She was special though he reminded himself. He felt destined to meet her, which was odd. His kind was not subject to things like destiny. It was a human concept. At the very best his kind enforced it, never were they subject to it. But he felt like it was.
Had he spent so long on earth that he now felt human concepts applied to him?
He was brought back to the present by the orderly manner in which the basement was arranged. It was mostly empty except for a few boxes arranged in an orderly fashion. He looked around.
It was empty.
With one last perfunctory glance around, he made his way back up the stairs.
Suddenly the house was alive as a loud scream echoed throughout the entire building.
He took to his heels in that direction instantly. He sped into the room and stopped in his tracks.
Before him, Leila stood petrified.
***
Her mouth was open but no sound came out anymore. She had never been so frightened in her entire life. The sight before her was beyond ghastly. But somehow she could not bring herself to look away.
Did her new condition bring with it some form of added resistance?
Normally by now she would be on her knees throwing up, but there she was, looking right at the rotting corpse of Margaret Wilson.
She looked like she had been dead for days.
How could no one have noticed?
Was it possible for one to be so alone in the world that they could pass away and have to be accidentally found? It boggled her mind.
She felt arms around her then and felt the familiar tingling pick up down her spine. Caleb put his arms around her and turned her away from the disturbing sight, drawing her into a comforting embrace.
It seemed like she had been waiting for this as no sooner had her face come in contact with his chest than she began to cry.
He didn't say a word. Just held her and stared at the rotting corpse.
Tears burst forth like water from a dam spilling down her face. She hated the fact that she was crying in front of him. She was never this weak. But everything was just falling to pieces around her and she was smack dab in the middle of it.
He stroked her back, comforting her. When she eventually stopped sobbing, he reached into his pocket and without letting go of her, gave her the handkerchief he'd fished out of his pocket and she took it gratefully.
"You okay?" he asked finally
"Yeah. Yeah I'm good" she said, returning the handkerchief.
"Keep it" he said and she mumbled her thanks.
He reached down carefully and guiding her by the waist, led her out of the room.
Once they were back in the living room, he made an anonymous phonecall to the police via the phone hanging on the wall.
The exchange was short. He gave them the address, and gave them a short description of the scene. As the operator asked for identification, he hung up.
He walked back to Leila where she sat staring into space. Gently placing his hand on her shoulder he said
"Let's go"
***
The drive back was quiet. Leila called her boss as soon as they pulled out of the driveway to tell him she wouldn't be coming to work because she wasn't feeling up to it.
In his usual fashion he had suggested she get as much rest as she needed, but she emphasised that she would be at work the next day. Once she'd clicked off, she'd rested her head on the car window and just stared into space.
Caleb, sensing the need for silence, didn't bother saying anything. He understood that she needed to process.
Humans he mused. He had long since realised that no matter how long he spent amongst them, he would never fully understand them. They had a penchant for having each others back through thick and thin at times. And at other times, could completely ostracize one of their own without as much as a second thought. He didn't get the logic. He had seen it done over the centuries and he was no closer to understanding it. He looked over at Leila. From the vacant look on her face, she was having a hard time understanding it as well.
Leila stared at other cars as they zoomed past them with unseeing eyes. The only image she saw was that of the rotting corpse of the erstwhile named 'banshee woman'. She knew that by tomorrow the news would be awash with news of her death.
She already knew how the headlines would read :
Banshee woman unable to foresee own death.
Banshee woman dies in house: sources say she screamed herself to death.
Banshee woman dies mysteriously. Who will predict deaths now?
She had never been more disgusted in her life. The jokes would roll in then. And there would be many of them, each one worse than the last. Everyone would forget that a human being had just died. As far as they were concerned, she was just a name on paper with a crazy story.
That wasn't all she was though. She had not just appeared. She'd had a father and a mother. She'd probably had siblings. So what if she claimed to be a banshee? How did that ever hurt anyone?
To die like that, lonely and alone even in death. Leila could think of eight ways that were decidedly better.
There was nothing she could do. They'd done the best they could.
Cop cars speeding to the scene had zoomed past them, no doubt on their way to Margaret Wilson's house. She hoped they hadn't had lunch yet.
She took a deep breath and tried to steady her nerves. She realised she was visibly shaking. Probably a delayed reaction to everything she'd seen. She turned slightly to Caleb and he turned to look at her as well, offering a small smile she did her best to return.
She was terribly glad to have him around. She didn't think she would have been able to drive home on her own. She would have probably taken the bus or subway. She reached out and touched his arm, smiling, he turned, nodded and returned his eyes to the road.
She turned and saw that he had taken a wrong turn.
"Hey, you turned too early there" She said but he just smiled and nodded
"I want to show you something" he said.
He drove for a few minutes and then stopped.
"We'll walk from here, I want to show you something" he said, and she reluctantly got down, wondering where he was going with this.
