by Kris Tualla
“Because it’s Matt, specifically.”
“Yes.”
“He does have an uphill battle, you know.” She smiled softly when Sveyn looked at her. “I’m afraid I’ve met the man of my dreams—literally.”
Sveyn’s lips quirked at that, but his eyes narrowed. “Because this is important to you, I promise to play fairly as much as I am able. But I cannot pretend to like it.”
“Thank you.” Hollis’s eyes welled again, blurring her vision. “I don’t think anyone has loved me so selflessly in my entire life.”
Sveyn’s expression turned pensive. At that moment the wisdom of his years was apparent. “While I do find it unlikely, you might be surprised some day.”
And there’s another selfless comment.
“I love you, Viking.”
“And I love you, Hollis.”
She climbed stiffly to her knees and brushed tiny bits of granite from the knees of her jeans. “I’m hungry. I’m going to stop at the pizza place on the way home.”
Sveyn grinned. “Garlic knots.”
“Yeah.” Hollis laughed. “What can I say? I’m addicted.”
As they walked back down the path toward her car, Sveyn leaned down and spoke in her ear. “Where shall I love you tonight?”
Imagined breath in her ear sent a shiver of pleasure over her skin. She gave him a seductive smile. “Surprise me.”
Chapter Eighteen
Monday
December 7
The middle-aged woman in flowing robes swept into the museum’s lobby on a cloud of patchouli. She stuck out her hand as soon as she spotted Hollis, who blinked rapidly to keep her eyes from watering as she approached. “You must be Hollis McKenna!”
Sveyn wrinkled his nose. “Is that her that I smell?”
The white-haired woman’s hippy-ish perfume was really strong if the apparition could detect it.
“Yes,” Hollis answered both the seen and unseen entities with a single word. She held out her hand as well. “Welcome to the Arizona History and Cultural Center.”
The woman gave Hollis’s hand a firm, dry shake. “I know I’m a little early, but I wanted to make sure that the séance was correctly arranged.”
Hollis smiled politely. “And what was your name?”
“Oh, I’m sorry!” The woman smoothed her shoulder-length pageboy haircut and flashed a toothy smile. “My name is Ether.”
“Ether?” Hollis repeated. “Really?”
The woman chuckled. “Well, originally it was Esther. But in my profession, I believe Ether is much more appropriate, don’t you?”
“Oh, yes. I have to agree.” Hollis tried not to look at Sveyn, who was leaning over Ether and sniffing her with a puzzled look on his face, lest she break into inappropriate laughter. “Will you be running today’s session?”
“Yes, I am the medium of the day.” Ether looked around the space as if trying to discern who—or what—might be present.
“And you have four ladies joining you?”
“Three now, I’m afraid.” Ether returned her regard to Hollis. “One went into labor.”
“Oh!” With a start Hollis realized she expected only older women to attend. “Um, let me show you the collections storeroom where we have you set up.”
“Wonderful.” As Ether fell into step beside Hollis, she said, “With all of these fabulous old objects here, I’m sure we’ll have many spirits eager to establish contact.”
Sveyn walked on Ether’s other side. “Ask her if they are here now.”
“I’ve never been to a séance before. Where are the spirits before you contact them?”
“Oh, they’re all around us, dear.” Ether waved her arm and Sveyn dodged it. “They wait for us to invite them into a conversation.”
“Can you feel them?” Hollis probed. “I mean, do they hover nearby when they know something is happening?”
“Yes. Sometimes.”
Hollis opened the door to the administration offices. “Can you feel any of them now?”
Sveyn walked backwards in front of the medium, waving his hands and grinning like a fool. “Hello, Ether. It’s nice to meet you.”
The medium stopped walking. “I do sense something.”
“You do?” Hollis and Sveyn said in tandem.
“A woman.”
Sveyn’s jaw dropped.
Hollis bit back her laugh. “A woman. Are you sure?”
“Yes. You have her dress here.”
We have a lot of dresses here.
“Whose dress is it?”
Ether waved a hand and resumed walking. “She’s gone.”
“She left without being here in the first place,” Sveyn said. “Now that is amazing.”
Hollis shot him a warning glance. “Well I hope you encounter more cooperative spirits when you get started.”
She swiped her employee card and opened the door to the collections storeroom. Inside the doorway to the crowded space were a rectangular table and six chairs.
Hollis folded one up and set it by the door. “Is this going to work for you?”
Ether turned in a slow circle. “Yes. This should be very fertile ground.”
“I meant the table.”
“Oh!” Esther winced a little at the generic plastic table. “It’s serviceable, I suppose.”
Hollis almost rolled her eyes. Like the spirits would care—if any showed up. Besides Sveyn, of course. “Do you want the lights on or off?” she asked.
“Off. The spirits get shy in the light.”
Guess that quality would put the Viking in a different category. “Remember—no candles are allowed.”
Ether reached into her oversized hemp bag and pulled out a plastic bag of LED candles. “Got it covered.”
Hollis nodded. “Let’s go back to the lobby and wait for the others.”
