Sticks and Stones

by Alexie Aaron

  “I don’t believe it,” Ted teased. “Would this be the same person who sewed herself into Brian’s hero costume?”

  Mia blushed. “Who told you?”

  “Lazar.”

  “It figures. I was just trying to get a jump on the job. Brian wants to be Thor.”

  “I’m not sure I can live with a Marvel superhero in the house.”

  “Batman, you’re going to have to allow Brian to find his own way. I suspect that he wants to be Thor because Noah has already designed his Loki costume. Paula had to send away for the material he wants. It’s a good thing we have time. I may have to beg Ralph for help.”

  “I suppose Varden has also deserted the fold?”

  “He hasn’t even mentioned the Hero and Princess Picnic in the park. He’s been at loose ends since Adam left. He hasn’t made any friends yet at preschool. I fear that the environment isn’t as nurturing as it was when Brian started.”

  “Rand leaving Big Bear Lake to take a prestigious job in Chicago didn’t help the situation,” Ted acknowledged. “I think our children need special handling in the education department.”

  “Audrey has a tutor for Luke.”

  “I’m not sure we can afford it. Besides, Varden would be isolated. The idea is to get our children to blend into society.”

  “You’re absolutely right,” Mia said. She got off Ted’s lap and kissed the top of his head. “I better use the bathroom before Burt starts the meeting.”

  Cid sat down. He seemed animated in a good way. “It has been ages since I’ve been able to discuss a book.”

  “Discuss?” Ted questioned. “I thought you and Mia were an angel’s breath away from a fistfight.”

  “You, dude, are overexaggerating.”

  Burt walked over and set his coffee down. “I think it’s going well. It feels like the old meetings but with a lot more gusto.”

  “It’s an interesting subject,” Cid said.

  “I hope I didn’t put you on the spot with your super hearing,” Burt said.

  “No. It’s not a disability. Well, maybe when Mia is singing to the radio.”

  “I heard that,” Mia said, tossing a wadded-up piece of paper at Cid. “I can’t help it that my vocal cords were spliced from a banshee.”

  Ted couldn’t help laughing. Cid tossed the paper back at Mia. It was caught midair by Murphy, and he shook his finger at Cid. Mia stuck her tongue out at Cid.

  “Murphy won’t always be around to protect you,” Cid warned.

  “Children, time to resume the meeting. Where’s Mike?”

  “Outside smoking,” Murphy said.

  Mia popped up. “I’m on it.” She walked out the door and followed her nose around to the patio.

  Mike was thumbing through his phone messages and didn’t see her coming. Mia used it to her advantage and caused the end of his cigarette to combust. He dropped it and jumped on the fire with his fancy shoes. Mia had already extinguished it.

  “Smoking will kill you,” Mia said.

  Mike glared at Mia. “What do you want?”

  “Hicks is starting the meeting.”

  “What’s up with you and Cid?” Mike asked.

  “Nothing, just, as Ted put it, a spirited conversation. Cid remembers everything he reads,” Mia said with admiration.

  “I thought for a moment the honeymoon period of your threesome was over.”

  “Foursome, you forgot Murphy,” Mia said. “And no, everything is fine in Neverland.”

  “Good, PEEPs don’t need any more of the Mia show disrupting things.”

  Mia didn’t let show how deeply the man hurt her. She just walked into the office and sat down.

  Cid, who had heard everything, glanced briefly her way to give her some support, but her eyes were downcast.

  Burt waited until Mike had gotten settled before he started. “Are there any questions so far?”

  Mia raised her hand.

  “Yes?”

  “You mentioned the entity being like a virus. What aspect of a virus are you talking about? For example, is it the way the virus needs to multiply by expelling itself from the body?”

  “I was talking more about the temporal aspect. There is a slow start, a rise in activity. It reaches the breaking point, trails off, and then disappears.”

  Mia was quiet for a moment. “I can see that.”

