Spirit

by Charmaine Ross

  Elliot studied the screen with a mix of surprise and incredulity. Finally, he shook his head. “I almost can’t believe it.”

  “He looks like you. He’s your blood.”

  “Bad blood.”

  “I have yet to see it in you. Or in him.”

  Elliot sighed. “I hope you’re right, Cassie.”

  A group of people broke through the large glass doors, leading out onto the boulevard from the casino. Corporates. Dressed in stylish, expensive, business suits in various dark shades. They spoke in hushed tones. They were all about business and big money. They sat without fuss and a conservative minimum of sound, and slid on brand name sunglasses, against the winter glare.

  “There he is!” My heart raced. I waited, anticipation making my blood tingle, as Elliot turned and watched his grandson sitting with his colleagues of Kings Crown.

  “There he is,” Elliot echoed.

  There was a sudden gust of chilled wind. I shivered and wrapped my jacket more securely around my shoulders. Next to me, Elliot stiffened and half rose from his chair. I followed the line of his gaze. Behind Thomas, shadows blended and formed between the twinkling bursts of sunshine reflected from the Yarra River.

  I strained my eyes, temporarily blinded. Then the chill of the air exploded inside me. Behind Thomas, an indistinctive shadowy face formed. Transparent shadow arms reached around his shoulders. Thomas shivered and did exactly as I had, wrapped his jacket securely around himself.

  A face then formed into perfect focus. A man. Grinning straight at us. His eyes were black and empty. Merciless. As Elliot stood, he vanished, leaving nothing but bright sunlight bouncing off the water as though nothing untoward had happened.

  “Who…? I asked.

  “Black John.” Elliot’s tone was even. Deadpan.

  My mouth opened and closed. Terror did that with me. Made my words dry and disappear. I licked my lips, “He was the one…”

  Elliot nodded, turning grim eyes on me, “He was the one I chased. And lost. The mastermind criminal.”

  “He knows Thomas. I think…I think Thomas is in more danger than we thought.”

  “It’s Black John. That’s the way he works. Threaten. Intimidate. Makes people sick with worry.”

  “He hasn’t passed. He’s here like…”

  “…Me,” Elliot finished.

  “Why…?”

  “Why what?”

  I spun to face white knuckles on the back of my chair. “Mum!”

  Laura, Mum, and Dad had wandered up behind me. Dad placed his hand on Mum’s shoulders and manoeuvred her into the chair Elliot had vacated. Although Dad hadn’t seen him, Mum certainly had. She glanced at Elliot as she settled. “I see you’re still here.”

  “I’m going to see if I can track Black John.” Elliot disappeared before I could tell him to be careful.

  Mum and Dad lived in the middle of the outback. No live people. No dead people. It was the only way Mum could cope with her gift and now she’d planted herself right in the middle of a busy city and more dead people she could poke a stick at.

  “Mum. That’s not polite,” I turned my attention back to mum, my voice shaking. Then I noticed how uptight she was. And the fact her eyes were open and staring straight at me, “You’re not wearing a blindfold!”

  Dad sat next to me, “Said she didn’t want to.”

  “And you came all the way here…like this?”

  Mum nodded, “I’ve decided to take your advice and face this thing head on.”

  I looked from Dad, back to Mum. “Are you sure you’re ready?”

  A lost-looking ghost passed us, dodging the tourists. He looked over his shoulder at a couple he had to step out of the way from, as they barged right up to him, caught between annoyance and confusion. Mum stiffened, refusing to look at the ghost as he saw me. He stopped walking and watched us, hesitating. I smiled at the confused man.

  “He doesn’t know he’s dead. Why don’t you talk to him and guide him on?” I asked.

  “I’ve come. I’m here. I’m not doing anything else. This is what you want from me. Acting like a normal person. Out and about in crowds. Does this make you happy? Does it?” Mum snapped.

  “It doesn’t look like you’re happy.”

  Her lips were compressed tightly, clamped between tense white lines. She’d placed her hands, palms down, on the table. White condensation fanned outwards with the heat from her skin on the aluminium top. Mum was usually uptight, but not this uptight. “Why are you here, if it’s causing you so much anxiety?”

