by Kris Tualla
“Oh, good.” While Hollis really was happy for her friend, the topic of conversation wore on her. At least now, with two major decisions apparently made, some of the stress should ease.
She opened the calendar on her phone. “When and where?”
“Sunday, February seventh. At four o’clock.”
Hollis punched in the time on that date. “Got it. Where?”
“At the Chocolate Affaire in Glendale.”
Hollis looked up from her phone. “What?”
Stevie was practically glowing. “George booked the last hour on the main stage. We’re going to demonstrate a Regency wedding ceremony, in full costume, and actually get married in the process.”
Hollis blinked, searching for a response. “Well… from what I’ve heard that event is dedicated to romance.”
“Right? It’ll be amazing!” Stevie clapped her hands. “And the best part is that we can invite everyone we want. All of JASNA. Unlimited space!”
That was actually true. “What about the reception?”
“Don’t know for sure yet, but there is an adorable little event place called Virginia’s House nearby. George and I are meeting with them this week to talk about having the wedding dinner there.” Stevie winked. “Separate invitation, of course.”
“Of course.” Hollis saved the calendar entry. “Well I think it sounds like a ‘ton’ of fun.”
Stevie laughed, delighted by the pun. “And now that we have that decided…” She clasped her hands in front of her waist, her eyes twinkling. “I have a question to ask you.”
Hollis held her breath, anticipating the question. She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to be right—or wrong.
“Would you be one of my bridesmaids?”
Yep. That’s the question.
Stevie was so excited, Hollis found herself being pulled into the vortex. “I would be honored.”
“Thank you!” Stevie attacked her with an enthusiastic hug. “None of this would be happening if it weren’t for you.”
Hollis hugged her back, then disentangled from her friend. “We’ll talk more later. I need to get back to these guys.”
Stevie turned to look at the crew as if seeing them for the first time. “Oops. Sorry!”
“Congrats.” The man driving the first white van—whose name was Cody—gave her a tight-lipped smile and turned to Hollis. “We’re ready for the next set-up.”
*****
Justin Howard, founder of Ghost Myths, Inc., strode into the collections storeroom like he owned it. “How’re we doing, fellas?”
“We’re just about finished.” Cody, whose official title was Director, climbed down the rungs of his ladder. “Give us thirty minutes to wire the last couple cameras and clean up and we’re good to go.”
Justin turned to Hollis. “And you’re the lady that started all this, aren’t you?” He stuck out his hand. “Justin Howard. Pleased to meet you, Ms. McKenna.”
Hollis shook his hand, wondering if she should tell him to call her Hollis or just enjoy his gentlemanly Southern charm. “Welcome to the Arizona History and Cultural Center, Mr. Howard.”
His deep brown eyes crinkled at the edges when he smiled, the single indication that this man was approaching forty. “Please call me Justin, ma’am.”
Sigh. “And you can call me Hollis.”
Justin rested his hands on his hips and scanned the space. “Your husband worried about you spending the night with a bunch of strange men?”
“I’m not married.”
Justin looked at her again, his smile softening. “Lucky for me.”
Sveyn snorted. “I do not trust this man.”
Hush.
He’s pretty.
“Can you come to my office and review the guidelines for being in the storeroom?” Hollis asked. “I know we sent them to you, but in case there are any questions.”
“Happy to.” Justin stretched out one arm. “After you.”
Hollis led Justin to her office and pulled a copy of the list of Collection Storeroom Dos and Don’ts from her Paranormal Guests folder. Justin sat in front of her desk and she leaned forward as they read through the list together.
“The room is strictly climate-controlled, as you know,” Hollis said. “Which is why your regular lights and cameras are not allowed inside.”
“Right. And the room has sensors for humidity and temperature and that data will be fed to us.” Justin pointed at the list. “The museum also has thermal vision cameras in place. They’ll be turned on for us, I assume?”
“They are never off.” Hollis looked up from the paper. “Mice are a museum’s worst enemy.”
“Understood.” Justin met her gaze. “I understand that the lights will be off, so the room is actually pitch black?”
Hollis nodded. “Yes.”
“Perfect. We have a few quarter-watt night lights to plug in so the night vision cameras will work.”
“Not a problem.” Hollis reached for a pen and tapped the bottom of the document with it. “Will you sign here?”
“This is going to be fun, I think.” Justin signed the page with a strongly slanted signature. Then he looked at her again. “I hope your protector shows himself.”
Hollis gave a wan smile. “I have a good feeling.”
*****
Miranda was in the storeroom when Hollis and Justin returned. “Welcome to the Arizona History and Cultural Center.”
Justin flashed his killer smile. “Thank you. And you are?”
Hollis saw Miranda’s jaw sag. “Yours.”
Justin’s smile faded. “What?”
Miranda startled. “Your curator. Your expert. Hollis’s boss.”
“Oh. Nice.” Justin pointed at the mid-thirty-ish man descending a ladder. “Cody there is my director. He’ll want both of you to do some on-camera interviews.”
Ugh. Hollis made a face. “What about?”
