by Alexie Aaron
"I can't believe it's been allowed to just sit here. Look at all the viable land," Audrey said.
They had parked on the upper level on the north end of the mall. It spread out below them, curving in a shallow C. Cid scanned the small, two-story, enclosed mall from his vantage point in the bed of his truck. The boarded-up, metal-gated doors and windows were a clear indication that the owners and county did not want anyone to enter the ill-fated Double Tree Mall.
"Why did it close?" he asked.
"Believe it or not, I remember why, and I must have been a tot when it happened. A group of teenagers disappeared one afternoon. Two of them were found hanging from the mall's namesake tree in the center court the next day."
"How big a group?"
"Seven, five boys and two girls, all members of the West End Show Chorus. They had performed in the center court an hour before they were reported missing," Audrey said. "My mother said that the mall's security cameras on the exit doors were all working, including the loading docks. According to them, the teens never left the mall. They simply disappeared. That is, until the two were discovered the following morning. The media dubbed the place, 'Death Tree Mall.' They never found the other teens, and the murders were never solved. Soon after that, business fell sharply away from the place. People didn't want to travel to a place that had this kind of reputation. If seven healthy teenagers could fall victim to whoever or whatever had taken and killed two of them, then how would your average shopper feel on their own?"
"Death Tree Mall. It gives me the creeps thinking about it," Cid admitted. "From here, it looks like a dated, upscale shopping mall. How did the veterans group get it?"
"Back taxes," Audrey said, checking her notes. "Sergeant Sparrow requested that we look around and estimate how much it would cost to turn it into a live-in rehab facility for wounded vets."
"I can see his vision," Cid said. "The large anchor store down there could easily be converted into a hospital, and the inside stores could be various therapy centers and living establishments. The vets could exercise no matter the weather..." Cid trailed off as he spotted what he suspected was a broken skylight, because a tree was growing out of it. "How deep are their pockets?"
"I don't know. All I know is that I've been hired to make an assessment."
"I appreciate you bringing me in on this," Cid said, hopping down out of the truck.
"It's too big of a job for just one person, and you've helped me before," Audrey explained. "Also, you're a fellow ghost hunter."
Cid looked down at the bouncy redhead and smiled. "Really?"
"Mary, the head of the acquisitions group, knows what we do and approves. She didn't like the feeling she got from this place the times she's set foot in it. Mary says the place is haunted. It's our job to either confirm or debunk that the Death Tree Mall has paranormal activity in it."
"And if it does?"
"We're to convince PEEPs to do an official investigation," she said. "A paid investigation."
"That will certainly put them at the top of our list," Cid said.
A black SUV pulled up, and two uniformed security men got out and approached Audrey and Cid.
"Hello, I'm Norm Zimmer," the burly, blonde man said and introduced his partner, "This is Dev Narang."
Audrey shook the hand of the thin, dark-eyed young man. "Dev, Norm," she said. "This is Cid Garrett, and I'm Audrey McCarthy."
"Ms. McCarthy, it's our understanding that we're to escort the two of you through the mall. You have an all access pass."
"Have you been in there before now?" she asked.
"Yes, we make daily sweeps of the building. We try to cover all the inner corridors and the main mall. We don't enter the smaller stores unless we suspect there has been a break-in or an incursion of some kind," Norm answered.
"Incursion?" Audrey questioned.
"Ms. McCarthy, the roof has a break in it, and nature has moved in. I haven't seen any rats, but the bird and squirrel population is pretty large," he explained.
"How long have you been doing this?"
"Our company was hired by the veterans group when they purchased it. Dev and I have been on duty here for about a month."
She nodded and jotted the information down on her clipboard. "I'm ready if you are. Let's begin the tour."
Norm walked them across the drive and over to a loading platform. He unlocked an adjacent door, and he turned on his flashlight before venturing in. "Inside, there are two accordion metal doors. We need to reposition them as we pass through. This stops anyone bold enough to pick the lock on that door."
