by Kris Tualla
“Great. And I’ll clean up here.”
As Hollis walked away, she whispered to Sveyn. “I don’t think they’ll hear you.”
He spoke in her ear. “We shall see.”
*****
Command central was set up in the administration hallway. Miranda was adjusting the amount of light in the hall, trying to make it dim, but not dark. The guys had to see their control boards, after all. She opened her office door and Hollis’s, then switched off the overhead fluorescents. Indirect light seeped through the open doors.
“Perfect!” one tech guy said. “Can we leave it like this?”
“Yes, of course.” Miranda smiled at Hollis. “You don’t mind do you?”
Hollis shook her head and looked at the monitors. Each was labeled with the camera’s type—all spectrum or infrared, for example—and a number. Right now, the central and most open area of the collections storeroom could be seen from six distinct angles.
“Holy Mother of God,” Sveyn swore softly. “I shall have to enter the room through the back wall, until we know for certain if I can be seen.”
Stevie came in the back door with two trays from Starbucks.
“Salvation!” the same tech said, grinning at the blonde registrar. “These all-nighters are brutal without the right kind of sustenance.”
“I’m happy to stay and be your caffeine and food runner,” Stevie offered as she passed out the drinks.
Justin walked out the storeroom door in time to hear the proposal. “Great! You’re hired!”
Stevie grinned and handed him his iced coffee, no cream.
Hollis knew how badly her friend wanted to be there, but there was one issue in the way. “It’s fine with me if you want to stay and volunteer your time.”
“I think it’ll be fascinating,” Stevie replied. “I don’t expect to be paid.”
“What about work tomorrow?” Hollis had the day off.
“I won’t stay all night. Unless exciting something happens, of course.” Stevie winked at Miranda. “Then I’ll call in sick.”
Cody walked into the hallway, loops of cables over his shoulders. “I smell coffee.”
Stevie handed the director a cup with his name on it. “The guys told me your usual order.”
“Thank you—”
She blushed and smiled, dimples showing. “Stevie. Phillips.”
“Thank you, Stevie.” Cody sipped the soy latte, as his drink was labeled. “Are you one of the people here who has seen the ghost?”
Hollis startled. She hadn’t thought to tell Stevie that, for the purposes of this production, Sveyn must be called a ghost.
“Ghost?” Stevie looked puzzled. She tilted her head. “Are you sure about that?”
That caught Justin’s attention. “What would you call it?”
“There isn’t really another name for him,” Hollis prompted. “Is there.”
Stevie gave a little shrug and tossed Justin a flirty smile. “Well, he could be called a guardian angel. Couldn’t he.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Two hours later, Hollis stood in the darkened storeroom wondering what to do next. Justin stood near her, an earpiece linking him to the control center in the hallway beyond the closed steel door. This was the first time she had been in here at night since…
“Why do you guys always do this stuff in the dark?” she snapped much more harshly than she intended.
“Because most of the phenomena can’t be photographed in bright light,” he answered as he adjusted his earpiece. Then he chuckled. “And, of course, it’s scarier that way. But don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe.”
“And scarier means better ratings, I suppose.” Hollis grumbled. She looked around the space. Sveyn was nowhere to be seen.
“If I’m honest, you don’t seem scared, Hollis.” Justin stepped closer, his earpiece secured at last.
She lifted her chin and silently told Everett Sage to go burn in hell for a very, very long time. “There’s nothing in here to be scared of, Justin.”
He grinned at her. “So you’re not afraid of ghosts?”
Oh, please. Ghosts aren’t real. “The only ‘ghost’ I’ve ever encountered saved my life, so I’m with Stevie on this one.”
“Guardian angel?”
Hollis shrugged. “Makes more sense.”
“Well, you have me on that. Most of the phenomena we encounter are very angry and hurtful. But then, they all died in very unpleasant ways, as a rule.”
“And angels don’t die, so…”
“Another point for your theory.” Justin turned around and addressed the cameraman with a huge night vision camera on his shoulder. “Are we set?”
“Yep.”
Justin pressed his earpiece. “Sound check. Are we good?” He turned back to Hollis. “Could you say something so they can check the level of your mike?”
“Sure. What exactly will you want me to do?”
“Got it?” Justin gave her thumbs up and then faced her fully. “Just do what I ask. Mostly I’ll be prompting you on what to say.”
Hollis nodded, still not clear on how this evening was going to play out.
“Three, two, one.” Justin faced the camera. “I’m here at the Arizona History and Cultural Center with Hollis McKenna, the museum’s Collections Manager. We are hoping that the apparition, which saved her life by setting off motion detectors, will cooperate and let us see him tonight.”
“I’m one of the collections managers,” Hollis corrected, trying to avert another Tony Samoa rant. The Kensington collection and her role with it had the man enough on edge as it was.
Justin acted like she hadn’t spoken. “Hollis, have you seen the apparition since that night?”
Umm. “There have been a couple sightings.”
“Have you made actual contact?”
“There was a situation with one of the museum pieces,” she admitted.
Justin brightened. “The Blessing? The one with the legend attached? What happened?”
“Do you need me to explain the legend?”
