Chapter 12 #2
“Remy,” Jesse said, a pleading note in his voice. Remy was touched by his kindness, but she stood firm.
“I’m fine,” Remy said curtly, making it clear the discussion was over.
“Remy, sweetheart,” Avery said, his voice sounding anguished. “Did Ellis hurt you?”
“No, he didn’t hurt me. I promise. He doesn’t scare me. He can’t even touch me!” Remy said, deliberately leaving out the part where he put his hand right through her arm, chilling her to the bone.
“He touched Lucy,” Jesse said gritting his teeth. His hands were balled into fists.
“Really?” Remy asked, incredulous. “How?”
“It’s possible. If a spirit is really emotionally charged up, like in Ellis’s case—he’s an extremely angry person—you can concentrate real hard and make it happen. He grabbed her breasts.”
Remy winced. “Oh, that’s awful. He’s such a bastard.” She looked up at Avery and saw that he looked even more distraught. “He didn’t do anything like that to me. Just said some mean stuff, but it’s just words.”
“Did Lucy tell you what he said to her?” Jesse asked. Remy shook her head. “Well, it was very personal, and she may not want to talk about it, but it was pretty awful.”
Avery nodded grimly. “She was cryin’ pretty hard when I found her.”
Remy looked at Jesse’s sorrowful expression, and she found herself clenching her fists just like he was.
What a wretched human being Ellis was. Lucy was probably the sweetest person Remy had ever known, and she didn’t deserve to be treated like that.
Remy also knew how shy and private Lucy was, so she would be especially sensitive to Ellis’s attack.
She was a big-hearted person who cared about everybody and, unfortunately, was easily hurt.
She was the perfect target for a monster like Ellis.
“I’m really sorry, Jesse,” Remy said. She hated seeing that pained look on his face. She knew how desperately Jesse wanted to protect Lucy, but how could he keep her safe from a spirit who could come and go as he pleased and disappear at will?
“There’s got to be a way to stop him,” Avery said, his jaw set with determination. “And we’re going to find it.”
* * *
Avery stood outside the Farnsworth House Inn, invisible, when Ellis showed up.
I knew it, Avery thought. The guy was probably planning on harassing Remy during her ghost tour, and then would go down the road to pick on Lucy. Not on my watch, he won’t.
Ellis floated up to Avery, looked him up and down with derision, then said, “What’re you doin’ here, Paddy?”
It had been a long time since Avery had been called by that Irish slur. It annoyed him because he was proud of his heritage, but he was far more concerned about Remy.
“I’m here to make sure you quit harassin’ the women around here.”
Ellis snorted. “That so?”
“What’s your problem with them, anyway? They’ve never done anything to you.”
Ellis shrugged and said simply, “I’m bored. Gotta get my kicks somehow. It’s fun seein’ ‘em get all riled up. That brown-haired girl…it’s easy to make her cry. That blue-eyed slut, though, she’s tougher. Gonna have to step up my game to get her to crack.”
“Leave her alone,” Avery said menacingly through gritted teeth. “Why don’t you just vanish? Nobody wants you ‘round here.”
“Would love to,” Ellis responded. He looked tired all of a sudden. “Seems I can’t do that as easy as I used to. Used to be I could vanish for years. Now it seems I can’t vanish for much more than a night.”
Avery stared at him. “Me, too.” It was strange.
Avery had chosen to vanish for decades. He’d barely been conscious since he died more than one hundred and fifty years ago.
Lately had found he could vanish overnight, but then by morning he would be conscious again whether he wanted to be or not.
Nowadays, with lovely Remy around, he wanted to be here. Still, it was quite odd.
“You, too?” Ellis asked with surprise, dropping his cruel expression for once.
“Yeah. I don’t know. I guess maybe God’s thinkin’ enough is enough. Time to go wherever you’re supposed to go already.”
It was so brief that Avery nearly missed it, but a look of sheer terror crossed Ellis’s face. Then it was gone, and he was back to being his old, miserable self.
“Well, it ain’t my idea of a good time to just hang ‘round here all the time,” Ellis said bitterly. “But since I got to, why should I be the only one to suffer?”
Ellis looked around, as if scanning the area for Remy or any other innocent women to torture.
“I’m stuck here, too, you know. You don’t see me goin’ round tormenting innocent women!” Avery practically shouted. Not that it mattered, as the two were both invisible and only other dead people could see and hear them.
“No, you’re too busy flirting with that tour-guide girl.”
Avery flinched at the mention of his beloved Remy. The idea of this horrible man getting anywhere near her was unbearable.
Ellis leaned in close to Avery. “You know you want to fuck her. You’d love to bang her so hard—”
“Don’t you dare talk about her like that!” Avery roared.
Ellis laughed, pleased that he got the reaction he wanted. “What’re you gonna do about it?”
“As long as I’m around, I won’t let you bother her,” Avery said, clenching his ghostly fists and wishing in the name of all things holy that he could give this guy the beating he so richly deserved.
“And you can’t go visible and cause a scene in front of everybody.
You’d never be able to be visible on the streets of Gettysburg again.
All those tourists screamin’ at the sight of that hideous man in the black hat.
And since you can’t hardly vanish no more, all you could do was stay invisible, all by your lonesome, for eternity. ”
Avery was thrilled to see that, for once, Ellis didn’t quite have an answer for that.
Aside from gently teasing tourists on ghost tours, like grabbing their ankles or touching their backs, most ghosts preferred to hide what they were from the living.
Most ghosts did not enjoy scaring people and wanted to be seen as the human beings they still were.
Ellis surely wouldn’t feel bad about scaring people, but his loss of privacy and his ability to come and go as he pleased was too big of a price to pay.
He wouldn’t cause a scene by appearing visible and harassing Remy on a public street.
Ellis glanced down the road toward Meade’s Tavern.
“Don’t even think about it,” Avery said. “You try to go after Lucy and I’ll be right behind you.”
Ellis looked annoyed, his plans clearly foiled for the night.
“That’s the thing, you dirty Paddy,” Ellis said with a sneer. “You can’t be everywhere.”
A ripple of fear went through Avery’s ghostly form. Ellis was right. It was nearly impossible to protect the women he cared about from this devil of a man.