by Alexie Aaron
Marie watched the men she had hired run away into the jungle. She shrieked in frustration, “In God’s name, what is going on?”
“Calm down, Marie,” Gerald called as he joined the assembled group. “Please get down off that rock before you fall. Medical attention is hours away.” He surveyed the people, human, spirit, and superhuman, who had come for one purpose, to stop Angelo and Bev from resurrecting Guillaume. He smiled at Mia, sending his apologies into her brain. She allowed them to enter, but insisted he wasn’t to blame.
“Hello, I don’t think we’ve met,” Judy walked over, carrying the rank scent of the previous occupant of her clothes with her. “Refugia, formally of the gray ladies. Please call me Judy. This is He-who-walks-through-time, Ed for short. We’ve come to help. We represent Charles and Amanda Cooper. We are instructed to negotiate, if possible, Mia’s release. If there is no negotiation, Ed is prepared to kill Angelo. I assure you he has defeated birdmen before.” After stating her case, she shook Gerald’s hand.
“Gerald Shem,” he said, shaking her hand. He released hers and extended his hand to Ed.
“The man who knows a man who,” Ed said, pushing Gerald’s probing mind out of his head with a warning. “Gods should not be trifled with.”
Gerald nodded and pulled out. He turned to his guides and asked in Creole for them to assist his sister off the cliff. “Marie, I’m sending my men to help you down. Don’t shoot them, they have families;” he called to her.
“Don’t be so dramatic. I’ve not shot anyone since 2008,” she said. “Although, I will make an exception for the elder Miss Cooper,” she warned.
Bev sat down on a large piece of stone. The fatigue of the trip washed over her, joined by the frustration that there was no way Guillaume would be resurrected now. Angelo cast a look at her that was full of contempt.
The ground beneath them began to tremble. Murphy felt it before the others. He motioned Ted and Mia away from harm with one hand, while dragging a surprised Cid with the other. A large chasm started to open beneath the ground where they once stood.
The guides trembled in fear. Marie had barely made it off the rock wall before they ran away. Gerald ran to her, picked her up and carried her away from the edge.
“Not another earthquake!” she cried, clinging to her brother in fear.
“No, not an earthquake,” Gerald said, trying to calm her, but what it could be worried him just the same.
Angelo, Judy and Ed backed away from the growing break in the earth. Ed drew a spear and waited.
Dark black smoke billowed out of the crack in the earth, carrying with it the cloying scent of tiger lilies. Murphy moved in front of his friends holding his axe, preparing for a fight.
“Who disturbs my rest?” the entity said first in French, then Creole and then in English as it swirled, trying to settle on a form. As if it were a cartoon, it decided to start at the top and work its way down. An elegant top hat made of beaver dressed the head of a regal looking black man. His dark brown eyes shown with excitement, and he flashed a smile as he took in the crowd of people around him. “So many ladies. Have you come to see Judge Roumain? No, I think not.” The smoke moved away, showing an expensive tailored suit and exposed white cuffs from which long manicured fingers formed on strong large hands. He took a moment to pick off lint only he could see from his immaculate jacket before speaking again. His voice, deep and rich, reverberated through the graveyard. “What brings bird people, demigods and mind readers here to my humble resting place? Is it I? No, I’ve listened and it is not.” He moved with the grace of a dancer, stopping in front of Murphy. He opened his eyes wide. “You, sir, I ask you to lower your axe. I will not harm your friends. I have been asked to sit in judgment. Something I am well equipped to do.”
He motioned to Ed to lower his spear and encouraged Gerald and Marie to come closer. “Why are you here?”
They all started to talk at once.
Roumain raised his hand, and the ability to speak left all but Murphy, who knew better than to speak when not asked to by judges and other people in authority. Roumain motioned for him to come forward. “You tell me why everyone is here,” he instructed. The judge lifted his heavy brows and answered the question many had voiced in their minds. “I ask him because he is dead, and the dead don’t lie, not to Judge Roumain they don’t.”
