Mind Fray

by Alexie Aaron

  Orion laughed at himself. “Here I was, thinking it was an actual name. I embarrass myself.”

  Angelo patted his friend on the back, intending to comfort him. Orion found himself bruised after the exchange.

  “How did this dude go from having his head chopped off to being here?” Cid asked.

  “Actually, it’s kind of a miracle it happened at all,” Angelo said.

  Father Santos frowned. “I wouldn’t use the word miracle, my friend. These people associate miracles with God.”

  “I’d like to argue the point that God isn’t the only source of miracles with you another time, Paulo, but for the sake of this discussion, I will call it an impossible phenomenon or an IP,” Angelo conceded. “This IP had to have so many factors for it to work. Kind of like an Ocean’s Eleven scenario, if you will. First Uta and her mother took the block from which Cezar was executed. For the sake of those who may not be familiar: paper made from wood that has been used for executions is very powerful. Cults following the dark ways use the paper to write curses on. Contact with the paper will bind the curse to the receiver. But the Gabors took it a step further and used it as a conjuring portal. Since the wood was soaked in Cezar’s blood, they were presented with the opportunity to not only bring Cezar’s soul back from the darkness, but quite possibly bringing him back from the dead as well.”

  The group was spellbound. Angelo nodded to his associate who stood up.

  “There is an ancient practice called blood raising,” Orion informed them and explained, “It’s not widely used because all the pieces have to fall into place if it is going to succeed. First, the victim’s blood must be recovered. Uta and her Mother took the executioner’s block and made paper from it. Uta then conjured her brother’s likeness on the paper. By doing this, Cezar could look through the eyes of the image and direct the power of his mind into this world. The problem was that even though he could direct his power out of the darkness, he could not leave it. To do this, he needed a blood sacrifice. I’m sure Uta would have been more than happy to give her life, but in this case, they needed a male of the same bloodline.”

  “Anatolie Gabor,” Burt said aloud.

  “Yes. It just so happened that he was here in the States using his talents to entertain people in the guise of a mentalist. We can only theorize that Uta traveled to America to seek out her cousin. We don’t know if Anatolie embraced the opportunity to bind with his cousin in order to draw from his power or if Uta performed this task on her own. Either way, the result was that she had the second ingredient needed for the blood raising.”

  “But why print so many handbills on the cursed paper if he only needed one to exit the darkness?” Audrey asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Orion admitted. “I think the handbills weren’t supposed to leave the theater. The Burlington was the place for Cezar to be summoned. Anatolie would have perhaps used the conduit of the papers to present him a way to conjure a mass hallucination. Something must have gone wrong at the theater.”

  “There were accounts of an audience stampede. Possibly, the patrons weren’t amazed but afraid?” Audrey asked.

  “Could be? I guess we will never know. Anyway, the result was that some of the handbills survived, and Cezar was given a few more, let’s say, windows of opportunity.”

  “You said other factors had to come into play?” Cid prodded.

  “Yes. According to Henry York, Major Fletcher burned the handbill.”

  “That’s true, but why is this a factor?” Cid asked.

  Orion thought a moment before speaking. How was he going to explain a level eight wizard without labeling him a wizard? “When the major burned the paper, he burned the blood of Cezar. This reconnected Cezar with his dark masters. When the house burned down, the ash was made ash again. This increased his power.”

  “Why is the house rising?” Bev asked.

  “I’m not really sure.”

  “Hubris,” Mia offered. “Pure ego. I think the man is going to make a grand exit out the front door of the house.”

  “Why do you say man?” Burt asked. “Wouldn’t entity be a better label?”

  “Because the final ingredient Cezar needs is to possess someone,” Orion said, looking around at the men at the table. “I see several viable hosts here.”

  “So how do we rid ourselves of Cezar?” Mike asked.

  “I think it’s going to have to be a two-pronged attack,” Mia theorized. “I think we need a prolonged diversion in order to keep Cezar distracted while the thralls are dealt with - they shouldn’t be ignored. They provide energy to Cezar. I’m not sure if they are the only source of his energy, but because they are one of the sources, they have to be taken out of the equation.”

