Who By Water (Voices of the Dead Book 1)

by Victoria Raschke

  She was halfway through her third bowl of chicken and dumplings for the day. Gustaf Lichtenberg had shown up while Vesna was helping her shower. He stood at the counter, nursing a cup of coffee. She had questions, but nobody seemed willing to answer any of them. If she heard “later” one more time she was going to pitch a dumpling at someone.

  “How do you feel?” Leo sat next to her, but didn’t offer to touch or comfort her.

  She swallowed a mouthful of broth. “Better. I mean my body feels like I was wrung out like a sheet, but my head is starting to clear. Are you going to tell me the rest of what happened now?”

  He nodded. “But first, why the hell did you go to the museum alone? What in the name of God were you thinking? I told you that you’re a Portal. That you needed to stay away from the demon.”

  She jerked with surprise. She should’ve known he’d be angry. She looked around at the people she loved most in the world. All but Jackie were looking at her the same way Leo did: with reproach.

  Jackie was glaring at Gustaf. “She’s a what?”

  Gustaf set his cup on the counter and stared at Leo. “You shouldn’t be so angry at her. You’re the one who nearly got her killed with your fairy story about returning the doll to the well.”

  Jackie stood up then and marched over to Gustaf. “She’s a Portal? And you didn’t get her the hell out of town as fast as you could? You and the Board can go, go fuck yourselves!” It was pretty rare to see Jackie that steamed. She sat back down and fumed without saying another word.

  Gustaf had the sense to look abashed. Vesna shot him a look, too, but nudged Jo to continue her story.

  “Gustaf said something about being a door and Leo said the doll had to go back to the well. He specifically told me he would take care of it, but I had to find Faron after Katarina took him. I thought if I went there with the doll and chucked it into the well, she would come to me. I didn’t expect her to get there first.”

  She looked down at the last dumpling in her bowl. She pushed it around with the tip of her spoon. “I just wanted it to be over.” She could not have imagined what over would look like.

  Leo took a deep breath. “You do realize that it won’t ever be over for you?”

  Jo looked him in the face, but before she could form a question, there was a knock on the door. Gregor got up to answer it.

  “Your gift isn’t going to go away. This will not be the last time you are visited by the dead or by danger. You cannot act in such a cavalier manner. You have a duty.” Leo’s stare burned through her. She imagined all the molecules in her body trying to cover their nakedness against the intensity of his gaze.

  Finally, someone else had said it. It was a duty and one that meant her life would never again be like it was. There was no going back to slinging tea, or at least not just slinging tea.

  “That being said, if you hadn’t gone, it’s almost certain Faron would be dead and more people besides.” Leo let out a sigh with the last word.

  Jo choked down the last dumpling. She had to swallow hard. Leo handed her his glass of water and asked her what happened at the museum.

  Jo filled in her portion of the story. Or at the least the parts she was ready to talk about.

  Gustaf laughed. “I was right. You were possessed. I didn’t see how you could have bested a revenge demon any other way.”

  Jo felt like she was sliding down the rabbit hole again. “So how does a revenge demon wind up trapped in a Roman doll in a well in the City Museum?” Jo’s question was directed at Lichtenberg.

  Leo answered. “You know the story of Jason and the Argonauts?”

  Jo nodded.

  “And you know it’s believed that Jason traveled the Ljubljanica on his return with the Golden Fleece?”

  “Yes, but what does that have to do with revenge demons?”

  “Do you also know the story of Medea, Jason’s wife?”

  A small light dawned in Jo’s mind. “Medea was a revenge demon?”

  Lichtenberg answered. “No, but when she killed her sons, she created one. It must have found its way to Emona and been imprisoned here by followers of Achelous. He would not have protected you otherwise.”

  “He didn’t protect me exactly. I had to drag myself and Faron out of the flood he created in the basement.” And he hadn’t wanted her to leave. She shivered at the thought of his voice in her head and the promise he had used in his attempt to make her believe.

  “Gods are imperfect, despite their wish for us to believe otherwise.” Leo spoke with a finality that said this portion of the story was over.

  “It makes sense now that Katarina or the demon would go after Helena and Maja. But why Milo?” She knew the answer already. But she still didn’t want to believe it.

  “Once the demon had complete control, it no longer cared about Katarina’s revenge fantasies. It wanted to stay here permanently.” Gustaf walked to the table and sat down across from her. “It only wanted to get to you.”

  “Couldn’t it have just kept walking around dressed up as Katarina?” Vesna looked from Jo to Gustaf.

  Gustaf said, “Human bodies can’t hold a demon for very long. It survives by consuming first their pain, and then their life force. When the body dies, the demon is released again to find a new host.”

  Katarina would have died anyway. There had been no way to save her. The demon had taken more than her life, though.

  “Why did it take Faron?” Jo watched the gray man’s face. She still didn’t trust Gustaf.

  “Two reasons, I think. First, to lure you, the Portal, to it. Then, if you hadn’t come, it would’ve sacrificed your son to Achelous in hopes of gaining his protection.” He picked up his cup to take a sip but set it back down again.

