“So .. we all meet again,” Merlin
remarked cheerfully. “Isn’t this ..
nice.”
They’d dragged her deeper into the
humid tropical forest to a tiny cabin. Merlin
had thought it was a charming spot, very isolated, very remote .. and had then
thought about that from a slightly different angle. They had taken her up the steps to the door, pushed her into the
darkness inside, then followed and closed the door with a terribly quiet
finality. A small game of hide and go
seek had followed, and, now, Merlin was definitely a prisoner and a hungry
prisoner too. In an attempt to put off
whatever was going to follow next, she chose conversation.
Marcus continued to smile. Jennifer’s smile, however, became a little
cold.
“Aw, c’mon!” Merlin encouraged. “Show a little enthusiasm. Let’s chew the fat for a while. May not get the chance later. When did you leave Gretna?”
“About eighteen months ago,” Marcus
replied. “It lost its appeal after you
.. came to visit.”
“Really. Happens to a lotta people after I’ve seen ’em. They get this urge to get lost. I can’t understand it. I
think I’m an okay person. I make an
awful lotta allowances for people’s whims an’ fancies. They just don’t seem to see that.” She regarded them. “And you say you’ve been practicing?”
“A lot. We’re much more
powerful now,” Jennifer announced.
“And we were powerful before,” Marcus
added.
Merlin nodded. “Yeah, you were. That’s the other thing about me.
I always give credit where
it’s due. And you were powerful .. for Gretna.
Thing is .. this isn’t Gretna.
It’s the big wide world outside the peaceful valley.”
“No one’s been able to challenge us,”
Jennifer said, folding her arms.
“You want me to say that’s good?”
Merlin wondered. “Because I will .. if
you’ve been putting that awesome power to proper use. Have you?”
Marcus hunkered down in front of
her. “What does it matter to you?”
“Absolutely nothing. I just wanna make conversation. Catch up on old times.” She shifted slightly. “Is this gonna be a fair contest of
skills? Cos I really think you should
untie me, if it is. Otherwise, it’s
just beating on someone – ”
“Who can’t defend themselves?”
Jennifer cut in. “I don’t think
so. Not after the last two times.”
Merlin nodded. “Once a bully, always a bully. Tell me, d’you still call yourselves psi
warriors? Or have you gone up in the
world to be .. the dark knights of the mystic mental power arts?”
“You mock us and our power. It’s undeniable.”
“That I’m mocking you or that you have
power?” Merlin frowned.
“We don’t call ourselves anything,”
Jennifer muttered, shivering in the gloom of the cabin. “In Gretna, it felt right. Marcus an’ I were unique. No one else had this kind of mental ..
energy. They could classify themselves;
we felt it right that we give ourselves a classification too. Our minds were weapons. Psi warriors was appropriate.”
“But just a teensy bit pretentious,”
Merlin commented. “And, really, it was
unnecessary. You two were unique so why
give yourself a label which declared you’re like someone else? I’m glad you’ve given up the name. It shows maturity. Kidnapping me, bringing me here in the trunk of your car, hauling
me into this cabin – which is a big
improvement on that shed in the woods, I have to say – an’ tying me to a very
uncomfortable chair shows that the maturity needs a little more work.”
Marcus shook his head. “You don’t understand, do you? Last time, you whipped us.”
“You deserved it.”
“We probably did,” he agreed,
surprising her. “But it was
humiliating.”
“I didn’t whip your ass in front of
witnesses, did I?”
His eyes narrowed and Merlin flinched
back. “You destroyed my house. You blew it up. That was a humiliation the whole town saw. But it was also impressive. The way you … Jennifer an’ I realized we had a lot of work to do. Gretna became too soft. We didn’t have the support anymore to
expand, stretch, practice. You forced
us to leave.”
“I
forced you. I stood behind you with a
loaded gun and forced you to quit. Is
that what you’re telling me?”
“We’re grateful. The world outside the valley is far more
suited to people like us,” he responded.
“We learned to rely on each other.
And, yes, we’ve practiced. We’re
a lot stronger now.”
“Would you like a demonstration?”
Jennifer smiled.
