Chapter 8 #2
As he moved into the living room, he discovered that the ghost had strewn about every one of Gideon’s soft, fluffy pillows, but at least they were all still intact.
The stools they had flipped right-side up and put away were on their tops in the middle of the dining room floor.
Yet, it didn’t appear as if it had done any actual damage to the place, which was nice.
The ghost child had been playful but not destructive. So far.
Sky walked through the living room and dining room. He briefly poked his head into the kitchen, only to return to the living room. Standing near the trunk, he lifted his empty hand and placed two of his fingers on his thumb.
“Definitely got a ghost here. Pretty powerful one, too. However, she hasn’t been wandering far from the trunk.
Just hanging out in the living room and dining room.
There’s a little residual energy in the kitchen, but not much.
” He looked over at Gideon and smiled. “And I like your place. Love all the colors. I’m a big fan of colorful rooms too. ”
Ryder almost snorted. He would never have guessed that based on the witch’s attire.
“Thanks. I’ve had so much fun decorating it. I didn’t expect to be sharing a place with a ghost.”
“No worries. I’ll get you to a single soon,” Sky promised with a wink.
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Fox inquired.
“A few things. Let’s gather up all the pillows and put them against the wall and out of the way.
Also, if Ryder could lift the trunk while we move this lovely rug,” he instructed as he put his bag off to the side and shed his long wool coat.
He tossed it over the arm of the sofa and rolled up the sleeves of his white button-down shirt.
“I might need to inscribe a circle around the trunk, and I brought my grease pencils. That comes up easier on wood than it does on carpet.”
“Would it be better to move the pillows to the bedroom?” Gideon asked as he snatched up the first few.
Sky shook his head. “If I piss her off, I’d rather she go for the pillows than breakable objects.”
After several minutes of rearranging things in the living room, Ryder was standing with Gideon and Fox near the doorway to the dining room while Sky sat on the floor right in front of the trunk. On his left was the open doctor’s bag, but Ryder couldn’t see inside of it.
Sky flashed one last smile at his audience before he reached out and knocked on the lid of the trunk.
No answer.
He knocked again.
Nothing.
He knocked using the old Shave and a Haircut rhythm, but the ghost still didn’t respond.
Gideon sighed and dropped his head onto Ryder’s chest. “Great. No ghost. She’s going to make me look like a liar,” he mumbled.
“Winter said he saw her, and Sky feels the ghost. He knows you’re not a liar,” Ryder reassured him.
“Oh, she’s here, and she’s waiting. Sometimes they don’t always come out right away with strangers,” Sky reassured them. “Or she’s pouting because you haven’t been here to play with the past few days. Let’s try opening the trunk.”
“Watch out for pillows,” Ryder warned.
Sky huffed a soft laugh as he reached for the trunk. It opened on the first try. However, this time, it wasn’t a pillow that came flying out, but a hardback book. Sky barely got a hand up in time to keep it from smashing into his face.
But the book didn’t hit his hand. It crashed into an invisible barrier that flashed gold for a blink of an eye.
“Well, someone is in a pissy mood.” The witch snapped his fingers and said something else, but Ryder couldn’t make out the words.
It was as if some bass had dropped into Sky’s voice while pins pierced Ryder’s skull to drive straight into his brain.
His fangs automatically dropped, and he hissed.
All his defenses flew up as Gideon cried out next to him and clutched his head.
“Shit! Shit! That’s my bad! Sorry! I’m not accustomed to working with ghosts around vampires,” Sky apologized. Ryder pried open eyes he didn’t recall closing and watched as Sky dug into his bag. “Fox, do you remember that protective barrier I showed you about a week ago?”
“Yeah, I know it.”
Sky pulled out another grease pencil and tossed it to Fox. “Draw it surrounding Gideon and Ryder now.”
Fox dropped to his hands and knees near them, drawing a circle on the wood floor in red. Ryder winced against the pain still cutting through his head and drew a whimpering Gideon closer. As Fox added more and more strange symbols to the ward, the pain ebbed until it disappeared completely.
“Better?” Fox asked.
“Yeah, I’m good.” Ryder placed his finger under Gideon’s chin, lifting his head to reveal teary eyes and a fragile smile. “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay. I promise.”
Ryder turned his attention to Sky, who was looking pale, sweat glistening on his brow.
“I’m so sorry about that,” the necromancer said. “When I’m working, my customers are humans, like ninety-five percent of the time. The other five percent are other witches and the occasional shifter. I wasn’t thinking.”
