“How awful,” Wanda said.
“I couldn’t yell out and I was alone and…” Sissy’s eyes welled with tears. She nodded.
“Sorry, Sis,” Wanda said. “What did you do?”
“Nadia came in,” Sissy said. “She gave me this vaporized morphine and the lung-loosening stuff. I didn’t know it, but they’d put a baby monitor in my room so they’d know if I had trouble. That’s how Giovanni just came in.”
“It really sounds awful,” Wanda said. “I’m so sorry.”
“Now, I’m afraid to not take the pain meds,” Sissy said. “What if I get addicted to pain killers?”
“What if monkeys fly out of your butt?” Wanda asked.
“Then I’d really need pain pills!” Sissy said.
They laughed. Sissy stopped laughing and shook her head.
“It’s just that we were both doing so well when we were home,” Sissy said. “It makes me wonder if we need to go back to Denver.”
Sissy took a breath and took off talking.
“I mean, what if we can only be well in Denver?” Sissy asked in rushed speech. “What if we can’t ever live in New York? How will we ever dance again if we’re not right here in the hub of ballet? What if it’s just me? Ivan can stay here and dance but I have to live in no-where-ville? I mean, Ivan’s at the Russian spa, and I’ve been in bed all day and…”
“What if you turn into a unicorn?” Wanda asked with a raised eyebrow.
Their favorite counselor used to ask Sissy this very question when she went down the rabbit hole of “What If.”
The girls giggled.
“Come on,” Wanda said. “Repeat it with me.”
Sissy rolled her eyes. But Wanda gave her a firm “do it” nod.
“We cannot know…” Sissy started. Wanda joined her. “… the future. We can only make our choices and do our best. The outcome has nothing to do with us.”
Sissy gave Wanda a partial smile, and Wanda grinned.
“So…” Sissy said. “How’s Frankie?”
Wanda blushed.
“Nice!” Sissy said. She wrinkled her nose. “Did you…?”
Her blush deepening, Wanda nodded.
“And it was good?” Sissy asked.
“Really good,” Wanda nodded. “Have you?”
Sissy shook her head.
“You will soon enough!” Wanda said. “I don’t know how you’ve waited so long. I would have jumped the man the moment I knew he was interested.”
Sissy shrugged.
“I’d just like to be able to breathe before he ‘takes my breath away,’” Sissy said.
Wanda gave Sissy a knowing smile.
“Now, I have to ask,” Sissy said. “How’s the trial?”
Wanda groaned. She leaned back in her chair and gave Sissy a tortured look.
“Awful,” Wanda said. “That’s how the trial is. I gave my testimony on Monday afternoon. I was supposed to come back today, but they had to cancel the trial.”
“Why?” Sissy asked. “I thought that judge was like, ‘We’re doing this, no matter what.’”
“The jerk had a mental breakdown or something,” Wanda said. “Ms. Hargreaves came to the house and said they’ve postponed the trial because he’s in a mental hospital.”
“What?” Sissy asked with a shake of her head. “Just another bullshit defense ploy.”
“I thought that, too, but Ms. Hargreaves demanded to see him and all the reports,” Wanda said. She leaned close to the webcam. “She said that he had a fit in the middle of the night. He started screaming that he was being burned alive by fire-breathing dragons. She saw the videotape. He was asleep in his private cell. Suddenly, he starts screaming. Here’s the weird thing.”
“What?” Sissy asked.
“His skin is blistered and stuff, like it was burned,” Wanda said.
“Wow,” Sissy said. “Really?”
“I saw the pictures,” Wanda said. “He’s in Denver Health lockdown psych ward. They think he did that with his mind.”
“Still sounds like a ploy,” Sissy said cynically.
“That’s what Ivy says,” Wanda said. “She’s mad because she wanted to look him in the eye and show him he didn’t kill her.”
Sissy nodded.
“Ms. Hargreaves said this situation he’s in is worse than any sentence they could have given him,” Wanda said. “The DA’s pissed because he wanted to win the trial before the election. The Defense is trying to put the whole trial on hold until the jerk’s better, but…”
“But?” Sissy asked.
