“No, it’s not. It’s your home and you’ve got two , too many residents for my liking.” That was generous on my part. I’d only met two of the ghosts when there was probably an army of them. I slowed my gait to accommodate her. She was, after all, pretty old, even if I could have throttled her.
“I’m leaving the house as well as the bulk of my fortune to you, Keira.” She stopped, her eyes large and solemn, watching me.
My mouth fell open. GM barely knew me and she wanted me to inherit? Not that I wanted any part of this house, but the fortune... well, that could solve some problems. “What? I don’t understand. Why me and not Mom?”
“I said ‘the bulk’. Your parents will be well provided for, don’t worry.” She turned and motioned with her chin for us to continue to her precious rose garden. “I told you before, you are special, Keira. Your mother, much as I love her, didn’t inherit your abilities.” She glanced over at me and smiled. “Take Sam. It was a very long time before he showed himself to me. But with you it was only a couple of days. That shows real promise.”
“Thanks.” This time it was me who ground to a halt. What the hell was I doing, thanking her for scaring the hell out of me? “Wait a minute. You knew I’d encounter Molly, but Sam was some kind of test? Is that it?” This was insane. Who did this kind of thing? And to their granddaughter of all people!
“Yes. As crazy as it might seem, you passed the test. As for the house, we’ll talk about your inheritance in more detail soon. First, I need to know what transpired between Sam and you.”
I chewed this over in my mind for a few moments. I had just been hit with a one-two punch and had to process it. I stand to inherit millions, I’m sure; and on top of that, my meeting Sam was some kind of test? Test for what? My head was spinning.
“Keira.” GM touched me. “Just tell me what happened between the two of you.”
I blinked a couple of times. “I asked him his name and he told me. He wanted to know if his mother had sent me. I told him the room was now mine and he should leave.” My eyebrows bunched together when I remembered the vision which flashed in my mind. “I saw the room for a moment the way it had been, when he lived there. He was kind of like a prisoner there.” I sighed. How was that possible for a young boy like him? Yet the fear in his eyes had been real.
GM squeezed my arm and leaned closer. The scent of roses drifted into my nose from her proximity. “He was a prisoner. A hundred years ago, when a child wasn’t right in the head, they were often locked away. Sam had bouts of schizophrenia and was kept up there, away from the other children.”
I knew the answer to my next question, but needed to hear it from her own lips. The day had gone completely still around us; the sounds of birds chirping and the breeze in the trees faded as we talked. This was too weird for words. I looked at her from under my eyelashes. “And you know this... how?”
She smiled sweetly. “I talked to him, of course. That’s also how I found out Mary... I mean Molly’s story.” She paused for a moment, giving me an appraising look. “You did the right thing, asking him to leave. Your instincts were right on.”
“So he’s gone? For good?” I blew out a huff of air. “Well, that’s a relief.”
“I’d be surprised if that was all it took.” Her cheeks blossomed into a grin and her eyes twinkled at me. “Keira, what do you know about the afterlife?”
I looked past her at the house. “A hell of a lot more than I did a couple of days ago, that’s for sure.” I returned my gaze to her. “What do you mean, GM?”
“Did you believe ghosts existed, before coming here?”
I chewed my lip. “No, not really.” I looked away and added, “But I wanted to. I mean, I kind of wished they did.”
“Why?”
I had to think that one over for a few seconds. “Because… if they exist… then we never really die.” I nodded my head. “Ghosts prove there’s life after death, don’t they?”
GM nodded, “You drew a good conclusion from the evidence at hand, Keira. Well done.”
I didn’t admit to her then—and wished I could have—that her approval made me feel good. “But then… why don’t we see them all the time, GM?”
“Bingo.” She pointed her fingers at me like she was shooting a gun. “That’s the next good question. Why is that, do you think?”
“I don’t know… but I’ll bet you a million bucks you got some ideas.”
