He blinked some more and looked around. In the back of the room was a large, elaborate chair. If Ian had to guess, he would think it was a throne.
The rest of the room had random chairs scattered around, and in the center was an orange, glowing rug. In fact, everything in the room had an aura, or a glow. Including the ghosts, which mobbed around him, giving him threatening looks. Ian took that last part back, there was one thing in the room which was not, in fact, glowing, and that was him.
“Okay, people, settle,” ghost girl said. With a wave of her hand, she commanded the ghosts to back off, for which Ian was grateful. She glided over to the back of the room and into the chair that Ian guessed was a throne.
He continued to sit on the floor and figure out what to make of the situation.
Once she got comfortable on her throne, ghost ginger cleared her throat. “He is mine, he is not to be harmed.”
As happy as Ian was about the not to be harmed part, the other part worried him. What was she talking about, he was hers?
“Um,” Ian began tentatively. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to butt in here, but I have no idea where we are or what is going on. In fact, I’m pretty sure you have the wrong guy. Maybe you could just, um, put me back where you got me? That would be great.”
He scanned the room looking for an exit, and found the outline of what looked like a door on the opposite end of the room from the throne.
“Oh look, there’s a door,” he said. “No need to get up, I’ll just let myself out.” He took a couple of steps in that direction.
Ghosts swarmed from everywhere. They were in front of him lightning fast, blocking his path.
Ian took a few steps back and turned to face the ghost girl on the throne.
“You’re not going anywhere, Ian,” she said.
“How do you know me?” Ian asked. “I’ve never seen you guys before.” He glanced behind him and the ghosts had now dispersed back to their chairs, which struck Ian as odd.
Why do ghosts need chairs in the first place? Then an awful thought hit him. Why do they need or even want him?
“I know you the way everybody else knows you,” ghost girl said, “through Fear Zone Universe.” She raised a hand and pointed a finger at him and a red, glowing chair materialized behind him and slid under him, collecting him into a heap.
So he sat, especially since it seemed that he had no choice. “Great, so you’ve seen my show. I can give you an autograph if you want.”
“It’s not an autograph that I’m after, Ian. I want to be on the show.”
“You mean you want to be a part of the show? Like an assistant or something? So this whole setup was just an elaborate audition? Wow, you guys had me going. And the effects were incredible. Hey, ghost assistant might work pretty well. It’s never been done before and it wouldn’t hurt anything in the ratings. And the interviews…they would love you on the entertainment network. But I don’t know. It’s my show, and I’ve done it alone all of this time and I’d sort of like to keep it that way.”
“Silence!” She stood up.
She was striking to look at, Ian wasn’t kidding about the entertainment news, they would be all over her. She looked like the rest of the ghosts, but barely. Her colors were deeper, and she was less transparent. Maybe she wasn’t a ghost at all, was there such a thing as a hybrid ghost? “I will be nobody’s assistant.” She crossed the room in order to loom over him, which she did expertly.
“Got it,” he said. “Not an assistant. Which is good, because I wasn’t in the market for one.”
“All of the power of the internet is mine,” she said. And then, as effortlessly as she travelled to Ian, she turned and went back to her throne and sat down again before making a regal pronouncement.
“I, Aquila, am going to digitize you, Ian.”
“I’m sorry,” he interrupted. “What was that? Did you say that you were going to digitize me? I don’t think I’m familiar or comfortable with that verb and how it relates to living, carbon-based life-forms.”
“I will digitize you,” she continued. In two hours. Live on Fear Zone Universe. Can you imagine the ratings, dear?”
He could, in fact, imagine that those ratings would make him rich and famous beyond his wildest dreams. But none of this could possibly be real. If it wasn’t an audition, then it had to be some sort of prank.
“And then we will BE Fear Zone Universe, you and I, live and forever. And then I will take over the entire internet.”
“I’m not sure that’s how the internet really works,” he said, looking around for a camera and grinning.
“Hey, wait a minute, you’re from the studio, aren’t you? You’re pranking me because I’m up for those new awards and there are probably millions of people watching right now, and hey, you got me!”
He continued to look for the camera. “Good one, guys. Now come out, come out, wherever you are. Jeez, you people scared the crap out of me. And you had me, right up until the point when you started talking about ratings.”
“There are no cameras, Ian. Not yet. And no pranks, and no producers either. Just you, me and your entire fan base.” She snapped her finger and cameras appeared. They were in every corner of the room and also up above.
A digital sign above her displayed exactly two hours on an unmoving clock. Who was this ghost woman and how was she doing all of this? And what did she mean when she said she was going to digitize him? Ian fell into a very distracted monologue of worry and despair until her next words broke him out of it.
“Welcome to Fear Zone Universe!” she said.
“Hey!” Ian objected. “That’s my show. I’m the one who says welcome to Fear Zone Universe.”
“You might want to pay attention to this next part, Ian dear, as it pertains to you,” she continued cheerfully. “Welcome, fans. My name is Aquila. I know you were expecting Ian, but I’m your new main host and I promise you won’t be disappointed. Oh, that’s a good one, Ian. Tell them what you’re thinking, honey.”
