by D C Young
“I mean that the group of hi-brows from Orange County, who were here last weekend and early into this week, are the cause of a lot of those ghostly rumors. I don’t think the rumors are rumors, to tell you the truth.”
“You think there really are ghosts out there?”
“I know there are,” he said. “I’ve seen a couple myself. I don’t go out there anymore; not after what I’ve seen out there. It used to be a nice, peaceful place… a half-dozen years ago, maybe, but not since those folks started showing up every year.”
“Who are they?” I asked.
“They’re pretty secretive. Keep to themselves. The same man calls every year, makes the reservation, pays the fee upfront a week or two in advance. The people arrive, set up their camp and the place is pretty much sealed off, even from me and my assistant, except to empty the waste bins and scrub the showers and toilets every morning. We’re watched the whole time too, like they’re hiding something they don’t want us to see.”
“How do you know they’re responsible for the ghosts out in the grove?”
“The secrecy and the suspicion, mostly,” he replied.
“Does the person who makes the reservation give a name?” I asked. It would be a lead to follow. Maybe if I tracked that person down, I could break the whole case.
“I’m sure he does. There has to be a name attached to the credit card, I suppose.”
I wanted a name and I wanted to go take a closer look into the grove alone. I dropped another mental suggestion.
“Why don’t I run to the office and print off a copy of that information,” he volunteered, with an eager grin. “And I’ll mark your permit paid and drop it in the box on my way out.”
Yes, I gave him that last suggestion too. I didn’t see any sense in paying for a camping space I wasn’t going to use. I watched Jack get into his pickup, wave through the window as he pulled away and watched the pickup continue on down the road and around the wide circle which returned to the entrance of the campground. Once he was out of sight, I walked out behind the camping space until I came across the trail, which was exactly where he said it would be. I followed the trail until I came to a grove of aspen trees and then entered the small clearing. My internal radar was already pinging before I was all of the way into the clearing and for good reason. Hovering a few feet above the ground at the other side of the clearing was a spirit and I knew exactly who it had belonged to.
Chapter Eleven
It wasn’t the first time I’d seen a ghost, so I approached slowly and quietly. I was afraid of frightening Justine’s spirit more than I was frightened. In fact, I had seen things vastly more terrifying than the girl’s frail spirit.
“Hello, Justine,” I said in an even tone. “I’m Samantha.”
I could see a look of reservation in her eyes and saw that she was considering which direction to flee, but she remained in place.
“It’s okay,” I said. “I won’t hurt you. I’m here to help you.”
I saw lips of Justine’s spirit moving, but all I heard was the sound of a static-like screech. There was no making out the words.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I did not understand you. Can you repeat that?”
The lips of the spirit moved again, but again, all I picked up was the same static-like screech. As I heard it the second time, I thought I detected a sound that was something like that of an owl. I glanced around me, scanning the trees. Was Stolas still in the area? I wasn’t particularly afraid. I had dealt with demons before, but I really didn’t want to be surprised by one attacking. The devil and his demons had not been able to attack me unless I made a direct threat against them, but I didn’t know if jinn followed the same sort of ethical behavior.
The static-like screech started up again and I looked back in Justine’s direction, saw her lips moving rapidly and steadily, but could make out nothing that she was saying. I tried to sharpen my focus, but it still didn’t help. Maybe Tammy can help.
“Let me get my daughter to help,” I told the girl’s spirit. “Maybe she can hear you.”
Hey, Tams, what’s up?
Not a good time, Mom.
I could hear a noise whenever she was speaking. It was a strange noise, like skidding, but watery in nature.
I need your help, partner.
Like I said, Mom, not a good time.
What are you doing?
Ooooooohhhhhh shhhhhhhiiiiiittt!
What? What happened? The noise I had heard as she made the drawn out colorful expression didn’t sound good. My radar was pinging like the klaxon again. Tammy? Tammy? Are you okay?
There was a pause before she responded. I’m fine. I just wiped out because I wasn’t concentrating.
On the motorcycle? What are you doing driving a motorcycle?
Not a motorcycle. Water-skiing, we’re at a lake, Mom, duh!
Yeah, well I need your help.
You said that. You also called me partner. So, did you change your mind?
Not entirely. You’re not quitting school that’s for certain, but you are sort of handy at times.
Okay, Mom, partner, what do you need?
I need you to see if you can communicate with Justine’s spirit.
I really can’t do that without some sort of a connection.
She’s right in front of me, is that connection enough?
Yeah, probably, but let me get back in the boat first.
I waited for what seemed like a very long time.
“I’m talking to my daughter,” I explained to the spirit in front of me. It seemed sort of silly, like I was talking on an inter-dimensional cell phone. “I think she can hear you.”
Okay, Mom, let’s do this, Tammy’s voice rejoined inside my mind.
Let me know when you have an image of her and I’ll ask her another question, okay?
Gotcha. There was a pause while Tammy worked on focusing and then her voice was inside my head again. Okay, you’re in a clearing in a grove of aspens… beautiful place… and there she is. She’s not alive, Mom?
