Ghost Squad

by Claribel A. Ortega

  “What better place to bury the truth than with the dead?”

  “That was close.” Lucely put her helmet on over her massive curls and got on her bike.

  “I felt like I was going to barf, I was so scared,” Syd said.

  “Me too.” Lucely shook her head. “So, what time do you think we should go?”

  Syd looked confused. “Go where?”

  “Do you know who Anna McMaster is?”

  Syd shook her head no.

  “There’s a mausoleum in the cemetery next to my house that belonged to the McMasters family,” Lucely said. “They had a daughter named Anna who ran away when she was seventeen—”

  “Do you think she could be the Anastasia we’re looking for?” Syd cut in.

  Lucely hitched an eyebrow at Syd with an expression that meant you gonna let me finish? Lucely continued, “Years passed with no word from her, so Anna’s parents thought she had died and decided to bury a casket with some of her belongings. Maybe the missing pages were buried with her.”

  “Are you suggesting we go and dig up someone’s grave?!” Syd looked like she was about to pass out. “How the heck do you know all that anyways?”

  Lucely laughed. “From helping out my dad with the ghost tour, duh! And there’s only one way to find out. I saw a ring of skeleton keys near where we found the book; maybe one of those will unlock the mausoleum. We’ll have to sneak back in later tonight when Babette is asleep to retrieve them.”

  “Deal! I like this reckless side of you, Lucely. I just wish it didn’t have to be because of the whole being-kicked-out-of-your-house thing.”

  “I know, me neither. Who knows, maybe something good will come out of it,” Lucely said, but as she peddled away from Babette’s, her stomach sank. Something told her this was only the beginning of their problems.

  IN THE PAST HOUR, Lucely had eaten three Oreos, one pickle, a few crackers, and a handful of old candy she definitely should not have had. And she was still hungry.

  Since her dad was always working on the tour or walking around town handing out flyers to drum up business, Lucely had recently been promoted to unsupervised stove use, and a grilled cheese sandwich sounded perfect right about now.

  Guilt gnawed at Lucely as she melted butter in the cast iron pan. Through the kitchen window, she could see faint twinkling within the willow’s branches.

  “The key to grilled cheese is to use as much butter as possible,” a familiar voice said from behind her.

  Lucely jumped. “I told you not to sneak up on me like that, Manny! And I already put, like, a whole stick of butter in.”

  “You need two, minimum.” Manny smiled, hopping up to sit on the counter next to Lucely to supervise.

  Manny was fifteen—or at least he had been ten years ago, before the accident. He would’ve been an adult now, probably with a job and maybe even kids of his own. Instead he looked much the same as he did in all the pictures they had of him. His dark hair was cropped close to his scalp, and his fresh, barbershop-shaved part curved to the right. A small, gold hoop earring gleamed from one ear, and his deep dimples showed whenever he smiled. Now he was just a tiny bit see-through.

  “Hey, Manny, do you have any idea what happened to Mamá?” Lucely flipped her sandwich in the pan, the smell of browning butter filling the air.

  Her cousin shrugged. “Dunno. I thought she was just asleep at first, but it’s weird … Ever since last night, I haven’t been able to feel her spirit energy.”

  Lucely’s heart dropped, and she turned to him. “I hope she’s okay.”

  “I’m sure she is.” Manny smiled. “She’s old, even for a spirit, but she’s strong. I’ll bet she’s just taking one of Babette’s power naps.” Some of the spirit family knew her from their living years and some from her visits to Lucely’s house, but they all knew about Babette.

  Lucely’s face softened, a smile reaching her lips. But as she sat down to eat her sandwich, she noticed something was off with Manny. He looked normal, for a ghost. But he looked scared.

  “You okay, Manny?”

  He sat at the table opposite Lucely and looked down. “It all feels wrong, prima. For as long as I’ve been here, living like this, I’ve had moments of sadness for my old life. But for the most part, I’ve been happy. Happy to be around family and still be able to talk and joke and do stuff. Lately though, I’m starting to forget things. Things about when I was alive. And what that felt like.” He looked up, and his eyes were watering. And something else. They were red.

