Muses

by Elizabeth Andre

  The Paranormal Grievance Committee stood around the bed as Lily put out the light on the nightstand, lay back in bed and closed her eyes.

  “So, this is how you hunt ghosts?” said Lily with a giggle before she went quiet.

  Maya glanced at Lily as Eddie began the summoning spell. Lily’s hair was splayed out on her pillow like tendrils of silk. She periodically opened one eye, scanned the room, and then went back to pretending to sleep. When Maya looked away, she caught Julie watching her from the other side of the bed. Julie looked away quickly. Inwardly, Maya sighed. She still found Julie attractive, but she doubted anything romantic would ever happen between them. They couldn’t seem to get anything right as romantic partners. Maya hoped they would do better as businesses partners and perhaps friends. She made an effort to focus on Eddie’s summoning spell. His voice was deep. His words were unintelligible. He stretched out his arms as if he was trying to encircle the whole bed. A light flashed in the room like a lightning strike that no one was sure really happened. A hazy figure began to materialize at the foot of the bed.

  “She’s here, isn’t she?” Lily whispered. “I feel pressure on my chest.”

  “Yes,” Maya said. “She doesn’t seem to notice us yet.”

  “Is she the one who has come to see you every night?” Julie asked.

  Lily opened her eyes. The figure was perched at the foot of the bed brushing her long hair. Maya was mesmerized by the scene. She’d seen ghosts before, but she couldn’t recall ever seeing something so mundane and poignant as a young woman from a time long gone repeating a familiar ritual after she had ceased to breathe.

  Eddie continued chanting, triggering another flash of light, so brief it was hard to believe it really happened. The room went dark again. He stopped chanting and tried to talk to the ghost.

  “We are friends. We want to understand why you linger here.”

  The ghost carried on brushing her hair as if she hadn’t heard him.

  “She’s going to stop brushing her hair and leave soon,” Lily said. “What do we do?”

  Eddie began chanting again. This time faster, and his voice lower. The ghost laughed, although it was unlikely her laughter was about Eddie and the others. It was the laughter Lily had described from the other night. Someone had said something funny to her, although it was unclear who.

  “Maddie,” Maya said, using the nickname she’d found in Richard’s journals. She wanted the young woman to stay.

  The ghost stopped brushing her hair and looked around.

  “She’s never done that before,” Lily said.

  “I don’t think she sees us,” Penny said from behind her camera. “But she’s trying to.”

  “She knows something is here. Talk to her again, Maya.” Steve quietly moved closer to the ghost, his tape recorder in hand.

  Maya tried again. “Maddie. We want to be your friends. We’d like to speak to you.”

  She heard a voice. It sounded as if it came from a long way off. “Friends?” the voice said.

  “Did she respond? What did she say?” Julie asked.

  Maya didn’t answer. She was starting to feel a connection, and she didn’t want anything to break it.

  “I can help you. Let me show you. Don’t be afraid.” Maya thought she saw the ghost move toward her. It seemed to flicker, like a candle caught in a draft. “It’s okay. I won’t hurt you.”

  “What’s going on?” Lily said. “What’s happening?”

  Maya wasn’t sure what the others were seeing, but the room had changed. She felt something ghostly, but it wasn’t like it had been on previous occasions. The spirit didn’t enter her. It didn’t anchor to her. It changed her perception. Maya was still in the bedroom, but what she was seeing was not the present-day. It was the bedroom as it was a long time ago. The painted walls were now covered in a pale pink wallpaper. A vanity table with an ornate chair stood opposite the bed. The room was lit, rather dimly, with electric lighting. There was a ceiling light fixture but a kerosene lantern was on the vanity giving off a yellowish glow. The room even smelled different, filled with the scent of jasmine and orange.

  “Maddie, what do you want me to see?” said Maya.

  The voices of her companions came to Maya, but they sounded like low murmuring. They were so far away. She wondered if the ghost had changed more than her perception. She couldn’t tell if she was still physically in the present-day room or if she had been transported somehow to another time.

