The Gemini Child

by Shea Meadows

  “I finished the article and nothing new happened, so I grabbed lunch quickly, watching for flying kitchen utensils. I got in the car to drive to the store for a new printer. When I got back two hours later, I walked into a mess. All the guest china had flown out of the cabinet, which was tipped over facedown with the glass door shattered. I put in an emergency call to Harvey and Nan, my friends down the block, and they came with their two teenagers to help clean the mess and pick up the cabinet.

  “Nan was flabbergasted; she asked if I had a teenage girl visiting the house. It reminded her of stories about poltergeists. I told her I’ve been alone since Brad went to court earlier. She suggested I call you. She’d read about your sister and how you’ve taken over for her. I’ve never been into supernatural stuff, so I laughed it off. But I looked up your number on the Internet.

  “Nothing happened then. Brad came home at seven, and we eat a late meal in the dining room. He thought the whole thing was nuts. He was in denial. He was there for the toaster, but not the other things, so he was concerned about my sanity. We sat down in the living room around ten and started watching TV. We have, or I should say ‘had,’ a big screen console with stereophonic sound. In the middle of Mystery Theater, we heard a gong that we thought was part of the show. Then the set pitched forward and landed on its screen. Brad ran out the door. He’s pretty tense from the stress of the trial he’s prosecuting.

  “I called my brother again and by this time, he’s spooked too. Brad moved into a hotel for the night, because his court time was seven-thirty. He said I should come, too, but there’s valuable stuff in the house. I have this idea someone is doing this to get us to leave so they can get into our wall safe. So I became Ms. Martyr and stayed on my own. I went to bed, and an hour later, the gong sounded and my dresser fell over; the drawer flew out and hit my left leg. It’s like our house is the epicenter of an earthquake but nothing is rattling. All night that went on. I was afraid to sleep anywhere, but still I was obsessed about the stuff in the safe. Couches tipped over, dining room chairs flew across the room, the fridge rattled but didn’t fall, thank heavens. That’s why I called you. It has to be a ghost. But we’ve seen no sign of one before yesterday.”

  “Wow, I would have left a lot sooner than that back in the day when ghosts scared me shitless,” Ricky said. “I have one clue here: the sound of the gong. It might fit in to something else we’ve been tracking that literally drove us out of our home.”

  “Really? If it pushed you out what hope do I have that you can help me?” Cindy asked.

  “Our problem is the motherlode of ghosts, a veritable ghost trap left over from the builder of our house. I think your ghost ended up at the wrong address. Some glitch in the process started by a man who used to live there planted your visitor two streets over. If my guess is right, I have to talk with your specter.”

  Ricky walked a distance away and called Moon. “There’s misplaced ghost in a house a couple of blocks from our York Street home. I’m sure he’ll speak a Chinese dialect. You have any way to help?”

  Moon’s message came loud and clear. “I’m bringing in Sima Qian. He will translate your words, and the ghost will think you speak his language.”

  Ricky walked confidently into the house, holding the jade and gold pendant between her palms. The first thing evident was the state of the furniture. Beautiful pieces smashed into smithereens. It would be interesting for the Rogers family to file an insurance claim. Good thing the husband is a lawyer, she thought.

  She wandered throughout the house, seeing ample amounts of spirit web but no sign of the ghost. With a sigh of resignation, she traveled down to the cellar, a poorly lit, ghostly sanctuary if she’d ever seen one. Rows of canned fruits and vegetables lay broken on the ground, having fallen from what looked like organized pantry shelves. Carefully, she made her way through the carnage to an area beside the furnace where a translucent form came in and out of focus.

  “Okay, Sima Qian. Name that dialect!”

  “Honored sir, may I have a word with you?” was what she said but it came out in a string of words that seemed screechy and meaningless. But the form became more visible. A man about five feet six inches tall (or five Bo, six Chi in the measuring units of his time and country) turned, bowed and answered in the same dialect.

