Puzzle (Haunted Series)

by Alexie Aaron

  A loud thump sounded through the gym, surprising Deville. It happened again. He determined it came from the door. He opened it from across the room, not trusting that that farmer wasn’t playing pranks on him.

  Standing there was the tall, smart man. He was wearing a single eyeglass attached to his head by a strap. He looked like a pirate.

  “Hello, Deville, I believe you were looking for me?” Ted said, holding the door open to shield Cid who had moved behind it. He pushed the cinderblock into place with his leg to hold the open door in position.

  “You can see me?” Deville asked, moving the coach’s form slowly towards Ted.

  “And hear you,” Ted said as he noticed the band of soldiers moving with stealth behind Deville who was floating towards Ted. Ted turned around and trotted away.

  “Wait, I didn’t give you permission to leave!” Deville rushed out of the building after the fleeing man.

  Captain Shelby and his men moved quietly after Deville, keeping their distance. They passed Cid who walked through the door. He moved through the apparatuses and over to the climbing rope that dangled in the middle of the gym. He reached up and began to climb.

  Ted felt the rush of air behind him. He ran a planned route through the west woods, hoping to stay ahead of the ghost.

  Mike looked at his watch and pulled the door open. He walked in, turned around and reached for the exit sign over the door. He extracted the watch and ran out of the building.

  Audrey heard Mike approach and took the watch from him as he tossed it to her. She placed it in the lead box.

  Deville slowed his pace, suddenly feeling odd. His power was falling off. Could he have traveled too far from his power sources? He dismissed the idea when he caught sight of the red-haired man running through the west woods. Deville moved in his direction.

  Burt and Homely climbed the center stairs after disabling the gate with a few pries of the crowbar. They approached room 252. Burt turned the doorknob and found it locked. He took the iron bar, inserted it in the frame and busted the lock as he pried the door off its hinges.

  Deville’s skeleton was inside where Burt, Ted and the teens had left it. It was still lying on the table, every bone in place. Homely unzipped his bag, and they began to fill it.

  Mike ran into the gym to find Cid walking the beams towards the south side of the gym.

  “Direct me. I can’t see the markings from up here,” Cid instructed Mike.

  Mike ran over to where he could see better and called out instructions to his fellow investigator. Sight-challenged Cid, whose balance was at best iffy, moved slowly, taking time to attach pieces of rope and disengage the old ones as he moved over the crossbeams.

  “The scratches are just below your right foot. The whistle should be in the V of the next support,” Mike said.

  Cid looked down and saw the shine of the whistle. He reached for the support and lowered himself until he could reach it. He grabbed the whistle and tossed it down to Mike who ran out the door with it.

  Ted was cornered.

  Deville loomed over him. “Submit to me, we shall rule the world together!”

  Ted closed the bat cave in his mind like Mia showed him, but the force over him was too powerful. He felt his defenses start to crumble.

  “Trevor Deville!” Captain William Shelby shouted. “I’m arresting you in the name of…”

  Deville wheeled around and faced not only Shelby but his sergeant and privates. Where was Andrew? Had he taken the power he had given him and run? “You couldn’t hold me when I was alive, how do you plan on doing it now?”

  Ted took the opportunity given to him by the soldiers to beat feet back towards the safety of the command center.

  Mike handed the whistle to Audrey who put it alongside the watch and closed the box, securing it once again with the rosary. She nodded to Mike and reported to Mason, “This is Audrey. The watch and whistle are secure. I’m driving the items to St. Louis, over.”

  Deville felt another drain on his power. He looked at the vitality that Shelby and his men still had and turned to fight them. It wasn’t going to be as easy as before, but he was determined to win.

  Burt and Homely left the building. Burt touched his com. “Bones are out and headed for the bonfire. Alert Mia, over.”

  “Mia, the bones are out of the building, over,” Mason’s voice sounded in her ear.

  “I’m preparing to OOB. Any news on Ted?” she asked and added, “over.”

