by Suzanne Weyn
The urge to get out of her strange old-fashioned garb was suddenly overpowering, and Samantha began pulling it off. “It was so scary, Jess. I don’t even know how I got there, but the ghost maid — her name is Sally Kelly — she fooled me into thinking she was you.”
Jessica continued to stare.
“The place was full of zombie creatures and I was trapped in there with them.” Samantha kept up her frantic pace. “And the locket came back. But listen, we have to get out of this cabin now. Something pushed me inside the room and now the numbers say two-ninety-nine. You know that’s not good!”
Samantha was so happy to see Jessica. Scared though she was, having her sister with her was a big comfort.
“Oh, and wait until I tell you about —”
Samantha cut her sentence short, studying her sister curiously. Jessica wasn’t responding to her at all. Her sister only stood there stiffly. “Jess? What’s wrong?”
JESSICA WORE an elaborate white ruffled nightgown. Where had she gotten that? Samantha knew she hadn’t brought it, and the wardrobe department had been closed for the evening.
Her sister’s face was a blank, as if she were walking in her sleep, although that wasn’t a thing she’d ever done before this cruise.
“I know what you did,” Jessica said.
“What are you talking about? Of course you do. I just told you what happened.”
“You snuck out to be with him,” Jessica snarled.
“Who?”
“John!”
“No, I didn’t,” Samantha protested. “Listen to me. This is more important. There’s something I have to tell you about John.”
Jessica stepped into the room and faced Samantha squarely. Illuminated by the moon, her face was twisted with anger. “You love him, don’t you? Admit it!” Jessica commanded.
“Have you lost your mind?” Samantha asked. If this was a joke, Jessica’s timing couldn’t be worse. “Are you kidding me? Don’t even go near John!”
Jessica slapped Samantha forcefully across the face.
Stunned, Samantha staggered back, covering her stinging cheek with her hand. “What was that for?” she demanded, furious. Her sister had never before laid a hand on her.
“You know very well what for,” Jessica answered in a strange, stiff, accusing tone. “John loves me. He would never be interested in a little nothing like you.”
Folding her arms, Jessica turned her back on Samantha. With her face still stinging, Samantha stared at her sister’s back — only this wasn’t her sister. She was completely changed. Had some spirit taken her over while she slept?
Tears jumped to Samantha’s eyes. Exhaustion and terror gripped her. Why was this happening? Was she loosing her mind?
“I’m going to him now!” Jessica cried. She reached into her nightgown and withdrew the locket.
“How did you get that?!” Samantha asked, shocked to see the locket again.
“John gave it to me!” Jessica opened it and revealed the pictures inside. On one side was John and on the other was Jessica.
“But the locket should have a picture of John and me inside,” Samantha insisted. “I saw it myself.”
“You’re insane with jealousy,” Jessica accused Samantha. “This locket shows me and him. Meet us on deck. Let him tell you himself that he loves me.”
With a click, the door unlocked itself and swung open, as if an invisible force was assisting Jessica in her departure. Samantha watched her leave, stunned. When Jessica was in the hall, the door slammed shut with a bang that rattled the cabin.
With her hand to her cheek, Samantha soothed her burning skin. She couldn’t be mad at Jessica, though. Some terrifying possession had overwhelmed her. Whoever that was, it wasn’t Samantha’s sister speaking.
And then the reality hit her. Something had Jessica. That something was taking Jessica to John right now. Handsome, charming John who was not at all what he seemed to be. She pictured his rotted corpse of a face close to her own and shuddered.
The closest clothing Samantha could find was the beaded maroon shift Jessica had left draped over a chair. Quickly she tossed it on and slipped into flip-flops. She had to go help her sister.
AS SAMANTHA stepped out on B Deck, she saw John and Jessica right away. They stood in the moonlight holding hands. Jessica saw Samantha coming toward her and a smug, triumphant smile spread across her face. It said: You’re too late. It’s me he loves.
“Get away from him,” Samantha warned, working to keep her voice calm and steady.
