Worth His Salt (Tattooed Corpse Stories #2)

by Ofelia Grand

  “Yeah, I was in there the day before yesterday, and I don’t think I locked it.”

  “Oh… Well, it might explain things.”

  It did?

  “He probably held on to you and turned himself into a copy. Perhaps he was trapped, and you somehow released him.”

  “A murderous ghost was trapped in the lighthouse, and I let him loose?” Nausea rolled over him. He’d moved things around when he’d been in there, but since it could walk through walls, it shouldn’t matter. Shit, what if it was his fault the dark haired man had died?

  “Come on, let’s get this over with.” Eldred’s skin was burning when he touched Mo’s hand.

  They neared the lighthouse, and Mo’s gut clenched. He couldn’t tell what was going on, but Eldred was glowing. Despite the dark, his hair shone bright like fire, and his skin glimmered in milky white. Mo glanced at Lachtin and grinned—his skin looked the same as Eldred’s and all of a sudden their names made sense…maybe not Henstare.

  The wind was coming right at them, the salty sea air surrounding them like a chilly coat. With a deep breath, Mo gripped the door handle. The rounded white stone walls almost disappeared in the night. The door creaked, and Mo tried to suppress a shudder.

  “Okay, guys. It’s not big, and there is a lot of old junk that’s been left behind.”

  Eldred nodded, but his focus was elsewhere.

  Lachtin patted his shoulder. “Don’t mind him; he’s already drifting.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “He’s already…” Lachtin twirled his finger above his head. “We’re the opposites, Eldred and I, magical twins that become a whole together. He has all the power, all the spiritual connection, and I have the grounding.”

  “Then why is he in charge of dispelling…things?” Mo didn’t know why he was whispering, but if Eldred and Lachtin were two halves of one entity, then he could forget taking over Lachin’s part. It should’ve been a relief, but to his surprise, it wasn’t.

  “I can’t.” Lachtin shrugged. “All I do is make sure he comes back down again, anyone who has a connection with him beyond the normal can do it. It's being able to reach him and remind him of why he belongs here that can be a little tricky.”

  “I can’t do it. I don’t have a connection.”

  Lachtin tittered. “Darling, there is a connection, not to mention you’re still hanging around. If you’re still here after having met Mother, I’ll consider you my brother-in-law. Actually, no one has lasted this long, so I might just welcome you to the family now.”

  Mo was about to protest, but as he opened his mouth, a loud bang sounded from inside the lighthouse.

  Pouring Salt

  Shit! Eldred sensed a stab of both his and the others’ fear as he surged out of his body. This was not good.

  “Come to play, boy?” The smell of rotting flesh flooded Eldred’s senses. He tried not to gag as a decaying version of Mo made itself visible in the cramped room.

  Eldred tried to step around some old wooden boxes blocking the spiralling staircase, but his body didn’t move—no wonder, he was already floating around above it.

  He reached for the amulet around his neck to help put himself back into his body only to realise it wasn’t there. For a moment, he panicked, then he remembered having placed it on Mo, then he panicked again. How would he protect himself without it? It was far too early for him to be in the spirit world. They hadn’t cast the circle yet.

  “No, I’ve come to ask you to leave. You’re disturbing the peace of my city.”

  The ghostly version of Mo laughed and as he did his skin crackled around his mouth. Eldred swallowed against the reflex to heave. If only he could take another form.

  “Go back to the cradle, boy. I’ve been around far longer than you have.”

  “That may be. How come you ended up here, anyway?”

  “I’m not talking to you.”

  Fuck. “You are talking to me.” He looked down only to see the real Mo shake him. Lachtin tried to get him to let go, but he didn’t seem to be responding.

  “I don’t want to be talking to you.”

  “Really, you seem pretty chatty. And if I’ve understood it correctly, you’ve been talking to quite a few people these last several days.”

  The ghost snorted, and Eldred wished he hadn’t. The upper lip split in two and a greenish gooey substance ran down his chin. “I’m having a little fun, and he will be next.” He was pointing at Mo. “I almost had him, but then you came running.”

