Deception - Episode 3 (Lost Souls)

by Laurel O'Donnell

  Ben was just as curious. “What happened?”

  A slight grin curved Lucas’s lips, but he didn’t look up. “Esme knew something was wrong. She didn’t know what. She used an iron skillet. She swung randomly around the room.” He laughed. “You should have seen it. She looked like a little whirlwind.” His laughter faded. “It was enough.”

  “She hit Cora?” Ben asked.

  “She got both of us. First she got Cora. But she didn’t stop. She didn’t know she had hit Cora. So she kept going.”

  Sam smiled.

  Ben grinned.

  “Lucky thing. Because Cora came back. As soon as she materialized, Esme got her again. It was luck really. But Cora never came back after that.”

  “You told Esme about the Changed?” Christian demanded, a little defensive.

  Lucas straightened. “I told her everything. And lucky I did.”

  “Isn’t that against the rules?” Christian asked. “I mean, what happens when she dies?”

  “I look forward to finally seeing her face to face.”

  “She won’t pass?”

  “No,” Lucas said.

  “This is different, Christian,” Ben explained calmly. “Their energies are the same. At least we think so.”

  “That doesn’t make it right! The natural course of things is to die and then pass. When you interfere like this…” Christian flipped a hand toward Lucas. “…you’re playing God.”

  “I don’t see it that way,” Lucas replied. His tone was terse; his eyes snapped dangerously. “Esme and I have a connection.”

  “I had a connection to my daughter, too! But the last thing I want to do is condemn her to this life.”

  Lucas stared hard at him, his lips a thin line. Then, he sighed and shook his head. “I’m tired of being alone. If she wants to pass, I won’t stop her. But she’s already told me she won’t.”

  Christian shook his head. “It’s not right. It’s not the natural course of events.”

  “Nothing in our world is natural,” Sam said, turning to Christian. “It’s not natural for Lucas to be able to talk to a human. It’s not natural for Cora to have Changed. Hell, it’s not natural that I’ve been alive for six hundred years!”

  “Technically…” Christian started.

  Sam held up a warning finger. “Go ahead and tell me what’s natural about anything we do.”

  Christian closed his mouth.

  Ben was relieved at that gesture. Christian and Sam had gotten into arguments before and each one was just as stubborn as the other. Neither backed down. Neither was ever wrong. He needed to deflect the conversation. “Lucas, tell us about Cora,” he encouraged. “Did she say anything?”

  “Hello, Lucas.” Lucas grinned, shrugging. “That’s it.”

  “Any idea where she went?”

  Lucas shook his head. “Sorry. I looked for her all day yesterday. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. I don’t even know where to begin. I was hoping you could tell me. You guys know her best.”

  “We’ll split up,” Ben suggested. He glanced at Sam. “Maybe between the two of us, we’ll have some luck.”

  Sam voiced their concerns, “If she’s even still here.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Ben studied a map with Lucas before heading out. He worried about leaving Sam and Christian together, but they had to learn to get along. Lucas had been reluctant to leave Esme, so Ben had gone out alone.

  Since the town was unfamiliar to him, he had to walk. It was frustrating, but he wasn’t able to faze to a spot directly unless he could clearly visualize it. The day was just breaking, the sun rising. The sidewalk was basically empty of humans. Esme lived in the heart of Youngstown. Tall buildings surrounded Ben. He shoved his hands into his pockets and continued to walk. When they had looked at the map, Sam and he had picked places to search, places they thought Cora would gravitate to. It was potluck. She was a Changed. If she didn’t want to be found, they wouldn’t find her.

  Ben had agreed to search the Mill Creek Metropark. It was a huge nature center and Ben didn’t hold out much luck of finding Cora. It was too big. But Cora had always liked nature. Sunsets, tall trees, beautiful flowers. Even as a Changed, Ben didn’t think her fondness for them would diminish. He had to try to find her.

  ~ ~ ~

  “Cora liked the theater?” Christian wondered as he and Sam paused in front of the Youngstown Theater.

