Diary of a Part Time Ghost (Ghosts & Shadows Book 1)

by Vered Ehsani

  And somehow, at some point during those brief milliseconds before certain death, I reached out and grabbed Sara’s hand in a tight grip; then I turned my attention to the veil. If I could bring food through it in one direction, surely I could bring a person in from the other. On the other hand, it was rather difficult to maintain focus when falling rapidly to bone-crushing annihilation. And this had never before been attempted, at least not by me.

  The veil appeared as a misty wraith beneath us, a shimmering river of undulating light that filled the alley. Although I could no longer feel Sara, I strangely felt the connection between us. I hoped it was enough; I imagined I was holding her in a ghostly embrace. I focused for all I was worth on pulling us both into the veil.

  “Ash!” she screamed and then we were gently floating through the lighted mist.

  I glanced at Sara, who seemed frozen, her gaze fixed and unmoving. Hoping I hadn’t killed her, I started shaking. Even now, in hindsight, I have to admit that was the dumbest, riskiest, craziest stunt I have ever even imagined doing. I swiveled around to look at the scene we had just left so dramatically. It was the view that Sara had seen just before freezing up: looking up at the cold blue sky and the edge of the rooftop. A man stood there, staring down at us, his face contorted with dark emotions.

  “Ash!” Mir hissed abruptly behind me.

  “Argh!” I exclaimed intelligently as I spun around. Just what I didn’t need: another heart attack. “I really wish you wouldn’t do that!”

  A very agitated Mir was staring at me with a disapproving expression. “You’re not supposed to let them in here. They can contaminate it, and poison others.”

  “Well, what was I supposed to do?” I demanded defensively. “It was either bring her in or let her fall to her death. Hm, let’s see …” I pretended to think about it.

  Mir was not amused. “I wasn’t talking about her,” she stated as she gestured to the comatose Sara. “Them!” She pointed upward.

  I spun around again (I’m doing a lot of spinning lately) and saw Kali and a couple of shadows plummeting toward the veil. Kali’s face was a grinning mask of vicious determination, the dagger pointing straight at us. Correction: straight at me! As he approached the surface of the veil, he changed. His skin seemed to dissolve. His face became an unrecognizable and gruesome mask, a mixture of rotting flesh and shreds of skin. Muscles shriveled up into moldy-looking ribbons stuck onto yellow bone. Then even that burned away until all that remained was a dark form with searing yellow eyes that screamed rage and painful death. Opaque tentacles flung out toward us.

  In the veil, all that is inside is revealed.

  Staring at the horrible vision approaching me, I remembered Mir’s words and understood. I was seeing the truth about Kali: he was nothing but empty darkness, a shadow of a man. His human nature had been completely consumed by hate and the hunger for power.

  “Get out of here!” Mir ordered me in an almost panicked voice. “Close the veil! Close it now!”

  I was too dumb-founded to respond. If Kali crossed through the veil to the other side, he could close the book, trapping me forever. And that would be the least of the mischief he could cause.

  With a wrenching motion, I pulled Sara out of the way of the dagger and then shut the veil. Immediately Sara fell from my grip and dropped onto the cobblestone. A human looking Kali landed nearby with a painful thump. I floated down and squatted beside Sara, who lay still on the ground, eyes open and unseeing, face pale.

  “Sara, wake up!” I ordered anxiously and shook the girl. I was scared. Maybe I had killed her anyway. Kali groaned and began to stir.

  “Hey, you!” someone shouted. I looked up at two soldiers who were staring at us in amazement. “Don’t move!”

  I ignored them, figuring that of all the dangers facing me, they were the least of my concerns. I felt for a pulse on Sara’s neck. There was one. At that same moment, I noticed with relief that she was breathing, but it was very shallow. Gray eyes blinked slowly as she focused on me, and then she opened her mouth.

  “Don’t ask,” I said just as Sara began to speak.

  “Ash, I went to heaven and I saw an angel,” she whispered in wonderment. “She was beautiful. She saved us!”