“He’s not getting better,” Wanda said. “I mean, it’s only been a day. But when he’s awake, his skin starts to blister like he’s on fire. They put him in a coma.”
Scowling, Sissy thought about what Wanda had said.
“Do they know why this happened?” Sissy asked.
“No clue,” Wanda said. “Or at least that’s what they told me. Ms. Hargreaves said that it’s not totally unknown. It’s just super rare.”
“Why now?” Sissy asked.
“Right,” Wanda said. “If he was going to lose it, why not lose it before? He was very smug when I was testifying — not that I said anything to you about it.”
“Did you say something?” Sissy asked with a grin.
“That Bestat Behur testified this morning,” Wanda said. “I bet she did it.”
An involuntary shiver went up Sissy’s spine. Wanda nodded.
“Whatever reason, the trial’s on hold,” Wanda said. “The Denver Post went hysterical about the whole thing.”
“I’m sure their five readers will be up in arms,” Sissy said.
Wanda smiled.
“I like my new school,” Wanda said. “Noelle does, too. Nash is there, and Tink and Teddy, too. There aren’t so many of us older kids yet. Since they just started letting us come and all. It’s kind of nice to just be with the people I like.”
“There aren’t kids from other employees?” Sissy asked.
“There are some,” Wanda said. “Most of the older kids were already settled in schools. We’re freaks enough that our parents didn’t give us a choice.”
Wanda shrugged.
“That sounds like I wished I’d stayed at East High,” Wanda said. “I don’t. I sometimes wish you were here, but that’s all. You’d like the Marlowe School. Our teachers are smart. They’ve all done what they’re teaching. So my math teacher worked as a statistician before coming here. Noelle’s art teacher has paintings in museums. Stuff like that. Charlie will come here when he gets back.”
Sissy nodded.
“Did you try to do a distance program from here?” Wanda asked.
“I don’t think they have one,” Sissy said.
“They always say if they don’t have something, we should ask for it,” Wanda said. “That’s the privilege of being the first kids there. Or that’s what they say.”
Sissy gave a hopeless shrug.
“I’ll ask,” Wanda said. “I’m on a school committee with Tink. Maybe we can get it passed.”
“We’re going to the online school,” Sissy said.
“It can’t hurt to ask,” Wanda said. “Nash and Teddy talked the PE teacher into starting a Survival class. If they can do that, maybe we can work something out.”
Sissy gave Wanda a sad smile.
“I miss you,” Wanda said.
“I miss you, too,” Sissy said. “I’ve been sick or in the hospital or dealing with stupid stuff for such a long time that I almost can’t remember what it was like to just… live.”
“I’ll bet,” Wanda said with a nod.
Sissy nodded. The door opened behind her and Ivan came in. He kissed Sissy’s cheek and whispered, “Hello” before leaning in to the webcam.
“Hello, Wanda,” Ivan said. “Giovanni told me you were speaking in here. I wanted to say, ‘Hello.’ And I must say . . .”
Ivan gave Wanda a bright smile.
“You look beautiful today,” Ivan said
. “Are you wearing makeup?”
“Heather’s been showing me how,” Wanda said with a blush. “Sandy did my hair.”
“Very pretty,” Ivan said. “Feminine. How is our Frankie?”
“Good,” Wanda said. “Happy. He’s staying here tonight.”
“Fantastic. Tell him I said, ‘Hello,’” Ivan said. “I will let you talk. I just wanted to say, ‘Hello.’ Lovely to see you, Wanda.”
He kissed Sissy’s cheek and left the room. They waited in silence for a moment before Wanda started waving her hand in front of her chest.
“Oh, my Lord — that man is fine,” Wanda said in a fake Southern accent.
The girls giggled.
~~~~~~~~
Tuesday afternoon — 3:00 p.m.
Denver, Colorado
It wasn’t very good.
The drawing, that is.
At least that’s what Noelle thought. She just tried to stay in the flow. She let inspiration come to her hand and fought to keep her opinion out of the way.
But truth be told, she’d never ever drawn this long or worked on anything this big.
