Mind Fray

by Alexie Aaron

  “Careful, guys, the entity is in front of Mike,” she warned.

  Mike turned and stuck out his EVP recorder and said, “Hello, we’re PEEPs. We’re here to help.”

  ~

  Orion finished attaching the tubing to the empty two-liter plastic bottle. He opened the valve of the pressure cooker and filled the bottle with the luminous green gas.

  “Looks like Mountain Dew,” Audrey commented.

  “I assure you it is not,” Orion said. He looked quickly at Angelo before explaining, “What we have here is a very powerful potion. Our aim is to get it to Anatolie Gabor so he can rise and conquer Cezar.”

  “Whoa,” Audrey exclaimed. “That’s why you didn’t want the others to know. If Cezar found out by reading their minds, he would be waiting for us.”

  ~

  Burt could not believe what he saw. The hag from the hollow floated above him. Drool pooled in her twisted mouth as she slowly reached out for him. Mia whispered in his ear, “Remember, gentlemen, it’s not real. It’s Cezar.” He steeled himself and cleared his voice, “Cezar Gabor, how nice of you to great us personally.”

  Father Santos didn’t see the Romanian before him. Instead, the child from his first failed exorcism moved on twisted limbs towards him, chanting, “Mary, Mary, quite contrary…” He crossed himself and replied, “Cezar Gabor,” and reached out a friendly hand.

  Cid was no longer in the hall. He was in the gym at basketball camp. His glasses had slid down his nose as he faced the other children. The ball rolled forward, and he picked it up. “Come on, bounce the ball,” the teenager in charge urged. “It’s easy.” Cid felt the weight of the ball in his hands. How could this not be real?

  Mia repeated, “Remember, gentlemen, it’s not real.”

  Cid tossed the ball back at the youth. “Cezar Gabor, we’re PEEPs, and we’re here to help.”

  Mia watched as the mass withdrew its four tentacles to take on more energy. “Beware, he’s preparing for round two. Good luck,” Mia warned.

  ~

  Gerald reached out with his mind until he connected with Cezar. He pushed quietly into his mind house and traveled down the corridors. He avoided the most recent memories; he didn’t want to witness what this monster had done to the Fulbright family. He made a mental note that one of the thralls was Stanley Fulbright before he moved on. He pushed in and out of the other victims of his mind play. Lee Heinz, Dalton Fluty…

  Angelo smiled as Gerald furthered his findings into Angelo’s receptive mind. Gerald had extracted some very useful information. He turned to Audrey and requested, “I need you to ask my driver to show you my knife collection. Bring me back the little red one.” Audrey nodded, repeating, “A little red knife.” She walked out of the house in search of Angelo’s driver.

  Angelo told Orion Gerald’s plan. The little man smiled.

  Angelo left the house and went in search of Stephen Murphy. He found him and Bev standing by just outside what the team had decided was the range of Cezar’s awareness. Murphy looked uncomfortable. Angelo pondered this a moment. The farmer looked like he’d been asked to take his sister to the prom kind of uncomfortable.

  “Stephen, can I speak with you a moment?” Angelo asked.

  Murphy looked relieved and was instantly by his side. “Walk with me a bit further away from the house.”

  The two men walked behind the trailer before Angelo brought up what he had on his mind. “How do you feel about doing some spying?”

  Murphy put a hand out and tilted back and forth.

  “You see, I think that Gerald has found a weak link in Cezar’s chain of thralls. My plan is to snatch this individual, but I need to replace him so that one of the others doesn’t get suspicious. Can you morph into another image?”

  “Don’t know.”

  “Bev could teach you if you let her,” Angelo suggested.

  “Don’t trust Bev.”

  “Yes, I can see why. How about Mia?”

  “Trust Mia.”

  Angelo touched his com and asked, “Mia, could you OOB over here a minute and teach Murphy how to morph?”

  “I guess so.”

  Murphy was surprised she didn’t ask any more questions. Within minutes, Mia’s OOBed form stood in front of Murphy and Angelo.

  “I need him to look like the soul hanging on the west end of the line,” Angelo said.

