Sorcerers, Spirits, and Ships

by Katherine Gilbert

  After various pleasant chitchat, Annabella started to angle toward what she needed to know. “I was reading a mystery novel the other night, and it got me thinking.”

  Her smile was as close to charming as she could manage, and she hoped the spell was working. To add to it, she moved a little closer.

  “Do you know if there were ever any murders on the ship? I mean . . .” She shrugged casually. “The middle of the ocean, no police nearby. It seems a good place to get up to something devious.”

  The old man laughed. He had a white beard and mustache which she guessed were an expectation of his former job, and his British accent was quite refined.

  “It’s this environment. We only see these sort of surroundings in murder mysteries these days.”

  Joining in his laugh, she decided to try something more. Running her finger along the edge of the table, she attempted her own version of the spell which had so loosened Miriam’s tongue this morning.

  A moment later, she heard Armand’s voice in her mind.

  Careful, love. Too much, and we’ll be hearing their own murder confessions from everyone here.

  THERE’S a disturbing thought.

  You know what I mean.

  As she did, she pulled it back just a touch, and the Commander, who’d already told her to call him John, moved a little closer.

  “I suppose the old tales can’t hurt anymore. So long as you aren’t planning on publicizing them.”

  When she assured him she wasn’t, he went on.

  “Well, my father, as I told you before, was in service on this ship for several years. There were a few things he was here for and some which were just tales to scare the new recruits, so who knows how true some of them are.”

  Nodding and smiling, she listened.

  “There were a couple of uncertain deaths, as they sometimes got called, during his time. One was of a couple who’d been seen arguing the night before in the Grand Salon, which was the first class dining room in those days. The husband had accused his wife of some infidelity, and she’d been telling him he was imagining things. The next day, they found both of them dead with a pistol in his hand.”

  Wow. Dark, she told Armand. And it’s possible I saw them in my dream. They were dancing together but to a different rhythm than the song which was actually playing.

  She could feel Armand’s discomfort, as she asked John, “Wouldn’t a gunshot have been heard?”

  Especially two of them?

  John smiled at her. “Between the sounds of the engines and the waves, not to mention those of a thousand people or more going about their lives or their jobs, it’s amazing how little you can actually hear when a ship’s in full steam.”

  Annabella tried to repress her shiver, as he went on.

  “There was apparently a lone young woman found strangled in her cabin, as well. And there was always the famous businessman who committed suicide by jumping overboard.”

  The dapper ghost, she and Armand thought at the same time.

  John’s recollection of these grim details was making her blood run cold, and she had to remind herself that she’d been the one to ask.

  “Of course, most deaths were probably natural causes. Even in the comforts of first class, people can still have heart ailments or other illnesses.”

  “Did anyone ever investigate any of them?” Annabella wondered, trying to hide her horror. After all, this wasn’t the only ocean liner there’d ever been, just one of the few which were lucky enough to have an afterlife rather than have been scrapped for parts. If these sort of deaths could happen on any of them . . .

  John smiled at her gently. “It’s not like the ships had a serial killer on them or anything like that. And it’s also not as though Hercule Poirot was riding along on every journey.”

  A little afraid her blood was freezing in her veins, she heard Armand say, How many ghosts did you see last night in that vision?

  At least twenty, but I think there were more inside the Grand Salon. Not wanting to remember, she told herself to get over it. Plus, if the dapper ghost’s warning were true, I think whatever was behind this was waiting there, too.

  With this disturbing thought and a bit more polite chatter, they said their excuses and found a way to get away.

  Chapter 13

  Armand

  Quite a few hours later, they had found a snack for lunch and reconvened in Miss Janeway’s quarters. Ivan the imp was with them again, too.

  This time, Armand was not just sitting beside Annabella, but had his arm around her. The details they’d been gathering had left him wanting to hide her away for good.

  Having already told their part, they were listening to their friends.

  Hubert had taken on the various barmen with Brutus at his side. Together, they’d discovered two more regulars.

  One was a woman one bartender described as the “classic tough old broad,” who’d apparently gone drink-for-drink with one of the off-duty bartenders one night and had left the poor boy so legless, they’d made excuses and hidden him to sleep it off for the next day in the back room.

  The other was infinitely odder.

  “There’s a young woman who apparently drinks nothing but soda water with a cherry in it who comes in to sit at a table in the corner of the bar at least once a day. Fortunately, I was there during her visit today.”

  Although they’d been in the same place, they’d been rather distracted by all the historical society people, so it wasn’t surprising they’d noticed none of this.

  They all waited, as Hubert went on.

  “She’s a believer in quite a few new age things and was covered in crystals and magic wards, some of them nonsense but some of them rather powerful.”

  Everyone nodded as though this made sense, and Armand heard Annabella ask him, What am I missing?

  Some of the new age people are just into nonsense, but others have a scrap of magic passed down in their blood they’re not quite aware of. Some of it will make itself known in other ways. Sort of a low-level, instinctual magic, he explained further, feeling her confusion.

  Ah.

