“Got it,” I replied. Ashland had nothing to worry about. I was never letting go of Henri’s hand. “Let’s go!” We emptied the car and walked down the sidewalk away from the gathering partiers. I suddenly wished I’d grabbed my jacket before we left. My sweatshirt provided little protection from the frigid night air. My heart hammered in my chest as I scanned the sidewalks for shadows. There were plenty.
“Go ahead and turn on your flashlight. Just point it down at the ground. We don’t want to attract attention,” Henri whispered to me. With cold, stiff fingers, I slid the button into the on position and breathed a sigh of relief as the shadows around me vanished. Lenore slipped her arm through mine—I didn’t pull away, but I clutched Henri’s hand tighter. In the distance a marching band blasted “On Broadway” to the appreciation of the happy parade watchers—the sound echoed through the narrow streets of downtown Mobile. I could hear the occasional blast of police sirens. In a strange way it comforted me knowing that the police were so close. As if they could actually help me.
Ashland paused on the sidewalk. “We’re getting closer. How are you doing?”
“So far, so good,” I stammered. The cold made my teeth chatter. Lenore’s fingers were about to freeze me to death. Of all of us, she was the least prepared for the cold weather. She wore thin tights and an oversize, long-sleeved t-shirt. Henri was the only one who’d had the good sense to dress warmly, but then again none of us expected to be visiting a graveyard at night. I waved the flashlight on the grass in front of me and carefully stepped only in the light. For some reason, I thought about TD. I hadn’t thought about him as much lately, but the love I had for him had not diminished at all. Some girls had high school sweethearts, and others had college sweethearts. I had neither of those. TD had been it for me, or at least I thought so until he disappeared. In the months following his death, I had a difficult time sorting through my feelings. TD had left me for a ghost. I had been pushed unwillingly into a battle and fought for my life, and all for what? I felt abandoned. Life was completely unfair. I was reminded of one of my favorite quotes from an English literature class. “Life makes fools of us all.”
So why was I thinking of TD now?
“This way, here’s the street,” a Mardi Gras vendor shouted at us. An inflatable fleur-de-lis hat perched upon his head, and his cart was full of parade swag. Before he could begin his spiel, Ashland raised his hand politely and said, “Sorry. Not today.” We left the man staring after us as we shuffled down the street. The parade was a few streets over, so there was nobody else on Virginia Street.
I looked over my shoulder and said to no one in particular, “I wonder why he’s over here.” To my surprise, the man and his cart had disappeared.
“Don’t pay any attention to that. He’s just having fun with you. Keep that light on and keep walking.” Lenore’s furious whisper made my heart pound. I knew exactly who she was talking about. I did as she instructed and kept my eyes on the ground, always stepping only in the light.
“There it is!” The Magnolia Cemetery sign swung gently in the breeze. The gate stood open—it was a foreboding sign, as if someone had expected us to visit.
Carrie Jo paused before we walked inside the graveyard. “There are no lights in here, so you’ll have to lead the way. Just walk straight toward the back; that’s the gate were looking for. Are you going to be okay?”
I swallowed hard. “Oh God, I hope so.” Our little group shuffled together down the narrow walkway. I had been here once before in middle school, but that was a long time ago. I certainly wasn’t an expert on navigating this massive maze of graves. Immediately to the right I noticed a row of mausoleums. Even though there was very little moonlight, they seemed to have an eerie glow about them.
Lenore shook her head. “I ain’t going in there. Too many ghosts. I’ll meet y’all on the other side.” Before we could argue with her, she was already halfway down the sidewalk.
I chewed my lip as I watched her disappear down the street. I wanted a shot of whiskey, but it was too late for liquid courage. “Carrie Jo, I’ve been thinking. What if the gate doesn’t work? What if only you can go through it? What if it takes us somewhere else?”
“We connected the last time, remember? I think we can do it again. What choice do we have?” She looked so hopeful, but I felt anything but confident. The last time we went “ghost busting,” I ended up the prisoner of a murderous spirit who was convinced that I was his dead wife. The wife he hung from a chandelier until she died. Now CJ wanted to go see another ghost. But she was right…what choice did I have?