  “Just passed the command center and heading for you, over.”

  “Mia OOBing, over.” Mia delayed just a moment to see Ted enter the truck. She turned her head and told him, “Remember I love you,” before she pulled out of her body and moved quickly towards the school.

  Ted’s eyes filled up as he watched her body slacken. He started the truck and backed out. He touched his com before he was out of range and said, “Batman and the Zombie Queen on our way to St. Louis, over and out.”

  Cid started the van and followed Ted out of the school property. He reported to Mason, “Superman on his way to meet the Leprechaun, over.”

  Mason relayed the information to Mike, Burt and Homely. He watched as the vehicles disappeared down the road. “Good luck, Batman, Superman. May the force be with you, over.” He thought he heard a faint giggle and a robust laugh as he mixed his genres, but he couldn’t be sure.

  Mia slowed at the entrance of the school. She proceeded cautiously through the door. She all but sang when she wasn’t met with any resistance. Now she had to find the bathroom Shelby told her about. She moved quickly down the hall turned the corner and collided with a man buffing the floor.

  “I’m sorry, sir,” Mia said, backing away from the janitor. “Can you direct me to the nearest ladies’ room?” she asked sweetly.

  The janitor pointed down the hall. “On your left. Mind the floor, it’s just been waxed.”

  “Thank you, I will.” She turned to go and stopped. “Are you happy here?” she asked him.

  He thought a moment and nodded before continuing on his way.

  Mia sighed. Who was she to judge what Nirvana was to this man. After all, Murph’s greatest joy was cutting down trees. She walked carefully, mindful of the wax, down the hall and into the girls’ bathroom.

  Deville clenched the ham fists of Stewart King and faced his enemies. Ernest and Edwin moved to either side of the brute and ran at him in unison. Deville repelled them, sending them crashing to the ground. He bellowed in delight. “I am your god. How dare you touch me!”

  “Ira, Ira Levisohn?” Mia called softly as she opened one stall after another. She found him sitting down on the toilet in the last stall. “Hello there, I’m Mia Cooper,” she introduced herself to the boy.

  Ira looked at the woman, no taller than he, dressed in a hoodie and cargo pants. She wore boots that had seen better days. Her green eyes were luminous. As she pushed her white hair away from her face, she lowered her hood and smiled at him.

  Ira thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world. He stammered, “Ira, my friends call me Inky.”

  “Pleased to meet you, Inky. We have a lot of ground to cover so we have to get started. Let me explain a few things and forgive me if Murphy or Captain Shelby has already gone over this.”

  Ira nodded. “Go ahead, I’m all ears.”

  Mia looked at the dark-haired boy and said in the kindest voice she could manage, “Inky, you’re not dead. You, like me, are out of your body. We need to get you back into your body which is a ways down the road. But to do so, you have to listen to me and follow my instructions. I know I’m asking a lot of you to trust a stranger, but there is no other way. We don’t have the time to dilly-dally. Take my hand, and let’s leave the building.”

  Ira took her hand. Mia walked to the wall and moved through it, instructing, “Treat the wall like you would water. Wade through it. It will feel thick, but it will not hold you.”

  Ira did as he was told, and although he hesitated at first, he took
a leap of faith and found himself free of Clinton Middle School. Mia continued to hold his hand. “Come on, we have one stop to make before we start our journey.”

  They moved quickly to the back of the building where three men were laying out bones in a trench. Beside them was Murphy.

  “Murphy, tell them we are out and will start our journey.”

  He nodded and smiled. He took his axe, raised it over his head and let it fall. The resulting crack made the men jump.

  Mia smiled as Burt touched his ear and reported, “Mason, Mia and Ira are out of the building and on their way. Call your brother, over.”

  Mia didn’t wait to hear the answer as they had a long way to go, and she had much to teach Ira along the way.

