing me. I could understand wanting a better realm for spirits caught in the middle but time and space? “So what happens? I mean, if too many linger? Aside from haunting the rest of us—scaring the living daylights out of us—how bad can it get?” I looked down at the grass. Also, why were Molly and Sam still in her house if she was so good at this?
“It can get a whole lot worse than it is right now, let me tell you.” Her jaw tightened and she pointed to a red rose which was still tight in the bud, only the outer petals curling to the sun. “That one is in my favorite stage. Get a shot of that, will you?”
When I stepped away from her and lifted the camera, rotating the lens to zoom in, she continued. “Just like in your camera when Sam’s spirit played with it. He took a picture—”
“Yeah, spooky selfie,” I snickered.
“Keira! This is serious!” I was taken aback by her vehemence. “An image of a spirit is captured in your camera. It’s evidence The Veil is thin, that it could be photographed like that. Can you imagine the chaos if there were many, many more of these spirits roaming around? It would affect the nature of reality!”
I lowered my camera. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? ‘The nature of reality.’ Really, GM, you sound like some Buddha dude or something.”
She sighed. “This is a little tricky to explain. What time is it?”
I glanced at my watch. “It’s eleven forty-five.”
“And right now it’s a few seconds after that, right?” When I nodded, she said, “There is no time on the other side of The Veil, Keira. It’s an eternal state. There is only a now. On the other side, there’s no tomorrow, nor yesterday... just a now.”
“So it’s eleven forty-five all the time over there?”
“And ten fifteen, and midnight, and five p.m.—and all at the same instant.”
“That’s crazy. How can that be?”
“For the sake of argument, just try to accept that on the other side of The Veil, nobody has to worry about being late. Time as we understand it does not exist on that side.” She tilted her head. “Now the next part is really going to blow your mind. There’s no space as we know it on that side either.”
“Space? Like in Star Wars?”
She shook her head no. “No, I mean there is no here nor there. In the eternal, those basic ways we deal with existence do not apply.”
My head started to hurt right behind my left eye; it was like I was back in high school trying to understand algebra.
GM saw the expression on my face and kept going anyway. “Listen to me. What do you think would happen to this world,” she spread her arms, “if there was no now, then, here nor there?”
My eyes flew open wide as an image of the world—cities and forests, mountains and oceans folding and blending into each other, creating some kind of vortex of destruction—flashed in my mind. I gasped. Every living thing, dying in the most terrifying way imaginable. No, not dying... “Ceasing to exist,” I whispered. I staggered; my camera dropping to the ground as I held my head, trying to catch my breath.
“Yes, Keira... ceasing to exist.”
“Wait a minute!” My hand shot out and I pointed at her. “You put that vision in my head!”
GM shook her head slowly. “No Keira, my abilities lie in being able to share what you’re thinking, yes; but I’m unable to put thoughts into your mind. I felt you experiencing it, yes; I saw it in your head, but that vision you had was like the one you had in your bedroom of Sam’s past life. I didn’t put those there.”
“But... but how did I see it then?” I was still trying to catch my breath from the horror of it all. I’ve seen planets destroyed tons of times in the movies... but I felt this utter destruction!
GM stepped up to me and put her arms around me. “It’s because you are very much like me, dear. Very, very much like me.” She held me to her and began to rub my back. “The vision has passed now, Keira... you’re safe.” She guided me to a lawn bench which was nearby and sat us both down on it. Still stroking my back, she gave a small laugh. “When I had that vision the first time, I fainted.” Hugging me she said, “You got angry! You’re a very strong woman, do you know that?”
Strong? I felt as weak as a kitten.
“Yes, strong. And we’re not finished.” She tilted my face toward her own. “My mission has been to protect The Veil. To keep that premonition you just had from happening. If too many spirits stay on this side of it, their eternalness will disrupt this side.” She took a breath and spoke softly, “And probably the other side as well.”
“Reality.”
“Yes. Reality.”
My head hung to my side, resting on her own. “So you want me to help you save the universe.”
“More or less.”
“Oh.”
We sat silently holding hands.
***
I had closed my eyes for a few minutes. I didn’t think about what GM just told me, it was too big. I just let my thoughts float around aimlessly.
I sat up with a jerk and turned to her. “Ghostbusting doesn’t pay well, does it?”
She snorted. “I hate that term! No, it really doesn’t.”
My eyes narrowed. “But you’re a whiz at investing?”
“I’ve had some help.”
“Oh?”
“I know where you’re going, Keira. Yes, I’ve had help from someone from the other side.”
“The stock market. You somehow use spirits to get stock tips?”
She laughed and it was like a bell tinkling. “Gives a whole new meaning to insider trading, doesn’t it?” At my shocked expression, her chin lowered and she smiled. “I only did it to have the freedom for pursuing my real work. But, I guess we can justify anything if we put our mind to it.” She laughed again.
“Time doesn’t really exist on that plane. In life, we think in linear terms... the past, present and the future. But there, it doesn’t exist. My friend, Ralph, had worked the markets all his life. His interest didn’t die with his body. He enjoyed giving me information, tips, which made me very wealthy.” She pointed to the house. “He was here for years and years before he moved on. Sort of like Sam and Molly, except he stayed here for my sake, not because he didn’t want to move on. After he moved on, I hired living investment managers. The rest is history.”
I straightened, looking over at her again. “That was interfering in time... and even space, what you did. Is this what you meant? But the world didn’t collapse or anything when you did it. So what was the harm?”
“You have a point. But I’m a single, isolated case, and Ralph did move on when I was financially set.”