“Alright. Then let’s do this. Wait.” I reached for Henri and kissed him on the lips. “Just to remind myself that I’m alive.” I smiled up into his worried brown eyes. “It’s okay, right?”
He said, “I plan on keeping you alive. I want a second date.” Despite the situation, I couldn’t help but love him for saying that. I waved the light around nervously, took a deep breath and entered the cemetery. Some of the newest tombstones were located near the entrance. I remembered seeing these on that middle school trip when we came to take rubbings of the tombstones. I didn’t like cemeteries even as a child. I’d found the first suitable grave there was, made my rubbing and waited impatiently for everyone to finish theirs. A few feet into the graveyard, a shell pathway began. It glowed in the dim light. I waved the flashlight around again and gasped. Something ran from the light—it looked like a cat. At least I hoped it was a cat. My eyes couldn’t stop flitting about searching for anything that moved.
“How far is it, CJ?”
“All the way in the back.” The four of us hurried down the pathway together, Henri and I in front, Carrie Jo and Ash right behind us.
Ashland cleared his throat. “Guys, I don’t know whether to tell you this or not, but…”
I spun around, waving my flashlight furiously.
“You’re going to blind us, Detra Ann,” he complained.
“Sorry. What is it?”
“Lenore was right—this place is teeming with ghosts. And they don’t look too happy to see us here.”
Carrie Jo asked, “Anyone we know?”
He paused and looked into the darkness. “Not that I can tell, but the shadows are moving now. Just like before…when whatever it was appeared at the house.”
“Death. It’s Death, Ashland. Just say it.”
“We don’t have time for this, and we can’t stop…go now! Run!” He didn’t have to tell me twice. I took off running toward the distant gate. Carrie Jo was beside me. I paused for a second when a looming figure appeared on the right of the path. It was a massive angel statue with his arms stretched to the heavens. “Oh Lord!” I whispered and kept running. The light from my Maglite bounced as I ran, and I could hear the whispers collecting around me. Ashland was right. The shadows were gathering, and now there were many ghosts to contend with. In my mind I could see them reaching for me, demanding that I return to their realm to take my proper place among those who had surrendered life.
No! It’s not my time!
My chest burned—it had been a long time since I had gone for a run. I was so out of shape, but adrenaline-fueled fear kicked in and propelled me forward ahead of my friends. I turned the corner of the path, and a gruesome-looking cherub sat perched on top of a moldy gravestone. Long ago, some grieving family member had thought the fat-faced figure would be a fitting tribute to their lost loved one. I couldn’t disagree more. Ahead of me, I could see a looming shadow that covered the walkway. I waved the Maglite at it, but it didn’t disappear. I came to a screeching halt, and my friends piled behind me. All of us were panting for breath.
“Oh my God!”
“Go around it!” Carrie Jo screamed at me.
Clumsily, I tripped up a small round hill, and the flashlight flew from my hand. Carrie Jo grabbed it and reached for my hand, pulling me to my feet. I heard a swishing sound and felt a disturbance in the air around me. Someone or something was there—I just couldn’t see
them.
“You can’t stop! Believe me,” Ashland yelled at me. My friends nearly picked me up off the ground and carried me to the back gate. I was almost in tears and not thinking at all.
“Come on, baby. Almost there,” Henri said, looking over his shoulder as he cleared a small row of graves running behind me. It was the first time he’d ever called me baby. I liked it. I suddenly realized that I did love Henri. It was different from my love for TD, but it was love nonetheless.
CJ waved the flashlight at the back gate—only fifty feet away. “Almost there!” she shouted over the growing whispers. Suddenly a flash of light appeared in front of the gate. Then the light disappeared, leaving the figure behind. “Lenore?” she asked.
