Limbo's Child (Book One of The Dead Things Series)

by Jonah Hewitt

  “Aaah!” She nearly fell over backwards from surprise. She turned to look. One nurse was already leaning over the counter to see who made the sound. She shoved Yo-yo into the elevator hard and pulled him back into the far corner of the elevator while simultaneously hitting the button for the lobby.

  “Hey!” Yo-yo began, but she slapped her hand across his mouth and held him back in the far corner for what seemed like forever before the elevator doors slid shut. She breathed a sigh, then she saw Yo-yo’s frantic eyes.

  “Oh!” she said and let go. Yo-yo stood up and took in a huge breath.

  Lucy marveled that this little kid managed to get everywhere with no one noticing. “Boy, you get around…you must be really sneaky.”

  “What’s going on!!” he said, panting.

  “Yo-yo…it’s going to be ok.” Lucy tried to adopt one of her mother’s many authoritative tones.

  “Who was that back there?!” He sounded angry.

  “That was Amanda, she’s a lawyer…don’t worry…she’s cool…I think…she’s going to help us…maybe.” Lucy realized she was trying to convince herself as much as Yo-yo.

  “No! Not her…him! The boy back in the gift shop!” Yo-yo bleated out in frustration.

  “Who?” Lucy said in disbelief. You mean Sky? He’s just some guy I met in the gift shop. That’s all.” Lucy tried to sound dismissive, but she was hurt and a little defensive.

  “Why were you talking to him?!” Yo-yo seemed genuinely upset.

  “I dunno. We were just…talking.” Was Yo-yo jealous or something? “Why? What’s it to you?!” She realized her tone was a little too sharp.

  “I don’t like him. There was something…wrong…with him. He’s not who he says he is!! I just know it.”

  “Who?! Sky?! You’re crazy, he’s harmless.” Lucy crossed her arms across her chest. She had almost said “My Sky.”

  “I don’t like it, something’s wrong Lucy. I just know it.”

  Lucy unfolded her arms. Yo-yo was right, she didn’t know how or why, but he just was. All the dreams of going away with Amanda just evaporated. She and Yo-yo were in this together, but first she had to find a way to explain things to Amanda…somehow.

  “I know,” she said. Just then the elevator doors opened on the lobby.

  “You have to go!” She shoved Yo-yo outside the elevator doors.

  “But…” he protested.

  “Just go to park like we said before! I’ll be there soon…I promise!” She pushed the button for the fourth floor and watched the doors close on Yo-yo’s panicked face. As they nearly touched, she saw his face go from panic to stony indifference in a flash of a second.

  That look of indifference made her innards freeze. It was like he had given up all hope for rescue. She just had to help him. In the elevator ride up, she thought of what she could possibly say. She thought of the friendly Amanda and thought for sure she would understand. Of course she would want to do the right thing by Yo-yo. Then she thought of the cold Amanda and wasn’t so sure. The doors opened on the fourth floor and the cold Amanda was already there.

  She yanked Lucy out of the elevator by her arm hard and nearly lifted her off her feet.

  “I thought I told you to stay in your room!”

  “I…I…” Lucy stammered. Amanda was gripping her so tightly under her armpit that she was starting to lose feeling in her fingertips. Lucy’s toes were just barely clinging to the floor. Her mind scrambled for an answer but didn’t get too far. The nurses were looking around the counter for the source of the commotion. Amanda sensed their uneasiness. She eased her grip a little and Lucy’s feet were back on the floor, but only just barely.

  “Amanda…” Lucy dared to try again.

  “Quiet,” she said in a low voice, “We have to go.” The elevator had already returned to the first floor. Amanda reached over and pushed the button once. She looked back once at the nurses anxiously and then back at the doors as if nothing unusual was happening. She squeezed Lucy’s arm tightly, but not in an affectionate way, but in the way you grab on to something valuable in your pocket to make sure it was still there. Her grip was so tight and high under Lucy’s armpit it hurt. Amanda was looking back and forth between the nurses’ station and the elevator doors. Just then the ping of the elevator announced its arrival and the doors slid open.

  “Schuyler!” Lucy said brightly. The handsome blonde boy in the “Han shot first” t-shirt was casually standing with his hands in his jeans pockets just inside the elevator doors. He looked up. Just seeing his eyes made Lucy feel better.

