Destiny (Absent Shadows Trilogy Book 1)

by S. M. Spencer

  ‘Oh, I see.’ This was freaky. I mean, I’d seen Elizabeth of course, and there was absolutely nothing even the slightest bit scary about her. But I wasn’t too sure that I wanted to come across others. And yet here I was, volunteering to try to talk to four new ghosts that had died violent deaths, and might not even yet believe that they’d died.

  Crystal came back with the coffee, and a plate with several pieces of thick cinnamon toast. The smell was heavenly, and I had to be careful to make sure I didn’t start drooling.

  ‘You know, you could come into the kitchen and sit at the table if you prefer,’ she said as she handed me the coffee and set the plate on the edge of the dining table.

  ‘Oh, I don’t mind standing. I don’t want to miss anything.’

  ‘Of course, whatever you prefer,’ she replied in her perfectly calm voice.

  ‘Thanks Crystal,’ said Michael, still focusing on the map as he reached over for a piece of the toast. Then he paused as something seemed to catch his attention.

  ‘Sam, look at this,’ he said, pointing to the triangle he’d drawn with the purple dots. ‘See this triangle—the equidistant one? See here, from Queensberry Street… here, down to the corner of Victoria and Orr Streets… then down to Little Londsdale Street. This triangle completely misses the market car park—just barely cutting across the fresh foods section of the market.’

  ‘Yeah, I see,’ said Sam.

  ‘Well, I don’t think they could’ve secured The Cauldron yet. Or if they have, they don’t have the crystals yet.’

  ‘How do you know that?’ asked Sam.

  ‘Well, if they had, you wouldn’t have been able to get in here this morning. We’d be inside the diamond. But there’s something else, Sam. The diamond … it would cover the car park … completely.’

  ‘Yeah, and your point is?’

  ‘Well, I was just thinking about what you said to Lili about the ghosts. If Zunios gets the diamond in place, and it covers the car park, the ghosts may be trapped there for as long as the diamond exists.’ Sam’s eyes widened. ‘Why do you say that, Michael? I didn’t think the power had any effect on humans, so why should it trap the ghosts?’

  ‘You’re right about the diamond not affecting humans, but ghosts have more in common with us than humans do—being immortal as it were. I just think that in the same way that we won’t be able to get inside the diamond once it forms, they very well may not be able to get out.’

  ‘Let me look at that diamond again,’ Sam said, leaning over the map. ‘The diamond cuts across the corner of the gardens too, and it looks like my tree would be just outside it. If what you’re thinking ends up being true, Elizabeth won’t be able to get to the tree.’

  ‘Exactly,’ said Michael, ‘and we won’t be able to get out either, if we’re inside the diamond when it happens.’

  ‘We’ll go now,’ said Sam, looking at me anxiously while I sipped my hot coffee. I could see fear in his eyes, for the first time since I’d met him. If all that they’d just been talking about was true, then on top of everything else, there was a chance he could lose communication with Elizabeth, and I knew that was something he could never bear.

  Michael shook his head thoughtfully. ‘There’s no need to rush, Sam. Lili, finish your coffee. Today is Sunday. Nothing will change today. And I’m certain the diamond can’t be in place yet, or you wouldn’t have been able to get here, to the house.’

  ‘But you can ring the owner, today, and make sure that he stops any transfer, if there is one in the pipeline,’ said Sam, looking pleadingly at Michael.

  Crystal stepped forward, and seemed to grow taller as she turned to speak directly to Sam.

  ‘Relax, Sam. Let Lili finish her breakfast. Now,’ she said, turning to me, ‘Lili, you need to relax too. Take a deep breath. You’ll need to be calm when you try to make contact with these victims if there is to be any hope of them telling us anything. There is time.’

  Her calm voice helped make me a little less anxious. I took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. My heart was still racing, but I tried to relax. I finished the toast and felt better for it.

  There was a loud knock on the door, and Tom came barrelling in and made his way into the dining room.

  ‘Erranase,’ he said, similar to Sam’s greeting. ‘Michael, Crystal—what have I missed? Fill me in.’

