Old Bones (Haunted Series)

by Alexie Aaron

  “If you made a connection, I think so.”

  “Good, because I’m starting to worry there’s something wrong with me. I’ve been having these flashes of memory. Things that Angelo erased…”

  Audrey wasn’t too sure what she was talking about, but she continued to be quiet so Mia could unburden herself.

  “Emotional memories. About Burt, Whit and Murphy.”

  “What do you mean they were erased?”

  Mia told her about the clinic, the gray ladies and returning with no feelings for the aforementioned men at all. “I remembered the events, but there were no emotions attached to them. I think that is how I could stand what happened with Whit and Beth. I know Angelo thinks he did me a favor but…”

  “No one should mess with your mind, Mia,” Audrey said firmly. “You know about my baggage. And now I know about yours. We’re even. Time to start building good memories,” she suggested.

  “I’d like that.”

  Ted hauled himself out of the pool and walked over and stood above Mia and dripped on her. She tossed him a towel. “Get away, you’re cold.”

  He ignored her and sat down next to her, rubbing his auburn hair with the towel. His hair sprung into curls. Mia played with the back ones until he told her to stop.

  “He hates the curls, I love them,” she told Audrey. “You guys are so lucky to have hair with curls and color.”

  Audrey looked at Mia’s hair and for the first time noticed it was white.

  “I love your hair, Minnie Mouse,” Ted said as he leaned back, squishing her into the chair.

  “Off, you’re still wet!” she halfheartedly complained. “I’m going upstairs for a shower,” she said as she wiggled free. “I’ll connect with you tomorrow, Audrey.” Mia got up and said to Ted, “Hey, Goose, you big stud.”

  “That’s me, honey,” Ted countered.

  “Take me to bed or lose me forever.”

  Ted got up and winked at Audrey. He caught up to Mia and grabbed her hand.

  Audrey watched them leave. By the time they moved out of the pool area, Ted had Mia over his shoulder and was running to the elevator.

  “I wonder if she ever feels like a sack of potatoes,” Cid asked behind Audrey.

  “I’m sure if she does, it’s a happy sack of potatoes,” Audrey said wistfully.

  “The goon is head-over-heels with her. I think we’re seeing something special.”

  “What about you, anyone in your stable yet?” Audrey teased.

  “Nah, I’m just out of the gate, not ready for the stud farm yet,” Cid said, continuing with the horse theme.

  Mike nudged Burt. “Get over there or junior’s going to steal your gal.”

  Burt looked at Mike. “If you seriously think that I’m going to do my cause any justice by waddling over there in my fast-food-sized body and stand there next to Superman to get Lois’s attention, your brains are fried. Besides, I’ve been in here so long, my muscles no longer obey me.”

  “I hear you. I tried several times to get out of here, but the bathing suit beauties have caused a little disruption down yonder.”

  “Gee, Dupree, I thought that woody was just for me,” Burt said and moved towards the stairs.

  Mike laughed as he watched Burt walk over and sit down next to Cid and Audrey. While they were busy, Mike took advantage and got out of the hot tub, wrapped a towel around himself and left the pool area.

  The hall seemed cold to his parboiled skin. The elevator was quick to respond, and soon he was on his way to his room. He opened his door, and the television was on. He looked at the station and said, “Stephen Murphy, if I have a charge for porn on my bill, I’m telling Mia,” before heading to the shower.

  Murphy looked at the man and wondered why he was all wrinkly and pink, before turning his attention back to William Shatner who was boldly going somewhere or another.

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Ted drove across the river towards Cahokia. Mia was sitting beside him. Murphy was in the back of the truck sharpening his axe.

  “I don’t think Cahokia is open to the public yet so I’ll pull off at the service station just outside and park. When it opens, I’ll be parked at Monks Mound under the shade trees,” he told her. “Be careful, Mia, don’t take any chances,” he pleaded.

  She looked at him and said, “I won’t be foolish, and besides, I have the old reprobate to watch my back. We’ll work as fast as we can. I need to look for something that will tell me where my father was taken.”

