by Mikayla Lane
“Who are you?”
Emily sighed heavily and smiled.
“I’m Emily, but that doesn’t matter and isn’t why I’m here. I need help,” she said.
The man stepped close enough to reach his hand out and wave it through her body. His hand felt frozen when it passed through her form, and he jerked back as he stared at her.
“That’s really rude and uncomfortable. Please don’t do that again,” Emily said as she shivered from the contact.
“You’re a ghost,” he whispered as he stared at her.
Emily shook her head emphatically.
“No. I’m not. I’m as alive as you are. This is,” she said, gesturing to her body, “just my mind or something. I’ve come here since I was a child when I need help. Sometimes the angel sees me and he helps me. That’s why I’m here now. I need help really bad this time.”
The man just stared at her.
“You’re not a ghost? You’re alive? Where?” he asked.
“I live in the United States. Aren’t you an angel? Shouldn’t you know that?” she asked, wondering why he wouldn’t know.
He shook his head as if trying to make sense of what was going on.
“No. I’m not an angel. I don’t know any angels. Who are the angels you usually talk to?”
“Do you know Indrid?” she asked.
He nodded.
“Mikey, who are you talking to?”
They both looked up and Emily saw a beautiful blond-haired, blue-eyed woman looking worriedly down at the man.
He looked at Emily, then back up at the blond.
“She can’t see me,” Emily said, looking up at the woman again.
“Why?” Mikey asked.
Emily shrugged her shoulders and looked back at Mikey.
“I don’t know. Only the angels can see me like this. And you. I need . . .” she began before she heard screaming and looked behind her shoulder.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Emily turned back to Mikey, her face pale.
“I need to go! If you see Indrid, tell him I need him!” Emily said before she disappeared.
She opened her eyes and stumbled to her feet as she heard Elmer and Tom screaming for her, and she walked as fast as she could through the dark foliage to the cabin.
Emily ran inside when she saw Koda’s body seizing on the mattress while Elmer and Tom tried to roll him on his side and keep him there.
“You have to do it now!” Gran screamed at her in fear.
“I can’t do shit with him shaking like that!” Emily yelled back, trying to think of what to do to stop the seizure.
Joey climbed down from her bed and walked over to Koda’s body, sitting down near him on the floor. Emily and the others expected to see her create a golden wall; they didn’t expect the bolt of energy that shot from her hand and immediately immobilized Koda.
“Oh! Damn!” Elmer said, pulling quickly away from Koda’s body.
Emily ran to the cabinet and got everything she thought she would need to do what Gran wanted and went to Koda, glad they’d rolled him onto the right side. It was the correct side he needed to be on for the procedure she had to perform.
She unrolled the bandages from his head wound and tried to ignore the infection causing his broken skull to bow outwards through the torn stitches.
“What are you going to do?” Elmer asked. He was a little nervous about the determined look in her eye.
“I need you guys to hold him tightly. This isn’t going to be pretty, but Gran says this will help,” she said, looking directly at each of the men.
When they nodded, she pulled back the swollen skin and tissue, revealing the large break in Koda’s skull where a huge chunk was barely attached and the brain was protruding around it. Just as she reached for the piece of skull, Koda’s specter yelled out.
“Whoa! What the hell are you doing? That’s my damn skull!”
Emily closed her eyes and returned to reaching towards his skull.
“Your mom said that the infection has reached your brain and is causing it to swell. I’m going to remove the piece that’s barely hanging on to give your brain room before it causes permanent damage. It’s this, or you’ll die soon,” Emily said, reaching through the swollen flesh to the piece of skull.
“Do it,” Koda said, disturbed that she was digging around in his head.
Emily tried to snap the piece off in the opposite direction and hadn’t been prepared for how slick and gross it felt between her fingers. Her fingers slipped, and Koda’s head jerked.
Elmer shook his head and leg go of Koda’s shoulder where he’d been holding him down.
“Your hand is too slick. I won’t have that problem,” he said as he grabbed hold of the piece of skull and quickly yanked as Emily held Koda’s head.
The snapping sound as the small piece hanging on cracked and broke free caused Koda to groan and shiver in revulsion, but he couldn’t stop himself from looking at the result—or he would have if Emily hadn’t gotten in the way.
“OK, we need to clean around the swelling and get it covered in new bandages quick,” she ordered, her hands working quickly to follow Gran’s directions while Tom and Elmer handed her items.
Emily finished tying off the new bandage and sat back on her heels, feeling more drained and emotionally wrung out, but she was determined not to let it bring them down. She couldn’t; there was too much at stake.
“OK, so your mom said it’s a procedure called trepanation. It’s been used all over more worlds than this one for brain injuries, infections, and swelling. What it’s going to do . . .” Emily began until Koda interrupted her by placing a hand on her back.
“I know what it’s for. You don’t have to explain it, but thank you,” he said, giving her a small smile. “You guys did great, but we should probably do something with that before Joey gets it.”
Emily looked to where he was pointing and gasped when she saw the piece of skull laying on his chest where Elmer had dropped it. She quickly grabbed it and looked around for a safe place to put it.
