by C. M. Cevis
“That seems to be a reoccurring theme for you, isn’t it? You do things without thinking them through.”
Gideon shot Liza a look. “Did you come here to try and teach me some sort of lesson by reading my thoughts? Because that’s terrible.”
Liza shrugged. “I just came to check on you. Shout your thoughts into the world, I don’t care. Just don’t come running to me when you become the reason for your mother’s problems.” She stopped and smirked. “Well, more of your mother’s problems, I guess.”
“You can feel free to leave whenever you’d like,” Gideon replied, frowning.
“Okay, mister short temper. Enjoy your stay.” And she disappeared.
Gideon sighed and rolled his eyes. What did she mean, he shouted his thoughts? He wasn’t shouting anything. Was he?
27
Wine in the yard with Zelda had become a nightly tradition for Luna. She would grab wine glasses and a bottle she enjoyed, and the two of them would sit in the Adirondack chairs and just talk. She’d learned a lot about Zelda’s friend Amie. Between Zelda’s memories and what Liza told her Amie was saying, Luna felt she almost knew the dead woman.
They’d had the kind of relationship where they passed judgement on each other’s dates, but neither one held it against the other if the opinion wasn’t a favorable one. Zelda said it was because they’d learned that the other was normally right, but that didn’t mean that they always listened.
Liza had done what little she could regarding Amie without having some sort of medium in use, and had learned through a process that she’d stated was “complicated” that she was sticking around not to police where her ashes were spread, but to make sure that he friend moved on and lived her life without her. Amie thought that perhaps her finally letting go of the ashes would allow her to do just that, but Zelda hadn’t seemingly found the right place yet.
“Sometimes, I wonder if she’s just looking down at me and shaking her head, annoyed that my life seemed to stop when hers did,” Zelda said with a sad chuckle.
“She’s not looking down, but she is shaking her head,” Luna said without really thinking about it.
Zelda glanced up at her. “What?”
Liza sighed in Luna’s head. “See, this is why I don’t tell you things sometimes. You never reveal it the right way.”
Luna ignored her, even though her twin was right on this one. She hadn’t told Zelda in the best way.
“She’s still with you, remember. I told you that, and it’s still true.”
Zelda hesitated. “Why isn’t she… moving on?”
“Because you haven’t.”
Zelda’s eyes dropped down to the half empty wine glass. “How am I supposed to do that? I’ve spent my whole life with her by my side. I’ve told her things that no one else in this world knows about, and now—”
“Amie doesn’t want your life to stop just because she isn’t physically beside you,” Luna said, echoing what Liza was feeding her. “She wants you to go out and live the rest of your life to the fullest, just like you did before she passed. Just because she isn’t alive anymore doesn’t mean that she wants you to act as if you’ve died with her.”
“You’re just trying to make me feel better,” Zelda mumbled.
“Tell her to remember the conversation they had last year, when Amie was about to go into the hospital. The last dinner out they went to,” Liza said.
Luna had no idea what that meant, but that was apparently where the story stopped, so that was where Luna started.
“Amie wants you to remember the conversation that you all had the last time you went to dinner together, before she went into the hospital.”
Zelda looked up, wide eyed.
“She said you promised her that if something happened, you wouldn’t do what you’re doing now. She wants you to keep your promise.”
Zelda’s eyes started to tear up.
“Gees Liza, I don’t think that helped,” Luna thought to her sister. “I was trying to do the opposite of making her cry.”
“I’m just relaying messages, Lu. Amie told me what to say.”
“There is no way that you could have known about that,” Zelda said, stopping the conversation inside of Luna’s head.
Luna shrugged. “I still don’t know about it. I’m just repeating what I was told.”
“She really is here with me, isn’t she?” Zelda said, hiccupping on a sob.
Luna nodded. “She is. She’s been here the entire time. And I get the feeling she intends on staying until you let her go.”
“You said… that you could help me talk to her, right?” Zelda asked.
“Yes,” Luna said, repeating her sister’s response.
“I don’t think I’m ready now, but can we do it soon?”
“We need to get a few things, Lu. We can do it in a day or so, after some prep work. I want to make sure that she can speak to Amie all she needs, and that means that you have to be a vessel.”
Luna wasn’t really fond of being a vessel. She always felt empty for a few days after, and the being always seemed to leave behind some lingering emotions that she never understood but could always feel. But she’d do it for Zelda.
“Soon is good,” Luna replied with a smile. Zelda didn’t need to know the rest of it. She just needed to be there and get what she needed to be able to be happy again.
“Okay. Soon,” Zelda repeated, picking up her glass with a slightly shaking hand and taking a sip.
Luna smiled across the table at her new friend and did the same with her glass.
~*~
“Alright, we’re here,” Luna said, pulling the car into a space at the back of the parking lot as Liza appeared in the passenger seat. “Why are we here again?”
“Because you’re right, there is something weird going on with this doctor. I was already a little apprehensive because I can’t tell what is off about the office we go sit in twice a week, but the fact that he was in your coma dream has me worried.”
