Spirits of Ash and Foam

by Greg Weisman

  “Walls are harder than doors?” Rain asked.

  “No, going through felt the same. But I was hanging off the edge there, and I nearly fell.”

  Rain turned to Charlie. “He nearly fell.”

  Charlie frowned and shook his head. “Wait a minute. This is exactly what I’ve always wondered about in movies. Ghosts can move through walls, so how come they don’t drop down through the floor? I mean, is he even standing on the floor?”

  Both ’Bastian and Rain instantly looked down. Then Rain abruptly sprung off the bed into a low crouch to study ’Bastian’s feet. She let out a tiny gasp. “He’s not. He’s sort of floating. I mean he’s near the floor, but one foot’s a bit above it and the other’s a little ways … in it!”

  Charlie smiled and even made a fist, as if he had just scored a point. “So the floor. It’s really just a habit!”

  Rain turned to a stunned ’Bastian. “It’s like when you were in the water yesterday. You just stood there. Upright. Like you were on a platform or something that wasn’t there at all.”

  “That’s right,” Bastian remembered. “I could even feel the water moving through me. And when I wanted to sink down or float up, I just … did.”

  “See, he can control it,” Charlie said, almost as if he had heard the dead old man’s words. “’Bastian, try to sink down through the floor. Just concentrate and see if you can.”

  Now even ’Bastian had caught the bug of the kids’ excitement. He took another breathless breath and tried to focus on DOWN. And …

  “It’s working,” Rain called out. “He’s sliding right through the floor!”

  “I knew it!” Charlie whisper-shouted.

  ’Bastian allowed himself to pass all the way down and into the currently deserted lobby of the Nitaino. He wondered—if he kept going, would he pass right through the Earth itself to the other side? But just shy of the lobby floor, he was brought up short by a tug he recognized.

  Seconds later, Rain turned to Charlie. “He’s back.”

  “I couldn’t go very far,”’Bastian told her. “The zemi. I’m still tied to it. Can’t seem to move more than ten yards or so away from it. In any direction.”

  “What about up?” Charlie asked.

  Rain stared at him. Now it really did seem like Charlie was listening in.

  Charlie stared back. “He tried down. See if he can go up. You know, see if he can fly.”

  “Well,” Rain said, “he just came up from the lobby.”

  Charlie considered this. “Is that the same thing? I mean, I’m asking. I’m not sure.”

  Rain turned to ’Bastian, who squinted his eyes and thought UP.

  This was tougher going. He rose four feet or so off the floor, feeling the whole time like he was swimming through molasses. After considerable mental effort, his head poked through Rain’s ceiling, past a layer of insulation, and through the floor of his own old room.

  Below, Rain watched his progress. She could still see him from about the waist down, and it suddenly registered that her Papa’s upper half was in his room. His room, which was soon to be her room. She’d have to tell him—ask him—soon. He sank back down. Soon, but not right now.

  “Up is harder,” he said as he descended to the floor.

  She turned to Charlie to bring him up to speed. “Up is harder. And he’s still tied to the zemi.”

  “Well, then put it down,” Charlie said. “Maybe it’ll follow him if you’re not holding it.”

  She was impressed. “You’re just full of good ideas tonight.”

  Feeling the heat in his cheeks, Charlie looked away and shrugged.

  Rain placed the snake charm on the floor, then turned to ’Bastian. “Try to go down the hall. We’ll see if it slides across the floor after you.”

  ’Bastian nodded and vanished through Rain’s door again. Seconds passed. The kids watched the zemi, as it did … absolutely nothing.

  Soon ’Bastian was back, looking and feeling quite frustrated. “It’s no good. I tried walking; I tried concentrating. But it’s like being tied to an invisible chain attached to a stake!” Rain shook her head. She couldn’t hear him. Increasingly aggravated, he kicked at the charm, remembering in the instant before impact that his foot would simply pass right through it.

  Except that it didn’t. His foot made contact—contact he could feel—and the zemi skittered across the floor and under Rain’s bed.

  Charlie leaped to his feet. “I saw that! What happened?”

  Rain was still sitting on her bed, stunned. “He kicked it. He just kicked it, and it moved.”