  “You’re sure he was taken and didn’t just wander off?” Ted asked.

  “Coopers don’t get dementia. If my father was able, he would be with my mother. If he was dead, he would be with my mother. Someone or something has him.”

  “Okay, here’s the station,” Ted informed her.

  Mia waited until he parked the truck before kissing him. “I’ll be careful, and I’ll be back. Don’t ever lose faith that I love you beyond this world.”

  “I wish that made me feel better. Now scoot.”

  She smiled and leaned back. Within seconds she was out of her body and out of the car.

  “Come on, Murph, we’re burning daylight,” she said as she passed him.

  He had to push himself to keep up with her. “Slow down, missy, you’re burning my batteries out,” he said when he caught up to her.

  “Sorry, Murph, I forget that you can’t move as fast as me.”

  “Braggart,” he said.

  She looked at him and started laughing. “I love you.”

  “I know.”

  “Come on, let’s start with Woodhenge and move on from there.”

  Mia and Murphy stood just inside the western edge of the tall cypress poles. The sun rose over Monks Mound. The shadow it cast fell in line with the pole representing the summer solstice. They found the ring empty of spirits. There was a bit of a distortion at the center pole. Mia filed it for later; right now she was concerned with finding her father.

  She pointed to a group of spirits carrying baskets of mud. “Let’s follow them, see what’s what.”

  They fell into line behind the workers. Mia wished she could understand their language. What did Father Alessandro say? “It’s an old one, but easy to learn.” Bah humbug, Mia thought, the man was just showing off.

  Ted looked at his watch and checked Mia’s pulse. She was doing fine, and it was time to move the truck to Monks Mound.

  Mia smiled as she heard the familiar sound of her truck moving up the road. “That’s our ride home,” she pointed the truck out to Murphy.

  They had arrived at the first set of steps. Murphy decided he would float to the top. Mia would run them. They looked at each other with determination. “On your mark, set, go!” Mia cried and took off up the steps.

  Murphy was waiting for her at the top. She smacked his hand as she ran past him. The top was full of spirits. She struggled to see through the throng of ten generations of sacrifices and two homeless men who froze there eight winters ago. She saw the ley line shimmering on the north end. She moved towards it.

  Murphy was at her elbow. He moved with menace, which was the only thing the active spirits understood, and they stepped out of his way. Most of them were young women who had been sacrificed for gods that would never appreciate it. The folly of this ancient culture was apparent. How had it survived so long?

  Mia spotted a large man with a braid of thick black hair moving through the crowd. He was carrying something. No, not something, someone. Her father!

  She ran towards them, changing her persona as she ran. She approached the man and found him to be handsome in a pointy-toothed, tattooed way. “What do you have there?” she challenged him.

  He-who-walks-through-time looked down at the woman puzzled. He smiled and spoke to her in English, “You are not what you seem.”

  Mia swore to herself. Of course her disguise was seen through because she talked to him in English. Fuck me and leave me a rose, I’ll have to do better, she chided herself. She mo
ved into her own persona. “Put that man down. He is too ill to continue,” she commanded.

  Charles, woken by the ceasing of movement, turned his head and couldn’t believe his eyes. There standing, barring their way was his daughter. He called to her, his voice barely able to make a sound louder than a breath, “Mia?”

  The traveler set Charles down on the ground. A strange-clothed man appeared carrying a very sharp axe.

  Mia rushed to his side. “Father.”

  “Leave me. Take care of your mother,” Charles pleaded.

  “No. I’m here to rescue you.”

  “Rescue him, with what?” the giant asked her. “A man with an axe? I am a god.”

  Mia stood up and morphed into the largest dragon she could manage. She saw fear enter the man’s face. “Leave him,” she ordered.

  The traveler took a swipe at her with his walking stick. It went right through her. “You have no substance!” he crowed. “I am a god. You are nothing but wind.”

  Mia returned to her original persona and concentrated, solidifying her foot as she ran, jumped and landed a kick in the god’s crotch.