  “I have a…suggestion,” she said.

  This didn’t sound good. Beside her Laura frowned, turning in confusion towards our mother. She didn’t know what Mum was up to either. “Which is?”

  “I’ll go along with this…this gift as long as you do. If you’re happy seeing me this way…your own mother living like…like this, then I’ll do my best and meet things head-on.”

  Another ghost passed us, dressed in seventies clothing. Mum shuddered. She closed her eyes but purposely opened them again. “If you want me to be like this, then I will. If you refuse to acknowledge that I know best and keep on with this…affliction, then so will I. Even if I live like this for the rest of my life, this is the mother you will have.”

  For the second time this morning my mouth worked wordlessly. “But you can’t…”

  “I can and I will. Give it up, Cassie. You will see that having this gift will come to no good. Let me end it once and for all.”

  “But Elliot…”

  “Is dead,” Mum hissed. “You need to find someone who is living.”

  “He is alive. You see him. I see him. He exists…is this what all this is about? Elliot?”

  “It will eat your life up, Cassie. You won’t be able to do any of the things you’ve worked so hard for. You, a cardiac surgeon, all that will be taken away from you. The dead shouldn’t be the concern of the living. I want your sister to live, too. She’s caught up in all of this as much as you are.”

  Laura leaned across the table, “I want to help! I’ve built my life up around it. It’s my livelihood. I like it and I’ve seen Elliot, Mum. I agree with Cassie. He exists. He’s there, just not in a physical body type of way.”

  “That’s not really helping, Laura,” I mumbled. She sent me a withering gaze.

  “You don’t know what you’re getting into. This is your call, Cassie. If you want to destroy your family and live with dead people, go ahead. I’ll be with you every step of the way.” Mum sniffed and locked her hands together in her lap.

  I faced Dad, “Did you know she was going to say this?”

  Lines etched Dad’s face. He’d aged in a moment. He shook his head, “I don’t know what to think. I just want you to be happy. I’ve seen your mother like this all her life. Seen it drive her mad. I don’t want the same thing to happen to my daughters. But…I didn’t know she had this up her sleeve. You seem to be able to cope with it. She doesn’t, but she’s had her abilities longer than you have. You might turn out like her in years to come and that isn’t a good thing. I just want what’s best for everyone.”

  I stared wordlessly at the three of them. Dad. Mum. Laura. All three so important to me. My mind spun. I sought answers. I waited for anything to come to mind. But nothing did.

  I had Elliot. Had fallen in love with him wholly and totally. If I lost this ability, I wouldn’t see him again. Help him, and do what the angel said I would do for humanity. Surely that was important.

  But Mum would go mad if she forced herself to do what she was doing. She was a slither away from losing it now. It was an impossible decision. I didn’t know what to do. I closed my eyes and sunk my forehead into my palms. Surely this didn’t have to be so hard.

  I opened my eyes and saw Elliot re-appear. Eyes wild, mouth strained. “Cassie, watch out!”

  A shadow raced to us and slammed into Laura. Laura screamed and jerked out of her chair. Body stiff. Her head fell back. Mum made a strangled sound
and she leapt from her chair and pulled Laura into her arms.

  Confusion made my mind blank. “Elliot…?”

  “Get your hands off her!” Elliot yelled. Anger rolled off him in waves.

  Laura turned pain-filled eyes to me, tried to speak, but failed. I looked down, seeing blood soaking her stomach, choking as bile rose in my throat. Shining metallic claws appeared through the blood. Impaling her. The stench of death was overwhelming.

  “Sam! Stop!” Elliot screamed.

  “Follow me and you might save her, Elliot.” An unknown voice. I wheeled around but couldn’t see where it was coming from.

  “I’ll go with you. Just let Laura live.” Elliot’s voice sounded desperate. Desolate.

  “Where would be the fun in that?”

