Modern Pantheon: Ghost

by Grayson Barrett

  Chapter 17

  From the case files of Special Agent L. Garrison

  Supernatural Investigations Department:

  Organization: (Name Unknown)

  Do I believe there's an organization out there that employs, or even governs the supernatural?

  To answer this question, let me tell you two facts.

  1: First and foremost, the self-burning book cabinets. In the past decade alone, SI attempted to seize the possessions of three different suspected mages, and in all three cases, a fire broke out the moment someone entered the home. On the second incident, the suspected mage didn't even know we were ransacking his house.

  2: Every magical incident in recent history has had all evidence removed or destroyed within hours of its occurrence. The warehouse incident was no exception; an ATM camera and two neighboring warehouse's security camera were wiped.

  Were something of similar nature to happen in isolation, I’d have my doubts. However, organized cover-ups such as these are common whenever the supernatural is involved.

  “Avoid using cards and cell phones?” I said, getting into the driver’s seat of Cameron Cane’s Mercedes. “What, you think the NSA summoned the ghost?” I mocked.

  “It’s for her own protection,” Lara snapped, forcefully buckling her seatbelt.

  “She was scared out of her mind,” I said.

  “Two of the three most likely suspects are the Venir and the Imperium. Both could hack into whatever they want.”

  The Imperium? I stopped myself from voicing my objections, because she was on edge enough. Sure, I don’t trust the Imperium, but I know they’d tackle the issue of a rogue mage head on. If they knew Emmitt Cane was an unregistered mage, they’d attack him with authority, not stealth. However, since the last thing Lara and I needed was another spat I kept my mouth shut.

  She did the same, except with a lot more emotion. As I started up the engine, she sat in the passenger seat, icing up the windows around her with her frosty poise.

  “So, I’m out of ideas. You got any?”

  She clenched and unclenched her jaw as we drove.

  “Okay. Why don’t we stop for new clothes, now that stores are open? Get you out of that dress?”

  No response, except that iceberg shoulder.

  “Look, I’m sorry I blocked you out of the conversation.” I said. “I just wanted to–”

  “It’s not that,” she snapped.

  “Okay?” I said, trying to think quickly through the past few minutes and coming up with squat. “What’s on your mind?”

  “It’s the assassin, or whoever he is.”

  “Ash?” I said.

  She stared sideways at me as we drove toward Wal-Mart, so I elaborated.

  “The word is spelled out on his license plate, so it’s what I’ve been calling him. It’s as good a name as any.

  “Okay, sure. Ash. I tried to stop him.”

  “It all worked out in the end.” I said.

  “Only because Katherine was competent enough to know bring a gun. No, I mean that I tried to stop him, but failed.” She swallowed heavily as we drove on. “I had my spell ready. My focus prepared. But when it came down to it; nothing. Not even a spark.”

  “Don’t worry about that. I mean, I’ve cast a record number of botched spells on this case, too. Haven’t yet done a thing to the ghost. It’s not easy, casting on the spot.”

  “You stopped it in its tracks on the bridge,” she said.

  “A temporary setback,” I said. “It’ll be back.”

  “But I’ve been practicing this all my life,” Lara said brashly. “At a range, or in my basement I can cast perfectly. But the moment I need it, the math just doesn’t add up. I forget a part of the spell, or get something wrong, or panic. The worst part is, the second the action’s over, I know exactly how I goofed up, but by then it’s too late – I’ve completely failed.”

  “Hey, you still hit him with the potted plant. That nearly knocked the guy out. The probability of hitting him like that was remarkably low.”

  She glared ferociously.

  “That was a spell, right?”

  She looked away, and my stomach knotted.

  Damn. The one time she doesn’t manipulate probability just happened to be the time she got genuinely lucky.

  “That wouldn’t exactly be probability magic. That throw was a hell of a lot easier than, say, throwing a set of keys into your pocket from ten feet away. It was a simple quadratic formula, which I can bring to mind instantly. I do Calculus in my dreams, Thomas, yet I didn’t even think to use that spell. Instead I tried to cast some stupid lightning spell, which could have hit you, which is another thing I didn’t realize.”

  “Lots of things could have gone wrong back there, but they didn’t.” I said. “You’ll get it next time.”

  The silence hung there, full of uncertainty.

  After a while, Lara said, “I tested to become a Guardian. Thrice. Failed, all three times. Same flippin’ reason, all three times. Couldn’t perform under pressure.”

  “Being a Guardian is overrated,” I said. “Trust me, I’d know.”

  “Dad made it perfectly clear that I’m to carry on the family legacy,” she said, her nose furrowed in anger. “My dad was Chief Guardian. So was my uncle before him and my Grandpa before him. The Mercers have been guardians dating back five centuries. What am I supposed to do? Just give that up? You know what Dad would think of me if I did.”