Jessica smirked. “I don’t think so. You’re the one who needs to go away.”
“Jess, he’s not safe!”
“What did you just call me?”
“You’re my sister, Jessica.”
A suspicious expression formed on Jessica’s face. “I’m your sister, but you know my name isn’t Jessica.”
Samantha studied the girl she’d assumed was her sister. Outwardly she looked the same but something wasn’t right: her eyes were cold; the set of her mouth was cruel. The Jessica Samantha had always known never wore an expression like this.
“If your name isn’t Jessica, what is it then?” Samantha asked cautiously.
“Matilda, of course. Matilda Littlefield. You know that, Alice.”
The air stirred beside Samantha, reminding her of a whirlpool, and she ducked out of the way. Slowly an image took form and Samantha saw her own double emerge from the churning atmosphere. She was dressed in the same beaded frock, but unlike Samantha, who was now disheveled and in flip-flops, this girl was perfectly put together: her hair plume neatly pinned, her boots laced and tied, and her silver locket hanging at her neck.
Alice Littlefield eyed Samantha and then stepped toward her. “No,” Samantha screamed as the ghost stared her in the eyes. “No!”
It was no use. There was nothing Samantha could do to stop the spirit from stepping into her body.
We’re one now, a voice in Samantha’s head spoke. I have taken you over. You are me now. You’re Alice.
Inwardly Samantha rebelled, struggling to hold on to herself. “No, I’m Samantha,” she muttered. A young woman laughed inside Samantha’s head, a light self-assured sound.
The force of Alice Littlefield’s possession was too much for Samantha. It felt like an overpowering fatigue that she could no longer fight. She couldn’t control her movements or her mind.
John spread his arms wide. “Don’t worry, girls. I love you both. You can share me.”
“Share you?!” the sisters spoke in one voice.
“Why not?” John asked.
“Absolutely not!” Matilda shouted.
“Never!” Alice confirmed. “Never in a million years!”
Matilda lunged at her sister, pulling her hair and screaming names at her. She raked Alice’s cheek with her nails, drawing blood. Alice fought back with equal ferocity, kicking and biting.
She gripped her sister’s shoulders and tossed her back against the railing. To escape her, Matilda backed up onto some crates that had been piled there. Alice climbed up after her, but the two sisters froze as the sound of barking filled the air.
A pack of nearly twenty dogs — poodles, terriers, cocker spaniels, beagles, dachshunds, and boxers — rounded the corner. In their midst was John Jacob Astor, his lanky legs taking long determined strides. “You’d better get to the lifeboats,” he informed them. “This ship is taking on water. Women and children first.”
“That’s right, we’re sinking!” a woman echoed.
Both sisters turned to see who had spoken. It was Sally Kelly, the ghost maid. “Many will die,” she said, eyeing the sisters malevolently as she walked up to them. “But you girls are going first.”
With tremendous strength, she flipped Matilda into the air, knocking her over the railing. “Don’t you upper-class snobs make a play for my John,” she shouted. “He’s my man!”
The slumbering Samantha overthrew Alice Littlefield’s hold on her as she saw her sister fly backward over the rail.
In a flash, Samantha grabbed for her sister. “Got you!” she shouted, her fingers wrapping around Jessica’s wrist.
“Alice!” Matilda screamed as she dangled over the side of the ship. The only thing saving her from the churning, frigid black water below was her sister’s determined grip on her wrist as Samantha balanced precariously on the stack of crates.
“You’re next, dearie,” Sally Kelly threatened as she began climbing up the boxes toward Samantha. The ghost maid grabbed Samantha’s leg, preparing to shove her up and over.
Still holding tight to her sister, Samantha looked back into Sally Kelly’s cold eyes. “Let me go!” she demanded. “Let go!”
Suddenly Sally Kelly’s voice rang out with surprise and pain. Kitty had jumped up behind her and grabbed the back of her maid’s uniform, dragging her backward. The ghost maid fell onto the deck as Kitty jumped on her, pinning her to the ground.
Samantha turned back to her sister. “Hang on to me. I’ll pull you up.”