“Lots of people we know were in my dream.”
“But he’s the only one you can recall that wasn’t in the right job. At first, I didn’t think that was a big deal, but the longer I think about it, the more I don’t like it. There is something going on, and I want to know what it is before it bites us in the butt.”
Luna sighed but nodded. Liza was right, there was something going on. If it turned out that it had nothing to do with them, they could turn around and walk away, but it was smarter to be sure now instead of later. “Let’s go.”
Luna climbed out of the car and began walking toward the door. Liza just needed her to be within range of what she was poking into, so a bathroom on the first floor or something similar would do just fine.
“I’ll try not to take long. The last thing we need is someone noticing that you’ve been sitting in the same place for an hour.”
Luna nodded. “If I can’t find something inconspicuous, I’ll just sit right inside the door. It looks like it’s going to rain, so I can say I’m waiting for a ride and didn’t want to get soaked.”
“Alright.”
Luna stepped through the glass doors and looked around the small, empty lobby area. No one was around, and she didn’t hear anything that indicated anyone close by either.
“Alright, I’ll be back,” Liza said, disappearing before Luna had a chance to respond.
Luna chuckled to herself and started walking slowly through the area, on the hunt for somewhere to camp for a bit.
~*~
Traveling for Liza was almost like blinking, so as soon as she told her sister goodbye, she was in the doctor’s office. This was where she wanted to start, since this was where both she and Luna had felt something weird.
Jacob sat at his desk, alone. The ceiling lights were turned off, but he’d turned on a small lamp on the corner of his desk to light the immediate area as he worked. Luna moved close and leaned down, reading over his shoulder at the words he typed on his laptop.
“Patient notes,�
� she whispered to herself. Nothing important. Which brought her to the rest of the office.
The small couch that he had Luna sit on when she came to see him was infested with emotions. Most people didn’t know that letting go of sadness, pain, and other heavy emotions actually left remnants. For a time, but not forever. It was something that a skilled psychic could use to track down someone. After that, the strength of the emotions weakened. And the psychic would need help from a witch with enough power. Liza was pretty sure that Luna qualified, but they hadn’t attempted that.
Jason shifted in his chair, bringing Liza’s attention back to the desk, and the dark corner behind it. She frowned, watching the darkness for anything out of the ordinary. But it was just dark. And weird.
Liza took a few steps toward the corner until her unease became too much. She didn’t move, her eyes searching for something, anything, to explain what was going on. She leaned forward, looking—
Jacob pushing back his chair all of a sudden almost made her scream. He stomped over to the window, running a hand through his hair.
“There is something else, something that I’m missing. I just wish I could see what it is,” Jacob whispered. Luna looked around. Yeah, he was alone. Sometimes Liza forgot that people talked to themselves, since Luna didn’t. She talked to her.
Liza moved away from the weird corner and back towards the desk. The notes he was typing up now were from Luna’s last visit. Well, that was interesting, wasn’t it?
Jacob twitched, as if something had startled him. Then he spun around to face his desk and Liza swore he looked dead at her.
Panic set in and she was back downstairs before she realized it, standing in front of Luna who had parked herself in a bathroom stall and been playing a game on her phone.
“We should go,” Liza said.
Luna frowned, but dropped her phone into her purse and stood. “Is something wrong?” she asked as she began walking towards the bathroom exit.
“Yes.”
“How worried do I need to be?”
“Walk faster.” Liza couldn’t say what was urging her to get out of there, but the urge was strong and she wasn’t one to ignore things like that.
Luna started jogging, pushing the glass door open hard and heading toward the parked car. She hopped behind the wheel, keys already in her hand, and turned on the engine.
“Go out this entrance, not the one we normally use.” The normal exit would take them past the front of the building again, and she didn’t want that.
Luna didn’t ask questions, though it was clear she had them. Instead, she did as Liza asked and turned the car in the direction of the other exit. She paused at a stop sign and looked to make sure that she wasn’t about to have an accident, and Liza took that moment to turn around in her seat and look out the rear window.
The glass doors flung open, and Jacob came trotting out onto the sidewalk, looking around. Liza thought he might have seen the back of the car, but it didn’t matter. Luna turned, and he was out of sight.
“Liza, what is going on?”
“Jacob looked at me.”
Luna’s mouth dropped open. “What?”
“He didn’t see me, I’m pretty sure, but he looked at me.”
“How?”
“I have no idea. But when he did, I ran.”
Luna glanced over at her sister. “Liza, you don’t ever run.”
Liza frowned and didn’t respond. Luna was right, she didn’t run. She never had. Except today. And she couldn’t begin to explain why.
“Can we touch up the wards on the house?” Liza asked.
Luna hesitated but nodded, making the turn to head into town. “Yeah, of course.”
Whatever Liza had felt, she didn’t want it coming after her sister. Not until she knew how to fight it. And right now, they didn’t even know what it was.
“Thanks.”
