Broken Spirits

by S. A. Hunter

  Rachel saw her coming and watched her walk up. Rachel didn't get up, but she didn't say anything to those sitting with her either, though it looked like one quipped something about Mary. She couldn't tell if it were innocent or mean. She reached Rachel and felt awkward looming over her. She crouched down to be at eye level.

  "Hey, got a minute?"

  "A minute for what?"

  Geez, she was going to be as difficult as possible.

  "A minute to talk."

  "Talk."

  Mary shot a look at the drama girl sitting beside Rachel. The drama girl’s name was Taryn. Taryn was watching them with undisguised interest. She was the one who had quipped something to Rachel as Mary walked up. "Can we go outside to talk?"

  “Why?”

  “Because unlike everyone here, I don’t like having an audience.”

  “We promise not to judge. Pure support, that’s all,” Taryn said.

  Mary rolled her eyes. “Please?” she asked Rachel.

  Rachel sighed and got up. Mary let her lead the way to the nearest exit. Once they were outside, Rachel turned to her and crossed her arms.

  Mary couldn’t meet her eyes. She ducked her head and tried not to fidget. “I’m sorry for not telling you about Mr. White and the Shadowman.”

  “I don’t know if that cuts it anymore.”

  “What should I have done?” Mary asked.

  “You should’ve told me everything. You should’ve told me the Shadowman attacked you at your freaking house.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Are we still best friends?” Rachel asked.

  Mary’s eyes shot to hers. “Yes, of course! You’re my only friend.”

  Rachel shook her head. “Being your only friend is not the same as being your best friend.”

  “It is to me,” Mary said.

  Rachel sighed and uncrossed her arms. It seemed like she was still unhappy.

  “Mr. White’s left hand was stolen from the mortuary, and his building burned down last night.”

  Rachel’s eyes grew round. “His hand was stolen?”

  “Yep, the morticians filled a glove with sand to conceal it.”

  “Were the police called?”

  Mary shook her head. “No. I think they were trying to keep it quiet. It would’ve looked really bad for them.”

  “It should’ve been reported.”

  Mary shrugged. “Gran thought it best to keep quiet.”

  “But why would someone take his hand?”

  “To make a Hand of Glory.”

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s a magical device that can open any lock. It was considered the ultimate thief’s tool. It’s a hand made into a candlestick that, when the candle is lit, will make everyone but the thief fall asleep or stay asleep. He can then go through the house and take whatever he wants.”

  “And it works?”

  “I’ve never seen one. I don’t know.”

  “What does Gran think?”

  “She’s worried. Mr. White sent me something before he died. A box that we can’t open. We think whoever took the hand might come after the box.”

  “What’s in the box?”

  “We don’t know. Mr. White sent a note with it. He called it his dying curse.”

  “Melodramatic much?”

  That made Mary grin. “I thought the same thing.”

  “Do you have any suspects?”

  “A strange woman met with Gran yesterday. She wanted her palm read. She’s looking for something that she shouldn’t be. The person who stole Mr. White’s hand was a woman.”

  Rachel shook her head. “And you have the Shadowman calling you from the grave.”

  The warning bell rang. “Can we talk more later?” Mary asked.

  “Yeah, we need to. This whole situation stinks.”

  Mary unhappily nodded. “I’m sorry.”

  “Why? You’re not the one who made Mr. White an a-hole.”

  Mary blinked and smiled embarrassedly. She thought Rachel had been referring to Mary’s treatment of her. “See you later at the end of the day?” Mary asked. Rachel nodded and waved as Mary turned to go to the main building for class.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  Sixth period was strange because it was her only class with Cy and Vicky. Those two had been officially a couple since Vicky had gotten out of the hospital and that meant they were always together now. They sat together during class, ate together at lunch, and walked together in the halls. If Mary had still been friends with Cy, she would never have had a chance to talk to him anyway. She took her usual seat in the back. With Cy’s move to sit by Vicky, there’d been some rearrangement in the seating. A girl named Tasha now sat by her. They had nothing in common, but they didn’t bother each other either. She gave a nod to Tasha now as she took her seat and pulled out her English notebook. Tasha acknowledged her back then turned her eyes forward. That was the extent of their interaction.

