“I really don’t like the look of that,” Snow said with a frown.
“It’s experimental tech, probably just some lights and sounds for the audience,” Cadence said. “What’s got you so wigged out about it?”
“Why are you so convinced that it won’t work?” Snow countered.
“This is a television show,” Cadence said, scoffing. “Given our job to make spirits behave, they can’t get a ton of material that’s exciting enough to put on TV. They have to spice it up, add a little “ooh and ahh” element to the show. That’s all this is.”
“And if it works?” Snow was not letting up. “You are letting your living denial about our existence color your perspective Cadence. You are assuming this is all theatrical when you now know for a fact that it is real, that we are real.”
“Yeah, but do you think that they believe that?” Cadence still wasn’t sure why Snow was so bothered by this fancy box.
“You know for a fact that Aiden does,” Snow said, crossing his arms over his chest.
That stopped her for a moment. “Okay, you have a point. He does. So then please explain to me why you think this box could be such a danger.”
Snow nodded, pleased that he at least had her listening now, instead of denying things right off the bat. “To me, it almost looks like she has built a kind of Faraday cage, but not quite.”
“Faraday cage?” Cadence had no idea what Snow was talking about.
Snow frowned for a moment as he tried to figure out how to explain it to her. “Alright, have you ever seen one of those large Tesla coils that have the metal cages around them?”
“You mean like the mad scientist lab kind of thing, with the electricity arcing out of it and zapping the cage around it?”
“Yes,” Snow said with a nod. “That’s a Faraday cage. It’s designed to trap and ground electromagnetic energy within the cage’s confines so that it doesn’t escape.”
“Okay…But if it traps what’s inside of there, what danger is it to us? I don’t see either one of us volunteering to go sit inside the thing,” Cadence said. She made a quick sidestep closer to Snow as Liam passed through where she had just been, rolling a generator in with him. She then pointed a finger at Snow who was smiling at her with amusement. “Not a word. Yes, I know he can walk through me. It still feels damned weird, and I don’t like it, so just shut up about it.”
“I didn’t say a word,” Snow said, though his tone and expression were both filled with amusement.
“Trust me, you don’t have to, your face is speaking loudly enough,” Cade said in a grumble.
“You really should try to get used to it,” Snow said.
“I don’t want to get used to it,” Cadence said. “It feels really freaky to have someone just walk through me. You’ve had fifty years to get used to all this crap. I haven’t. So go on about the Faraday thing and let me have my pet peeves in peace.”
“As you wish,” he said, but his mouth was still curved into a smile. “As I was saying the Faraday cage is designed to trap energy within it. Normally this wouldn’t be an issue to us out here, but I have no idea what adjustments she may have made to the design to try to draw in energy.”
“So she could have altered the design to draw in and trap ghosts?” Cadence wanted to make sure she understood what Snow was saying.
“It is possible, yes,” Snow said with a nod. “It also is possible that it is something just for theatrics, as you said. But from what I can see, the science behind the design is sound.”
“When did you get into all this science stuff,” Cadence asked, eyeing the box as the breathers connected the generator to it.
“I have interest in many things, Cadence. And as you said, I have had a few decades to learn,” Snow said with a smile.
“What do you think we should do then?” Cade asked, and the generator came to life with a loud growl.
“Stay well away from it, just in case,” Snow replied. “Hopefully, you are right and I am wrong, and it is just some light and mirror tricks for television. If I am right, and we stay out of its field of energy, we should be safe enough.”
“Safe…enough? That’s not exactly inspiring, you know,” Cadence said. His gaze was drawn to one side as Roy appeared near Snow. “Where on earth have you been?”
Snow turned, a little startled at the monitor’s sudden appearance. “She’s quite right. You’ve been missing since the fracas in the solitary confinement and death row corridor.”
“The natives were gettin’ restless,” Roy said in his southern accent. “Tryin’ to convince them to settle down and not come out to mess with the breathers is a job of work.”
