by Justin Sloan
“It’s time,” Tess said, her face inches from his. He could still smell her sweet perfume. “Every time you struggle, you’ll get a taste of this.” She brought her knee into his back and twisted hard on his arm.
“Aghh!” Rohan shouted. A couple across the park stopped to look, but quickly moved on.
“Are you ready, my love?” Tess asked, looking up at the spirit of Altemus. Rohan had to keep reminding himself that it was Anne speaking, not Tess.
“Our destiny changes right here, at this moment,” Altemus replied.
The cold returned to Rohan’s head, and again he fought it. But each time he did, Tess twisted his arm harder, weakening his resolve.
He couldn’t keep fighting.
He had no choice.
He gave up.
Then, with a final wave of cold and a drowning, floating, hopeless sensation, Rohan sensed he was no longer in control of his body. His arms moved without him willing them to. His voice, hard and evil, escaped from his lips with words he didn’t think.
“What have you done?” he screamed, but his lips didn’t move. His voice reverberated inside his head, but there was no reply.
It was like a dream—he was in his body, but it was as if he could see it from the outside. He watched himself stand, a wicked smile on his face. Then the two bodies, his now occupied by Altemus and Tess’s occupied by Anne, took each other in an embrace. They held each other, and then kissed.
Rohan wanted to recoil at the sensation of the two lips against each other.
“You look hideous,” Anne said, laughing.
“So do you, my love,” Altemus replied, brushing his hand across Tess’s face.
Rohan tried to harness his power, but it was no good.
Altemus had taken over his body.
Chapter 3: Puppet Masters
The events of the night went by in a blur.
Rohan had gone numb since the possession, his mind now just along for the ride. He hated himself, and hated that he had gotten Tess involved in this.
A brisk walk up a slanted hill pulled him from his thoughts. Even though Altemus occupied his body, Rohan still felt the strain and exhaustion.
They were walking through a manicured lawn toward the darkened shape of a home in the distance. Repeatedly he would try focusing his energy on taking back his body—but nothing worked. He tried shouting out to Tess, to see if somehow they could make a connection, but nothing.
“It’s no use,” Altemus said, sensing Rohan’s attempts. “We’ve won, you have lost.”
“Is this about revenge?” Rohan asked, realizing Altemus could read his thoughts.
“In this case, no.” Altemus smiled. “Revenge happens to be a special bonus. You’re going to help us find a new artifact, one that will put the powers of the Scepter of O’lin to shame.”
The house was closer now, a sprawling mansion with a colonnaded entryway. It felt like an old castle, at least a hundred years old by Rohan’s guess. Several ancient statues stood on the lawn—Greek men and woman in heroic poses.
Tess led the way to sneak around the back of the house, where they peeked into the windows.
“I refuse to let you break in!” Rohan yelled.
Altemus ignored him, stepping up to a window. A purple glow infused the glass, moving and pulsing as only a spirit could. But that didn’t make sense to Rohan. Spirits didn’t just hang around in people’s homes. Or at least, he’d never seen one do so until now.
A foreboding came over him with the realization that this was not just anyone’s home. This person had to have some kind of special powers about them, in the same way he and Altemus did. But would they be on his side, or Altemus’s? If they weren’t evil, there had to be a way to get them to help expel Altemus and Anne.
Anne touched the glass through Tess’s fingers, chanting under her breath. The purple energy seemed to die before them, then dissipated. She ran her hands along a window, tested it, and then slid it open.
They paused, waiting for an alarm, but there wasn’t one. Just the sound of the wind and the distant gurgling of a fountain in the gardens behind them.
Anne eased herself through the window, and then Altemus did the same.
When their eyes adjusted to the darkness, they could make out a sparsely decorated bedroom. It had a guestroom feel to it, with only a bed, a nightstand, and a bookcase with a few atlases on it. This wasn’t what Rohan had expected for such a grand mansion.
