Auracle

by Gina Rosati

  Matt looks like Seth, only with shorter hair and that persistent five o’clock shadow that some girls find ruggedly sexy. I think it looks like he forgot to shave.

  “Rei!” Matt throws his arm around his shoulder and gives him an affectionate squeeze. “I haven’t seen you in forever. Good to see you, kid!”

  “Hey, you too, Matt.”

  “Sorry about the noise. It gets a little crazy here on Saturday night. Come on up.”

  “Have you heard from Seth?” Rei asks on their way up the stairs before the music amplifies out of control and makes conversation impossible.

  “No, I’ve been waiting for him to call since I heard from you.” Matt stops halfway up. “What the hell is going on with him? My dad called me earlier this week and told me Seth left him a note saying he was in some kind of trouble so he was heading to Canada. Then my dad called to tell me they found his car at the border. All week, there’ve been cops trolling the campus, and not the campus security. Some of them were plainclothes cops in unmarked cars, but I didn’t put two and two together until you called this morning. Then they pulled me in and asked me a million questions about Seth.” Matt starts up the stairs again, slowly. “So what the hell happened to that girl? They seriously think Seth pushed her into the falls?”

  “I guess so. He didn’t, though.”

  “That’s unfrickin’ believable!” Matt looks even more like Seth when he scowls. As they make their way down the hallway, the smell of beer and its aftermath becomes increasingly potent. The party is in full swing when Matt and Rei walk through the door and the room is covered in wall-to-wall people. Someone is blasting loud music, techno mostly, or as Rei calls it, the bastard child of disco. Some people are dancing. Others are standing around shouting at each other in order to be heard over the music, or swilling beer from plastic cups, or making out in the dark corners of the room. Rei shakes his head no when someone offers him a beer.

  “I’ll see if I can find a bottle of water for you,” Matt shouts and disappears into the crowd.

  Rei looks around impatiently, and I figure nobody will notice if I surge into view in front of him.

  “Anna!” He sounds somewhere between relieved and shocked to see me. “What are you doing? Someone might see you!”

  I shrug. Half of these people look too tanked to know the difference between a real person and me. He looks around to see if anyone is looking at us funny, but nobody cares.

  “Where’s Seth?”

  I point to his phone, which he has been holding tight to for the past several minutes, waiting for Seth to call him.

  He’s in some woods near power lines. It’ll be hard to find him in the dark.

  The energy in this room is classic chaos, and it’s easy to suck up enough to type effortlessly on his phone.

  “I thought you knew where he was,” Rei challenges me.

  I roll my eyes. I know the general vicinity, but the power lines make it hard to pinpoint exactly where he is. And once I find him, I have to bring you there in the dark. Not impossible, but not safe.

  “I’ll worry about safe. You worry about finding him. Let’s go.”

  Matt makes his way back across the room with a bottle of water for Rei, so I shake off the extra energy and disappear. Matt motions for Rei to follow him to the quieter hallway.

  “Sorry that took so long. I had to go back to my room. Hey, I didn’t know you brought Anna with you.”

  “Anna?” Rei looks like he’s been caught cheating on a quiz. “I didn’t bring Anna.”

  “Oh. I thought I saw her standing in there with you.” He shrugs. “It must have been someone who looks like her.”

  “Yeah, I guess. You know, I was thinking I’d go look around, see if I can find him.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Matt offers.

  “You don’t have to,” Rei says quickly. “I was just going to drive around town while I wait for his call. How late will you be up tonight?”

  “Who can sleep with all this noise? Things don’t usually settle down until around five.”

  Ha! Rei’s going to love college. Five o’clock in the morning is when he usually gets up to work out and meditate.

  Rei nods. “I’ll be back long before then. I’ll call you when I find him. I’m sure I’ll need you to help me talk him into turning himself in.”

  I materialize beside him as he’s walking through the parking lot.

  “So, other people can see you.”

  I shrug and nod. But just because someone can see me doesn’t mean they will admit they saw me.