  Class started, and Mary quickly realized she needed to use the restroom. She grabbed the hall pass and slipped out.

  She was washing her hands with every intention of hurrying back to class when the bathroom door swung open. She didn’t pay it any attention.

  “We need to talk.” She looked over her shoulder at Vicky. She turned off the sink and turned around. She shook off her hands as she turned. Vicky huffed and stepped back as drops hit her. Mary raised her arm and gave it an exaggerated pinch.

  “Ow. Clearly I’m awake so what could we possibly have to talk about?”

  Vicky rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. She did that very well. Mary wondered if she practiced in front of a mirror. She could see the other girl’s eyes dart to her reflection every couple of seconds. “I heard you’re dating Kyle,” Vicky said.

  The denial came out like a knee jerk. “We went out, but it wasn’t a date. Rachel went, too.”

  “Kyle thinks it was a date.”

  “No, he doesn’t. Unless he thinks he’s dating both of us.”

  “Only way someone would date you would be if it was a twofer,” Vicky muttered.

  It was Mary’s turn to roll her eyes, but she resisted the urge to cross her arms. “What does it matter to you?”

  “Weird how out of all of the guys in this school, you start going out with Kyle.”

  “It’s not weird. We got to know each other.”

  “Really? What sport does Kyle play?”

  “Well, he wrestles—”

  “Arnk! He does not.”

  “Yeah, he does. I’ve seen him with all the other wrestlers.”

  “Just because he’s friends with some of the wrestlers doesn’t mean he wrestles.”

  Now she did cross her arms, and she couldn’t help hunching her shoulders a little, too. “So he doesn’t wrestle. Good to know.”

  Vicky wasn’t done. “Where does he want to go to college? What does he do in his spare time? What’s his favorite type of soda?”

  Mary didn’t know the answers to most of those questions, but she wasn’t going down without a fight. “Do you know any of that stuff about Cy?”

  “Cornell, shoot hoops, and Coke.”

  She was right. Those were the answers for Cy. And Mary felt guilty for knowing them and not for Kyle. “But did you know before dating him? And it wasn’t a date. We just went to see a movie as friends.”

  She started moving toward the door.

  “If you’re trying to stay close to Cyrus by dating Kyle, stop now. He deserves better than that.”

  “I’m not! Kyle and I may not know every little detail about each other--”

  “Or any details,” Vicky muttered.

  “But we do like each other enough to find out more. If you’re so worried that I might be after Cy, why don’t you just tattoo ‘Vicky’s’ across his forehead and be done with it? You can have him. And Kyle likes Dr. Pepper.” She jerked the door open and stormed out. The nerve of Vicky! Mary was not going out with Kyle to stay close to Cy. Vicky must not know much if she
thought those two hung out.

  She felt sick, though. Vicky may not have been in her head, but she’d expressed her worst fear. What if she really was going out with Kyle just because he was Cy’s brother?

  She slipped back into sixth period and retook her seat. Cy caught her eye and gave her a nod. She was so frazzled by Vicky, she didn’t acknowledge it. Was this thing with Kyle solely about Cy? Her heart did still flutter a little whenever she saw Cy, but this thing with Kyle had nothing to do with that, right? She didn’t know and that freaked her out.

  She was through the door as soon as the bell rang and at Rachel’s class’s door in only a minute. She grabbed Rachel as soon as she made the hallway and dragged her outside. She sat them down at a nearby picnic table, though she felt more like pacing.

  "What's wrong?" Rachel asked.

  "Do you think the only reason I'm dating Kyle is because I'm still interested in Cy?"

  "Where'd this come from?"

  "Vicky said it to me."

