by Alexie Aaron
“She has the chain now. So, she knows.”
“Mason heard her all but tell Abigor that she killed Crocker. She was ready to go to Hell for it. He dismissed it. Evidently, this gave her a bigger alibi for something else that was taking place at the same time. There are secrets, but they aren’t kept to hurt me or you. They are to protect something bigger than us.”
Together they walked back into the office to see Ralph standing there in Wyoming and lecturing Mia about not wearing sunscreen. Bernard stood behind him shaking his head. “You’re golden and freckled,” Ralph noticed.
“I love freckles!” Mia said. “You have freckles.”
“Mia, in my day, we didn’t have sunscreen. Hat and sleeves until they fade.”
Mia looked over and mouthed, “Help.”
Ted walked up and said, “Excuse me, Ralph, but I’m going to go and count all those freckles, and I’ll monitor them for the next fifty years. I promise.”
Bernard laughed. “Ted, send Ralph a bar graph every year.”
“Will do, sir.”
~
The boys were to return in two days. Mia could not let the cold war continue between her and Murphy. Cid and Ted cut through the stress by calling Murph, Robo Murphy. It took Mia a minute to realize that RoboCop was Officer Alex J. Murphy before he had become the robocop. It was funny to them, but it pained Mia. Was this going to be Murph from now on? Was he always going to be this unemotional axeman? If nothing could be done, then she would accept it and try to get the children to understand why the twinkle had disappeared from Murph’s eyes.
She found him preparing the ground for some fall planting beyond the north forty. It wasn’t part of the old Murphy homestead. The land was now part of the preserve, but it didn’t matter to Murphy. It was a sign that he still cared about his promise to Mother Nature. Perhaps he was still able to care.
She approached him slowly and recited:
Deep in the forest there is a tree
Beautiful and fragrant it attracts many bees.
Still young it has to live through many snows
Many springs and summers will come and go.
I will be there forever to protect this tree
This is the promise I give to thee.
He turned around and stared at her.
“Funny thing about promises… they’re rarely kept,” she said, kicking at a dirt clod.
“Why are you here?” he asked.
“I came to ask you if you were a keeper or a breaker of promises,” Mia asked.
“I’m an honorable man,” he insisted.
“But in being honorable, does it mean that you keep promises?” she prodded. “Do you cut a tree down the first sign of disease?”
“No.”
“Do you leave the tree without water?”
“No.”
“Then why are you treating me this way?” Mia asked.
“You know why.”
“I absolutely don’t!” she said.
“You’re not who I thought you were.”
“Gee, I haven’t really morally changed since I was fourteen. Physically, I’m a mess. I don’t know from one day to the next what’s going to sprout. I’m like that tree they grafted all the different fruit trees on. I’m like a Stone Fruit Tree.”
“Those are an abomination.”
Mia sighed. “One person’s miracle is another’s abomination. Why did it take me so long to see this?” she asked herself. To Ted, she was a miracle, to Murphy…
“You only see what you want to see. You only do what you want to do,” Murphy claimed.
“Guilty.”
“Why did you lay with Crocker!”
“I didn’t. I fed his mind an illusion to keep him out of my way, so I could get the keys and set the birdmen free. Although, I could have used my body without guilt, and I’ll tell you why. I’ve had so many adjustments to my body that I don’t see it as mine anymore. The only thing that is mine is my mind and my heart. I can step outside of myself and leave my body behind. It’s just a machine, nothing more. If I have to use it to save you, Ted, the kids, then I will. I’m not some shrinking violet that kills myself instead of shaming my family. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s a war going on. While you tend to your precious trees, others are fighting the Cynosura. We’re trying to save the people and the planet.”
Mia stopped talking. She didn’t want, in her anger, to spout something that should be kept a secret. Murphy had in the past been known to gossip with others.
“When I was in Hell, I killed a fallen. Why? Because he was going to kill me. I did so with no emotion, and that disturbs me more than you’ll ever know. I have become the assassin I have fought my whole life not to be. I’m trying to deal with it. But regardless, I’m moving on. So, if my actions, real or imagined, are going to offend your tender sensibilities, then leave.”