She nodded. “You’re right, I do. I don’t have all the answers, but I do have some.” She cocked her head back to the big house. “Molly… and Sam… you saw their spirits… their souls, if you want to use that term. Whatever word you use, you’re describing that part of us...” She paused and held my arm. “The part of us that moves on.” She glanced back at the house and then back at me. “I believe it’s the energy in us which is truly just us.” She tapped my chest. “There is an energy in you which is only Keira, dear.” Tapping her own chest, she added, “Just as there is an energy in me which is just me. It’s this energy that moves on to another plane of existence after one’s body dies.”
“So when I saw those ghosts, I was actually seeing their souls?”
“I prefer the term spirit, but yes—the fundamental essence of their nature which transcends their bodies.”
“Yeah. That makes sense to me. I mean, I remember from school, they say energy can never be destroyed. It might transform but it still is.” My brain was just beginning to ache now. I’m no intellectual; the deepest discussions I’m used to are who’s hotter—Johnny Depp or Brad Pitt. Just so you know, it’s Ryan Gosling.
GM was watching me as the wheels turned in my head. Then it hit me. “It’s like in the movies and books!” I said. “The ghosts I see are ones who are stuck here!”
She clapped her hands, smiling. “Now you’re getting to the heart of the matter!” She put her hand around my waist and we continued down the path of the garden. “There is a thin curtain separating life as we know it and the next plane of existence, Keira. The spirits of some people get caught in that fabric, like a fly behind a window sheer. They’re stuck between here and eternity. They’re supposed to move on, but sometimes people are too rooted in the life they’ve led.” She gave a small shrug. “Sometimes they don’t know they’ve even left the living.”
I came to a stop. “How do you know this GM? I mean, you sound so certain about all this.”
“It’s been my life’s work, Keira. I see spirits.” She held up a finger. “I mean, occasionally other people are able to as well, but only when those spirits reveal themselves. But for me I’m much more attuned to them. I experience souls who are marooned.”
“Marooned?”
“Yes. They’re tied to this world when they should have moved on.” She was silent for a few moments, watching me trying to digest this.
“Oh, you’re some kind of ghostbuster?”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Oh, you’re sooo original! I’ve never heard that one before!” She shot a peeved look back at the house. “When that stupid movie came out, Lawrence played that theme song night and day for a month!”
I crossed my arms. “But you are, right?”
She waggled her eyebrows at me. “More like a ghost whisperer actually. I nudge them along to the next plane where they belong. Sometimes it’s really hard when they fear that level. It’s still an unknown for them as well as us. And it gets a lot more,” she cleared her throat, “complicated if they’ve lived a bad life, because they’re afraid they’re going to hell.”
“Is there? Is there a heaven and a hell?” I still had my arms crossed, because I hadn’t asked the big question yet.
Her face took on a thoughtful look as she shook her head slowly. “To tell the truth, I really don’t know for sure. I’ve not yet gone to the other side of The Veil. I believe it’s a better place, and I’m convinced it’s where we belong after we die.”
“So you’ve made it your life’s work to help people cross over this Veil thingy.”
“Yes. Now ask your question out loud.” She gazed at me with steady eyes.
“Why? Why can’t they stay here if they want to? Who are you to get them to move on?”
“And that’s the sixty-four thousand dollar question, isn’t it?”
“Why sixty-four thousand?”
She gave a small wave. “Just an old-fashioned figure of speech dear. Before your time.” She slowly blinked and went on. “It’s a question of balance.”
“Balance? What does that mean?”
“It’s how the universe works. A caterpillar can’t stay a caterpillar. It has to become a butterfly.” She pointed at me. “You couldn’t remain a child for all time, you had to follow the path of nature, which is the path of the universe. Just as you had to learn to walk and talk,” she arched an eyebrow, “and go through puberty; these spirits need to move on. It’s what the universe needs to maintain balance.”
“How do you know that? What makes you so sure? Maybe these ghosts do belong here?”