Tess and Altemus crept through the room toward the door, which was slightly ajar. It creaked open as they tiptoed into a bare hallway with green walls and a Persian rug that stretched the length of the floor. As they made their way down the hallway, Rohan noticed that the house was filled with lit display cases that held artifacts he had never seen before. Shrunken heads. Ancient tree branches from Central Asia. Vials of sand and crushed minerals. Bones with paper tags next to them.
Rohan shivered. Already, the memories of the last adventure were coming back to him, and he knew nothing good could come from these artifacts.
A purple glow appeared in the hallway in front of them, a diamond-shaped light hovering just above the floor. But the spirit didn’t move. It floated in place as if guarding the rooms beyond, and its energy, vibrant with a tinge of soft whispers, followed them silently.
Altemus waved his hand. The spirit shimmered gently, then moved back to let them pass.
They made their way through a large kitchen with dozens of cupboards and a granite island. Pots and pans hung from racks and cast ghostly shadows on the floor.
But there was no one in sight. Just another purple spirit, watching them.
“Finally,” a voice said from the direction of the spirit, in almost a whisper. “Two souls to lead us back to the darkness.”
Altemus nodded, as if addressing the spirit, and walked past it with an air of authority.
Coming to a long hallway, he took Anne by the hand, a horrible sensation for Rohan, and said, “Just a little further to the study, if I remember correctly.”
They came to an unassuming wooden door. Anne put her ear to it and listened for a few moments. Then, sensing it was safe to pass, she opened the door and they emerged into a large library.
In the dim light, they could see walls of tall bookshelves, all full, with a ladder stretched up to the top. Across one of the walls was a floor-to-ceiling world map, with thumbtacks stuck into many of the countries and numbers written next to them. There were also more curiosities littered throughout the library, encased in glass cabinets and all numbered neatly with paper tags. Rohan wondered if the items corresponded with the tacks on the map. Altemus had said something about a magic item. Could one of these be it?
They were making their way through the library when the lights turned on.
“Stop right there.”
A woman stood in the doorway with a crossbow aimed at them. She had long brown hair pulled into a ponytail and wore cargo pants. Her pink t-shirt hugged her tightly in a way that made Rohan embarrassed to look, but Altemus’s eyes wouldn’t move away. She might have been attractive, if it weren’t for the crossbow threatening to kill Rohan and Tess. He wanted to scream and tell her they weren’t in control of their bodies, that she had to understand… but of course, no words came out.
“Put your hands where I can see them,” she said.
Altemus cursed as he and Anne put their hands up.
“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t put an arrow through both of your necks,” the woman said, cocking an eye as she aimed at them.
Rohan wanted to scream and tell her not to shoot. But instead, Altemus’s words came out, smooth and confident, as he said, “I can give you two reasons, actually.”
“You’re trespassing. I’ve called the police.”
“Ah, very well. Then perhaps you can explain to them your fascination with the occult.” Altemus pointed at a glass case with several bones. “Last I checked, housing human remains was grounds for arrest.”
“So is
breaking and entering. And what, you’re here to bust me for being an archeologist?”
“Not exactly,” Anne said, her evil smile contorting Tess’s previously pleasant face.
“You see,” Altemus said, stepping forward and testing the woman. “It’s not every day that you sense a spiritual presence as strong as the one in this house. I see it as our duty and pleasure to find out what makes your home so special.”
“This isn’t the time or place for you to be busting ghosts. Get out.”
“You sense them, don’t you?” He stepped forward again, ignoring the way her finger tensed around the trigger. “You don’t see our kind walking around every day.”
Altemus lifted his hands and pulled on a nearby spirit ever so slightly, so that his fingertips glowed with a swirling, purple light.
The woman’s eyes went wide, and the crossbow began to shake.
“What… are you?” she asked.
“We are simply gifted. We are Kahin, like you.”
“I… don’t know that word.” She took a step back, eyes darting between the two of them, less certain now.