  Lucely’s heart thumped hard, her breathing jagged. A puff of mist came out from her mouth, and she suddenly realized how cold it had become. She looked down, and her grilled cheese sandwich had sprouted tiny icicles along the edges.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know.” Manny’s body began to levitate. Just like Mamá’s had in the cemetery.

  The table started to shake, gently at first and then building to a rattle like there was an earthquake in their kitchen. Lucely was up and on the other side of the room as quickly as she could manage while keeping her eyes on Manny.

  “Manny! Please, come down.” She didn’t know what else to say or do. She was scared for her cousin. Scared for herself.

  “Something bad is coming.” Manny’s eyes opened wide. “It’s coming with the rain.”

  “What are you talking about? What’s coming?” Lucely wanted to run to her room and hide under the covers. Instead, she stood her ground and kept her eyes on her cousin. She tried to slow her breathing and stay calm, but she could almost smell the twisted iron and burnt rubber wafting around her cousin, like a strange and deadly aura.

  “Manny, you’re safe. I’m here. Please come down.” Lucely reached up once more and this time, Manny reached back. His fingers looked cold and fragile, like they were made of porcelain. But before their hands could fully connect, Manny’s eyes flashed bright like a bolt of lightning, and Lucely shielded her face with her free arm.

  When she opened her eyes, she was surrounded by trees, a starless sky stretching out above her. “Manny?” She looked around, but no one was there. She took a tentative step through the brush, and a willow tree appeared in the clearing ahead. Not just any tree, but her tree. She turned around, but her house wasn’t there. Instead, greenery encompassed her, twisting and blooming everywhere she looked. It was as if the forest was not just alive but breathing, trying to reach out for her. Trees and wild bushes formed a small enclosure, a grove that seemed separated from the world. But still Lucely felt in her heart that this place was connected to her home.

  “Where am I?” she asked. Her voice was small and afraid.

  “You’re home,” a familiar voice said.

  “Manny! Are you okay?”

  “He’s fine for now.” Macarena’s voice came to her, loud at first before fading away, stretched thin like a piece of taffy.

  “But we won’t be if they’re not stopped.” Manny was beside Lucely once more, back to his old self and not scary like he was in the kitchen moments before.

  “What are you talking about? Who are they?” Lucely asked.

  Manny nodded toward the willow tree, and Lucely watched as fireflies flew in ribbons of light around it, before going out all at once.

  “Where’d they—”

  “Watch.” Tía Milagros appeared beside Lucely, one hand on her shoulder. “And don’t be afraid. This is from a time that has already passed.”

  The moment she’d finished speaking, a roar ripped through the air, the blue sky churning until it was so dark it seemed to be made of ink. Lucely shrank back, fear clawing at every cell in her body. Everything about this moment was impossible.

  From the darkness, a creature emerged, a monstrous shadowy thing that made the willow tree look like a bush in comparison. Its body and limbs seemed to be made of a murky white mist. Where its mouth and eyes should’ve been there were gaping black voids.

  Lucely opened her mouth to scream but stopped when she felt the
firm yet calming grip of Tía Milagros’s bony hand on her shoulder.

  The monster circled the tree, planning its next move. It clawed at the bark and howled, bringing its hand back against its chest as if it were burned. The monster tried to shake the tree and throw a boulder at it, but an invisible force kept all its attacks at bay. Finally, the monster began to run laps around the tree, picking up speed until it was enveloped in what looked like … like a hurricane. The willow stood steadfast, untouched in the eye of the storm, as the monster grew in size and strength.

  Wind and rain whipped around Lucely and her ghost family, stinging her skin and blowing her hair back, but they stood firm too. Lucely knew this was something she was meant to witness. And though the raging wind and her own fear were fighting against her, trying with all their might to pin her to the ground, she would not budge.

  The willow tree shook so violently that Lucely feared it might crack right down the middle, as if struck by lightning. Then a vibrant yellow-and-orange light began to bloom from within the maelstrom, spreading outward until it enveloped the tree itself. A legion of voices rang out at once.