“No, we’ll do that in an interview later.” Justin repeated his question, “What happened?”
Hollis felt a chill skate up her spine. She mimicked the action with her empty hands. “I was holding the two halves of the icon, and when they touched, one of the interns tackled me and knocked them out of my grasp.”
“Why would he do that?” Justin prompted.
“He said I was being attacked by some sort of figure.”
“Could you see it?”
Don’t tell him the truth. Or I’ll be deeper into this than I already am. “I did see something.”
“Why was this figure attacking you?”
“He wasn’t attacking me; he was trying to knock the pieces away.”
Justin was practically giddy. “To save you from the legend?”
Hollis nodded. “I assume so.”
“It appears you do have a guardian angel, Hollis.” Justin addressed the camera. “We haven’t encountered an angel before. If we can coax him to appear, this will be an epic episode.”
Hollis rolled her eyes.
The good stuff just keeps coming.
“All right, Hollis. Do you see him now?”
Hollis did a slow turn, looking down the long rows of crowded shelves on both sides. “No.”
“Will you call him?”
Hollis drew a breath. Don’t use his name. “Hello? Are you here?” She turned around again. “Will you let me see you?”
Sveyn appeared at the end of one row and started walking toward her.
Hollis made eye contact with him and then pretended she didn’t see him.
“Ask if he’ll speak,” Justin prodded. He held up the Ovilus. “We usually get verbal contact more easily than visual.”
She nodded. “Will you speak to me?”
Sveyn stopped in the aisle still out of the cameras’ views. He lifted his hands in question.
Hollis turned her back on the ca
meraman and gave a slight nod of encouragement. “If you’re here, please say something.”
Sveyn spoke from the shadows. “What shall I say?”
Hollis waited.
The Ovilus was silent. She didn’t expect that.
Interesting.
“Please speak to us,” Hollis urged. “I want to thank you for watching over me.”
“That little box didn’t respond.” Sveyn took a step closer. “Can they hear me?”
Hollis looked over her shoulder. “Do you hear anything?”
Justin shook his head. “Neither does the Ovilus or it would be speaking.”
“Huh.” Hollis looked up at the ceiling. “We can’t hear you. Are you even here?”
“What do you want me to do, Hollis?”
That was the million dollar question. There was only one action that made sense. “Can you show yourself?”
“Are you absolutely certain, Hollis?” Sveyn asked. “If any of their cameras see me somehow, there will be no denying my existence any longer.”
True. Hollis gave another small nod. “If you are here, please come out of hiding.”
Sveyn hesitated.
“Whatever happens, you’ll be safe,” she urged.
“Safe from what? Death?” Sveyn snorted. “That water has long passed beneath all possible bridges.”
Hollis bit back a smile, then turned to face Justin. “How long do we wait?”
“We have all night.” He gave her arm a reassuring squeeze. “This is very common. It seems to require quite a lot of effort for the apparitions to cross over.”
Justin jerked away from her, eyes wide. “Where?”
Hollis’s heart thumped. “What?”
“He’s on the infrared depth camera.” Justin touched his earpiece. “He’s right behind you.”
Hollis whirled around and made a sudden decision. She looked up at Sveyn and winked. “How close?”
“Can’t you see him?”
“No.”
“Is he showing up anywhere else?”
“I can’t see anything,” the night vision cameraman behind her said.
“What about the all-spectrum camera?” Justin asked excitedly. “No? Nothing? Anything from the thermal vision?”
Hollis pressed her lips together. He won’t create heat when he’s calm.
“So only the infrared, then?” Justin’s excitement dropped a notch.
Sveyn smiled. “And no microphones.”
“So it seems.” Hollis felt a surge of relief and shifted into full paranormal support mode. “What does he look like?”
Justin stepped to her side and removed his earpiece, holding it so that she could hear the response. He was less than a yard from Sveyn.
“He’s huge, Justin. Half a head taller than you…”
Hollis looked at Justin, ignoring the Viking. “How tall are you?”
“Six feet.” He shook his head, irritated by her distraction. “What else?”
“Hair to his shoulders? Maybe a beard? Details are hard to see…”
“He’s close enough for you to touch him, Justin,” another voice added. “Stretch your right arm toward the back wall.”
Justin’s eyes narrowed. He lifted his hand. “Here?”
Sveyn held his ground.
Justin’s hand reached right into the Viking’s gut, then jerked backwards. “Oh my god.”
Hollis looked at him. “Did you feel something?”
Justin nodded and did it again.
The earpiece barked, “What do you feel?”
“Thick air. An electric tingle.” The Ghost Myths, Inc. star took a step back. “There really is something here.”
Watching his reaction, it occurred to Hollis that Justin was in the middle of the realest paranormal encounter that he had ever experienced.
“What’s he wearing?” she prompted.
“Uh, we aren’t sure. There’s no color on this camera.”
“What does it look like?” she pressed.
A disbelieving snicker crackled through the earpiece. “To be honest? He looks like a Viking.”
Hollis flashed a crooked smile. “Well I guess it’s official. Norsemen really were the original heroes.”
