The Returned

by Bishop O'Connell

“I ain’t done yet,” Joker said. “She turned up again.”

  “What?”

  Joker nodded. “Yep, except now she’s totally out of it. Her power was back to normal, but she wasn’t right anymore: talking to herself and hearing things. Didn’t take long before everyone started calling her ‘Crazy Ellie.’ ” She shrugged. “Which I guess is true, but always seemed like a cruel name to give her.”

  “I hear you,” Wraith said. “You said there were witnesses?”

  Joker nodded. “Yeah, both times. They were ru we knew back in the day, so we knew they was telling the truth. No one saw her get dropped off though.” She shrugged again. “That’s why when the number men show up, we make sure we ain’t around. No one wants to end up like Crazy Ellie.”

  Wraith chewed her lower lip, not sure how to ask.

  “Damn,” Joker said. “You want to talk to her, don’t you?”

  Wraith just nodded.

  Joker sighed. “Well, you can try. No idea if she’ll be coherent. Some days are better than others. State locked her up at a hospital in Metairie.” She narrowed her eyes. “Some of us are kind of protective of her. We forge IDs and say we’re family so we can visit her from time to time.”

  Wraith opened her mouth.

  “But it doesn’t always work,” Joker said.

  “That won’t be a problem.”

  Joker pursed her lips. “Fine, but I’m going with you.”

  “I’m cool with that.”

  “And,” Joker said, “if she’s having a bad day or gets upset, we’re out of there. She’s been through enough already.”

  Wraith nodded. “Deal.”

  Joker led them back to the corner where the other girl was waiting, and rather impatiently.

  “Sorry about that, Disco,” Joker said. “This here is Wraith. She’s the Seattle slinger.”

  “Bullshit,” Disco said.

  “Nah, it’s her,” Joker said.

  Wraith nodded, a little embarrassed.

  “Badass!” Disco said and smiled at Wraith, then turned to Joker. “Now, you mind if we get back to playing? Lots of cash has already walked by.”

  Joker picked up her mandolin and turned to Wraith. “Come back here in a few hours and we’ll—”

  “Um, actually, time is sort of an issue,” Wraith said.

  “I ain’t gonna bail on Disco,” Joker said.

  “Not unless you want your ass kicked,” Disco said. “You promised you’d help—”

  “Do I look like I’m leaving?” Joker asked.

  Wraith let out a deep breath, then surreptitiously slipped a hand into her pocket and drew out some cash. She counted it without looking.

  “Here’s eighty bucks,” Wraith said, offering the cash to Disco. “Can I borrow Joker for an hour? I promise to bring her right back.”

  “Hey!” Joker protested. “I’m not a freaking car—”

  “Deal,” Disco said and took the cash.

  “You suck,” Joker said to Disco.

  Disco pocketed the cash. “Only in your dreams, baby girl.”

  “Okay, that was like, the coolest thing ever!” Joker said in a whisper as she and Wraith stepped out of a door inside the hospital. After the door closed, she opened it again only to find an office inside. “How do you do that?”

  Wraith shrugged. “How much do you know about quantum mechanics and chaos theory?”

  “Is that a polite way of saying I wouldn’t understand?”

  “No,” Wraith said. “That’s my way of asking what you know about quantum mechanics and chaos theory.”

  “Yeah, moving on,” Joker said. “How do we find her? I’ve only come through the front door, and then they bring her out to us.”

  “I have an idea,” Wraith said. “Follow me.”

  The halls were empty as they walked, and Wraith felt an odd sense of déjà vu. It wasn’t that she’d been here before, but the feel of the hospital was very familiar. Between the smooth floor, white tiled walls, and the pervasive smell of antiseptic and industrial-strength cleaner, it was like stepping back into a memory. Overall, the building had seen better days, but she’d been expecting worse.

  Along the hallway were doors with small windows in them. Wraith glanced in some as they walked by. A few were empty, but inside most were people in pajamas or loungewear. Some sat in a lone chair or lay on the bed and just stared blankly into space. Others paced their rooms, muttering to themselves. A few looked completely normal to Wraith, reading books or writing on a piece of paper. She couldn’t help but wonder why they were there and feel a connection to them. The sense of reality crumbling around you was something she was well acquainted with.