  “Yeah, neat trick trying to make him think he’s insane; you’re probably the first one who’s ever tried it.” Eldred rolled his eyes.

  “I can do anything I want to.” He scratched his head and came away with a tuft of hair. This time Eldred did gag.

  ***

  Mo tried shaking Eldred one last time. “What’s wrong with him?” The room spun before him. Something had to have gone wrong.

  “He’s up and about.” Lachtin motioned to the air above their heads.

  “What?”

  “Yeah, I admit this isn’t how it usually goes. Normally, we set up a circle, we hold hands, and then Eldred gives himself over to the spirit world for a bit. Most often he only has to ask whoever it is lingering to come into the light and we’ll be done. Then I need to remind him to come back down, and we can go back home. Him leaving involuntarily has never happened before.”

  “We have to get him back.”

  “Erm…yeah.” Lachtin gave him a look as if he was stupid. “But to do that we need to get rid of the spirit, Fetch, whatever it is we’re dealing with.”

  “We? You and I?” That wouldn’t work. Mo wasn’t magical in any way. Until yesterday he hadn’t given ghosts and stuff much thought.

  “You and me, baby.” He winked, and Mo glanced at Eldred again.

  “What do we do?”

  “Easy.” He handed Mo four ordinary block candles. “Place these at north, east, south, and west.” Mo stared at him, and Lachtin sighed. “Lookie here, you move these.” He started pushing at the boxes stacked in front of Eldred. “Form a circle here.” He motioned on the dusty floor. “Eldred needs to be part of the circle, but not inside of it, okay?”

  Mo nodded and remembered some cheesy supernatural series he’d watched on TV many years ago. He placed one candle where he believed south was, then one north-ish and then put the others where it seemed east and west should be. “Good?” He looked up at Lachtin who was holding a package of sea salt in his hand.

  “Almost.” Then he went around and moved the candles a foot or so clockwise. “Now, I would say they’re about right.” Then he walked the circle again only this time he was pouring a line of salt, leaving the candles right outside the line of the circle. “Right, now we light the candles and let Eldred do his thing.”

  “Will he know he’s to do his thing?” Mo looked at the unmoving shell of the usually so vibrant Eldred.

  Lachtin bit his lip and grimaced. “I sure hope so. I’d hate to have to call Mother.”

  ***

  “Ha! Look at those idiots. Do they think pouring salt on the floor will help anything?” The fake Mo laughed, and his face crumbled some more. Eldred looked down at the real Mo and Lachtin simply to fasten his eyes somewhere else. The circle was cast, it was only the lighting of the candles left. Eldred always did that part, Lachtin didn’t know how to call the spirits.

  “I’ve been lying in the sea for a century, if salt would make me go away I’d be gone.” The ghost laughed again, a raucous cackling that made Eldred shudder.

  “Yeah, you drowned?” Any information was useful to have.

  He snorted. “Obviously.”

  “You could’ve have had a heart attack for all I know.” Power climbed his legs as Mo and Lachtin each lit a candle. Perhaps it would work without calling the spirits?

  “Heart attack.” The ghost glared. “It was a terrible storm that night. Ernest Vin, the lighthouse keeper—” He motioned around the lighthouse. “
—told me to go out. Johnson’s kid hadn’t come back. I refused, no one would survive that weather.”

  Vin? Eldred glanced down at Mo. A relative? He didn’t like the sound of that.

  “You refused?” Eldred wished he’d come to the point. Many ghosts had the need to tell someone what had happened and then they were ready to move on. The power around him increased as Mo lit another candle, quickly followed by Lachtin lighting the fourth. The wind grew, the waves outside splashed forcefully against the rocks, and the flame of the candle placed in south crackled. But if the natural earthy fragrance of the north was there it was covered by the rot.

  “I did, but then more and more people gathered on the meadow, looking out over the sea. Women were crying, men glaring at me, so I went out. It was impossible to steer.”

  “How terrible.”

  He scowled at Eldred. “Johnson’s kid was hiding in the fishing shed.”

  “Oh… I’m so sorry. I can help you move on, let go.”