  I rolled my eyes at the thought of Lucian Mercer. “You dad is–” I stopped myself short. Instead of calling him a hard-ass, I instead said, “Your dad has rigid expectations. Not everyone has a quick mind like he does. Still, you’re the smartest person I know.”

  She exhaled in disbelief.

  “There aren’t many who brave probability magic. Look how it’s helped you in the PI biz.”

  “My PI job. Right. There’s nothing I do here you haven’t already done better, and this is only your second day. I’ve been at this for over a year and you’re out-shining me. I thought this would give me some firsthand experience on the field, since the Guardians haven’t offered me any. Honestly, if we get out of this alive, I might just give it all up before I go deeper in debt.” Then, with a scornful tone, she added, “Join the council or something.”

  “Actually,” I said carefully, knowing full well this conversation could turn bad, “That sounds like a good idea to me.”

  “I wasn’t being serious,” she snapped.

  Everything I knew about Lara was telling me to drop the subject. She didn’t open up to me very often. If I said the wrong thing, I’d probably happen upon one of her many insecurities. However, this wasn’t the first time I’d seen her held back by her father’s expectations. It hurt to see her continually try to follow the man down a path she didn’t belong.

  She told you recently that she isn’t the same person she used to be, I thought. Maybe this is the opportunity to stop the endless squabbles.

  “You were right about your name. There’s a lot of history behind it. That doesn’t mean it binds you to the Guardians,” I said. “With your dad’s name, you have a huge advantage over anyone else in the Imperium.”

  “Dad made it perfectly clear that I’m forbidden to join them,” she said, angrily away from me.

  “It might take a few years, but he’d be very proud of you if you’re successful,” I said.

  “Thomas, I had this thought before. Dad told me I’m not to join the council or the Judges.”

  “Then become a Technomancer. Stick to your strengths, rather than force your weaknesses. Hell, with his reputation and your smarts, you could be Emperor in thirty years.”

  “Drop it,” she snarled, keeping her back to me as she stared out the window.

  Yep, she certainly changed, I thought sarcastically. She snapped back three sentences in rather than two. Way to be supportive, Thomas.

  We pulled into a Wal-Mart on a tense note. Still angry, both at her and at myself
for deciding to open up to her, I thought best to discuss the case as I got out of the car. “What’s our next move?”

  Her manner went immediately professional, as did mine. “Well, I have a few ideas on how to take down the ghost, but first I think we need to find Kelly Freidman.”

  “Okay, how?” I asked.

  “You think she might have found out how to cast? Got revenge on Emmitt herself for killing her boyfriend, Jackson?”

  “That’s one angle,” I said. “And since Kelly is James’ wife, it’s possible that James taught her some magic. If she knew the basics, it wouldn’t be hard for her to figure out that she can summon the ghost.” I flung out my ideas, mostly at random. “Kelly learns she can cast. On an unrelated note, Daniel finds out about the affair and tells Emmitt. Emmitt summons the ghost and kills Kelly’s boyfriend. Maybe Kelly wanted revenge, so she sent the ghost back after him,”

  No, Thomas. That’s not it. I couldn’t finger exactly why, but somehow I knew I that was wrong.

  “It makes sense.” Lara said. “Plus, her affair was discovered by Daniel, so she’d want to kill him, too.”

  “But then there’s this Ash guy,” I said. “Why would anyone want to kill Kelly’s sister? Katherine didn’t know anything.”

  “Well, Katherine obviously knows something incriminating.” Lara said. “Or could find it out easily. The only thing Katherine told us that we didn’t know was that Jackson was the original victim of the ghost.”

  “Great, but I think we already know who summoned it that time.”

  “Emmitt Cane,” she said. We approached the store’s double doors, which opened neatly for us. Stepping past the greeter, we headed toward the clothes department.

  “I think we’re still missing something.” I said. “It doesn’t make sense to send an assassin after Katherine.”

  “Plus,” Lara said, “there are two names that haven’t come up yet.”

  “Whose?” I asked.

  “Cameron.”

  “What about him?” I glowered.

  “He’s some distant relative who just comes out of nowhere. He’s got a connection to Emmitt, and only Emmitt. Did you catch that Daniel hardly could place Cameron him when you dropped his name? No one else we’ve met has any idea who the guy is, which means that nothing he says can be proven one way or another. Plus, I just know he’s going to somehow come out ahead in all of this.”

  “I’ve spent more time with him than you have. I trust Cameron Cane.”

  “Trust has nothing to do with it. Cameron is hiding something. Plus, with a family like the Canes, they’ve probably got their own guys looking into it.”

  “Yeah, but we’re the only mages. Besides, I don’t get a killer vibe from the guy.”

  “Then you must be blind,” she said.

  I shook my head, heavily annoyed. “Who’s the other guy you were about to mention?”