"This place used to be very popular amongst the skateboarding crowd. We’ve discouraged them with locks and daily patrols."
"What about at night?" Cid asked.
"The mall has a bad reputation. No one comes here voluntarily after dark," Dev said. "The skater community still remembers that one of their own went missing a few years back. They claim he was killed here and his body hidden."
Dev reached in his pocket and drew out two sets of keys on lanyards. He handed one to Cid and the other to Audrey. "Don't forget to have these with you. They unlock the various metal doors we come to. Never forget to bring them."
Cid and Audrey nodded that they heard not only the suggestion, but the warning that came after.
"There's bad things in here. The keys will enable you to get something substantial between you… and whatever is chasing you."
~
Judy looked at Mia's leg and shook her head. She dug into a velvet bag, pulled out a clear white crystal and began to run it along the top of the wound. The crystal turned black. "Interesting." She closed her eyes a moment as if she was accessing a memory. She opened her eyes and looked at Mia. "It's a demon wound. I can't heal it."
Mia flinched. She began to rewrap her leg, but Judy stopped her. "It can be healed, but you have to go to the aerie."
"It's not like the aerie is in commuting distance," Mia said and continued to wind the gauze around the blistered skin.
"You could call Angelo. He'll help you."
"But at what cost?" Mia asked.
"That's between you and him," she said. "He no longer deals with me."
Mia saw the sadness on Judy's face and asked, "Do you miss it? The aerie?"
"No, I don't. Maybe some of the women there. But I had had enough of the aerie life. Being of spirit without body wasn't the path I wanted to follow anymore."
"What happened to your body?"
"It died. Mia, I'm four hundred years old. Being in this young woman's shell is a gift from God. Being with Ed..." she sighed. "Every day is an adventure."
"I know what you mean," Mia said, thinking of Ted.
"Call Angelo."
"I can't," Mia said. "If I got to the aerie myself, would they help me?"
"I've never seen the Gray Ladies turn anyone away. But, Mia, you'll have to climb a mountain."
"Father Santos's brother did it, so can I," Mia said.
"Not on that leg you can't," Judy pointed out. "Why are you being so stubborn?"
"I don't want to use Angelo. I don't want to owe Angelo," she said firmly.
"No, it's something else. You've been odd since you came back from New Orleans," Judy said.
"I had a few things explained to me by Judge Roumain. Some disturbing things."
"Mia, tell me. I promise on all that I hold dear, I won't tell anyone," she said.
Mia looked at her a moment. "You know me from the inside out, my friend," Mia said, referring to the time Judy as the Gray Lady spirit, Refugia, hid in Mia's mind to escape the aerie. "Did you sense anything out of the norm?"
"Are you talking about your birdman DNA?"
"Well yes, and..."
"I don't understand."
"Judge Roumain says I have birdman, superhuman and demon DNA."
"Whoa. No wonder Ed is fond of you," Judy said. "This is a relief because I thought it was... well... romantic, but it's kinship."
"What about Angelo
?"
"Oh, you think that his admiration for you is the birdman DNA he wanted so to activate?"
"Did he?"
"Mia, it was already there," Judy said frankly. "When I left, I took some of it with me. I didn't think you appreciated the feathers..."
Mia laughed. "No, I did not. You're welcome to it."
"There's more," Judy said. "I couldn't pinpoint it, but there is something else inside you, Mia."
"Maybe it was the demon."
"It could have been, but I got a very positive vibe about it. I thought maybe it had to do with how you can call the light to you."
"I beg your pardon?"
"You thought the light coincidently arrives for the people you cross over? That's a hell of a lot of coincidence, don't you think?"
"I saw something, someone, here and in New Orleans. I thought that I called it with the Gris Gris bag, but now I'm worried that it has always been with me. You know, at the fringes, the part that only in our deepest meditation we can sense, but just outside..."
"Yes, Mia, I know that place. My mentor, Sister Marie, calls it Angel's Alley. Your husband would probably find a scientific name for this interdimensional, for lack of a better word, place. This is where the ancients keep an eye on us."