"Where are we going?" She asked looking around. She hadn't been to this part of town before. The grass looked an odd shade of green in the light of the slowly setting sun.
They walked into a small thicket and broke out into a clearing with a lake in the middle.
Now she knew where she was. There were only two lakes in the entire town. They were at Lake Sudden. She'd only been there once as a kid but the memory didn't do it justice. The scenery was gorgeous. The sunset in the background gave everything a special glow that reached out to her in a pleasant way.
"This is beautiful. Why did you bring me here?"
He looked at the lake dreamily then turned to her.
"Well, for one, I wanted you to cheer up. . ." he said pushing her gently with his shoulder and she giggled lightly.
"And secondly?" She asked
"Well, secondly...well, look at it. It's beautiful. I've loved it here ever since I landed years ago"
His words took a few minutes to register. But when it did she did a double take and stared at him.
Did he mean what she thought he meant?
"You mean?" She started and he nodded.
"Wow." she said, looking at the Lake with renewed adoration.
The story behind the Lake was that it had started off as a mysterious crater that just appeared one day. No one had been able to decipher what had made the dent in the earth. To think that so many many years after, she would be standing in the same location with the person who made the crater in the first place.
He smiled, sensing what she must be thinking.
"I always return here every now and then. It feels peaceful." he said. His voice still had that dreamy quality to it.
The sun had set now and cricket sounds surrounded them. Leila realised wi
th some excitement that Caleb now held her hand. She moved closer and rested her head on his shoulder.
So Lake Sudden was actually Lake Caleb, or whatever his name was. She chuckled at the thought of it. She had never felt as close with anybody as she felt with him.
They stood there for another ten minutes not saying anything. Not thinking about the veil or the tear they had to close. Not thinking about Banshees, voices or death as a whole. They just enjoyed the scenery.
"We should get going" Caleb suggested and Leila agreed. Her parents were probably wondering where she was by now.
They walked back to the car hand in hand, united for the meantime by an inexplicable attraction they both felt, and a shared secret.
CHAPTER EIGHT
"Where were you yesterday?" Emma asked coming to stand in front of her, arms akimbo.
"Sshh lower your voice." she said, looking round at the other students going about their business.
"Caleb and I went somewhere" She said, opting for the excuse she knew her friend would be most excited about.
And just as she'd expected, Emma squealed happily drawing the attention of a few students. She smiled, totally ignoring the questioning glares and said
"That was quick! You go girl. Where did you guys go?" She asked.
"We just drove around for a while. Then as the sunset he took me to Lake Sudden" Leila said, stifling her laugh. It really did sound like a proper date. Emma lapped it up squealing excitedly
"Did you guys kiss?" She asked widening her eyes dramatically.
Leila started to speak then stopped. Caleb had just entered and was now heading towards them.
Emma followed her look and saw him too. Smiling broadly she waved at him eagerly.
"Hey Caleb. Over here"
He acknowledged her wave with a nod and a smile. Leila had fallen quiet. She realised she was wondering if he liked the dress she had on.
"Hey girls. Leila, that's a nice dress. What are you guys up to?"
Leila felt light on her feet and tried hard to keep herself under control. He'd noticed her dress. How observant.
What if he can read minds? A tiny voice asked her and her chest fell. She had not considered that fact at all. It was a possibility wasn't it? After all he could penetrate the realm of the dead, something as basic as mind reading must be like child's play for him right?
She shook her head trying to concentrate as she noticed that Emma was speaking to her.
"I asked if you both are going strong now" She repeated to herself at Leila's questioning glance. Leila blushed and pinched Emma.
Caleb just smiled at them both and calmly replied
"Well, Leila and I are working on that aren't we?"
Her eyes widened at his reply and she smiled. Her moment of joy was cut short however as a familiar feeling overtook her. The feeling of impending danger. Before she could finish processing, she heard it.
Joan Summers
She couldn't believe her ears. As she stood there with her smile frozen in place, it came again, more urgently this time.
Joan Summers.
The voice had returned with a new name. And this time, the person whose name was repeated was none other than that of her childhood ballet teacher.
***
"And you're sure that's the name you heard?" Caleb asked for what seemed like the tenth time.
"Yes!" She snapped, unable to stop herself in time. The school librarian looked up at her sternly from where she sat.
"I just want to make absolutely sure." Caleb whispered sharply, when the woman's attention returned to her book, then his tone softened.
"I know you're distressed because they have targeted another person you know personally but I need you calm, now more than ever, so you can think straight." he explained.
She nodded, grateful that he hadn't called her out on her outburst.
She felt so sad. Mrs Joan Summers had taken her ballet classes when she was younger.
Why were they attacking people from her past? Why were they messing with her in such a manner. And what was next? More importantly, who was next?