  Sam looked up at the sign. She could see the outlines of another name beneath, Regal or Regalia or something. It looked like it had been recently sold. A sign in the ticket window proclaimed it had been remodeled and refurbished. “Yes, she liked the theater. Always said she would have been an actress if she lived now.” She moved forward, passing through the closed doors.

  The lobby was painted in a rich red with golden accents. A large chandelier hung three stories above them.

  “Wow,” Christian whispered. “It’s beautiful.”

  A huge staircase led to the upper levels and the lobby stretched far back. Even with the lights off, they had no trouble seeing. It was indeed magnificent, but something about the place did not sit right with Sam. “Creepy is more the word I would use.”

  “Creepy? How can you say that?” Christian wondered.

  “Phantom of the Opera creepy.”

  “Ahh.” Christian nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I can see that.”

  Sam moved forward, walking through the lobby. The sign above a concessions stand listed all kinds of drinks, boxed candies and other treats along with prices. Beside that was a booth with t-shirts and DVDs for sale. “Remember when theater was for entertainment and not for concession? There was no attempt to get any money from you except for your ticket. Now it’s so commercialized.”

  “Come on!” He walked over to the booth and picked up one of the shirts, holding it to his chest. “You don’t want a Romeo and Juliet shirt?”

  Sam grimaced. “Not my type.” She glanced at the t-shirt he was holding. Anyone else looking at the lobby from the outside would see a shirt mysteriously floating in mid-air. “You’re getting pretty good at reaching into the human world. Feeling more comfortable doing it?”

  Christian nodded. “It’s definitely getting easier. I still have to concentrate to feel it physically in my hand, but I’m getting the knack of it.”

  Sam nodded. She caught something out of the corner of her eye and whirled, scanning the lobby. “Did you see that?”

  Christian glanced over the lobby. “No. What was it?”

  Tingles raced across Sam’s shoulders. “We’re not alone.”

  “You mean…Cora?”

  “I don’t know. I just know there’s something else here.” She walked forward, moving with deliberate care.

  Christian threw down the shirt and followed.

  She paused in the middle of the lobby, staring in the direction she had seen the movement. “Christian,” she whispered. When he glanced at her, she signaled for him to go to the upper floor with a jerk of her thumb.

  He nodded and disappeared immediately.

  Sam was pleased he had fazed. For a split second, she thought he might walk. But Christian was using his powers regularly now. She slowly moved toward one of the entrances to the dark theater. She stood in the open doorway for a moment. She could still see. Dark didn’t inhibit Souls from seeing their surroundings. Rows upon rows of chairs were situated in a rising step pattern from the front of the theater to the back of the theater.

  “Go away.”

  Sam whirled. But no one was there. An empty voice. If she had been human, it would have scared the crap out of her. “Who are you?” Slowly, she turned back to the theater.

  It wasn’t Cora. Sam was certain. Was it a Changed? She didn’t think so. It would have attacked already. Sam began to walk into the theater.

  The door at the front of the theater slammed shut.

  “GET OUT!”

  “You just slammed the door shut,” Sam said, but then instantly regretted her sar
castic remark. Now was not the time to be a wise ass. “I can help you,” she said. She waited, scanning the theater for movement.

  Suddenly, on the stage she saw an apparition appear. A woman. She was ghostly and garbed in old clothing, some type of costume, perhaps a dress from a play. “O happy dagger!” the apparition said. She held out both hands as if she had something in them and pulled them toward herself. “This is thy sheath.”

  Sam fazed onto the stage.

  The woman’s eyes narrowed and she flinched back.

  Sam knew the woman was a Soul. Her eyes were normal, not completely black like the Changed. “Are you alone?”

  “Get out,” she repeated.

  “Yeah. We heard you the first time. And the second.” Sam held out a hand, wishing Ben were here. He was always much better at talking to people than she was. “Don’t be afraid.”

  “Who are you?” the woman demanded.

  “I’m a Soul, like you.”

  The woman scowled. “I’m a ghost.” She lifted her hands, curling her fingers like claws and fazed toward Sam. “Get out of my theater!” She rammed her hands at Sam, hitting her hard enough to shove her backwards.