  Shelby heard the sound of Murphy’s axe and smiled. Ira was free. Now they could take their time with the bastard that dared to wear the uniform of their unit. “Deville, your time on earth is at an end. Be prepared to meet your maker,” he said.

  “My maker be damned,” Deville spat.

  “Stewart King, Deville can no longer hold you,” Shelby informed him.

  The soldiers watched as the broken neck swiveled in the captain’s direction, interested in what he had to say.

  “I do not hold you accountable for the crimes of Trevor Deville. You are free to go.”

  Deville laughed and spat. “He’s not going anywhere. Where does the oaf have to go? He’s damned; he hung himself.”

  “I am sure he did that under your influence,” Shelby reasoned. “You were murdered, Stewart King. You were murdered by Trevor Deville,” he clarified. “You owe him no allegiance.”

  Once again the neck rolled, moving the long dead head of the coach.

  Deville started to worry. He felt the coach moving independently, free from his control. Deville played his last card. “He doesn’t have the words. We are bound together forever!”

  The coach raised his hands and flexed them. He then reached into his body and pulled a wriggling mass of worms out. The mass whirled together and formed a man. The coach rolled his head and spat on the ground before he walked off towards the school.

  “Come back you imbecile!” Deville shouted.

  The soldiers surrounded Deville and moved towards him. He concentrated his energy and pushed upwards to free himself. He knew he had to find a host soon. He sensed there were still men on the property. They weren’t prime, but he would have another host! He moved as fast as he could towards them.

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Mia and Ira walked east down the perimeter road. She took a moment and looked at the shadow of a street sign. “By this, I’d say we are moving in the right direction.”

  “Where are we going?” Ira asked.

  “Have you ever heard of a ley line?”

  “I have in games. I didn’t think they were real.”

  “Me neither until a little over a year ago,” Mia admitted. “A long time ago, men and women used them as a natural guide to bring them to places of power - sort of how birds navigate when they are migrating, they feel it. People who developed the ability to walk out of their bodies found they could use the ley lines as super highways. I found out by accident. That’s a story best left for another time. There are major ley lines connecting places of power and worship all over this planet. There are also minor ones. We are going to connect to a minor one that should take us to Cahokia.”

  “I’ve been there!”

  Mia smiled. “Me too. My parents took me there thinking I would enjoy it. I was two years old. They were wrong.”

  “Chucky Cheese would have been better,” Ira said.

  “They weren’t good parents, but let’s not go there. Okay, before we go too much farther I need to explain the natural rules of OOBing and the social rules too.”

  “Social?”

  “Yes, social. First, the natural laws. Ghosts move faster than humans, and we move six times faster than ghosts. When you bilocate, you can’t cross moving water unless it’s over a ley line that a bridge has been built over or in a boat that stays over the line.”

  “My body is in St. Louis so…”

  “We will be taking a boat across, using the major ley line from Cahokia to Mt. Shasta. While we are on the ley line you need to hug me. I know, ew, you have to hug an old lady. I could turn myself into this if you prefer.”

  Ira’s eyes opened wide as Mia morphed into a big teddy bear.

  “How did…”

  Mia morphed back into her persona. “This is called a persona. It’s the image you present to other OOBers and what ghosts see. Cameras can also pick us up on video and stills if we stand in one place long enough.”

  “Can I do that?”

  “With practice, but today we will concentrate on getting you to your body. When you are healed and want to experiment with bilocation, call me and I’ll come down and help you. As you know, you accidently bilocated and…”

  “I was trapped in the floor. For a year,” Ira lamented. “What’s my body look like? Am I a shriveled-up empty pod?”

  “Audrey says the coma unit has kept you in remarkable condition, which brings me to caring for yourself and your body. If your body dies when you are in this mode of existence, you could be trapped here, but more likely you will move on. If you die in a bilocated state, your body will die.”

  “Why do you call it OOBing.”

  “Acronym for out of body. OOB.” Mia stopped and put her hand out. “See that man over there?”

