Ghostly Attachments (Haunted Series)

by Alexie Aaron

  Burt grabbed his phone where he left it charging and called Mia.

  “Mia Cooper’s phone, Ralph speaking.”

  “Ralph this is Burt. Mia’s not back yet?”

  “Gerald received a call from the boat. They were approaching the island. I’d say they are about halfway done with their mission. Bernard is better at this stuff if you would like to talk to him?”

  “Oh no, I just called to see how she was.”

  “She’s breathing fine, although an hour ago I swear she and Bev had this strange glow about them. Bernard said I was imagining things. Tauni checked their vitals and everything is fine. How are things with you?”

  Burt filled Ralph in on some of the highlights of night’s investigation. He appreciated the interest the older man showed in his wellbeing after he told him about hitting the wall after tripping over Mike. “No, I’m fine just a little bruised.”

  “Fresh pineapple. You eat that and the bruises go away quicker,” Ralph advised.

  “You know, I bet there is some in the refrigerator. It has everything else.” He explained about the deluxe trailer Bernard arranged for them.

  “Only the best for Mia’s man,” Ralph cooed. “I better get back to my patient. I’ve been doing her nails, figured she couldn’t kick up a fuss.”

  Burt laughed at the chiding Ralph would get from Mia once she returned to her body. He ended the call feeling somewhat better. If Ralph was worried, Burt would have heard it in his voice.

  “Oh, Mia, please take care,” Burt said aloud, more for his benefit than hers.

  ~

  Mia felt a warm hug as she moved quietly through the raspberry bushes. She smelled a faint aroma of coffee and felt somehow Burt was thinking of her. Anything was possible as she was learning on this trip. Bev was following Brian. He had taken the lead when they left the boat. Captain Duda pulled the boat away from the island and would return in one hour. They had to have Sabine by then and be at the beach or find themselves another way home. Gerald’s driver would make sure he followed his boss’s instructions to the tee.

  Mia took up the rear, whirling around from time to time to make sure no one was following the trio. They had to find the chapel which was only accessible from the house. Sabine was hiding along with Komal in a deep cavern under the chapel. Once they made the chapel, her protector would engage the cretin that took Sabine. This would give them enough time to get her safely to the boat and some miles away from the island.

  Brian followed the images in his head. It was if he had been there before. As he moved through the hedge maze, he was planning the next step of breaking into the house without attracting attention of the bi-locating occupant. Komal stressed that the three of them would have to move in complete silence. Even in their OOB state Sire would be able to hear them if they strayed from the path he gave to them.

  They passed workers busy at their tasks. At the sound of a gong, each person got up, left what they were doing and returned to where they were interred. They walked without speaking, not daring to even look at each other. Bev reached out with her mind and took in the despair of the servants. She read their minds and knew that they could not count on these broken people for any help. Fear permeated their very bones. Something would have to be done here but only after they returned to Chicago with Sabine.

  The house was a museum as well as a maze. They had traveled through a half dozen hallways lined with art treasures, collectables and macabre relics. Mia stopped every so often and stretched a filament of OOB thread across the hall behind them. She hung from it OOB bells that only she could see and hear, each bell had a different tone. The bells would alert her if Sabine’s captor was sneaking up behind them. She had been given the information of how to do this from her brief bonding with Komal through Sabine.

  Brian found the chapel at last. The knight walked into the room and stopped before the altar and dropped to one knee. Bev crossed herself while Mia secured the door.

  Sabine appeared, rising out of the grate by the first pew. Brian bowed to her, and Bev motioned for her to move quickly. They had made the door when Mia started hearing the bells. She motioned for them to move to the far wall and behind the tapestry depicting Eve’s fall from grace.

  Mia dug down deep and came up with the scariest persona she could come up with. Bev peeked around the tapestry to see Ralph holding vigil at the door.

  A man with a black-hooded cloak moved through the wood easily and was surprised by a very angry gay gentleman.

