by Dave Ferraro
“I know.”
“So why not just let those little molecules spread and disappear into the night? It’s what you’ve always wanted. Wouldn’t it be nice never to be hurt again? Never having to worry about disappointing people, letting other friends die?”
Shanna sobbed, shaking her head.
“Look at me when I’m talking to you!”
Glancing up, Shanna saw Kelly’s throat torn open again, the glitter flashing in the darkness of the train, the hate in her friend’s eyes, trained on her.
She felt her fingers tingling as they passed through the bench. As they became intangible.
Then she noticed someone watching her. Not Kelly. But from the shadows.
She peered into the corner of the car and saw a woman bathed in shadows, too dark to make out anything beyond the spiky outline of her hair. “Hunt, I believe it’s time to wake up.”
Kelly didn’t acknowledge the voice, but stared at Shanna intensely.
Shanna looked beyond her. At red blazing eyes.
“Wake up.”
***
“Wake up.”
“She’s coming to.”
Shanna winced and opened her eyes to the concerned faces of Rachel and Hunter over her. She shifted and found her head in Natalia’s lap. “What?”
“You fainted,” Rachel informed her.
“We weren’t sure what was wrong,” Hunter added, handing her a cup of water. “Did something startle you?”
Trying to sit up, Shanna accepted the water gratefully. “I…I’m not really sure what came over me. But I’m fine now. I swear.”
“Perhaps you should rest in one of the cots for now,” Hunter replied with confidence. He took the water from Shanna. “Shanna?”
“No…I’m alright,” she said shakily, slowly making her way to her feet. “Really. I just got dizzy is all.” She sighed and rubbed at her eyes. “I think these past few days have taken more out of me than I’d care to admit.”
“She hit her head pretty hard,” Rachel said to Hunter. “Should we have Jade look her over?”
“There was no blood,” Hunter replied. “And I’ve seen falls harder than that. I think she’ll be okay.”
Shanna smiled. “Guys, it’s kind of creepy when you talk about me when I’m right here.”
“Did something happen to you when you lost consciousness?” Natalia asked her. “You seemed agitated when you came to.”
They all looked at her expectantly as she recalled Kelly, the hatred that her friend had harbored for her, and the figure in the shadows with the red eyes…it had all seemed very vivid. “No…nothing. Just a little dream, nothing prophesizing doom or anything.”
Rachel bit her lip. “I wouldn’t be surprised with the freaky things you’ve been doing lately.”
“What?”
“Uh…translating Greek without even realizing you’re doing it? Kind of weird.”
“Yeah, I guess there’s-”
“And some things are kind of beginning to make sense to me now,” Rachel interrupted her. “The old man in the lighthouse…you actually understood what he was saying in Greek. I thought you were acting a bit weird about it. Then there’s the whole diary thing. You read the little girl’s diary in that house we broke into…obviously that wouldn’t have been in English either. I didn’t even think about that until now.”
Shanna frowned. “Y-you’re right, I guess. I don’t know why I…or how I…I don’t know what’s going on with me.” She met Hunter’s eyes briefly before looking away.
“There’s the fairly complete knowledge of mythology too,” Natalia spoke up. “I don’t want this to feel like we’re attacking you, but something unnatural is occurring here.”
“Like you’re channeling someone else or something,” Rachel muttered.
“What did you say?” Hunter turned toward her.
Rachel blinked. “Uh…I mean, it just seems like she’s getting this from somewhere, or someone, else.”
“Do you feel another presence inside you?” Natalia questioned Shanna.
Shanna shook her head, uncomfortable with the conversation. “No. It’s nothing like that. I’m fine, really. I’m a demon hunter, for crying out loud. I know what a demon can do to a person, and a demon is not going to bless someone with knowledge minus all of those unfortunate side effects that come with, you know, possession.”
“Touchy, touchy,” Rachel held up her hands defensively. “But you have to admit that the things you’re demonstrating yourself capable of are…strange.”
