Mom was over the moon, waving at empty sidewalks and broken
windows, at all sorts of ghostie folks that I couldn’t see.
“So glad I could help her get away from it all,” I said,
watching her have the time of her life.
“Do you feel your father or the necklace, Maggie?” asked
Killian.
I closed my eyes and wiggled my fingers a bit. Sometimes
the finger wiggling works. And sometimes it doesn’t. Like this time.
“Nada. I’m picking up nothing,” I said.
The first sun had completely disappeared and the sky was
lit up with oranges and reds like an atomic bomb. The second sun was dipping
dangerously close to the horizon.
We were about to lose the advantage of light, and that’s
when Ghost Town had the potential to turn from a quirky little tourist trap
into a very unpleasant little spot. Not all the people who were killed by the
well oh-so-many years ago were upstanding citizens. Some of them were
downright criminal, and most of those folks were pissed about being trapped in
this no-horse town for eternity. It took a lot of psychic strength to move
stuff, but the poltergeists here had been lifting weights for almost a
century. Not to mention all of the regular ol’ Other Side things that go bump
in the night. Out here, those monsters hadn’t had the long arm of the law to
encourage them to stay in the basement where they belonged.
The sooner I figured out what the hell was going on, the
sooner we could skedaddle, so I decided to pick a building. Any building. I
spun around and the first one in front of me was the saloon.
“Okay, kids, let’s start there and work our way through.”
I looked over my shoulder and only Mindy and Killian were
standing behind me. Mom was wandering down the road.
I swear to god…
“MOM!” I yelled. “GET BACK HERE!”
She waved at me merrily, “I’ll catch up! Go ahead without
me!”
“If you get eaten by something, I am going to be highly
irate,” I warned.
She acted like she hadn’t heard me.
I rolled my eyes, “You’d think I had brought her to a
fucking amusement park…”
“It could be worse,” Killian said.
“Yah. She could be standing here beside us.”
“I heard that!” she shouted from down the end of the
street.
Chapter 23
The saloon was swinging with a party of the dead. Dusty
mugs were being lifted to invisible lips. Chairs were being thrown. A cloth
wiped down the bar.
And not a single sound of a human voice.
It’ll unnerve you. It unnerved me. Color me crazy on the
whole “ghosts give me the heebie-jeebies”, but I liked to be able to see what
was coming at me and I don’t think that was too much to ask. As a kid, our
house was always getting haunted by some cranky spirit or another who was
desperate to have a little chat with my mom. Waking up at 2AM with lights
flashing on and off and doors slamming by invisible hands is enough to give any
kid nightmares.
And now I got to relive old times. What a lucky girl.
“Excuse me!” I said as we came through the swinging double
doors, clearing my throat so my voice didn’t crack. “We’re looking for a live
person that may have come into town yesterday.”
Everything stopped.
Cards were frozen in midair. Cups were frozen mid-lip. I
could feel all those invisible eyeballs on us and it creeped me the fuck out.
Slowly, movement returned to the room.
“My mom will help anyone cross over who can give us a
hand,” I said, trying to sweeten the deal.
“Can your mother do that?” asked Killian out of the side of
his mouth.
“I have no idea,”
“Maggie?” said my sister, tugging on my sleeve.
I turned to look. There was nothing there. I mean, there
was probably someone there, because I could hear the sound of boots and spurs
clunking their way across the floorboards to me. There was just nothing I
could see.
But whatever or whoever it was, it stopped right in front
of us.
“Think you can give us a hand… partner?” I asked.
I was greeted by silence.
“Sorry, dude. My mom is the one that can hear you guys.
If you could just point me in the right direction, I’ll try to take it from
there.”
The ghost picked up a poker chip and held it in front of my
nose. Mindy’s eyes were as big as saucers.
“Maggie, is this what you do on a regular basis?” she
asked.
As the chip started to glide up the rotted stairs to the
second floor, I replied, “Yah, it’s not too far off."
I hoped that I was reading the ghost's signals right and he
wanted us to follow, and not "Whatever you do, specifically don't come up
here." I motioned to Mindy and Killian that we were on the move.
The ghost led us through one of the broken doorways. It
was hard to tell if back in the day it was a hotel room or the saloon’s cathouse.
Or both. There was a rusted bed with a rotted mattress, tattered curtains, and
a dressing table with a broken mirror.
“Homey,” I muttered.
The poker chip floated to a window and the ghost tapped it
on the glass. I looked over at Killian who gave me a "why the hell
not?" shrug. I walked over to where the ghost seemed to be standing and peered
around the edge of the pane. Killian went over to the other window and looked
out, his weapon drawn.
From the second story of the saloon we had a great view of
the entire town.
The street was quiet. The orange moon was coming up and
hung over the buildings like a pumpkin. Not like the pumpkin spice latte yummy
kind of moon that makes you want to go grab something cozy and hang out with a
good book. The kind that makes you want to start packing heat because a witch
on a broomstick might go flying across at any minute.
I didn’t see too many ghosts lurking around the streets yet,
thank god. Moonlight makes them visible and they give off a silvery glow. During
a new moon, you can only catch them out of the corner of your eye and startle
yourself really good. During a full moon like we were having tonight, the opacity
on their corporeal form is turned all the way up to 50%.
But at this particular moment, it wasn’t the ghosts I was
worried about. Which is saying a lot.
I was more concerned about the other manner of undead
creatures infesting the place like, say, the flock of vampires coming out of
the sky. As soon as they landed, they disappeared behind the abandoned livery.
My guess was that shit was about to go down pretty darn quick.
The ghost started tapping the poker chip on the glass
insistently.