  “But with viruses, if you mess with them, not get enough sleep, treat them like colds, or blast them with the wrong medicine, they can turn nasty. I have read where a team of amateur ghost hunters bombarded the poltergeist with stimulus, and instead of the entity leaving, it rebounded and became deadly,” Burt said. “Sometimes, as a filmmaker, I have been known to incite ghosts, which I have later regretted. I’d like to understand how a temporal entity can return or stay longer than is the norm. If they are a life-form, where do they go? Where do they come from?”

  “Isn’t it just coming from the person of interest?” Mike asked. “For example, Mia exploded my cigarette outside using her telekinesis. Aren’t the supposed victims doing the very same thing?”

  “In my case, it was on purpose,” Mia admitted. “I imagine that the victims aren’t tossing stones at themselves. My focus was on making you think that each time you light up your cigarette, it may explode. Maybe you’ll think twice.”

  “It’s emotional and it’s stressful,” Burt said quickly to take back control of the meeting. “The haunts are noisy. If you can get them to communicate, they lie to you, so we can’t depend on their words. Evidence gathering is going to be hard. I’m hoping that by using all our equipment, we may be able to find a more scientific reason for them existing. Mia, tell us how you exploded the end of Mike’s cigarette.”

  “I thought about the molecules moving in the tobacco and the air around the product. I squeezed them together until I had the right space and then applied a little friction, and I had fire. I also extinguished it by pulling the oxygen molecules away from the combusted cigarette. Basic alchemy 101. It only looks like magic.”

  “I propose that it’s human stress that produces a rich environment for these viruses to thrive in. I think poltergeists need a human host to begin with, but also, I believe they can live outside of the host’s body for a period of time,” Burt said.

  “Hence the temporal aspect,” Mia said. “Bravo.”

  “I just have to prove it,” Burt said. “Which brings me to the four possible existing poltergeist incursions that I’ve been made aware of. Two are in decline, but two are just at the communication stages. One is in the home of a single woman, the other a practice and performance area for a roller derby team.”

  “Shouldn’t we still interview the focus persons in the declining incursions?” Audrey asked.

  “Yes. I’d like to do just that,” Burt said. “I’ll admit the lure of filming an active incursion is a strong one, but we do still need to build a foundation of data too.”

  “I worry that the poltergeist will react differently if it knows it’s being investigated,” Mia said. “I don’t know how we would be able to explain our presence in the home, but you could put a ringer in the roller derby team.”

  “Are you volunteering?” Burt asked.

  “I’m a disaster on skates, but we could offer to pay Gates O’Brien for her time. I saw her in an episode where she was speed skating. Maybe she also roller skates?” Mia said, looking at Mike. “Murph would be there to back her up.”

  “I can’t speak for Gates. I know she is idle now. I’ll ask if she is interested,” Mike offered.

  “Do that,” Burt said. “We’ll schedule a meeting where all of us, including Gates, can question Scott Hogan about his experience. Techies, if possible, I’d like you to work on less obtrusive ways of filming and collecting data. Audrey, I’ll leave you the information on the waning haunts for you to schedule film crews and interviewers. I expect you all to be flexible with your time in the next few weeks. The temporal n
ature of these haunts makes it imperative that we act while…”

  “The stones are dropping,” Mia finished.

  Mia walked out of the aerie, after retrieving the book that contained Altair’s copy of Lithobolia, and right smack into Enos. “Whoa, I’m sorry,” she said. “I was once again looking at the ground and not up like Ed says I should.”

  “No problem. Are you okay?”

  “Just working on a problem in my head. I’m as guilty as Ted at not being able to let go of things when I should. What can I do for you?”

  “I was wondering if you could spend some time working out with me. Nicholai left his practice swords, and I would like to continue my training.”

  “You’re asking me?”

  “Mia, I saw you fight. You’re very good. You’re better than Seth. I find, if I want to improve, I need to work with someone who is better than I am.”

  “You’re an amazing swordsman, far better than I,” Mia said. “Has someone set you up for this?”

  “No. Please listen. Victor can only show me how he fights. You can show me how he, Nicholai, and Ed fight. Three for one.”

