Chapter 17
With Gabriel gone to town again, Ida was alone in the house when someone knocked on the door.
“Hello? Mr. Buren?”
Perry!Oh, no. She couldn’t let him leave, thinking they ignored him.
“You said I should contact you when I’d thought the thing over. I called you on the phone but you didn’t answer.”
Damn, damn, damn.
Ida floated to the door. “I’m here! Don’t leave, please!”
No response. She stayed there for a minute, looking at Perry’s blurred shape behind the frosted glass.
“I wanted to say, thanks for the opportunity, but I kinda have some stuff to do. So I think I’ll go.”
No!Ida clenched her fists, and the door flew open.
“Whoa.” Perry leaned in, head first. “Hello? You home?”
“Right here,” Ida said, a moment before he stepped through her.
“Yikes.” Perry shivered and closed the door. “You gotta get the heating sorted out, man.” He strolled into the living room. He wore the same jacket and headphones as the other day, together with a gray backpack. “Yoo-hoo? Mr. Buren?” Perry peeked into the kitchen, then circled the living room. He looked under the coffee table. “Hid the wires, didn’t you,” he murmured.
Dammit, what was keeping Gabriel? He only went to pick up groceries. Ida shifted from foot to foot at the doorway to the living room. She had to convince Perry to stay. If only Gabriel and his charm were here.
Perry swallowed. “You’re not here, are you, Mr. Buren? I really should go.”
Ida gripped her mind around the front door lock, but stopped herself in time.
Don’t freak him out. What else—the notes!
As Perry gazed out onto the backyard, she hastily scribbled a Hi Perry on a piece of paper, then passed a hand through his shoulder.
Perry turned, but his attention was on the shelves and walls.
She knocked on the table three times.
“Holy—” Perry’s eyes widened, then rounded almost to a saucer-like shape as he noticed the note. He raised it. “Ghostie?”
Yes!
She lifted the pen and scribbled on another piece, Please feel athome. Her handwriting became wobbly at the last word, strength quickly seeping out.
“Oh, man. Okay. Okay.” Perry sat and plopped the backpack at the foot of the couch. “This is all weird as hell.”
You tell me.
“So, uh, what’s up?”
Ida reached for the pen, but only managed to lift it an inch off the coffee table, then lost her grip. Too much—she’d never written that many words before. Hauntings, knockings—those were easy. But they wouldn’t allow her to communicate with Perry.
“Never thought I’d meet my distant ancestor,” Perry said. “Well, ‘meet’. I have a grandma still living through my foster mom. Not my biological grandparents, though. Grandma’s one of those types who pinch your cheeks and ask you about girlfriends and keep filling your plate with fried chicken. Are you like that?”
Ida had been smiling at Perry’s nostalgic tone until he reached the end of his sentence, and she frowned. Excuse me?
She knocked once.
“Oh. That sounded like an angry knock.” Perry scooted away. “You don’t like fried chicken?”
Knock.
“You—ooh! Man, I’m dumb. You’re not old. Why’d I think you died old? How old are you?”
Ida huffed.
“Right. Uh, knock once for over fifty, twice for under.”
She knocked twice, and so it went—forty, thirty—until they arrived at the right age.
“Sorry, ghostie,” Perry said. “That sucks. But now I know better how to imagine you. I kept thinking of a spooky old woman. Or Casper. Are you cute?”
How was she supposed to answer that?
“Never mind. I’ll ask Mr. Buren.”
Please, no.Perry asking Gabriel whether he thought her pretty would rank just below the manner of her own demise on the list of most embarrassing things to ever happen to her.
However insufficient, their short communication made Perry relax. Ida worried he might leave, but it looked like he at least wanted to wait for Gabriel. First he sat, then he leaned, and as the minutes went on, stretched on the sofa, one leg propped up, arms hugging the armrest and backrest, respectively.
Ida giggled. Harry and Jacinda would have a fit if they saw how their great-great-great-grandson behaved.
Perry pulled out a phone and tapped away. After half an hour of still no Gabriel, he shifted back to a sitting position. He wasn’t leaving, was he? No—he pulled a laptop out of his backpack, opened it, then eyed the TV.
“Oh! Your laptop is like Mike’s!” she said. “He lived here for a while. He was a gamer.”
Predictably ignoring her, Perry stood up, dug through his backpack some more, fished out a few cables and a black box, and headed for the TV. He examined it, then turned it around.
“Hey. Hey!” Ida glided closer, but didn’t dare to touch him. “Be careful. That TV is very precious to me.” She passed a hand through his shoulder.
“Ouch! Oh, right.” Perry looked around. “Sorry. Kinda forgot ‘cuz you were, well, quiet. Uh, it’s gonna be okay. Just a game.” He fiddled with the cables, connected the box and flipped a switch, then connected it all to the laptop. He sat back down and clicked away. A picture appeared on the TV. No, a loading screen.