Murphy extended his axe in the direction of Bev. “She has come because she wishes for her dead lover to be resurrected. She has a curse in which she cannot let go of a love once she has made the commitment with her heart. He,” Murphy pointed to Angelo, “has the ability to make it so.” Murphy turned to Marie. “She is the dead man’s wife and wishes him to go on sleeping. This way he can’t hurt her anymore with his sexual wanderings.”
“And the rest of these people?”
Murphy reached his hand out and willed it solid. Mia took it and stepped forward. “Mia is that woman’s niece. She was used as payment for the task of raising the dead.”
Roumain raised both his eyebrows. “What do you have to say in this matter?”
“With respect, Judge Roumain, I am a free person in the eyes of my culture and my government. Angelo Michaels,” Mia pointed in his direction, “his culture is different. In his eyes, I am unmarried and am the possession of my relatives until I wed. Beverly, my aunt, used this idea to bind me to him in payment for the horrendous deed we all came here to stop him from doing.”
“Do you not have parents?” he asked.
Judy waved her hand.
“Speak.”
“We have been commissioned by Charles and Amada Cooper to request the return of their daughter. If Angelo failed to comply, Ed would dispatch him and bring Mia back to her parents.”
Judge Roumain seemed quite amused by this. “Dispatch, you mean kill him?”
“In honorable battle, as is the custom in our religion,” Judy explained.
He waved Murphy over. “What do you make of all of this posturing?”
Murphy hunched his shoulders.
“You and I are of one mind, sir.”
“This young man,” Murphy motioned to Ted,” is the fiancé of the stolen girl. The other is Cid, his childhood friend and Mia’s new friend.”
Roumain read the thoughts of the two men, the determined lover and his friend who would risk all in seconding his cause. “Do you wish to challenge Angelo Michaels too?”
Ted nodded, not given the ability to speak.
“He could, let’s say, dispatch you in mere moments, yet, you would challenge him?”
Ted nodded again.
“Interesting.” He turned to Gerald. “You, wheeler-dealer man, why are you here? I sense cross-purposes.”
Gerald tried to speak, but his vocal chords would not work.
“Oh, sorry, go on.” The judge smiled apologetically.
“I have come to stop Beverly from raising Guillaume Bouché. By doing so, it would forfeit Angelo’s part of the bargain and free Mia Cooper. It would also stop her from making the second biggest mistake of her life.”
“Ah, the plot grows thicker. Beverly, he still loves you, even though you’ve rejected him time and time again. He loves you even though this love dishonors his sister. I think he is cursed also. Mia, are you cursed too?”
“No, I willingly love Theodore Martin and have great affection for Stephen Murphy. I do not consider it a curse but a strong genetic trait of loyalty, something I am now proud of.”
“Angelo Michaels, Mia does not love you. Do you love her?”
“No.”
“Why did you ask for her in payment?”
Angelo explained how he believed Mia was meant to be a warrior on the side of good. “She was wasting her talents in her present occupation as a ghost hunter.”
“But she represents the dead? What better occupation could she have?”
“She helps both good and evil spirits.”
“Ah, there’s the rub. Upsets the balance, or does it rebalance the scales?” Roum
ain put his hand to his chin and looked up briefly. I think that is a matter for discussion amongst the philosophers or old men deep in their cups. Tell me, Mia Cooper, do you wish for Angelo to be dispatched?”
“No. I want him to leave me alone. I want him to understand that I don’t wish to be part of the Brotherhood of the Wing, that I want to marry Ted. Together with Ted, Murphy and my other friends, I want to help lost souls, both good and bad. I want my aunt to stop hurting. I have never met Guillaume, and I do understand this consuming love, my father suffers too, but Guillaume is dead. Gerald is living.”
“You should talk!” Bev shouted. “You have been playing patty-cake with a dead man. What do you call your relationship with Stephen Murphy?” she challenged Mia.
“Love,” Mia answered honestly, “Regard, friendship.”
Murphy looked at her and smiled.