“Your experiences in the museum. Your experiences with the apparition. Things like that.” Justin shrugged. “You’ll just sit and talk. Answer questions. We’ll edit it later.”
Cody came to stand beside Justin. “We’re set here.”
“Good. Ready to do the interviews?”
“Almost.”
Miranda gave Justin an inquisitive smile. “What sort of equipment are you using?”
Justin lit up like he just won the lottery. “Come here and I’ll show you.”
As Justin explained how the infrared depth camera and the all-spectrum camera worked, Hollis began to get nervous. It seemed obvious to her that Sveyn would not be able to hide from all the technology—four kinds of cameras in all—and he would be fully exposed.
As she was talking herself down off the wall, however, Justin showed them the Ovilus—a device which supposedly registered what he happily called, “EVPs. Electronic voice phenomena.”
Hollis felt a full-blown panic attack looming.
“I, um, forgot something. Be right back.” She hurried toward her office and closed the door before she faced Sveyn.
The apparition looked pale. “I did not expect such a variety of equipment.”
“Neither did I. I guess we should’ve watched the show a few times and prepared for this.”
Sveyn dragged his fingers through his hair. “It seems that would have been helpful.”
Hollis lifted her brow in hope. “Maybe because you aren’t actually a ghost, they won’t work on you.”
“No.” His blues eyes met hers. “I fear they will be even more accurate.”
I was afraid of that.
Hollis considered the array of elaborate cameras, monitors, and microphones which were all in place in the storeroom. “I don’t think you should speak.”
“I agree.”
“We have to figure out which of these are likely to register your presence and which ones we can keep you off of.”
Sveyn waved one hand. “I can always simply leave the building, remember. My tether is long enough.”
For
a moment, Hollis wondered if that wasn’t the best plan. “No. We talked about this. A little proof is best.”
She drew a deep breath. “But until we see how all of these things work, you will have to stay out of sight and quiet.”
Chapter Twenty
If she weren’t so nervous about how this night was going to turn out, Hollis would have laughed. Miranda sat in the producer’s hot seat and answered Cody’s questions concerning the security videos that showed evidence of something being in the storeroom with Hollis. Miranda was trying to sound professional, but she was obviously awestruck.
But that wasn’t the funny part.
The lights in the back hallway were turned off. Miranda’s face was lit from below, reminding Hollis of the spooky flashlight trick. As Hollis stood behind the cameras, she saw them using the shaky-frame sort of shot that became popular with the old paranormal movie, The Blair Witch Project.
Though early and heavy-handed copycats made audiences nauseous at first, the trick was now widely and much more subtly used to ramp up the viewers’ anxiety levels to match the intended mood of whatever they were watching.
Obviously the Ghost Myths, Inc. guys wanted their audience to feel uneasy. As if their subject matter wasn’t creepy enough already.
“Thank you, Miranda.” Cody gave her his hand to guide her through the lights and wires that created a messy obstacle course on the hall floor. “That was very well done.”
Miranda looked pleased. “Really?”
“Oh, yes. You were very helpful.” The director turned to Hollis. “Are you ready?”
Hollis nodded and accepted the same assistance from Cody to navigate the impromptu set. She settled in the chair and squinted toward the cameras. “I can’t see you.”
“You don’t need to. Just talk toward my voice.”
“Oh.” Hollis turned a little to the left, where Cody’s voice was coming from. “How’s this?”
“Great. Now I’m going to ask you questions, and I want you to answer like we were friends discussing this over coffee.”
Hollis huffed a little laugh. “So rambling is acceptable?”
“Rambling is preferred,” Cody said with enthusiasm. “The more you say, the more we have to work with.”
Sveyn squatted in front of her. “Be careful, Hollis. Think before you speak.”
“Can you say a few sentences so we can get a voice level?” Cody asked. “Anything is fine.”
Hollis cleared her throat. “Like this? I will think before I speak.”
“Uh, sure.”
“Okay. Then I’ll tell you what I can—and won’t tell you what I can’t.” She shifted in her seat. “Are we good?”
“Let’s do it.”
Hollis heard paper rustling a few feet from her, then Cody asked, “Tell us what happened that night right before the manifestation.”
Hollis wasn’t expecting that question. “What?”
“Tell us where you were when the phenomenon occurred.”
Her pulse surged and roared in her ears. “Don’t you know?”
“Easy, Hollis.” Sveyn’s calm voice was close to her ear. “You are safe.”
A swarm of gnats danced in front of her eyes. She felt weak.
More papers rustled. “My notes say you were locked inside the storeroom.”
“It was a hell of a lot more than that!” she cried. Her voice sounded strangled. “I almost died!”
Sveyn’s face moved in front of hers. “Tell them you don’t want to talk about that.”
She focused on his eyes. “Huh?”
“Tell them you don’t want to talk about that,” he said again.
Hollis nodded. The Viking’s big, close, and calm presence was pulling her back from the brink of hysteria. “I—I don’t want to—to talk about that.”
From very far away, she heard Cody say, “Are you getting this?”
“Yep.”
“What do you want to talk about, Hollis?”