  Orion kept silent. He didn’t want anyone who would be dealing with Cezar to know what he and Angelo had planned. The PEEPs and Father Santos’s group were a talented bunch, but their minds were mostly untrained and would be read even before they stepped foot on the porch of the Madisons’ house.

  Gerald suggested, “How about two teams, working separately but for a common goal?”

  “Wouldn’t they be stepping on each other’s feet?” Mike questioned.

  “Not if the teams stayed on mission,” Gerald explained. “We are dealing with a mind reader. A very strong one as Mr. Murphy can attest to. He has no qualms in using your fear and guilt against you.”

  “What if a team of us entered the house in the standard PEEPs investigative fashion?” Burt proposed. “We could treat this just like a normal haunt. We’ve already done the interviews. Now all that’s left is to make contact with the ghost.”

  “What do we do when he shows up?” Cid asked.

  “Ignore him,” Murphy said. “It unbalances him.”

  “Good point,” Bev agreed and explained, “Stephen was presented with several hallucinations. He never acknowledged them, and he referred to the entity as Cezar which pissed off the mind reader.”

  “Each investigator needs to understand that whatever they are seeing will have to be communicated to the others. Ted, you’re going to have to be on the ball and relay information or have us all on open mic. That way, we can help each other through whatever Cezar throws at us,” Burt said.

  “I think we have to be careful who we send in there,” Mia started. “People with the sight won’t see the hallucinations. Mike will be blind, although this may work in our favor if used right.”

  “He could be our voice of reason,” Audrey suggested.

  “We should have a sighted person viewing the camera feeds. Through the camera, he is a bubbling grey mass. In some spectrums you can see him in his Romanian form,” Mia told them. “He hasn’t figured out how to use the video feeds against us yet, but don’t be surprised if he does; this is a powerful, intelligent entity. Dangerous. He can kill,” Mia stated. “He will use household items: sheets, kitchenware, and furniture as weapons. They will become part of the memory he is accessing. If you’ve been suppressing a life-threatening trauma, bow out now. We will use you elsewhere,” Mia said, trying not to look directly at Audrey.

  Audrey raised her hand. “My ex-husband almost beat me to death. I guess I’m out.”

  It took courage for her to admit this to the group, and each member admired her for it.

  “Then you should work with the other team,” Burt suggested. “And before you offer, Mia, I want you in the trailer being our eyes.”

  “I’ll take her place,” Father Santos offered. “Many ghost hunting teams have a cleric on hand.”

  Burt nodded. “That’s a good sized team. Iron vests on everyone, including you, Father. Cid, you take the camera; your hand is the steadiest. Tom, if you could run interference with any curious neighbors…”

  “Move along, there’s nothing to see here,” Tom droned.

  The group laughed. Tom blushed.

  Gerald kept silent. He too didn’t want the others, not even Father Santos knowing what he had planned.

  “Here I am, the last pi
cked for kickball, again,” Bev moaned comically. “I’ll hang back with the farmer in case you guys get yourselves in a jam. We’ll pull you out.”

  Murphy was surprised by Beverly’s plan. He knew she was a powerful sensitive, much more experienced than Mia, but could she be trusted?

  “Let’s get it together, people,” Burt said. “PEEPs, we go in in thirty minutes.”

  Most everyone rose. Orion put a restraining hand on Mia’s thigh. “A moment, dear lady,” he said. “May I please have your hand?”

  Mia put her hands under the table, pulling off her gloves. Orion reached over and gripped her hand with his. She opened up her mind to the wizard, and he fed upon the information stored there. He, in turn, placed a sealed box in one of her memory rooms. “When I say bicycle rash, the box will open. Use the information stored there carefully,” he whispered.

  Mia nodded, and he let her hand go.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  “Mike,” Mia called, running over to the investigator. “Before you go, I have something for you.”