“Amun and the doctors can make a new piece, so you don’t need to keep it,” Koda said with a grin at how flustered she was.
Emily shot him a dark look before she grinned back at his attempts to lighten the serious mood in the room.
“Maybe I want to keep it as a souvenir,” she teased.
“A souvenir?” he asked, incredulous that she’d even consider it.
“Yeah,” Emily said, trying to hide her mirth. “I could drill a hole in it and wear it around my neck. It’s not every day I get to say I fucked with someone’s head and prove it!”
Elmer and Tom looked horrified at the thought, but Koda burst out laughing.
“Seriously? That’s all you got after going through all that?” he asked.
Emily shrugged, her smile getting wider as she took the piece and cleaned it really well in hot water before patting it dry.
“It was short notice.”
Koda watched her wrap the piece of skull carefully in a strip of clean cloth before she tied the cloth around his neck like a necklace.
“What are you doing that for?” he couldn’t help but ask.
“I don’t want it to get lost in the rush when Grai comes for you. Even if they can make another one, I doubt it’s a good idea to leave it here,” she said simply before she stood and looked at Gran to see if there was anything else she needed to do.
Granala looked at her with tears misting her eyes while she wrung her hands helplessly.
“You did a wonderful job, Emily. You’re so strong, and every day you prove that you are a perfect mate to him. I couldn’t be happier as a mother that he has you,” Gran said before she disappeared.
Emily couldn’t help the smile that crossed her face or the warm feeling she got from Gran’s words. Ghost or not, it was really nice knowing that the woman actually thought she was good enough for her son. All things considered, it was a miracle and a blessing.
He knew she couldn’t have been naked or she’d have run in the door that way when Elmer and Tom started yelling for her. He loved seeing the blush rise to her cheeks.
“I didn’t get a chance to get naked; I’ll have to try it again another day,” Emily shot back, feeling a little braver than normal because the heated looks he was giving her.
Oh, Lord, help me, she thought. I’m lusting after a nearly dead guy. Now I know I’m certifiably nuts.
She wasn’t about to start considering the mate nonsense that he’d tried to tell her about earlier. She could believe a lot of unusual things, but a predetermined ghost mate was a bit too much, even for her.
Elmer cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s attention.
“You should probably put the little one back in her bed.”
“Aww,” Emily said as she saw Joey cuddled up to Koda’s neck sleeping.
“She’s so precious,” Koda said, kneeling down beside the child and brushing her hair with his hand.
Emily picked Joey up, carried her into her own bed, and covered her with her blankets before closing the sheet again. A grin covered her face as she turned to the others and rubbed her hands together.
“OK, boys, who’s feeling lucky tonight?” Emily chuckled when the three men groaned.
“Why do I get the feeling you do?” Koda asked with a grimace.
Emily ignored the comment as she got the deck of cards out of the cabinet along with a bag full of small stones they’d gathered from around the cabin a few weeks ago.
“See what happens when you corrupt a woman with things like this?” Tom muttered.
Emily giggled as she divided the pebbles into equal amounts and placed them in a circle on the floor before sitting in front of one of the piles. She deftly shuffled the cards and looked up at the men with a sly smile.
“Five card draw sound good?”
Koda was the first to sit beside her on the floor and focused his energy on looking at the cards Emily was dealing around. Although he pretended to be as frustrated as Elmer and Tom over Emily’s seemingly endless wins, he loved sitting beside her and sharing stories of their lives with one another.
“Whose turn is it?” Tom asked.
“It’s Koda’s,” Elmer supplied with a grin.
“Gee, thanks,” Koda replied sarcastically as he shot Elmer an irritated look.
“Hey, don’t complain,” Emily said as she pushed her ante forward. “Your stories are exciting, ours are so boring I fall asleep telling my own.”
Koda shook his head. He loved her stories about her life and learning about her. He was surprised at how intelligent she was for someone who’d not been around society or schools, and he couldn’t help but wonder if she’d have liked to go on one of his ships.
“I want one card,” Tom said, pushing one card towards the ante pile.
“Get started, boy; I ain’t got all night,” Elmer added as he put his throw cards down near Emily.
Koda sighed and ran through the missions he’d been on with Grai and the Alliance for one he hadn’t told them about already.
“So there was a group of kids being held in Africa by one of those sick cults,” he began, then got lost in the storytelling.
Halfway through the story he saw Emily start to yawn, and by the time he was finished, she could barely deal the cards through the constant yawns and her exhaustion.
“I think it’s a good time for you to go to sleep now,” Koda said as he stood and gathered her blankets and pillow.
Elmer and Tom helped make her bed up on the floor, and before she knew it, Emily was laying down next to Koda’s body all bundled up in blankets. She yawned as Elmer went to stoke the fire, and Koda kneeled down next to her.
“Get some sleep; we’ll keep an eye out for Joey,” he whispered as he pushed a lock of hair behind her ear.