“Puts a whole new spin on ‘Angel Investor’,” I smirked.
GM got a far away look in her eyes. “Hmm... I never thought of that... maybe he was...” She cleared her throat and her face became solemn. “Keira. Imagine if there were hundreds like me short-circuiting the financial markets? It would be chaotic. My ultimate goal was altruistic. Could the same be said of most people?”
“No. All you have to do is read how corporations are causing havoc as it is, GM.”
“I shudder at the thought of some Wall Street hedge-fund manager with that sort of information,” she said. “The economy and state of the world is bad enough as it is, don’t you think?”
I recalled that derelict at the subway station last week. Wealthiest city on the planet and he didn’t have socks. “Yeah,” I sighed. “But... speaking of wealth... the inheritance... I still don’t know what it is you want of me. I mean... there’s got to be a catch.” Call me cynical but she’d offered that inheritance pretty damned fast when I said I was going to leave.
For a long moment she watched me silently, her gaze softly meeting mine. “I don’t offer this lightly, Keira. If there was any other way, believe me I’d jump at the chance to take it. Don’t get me wrong. My work with safeguarding The Veil has been infinitely rewarding. I have helped many people, both living and dead. But, I’m not without enemies doing this. Powerful enemies. Here and in the next plane of existence.”
A shiver went down my spine despite the warmth of the day. If I was to carry on her life’s work which she had intimated was her intention, then I’d not only inherit her wealth, I’d inherit her enemies too.
TWELVE
LATER, WE SAT IN THE SUNROOM eating a lunch of toasted tomato sandwiches and tossed garden salad. All thoughts of exploring the grounds and river were abandoned with her revelations in the rose garden.
Lawrence had only appeared long enough to serve lunch before muttering something about catching up with the laundry. Did he know about the inheritance? That she’d made me her heir? I still wasn’t sure about him but for the time being, there were more important things to think about than her elderly guy Friday.
“So tell me more about these enemies of yours. I mean, they must be pretty scary if you sent Mom away for her protection.” I looked down into the bowl of leafy green lettuce and cucumber, toying with it as I spoke. I still wasn’t sure I was going to agree to any of this... not until I knew what I was up against.
GM dabbed the corners of her mouth and set the napkin back on her lap. “I can’t tell you their names. In all honesty, I don’t know that. If I did, well, it would be so much simpler. But, I know when they are close.” Her face had dropped and there was an iron glint in her eyes.
“But why? Why would anyone, here or in the next stage of existence want to stop you? Is it the money? Some greedy people who want to do what you did... use the next plane for profit on the stock market? Or even power?” My lips twitched as I pictured a Darth Vader type or even Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers movie.
Her chin rose and she smiled. “If it were only so. That, I could easily deal with. No. I’m afraid it’s anarchy that they desire. The end of everything as we know it. They’ve come close a few times and I barely escaped with my sanity, let alone my life. “
The doorbell rang.
I jerked in my chair and stared at her. Her eyes mirrored mine. We were both thinking the same thing. Was it them?
Her hand went to her throat and she sighed. “Can you get that, Keira? Lawrence is upstairs and he might not have heard it.”
“Are you expecting anyone?” I forced my heart back down from where it had leapt into my throat. All this talk about enemies and the supernatural was getting to me.
She shook her head no.
“Okaay. Be right back.” As I was leaving the room the bell rang again. “Hold on!” I pulled the door open and there stood a woman, around my own age in a white uniform shirt and navy shorts. In her hand was an envelope and an electronic clipboard. Her head pulled back and her gray eyes were almost as round as mine, staring back at me.
“Hi. I’ve got a registered letter for Mrs. York. Is she around?” Her brown hair was tied up in a pony tail but a few stray wisps framed the sides of her face. A smattering of freckles crossed the ridge of a small nose above a tentative grin.
I reached out to take the letter from her. “That’s my grandmother. I can sign for her.” It was weird. I was already feeling like the lady of the manor.
She handed it to me and then lifted the gadget, clicking the plastic pen on the smooth surface. “Sign here.” Her eyes were filled with question marks looking at me. “I’m Gwen Jones. I’ve been delivering mail here for years and I’ve never seen you before. Is Lawrence okay?”
I chuckled seeing her confusion as I scratched my signature on her board. “He’s fine. He’s just busy right now. I’m Keira Swanson. This is my first visit from New York.”
Her eyebrows rose and she nodded. “Oh! Well, that’s nice.” She dodged to the side and peeked into the foyer. “I haven’t seen your grandmother or Lawrence in a while. The odd time I see her outside, clipping leaves from her plants. She’s nice. I like your grandmother.”
I laughed at her sneaking a peek around me. What did she think? That this was some home invasion and they were tied up in some room behind me? “Yeah. She’s pretty cool.” I wasn’t going to add anything about Lawrence. “Thanks.” I started to close the door, where she was still trying to examine behind me.
“Yeah. Yeah, right. Have a good day!” I closed the door and as I walked back through the foyer, Lawrence’s voice called out.
“Who was that, Keira?” He stood at the railing on the second floor, staring down at me.
I waved the letter high in my hand. “Just the mail lady. She gave me a registered letter for GM.” I continued on my way but could hear him muttering as he stepped back.
“GM indeed,” he sniffed.
Whatever. When I entered the sunroom, GM was gazing down at her plate, totally in her own world. “It was just the mail lady... Gwen. She asked about you.” I tossed the letter next to her plate.
The Haunting of Crawley House (The Hauntings Of Kingston Book 1) Page 35