  Mia sped off and returned with a question, “Why?”

  “I’m going to snatch the soul, a Lee Heinz, and interrogate him. He holds information that we need. But no one must know he’s missing.”

  “I can take his place. Murphy is needed to protect the team inside,” Mia advised.

  “OOBed people are too light,” Angelo insisted. “Ghosts have weight, even depleted ones.”

  “Are you alright with this?” Mia asked her friend.

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, here’s how I do it. Hopefully the technique is similar for you. You have to think you’re the person. Lee Heinz is a dapper dresser, so I bet he’s a player like Mike.” Mia first became Mike and then took on the facial qualities of Lee. “You try it.”

  Murphy thought about the prowess of Mike Dupree and let his imagination take over his manifestation. He looked out of Mike’s eyes and felt the weight of Mike’s loneliness. He then looked over at the hanging soul, and soon he was Lee Heinz.

  “Not so vibrant. Remember the forest,” Mia said, paling her persona out.

  Murphy followed suit.

  “I think he’s got a flask in his pocket. Here,” she patted her right front.

  Murphy nodded, and the ever so slight bulge appeared.

  Mia nodded. “In order to hold on to the image, you need to concentrate. I know it’s hard and takes a lot of energy. I’ll have an energon cube waiting for you. If Cezar appears, then I want you to leave. Move off as fast as you can,” Mia ordered. “This stunt isn’t worth losing you.” Mia looked up into Angelo’s face. “Right?”

  “That’s right,” Angelo said, wishing Mia’s glare wasn’t so penetrating. Even in the guise of Lee Heinz, her eyes could disturb his core. “Alright, you take care of him,” Mia morphed back into her normal persona. “I have to get back. Ted’s nervous about me OOBing pregnant.”

  “When you get back, have Curly torment the female ghost. Draw her sight away from Lee Heinz,” Angelo requested.

  Mia saluted. Murphy and Angelo watched her disappear. “She moves faster than a ghost,” Murphy mentioned.

  “I didn’t know that. I should know this. Beverly’s been OOBing for years. Thank you, that’s good information to have. Now, follow me. We are only going to have one try at this. I’m going to let Gerald know we are ready. He will read Cezar and let us know when the mind reader is the most distracted.

  Inside the house, Cezar preyed upon Cid. His mind was the most open. He wandered the corridors of the insecure man. He could have chosen a multitude of adolescent torments, but that would be too easily seen through. He turned a corner and saw snow and smiled.

  Cid could not see his hand in front of his face. He took a step, and he stumbled. Once again he was in the deep snow floundering. The investigator felt his face, looking for his glasses. He stumbled again. The terrain was becoming brutal. He no longer heard the people around him. He was in the still forest. All he heard were soft thumps caused by chunks of snow falling off the pines. The snow made the little sight he had diminish. He was blind.

  Burt looked over as Cid let the camera slide off his shoulder. The strap held the heavy camera from toppling to the floor, but only just. Cid’s hands were in front of him. His eyes were squinted. He lifted his legs oddly and walked off down the hall. The realization came over Burt that Cid thought he was once again lost in the woods.

  “Cid, it’s not real!” he shouted. Burt reeled backwards as he was hit with an overwhelming stench of sulfur.

  A strange sense of déjà vu came over Burt as he pulled the neck of his T-shirt up over his nose. He thought it was better to endu
re his body odor than continue to smell that. He felt a tug on the back of his shirt. Surprised, he whirled around to find nothing there. He stood still for a moment, trying to figure out whether he’d imagined it when his knees were taken out from under him. “What the hell!” he shouted as he fell forward onto the moss-covered stones.

  Burt rolled over in pain, oblivious to the ledge he was precariously close to. He felt hands pulling on him as he fell over the ledge and down into a dark abyss. He landed, hitting his head hard. He was disoriented and unable to move. He hoped the fall hadn’t broken his back. He concentrated and found he could move his fingers and toes. It was his arms and legs that seemed as if they were being held down. An image preceded by a foul stench was moving towards him. This didn’t look good. He fought the invisible bonds with everything he had. “Let go, damn it!” Burt said.