“Where are they all?” Cadence asked as something occurred to her. “I mean we saw those few in the cafeteria, a couple down the Death Row corridor, but not so many as would require you to be away all that time.”
Roy narrowed his eyes at Cadence. “Look here, sugar. You don’t tell me how to do my job, and I won’t tell you how to do yours. That sound good, sweetheart?”
“If you don’t cut out the sexist bullshit you’ll find out how much it doesn’t work for me,” Cadence said, moving towards him. “I’ve put up with the sexism and the disrespect because of when you died, how things were back then. But I am done with it. All this time you have pretty much just shown us how crappy you are at your job. So if you would please at least show me the respect, I am due for my position if nothing else.”
Snow didn’t interrupt Cadence’s tirade. Much as he usually tried to keep her hot-headedness in check, she was right.
Roy looked to Snow for help. “Think you need to rein that filly in there, Snow.”
Cade drew back to punch Roy in his mustachioed face but drew up short when, to her surprise, Snow beat her quite literally to the punch. Roy rocked back, stunned, and held his hand to his mouth, looking at Snow with wide eyes. He took his hand away to reveal a trickle of silvery blood from the corner of his mouth.
There was a strange beat where time seemed to stand still as the machine behind them was turned on. A pulse of energy went through the room, and it was like every inch of Cade’s skin was suddenly crawling. She could see that Snow and Roy felt it too. Snow shook out his hand, as it was tingling as if it had fallen asleep.
“I think it’s best we take this elsewhere,” Snow said. “This machine is―“
“How about you take yourself in there,” Roy interrupted, grabbing Snow by both shoulders and shoving him back towards the machine.
“Snow!” Cadence yelled, and her voice echoed enough that the breathers heard her. She reached out, trying to catch him but Roy intercepted her, grabbing her and throwing her in the opposite direction.
“Now hows about you sit yerself down and shut up,” Roy said, his voice in a growl. He then turned on his heel and disappeared from the room.
Snow had fallen backward at the shove, and it was apparent Teeny’s science had been as spot on as Snow’s explanation of it. Snow had fallen into the large box which had filled with a blue glow. There was a snap heard and Cadence found, as she sat on the floor against the opposite wall where Roy had thrown her that her skin didn’t feel like it was crawling anymore. A light on the console of controls attached to the bottom of the box began to blink.
“Holy shit we got one,” Teeny said, her voice barely above a breath, as if speaking out loud would break the spell, and it would all have been for nothing.
“No, Snow,” Cadence said as she struggled to her feet, her lower legs and feet stinging from the action.
Snow was kneeling within the glowing blue light of the box. Cade could see him, but it was like there was an electrical storm inside the box with him. He jerked as one of the arcs of lightning hit him in the back, wincing as another hit his arm.
Teeny hit a couple of buttons on the box and turned a dial. The lightening in the box increased, and the blue fog got brighter before both began to dissipate. Snow’s form, looking like it was made of the nebulous fog that had filled the
box, was visible to the breathers.
“You did it, Teeny,” Liam said in awe, his eyes wide.
Aiden’s eyes were locked on the box as well, but his face didn’t reflect victory or even happiness. He was horror-stricken, as he knew who exactly was in the box. He glanced around, looking for any sign of Cadence or any of the others who so often were with Snow. How on earth was he supposed to get these guys to bury this footage?
Cadence took a step towards the box and Snow quickly held up a hand, indicating she should stop.
“How,” Liam said, copying the movement that had been interpreted by 1950’s cinema as a greeting for Native Americans.
Teeny elbowed Liam in the leg since he was standing and she was kneeling on the floor at the controls for the box. “Does he look like a Native American to you? Idiot,” she said, shaking her head.
“Ow,” Liam said. “You have bony elbows, lady.”
Cadence stayed where she was, but her mind was going a mile a minute. She had to find a way to get him out of there. They had to find a way to scrub the footage. And they had a serious bone to pick with Roy Pruitt.
“What do you think, Aiden? Is he an inmate or what?” Liam asked.