  Belatedly, she dropped off her bed to reach beneath it, but ’Bastian held out a hand to stop her. “Wait!” he said. “Let me try.”

  She heard nothing, but his hand was enough, and she stepped away to watch. ’Bastian allowed himself to sink beneath the floor up to his neck. Then he walked forward—acutely aware at this point that he wasn’t actually walking on anything. He passed from Rain’s sight under the bed. All she could see now was his faint ghostly glow. Then he emerged and rose … zemi in hand.

  “Whoa,” Charlie said as he watched the snake charm float and bob through the air. He glanced over at the full-length mirror on the back of Rain’s open closet door. It was the same deal in the glass: floating zemi, but no ’Bastian.

  Rain whispered excitedly, “Try putting it on.”

  ’Bastian slipped it onto his right wrist. It felt comfortable there, as it had for the last sixty-nine years of his life. He waved his arm around. The charm stayed in place.

  “Try walking with it now,” Charlie said.

  ’Bastian nodded enthusiastically. Leading with his left foot, he walked toward and through the door. But the zemi was still solid enough, and he couldn’t get his right wrist through.

  All Charlie saw was the snake charm bumping up against the door multiple times. He ran over and called out to ’Bastian, “Come back in. I’ll open it.” Charlie saw the armband move backward from the door. He opened it and peeked both ways down the hall to see if anyone was coming. “No one’s there. Try walking with it now.” Charlie watched the armband float around the door and down the hallway.

  Rain crossed to see, but Charlie held his arm out. “No, wait there. Let’s see if it’s just the snake thing he’s tied to or if it’s you too.”

  It was just the snake thing. ’Bastian walked with the zemi on his wrist all the way to the far end of the hall, an easy thirty feet from Rain’s door. He came back and reentered—just as the door to Room Three opened and a tall Caucasian woman with long dark hair came out. While locking her door, she glanced over at Charlie and smiled. He panicked and ducked back inside, slamming the door shut behind him.

  Both ’Bastian and Rain stared at Charlie. “What?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. We just … He needs to be more careful.”

  “I need to be more careful. Young man, I was following your instructions!”

  Neither teen could hear him. Charlie said, “A lady came out of one of the guest rooms and nearly spotted him.”

  Rain waved off the concern. “She wouldn’t have been able to see him.”

  “Okay, fine. But she nearly spotted the zemi floating down the hall. Same difference.”

  This sank in, and Rain turned to ’Bastian, saying, “We do need to be careful. If someone sees it, they’ll take it away. I can’t risk losing it or you.”

  ’Bastian started to speak, then realized he’d simply be talking to himself. He took off the band and handed it back to Rain, who was about to put it back on.

  Then Charlie said, “Can I try it?”

  Rain shook off the idea. “What good would that do?”

  “I don’t know,” Charlie said. “Maybe nothing. I know I’m not the Searcher, but the zemi’s like an upgrade. You could see the ghosts without it, but you need it to hear them. So maybe if I put it on, I’ll be able to smell ’em or something.”

  Rain chuckled, but she was still somewhat re
luctant to hand it over. On the other hand, she couldn’t come up with a legitimate reason not to, so she held it out to Charlie.

  He took it from her gingerly, as if expecting an electric shock, but the charm was static-free. His father’s oversized watch loosely occupied his left wrist, so he slowly placed the zemi on his right. He thought about sliding it up to wear on his biceps as Rain did—and in truth, his arm was just skinny enough to make that feasible—but he recalled that ’Bastian always wore the charm on his wrist and left it alone. Then slowly he raised his eyes to look at Rain and ’Bastian.

  “Wow,” he whispered.

  “What?!” Rain and ’Bastian asked in unison.

  “Totally nothing. I still can’t see him. Can’t even smell him. Tell him to say something.”

  ’Bastian said, “Now you want me to bark on command? I ama trained seal.”

  Rain saw his lips moving and sent an inquiring look Charlie’s way.

  “Nothing,” Charlie said. He took off the zemi and handed it to Rain.

  She could see he was pretty disappointed. “Maybe you’ve got to be part of the family,” she offered.