  “How dare you come in here without wiping your feet! The hours I have spent cleaning are all for nothing,” Ralph’s effective dramatic voice bounced off the walls.

  “Who the hell are you?” blurted Sire.

  “You have got to be kidding. Who am I? Who are you? And what are you doing on my island,” Mia said in Ralph’s voice.

  “Your island!” boomed Sire. “This island has been in my family for over a hundred years!”

  “I have a paper that says it’s mine. I bought it for back taxes owed.”

  “What! Impossible.”

  Mia didn’t know how long she could confuse the man. But if she kept talking it would give Komal the time he needed to find Sire’s body and mess with it. This should send the bi-locator back to see what was going on. Enough time for them to get Sabine away.

  “Well, when was the last time you looked at your papers, mister man?”

  “My lawyers…”

  “Lawyers cheat.”

  Sire seemed to waver and his hands went to his head. “Something’s wrong. You wait here,” he commanded. “I will deal with you later.” Sire moved quickly down the hall, the bells giving indication of his retreat.

  “Come on!” Mia said, returning to her own persona.

  The group fled the chapel and was soon facing the hedges. Mia pushed upwards and acted as a lookout while Brian and Bev all but carried the weakening Sabine through the greenery.

  Mia connected with the power of the two intersecting ley lines and began to take on energy. She whirled around to see Sire explode out of the house in search of the intruder that he left in the chapel. Mia saw a blur of orange mist following him. She placed herself between Sire and her escaping friends. She took on the visage of a dragon with rotting corpse breath, massive wings, breathing fire.

  Sire reeled back when he saw her. She flapped her wings and held her ground. Over the man’s shoulder she saw that the orange mist transformed into a twin of her manufactured lizard. It flapped its wings. They proceeded to circle the man moving faster and faster until Mia and Komal bonded into a whirlwind that paralyzed Sire with horror.

  “Go away! Leave my island! Be gone demons!” he screamed.

  Mia felt a weakening of her power as the man drew power from the ley lines. She also sensed the boat and her friends were about ready to leave. She moved off and flew to the shore, gliding on her mighty wings. As the water drew nearer, she morphed into something simpler, and by the time she made the beach, she was herself again. Depleted of energy, she fell onto the sand.

  Bev and Sabine rushed forward and picked her up between them and carried her aboard the boat. Brian stood with his sword unsheathed waiting for Sire to make the shore. The man powered by the island strode purposely through the willow branches. His cloak became a vacuum and sucked in energy from the living things in his way. Brian planted his feet, preparing to fight until he perished in order to save the women he vowed to protect.

  Sire saw Sabine aboard the boat that had yet to move away from the shore. He would not let her go. He rushed forward, oblivious of the young man standing in his way. He was Sire. No mere traveler would stand a chance in the face of his power. He had made Komal flee just moments before, and now this child of a man would pay for daring to try to take what was his.

  Brian stood his ground, and as Sire charged forward he swung his sword.

  Sire never knew what hit him. One minute he was moving and the next his persona filled with a pain that cut through him as the sword tor
e through his bi-located form. And as his head left his persona, he managed to will himself back to his corporal body before he would cease to be.

  Sabine watched in amazement at the knight as he slew her tormentor. Bev, sensing the impatience of the men on the boat, shouted at him to get aboard. He sheathed his mighty sword and jumped effortlessly onto the boat seconds before the captain pulled away. Bev walked over to Gerald’s driver and used the last of the power she drew from the island to whisper in his ear. The man smiled and pulled out his cell phone to make the call to his boss that the mission had been accomplished.

  She returned to her friends. They held on to each other, sending their thoughts out, hoping to find Komal. After a few moments they were rewarded with a faint message of all being well. Sabine sighed.

  “Don’t worry, after you are safely home, I promise you, all will be made right on that island,” Bev assured her. “I’m sure Gerald knows a guy that…”

  “Knows a guy,” continued Mia smiling, “that…”

  “Knows someone else who can pull some strings,” Bev finished.