Paddie and Katy looked exhausted. They didn’t mind the hard work — which was good, because after an hour or so, this project was hard work. Noelle was hungry, thirsty, and starting to feel depressed.
Katy had tried to get them lunch, but nothing came. Katy said you have to know where something is to bring it to you. No matter how hard she tried, and she’d tried hard, they hadn’t eaten since breakfast.
Everywhere Noelle looked, there were children’s ghosts. Their sad faces had inspired her to work harder. But in the last hour, she’d started not to care.
Noelle wanted out of this space and away from this project. She knew that they would never, ever say it, but Noelle was pretty sure Katy and Paddie felt the same way.
Noelle had planned to put the entrance to the “other side,” on the ceiling. That was still a floor away from Noelle. She looked up at the ceiling and sighed. She was about to keep drawing when she just got sick of everything.
“That’s it,” Noelle said in a tone that vented some of her frustration. “I’m putting the portal to the other side right here.”
Katy and Paddie cheered.
Noelle gaped at them. She’d been so sure that they had wanted the “other side” portal on the ceiling where it should be. But they were waiting for her! As if he were standing right next to her, she heard Mike’s voice.
“This is your painting, Noelle,” Mike, her mentor, had said a hundred times or more. “The Universe is connected to you and you only. Do what makes sense to you. No one else is capable of seeing what you see because they don’t have your connection.”
Noelle nodded in response to the Mike in her head. She closed her eyes for a moment. Exhaling, she drew the opening to the other side. She tried to make it inviting so that the kids wouldn’t be scared. She worked like she was on fire. When she finished, she looked down at Katy and Paddie.
“Wow,” Katy said.
“Beautiful,” Paddie said while he jumped up and down.
“It’s not colored in, but I don’t think it matters,” Noelle said. “Can you make an opening to the other side, Katy?”
“I don’t know how,” Katy said. “But my Daddy does!”
“There’s no space for Jacob to come in here,” Noelle said.
“I’ll call him and ask him how to do it,” Katy said with a bright smile.
She took out her phone and looked at it.
“The battery’s dead,” Paddie said, pointing to the battery indicator.
“Oh, no!” Noelle said.
“It’s the ghosts,” Katy said. “They suck the energy. Happens to Delphie all the time. She just . . .”
Katy turned the phone over and took off the back. She disconnected the battery. Counting out loud, she counted to ten. She put the battery back in the phone. It came on.
“Hooray!” Noelle and Paddie cheered.
Blushing, Katy nodded and pressed a button.
“Mommy?” Katy asked.
~~~~~~~~
Tuesday afternoon — 3:00 p.m.
Denver, Colorado
Sandy loved Jill, but Jill’s husband was driving Sandy crazy. She scowled at Jacob. The longer the children were stuck in the utility space, the more Sandy blamed Jacob. After all, he had created this stupid space and let it get filled with ghosts.
Jacob caught her look and smiled. He put his hand on her shoulder.
“They are all right,” Jacob said. “Hungry, tired, but happy.”
“And trapped!” Sandy said. “You forgot the ‘trapped’ part! Noelle isn’t Paddie or Katy. She doesn’t have any special skills or mythical swords. She’s just a girl!”
“She’s all right,” Jacob said. Uncharacteristically for him, he grabbed Sandy and hugged her tight. In her ear, he said, “I promise you, Noelle is all right.”
Oddly, Sandy felt better. Jacob nodded and stepped back. When Sandy looked up, she saw that everyone had gathered to report their findings. The building engineers were standing together. Delphie was next to Jill and Julie. Wanda’s dad, Erik, was standing with Pete, DeShawn, and Jason, the Lipson Construction team. Dionne, Jeraine’s mother and nurse, was next to Delphie. The plan had been to get together at three and decide what to do.
“Oh good, you’re all here,” Jacob said. “Sandy’s concerned about the welfare of the children. I wondered if we can start with Dionne. What do you think? What condition should the children be in?”
“Jill said that the kids aren’t injured,” Dionne said. “That’s probably the biggest thing. As long as they are not injured, they should be fine. We saw Paddie, Katy, and Noelle just last week for their six-month school physical. They are healthy and strong. They’ve gone without water and food for three or four, maybe five, hours now. It’s a long time for a child, but not impossible.”