  What she heard was, “At last. A person knowing my language. I have been screaming at the other nameless one, and she ignores me. I tried to get her attention by disrupting her abode, but she cowered in the corner and ran about screaming.”

  “Understandable, she is of a different time, culture and frequency, so she knows you are there but can’t see or hear you.”

  “And why are you not the same? We are having a fluent exchange in the language of the realm, but you look as foreign as the other one,” he answered.

  Ricky called upon her shapeshifting skills and took on the aspect of a woman of the Qin court, silken robes, hair piled high on her head, feet bound and forced into crippling slippers.

  “Does this make you feel better, to speak to someone who looks familiar?” she asked.

  The ghost laughed. “Now I understand. You are a witch and the other one is not. I can appreciate that. I am a sorcerer of the court of the Celestial One, Qin Shi Haung. If not for the frustration of being trapped, this would be an interesting experience. Perhaps with our combined powers, we could be freed.”

  “I have no need to be freed, but I am at your service to put you into a place of comfort. May I ask, what is the last thing you remember before coming to this house?”

  He opened his mouth to reply then closed it again, pondering how best to answer. As he did this, Ricky could see the ethers forming clothing, the long robes of a Qin sorcerer, and a tall hat with fringe on his head.

  “This was what happened. I died. I was an old man of about six decades, but I outlived my Emperor and was forced to a lower status in the court of his son, Emperor Qin Er Shi. The sorcerer of his court was jealous, so he put me in the deepest dungeon of the palace and I died from the cold. That is when I found out the truth: part of me was encased in my replica in the burial mound of Qin Shi Haung. Instead of going to the Celestial Gates, my ghost rushed to join the part of me already implanted.”

  Ricky murmured sympathetically, “Was this a surprise? Were you not among those who set this trap for the souls of the court and the warriors?”

  He looked down at the quilted shoes on his feet, embarrassed. “I admit I helped weave the workings that drew the others into the replicas at their death, but it was part of the deal with my Emperor that I would not be forced to dwell within my statue. Obviously, he found some way around it. We, in fact, copied the process from work done centuries previously.

  “So I stood for hundreds of years in the dark pit and felt the statue crumbling around me. Then at some point, my replica was moved, and a team of workers cleaned off the layers of dirt accumulated around the statue. There must have been traces of paint on it, because they argued over which technique to use to duplicate paint in the original colors. They could not reproduce something they called Chinese Purple which had been mastered by the craftsmen who originally created the statue. I finally could understand their dialect after listening to their discussions for months.

  “Then something happened: it was dark within the workroom and a ghost appeared. His appearance startled me. He was European, perhaps from the Northern nations. He had the semblance of very fair skin, white beard, white hair, deep blue eyes. He stood and looked at me and talked to me in a dialect close to mine, but different enough so I was unable to sort it out. He started chanting in the ancient dialect of the Xia which I remembered was the dialect used by the first creators of the replica process. I felt a stirring within the base of the statue. My essence, which had become stuck to the vessel, started to loosen and peel away section by section. I was leaving my replica. I spoke my thanks to him but did so prematurely. Instead of flying upwards toward the Celestial Gates, I traveled like one sucked int
o the gaping mouth of a whale. At speeds faster than I’d ever moved when traveling without my body, I flew across mountains, seas and oceans then over a land with strange structures. I landed not far from here in a dark chamber much like this but without the jars of food.

  “I rubbed my hands and performed the working to create light and saw the force pulling me. It was a porcelain cube painted purple, with incantations engraved in each side. I had stopped my fast projection but was moving slowly toward the cube. It beckoned me into a portal forming on one side. I resisted, wanting to examine it further before bending to its ability to compel, but the pull would not be denied. I memorized the words present on the side where the portal appeared, saying them over and over again. They sounded like nonsense, but reminded me of the Xia words chanted by the white-haired ghost. With that, I was sucked inside the cube.”

