A Signal Shown

by Yvonne Montgomery

  "All right," muttered Noreen, typing efficiently. "Another encounter with the cold."

  "Why so much cold, do you think?" Rose looked at Max. "It keeps recurring."

  "It's one of the more common phenomena in hauntings. The prevailing theory is that ghosts drain the energy around them in their efforts to materialize." He reached for his cup and took a swallow. "Living people feel the drop in temperature and usually assume it's an indication of a spirit presence. What's different about what you've experienced here is the extremity of the cold. I've encountered drops of ten, maybe twelve degrees, as measured by infrared thermometers. What you've described are much more severe. You, my sweet," he said lightly to Kerry, "were almost as cold as a North Sea herring."

  "But not me." Brenna rubbed her arms and Rose tossed her a throw. "Thanks. I'm chilly now, but at the time it was all about Gran's perfume. I wish I had some idea of why these things keep happening." She huddled under the warm material.

  Max stood up and took his mug and Kerry's for refills. "What if your grandmother is trying to contact you? Can you think of a reason she might do that?"

  "No way." Brenna's face had become blank. "By the time she died she was totally gone. Alzheimer's disease," she added when Max looked bewildered. "How could she possibly haunt me if she didn't remember who she was..." Her voice wobbled. "Let alone me."

  "Oh, my dear," Rose began, but the doorbell rang loudly. "Who on earth could that be?" she asked over Strudel's barking.

  "I'll go see." Andrea got to her feet.

  "Take Neal with you," Aura Lee and Noreen chimed in unison.

  Andrea held out her hand and Neal let her pull him up. He said something to her as they left the room and she laughed softly.

  "You do realize," Max said gently to Brenna, "one doesn't necessarily retain in the afterlife the condition one died from."

  Pain flashed in her eyes. "How can you possibly know? Have ghosts told you that?"

  Before Max could answer, Andrea came back, Neal behind her with another man.

  "Who's this?" Rose asked.

  Brenna turned to glance behind her. When she saw the tall, shaggy-haired figure she cried, "Dink!" Scrambling to her feet she struggled to unwrap herself from the throw. "You're here."

  "Brenna." He strode to her and grabbed her by one hand. In an instant he'd pulled her into his arms and she was clutching him to her. He held her tightly and shot a challenging look at them over her head. "What the hell is going on here?"

  Chapter 26

  Rose came down the stairs slowly, vaguely aware of a floating sensation, holding the rail just in case she discovered she was too tired to walk the rest of the way. She sighed inwardly. It had been an exceedingly long day.

  Brenna tried to regain control after Dink's arrival, but she'd reached her breaking point. She clung to him, tears trailing down her cheeks, content just to be in his arms. When she ran out of tears she asked him why he'd come. "How could you even afford the plane ticket?"

  "I knew I had to do something." Dink was clearly anxious. "One minute you were talking to me and you sounded so out of it. Next thing I knew you were gone and I couldn't tell if you just put down the phone or if something happened to you. I kept trying to call you back but all I got were weird noises on the cell." He pulled her tighter to him. "I was scared for you, Bren." She stroked his cheek.

  "I told Sandoval—he's the new manager—about it, and that I was taking the first plane I could get to Denver. He was great. He ran me home and waited while I got my credit card out of the freezer and grabbed some clothes. He even gave me a ride to the airport."

  "It must've cost the earth." Brenna eyes were filling again.

  "That's what an emergency fund is for," Dink said firmly. "I had to make sure you're all right." Brenna leaned her head against his chest and they held onto each other for a long time.

  Rose asked Andrea if the two could use her room, and changed the sheets, escorting them up the stairs when it was ready. "Andrea will stay with Neal," she assured them. "Get some sleep and we'll talk tomorrow." Brenna clasped her hand, nodding her thanks, and closed the door.

  When she arrived downstairs Rose found the others still sitting in the living room. "I thought sure you'd have gone to bed by now."

  Andrea shook her head. "I, for one, am counting on our figuring out some things tonight. Not that I blame Brenna for fading. This was one horrible day for her. Is she okay?"