  Michael quickly filled Tom in on the details. The whole conversation was just a murmur to me. It occurred to me that maybe Michael had been speaking clearly and slowly for my benefit, as Tom seemed perfectly capable of taking everything in.

  Tom looked at me and smiled. ‘You’re brave, Lili. I don’t envy you the job of talking to the ghosts. Not my cup of tea, mingling with spirits,’ he said, doing a mock shiver as he laughed.

  Sam glared at Tom, then took my hand and rubbed it softly. ‘Thanks, Tom. Don’t scare her. She’s doing very well so far. Just ignore him Lili, he’s just teasing you. They can’t hurt you, and even if they tried Elizabeth and I would never let anything happen to you.’

  Tom kept laughing, but when Michael glared at him he stopped, though he seemed to have trouble wiping the smile off his face.

  Michael turned to us, speaking quietly, but with authority. ‘Whenever you’re ready, Lili.’

  ~ CHAPTER FOURTEEN ~

  ‘I’m ready,’ I said, swallowing hard. I had that image again—of standing in the plane with my parachute strapped on, too terrified to jump. Only this time, it wasn’t just Sam standing there with me—it was Tom, and Michael, and Crystal… and Erranase.

  ‘Let’s do this,’ I said to Sam, pleased at the confidence I could hear in my voice.

  ‘Okay, let’s go,’ he said, taking my hand and leading me to the front door.

  ‘We’ll all be right here Lili, watching closely. Nothing bad will happen. But just remember, we’d be there in the blink of an eye if you need us, so relax,’ said Crystal, in a reassuring voice.

  We walked out the door, and stood on the sidewalk for a moment. The gardens looked like they always did. There was nothing amiss, nothing unusual.

  As we approached the tree I wondered if Elizabeth might be there already, but she wasn’t. We stood there for a few minutes, Sam with his arm around my shoulders protecting me from the chill wind.

  It didn’t take long for her to appear. And when she did she was humming a little song. I didn’t recognise it, but it was sweet and I felt comforted immediately. Sam looked relieved that she’d appeared.

  ‘Hi Sam, Lili. What brings you here on this miserably cold day?’ she said in her sweet voice.

  I thought of the four bodies laid out in the diamond shape, and in a moment her face changed and her humming stopped.

  ‘Oh, I see,’ she said to both of us. ‘Well, let me see if I can find them.’

  She walked once around the tree, and then over toward the bench we’d sat on last time. ‘Come, sit with me, Lili.’

  Sam looked at me, and reluctantly let go of my hand. ‘Go with her, it’ll be fine.’

  Then he walked back toward the house, looking over his shoulder a few times before he dropped out of sight.

  ‘They are here, but they don’t understand what’s happened so they’re quite wary,’ she said, once Sam had disappeared over the road.

  ‘Is there anything I should be doing, in particular?’

  ‘Well, remember what Sam had you do the first time we met? Close your eyes and think of a relaxing place. Try to clear any negative thoughts from your mind.’

  I did as she said, and as soon as my eyes were closed, her humming started again. The wind had stopped, and it felt warm here on the bench, and I thought that the sun must have finally broken through the thick clouds.

  I wondered if I should open my eyes, but as soon as I thought it, Elizabeth replied, ‘Not yet’.

  Sitting there with my eyes closed, I felt like I was dreaming. I seemed to be floating above myself, watching my own face—it all seemed so peaceful.

  ‘Now,’ said
Elizabeth, softly.

  I opened my eyes and standing before me were three ghosts: one man, and slightly behind him, two women. They couldn’t have been much older than me, and looked perfectly normal; confused perhaps, but not frightened. And there was certainly nothing scary about them.

  Elizabeth spoke to them, asking them their names and what they remembered.

  The young man spoke for the three of them. He was a backpacker from Scotland named Kevin. He’d been travelling on his own, but met up with the two women at a pub, and they’d hit it off. The women were twin sisters, from Ireland. They were all three in their early twenties.

  Elizabeth then asked them what else they could remember, about last night.