No, she’s not.
Oh, Mom, I’m so sorry.
It’s okay. I sort of suspected this.
What happened to her?
That’s what I need you to find out.
Okay, I’m plugged into you, start talking.
“Justine,” I began out loud. “My daughter is with me now, can you explain what happened to you?”
Again, I saw her lips moving and heard the static-like screech.
God, Mom, what the hell is that noise, Tammy’s voice said, breaking into my thoughts.
You couldn’t understand her?
No, all I could hear was that awful noise.
Focus harder, see if you can break through it and hear something.
Okay, ask her again.
“I’m so sorry, Justine,” I said. “Something is blocking us from being able to hear you. Even my daughter can’t hear you very well. Repeat what you just said, she’s going to try to listen harder and see if she can hear you.”
The spirit of Justine nodded her agreement, and then the screech began anew as she spoke.
Still nothing, Mom, Tammy said after some intense seconds. What’s going on?
It’s some sort of muting or something; like a spiritual fax machine scrambling or something.
Fax machine? Really, Mom.
For me, the fax machine didn’t seem to be that out of date. People still used fax machines; at least I thought they still used them. The age gap between me and my daughter and I had reared its ugly head.
What are we going to do?
I think I’m going to have to talk to Allison.
You want me to call her for you?
No, I can manage, you go back to playing.
Yeah. It’s Anthony’s turn on the skis.
See you later then. As a mom, I was obligated to add one more phrase. You to be careful and behave yourselves.
Tammy didn’t respond and I didn’t press her to. After what our fam
ily had been through, it was good that Sledge was able to provide the kids with some downtime. It sounded like they were having fun. I remembered going to the lake when I was younger and skiing and tubing. Those times seemed so very, very far away from me and I regretted that they were behind me. I regretted more that Justine Edwards would never enjoy times like those again either.
“I’ve got to get someone who can help me communicate with you,” I told Justine’s spirit. “I want to help you. Your Mom and Dad sent me to find you.”
When I mentioned her parents, I could see that her face had become very distraught and I could see ghostly tears trickling down her cheeks. That was the first time I’d ever seen that, I had to admit. I started to move away from her, but she moved toward me without outstretched arms. It was quite obvious that she was pleading for me to stay.
“I will be right back, I promise,” I responded.
She was hardly satisfied, but accepted what I said. She turned away sadly and disappeared through the aspen trees. I turned and followed the trail back toward the campground with my head full of frustration. Back at my campsite, I was about to make a call when the old Ford pulled up and Jack got out waving a single sheet of paper as he came toward me.
“I made a print out of the information you asked for,” he beamed as he passed it over to me. He looked past me at the empty space. “You didn’t get your tent set up yet? I can help you, if you like.”
It was time to get rid of Jack and to be sure that he didn’t remember having any contact with me. I saw his expression change slightly as the mental suggestion took root in his mind.
“Well, I guess that’s all,” he said. “You enjoy your stay and give us a call if you need anything.”
“Thank you, sir,” I responded with a friendly smile.
Jack got back into his pickup and drove away.
I got out my cell phone and pressed the speed dial number of Allison.
“You know,” she said as the call connected. “You can call me the other way.”
“Yeah, I know,” I replied. “This is sort of an old habit to break.”
I explained what had happened while I scanned the sheet of paper Jack had given me.
“Bring Veronica and Bjorn with you when you come,” I said before disconnecting the call.
Chapter Twelve
I’d sent Veronica and Bjorn off to see what they could track down concerning the credit card information on the photocopied sheet of paper and Allison and went behind my campsite and started down the trail toward the aspen grove. We were only about halfway there when two preteen children hurried toward us. By the panic on their faces, I could tell that they must have had a run in with Justine. It seemed silly to me that they would be scared of the sweet spirit of the recently deceased fifteen-year-old, but then, they probably weren’t used to seeing ghosts.
“Don’t go down that trail,” the boy of the pair warned us between breaths.
“Why not?” I asked, smiling at the two of them, mostly amused by their saucer shaped eyes.
“There’s a ghost,” the girl responded.
“A ghost, really?” I laughed. I glanced at Allison.
“There will be a witch and a vampire there pretty soon,” she responded.
Evidently, the boy thought we were making fun of him, and why wouldn’t he, given Allison’s response.
“No, I’m serious, we saw a ghost in that grove of aspens,” he insisted.
“Maybe it was a friendly ghost,” I commented. “Did you try to talk to her?”
“No, we got the heck out of there,” the girl asserted. “We’re not going back and you shouldn’t go there either.”
I glanced at Allison again. Should we erase the memory? It’s really a nice little place. I would hate that they never went back.
I suppose, Allison replied. I could tell that there was a little bit of her witch orneriness showing.
I went ahead and dropped a mental suggestion into both of their minds and the boy spoke almost immediately.
“You’ve got to go see that grove of aspens back there,” he said, pointing with his thumb over his shoulder.
“It’s so cool and shady and there’s grass and wild flowers and it’s so pretty,” the girl added with excitement.