“You get some rest too,” Emily replied as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Koda stood and looked at the other two men. With a nod, they all disappeared from inside the cabin, popping up in the clearing outside like they had every time Emily went to sleep.
They walked a little way from the cabin so they wouldn’t wake Emily or Joey but stayed close enough to still see the door to make sure no one went in or left.
“You’re getting worse,” Tom said unnecessarily. They all knew the situation was getting more dangerous by the day.
Koda ran a hand through his spectral hair and sighed.
“I don’t know what else we can do,” he admitted, hating the feeling of helplessness overwhelming him.
Koda adored Joey. He could easily see himself adopting her and loving her as if she were his own. With Tristan and the new things they were learning about him every day, Koda knew that he and Emily could give Joey a wonderful life among his people and the hybrids.
Emily was definitely different from the other hybrids because her gift was so unique, but he had a plan for that too—space. He was confident that if she were on his ship, the spirits wouldn’t be able to find her in space. There he could give her the life she could never have on any world. He could give her peace.
The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that if she was indeed his mate, which he was believing more every day, then maybe that was why he’d been so obsessed with building and creating spacecraft. Maybe in his own way, his mind was preparing himself for a mate that couldn’t live for long on any world without being bombarded by their dead.
All the thoughts and plans in the world weren’t going to get them found in time to save any of them though. That was the biggest issue they were facing at the moment.
Koda wanted nothing more than to try and talk to Gibly himself, but although the cat could sense him, he couldn’t hear him, which made trying to plan anything with the cat without Emily’s knowledge impossible.
As if he knew Koda was thinking about him, Gibly appeared among them.
“I know you looking for way to help. She has beast. Talk to her about it. Get her to bond,” Gibly said.
Koda groaned and slapped his forehead.
“I can’t believe I didn’t think of that!”
“What is a beast?” Tom asked nervously.
“If she starts changing into some crazed creature, I’m outta here,” Elmer stated, crossing his arms over his chest.
Koda laughed as Gibly walked back inside the cabin.
“No, she won’t change into anything. A beast is a parasite that lives in our brains,” Koda explained. “Its offspring is passed from father to child when the egg is fertilized in the womb. It remains dormant in the females, but it heightens her senses and enables her to heal faster. The best part is the species is telepathic. They can communicate with each other.”
“She’s got a bug in her head? Like a worm?” Tom asked, his face contorted with disgust.
“A telepathic worm?” Elmer asked, his tone riddled with doubt.
Koda laughed, his excitement not dampened in the least by their uncertainty. He knew that if Emily was a hybrid, she had a beast, and if she had a beast, it could be brought out and taught to speak on the Shengari’.
“You can doubt all you want, but I’m telling you—if she’s a hybrid, she has a beast, and I can teach her to bond with it,” he argued.
“How do you bond with a worm?” Tom’s face registered his horror at the thought.
“It’s not really a worm. It’s actually a sentient being that lives in synchronicity with its host. My own beast, Ax, is a friend, companion, and someone who can be relied on to help. The poor guy has to be fighting his heart out trying to keep my body alive. And trust me, I wouldn’t be alive at all if he wasn’t still fighting for us both,” Koda said, wishing he could help his friend.
“A worm,” Elmer said with a shake of his head. “You people get weirder every day. So what can we do to help?”
“Yeah, there has to be something we
can do,” Tom added.
Koda couldn’t help but smile at the two men and their eagerness to help no matter how odd the request or job.
“We’ll have to help her to talk to it, to bring it forward. It has to know the situation isn’t good, but it may not be aware that it’s safe to come forward. She has to convince it that it can, that she wants to bond. The hard part will be convincing her to try it,” Koda explained.
“I think you could ask her to do anything, and she’d do it without question,” Elmer said with a grin.
“It’s true,” Tom agreed. “She really likes you. I may not believe all that mate business you talked about, but I do think you’re kind of fated to be together. It’s the only explanation for the craziness going on.”
Koda blushed and cleared his throat.
“Well, let’s hope she reacts better than the two of you did about having a beast in her head,” he joked.
“She’s the toughest little thing I’ve ever come across,” Elmer said with admiration. “I don’t think you’ll have a problem.”
“Hell, she’s handled everything else like a champ,” Tom agreed.
Koda grinned broadly.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned dealing with the female hybrids, it’s that they are the strongest you’ll ever find. I’d put one of them against a human male any day and watch them wipe the floor with them.”
“Watch it, boy,” Elmer threatened. “This human male is pretty tough.”
Koda threw his head back and laughed along with Tom.
“Yeah,” Tom teased. “We all saw how you went up against her. It took what? A few hours before you caved to her charm?”
Elmer huffed for a few seconds before he nodded him head.
“Yeah, ok. There’s just something so damn appealing about her—not in a sexual way!” Elmer amended when Koda scowled darkly at him.
“In all seriousness, we have to do something. It’s getting out of control and more dangerous by the day,” Tom said solemnly, hating they had to even be in this situation.
“I agree. The beast is the best way to go now. I refuse to give up and let them die,” Koda added, clenching his fists in anger at the situation. He just hoped that Emily would agree to try.