"Ancients or angels?" Mia asked bluntly.
Judy's face was conflicted. She showed surprise at first, her eyes shifting back and forth as she conjured a possible lie, and, finally, resignation as she answered honestly, "Angels." She went on to explain, "Angels are ancient. They were the first, and they will be here until the last."
Mia felt an involuntary shudder work its way through her body.
Judy, sensing her distress, laid a protective hand on Mia's spine.
Mia felt an instant calming. "Thank you."
"It's what I'm best at," Judy said, blushing. "Sister Mary said I could calm a charging bull."
"Or a bullshitter," Mia teased.
"Oh my, your language is so..."
"Crude," Mia volunteered.
"No, refreshing. Please tell me more about this angel."
Mia related the instance when the ceiling exploded over her and Murphy as she fought to hold on to Sticks, the demon who had saved her from the soul eater moments before. "When I looked up, all I saw was retreating wings in the night sky. I had assumed it was Angelo. He always seems to arrive in the nick of time," Mia explained. "Father Peter said it was all bright and shiny, not white as he had seen in paintings. He sensed he was looking at a warrior. He said it had a determined look on its face, and once Sticks was freed, it looked over at him, sized him up, and then left."
"Birdmen come in many colors and sizes," Judy told Mia.
"But they rarely travel in such a large form. Angelo prefers a crow, if memory serves me. I saw him again..."
"He?"
"I got the impression it was a male."
"Tell me more."
"Magnificent wings of a dusty white, but luminous feathers."
"And you saw him here, when?"
"I crossed over two lost teenage boys. I turned and looked back into the light. He was staring back at me."
"Did you look at him?"
"Yes and said, 'Thank you.'"
"And then what happened?"
"I ran away."
Judy looked confused. "Why? That's not the Mia I know."
"I was afraid, Judy. My heart was pounding. I have trouble enough rejecting the call of the light, let alone an angel."
"Tell me, if this being reached out his hand to you, Mia, what would you have done?"
"I fear I would have taken it."
"I thought so," Judy said worried. "I'm calling Father Santos. He'll call Angelo for me."
"No!"
"I'm sorry, Mia, but Angelo has every right to know what has happened to you."
"Hold on. The only one that has that right is Ted," Mia said and picked up her belongings. "Thank you, Judy, for being here for me, but I am going to live my life, my way. I don't want a life dictated by Angelo, or Father Santos for that matter."
"Mia, why did you extend your hand to the demon in the bowl?" she asked.
"I felt a kinship with him."
"A demon? You ran from the angel, rejected Angelo, but feel a kinship with a demon?" she asked.
"Yes. He saved my life."
"Why did he save you?"
"You'd have to ask him that," Mia said. "I really have to leave. Ted is expecting me at Ralph's," she explained.
Judy watched Mia walk out of the office she was renting with Glenda Dupree. Her New Age healing business had taken off. She was able to counsel the women who came to see her and learn from them at the same time. She still lived with Ed on Komal's island and flew in every morning during the week.
Glenda walked in and asked, "Was that Mia that blew out of here?"
"Yes."
"Thought so, but the look on her face wasn't the normal everything is cool look she normally wears."
"I upset her."
"Oh dear. She'll get over it. She forgives easily. Do I dare ask what it was about?"
"I couldn't heal her, and I wanted her to call Angelo to come and take her to the aerie."
"Mia doesn't have good memories of that place," Glenda reminded her.
"I don't blame her, but... Damn, I promised not to say anything."
"Then don't. Remember, you're like a doctor and are bound by the same rules they have. Do no harm."
"I think I will be doing harm if I don't say anything to..."
"If it's to Angelo, then I'd advise you not to. Mia has been very forgiving considering that he bought her and wanted to force her to join the Brotherhood of the Wing."
"That's an honor rarely given to a human," Judy explained.