She shook her head vigorously. “Absolutely not; I learned that the hard way.”
“Oh? What happened?”
“That story is for another time, perhaps. For now, you just need to understand this: we’re meant to go from this plane to the next one. The Veil that separates the living and the dead is delicate. Too many spirits on this side weakens it.” GM took a deep breath. “It’s not just pushing souls along for their own well-being, Keira. It affects us all; the living as well as the dead. The universe depends on this separation. Time and space become affected.”
She was losing me. I could understand wanting a better realm for spirits caught in the middle but time and space? “So what happens? I mean, if too many linger? Aside from haunting the rest of us—scaring the living daylights out of us—how bad can it get?” I looked down at the grass. Also, why were Molly and Sam still in her house if she was so good at this?
“It can get a whole lot worse than it is right now, let me tell you.” Her jaw tightened and she pointed to a red rose which was still tight in the bud, only the outer petals curling to the sun. “That one is in my favorite stage. Get a shot of that, will you?”
When I stepped away from her and lifted the camera, rotating the lens to zoom in, she continued. “Just like in your camera when Sam’s spirit played with it. He took a picture—”
“Yeah, spooky selfie,” I snickered.
“Keira! This is serious!” I was taken aback by her vehemence. “An image of a spirit is captured in your camera. It’s evidence The Veil is thin, that it could be photographed like that. Can you imagine the chaos if there were many, many more of these spirits roaming around? It would affect the nature of reality!”
I lowered my camera. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? ‘The nature of reality.’ Really, GM, you sound like some Buddha dude or something.”
She sighed. “This is a little tricky to explain. What time is it?”
I glanced at my watch. “It’s eleven forty-five.”
“And right now it’s a few seconds after that, right?” When I nodded, she said, “There is no time on the other side of The Veil, Keira. It’s an eternal state. There is only a now. On the other side, there’s no tomorrow, nor yesterday... just a now.”
“So it’s eleven forty-five all the time over there?”
“And ten fifteen, and midnight, and five p.m.—and all at the same instant.”
“That’s crazy. How can that be?”
“For the sake of argument, just try to accept that on the other side of The Veil, nobody has to worry about being late. Time as we understand it does not exist on that side.” She tilted her head. “Now the next part is really going to blow your mind. There’s no space as we know it on that side either.”
“Space? Like in Star Wars?”
She shook her head no. “No, I mean there is no here nor there. In the eternal, those basic ways we deal with existence do not apply.”
My head started to hurt right behind my left eye; it was like I was back in high school trying to understand algebra.
GM saw the expression on my face and kept going anyway. “Listen to me. What do you think would happen to this world,” she spread her arms, “if there was no now, then, here nor there?”
My eyes flew open wide as an image of the world—cities and forests, mountains and oceans folding and blending into each other, creating some kind of vortex of destruction—flashed in my mind. I gasped. Every living thing, dying in the most terrifying way imaginable. No, not dying... “Ceasing to exist,” I whispered. I staggered; my camera dropping to the ground as I held my head, trying to catch my breath.
“Yes, Keira... ceasing to exist.”
“Wait a minute!” My hand shot out and I pointed at her. “You put that vision in my head!”
GM shook her head slowly. “No Keira, my abilities lie in being able to share what you’re thinking, yes; but I’m unable to put thoughts into your mind. I felt you experiencing it, yes; I saw it in your head, but that vision you had was like the one you had in your bedroom of Sam’s past life. I didn’t put those there.”
“But... but how did I see it then?” I was still trying to catch my breath from the horror of it all. I’ve seen planets destroyed tons of times in the movies... but I felt this utter destruction!
GM stepped up to me and put her arms around me. “It’s because you are very much like me, dear. Very, very much like me.” She held me to her and began to rub my back. “The vision has passed now, Keira... you’re safe.” She guided me to a lawn bench which was nearby and sat us both down on it. Still stroking my back, she gave a small laugh. “When I had that vision the first time, I fainted.” Hugging me she said, “You got angry! You’re a very strong woman, do you know that?”