It wasn’t Lenore. I knew that figure just like I knew my own. That was Terrence Dale. I snatched the light from Carrie Jo and shined it at the gate again. He didn’t disappear. He stood staring at us, his face not unfriendly or reproachful. It was him! I heard Henri gasp beside me. “Is that…”
“TD…” I whispered, tears filling my eyes. He wasn’t dead at all but completely alive. There was even a halo of light around him. Had we gotten it wrong somehow—was he alive but stuck in the past? Maybe he needed our help to break free from wherever he was stuck. I couldn’t think straight, and I was freezing. I could see my breath now in the light. He looked directly at me and gave me a heartbreaking smile. Then he vanished.
“No!” I yelled and ran toward the gate. “Terrence!”
Chapter 15—Carrie Jo
Before I could stop her, Detra Ann flew through the gate and disappeared, taking the flashlight with her. The three of us stood in the dark cemetery and stared at the gaping entrance. “She’s gone,” Henri said. “I was supposed to protect her, and now she’s gone.” He banged on the gate and walked in circles, his hands on his head. He let out an anguished cry. “Do something! Where is she?”
“She passed through the gate, Henri. She didn’t wait for us. She was supposed to wait.” I didn’t know what else to say. I needed a moment to think.
“What are we supposed to do now?”
“Henri!” A voice called out from the darkness of the adjoining street. Lenore appeared on the other side of the gate. “Where is she?”
“She’s gone.”
“I was afraid of this.” Lenore tapped her lip with her finger. “Well, time for plan B. Do we have one?” Everyone stared at me.
I paced in front of the gate. No, we didn’t. My half-cocked plan A was all I had, and now Detra Ann was gone.
“Ashland, what do you see? Are the ghosts still here?”
He peered into the inky blackness and said, “No. They are all gone. There were dozens of them here just a minute ago.”
“Shoot! When she ran through the gate, it must have closed the connection.”
“How do you know that?” Lenore asked me suspiciously. “You done this before?”
“Kind of. We went through the wall together at the hospital. And when I walked through the gate the other night, I ended up in the basilica. Look, we all saw her. The gate was open, and now it’s not and all the activity stopped. That’s got to mean something, doesn’t it?”
“She’s gone.” Henri sat on the ground and stared into the darkness.
“We’re not giving up. We have to go to the church. Maybe the gate works both ways.”
“Sounds like plan B to me. Let’s go. I’m freezing.”
I walked through the open gate, closed my eyes and half hoped it would work, but nothing happened. Ashland looked glum, Henri wasn’t talking at all, and Lenore acted like this was all a joke. As we walked toward the church, the music got louder. We would have to cross the parade route to get to St. Joseph Street. The Order of Polka Dots sailed down the street on vibrant floats, while the crowds roared, pleading for beads, moon pies and candy.
“Carrie Jo? You okay?” Lenore stood inches from my face. “Hey!”
“Yeah, I’m okay.” I suddenly realized how lovely Lenore could be if she actually cared about what she looked like. She grabbed my hand and dragged me behind her as we dashed across the street.
“Lenore! Wait! You’re hurting me.” I snatched my hand away.
She walked toward me and got in my face again. “You don’t have time. Death has her, and he ain’t gonna wait,” she shouted at me over the music. I waved to Ashland and Henri, who were stuck on the other side of the street. A police officer on horseback stepped into my line of sight so I couldn’t see them anymore. “Carrie Jo, listen to me. Don’t get them involved, please. Trust me when I tell you that it can only be bad. We can do this together. Let’s go. They know where we are going, and they’ll catch up.” A drunken reveler pushed me as he chased after a float. Another one brushed up against me and leered at me. One thing was for sure—we couldn’t stand here on the street. Maybe Lenore was right. Could I really put Ashland and Henri in danger? I’d already managed to lose Detra Ann. I looked one more time toward the street, but the crowd was growing and people were pushing and shoving.