“You are a lucky woman, Mia,” Roumain said. “On one hand you have a flesh and blood man who would die to save you. On the other, you have a dead man who would do the same. Both seem to have come to an accord with each other. May you never have to choose between them.”
“Make her choose!” Bev spat.
“Your words do not help your case,” he warned Bev. “Do I look like the host of Love Connection or Cupid? I am here to negotiate a peace. Mia, you are no one’s property. Even when you marry this man, you are still your own person. Have I made myself clear?”
“Yes, Your Honor,” Mia answered.
“Angelo?”
“Yes,” he said, his voice low.
“You may leave. Take your chest of wickedness with you.”
Angelo glared at Roumain.
Ed, picking up on the tension, moved between the judge and Angelo.
“Move out of the way, time walker, I can’t see,” Roumain complained.
Ed stepped aside but kept a wary eye on Angelo.
“What harm could the birdman do me? Send me to hell perhaps, been there, done that. Mia could open the gates for me, but then what would I do there?” He laughed a rich full rumble. “Angelo, leave now, or I’ll let the time walker convince you to leave. Don’t look that way, you have been used and almost cheated. I have saved you disgrace.”
Angelo looked at Roumain, Mia and Murphy. The latter stood up tall and held his gaze, promising that they would meet again.
This exchange did not go unnoticed by Roumain, but he held his tongue.
Angelo took in the situation and feared that he had erred. How could this be, when his cause was just and his heart was good? But the entity that stood in judgment had found him complicit in an evil undertaking, and he felt shame. He dropped his gown and secured it in the chest. He extended his wings around his body and disappeared, taking his chest with him.
Roumain pointed to Ed and Judy suggesting, “You may as well go too. There will be no battle here today. Judy, it has been a pleasure, extend my best wishes to Kamol. Tell him old Roumain is ready for a game of chess when he is.”
“I will. Come, Ed, let’s leave.” She motioned. “Mia, come to the island, we have much to discuss.” Judy took off the clothing, unfurled her wings and grew in height as Ed walked over to her. He undressed, gathered his spears, holding them tight to his chest. Judy extended her wings wide before wrapping them around him. They vanished.
“I’ll never get tired of seeing that,” Roumain said, smacking his leg. “Mia, what tricks can you do?” He looked at her and put his finger to his lips. “No, you keep your secrets, even from Roumain,” he advised. “Now we have thinned the herd of the bulls. Could you smell all that testosterone? Enough to make ninety virgins quake in their sleep,” he said and laughed at his own joke.
Ted and Cid elbowed each other. Mia rolled her eyes. Bev glared at the entity.
“Now it’s time to ask the question. Should Guillaume be resurrected?”
“Angelo’s gone. You’ve made your decision,” Bev snapped.
“Angelo is not the only one with powers here. You would do better if you remained quiet. I like your spark, but I advise you to hold your tongue, woman, or I shall remove it permanently.” Roumain sniffed the air and wrinkled his nose. “Mia, you have to take off those clothes before you get lice, if you haven’t already from the bird people.”
Ted took off his overshirt and handed it to Mia. Marie unwound her long full scarf. She motioned for Mia to come to her. She motioned for the men to turn around. Mia took off her clothes. Marie poured the last of her bottled water over Mia, scrubbing at the dirt that clung to the young woman’s body before wrapping her voluminous scarf around her. Mia pulled Ted’s shirt over the makeshift dress.
“Thank you,” she said to Marie.
“My pleasure. I’m sorry you’ve been a pawn in this horrible game. I am responsible for starting this; I will be responsible for ending it,” she promised.
“Yes, you are, but it will be I that will end this,” Roumain said. “Now that I can stand your odor, come here, Mia. You will be the advocate for the dead. I will send you to retrieve Guillaume. Murphy, you better go with her. Purgatory is a tricky place. You will find him at the pool of sorrows. Bring him back with you.”
He waved his hand. Mia and Murphy vanished.
Ted looked alarmed. Cid put a compassionate hand on his shoulder.
