Taurus Eyes

by Bonnie Hearn Hill

  “Really?” Any snotty comment I shot back would only make it look as if she and I were in competition for him. Instead, I pretended I didn’t understand. “Well, let’s see what we can uncover.”

  We began to explore the place, spreading out but still keeping in the general direction of the TV crew. The top floor of the restaurant was dimly lit. Even so, I could tell that it had once been part of an elegant mansion. With its chilled air and maze of rooms, it seemed as if it belonged to the past. The more we explored, the colder it seemed to become.

  Jaffa disappeared into one of the rooms lining the hall. I reminded myself that I had never seen a ghost, and from what I’d read in Jaffa’s books, there was no reason to fear them anyway. Still, it didn’t feel all that friendly up here, almost as if I was disturbing a place that didn’t want me in it. If there were any spirits hanging around, they were probably trapped by some force I couldn’t begin to imagine. Maybe by their own unfinished business. They couldn’t just walk back down the stairs the way I was going to do right now.

  The stairs were no longer where I had thought they were. Somehow, I’d gotten turned around. No reason to panic, though. One scream out of me, and the TV people would be here in seconds.

  To my right, I could hear what sounded like muted voices. They seemed to be coming from a room across the hall. Maybe the TV people were in there. Or maybe someone, something else. Ghosts didn’t hurt people. Only other people did.

  Still, it was dark, and I was lost in a place that was supposed to be haunted.

  Just as I started to turn away, I heard the high pitch of someone’s laughter. No ghost ever sounded like that.

  I reached for the knob and yanked open the door.

  Nothing. Only darkness. Then I heard something. A whisper, then silence.

  I felt for the switch and flipped it.

  There they were, Vanessa and Jeremy, standing close. Very close.

  She screamed, and they pulled away from each other.

  “What are you doing in here?” she demanded.

  “Looking for ghosts. Or whatever.”

  “So were we.” She fluffed her hair. “We just got lost.”

  “Me too.” I smiled at Jeremy. “Then, I heard some activity and thought maybe there were some ghosts in here. Sorry for interrupting your . . .”

  “You’re not interrupting anything,” he said. “And whether you believe it or not, we did get lost.”

  “And I was scared.” Vanessa gazed up at him in faux admiration. “I’m so glad Jeremy was here to protect me.”

  Just then, the soft hum of music seemed to filter in from above us.

  “What the hell is that?” Vanessa asked, and I was almost relieved that she heard it too. “There can’t be another room up there.”

  “There must be.” Chills raced along my arms. The sound was still muddled as if broadcast through a time machine.

  “All we had to say!” Jeremy shouted. Then, he bolted out of the room.

  Vanessa and I stared at each other.

  “What did he mean by that?” She tugged at her top, although it didn’t appear to need straightening. Believe me, I checked. “I suppose we’d better follow him, don’t you think?”

  “If we can find the stairs,” I said.

  “I know where they are.”

  She led me down a narrow hall and then turned back toward that same dim, watery light I had stepped into when I first arrived on this floor. There was the staircase. I looked up and, yes, there were two or more steps above us, hidden by darkness as thick as fog.

  The Ghost Seekers crew and most of our classmates hurried to where we stood and swarmed over those steps like ants. I followed them. There must be another room above the one where I’d caught Vanessa making out with Jeremy. And there must have been something in that room. Something that had sent Jeremy running in search of it.

  Instead there was only a tiny balcony with windows overlooking the bay. Jeremy stood, his back to me, looking out and pressing his fingers against the dusty glass.

  Then, slowly, he turned back, looked around the room, at each of us, and finally, at me.

  “Nothing.”

  “But, Jeremy . . .” Vanessa whined.

  He didn’t seem to notice. His gaze remained fixed on me.

  “Nothing,” he repeated, and walked out of the room.

  Beside me, Tati slumped to the floor with a moan.

  NOTES TO SELF

  Tati is fine. She said she’s always had fainting spells when she is nervous or upset. It runs in her family, she told me. We are sitting together again, riding back to the college. When we took our seats, she smiled at me and said, “Good material for you,” and I could only nod. The heat in the trolley is as close and warm as a sweater, but I’m just now beginning to thaw out. Did we really hear what we thought we did? And why did Jeremy shout, “All we had to say!” and run out of the room? Fixed Air that I am, I can’t stop mulling this one.