  “Lance Ruben.”

  “You think he’s a suspect?”

  “He’s not the killer, but he and the Canes are connected. Emmitt’s big brother, James, is tight with him, and Emmitt himself had some shady deal going on with him. They’re definitely connected.

  “Maybe Lance sent Ash to beat some answers out of Katherine.” A small surge of anger arose within me upon realizing the tactic.

  She bit her lip in thought as we approached a rack of solid colored blouses. “Hmm. No.” I saw a glimmer of insight appear in her eye. “Ash! He’s the key to all of this.”

  “Huh?”

  “So, Ash started trailing you at the beginning of all this, right?” Lara said as she browsed the rack of gray and black tops.

  “Trailing?” I said, holding back an amused smile at her choice of words. “Umm, yeah.”

  “Frankly, everyone had a motive to keep an eye on you two days ago, so I didn’t think much of him. Honestly, I figured he was working for Lance, and that he just wasn’t important.”

  “Okay,” I said, not entirely sure where she was going with this.

  “But now, he went after Katherine,” she said, rushing her speech with excitement. “With a knife, which implies an intent to kill her. Ash was sent to silence her.”

  “Okay,” I said.

  “Don’t you see, Thomas? There’s only one reason he’d want to silence a witness.”

  Then, I realized it. “You think he’s taking orders from the killer.”

  “Exactly,” she said, pleased, holding up a conservatively cut blouse.

  “So if we track down this Ash guy, we’ve got a direct connection to the killer.”

  Smiling, Lara grabbed a black top and a gray pair of pants as we spoke. “And since we already know his license plate numbers, I only need a few minutes on a computer and he’s as good as found.” She spun happily, heading toward the changing room.

  “Hey, you mind lending me your phone?”

  She stopped and glared. “Why?”

  I met her eyes without flinching, which honestly is a lot more impressive than it sounds. “I want to make a call.”

  “Not Cameron, I hope,” she said with narrowed eyes.

  “He said he’d look for Kelly. Maybe he found out where she is.”

  “Fine, just be careful. I don’t trust him,” she said, taking it out of her small handbag and tossing it over.

  “Fine.”

  I opened the phone and scrolled down to Cameron Cane in her contacts as she headed to the change room. My thumb hovered over the call button for a second before noticing the name right above his on the list, Brianna Porter.

  This whole business is dangerous, I found myself thinking. The deeper into this case we get, the more determined my enemy. What if Lara gets hurt? What if she freezes up, like she did in the greenhouse? Like she does every time she got in a stressful situation?

  Glancing sideways at the store exit, my mind deviously drifted.

  Don’t even think about leaving her here, Thomas. You need her.

  But what if she got hurt?

  She’d never forgive you if you left.

  But I’d never forgive myself if she got hurt because of me. Besides, the time of going around and nicely asking questions was over. Whoever summoned this ghost had us in their crosshairs. A hit man had already been sent for Katherine. If things got violent, Lara would be of little consequence to the killer.

  Ash proved I was close, and Ash was on his way back to the true perpetrator – a full-fledged mage. The killer wanted blood, and though I love Lara like a sister, I know she’s no fighter. Even if she did realize the scope of the situation, she’d give her own life before taking another’s. I knew this, just as I knew she’d just get in my way.

  Plus, I had another idea of how I could track Ash. A borderline suicidal idea, perhaps, but one that would close the case. That’s what matters most. I just needed to get a bit more information. My foot stepped decisively toward the store’s exit as I selected Bree’s number.

  I’m done playing nice with everyone. I need to find the killer, and I need to do it before he finds me.

  I hit dial. The phone only rang once.

  “Who is this?” a woman’s voice said in my ear.

  “The guy you’re looking for.”

  “God Damn it, Thomas. You’ve got a lot of balls calling me.”

  “How’s the search going, Bree?”

  “Give yourself up, Thomas. Maybe the Council will spare you.”

  “Oh, they’ll definitely spare me once I prove I’m not the killer,” I said.

  “Oh yeah? And who is?” Bree asked scornfully.

  “I’ve got a lead, but I need your help.”

  “The only thing you’ll get from me is–”

  I put the mouthpiece right in front of my mouth and cut her off in a shout, “Where can I find Lance Ruben?”

  The line went silent for several seconds. I thought she may have hung up, when she said, “What happened when Lance’s men captured you last year?”

  I rushed out the exit, into the parking lot. �
��That doesn’t matter, Bree. Look, I’ve got–”

  “You want to find Lance Ruben. I’m a guardian. Of course I know where he is. I’ll give you his location, but it comes with a price. What happened in that warehouse?”