  As they came to a T-intersection, they heard footsteps from down the hall. Wraith chanced a look around the corner and saw two men in white uniforms walking together and talking between them. If they went around the corner, Wraith and Joker would be spotted instantly.

  Wraith turned around and found the hallway was a lot longer than she remembered. They might make it back if they ran, but their footsteps would give them away. They could use a door, but that would mean leaving, and they hadn’t found Ellie yet.

  “Get close,” Wraith whispered.

  Joker gave her an odd look but stepped up next to her.

  “Closer,” Wraith said, wrapping an arm around Joker and pulling her tight against her.

  “Honey, if you were looking for a cuddle,” Joker whispered, “you just had to ask.”

  Wraith drew up her cloaking equation and wrapped it around Joker and herself. The equation had to be expanded—she normally used it only on herself—which made it more complicated.

  “Are you going to tell me to kiss you now?” Joker asked. “Hope they just walk by? Or do you mean to distract them?”

  “Stop talking,” Wraith said and focused on the equation. She hadn’t expected another person to provide so many variables. The footsteps drew closer. Then she felt the familiar tension of the formula settle over them.

  Joker was still visible, and Wraith hoped that was only because they were both inside the spell, not that it hadn’t actually worked. When the girl opened her mouth, Wraith gave her a hard look, and she closed it.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” one of the orderlies said as the two turned the corner and headed toward Wraith and Joker.

  “No,” the other said. “Biggest damn redfish I’ve ever seen in person. Weighed in at twelve pounds!”

  The two men continued their conversation as they walked right by Wraith and Joker without so much as looking their way. Eventually they disappeared around another corner. Wraith waited for a long minute after that before releasing the cloak and her held breath.

  “Did you make us invisible?” Joker asked with wide eyes as she stepped back.

  Wraith nodded.

  “Too cool!”

  “Come on,” Wraith said and headed the direction the orderlies had come from.

  That’s when she noticed the cameras. Luckily technology was easy to manipulate. Computers and everything that connected to them dealt with raw data that was coded, compiled, and processed. She drew together a small hexing equation and lobbed it at the nearest camera. The light didn’t go out; there were no sparks and no smoke. But then, there wasn’t supposed to be. The spell wasn’t meant to fry the camera. Instead, it sent an embedded command to the receiving unit to repeat the same few frames for the next half hour. It was the magical equivalent of playing a video snippet on a loop.

  A few minutes later they came to another corner, and when Wraith peeked around it, she saw an orderly’s station.

  “Wait here,” Wraith said to Joker. “I’ll be right back.”

  “What? Are you crazy?”

  “At least I’d be in the right place.”

  “That isn’t funny!”

  Wraith turned and rounded the corner. As she did, she drew up a glamour equation. This time she drew on her memory of one of the orderlies she’d seen just a few minutes ago. It probably wasn’t
perfect, but hopefully it would work for what she needed.

  As she approached the station, she found it unattended. She moved quickly, examining the papers and charts that were stacked around the station. It didn’t take long to find a patient roster, names listed next to room numbers. Unfortunately, it listed only last names and first initials. There were a dozen patients with the first initial E, and they were all over the hospital.

  She cursed herself for not asking Joker what Ellie’s last name was. Then it occurred to her that Joker probably didn’t know. In fact, if Ellie was as messed up as Joker said, Ellie probably didn’t know either. Wraith looked over the list again and smiled when she came across “Doe, E—416.”

  “Hey, Shaun,” a woman said from behind Wraith. “Forget something?”

  Wraith pushed back the rush of panic. Her cloak wouldn’t change her voice. She thought back to the man whose face she was borrowing and did her best to mimic him.

  “Lost my wallet,” she said in a deep voice she was sure was a terrible impersonation. She turned and found herself looking at a woman with a matronly smile.

  “Did you find it?” the woman asked.

  “Must’ve left it at home,” Wraith said and started back the way she’d come. “I need to get back to my rounds.”