  “You were inside the cube? What was it like in there?” Ricky questioned.

  “It gave the illusion of a large village, with roads, houses, animals, trees and plants, and a large palace on a hill and people as far as the eye could see. There was a sun in the sky, but it burned dimly, looking like drab twilight. People came rushing to me and a man with a slightly different dialect from my own said, ‘Welcome to the Celestial Gates.’

  “I laughed at him and answered, ‘Surely you know your error. You are in an illusionary village. We are trapped here, just as we were trapped in the statues. It is more familiar, but is not the Kingdom of the Sun.’

  “I heard a muttering in the crowd then the sound of a gong. A man wearing a tall hat, black slippers, red robe and braids trailing down his back moved towards me. He was preceded by a line of witches, all with pouting faces and claw-like fingers. They spun energy around in spirals, triangles, symbols of infinity and countless other forms; all of this throbbing and moving in front of them, forming a field of protection. They parted to stand on either side of him, and one served as his announcer. ‘Here stands Tai Yi, Sorcerer, Shaman of the Han Emperor Jingdi; bow before him or feel his wrath.’

  “With all that energy around him and me freshly released from a statue, I bowed as instructed, but obviously not deep enough. The foot of the Han sorcerer struck the back of my neck, pushing me into the ground which was spongy in nature, so I was not harmed. His voice thundered in his contorted dialect, ‘Who are you, and how do you dare wear the robes of a sorcerer?’

  “I answered, not looking at his face. ‘I am the sorcerer of the Court of Qin Shi Huang, called by the name of Luan Du. It was my magic that brought the souls of the Emperor’s retainers into their replicas.’

  “I was surprised. He laughed at me and pulled me to a standing position, dusting off my clothes and smiling. ‘So it was you who started all of this, and I followed your example but did you one better. I went back to the conjuring of the ancient Xia and made a replica of a Bi Mo Chu for my emperor. It was meant to be a means of creating ghost warriors, and we did use it for that, but things got out of hand and the emperor became unhappy. He had my assistant, Lee Gee drug me into a deep sleep, kill me and use the Xia incantations against me. The Bi Mo Chu pulled me in. He promised to make Lee Gee the Empress, and how could she turn down such an offer? I am in charge here but will give you a position as my second in command. I have longed for someone whose abilities are as strong as mine.’

  “I looked around me. Could I be happy in this dim place, moving around in a meaningless manner, waiting for some future emperor to free us and make us ghost warriors? My answer was no. I had stood like a statue for centuries and did not want to be trapped any longer. I boldly answered him, for really, he could not kill me again without a body. ‘I wish to experience the Kingdom of the Celestial Gates. I have done nothing to deserve this confinement. Send me on or I will use the chants against all present, and your land will crumble around you.’

  “This was bravado, of course. I had no magic to support this threat, but he didn’t know. I spouted the Xia phrase printed on the side of the cube which I had recently memorized, infusing it with dangerous energetic overtones. I was out of practice, but it made everything shift, as if a hand had reached in to the chamber and shook the Bi Mo Chu.

  “’Stop’, he shouted. ‘Let us make an agreement. I will release you from the universe of the Bi Mo Chu, and you will go on to the Kingdom of the Celestial Gates. But do not expect me to send you there. It is obvious I don’t know its location, or I’d have traveled there centuries ago.’

  “’You will release me, but I am on my own?’” I asked him. He nodded.

  “How hard could it be, I mused. I will be a ghost in a strange land, but I have overcome worse. I am Luan Du, the sorcerer of the Emperor Qin Shi Huang. I pulled the essence of thousands of men, women, animals and insects out of their natural bodies and deposited them in clay statues. Finding the Celestial Gates will be an easy task. I nodded in agreement.