  “Yeah, I suppose…” Then, a little excited, “But that would mean your mom…”

  Rain shook her head. “She’s the same as you. She hasn’t been able to see him.”

  “I know, but maybe she could with the zemi. And if she can…”

  Now Rain was getting excited. “If she can, I can tell her. About me being the Searcher. All of it.”

  Charlie screwed up his face. “Well, maybe not all of it…”

  Rain thought about that and agreed. “Yeah. Like not the stowing-away-on-Callahan’s-boat part…”

  “Or the riding-on-the-haunted-plane-that-nearly-crashed part.”

  “Yeah, we’d be grounded till we were ghosts.”

  “But you could tell her the rest,”’Bastian said quietly. “Or I could. I could talk to my daughter.”

  Rain looked at her Papa and made a decision.

  Racing down the back stairs, they found Iris in the laundry room off the kitchen. They stopped in front of her and stood there, rather stupidly. Iris folded towels and waited for Rain or Charlie to speak. When neither did—as the two of them and ’Bastian were all trying to formulate some kind of plan to initiate this latest experiment—Iris finally said, “Yes?”

  Rain looked from Charlie to ’Bastian, but both stared hopefully at her. So, with no good ideas or excuses coming to mind, Rain simply took off the armband and said, “Try this on.”

  She held the charm out to her mother. Iris placed the folded towel in a white plastic laundry basket and shook her head. “No, baby, Dad wanted you to have it.”

  “I know,” Rain said, irritated. “I’m not giving it to you.”

  “Oh.” Iris—to her surprise—felt a little let down.

  “I, uh, I just want to see how it looks…”

  “On a real woman!” Charlie offered, trying to be helpful.

  Rain turned on him. “What is that supposed to mean? I’m not real enough for you?”

  “No, I didn’t mean real. Older. On an older woman.”

  Both Rain and Iris shot the boy a sour face. ’Bastian tilted his head away and scratched one spectral eyebrow with a phantom pinky. Poor kid’s doomed now.

  Charlie corrected again. “Grown-up. A grown-up woman. An … uh … I’ll just be quiet now.”

  For a second, Rain was annoyed enough to have lost track of why they were there. Charlie pleaded with his eyes and then nodded toward the zemi.

  Still frowning, Rain turned back to her mother. “Ignore him. It’s just … I want to see how it looks against your skin from a distance.” Charlie could see Rain was proud of the feeble fib, and he was relieved she had found her smile again.

  Iris wasn’t exactly convinced, but at this point it seemed easier to comply. She took the snake charm from Rain and placed it on her left wrist. She waved her hand in the air. “How’s this?”

  Rain glanced at ’Bastian and said, “Let me just step back.”

  She did, and ’Bastian stepped forward. “Iris? Little Flower? It’s me. It’s your father. Can you see me? Can you hear me?”

  But Iris was unaware of his presence and was considerably more curious about her daughter’s strange behavior. She watched Rain stare at her and then away. Charlie was doing something similar. She decided this was some inside joke at her expense. “All right, what’s going on here? What do you keep looking at, Rain?”

  “Nothing,” Rain said wistfully as ’Bastian’s head sank sadly. “It’s just … just the light reflecting off the charm. It makes pretty patterns on the wall.”

  Iris turned and waved her arm again, discovering that this much at least was true. A mosaic of light, mostly gold but with flecks of blue, glinted in time to her movements on the wall behind the washing machine. Iris also discovered there was something about wearing her father’s wristband that made her melancholy—a feeling she had been struggling to fight off since he had passed. Quickly, she removed it and handed it back to Rain.

  “Okay, are we done?”

  Rain and Charlie both looked disappointed, though Iris could hardly fathom why. She picked up the laundry basket and started up the back stairs.

  Just then the front desk bell rang. Iris paused a few steps up. “Rain, please see what that is.”

  “Sure, Mom,” Rain said, and Iris couldn’t help but notice the same melancholy in her daughter’s voice. She watched Rain and Charlie head into the kitchen toward the lobby. Then she shook her head and ascended the stairs.