  Kevin looked at the girls, and they shook their heads in unison. But he remembered something. He recalled that when they were leaving the pub there were three dark men standing near the door. He’d thought at the time that they looked a bit out of place in the pub—older, and overdressed. Then one of the men spoke to them in a deep voice with an accent Kevin couldn’t place. The man had simply asked if they were enjoying their visit to Melbourne. That was the last memory he had. It wasn’t much, but he hoped maybe it meant something.

  Elizabeth thanked Kevin and said that yes, his memory was very helpful.

  She then whispered to the three young ghosts, and I could no longer hear what she was saying. Whatever she said was obviously meant only for them. As they listened to Elizabeth, the confusion on their faces seemed to dissolve, and slight smiles touched their lips. They all looked up, and then they were gone. Elizabeth had sent them home.

  A deep sense of joy overwhelmed me, and I felt a shiver run down my spine. When I looked down, the hair on my arms was standing straight up. And suddenly I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to help people—or ghosts, rather—as Elizabeth had just done.

  We sat there on the bench in silence, waiting to see if the fourth ghost would appear, but there were no others.

  ‘I can’t feel anyone,’ Elizabeth finally said after some time had passed.

  ‘Perhaps I should go tell Sam and the others what we’ve learned?’ I asked.

  ‘Yes, you go, and I’ll stay here. If the fourth one turns up, I’ll find out what I can.’

  I smiled at Elizabeth, remembering that I didn’t actually need to speak out loud. I thanked her for her help, and got up to leave.

  ‘Wait, just a moment. I forgot to tell you. Henry wants to meet you. I’ve told him all about you. He thinks of Sam as a son you know … so, he wants to meet you. Maybe we can try tomorrow?’

  I wondered if that meant he would come up to the bench.

  ‘Oh, I doubt that. He hasn’t been out of the tunnel since the day he died. But Sam can come too if that makes it easier for you.’

  My heart skipped a beat. Another challenge—would this never end?

  Elizabeth laughed. ‘You’ll like Henry. He’s just like a big teddy bear. Don’t be frightened.’

  ‘Okay. I’d love to meet Henry. I’ll see what Sam thinks about me going into the tunnel.’

  I left then, and as I reached the road Sam came running over and put his arm around my shoulders, guiding me back to the house.

  ‘Tell us everything,’ he said, as soon as we were in the dining room.

  I had all their attention, and it felt brilliant to be a real part of this team—to be helping them.

  I told them everything that Kevin had said. Michael was silent, but nodded his head a few times, as if what I was saying simply confirmed what he already knew.

  ‘Well, it was definitely them. Three men … dressed strangely … with unusual accents,’ he said, looking at Erranase.

  ‘Yes, I have no doubt,’ Erranase agreed.

  ‘And these first three were together. They were the triangle of sorts. Then the fourth was added afterwards. From memory, when I removed the bodies, all four were roughly the same size. Does that sound right, from what you just saw?’ Michael asked me.

  ‘Yes, I would say they were the same height, although I was mostly concentrating on Kevin.’

  ‘And the fourth, they didn’t say anything about the fourth person?’ Michael asked.

  ‘No, they didn’t remember anything past the pub. Kevin was the only one to even remember the three men.’

  ‘Well,’ said Michael slowly, ‘we’ve established a few more things. Firstly, as we really already suspected, I think we can now be certain that it was Zunios, Anubinse and Mardukian. And secondly, they either haven’t secured the fourth point of the diamond, or they don’t have the crystals.’

  Tom had been listening intently, growing more and more fidgety as the conversation went on. Finally he spoke, ‘So, are we allowed to jump them at the train station, and rip their heads off?’

  ‘Patience, Tom. You’re well aware that the answer is no. Zunios is no fool—he knows we wouldn’t do anything in broad daylight … particularly in such a busy place. Erranase will meet them and hear what they have to say. And you and Crystal will keep your distance. Understood?’

  Tom nodded, and smirked. Sam was right—Tom clearly enjoyed this more than any of the others.

  By two o’clock Tom was pacing back and forth across the dining room. Erranase was simply leaning against the wall as he’d been all along. Crystal was standing next to Michael, looking relaxed and confident. I wondered if anything could actually rattle her. She seemed, somehow, above all of this.

