by Alexie Aaron
“If they did, I can’t imagine how they would have left the top of the hill. The road is ruined. The gondola is the only way down, and in this weather, it’s too dangerous to operate,” Ray explained.
“I was changing my clothes in my room. I started to hear all these doors slamming. Ted told me to stay in my room. No one called me to tell me that they were leaving. I finally found my nerve and went to investigate. That’s when the lights went out,” she explained. “I found a supply of lights in the bar, and I’ve been holing up in there during the storm.”
“Come on, why don’t you show us where you last saw your team?” Carl said. “Here, try to wipe off some of that mud first.”
Mia walked over to the sink in the kitchenette and moved her shaking hands to her face and splashed water everywhere, sobbing.
“Sit down, honey. Let me,” Carl said, taking a dishtowel. He washed her face and neck while getting an eyeful of her feminine charms. He knew Cyryl was watching him, so he controlled himself.
Mia ignored the man’s fumbling. She did her best to not react to Carl’s little violations. Instead, she studied the holstered gun which was the twin to the one Ray was carrying. Cyryl had a rifle. Part of Mia wanted to see if she could disarm these men herself. But if she failed, it meant her friends were dead. So she restrained herself.
Cyryl handed her a sweatshirt. She pulled it over her soiled clothes. “Thank you, I was freezing.”
Mia lost track of Ray for a moment.
The lights went on.
“Oh my god, the lights are back on,” she said. “How about the phones?” she asked.
Carl lifted the receiver and shook his head. “It’s typical for these parts. The phones will be out for a few days.”
Mia raised her cell phone and frowned. “I can’t get any bars.”
Ray reappeared and gently took her phone from her. “Honey, your phone is out of charge. Let old Ray help you out. Do you have your charger?”
“It’s back in my room.”
“Why don’t the two of us go and…”
“Ahem,” Cyryl said. “We’ll all go. Now we have lights, we can search the place for the little lady. Did you know I grew up in that house?”
“I thought it was hotel.”
“No, that’s what the Price Corporation did to my home. It was a large old house that my family built. It started out a small house, and they added on when they hit it big. It used to have entrances to the mine under the wing that houses the bar and the expensive suites.”
“I don’t understand?” Mia said, acting confused.
“My ancestors were miners.”
“Goldminers?” Mia asked.
“No, copper.”
“Like pennies?”
“Yes.”
“Why did they stop?” she asked as Cyryl led her outside.
“The copper played out. Then they cut the lumber from the hillside and sold that until it was gone. Finally, my grandpa had the idea of having a ski run here. The house was expanded again, and I guess it was a hotel for a while.”
Mia stopped, looked up at the hotel, and shrieked.
“Child, what is the matter?” Cyryl asked, annoyed.
Mia pointed to the upper story of the older part of the house. Silhouetted behind a curtain was a man. He stood there a minute and then vanished.
Ray pulled his gun out and went running inside.
“Maybe it’s one of your friends,” Carl said.
“Do you think so?” Mia asked, trembling. “I’ve got to go and find them.”
“You stay with me,” Cyryl instructed. “I’ll keep you safe.”
“How could I have been so wrong about you?” Mia lied. She clung to his arm.
Cyryl was getting tired of being the woman’s protector. Maybe he ought to let the boys have fun with her. That should drive her over the edge. But still, he couldn’t have that, no matter what an annoyance she was becoming. His mother raised a gentleman, and that was that.
~
Ray took the stairs two at a time. He walked down the hall, checking the doors of the rooms on the front side of the building. All of them were locked. He estimated which room had had the figure in it. He used the passkey and let himself into the room. It was a suite that hadn’t been refurbished yet. The room was clean of dust, but nothing could mask the smell of aging draperies and carpets. He walked over to the window but didn’t see anything amiss. He looked down at the trio and shook his head. The woman began pointing at him, jumping up and down.
He turned around and faced a madman holding an axe!
“You buried us alive!” the madman screamed and swung his axe towards Ray.
Ray shot off a round, but still the man kept coming.
“You’re not real,” he said, backing up.
“You buried us alive!” the ghost repeated. “All Nowickis must die!”
“I’m not a Nowicki,” he said, twisting to the side, the axe just missing him. Ray ran out of the room and down the hall.
Murphy could have easily unarmed the man and probably dispatched him too, but there was a plan in place, and he’d promised to do his part.
Ray burst out of the hotel shouting, “The place is haunted!”
Cyryl, amused by the guard’s playacting, said, “That’s why the Corporation invited Mia and her friends here.”
“You’re not listening to me,” Ray said, pulling Mia off of Cyryl’s arm. “You stand there,” he ordered Mia.
He pulled Cyryl out of, what he hoped was, earshot and told him of the axe-carrying man and his threats. “I wouldn’t be you for a million dollars,” he said.
“You’re spouting nonsense,” Cyryl insisted. “Remember the plan. We drive the woman mad and…”
The front door crashed open. There, standing, backlit by the lobby lights, were two dust-covered men and a boy. They had their arms out. One of them shouted, “Nowicki!”