  “And you listened to her?"

  "Gran sort of implied it, too."

  "Ouch."

  "Do you think that also?"

  "Not really."

  "That's not a resounding no," Mary said.

  "You just asked if I thought you were dating Kyle because you're still interested in Cy. You didn't say you're no longer interested in Cy."

  "Of course I'm not. He's dating Vicky."

  "What does that have to do with it?"

  "Dating someone else is a deal breaker."

  "Are you sure? If Vicky and he broke up and he started hanging out with you again, would you have no interest in him?"

  "That's--" Mary didn't know how to answer. "I do like Kyle."

  "What do you like about him?"

  "He's kind, thoughtful, he cares about me, he doesn't see me as a freak. He wants to get to know me. He likes Dr. Pepper."

  "Didn't know his soft drink preference would figure in. You listed some good reasons. Now if Cy asked you on a date right now, what would you say?"

  Mary was ashamed of the little thrill the question gave her.

  "Oh Mary," Rachel said.

  "Kyle and I have only gone on one date. We aren't a couple." Mary knew it wasn't a good defense, but it had to count for something.

  "What do you like about Cy?"

  "He's witty, easygoing, cute, and friendly."

  "And Kyle isn't those things?"

  "He's more serious. I don't think I could talk silly with him. It wouldn't be as easy to joke around. I'm more relaxed with Cy, at least I was."

  Rachel sighed. "This doesn't look good."

  Mary agreed. "Should I tell Kyle that I can't go to the dance with him?"

  "You'll have to figure that one out yourself."

  "I do think he's nice. He was really sweet when he brought over my homework yesterday." She remembered his offer to call off the dance. Did he suspect that she might not like him as much as he liked her? The thought made her feel terrible.

  "While I'm happy to help you sort out your love life, I gotta go pretty soon to start my volunteer shift at the hospital."

  "I'm really impressed you're still doing that."

  “You're welcome to come back. Mabel would love to see you, and I think the elevator ghost misses you, too. I get him to push the button for me when I ride it alone, but I think he wishes he had someone to talk to."

  Mary shook her head. "No. I could only go there when I had to help Vicky. I can't imagine going back."

  “Wimp."

  "Yep."

  "Want me to give you a ride home?"

  Mary nodded and went with Rachel to her car. She felt so much better. She still wasn't sure about Kyle, but being able to talk to Rachel again was such a relief.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Bad Touch

  Rachel dropped Mary at home and left to do her volunteer shift. Mary went into the house. She called out to Gran.

  “Could you come back here, Mary?”

  She went to Gran’s office and stuck her head in. “Hey, whatcha need?” she asked.

  Gran pointed at a seat. “I’ve asked Nina and Neil to drop off Marvin and Gladys to help with the next step of your training.”

  Mary took a seat, but didn’t feel comfortable. “I didn’t know we were done with the first step.”

  “Fine, maybe this is more of a different approach rather than the next step. What we want is for you to be able to block out the ghosts. We need ghosts to figure out how to block them, and Marvin and Gladys are perfectly harmless.”

  Mary could agree with that, but she was still a little leery of trying anything new. After the way the meditation session had gone, she didn’t want to lose another chunk of time. Gran seemed calm though. From outside, there was the sound of a car pulling up.

  Gran seemed still perfectly calm. In fact, she seemed kind of upbeat. Neil and Nina had become really good friends to her. Having people her age to hang out with seemed to really perk her up. She got up to open the door for the new arrivals. Neil and Nina stood on the other side. Nina carried a small cardboard box, and Neil had a large picture frame covered in bubble wrap.

  "Thank you all for coming!" Gran said.

  "Oh, it's no trouble, Helena. We're happy to help."

  "As I explained on the phone, I was hoping Marvin and Gladys could help Mary with her training. She needs to learn how to not hear ghosts. I thought they could come here and chat around Mary as she tried to tune them out, so to speak."