  Sam grimaced as the woman struck her. She wouldn’t let a Changed attack her like that, and it took all of her will not to strike back at the woman immediately. Her instincts were to draw her sword and swing, but she kept her blade sheathed. “I’m Sam.”

  “Get out of my theater!” Again, the Soul attacked, shoving Sam backwards.

  It wasn’t a bad attack for an untrained Soul, but to a skilled Soul it was nothing more than an aggravating temper tantrum. “What’s your name?” Sam asked.

  “Get out!” Her voice was nearly hysterical in pitch. She shoved at Sam again.

  “Look,” Sam said trying to remain calm, but all this pushing and shoving was starting to grate on her nerves. “I’m not going to let you do that again.”

  “Then leave.”

  Sam licked her lips. “I can help you.”

  “You are not welcome here.”

  The woman started forward, but Sam fazed behind her and shoved her forward with enough force that the woman ended up on the ground. “I don’t like being pushed.”

  When the Soul turned to her, Sam saw the rage in her eyes. “This is my theater!” the woman shrieked. The woman was nearing true hysteria and that was definitely not a place Sam wanted her to reach. A violently angry Soul was one step closer to becoming a Changed. Sam fazed to the back of the theater, putting distance between her and the angry Soul.

  Christian appeared at her side.

  “Time to go,” Sam said before he could even get a word in. She put a hand on his shoulder and fazed.

  When they materialized in front of the theater, Christian turned to Sam with a scowl. “What the hell…?”

  “Daniel and his people missed her. She is a Lost Soul in the truest sense of the word. Someway, somehow, everyone overlooked her.”

  “How do you know? She looked like any other Soul. Maybe even a Changed.”

  “She didn’t have the black eyes of a Changed. And she was untrained. A Freshie, like yourself. But untrained. We have to find out more about her and see if we can’t get her some help.”

  “She seemed pretty angry.”

  Sam nodded. “No kidding. That’s why I left. If we push too hard, she could go over the edge and become a Changed. So, we’ll go easy. We need to find out who she is.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Sam looked out the window. Tumultuous black clouds churned toward them in the distance. She loved the contrast between the dark storm clouds as they overtook the light of the rising sun. It was going to pour, that much was certain.

  Christian leaned against the wall, throwing popcorn up and catching it in his mouth. When he caught it in his mouth, he would spit it out into his hand and do it again.

  “You’d better stop that when Esme comes in,” Lucas warned. “I don’t want you to scare her.”

  Christian nodded.

  Lucas stood guard near the hallway, leaning against a wall, his knee bent with his foot resting flat against it.

  “How come you didn’t just appear to Esme and talk to her that way?” Christian wondered.

  Lucas bridled. “I would have scared the hell out of her. I did it this way so I wouldn’t frighten her. She seemed more accepting with me talking through this box. It’s frustrating sometimes. You’ll see.” He looked at Sam. “Any word from Ben?”

  Sam shook her head, without moving from the window. “He’ll keep searching until he’s checked every spot.”

  “You think he’ll find Cora?” Christian wondered.

  A fork of lightning flared through the air to the ground. “I hope not.” She wasn’t sure what Ben would do if he found Cora. She didn’t think he could hurt her.

  Christian stopped throwing the popcorn immediately, palming it. “You hope not? Don’t you want---?”

  Esme rushed out of the bathroom and moved down the hallway, interrupting his question. She was a thin woman, with a full head of red hair that reached down to her shoulders.

  Christian put the piece of popcorn behind his back.

  “Drop it,” Lucas advised.

  Christian immediately complied and the popcorn piece fell unnoticed to the floor.

  Sam smiled to herself. Didn’t he realize Esme would be able to see the popcorn through his hand, behind his back? Sometimes he still acted like such a Freshie.

  Lucas watched Esme for a moment as she moved through the apartment. She picked up an apple from a bowl on the counter and took a large bite. Then she opened the refrigerator door and grabbed a water bottle. Lucas waited just a moment longer, something akin to fondness in his eyes as he watched her.