  “Nothing,” he had said when he turned from the window, his expression so devastated that I can see it even now. A sane person would stop chewing on it, as my gram would say. A sane person would go back to her room, where her roommate is probably serving Virgo-perfect espresso to Vanessa and Dirk, and maybe even the television crew. A sane person wouldn’t worry about Jeremy and where he might be right now. So, why can’t I stop thinking about him? Why can’t I erase the memory of that look on his face?

  9

  BY NOW YOU ARE NO DOUBT STARTING TO REALIZE THAT

  EACH SUN SIGN IS COMPLEX, AS INDIVIDUAL AS EACH

  PERSON IS. TO REVIEW, THERE ARE FOUR ELEMENTS:

  FIRE, EARTH, AIR, AND WATER. THE THREE QUALITIES

  ARE CARDINAL, FIXED, AND MUTABLE. NOW, LET’S TAKE

  A LOOK AT THE TWO DUALITIES, MASCULINE AND

  FEMININE. MASCULINE SIGNS, WHICH ARE CONSIDERED

  MORE ASSERTIVE, CONSIST OF ARIES, GEMINI, LEO,

  LIBRA, SAGITTARIUS, AND AQUARIUS. THAT’S RIGHT—

  THE FIRE AND AIR SIGNS. THUS, THE FEMININE, MORE

  RECEPTIVE SIGNS ARE TAURUS, CANCER, VIRGO,

  SCORPIO, CAPRICORN, AND PISCES, THE EARTH AND

  WATER SIGNS. PLANETS IN MASCULINE SIGNS ARE

  BELIEVED TO ADD SPIRITUALITY AS WELL AS PHYSICAL

  AND MENTAL ACTIVITY. THOSE IN FEMININE SIGNS

  ADD EMPATHY AND INTUITION. WHY DO YOU NEED TO

  KNOW THIS? BECAUSE EACH SUN SIGN IS MADE UP OF

  ONE ELEMENT, ONE QUALITY AND ONE DUALITY. AND

  THAT’S JUST THE SUN! YOU CAN LEARN A GREAT DEAL

  FROM IT.

  —Fearless Astrology

  So, if I had guessed right about Jeremy, he was a Feminine/receptive Fixed Earth Sign. Maybe there was some balance hiding behind that stubborn attitude after all. I had gone looking for him after he had left the restaurant, but neither he nor Dirk answered when I knocked on the door of their room. I’m not sure what I planned on saying to him. I just wanted to know what he had seen or heard that had upset him so much.

  I ended up going back to my room and reading more about dualities. Candice was still out, so I didn’t have to hide what I was doing. Not that I was ashamed of it. Other than my two best friends at home, I wasn’t comfortable with anybody watching me when I did the astro stuff. That’s what I got for being a Masculine, Fixed Air sign, I guess.

  In the morning, we all gathered in the cafeteria, the same as always, but only on the surface. I could tell that something had changed since last night. It was as if the long table had begun to divide like an amoeba. I remained in my same seat on either side of Candice and Tati. Dirk and Vanessa were huddled at the other end, talking quietly. The twins from New York sat to their left but pretended not to notice them. Critter and his roommate Brad, who shaved his head and went by Brad Dog, had not shown up yet. Neither had Mariah, the shy girl with the long bangs. Jeremy sat alone on the patio reading a book. As much as I wanted to approach him, I didn’t know how.

  “You’re looking at hi
m again,” Candice said.

  “Busted.” I turned back to her and Tati. “It’s just that he’s . . .”

  “. . . hot,” she said.

  “I mean, the way he was last night. It was as if . . . ”

  “. . . as if he was on drugs or something.”

  Just then, I realized that this was a nasty little flaw in Candice’s otherwise flawless personality. Although she was trying to be helpful, the way she finished my sentences for me always left them different from what I had intended.

  “That’s not what I meant,” I said. “I don’t think Jeremy is on drugs. What I do think is that he saw or heard something in that room that we didn’t.”

  Candice shrugged. “Then, why don’t you just ask him?”

  Why didn’t I? As I considered it, Jeremy got up from the patio table and walked away.

  “Hurry,” Candice said.

  But I couldn’t. No, I had to.