She chuckled without mirth. She was already wondering who was next. Subconsciously, she had already decided that nothing could be done to help Joan Summers. Had it become so bad?
"What do we do?" she asked.
"That's the good part. I found something yesterday while I was doing some further research" Caleb started.
Leila stared at him in expectation
"Well. The article spoke of some people who knew more about the veil than anybody. The book referred to them as 'druids'. They were an ancient order of celtic priests. According to the book, a lot of them had discovered the recipe for immortality and still exist up till today. But of course, there's no proof of this claim" he finished
She didn't say a word. Druids? Ancient priests? Immortality? There was only so much one could take before calling foul play.
"So, the article says nothing about the Druids? How we can find them? Or just one of them?" She asked
"Nope. I know. It would have been helpful if the article just came with some names and addresses., but, it's never that easy." Caleb said shrugging.
Leila stared into space for a while, she could almost hear the gears grinding as her mind worked.
"Can I see the article? Maybe there's something, a clue maybe. Something you missed" she said
He looked shocked that she'd assume he missed something, he fished an old and yellowed paper from his pocket. The paper looked so old that she feared it would break if she held it too tight.
The first thing that caught her eye was a picture of some men dressed in black with weird symbols drawn on their cloaks.
"There's a picture? You didn't mention that there was a picture" She said
"Oh. Yeah. There's a picture. But it's a very old one. And it's blurry...good luck recognising anyone from it" he said chuckling lightly
Leila saw his point and ignored the picture temporarily. She read the article over and over again, not finding anything she could use to track down the remaining druids.
"This is useless" She screamed, forgetting, for an instant, that they were in the library.
The librarian's stern glare called her to order and she mouthed her apology, looking back down to face the article once more.
The picture. Something about it caught her attention. While Caleb pored over another book he'd fished out of the shelves in the back, she stared at the picture, trying to see what was so off about it.
It looked like a normal picture at first. A big, thick set man stood at the back, flanked on both sides by two pudgy men. Two more men stood in front of him, but he stood a few feet above them all.
Her eyes went back to the big man. He wasn't big. Enormous was more the word she'd use.
Then, as if struck by lightening she realised what seemed so off about the picture. She stared at the picture, making sure she was seeing the right thing. She wondered how she had not immediately seen it. The resemblance was uncanny. It was probably because he had been a younger man back then. But even in youth, his imposing size remained the same.
She gazed a the picture in surprise. Standing behind the two men and flanked by the two other pudgy men, in all his enormous glory, was a man she should have recognised at once.
How couldn't she? He was like a father and brother to her.
***
She couldn't believe she was ditching school again for the third time. If pre-accident Leila could see post-accident Leila, she would freak out. She'd changed so much, and she didn't know if it was for the better or for worse. But she had changed. She looked at life differently now. From a more mature perspective, she hoped.
This ditch was necessary, however. If she was right, and for an unexplainable reason, she felt she was, then they were halfway through solving the problem of the veil tear. She just had to prove it somehow. And she knew exactly where to begin her search.
It all made sense now. No one knew his family
, he never spoke of them, he never even carried pictures of them. He didn't even have a last name, did he? Her heart went out to him. How could she not have seen how lonely he was? He was almost truly, completely alone. No wonder he had taken such a liking to her. She decided to give him a big hug the moment she saw him.
Caleb's face as he drove looked like it was set in stone. He knew how important her hunch being right was. Everything hinged on the slight possibility that she had guessed right and made the right connections.
"Are you sure it's him?" he asked without turning.
Leila looked at him through the corner of her eyes, then went back to staring at the picture. With each passing moment, her uncertainty grew.
"It's him" she said with not quite as much conviction as she'd hoped to portray.
It was him. It just had to be.
They arrived at the bookstore and she was glad to see it was locked. He usually went out for break by that time, they'd timed it perfectly. She got out her key and they let themselves in.
"You go round back and check the spare room there I'll check his office. I know where he keeps the spare key" she said, taking charge. This was her mission and it had to go well.
Caleb nodded as she tossed him the key to the spare room, and hurried in the direction she'd pointed in. Time was of the essence.
Leila moved behind the counter and opened the middle drawer. She reached in and removed a false bottom. The spare key sat there as she had expected along with the spare key for the apartment upstairs. She took them both and replaced the false bottom.
She reached the office and unlocked the door. She glanced at her watch and with a deep breath, opened the door and stepped into the office.
She had been in his office before, but now it took on a new light in her eyes. The secrets this place might hold made it seem like a place she had never entered before. This was the place he spent most of his time in. He even slept in here sometimes. He thought she didn't know. The rolled blankets and breakfast things in the trash. She had noticed all this, but felt it was not in her place to pry. The more she thought about it, the more she became convinced that perhaps she was making a mistake and just invading a lonely man's privacy.
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