“Supernatural is a better word for it,” Hunter concurred.
Shanna looked from one of their faces to another. “I’ll grant that…it is strange. But I don’t feel any different. Who knows? Maybe I’ve always had this…ability, or whatever it is.”
“Perhaps we should confer with Felicia when we get back state-side,” Natalia suggested.
“Agreed,” Hunter said. “For now, let’s get back to work. We’ll get to the bottom of what’s going on with Shanna another time. For now…I think taking care of our current obstructions to returning home would be in all of our best interests.”
“As for those freaky powers that are helping us along faster,” Rachel murmured to Shanna. “Don’t hold back on my account.”
Shanna let out a breath as the others settled into their research once more, Rachel and Hunter sending her occasional worried glances.
Natalia, as usual, seemed to be taking things in stride.
***
“So, I pretty much killed the biggest boar in the world,” Brett finished with a flourish, smiling proudly at Ligeia as they unfolded some sleeping bags on the living room floor of the house that their half of the group would be sleeping in.
“Very impressive,” Ligeia gushed. “You’re like Hercules. Am I right, Serene? He’s like Hercules?”
Serene glanced over from the closet door where she and Saul were pulling down extra blankets. “Yes. Hercules.”
Stepping into the room from deeper in the house, Amelia smiled at the group. “So, we got pretty lucky. We have electricity here. And there are three bedrooms. The third is pretty small, but we can make this work, especially sleeping in shifts.”
“Hmmm,” Brett had a lopsided smile on his face. “So, if a couple of us share beds, we won’t even need these sleeping bags. Is that what you’re saying, Amelia?”
Amelia smiled tightly. “You must be forgetting that we’re staying up all night talking about boys and braiding each other’s hair.”
“Yeah, funny.” Brett paused. “Oh. Except for the part about staying up all night.”
“And I didn’t even need to repeat myself. We have the first shift, monster-watching, listening for whatever drove these people out in a panic.”
“Not that, you know, I would be getting much sleep with Ligeia…”
Ligeia giggled and smiled coyly.
“Well, at least not for the first five minutes,” Amelia muttered.
Serene laughed then, earning a dark look from Brett.
“Say, Mate, I’m going to see if there’s any coffee here to brew for the lot of you before we hit the hay,” Saul volunteered.
“Oh, thank you,” Amelia said. “We can manage though.”
Saul shrugged. “I don’t mind t‘all. Be right back.”
Serene watched him go and smiled when she saw Amelia watching her. “He’s really sweet like that.”
“I hope you’re not scheming on corrupting him overnight?”
“No, I think that sleep sounds like a very good option right now. I’m just sorry that you can not do the same, that you must stay awake to watch over us. I myself am utterly exhausted - I can not imagine being alert for hours more. You do this often?”
“I’ve done my fair share of stakeouts. Don’t worry about us, though. We can handle ourselves.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“Say, Amelia,” Brett
interrupted. “I’m just going to escort Ligeia to her room, k?”
“No hanky-panky now,” Serene said sternly.
Ligeia smiled innocently as they left the room.
“I worry about her sometimes,” Serene admitted after a moment, her eyes staring after them.
Amelia cocked her head. “Oh?”
“Yeah. She’s a little reckless. She doesn’t hold back at all. Always talking, always acting. Following. I wish she would do what she wanted to do instead of just giving in to what others want from her. And not spout off what she’s heard from everybody else. I swear, I hang out with her a lot, but everything she says comes from a conversation we’ve had with someone. She’s kind of like an echo.”
“Maybe she’s just struggling to find out who she is.”
“No, she just wants everyone to like her. She doesn’t want to do the wrong thing, say the wrong thing. She wants to be queen someday…” She smiled over at Amelia. “Queen of our festivals, that is. But to fill those shoes, you have to be able to improvise. Think for yourself.”
“Yeah… Well, it sounds like she at least has a good friend to lead her in the right direction.”
“I try. I really try. But it’s like she can’t hear me over the roar of the others’ voices.”
