The Once and Future Scream Queen: Marlene Ambrosia Mysteries

by Brianna Bates

  Then she hung up.

  ***

  The next morning, Marlene cancelled what appointments she could. She wasn’t in a cheery mood and didn’t want to bring anybody else down with her. The one appointment she couldn’t get out off, though, was with Ellen Foster. They had cancelled last week’s meeting, so Marlene didn’t want to go two weeks without seeing her face-to-face.

  As hurt and angry and confused as she felt, Marlene was still running a business. And right now, clients were dropping like flies.

  Marlene was just finishing up with Ellen, recommending she try Toastmasters to conquer her fear of public speaking. She showed Ellen to the door, just when Artie Ryan pulled it open.

  “Good morning, ladies!” He was all smiles, unconquerable, brimming with excitement.

  The exact opposite of Marlene. It took all her strength to muster a weak, fake smile.

  Ellen, on the other hand, practically cheered at the sight of him. “Arthur Ryan. As I live and breathe.”

  Artie gave her just as big a smile in return. “And how are you, Ms. Foster?”

  “Ellen, please. You’re no child anymore.”

  He laughed. “But I still respect my—”

  “If you say elders, I will kill you.”

  He laughed again. “How about those with more life experience?”

  “Ah.” She wagged a finger playfully at him. “Said like a true politician. Speaking of which, when is the mayor going to get us a new grade school?”

  Artie shot Marlene a look. “Maybe sooner than you think.”

  “Oh?” Ellen looked from Artie to Marlene. “What am I missing here?”

  Marlene kept her mouth shut. It had been her idea sure enough, but the moment belonged to Artie. He was going to be mayor. Not her. He had to own this.

  “Pick up a copy of the Sentinel today.” Artie smiled and got the door for her. “And come see me if you have anything else you’d like to discuss.”

  Ellen raised both eyebrows as high as they would go. “Oh, something big is about to happen. I can feel it. History about to be made.”

  As the woman left, Marlene wondered at how Ellen could be so comfortable and personable in one-on-one situations but became a near-wreck whenever the group grew larger than five.

  “Coffee?” Artie asked.

  Marlene was in no mood. But she kept up her professional front and checked her watch. “Do you have time?”

  “Plenty.”

  “You’ve got to be at the Council Meeting in twenty minutes.”

  “Like I said, plenty of time.”

  “We better hurry then.”

  He offered to drive. Marlene objected that he wouldn’t have enough time to drop her back at the office before his Council Meeting.

  “Aren’t you coming?” He had a mischievous smile.

  She hadn’t planned on attending but then thought it would be better than just sitting behind her desk, brooding all morning. And, admittedly, it would be an exciting moment for the both of them. She needed to be around positive energy right now.

  “Sounds great, Artie.”

  She got into his car. It was an old Toyota. Not what she expected Artie Ryan to be driving. He had always seemed to have the best clothes and was the most stylish in school. Back then she’d just assumed he came from money, but what had he said the other day? His parents hadn’t had much. They must have spent everything they had on their son.

  “She’s not much, but she’s got it where it counts,” Artie said. Marlene got the sense he was quoting from some movie, but she didn’t bother asking what. “Everything okay, Marlene?”

  “Fine.” She thought back to last night, to her mother, to the detective. He needed to know about Bors’s little visit last night, but right now wasn’t the time. She wanted him focused on the task at hand, as it was the most important step he’d taken in his still young political career. They could focus on the investigation into Gwen’s death later.

  “You sure?” Artie asked. “You don’t seem your usual charming self.”

  No one had ever called her charming before. Determined and focused was about as complimentary as anyone ever got.

  “I’m fine,” she lied. “I’m excited for you. This is going to be a great day.”

  “I will be taking you out for lunch and over that meal you will tell me what’s the matter.”

  She said nothing.

  Artie pulled onto the road after waiting for some traffic to pass. A frown crept onto his face.

  “What do you think if Connie calls for an adjournment?”

  Marlene had had no idea such an outcome was possible. She was about to say she didn’t know what was going to happen, but she remembered what Merlin—the real Merlin—had said the other night, something along the lines of:

  Never admit to not knowing something. Your power comes from knowledge.

  “I think we—look out!”

  A stray dog ran right out into the street in front of them. Artie was doing thirty-five, forty miles per hour and there was no way he could stop in time. All the same, he stood on the brakes and the tires screeched and the car lurched.

  Marlene heard and felt a dull thud before the car came to a stop.

  “Oh my God!” Artie threw the car in PARK and was already out the door.

  Marlene looked out the rear windshield. “Wait, there are more cars coming!”

  The driver behind them must not have been paying attention. In her mind’s eye, Marlene saw him swerve a moment too late and the car sideswipe Artie. She could see his body flying through the air—

  Marlene turned in her seat and threw her hands out in the direction of the car that was coming. The driver was braking hard and getting into the opposing lane of traffic, but Artie was right there. She thought if only she could push the car a little farther over—

  The vehicle jerked in that direction. Pain shot up Marlene’s right arm, and she got dizzy.

  Had she just pushed the car?

