Ghost Squad

by Claribel A. Ortega

  She nodded, and Babette gave her the scroll of paper and a pen.

  “Write it down, quickly, before you forget. You and Syd will need to recite it no matter what happens. I’ve already prepared the space.”

  Lucely wasn’t sure how, but Babette must’ve known the spell would come to her during the vision.

  Dozens of lit candles flickered around the red viewing platform, their light weaving with the fireflies’ light as they flew in and out of the room.

  Babette pointed at the spirit storm building on the sea in the light of the moon.

  “I need your toughest firefly, Lucely. The scariest of them all.”

  Lucely nearly smiled, and then in unison with Syd and her father said, “Tía Milagros.”

  Lucely tapped on her mason jar and called for her tía, and moments later, she emerged.

  “What do we do?” Tía Milagros’s voice arrived before her human form did, but soon she was standing next to Babette, chancla in hand.

  “We use these.” Babette flourished her cape to reveal tiny mirrors along its edges. “And the lenses there.” She pointed at the giant rotating lenses within the lighthouse enclosure.

  “Now we just need the help of Las Brujas—”

  “Moradas,” Tía Milagros said. “I know those stories well.”

  “As a member of the coven, I can invoke their spirits here tonight. More than their spirits, their energy, their power.” Babette turned to Tía Milagros and smiled. “Can you get me up to the lens? Lucely and Syd, when you see a light flare from us, just as the light from this beacon comes around for the third time, you begin the spell. Simon, you and Chunk cover the girls. Got it?”

  They all nodded.

  “Let’s go,” Babette said.

  Tía Milagros nodded and then became a bright white light, enveloping Babette and taking her out into the storm.

  The beam from the lighthouse came around, illuminating the spirit storm. It was a shapeless form, and as it came closer, Lucely saw that it was made of a disgusting gray slimy substance. It groaned with what sounded like the voices of hundreds of lost souls.

  With her father, Syd, and Chunk by her side, Lucely watched as Babette opened her cape and revealed a magic wand. Lucely was anxious but on high alert, waiting for the signal for her to recite the spell with Syd.

  The spirit storm seemed to notice Babette standing at attention on the topmost platform of the lighthouse now and grew in all different directions, like a ten-thousand-headed monster. It roared at Babette and gained speed as it charged toward them. Babette shot a bolt of purple light from her wand, briefly stunning the spirit storm.

  Babette raised her arms and began to intone a spell, her voice booming in the night sky so loudly that Lucely wouldn’t have been surprised if all of Florida could hear her. Her cape was spread out on both sides and seemed to go on for miles. The tiny mirrors glittered in the moonlight.

  “Las Brujas Moradas, hear us tonight.

  No longer in hiding, no longer in fright.

  Las Brujas Moradas, come to our call.

  No longer afraid, to tumble and fall.

  Las Brujas, Las Brujas, answer our plea.

  Come to us now, from land and from sea.

  Take this demon away, tonight,

  Las Brujas Moradas.

  Take this demon from sight!”

  Twinkling purple stars began to shower down all around them. Brilliant and bright, they fell like snow before settling into their human forms on the viewing platform. The brujas surrounded Babette as she moved to stand next to the massive lens. Light pulsed from their hands as they transmitted their energy to Babette.

  When the light from the beacon came around again, Babette bellowed, “Now!”

  “It’s now or never, Syd,” Lucely said.

  Syd nodded, tears forming in her eyes. They were both shaking, perhaps from the wind or fear, or probably both. But Lucely fixed Syd with a determined look and squeezed her hands. We can do this, she tried to tell her. We’re gonna do it together.

  Lucely took a deep breath and began.

  “A sprinkle of sun,

  A shimmer of light,

  Turn back the darkness,

  Turn back the fright …”

  A swarm of spirits closed in on them, but Simon fought them back with a Razzle-Dazzler in each hand, shooting as if he’d been doing this his whole life. Chunk hissed and swatted at any ghost that got too close, occasionally growing to her mega-Chunk size and roaring in their faces.

  Lucely took a jagged deep breath, her hands shaking so hard she could barely keep hold of Syd.

  “We’ve got this,” Syd yelled over the howling wind. “I believe in you, Lucely!”