  “I think we should involve Murphy. Sometimes I get too focused. He will be able to save me from hurting you or myself.”

  “I’ll go and ask him. When would you be available?”

  “I feed the girls early and then have an hour before the boys wake up. How about six-thirty tomorrow?”

  “That sounds great. Now where?”

  “Murphy has found a pasture that seems to benefit from a dip in the between. This way, we can use the sky as well as the land as our training ground.”

  “Thank you, Mia.”

  “Thank you for thinking of me. I could use the training.”

  Mia found Audrey in the nursery where Nanny Berta was keeping an eye on Breda along with the twins during the meeting.

  “Here’s the Lithobolia.” Mia handed it to Audrey who tucked it into her diaper bag. Mia then lifted Breda and smiled as she wrapped herself in the infant’s joy. “She is so you, Audrey. I’m your niece, Breda. You’re going to have the most interesting family tree in school.”

  “Mia, you’re going to confuse the girl,” Nanny Berta said.

  “Oh no, Breda is a smart girl. I’m hoping she’ll be a good influence on my hoydens.”

  “There you go again. Your girls are not hoydens.”

  “Wait, Nanny, wait and see. I know a secret, they came from me!”

  “And you’ve been spending too much time with the singsong ghost in the river,” Nanny scolded.

  “I like her. Audrey, I should take you to meet her. She has the most delightful way of saying things.”

  “What does Murphy think about her?” Audrey asked.

  “I don’t know. I’ll ask him. Before I forget, Nanny, are you available to watch the girls between the feeding and the boys going to school tomorrow?”

  “Yes. Why?”

  “Enos wants to train. Murphy will be refereeing, so I may come back in one piece.”

  “It will do you good to get some cardio.”

  “I’d like to get some cardio,” Audrey said.

  “You could come too. I have another…”

  “Oh no, no swords for me. I’ll stick to my bike,” Audrey said. “What’s going on between you and Mike?”

  “I honestly don’t know?” Mia said. “I’d read his mind, but I’m afraid of what I’d find there.”

  “It’s never good to read a mind when a simple conversation will do,” Nanny reminded Mia. “Audrey, what did you observe?”

  “He looks at Mia like he hates her. He and she were always combative but in more of a flirty way. Everyone knew that they weren’t really flirting.”

  “Who pulled back first?” Nanny asked.

  “He did,” Mia said. “I understood his reasons, and I hoped we could continue to be friends, and then the strigae got their claws into him. I saved him twice in the last year. Maybe he resents that.”

  “Or that Burt is nice to you,” Audrey said. “He’s so used to defending you that he’s confused about his role in your life.”

  “I don’t think that’s it. He said something about it always being the Mia show,” Mia told them.

  “Simple jealousy,” Nanny said. “Brian treats Varden poorly sometimes when Varden is getting the attention, and we know Brian loves his little brother.”

  “He does. Between us, it hurts the way Mike treats me, and the stuff he says is out of line.”

  “How do you react?” Nanny asked.

  “Like Varden, I act like nothing happened.”

  Audrey’s face lit up. “Next time, cry.”

  “Oh no.”

  Nanny clapped her hands together. “Audrey’s on to something. He’s looking for a reaction and you’re giving him nothing. Cry and make him feel bad.”

  “Isn’t that cheating?” Mia asked.

  “Maybe, but it does get me out of trouble sometimes,” Audrey admitted.

  “I used it once to get vacation time,” Nanny said.

  “I’m not giving Mike the satisfaction of making me cry at a meeting. Ted will punch him in the nose.”

  “Or Cid will,” Audrey added. “He was very angry when you came in with Mike after the break.”

  “Damn, I keep forgetting he can hear everything.”

  “Mia, listen. Next time he says something nasty and it hurts your feelings and you’re not in a meeting, break out in tears. Run away sobbing, or whatever is the accepted drama for the event,” Nanny advised.

  “What if he gets mushy?”

  “Then you’ll know that he’s never gotten over you,” Audrey said.

  “But there was never an us,” Mia protested. “I just got rid of Angelo. I don’t want that kind of attention.”