A smirk lifted the corner of Ryder’s mouth. “We believe you.”
Sky seemed to be a genuinely nice guy. Not to mention, Winter Varik scared him to death. Ryder couldn’t believe he’d try something underhanded in front of Winter’s boyfriend.
“Thanks.” Sky sighed, his entire body slumping. “That was my power-boosted command voice. It’s focused on controlling the dead. Lesson learned: Don’t use near vampires. It will only hurt them and piss them off.”
“But the barrier will protect them?” Fox inquired, pushing to his feet.
“Yeah, anything I cast tonight won’t reach them so long as they stay in there. It’s just that your ghost is feeling cranky, but I think I got a handle on things now.” The witch turned his attention to the trunk. This time, when he knocked on it, there was a soft knock in return.
“Do you want to come out and tell me your name?” Sky asked in his normal, gentle voice.
Ryder’s eyes widened as he watched the lid of the trunk creak open about three inches. There was no misty white phantasm, but he heard a soft girl’s voice that matched the giggles that had danced about the condo.
“Elizabeth.”
His arms automatically tightened on Gideon as his heart lurched. It wasn’t so much that the ghost suddenly became real, but she became human. She had been a human child…and died.
“Why are you hiding in the trunk, Elizabeth?” Sky asked.
“I’m playing hide-and-seek with my brother. I’ve been waiting so long for him to find me. Why hasn’t he found me yet?”
Gideon’s gasp convinced Ryder they were having the same thought.
Elizabeth had crawled into the trunk for a game of hide-and-seek and somehow she’d died in that trunk.
Maybe she’d gotten trapped or maybe she had been a very ill child, but her eternity was waiting for her brother to end this innocent game.
“You’re too good of a hider. Why don’t you come out of the trunk and we can find some other fun place to play?” Sky suggested.
“I don’t want to play with you,” Elizabeth announced, and the trunk closed with a snap.
Sky sighed. “Yeah, I kind of figured it would go this way.” Sky turned to his bag of magic tricks and dug through it. “I’m going to need some better kid bait, and I never work with kids,” he muttered under his breath.
Fox walked over and kneeled next to him. “Do you think you’ll be able to get her to leave the trunk for good?”
Sky grunted. “She’s attached to it because it’s likely her final human memory, plus it seems to be a pretty positive one. Happy memories and powerful emotions give ghosts a lot of their energy. Get her away from the trunk, and a lot of that will fade. Make it easier for her to move on.”
“What you’re going to do…” Gideon started carefully. “It won’t hurt her, right?”
“Of course not. I want to give her a reason to leave the trunk. Or maybe a solid lure.” Sky frowned at his bag.
“I’m just not one to deal with kids much when it comes to the dead.
My interactions are usually with dead adults.
But I’ve got someone who can help me.” Sky glanced at them and flashed a tense smile.
“I need to call one of my assistants. Don’t freak out. ”
“Why do I already feel the need to freak out?” Fox inquired.
“This is the thing that was attached to the hand, isn’t it?” Gideon mumbled, his voice sounding shaky.
Sky pointed at Fox. “Don’t freak out, but you might want to back up.” He then pointed at Gideon. “Yes.”
Fox scurried toward Gideon and Ryder while Sky reached into his bag.
This time he withdrew a small paper plate, a sandwich in a plastic bag, and what appeared to be a small bottle of mustard.
They all watched in a kind of speechless wonder as Sky took the sandwich out of the bag and placed it on the plate in his lap.
After lifting the top piece of bread on what seemed to be a ham and cheese sandwich, he drew a complicated design with the mustard.
Sky had barely set the mustard aside and placed the bread on top when there was a poof of black smoke next to him.
Except the smoke didn’t dissipate. Instead, it solidified while remaining smoky.
Spindly arms and legs grew out of it. The fingers were long and tipped with curved black claws, while toes that had almost-talons clicked on the wood.
“Holy fucking shit!” Fox shouted, scrambling even farther away.
“I told you. That’s what I saw at Phoenix, but just a hand!” Gideon exclaimed.
Sky ignored all of them, his full attention on the figure that stood less than two feet tall and was grabbing frantically for the sandwich Sky was holding in the air.
“Oh, don’t give me that shit, Frank. You’re not starving,” Sky chastised. “I need you to do a job for me.”
The creature continued to reach for the sandwich, this strange chittering noise coming from it.
“Greg and the others don’t get sandwiches for nothing. No one gets free sandwiches from me, and you know it. Go fetch the book, and you get the sandwich.”