Sveyn was still between her and the cameras. “Tell them what happened when the motion detectors went off.”
She nodded again and kept her attention on Sveyn. “I was scared. Terrified. And I couldn’t move.”
“Then what?” Cody prompted.
“Tell them I was angry. But do not say my name.”
“The—the apparition—was there, and he was angry.” Her gaze shifted to where Cody was standing. “He was frustrated because he couldn’t help me. Do you understand?”
Cody grabbed the opportunity. “How did you know that?”
“Because he was shouting.”
“At you?”
Hollis scowled. “No. About his lack of a body.”
“Okay. That makes sense.” Cody stepped closer and she could see him now when she looked past Sveyn. “Then what?”
“I will stay here, but do not look at me,” Sveyn said.
Hollis nodded a third time and gripped the arms of the chair. “Then somehow he set off the motion detectors.”
“How, do you think?”
“I think it was his anger.”
Cody took another step closer. “He is here, isn’t he?”
Hollis recoiled. “What do you mean?”
“It seems he is talking to you. Calming you down.”
“Can you hear him?” She leaned to the side and looked at the cameras. Sveyn moved out of her way, but stayed by her side. “Can you hear him?”
“I can’t,” one of the crew blurted.
Hollis was regaining her composure, and along with it the realization of what the crew might have just seen. “Then why do you think he’s talking to me?”
“You have been looking at something close to you,” Cody said softly. “And you nodded three times when no one asked you anything.”
Oh crap.
Hollis rallied her inner strength and pinned as stern a gaze as she could conjure on Cody. “Have you ever been close to losing your life? I mean, like really, honestly, close?”
“No, I can’t say that I have,” he admitted.
“Well when something like that happens to a person, they panic when they remember it. And they have to talk themselves out of completely losing it.”
Sveyn nodded. “Good. Well said.”
Hollis tilted her head. “Does that make sense, Cody?”
“It does.”
“Good.” Hollis pulled a deep breath and stilled, closing her eyes.
“Hollis, are you okay?” Cody asked gently. Someone pressed a bottle of cold water against her hand.
She opened her eyes and accepted the water, taking a long drink before answering. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t prepared for the direction of your questions and it caught me off guard.”
He nodded. “I understand.”
“I’m feeling better now. Thanks for the water.”
“You’re welcome.”
“All right then.” Hollis recapped the water and set the bottle on the floor next to the chair. She pulled a long, slow breath, combed her fingers through her curls. and smoothed her blouse. “Let’s start over. Ask me the same questions, if you want. I’m ready now.”
Cody looked skeptical. “Are you sure?”
Sveyn asked her the same thing.
“Yes, I’m sure. Just promise me you’ll erase the first try.” She flashed an embarrassed expression which was completely sincere. “Please? I really don’t want anyone watching me in full blown panic mode. Especially on television.”
“Of course.” Cody nodded at the two cameramen. “Do it.”
When the second interview was finished, Cody let Hollis watch the entire thing. She made an effort to be more forthcoming about Sveyn in the second round, adding a few extra details in hopes that the director would keep his word about her first debacle.
“That looks great,” she said.
Cody smiled. “Yeah, it does.”
Hollis faced him and gave him her most charming smile. “Thank you again, Cody. That first go was really embarrassing.”
“Can I ask you something? Honestly?”
In spite of a stab of trepidation, Hollis said, “Sure.”
“Do you think he’ll appear while we’re here?”
That’s a loaded question. “I’m afraid I can’t answer that.”
“But you have seen him since that night?”
Hollis shrugged her acknowledgement. “Several people have caught glimpses.”
“Under what circumstances?” he prodded. “Anything we can recreate for the cameras?”
“He’s not a trained monkey, Cody. I can’t haul him out to perform on command.”
“But you will call for him?”
Hollis was afraid of where this conversation was going. “I will fully cooperate with you guys. I promise.”
Cody looked defeated. “I guess that’s all we can ask of you.”
Hollis waved a hand toward the storeroom. “You have more equipment in there than I could ever imagine. If he decides to show himself, I’m sure you’ll be able to capture it.”
“Yeah.” Cody scratched his head. “If he showed up on regular security equipment, theoretically he should light up like a Las Vegas sign on ours.”
Oh. Great.
“What about that Ovilus thing?” she asked. “How does that actually work?”
“It takes readings from the environment and puts them into words,” Cody explained.
Hollis laughed. “Really?”
“It measures the electromagnetic field, the extremely low frequency field, and the temperature, then through an analog digital converter, assigns those readings a number. Each number is assigned a word.”
Aside from the astronomically high reading on her bullshit monitor, Hollis noticed something else. “So it doesn’t pick up words spoken normally.”
“No. It doesn’t need to, does it?” Cody shifted his stance. “I mean, if the human ear can hear what’s being said, then that’s enough.”
Another question surfaced. “Have you ever actually heard something that wasn’t picked up by your devices?”
Cody shook his head. “If any one of us heard something, so did at least one piece of our equipment.”
“Interesting.” Hollis clapped her hands together. “If we’re done here, I’ll go see how things are coming in the storeroom.”