“It’s my farm.”
“It was your farm. You’re dead,” Mia said. “It’s mine now.”
Murphy advanced fast on Mia with his axe raised. She drew her sword. “Just try it and you’re finished,” she said, her eyes streaming with tears.
Murphy dropped to his knees. “What am I doing?”
“It looked like a frontal attack to me,” Mia said. “But you left your midsection vulnerable.”
“It was so easy to click off the pain in the GSD,” Murphy confessed.
“But then the love left too,” Mia said. “I don’t want you to leave. I know things can’t be the same. Frankly, we were headed for crazy town. Can’t we start over? Be colleagues if friendship is too painful?” she pleaded. “The man I know is still in there. You can take away his axe, but he still is an axeman. You can put him on a ship, but he still yearns for the trees that supplied the masts.”
“How well you know me,” Murphy said softly.
“You’re still a mystery, but I listen when you talk.”
“You don’t do as I say.”
“No, it goes against my character to do so.”
“You’re a royal pain in the backside.”
“You’re no treat either.”
Murphy smiled.
Mia smiled back at him. She extended her hand.
“A gloved hand?”
“You have to earn the bare skin,” Mia said simply.
Murphy laughed. “I’ve walked your mind, been inside your body, and yet you won’t touch me with your bare skin.”
“Nope,” Mia said, still holding out her hand.
He took it and shook it. “Let’s not be colleagues, friends are better,” he said.
“Friends,” Mia said and released his hand.
“Mia, I’m sorry for how I spoke to you on the ship.”
“Your dad made you apologize, didn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“He’s a good man,” Mia said, turning to leave.
“Mia, did I break your heart?”
“If anyone comes around asking, the answer is yes.”
“But did I?” Murphy asked.
Mia turned back and studied him a moment. “The honest answer is complicated, but the short answer is no.”
Murphy frowned.
Mia didn’t want to hurt him, but she didn’t want things to return to how they were. She felt she could move on if she didn’t have to be wary of the pull of his steely eyes. Michael and Raphael had given her a chance to pull away from Murphy by ridding him from the very cells of her heart. How could Murphy be imbedded so deeply in her that every breath she took after his rejection seemed a wasted effort?
She smiled to herself as she remembered opening her eyes and seeing Ted gazing down at her. His love filled her, sustained her, and drove away her personal demons. She wanted to be the superhero he thought she was. She wanted to raise her boys with him, and laugh when they found themselves in over their heads. It was these thoughts that had her take wing and fly as fast as she could away from Murphy.
~
Cid walked into the kitchen. “Wh
at’s that god-awful smell?”
“I’m frying sausage,” Mia said.
“You’re not frying. You’re… How can it be burnt on the outside and raw inside?” he asked.
“I got to thinking, maybe, when it was too dry, I was flipping them too soon,” Mia said.
“No, you were spearing them, letting out all the juices.”
“Oh, yeah,” Mia said.
“Why are you cooking?” he asked.
“Because I was hungry and tired of waiting for you to see me leave the house in order to come in and use the kitchen. If it helps, I talked with Murphy and we have an understanding.”
Cid didn’t say anything.
“Evidently, Ted knows all about the Captain Crocker stuff, as do Mason, Fergus, and Kevin. So, I’m not hiding anything. I can’t. With your big ears and…”
“Mia, I’m sorry,” Cid said.
Hope filled Mia’s face.
Cid continued, “I can’t save these sausages.” He dumped them in the trash.
“There will be other meats,” Mia said and walked out of the kitchen.
Cid stared down at the trash and then at the empty space where Mia had been standing. “I’m such a fool.” He went in search of her. She was pulling weeds out of the flower bed, and a few flowers too.
“Stop! You’re going to hate yourself later,” he said. He sat down beside her. “I see you as the classic heroine, strong and determined to do things right.”
“Classic heroines don’t bounce back this fast, have wings, lusty husbands, an obnoxious toddler, a pining ghost, and a friend who never knows when to shut up.”