*****
Hollis sat at the table with Ether and three perfectly normal-looking women. The storeroom lights were off and half-a-dozen LED candles flickered dully in front of them. Sveyn hunkered down beside her.
“Don’t say anything to get me in trouble,” she had warned him earlier when she excused herself and went to the ladies room.
“Do you believe she will be able to hear me?” he asked.
“Don’t you mean, do I think she’s a wacko?” Hollis snorted. “No. she won’t hear you.”
Sveyn grinned. “I assume that you will want me to tell you if I hear or see anything.”
“Yes, please.”
Ether asked everyone to hold hands and instructed the women to close their eyes and, “Concentrate.”
“Concentrate on what?” Sveyn asked.
Hollis shrugged and cracked one eye open to see if Ether reacted to his voice.
Nothing.
“Friendly spirits—are you here with us today?” Ether asked.
Silence.
“Don’t be afraid, dear hearts. We mean you no harm.”
“How does one harm a spirit, exactly?” Sveyn grumbled. “Give them a body?”
Hollis coughed to cover up her laugh.
“Sorry,” she whispered with her eyes closed.
“We come here with respect and hope you will engage with us…”
“That stinking woman cannot hear me, can she?”
Hollis shook her head slowly.
Ether jerked and the table shook. “Hello?”
Hollis opened her eyes to see if Sveyn might have done something, but he was still squatting beside her.
“Yes!” Ether said. “Thank you for coming!”
“Do you see anything?” she asked the Viking. He shook his head.
“No, but we usually don’t expect our visitors to manifest.” Ether’s voice had that tone of strained politeness which screamed shut up. “It’s far too exhausting for them. Isn’t it, dear?” she addressed the air.
“Can we open our eyes?” the woman to Hollis’s left asked.
Ether ignored her. “Are you the spirit who was seen on the camera
?”
Hollis looked to her left and met the woman’s open-eyed gaze. Hollis mouthed: This is my first time.
Mine, too, she mouthed back.
Ether tilted her head as if she was listening. “Yes? You are? You are the spirit we saw on the camera?”
“This should prove interesting.” Sveyn stood and walked around the table to stand behind the colorful medium.
“Do you have anything you want to say to Hollis?”
Hollis stiffened. While she insisted that she be present at anything which took place in this fragile space, she expected to be a silent witness, only there to protect the museum’s collection. She certainly didn’t expect any of the attention to focus on her.
Ether looked at Hollis. “It’s a man. He says he knows you.”
That’s creepy.
Hollis faced the four pairs of expectant eyes. “And, uh, what else does he say?”
Ether seemed to be listening. Then she nodded. “Of course.”
“What?” the woman on her left asked. “What did he say?”
“He says he was very powerful and important.”
Sveyn frowned. “Of course he does. Ask him to show himself.”
“Can he show himself?” Hollis flashed a hopeful expression. “I want to see if he looks the same as he did when I saw him.”
Ether shook her head and gave her an apologetic expression. “He says that is not allowed unless you are in danger.”
Hollis frowned. “How does he know me?”
“He is an ancestor, several generations back.”
So she wouldn’t know his name anyway.
Neat trick.
Hollis decided to push the woman in regards to Sveyn. She looked at the apparition, hoping he would catch on to what she was doing, and squinted. “I think I can see him.”
“Where?” the woman on her left asked.
Hollis pointed. “Right there, behind Ether.”
“Really?” The medium twisted around in her seat. “Are you there?”
Sveyn started to chuckle. “Keep on it.”
“He’s getting clearer.” Hollis looked at the other three women. “Can any of you see him?”
One was staring hard. “Maybe…”
“He’s tall. Dressed in brown. I can’t make out his face.” Hollis jumped up. “I’m going to turn the lights on.”
“We don’t normally—”
Hollis flipped the switch before Ether could finish her objection. “But his clothes are so dark, he’s hard to see.”
“What is your name?” Ether asked, despite her obvious irritation.
“Make it a good one,” Sveyn prompted, grinning.
The group waited.
Hollis gasped. “Did you hear that?”
Ether looked stricken. “No. What did he say?”
“He said Wallace.” Hollis pressed her lips together to keep from smiling.
Sveyn whooped. “Excellent.”
“Wallace?” Ether pleaded, closing her eyes. “Will you speak again?”
Sveyn leaned down and spoke directly in her ear. “My name is Sveyn Hansen and I’m a Viking caught between life and death.”
“Please?” she asked again.
Sveyn was laughing hard now. He spoke into Ether’s other ear. “You are a fraud, madam. There is no one here but I.”
Hollis started to giggle. “Can any of you see him?”
Ether glared at her. “Are you making light of this process?”
“No!” Hollis put up her hands. “There is definitely some sort of spirit here.”
“We paid a lot of money to hold this séance and contact the spirit on the security tape, you know.” Esther narrowed her eyes. “I certainly hope this wasn’t some cheap trick the museum has played.”
Hollis shook her head. “It was no trick. I can definitely see and hear something here in the room with us.”
“Does he have long hair?” asked the intently staring woman.
Hollis gave her an incredulous look. “Yes. He does.”
She nodded. “I see him. Sort of. Maybe.”