  Hubert went on. “Apparently, she believes she’s the reincarnation of a young woman who was murdered on the ship. She said she comes here every day hoping that she’ll find or sense some clue which will tell her what happened.”

  Armand and Annabella looked at each other. It could be an overactive imagination, but . . .

  “The young girl who was found strangled,” Annabella said.

  Everyone nodded.

  Miss Janeway was about to pick up her part of her findings, but Hubert interrupted. “Brutus thinks the older woman is the sister of the ghost down in the engine room, as well.”

  “Same . . .” Brutus started but then trailed off, making a small growling noise. “. . . no human word for it. Feel/smell/sense.”

  Kitty nodded. “Yes. A . . .” She made a cat noise.

  Yup, we need a dictionary, Annabella noted.

  As well as a master class, yes.

  Letting the ex-animals finish, Miss Janeway moved on. “I’ve researched what I can on the previous, recent victims.”

  She smiled down at the imp.

  “Ivan helped, as well.”

  “The first two were ones I heard about,” Ivan picked up. “It’s amazing what you can hear by listening at the right air vent at the right time.”

  As they smiled at him, he continued.

  “The first victim was a business type who’d been complaining loudly about the ghost tours and ghost books and such on the ship. He didn’t believe in ghosts and thought very firmly that meant no one else should, either.”

  “He was the one who apparently died in his sleep but had the bruises on his arms,” Miss Janeway reminded them.

  “So the ghosts made themselves clear to him to make their point?” Armand wondered.

  Hubert nodded. “And killed him, intentionally or not.”

  “The second one . . .” Ivan went on. “. . .
was not like the others. She wasn’t here for the ghosts—or angry that people believed. She’d been part of a group of college kids who’d been taking a break. I remember her because she’d been trying desperately to get this one guy’s attention, but he was a total playboy and barely noticed she existed.”

  Armand and Annabella exchanged glances, and he saw that she had no more ideas than he did on that one.

  Miss Janeway picked up the narrative. “The third one was apparently seen by several people trying to bribe someone to give him a part of the ship as a souvenir to take home with him. He seemed to have some sort of bet going.”

  Annabella filled in. “And the ghosts—or vengeance wraith or whatever—got angry and chased him over the side?”

  “Possibly,” Miss Janeway agreed. “And of course, the fourth one we all saw before she was killed. Her outburst at dinner was apparently more of what she’d been complaining about her whole stay.”

  “Ripping her heart out certainly seems like it’s stepping up the punishments,” Annabella noted.

  “Maybe,” Miss Janeway sighed. “Or maybe they’re just growing more powerful.”

  THERE’S a disturbing idea, Annabella noted. But, as Miss Janeway went on, they listened.

  “Each attack is more brazen. They start out, as far as I can tell, by simply scaring the first two to death. Even there, it escalates, as they were able to draw the second one into the Grand Salon, rather than having to go to her.”

  Although the “why” was still unanswered.

  As everyone stared at Annabella, Armand’s heart pumped at the thought of her possibly coming close to the same fate. He really wished he could hide her away.

  Miss Janeway went on. “Then, the third one is much the same but is actually physically chased. But the fourth one . . .” She shook her head.

  “Could they have managed to call up something else between the third and fourth one?” Annabella wondered.

  When everyone stared, she shrugged.

  “I mean, for all we know, the first one wasn’t even visible to the victim. He may have been scared to death just by being held down by something he couldn’t see, especially as we don’t know how healthy he was. The second and third must’ve seen it. But maybe three victims was enough blood to bring the vengeance wraith more fully into being or something?”

  They all looked at her.

  “Although, admittedly, I’m still a little fuzzy on how that works.”

  The group stare circled the room.

  “We’ve been thinking of the wraith and the demon as separate possibilities,” Miss Janeway pointed out. “What if they’re actually connected?”

  Armand felt Annabella shiver and held her closer.

  “You think this is a demon?” she asked, her head now under his chin.

  That she was allowing him to hold her this close for this long with people watching told him how upset she really was at the idea. Unusually for an American, Annabella tended to have a very British attitude toward public displays of affection.

  Not that he could blame her for her fears. Having been half in thrall to a demon for most of her life gave a real reason to want to avoid the demonic in all its forms. And that said nothing of the fact that she seemed to be constantly called toward the ghostly side of things.

  His own terrors spiking, Armand shivered a little, too.

  While Miss Janeway looked sympathetic, she explained. “Blood sacrifices are traditional for getting a demon’s attention, as I suppose you’re much too familiar with, dear.”

  Armand saw Kitty reach for Annabella’s hand and hold it tightly.

  “If there’s already some sort of grudge on this ship, as there seems to be with the ghost near the propeller, and it’s looking for an accomplice to help it . . .”

  The idea hung there, like a noose.

  A moment later, Annabella sat up, although she stayed close, taking Armand’s hand.