  “The one that is moving in slow motion?”

  “That’s a ghost. See how he has the same bluish cast that the soldiers and Murphy have.”

  “Can he see us?”

  “Right now because we’re stopped, yes, but watch as we move past him at our speed.” Mia grabbed Ira’s hand and scooted across the street and passed the ghost head on. “See, he didn’t see us. Normally, ghosts aren’t interested in us. We can hear them though, as we are in their plane of existence.”

  “This sounds like a lot of hooey,” Ira complained.

  “I guess it is for people who think of things scientifically,” Mia admitted. “I think of things… well… magically.”

  “Magic,” Ira groaned.

  “You see, we move faster than the eye can pick up. We aren’t invisible, but to the naked eye we are. Just because you can’t see oxygen and hydrogen doesn’t mean they aren’t there.”

  “You’re taking me down a road of confusion, lady.”

  “K. I’ll have Ted explain it to you. He’s better at this. So what shape would you like me in?”

  “Just the way you are,” Ira answered. He looked ahead of them and asked, “What’s that?” He pointed at the yellow glowing haze that cut across the road they were on.

  “That’s a ley line. And by my calculations, er, guess, it’s the one we will travel on. You have to hold on to me. Oh and on the other end, if we get separated in the vortex, think of me, and it will take you to me.”

  Ira steeled himself.

  Mia walked towards the haze. She morphed into a larger form of herself, stopped and picked up Ira as if he were a child. “Put your hands around my neck and remember to hold on tight,” she instructed. Mia turned and faced south before she sidestepped into the haze.

  ~

  Mike’s stomach gripped. “Incoming,” he said and proceeded to shut all the windows of the house in his mind. “He’s trying to get control of me! Where’s Murphy?”

  Burt spun around and watched as the image he associated with Murphy was moving towards Mike. “He’s here, hang on.” Burt nodded to Homely who had started to pour accelerant over Deville’s bones.

  Deville, frustrated with the steel wall the handsome man presented, backed up to move on to the leader of the last group of recruits. He fought to remember the man’s name. B something. “Open yourself up to me,” Deville chanted, pushing on the walls of the man’s soul. Two hands grabbed him and yanked him away. Deville twisted out of the grasp and spun around to face the axe-carrying farmer.
/>
  Murphy raised his axe.

  “No you don’t,” Captain Shelby called. “He’s mine.”

  Murphy looked over as the Civil War veteran approached. He walked tall, and behind him Vane, Ernest and Edwin stood like an impenetrable wall.

  Shelby raised his hands and closed them into fists. “Come on, Deville, I’ll give you a sporting chance,” he taunted.

  Deville looked from Murphy with the axe to the captain with his fists and chose the captain. He morphed to form the man he had been before time took the flesh from his bones.

  Burt watched them out of the corner of his eye and lit the first of four magnesium flares. He waved Mike and Homely away and dropped it on the pile of bones.

  Deville felt the power drain as his bones heated up.

  Burt dropped another flare, and as the accelerant intensified the flame, he stumbled backward.

  Deville figured out what was happening too late but launched himself at the man holding the flame-producing sticks in his hand. Deville aimed a kick to his midsection, and nothing happened. He pushed at the man to topple him into the pit of fire and was instead pushed backwards into the arms of Captain Shelby.

  As the last two flares were added to the fire, the heat was brought up to a temperature to turn the old bones into ash. Deville knew he was in trouble. Most of his power had drained away. His brother looked wanly from the other side of the pit and dropped his chin to acknowledge defeat. Deville still had form, but for how long? Where was his rifle? Where was his watch? He smiled. He eyed the book Stewart King had used on the table. He pulled away from Shelby and fought his way to the table. Deville fanned the pages, searching, searching…

  A whistle pierced the air. The broken body of Coach King ambled over to the pit. He opened his hand. Inside it was the watch chain. He looked at Deville and smiled as he turned his hand over and the chain fell into the pit.