  He laughed. “Go home to mummy, boy. I’m not done. I won’t be done until all the Vins and Johnsons are gone. It has taken me a long time to get to this point.”

  Shit, shit, shit. “How will killing help anything? The Vins and Johnsons of today weren't around then.”

  “No, and you don’t see any Maddocks around either, do you?”

  Maddock. Eldred grinned, he had him now. “Spirits of air, I call you.” The wind whined outside. “Spirits of fire, I call you.” The familiar tingling in his palms started and grew, soon a ball of white fire was hovering in his hand.

  “No, stop it!” The ghost dashed for him, but Eldred threw the white fire into his aura, making it glow in a sharp light impossible for any spectre to penetrate.

  “Spirits of water, I call you.” The waves hit the lighthouse. “Spirits of Earth, I call you.” Eldred searched for the connection, he waited for the smell of the forest, the calmness of standing firmly on the ground, but it wasn’t there. The fear started as a little trickle. “I call you!”

  Nothing happened.

  A Date

  Mo stood unmoving as his world crumbled. A terrible storm raged outside, the sea washed over the lighthouse, and one small candle lit up the entire room. Or maybe it wasn’t just the tiny candle because all of a sudden he could see a translucent version of Eldred hovering in the air surrounded by a bright light.

  He could see himself too; only he was rotting away.

  “What’s happening?”

  Lachtin looked at Eldred too. “Something’s wrong.”

  Ghost-Eldred’s lips were moving, but Mo couldn’t see what he was saying, but it was clear his doppelgänger was laughing.

  “Eldred!” Lachin’s voice was almost drowned out by the wind. “Eldred! What do you need?”

  Ghost-Eldred didn’t look their way, but Mo could tell he was becoming more and more distressed. The sea roared, the wind whined, and he feared the lighthouse soon would catch fire from the flames bursting out of the candle.

  “Earth is missing.”

  “What?”

  “Earth! See how he has wind, water, and fire? But there is no earth.”

  Mo wasn’t sure he understood what Lachtin meant, but he nodded anyway.

  “Come on.” Lachtin stood with his feet right outside the salt border of the circle. “Stand next to him.” He motioned at the unmoving Eldred, and Mo did. They grabbed hold of one of Eldred’s hands each and then held on to each other’s. “Imagine you’re in a forest or someplace where you feel connected to nature.”

  Mo tried, but with the waves crashing outside all he could think about was water.

  “Come on, Mo! Think of grass, soil, thick oak trees.”

  “I’m trying, I’m trying.” Mo pictured the trunk of an oak tree, he imagined being surrounded by autumn leaves in bright red and yellow.

  There was a whoosh, and then the Eldred next to him spoke in a hollow voice that made him want to drop his hand. “Mr Maddock, I command you to step into the circle.”

  Mo’s hands burned, the air was too thick to breathe. As if Mother Earth herself tried to tear down the lighthouse the force of nature outside intensified.

  A light column shot up through the floor and shone all the way up the lantern. Then the ghost version of himself appeared. It was trying to fight off whatever it was forcing it downwards. Ghost-Eldred pushed him towards the circle, a white light flooding out of the centre of his palms. Little by little the skin of the doppelgänger was peeled away, next the muscle tissue followed.

  Mo dry-heaved as a smell of rot filled the room, and the skinned vision of himself began to melt. For several seconds the ghost continued to fight but then there was a loud crack. The ghost was sucked into the circle, the light pillar in the middle disappeared, the candles were blown out, and the salt whirled around in the air and then it was gone.

  For a second, Mo stood in the silent darkness unable to breathe. “We did it! We did it, right?”

  “Seems like.” Lachtin let go of his hand, his clothes rustling in the dark as he moved around.

  “Eldred?”

  No response came.

  “Eldred?” Mo’s heart started banging again. “Eldred, can you please say something?”

  Nothing.

  Lachtin lit one of the candles and held it up in front of Eldred. He was unmoving, like before. “Ah…erm…I might have to call Mother unless you have some smart way to bring him back?”

  Him? Lachtin’s pleading eyes made his gut knot. “Is this the grounding thing?”