  Chapter Twenty

  Burt and Ted walked quietly through the house. Ted led with devices, recording the readings each gave him. Burt followed, taking snap shots first with a digital camera and following them with one using film. The first floor of the house was quiet. Even Grandma had tired of reading. Burt plugged in the e-reader and adjusted the afghan on the back of the chair.

  The stairs and the nursery beckoned. Burt paused before he began his climb. He took in the standard staircase. It was oak balustrade, and on the wall were the remains of hooks that had held precious pictures that Susan said Marjorie spent hours hanging. The wood risers gleamed in the morning light. The cleaning crew had expertly removed every glass shard and bent nail. If you didn’t know its history, the flight of stairs looked absolutely normal.

  Ted stood in front of the closed door, waiting for Burt to catch up to him. He wasn’t getting any readings from the room. He looked at his teammate and asked, “Ready?”

  Burt grimaced and replied, “As I’ll ever be.”

  Ted turned the nob and pushed the door open. The air movement of the door swinging open disturbed some of the drywall dust that lay a half inch thick on the nursery floor. Ted waited for it to settle before walking in, making sure he lifted each foot upwards as he walked. Shuffling would only move more of the chalky material. He scanned the room with his toys before letting Burt come in.

  Burt hesitated a moment as his body remembered the unseen hands that had shoved him. He stepped into the room and took several pictures of the outside wall. The closet doors with their white wood, levered slats were closed. The window housed in the alcove beside it was open, as Burt had left it. He turned slowly to face the changing table and the doll. It sat there, leaned against the wall with its eyes closed. It and every surviving item on the table were static and coated with dust.

  “Dude,” Ted said as he faced the opposite wall, “check it out.”

  Burt turned slowly around and expected to see another wallpaper bubble ready to spew drywall dust at them. What he saw was a bare-framed wall with tufts of remaining insulation clinging to the interior. Pink, shiny fibers of spun glass had been left behind as someone or something ripped them from the wall. Burt could see the back of the drywall of the room beyond. All the electrical sheathed in the protective metal piping looked absolutely builder’s grade normal. What wasn’t normal was that every piece of vertical wood, each stud standing sixteen inches on center, had symbols burned into it.

  “What the hell does it say?” Ted asked as he started to run his meter over each piece of wood. “There’s nothing out of the ordinary. The electrical is giving off some, but that is to be expected. Are those teeth marks?” Ted dropped to his knees and encouraged Burt and his cameras closer.

  Burt zoomed in as close as he could and took a couple of shots. “I don’t know. This makes no bloody sense.” He backed up and took a pictorial record of each stud before asking no one in particular, “Where’s the insulation?”

  Ted walked over to the closet and carefully opened it. “Here.”

  Burt looked over and saw that neatly stacked from ground to shelf was the insulation. On the shelf above were the drywall nails standing on their flat ends like soldiers waiting for battle. He walked over, taking pictures as he neared, commenting, “Now that’s something you don’t see every day.”

  Ted carefully closed the doors, making sure not to disturb the nails. “Mike’s going to freak when he sees that. Hey, where’s the nut missile?”

  Burt turned around and searched through the detritus on the floor and found no book. He next turned back to the bookshelf by the changing table and there, dust free, stood the tome of Nursery Rhymes.

  “Creepy,” Ted said, approaching the book. “No readings, nothing out of the ordinary.” He picked it off the shelf and opened it and flipped through a couple of pages. “Seems to be an old book but not a first edition. Maybe passed down or picked up at a used book store,” Ted said, placing the book back on its place on the shelf.

  “I’ll have Beth ask the lady of the house,” Burt said. He looked around puzzled. “Ted, do you see the camera or the tripod?”

  The men rummaged through the wallpaper strips and torn blankets and baby clothing but did not find their camera or its sturdy stand. Burt felt a breeze and looked over at the window. “Hey, maybe it got tossed out the window.”

  “I didn’t see it this morning in the back yard,” Ted said, shaking his head.