  “But why now? If it’s the propeller ghost, probably most of the people who were alive when his ship was wrecked, especially any involved in the decisions which led to or excused that, are all dead. Even with the other murders we’ve discovered, it’s unlikely that any of the murderers are still around. If the ghosts could do this, wouldn’t they have banded together and done it when they could still have an effect on those the grudge was against? Why wait till now?”

  They were good questions, left everyone thinking.

  Finally, Miss Janeway spoke. “What if the new element is the demon? If the demon arrives and starts making promises to the ghosts with grudges, starts poisoning the atmosphere for the other ghosts, then . . .”

  Then it could easily become something more.

  “But why would a demon suddenly arrive?” Annabella wondered.

  “The girl. The second victim.” Kitty was staring at nothing, but her mind was clearly working. “What if she were in the Grand Salon because she was planning to make a deal with the demon? What if she brought it onto the ship?”

  It was certainly possible. The ghosts had probably terrified other nonbelievers before without them dying like the first man had. He could just have had a heart condition which the sudden fright had terminally worsened.

  Miss Janeway sighed. “We need to learn more about her.”

  With this disturbing new possibility, they went to their separate investigations once again.

  Unfortunately, only one thing was certain. They needed to get to the bottom of this before tonight—or they might have another death on their hands. And, given who had been targeted twice yesterday, Armand feared much too greatly who that might be.

  Chapter 14

  Annabella

  Annabella wasn’t great with children. When the children were ghosts, she was no more talented.

  As she, Kitty, and Armand were close to the swimming pool, hoping to talk to Miriam’s children, she was proving this again.

  Outside of tours, the entire area was off-limits, as an empty pool was otherwise an invitation to disaster and lawsuits. Even during the tours, guests only wandered the observation area above, so they had had to use a few spells to make it into the actual pool area unnoticed and through locked doors.

  It also meant that no one besides their friends knew where they were.

  That Annabella would have been only too happy to leave the ghosts to themselves went without saying. With the terrifying conclusions they were coming to, had it not been for those who were in danger, she would have been just as happy to run away.

  But that, sadly, wasn’t possible—not and still protect the ones left behind.

  Making the moment even eerier was the fact that, while they had found a light switch, they hadn’t convinced it to turn on. There were no windows in the area, either. Apparently, the ghosts wanted them in the dark.

  As Annabella hadn’t perfected those spells yet, Armand had made them enough light to see, but it was still creepy.

  They stood there, listening.

  Do you hear water lapping? she wondered. She didn’t think it was the ocean outside.

  Yes, Armand agreed. The little tykes are really setting an atmosphere, aren’t they?

  The nonexistent water sloshed, and they stood still, Annabella asking Kitty. “Can you see anything?”

  “Not yet.” The ex-cat’s head turned. “But I think they’re here. Try calling to them.”

  Annabella wasn’t certain why Kitty didn’t, since she’d be the one most likely to hear them, but she supposed cats were famous for not doing what they could get others to.

  Giving in, she spoke into the not-quite-empty darkness. “Children? Are you here?”

  Kitty shook her head, so Annabella tried again.

  “Max? Caroline?”

  She thought she heard a giggle in a far corner, but there was no real humor to it. The way it echoed off the empty pool and the metal sides of the ship made it even more unearthly.

  Did you hear that? she wondered.

  I thought I heard a scrabbling sound. What di
d you hear?

  Children’s laughter. But more the horror movie kind.

  Yay? We’re being successful?

  She smiled at him but went on. “Are you Max and Caroline? Did you come with your mother to America after the war?”

  “Footsteps,” Kitty pointed to a far corner.

  Annabella couldn’t see anything that far, just the dim outline of the large empty pool several feet in front of them. Still, it seemed to be working.

  “You’d both been ill, and you didn’t like the crossing.”

  Kind of an understatement for dying on it, my love, Armand commented.

  Still, Annabella didn’t want to point this out yet. For one thing, she wanted to be sure Kitty could see where the ghosts were before she started really confronting them. Given what they were capable of lately—especially if there were a demon working with them—she didn’t want to suddenly have them sneak up behind her.

  However, she’d started wondering about something else, too. If the pool hadn’t been in use during their crossing, then the children hadn’t been able to swim in it. True, she thought she remembered that it was where some of the bunkbeds had been in the war days, but she suspected something else.

  “Did you want to go in the water?”

  She had thought about asking whether they wanted to swim, but if they’d been very young that wasn’t as likely as wading.

  “Do you not like having the pool empty?”

  Kitty’s eyes were fixed on a dark side of the pool now, as though she were stalking something.

  “More footsteps,” she told them.

  It’s working. Keep going, Armand encouraged, although she hadn’t been intending to stop.

  Suddenly, several things became clear to her, and, though Annabella worried that she was picking up too much of their thoughts, not wanting to get possessed again, she went with some of it.

  “You never really got to be kids, did you? During the war, you had to hide from the bombs.”

  Poor historian though she was, she had definitely heard about the blitz of Britain. There were still signs of it in some parts of the country, if you knew where to look. For the children of the war, it would have been night after night of wondering if you were going to survive till morning, as the bombs fell and fell and fell.