  The two teens—with ’Bastian almost literally in tow—crossed through the dark dining room and entered the warm light of the lobby to find Ms. Judith Vendaval waiting.

  “Can I help you?” Rain asked.

  “Yes, I was hoping you could recommend a place to eat here in Old Town.”

  “Sure,” Rain said. “There are a bunch of places.” She looked at Charlie for confirmation, but as this was the woman Charlie had slammed the door on upstairs, he was currently doing his best to make himself as invisible as ’Bastian. Rain shook her head and turned back. “Are you in the mood for anything in particular?”

  “Not just anything. Everything. The famous don’t-miss places and the local haunts that no tourist knows about. See, I write travel books, and my next one’s on the Ghosts.”

  “That’s kinda cool,” Rain said. She found herself studying Ms. Vendaval intently. The woman was truly striking. So much so that after seeing her only once the night she’d checked in, her image had invaded Rain’s dreams. The Tall Woman was over six feet in height and in her mid- to late twenties, with long black hair, very pale skin and dusky red lips. Her eyes were dark brown, but they caught the light and twinkled invitingly. She was wearing a blue strapless dress, cut above the knee, with a red belt and purse—not to mention nail polish—that matched her lipstick perfectly. Throw in the cool job, and now Rain found herself admiring Ms. Vendaval intently. Until a couple of days ago—before learning of the zemi and the Search—this was exactly the kind of woman Rain had wanted to be.

  “It’s very cool, actually,” the woman was saying. “I spend a few months in a place where everyone wants to go. And just when I’m about to get bored, I’m off to the next great where out there.”

  Rain nodded. Exactly the kind of woman Rain had wanted to be.

  “I’m Judith, by the way.”

  “Rain. And this is Charlie and—” Rain swallowed hard. “And this is Charlie.”

  “Hi, Charlie,” Judith said.

  “Hi,” Charlie croaked, a little freaked that Rain had come so close to introducing her dead, transparent grandfather to the nice lady.

  “I haven’t seen you at breakfast,” Rain said, desperate to change the subject.

  Judith blushed, a little embarrassed. “Well, I’m not exactly an early riser. My target audience is a bit more interested in the island’s nightlife. Speaking of which…”

  “Oh, yeah, dinn
er. Um, well, Old Town isn’t exactly Nightlife Central. That’s more downtown or by the beach. But there’s Kelly’s Bar and Grill over on Rue de Lafitte, which has the best burger in the Pueblo.” Rain looked at Judith again and frowned. “Of course, you’re a little overdressed for Kelly’s, so, um…”

  “Barcelona,”’Bastian offered.

  ““Barcelona!” Rain said, way too loud. Judith looked taken aback. Rain tried to recover by pointing and saying, “It’s just a shout away! Two blocks down and a right turn on Honest Robin Lane.”

  “I love the street names here,” Judith said with a sparkling laugh.

  “Yeah, I guess they’re … quirky. Anyway, Barcelona serves traditional Spanish food. Old World. The paella’s pretty amazing. Totally four stars. The place is packed at lunch, but getting a table for dinner’s pretty easy. And it’s not pricey.”

  “Sounds perfect. Hey, do you two want to come along? I’m on an expense account, so the paella’s on me.”

  Rain turned again to look at ’Bastian and Charlie and then down at her armband. She shook her head.

  Judith looked embarrassed again. “I’m sorry, that was weird, wasn’t it? I’m some stranger inviting two kids to dinner.”

  “No, it’s just … we already ate. And we have homework.”

  “Of course, of course. I’m going to be here for five or six weeks anyway. Maybe some time I could invite you and your parents to dinner.”

  “That sounds nice,” Rain said. “You all set or do you want a map or something?”

  “Two blocks down and turn right? I think I can handle it.”

  “Okay, um, well. Enjoy.” Rain grabbed Charlie’s hand and tugged him up the front stairs. ’Bastian paused to admire the Tall Woman, who was a good six inches taller than he. Captain Bohique brushed a hand through his hair, but she looked right through him, her eyes following the teens up the stairs. Then she sighed heavily and headed out the Inn’s front door—just as ’Bastian felt that ol’ zemi-tug yanking him upward.