  So the god hadn’t wanted her son. It had wanted her. It was not here to protect a demon.

  “So how did I get here?”

  “Maja did as you asked. I’d just gotten to my room at the rectory when a book about Roman Ljubljana came flying off the shelf at my face.” He gestured at Vesna and Gustaf. “I called Vesna and the two of us found you and Faron unconscious on the ramp to the basement.”

  Gregor returned to the kitchen with Marta Klančnik in tow.

  “What are you doing here?” Jo was having trouble keeping everything straight in her head. Was Marta part of Gustaf’s group?

  Marta sat down in a chair Gregor produced from somewhere. “I keep asking myself the same question.”

  Leo laughed his basso laugh. “When she got to the museum with Gustaf she thought Vesna and I had broken in and tried to kill you and Faron.”

  Marta winced. Jo found it hard to believe she was comfortable with all this. “So, Investigator Klančnik, what do you think really happened?”

  “I’ve been told a demon possessed Katarina Novak and killed four people and tried to kill you and your son. As much as I would prefer that weren’t the truth, it seems to be what happened. My report says Katarina and Tomaž Novak were involved in stealing and selling ancient artifacts. Helena Belak observed Mrs. Novak stealing something at the museum, and one of the Novaks murdered her. Maja Demšar overheard them talking about the murder at her work and she was killed to silence her. Mr. Novak was killed in the process of making a homemade explosive for the purpose of breaking into a safe or something equally ridiculous, and Katarina was killed in a freak accident at the museum during another robbery.” Marta looked like she’d just a reported an epidemic of cows flying across the moon.

  “And Milo?” She felt a little shard of ice dagger its way through her heart. None of them were innocent exactly, but Milo had done absolutely nothing except care for her. That was the only reason he was dead.

  “An unfortunate mugging unrelated to the rest of the night’s events.” Marta looked at her with what might be described as pity.

  “Is anyone going to believe that?�
� Jo doubted it.

  Marta shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine, but I doubt anyone would prefer the true version. Would you?”

  “And the doll?”

  “It has been returned to Achelous’s protection in the river, encased in a great deal of concrete.” Lichtenberg dusted his hands as he stood. “And now I shall take my leave.”

  Marta stood.

  Jo pushed her bowl to the center of the table. “Are you leaving, too?”

  “No. I came to get your statement. I agreed to file a fantasy story for Brother Kos and Mr. Lichtenberg, but I still need your story for the reports I am now required to file with the Board.” She pursed her lips.

  Jo doubted that Marta would dislike her any less now that she knew the truth. No police officer was going to rejoice in more paperwork.

  Chapter 27

  “Are you sure you’re up to this?” Gregor was walking her out to the back garden.

  “Yes. I’ve been thinking about it since I waited for Jackie at the train station when she missed her first flight.” She tried to conceal the wincing, but her ankle and ribs reminded her with each step that they’d prefer she stayed in bed.

  Everyone except Gregor had left for the day. Gregor’s partner Janez would be in London for a few more days. Jo was grateful she didn’t have to make up more stories to explain her convalescence in Mrs. Bregant’s old room. Jackie suggested she attribute her injuries to a fall down the stairs from her flat. That didn’t really explain her face, but it covered her other injuries pretty well.

  Gregor had dragged two reclining lawn chairs out into the garden from the shed. He settled her on the one he’d decked out with pillows and blankets, then he lowered the back so she could lie flat and look up at the stars.

  He lay down on the chair next to her and pulled a blanket around himself. He found her hand and squeezed her fingers.

  They looked up into the sky, letting their eyes adjust to the darkness. The Milky Way swirled into focus. A meteor streaked low in the darkness near the horizon.

  “Did you make a wish?” He squeezed her hand again.

  “I did. I wished–“

  He stopped her. “You aren’t supposed to tell anyone your wish.”

  “I have to. I wished you’d forgive me for not telling you what was going on.”

  “I was angry. And hurt.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t want you or Faron to be involved. I almost got him killed. And I can’t imagine what you thought when Faron and I showed up at your house addled and broken and in the care of strangers.”

  “Well, Gustaf wasn’t a stranger, but I was surprised to say the least.”

  “I bet.”

  “Did you not trust me?”

  Tears were running into her ears and hair. “I always trust you. It was you I thought of at the museum. You and Faron and Vesna. And Rok. When I thought I was going to die.”

  “I would’ve never let you go there.” His voice was hoarse.

  “Things are different now, though. I mean, I’m different.”

  “You’re still Jo. You’re just Jo, who can talk to dead people.”

  She laughed. “I keep waiting for it to sink in that really there is something out there after we die. I would have thought that knowing would be comforting, but it isn’t.” What was out there was much worse than not knowing.

  “I’m not comforted knowing there’s a whole unseen world around me all the time. It completely fucks with being a good atheist.” Gregor laughed.