Liza turned and looked out the window with a hard frown. What in the world was going on?
28
“Why are you in my home? We had an agreement that you would stay at away from here if I spoke to you nightly,” he said, looking at the dark corner of his living room. Just moments ago, he’d been peacefully watching something stupid on TV.
“Things have changed,” the darkness purred.
“You told me about the girl, and you told me that she freaked out and left. What is the problem?”
“She wasn’t just a girl.”
“I don’t care what she was, nothing warrants you being here. This can be discussed tomorrow when I get into the office.”
“Are you sure?” the darkness asked. “What if she should return and find something about me that you aren’t ready to explain?”
“You have more than enough power at your disposal to defend yourself from one woman. And if you don’t and she destroys you, that would make my life better, not worse.”
The darkness growled. “I don’t think you realize how concerning this is.”
“To you,” he said. “This is concerning to you. Protection is not part of the deal, and you can’t modify the terms. If she finds you there and something happens, you’re on your own. I have not bound you to that space, to your artifact, because you stayed where you were asked to stay. Is that something that needs to be done?”
“Bind me, and I will kill your—”
The man held up his hand, stopping the darkness. “The terms of the deal are that you kill my family if you don’t get your meal. Not if I bind you to keep you from wandering.”
The darkness roared. “You are the most insolent little human I have ever met. Why can the rest of your bloodline behave and do their jobs, but you must try my patience.”
The man frowned. “Go back or be bound. Your choice.”
The darkness hesitated, and then began to fade. But not before one parting shot.
“You are making an enemy, human. That is a mistake others knew not to make. I look forward to teaching you the error of your ways.”
29
Gideon was in the basement again. A four-by-four-foot square of it, to be exact. It had taken a day and a half for him to get on his captor’s nerves enough for her to put him down there. He’d been hoping for just about any other reaction, but here he was. There was probably a lesson there.
“Hey ghost girl, are you down here?” he said out loud, kicking his feet against the invisible barrier.
She appeared beside him with an annoyed look on her face. “I’m reasonably sure I told you my name is Liza already.”
Gideon shrugged. “I didn’t remember your name.”
“You’re not really very good at dealing with people, are you? You’re kind of a prick.”
“I’m a prince. No one cares if I’m polite or not. They care about my title and what I can do for them. So, what can I do for you that’ll help me get out of this basement?”
She tsked. “You’re missing a big point here, princeling. My sister and I don’t care what your title is, and neither of us have ever been interested in anyone doing anything for us. That’s how you ended up back down here in this box of magic.”
“You could have told me that before I pissed her off.”
Liza chuckled. “What’s the fun in that? Maybe if you discover the hard way that being a jerk isn’t the way to go, the lesson will stick. Isn’t being a jerk what got you here in the first place?”
Gideon sighed. She had a point.
“So how do I get back in her good graces? I actually liked that room she had me in upstairs.”
“I don’t know.” Liza shrugged. “It took her a bit of lying to explain to the guest what all that noise was. She’s pretty mad that she tried to be nice and you took advantage of that.”
“I just want to get out of here.” Gideon sighed, plopping to the ground.
“You do realize that whatever you did is why you’re here? And that you have possibly started a war?”
He stared at the ground. Lecturing seemed to be the only way anyone knew how to
talk to him.
“Why did you do whatever it is that you did?” Liza sat down on the floor beside Gideon and folded her legs under her body.
This was not a conversation that Gideon wanted to have with someone he barely knew. But then again, what else did he have to do? And who else was she going to tell other than the only other person that could see her?
“I wanted my mother’s attention,” Gideon started. “I know, that sounds like something a child would say, but…” He shrugged. “That was all I wanted.”
“You couldn’t just tell her that?”
He snorted. “I tried. I even told my father, and he tried to tell her for me. She wouldn’t listen.”
Liza frowned thoughtfully. “She’s the queen though, right? She’s got an entire kingdom’s worth of people on her shoulders, not just you. And you’re out there making her job more difficult and then complaining that she doesn’t have time for you? That seems a bit counterproductive.”
Crap, the ghost girl was right.
“Stop calling me ghost girl in your head.” Liza smirked.
“Stop listening. I’m not sure how to keep you from hearing my thoughts, but I don’t want you to.”
Liza shrugged. “You’re not in a position to be making demands, are you?” They both turned toward the door as footsteps approached from the direction of the stairs.
“I figured you were down here with him,” Luna said, walking towards him with a plate of food that made his stomach growl. Gideon didn’t have a lot of experience with food that wasn’t prepared either by the castle chefs or in some fancy, overpriced restaurant, but his captor cooked better than any of them.
“He’s down here all alone. I felt bad for him,” Liza said, suddenly beside her sister.
Luna leaned forward, her hand traveling through her magic box, and held out the plate of food. “Here. Eat. I’m making iced tea, but it’s not done yet. I’ll bring you some to drink in a bit.”
“You shut me down here in the basement, but you still give me food and iced tea?” Gideon asked, taking the plate from her hands.