“Don’t worry, she’ll be back. While we wait, let’s discuss what Gerald Shem can do for Haiti. It’s time to collect all your favors and help your brethren, oui.”
Chapter Twenty-nine
“What the fuck?” Mia said, ignoring Murphy’s caution against using bad language considering their situation. “I guess I should be pleased to be free of Angelo, but I find myself in purgatory. I don’t even believe in the effing place, but yet, here I am.”
She looked around. The place didn’t seem to be any different from where they had just come from, except the colors were faded as if a bucket of whitewash had been poured over this world. There was a warm breeze that seemed to push at her back. She let it move her along. She looked over and noticed that Murphy was sweating.
“You’re perspiring. Ghost don’t sweat.”
“I’m not a ghost here,” he replied. “This is the place I’ve been avoiding my whole, er, death.”
“Stephen Murphy, what did you do in your short life to make you think you’d be spending time here?”
“I went to a girly show once.”
Mia started to giggle. “No wonder you were making eyes at the ladies in the balcony, recognize anyone?”
“No.”
“How do you feel?”
“Tired.”
“Hand me your axe. I’ll carry it awhile,” Mia offered.
“Who would you choose?” Murphy asked her, handing over his axe. “Me or Ted?”
“Don’t let Roumain get under your skin,” Mia said, feeling the weight of the axe. “Whoa this is heavy.”
“You’re avoiding the question.”
“Damn straight, I am,” Mia admitted. She looked over at her friend and could see that she wasn’t going to be able to avoid answering his question. He would just stand there, keeping them an eternity if he had to in purgatory, until he had an answer. She sighed. “If you were a viable - viable as in alive - candidate when we met, it would have been you, I expect, although you were so much older than me at the time.” Mia frowned a moment. “In that timeline, Ted would have never come along. We would have spent most of our time shouting at one another while you tried to impose your antiquated views on how I should talk, dress, and who I was allowed to socialize with. You’re still trying to change me, Murph. I am what I am.”
He scratched his neck, not liking his beard growth. “I guess I never thought of it that way. Ted accepts you, doesn’t try to change you, and understands your crush on me.”
“Exactly. Hey, I don’t have a crush on you, by the way. I did, but I’ve seen your warts and well…”
“I don’t have any warts.”
“Warts as in imperfections of personality,” Mia explained
. She stopped looking around them. “If I was a pond of sorrows, where would I be?”
“In a grotto,” Murphy guessed. “Let’s check in that hilly area over there.”
They started walking towards the rocky hills that hadn’t been there before.
“What defects in personality?”
“You sure talk a lot in your purgatorial form. You remind me of Ted.”
“I don’t have to conserve energy here. Talking zaps the energy stores. That is why most ghosts avoid talking altogether.”
“Good to know.”
“What defects in personality?” he asked again.
“You’re pigheaded, bossy, and old-fashioned…”
“You’re pigheaded and bossy. I’m not old-fashioned, I’m from the past. I was thought to be quite the trendsetter in my day. I had indoor plumbing.”
Mia stopped walking and put her finger to her lips. She heard running water. “I think we’re on the right track.”
“Before we get there and get busy, answer me this. If I moved on, would you miss me?”
“Yes, but I would understand. When you love someone, you want the best for them. One of the reasons I don’t urge you towards the light is that you seem so happy to hang around the farm. I love that you do, but if you decide you want to seek out what’s beyond the light, then I would let you go, just as you did for me when Ted asked for my hand.”
“I haven’t let you go. I said it would be alright, but I never let you go,” Murphy admitted.
Mia looked up at him. “There’s part of me that is sad but part of me that is happy. The latter part is the selfish part.”
“What if Ted said you could never see me again?”
“He wouldn’t.”
“What if he did?”
“Roumain said I am my own person. I would listen to him and decide then. Would you ever tell me not to see Ted?”
“If roles were reversed and we were married and Ted was the ghost, then yes.”
“That answer is very telling,” Mia said and smiled. “But this is all supposition, and we’ve got a retrieval on our hands.” She handed him his axe back.