“Give it a little time. Keep working at it.”
Serene smiled as Saul reentered the room.
“Coffee’s on,” he related. “You’ve lucked out, too. Someone here likes decaf, but there were a few bags of regular in the cupboard, too. There’s also some Earl Grey tea and soda if you get desperate.”
“Thank you, Saul,” Amelia said. “I’m sure we’ll be fine. Me and Brett…we’ll find plenty to talk about.”
Serene smirked.
Amelia shrugged. “Well, we’ll have to.”
“I’m going to hit the hay now myself,” Saul told them. “You coming, Serene?”
Serene nodded and turned to Amelia. “You know, it was nice talking with you. I don’t get to talk to people much. It’s a little lonely. But anyways, this…was very nice. Therapeutic even.”
“I’m glad I could be here.”
Smiling, Serene left the room with Saul, sending one look back at Amelia, who shuffled toward the kitchen and the much-needed caffeine she would find there.
As she walked into the room, she heard the walky-talky crackle with static from the counter, and a tin-like voice tentatively called out “Hello?”
Amelia dislodged the walky-talky from the pocket of her backpack. She pushed in the button on the side. “This is Amelia. You guys doing alright back at base?”
“Base?” she could practically hear Rachel’s eyes rolling on the other end. “We’re fine. Are you alone?”
Glancing back at the door to the living room, Amelia confirmed that that was the case.
“Good. Look, there’s something weird going on with those two girls we found. The natives.”
“Ligeia and Serene?”
“Yeah. Be careful around them, watch them. We’ve caught them in a few lies already, so they’re definitely hiding something.”
“Hiding something? Like what?” Amelia lowered her voice. “Do you think they know what’s going on here?”
“As far as we know, they are what’s going on here,” Rachel told her. “Just be careful, okay? Don’t let them out of your sight.”
“I understand,” Amelia whispered. “Over and out.”
Rachel sighed. “I’m not saying that. Bye.”
Amelia grinned and set the walky-talky down. She held onto it for a moment, pondering what she’d just heard, when she suddenly felt a shiver creep up her spine. She turned to look back at the door to the living room, imagining a shadow retreating from the bottom crack of the door.
***
“God, how can you eat like that?” Jade demanded. “You’re such a little thing.”
Krystal looked up from her fifth slice of pizza and grinned. “Jealous?”
“Completely. If I ate like that, I’d have to fast for a week.”
“Really?” Jordan looked at her. “You got Dad’s genes then, because I never have to think about what I eat…especially with all of the physical stuff and training we do.”
“Yes, it’s really not fair,” Jade admitted “but it takes a lot of effort to look this good.”
Krystal scoffed and finished off her pizza with a flourish. “And I’m not tired either. Too bad you guys have first shift and not me.”
“Are you always like this?” Jade asked her, amused. “Because I’m beginning to feel sorry for Hunter.”
“Ha ha,” Krystal glared at her. “He’d be bored without me to watch out for.” She paused, as if considering the food in front of her. “This whole thing is weird.”
“What is?” Jade glanced at two pizza pans, both with half-empty pies on them, one pepperoni, and one sausage and mushroom.
“I don’t know,” Krystal poked at a slice. “The whole frequency thing. Or plane. Whatever. I can interact with this slice, eat it, digest it, just like anyone else on Earth. But no one else can interact with us? Doesn’t that seem odd? We cooked the pizza. I mean, wouldn’t anyone else see that the oven is being used?”
“Well,” Jade shrugged, “I’m not sure there’s really been anything like this before, so who knows? Ghosts and demons live in this world - solid on their own plane, interacting with each other and physical objects, but we don’t see them, hear them…”
“But they don’t turn ovens on.”
“They have more limitations obviously, but that’s why this situation is unique. They may not have that much control over their surroundings. But people certainly witness strange things as a result of their presence, some people are more attuned to their frequency and can see them even. Most people can’t, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there.”