“We’ll have to do that, then,” I replied. “Have a good time camping.”
We were several paces down the trail when Allison giggled softly. “You’re a little too kind for a vampire, Sam.”
“Yeah? Well, we vampires get a bad rap, I’m trying to prop up the image,” I responded. “You might try doing that for witches and psychics.”
“Touché,” Allison laughed.
We arrived in the grove a few minutes later. Almost as if it had been a scheduled meeting, Justine’s spirit appeared in the same place where I’d seen her before.
“Justine,” I said. “This is my friend, Allison. She’s going to try to help you; we both are.”
“Hello, Justine,” Allison said.
I heard the same static-like screech I’d heard before. I could tell by Allison’s reaction that she heard the very same thing on that first attempt.
“I understand what you mean, Sam,” she said, pulling at her lower lip with her teeth. “I’m going to have to work beyond my psychic powers to get past… I don’t know how to explain it. It’s sort of like a cosmic encryption. Since we’re dealing with Stolas, it doesn’t surprise me. The owl-like screech is sort of his signature.”
“So, can you break through it and communicate with her?” I asked.
Allison looked at me with an “I can’t believe you just asked me that,” look. “Of course. I can do more than that too. We’ll get what information we can and then release her so she can go to the light.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“Just listen and learn,” she grinned and then she added another request. “Keep an eye on my back, Stolas could still be hanging around here, you know?”
“Yeah, I know,” I responded, scanning the trees around me again. My radar was pinging softly due to Justine’s spirit in front of me, but it wasn’t picking up any other threats, like from demons, jinn and that sort of thing. With the complexity of the “cosmic encryption,” as Allison put it, but I wasn’t altogether certain that whatever might attack wouldn’t be able to cloak their arrival from my radar in some way or another.
“If all goes well, maybe I can break through and you can hear her voice without the encryption too,” Allison said after a moment.
I was pretty used to hearing Allison performing various types of incantations and bringing out various tools like balls of hair, vial with potions in them and all sorts of things. We’d known each other for quite some time and this wasn’t my first witch rodeo. I waited patiently, keeping my head on a swivel, as Allison did her magic. After some moments, Allison addressed Justine.
“Okay, Justine,” she said in a motherly tone, which I didn’t know she possessed. “We’re going to try to talk to you again. Are you ready?”
“I think so,” came the reply.
I smiled broadly when I heard her voice. “I can hear you now, sweetheart. It’s so good to hear your voice.”
The moment I spoke, Justine started to cry.
“Oh, baby, what’s wrong?”
“Tell Momma and Daddy that I’m so sorry,” she said through her sobs.
“Oh, honey, it wasn’t your fault,” Allison assured her.
“But they are worried and scared and now they’re going to be so sad. I don’t want them to be sad.” She continued sobbing.
“It’s okay, sweetheart,” I responded. “We’ll help them too. I promise.”
“Why aren’t you afraid of me?” she said. “I tried talking to other people and asking them for help, but they would only run away.”
“They were afraid,” Allison replied. “But we’re not afraid. We know you won’t hurt us. We want to help you. We want to tell your Momma and Daddy what happened to you. They are worried and want to k
now.”
“It will make them sad,” she said.
“Yes, but once they know, they can begin to heal,” I answered.
In a soft tone, Allison coaxed her into telling us what happened. “We need to know everything that happened to you so that we can find who did this. After we do that, you will be free to go to the light. Do you want to go to the light?”
“Yes,” she replied. “I have tried many times to go toward it. It is warm and seems to be so peaceful there, but something has been holding me back.”
“Of course it has, honey,” I said. “Tell us your story and that will set you free, okay?”
“Okay.”
Chapter Thirteen
“I had never seen the man who was in the closet at the school,” Justine said, beginning to tell her story. “He wasn’t the usual janitor or anyone who worked their regularly. He was reaching underneath some machine and called out to me to hand him a wrench. He said his hand was stuck and he needed the wrench to help get it out.
“I knew I shouldn’t have gotten the wrench for him. Momma always told me to stay away from people I didn’t know, but something was pulling me toward him. I got the wrench for him anyway, but his hand wasn’t really stuck.”
She started to cry as she continued her story.
“He grabbed me, put his hand over my mouth, pulled me into the closet and closed the door. I smelled something really sweet. It was on a cloth that he held over my nose. After that, everything was black for a while. I never saw that man again. When I woke up…”
“Honey, do you remember what the man looked like? Can you describe him?” I asked, breaking into her narration of the events. The description she gave me was exactly the same as the description Tammy had given to the man at the Arctic Friends air conditioning shop.
“When I woke up,” she continued. “I was in a cage in a place with very dim lights, but I wasn’t alone. There were other kids there and we were in pens, like the ones that they have at the humane society, to keep the dogs in. Most of the other kids were younger, but some of them were the same age. We were all afraid and we had all been taken from different places. I tried to help the younger kids to not be afraid, but since I was terrified, I don’t think I helped them much.”