  “So you should be careful. Matt thought I brought you with me.”

  I shrug again. Matt didn’t push it, so I’m not worried about it.

  “Did you find his exact location yet?” he presses.

  I point to his phone. Not yet. And I already told you, I don’t want to take you in the woods when it’s dark.

  “Why? Isn’t Seth in the woods when it’s dark?”

  I nod. I get the feeling Rei’s going to get all macho about this.

  “So what’s the difference? If Seth is in there, it’s no more dangerous for me.”

  There he goes. Frustration fuels me as I type. You can’t see to walk. If you fall and break your ankle, I can’t get you out of there.

  “I have my phone.”

  If the power lines are interfering with Seth’s vibration, they may interfere with your phone signal, too. The phone does you no good if there’s no reception.

  Rei ends up driving around, and I leave the car a few times to see if I can pick up Seth’s energy pattern. It stays consistent, leading me back to the power lines, time and time again.

  “Then just take me to the general location and I’ll find him myself,” Rei insists.

  That’s not happening. He could be anywhere within a square mile of where I lose his vibration. You need sleep. I’ll wake you up when I find him.

  “Anna, what if he’s not hiding in the woods? What if you can’t find him because he’s dead?”

  CHAPTER 20

  It took me over an hour to convince Rei that Seth couldn’t possibly be dead, and that he was only thinking these bad things because he was exhausted. Even his aura is a tired shade of beige. Matt offered Rei his roommate’s bed for the night but since the sheets looked like they hadn’t been washed since school started last September, Rei made a diplomatic excuse and spent the night in the car. It’s now after five o’clock in the morning, and he looks painfully uncomfortable, but his internal alarm clock hasn’t kicked in yet to wake him up. Good. I need more time anyway.

  The static by the power lines is still buzzing, but not nearly as strong as it was last night. Maybe because it’s daylight now and not as much electricity is needed. I don’t know and I don’t care. I allow myself the luxury of hope.

  The forest extends about a mile on either side of the power lines. Light filters through the tall pines casting soft shadows and morning brings birdsong and the scuttlings of squirrels and chipmunks as they start their day. Every tree, every bush, every blade of grass and patch of moss is alive, surrounded by shades of soft, serene blue. It’s the aura of peace, like everything in nature is attuned to each other in perfect harmony.

  Even me. Even though I am without a body, without a plan, I allow myself this one perfect moment to be without a care, to feel like I’m part of something bigger than bodies and plans, something eternal and omnipresent and hopeful. Something positive. The trees nod their branches even though there is no wind.

  And then the blues shimmer into silver and from somewhere above me, the colors gather together into this brilliant beam of light that reaches down to me.

  My first reaction is to bolt, but I’m too mesmerized. Is this the light? THE light? The same one I saw in the nursing home, the one that comes for the dead? Why is it here, then, in the forest? Is it here for me? Is this some sort of cosmic hint that because I have no body, I am now invited to the big heavenly party?

  I don’t have time for a
party. I need to find Seth.

  I feel like I’m spitting in the face of God. “Thank you,” I tell the light because there is obviously some divine connection here and I don’t want to seem ungrateful, “but I need to find Seth before I can go anywhere.”

  The light seems to have no hard feelings. It shimmers with tiny shards of color, like glitter is swirling around inside it, and disappears in an upward motion as if vacuumed up into the sky. The stillness that follows is absolute, except for one lone vibration.…

  That convoluted buzz I know as Seth is as clear as an arrow pointing me in the direction I need to go, and I know this is no coincidence. I whisper more thanks and follow the vibration to this massive pine tree that had fallen, roots and all, what must be years ago. Seth is sleeping on the muddy ground, almost completely hidden under a blanket of brittle brown pine needles. He’s soaked to the skin, filthy, and he smells like boiled cabbage, but he’s very much alive.