Sveyn did a quick spin. “Here I am!”
“Where do you see him?” Ether demanded.
The woman didn’t shift her gaze. “Right behind you.”
Ether swung her arm in an arc around her chair. Sveyn didn’t move this time and allowed her hand to pass through him.
“That tickles!” he laughed.
“Oh my goddess…” Ether did it again. “There is something there.”
The look on the medium’s face was so disbelieving, so shocked, and so funny that Hollis could barely contain herself.
“Are you surprised?” she managed with only a few coughed chuckles escaping. “Wasn’t that the point?”
Two of the women exchanged bemused glances, while the third continued to stare silently in Sveyn’s direction.
“She is surprised!” Sveyn guffawed. “This is such fun!”
Hollis stood, hoping that what she said next would throw Sveyn into such a state of hilarity that he would become momentarily visible. She started laughing at the thought and almost couldn’t say the words.
“Flawless and lawless—” she began before doubling over and leaning on the table, hooting with glee.
“Yes!” Sveyn looked like he was about to wet himself. “The flawless and lawless Hollis Wallace!”
“Is clawless!” Hollis squeaked, gasping for breath. “Oh my lord!”
Sveyn fell on top of the table, curling in a hilarity-defined ball of leather and fur.
“There he is! On the table!” the staring woman shouted.
Ether jumped to her feet and let out a scream that would shame a banshee. Then she bolted for the door.
*****
“I only saw him for a second.”
“I didn’t see anything.”
“Neither did I.”
“Well Miss Ether sure did and it scared the crap out of her.”
A smiling Hollis collected the LED candles and put them in Ether’s big hemp bag. “Would one of you ladies carry this to the front door?”
“I will,” said the woman who saw Sveyn. “And I’m asking for my money back.”
Hollis gave her a puzzled look. “But you said you saw him.”
The woman shouldered the hemp bag. “No thanks to her. That was all you.”
Hollis laid a hand on the woman’s arm, suddenly afraid she had gone too far. “What will you tell people? About today, I mean?”
The woman looked into Hollis’s eyes as if she understood her concern. “What do you want me to say?”
The truth is always the best plan. “Would you be willing to say only that the medium wasn’t able to make contact with the spirit?”
She nodded. “Yep. That’s the truth.”
“And, in spite of everything, neither of us saw anything,” said the obviously disappointed woman who sat on Hollis’s left.
The third woman shuddered. “I’m glad I didn’t if it scared Miss Ether so much. I won’t do anything like this again.”
Sveyn stepped up beside Hollis as she watched the trio head toward the lobby. “As fun as that was, I do not believe I will laugh so hard the next time.”
“That’s okay. I think I was playing with fire.” Hollis sighed. “No matter what sort of frauds and kooks walk in here from now on, I won’t interfere.”
Chapter Nineteen
Monday
December 14
A week had gone by since the séance with the fake medium and ten days since Matt went back to Milwaukee.
Not the slightest peep had been heard about either.
Yay.
And crap.
Hollis drove to the office earlier than usual so that she could get some work done before the Ghost Myths, Inc. crew arrived. Benton had struck a deal with the cable TV show, allowing them twenty-four continuous hours of access starting at nine this morning and ending an hour before the museum opened on Tuesday. Of course, that meant Hollis was working for more
than twenty-four continuous hours as well.
At a hundred dollars an hour for sixteen hours of overtime.
If Sveyn had not been so tender and caring as he loved her in her dreams last night, she probably wouldn’t be in such a good mood now in spite of the extra money. The man had skills—or at least, a very good imagination. And because of the uniquely non-physical nature of their lovemaking, repetition didn’t wear either of them out.
An adult sleep and dream cycle was about ninety minutes on average. Five cycles in a normal eight-hour night.
Hollis smiled.
“You are pleased this morning?” Sveyn asked.
“How could I not be?” Hollis glanced at her handsome passenger. “How do you think of all that?”
He grinned. “Many, many, many years of contemplation.”
Hollis pulled into the employee parking lot and parked closest to the back door. She reached into the back seat for her overnight bag. She wasn’t going to sleep while the show was being taped, but she brought some personal care stuff plus comfy non-work clothes to change into later.
Never underestimate the value of a toothbrush.
A white van pulled into the parking lot before she even got out of her car.
“Crap. They’re early.” Hollis got out of her car and locked it, wondering if she should speak to the guys in the van now, or go inside and come back out at the scheduled time.
The decision was made for her when a guy opened the van door and climbed out. “I know I’m early,” he called out. “I’ll wait out here.”
“Well now it feels rude to leave him here,” she muttered.
Sveyn looked down at her. “You have no obligation to extend his hours, Hollis. Go on inside.”
Hollis nodded, gave the guy the thanks wave, and headed into the building.
*****
Stevie came bouncing over while Hollis was showing the Ghost Myths, Inc. camera crew where Benton wanted the interview shots to take place. “Guess what? I have the best news!”
Hundred to one it’s about the wedding. “You’re eloping?”
Stevie giggled. “Where’s the fun in that? No—we have our location. And a date!”