  “Um, okay,” the woman said. “Get some tea. You sound like you’re coming down with a cold.”

  Wraith nodded and waved back, but she didn’t breathe until she came back around the corner to find Joker waiting. That’s when she dropped the glamour.

  “This is easily the coolest day ever,” Joker said. “Do you do this kind of stuff every day?”

  “Room 416,” Wraith said, ignoring the question, and walked past Joker.

  “Rude,” Joker said as she caught up. “I’d have thought you’d be nicer after our loving embrace.”

  Wraith just chuckled and shook her head.

  Luckily, the hospital had some logic to its layout. It didn’t take them long to find the stairs, and after reaching the fourth floor, they found Room 416 in short order. Wraith peered through the window and saw a girl of an age with her, maybe a little older, but still in her teens. Her long dark hair was unkempt and matted in places. She sat on the bed, knees drawn up to her chest, back to the corner of the room. Her pale eyes stared off blankly.

  “That’s her,” Joker said as she looked in the window, her eyes deeply sad.

  Wraith dragged her finger over the keyhole, weaving together a simple formulation. The locked clicked, and the door opened a hair.

  “Damn,” Joker said, impressed. “We are really gonna have to start hanging out more. How are you with bank vaults?”

  Wraith opened the door and stepped inside. Once Joker joined her, she shut the door carefully and quietly.

  “Hey, Ellie,” Joker said in a soft tone as she sat on the bed, keeping her distance.

  Ellie blinked a few times, then turned to Joker. “Marie?”

  Joker smiled. “Yeah, darling, it’s me. How are you?”

  “It’s quiet today,” Ellie said and looked away.

  Wraith just stood at the door and looked at Ellie. She’d never been that bad, at least not that she could remember. She did understand the phrase though. When she’d had all those souls bound to her, it had been constant noise in her head as they all tried to be heard. Some yelled, some cried, but they were all scared.

  “This is my friend, Wraith,” Joker said. “She’s come here just to see you.”

  Ellie turned and looked at Wraith. Their eyes met, and Wraith had the feeling the girl wasn’t looking through her, but into her. As if her very soul was laid bare for the girl to see.

  “You know,” Ellie said to her, nodding. “You were on the table too, saw the blood, heard the screams.”

  Wraith swallowed and nodded. The memories of the rituals came back to her: countless times being chained to the stone table as the Order bound thirteen fifties to other tables around her in a circle. She could remember the smell of the room, thick with blood and death, and the screams of the fifties as they were tortured and killed.

  “Yeah,” Wraith said. “I know.”

  “Did they fix you?” Ellie asked.

  “Fix me?” Wraith asked and took a few steps forward.

  “They tried to fix me,” she said. “But I was too broken, and they didn’t have enough glue to put me back together. Like Humpty Dumpty, all the Solomon couldn’t put me back together again.”

  Wraith and Joker exchanged a look, and then Wraith got closer, kneeling in front of Ellie.

  “Who are all the Solomon?” Wraith asked.

  Ellie narrowed her eyes. “Secret seven,” she said. “Magic from heaven. They sneak and fix and hide with tricks.”

  Wraith looked at Joker, but she just shrugged.

  “Did they let you go?” Wraith said. “Or did you get away?”

  “Do you have any licorice?” Ellie asked Joker. “I love licorice.”

  “No, sorry, darling,” Joker said and gently put her hand on Ellie’s leg. “I’ll bring you some next time though. I promise.”

  Ellie frowned, then turned to look at Wraith again. She narrowed her eyes and leaned in close. Wraith resisted the urge to look away or pull back. Ellie leaned in closer and closer until their noses almost touched, then she lifted her hand and touched Wraith’s face.

  “You’re almost empty now,” she said.

  Wraith knew what that meant too. At one time she’d had dozens, maybe hundreds of souls bound to her. Now it was just her and maybe some traces of Shadow, SK, and Fritz that they’d left behind. She just nodded again.

  Ellie ran her fingers through Wraith’s hair. “I like this color,” she said, smiling. “Blue like an angel. Are you an angel?”