  “MEOW,” added Chunk.

  Lucely felt the warmth of the fireflies around her, as if they were saying, “We believe in you too!”

  She closed her eyes and finished the spell from the heart.

  “I call on the power

  Of my ancestor’s ghosts

  And speak three names, I love most …

  Simon Luna, Teresa Luna, and Syd Faires!”

  Light shot out from Syd’s and Lucely’s clasped hands straight toward Babette and Las Brujas. Magnified by the lighthouse’s lens, an explosion of purple and white lit up the night sky. The bright lights reflected off Babette’s cape and surged—bigger and bigger—until finally the dazzling blaze of purple-and-white light seemed to engulf the entire ocean. Everything was shaking, and the lighthouse seemed moments from collapsing around them.

  A massive, swirling gateway formed in the sky above the lighthouse, dragging the spirit storm across its threshold as if Tía Milagros were vacuuming them all up.

  The ghosts wailed as they flew into the void and a final rush of fog overtook them, making a sound like a roller coaster rumbling overhead. The sky above the lighthouse roared shut, leaving nothing but silence and the light of the fireflies, blinking out.

  WHEN LUCELY OPENED HER EYES, she saw her father sitting in the chair next to her bed, a huge, goofy smile on his face.

  “Welcome back to the land of the living, kiddo.” Simon held out a bowl of cold farina.

  “You put it in the fridge,” she croaked. “That’s my favorite.”

  “Yes, I could never forget.” Her dad smiled proudly. “You are my child, after all.”

  Cold farina was Lucely’s favorite thing to eat for breakfast back when her mother was around, but her dad had stopped making anything Lucely’s mom used to make because it hurt him too much. Now there was no hurt in his face. There was only love.

  Lucely’s eyes flew open, as she suddenly remembered everything. “Did it work?” Is everyone okay? The fireflies? Mamá?”

  Lucely’s heart nearly stopped waiting for her father to answer.

  “I … think they’re okay. You know I can’t see them the way you can, but they’re all in place, all flying and shining.”

  She would have to check on them, but they had to be okay. They just had to be.

  “And it did work, Luce. You girls saved the town from a vengeful mega-ghost with an army of nasty spirits. Not to mention you and Syd are local heroes now.” Simon held up a newspaper for her to see. “The Gazette delivered a special issue to every house in St. Augustine yesterday morning. You two made the front page!”

  LOCAL BEST FRIENDS SAVE ST. AUGUSTINE

  At just twelve years old, best friends Lucely Luna, daughter of Simon Luna, owner and operator of the remarkably charming Luna Ghost Tour, and Syd Faires, granddaughter of Babette’s Baubles proprietor Babette Faires, have already made their mark on St. Augustine. When a record-breaking storm made landfall on Sunday night, Lucely and Syd found themselves at a crossroads.

  “Well, we were biking over to city hall for the Halloween Festival when we noticed that the lighthouse’s beacon wasn’t lit, which was odd,” Syd Faires explained. “So we decided to check it out for ourselves.” According to her firsthand account, by the time the girls reached the lighthouse, the sky had ope
ned up and rain was coming down in torrents. Seeking shelter inside, they discovered that the lighthouse’s power grid had been completely shut off. “Now, I’m no expert when it comes to electrical work, but when I see a massive switch that says ‘off’ and ‘on,’ I can handle it myself,” Faires said. Once the lighthouse’s power grid was back online, the emergency alert sensors came alive. Now alight, the beacon could fulfill its purpose: guiding travelers, both on land and at sea, out of harm’s way. The quick and decisive action of these two girls may just have saved lives.

  As the sun rose on a new day, the brute strength of the storm was on full display. Rebuilding will take years, but if we’ve learned anything from our past, it’s that those who gather around a unifying cause and help one another create a stronger and more resilient community, prepared to weather any storm that dares to try to divide them.

  “I don’t understand,” Lucely said. “None of that is true. Everyone at city hall saw what happened that night.”

  “Are you sure about that, Luce?” Simon raised an eyebrow. “What’s the name of the newspaper again?”