  Burt walked over to the window and looked out. “Maybe you didn’t look everywhere. Come here.”

  Ted walked over and followed Burt’s pointed finger. There hanging upside down from the tree over their tent in perfect condition was the camera, tripod attached. By its position it looked like it was filming the PEEPs team.

  Burt snapped a few shots of the camera and turned around and shot a few of the wall that connected with the hall. Ted shut the door so he could get a shot of the back of the door. It was marred in a few places from thrown debris. He turned around and slowly surveyed the room, checking for anything they had missed. “What is going on in this room? So far this seems separate from Grandma’s rocking chair. Poltergeist activity historically is centered on adolescents in the home. Mostly female, but the angst of hormone-charged teenage males has been known to invite a few book tosses. But nothing on this scale. Ted, I’m baffled,” Burt admitted. “Have you heard any Internet chatter that would explain this type of organized destruction?”

  “Nothing comes to mind, although Bethy has more of a handle on the poltergeist phenomenon than I do.”

  “You really shouldn’t call her Bethy, Ted. She hates it,” Burt advised him.

  “Oh, I know.”

  “Then why do you do it?”

  Ted smiled, admitting, “Wouldn’t want her to know I like her.”

  Burt broke into a grin. “You know that is so elementary school.”

  “Dude, emotionally I am a third grader, or that’s what my mother says anyway.”

  Burt held his tongue. He would have to watch that his two techs didn’t kill each other before admitting that the attraction was mutual.

  “Speaking of the fairer sex, when is Mia supposed to be back?” Ted asked as they walked out of the room, securing the door behind them.

  “Soon, I should hear from her in a few hours. Her godfather texted me that Mia’s crew had found Sabine and she was now safe with them.”

  “I’m sure there is some kind of wild story behind that trip, Dude.”

  “I’m sure you’re right,” Burt agreed, sending Mia his warm thoughts through the ether. He also sent a message, “Hurry home, baby, Burt needs you.”

  ~

  Mia smiled and hugged herself. She was standing with Bev, watching Sabine and Brian getting to know each other. Sabine glowed and her knight blushed. “I feel like a chaperone at the sixth grade dance,” Mia confessed.

  “I was just
thinking the same thing. Young love, so tragic.”

  Mia turned and looked at her. “Tragic,” she challenged her aunt.

  “Tragic not as doomed to fail, but he has such a short time on earth, and it will kill her when he is gone.”

  “Not necessarily, not forever,” Mia said seriously.

  “Are you saying this for your benefit or theirs?” her aunt questioned her. “You’re not still pining for that sheriff’s deputy?”

  “No, maybe, yes, I don’t know.” Mia looked out over the water and wished they could drop the subject. “It’s just that love never dies.”

  “Hogwash,” Bev spat. “You’ve got that PEEPs man who respects you and your abilities. He’s the one for you, and you’re still holding on to a childhood crush? Although, the boy is good looking and has a great personality if you’re into charm and all that rot.”

  Mia laughed. “No, why would I be into that kind of man?”

  Bev joined her laughter, feeling the stress of the last few days ease from her soul. “Do what you will, but think first. Don’t follow too close in my footsteps, my dear, as you may accumulate a few regrets along the way.”

  “I have a question about what just happened on that island.”

  Bev looked at her niece and nodded for her to continue.

  “You and Sabine were able to touch me. Those were hands I felt carrying me on the boat. How was that possible?”

  “I’ve been thinking about that actually. It could have been the power of the ley lines or maybe something that enhanced what we have had all along. It bears thinking through. Sabine was overpowered by a traveler. She couldn’t move at all under his grasp. He had experience on his part, maybe, and his access to the power of the crossed lines on that island, but it doesn’t explain how he could kidnap her in the city.” Bev turned to her and continued, “You said Murphy, who falls under a whole different rule of physics, touched you. Again ley lines were involved. I think I will have to ponder this and maybe experiment once that maniac is taken care of for good.”