Cameras swerved around in his direction. He swallowed. “Ok, um, I was thinking that you’re a ghost host. And that I have a girlfriend, and if she sees this video she’s going to kill me even though I have no idea what is going on.”
“Great segue, Ian. That’s exactly what I’m here for,” she said, shamefully mugging for the camera. “To tell you what’s going on in tonight’s absolutely ground breaking, never ever been done before television event of the century.” She rubbed her hands together. “Let’s get started. I have good news and bad news.”
Ian swallowed hard, not liking where this was going.
Aquila snapped her finger and the countdown clock started running, counting down from two hours. Ian wasn’t sure he wanted to know what happened when the clock hit zero with this psycho ghost ginger in charge.
“I’ll start with the bad news.” “Ian, here is going to mortally perish when the clock strikes zero.” She gave Ian an annoying and exaggerated frown.
The live audience gasped.
Ian gasped for breath. “That’s doesn’t seem necessary,” he said.
“Hold on, Ian. You haven’t heard the good news yet. Once he sheds that weird, smelly body-“
“Hey!” Ian objected, reflexively sniffing himself before remembering she was a ghost.
“As I was saying,” Aquila continued, “I will digitize him. And then he and I and Fear Zone University, I will be a part of your lives and a living part of the internet forever!”
The ghosts around him cheered and clapped. A floating camera did a continuous, moving reaction shot.
Ian was impressed. Whatever these ghosts were or were not, they were pros when it came to the entertainment industry. Ian had unprecedented success since moving to Celestica, but he was sure that the ratings right now were probably putting those earlier fantastic numbers to shame.
And all he could do was sit here. He was going to die, live, on his own show. This was not how it was all supposed to end. “How is that good news
? I’m going to die, right?”
“Only physically,” she replied. “And once you’ve been digitized, we can be together.”
“Yes, but as I keep telling you. Over and over,” he muttered, “even though you don’t seem to be listening, is that I have a girlfriend. A very hot doctor girlfriend named Lyra. And when she finds out about all of this, she’s going to be really mad.”
“At you?” Aquila asked.
“No!” Ian yelled. “At you. For killing me and everything.”
“Oh, you mean the girl who got bit by my Millie.”
Ian did a double take and the adorable little ghost fox was now on Aquila’s lap.
“Are you kidding me? That fox belongs to you? This whole thing was nothing but a setup?”
“Yes.” Aquila looked behind her at the countdown clock. It had only been three minutes, but it felt to Ian like the time was flying by.
“Trust me, that bite was worse than it looked. Your girlfriend will be dead before you, if my math is correct. And just in case I’m wrong, my ghost minions have seriously injured more than enough of the station’s residents to keep her busy at the hospital until your timer runs out.”
Ian scooted his orange, glowing chair off to the side, so that he was no longer facing Aquila. Then, he started texting Lyra. You think you know her so well, Ian thought, well you’ve never seen her angry, have you?
10
Maura’s head started to hurt after she hung up with Floyd. She skimmed the messages as more and more of them piled up on her cell phone.
Her office phone too. She let the new calls go to voicemail. If I start answering these again, they’ll only keep coming. Also, her chest started to hurt.
Don’t turn into a hypochondriac now, she told herself. Just because you tangled with a weird ghost monster and an orc woman told you you’d regret it doesn’t mean you’re going to fall apart.
She decided the best course of action right now would be to go home and take a hot, soothing shower. Then maybe she could come back and figure out what to do about the rest of this. Maybe she’d talk to Crash. Maybe she’d call Lyra and see if she had any idea what was going on. Or at least to get her head checked to rule out a concussion.
Grabbing her phone, she headed out. It didn’t take long to get to her apartment. She got a few odd looks along the way in the halls, but she chalked that up to Monday.
Once she got home, she skimmed the forty or so messages that she had gotten on the trip, making sure that none of them were for actual pest control emergencies. Nope. Of course not.
Then she got out of her work jacket and peeled off her blood soaked t-shirt. Wait. She looked down in horror at the t-shirt. It was sopping a red stain onto the tile bathroom floor.
“What the-“
She looked down at the gaping wound in her chest, but she still didn’t believe it. It couldn’t be real.
Hyperventilating, she ran to the mirror. No wonder her chest had started hurting. How had she gotten an injury this serious and not even known it? I have to be hallucinating. Or maybe this is the result of a head injury. Or maybe that orc woman had slipped her something.
Whatever was going on, she knew she needed help. She was losing blood fast and was getting woozy. With the last of her consciousness she dialed the hospital. “It’s Maura from pest control. I have a serious injury. Please come and get me at my apartment.”
Her task complete, she felt justified in passing out.
Gorb was waiting for Lyra when she walked in the hospital door.
“Lyra! Your friend, she’s hurt. They’re bringing her in. The EMTs said she was lying in a pool of red. Lots of blood. She’s asking for you.”
“Who? What happened, Gorb?”
“It’s Maura. They’re not sure what happened. Nobody knows. She was conscious for a minute, but she didn’t talk very much.”
“Where’d they find her?”
“On her bathroom floor.”
“What about her phone messages? Were there any threats or signs of a struggle?”
