by Sara Clancy
“Why don’t you have any crosses?” Mihail said. He flinched slightly and rushed to explain. “It’s just, when I heard that you were a paranormal investigator, I imagined more crucifixes.”
“Well, it would be slightly awkward. Given that we’re Jewish.”
“Really?”
Abe’s lips hitched into a crooked grin. “We exist, ya know.”
“No, I didn’t mean that,” Mihail said with wide eyes. “I’m sorry, I’ve just never done anything like this before. The only reference point I have for this is – have you seen the movie The Exorcist?”
“Possessed girl. Creepy staircase run. Demon pitted against no-nonsense priests,” Abe said.
“That’s pretty much it. I just thought you’d be more like the priest character.”
Abe laughed, the sound deep and throaty, as he produced the ring and started to flip it across his knuckles, like a magician preparing to perform a trick.
“Ya might need to adjust ya expectations.”
“I’ll do my best.”
The smirk was back on Abe’s face. “I’m sure ya will. Think ya can take another sip for me?”
He took a few mouthfuls, feeling the heat of the ginger tingle his throat. Abe used one finger to push a novelty cookie jar towards him. It was in the shape of a smiling ghost. Mihail couldn’t decide if he should laugh or not.
“Have a cookie.” Abe smiled, his voice a low rumble, like distance thunder.
Mihail took one but couldn’t stop himself from arching an eyebrow.
“Just makin’ sure ya don’t go into shock,” Abe said. “Ya feelin’ okay?”
After nibbling on a cookie for a bit, he nodded. His hand was still shaking and he was a little lightheaded, but at least he didn’t feel like vomiting or fainting.
“Much better, thank you,” he said. Abe readjusted his weight to lean deeper against the tabletop. The new position displayed the bandages that littered his neck. “I should have asked earlier; how’s your shoulder?”
“Don’t worry about it. Happens all the time. It’s one of the hazards in being the only person ticked off ghosts can hurt.”
“It’ll ruin your tattoos,” Mihail noted around his cookie.
Letting his eyes trail over the curves of ink, he found that there were dozens of scars that snaked throughout the pattern. By the shift of his torso, it was clear that Abe had noticed Mihail’s straying attention.
“Sorry,” Mihail said quickly. “I’ve never had a chance to see a tattoo up close. I mean, I know a few people who have them, but since they had to be somewhere that wouldn’t be spotted by the teachers, I didn’t ever see them.”
He waited for Abe to make a snide comment. He wasn’t prepared for the man to stretch his arm across the table dividing them, giving Mihail a better view, and inviting him to indulge his curiosity. Even in this new position, Abe kept the ring in constant motion, rolling over and between his scared knuckles, almost like he had forgotten he was doing it at all.
“I thought Jewish people weren’t supposed to get tattoos,” Mihail said, as he let his gaze trail along the curving mass. It was so detailed and overlapping that you could stare at it for days and never be able to make sense of it all.
“They are for intimidation, not self-expression.”
“Intimidation for who?”
“People’s personalities don’t change just because their hearts stop. A violent jackass will still be a violent jackass. But all that doesn’t matter right now. If you’re ready, can ya tell me why ya here?”
A spike of panic sliced through Mihail, twisting up his insides and making him sick. Sitting in the warmth of Abe’s house, he had almost forgotten the fear that awaited him back home. Abe instantly noticed the shift in him and was just as quick to ease him, coaxing him to start from the beginning.
Once the words left his mouth, Mihail found it difficult to keep any of his secrets. It helped that, no matter what he confessed, Abe’s expressions remained rather neutral. His biggest reaction was to run the tip of his tongue over his sharpened canines. Once, he nipped the soft flesh. Mihail couldn’t understand how he didn’t bite straight through.
The mug had cooled between his hands and darkness had fallen by the time Mihail finished laying it all out for him. Abe allowed the silence to hover for a moment, thinking it all over as he toyed with his tooth and flipped the ring. Mihail couldn’t pinpoint which was more distracting.
“Okay,” Abe finally said slowly. “First things first. My parents won’t be back for a week.”
“You live with your parents?” Mihail’s instantly wanted to kick himself. Think before you speak. You don’t want to alienate him.
But while he was freaking out, Abe was chuckling. He shrugged a shoulder and sucked this tooth before answering.
“Ya didn’t think that I put baby pics of myself on the wall, did ya?”
“Well ...”
“People like me don’t do well livin’ alone. Spend too much time with the dead and you stop noticing the difference.”
“And by, ‘like you’, you mean a physical medium?”
The question felt strange on his tongue, but Abe was quick to confirm it.
“As I was saying, my folks are gone for a week, so we can’t do anything until then. What we need to do is get you and ya grandma out of there. If ya can’t afford a hotel, you can stay here. She can have my parents' rooms, you can have mine, I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“I’m sorry,” Mihail cut in. “Why do we have to wait? You’re the medium, aren’t you?”
“Well, yeah, but it’s not that easy.”
“Can’t you just cleanse the place or something?”
The warmth fled Abe’s eyes. The ring stopped moving. Within a second, everything about Abe’s demeanor changed into one of barely contained rage.