  CHAPTER 21

  Yesssss! I do my little invisible midair spiral of happiness! I am so freakin’ happy I finally found Seth and I can’t wait to tell Rei! I get a fix on Rei’s calm, steady vibration, which I know so well, and swoop down to it, realizing too late that Rei is wet and soapy and … oh God!!

  I hear him mutter a Japanese swear followed by my name as I retreat into the hallway. I didn’t see any of his boy parts, I swear, but Rei doesn’t know that. All he knows is Hurricane Anna blew into the shower while he was in there wearing nothing but bubbles. Rawr! I should have known better. I mean, this is Rei we’re talking about—a nuclear warhead could be heading straight for Vermont and he’d want a quick shower before it hits. I wait outside the room marked SHOWER, and the hallway is quiet now that almost everyone is asleep after their wild night.

  I know Rei must be annoyed, but honestly, I didn’t see anything lower than his chest. Besides, he knows I wouldn’t intentionally peek in on him while he’s showering. I imagine how I would feel if the situation was reversed … mortified, for sure. He’s a guy, though. Don’t guys all shower together? And it’s not like Rei and I haven’t seen each other naked. The first time I tasted honey was at Rei’s house and we made such a sticky mess that Yumi stuck us in the tub together and hosed us off. Okay, so we couldn’t have been more than three years old at the time. Obviously, a lot has changed since then.

  The door opens and out walks Rei, clean but very flustered.

  “Next time, knock first!” he growls quietly at me. I mouth my most sincere apologies to him and motion for him to follow me into the shower room, where I hope there are no more naked people and the mirrors will still have a layer of fog on them. By the time Rei walks through the door, I’ve already written on the mirror.

  I found him!

  * * *

  Matt catches Rei on the way out of the shower room. He looks like he’s pulled an all-nighter; his eyes are bloodshot and his five o’clock shadow has morphed into something a little more grizzly.

  “Hey, how ’bout some breakfast?”

  Rei looks like he’s about to say no, but then he changes his mind. “That sounds great. Do you mind if I get something to go, though? I want to get an early start.”

  Rei carries his duffel bag over his shoulder as they make their way through the quiet cafeteria line with their trays. Matt eats just like Seth, and his tray is piled with sausage patties, scrambled eggs, some white toast smeared with margarine that refuses to melt, and a foam cup filled with black coffee and four packets of sugar. Rei has his usual: fiber, potassium, vitamin C, and plenty of it.

  Matt surveys Rei’s tray. “Stocking up?”

  “I thought I’d bring some food with me just in case I find him.”

  Matt nods thoughtfully. “Good thinking, kid. You mean to tell me Seth will actually eat a banana for you?”

  “He will if he’s hungry enough.”

  As soon as they’ve paid for their food, Rei shoves the cartons of orange juice, bananas, and granola bars into his duffel bag.

  “I’ll call you if I find him,” Rei promises as he swings his duffel bag up onto his shoulder again.

  “Yeah. Hopefully he’ll listen to you. I just don’t get it,” Matt shakes his head. “Why the hell did he run if he didn’t do anything wrong?”

  “I don’t know. He got scared, I guess. You know Seth.”

  “Yeah!” Matt grins. “Can you believe it, though? He outran the cops! On foot! He’s pretty damn fast, isn’t he?” he says proudly.

  Rei grins back. “Yeah, he is. We run together a couple of times a week and he can run circles around me.”

  I sincerely doubt that.

  “Leave it to Seth to get screwed like this. Who was this girl, anyway? Anyone I know?”

  “No, her name was Taylor. She’d been chasing after him for a while.”

  “Oh, man,” Matt laughs. “It must be tough to be such a stud that all the chicks are after you.”

  “I wouldn’t know.”

  Oh, please! Even from here, I notice a few sleepy coeds in their tank tops and low-riding sleep pants peeking over their fat-free yogurts and bowls of Kashi to check out Rei and Matt.

  * * *

  After breakfast, Rei jogs out to the car to find me waiting for him. Once he backs the car up, I start pointing, right, left, left, straight, until we reach a greasy spoon-style restaurant on a plot of land bordering the forest. Rei pulls the car into the parking lot. After he fills his pockets with food for Seth, I lead him the rest of the way on foot.

