by Alexie Aaron
“I like this. Remind me when I renovate my place to do something like this,” Alan said.
Kiki was pleased that she was included in the timeline of being around when Alan renovated his house. “They bring up the electricity from the floor. See the brass covered outlets,” she said, pointing to the polished wood.
Kiki closed the door and leaned against it. “Go ahead, the coast is clear. Tell me what’s on your mind.”
“I don’t think you and Cid should work with each other anymore. We have had the same conversation about your fears he’s taking over several times this renovation and a few times in other renovations. Admit, even though everyone else likes him, that you dislike Cid.”
Kiki frowned.
“And then ask yourself why.”
Kiki looked at Alan.
His face softened. “Not everyone gets along, Kiki. Jesse recommended his friend, who turned out to be very handy when the ghosts and ghouls came out to play. But there are other finishing carpenters, and Cid has built up a good reputation. Let him go. Whatever it is that causes you to zero in on him when you’re feeling insecure isn’t worth the trouble of trying to get beyond.”
“Wait. It’s his problem not mine.”
“No. It’s yours,” Alan was quick to say.
Kiki folded her arms. “Honestly, when the shit hits the fan, my crew is supposed to come to me. I can see their eyes move in his direction. Just like my friends did when Mimi had a great idea.”
Alan exhaled.
“He’s not Mimi,” Kiki realized.
“No.”
“And he’s not trying to take my friends away.”
“I don’t think so. Cid is kind of a one-on-one friend. He’s friends with Jesse, but Ted’s his BFF, and he’s fine with that. I don’t know him as well as Ted, but he’s part of the nerd culture. The persecuted who don’t trust easily because of it.”
“Alan, I’m such an idiot.”
“No, you’re human. I admit I suffer illogical fears too. I still think Burt Hicks is trying to take my lover away from me.”
“I haven’t spoken to him since Michigan, and we didn’t exactly end things on the best terms up there.”
“Really?”
“Yes, he took over the whole enterprise. The Campbells saw him as…”
“I believe PEEPs were the first point of contact. The Campbells wanted to see if the house would be safe to renovate. I believe Cid convinced Burt to invite you in.”
“That’s not what I remember.”
“It’s what happened. You’re indulging in revisionist history,” Alan pointed out.
“Still, Burt wanted complete control of my renovation!”
“No one wants your renovations. They are full of headaches and unrealistic deadlines,” Alan said, sorting through the materials. “Do you want to start with Atwater’s political pamphlets or…” Alan looked over at Kiki, and she was fuming.
“My deadlines aren’t unreasonable!”
“It’s not you who I was talking about,” Alan said calmly. “I was talking about your clients.”
“Oh.”
“Political or biographical?” he asked, holding up a pamphlet in each hand.
“Biographical.”
“Good, I hate these things,” he said, piling the biographies and books written about Congressman Atwater by his friends and family. There was even a friendly-looking pamphlet that gave Atwater’s personal experiences in judging pies and cakes at the county fare.
Kiki looked over at Alan. “All of this is really political, isn’t it?”
“I fear so, but if we look at the early years, we may find out what his group of lawyers have been working so hard to hide.”
“Are you angry with me?” Kiki asked.
“No. I’m worried but not angry.”
“Worried about us?” Kiki asked.
“Only when you disregard my observations. I don’t have to be right, Kiki, but I’d like you to listen to my words. I came down here to be with you. And if it’s in a library full of books, so be it.”
“You look at me as if there is something wrong with me.”
“There was, but I can see it’s gone now.”
Kiki stared at Alan. “What are you talking about?”
“Not here. Not now.”
“Here and now or I’m going to leave and go back to the Atwater renovation by myself.”
“Sit down. I swear if you leave before I’m finished, we’re done.”
Kiki sat down hard. Her hands started shaking. She was going to lose Alan, and it was all her fault.
Alan pulled out a file from a briefcase. He took a moment and added the stills he had printed in the business room of the hotel this morning while Kiki was showering.
“Do you know what a negative elemental is?” he asked her.
“No.”
“Simply put, it’s a demon ghost. It has all the attributes of a ghost, including it can possess a living being. It needs to feed off the souls of the dead. It can be caught, and has been caught, but we’re not sure how it can be destroyed yet.”
“What does this have to do with me?”
Alan pulled out the photos one by one that displayed Kiki under the control of the elemental.
“Eyes get red with photos.”
Alan pulled out a digital photo frame he kept in his briefcase containing pictures of him and Kiki. “You don’t get redeye.”
Kiki picked up the frame. “You keep this with you?” she asked, her voice soft.
“If I’m called out of town or have to sit and wait on a client, I like to look at you, at us.”
Kiki put her hand on her heart. Her eyes filled up. “I’m so touched.”
Alan gently took the album away and tapped the pictures. “Sometime Sunday, this thing got ahold of you. According to your crew…”
“Cid.”
“No, your crew, Wayne too.”
“Oh.”
“According to your crew,” Alan repeated, “you started to change. You took on an edge and seemed to encourage recklessness on the job site. You could have killed Jessie when you threw the hammer at him.”