Jordan sat forward in his chair. “Amelia can manipulate magick, do things with the air that are astounding. I can’t do a thing with any element, but it doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have the power she does. Because she most certainly does. She can just tap into something that isn’t…apparent to the rest of us. ”
“And bacteria affects us physically,” Cameron threw in. “We can’t see it with our bare eyes, but it can make us sick, it can aid in digestion…but it’s ultimately working on a different level than us - on a cellular level.”
Jade nodded slowly. “And some people claim to be able to detect ghosts with certain equipment too, although the evidence seems pretty lucrative there.”
“But our current situation is different, unnatural,” Jordan added.
“And confusing,” Krystal confessed. “I still don’t quite get it, but since this is unique, I guess we’ll just have to test its limits when Valor gets here.”
“Exactly,” Jade confirmed.
They were all silent for a moment, considering, before Todd stood up, stretching his arms over his head. “Well, I think it’s about time we think about going to sleep, little lady.”
Krystal scowled. “Don’t call me that. It’s degrading.”
“She’s got you there,” Jade laughed as Krystal followed him out of the room, still muttering that she wasn’t tired.
“I like her,” Cameron said, watching the door where Krystal had just disappeared.
“She’s feisty, but seems to mean well,” Jade agreed. “Still, it would be nice to know something about her. She’s a complete enigma at this point.” Jade paused then, tilting her head and looking at the window. After a moment, she stood abruptly and rushed over, pulling the curtains aside and staring out into the darkness.
Jordan stood up too and perked up as he heard a whirring sound…perhaps a semi-truck. He followed his sister to the window just as Jade abandoned that post in favor of the front door, which she flung open and disappeared through without a look back.
“Hey! Jade!” Jordan ran after her, leaving Cameron no choice b
ut to follow to find out what was going on.
When Cameron stepped outside, he saw a spotlight up on the hill around the area of their car crash from the previous day. It seemed to be sweeping over the wreckage. The whirring sound, the spotlight…they were coming from a helicopter. It hovered in the air like an angel of darkness, scrutinizing the vans below, calculating the scene it illuminated with its shining gaze. Then the helicopter moved a little further into town. Through the spotlight, Jordan could just make out a rope ladder that a few figures were climbing down.
“Jade!” Jordan yelled again. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to meet Valor!” she called back as she continued to speed up the road, swallowed by the surrounding darkness of vacant houses and eerily quiet lamplights.
Jordan watched her disappear, unsure of how to proceed. He wished they could have come up with some course of action instead of charging ahead, as usual. He shivered in the dark street, the inky blackness broken only here and there by a series of houses that still retained power and had negligently been left to burn through the nights.
“Do you think that what is terrorizing the town may have seen that?” Cameron asked.
Jordan looked back at him, not realizing that he’d been standing there. “What? I…I don’t…”
“Watch Todd and Krystal,” Cameron ordered and headed off the same way that Jade had gone.
“Wait…what?” Jordan shouted. “But she’s my sister!” He watched the darkness, thinking he saw movement in the direction Cameron had disappeared, but realizing that he was probably just imagining it. Cameron was long gone.
“I heard shouting,” Amelia said, stepping calmly up to him from out of the house next door. “The wind is anxious.”
“A helicopter…we think it was Valor.”
“A helicopter…good. That’s great news.” She looked at him. “Isn’t it?”
“Yes. I just…Jade and Cameron just barreled up there. I…I hope they’re alright.”
“They’ll be fine,” Amelia assured him. “I just hope that Jade came up with a way to communicate with them. They still can’t see or hear us.”
“Yeah…” Jordan frowned. “I…God, I feel like I almost don’t know her anymore. It’s only been a month, but…maybe I never really understood her. Is that possible? I see how reckless she is…but she’s confident and smart and…I think I just took it all for granted. I was so used to how she just took charge, I didn’t see that she was so headstrong and impulsive. I feel…kind of like I’m losing her.” He felt tears sting his eyes and blinked them away, suddenly angry at himself. “Damn it!”