“Nora—that’s your name, isn’t it?” Anne said, her voice dripping with spite that dared the woman to contradict her. “We really ought to be helping each other.”
The woman lowered the bow, uncertain. “I don’t plan on helping anyone.”
“You speak with the dead,” Altemus said. “Maybe even more than that. So why keep it to yourself?”
“It’s not something I’m proud of.”
“Come, let us sit and discuss how we can be of service to you.” He gestured to an old couch beside a reading lamp.
Nora hesitated. “If you brought weapons in here—”
Altemus chuckled and emptied his pockets, then waited while Anne did the same. No guns, but Rohan would’ve blushed (if he was in control of his body) at the sight of the condom next to a pack of gum that had been in Tess’s pocket a moment ago.
Nora raised an eyebrow at that, but Anne just laughed and shrugged. To Rohan’s frustration, it made them all more at ease.
“Guess we could’ve made a better entrance,” Altemus said as he sat. “My apologies for that.”
Rohan cringed. The old man was desperately trying to win this woman over. Couldn’t she see through his false sincerity?
Nora set the crossbow down and walked over to a desk that had several bottles of alcohol on it. She poured three glasses of Scotch and offered them. Her eyes still conveyed her suspicion, but the old man’s charm seemed to be working on her.
Altemus took the glass with a broad smile and nodded to her. Anne took her glass too, with a sideways glance at Altemus that Rohan wasn’t sure how to read. Annoyance? Impatience?
The scotch stung Rohan’s throat—he hated Scotch—as a wash of intoxication took hold of him and warmed his arms and legs.
Nora sipped from her glass and leaned against her desk. “Didn’t know there were others with my ‘gift.’”
“We’re a rare breed,” Altemus said. “And yes, some would think of it as less of a gift, more of a—”
“Curse,” the woman said with finality. She had bright hazel eyes, and they burned with anger, bitterness and other emotions that Rohan couldn’t identify. Though he hadn’t noticed it before, now he saw that her eyes were bloodshot, as if she hadn’t slept in a long time. “I certainly never asked for this.”
“Neither did we,” Altemus said. “How did it happen to you? How did—” He paused, his eyes tracking a purple spirit that drifted into the library. “How did…they come about?”
Nora followed his line of sight. “I was an explorer. These spirits were unfortunate souvenirs.”
“Sounds like our story,” Altemus said, gesturing to Tess. “We happened to stumble upon the afterlife.”
The woman’s eyes widened. “You never told me your names.”
“Rohan Evans,” Altemus said. “And this is my wife, Anne.”
“Nora Fields,” the woman said. “Where did it happen to you?”
“Central Asia,” Altemus said. “You?”
Nora hopped down from the desk, taking her scotch with her. She ran her hand along the globe. “Latin America. I’m an archeologist. I used to teach at the college, too, but this time I was on a solo expedition. I got wrapped up with some bad people while I was studying the occult. I knew I should’ve stopped being so curious all the time. But when you want to know something, you keep chasing it. And so these spirits have haunted me ever since. I’ve been spending my life trying to get rid of them. I don’t suppose you have the secret?”
“Don’t we wish,” Altemus said.
“They won’t leave me alone. They haunt my home every day. No matter what I do, they remain. I’ve learned to live with them, I suppose. But I wonder what it would be like to live like a normal person.”
“Maybe you’ve spent your life running away when you should have been embracing this power,” Anne said.
“Perhaps,” Nora said with a suspicious glance. “But I would sooner die than embrace the dead. You’re not here to proposition me, are you?”
Altemus shook his head.
Nora sighed. “Good. A few months ago, someone else visited me and tried to convince me to travel with him. He promised me all sorts of money, if I’d help him open the door to the afterlife. I wanted nothing to do with it, and he berated me. We quarreled, and he left in the crosshairs of my bow.”
“What was his name?” Altemus asked with a sly smile.
“Frank Altemus.”
No! Rohan screamed, but Nora could not hear him.