“He’s not wearing a prisoner’s uniform, at least from the pictures of inmates we saw,” Aiden said. “He’s also not wearing a guard’s uniform.”
“Maybe a visitor who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time during one of the riots,” Teeny suggested.
“It’s possible, but only one of the riots resulted in civilian deaths. He doesn’t look like he’s from that time,” Liam said.
“You’re awfully quiet, Aiden,” Teeny said. “What do you think?”
“I’m not sure,” he said, moving toward the box, his mind whirling with ideas to explain this away or to simply cut the experiment short. His immediate plan was to “trip” over the power wire from the generator. He hoped it would yank the power supply from the machine at least long enough to let Snow get out of the damned thing.
“Oh, hey, careful,” Liam said, putting out a hand to pause Aiden in his tracks. “Careful of the cord.”
Aiden could only nod in response.
“Can you hear me?” Teeny looked to Snow as she asked this. They could see Snow’s eyes moving as he looked around, but so far he had yet to try to move or communicate.
Cadence knew Snow was deliberately quiet, to not have his voice recorded. The spirit box freaked him out enough; she knew he would in no way want to give these television show people his voice. She looked on helplessly as she tried to think of a way to get him out.
An angry, hungry howl sounded from down the corridor that housed the gallows. The breathers heard it too, as they all looked up from the box to the pitch black hallway. Aiden shivered, feeling the hairs on his neck rise.
“Maybe we should let him soak up some of the energy in there before we try to communicate with him,” Liam said, his eyes locked on the hallway the growl had come from.
“I can stay with the box,” Aiden offered, seeing his opportunity to let Snow free. “You two should probably check that out.”
“Teeny knows how to work the box. I want her to stay with it,” Liam said.
“I don’t want to stay here alone though,” Teeny said in protest. “Not after solitary confinement.”
“So you and Aiden stay here. I’ll go check out that sound,” Liam said.
“Yes, because hurrying off on your own in a dark abandoned prison is such a good idea and surely nothing bad will happen,” Teeny said, sarcasm dripping heavily from her voice.
“I can handle myself, and you know it,” Liam said. “We each go off on our own all the time in locations. You two just hang out here and see if you can get Mr. Fancy-Pants here to talk or communicate somehow.”
“Sure you don’t want company?” Aiden asked. He knew that if his chance to sabotage the box was out, he may as well accompany Liam and try to keep him safe.
“Nah, I’m good,” Liam said with a smile and a nonchalant shrug. “Thanks, anyway.” Grabbing his gear, Liam turned and headed down the hallway. Cadence followed him, as she knew there was little she could do for Snow right now, and she could at least try to protect Liam from the dangers he didn’t believe in.
Chapter 23
The street lights had yet to reach this part of the neighborhood development. Most lots were either still being built or were just bulldozed and awaiting construction crews. The area that Sarah teleported Sam, had the wooden frame of the house being built there, as well as the outer stucco walls, but no doors or windows had been fitted in yet. The dirt yard had piles of various supplies, and the dull glint of metallic nails and screws, dropped by those who had once carried them, glinted in the moonlight. A few weeds here and there tried to push their way through the cold, hard ground.
“Here?” Sam looked down at Sarah, an eyebrow raised.
Sarah nodded and without a word, lifted her arm to point at the house. Sam found the gesture incredibly eerie. He shook off the creepiness and headed inside. Mentally he reached out to Lauren, using his connection with her as a kind of homing beacon. They were too far away to speak mind to mind, but she would feel a pull towards him, and that would guide her here. He felt the spark on the other end of their connection. He knew from that spark that she felt the pull and recognized it.
The wooden walls were up, and some duct work was piled in the corner of a room. No paint or plaster or tile made this skeletal house inviting. It smelled like dirt and wood. The roof was on, which protected the items left inside from the elements. However, it gave more shadows for things to hide in. The dimness would make it more difficult for the breathers to see and would make them more reliant on their flashlights. That might make things more dangerous if the mortal man that Sarah had talked about was involved in this.