“EMTs said no. Her phone just had a bunch of ghost monster messages.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Lyra moved closer to Gorb, who simply handed Lyra Maura’s phone. “See for yourself.”
“Why would she be getting all of these weird messages anyway? She’s pest control, not a ghostbuster.” She looked up at Gorb just as there were shouts down the hallway. Lyra recognized Vax’s voice.
Lyra ran back to see what was going on.
“What’s going on?” Lyra asked Vax and Nancy, who were standing over Maura. “I’m here, Maura.”
“See for yourself,” Vax said, and stepped aside to show Lyra Maura’s non-wounded chest.
“What am I supposed to be looking at?” Lyra asked.
Nancy had gone as white as a sheet. “A minute ago, Maura was a bloody, gaping, mangled mess. She had lost a ton of blood, so we were about to operate to close the wound and start a transfusion.”
“On what?” Lyra asked.
“Her chest,” Vax answered, pointing to the hazardous trash bin. “Look how bloody her clothes were. And I swear, Lyra. When she came in here, she had a very serious chest wound.”
“I was really worried we weren’t going to be able to get enough blood back into her,” Nancy continued. “And now the wound is gone. Lyra, do you think this could be a ghost wound like yours? And how could this have happened to her?”
Lyra frowned and looked at Maura, who seemed to be resting comfortably at the moment. She crossed and looked at the bloody clothes that Maura came in with. She couldn’t help but worry that Nancy was right. Maybe Maura was going through what she was going though, except the nature of the wound made it more serious.
“What do we do now?” Nancy asked.
“You’re asking me?” Lyra asked.
“Somebody tell me what’s going on,” Vax said.
“Look,” said Lyra, unwrapping her hand. She showed Vax and Nancy the now present wound.
“Lyra,” Vax said chidingly, “that’s infected. When did that happen?”
“Today,” Lyra said. “It’s been disappearing and then reappearing all day, like Maura’s injury. I’m worried because every time mine comes back, it gets worse.”
“You need to get that hand treated now,” Vax said.
Maura gasped loudly. The all turned their attention back to her, and her wound was back. And it looked bad. Really bad. Vax and Nancy sprang into action. Lyra couldn’t do anything to help right now with her infected hand.
“Look,” she told them, “if you don’t get this wound squared away right now, she’s going to be in big trouble. This is as bad as it gets, but if it disappears and comes back worse, I’m not sure she’ll even make it. So whatever you do hurry, okay?”
“Where are you going?” Nancy asked.
“To have Arthur treat my hand so I can help.”
Lyra found Arthur in the waiting room. She was still cradling her hand and worried about Maura. “Thank goodness you’re here.”
He frowned at her. “I came a few minutes before my shift, it’s been a boring day. What’s wrong, Lyra? What did you do to your hand?”
“Long story,” Lyra replied. She didn’t feel at all like getting into the whole thing right now with Ian’s web show and the ghost fox and the disappearing and reappearing wound.
He smirked. “Well, you can try to keep your secret if you want. I’m sure Gorb tells it better, anyway. In fact, he showed me the video. That cute little fox jumped up and got you, eh? How’d you get that neat special effect that made it look like a ghost? Nice acting job too. Need some help cleaning the pretend wound?”
“Well, if you already knew, then why did you ask me in the first place?”
“Your version’s usually different. Less entertaining than Gorb’s, obviously, but your details are always more specific.”
“Look, I don’t have time for this,” Lyra said. She unwrapped the bandage and showed him her hand.
He rec
oiled in horror. “That can’t be right. I saw the small bite. Was that ghost fox thing rabid? Even if it was, it couldn’t get infected that fast, what did you do to it?”
“Nothing.”
“Something’s going on, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but we don’t have time for this.”
“Why not?”
She grabbed him by the coat with her good hand and pulled him into one of the extra rooms. “I will explain it to you later.” Probably, when I figure it out myself. “But right now, I really, really, really need you to treat my hand as quickly as humanly possible.”
Much to her relief, he did as she asked him. He worked quickly, stealing occasional glances at her face, which was probably a mask of worry.
For her part, Lyra wouldn’t take her eye off of the wound, willing it to stay present until Arthur could finish cleaning and closing it. She didn’t even know for sure if that would actually work, but it was all she could think of. And apparently, just letting it come and go was not a good strategy if she wanted to keep the hand intact, which she did.
“There,” he said. “All done.”
Lyra breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Arthur.”
“Now would you care to tell me what is going on?”
“Sure,” she said. “Celestica is being haunted right now and apparently the ghosts are physical enough to draw blood and cause injuries. That’s really all I know. I was hoping that Nancy would know more about everything.”
She thought about Maura when she thought about Nancy and Vax. She hoped the surgery was going well and wanted to check on her, but they would need to work as quickly as possible and any distractions could be disastrous.
A notification sounded on her phone. It was Callista. But there was another text too, one that she had missed.
It was from Ian. I need your help, Lyra. I’ve been kidnapped by ghosts. Ghost-napped, if you will. But seriously, please hurry.
“Who’s that?” Arthur asked.
Digital Ghosts: Book 2 of the Space Station At The Edge Of The Black Hole Series Page 7