  She inspected the front page. At the top, in bold, gothic type, were the words the Babette Gazette. Lucely looked confused. “Babette wrote this?!”

  “Pretty good, right?” Babette glided into the room trailed by Syd. “I’m glad you’ve finally woken up. You two left quite a mess in my library.”

  “I think I’m feeling kind of sleepy now, actually,” said Syd, and Lucely laughed.

  Chunk tried to jump onto Lucely’s bed and failed, so Syd hefted her up, setting her in Lucely’s lap.

  “I’m glad you’re okay, Syd,” Lucely said.

  “Me?! You’re the one who’s been knocked out. My parents even came by to play some music to help you heal, or something hippie-ish. You slept through my dad’s saxaphone and my mom’s drums. Think about that.”

  The girls laughed, and Lucely quirked an eyebrow.

  “What about the attack at city hall? The mayor turning into an evil spirit and wreaking havoc all over town? Everyone at the Halloween Festival saw what really happened.”

  “People are all too willing to believe an easy lie in place of a complicated truth.” Babette flourished her hand as she spoke. “Anyone with, say, a talent for the craft of deception can bend the truth just enough to turn one’s memory of events into something more … palatable for the general public.”

  Syd rolled her eyes. “What Babette is trying to say is that, once everyone in town had recovered from her magic shock wave–thingy that banished the evil spirits at City Hall and wiped their memory, she enchanted these newspapers so that anyone who read them would remember my grandma’s creative-writing version of history.”

  Lucely scrunched her face. “Kind of like that red flashy thing they use in Men in Black?”

  “ ‘Woman in Purple’ doesn’t quite have the same ring to it though,” Simon said, laughing.

  “Whoa, that’s … so cool!” It was all starting to click into place for Lucely.

  Simon’s face softened. “You’ve missed a lot in the past two days, Luce.”

  “They found the real Mayor Anderson locked in the basement of city hall rambling on about how Eliza Braggs had ghost-napped him,” Syd cut in. “Though he didn’t know she was a ghost at the time.”

  “I had to whip up a little something special just for him.” Babette winked at Lucely.

  “Speaking of which, why didn’t Syd sleep for two days?” Lucely sat up and the room spun.

  “The magic took a lot out of you,” Babette explained. “And as it turns out …”

  “I’m a witch!” Syd pounced onto the bed, and even though it made the room spin again, Lucely laughed.

  “Witch in training,” Babette corrected. “You’ve got a lot to learn before you can call yourself a true witch.”

  Lucely squealed with excitement at Syd’s news, wrapping her in a hug. “I can’t believe it. My best friend is a witch!”

  “I know! I can’t wait to hex our classmates,” Syd said.

  “Sydney …” Babette’s voice was low.

  “I’m kidding!” Syd said. “I’m not kidding,” she whispered into Lucely’s ear.

  Lucely laughed and sank into Syd’s arms. “Thanks for believing in me, Syd. And for sticking by my side throughout all this. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

  Syd smiled. “That’s what I’m here for. Cracking jokes and kicking ghost butt and being charming. I could go on.”

  Lucely and Syd broke into a fit of giggles.

  The phone in the hallway rang, waking a grumpy Chunk from her nap.

  “I’ll get it,” Simon said, stepping out of the room. “Luna Ghost Tour … no, sorry. We’re all booked through Halloween. Yes, of next year, I’m so sorry! I will keep your name on the waiting list in case of a cancellation. Yes, of course. Thank you!”

  Lucely felt like her eyes might pop out of her head. “Halloween of next year?”

  “That’s right,” Simon said. “With all the media attention around you and Syd—thanks to Babette’s article—we’ve been flooded with calls and bookings for the past two days.”

  “Does that mean that we don’t have to move?” Lucely asked hopefully.

  “The Lunas are officially here to stay! And we’re going to help St. Augustine get back on its feet. After the destruction caused by Eliza Braggs and her spirit storm, the town needs us here more than ever.”

  Lucely beamed at her dad, happy that some more good had come of all this.

  “Have you made her the tea?” Babette asked Simon as she put one hand on Lucely’s forehead.

  “Oh, not yet. I’ll go do that now. I’ll be right back, kid,” Simon said as he and Babette walked out, Babette giving him instructions the entire way.