  “If it’s a kiss, I’ll collect it later,” he teased, looking down at Mia’s earnest face.

  “You wish. Actually,” she paused, reaching behind her. “Here, you’re the only one who the entity won’t know has this.” She handed him the rock-salt-loaded shotgun Father Santos had gifted her a few months back.

  Mike held it in his hands, turning it this way and that, studying the weapon. “I see a few problems here.”

  “Go ahead, I’m listening.”

  “First, I’m not a fan of guns. Second, Mia, I can’t see this thing. How am I going to fire on it?”

  “I’ll be in your ear, giving you instructions,” she informed him. “I can’t be in there. If you guys get in a spot, this may buy you the time that Bev and Murph may need to get to you. If it keeps all of you safe, I’ll pay the price of some paint and paper. It will be well worth it,” she assured him.

  “What if I hit one of the guys or Murphy?”

  “Murphy will cuss a blue streak, but he’ll survive. I doubt that you’re going to fire at Santos, Cid or Burt full on. You’re the only one I can see who is a match for Cezar.”

  “Do you really think so?”

  “Mike, we’ve had our differences, but I never lost the fact that you’re a survivor. You dealt with a possession most of your life, by yourself. There were a few scars left inside. I prefer to think of these as callouses. Cezar was unable to read you. He had my number alright, but he couldn’t penetrate your memories. You were made for this mission, my friend. Conduct a normal investigation. Treat Cezar as if he is a ghost needing our help. This will rile him up. Encourage him to expel as much energy as possible.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know exactly, but I assure you, I didn’t come up with this plan on my own.”

  “Ah, the mind readers. Which one? Gerald?”

  “I’m not sure,” Mia admitted.

  “Well, for once I won’t have to worry about you,” Mike said. “No matter what happens to us, stay beside Ted,” he ordered.

  Mia wanted to tell him he wasn’t the boss of her, but she felt Mike needed to feel in charge, so she nodded.

  “Okay, now tell me the truth. Is my right side my best or my left? I’m so handsome, I can’t decide.” He flashed Mia his million dollar smile.

  “Your left,” Mia said.

  “What, no rude comment?”

  “Did you really expect me to comment on your crooked nose or graying eyebrows?” Mia said deadpan. She turned and walked back to the command post.

  Mike sought out a mirror.

  Audrey timidly followed Angelo and Orion into Irma’s house. Glenda and the drivers had left the kitchen tidy. Angelo stopped and turned to Audrey. It was very evident he had something on his mind. She steeled her spine and asked, “Yes?”

  “I could take those memories from you, or my grey ladies could,” he offered.

  Orion, who was emptying his satchel on the table, listened in on the exchange with interest.

  “That is very kind of you,” Audrey said, worried that the shakiness of her voice would betray her. She was nervous but felt that this was an opportunity to help her friend. “But one thing that I’ve learned in trying not to repeat the pattern of my past, is that I have to acknowledge that it did happen. I have to come to grips with that it wasn’t my fault. Sure, I jumped into a situation without thinking it through. I let him use my love for my family to manipulate me. I didn’t trust the people who had my back since day one to help me. I need the memory. It has taught me a lot. If I may, Angelo, I would like to remind you that our lives don’t have to be perfect. We don’t always get the fairytale lives we read about. The fact that we can take the hits and not deliver them to someone else makes us heroes.”

  “You wouldn’t want a fairytale life,” Orion commented. “Trolls, ogres, smelly dragons, witches and candy houses are bad for your health.”

  Angelo looked at Audrey to see if she realized the man was speaking the truth.

  “Okay, fairytales aren’t exactly good blueprints,” she acknowledged. “I guess what I’m trying to ask you, with the upmost respect, please leave our memories alone. Mia’s especially. I know you mean well, but we adult humans need our memories good and horrible. There’s a reason our psyches are this way. When you take away one thing, it changes something else.”

  “You lose balance,” he realized.

  “Yes, that’s a good way to describe it. Children, well, that’s something else.”