  “No,” Wraith said before she could even think about it.

  “You could be,” Ellie said. “Would you like to be my blue angel?”

  Wraith couldn’t help but smile. “Sure, I’d like that.”

  Ellie looked away and frowned. “Oh, you need to go now.”

  “What? Why?” Joker asked.

  “Today is chocolate pudding day,” Ellie said.

  “Shit, lunch,” Joker said.

  “No, silly,” Ellie said. “Chocolate pudding.”

  “Thank you, Ellie,” Wraith said.

  Ellie threw her arms around Wraith and hugged. “You’ll come back and see me, right, blue angel?”

  “I promise,” Wraith said. “And I’ll bring Marie with me. Would you like that?”

  Ellie nodded. “And you’ll bring licorice?”

  “You got it,” Joker said. “I love you, sweetness.”

  Ellie smiled more. “I love you too.”

  Wraith looked at Joker, but the girl didn’t meet her eyes. She took the hint, and they both went to the door. Wraith worked her magic, literally, and unlocked it. As they rounded a corner, they heard voices and the sound of slightly squeaky wheels as a cart rolled down the hall they’d just left. Without a word, they made their way quickly and quietly to the nearest usable door and stepped through.

  They stepped out of a men’s room door in a bar on Bourbon Street. The place already had a couple of patrons, who gave them a long look as they made for the exit. They walked in silence for several minutes.

  “You were the witness, weren’t you?” Wraith finally asked.

  Joker didn’t look at her; she just nodded.

  “There was nothing you could’ve done,” Wraith said.

  “I just stood there,” Joker said. “The first time I’d gone and gotten us something to eat. I got back just in time to see her vanish. I ran to our spot, but she was gone. I cried for days.” She turned to Wraith and wiped tears from her eyes. “The second time, she’d gotten impatient and left while I was talking to Benji.” She shook her head. “I caught up with her and saw them grab her. I should’ve done something, but I was so scared, and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I just watched it happen.”

  “It wasn’t your
fault,” Wraith said again. It felt strange to be on this side of the conversation, but it also gave her a new perspective on her own past and deeds.

  Joker shrugged. “Maybe, but it doesn’t feel that way.”

  “I know,” Wraith said. “But trust me, it’s true.”

  “You should be honored though,” Joker said, forcing a smile.

  “Why?”

  “She asked you to be her blue angel,” Joker said. “She loves the Blue Angels. We went every year to see them.”

  “I don’t know who that is,” Wraith said. “Is it a band?”

  Joker laughed. “No, it’s a group of navy planes,” she said. “What do you call it, an aerial squadron? They perform every year at the Joint Reserve Base. Fly around performing tricks and stuff. It’s actually pretty cool.”

  Wraith just stared at her as something clicked in her brain.

  “What is it?” Joker asked. “What did I say?”

  “This base is in New Orleans?” Wraith asked.

  “Yeah, about half hour from here,” Joker said. “Unless you take the bus, which we always did, then it’s a couple hours.” She looked at Wraith. “For you it’s like two seconds, right?”

  “I’m going to get Ellie so much licorice,” Wraith said.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  “Are you okay?” Caitlin asked as they walked down Bourbon, already filling with people in various stages of inebriation.

  Edward squeezed her hand. “I’m worried,” he said. “I’m worried about what I might’ve gotten Henry into.”

  “You didn’t get him into anything,” Caitlin said. “If anything, we are helping him. If we hadn’t gotten involved, he’d have a big hole in his memory.” She shook her head. “Honestly, I’m more worried about Wraith.”

  “I’m worried about her too,” he said. “I just didn’t make it that far down my list.”

  “She’s a good kid,” she said. “A bit of a smart-ass, but that’s just part of being a teenager.”

  “And the victim of unimaginable abuse,” he said. “The fact she’s managing as well as she is, is a testament to her strength.”

  Caitlin nodded. “Strength is something she’s got in spades. She’s been doing good looking after herself for a while now.” Caitlin stopped and turned Edward so they were face-to-face. “I’d prefer to see her in a nice, loving home myself, but that’s something she has to find in her own time.”