  “Away, away

  We shall not fear.

  Away, foul beast,

  And far from here!”

  The mist monster screamed as it was thrown backward into the brush. As the fight continued, a soft voice found its way out of the masses and wrapped itself around Lucely, warm and comforting like her favorite wool blanket. It was a voice as clear as a church bell, swooping and curling around her like a small, cream-and-brown palmchat in flight. It was a voice she would know anywhere.

  “Mamá,” Lucely whispered. Her own voice seemed to echo and amplify in the storm, as if it were being carried by magic.

  “The spirit of the cocuyos have been here for centuries, mi niña. Protecting our family and St. Augustine from evil spirits who wish to bring nothing but destruction.” Mamá’s voice whirled around them, like an arrow made of wind and air and light. “Our family is one of just two ancient orders charged with keeping this city and its inhabitants safe. But there is a new danger approaching. One that threatens to take us all, including the living, into the underworld.” Mamá appeared before her, unfazed by the monster’s attacks.

  Just then, the mist monster launched itself from the brush, flames erupting from its mouth.

  “Mamá!” Lucely cried out, but the fire seemed to extinguish itself as soon as it reached her abuela. “I’m not strong like you. I’m just a kid. How am I supposed to stop whatever evil is coming?”

  “You don’t have to do it alone,” Mamá said, just as she transformed into a spark of brilliant blue light. The light shot up into the air, and then with a giant thud Mamá’s spirit, now at least the height of the willow tree, landed next to Lucely, her slippered feet spread apart and her cane cracking the ground beneath her. Her gray hair moved like the waves of the ocean around her wrinkled face. She looked fierce and terrible and powerful. The mist monster cowered behind a bush, its fire reduced to ash. And Mamá floated toward Lucely.

  “You don’t have to do it alone because we are with you, always.” Mamá ran one giant finger along Lucely’s cheek and smiled. “I am with you always.” Mamá returned to her normal size and placed one hand on Lucely’s heart. “Here.”

  The trees surrounding Lucely began to blend together until the entire scene looked like a Van Gogh painting. An instant later, Lucely was back in her kitchen where her cousin lay motionless on the floor.

  “Manny!” Lucely ran over and knelt down next to him. She reached out a hand to feel for a heartbeat before remembering that he hadn’t had one for ten years. All she could do was sit and wait.

  Five minutes passed, and Manny still didn’t wake up. Tears filled Lucely’s eyes as she thought that she’d lost her cousin forever.

  Manny groaned as he strained to move. “That was weird.”

  Lucely bolted to attention. “Are you okay? Did … did you see that mist monster thing too?”

  “Yeah, but I’m not sure how. Or why. I just felt angry. Like pure rage was flowing through my veins.” Manny sat up, his hands shaking. “It was like something was controlling me. I’m sorry, Luce. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “I’m just glad you’re okay.” Lucely wrapped her arms around her cousin and squeezed tightly. “You could never really scare me, Manny. No matter what weirdo things you do.”

  Manny laughed, pushing her away in mock offense.

  “But what did Mamá mean when she said that our family is ‘one of two ancient orders’ protecting St. Augustine? And why is this happening now?”

  “I don’t know, Luce. But you heard Mamá. Something evil is coming.” The look in Manny’s eyes was one of fear, the same look Mamá had had right before she went haywire.

  Lucely shivered. Though she would never admit it to Manny, whatever was happening terrified her, and she was ashamed.

  “Don’t worry, cuz. I’m going to find a way to fix this.”

  LUCELY CHECKED HER WATCH for the seven-hundredth time as she waited at the end of her street. It was 9:52 p.m., and Syd still hadn’t shown up. She bit her lip, wondering if she’d gotten caught sneaking out. But Syd was slicker than any kid or adult Lucely knew. There was no way she’d gotten caught if Lucely hadn’t.

  A few more minutes passed, and despite the light chill in the air, Lucely started to sweat. At least she wasn’t totally alone out there. Her cousin Macarena flew around inside the mason jar Lucely had attached to her bike. When she had told the fireflies of their plan, Macarena jumped at the chance to join them on their late-night escapade. Even as a ghost, her FOMO was real.