“True. So, I’ve decided that you weren’t wrong at all. It’s how I was seeing you. You don’t need rescuing.”
“For the record, I have needed rescuing at least twenty times.”
“Shut up.”
“Yes, Cid.”
“May I continue?”
Mia nodded.
“Correction, you don’t need me rescuing you, coddling you, defending you when Ted’s an ass.”
“I do appreciate you doing it though.”
“Yes, I guess you do. You were numb after Murphy wouldn’t come back. I mistook it for not caring. I didn’t know who you were. Lazar did. Mike was just doing what I asked him to do,” Cid explained.
“Shit, so I have to apologize to Mike now?”
“No. He’ll just take advantage.”
“Damn straight.”
“Mason has this game…”
“No, not the Kill, Marry, Make Love To. I always end up killed,” Mia said. “He never put your name in the game.”
“I know. Why not?”
“Because we’re already sorta married,” Mia suggested.
Cid laughed. “I’m more married to Ted than you,” he said.
“You’re our wife,” Mia said, patting his knee.
“Can you be serious for a moment?”
“What did Mason say when you asked him?”
“He put it rather cruelly that he didn’t think you thought much of me.”
“Then he would be wrong. You, Tom, and Altair fall into the same category. You’re all my most trusted advisors. You don’t see me as sex kitten – ouch by the way – you guys see me as a friend, an equal. Have I got that wrong?” Mia asked.
“I do love you though.”
“I love you too, Cid. Just because we’re not knocking boots, it doesn’t mean that I don’t care what happens to you or what you think of me. I also want to be around you. Why do you think I let you torture me in the kitchen when sausages are available precooked?”
“I’ve always suspected something was up. Lazar says you’re never in the kitchen, unless you’re baking, when I’m gone.”
“Speaking of Lazar, he and Mason do not get along. I’m going to have to chuck Mason out on his butt,” Mia said. “Tom said he’d find room for him at Ethan’s.”
“You choose Lazar over Mason?”
“I can’t have another child to raise. Dieter, Brian, Varden, and Ted are too much to handle already!”
Cid started laughing. “You do have your hands full. I think Mason is just going to hang around until college starts back up. Patrick can now afford to send him someplace nice.”
“So, there’s no ghost-mining adventure scheduled?” Mia asked.
“Not for the Callens. Patrick wants to stay in the city to be close to Sabine.”
“You know Sabine has been looking at you as husband material.”
“Not interested. Besides, I’m already married to you and Ted,” Cid said.
“It’s going to be hard on us when you do fall in love,” Mia told him. “We’ll have to go through therapy, but we’ll manage.”
Cid reached over and hugged Mia. She was enjoying the protective feeling radiating off of Cid, and when Ted came out, she waved him away.
“I’m going home to mother!” Ted teased, stomping off the porch.
“I better warn your mother,” Mia said, standing up.
Cid stood up and looked at his friends. “You guys are nuts.”
“But we’re your kind of nuts,” Mia said.
“Yes, you are.”
***
Glossary
PEEPS: Paranormal Entity Exposure Partners.
Dupree, Mike: Founding partner of PEEPs and on-camera personality.
Garrett, Cid: Contractor, investigator, cameraman, and technician.
Hicks, Burt: Founding partner of PEEPs, lead investigator, and cameraman.
Jake: Ghost, research and computers.
Martin, Mia Cooper: Sensitive, lead investigator, and security. Ted’s wife and Brian, Varden, and Dieter Martin’s mother. Healer of angels.
Martin, Ted: Lead technician, computers, and communications. Mia’s husband and Brian, Varden, and Dieter Martin’s father. Technical genius.
Stavros, Audrey: Researcher and investigator, married to Orion Stavros, mother of Luke Stavros.
Murphy, Stephen: Ghost, translator, and security.
Recurring Characters:
Aldridge, Ethan: Teenage paintball-gang member who was sentenced to a juvenile detention facility for his part in coercing Rory Kline and the deaths of Jason Jones and Keith Summerfield. Aided in bring Blair Summerfield to justice.