  Sam looked at him over her shoulder. It warmed her soul to see the affection he had for Esme. It was real and gave her hope. Lucas loved her.

  Lucas moved to the machine. He placed his hand over it. “Esme.” His voice came out sounding more metallic than the deep masculine voice they were used to hearing.

  Esme looked up with the apple in her mouth. She grabbed a sweater from the counter and slipped her arms into it before moving over to the desk and the machine. She placed her hand on the machine, directly through Lucas’s ghostly hand.

  She didn’t have to do that to talk to him, Sam knew. It was part of their connection, as though they were actually touching each other between worlds.

  Esme placed the apple on the desk. “I’m here, Lucas,” she said. “Good to hear your voice.”

  Lucas smiled. “You too.” The metallic sound couldn’t be good for anyone to hear, but the joy Lucas got from speaking directly to Esme was evident in the grin on his lips.

  “I was worried about you. Have you seen that Changed again?”

  “No.”

  She nodded, a strand of her hair falling forward. “Good.”

  “I need your help.” This time only some of the words came through. I and help. It was garbled and sounded soft and far away. Either Lucas wasn’t concentrating or something was interfering. Lucas sighed and tried again. “I need your help.” The metallic words were stronger this time.

  A rumble of thunder sounded outside the apartment building, but Esme didn’t look away from the box. “Of course. Anything.” Her small hand instinctively wrapped around the handle of the iron skillet that was on the desk.

  Sam smiled full out. Esme was a fighter. She liked her.

  “I have friends here with me. Christian and Sam.”

  Esme looked around the room as if searching for them. “Ben’s sister?”

  Sam looked at her. She had ‘met’ Esme before when she and Ben tried to use the machine. But Sam still didn’t like that this human knew who she was, or that Lucas was talking about her.

  “Yes.”

  “Who is Christian?”

  “Another Soul. Like me and Ben and Sam.”

  Esme nodded. “What can I help with?”

  “There is a theater near here.”
/>
  Esme nodded. “Yes. It used to be the Regal Theater. Now it’s called the Youngstown Theater.”

  “Yes. That’s it.” Lucas glanced at Sam. “Did someone die there?”

  Esme pulled her hand away from the machine. She turned on the computer. “Hold on,” she mumbled, whether to herself or to Lucas wasn’t clear.

  It took a moment for the computer screen to light up and the welcoming music to flow from the speaker.

  Esme typed in some words on the keyboard.

  Sam walked over to her. Christian joined them.

  Sam hated these new computers. Ben was so much better at deciphering them than she was. And Christian seemed even better. It looked like Esme was searching for deaths at the Youngstown Theater. Pages of entries came up. Youngstown Theater’s grand opening. Youngstown Theater features Romeo and Juliet. Nothing about deaths.

  “Try deaths at the Regal Theater,” Christian suggested, his gaze focused on the screen. When nothing happened, he looked at Lucas. “Tell her.”

  Lucas kept his hand over the machine. “Deaths at the Regal.”

  Esme typed in his words. But there were too many Regal Theaters. There were a couple of deaths listed, but the rest were mostly articles on upcoming performances in other states. Esme typed in ‘Death at the Regal Theater in Youngstown OH.’

  The search trimmed off some of the out of state articles, but the results still had the same type of articles. Performances. Fund Raisers.

  “Maybe she didn’t die there,” Sam suggested. “Maybe she’s linked by a performance.”

  “You mean haunting a specific play?” Christian asked. He shrugged. “Romeo and Juliet is playing there.”

  “Romeo and Juliet at the Regal Theater,” Lucas said through the machine.

  Esme typed the words.

  Sam watched as options came up. The first two were recent performances, related to the new Youngstown Theater. “Scroll down,” Sam whispered.

  Esme moved the cursor down.

  Sam knew Esme hadn’t heard her, but they obviously had the same idea.

  “Next page,” Christian advised.

  “Next page,” Lucas relayed.

  Esme moved to the next page.