"Mia didn't think so. Judy, our Mia is a stubborn woman who was given the short end of the stick many times. How she manages to be so accepting of other's foibles when they aren't of hers is amazing. She is also smart. She'll come around and call Angelo if that's the right thing to do. Trust me, Mia's in it for the long haul. She'll do the right thing."
"I hope you're right," Judy said.
~
"Well?" Mia asked as she modeled the dress Ralph had made for her to wear to his upcoming wedding. The V-necked, cap-sleeved gown hugged Mia's curves with weighty beads until her hips, where the unadorned, expensive silk flowed around her legs to the floor. Ralph had chosen a soft beige with gold beading. This enhanced the gold flecks in Mia's moss green eyes and brought out the warmer tones that motherhood had brought to her Nordic white hair.
Ted was standing next to her, decked out in a knock-off of a 1930s tux. The double-breasted, wide-lapelled jacket accentuated his broad shoulders and tiny waist. He looked amazing, but all eyes would be on his wife who had never looked more beautiful.
"I think motherhood has been good for you," Bernard said, holding Brian so he could see his mother and father. "I'm glad you didn't go with the flouncy dress with the poofs, Ralph."
"There are going to be poofs enough at the wedding; we don't need them on the dress. Mia's too short to pull them off. Don't they look like Myrna Loy and William Powell?"
"Ted's more of a David Niven, but they do make a handsome pair," Bernard said.
"Don't you love it when they talk about us as if we're not here?" Mia complained.
"Maybe we're not here," Ted said. "We could be caught in a dimensional hole."
Mia's heart skipped a beat. "Interdimensional?" she asked, fearing he was reading her mind.
"I love it when you get all sciencey," Ted said, pulling Mia into an embrace.
Ralph took that moment to start taking pictures.
Brian sputtered at the flashes and giggled as Bernard started dancing with him, singing, "Love is in the air..."
~
Burt was working on editing the last of the library film when Jake alerted him that they had company. The center monitor filled with the law enforcement vehicle. Behind the wheel was Tom Braverman. He pulled into th
e lot and got out. He then opened the rear door and helped a woman out of the back of the cruiser.
Burt got up, opened the door to the office and walked out into the midday sun. He shaded his eyes and addressed Tom, "What brings you out our way on this glorious day?"
Tom, unused to “happy Burt,” mumbled, "Elephants."
"Elephants? Like pink elephants? I assure you, I haven't seen their kind since Ted's bachelor party," Burt joked.
Tom waved off the memory of Burt getting tanked and explained, "Burt, Sheriff Ryan asked me to bring the doctor here out to meet you. She has... Well, I'll let Doctor Monroe explain it to you."
Jane was momentarily struck dumb. She couldn't believe her good luck. Standing in front of her dream man, she blurted out, "Mr. Martin..."
"No, it's Mr. Hicks. The Martins are in Chicago today. I'm Burt Hicks, a friend and colleague of Mia and Ted Martin, the owners of this property." He extended his hand and gripped the strong woman's hand in his.
Jane studied Burt for a moment. "Jane, call me Jane."
Tom, who picked right up on the attraction, thought, “You Jane, him Tarzan."
"Jane, let me explain. The Martins and I belong to a paranormal investigation group. Our office is behind me. They won't be back for a few hours. Could I be of service and help you in the meantime?"
"Do you know this property?"
"Yes."
"I understand it backs Cold Creek Hollow?"
"There are a few miles in between, but yes," Burt said. The mention of Cold Creek Hollow made his stomach grip uncomfortably.
"Last evening, during the rainstorm..." she began and went on to explain the situation. "We originally thought they would be traveling south, but that is not what happened. My trackers found evidence that they were moving in this direction. I feel strongly that if they are not already here, they will soon be. I'm worried, Mr. Hicks."
"Burt, call me Burt. Come on into the office. I have some maps, and a cup of coffee will help."
"Burt," Tom said, getting his attention. "I have to take a look out there, solo. Would it be alright if Doctor Monroe stayed here?"
Burt looked at Jane, and she smiled and nodded. "As long as she's comfortable, it's no bother."