  The driver horned them angrily as he went past, for whatever reason thinking they had just decided to slam on the brakes in the middle of a fast road to risk their lives.

  “Marlene!”

  Artie sounded hurt. Her heart sank. Had he been hit? The car had slowed down but was still moving fast enough to really hurt. And possibly kill.

  “Artie!”

  She popped out of the passenger seat and found him hunched over the dog. He was looking back at her over his shoulder, with tears in his eyes.

  “He just ran right out in front of me.”

  The dog was lying on its side and whimpering. Marlene was no animal lover, but still the sight of the poor injured dog made her feel terrible.

  Then she recognized it.

  The stray from the other day. The one that had scared the man in black away.

  “He’s hurt real bad, Marlene,” Artie said. “We’ve got to get him to Rau.”

  She spoke before thinking. “You’ll miss the Council meeting.”

  He gave her a hurt look. “Marlene, forget the meeting. This guy is hurt. I’ll get them to call an emergency vote later or something. We’ll figure it out. But if we don’t get him to the hospital …”

  His voice trailed off ominously. Marlene knew he was right. The dog looked really bad. There was no blood, but his breathing looked labored and his tongue just kind of lolled out of the side of his mouth. He wasn’t going to make it if they didn’t get him help right away.

  But at the same time, if Artie didn’t make that Council meeting this morning he was in trouble. Jill Bauer was running her article on Artie this morning, which spelled out the budget proposal he was supposed to put in front of the Council in a few minutes. If the article ran this morning but Artie wasn’t able to put it to a vote, the members would know about it beforehand and have time to circle the wagons with the mayor and come up with an effective strategy to defeat it. Artie’s first big play could totally backfire and he could kiss his seat on the Council goodbye, never mind even thinking about r
unning for mayor in the fall.

  “Help me get him in the backseat,” Artie said, concern lining his face.

  The man was more worried about the dog than the budget. That didn’t speak well of his priorities, but it did speak well about his character. He was willing to risk his career to save the a stray dog’s life.

  And in that moment, she was thunderstruck.

  You were always wrong about Artie.

  Yes, he was popular. Yes, he was confident. Maybe a little full of himself. Yes, he was Homecoming and Prom King and captain of the team and yes, he got all the girls … but deep down, and at the surface too, Artie Ryan was a good man.

  Maybe Arthur was even a great man.

  “Marlene, please,” he begged. “If I lift him myself, I might hurt the poor guy even worse.”

  The dog’s breathing had shallowed even more, and his eyes were dull.

  Marlene acted without thinking. She didn’t know what she was doing as she hurried over to the dog. Still didn’t know what she was doing when she kneeled next to Artie and put her hands over the dog’s ribs where she somehow knew the worst injury was.

  And then it happened.

  It was nothing she could see. But she could feel it. Some kind of force was emanating from her hands and washing over the dog. It was healing. It seeped into the dog’s side and she could feel the pain leaving him.

  “Marlene …” Artie said. His voice came from a great distance and sounded like he was speaking down a tunnel.

  She couldn’t have answered him if she wanted to. She had started to go somewhere else, like she had one foot in this world and one foot somewhere else. Marlene held her hands in place. Though the strain forced her eyes shut, Marlene still could tell what was happening all around her. As if she could see a simulation of the world while reality unfolded.

  Her hands shook violently as crippling pain fired in her every nerve. Her muscles tensed from the effort and would not unclench.

  “Marlene!” This time Artie’s voice was much louder, like he had screamed directly into her ear.

  Marlene felt herself slip into a dark void.

  Twenty-One

  Marlene fell through darkness. While under, an even darker black yawned open and she fell into this great chasm. There were no footholds or ledges to gain purchase, she just slipped down into a terrible darkness.

  “Merlin!”

  A hideous voice cried out in that timeless darkness. Marlene hit the ground hard, pain shooting into her knees. Her eyes began to adjust to the gloom and the only reason she could see anything was because the colors of this whatever shifted from black to dark grey. Otherwise, she would have been blinder than a bat.

  “Merlin!”

  The voice was louder. Whatever was calling out to her was getting closer. At first, she worried it was the Dark One, but then the voice spoke again and she could tell it belonged to someone else.

  Something else.

  “At last.”

  She held her hands up. Whatever spoke, she couldn’t see it. She could only sense its evil presence lurking somewhere in the shadows surrounding her. Marlene didn’t know what she could do with her hands up, maybe there was some kind of protective spell she could use. But if there was, she would have to get lucky. She had no idea how to cast it, if cast was even the right word.

  “I have lived in this hell for over a thousand years …”

  Marlene spun around. The voice seemed to be coming from every direction. But no matter which way she faced, it was always behind her. Looming. Lurking.

  And as it got closer, the timber took on a higher pitch.

  The voice belonged to a woman.

  “Now you will take my place here.” The woman cackled a laugh that echoed throughout the darkness and rang in her ears.

  She held her hands out and tried to conjure up something to defend herself. But nothing happened. What should she do? She had no idea.

  Then how had she helped the dog? She hadn’t thought about what she was doing, she had just done it somehow.