  Gerald smiled as Cezar was totally concentrating on the hallucinations he was producing. “Now, Angelo,” Gerald projected into the birdman’s head.

  Uta’s eyes followed the strange metallic creature that approached her. It lifted up and sent a small electric charge in her direction. “How dare you!” she screamed. She pulled at her restraints, wishing Cezar had not tied her to the line. He said it was the only way to convince the others that she wasn’t a spy.

  As he felt the line pull, Angelo nodded to Murphy who severed the connection between Lee Heinz and the others with his axe. Angelo held onto the line so it would not rebound back down the line. Murphy slid into place, dropping his axe in the grass below him. He held onto the line with his hand and nodded to Angelo.

  Angelo wrapped his arms around Lee and moved quickly to the house where Orion was waiting for him.

  Murphy felt the tremor in the line stop. He did his best to float as if he were tied there. He didn’t dare look down the line. Lee Heinz would have stared with dead white eyes at the back of the house that was more than halfway built. He heard an occasional sniffling and a spectral wheeze or two. It was absolute torture to hang there. He hoped that Angelo wouldn’t be long.

  Lee Heinz didn’t feel the herb rope that entwined him, nor hear the chanting as a salt line was laid around the kitchen stool he was secured to. All he saw was the emerging house. All he felt was the chill of the spectral wind.

  “Why are you here?” a soft voice asked him. The voice was buttery and seemed to penetrate his mind. “Think back, remember… remember…” the voice commanded.

  Lee did.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Lee Heinz could not be in a better mood. He had secured the contract for procuring the terracotta needed to finish the Montauk Block. He had the fat advance in his pocket along with a powerful thirst. In front of the Monroe Street Tavern was a beautiful dark-haired woman. She held a stack of handbills in her arms. He stopped and watched her as she sized up each passerby. She didn’t hand out the papers to just anyone that passed like he was used to seeing. Instead she was selective. He approached her, and she looked up at him and said, “I can see you are a man of refinement, a man that has an open mind. Here, come and see Gabor the Great. He will turn your world on end, my friend.”

  Lee took the handbill without glancing at it. Instead he kept a steady gaze upon the woman whose strange black eyes regarded him with speculation. “Is there anything else, my friend,” she said in her oddly accented voice.

  “Will you be at this performance?”

  “Most certainly, only the chosen get invited,” she assured him.

  “Will you dine with me after?” he asked.

  She tapped the paper. “You come, and we’ll see.”

  He took her at her word. He looked down and took in the information and then studied the image of the mentalist. He forgot about the drink he wanted. He forgot about dropping off the money to his backers. All he remembered to do was walk to the new theater district and line up with the others outside of the Burlington Theater.

  He felt a soft hand on his arm. “Come with me, my friend. You have been chosen to meet Gabor the Great,” the gypsy woman instructed.

  Lee felt his limbs wake up as he moved with the beautiful woman. His hands and feet felt like they had been asleep. The tingling sensation bordered on being uncomfortable. He stopped and shook his upper body trying to free himself from the fog he was under.

  “Is something wrong?” the woman asked.

  “Something isn’t right. I can’t seem to wake up.”

  “Why would you want to awaken from this beautiful dream?”

  Lee focused and found he was no longer outside. The woman had guided him into the theater. The sounds of practicing musicians assaulted his senses with the high blares of the trumpeters along with the scratchy runs of the clarinets. Someone steadily played a low key on a piano somewhere out of sight. The tone resonated through the din, echoing down the corridor where he stood. Bong, bong, bong, it continued like a relentless, leaking faucet. He wanted to scream, “Stop!” but all that came out was a burble.

  “What’s the matter with your friend, Uta?” a stagehand asked the woman.

  “Nothing, Freddy, he’s just a little drunk. I’m taking him to Anatolie’s room to sober up.”

  “Help me!” Lee screamed, but his voice just issued a gurgle followed by a hissing sound.

  “Come, my friend, you mustn’t be nervous. Anatolie is no one of consequence. My brother, on the other hand, will demand your awe.”