Strong? I felt as weak as a kitten.
“Yes, strong. And we’re not finished.” She tilted my face toward her own. “My mission has been to protect The Veil. To keep that premonition you just had from happening. If too many spirits stay on this side of it, their eternalness will disrupt this side.” She took a breath and spoke softly, “And probably the other side as well.”
“Reality.”
“Yes. Reality.”
My head hung to my side, resting on her own. “So you want me to help you save the universe.”
“More or less.”
“Oh.”
We sat silently holding hands.
***
I had closed my eyes for a few minutes. I didn’t think about what GM just told me, it was too big. I just let my thoughts float around aimlessly.
I sat up with a jerk and turned to her. “Ghostbusting doesn’t pay well, does it?”
She snorted. “I hate that term! No, it really doesn’t.”
My eyes narrowed. “But you’re a whiz at investing?”
“I’ve had some help.”
“Oh?”
“I know where you’re going, Keira. Yes, I’ve had help from someone from the other side.”
“The stock market. You somehow use spirits to get stock tips?”
She laughed and it was like a bell tinkling. “Gives a whole new meaning to insider trading, doesn’t it?” At my shocked expression, her chin lowered and she smiled. “I only did it to have the freedom for pursuing my real work. But, I guess we can justify anything if we put our mind to it.” She laughed again.
“Time doesn’t really exist on that plane. In life, we think in linear terms... the past, present and the future. But there, it doesn’t exist. My friend, Ralph, had worked the markets all his life. His interest didn’t die with his body. He enjoyed giving me information, tips, which made me very wealthy.” She pointed to the house. “He was here for years and years before he moved on. Sort of like Sam and Molly, except he stayed here for my sake, not because he didn’t want to move on. After he moved on, I hired living investment managers. The rest is history.”
I straightened, looking over at her again. “That was interfering in time... and even space, what you
did. Is this what you meant? But the world didn’t collapse or anything when you did it. So what was the harm?”
“You have a point. But I’m a single, isolated case, and Ralph did move on when I was financially set.”
“Puts a whole new spin on ‘Angel Investor’,” I smirked.
GM got a far away look in her eyes. “Hmm... I never thought of that... maybe he was...” She cleared her throat and her face became solemn. “Keira. Imagine if there were hundreds like me short-circuiting the financial markets? It would be chaotic. My ultimate goal was altruistic. Could the same be said of most people?”
“No. All you have to do is read how corporations are causing havoc as it is, GM.”
“I shudder at the thought of some Wall Street hedge-fund manager with that sort of information,” she said. “The economy and state of the world is bad enough as it is, don’t you think?”
I recalled that derelict at the subway station last week. Wealthiest city on the planet and he didn’t have socks. “Yeah,” I sighed. “But... speaking of wealth... the inheritance... I still don’t know what it is you want of me. I mean... there’s got to be a catch.” Call me cynical but she’d offered that inheritance pretty damned fast when I said I was going to leave.
For a long moment she watched me silently, her gaze softly meeting mine. “I don’t offer this lightly, Keira. If there was any other way, believe me I’d jump at the chance to take it. Don’t get me wrong. My work with safeguarding The Veil has been infinitely rewarding. I have helped many people, both living and dead. But, I’m not without enemies doing this. Powerful enemies. Here and in the next plane of existence.”
A shiver went down my spine despite the warmth of the day. If I was to carry on her life’s work which she had intimated was her intention, then I’d not only inherit her wealth, I’d inherit her enemies too.
TWELVE
LATER, WE SAT IN THE SUNROOM eating a lunch of toasted tomato sandwiches and tossed garden salad. All thoughts of exploring the grounds and river were abandoned with her revelations in the rose garden.
A Grave Conjuring Page 25