Carl went for his gun, but two of the three disappeared before he could get a shot off. He fired repeatedly at the lone ghost. The ghost just stood there.
“It’s a trick, you moron,” Cyryl said. “Watch. I’m going to walk up to this hologram and,” he said, closing the distance between himself and the man raising his axe, “walk…” He stopped talking as he connected with something icy cold.
The ghost growled at him, “Nowicki, now you die!”
Cyryl dropped his rifle and turned tail and ran.
Mia picked up a few rocks with her mind and threw them at the running man. One hit him with such force that it knocked the legs out from under him.
“What the hell is going on?” she screamed, pulling at her hair, looking wild-eyed at the guards.
Ray screamed as he felt something move up his trouser leg. “Get it off me!” he said, lowering his gun and firing at the rising in his pant leg. “Argh!”
“You idiot, you just shot yourself!” Carl said, taking the gun from Ray and tucking it at his back. “You,” he ordered, “get me something…” He stopped speaking. The woman was hanging upside down, her mouth frozen open in a silent scream. “What the hell is happening?”
Mia choked out a few words, “Demon… ghost… blood…” before she passed out. Carl and Ray watched as whatever had ahold of her dragged her off into the darkness.
There was a steady clicking and whirling sound around them. Cyryl raised his head off the ground to see three glowing lights coming at him. He managed to get to his feet and ran to the gondola landing. Carl helped Ray up and followed Cyryl into the open doors of the gondola. The doors shut, and the car started its descent. They had just passed the large suspension tower when the power cut out.
Mia looked down at the gondola. “That ought to hold them for a while.”
Mike, who was busy wiping Audrey’s concoction of Vaseline and talcum powder off of his face, observed, “We better warn the rescuers that two of them are armed.”
Audrey ran up to them. “I got through to the state police. They are on the way. Also, I notified the
Price Corporation of the problems up here. And Alan of course. I have a feeling, at least one of us is going to have to answer some hard questions,” she said.
“Not it!” Mia and Mike said in chorus.
Mia pushed at Mike, and he at her. Soon the two were squaring off in the muddy yard, laughing too hard to actually do much damage.
Murphy moved beside Audrey and said, “You did well.”
“Thank you, Stephen. It’s my first time being a ghost. It’s tough work.”
Murphy just whistled. He walked over and picked Mia off of Mike, whom she was trying to feed a handful of mud to.
~
Washed and dressed, looking every bit the professional, Mia sat down with the state police and told them almost everything. Ted insisted on staying with her until she was free to travel with him to the hospital. Mike backed up her story. The two of them agreed to leave out anything supernatural. Audrey insisted that the place be condemned until a few licensed engineers located and disabled all the trapdoors.
The three of them packed up all the equipment and gathered all of the team’s belongings. Jake had migrated to Ted’s phone until Ted could download the ghost back into his home in the PEEPs computer system. Mia stopped, at one point, and picked up the pieces of the lone PEEPs casualty. All that was left of one of the Oculars after being shot was its lens and a few twisted wires. She wrapped it up in a pilfered linen napkin and stuck it in her pocket.
“So this is what cleaning up afterwards is like,” Mia said.
“Yes,” Mike said. “This is the kind of thing you always seem to get out of,” he teased.
“Dupree, you did a great job.”
“I’m not sure I’m following you?” he asked.
“You kept the team in one piece. Even down in the cavern, you gave them more than support. You gave them hope. You’re quite a hero, Mike. Be careful or the birdmen will be knocking on your door,” she warned.
“Mia, what’s going on?” he asked seriously.
“I wish I knew. All I know is that we humans are being kept in the dark. Something big is going to happen. I get the idea, it’s all about the struggle of good and evil, and the prize is us.”
“Let’s hope the good guys win.”
“But who are the good guys?” Mia asked. “I can see it from two perspectives, and neither show the other in a very good light.”
“What do we do in the meantime?” he asked.
“I’m going to take my husband and child someplace, without the distraction of ghosts, birdmen, angels, superhumans, cell phones, and computers, where I hope Ted and I can find our way back to each other.”
“Things still rocky?”
Mia’s eyes teared up. “We seem alright physically but…” she paused, pulling herself together. “I’m not giving up. I had a few moments of bliss. I want them back.”
“I hope you find your way back, Mia.”
“Thank you, Mike. If not, we need to find a way to share Brian and PEEPs,” she said.
“So you’re not leaving us?”
“Never!” she said, her face beaming. “I’m here to stay, Dupree, so you better get used to it.”
He laughed. “I was counting on it, Cooper.”
Chapter Twelve
Doctor Walters looked at the files in front of him. The initial X-rays taken at the small hospital in Wisconsin didn’t jive with what the MRIs had illuminated. Cid Garrett, Ted Martin, and Burt Hicks had gone through a remarkable healing in the short few weeks since their initial injuries. He picked up Cid’s file and studied the evidence of a liver perforation but found nothing that could have caused it. The rib closest to the injury looked like there was a fracture repairing, but he found no way to explain how it may have been involved.
Mia sat across from him, waiting for him to answer her questions, or ask her a few.
“You said you found Cid prone on the ground.”