  The traveler stumbled backwards.

  Murphy raised his axe and swiped at the traveler. His axe landed short as the man recovered and stepped aside.

  The traveler reached down and recovered Charles. He started running towards the ley line with his prize. Before Charles disappeared, he managed to scream, “Warehouse!”

  Mia looked at Murphy, and the two ran towards the truck.

  Mia woke up. “Ted, we need to get to the warehouse, now!”

  Ted didn’t ask any questions but started the truck.

  Mia looked in the back and confirmed that Murphy had made it back. “He’s in. Go!”

  Ted sped out of the parking lot and headed for the highway. “Tell me what’s going on.”

  “This giant of a man, I think he’s a man, has got ahold of my father. We tried to fight him, but he got away. My father is still alive. They are headed for the warehouse.”

  “Burt’s there by now. Warn him,” Ted ordered.

  ~

  “Mia, slow down and say it again,” Burt said. He was positioning the tripod a few yards away but focused on the front of the opening in the wall where Cid said they saw the vortex. Cid was in the PEEPs truck that they had pulled into the building’s old receiving dock, connecting the yards of cable he had rolled the length of the building. Mike was at City Hall getting a permit to film with Audrey.

  Mia repeated herself.

  “That’s what I thought I heard. Hurry and get here. I’ll try to delay them.” He put his phone in his pocket before touching his com. “Cid, over.”

  “Go ahead, Moleman, over.”

  Burt ignored the title and spoke, “Mia says there is a seven foot tall Native American carrying her father over his shoulder, heading for the vortex. He has filed teeth, bruised gonads and a bad attitude, over.”

  “And…”

  “She wants us to stop him.”

  “With what?”

  “You guys ever fix Mia’s shotgun?”

  “Yes. It’s locked and loaded with salt. If Mia connected with the guy’s balls and he kept running, then salt’s not going to hurt him,” Cid reasoned.

  “It may slow him down. She says he thinks he’s a god. We got anything for that?”

  “Ted’s got stuff for every occasion, but a god is a new one. Let me see what I can rig up.” A few minutes went by, and Cid was back on the com. “I’ve got an idea. Be right down.”

  Burt paced the floor with worry. He heard Cid’s pounding footsteps and moved to intercept him. They almost collided in the gloomy passageway.

  Cid had a roll of canvas, six boxes of aluminum foil and a power stapler.

  “What the fuck, Cid? We’re not worried about Martians reading our minds!” Burt said as he lost his cool.

  “Bear with me, dude.” Cid tossed him the shotgun. “Use this, and buy me some time.”

  Burt advanced up the passage and stood guard.

  As soon as the truck hit dry land, Mia bilocated. Murhpy followed her. Ted had tossed him an energon cube, and he recharged as they crossed the river. He was keeping up with Mia who ran as if her life depended on it. They charged into the warehouse just as the traveler emerged from a side street. Mia climbed up to the open second floor, walked into position and waited for the man. She concentrated to make herself as heavy as possible, and as he entered the building, she launched herself at him, catching him in the jaw.

  Her father dropped from his grasp. Murphy swung his axe at the giant’s Achilles tendon, and as it sunk in, the traveler howled in pain.

  What was this devilment? What kind of demon did this man spawn? He regained his footing and swiped at the man with the axe.

  Murphy caught the walking stick in his midsection, went sailing and landed in a pile of scrap iron.

  Mia, who was trying to pull Charles out of the building, caught sight of the ghost struggling to rise out of the mass of rusted iron. She pulled her father into the corner. “I’ll be right back. I have to help Murhpy.” She ran past the giant who did a double take as she moved past him so fast. Mia stopped and, thinking solid again, reached out a hand and pulled and pulled until Murphy was free of the energy-sapping metal. He was spent and could hardly move. “You stay here. I’ll get you something to chew on.”

  She ran to where she left her father. Both he and the giant were gone. “Fuck this!” Mia half ran, half jumped down the stairs. Forcing her persona to be solid was depleting her energy fast.