“Let’s go,” I shouted back at her and began following her through the crowd toward St. Joseph and Clairborne Streets. People with painted faces and novelty lighted headbands circled me and shouted, “Happy Mardi Gras!” A man in the parade spun me about playfully as I struggled against him, feeling a surge of panic. Finally I broke free from the crowd and pushed to the edge where I could see the red and white building of the cathedral in the distance. Lenore took my hand, and together we ran as fast as we could. I glanced behind me, half hoping I would see Ashland and Henri close, but they were nowhere to be found. We ran to the cast-iron gates, and I held on to the cold metal as I tried to catch my breath. I could plainly see that the gates and the church doors had been locked. I swore under my breath. Grabbing my hand again, Lenore led me down the sidewalk.
“Give me just a second. I have to catch my breath.”
“We’re running out of time. This way.” Lenore pulled me toward the back of the building. This was the side that faced St. Joseph Street. I’d never explored this area before.
“Maybe we should call someone and ask them to let us in.” I knew that was a stupid suggestion, but I was out of ideas. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do even if I could get inside.
“Look! We can get in that way!” There were some narrow concrete stairs that led down to the basement of the church. That was unusual in itself, as most buildings in Mobile didn’t have cellars. Especially here in the downtown area, as close as it was to Mobile Bay. Yet here it was right in front of me. She tugged on the gate twice, but it would not budge.
I looked over my shoulder again, half expecting to see the red-haired caretaker come running toward me, but the streets were empty. “Let’s do it together.” Lenore nodded, and we shoved hard on the gate. To my surprise, it worked: the gate rattled open, and we walked down the stairs, closing the gate behind us. The rusty old latch cut my finger, but I managed to wriggle it back into place without locking it. Better to make it look closed so no one suspected anything.
What were the chances that the door would be unlocked? Lenore blew on her cold fingers and then turned the round knob. It opened with a click, and she smiled at me as if to say, “See, I told you this would work.” We walked inside the church basement, and I was immediately assaulted by the musty smell. When was the last time anyone had aired this room out? Lenore was fiddling with a lighter she retrieved from somewhere. She flicked the flame and moved it around slowly so we could get our bearings. “Looks like a mission closet or something. Hey! There are some coats!” She walked a few feet away and began digging through a pile.
“We can’t take those. They belong to the church, Lenore.”
“Okay, you freeze to death, but I’m borrowing a coat.”
Standing there shivering while she slid on a warm brown coat was more than I could bear. “Alright, if we’re just borrowing them.” I grabbed a long black trench with an insulated lining and slid it on. I immediately felt warmer.
Seeing a pile of woolen hats, I grabbed one of those too. “Where is that lighter? We have to get upstairs.”
Lenore flicked the lighter again, and together we searched for the door. We found it, but it was locked, and no amount of banging would open it.
“Shoot! There has to be another door.” I felt along the dusty walls, and Lenore walked in the opposite direction doing the same.
“Hey!” she yelled. “I think I found something over here. Come help me.” I ran to her, practically tripping over a box of books that someone had left on the floor. “It’s in the floor. Look!” Next to the back wall was a small hatch in the floor with a metal chain attached to it. “Help me.” Together we tugged on the chain, and the hatch opened. The smell of moldy earth rose up to greet us. Lenore cast the light around the entrance quickly, but there wasn’t much to see beyond a set of dodgy-looking wooden stairs.
“I don’t know. Should we be going down those things?”
“It’s the only option we have, isn’t it?” Without another word, she was climbing down the ladder. I heard the wood creak and complain under her weight, and she was smaller than me.
I heard a thud coming from the entrance of the cellar. It sounded like someone was coming toward us. I hurried down the ladder and reached into the darkness. “Lenore!”
She clicked the lighter, but it wouldn’t work. “I’m here. Take my hand.” I did, and she clicked again until the lighter released a small flame. “This way.”
The historian in me couldn’t help but pay attention to the wooden beam that ran along the top of the passageway, the dirty gas lamps that hung from the walls and the random items that I occasionally tripped over like a shovel and a small metal cart.
“What on earth is this place?” she asked as she waved furiously at a cobweb.
“I’d say an underground railroad.” I squinted around us in the dim light.
The Ultimate Seven Sisters Collection Page 60