  “Julie? Lily? Anyone? I’m still here. I think. Or I mean, I’m in the same room, but I think I’m in a different time.” No response, and Maddie was gone.

  A young woman entered the room. It had to be Maddie coming back, but she looked different. She wore a dressing gown with a nightgown underneath. Her light brown hair was in a long braid down her back. She picked up a brush from the vanity and sat on the foot of the bed where she began to undo the braid. She brushed her hair with long, languid strokes. Someone else entered the room. Where Maddie was a brunette, this young woman had auburn hair, much like Lily’s. The two women chatted, but Maya couldn’t tell about what. There was no sound here.

  Before Maya’s eyes, Maddie grew older as she brushed her hair. The auburn-haired woman disappeared, and Maddie became sad and wistful. Maya wondered what ever happened to the other woman. Suddenly, the room was empty with only Maya standing in the dimness.

  “Where’d you go?” Maya asked.

  Then, as if a film had ended abruptly, Maya was standing in the room in the present day. She could see and hear her friends. Maddie was like an echo, but she was still there in the room somewhere.

  Julie stepped close to Maya and grabbed her arm. “Are you all right? What happened?”

  Maya felt like she was waking up from a long nap or entering the sunlight after driving through a long dark tunnel. She was neither asleep or truly awake. Her eyes had not yet adjusted to what was in front of her.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” Her words came out slowly as she returned to reality. She looked down at Julie’s hand on her arm. Julie let go.

  “What happened?” Jason said. “You just stood there frozen. It was so cool. You should see the footage Penny got. My EDI meter went nuts.”

  “I was here, but not here here, if you know what I mean,” Maya said.

  “Here. Here. There. Everywhere,” Steve mumbled as he fiddled with the audio equipment.

  “Just tell us what happened, Maya.” Eddie said, watching her intently.

  Maya glanced over her shoulder at Lily. She smiled. Maya felt a flutter in her stomach and returned her gaze.

  “What I mean is, I was here, in this room, but when Maddie came to me, she took me to this room during a time when she was still alive. This room was furnished as it would have been back in her time. There was pink wallpaper. She showed me the same scene over and over again. She sat on the bed brushing her hair. A young woman was with her early on, and then she, the young woman, was gone.”

  “Early on?” Penny asked.

  Maya nodded. “When she was younger, there was a young woman with her. She had auburn hair, like Lily’s.”

  “Maybe she was one of her sisters,” Steve said.

  “I don’t think so,” Maya said, catching Lily’s gaze once more. She looked so cute in her pajamas.

  “I saw that woman, too,” said Lily. “She’s not a Stephenson sister.”

  “Yeah. She didn’t look like a Stephenson. She may have been a friend of hers. Anyway, like I said. The young woman was part of the scene early on and then she disappeared. She just stopped being there. By the end, Maddie looked older and sad.”

  “They were definitely friends and maybe something more,” Lily added.

  “Yeah, I agree. There’s something that’s not being said, that everybody knows, that no one knows,” said Maya.

  “So, Maddie just stopped showing you the hair brushing scene?” Eddie sounded perplexed.

  “Yes. It just stopped.”

  “Maybe she died a
fter that,” Lily said. “There wouldn’t be any more after that, would there?”

  “No, there wouldn’t be,” Julie said.

  Maya had been trying to figure out where Maddie was. She couldn’t see her, but she felt that she was still here. Maya was relieved. She felt she had finally connected with one of the ghosts, and the ghost had given Maya a small peek into what her life had been like. She looked toward Lily, not at her, just past her and saw Maddie standing at the head of the bed.

  “What are you looking at?” Lily asked.

  Maya cocked her head. “She’s standing next to you,”

  “Who is? Madeleine?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why can’t any of us see her?” Julie asked.

  “Hopefully, she’ll show up on the footage,” Penny said as she swung her camera around and trained it on the spot where Maya said Madeleine was standing.