  "I think so." Rose put a hand over her mouth to smother her yawn. "Having Dink here helps a lot."

  Noreen frowned down at her tablet. "I've been reorganizing my notes, and I have a couple of things to talk over with you."

  Max came in from the kitchen bearing a tray of steaming cups. "I made coffee. Toddies won't get us much farther in our research."

  "He makes great coffee." Kerry took a cup and smiled at him.

  "Good man." Neal helped hand out the mugs and took a long swallow of the hot brew. "Okay, I'm ready if you are."

  "I made a command decision to forget about Caldicott's journal, at least for now," began Noreen. "The more I tried to factor in crazed Nazi sympathizers and Gypsy protection spells, the more confused I became. As a result I've concentrated on the events of the last week or so. Basically it's the time Brenna's been here." She sniffed and dabbed her nose with a tissue. "Blasted tree dust." She stuffed the tissue in her pocket. "As before, following Andrea's arrival, the paranormal activity has increased each day since Brenna came last week." Her smile was pointed. "Don't you find that interesting?"

  Rose sank into her chair. "I find any paranormal activity interesting, when I'm not terrified by it. But why would Brenna's being here be a cause of the increase?"

  "That is the question, isn't it?" Noreen peered at Rose over her glasses. "With Andrea, it was artistic ability combined with her intuiting skill as a forensic artist that enabled her to channel Kelvin Haslett. I think it was Aura Lee who recognized the causal effect Andrea had just by coming here."

  "Tell me more." Max stood beside them, craning to read the screen. "This might lead to something."

  Noreen nodded an acknowledgement. "Brenna is a filmmaker, and while she's taken a couple of photos of the face in the attic window, that alone hasn't told us much. I asked myself, though, what did she bring with her besides her talent?" She moved her questioning gaze over them one by one. When she saw recognition move across Andrea's face, she smiled.

  "Her grief," Andrea murmured. "She's so sad about her grandmother she can hardly stand it. Everything is colored by her sorrow."

  Noreen nodded. "It's like a lens for one of her cameras. And she's told us several times about her dreams. What if those dreams represent more than just her subconscious working through that grief?"

  Max moved back to share Kerry's chair. She scooted over on the cushion to allow him enough room. "You're suggesting that the haunting activity is tailored to specific people here at Wisdom Court?"

  "Remember how I began sensing Cottie's desire to communicate with me after she died?" Aura Lee cut in, a hopeful light in her eyes. "I was certain she had something to tell me. I still feel that way. If I'd just been able to control my fear, maybe I'd know what it was."

  "All right, this is good." Max pulled his notebook off the coffee table and was rapidly scribbling across one page. "Let's say Brenna is a receiver because of her grandmother's death. Aura Lee's one because of Ms. Wyntham's death. Now, in those cases, it could be the personal contact that allows the barrier between the here and now and the Other Side to be breached." He looked up from the page. "What about Rose and the discovery of Ms. Wyntham's journal? And the fragment of the title page Kerry found?"

  Noreen shrugged. "As I said, I've tabled Caldicott's journal for now. Kerry had minor brushes with the things she saw on the mountain when we discovered what happened to Kelvin. But she did find that fragment this week, and today she and Aura Lee were affected by whatever caused that terrible cold. Earlier this week Rose felt the icy chill when she was led to
the journal. It might be a stretch, but what if that cold is simply a by-product of an entity trying to give us information?"

  "Cottie?" Aura Lee blinked against tears. She looked at Max. "Do you think it could be Cottie?"

  He was frowning at his notes, but at the plea in her voice he nodded. "It could be. Perhaps she's shaky on controlling the impact she has on her surroundings."

  Aura Lee clasped her hands together. "That would be so wonderful!"

  "You appear unconvinced, Rose." Max glanced back down at the notebook.

  Rose fought off another yawn. "I don't see a connection between the cold and my circle of fountain rocks, or our dinner rearranged around the floral centerpiece. I see too many variables for a cohesive theory."

  Max glanced at the woman beside him. "Kerry?"