  Sam and I just stood there. I felt anxious, wondering what more I could do to help.

  Finally Michael broke the silence in the room. ‘Tom, Crystal, it might pay for you to get there early, and position yourselves so that you are not so confrontational. They will know you’re there, but it will look less obvious to bystanders if you aren’t standing at guard behind Erranase.’

  ‘Sounds good to me. Let’s go, Crystal, my truck’s right out front,’ said Tom, sounding pleased to be making a move.

  As soon as they left, Sam turned to Michael, ‘I didn’t want to say anything in front of Crystal, but do you two want to stay at my place, for a few days anyway, just to be on the safe side? It might be risky, you staying here. I mean, if they get the diamond formed, you could be trapped here.’

  Michael put his hand on Sam’s shoulder, and the bond between them was clear to me as he spoke.

  ‘And you could be too, if you’re anywhere inside. No, thank you Sam, but the best course of action for all of us is to remain calm, not act any differently. We need to stop them. And to do so, we need them to continue thinking they’re in a position of power. We can’t let on that we know anything just yet.’ Michael then turned to me, ‘There is one more thing that you could do. Do you have a camera?’

  I hesitated, thinking about the old camera that I’d brought with me from home—tucked away in a drawer in my bedroom at the apartment.

  ‘There’s one in her phone,’ Sam answered for me. ‘What do you want photos of?’

  ‘The houses, or properties—the other two that could make a diamond. I’ll give you the addresses. It might pay to have a look at them. I don’t know exactly what I’d be looking for so just take a few photos of each one I suppose. We can pull them up on the computer later and study them.’

  ‘Thank you, for giving me something to do. I feel like I need to keep busy,’ I said.

  Michael just looked at me and nodded. ‘We’re in a strong position of knowledge now. It was arrogant of them to send that message and I dare say that Zunios will soon regret giving their hand away. Sam, you’ll go with Lili, obviously. They will be on the steps of the train station at three, so you should safely have at least half an hour where we know where they’ll be. But be careful. And don’t step onto private property.’

  ~~***~~

  Sam was back with his car in no time, and at quarter to three we drove to the first address. It was just an old warehouse with no sign of any current activity. The paint was peeling off the timber doors and window frames, and there was graffiti on the bric
kwork. There was no for sale sign or advertising of any description, and from what we could see from the street, the place appeared to be empty. We took several photos and then drove to the next address.

  This building looked to be a thriving business of some sort, and even though it was a Sunday afternoon there were people going in and out of what appeared to be a café. Then I noticed the ‘A’ in the address on Michael’s paper, and realised it was actually the building next door that we were after. This one was a small shoe repair shop. We took a few photos of this building, and jumped back in the car.

  It was now quarter past three so we headed straight back to see Michael.

  We were the first ones back so we parked the car and sat for a few minutes, waiting for the others to return. After a few minutes I asked Sam if we should go over to see if Elizabeth was still there.

  We walked across to the gardens and stood next to Sam’s tree for a few minutes, and then went over and sat on the bench where Elizabeth and I had seen the first three victims. There was no-one around this time.

  Elizabeth appeared within a few minutes and advised that indeed the fourth victim had turned up. It was another young man.

  ‘But he had no recollection of anything that would be of any assistance,’ she told us. ‘He’d been walking on his own after seeing a movie, heading back to his hotel. He didn’t see or feel anything, until he spotted me on the bench, and came over to talk to me. He must have been attacked from behind, and it must have been swift.’

  Sam and I looked at each other, and I simply said one word: ‘diamond’.

  A concerned look came over Elizabeth’s face as she worked through our thoughts, and then a transformation that I wouldn’t have thought possible occurred. This sweet little girl suddenly looked like the epitome of determination.

  ‘We can’t let this happen. There are hundreds of ghosts here, each with their own agenda and time frame. We can’t risk being trapped here. They must be stopped.’

  ‘I agree, Elizabeth. That’s what we’re working toward,’ said Sam, looking serious again.

  ‘I’ll help,’ she said, the determination that I’d seen on her face now clearly identifiable in her voice as well. ‘I must speak to Henry about this. He’ll know what to do.’