“Old man,” she went on. “He was a doctor, I think. I can smell a fraud a million miles away, and he was a fraud. I feel sorry for whatever sap decided to go on his fool’s journey.”
If Rohan had control of his body right then, he would have hung his head. He felt horrible for his selfishness. If not for him, none of this would have been happening.
“Altemus is dead,” Altemus said.
Nora gasped. Then she chuckled, taking another drink of her scotch. “Not surprising. I was wondering if I’d be seeing him again. When I told him no, he promised to make me pay. Glad to see he got his comeuppance.”
She paused for a sip of her drink, then looked over her glass at him with narrow eyes. “How’d he die?”
“I killed him,” Altemus said. “I was that unfortunate sap you referred to earlier. He tried to kill me and I defended myself.”
“You’ve definitely earned my respect,” Nora said. “Even though you’re a murderer.”
“Not by choice, you see… self-defense.”
“Yet, you’ve still taken a life.” Nora rested with her back against a bookcase. “What do you want from me?”
“We’re necromancers,” Altemus said. “The old man was trying to use us to control the afterlife. Well, he opened the gates. I stopped him, and I want to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. I need you to help me.”
Nora cocked an eyebrow.
“When I was in the afterlife, the spirits spoke of a tablet that has the power to rewrite history, a tool more powerful—”
“Than controlling the dead,” Nora said, finishing his sentence.
“If I can rewrite the rules of the afterlife, then no one will be able to access it.”
“Except you.”
Altemus stood and approached Nora. “What would you rather have? Some madman able to stumble upon it like Altemus did? There’re plenty of evil souls who would use this kind of tool for harm.”
Nora nodded. “So you want to reinvent the rules of the game.”
“Make it harder for spirits to enter the world of the living. Not that it’s easy, by any means.”
“You’re speaking of the Clavis Mortem,” she said, her eyes narrowing.
“You’ve heard of it?”
“Whether I have or not, I want nothing to do with this conversation.”
“Neither do I,” Altemus said, putting his hand on Nora’s sh
oulder. “But if we fix this, then you don’t have to worry about getting any more visits in the middle of the night.”
Nora stared at him for a moment, her mind clearly racing. Finally, she said, “Follow me.”
No, don’t do it, Rohan tried to shout, but no words came. Whatever you’re planning, don’t help these lunatics!
Shut up! Altemus’s voice echoed in Rohan’s head. It’s over for you. Our time has come.
Nora led them down a long, narrow staircase and into a dark basement. The walls were lined with more cabinets filled with even more artifacts. At the far end, she stopped to unlock a glass case. Her hesitant glance back told Rohan she was doing this for the right reasons. It was him she thought she was helping, after all. How could she know she was handing over what was potentially one of the most powerful items in the world to two of the most dangerous people to ever exist? The cabinet door creaked as she pulled out a worn, wooden box. Her fingers caressed the lid and he saw her mouth move, as if she were casting a spell, or maybe saying a prayer. Then she opened it.
Rohan almost expected an explosion of magic, or at least a gentle glow. But all he saw was a weather-beaten, stone tablet. The edges were crumbling, but the surface was as smooth as if it had just been polished.
“I’ll be damned,” Altemus said. “This is it.”
Nora clutched the tablet close. “I want to believe I can trust you.”
“When we open the portal, you can send your spirits away forever.”
That was the perfect thing to say, because at the thought of the spirits being gone, Nora’s tension eased and her eyes became wide and hopeful. She handed him the tablet, and Altemus took it with trembling hands. He caressed it as he would a lover, and Tess’s eyes flared with the anxious desire that Rohan knew was Anne’s.
“We’re going to change history,” Altemus said.
As his fingers rubbed the center of the tablet, its edges began to glow.
With all his energy, Rohan focused on pushing Altemus out, but it was like floating in a lake and trying to push the lake away. Helpless, he watched ancient carvings appear in the tablet, glowing red. It flashed brightly, suddenly, and Altemus held it up high and shouted, “Drive her from this place!”