“So you just want me to go and indiscriminately decimate a population because you don’t like a few of them?” he snarled.
Mihail flushed and stammered. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Yeah, ya did,” Abe said with ice in his voice. “Ya just didn’t think that it mattered. Who cares about the dead, right?”
Swallowing thickly, Mihail couldn’t quite meet Abe’s narrowed gaze. “I’m sorry. I don’t really know what I’m doing here, but I’ve always been told that ghosts are in an unnatural state. I just assumed that moving them along was the best thing for them.”
He could hear Abe suck on his tooth and couldn’t decide if that was a good or bad sign. His heart hammered within the base of his throat as he waited. What if Abe decides not to help? Mihail couldn’t fathom what he would do if he was left to handle this alone. He felt like he was drowning.
“Being forced to move from one plain of existence to another against your will can be traumatic,” Abe said at last. “That’s why we have ghosts in the first place. It’s not a process that should be inflicted upon someone lightly.”
“I understand that now,” Mihail said.
“It’s not really something the living can understand.”
Mihail glanced up. He hadn’t expected to be met with a warm smile.
“But I appreciate the effort,” Abe said. “Just keep in mind that they’re people, and all of this is gonna be easier.” Abe’s smile wavered slightly as he added in a rush, “Although, admittedly, it does sound like you might have some other things in there.”
“What was that?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Abe dismissed.
“But it really seems like I should.”
Abe waved it off. “The important thing right now is evacuation.”
“She won’t leave.”
Tipping his head to the side, he carefully studied Mihail’s face. “Why?”
“I don’t know,” Mihail said. “She’s lived there for so long. Maybe she just feels that it’s her duty.”
“The place isn’t safe.”
Mihail leaned across the table and gently wrapped his hand around Abe’s wrist.
“Maybe you can talk her around. You’re a professional. Sort of. As mentioned before, I don’t really know how this all works. But she might listen to you.”
Abe glanced down at the point of contact. “I suppose I can talk to her over the phone–”
“No, that won’t work,” Mihail insisted. “She won’t listen to a random stranger over the phone and–”
“And?”
A flush of guilt made him mumble his words, “She didn’t really want me to come here.”
“She’s okay with the situation?” Abe said. Before Mihail could muster a response, he was already talking. “Look, it doesn’t matter. My parents aren’t here, I can’t go.”
“Why not?”
Puffing out a breath, he pushed the pad of his thumb against one of his teeth. “People always call abilities like mine a ‘gift’. Sometimes, it’s better to think of ‘em like an allergy. Someone like you has an immunity to the paranormal which makes it harder for spirits to make contact.”
“And people like you?”
“I’m pretty much anaphylactic. Without my parents to run interference, it would be a struggle to keep me from being jumped.”
“I don’t know what that means,” Mihail said.
“It’s when a spirit uses me as a meat suit,” Abe said with a hint of a snarl. “This whole situation will be too dangerous for me.”
“You have a demon in a shed,” Mihail said with a small smile.
“That is different.”
“Okay,” Mihail said. “You’re the professional. I’ll follow your lead.”
“Thank you.”
“Although,” Mihail said slowly.
Abe straightened but still didn’t try to pull away. “Why do I have the feelin’ that I’m about to be manipulated?”
“I don’t have a lift home,” Mihail said as kindly as possible. “Would it be so horrible for you to give me a ride? Maybe you can talk to her outside.”
“I’m guessing those puppy eyes normally get you what you want,” Abe said.
Mihail fixed his most charming smile into place. “Any chance it’ll work this time?”
Abe’s face twisted up as he tried not to laugh. Biting his tongue sharply, he looked off to the side and huffed.
“I’m not setting foot past the threshold,” Abe said at last.
Chapter 10
The trip had only served to set Mihail on edge. This took too long. What if they hurt her while I was out? Did I even remember to leave a note? He couldn’t quite recall and the uncertainty was driving him insane. Abe had spent most of the trip in silence, one arm out of the open window of the beat up truck. It was an old-fashion pickup, with blanks of chipped wood surrounding the back. It blocked the view of whatever was in there, which Mihail preferred. There were too many horrible things that could possibly be lurking about. He had yet to get used to even the idea of ghosts being real. It would be too much to see the tricks of the trade.
As the castle began to loom at the end of the path, Mihail’s stomach gave a painful lurch. The structure was even more imposing in the darkness. Pinpoints of light crackled around the walls, like sentry bonfires had been lit. It was as if the building itself was waiting for his return. Bats filled the sky, battering their way through the silver moonlight. He didn’t want to go back in there. Please let Abe talk her out of this. He didn’t know who he was making the plea to, but he threw every ounce of his will behind it.
Abe stomped on the breaks while there was still a fair distance between them and the edge of the drawbridge. The steering wheel looked tiny in his hands and gave a fine creak as he tightened his grip. All the while, he stared straight ahead, the muscles in his jaw twitching.
“Is something wrong?” Mihail asked.
Abe suddenly came to his senses and hurled the car into reverse. For a few feet, he refused to listen to Mihail’s pleas for him to stop. Then he tugged on the wheel, making the car whip around, the force smacking Mihail against the side of the car. Mihail was sure it was his pained cry and not his begging that finally made Abe stop.