  "So we'll leave these two here for a couple of hours, then come pick them back up?" Neil asked.

  "It's like we're being dropped at the freaking sitters," Marvin groused.

  "It's not so bad," Gladys said.

  Nina and Neil set the anchors on the table and said their goodbyes.

  Once they were gone, Gran set out the large quartz crystal again. "Focus on the crystal like before, but Marvin and Gladys will be talking while you do. Try not to listen, just focus on the crystal."

  Mary nodded. "Okay, but don't let me sit here for hours like last time."

  "Don't worry, I won't. Now concentrate." Gran backed out of the room and left Mary alone with the ghosts.

  "So what are we supposed to do?" Marvin asked.

  "Talk to each other while I try not to listen," Mary answered.

  "What was that?"

  Mary opened her mouth to reply, but Gladys spoke over her. "Marvin, you know perfectly well what we're doing here. Stop playing dumb with the poor girl. You just concentrate, dear, and I'll talk to him."

  Mary hunched in her seat, feeling stupid for getting duped by Marvin.

  "So did Nina finish those new curtains for the living room?"

  "Yeah, and they look real nice. They would've been over a hundred dollars in the store."

  With Marvin and Gladys talking about the most boring thing possible, Mary thought she had a very good chance of tuning them out. She focused on the quartz crystal and concentrated.

  "Mary, wake up! Come back!"

  Mary jerked and blinked her eyes as she tried to orient herself. She felt weird, and she was now standing in the living room with Gran shaking her.

  "What's going on?" she asked.

  "Mary, is that you?"

  Gran was bobbing and weaving a little while peering at Mary’s eyes, like when the dress ghost had controlled her.

  "Yes, it's me. What happened?"

  "I swear I didn't know that would happen. I was just checking to see of she were all right."

  "You were trying to break her concentration."

  “Fine, I was trying to break her concentration. I wasn’t trying to do anything else.”

  “What happened?” Mary demanded.

  “Marvin possessed you,” Gran said.

  “What?” Mary yelled.

  “I didn’t mean to.”

  “What happened?” Mary demanded again.

  “You were staring at that big hunk of crystal all quiet-like. I just sort of tried to poke you to see if I
could startle you.”

  “So you were trying to scare her,” Gladys said disapprovingly.

  “It was supposed to be funny.”

  “For who?”

  “You possessed me?” Mary asked.

  “Like I said, I didn’t mean to. I just tried to poke you and it was like I got sucked in. Then next thing I know, I’m looking out through your eyes and can move your hands,” Marvin said.

  “Gran?” Mary asked, growing alarmed.

  “You came into the living room and said ‘Helena, I think something’s wrong with Mary.’ Only the words came out of your mouth. Your voice was a little lower than normal, but it was still your voice. I asked ‘What’s wrong, Mary?’ And you said, ‘I’m not Mary. It’s Marvin.’ My first instinct was to shake you. Luckily that seemed to work.”

  Mary could feel herself going cold like when she’d gone to Nina’s house. She sat down on the sofa and pulled the afghan off the back of the couch to wrap around her shoulders. “Can you get Nina and Neil to come pick up the anchors, please?” she asked.

  Gran mutely nodded and went to her office with the phone.

  “I’m really sorry, girl. I didn’t mean to do that. I really didn’t know it would happen, and I wasn’t trying to. It just happened. I didn’t have any control.”

  “That’s a little ironic since you possessed me.”

  “I didn’t mean to. Didn’t you know what was going on?”

  “No, I didn’t know a thing.” And that was giving her all sorts of the heebie jeebies. She’d known zoning out for hours wasn’t right, but this was a whole other level of wrong. “You could see out my eyes?” Mary asked.

  “Yeah, it was weird. I could see and move your body, but it was like I was wearing a suit.”

  He’d worn her like a suit. The dress ghost had compared her to a new outfit, too. “Oh, God,” Mary felt sick.

  “Marvin, watch what you say!” Gladys hissed.