“It was a pique of temper not possession. You need more than that to prove to me I was possessed.”
“Do you remember showering yesterday morning?”
“Yes, Sally insisted and loaned me her salt… her salt scrub.”
Alan laid down a picture of a pooling mass oozing from under the door into the hall. “That’s an elemental that was forced from your body because of the running water and the salt scrub.”
“I remember feeling so good. I just assumed it was because I was going to see you.”
“You got dressed, checked on the men, and that’s when the elemental possessed you again.”
“I didn’t feel anything.”
“You wouldn’t. Evidently, from the research I have, once you are possessed, they can slip in and out of your body like a hot knife in butter.”
“But I’m not possessed now,” Kiki said.
“What do you remember of yesterday’s trip here?”
“I must have dozed off.”
Alan told her about the conversation and her grabbing the steering wheel and, finally, showed her the proof of the elemental’s retreat away from the car.
Kiki stared at the photos. She took each one and set it down, forcing herself to remember. “Here, I was sharpening a knife in the dark… I was hoping Cid would return first so…” Kiki paled.
Alan wanted to hold her and make it all go away, but he knew Kiki had to go through this in order to see things clearly.
She set a picture down of the whiteboard. It was altered instructions written in all capitals.
“I wasn’t worried about code,” Kiki remembered. “Me! If anyone would have told me that you could cut a corner by ignoring code and other safety measures, I would have fired them on the spot.”
“Do you r
emember anyone trying to reason with you?”
“Maybe… Carl told me to my face that he would not allow Sally to share a bedroom with me because I was possessed. I thought I heard wrong and he meant obsessed.”
“Perhaps the elemental didn’t want you to hear the truth.”
“All the guys tried to get me to see reason. I remember seeing, first, Jesse as an extension of Cid and then Sally. Anyone agreeing with Cid became the enemy.”
Kiki looked at the still of Jesse’s injury from the video. “Alan, I want to see the whole video.”
Alan plugged his headphones into his phone, cued up the video and handed it to Kiki.
“My god, if I didn’t know better, I would have sworn this is Mimi pulling an elaborate prank, but I remember bits and pieces.” Kiki handed Alan’s phone back to him. She reached in the folder and pulled the photo of the Hangman picture Cid took after Sally gave him the paper.
“This is written on an invoice I was supposed to be checking… I don’t remember doing this.”
“I think the elemental was preparing you to hang Cid. Sally stopped you from choking Cid with wire minutes before we left the Atwater property.”
“I was puzzled by why I was holding on to the wire…” Kiki said. “On my contractor’s license, I swear I would never intentionally hurt a member of my crew, even Cid.”
Alan handed her his phone once again. “Forgive me for doing this. This is a tape of our car trip.”
Kiki listened and handed it back to Alan. “That’s not me. Well, pieces of me. How could this have happened? I’m very aware of myself.”
“Burt Hicks was under the control of an entity for months, and he had no idea. Ted suffered false memories since just after Brian was born. The stronger the entity is, the less chance the possessed has of recognizing any change in themselves.”
“Cid and Jesse were possessed by ghosts at the Campbell assessment,” Kiki said. “The ghosts were very upfront, and we knew who they were. Do you know what or who possessed me?” Kiki asked.
Alan shook his head. “There are theories. I became worried about you when your phone calls to me became disturbing. Forgive me, Kiki, but I sought out help. I initially wanted to be told that I was imagining things and you and Cid were just having another spat. I asked for Audrey Stavros’s help. She encouraged me to speak with Father Simon and Father Santos.”
“The big guns,” Kiki said. “I’m impressed.”
Alan wasn’t fooled by Kiki’s tone. He knew she was upset.
“Well, who possessed me?” Kiki asked.
“We don’t know, except it’s related somehow to Atwater. We think that there is a heritage demon involved,” Alan said and pulled out another folder. He slid out the photo of the floor of the media room. “That’s a summoning circle.”
“Wait, I’m confused. Cid schooled us on heritage demons. They don’t possess.”
“You’re right.”
“But…”
“The evidence points to a negative elemental being involved. According to Audrey’s husband’s research, demons are impossible for humans to kill. But they can be killed. If they are, they are given a choice of being a ghost or ceasing to exist.”
“Well, that’s a no brainer. Negative elemental. But two demons?”
“There are documented cases of humans being so evil that, when they die, they are offered the same deal.”
“Why?”
“As a reward for being evil by evil… Don’t quote me, it sounds absurd.”
Kiki jumped up, her face lit up. She fanned her face. “Alan. The reason we aren’t allowed to mess with the ghosts is because it keeps the elemental trapped on the property!”
“Yes.”
“And the reason my men are there is because the elemental needs more power. He’s encouraging the ghosts to kill so there will be fresh meat,” Kiki said. “We have to get them out of there!”
“Hold on,” Alan said, putting a strong arm on Kiki’s. He set a new photo down.