“Mihail,” Abe hissed through his teeth. “I can’t let you go in there.”
“I’m not sure that you have a say,” Mihail said, still rubbing his head.
The steering wheel groaned again and Mihail wasn’t sure how it hadn’t snapped already. “Morally, I can’t. Nothing should live here. It’s a dead zone.”
“What is a dead zone?” he said, his annoyance driving his voice into a sharp snap. “Is that cursed ground or something? Who would even curse this place?”
“Dead zones are natural occurrences,” Abe cut in. “They’re areas where no one was ever supposed to live. In places like these, ghosts will be the least of your problems.”
“My grandmother is in there.”
“I don’t think you understand–”
“I can’t leave her.”
Finally, Abe snapped around to face him. “She’s an elderly lady. It can’t be that hard to physically overpower her. Throw her over ya shoulder and get the hell out.”
Mihail balled his fists until the cut in his hand burned like fire. “Can’t we just talk to her and explain the situation?”
“Do you think that will work?”
Mihail looked at him for a long moment, but the conviction never faded from his eyes. “Are you still going to help me?”
“I told you that I wasn’t going in there. After seeing this place, I shouldn’t even be this close.”
“I need your help.”
“And I want to help. But I can’t. Not without my parents.”
“You’re a fully grown, exceedingly intimidating man. You can do this. I’ll watch your back.”
Abe shook his head and bit the pad of his thumb again. In the dim light of the dashboard, he could see Abe’s eyes darting from the empty road back into town to Mihail’s face. Each time the eyes fell on him, Mihail made sure to look hopeless and desperate.
“Do you get reception out here?” Abe grumbled.
“Yes.”
He was already reaching for his phone as he muttered in defeat, “I’ll call my parents and see what they think is the best course of action.”
It was a struggle to keep the smile from his face as he watched Abe pushing at the buttons of his phone. But the moment of victory didn’t last. Not when Abe licked his lips, left a message, and hung up.
“They’ll call back shortly,” Abe assured.
“So what do we do in the meantime?”
Abe smacked the wheel and swung his head around to look at him. “Get out of the car.”
Without waiting for a response, Abe slipped out and headed towards the back of the truck. Mihail hesitated for a moment before he followed. The sound of dirt and stones crunching under his shoes mixed with the screech of bats overhead. It made chills run down his spine. He wrapped his arms around himself and tried not to look as vulnerable as he felt while Abe pulled the back down.
“What have you got there?” Mihail asked. Do I really sound that nervous? His answer came in the form of a sharp squeak. “Is that a gun?”
“Taser,” Abe corrected.
An instant later, Abe’s beefy hand wrapped around his wrist and yanked him closer. Before he could think to pull back, Abe’s arm caged him and the Taser was shoved into his hands. Abe forcibly readjusted Mihail’s grip a dozen times until he was happy with it. With a brisk ease, he ran through the instructions on how to properly fire it and had Mihail shoot the little barbs into a tree. Mihail heard the crackle of electricity, could almost smell it on the air, but there was a disconcerting lack of sparks. He had thought it would be more dramatic.
“Abe?”
“Yeah?” Abe asked absentmindedly as he reset the weapon.
“Why am I shooting trees?”
“Because, all things being the same, I’d prefer you put me down with a Taser than a gun.”
“I still don’t understand.”
Making the last few clicks, he turned to him
and handed over the Taser butt first. “I told ya about the risk of getting jumped.”
“So,” Mihail said with a growing sense of dread, “if that happens, you might be dangerous?”
“Nah, they take over my body cuz’ they miss knitting,” Abe remarked as he pawed his way through a duffle bag. With only the taillights to see by, it was impossible for Mihail to make out the contents, but Abe did well enough. “Just shoot me if I start acting weird.”
Bracing one hand on the flatbed, he jumped up to sit on the edge and smacked a pair of what looked to be fingerless gloves against his thigh. Mihail noticed how his feet were jumping with a nervous energy. It was a small motion, but enough for him to realize that he was actually afraid. The little chime made him grab at his phone. He stared at the screen as it continued to signal an incoming Skype call. In the glow of the screen, Mihail watched him suck on his tooth and answer the call.
“Hey,” he said somewhat reluctantly.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” a male voice instantly asked. His Scottish accent was thicker than Abe’s, and Mihail was struggling to understand him at such a rapid pace. “Wait, where are you? What is happening?”
“Real quick, before ya keep going,” Mihail heard a woman taunt, her voice full of affection. “Is there any particular order ya want him to answer your flood of questions in?”
“Alphabetically, obviously. He’s not an animal.”
“And back to me,” Abe said.
Mihail wasn’t sure what he should do or say as Abe filled in the blanks for his parents. The only thing that kept him from freaking out entirely was the urge to creep forward and steel a glance at the screen, curious to see the two people that had managed to make someone like Abe.
“Oh, zeisele,” Abe’s mother said in a tone that was somehow both nurturing and mocking. “This is an incredibly stupid idea.”
“I’m holding off on agreeing with your mother until I can think of a better way to word it. Because I’m the better parent.”