  She heard a shotgun blast go off. She arrived on the scene seconds after. Burt lay on the ground, tossed as if he were an aluminum can. He was out of breath but rising. He couldn’t see her but pointed down the passage.

  The traveler stood spellbound. Standing there in front of him was another god. He put his captive down and approached the shimmering figure. He spoke in the language of his people, “Who are you? I am He-who-walks-through-time.”

  The god’s mouth moved, but no sound was heard. Flashes of light assaulted his eyes. The god was trying to blind him. He staggered forward and summoned the portal. Charles crawled away, hid himself in a dark corner and watched as the mirror, made of foil and canvas that had momentarily fooled the traveler, buckled and crumpled before being sucked into the vortex.

  The traveler shook in rage. He turned and searched for Charles.

  Cid, who had been hiding on the far side of the passageway where Burt had set up the camera, witnessed a blur he assumed was Mia come barreling in and hit the giant so hard he fell backwards into the whirling blue.

  He ran to help Mia’s father. “Sir, let me help get you out of here.”

  “Mia,” Charles said as he watched his daughter pull herself off the floor and stand up. He raised a hand to her to say he was alright.

  Charles watched his daughter smile and move towards him. Suddenly a large hand shot out of the whirling blue mass. The arm of the traveler wrapped itself around Mia’s waist and pulled her in.

  “Mia!” Charles screamed as she disappeared shortly before the vortex was no more.

  “What?” Cid asked. “Where is she? Is she alright?”

  “Gone, gone, my daughter is gone,” the old man cried.

  “Maybe not. Maybe she returned to her own body,” Cid said for both of their benefits.

  Burt stumbled down the passage. “What happened? You saved him. Mia will be so happy,” he said.

  Cid shook his head explaining, “I built a mirror and stopped the god. He stood there like Narcissus staring at his reflection.”

  “Good thinking,” Burt said.

  “But the lights surged. He may have inadvertently triggered them with his polarity. Anyway, he said something, and the vortex appeared. The canvas couldn’t hold, and the mirror was sucked into the whirling mass. He got angry and was heading for Mia’s father when this blur of light smashed into him, knocking him into the portal.”

  “My god, what a spec
tacle,” Burt said, moving towards the camera. “Where’s Mia?”

  “She was the light,” Cid said.

  Burt looked at him, not understanding.

  Charles got to his feet and put his hand on Burt’s arm. “My daughter hit He-who-walks-through-time and pushed him into the vortex. She was still solid when he reached back and pulled her in with him. She’s gone, gentleman. My daughter is lost forever.”

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Ted pulled the truck in behind the PEEPs command vehicle. He didn’t want to leave Mia’s body unprotected. He picked up his phone and called Cid. No answer. Burt, the same. He dialed Mike.

  “What’s up?” Mike said.

  “Where are you?”

  “At the bloody City Hall getting the bloody run around. Audrey and I are going to head back. Maybe Mia could make a call to Gerald, maybe he knows a guy that can push this through.”

  “Mia’s OOBing right now, but I’ll let her know,” Ted said and disconnected the call. Murphy hobbled into view. Ted looked at Mia and saw her eyelids flicker. “Come on, Mia, come to Teddy Bear,” he coaxed.

  She opened her eyes and mumbled, “She’s been gone too long.” The voice was Mia’s, but there was slowness to it as if Mia was saying the words for the first time. She kept flexing her hands and looking down at her body as she sat up straighter.

  “Honey, what happened? Murphy looks like hell,” Ted said as Murphy stood by the open window looking in.

  “Not Mia,” he said, shaking his head.

  “What do you mean this isn’t Mia. It’s her body…”

  “She’s been gone too long,” the voice repeated, this time with a firm grasp of Mia’s vocal chords. She looked over at Murphy and asked, “Where did you last see her?”

  Ted was freaked out for a second. He thought a moment and asked, “You’re the gray lady, the one in her mind.”