“He was lying with Audrey on top of him. They had fallen thirty feet, possibly hitting an iron beam on the way down. He used his body to shield her. Or that was what I was told. I wasn’t there at the time.”
“Now Burt…”
“Mike Dupree performed first aid on him. He applied a soft cast made up of folded blue jeans. I, with the help of Audrey, realigned the leg and splinted it with something more substantial before evacuating him.”
“And then a mobile cast was fashioned for him. Who did that again?”
“Cid fashioned it first on the computer before building it.”
“I’m going to heavily suggest he patent the cast,” Walters said. “It’s lightweight and seems to have aided in the quick healing.”
“Burt’s always healed quite quickly,” Mia reminded him.
“Now your husband…”
“Yes, that’s why I’m here. You see, I want to take him and Brian on vacation, and I want to make sure he’s ready.”
“Ted’s a lucky guy.”
“Yes, the rebar could have nicked the femoral artery.”
“That’s not what I meant, but that was fortunate. Mia, his blood is free of infection, and the wound has stopped draining, so I’d say, as long as he doesn’t spend his days in fetid water, then he’s good to go.”
Mia rose to leave.
“Not so fast. Mia, it’s been a while since I looked you over medically.”
“I’m fine, aside from rampaging hormones…”
“Hormones are messengers, Mia. They are sent by your brain to fix something. How are you feeling?”
“I’m off the rails, mentally. I’m fighting for my marriage while trying to keep things normal for Brian. I was hoping getting away from it all would help to calm me.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you and Ted were having problems.”
“For the most part, we’ve been able to sort through the initial problems, but they’ve left open wounds that not even you can heal.”
“Mia, I’m not a marriage counselor, and I’ve never been married, but I watched my parents go through hell and come out stronger. My father was a prisoner of war in Nam. When he came home, Mom didn’t know who he was anymore, but she dug in her heels and got to know who he had become, burying who he used to be. Am I making any sense?”
Mia nodded. “You’re saying I should give up what we were and learn to appreciate what we are now.”
“Yes, but you need to take a few moments to mourn the past before you’ll be able to put it behind you, and when you do, you have to do it without regrets.”
“You are a very wise man.”
“When you get everything sorted, I would like you to come back in and let me in on how that tattoo you have on your wrist moves.”
“I’ll do more than that. When I’m ready, I’ll show you all it can do. You may be sorry you asked,” Mia said.
“I may be. Good luck, Mia. I’m rooting for you and Ted. I’ve never met two crazier people. You both deserve the other.”
Mia giggled. “I hope he thinks so too.”
~
“While the three of you are gone, Murphy and I are going to work on a few things that need to be done. I need to paint. Brian came too soon, so his room is still just primer,” Cid said, putting a hot mug in front of him.
Ted looked over at him. “Please keep track of your time. We can afford to pay you.”
“You can pay for the supplies. I’m just earning my board,” Cid said, his eyes twinkling.
“I think you’re looking forward to having the farm to yourself,” Ted said.
“Maggie, Jake and Murphy are here. I’m hardly alone,” he said.
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes. I am looking forward to thinking about me for a change. Selfish bachelor time. I may even have a wild party,” he threatened.
Ted laughed.
“How about you? Are you looking forward to being without your gadgets?”
“That’s going to be tough. But I understand why Mia wants this. She wants both of us to concentrate and get to know each ot
her again.”
“I think it’s a wise move on her part.”
“She really is wonderful, isn’t she?” Ted said.
Cid felt a rush of hope move through him. “She’s too good for the likes of you.”
“Nah, I think I’m her best fit. We fit quite nicely….”
Cid put his hands over his ears. “Stop.”
Ted laughed and raised his mug. “Here’s to Superman and his kryptonite.”
“And here’s to Batman, who has been given another chance. May he realize that by giving, he receives so much more than he would if he just took.”
“Wise words.”
Murphy moved out of the kitchen hall where he’d been listening to the two techs. He wasn’t happy with Mia’s moratorium on him following them to the cabin on Wolf’s Head Lake. She said she needed to fly solo for a while, and he would respect that, no matter how much he would worry about her while she was gone. She had new secrets to impart to Ted, things that he and Audrey already knew about. He prayed that Ted would realize, like he did, that Mia may change physically, but under it all, she was still the Mia that both of them loved.
~
Mia met Audrey at the mall as she promised. Audrey was excited to show her what she had found. She drew Mia into a store with a lot of very flexible mannequins, wearing soft clothing, displayed in the windows. Mia could appreciate the colors but was puzzled as to why Audrey was so excited.
She followed Audrey around the store as her friend scooped up this and that, holding them up to Mia to judge the colors on her. She followed Mia into an overly large dressing room and ordered her to strip.
Mia, who rarely let nudity embarrass her, was beet red.
“Come on, put this on and this,” Audrey said, handing Mia a bra that opened in the front. Mia put it on, and then Audrey pulled a tank over Mia’s head.
“I feel like I’m a three-year-old,” Mia complained.
“Trust me,” Audrey said, handing her the yoga pants.
“Okay, now what?” Mia asked, expecting Audrey to hand her something else.