  “Tai Yi and his witches danced around me, using incantations he developed while held in the cube, and soon I felt the pull of the mouth of the Bi Mo Chu spitting me out and pushing me into a bigger part of the underground room I saw when I arrived. I was free, but the place felt uncomfortable. There were rays of energy shooting at me in every direction, forcing me up a stairway, and through the walls of a dwelling. I wandered around among other buildings framed in strange shapes I have never experienced. No one could see or hear me. How could I ask directions to the Celestial Kingdom?

  “I wandered into this place and found a man and woman eating. What they cooked smelled enticing. I begged for a piece, but they ignored me. I picked up a metal box that contained food of the same type, but I couldn’t open its side. Did I need another incantation? No, that didn’t work. But after trying a few magic directives, I was able to pick up the box and hurl it across the room. I could cause movement in the physical world. How exhilarating to discover this ability!

  “The man left and the woman ignored me. She went to a room and sat at a box that glowed. Near her sat a box making noises randomly. I noted small scrolls in the noisy box. Maybe I could remove some of the scrolls and imprint a message. The scrolls caught in the device, and I became enraged. I willed the box to fly through the air and explode then went out of the room before I hurt the woman in my anger.”

  “And your anger continued, looking at the broken furniture throughout the house, and the wasted jars of food in the cellar. Your talents in the mystic arts are strong enough to move physical objects and bruise and batter a person who had nothing to do with your problem,” Ricky said.

  The ghost of Luan Du nodded and blushed. “I have no words to defend myself. The frustration with the centuries of being trapped finally got the best of my good sense, but even though her property was damaged, my strategy was effective.” He motioned to Ricky. “You are here and you understand me and do not find my story preposterous. Is it possible that the same being who instantly taught you my language could also allow release of my essence to the Celestial Kingdom?”

  “I can do that myself. I have friends in what I call spirit world, who will help you settle in when I send you over. They will send you to the area that has been constructed for people of your culture. One of the residents of that space is the historian, Sima Qian, who has been working with us to sort out the problem of the Bi Mo Chu. He will help you adjust. But before you go, we need two things,” Ricky advised him.

  “So there is a ransom. Something with which I am familiar but I have no means to pay,” Luan Du replied.

  “These two things are pledges you will make on your honor as a member of the court of the Qin. First, you will come to the area of spirit world where I meet with my advisors and answer questions we may have as we release others held in the Bi Mo Chu. Second, when we have everything in alignment to release those entrapped in the village, you will use your skills to neutralize the cube so it is no longer active. Can I depend on you for that?” Ricky asked.

  Luan Du looked up in the air then down at his feet. “Why is it important for you to stifle the
cube?”

  “It is in my home. The ghost that released you from the statue left it there before he died. He continues to send others to be entrapped. The emanations from the cube are making it impossible to live there. We know that at some point he will compel those in the Bi Mo Chu reality to do his bidding and might kill many innocents. Are those reasons enough?”

  “You have my word that I will do as you ask,” Luan Du affirmed.

  “I am sending Luan Du to your care,” Ricky said, addressing her request to Sima Qian. As soon as she thought the words, a door in the shape of massive gates with inscriptions in the multiple dialects of all the past dynasties appeared before him and creaked open, and Luan Du traveled through.

  Ricky shifted back into her normal body, and went up the stairs dodging the broken glass and shattered furniture as she left. Cindy Rogers was snoozing under a tree, exhausted from her horrible night. Ricky sat down next to her, thinking of the damage to the house. Was she obligated to do anything about it? The ghost had only ended up in the Rogers home because it was two blocks from her house. Other people might not have thought to call her and would have been hauled off to a psych ward for their destructive behavior. She stood up, sighing deeply, and made a call on her cell phone and then walked back as Cindy was waking.

  “Is it gone? Did you get rid of whatever it was?” Cindy asked anxiously.

  Ricky nodded. “Some friends of mine will help you clean things up. It’s my gift to you. The ghost was confused and wandered into your house looking for someone who could acknowledge him. He was frustrated because you couldn’t hear him, so I feel honor-bound to help you as well as him.”