  “Hey, Luce. I was just coming to see you…who’s your friend?”

  What happened next was so fast Lucy didn’t know what had happened until it was over. Amanda stepped forward and pushed Schuyler back so hard he hit the back of the elevator wall with a loud thud.

  “Hey!” he shouted. Amanda had already reached in, hit the button for the lobby and mashed the “close door” button before stepping out. Schuyler had hardly pulled himself off the back wall when the elevator doors shut on him again.

  “Sky!” Lucy shouted as the elevator carried him away.

  “C’mon!” Amanda yanked Lucy up hard by the armpit and walked briskly down to the end of the hall.

  “Amanda!” Lucy cried.

  Amanda spied a bright green “EXIT” sign and pulled Lucy towards it. She pushed open the door to the stairs and dragged Lucy down a couple flights before she stopped on a landing and forced Lucy into a corner before letting her go. Amanda bent over as if in pain and grabbed the hand she had just pushed Schuyler with. She pulled off the fine leather glove with her teeth and rubbed the back of her hand. The hand was bony and withered, the veins were bulging, but it was slowly returning to normal.

  “You might have warned me!” she spat under her breath. “That was worse than the cats!”

  “Warned you about what?” Lucy said, genuinely puzzled.

  “NOT YOU!” Amanda turned and screamed back at Lucy. Lucy cowered against the back wall. “I WAS TALKING TO…” Amanda suddenly stopped and calmed herself for a moment before going on. “I…was…talking to…myself.” She laughed a cold little ironic laugh like someone might do when losing her mind.

  “Amanda,” Lucy asked tremulously, “What’s going on?” Lucy was shaking in fear.

  Amanda stood up and went over to Lucy. She pouted as if she was sad she had yelled at her. She looked sad and hurt and not angry at all. It was the friendly Amanda again. She walked over to Lucy and crouched down in front of her.

  “I’m sorry, Lucy. It’s not safe here. You are in danger. I know this is a lot to absorb, but you don’t need to worry because I am here to protect you.” She moved to cradle Lucy’s trembling face in the hollow of her ungloved hand, but the second the hand grazed Lucy’s face, Lucy felt a spark like electricity and she saw a terrible vision. Standing over Amanda was a tall ghostly, female figure with long, black hair flying in some invisible maelstrom. The otherwise featureless face had two black hollows pierced by two orbs of cold grey light.

  “You!” Lucy pulled away and pushed herself tightly against the back wall as if hoping she could pass right through it.

  “What did you see, Lucy?”

  “It’s you!! You’re the longhaired woman!!” The vision had disappeared, but so had the friendly Amanda. Amanda pulled herself up to her full height and stood rigid.

  “It’s not what you think, Lucy.”

  “You’re the one that’s been chasing me!” Amanda was blocking the stairs down. Lucy began inching her way towards the staircase going up.

  “I’ve been sent here to protect you, Lucy.”

  “You LIED to me! You’re not even a lawyer, are you?!!” Lucy eyed the stairs.

  “I may have lied about that, but everything else I said was true. My name really is Amanda Tipping and I really do care for you, Lucy. I would never hurt you or force you to do anything against your will.”

  “You’re the one who’s been chasing Yo-yo!! You�
�re the one who scared him out into the street and caused our accident! You’re the one who killed my mother!!”

  “Yo-yo?” Amanda seemed perplexed by this at first. Then a revelation dawned on her as she realized who Lucy must be speaking about.

  “He’s here?!”

  Lucy blanched in horror. She hadn’t meant to give up Yo-yo like that. She didn’t know that the longhaired woman didn’t know he was here. Now she had gotten them both into big trouble.

  Amanda took a threatening step towards Lucy, but just then another voice called out.

  “Lucy?!”

  A door opened at the top of the stairs and the pretty, young doctor emerged.

  “Lucy! We’ve been looking all over for you! Where have you been?” The doctor came down the stairs with a smile on her face, oblivious to what was unfolding between Lucy and Amanda. Amanda shot a quick, venomous look at Lucy then turned to face the doctor. Instantly, the nice Amanda was on display.