  Laura gasped as though her breath had stuck in her throat, then she slumped, boneless. Lifeless. I grabbed her from Mum’s hold. My hands fumbled with her weight. I worked to lay her on the ground. Dad leapt from his chair, helping me. I automatically checked for signs of life, fingers flying over her neck, at her mouth. No pulse. No breath.

  I went on automatic on bended knee over Laura, pumping her chest, breathing for her. I checked the pulse at her neck. There was nothing. I pumped her chest again. Breath. Check. Nothing.

  I looked into her eyes. There was no sign of life. No inner light. I choked back a sob. Don’t give into it. Don’t think. Keep going. Pump. Breath. Check.

  “Laura!” My cheeks were wet. Tears. I hadn’t realized I was crying. She was gone. I didn’t want to acknowledge it. Didn’t want to see what was right in front of my eyes.

  Laura was dead. Her soul had been ripped out of her body right in front of my eyes.

  Chapter 3

  The solitary beep of Laura’s artificially beating heart filled the sorry silence. That was all anyone heard. We sat unmoving; scattered in the little hospital room, silent, staring into space as the horror slowly seeped into our understanding; the chill into our bones.

  I’d kept her alive, working on her using CPR until the medics arrived. They took over and kept her alive until we’d reached the hospital. Then she’d been hooked up to machines and monitors that regulated her heartbeat and made her breath. She could stay alive until her body was old and withered if we wanted her to. But she wouldn’t be alive. Not really.

  Her body had no soul.

  It was empty. Just a mound of blood and bone. There was nothing inside to animate it. Her light, the essence of who she was, had been taken, and we’d been left with the shell. It wasn’t a fair trade.

  Elliot hadn’t taken his eyes off Laura’s body. He’d sunken in on himself, his face slack, shoulders slumped, total despair in the depths of his eyes. “You didn’t know Sam was going to take Laura. Nobody could know that,” I said.

  “I should have thought…”

  “Retrospection is always easy. It all took us by surprise,” I said.

  Elliot looked at Mum, “I’m so sorry, Mrs Hunter.”

  Mum turned watery eyes on Elliot, “That’s easy for you to say. You haven’t just lost your daughter. Apologies can never make up for what has happened.”

  Dad squeezed Mum’s forearm and gave her a warning look. She shrugged her arm free of his hold, “I’m not going to watch what I say. It’s because of him that Laura is dead. If he wasn’t around she’d still be here with us. But he came back, for God knows what reason, and look what followed him. I told you no good would come of this Cassie, but you knew better. You didn’t trust me, who’s spent years living with this…curse. You trusted a dead man who lived a questionable past who’d you known for a whole two seconds of your life. This is the thanks I get for trying to protect you both.”

  “I can understand why you’re angry…”

  “Damn right you can!”

  After a lengthy pause, Elliot continued. “I’ve lost my son. My grandson. My wife. I don’t know why I died, but my death took people away from me as well.” “It didn’t take people away from you. You left them first. That’s the difference.”

  “Mum, we’re all hurting. Don’t take it out on Elliot!” Mum was making me angry, and that was an emotion I couldn’t afford to feel. I needed to think straight and if I was pissed off at Mum, I wouldn’t be able to get my thoughts together. I turned to Elliot before Mum could offer another barrage, “Can you sense Laura in the Grey-Mists?”

  Elliot shook his head, “Nothing.”

  An idea formed in my mind. “Do you think I could? I have a strong connection with my sister. If I went there…”

  “No!” Elliot and Mum spoke together. “This isn’t the time to protect me. I’ve been there before, remember? What I’m saying is that if I can sense her, concentrate on her, then maybe we have a chance at finding her.”

  Mum looked at me, her face was tight and pale. “I can’t let you do that, Cassie. What if you don’t come back? I’ll have lost both my girls.”

  “I’ll have Elliot to guide me.”

  “You can’t rely on him? No! It’s too dangerous, I won’t have it!”

  “I’ve been there before, I know what to expect. The more we sit here and debate, the more Laura could be lost to us. There’s no telling what’s happening to her right now as we speak.” I shuddered, remembering what happened to Elliot when the Soul-Eater took him into the Grey-Mists. He was nearly lost to me forever when it started to consume his soul.