  She let her mind go blank and stood ready.

  The evil surrounding her grew stronger. Marlene looked in the direction she thought of as up. But whether it was actually up, or down, or sideways now, she couldn’t say. There was nothing to orient herself against.

  She saw a tiny pinprick of light.

  “There is no escape …”

  Marlene reached for that light, even though it seemed a million miles away. Trying to run, or swim, or float, Marlene realized she couldn’t actually get anywhere. She was trapped in this space.

  Then she felt something slide across her cheek. It was wet and slimy. She screamed at the top of her lungs. This evil thing was going to torment her and had started by licking her face?

  Just when she didn’t think she could take any more of this, the pinprick of light expanded into a ball all around her …

  ***

  The dog licked her face again.

  Marlene blinked herself awake.

  “What …” She looked up and saw Artie looking down at her. His eyes were really blue.

  “Marlene, are you okay?”

  “What … how long was I …?”

  “Only a few seconds,” Artie said. “Are you okay?”

  But that couldn’t be. She had been falling in that void for a minute, maybe two, and then had confronted that evil spirit for another minute or so … there was no way she had only been out for a few seconds.

  Unless time worked differently wherever she had gone.

  “Marlene?” Artie said. His hand was wrapped under the back of her head. His blue eyes jumped all over her face. The dog licked her cheek again. His breath stank like milk bones. “I’m going to call for an ambulance.”

  Her mind caught back up to the present. She was laying in the middle of a road and they had been on their way to—

  “No.” She tried to get up, but every joint ached and she got dizzy.

  “Marlene, I have to take you to the hospital.”

  Oh no. First he was ready to run the dog to the vet, now he was ready to take her to the ER. When really, Artie needed to get to that Council Meeting more than anything. She didn’t want to get in the way of that.

  Marlene forced herself to her feet and tried to hide how horrible she was feeling. “After. Let’s go.”

  “Marlene, you fainted—”

  “And now I’m fine. We’re out of time. Let’s go.” Before he could object, she got into the car. The dog jumped into her lap—which hurt a lot—and then shot into the backseat where he rolled up into a ball and sat.

  Artie came around the front of the car, watching her. Now that she was conscious, he must have been calm enough to start asking himself some questions. His face was a mixture of curiosity, concern, and nerves. He got behind the wheel.

  “Marlene—”

  “No more talk!” she snapped. “Go!”

  ***

  By the time they reached the Town Hall, Marlene felt a little better. A very little better. Artie rolled the windows down so the dog could breathe and she leaned against him heavily like a crutch as they shuffled up the stairs into the Hall.

  The Council met in the main room where they usually held the voting blocks for election night. Today there were benches set up for the public to observe the official proceedings. Marlene was on her last leg when she spotted Jill Bauer in the third row. There were many other people in attendance, but other than Jill, Marlene only noticed one other person: the mayor’s son, William Gant.

  Artie walked her to Jill’s row, where Marlene literally collapsed against the reporter. Jill went from happy to see them to immediately worried.

  “My God, Marlene!”

  Marlene just shook her head and pointed vaguely in Artie’s direction as he joined the other Council members in the front of the room. The senior member, a man named XXXX, had been presiding over these meetings for many years. He was one of the mayor’s people.

  Artie sat at the far right end of th
e table as XXXX banged a gavel and called the meeting to order. The older man ran through the preliminary administrative matters. Marlene felt someone’s eyes on her. It took all her strength to turn her head and look over her shoulder. The mayor’s son was glaring at her, with today’s newspaper folded outward in his hands.

  He must have read this story a few minutes ago and hurried to the Town Hall.

  “Now then,” XXX said. “Mr. Ryan wanted to propose something.”

  Artie smiled. He thanked the Council members and all those in attendance. And then he crossed the proverbial Rubicon.

  Historically, the Council met in private to discuss their proposed budget which, when unanimously agreed upon, would be presented to the mayor as a series of recommendations. The mayor could then accept or reject as he saw fit. Marlene realized then how much power this gave Mal A. Gant. Medboro might have been a small town, but still thousands of people lived here and for twenty plus years this man had decided how to spend their money with little to no checks and balances.

  “I would like to present my budget proposal to the Council today and call for a vote in session.”

  A hush fell over the crowd as Artie Ryan broke with all historical precedent.

  XXX did a double-take. “You want to do what, Mr. Ryan?”

  “Present my budget proposal in session and call for a vote.”

  “Well, that’s … that’s unprecedented and unusual …”

  Artie flashed his million-watt smile. “Yes and yes. But entirely legal. The by-laws permit members to call for in session votes on many matters, specifically including the budget.”

  “Well …” XXX’s eyes drifted to the crowd and lingered on the mayor’s son. William Gant pursed his lips and shook his head once, almost imperceptibly.

  “Okay, then, I’ll just dive right in,” Artie said, turning to the paperwork he’d prepared.

  The rest of the Council Members squirmed in their seats, but no one objected to Artie doing this as much as they clearly wanted to. Artie was airing their laundry in front of the public on what had historically been a very private, closed chamber vote. They would be forced to make a decision with the public watching.