  She was silent for a bit. "I don't know," she said finally. "Yesterday I would've been a lot more skeptical than I am today. It's possible, Noreen, but you haven't mentioned the hand reaching through Aura Lee's tray, or the business with Brenna's stars."

  Andrea sat up straighter. "I have a theory about those stars. It hit me after Brenna told me about her grandmother. Poor kid," she added in a mutter. "Anyway, she said her Gran was always telling her she—Brenna—would be a star someday with her photography. What if those stars Brenna saw on her film were like a message from Gran? You know, I always said you'd be a star, here are all these stars so you know who's trying to tell you something."

  Noreen's eyes narrowed as she considered the idea. "At times a course is found by those acting in concert; needed is the vision to see the way within the tangled strands.' Caterina Milsap, 1801 to 1852." She nodded. "Your theory is possibly inspired, my dear."

  "It's a good idea." Neal kissed her soundly on the cheek.

  "What I keep wondering," said Kerry, "is why that sort of warm-fuzzy is happening on the one hand, but we still have the actively dangerous arctic chill on the other." She scowled. "If there are several spirits behind these manifestations, wouldn't you think they could compare notes about the special effects? Share the technology?"

  Her voice was so snarky, Rose laughed in spite of herself. "I don't know what it's like on the so-called Other Side, but maybe they don't interact. Maybe they're in separate dimensions, divided from each other."

  "No." Aura Lee shook her head stubbornly. "I don't like that idea at all. What's the point of being a ghost if you can't have company doing it?"

  "I think we've agreed on the notion of our ghosts trying to tell us something." Noreen pressed at the spot between her brows. "After reading her journal, I believe Caldicott wants us to know more about her life and the history of Wisdom Court, to say nothing of the talisman."

  "And maybe Gran can't leave while Brenna is still so upset," Andrea offered.

  "Those are comforting ideas," Kerry said. "But some of what we've learned about Caldicott's early life at least suggests we might also be dealing with more sinister forces. I can't help but wonder if Wisdom Court has already been traced because of the talisman. If it exists, and if it's here, we'd be up the creek if it were signaling somehow to the bad guys. In that scenario, some of our manifestations might be the ghosts of those who were planning to subvert the war efforts, for instance."

  Max groaned. "Leave it to you to pooh-pooh the supernatural and then come up with the most frightening possibilities yet."

  "You've got that right." Rose reached into the nearby basket for a blanket. "I'm getting cold. Let's turn up the flames." As soon as the words were out of her mouth she looked at Max in dismay. "You don't think—"

  Andrea shuddered, twisting round in her chair. "Did you see that?"

  "What?"

  "A shadow, it went toward the window."

  They all craned to see. "I don't see anything," Aura Lee began and stopped. "There—isn't there a grayness near the striped chair. Look, it's moving!"

  Kerry made a squeaking sound as a flowing shape took on greater clarity. "It's like looking through a shape made of mist," she whispered. "Is it coming toward us?"

  "Don't say that." Andrea got up from the chair, grabbing Neal's hand and pulling him up. "Let's get out of here, come on!" She tugged at him.

  "Wait." His eyes were fixed on the apparition.

  Floating above the rug, the nearly transparent silhouette came forward very slowly. Aura Lee stood up, forcing Strudel to the floor. "Cottie?" she rasped, trembling violently. "Is it you?" Beside her the dog pressed herself to the floor fearfully, whimpering.

  Noreen had hold of Rose's hand and was squeezing it tightly. "What do you want?"

  "Hush." Max's voice was barely above a whisper. "It's using all its strength to materialize. Just wait. Perhaps it will be able to speak."

  They stood, hardly breathing, until Strudel made a sharp little sound and backed, whining, to the door.

  The figure floated for a moment more and faded into nothing.

  Nightmirror

  Brenna walked down the vacant hallway, light behind her bled to dark.

  Each door shut, no knobs to turn, a sly cold swirled at every step.

  Empty, empty, nothing left.

  Fear pulled her, forced her on through whispers.

  You're all alone. Nothing left.

  Release your grip. Be no more.

  Bitter cold tugged her, dragged her, deepened pain.