  I frowned slightly, trying to picture Mir as an angel and utterly failing. Or at least, I couldn’t picture her with wings and a halo. She was way too irritating for that. I nodded my head anyway as Kali’s eyelids began to flicker open and his mouth twitched. “Yeah, I guess you could call her that. We have to get going. Can you stand?” Without waiting for an answer, I heaved her up and half carried, half dragged her as fast as I could down the alley. The soldiers shouted at us from above. I glanced behind to see Kali start to roll to one side; I looked away quickly before the glare from those yellow eyes could freeze me.

  “It was a miracle!” Sara continued, her expression dazed. Her legs sagged briefly, and we both almost fell.

  “It sure was,” I agreed as I pulled her into a slow jog. Snow collected on my trousers and melted into icy rivulets. Restraining an urge to scratch my bruised leg, I peered up to the rooftop several times, but couldn’t see anyone; the soldiers must have realized they wouldn’t be able to stop anyone from three floors above, which meant they were on their way down to catch us. As for Jack and Jill, they were probably long gone.

  “Ashish, you can’t run forever!” the screeching voice echoed along the narrow alley.

  I didn’t bother looking back. I could imagine the man standing up, wiping the slushy snow off his clothes and striding toward us. Just as we rounded a corner, I glanced over my shoulder. Kali was nowhere to be seen. That couldn’t be good. Not that I wanted to see him anywhere near me, of course. But why wasn’t he following us? Where had the monster gone? Fear rose like scalding bile up my throat.

  Keep moving. The words that were written in the first page of the book echoed through my memory. I figured that was as good advice as any I was going to get at that moment. Somehow, just the act of movement helped clear my mind. I forced myself to keep walking away from Kali, away from fear and doubt.

  “Did you see her, too?” Sara asked, her eyes bright with awe and delight, completely oblivious to the danger that I felt approaching on all sides of us.

  “Yeah, sure did,” I puffed. “You’re kind of heavy. Can you try to walk, or better yet, run?”

  Sara complied while whispering breathlessly, “We should’ve died from that fall. Wait until I tell Samuel. Amazing.” She sighed happily as she stumbled along.

  “You can say that,” I responded automatically, not even sure what she had said. My attention was kind of distracted by a commotion ahead. Had Kali somehow raced ahead of us? I pulled Sara into a narrow corridor that branched off to our right, and waited. Leaning against the cold brick wall, I tried to calm my breathing as I cautiously peered around the corner. Instantly, I jerked my head back, my stomach squirming. Okay, it wasn’t Kali. But it was a group of soldiers, and they were standing at the entrance of the alley. They weren’t the scariest thing I had seen lately, but I still didn’t want to get caught by them.

  “Do you think we can go back and see her?” Sara inquired as she gazed up at the tiny strip of sky visible far above us.

  “I don’t think so. We’re not really supposed to be in the veil anyway, not until we’re ready to leave this world and go to the next,” I replied, knowing that was true as soon as I said it. I held my breath while I strained to hear what was happening. There was some shouting; the words were hard to distinguish, although I thought I heard something about two kids disappearing. Then there was uninterrupted silence. I waited a few more minutes; the only movement was from the small puffs of vapor we created as we breathed out. Carefully, I inched around the corner.

  “Hello, lad!” a voice boomed immediately in front of me.

  I jumped back with a shout. I seriously was going to have heart problems at this rate. I calmed a bit when I caught sight of Jack’s beaming face.

 
“We missed you. What happened? Did you fly down?” Jack chuckled at his own joke, while Sara enthusiastically nodded her head and started to respond.

  Stepping in front, I hooked my leg back and kicked her on the shin. Ignoring her hurt exclamation, I loudly replied, “We had to take a detour. Soldiers were close by.”

  “And they still are,” Mr. Jill growled, “so shut it and move on.”

  “Where’re we going?” I hurriedly asked, again cutting off Sara, who looked determined to tell the world about the angel.

  “Another safe house,” Jack replied conspiratorially.

  “Let’s hope it’s safer than the last one,” Mr. Jill grumbled as he led us to the end of the alley.