“But we both want John!” Matilda cried out.
Samantha felt Alice Littlefield reawaken inside her. Drop her, she urged Samantha. That’s what I did. I let her go so I could have John to myself.
“I know you’re going to drop me — so do it now!” Matilda shouted, crying.
“Go away, Alice Littlefield!” Samantha shouted. “Alice Littlefield, get away from me!”
“Just do it!” Matilda wailed.
“You’re my sister, you idiot!” Samantha replied as she clapped on to her wrist with both hands. As Jessica began to rise, Samantha used every bit of her strength to hoist her sister up high enough so that she could grip the railing and pull herself the rest of the way up.
Together they fell backward onto the deck. Looking up, Samantha saw the ghosts of the original Alice and Matilda Littlefield still struggling on the crates. Kitty barked as Sally Kelly managed to get away and join the ghostly battle.
“Jealous, petty spirits of the Titanic, be gone!” Madame Valenska stood on deck, her paisley robe fluttering in the wind, her arms raised high. “Spirits with evil intent, depart! Depart this ship!”
The ship lurched to one side. Samantha and Jessica slid as everything around them tumbled past. They banged into a wall, shielding their faces from flying debris.
Madame Valenska clung to the railing. Her curls whirled around her head as she shouted into the wind. “Spirit of Alice Littlefield, depart! Spirit of Matilda Littlefield, depart!”
The Littlefield sisters were enveloped in a spinning funnel of silver wind. They began to decompose and then disappear altogether.
“Spirit of Sally Kelly! Depart!”
Sally Kelly crumbled into dust, which a vortex of wind scattered into the air.
“John Teller, depart!”
John fell to his knees, contorting in pain as a spirit arose from him, a near look-alike, and then flew apart into the night like sparks from a campfire. John immediately crumpled to the deck, passed out.
With a bark, Kitty ran off down the deck, until she turned a corner and vanished out of sight. Watching her go, Samantha realized that the ship was no longer tilted but once again level.
“You saved us,” Samantha cried as Madame Valenska came toward them.
“Thank you!” Jessica said. “Thank you so much.”
Standing, she hurled the locket over the railing with all the strength she possessed.
“Samantha not only saved you both, she saved Sally and John as well,” Madame Valenska remarked. “You should be proud of yourself.”
Samantha smiled. “I couldn’t have done it without you, Madame Valenska.”
“How did you know we needed you?” Jessica asked.
Madame Valenska smiled as Kitty came trotting back toward them. “A little doggy told me,” she said as Kitty disappeared into thin air right before their eyes.
“Wow!” Samantha murmured.
“Did that ghost dog really tip you off?” Jessica questioned Madame Valenska.
“Indirectly she did,” Madame Valenska confirmed. “It was Kitty who led Trevor to the newspaper article that helped me figure out what was going on.”
THE NEXT morning, Jessica and Samantha sat in the first-class café where they’d first met Trevor. Madame Valenska sat with them, savoring her cup of tea. It was the time between breakfast and lunch, so there was only one other couple at another table and Trevor was able to join them.
Jessica turned to Trevor. “It was a good thing you found that article tucked away in the passenger list that night.”
“I know,” Trevor agreed. “It must have fallen out when I showed you the list. After you left, a cute little Airedale trotted into the café. She kept barking until I followed her to the article on the floor. It was like she wanted me to find it.”
Madame Valenska took the folded article from her pocket and set it on the table. “I read this as soon as Trevor gave it to me: ‘Untold Tale of the Titanic’ was the title. It’s quite a story,” she reported. “The article tells about a little-known incident on the Titanic. On April twelfth, just two days before the ship sank, two sisters fell in love with the same boy. He was a boiler worker named John Teller.
“John Teller worked on ocean liners and would sweet-talk the rich female passengers. All the while, though, he was really engaged to one Sally Kelly, who followed him from ship to ship working as a maid.
“While on the Titanic, John made a play for the Littlefield sisters, figuring if he couldn’t catch the interest and money of one sister, he’d have the other’s fortune.