He could hear the murmuring of a child’s voice talking, though he couldn’t make out the words being said. He made his way in, following the sound past the staircase that led up to the second level, around a corner and through an open door into a large room. Ava was there, huddled in a far corner of the room with Emma standing between her and the doorway. The ghostly child had her hands on her hips.
“I told you, you can’t go yet,” Emma said. “We gotta wait on the wolf to get here.”
“Don’t wolves eat children?” Ava asked, her voice small and quivering with fear.
Emma laughed. “No, silly!” The ghost of Emma was still acting like everything was just fine, and they were two friends talking. “He’s a living man who is gonna help me out.”
“If he’s helping you, then why do you need me?” Ava was scared and confused by all of this, and it showed in her voice and in her face.
“I need you because you’re who he asked me to get, you goose!” Emma chuckled and shook her head for a moment. “My Mama always used to call me that when I was silly. She would say I was bein’ a goose.”
“Please, Emma, please take me home. My parents are probably scared, and I know I am,” Ava said.
“I can’t let you go, goose,” Emma said again. “Wolf is gonna make me into you so I can be real again.”
“Let her go, Emma,” Sam said, taking a couple of steps closer to Emma. Sarah moved to stand beside him, offering him silent support.
Emma turned, startled. She looked at Sam with wide eyes, but then she saw Sarah and her eyes narrowed.
“I shoulda known you would go an try to ruin this for me,” Emma accused, taking a step away from Ava and moving towards Sarah with menace and hatred in her eyes. “You always try to ruin my fun.”
“Your fun is causing pain to others,” Sarah said, getting the guts to step forward and stand against Emma. “You can’t do that, it’s not right.”
“I can do whatever I like to those lesser’n me. It’s my God-given right,” Emma replied.
“No,” Sam said, finally speaking up. “It isn’t. It never was. Taking your anger and jealousy out on people when you were alive was evil. I
can’t put it plainer than that.”
Emma drew herself up to look very self-important. “My Granddaddy says―“
“It doesn’t matter what he said, Emma,” Sam said. “He’s been dead and gone for a long time. His view of the world was wrong. What he taught you was wrong, and I honestly doubt he meant for his words to be taken to the extremes you’ve taken them to.”
Emma looked like she couldn’t decide between breaking down into tears or going into a fearsome rage. She was visibly trembling, her lips drawn in a tight, thin line as her chin quivered. That was when Ava stepped forward.
“Emma, I know you’re lonely. I wouldn’t mind being your friend if you were less bossy and less scary,” the little girl said. “But no one can turn you into me. No one can make you alive again.”
Footsteps on the wooden boards of the floor sounded, and Sam wondered if Derrick and Lauren had caught up to them yet. A solid dark form moved into the doorframe and then passed through it. The moonlight through the windows revealed that this person was not who Sam had hoped for. In fact, he didn’t recognize the man at all.
The man was of average height. He had a sharp nose and an angular face as if his visage had been chiseled from rock. Dark eyes were set in a tan face that was clean shaven. He wore a dark-wool trench coat over dark pants and work boots. A dark knit cap covered his head.
The three girls and Sam watched as the man made his way into the room. Ava instinctively took a step back, for every step forward, that the man made. Sarah frowned, Emma smiled, and Sam wondered if this person was going to end up being a bigger problem than he could deal with.
“Wolf!” Emma greeted the man with enthusiasm.
“Good job, little one,” Wolf said as he stalked across the room towards where Ava cowered. “You’ve brought her right where I told you to.”
“Course I did,” Emma said. “I ain’t no ninny.” Emma stood straight as she could with her hands on her hips as if to challenge the idea that she wouldn’t do what she promised.
Wolf looked over to the little ghost girl and just lifted an eyebrow. That single look spoke louder than any yell as to what he actually thought of the child’s prowess. He then looked back at Ava. “Now…What to do with you now that you are here?”
The Dead Show Page 15