  “You don’t?” Audrey said. “I could use a little.”

  Nanny broke out in giggles.

  Cid looked over at Ted and opened and shut his mouth a few times. Jake caught the action and displayed a video of a largemouth bass swimming.

  Instead of breaking Ted’s concentration, Cid got up and left. He walked to the stream that meandered through the property and brushed off a rock and sat down. Murphy appeared next to him and patted him on the back.

  “Am I in the way here?” Cid questioned.

  “No. You’re needed here. When you’re gone, Mia and Ted fidget around as if they are a bit lost. They can function, but it isn’t as much fun somehow.”

  Cid smiled. “It’s easier leaving than being left, I imagine.”

  “I heard what Mike said out there. I have been guilty of listening in. I found a way that Mia can’t tell I’m there,” Murphy confessed. “It keeps me out of trouble while I make sure she stays out of trouble.”

  “Did anyone tell you how horrible it was when you stayed on the pirate ship?”

  “Mia bent my ear rather viciously.”

  “I thought that when you were gone and Mia seemed to get her feet back under her, Ted would be overjoyed. But he wasn’t happy. He knows how much you mean to Mia and has accepted your present and future role in her life. When Mia said foursome when Mike was eluding to something salacious, it rang a bell. We are a foursome of sorts if you extract that entity in the computer.”

  “Ted doesn’t like Jake that way,” Murphy said. “You’re Ted’s friend and will be his friend forever. I suspect Mia thinks of you as family. I saw how supportive you were to her when Ted was out of his mind. Mia remembers and is honored by your involvement in her life.”

  “How do you handle it when someone picks on Mia?”

  “I remember that she is stronger than she looks. That she may appreciate that I want to punch Mike, Whit, Ted, and Burt in the nose at times, but somehow, I refrain from doing so. Thus, making her life less complicated. I have tried to leave her. I had managed to do so on the pirate ship by letting the atmosphere permeate me. When I was kicked off the ship - for my own good - an
d traveled back here, the first thing I saw was my axe in the stump…”

  Cid looked at the ghost who had a displayed a hollow-eyed sadness as he spoke.

  “I put my hands on the handle and felt the warmth of her hands under mine. I hated her at that moment more than I’ve ever hated anyone. How dare she forgive a miserable creature like me? Later, when she returned, we had the biggest fight we have ever had. I attacked her with my axe, and she could have ended me then and there. I was inches from being ash, but she pulled back. We talked it out but were never the same until we were taken back in time. It was there that I understood that she really needs me. She loves Ted more than I’m comfortable with, but he’s alive and I’m dead.”

  “Ted loves Mia more than I’m comfortable with, but I’ve never seen him happier,” Cid said. “To have my best friend happy makes me happy. Mia has never excluded me in their lives. She has never said she wishes I would move on, just the opposite. She’s the one who calls me when I’m on a construction site. She knows that Ted and I are a package, as Ted knows you and Mia are a package. I may not have romantic intentions with Ted, but I do take up a lot of what would be their time together.”

  “Have you ever wished Ted never met Mia?” Murphy asked.

  “No,” Cid said.

  “That surprises me.”

  “It surprises me too. You asked and I answered. Phew! I don’t know about you, but I feel great. Would you like to come and watch a movie with me?”

  “Don’t you have inventing to do?”

  “It can wait. What would you like to see?”

  “Brian keeps mentioning this Thor fellow.”

  “You met his father Odin but you want to see the Hollywood version of him?”

  “Well, yes. I’m sure the Hollywood version of us would be quite different too.”

  “I imagine so,” Cid said.

  Chapter Three

  Debra put down her phone after the second request from the nurse in charge. They had already confiscated her iPad. She had been arranging for new window glass, her security footage to be sent to her phone, and a decent meal to be delivered to the hospital. Her nosedive into the front shrubs resulted in a broken nose and an upper back injury. Her doctor insisted she spend two days in the hospital while he assessed whether she would need surgery on her spine. The swelling of the aggravated muscles made it difficult to see whether her vertebrae were compromised.