  He’s in a hurry. “I thought you could travel at the speed of sound,” he prods me. “Why are you moving so slowly today?”

  The speed of sound? Oh, please. Mach 1 is for amateurs. He grins at the look I give him, but I pick up the pace for him anyway, ignoring the wicked urge I have to make him sweat to keep up with me. He’s every bit as fast as Seth, even while picking his way over jutting roots and fallen branches, but a twisted ankle would not be in anyone’s best interest right now. As soon as we reach Seth’s hideout, I point and hover over Seth, who has obviously heard the footsteps and pressed himself as far under the canopy of pine needles as possible.

  Rei steps up onto the fallen trunk and walks down the length of it, looking around. “Seth?”

  “Rei?” Seth’s head pops up and his eyes bug out with relief. “How the HELL did you find me here?” He’s on his feet in a second and there’s that awkward moment where guys hug, then realize they are hugging and step away from each other with that embarrassed look on their faces. Oh, good. Now Rei is wet and muddy, too, but he seems too happy to have found Seth to care. Rei pulls a banana out of his pocket.

  “Food! Yes! I haven’t had anything to eat since yesterday morning.”

  It’s like Seth is a sword swallower, the way he shoves that banana down his throat. Rei hands him a carton of orange juice and fishes the granola bars out of his pocket. Seth stuffs an entire granola bar into his mouth.

  “Did the cops see you come in here?” Seth asks with his mouth full.

  “No, but Seth…”

  “Every time I tried to come out to call you, I’d see a cop!”

  “Seth, I am begging you. You’ve got to turn yourself in.”

  Seth’s expression immediately turns defensive. “Rei, we’ve been through this. It’s not gonna happen. If I turn myself in, what’ll that do for me? Just get me to jail a whole lot faster.”

  “Come on,” Rei implores him. “You look like you’ve been through hell.”

  He smells like he’s been through much worse than that.

  “Look, I’m parked at a restaurant about a half mile away. They have bacon and eggs … and hash browns,” he bribes. “We’ll get something to go and we can sit in the car and talk about it.”

  Seth looks reluctantly at Rei, but we all know that granola bars and a banana don’t even qualify as an appetizer to Seth. “Fine. But those better be some damned good hash browns. And if I see any cops, I am out of there!”

  CHAPTER 22

  It almost f
eels normal, just three friends hiking through the woods. Except I have no body. And the police in two states are looking for Seth.

  I am relieved and grateful that I found Seth first. After last night’s confusion with the static from the power lines, I doubted whether I’d ever find him. But then this morning, everything was so peaceful just before the light appeared. I’m still trying to figure out just what happened, why it appeared … was it something I did? Or is this a divine message telling me things are hopeless here and it’s time to cross over into heaven or wherever the light takes us?

  But I can’t cross over. If I don’t get my body back, Taylor will testify against Seth and he will end up in jail for the rest of his life. I can’t just give up. I don’t want to give up. This is my life, my time, and even though I feel bad that Taylor’s life was cut short, I’m not ready to give up my life without a fight. Plus Rei would never give up on a friend. Even now, he keeps hinting, unsuccessfully, that Seth should talk to the police. It’s funny how deep their voices have become, something else I never paid much attention to until recently. As we move through the forest, I almost miss the metallic buzz of another voice that belongs to neither Rei nor Seth.

  What is that weird voice, anyway? It sounds like a radio or something. We are almost to the parking lot, so I speed ahead and stop short.

  CRAP!

  There, surrounding Rei’s SUV with the bright green Vermont license plate, are not one, but three police cruisers. Six cops and a voracious-looking German shepherd are sniffing around the car and the outskirts of the woods. I fly back to Rei and I don’t care who sees me when I materialize with a desperate look on my face, pointing like a lunatic for them to go back into the woods.

  “What the…?” Seth yelps, but Rei understands immediately.