“Sweet!” Perry laughed and took a picture with his phone, then typed rapidly. “So vintage. What? No, dude, it’s cool. Old stuff is cool now.” He put the laptop away, reached for a controller—hey, Mike used to have one of those,too!—and squinted at the TV screen.
Of course Perry would get bored of her limited form of communication. And she didn’t want to flicker lights, creak floorboards, or do other scary things. She wished they could just talk. That she could tell him how much him being here meant to her.
Another screen loaded up, and Ida’s eyes were drawn to the top of the menu.
Single player. Multiplayer.
She gasped. “Perry! Perry, that’s it!”
Perry, of course, didn’t hear her, and instead adjusted the graphic options.
“No, no, go back! Hold on a second at the main menu!”
He returned there, and Ida didn’t waste another moment—she flicked into the TV.
“What the…” Perry’s voice was muffled.
Interesting. A slight feeling of… mud and salt? What kind of a game was this? Inside it, Ida couldn’t really see as much as she felt it—and that wasn’t much either.
We’re probably still in the main menu.
“Hold on. Ghostie? Is that you?”
He got it! She’d jump from joy, but she refrained from any outbursts. This was her beloved TV, after all, and electronic devices could only take so much haunting.
The first step was accomplished. Now… how could she establish a connection to Perry?
***
Gabriel strode to the front door, humming as he juggled a set of lockets, perfect for Ida to try and imbue an object with emotions.
He’d intended to only get the groceries, but then the jewelry shop was on the way, and then Janice waved him in from the bakery and offered him fresh cinnamon rolls and how could he say no to that (he got one extra for Ida to haunt), and while he was there, Marge came in and before he knew, he’d been chatting for twenty minutes. Then Jason stopped him on the way out, and he might as well check on any new books in the library…
He’d lost count of the increments he’d used for his morning venture.
No, wait. He’d never started the count. And strangely, it didn’t matter.
He stopped humming as the door gave way too easily.
Not locked anymore.
Gabriel listened, blood rushing to his ears. A burglar, somebody worse? He knew they wouldn’t be able to touch Ida, but instinctively—
“Hey! No fair!”
Perry?
“Oh, no, no, auntie. Don’t you GG me. You spawn-camped me for the whole game!”
What the hell?
With light, quiet steps, Gabriel approached the living room.
“Yeah, I’m up for a new one. And I’ll get you this time.”
Not that his stealth mattered. Perry was on the couch, leaning forward as he slammed the buttons on his game controller, headphones over his ears.
Gabriel cleared his throat.
“GLHF to you, too! Ha!” Perry leaned forward still, until Gabriel was certain his center of gravity should’ve shifted and made him fall.
“Excuse me,” he said.
Perry almost dropped the controller. “Shit! Uh, hi, Mr. Buren. I was just, uh…”
“No, no, it’s okay.” Gabriel waved at the TV. “I’m glad you came back.” The screen displayed a first-person shooter, with a lot of brown grass and mud.
“You know what, man, your ghostie is cheeky,” Perry said.
“She’s not my ghost, and—what is going on here?”
A chat in the bottom corner blinked. Most of it had faded by now, except one last line:
HuxGirl63: get rekt
“Ghostie and I are playing video games,” Perry explained cheerfully, as if he’d just found out the weather was going to be sunny tomorrow. “She’s got the aim of a pro. Though I still think she’s cheating. I mean, she’s inside the game, right? That’s gotta be an advantage. And she probably has a bunch of supernatural skills to aid her.”
HuxGirl63: u jealous?
“That…” Gabriel pointed at the screen, then, mouth hanging open, looked back to Perry, and again at the screen. “That’s Ida?”
HuxGirl63: Oh, hi, Gabriel! Glad to see you back.
“Yeah, she’s haunting the TV,” Perry said. “Somehow that allows her to play multiplayer with me. But it’s cool, dude. We’re bonding.”
HuxGirl63: We totally are! The average K/D ratio for the Huxleys is now4.
“Kills and deaths ratio,” Perry explained. “In game, of course.”
“Sure.” Gabriel edged toward the kitchen. “I’ll go get some coffee. Let you two finish up.”
By the time he returned, Perry had exited the game and unhooked the jungle of cables spreading through the living room, and Ida was out of the TV.
“Oh, Gabriel, that was splendid!” she said. “I can communicate with Perry through the in-game chat.” She shrugged. “The fact that I totally owned him didn’t hurt, either.”
“Where is she? Is she saying something?” Perry’s eyes flicked around the room. “That bit where I fell off the map wasn’t my fault. Don’t believe what she tells you.”
Gabriel sat down, and the good old conveying-what-Ida-says started again. Eventually, Gabriel got a feeling for what kind of questions Ida wanted to ask Perry, and asked them himself; her approving glances let him know he was on the right track.
“And you like video games?”
“Yeah, they’re pretty cool.” Perry spread his arms on the backrest like an eagle. “I design them, too. I mean, just small things for now. Not even games. Animation projects. Concept art.”
“Is that what you want to study?”
“Eh, I dunno if I’ll go to college yet. Costs so much. Besides, BechTech has a program for finding new talent, and you don’t need a college education.”