  Before I could stop myself, I was on my feet and running out onto the patio.

  “Jeremy, wait.”

  He stopped. Turned. “Hey, Logan.”

  There we were—in front of most of the people from class, all of whom were no doubt watching this drama on the wide screens of the cafeteria windows right now.

  “I need to talk to you,” I said.

  “About?” That Earth sign arrogance again.

  “Well, you ran out of the room last night. You said some stuff that didn’t make much sense. I was wondering . . .”

  “. . . There’s nothing I can tell you,” he said.

  “You can if you want to. Come on, Jeremy. What really happened up there?”

  “Nothing,” he said. “Leave me alone.”

  Then, in plain view of the world, our world, at least, he turned his back on me and headed toward the classroom.

  My face went hot. What a fool I must look like. Someone giggled. I looked back toward the cafeteria, and there was Vanessa, smirk firmly in place, black hair framing her face, matching sweater pulled tight across her chest.

  My gram always said, “They can kill you, but they can’t eat you.” I made myself think about that. Yes, I looked like a fool for coming out there after a guy who clearly wanted nothing to do with me. But my purpose was to find out what had caused him to act the way he had last night. Just maybe I’d have a reason to do that inside under the watchful eye of Jaffa, who if I was right, already kind of liked me.

  As we entered the room, I realized that the class had spread out much the same inside as we had in the cafeteria. The New York twins shared a small table with Brad Dog, Critter, and Mariah. Although Tati, Candice, and I still sat together, Vanessa and Dirk had moved dangerously close to us, as if we should all be buddies after what we’d experienced together. Odd that they had distanced themselves from Jeremy, who was now alone at the end of our table, but maybe not after the weird way he had acted last night.

  Jaffa walked up to the podium, all business.

  “I know we’re all excited about what happened at the restaurant last night,” he said, “but we have a lot of material we need to cover today.”

  “Do you think Ghost Seekers will film here?” Vanessa asked.

  He nodded. “It looks that way. Rik McNeil and the crew are supposed be here next week. Emily told me they want all of us who saw what took place to show up for possible interviews.”

  “Cool.” Vanessa applauded.

  She was the only one.

  “For now, though,” Jaffa said. “We need to move forward. I’ve got a lot to teach you people and not much time to do it. Today we are going to put the events of last night aside and focus on the basics of interviewing.”

  “Why?” Vanessa asked. “So that we’ll be ready when the TV people come to talk to us?”

  “No,” Tati shot back. “It’s because we’re writers, and we should be the ones doing the interviewing.”

  “Thank you, Tatiyana. Learning how to interview is extremely important, and it’s all about getting great quotes and great anecdotes.” Jaffa directed a pained glance at Vanessa as if to ask if she was getting it.

  She sighed and crossed her arms. “What’s an anecdote, exactly?”

  Tati groaned. Candice nudged her as if to say Shut up.

  “Would anyone like to answer Vanessa’s question?” Jaffa asked.

  “What an idiot,” I whispered to Tati. “She doesn’t even . . .”

  “Logan, could you please speak up?”

  Oh no.

  “An anecdote is kind of like a story the person you are interviewing tells you,” I said and remembered what Ms. Snider, my journalism teacher at home, had taught me.

  “Exactly.” He rubbed his hands together. “You go into an interview armed with every imaginable fact. Your job as the interviewer is to learn what you didn’t know before that time, what isn’t on record. You must get the subject to talk and remember, and yes, Logan, to tell stories. We are going to practice the technique tomorrow.”

  “What about today?” Vanessa was still obviously pissed that I was getting too much of Jaffa’s attention. “I was the one who first sensed Sean Baylor’s spirit in that restaurant, after all.”

  “And Tatiyana will interview you about that tomorrow in class,” he said.

  Tati made a face. “Why me?”

  “Because you sensed Baylor too, didn’t you?”

  “I sensed something, and maybe heard something, not exactly music. And I am not saying it was Baylor.”

  “You did faint.”

  “Sometimes when I’m excited, I forget to breathe. I’ve been doing it my whole life.”

  Vanessa whispered something to Dirk.

  “Did you have a question?” The tone of Jaffa’s voice could have frozen the room.

  “No. Sorry, Henry.” She looked down at the desk.

  “Good. Then, Tatiyana, you will interview Vanessa tomorrow.” He turned toward me. “Logan?”