“He took the locket he’d given to Sally Kelly and put the photo of Matilda Littlefield over Sally’s photo. Then he stole it back from Matilda, telling her she must have lost it, and gave the same locket to Alice, with her picture inside. He told her to keep it a secret, claiming they would marry when they arrived in New York. But Matilda realized Alice had the locket and accused her of stealing it.
“Meanwhile, Sally Kelly learned that one of the sisters had her locket and she wanted it back!”
“I don’t blame her!” Jessica interjected.
“What a rat,” Samantha added.
Madame Valenska stopped and stretched. “I agree,” she said. “And it gets worse.”
“What happened?” Samantha asked.
“The two sisters struggled over the locket on the Titanic’s deck,” Madame Valenska went on. “Sally Kelly was fed up with her fiancé’s ways and got into the fight. In the end, the sisters went overboard together, and Sally and John knocked each other into the ocean, as well.”
“Now that’s what I call unfinished business,” Jessica remarked, picking at her corned ox tongue, one of the many unfamiliar old-fashioned specialties of the café.
Madame Valenska nodded. “I happened to come in for a late supper and Trevor showed the article to me. I was beginning to put it all together and this confirmed my suspicions.”
“We can thank Kitty for pointing it out to me,” Trevor added.
“Good old Kitty,” Samantha said fondly. “I was so scared of that scratching, but the sweet dog was looking out for us all along. It’s too bad Kitty was a ghost. I miss the little pup.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the dog shows up now and then,” Madame Valenska suggested. “Obviously Kitty was very fond of you girls and isn’t the sort of spirit that would hurt anyone.”
Just then, John came in with a pretty blond girl and took a table with her. He waved to the girls when he noticed them, and they returned the greeting. Trevor got up to go take his order.
“Here’s something I don’t understand,” Samantha said. “How did he get mixed up in this?”
“The same way you did,” Madame Valenska explained. “You told me you both touched the locket in the Haunted Museum. When they say not to touch anything in that museum, they are not kidding around.”
“I don’t think he would touch a locket,” Jessica said.
“Well, he touched something,” Madame Valenska ins
isted.
“He was in the Haunted Museum when we were,” Samantha recalled. She remembered how interested he was in the model of the Titanic. Perhaps he hadn’t been able to resist touching the one they had in the museum.
“Do you think he’s even that cute?” Jessica asked Samantha.
Samantha studied him. “He’s all right, I suppose.” At the moment she couldn’t remember what she’d thought was so enchanting about him. But maybe that’s what it had been — an enchantment, a sort of spell.
“Maybe it was his name that connected him,” Trevor suggested. “Both are named John Teller, aren’t they?”
Madame Valenska nodded in agreement. “The spirit world is mysterious.”
“Thanks again for your help, Madame Valenska,” Jessica said.
“Samantha saved you. When she refused to turn on her sister, she broke the spell of the locket. All I did was clean up. Those spirits would have had no more hold over you without the power of the haunted locket.”
Samantha picked up the article Madame Valenska had placed on the table and unfolded it. Inside was a photo of Sally Kelly and John Teller. Both were smiling and Sally wore a wedding dress. She read the headline: UNTOLD TALE OF THE TITANIC. It was the same article, but as she perused it, the story being told was completely different. It told of John Teller and Sally Kelly, who were married on the Titanic and were very happily in love.
Samantha passed the article around the table for all of them to see. “Are you sure this is the same article you read last night? Are we still being haunted?” she asked Madame Valenska nervously.
Madame Valenska considered the question for a minute before answering. “I don’t think so. I believe this has happened because you have changed the past. By breaking the locket’s spell and staying loyal to each other, you created a world where the story of John Teller and Sally Kelly could have a different, happier ending.”
“Amazing,” Trevor commented.
“Totally,” Samantha agreed.
“You know,” Jessica said. “There’s a Haunted Museum not far from the dock in New York.”
“Aw, come on, Jess,” Samantha wailed. “Haven’t you had enough?”