"I see 'em," I said. The poker chip stopped. “Can
you eyeball how many vampires there are from where you’re at, Killian?”
“Not from here,” he replied. “I have counted ten vampires
that have flown in, though.”
“Any chance they are just passing through and not coming for
an out-of-town convention?” I wished. Killian shook his head. “This sucks.”
“Agreed,” he muttered as another vampire dropped down
behind the roofline, conveniently out of sight.
"Okay, we need a threshold, preferably one with locks,"
I said. I started scanning the street. Most of the buildings had their
windows broken, probably by some dumb kids who hadn’t thought that maybe
someone might need a place to hide someday.
"What about there?" asked Mindy, pointing to what
looked like a house. It had a great big false front and a wrap-around porch
beneath a second story balcony. It’s most attractive feature, though, was that
it looked like it had a few less entrances than the rest of the spots in town.
"Done," I replied. I turned towards the poker
chip, "Thank you. I'm going to see if I can find my mom. If we don't
die, I'll make sure she gives you a hand. And if we do die, we'll be seeing a
lot more of each other."
The ghost seemed to flip the coin, you know, without any
hands for me to see if that was actually what he was doing. I don't know if
that was a signal that he was cool with what I had just said or if he was making
a statement on our odds.
We moved quickly down the stairs and there was Mom sitting
at the bar, chatting it up with the imaginary bartender.
“Girls! There you are!” she said. "I was just
talking about you."
“Mom? Where the hell have you been?”
“Really, Maggie. Have you been hanging around sailors
while I wasn’t looking? The language.”
“We have to leave. You can come back after we're done. Oh,
and I promised this guy," I hooked my thumb towards the poker chip, "that
you'd help him cross over."
"It would be my pleasure,” she replied, rolling up her
sleeves.
"Just not now, Mom," I said, grabbing her wrist.
"Later. First we have to not die."
I dragged her towards the exit and Killian and Mindy
trotted after us.
"I'll be back!" promised Mom, calling over her
shoulder, blissfully unaware of the fact that we were about to be in more than a
little bit of trouble.
I peered over the swinging doors and checked the street.
It looked like the coast was clear. I pulled out my silver stake in one hand,
my gun in the other, and nodded towards the house. Killian loaded up his
crossbow and nodded back. We sprinted to the front door, which, because luck
is a bitch of a gal, was locked.
I jiggled the handle, “SHIT!”
“Honey, just knock,” my mom said.
She rapped gently upon the door and it opened. Her face
lit up and she started babbling, “Thank you so much, Thomas. I’m afraid my
daughter has gotten us into a bit of a pickle..."
"Don't pin this on me. I just wanted to go over to
Mindy's for dinner," I pointed out.
"You're right, dear," she said patting my hand
before turning back to Thomas, "Mind if we come in?”
The door opened wider, so I figured we were good to go. I stood
to the side, ready to provide cover as Killian ushered Mindy in to safety.
I could hear snarling and yipping sounds in the distance.
Dollars to donuts it wasn’t a pack of wild shih tzus.
“Get in get in get in!” I said as I pushed them through and
shut the door behind us.
Inside, the floor sagged beneath the original old
furnishings. Thomas must've been one hell of a scarer to keep a century of
looters from stealing his stuff. The years had shredded the wallpaper and everything
was covered in massive cobwebs and dust, but otherwise, things looked pretty
good. There was a parlor to our left and a dining room to our right. The
entry we were in had a staircase going up and a door on the far end which
probably led to the kitchen. There was a great big, heavy Victorian table by
the stairs. It was like Killian was reading my mind. He grabbed an end, I
grabbed the other, and we got the front door blocked.
“Werewolves?” I asked Killian.
"Werewolves," he replied.
"Jeez, if it's not one monster, it's another..."
“Remind me why we didn’t just get in the car and drive
away?” asked Mindy, socking me.
“Hey! That’s my staking arm.”
“Girls, please,” shushed Mom, shaking her head.
“Maggie started it by hauling us into the Ghost Town,” said
Mindy.
“Oh yah? Well, Mindy started it by opening up an envelope
containing a portal creating jade comb.”
“I don’t care who started it, I’m ending it. Don’t make me
feed you to the creatures of the night,” warned Mom.
“Maggie? Mindy? Is that you?” came a voice from upstairs.
I looked over at Killian. He stepped in front of Mindy and
aimed his crossbow at the landing. I took out my gun.
“Dad?” I asked tentatively.
A figure stepped out of the shadows and there he was. Dad came
racing down the steps, looking totally surprised at our impromptu family
reunion. He gave Mom a great big hug, “What are all of you doing here?”
I lowered my weapon, “It's Mindy's fault.”
"Hey!" she protested.
“What do you mean?” asked Dad, releasing Mom and looking
over at me.
I holstered my gun, “Remember how you got that jade comb,
Dad? Well, someone mailed it to Mindy.”
She gave him a little finger wave.
“Mindy opened up an envelope and was dragged through to not
only The Other Side, but way out here to Ghost Town. Found herself on the
outskirts of the city limits just a few hours ago.”
“That’s impossible!” said Dad, going over and holding Mindy
tight as if he could go back and make up for that little whoopsie. “I gave
that comb to Mr. Smith.”
“About that... Mr. Smith is dead. Also, we probably need
to get our office reconsecrated.”
“Maggie MacKay!” came a familiar and completely unwelcome voice,
ringing its way through the walls. Seeing as the walls were missing great
chunks where the wood had rotted away, we were able to hear just fine without
even having to open up a window, which we wouldn't have had to open either
because most of the glass was missing, too.