“How much time do they have?” Sandy asked.
“Without facing serious consequences?” Dionne asked. “Of course, it’s hard to say, but, knowing these kids, I’d say they can go quite a while.”
“Should we call the paramedics?” Jill asked.
“Probably best to be sure,” Dionne said. “We will be ready with water for them, and a toilet.”
The adults in the room nodded.
“I’d like to know about these ghosts,” DeShawn said. “I think of myself as sensitive to spirits, and I didn’t feel a thing. We were here day and night working on this building. There weren’t any weird noises or moving tools or any of the stuff you get at the average Capitol Hill mansion. When I sold drugs, I delivered to some freaky haunted places in the Cole, Five Points, Park Hill — hell, all over Denver.”
The other two project managers, Phil and Jason, nodded.
“This place was not like that,” DeShawn said.
“Delphie?” Jacob asked.
“I did some research,” Delphie said with a nod. “There was a train derailment about a block from here in 1904. The train was hauling children packed into stock cars in a program called the ‘Orphan Train.’ Hundreds, maybe thousands, of kids were killed. No one knows for sure how many kids were killed, and, as you can imagine, the records are thin.”
“What’s an ‘Orphan Train’?” Sandy asked. Her hand was to her heart and she looked horrified.
Jill’s phone rang.
“It’s Katy,” Jill said to the room. “Hello?”
Chapter Three Hundred and Ninety-Two
The Other Side
“Mommy?” Katy asked. “Is that you?”
“Katy,” Jill’s voice dropped with relief at hearing her daughter’s voice. “How are you?”
“We’re okay,” Katy said. “Don’t worry, Mommy. We’ve been working, and we’re a little bit hungry but we’re okay.”
“They’re okay,” Jill said to the adults in the parent waiting room. Everyone brightened.
“Paddie wants to know if his mommy is waiting for him or if she’s too busy wi
th baby Connor,” Katy said. Katy looked at Paddie, and he nodded.
“She’s right here,” Jill said.
“She’s waiting for you, not with the stupid baby,” Katy said with a nod.
“Katy!” Jill said.
“Well, it’s true, Mommy!” Katy said. “She spends all her time with that stupid baby.”
“Gosh, Katy — do you think that of me?” Jill asked.
Katy didn’t respond.
“Are you seriously fighting with Katy over the telephone?” Sandy asked. “Give me that phone.”
“She said that I spend too much time with the boys!” Jill said.
“You are insane,” Sandy said.
Sandy wrested the phone out of her best friend’s hand.
“Katy?” Sandy asked. “It’s Auntie Sandy.”
“Hi, Auntie Sandy!” Katy said.
“Your mother is having a moment,” Sandy said.
“Oh, okay,” Katy said in a sad voice. She sniffed back a tear. “I thought maybe I hurt her feelings, and I was really missing her, and, if it wasn’t for her, I might be one of these ghosts and . . .”
“No,” Sandy said firmly. Tears started streaming down Jill’s face. “You did not hurt her feelings. You know how she gets.”
“Oh, okay,” Katy said. In a softer voice, she asked, “Are you sure?”
“Trust me,” Sandy said. “I’m sure.”
“Okay,” Katy said.
“We’re working really hard to try to get you out,” Sandy said. “Your father is being annoying, as usual.”
Katy giggled. Jacob winked at Sandy.
“Delphie’s here and Paddie’s Mom,” Sandy said. “And a bunch of the guys from Lipson. Noelle’s daddy had to work, but he’s here in the building, doing phone calls and stuff.”
Sandy gestured for everyone to say something, and they said, “Hello!” or “Hi!” or just her name “Katy!”
“That sounds good,” Katy said.
“Did you need something?” Sandy asked.
“Hey!” Edie the fairy stuck her head in the room. Seeing Jill, she asked, “Where are the boys?”
Jill waved Edie into the room. Wiping away her tears, she updated Edie.
“I wanted to know how to send ghosts to the other side,” Katy said. “My daddy can do it, but I don’t know how.”
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