  Still nervously expecting to see a pair of glowing yellow eyes at any minute, I gladly followed the others. Keep moving. Walking briskly, we crossed the road and entered another confusing network of alleyways and narrow corridors, through which Mr. Jill confidently led us. Occasionally we heard shouts and gun shots, and with each one the men’s expressions became grimmer.

  Eventually we stopped in front of a door that looked like all the other doors lining the alley. Mr. Jill approached it and rapped softly. A muted voice muttered something from the other side, and Mr. Jill responded in an equally muffled voice. The door creaked open, and Jack pushed us inside and locked the door behind us. Jack and Mr. Jill led us into a small living room with four wooden chairs, a table, and a chest of drawers with a few books stacked on top. A fire sputtered cheerfully, illuminating the quiet room with warm light. Voices could be heard from an adjoining room.

  “Make yourself comfy, kids,” Jack told us. “We’ll be right back.”

  I stood in the center of the room, enjoying the warmth of the fire. I realized then that the men had never asked for my name, and I still didn’t know their real ones. Perhaps it was better like that. Some time passed, and then Mr. Jill came out, looking flustered. “Let’s be quick, you two,” he barked. “Things are going to get a bit rough. There’s lots to do, and I don’t have time to baby-sit.”

  Sara, her face flushed with annoyance, opened her mouth to protest at the inference, but was cut off by Mr. Jill. “Apparently your father is still with your aunt and uncle. They’re hiding him until he can leave Boston, and he won’t leave until he finds you.” The man glared at Sara as if it was the girl’s fault her father didn’t want to abandon her. “So follow me, and don’t dawdle.”

  Sara and I exchanged startled looks and then followed our reluctant guide out the back alley. We had to almost jog to keep up. After a few minutes, I voiced a concern. “Sara, I think it’s a really good idea for you to get out of Boston with your family as soon as possible.”

  Sara frowned. “It sounds like that’s already the plan, but why? Is my father in trouble?”

  “I don’t know about him, but you are,” I replied. “That man we keep seeing, Kali, is searching for you. He wants something that you’re going to find one day. This is really important. You can’t let him find you. Understand?”

  Sara still looked confused, but she nodded her head. Just then, Mr. Jill stopped abruptly at the exit of the alley. He pointed to a series of maisonettes on the other side of a quiet, residential road.

  “You see that one with the red painted door? That’s where your relatives live, although they’re at their shop right now. But your father should be there, waiting for you. I have to go.” He reluctantly shook our hands, and with a curt nod, he spun around and hurried back the way we had come. We stared after him until he disappeared around a corner.

  “Well, let’s go,” Sara suggested softly, looking both eager and nervous.

  We dashed across the road and up a short set of stairs to the red door. Clearing her throat, Sara rapped hard on the door and then tried to open it. It was unlocked and creaked open slightly at her touch. In a small voice, she asked, “Hello? Father?”

  There was no response. I pushed the door open further, to reveal an unlit passageway. The house seemed very quiet.

  “Maybe he’s not here,” I suggested, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with the deep silence and the dim lighting. There was definitely something not right here.

  “He has to be,” Sara stated. “Mr. Jill said he was. He knew we were coming, so he must have left the door unlocked. That’s all.” Then, before I could stop her, she sprinted into the house, toward the end of the hallway and around the corner, shouting, “Father?”

  “Sara, no!” I called and then ran after her. “Something’s not right. Something has changed.” I uttered Bibi’s words without thinking, but I could feel it now. The darkness in the house was not from lack of light. There was something else there, a shadowy essence that seemed to coat the very air we breathed.

  I rounded the corner, entered a small, sparsely decorated living room, and groaned in dismay. On a couch, staring at me with fearful and desperate expressions, were Samuel and a man who was an older, masculine version of Sara: Mr. Connel. The two were tied, and Mr. Connel was gagged. Nearby, Kali stood with one arm draped around the shoulders of a very pale and shaking Sara. Just as casually, he picked at his teeth with the dagger, but his entire attention was focused on me. Oh, lovely.