“What’s…”
“Faye trapped the elemental. Cid, Jesse and Sally contained it. Right now, it’s resting inside the Atwater safe behind iron and lead.” Alan set down a photo of the basement floor. “That’s the men. They were trapped there by, let’s say, friends of Faye’s. The men worked all night and are ready to close up the ceiling down there. You can’t be there. It’s too dangerous.”
“But they trapped it.”
“What happens if Bridgeton opens the safe and sets it free?”
Kiki frowned. “Why didn’t I see this coming? You kept asking me why I wanted this job. Wayne was horrified I took a job when twelve crews abandoned it.”
“A heritage demon doesn’t have to be in the same room with you to influence you. It can operate independent of its family. The demon could have been with the family lawyer or been the lawyer, we don’t know. But stop kicking yourself and settle down so we can get a better understanding of who these Atwaters are and what happened at that house to produce a negative elemental.”
“So we need the family histories.”
“And the little comments on what makes a pie good. When I was in law school and preparing for a mock trial, we researched everything from the type of shoelaces worn to the hair gel purchased by the defendant. Believe me, there is something here.”
“But what if there isn’t?” Kiki asked.
“The guys will finish the job, and Father Santos will put the Atwaters on a watch list.”
“You mentioned that Faye has made friends?”
“Two ghosts, who aren’t crazy, have been helping her and the contractors. One of them has written his story down. Cid has Sally reading it. Evidently, the clever ghost wrote it in between the lines and in the margins of a book and hid it in the library. Care to guess at the title?”
“Do I look like Cid?”
“The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells.”
“How clever,” Kiki said.
“She’s only had it since late last night but already has zeroed in on two things. One: Atwater isn’t the family’s real name. And two: there is a hidden staircase in the media room.”
“Well, we can look into the validity of Atwater here,” Kiki said. “Cid will have to check out the stairway. I have a feeling, if it was so important to hide, it has played a part in this horror story.”
“Kiki, because the elemental can possess you so easily, I have to insist that you don’t go back to Walnut Grove House. It took four rivers and three iron bridges to dislodge the creature from you. If you go back, we may never get you back.”
Kiki nodded and sighed. “I’m sorry for being so stubborn. If not for me letting my personal baggage get in the way, my crew would not be in danger.”
“When do you have to give a progress report to Bridgeton?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Well, let’s get this stuff read and recorded before it disappears,” Alan said. “Father Santos warned me that heritage demons are very intuitive. If it senses something is amiss, then we’re cooked.”
Chapter Fifteen
Daniel Sullivan’s Tale Continued
There is no use lying that Jon didn’t warn me something was amiss. I have the luxury of hindsight to confirm he was right. But, at the time, I was very happy in the new role of family provider. I sent more and more money to my mam and da. War had made normal procurement of daily meals near impossible. If you had money, then you could find a way around the rations. My letters home with the dollars tucked between the folds of paper were appreciated.
“Daniel, our boss is packing up his materials.”
“But the job’s not finished,” I protested.
“I asked him this very question. He told me that if I want to stay, I can have his job. But he’s going home to his family.”
“Are you going to take his job?” I asked Jon.
“No. I’m leaving, going to the city.”
“Stay. I’ll take his j
ob, and we’ll go to the city in style,” I promised.
I regret those words. Jon won’t say it, but he stayed because of me. I got us killed.
Sally shivered. She set the book down and put her rolls into the oven. She let some of the heat of the oven wrap around her. She closed the door and started some bacon frying. She was pulled to the book but knew her job was to feed the men, and she could hear them stirring. Daniel’s story would have to wait.
Faye appeared next to Sally.
Sally jumped, and it took a few moments for her heart to resume a regular beat. “Faye, can you walk into the room, clear your voice, or beat a gong? I’m lucky I didn’t wet myself.”
Faye looked apologetic. “I’m sorry. I came to ask how you’re getting on with the story?”
“I just put it down to work on breakfast,” Sally said. “Would you like me to tell you what I’ve found out so far?”
“Please,” Faye said.
Sally told the story as she put together her breakfast meats and pulled the hot rolls from the oven. “Part of me is afraid to read on. But part of me needs to know what happened to these heroes.”
“Heroes?” Faye asked, her face scrunched up. “How do you see these men as heroes?”
Sally turned and stared at Faye as she counted off her reasons on her hand. “They crossed the ocean to find work. They sent back wages, instead of drinking it like most would have. They didn’t cheat their employer, and even though it cost them, they finished the job.”
“Seems to me, for a military person, you have unusual qualifiers for heroic deeds.”
“Faye, the heroes among us may not always be the ones running into the fray, carrying people down from burning buildings, and putting themselves between a bullet and their loved ones. They are the ones who wait, the ones who care for others, and the ones who complete the job instead of leaving the mess for someone else.”
Cid stood in the doorway. He had started listening to Sally the moment his ears could pick up her voice.
Faye turned and nodded. “I suppose he’s your hero.”
“No, Faye, she’s mine,” Cid said.
Faye shook her head and disappeared.
“What was all that about?”