  “I don’t think she’s here. She may still be back in the room as it was when it was hers,” Maya speculated.

  Maya could only describe the look Madeleine gave Lily as one of pure enchantment. Madeleine reached out to touch Lily, but stopped just before her hand met Lily’s shoulder. The look on her face had turned from enchantment to regret, at least that’s what it appeared to be to Maya, and she couldn’t figure out why.

  “Maddie, what is it? Is something wrong?”

  But Madeleine appeared not to hear Maya and slowly slipped away.

  “Wait! Don’t go!” Maya walked to the spot where Madeleine had been, but it was empty. She looked around the room to see if Madeleine had moved somewhere else close by, but she was gone.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Let’s make a deal

  On the drive home, Maya was quiet. She ruminated on why the ghosts wouldn’t talk to her or through her. She wanted to know why they were playing hard to get, why they were sometimes so violent, why they kept showing them what they did. What was their secret?

  Steve, who was driving his trusty Range Rover, Penny, and Eddie chatted away about the investigation. They speculated about possible reasons why the Stephenson sisters hadn’t left that house. On one hand, Penny wondered if Eleanor, who had died first, haunted Rosamund and Madeleine when they were still alive.On the other hand, Eddie thought that maybe it was the death of Rosamund, who died after Eleanor and Madeleine, that triggered the hauntings. Steve was sure that Richard called them forth somehow and blew them off when they were no longer useful.

  Steve said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if the sisters offed him. Ghosts can be sons of bitches if you disrespect them.”

  “Hey, honey,” Eddie said. “Remember that guy we had on the show that one time? He claimed he’d been beaten up by a gang of ghosts he said he used to try and find some treasure in an abandoned copper mine in Colorado? He pissed them off when he decided he didn’t need them anymore.”

  By the time they were approaching Penny and Maya’s place, they had switched gears to more personal topics. Steve and Eddie were planning a trip to Puerto Vallarta before winter ended. Penny and her girlfriend Jessica were going through a rough patch.

  “I’m just not feeling like we’re connecting, you know,” she said as she ran her fingers through her long black hair.

  “Steve!” Maya shouted. “Turn around! We have to go back.”

  “Why? What’s going on, Maya?” said Penny as she began getting her camcorder out of her backpack.

  Steve pulled over and turned around to look at Maya. The winter streets were clear, but it was dark, cold, and late. There were few other cars on the road. “Tell me what you’re thinking, darling.” He had turned on his ultra-soothing voice. He sounded like a deejay on a late-night music program.

  “I have an idea about how to get Maddie to interact with me, not just show us stuff,” Maya said.

  “And it has to be right now?” Eddie asked. He was watching Maya via the rear view mirror. He looked tired, and Maya had to admit she was tired, too.

  “I guess not.”

  Steve pulled the Range Rover back onto the road. “Lily should be all right tonight. We can go back tomorrow morning.”

  Penny had her camcorder trained on Maya. “Can you tell us what your idea is? Or is it a big secret?”

  Maya didn’t reply at first. She told herself she didn’t want to be coy, but realized what a lie that was. She did want to be coy, at least for now. “I want to make a deal with a ghost.”

  “A deal?” Eddie sounded leery. “Maya, I really don’t think—I mean ghosts can’t always be trusted.”

  “I think it’s the best way to figure out what they want and how to get them out of that house.”

  “Just remember, darling. It’s not the only way,” Steve said. “And don’t make a deal that leaves you with nothing left to give.”

  “I know. Just let me try this. Okay?”

  No one responded. In that silence, Maya decided to assume that since no one had said, “no,” that the answer was, “yes.”

  Maya sat back and told them more about her idea. She hoped they could see the merits of it. Steve left the Range Rover running to keep them warm as they sat outside the building where Penny and Maya lived.

  “You think Maddie likes Lily?” Steve sounded doubtful.

  “Maybe not like like her, but she seems fascinated by her. Haven’t you noticed?”