  “You are so predictable,” Kali said mockingly. I guess in Kali’s world, being predictable is a bad thing. Personally, I don’t have a problem with being predictable, although in this specific case, I kind of wish I had been a little less so. He pointed the dagger at me, his yellow eyes glittering with triumph. “Not that I’m displeased. In fact, I’m so glad you could come to this delightful family reunion. I’ve been planning it for a while. Just in case we didn’t get a chance to talk earlier.”

  His voice reminded me of nails scraping against a blackboard. It took all my determination not to scratch at my leg or rub the tingling hairs on the back of my neck. The man, however, noticed the effect and smiled nastily.

  “Let them go, Kali,” I said, and then briefly marveled at my own bravado and foolishness, especially the foolishness. I had nothing over him. I couldn’t make him do anything. And this whole thing had been such an obvious trap, like something from one of the cheesy novels my sisters read. Obviously, I should study those novels more closely and pick up a few tips.

  The man laughed, but it was more of a cackle than a laugh, without any trace of merriment. “Of course. Do you really think I want to keep them? I have no use for them.” The blade shifted to point toward Sara.

  “Right,” I responded, my gaze flicking around the room. I noticed Samuel’s tears, which made his face all blotchy, and Mr. Connel’s anguish at his children’s plight. Sara was clenching her teeth in a brave attempt not to cry, but her eyes were wide with terror. A long chest of drawers was pushed against the wall behind the sofa, and above it hung a large mirror with an ornately carved, gold-painted frame. The wall across from the mirror was mostly window, and sunlight spilled into the room. There was no inspiration forthcoming.

  “Okay, then let them go,” I suggested in a wheedling voice. “I know what you really want.”

  Kali snarled. “What do you know about anything?”

  “You want to go back,” I replied. I focused on keeping my voice calm and determined. I was actually surprised at the result: I sounded in control, but my mind spun in circles. How could we get out of this and keep Kali here? “I can open the veil for you so you can go back.”

  The man shook his head derisively. “Not likely, as you can just close the veil on me while I’m inside. No, I think we’ll be going together, Ashish.”

  “I can’t let you have the book,” I stated firmly, trying desperately to focus on staying positive. I needed to clear the fear that muddled my thinking.

  “Oh please,” Kali said scornfully. “You try so desperately to prevent the inevitable. And you will fail, just as everyone else has, including your precious Bibi.”

  Confused, I blurted out, “She hasn’t failed.”

  “She has, in ways you can’t possibly imagine.” Kali snickered malic
iously. “You don’t know much about her, anymore than you know what that book really means.” The man’s eyes blazed bright yellow, and his face twisted horribly.

  What you focus on, you become.

  I tried to cling to these words, hoping they would ward off the hopelessness and despair that were gradually smothering my energy. Why did I feel so tired, so defeated?

  “You’re just a big bully!” Samuel suddenly shouted, and then shrunk back into the cushions as Kali leered toward him.

  His words made me think of my classmates picking on the new kid. It had only been a short time ago, but it felt like another life. What could I really do anyway, apart from getting hurt myself? Isn’t that what I had been thinking? Just walk away and stay out of trouble, my life’s motto. The fence was a pretty safe place, after all, and who said I had to get involved in anything? What right did Bibi have to pull me into all this?

  As if hearing these thoughts, Kali turned toward me, his mouth twisted into a smile. “What can you really do here, Ashish?” he murmured softly, his gaze hypnotic, his voice actually gentle. “You’ll just get into trouble, and no one will be able to bail you out.”

  That was true. I blinked lazily. The air seemed very heavy suddenly, and the sunlight dimmed, casting the room into shadow. I was tired, tired of running and not knowing what I was running from or why or how I could stop it.

  “You must be tired of this,” the man continued in a soothing voice as he walked toward me. “You don’t need this aggravation. You’re so young, with your life still ahead of you, and this really isn’t your battle. You can’t change the world. You have better things to do, like look after yourself. Give me the book, and we forget all about this. I promise. Live your own life. Have fun. I only want the book, nothing else. Keep out of trouble. It’s wise advice, the safe path. Why not follow it?”