  Forget and follow, follow us.

  "Don't listen, chickie!"

  She jerked awake inside the dream, saw nothing, eyes fixed on the end. Gran?

  A whiff of Wind Song touched her mind, she roused again, saw the glass at hallway's end.

  A figure in the mirror waited.

  Icy air pushed her closer, dread beside her, toward the reflection.

  Echoes built, collided, tore at her ears like ravens after prey.

  End the suffering. Be no more.

  Stop. Her voice was weak, uncertain.

  Give up the fight.

  STOP. Sounds crashed around her, unabated.

  Brenna stood before the glass and saw the creature, the shell.

  Gran? Off-kilter face and grimace-smile?

  Come closer, closer.

  Evil flicked from Not-Gran's hooded eyes.

  NO

  The outline wavered, edges hazy.

  She hit the glass, saw something scuttle.

  Come with us. Come inside.

  "Brenna, let me go or they'll steal me."

  Gran? She looked, saw wrong shapes shift above a yellow brick road.

  She bent, picked up a brick, hard in her hand, and hit the glass—hit the glass—hit the glass.

  Crashing, shards flung to both sides, pieces falling all around. She stumbled forward, glass crunching, soles afire.

  "Chickie, they'll fight to keep me here. And you."

  Her heart skipped and the war in her mind raged. You were gone, nothing left.

  "I'm whole again. Let me go."

  Even in my dreams I'm broken, I can't forget the end of you.

  "Don't forget, look inside. I'm with you, always. Life's a movie. Leave them on the cutting room floor."

  Them?

  "I came to give you stars. They caught me in their cold."

  I watched as you were stripped away. Now I'm scared I'll lose me, too.

  "Focus on now. They use dread to bind. Their evil needs your fear and pain."

  Evil?

  "Old and waiting, searching for it, have to have it. Warn the others."

  Why me? Why you?

  "Attack the wounded, erode from within. I gave you stars to make the best. Defeat them."

  Gran?

  "Set me free."

  A blast of cold hit swift and hard. She felt Gran twist in a fetid current, her essence nearly gone.

  Brenna fell to her knees and shouted. I set you free! I set you free!

  A mist of Wind Song rose then ebbed. "I love you," whispered on the air.

  Chapter 27

  Dink felt the mattress move beneath him and shifted toward Brenna,
a smile forming as he turned. She was already standing beside the bed, taking a step toward the door. "Bren?"

  She kept on walking, a slender figure in dark ski pajamas, opened the door, closed it behind her.

  "What the hell..." He rolled out of bed and yanked on pants, scooping up a tee shirt as he hurried to follow her. His hand slipped on the doorknob and he realized he was sweating. He shoved the door open. "Bren, what's the deal? Bren?"

  She was at the end of the hallway, taking the first step down the stairs.

  Dink caught up and followed behind her. "Brenna, what's going on?"

  The odors of coffee and waffles floated up from the kitchen and his stomach reminded him how long it had been since he'd eaten. He reached for Brenna's shoulder and touched her. "Honey, what's wrong? Why won't you talk to me?"

  She took the last step down and stopped near the table.

  Aura Lee turned from the counter, her smile fading as she caught sight of Brenna's face. Her eyes lifted to Dink and she whispered, "She's asleep."

  "What?" he demanded and went silent at her shushing sound. He came around to look directly at Brenna. Her face was bone white, her blank eyes staring straight ahead. "She got out of bed and came right down here," he said in a low voice. "Didn't talk to me, didn't even look at me."

  Aura Lee bustled to the door and waved one hand in a summoning gesture. "Come here, quick!"

  As Rose came into the kitchen, Brenna moved again, her face grimacing in horror. She bumped into Rose but eased past her, somehow moving ahead through the others crowding in. Her eyes were open but looked inward. She lifted one hand to reach ahead, tilting her hand up as if placing her palm against something.

  "Oh, my God," Kerry whispered. She groped for Max's arm and hung onto it. "She's sleepwalking." As the words came out of her mouth, Brenna reached forward, barely missing Neal, who had followed Andrea through the door from the dining room.