Altair: Fallen archangel. Also known as Wyatt Wayne.
Aosoth: Evil female force in the pantheon of the Order of the Nine Angels. Enjoys participation in passion and death.
April: Former owner of Murphy’s farmhouse. She called PEEPs to help her with the ghost of Charity Murphy and brought Mia together with the group.
Bouché, Guillaume: Magician spending eternity in Purgatory. Lover of Beverly Cooper, father of Sabine.
Braverman, Don: Tom’s father and Susan’s husband.
Braverman, Susan: Mega Chicago Bears fan, housewife, Tom Braverman’s mother and Brian Martin’s babysitter.
Braverman, Tom: Acting Sheriff, school friend of Mia. Murphy brought him back to life, inadvertently giving him the sight.
Callen, Mason: Part-time PEEPs associate. Brother of Patrick Callen.
Callen, Patrick: Wheeler-dealer, friend of the Martins, and older brother to Mason Callen.
Cooper, Amanda: Mia’s mother. Sociologist.
Cooper, Beverly: Very talented sensitive. Aunt to Mia Martin, mother of Sabine Norwood, sister of Charles Cooper, and associate of Father Santos and Gerald Shem.
Cooper, Charles: Mia’s father. Archaeologist.
Elizabeth: Head Gray Lady. Healer of the birdmen and Mia.
Ed, aka He-who-walks-through-time: Superhuman, Judy’s partner.
Gifford, Edwin: ghost in Bea White’s house. Was kidnapped in A Rose by Any Other Name. Great grandson of George Wall the pirate.
Hansen, Neil: Mia’s late common-law husband. Invalid father of her miscarried daughter Hope.
Idra: Gray Lady, protégé of Elizabeth. Healer of the birdmen.
Jeff the Gargoyle: Inventor gargoyle. Day job: Dark Vault guard.
Judy, aka Refugia: Birdwoman, former Gray Lady, independent healer, and Ed’s partner.
Kowalski, Gwen: Young girl tormented by Darker than Darks (DTDs).
Komal: Master of bilocation. Lives in spirit form on a hidden island in Lake Michigan.
Leighton, Mark: Teenager who can see angels. Son of a veteran with Locked-in Syndrome.
Maggie Mae: Mixed-breed dog of PEEPs who can see ghosts.
Martin, Brian: Son of Mia and Ted Martin.
Martin, Dieter: Teenage attrpeur-âme (a catcher of souls) from Nigeria, adopted son of Mia and Ted Martin.
Martin, Sherry: Wife of Whitney Martin, killed in the hollow. Sabine took her spirit to the Museum of Modern Art in New York to be with her painting.
Martin, Varden: Son of Mia and Ted Martin. Carries the soul of dead birdman Varden, Victor’s brother.
Martin, Whitney: Former Deputy Sheriff, Mia’s high school crush and ex-boyfriend.
Matveev, Pavel: High-end fence of stolen antiquities. Friend of Patrick Callen.
Mendelssohn, Ralph: Musical stage designer, Mia’s godfather, married to Bernard Wesley.
Michael, aka Saint Michael: Prince of Angels, leader of angel winged army, Mia’s boss.
Michaels, Angelo: Birdman and associate of Father Santos. Lead warrior and librarian for the Brotherhood of the Wing.
Murphy, Chastity: Deceased wife of Stephen Murphy.
Murphy, Kevin: Irish ghost. Father of Stephen Murphy, best friend of Fergus O’Connor, and associate of PEEPS.
Nicholai: Birdman trainer. Mia’s trainer.
Norwood, Sabine: Sensitive, clairvoyant, and medium, associate of Father Santos, widow, cousin of Mia, and mother of triplets.
Norwood, Maisha Violet: Sabine’s daughter one of three triplets. Healer, carries the soul of Hope, Mia’s dead daughter.
O’Connor, Fergus: Irish ghost, best friends with Kevin Murphy and associate of PEEPs.
Olympe de Gouges: French socialite and friend of George Wall the pirate. Died in the French Revolution by guillotine.