  “I cannot allow that, Cassie. Your mother is right. You need to stay here, with us.”

  I stood from the chair and paced the room, “I can protect myself. Laura’s never been there. She won’t know what’s happening to her. What if a Soul-Eaters is torturing her right at this moment?” I rounded on Mum, “Could you sit there and let that happen when there’s a chance that I can stop that and bring her back.”

  “I can’t trade one daughter for the other. You can’t make me choose.” Her voice was strangulated.

  She looked so stricken I crossed to her and held her hands, squeezing her fingers gently. “We have a chance. It’s more than other people have. This…gift…we should use it. There has to be some reason we share it. So, let’s do something about bringing Laura back. I promise if it’s too dangerous, I’ll come back. But at least we’ll know where Laura is for sure.”

  Mum started to sob. I sat on the arm of the chair, wrapped my arm around her shoulders and leant my cheek on the top of her head. There was nothing I could do but let her get it out. She had no other option but to see I'd thought of the most reasonable form of action because if we just sat here and did nothing, Laura would be lost to us forever.

  When Mum quietened down, I moved from the chair and knelt before her. “You’ll need to use your gift to make sure that Laura’s body and my body will be safe. They’ll be empty and I don’t want to come back to find some foreign entity taking up space inside me.”

  Eventually Mum nodded. I offered her as much of a smile as I could manage and stood. “Elliot, can you help me when I’m free from my body?”

  “Are you sure you want to do this, Cassie?” Elliot turned serious eyes on me.

  “No. But I know you’re there to help me.”

  “Always.”

  I relaxed into the padded chair, as comfortably as I could manage, and steadied my breathing. I’d done this before. I could do this again. The only thing was that Laura had guided me the last time, but this was no time to suffer from a lack of confidence.

  I closed my eyes, imagining that Laura was speaking to me. In my mind, I worked down my body, relaxing each body part in turn. I did it again and again until I was entirely focussed internally.

  I saw pinks and purples morphing around me and knew it was the energy from my body coming into contact with the universal energy, the source of all life. I focussed on reaching for my outer most energy field. The more rarefied emotional fields.

  I let myself drift upwards, caught in a cloud of undulating movement, then someone took my hand. I jerked my eyes open and started to fall backward into the p
ulling force of my body. Elliot grasped my hand and brought me to gently stand next to him.

  He tugged me close, and I slipped against his chest. I splayed my fingers over his shirt, feeling his body solid beneath my touch. I scrunched his shirt into my fingers, feeling the heat from his body wrap around my skin. It was more than I could bear, feeling him like this and knowing that it wasn’t going to be forever.

  I smiled up into his eyes. The breath stuck in my throat as I saw the raw passion lighting his face. I sort of lost my balance and sunk against his body. He held my upper arms, steadying me, his gaze never leaving my face. It took me a moment to realise he asked if I was all right.

  I cleared my throat, finding my balance. “Yes…yes. Thank you. I’m fine.” I brushed a strand of hair from my forehead, wincing as my voice came out all breathy. This wasn’t the time to be playing lovey-dovey. I had a sister to save.

  I faced Mum. Her eyes widened, gleaming with unshed tears, “You’re beautiful, Cassie.”

  “I look just like my body, I’m sure,” I said, not entirely sure why she looked at me exactly like she was.

  “Yes, but…your features are finer, more perfect than any muscles could grow into. Your hair, like strands of silken webs. But it’s not just that. I can see your light surrounding you. It’s so pure, so strong. It makes every particle of your spirit glow as though there’s a thousand-watt bulb inside of you.”

  I held my forearm up, but it looked like normal skin to me, “I can’t see it, Mum.”

  “I don’t know why I can, but you have to believe me, it is beautiful.”

  I smiled, “I believe you, Mum.”

  I saw the silver thread floating around me, like a glowing gossamer strand of silk, connecting me to my body. There was nothing coming from Laura’s body. I averted my eyes. “Make sure this doesn’t break.”