“What’s BechTech?” Ida asked.
“It’s a famous gaming company,” Gabriel said.
“The best.” Perry slammed a hand down. “I’ve been going around the last year, taking on experience, freelancing, building a portfolio, to see if they’d take me.”
“XP is important,” Ida wisely remarked.
“That’s great for you,” Gabriel said. “I’m sure your foster parents will be proud.”
“Yeah…” Perry looked to the side. “We’ll see about it. BechTech’s got a brutal vetting process. Easier to get in if you’ve got someone to vouch for you. Me, I’m just some random kid to them.”
I’ve been that random kid, too.
Gabriel swished his coffee. “What if I could help you?”
“You? How?”
He hesitated. He wasn’t sure he could still use his connections. No, he had to believe in what he’d earned. His life would return to normal.
Even if he had trouble remembering what normal used to be.
“I know someone at the company. A former client. With a bit of nudging from me, he could help you get an interview, at least. Obviously, I can’t promise anything after that, and I’d have my”—he swallowed—“reputation attached to this, so you’d have to convince me of your skills first, but—”
“Hold on. Who are you, exactly?”
Gabriel shifted in the chair and rolled his shoulders. “Who do you think I am?”
“A hipster living on his parents’ money, or a retired Latin Pop singer.”
“Retired?” Gabriel looked at Ida, while pointing his hand at Perry. “Would you believe that? Like I’m seventy, not thirty-two.”
“I think he thinks thirty-two is old,” Ida mused.
Then his brain caught up with the rest. “Why would you think me any of these things?”
“Hello?” Perry waved at Gabriel’s figure. “Man bun. Perfectly maintained stubble that’s almost a beard, but not really. The colorful printed shirts?”
Gabriel gave Ida a dead serious, would-you-believe-this-kid stare.
And she dared to giggle.
“I,” he said, inflating all the self-importance he could gather into his words, “am Gabriel Vane.”
Perry gave him a blank look.
“The lawyer?”
“Sorry man, I’m not into that. Lawyers, politicians, anyone that wears a tie to bed—ain’t my thing.”
Gabriel slumped his shoulders. Who’d have thought he’d be annoyed because some kid didn’t know of his scandal?
“Hold on.”
“You remembered?”
“Nah, I Googled you.” Perry flashed him the phone. “Holy shit! You’re the dude who slept with that hot chick!”
And that was his legacy. Gabriel looked to Ida, in hopes of sharing the burden, but she’d grown very interested in a pencil on the shelf.
“Aw, man. You’re a legend.” Perry clapped his knees. “She’s smokin’. My friends and I used to play Marry—uh, never mind.”
“I’m sure the former Mrs. Sinclair would be grateful for not dragging her into your games,” Gabriel said.
“Are you still together? ‘Cuz it says here you disappeared—oh, now it makes sense!”
“If you’ll excuse me, gentlemen.” Ida cleared her throat. “I have work.”
Curious, but not wanting to interrogate her, Gabriel followed her with his eyes, until she disappeared into the hallway. “Ida’s gone. Had some things to do.”
“Right.” Perry dragged the word. “So, this connections thing?”
“First, I’d like to see your portfolio. I’ll have a friend check it. We need to know you’re the real deal. And I suppose a crash course in behavior on job interviews wouldn’t go amiss, either.” He pointedly looked at Perry’s foot, resting on the coffee table. “Plus, there’s going to be a deal attached to this.”
“Geez, man.” Perry jokingly smacked his shoulder. “You are a lawyer, aren’t you?”
Yes, he was. And it felt good to feel like one, too. He’d been so confused about Ida lately, not knowing how to proceed with her, if he even should. His job, his calling, served as an anchor, reminding him of who he was under all the turbulent emotions.
“I’ll do this for you, and you promise to stay here for at least a few weeks. Get to know Ida, give it your best effort, yes?”
Perry bit his lip. “Look, before this whole gaming session, I came here because I intended to leave. I have a flatmate back in the city and bills and the wi-fi in the motel sucks so it’s really hard to do work there…”
Gabriel’s heart dropped. “But you and Ida talked today.” The familiar, frightening alarm—failure, failure, failure —grew louder and louder from the back of his mind. Anderson’s smug smile—the photos spilling on Gabriel’s palm—calmdown. You’re a lawyer, not a failure. You are still a lawyer. “I can take care of some bills, and if you need a better place to work, you can do it here.”
Perry gazed at the TV, deep in thought. “You care about this a lot, don’t you?”
A lot wasn’t quite the right word. And for once, Gabriel couldn’t find the right one.
“I’ll give it a try,” Perry said. “And I can game here too, right?”
Gabriel’s relief burst out in a short laugh. “Done. You won’t regret it.
Ida’s not a difficult person to like. She’s very…” Kind. Fun. Amazing.
“As long as she stops beating me at video games. She’s ruining my rep, man. Okay, we have a deal.” Perry extended his hand. “Bro clap!”