  “We’re down here, Doctor. We just needed a space to have a little private…chat.” Amanda shot another cold-eyed look at Lucy and then positioned herself between Lucy and the doctor. “I’ve told Lucy the good news. Lucy will be coming to stay with me for a while.”

  “I know. That’s what the nurses said,” the doctor replied a little incredulously, “Problem is, I didn’t sign off on it, and until I do, she’s still my patient.”

  “It’s already been decided, Doctor. Lucy and I are going to leave this evening for Philadelphia. Trust me, she will be well taken care of.”

  “Is that a fact?” The doctor folded her arms, and leaned to the side to try to get a direct look at Lucy, but Amanda stepped in between them.

  “I just think it’s a little early,” the doctor said, “AND without my signature she’s not going anywhere.”

  “The paperwork is all in order. I don’t need your signature,” Amanda responded coldly.

  “Really?” the young doctor seemed annoyed. “I’d like to see the release form if you don’t mind.”

  “Fine.” Amanda reached into her pocket and produced a folded paper.

  The doctor snatched the paper from Amanda’s grasp, unfolded it and perused it. As her eyes darted over it you could see the displeasure on her face. “Harris signed this?!” she said at last, “He’s never even seen Lucy. He isn’t even in pediatrics!”

  “It’s perfectly legal, I’m afraid,” Amanda said as she gingerly took the paper, refolded it and put it away. Lucy wondered what Amanda had done to Harris to get him to sign. Was it another smooth act like she pulled on her in the coffee shop? Or was it something worse?!

  “I’m not standing for this,” Dr. Carfax went on.

  “I’m afraid it’s not up to you, Dr. Carfax. It’s been arranged. Now if you don’t mind, we have to be going.” But nobody moved.

  Dr. Carfax narrowed her eyes at Amanda and sent a sideward glance to Lucy. Lucy tried to shake her head “no” ever so slightly, desperate to send some signal to the doctor not to leave her alone with Amanda.

  The doctor pushed her tongue in and out of her cheek a few times. Amanda didn’t even blink.

  “I’m calling corporate,” the doctor eventually said as she pulled out her cell phone and began dialing.

  “Please do,” Amanda said. She paced the small landing like a caged panther and looked at Lucy menacingly, as if she knew Lucy was to blame for Carfax’s stubbornness. Lucy could hear the phone ring on the other end of the line of Dr. Carfax’s mobile phone. A small glimmer of hope lit inside of Lucy. Amanda grimaced. The other side picked up and Lucy faintly heard someone on that end say “Hello?” The doctor turned her back to Amanda for a split second and was about to speak, but never got the chance.

  “Doctor!!” Lucy tried to warn her, but it was too late.

  Amanda spun around violently and delivered a savage backhand to the doctor’s face, her fist smashing through the phone and sending the pieces of plastic scattering everywhere in the process.

  The doctor staggered but didn’t fall. Lucy gasped. Undaunted, Amanda grabbed the young doctor by her long hair and shoved her face first into the wall of the stairwell, breaking the drywall and the doctor’s nose with a hideous crunch. Lucy screamed. The doctor slumped to the landing floor, but she still wasn’t down yet. She struggled to get up before Amanda pummeled her one last time with an overhand punch to her left cheek. The doctor was finally unconscious.

  Amanda winced and shook out the hand she had just punched the doctor with.

  “Ouch. That was a lot tougher than I thought it would be.” She looked up at Lucy who had all her fingers in her mouth.

  The nice Amanda was back. “I’m sorry you had to see that, Lucy,” she said, as if Lucy had just seen something mildly embarrassing, like Amanda’s bra strap was showing. “Are you okay?”

  Lucy bolted up the stairs.

  “Lucy, STOP!!” Amanda lunged over the fallen Carfax but missed Lucy’s ankles by mere inches.

  “LUCY!!” Amanda called after her. Good Amanda or bad Amanda or WORSE Amanda, it didn’t matter. Whether lawyer or longhaired woman or witch or psychopath, Lucy didn’t care!! She was never going to stop!! Amanda struggled to get up over the doctor’s body. Lucy kicked off the slippers so her toes could grip the stairs better. Amanda’s high heels were slowing her down thankfully. Lucy’s heart was pounding, but she just kept going up and up. Three flights up she finally thought to start yanking on the doors, but they were all infuriatingly locked. DANG!