  She helped him up a few stairs and down a carpeted hall. When they reached the destination, a door was opened. The smell of expensive tobacco filled his nostrils. He inhaled deeply, appreciating the spicy scent.

  “I see by the twitching of your nose that you like Anatolie’s pipe tobacco. You will have all the tobacco you can dream of when the night is over. I promise you this.”

  He was made to sit by the woman’s strong arms and hands. He heard a swishing sound and felt tightness around his chest. The scent of the woman wafted upward. He tried to stand but found himself bound to the back of the chair. He felt fingers on his eyelids, pushing them closed.

  “Rest, my friend,” the woman said. “Rest,” she repeated over and over until he heard no more.

  The sting of a slap shocked Lee. He struggled and received two more slaps before his eyes would open.

  “So you have finally awoken,” the woman complained. “We have much to prepare before…”

  “Uta! Who is this?” a man asked, entering the room. “Why is he tied up?”

  “Anatolie, he is of no concern of yours,” she spat. “He is the vessel. Cezar will need a vessel.”

  “Why? Cezar is dead. It’s just his power we are bringing through the void,” Anatolie argued.

  “No, our agreement is that Cezar will give you his power when you bring him through the void. All your dreams will come true,” she insisted. “You will be the most powerful magician alive. Trust me.”

  The room swam, but Lee managed to focus enough to see that the woman he once thought of as beautiful was no longer appealing. The sultry smile was replaced with tense lips over sharp uneven teeth. Her eyes shone with madness. She waved her arms around as she talked to this man she called Anatolie. Lee tried again to speak, but no sensible sound could be produced.

  “What’s the matter with him?” Anatolie asked, walking closer. He stopped and put a finger under Lee’s chin and raised his face to his.

  Lee managed to focus on the eyes in front of him. He saw himself reflected there, along with the concern of the man.

  “Uta, I think you’ve overstepped yourself. This man is useless. I can’t have him onstage.”

  “Give me time with him. Some smelling salts will bring him around. You will proceed as planned.”

  “We start in ten minutes,” he warned before he left the room.

  Uta waited for the door to close before she commenced slapping Lee again. “Wake up, you piece of dung! I command you to awaken!” she ordered.

  Lee gagged as a strong scent attacked his nostrils. It was repeated until tears were s
treaming down his face.

  “There, you are here now. Come with me. Soon the ordeal will be over, my friend. Soon you will be freed from your concerns.”

  The wood creaked under Lee’s feet as he was walked onto the dark stage. Once again he was secured to a chair. This time the woman kept her shawl and used a gold painted rope. She lifted his chin and said, “Sit here, look regal. Your audience awaits.”

  Lee found he no longer had a voice. No sound could he utter. His mouth remained closed as if it were stitched together by invisible cord. Aside from being able to slowly turn his head, he had no control of his muscles. How had the witch done this to him? He had partaken in no food or drink.

  The music became less discordant and more rhythmic as the curtain was raised. Lee couldn’t see beyond the stage which was lit by the line of small gas jets that ringed the platform.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,” the announcer began. “Straight from the palaces of Europe, I bring you, Gabor the Great!”

  A smattering of applause reached Lee’s ears. He moved his head from side to side, trying to garner some attention. But no one was looking at him. All eyes were on the attractive dark-haired man that glided onto the stage.

  “Tonight, I will make you believe in magic!” he announced.

  A scream pierced the air, followed by a warning cry, “Watch out, he’s got a gun!”

  “Arnold! You died three years ago! Leave me be!” a woman cried.

  “The dead are walking!” screamed another.

  “Fire! I see fire!”

  Lee saw the magician leave the stage. Uta ran behind him yelling, “You have to recite the calling first! Ignore them. They are dead anyway!”

  Lee felt the stage shake as people climbed up to get away from the crush. Uta was knocked down. She rolled towards the edge, and her dress snagged on a gas jet and was engulfed in flames.

  “I curse you all to feel the power of Cezar, he will haunt you until he rises again!” she cried. “I will rise again!” she said as her hair burned. “Cezar, Cezar…”