  “Yeah, he’s probably floating around up there, forgetting he’s supposed to come back down.”

  “Bring him back.”

  “I tried…several times. I can’t reach him.”

  “What?” Mo touched the amulet Eldred had hung around his neck and took it off. Stepping up in front of Eldred, he hung it around his neck while sending a silent prayer it would be enough to bring him back. He needed to see that sparkle in his eyes. His hands tingled with the need to touch him, to hold him.

  Both Mo and Lachtin held their breaths for a few seconds, but nothing happened.

  “I’ll go outside and call Mother. Don’t…don’t leave him, okay? If something happens to the body, I don’t think we can get him back.”

  Mo nodded. Desperation was clawing at his chest. Eldred had to come back, he had to. Mo needed him to wake up, he needed to spend more time with him. “Eldred? Eldred, please come back.”

  Nothing happened.

  “Eldred, please, you’re scaring Lachtin.”

  Still nothing.

  Mo looked around to make sure no one was watching him, then he bent down and touched his lips to Eldred’s. They were cold and unmoving, but he kissed him anyway, willed him to wake up. When nothing happened, he wrapped his arms around him and cradled him to his chest. What should they do? He couldn’t lose him now.

  There was so much he didn’t know about him, so much he needed to learn. Not many hours had passed since he’d first seen him mumbling and gesturing in the rain on his lawn but he couldn’t imagine life without Eldred in it. Mo hugged him tighter.

  The entire body convulsed, and then Eldred groaned. “That was unfair to do when I wasn’t around.”

  Mo chuckled…or sobbed, he wasn’t sure. “I thought you were around.”

  “Watching it from above and experiencing it isn’t the same thing.”

  Mo didn’t dare let go. He didn’t know if Eldred was ready to stand on his own just yet. “I’ll keep that in mind for the next time.” Relief so strong it made his eyes tear flooded his mind. He kept his arms around Eldred, reluctant to let go.

  “There will be a next time? I like the sound of that.” If Mo had a say in it, there would definitely be a next time. Eldred found his balance and gave Mo a weak smile. “Shit, that wasn’t how it usually goes.”

  “Mother will be here— Oh, you’re here.” Lachtin stopped right next to Eldred. “I guess you better call her then and say she doesn’t need to come…” />
  Eldred started patting his pockets in search of his phone.

  ***

  Eldred’s hands shook as he reached for the cup Mo handed him. Their fingers touched, and Eldred sighed. He needed a connection right now. There was still a sense of floatiness in his head, but Mo's warmth helped to ground him.

  “So Mum’s not coming?” Lachtin drummed his fingers on the table.

  “No.” Eldred glanced at Mo. “I’m afraid our date has been rescheduled, though.” Mo raised his eyebrows and Eldred wanted to curl up in his lap. “You’ll get to meet Mother tomorrow…sorry.” Eldred tried for a reassuring smile.

  Everything had gone so well with Mo. Most guys Eldred met ran away at the mentioning of him being a witch. Granted, Mo probably thought he’d been kidding when he’d said it, but he had stayed even after things went crazy. If he would stay after having met Mother was another question, though.

  “Why are you so scared of your mother?” Mo looked between Eldred and Lachtin.

  “It’s not fear…” Eldred didn’t know how to put it into words. “It’s more that she tries to run our lives and doesn’t make any efforts to appear normal. Most people think she’s raving mad…she is raving mad, but not insane mad, you know?”

  “He’s afraid you’ll never talk to him again after having met her.” Lachtin grinned.

  “No…maybe. She can be a bit intimidating.” He didn’t want to scare Mo, but perhaps it was better if he went in prepared.

  Mo chuckled. “You want to meet my mum?”

  Eldred’s heart skipped a beat or five. “You’d take me?”

  “Yeah, sure, why not?” Mo sipped on his tea, but Eldred read a smile in his eyes.

  “You don’t think I’m too weird to…erm…” If Mo hadn’t realised most people found Eldred a bit much, he didn’t want to spell it out for him.

  “No, you’re too young. I told you from the beginning; she’ll tell you a thousand times, but no, not too weird.”