  “Okay, let’s back up here,” Eddie said. “You want to tell Madeleine that she can use your body to get close to Lily? That’s your idea? Are you sure it’s not you who wants to get closer to Lily? Aren’t you the one who likes her?”

  Penny rolled her eyes.

  “What?” Maya said to Penny. “This is a good idea.”

  “You can’t see how this is a bad idea? Really?” Steve said, aghast.

  Maya felt defensive, but hoped she didn’t sound that way. “Look, it’s the best I can come up with. I just can’t figure out why these ghosts are avoiding me.”

  “Maybe they just aren’t into you,” Penny said.

  “That’s not nice!” Maya was starting to feel that they ghosts avoidance of her was personal.

  “It’s a terrible idea,” said Penny, regarding Maya with disbelief. “Why don’t you get that? You’d be taking advantage of how Madeleine feels about Lily just so you can get your supernatural jollies. That’s really shitty.”

  “I wouldn’t get any jollies” Maya said, sinking further into the back seat. “That’s too weird.”

  “And we don’t even know how Madeleine actually feels,” said Steve. He turned around in his seat again. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe she does feel something for Lily, but you can’t do this. You can’t do it to Madeleine because then what happens when you want your body back? And you will want it back. What if she doesn’t want to give it back?”

  “There are less weird ways to get close to Lily,” Penny said softly.

  Maya could have just left, opened the door and hopped out of the Rover. She was tired and irritated. She wondered if the ghosts were taunting her. She was starting to feel like her friends were taunting her.

  “I know you’re disappointed that things didn’t work out with Julie.” Penny put her hand on Maya’s shoulder. “It really frustrated you. And then this investigation comes along and a lovely woman comes with it. I could tell she liked you from the start, but I couldn’t get a good read on you.”

  Maya tried joking. “I haven’t been on my game, I guess.”

  Penny continued as though Maya hadn’t said anything. “But you really like Lily, don’t you? And it terrifies you. You really like her and she’s a client and you don’t know if it would be okay for you to date a client, so you come up with this crazy scheme to become a medium for someone else to get close to Lily. I’m right, aren’t I?”

  Maya didn’t want to respond. She didn’t want to say that maybe Penny was right.

  “And remember it’s one thing to let ghosts use you as an anchor to the world or let them speak through you. It’s a whole other thing to let them possess you. Tha
t could have ramifications you’re not prepared for,” Eddie said.

  Maya looked out the window. Doug, one of their neighbors, was walking his brown and white Boston terrier, Roscoe. As Roscoe trundled along on the leash that Doug held loosely, the little dog glanced over at the car and saw Maya. She waved. Roscoe yapped and began pulling on the leash. If he’d been a bigger dog, he probably could have pulled Doug along in his wake, but Doug merely looked over to see what Roscoe was so excited about. Maya and Doug waved at each other. Doug gently pulled Roscoe away and then disappeared around the back of the building.

  “I’m just trying to find a way to figure out how we can help them and get them to move on. It’s not their house anymore. We’ve summoned them. We’ve observed them. They’ve thrown us around. But they won’t really let us in,” Maya said.

  “We’ll think of something. Don’t worry. We’ll think of something,” Eddie said.

  Penny nodded in agreement. “Come on, girl.” She grabbed Maya’s hand and pulled her out of the car. “There’s a mug of hot cocoa liberally spiked with Bailey’s with your name on it.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Digging through the archives

  The next morning Julie checked in with Lily. There had been no more ghostly activity after they had left. Julie told her that they were heading to the archives today and would be reviewing the footage and audio from yesterday. They’d be in touch.

  “I hope so,” said Lily. “And I hope they’re quiet today. I need a break.”

  Julie offered up good wishes for that and headed down to Springfield Heights Central Library and Archives to meet up with the team. Maya’s internet research had been useful, but they needed to know more.

  The librarian, Miranda, a soft butch with dark brown hair and a tattoo of a semicolon at her wrist, was delighted to help them with the local history archives. They thanked her profusely as she guided them to the room dedicated to local history.