  She had me trapped. Hell – I knew the truth would piss her off more than any lie I could concoct. But we were engaged for six months. She knew me, and would see through anything except the absolute truth. Sure, I’ve debated telling her in the past, but she’d never buy it. The love we shared once was solid. I haven’t trusted anyone like her since. Aside from my father, I never trusted anyone as much as I used to trust her, Lara included.

  “Off the record. The full truth,” she demanded.

  “I... I don’t know all the answers you’re looking for.”

  “Then I don’t know where Lance is.”

  I swallowed a dry mouth as I got into the car.

  “Your brother was working for the Venir,” I said, my dismay pouring into the words. I felt horrible even saying it. The memory of his body crashing into the concrete wall burned in my memory. He pleaded with me, moments before his spark of life vanished. Pleaded with me not to tell her this very thing.

  Her brother would want a killer brought to justice. Besides, he betrayed you. You don’t owe him anything.

  “Your brother was taking bribes,” I said finally. “Reporting our actions to the Lance.”

  More silence.

  I continued. “You already knew that I suspected your brother from the beginning, but the Imperium told me to stay out of it. I didn’t find out we had a spy among the Venir until later. Until your brother was dead.” I said, my mouth arid.

  Bree already knew the beginning. She knew that I promised her that I wouldn’t follow her brother, but I did anyway. How much harm could come from a quick look into his life?

  A lot, as it turns out. If only I listened to her, her brother would still be alive. Shame erupted like a flame inside of me every time I remembered that broken promise. “It started when your brother left, and I... I followed him to the warehouse.”

  The phone’s silence urged me on while demanding that I hang up. I shook my head and turned on the car.

  “Did you kill him?” she asked.

  Why did this have to happen via the phone? Bree deserves better than this.

  I sighed, closing my eyes at the disturbing memory. I’d often made a point not to think on what happened. When I tried to respond, my throat tightened. It did every time I thought about the experience.

  “Damn it, Thomas. We’ve been through this,” she said as I hesitated. “You walked out of the warehouse. You weren’t unconscious. How did you survive while he died?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “There are a lot of things about that day I hardly remember, but only one thing I’m sure about. I didn’t kill anyone that day.”

  “Who else was there?”

  “Five nameless thugs,” I said. “They were the ones who found me snooping around. They held me for a week in some industrial sized fridge. The thing I remember most is the cold. Numbing cold. I couldn’t move my arms. Legs. Couldn’t think. I-”

  “Who else was there?” she repeated.

  “For the first few days, just me, the five Venir, and that kid,” I told her, my voice suddenly seething with a growing anger. “Lance’s men found me sneaking around outside, and took me in with a passing kid. They bound me to a chair, and him to a metal table. They threatened to kill me, and made me watch as they tortured the kid. They cut out his eyes, and then his tongue. They smashed his hands and feet. God, he couldn’t have been older than twelve or thirteen. We were there for... I didn’t know how long. It felt like weeks, but it ended up being only three days. The kid couldn’t talk, and I had no idea who he was.

  “I thought they killed him, but then they came and tortured him again. I don’t know why they did it, or why they made me watch. And wasn’t until minutes before it happened when your brother showed up. I don’t know how, but when he arrived, the kid somehow changed. His hands got better, and he–” I swallowed, reigning in my anger. “The child killed them. Everyone. Ripped apart the warehouse and ripped apart the people. I tried to tell him to spare your brother but the kid was so full of rage.”

  I took a breath, and pushed the memory to the back of my mind where it belonged. “The last thing I remember is the kid turning back to me, his eyes bleeding and blank. He reached out a hand and... and then I remember being in a police interrogation room. I know the story makes no sense. I know that kids can’t cast, but I swear, Bree that I’m telling you the truth. The building had fallen down around me. The people in it were dead, and I didn’t have a scratch on me, but that’s how it happened.”

  I tried to read into the silence on the phone. What was she feeling? Rage? Sadness? Relief? Skepticism?

  “Look,” I said, “I wish I had a better explanation, but I don’t. The kid hadn’t even reached the age of reason, but even so, he was the most powerful mage I’d ever seen. I’ve considered every possibility. They didn’t drug me, or mess with my mind. Maybe this kid destroyed the warehouse. Maybe not, but whoever destroyed the place had a hell of a lot more power than I’ll ever have. I don’t know if the kid survived. I don’t know if he acted alone. I’m not even sure he did it. The only thing I remember is relief that I survived.”

  A flicker of static crossed the line. I waited for her response - any response, even if she’d just hung up on me. I knew that she’d never believe it, but it was the whole, horrible truth.

  “Lance Ruben has an upscale nightclub in Maplewood. The Divination. He owns the place and uses it as a base of operations by day. And Thomas? This conversation never happened.”

  I heard a click, and the line went dead.

  Sliding the phone angrily into my pocket, I looked back toward the store as I put the car into drive, leaving my sister behind. Even the smooth drive ahead did not lighten my dark mood.