  “Lucely, can I ask you something sorta weird?” Syd asked.

  “When have you ever asked permission for that?” Lucely joked before seeing that Syd was being serious.

  “Way harsh, but fair. I was just wondering …” Syd tugged at her sleeve. “When you were reciting the last part of the spell, why did you say my name and not your mother’s?”

  Lucely chewed her lip. “When I blacked out, ghosts helped me escape in my vision, and I saw the spirits of all the historical figures my dad has hanging up around our house. They reminded me of home, and when I thought of home … I thought of you. I could just feel the final piece of the spell had to come from my heart. I spent a lot of time thinking about how much I missed my mom, how much I wished I had my family back together again. But then I realized that I already have a family.” She smiled at Syd. “My dad and you and Babette and the fireflies. Even all the Goonies cats.”

  “Can you even imagine what that family portrait would look like?” They both laughed at this.

  Chunk rolled onto her back next to Lucely. “Meow,” she agreed.

  “Maybe family is more than who you’re related to,” Lucely said. “It’s also the people you find and love along the way.”

  “I had no idea you were so deep, Lucely!” Syd teased.

  Lucely rubbed Chunk’s belly and shrugged playfully. “The deepest. I’m, like, a poet or something.”

  “I’m really glad you’re not moving away,” Syd said, squeezing her again.

  Lucely sank back into her bed, smiling. “Me too, Syd.”

  Just then, a warm breeze swept through Lucely’s open window, and the room began to fill with a light so bright that Lucely and Syd had to pull the blanket up to shield their eyes. After a few moments, Lucely dared to peek, squinting her eyes as they adjusted to the dimming glow that now surrounded her.

  Macarena and Manny, Tía Milagros and Tía Rosario, Tío Celestino, Benny and Yesenia—everyone in her spirit family was there, standing around her bed, smiling.

  “You’re all okay.” She beamed. “I was worried that I’d lost you forever.”

  Tía Milagros reached out and took Lucely’s hand. “Our place is here. With you.”

  Macar
ena jumped onto the bed and hugged Lucely so tightly she could barely breathe.

  Her spirit family parted to let through another shimmering light. As it came closer and closer, the light began to take shape. The woman before her smiled—a million wrinkles lining her face and the brown liver spots on her hands peeking out from her flowery sleeves.

  As she came closer, Lucely smiled, her face wet with tears.

  “Mamá,” she choked out.

  Mamá Teresa sat on the bed, and Lucely threw herself into her abuela’s arms.

  “No pasa nada, mi niña,” Mamá said as she smoothed Lucely’s frizzed hair and began singing softly to her.

  “Everything is okay,” Lucely said, smiling back at Mamá, and she knew she was home.

  First, I want to thank God for listening to my prayers sometimes and letting me learn the hard way other times. It was needed.

  To my parents, Anazaria and Pablo, for always supporting me, telling me I can do anything I put my mind to, and showing me that life isn’t perfect or easy. To my sisters: Nina, you are always there for me when I need you. Thank you for the advice, the tough love, the annoying wake-up calls when we shared a room. I love you so much! Jeanny, thank you for showing me what strength looks like. I don’t know how you do it, but your smile and your perseverance inspire me. I’m proud you’re my big sister, even if you’re really annoying sometimes too.

  David, thank you for believing in my writing before I did. We’ve grown up together, and we’ve been through it all. I wouldn’t trade the years of challenges, of being Pancho’s parents, of loving you for anything. Thanks for always being there and always spoiling me with cookies. None of the things I’ve accomplished would be as fun without you to scream about them with. Thanks for brainstorming with me, for helping me figure out plot holes, for putting up with my emotions when I’m on deadline. We make the best team, and I love you more than you know. Please translate this for Pancho, preferably in the form of string cheese. ☺ I love you bud. Let’s make a fort now, please!

  To my nieces and nephews (I’m taking a deep breath because there a lot of you. Related: good job, sisters) in age order: Gigi, aka Comeongi, I am so happy at how you’re growing up. So smart and so tall and so kind and patient. I’m excited for my future free teeth cleanings. I love you so, so much. The foot thing was Joshua’s fault.