  She squeezed his hand. “If it’s any consolation, I don’t think there’s a god with a capital G. I think it’s like there’s another layer of beings, but they aren’t any more perfect than we are.”

  “Something else happened at the museum, didn’t it?”

  She really couldn’t hide anything from him, not for long, anyway. “I don’t know if I’m ready to talk about it yet.”

  “I’ll be here when you are. You know that, right?”

  “I do. I did. I really thought I was protecting you.”

  “I thought it was supposed to be the other way around.”

  “You can’t do that forever.” The stars were blurry now as the tears came faster and hotter on her face.

  “Jo. What did you see?”

  “I thought I hated him.”

  “Tomaž?”

  She nodded in the darkness. “But those girls. Veronika’s face. They will never be the same. He didn’t deserve that. They didn’t deserve to lose both their parents. And Milo.” And her father. Nothingness was what she had believed became of everyone, but now Nothingness was sinister and wrong and she could do nothing about that.

  Gregor sighed wearily. “I don’t know what to say, Jo.”

  “It’s like I killed him.” She wasn’t sure whether she meant Milo or her father. It didn’t matter. It was true for both.

  He got up and sat on the edge of her chair. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”

  “I didn’t save him.”

  “You saved Faron and yourself.”

  She looked away from him. “I almost didn’t do that.” The god’s voice echoed in her head and she felt the water lapping at her, trying to pull her under again.

  He put his hand on the unmarred side of her face and turned her toward him. “But you did do it. Faron’s alive. You’re alive. I don’t know what happened down there. I don’t understand being possessed by gods I can’t believe in. But you won. You came back.”

  Her throat was too tight to speak. She nodded.

  Gregor brushed his thumb under her eye. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t made it.”

  She nodded again. She wanted to sob, but everything felt corked up inside. It was ironic. The woman who wouldn’t let anyone in, now couldn’t let anything out.

  Gregor looked at her, then looked up at the Milky Way. Jo looked up too. Her eyes had fully adjusted now and she watched the luminous thick river of twinkling stars. “I think up there in some alternate universe, you and I are an old married couple.”

  Jo choked out a laugh. “People think we act like one here.”

  “We’re family.”

  “Speaking of family.” Faron’s baritone voice drifted down from the deck. “Can I join you or is it a party of two?”

  “I’m freezing. I’ll go make some cocoa. Come down here and keep your mother company.” Gregor and Faron passed each other at the foot of her lawn chair. Gregor clapped her son on the shoulder.

  Faron sat down on Gregor’s vacated chair. “How’re you feeling?”

  She shrugged. “Can you help me back up?”

  He leaned over and adjusted her chair so she could sit. She was glad he couldn’t really see her in the darkness. Her face was puffy and she winced again when he got the chair back upright.

  “Still hurts?”

  “Yeah. Guess I can’t hide it very well.”

  “You don’t have to. Everyone here knows what happened.”

  “I’m supposed to be the mom, remember?”

  “You make it hard to forget.” He looked down into his lap. “Why didn’t you tell me what was going on with you?”

  “Would you have believed me?”

  “I would’ve tried to.”

  “I also didn’t want you to get involved. I thought I was protecting you.” Her throat tightened again. God, she would be glad when she could get back some emotional control again. If that was even possible. “That didn’t work out too well.”

  “You couldn’t know that thing would take me.”

  She should have known that if it wanted her and couldn’t get her it would go for someone she loved. “Maybe.”

  “But we’re good now.”

  “I think so. What about Ivanka?”

  “We’re figuring that out.”

&nb
sp; “What about her sisters?” She couldn’t say their names without seeing the spray of blood on Veronika’s pale blank face.

  “Not sure yet. They may go live with Olga.”

  “Olga? Really?”

  “She’s their aunt.”

  “Really? She’s Tomaž’s sister?”

  “No, Katarina’s.”

  “Hm.” That explained the prudish outfits. The last thing you’d want is your sister’s lecherous husband coming on to you.

  “Are you really okay? Ivanka told me Veronika won’t talk about what happened at the house.”

  “Honestly?”

  “Please.”

  “I don’t think I am okay, but I think I have a lot of tethers to keep me from completely losing my shit.”

  “And the dead people thing?”

  “Jackie said that’s for keeps. At least that’s something you don’t have to worry about. It’s just the women.”

  He nodded his head and looked off into the dark fields. “That’s something, I guess.”

  “Is there something you need to tell me?” Whatever gods there were better not fuck with her kid again.

  “Nope. It’s just strange that it’s only supposed to be women.”

  Gregor came back with three steaming mugs of cocoa with whipped cream on top. He handed them around and sat next to Faron on the lawn chair. He pulled the blanket up and threw it over his and Faron’s lap.

  “So what happens now?” Faron took a sip and got whipped cream on his nose.

  Jo brushed it off. “I think I’ll heal up a bit more. I’m definitely not ready for the stairs at the flat, even with Jackie’s help.” Her stomach sank at the thought of it. “And I’m not quite ready to go back to work looking like I was mauled by a tiger.” She pointed to her face.