  “LUCY!! COME BACK!!”

  Lucy’s panic had been replaced by simple one-word imperatives. MOVE!! UP! RUN! DOORS!! GO!! KEEP MOVING!! Amanda was getting closer and still none of the doors were budging. Finally, a door pulled open several floors up, but Amanda was nearly on her.

  “Aaaaaaaahh!!” Lucy screamed and slipped just past Amanda’s grip, but not before she had more flashes of that horrible, longhaired witch clawing her way after her. Lucy slammed the door in her face. From the sound of it, Amanda fell backwards and down the stairs. Lucy ran out into the hall. It was dark. There was plastic sheeting over everything and there was open framing everywhere. The whole floor must have been under renovations. The door behind her flew open and Lucy quickly squeaked past the open framing and under some plastic sheeting that was covering an unfinished counter.

  The clack of Amanda’s elegant high heels came slowly down the hall. Lucy put her hand over her mouth to keep herself from breathing too hard.

  “I know you’re here, Lucy.” The clacking footsteps continued. They walked past where Lucy was hiding. Lucy was shuddering, trying to keep her breath shallow and quiet.

  “I didn’t want it to be this way.” The footsteps stopped, the shoes scraped as she turned around and slowly walked back in Lucy’s direction. “I was going to tell you everything, but I wanted to do it somewhere safe. Somewhere where I could help you to understand who you really are.”

  Lucy’s mind was racing. What was she talking about?

  “Didn’t you ever wonder why your mother left Pennsylvania for Texas, Lucy? Didn’t you ever wonder why your mother and your father never talked about their families? No uncles, no aunts, no cousins. It must have been lonely for you.” The shoes walked past Lucy, paused, and then walked back again. “Didn’t you ever wonder why she never talked about our family?”

  “OUR Family?!” thought Lucy. Amanda continued as if reading her mind.

  “That’s right, Lucy, OUR family. We are related, you and I – distantly – but we are family.”

  Lucy felt sick. Was this true?!

  “You knew your mother as Margaret Milller, but she was born Margarita Zephorah Candelaria Valda de Vasca y Hoffenstedter Holveda.”

  Amanda spoke in an almost entirely different voice when she said this. She even rolled her “r’s” perfectly. Lucy could never do that in Spanish class.

  “You were not born Lucy Claire Miller either. Your full birth name is Lucia Clarissa Francesca Estafania Zephorah Candelaria Valda de Vasca y Hoffenstedt
er Holveda Miller.”

  Lucy struggled with the weight of that name. She had never seen her birth certificate come to think of it. Was any of this even true?!

  “We come from a very ancient family, Lucy.” The soles of the shoes scraped again and paced back up the hall. “We were the counselors and advisers to kings and queens and popes, Lucy. Nobles and men of great learning sought us out for our wisdom and guidance. We are a very special family.”

  The shoes stopped.

  “We have powers, Lucy, you and I. Powers that no mere mortal can understand.”

  “Powers?!” thought Lucy.

  “We can talk to the dead.”

  The shoes took one step closer to the counter where Lucy was hiding.

  “We can summon their spirits into the bodies of the deceased…” Another step forward. “…or the living.”

  Lucy began hyperventilating.

  “We can see the ends of the paths of life, even from the beginning, and we can stretch out those paths to the farthest horizons.”

  “What did that even mean?” thought Lucy. Amanda took another step.

  “We can make slaves of corpses or learn wisdom from the mouths of mummies.” The shoes stepped forward again. “We can make meat golems and zombies.”

  “Meat golem?! WHAT in the HECK was that?!!” Lucy was struggling to control her own brain.

  “We are necromancers.”

  Necromancers. The word burned on Lucy’s tongue somehow, even though she hadn’t spoken it out loud. The shoes stopped. Lucy bit down on her burning tongue.

  “We hold the balance between this world and the next. Without us, there would be chaos. Once we were many and powerful, but we were betrayed and scattered. They branded us witches and heretics. But we found refuge in the New World. Among the other disaffected religious refugees, the Amish and the Brethren, we made a home here in Pennsylvania. Why do you think your mother was born in Pennsylvania, Lucy? This was the only place where we were free to practice our art.”