  “ Yes?”

  “You will interview Jeremy.”

  “No way.” Jeremy stared straight at me with such hostility that I had to turn away. “I’m not being interviewed by anybody, especially not . . .”

  “Come on,” Jaffa interrupted. “I changed some rules for you. Change some for me.”

  “No, that’s not going to work.” Jeremy got up from his chair. “I told you I don’t want to do it.”

  “This is my workshop,” Jaffa said. “Unfortunately, there is room for only one prima donna.”

  Jeremy didn’t seem to hear. He was already on his way out of the room.

  “He will be back,” Jaffa said. “And, Logan, you will interview him.”

  “But . . .”

  “I said you will interview him. He is still a little disturbed about what happened last night, especially since he was so convinced that Sean Baylor’s spirit is not in Monterey.”

  “I don’t understand,” I said. “Why did he run from the restaurant? And why is he so upset?”

  “Because there’s a good chance that Baylor’s spirit really is here.”

  “Do you believe that?”

  “Emily and Doug do.” He shrugged. “And, yes, it’s possible. That music we heard was one of his songs. ‘All We Had to Say.’”

  “That was Baylor’s music?” I broke out in chills.

  Someone gasped.

  “Wow,” Vanessa said.

  “Enough.” Jaffa put up his hands. “It’s an exciting possibility, and one that you will have the opportunity of writing about, Logan. But right now, I have a class to conduct. Any objections?”

  I shook my head. But all I could think about was that music we’d heard last night. Sean Baylor’s music.

  NOTES TO SELF

  So that’s what Jeremy had meant! It was the name of a Baylor song. No wonder he was so upset. He made a big deal of putting down the possibility of Baylor’s spirit being here. Now, he’s heard Baylor’s music with his own ears.

  Although Jaffa seems to like him, he wasn’t pleased today. If he actually did
flush a student’s cell phone down a toilet (which I still cannot imagine an Aquarius doing), how will he react to a student walking out at the beginning of class? It doesn’t make any sense to me. Jeremy was rude. He made it clear—in front of everyone—that he doesn’t want me to interview him. There’s only one answer. He has something to hide, and, for some crazy reason, he’s afraid that I might discover it.

  10

  AS YOU JOURNEY THROUGH LIFE, DON’T BE AFRAID TO

  TAKE CHANCES. GO WHERE YOU MUST. SAY WHAT YOU

  MUST. DO WHAT YOU MUST. THIS IS EASIER FOR SOME

  SIGNS THAN FOR OTHERS. DON’T WORRY ABOUT THAT.

  BREAK OUT OF ANY SHACKLES—AND EVERY SIGN HAS

  ITS SPECIAL BRAND OF SHACKLES, WHICH IS A FANCY

  WORD FOR THE FEARS THAT HOLD US BACK. THE FIRE

  SIGNS FEAR BEING STOPPED. THE AIR SIGNS FEAR

  BEING TUNED OUT. THE EARTH SIGNS FEAR BEING

  WRONG, AND THE WATER SIGNS FEAR BEING

  DESERTED. DON’T LET YOUR SIGN HOLD YOU BACK.

  TAKE CHANCES.

  —Fearless Astrology

  Tati, Candice, and I ate lunch together. Later, we returned to the library. They researched. I wrote. And wrote. Before I realized it, most of the day was gone. “Got to run,” Candice said. “Come on, girls. We’re having a pizza party in the room tonight.” “We are?” Tati asked.

  “We are?” I echoed.

  “Sorry.” She gave me that calm smile, and I wondered how it would be to feel that comfortable in my own skin. “With everything that happened last night, I might have forgotten to mention it. It was so bizarre with the ghost and all. And then the way Jeremy just walked out of class. I wonder if Jaffa will flush him down the toilet.”

  “That’s not funny,” I told her.

  “You’re right.” She reached across the table and squeezed my arm. “Sorry, Logan. I know that there’s nothing funny when it comes to you and Jeremy.”

  As if we were a unit.

  “I don’t know how to answer that,” I said.

  “You don’t have to. You and Tati just try to be back in our room in about . . .” She looked at her watch. “. . . thirty minutes or so. We’ll have a great time. The Ghost Seekers people will be there. Emily promised they’d drop by.”