  “That’s a discussion for another day,” Orion chimed in. “Right now, I need an able-bodied assistant. Audrey, look around and see if you can find anything that we can use to hold a gas.”

  Angelo was puzzled by Audrey’s refusal but was determined not to spend too much time thinking about it. There was a level eight wizard to stop, and he needed to be ready to play his part.

  Gerald followed behind the PEEPs team. He stopped just outside the house and reached out with his mind. His hopes were that the entrance of the investigative team would draw Cezar’s attention. And while Cezar played with them, Gerald would walk the entity’s mind house to look for answers.

  Mia walked over to Irma’s house with two additional earcoms in hand. She saw Gerald standing there, seemingly watching the house. She now could tell that he was in duality mode. He might seem to be there, but in reality, he was deep in the mind of someone, or in this case, something.

  “This has to be the corniest thing I’ve seen yet,” Bev complained as Mia passed her. She was wearing Mia’s knitted smock of iron, silver and crystals that Mike had picked up from Ralph on his way to work.

  “You’ll be singing another tune if the thing works and you’ve avoided a gut punch,” Mia said, stopping.

  “What do you mean if?” Bev asked.

  “I haven’t tried it out yet. Cid made one for Burt which was quite effective. Yours and the other new ones have yet to be tried out. If you want, I can have Murphy take a swing at you…”

  “He wouldn’t dare! I’m a lady,” Bev said abashed.

  “You’re no lady,” Mia reminded her and continued on her journey. She heard Bev ask, “You wouldn’t hit me, would you?”

  Mia walked in the house and wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know what you’re cooking, but it smells like Mioliera.”

  “Mioliera? What’s that?” Audrey asked Angelo.

  “Brains and scrambled eggs,” he translated.

  Audrey didn’t see any egg shells around. All she could see was the pressure cooker pot heating on the stove, tended to by a very amused little man.

  “Oh, oh,” Audrey said and sat down. Earlier she had helped Orion scrape every last bit of the unctuous material out of the plastic bag he had brought with him.

  Mia walked over to her and felt her forehead. “You feel a little clammy.”

  “She’ll be fine. She’s just found out the secret ingredient to my witch’s brew,” Orion said, putting the lid on the pressure c
ooker.

  “You’re cooking brains? Whose?” Mia asked and put her hand up. “No need. You just do what you have to. Here’s the communication device I spoke to you about. You put it in your ear. You’ll be able to hear everything that is going on. If you need to communicate with Ted or myself, simply tap it lightly like this.” Mia demonstrated. “I know you’re probably used to simply talking in our heads, but this is way more efficient.”

  Orion placed the com in his ear. He tapped it. “Ted, are you there?”

  “Welcome to Ted wireless, we have many plans to suit your needs.”

  “I need to be put on the do-not-call list,” Orion joked.

  “Done and done,” Ted said. “You’re coming in clear as a bell.”

  “Most interesting,” Orion said before going back to watching the pressure gauge.

  Mia handed Angelo his com. He looked surprised. The communication device looked so small in his large hand. He rolled it around, looking at it.

  “You’ve worn one of these before, haven’t you?”

  “No.”

  “Here bend down,” she instructed.

  Angelo did so, and Mia took off her glove, snatched the com from his hand and gently placed the com in Angelo’s ear. Her fingertips brushed his ear, and she was propelled into a kaleidoscope of visions. She snapped her hand away. “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay, little bird. I hope I didn’t scare you?”

  “No. I was just unprepared.” She repeated the instructions she gave Orion, and Angelo went through the motions.

  “Even though I’m curious as to what you’re cooking here, I’m going to go back to work. Let’s hope everything goes as planned.”

  Mike moved through the house, leading the others. He turned around and looked into the camera. “This is Mike Dupree along with Burt Hicks, Father Santos and Cid Garrett investigating Kim and Maxwell Madison’s house. There is a suspected entity in the home.”

  Cid panned the camera slowly back and forth.

  Mia saw a bubbling mass a few feet from Mike.