  The cemetery was close—just a few minutes walk—but the thought of going without Syd was too scary, especially after what she’d seen lately. And without the key, she had no way of getting into Anastasia’s mausoleum.

  Lucely furrowed her brow, trying to think of a backup plan, when Syd’s bike finally screeched to a halt next to her.

  “What took you so long?!” Lucely asked.

  “My dad was practicing for an upcoming concert, so it took him longer to go to bed than usual. Mom, on the other hand, was snoring before the saxophone even reached his lips,” Syd joked.

  Lucely snorted. “Let’s go before it gets any later. I don’t want to run into Babette when she’s got the late-night munchies.”

  A solitary lamp stood at the entrance of the cove where Babette’s house tucked itself away from the rest of the world. It looked like a completely different place in the dark. A sign reading A WITCH LIVES HERE had been nailed to a tree with the words Babette’s Baubles scribbled beneath. Beyond the sign, the house stood in the middle of a swampy lake, a twisted shadow of a structure that seemed to be craning its neck to snoop on the woods surrounding it. It looked almost like a creepy black-and-white movie come to life, except for the solitary splash of color—Babette’s purple front door.

  “I hate this,” Lucely said. “It’s so much creepier at night.”

  “Come on. It’s just Babette’s.” Syd’s voice was confident, but Lucely knew by the way she kept touching her braids that she was scared too.

  “We’re going to have to take the footbridge,” Lucely said.

  “No way!” Syd shot Lucely a horrified look. “I am not going over that thing at night.”

  “Look, we have to sneak into Babette’s house one way or another to get the key to the mausoleum. And if we take the rowboat, we’ll be caught for sure. That is, if we don’t flip over and drown in the dead of night first. Plus, that swamp gives me the willies.”

  Syd raised one finger and opened her mouth to argue, but Lucely jumped back in before she could say anything.

  “And if we have to make a break for it, we’ll have to row back across so Babette won’t notice the boat is on the wrong shore. It would be a lot simpler to just creep across the footbridge.”

  “If we fall in, I’m telling Babette you hypnotized me.”

  “Fine.” Lucely smiled trium
phantly. It wasn’t easy to win an argument with Syd.

  “I don’t know why mausoleums need locks anyway. It’s not like people are dying to break in.”

  Lucely shook her head before cracking a smile. “Okay, that one was pretty good.”

  They leaned their bikes against a tree and crept toward the footbridge.

  “You go first,” Syd whispered.

  “I’m shocked that you’d sacrifice me like this. I thought we were friends.”

  “It was your idea to take this cursed path,” Syd protested.

  Both girls kept their voices low.

  “Let’s go across together at least,” Lucely said.

  “Fine, you owe me so much, I hope you know that.”

  They held hands as they stepped onto the bridge together.

  “I guess this is how I go,” Syd muttered. But despite the bridge being super old and creaky, they got across without incident.

  Lucely let out a sigh of relief. “See?”

  “Yeah, yeah. Come on before Babette’s witchy senses wake her up.”

  Syd found the spare key Babette kept hidden beneath a frog statuette that had been enchanted to look and, unfortunately, feel real.

  Once inside, they crept toward the library. Lucely said a silent prayer that the house would be too tired to play any tricks on them tonight. The light from Syd’s phone reflected off a mirror, causing them both to jump, thinking they’d for sure been caught.

  A low, clipped meow came from the hallway, and Lucely and Syd spun around in tandem.

  “It’s just Chunk,” Lucely whispered. “Come here, girl.”

  Lucely held her hand out, and Chunk shuffled toward her.

  “Meow?”

  “We’re just looking for a key, Chunk,” Syd said.

  Even though Chunk was a cat and couldn’t understand what they were saying, Lucely and Syd always spoke to her as if she were human.

  Chunk collapsed dramatically on Lucely’s feet and looked up. “Meow.” This time her cry seemed to hold a warning.