Justin seemed to be recovering from his shock. “What’s he doing?”
A pause. “He’s just… standing there.”
Justin turned to Hollis. “Ask him why he’s here.”
“But we can’t hear him,” she pointed out.
“Right.” Justin looked at the useless Ovilus and handed Hollis the earpiece to hold. He shoved the device in his back pocket. “Yes and no questions, then.”
She frowned a little. “Like what?”
Justin folded his arms over his chest and looked unconvincingly nonchalant. “Like—are you an angel? Right hand for yes, left hand for no.”
An incredulous producer spoke through the earpiece. “He’s raising his left hand, Justin.”
“He is? Are you recording this?”
“Every bit.”
“Okay. Right on.” Justin’s fingers tightened visibly on his arms. “Are you a ghost? Did you die?”
Hollis watched an amused Sveyn wave his left hand again. “This will surely confuse them,” he said.
“Left hand, Justin.”
Hollis tried not to laugh as Justin shook out his hands and jammed them on his hips. “What are you—I mean, are you attached to Hollis in some way?”
“Right hand this time.”
Justin looked at Hollis. “Why is he attached to you?”
She shrugged. She wasn’t going to give him anything he couldn’t puzzle out on his own.
Justin blew a sigh. “Have you always been attached to her?”
“Left.”
“Will you be attached to her for the rest of her life?”
A long pause. “Ask him ag—never mind. Left.”
Hollis’s amusement dimmed with that reminder. Don’t think about it.
Justin’s expression shifted. “Will you be sad to leave her?”
The voice in the earpiece held an unexpectedly tender tone. “Right hand.”
Hollis lifted her eyes to Sveyn’s. Me, too.
When she said nothing, Justin asked, “How will you feel, Hollis?”
“I don’t know how I’ll know when he’s gone.” She turned to face Justin. “I guess when I’m in danger and he isn’t there.”
“I’m walking away now,” Sveyn said behind her. “I believe they have enough evidence.”
Hollis nodded, still facing Justin. “He just showed up with no warning and I imagine he’ll leave the same way.”
The voice in the earpiece interrupted them. “Speaking of leaving…”
Justin reached his arm out, swinging it in an arc. “What? Is he gone?”
“He turned around and is walking toward the back wall—oh my God! He just walked through it!”
*****
Justin and Hollis—and Sveyn—joined the production crew in the hallway and watched the playback from all of the synched cameras. Stevie and Miranda were still there, and Stevie was gripping Hollis’s hand so tightly that Hollis could feel Stevie’s engagement ring against her knuckle.
“This is so exciting!” Stevie stage-whispered loud enough to be shushed by a producer.
Miranda’s face was pale and drawn. “I never believed in ghosts before…”
“He’s not a ghost, Miranda,” Hollis reminded her boss. “He said so.”
“Well if he’s not an angel, and not a ghost, then what the hell is he?” Justin snapped, his eyes on the monitors. “And why can’t the Ovilus hear him? Why can’t the other cameras see him?”
Hollis motioned for Stevie and Miranda to follow her and led them into the ladies’ room—which seemed to be her best meeting place of late.
“I don’t think he’s going to show himself any more tonight,” she said. “I’m going to change into my comfy clothes and try to get a little rest.”
“You’re suggesting
we go home.” Stevie sounded even more disappointed than she looked.
Hollis shook her head. “You can stay as long as you want. But I have to stay, and you both have to work tomorrow.”
“Well I’m going home.” Miranda glanced in the mirror and straightened her bangs. “This has been more than enough spookiness for one night.” She turned on a heel and grabbed the door handle. “Good night, ladies.”
Once their boss was gone, Stevie stared hard at Hollis. “Everything you told me is true.”
Hollis smiled sadly. If you only knew.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Wednesday
December 16
After doing the interview where she explained the Blessing of the Gods legend to a producer, Hollis changed her clothes and spent the rest of that night watching a lot of nothing. Stevie stayed through the interview, then went home after Hollis assured her that Sveyn was not going to be seen again.
Sveyn focused on the production process, so fascinated by the technology that he kept asking Hollis to ask questions on his behalf. As he did, her hopes for a chance to nap evaporated, and she resigned herself to a night with no sleep.
She made up for it yesterday, spending the day luxuriating on the sofa with popcorn, hot chocolate, and a string of Christmas movies with Sveyn by her side.
“You will miss your parents, will you not?” he asked as she reached for her sixth tissue while watching Love Actually.
“I’ll be fine,” she lied. “They really do deserve this trip. I’ll see them in less than eight weeks. Right after Stevie’s wedding.”
Today she walked into the office refreshed and ready to take on whatever life or her job decided to throw at her.
Stevie walked up and handed her an overnight envelope. “It’s from Matt Wallace.”
Except that.
“Oh, Lord.” Hollis accepted the envelope and carried it into her office, Stevie behind her, Sveyn in front of her. She dropped her briefcase and jacket on her chair and, with a silent prayer for strength, tore it open.
“What is it?” Stevie asked.
Hollis pulled out a small stack of papers. Her heart rate surged when she realized what the contents were. “Copies of his petition for divorce.”