“Not really,” Merlin answered. “I’m here on vacation. I just want to chill for a week. I need the break cos I’ve been working hard
just lately doing some serious shit. I
don’t want to have to whip your ass a third time. Let me go, we’ll forget this ever happened.”
“We can’t do that,” Jennifer quietly
stated. “We have something to prove.”
“When we saw you .. just sitting there
… ” Marcus smiled in disbelief. “It felt like a miracle. God was finally on our side. We didn’t think you’d agree to accompany us
of your own free will so we had to abduct you.”
“Do you intend to kill me?” Merlin
asked. “Or just teach me a lesson I
won’t forget in a very long time?”
“The latter .. although if you
subsequently die of your injuries, we apologize in advance.”
“That’s good,” Merlin said,
nodding. “Get the disclaimer out there,
right at the start. Kinda .. draws the
line in the sand. Lets people know
their position.”
“Will you .. shut .. up!” Jennifer ground out, her voice
rising.
Merlin began to choke as an invisible
hand clenched around her throat. Her
eyes started to bug out, her face went red, then purple. Then the pressure was released and she sagged,
coughing, retching, and trying to take in air.
“I told you, we’re stronger now,”
Marcus explained. “We don’t take crap,
not from you, not from anyone.”
Merlin nodded, swallowing
painfully. “Yeah, I see that,” she
croaked. “There’s some stuff you need
to consider.”
“And what’s that?” Jennifer inquired.
“One .. it’s been a while since our
paths crossed in Gretna. Two, in that
interval, I’ve done a lot and gone to quite a few unusual places to do it. An’ three .. all the things I’ve done count
as practice as well.” She sat up. “I’m a lot stronger too.”
“Really. You’ve not shown it,” Marcus commented.
Merlin smiled slowly but
brilliantly. “I told you. Let’s chew the fat for a while. May not get the chance later. You assumed that it was me who wasn’t gonna get the chance.” She sighed and shrugged.
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
*****
Rachel was at a loss. Toby Johnson and his predicament sat like a
mountain in the middle of a freeway.
The theory was in place – a trapped soul went toward the light and found
eternal rest beyond the veil. The
problem here was that the theory didn’t apply to Toby Johnson. He wasn’t a trapped spirit in the strict
sense. He was a trapped spirit in the
loosest sense possible in that he wasn’t a spirit, yet he was.
Other facets of her earlier musings
made more sense to her now. Of course
Toby would be perfect. He was created
from someone’s telekinetic energy seeking an outlet. When that energy dissipated, he should have faded into
nothing. He hadn’t. He had taken form and become a ghost but
he’d then twisted the situation some more by retaining the abilities of his
previous existence. He wanted to go
on. He just didn’t know how. The soul of a deceased person had it almost
genetically imprinted that it had to seek the light. The spirit which was Toby Johnson lacked that conditioning. Rachel had promised to help but she had no
more idea of what to do than he did.
The afternoon session had fled by and
Rachel barely heard a word of any of it.
The notes she made had nothing to do with the speeches, or the questions
and answers. She was jotting down every
instance she could recall of ghosts, spirits, poltergeists, creatures which
could cross and return, mediums, psychics and spiritualists. She thought she might have to call Derek and
ask his advice, and she was reluctant to do that. She had quite a few years as a Legacy member under her belt
now. She wanted to solve this on her
own.
At seven, as arranged, she met Toby in
the foyer. Rachel gestured with her
head toward the hotel doors and he followed after her.
“Have you discovered anything?” he
asked as they strolled along the sidewalk.
Now she was conscious of the fact that
no one else could see him, Rachel was aware of the image she presented when she
replied to his questions. Consequently,
she looked all around before she opened her mouth.
“Not yet. I’m still trying to get a grip on the problem. How long have you been like this? When did it first start? Tell me about yourself.”
Toby paused. “Time isn’t the same for me as it is for you. Each day .. is more or less the same
day. I do different things but .. there’s
no sense of time passing. I don’t get
any older. It feels a long time that
I’ve been stuck like this but I don’t really feel like I’m in limbo or
something. It may just be .. longing to
have another existence, to see what is beyond all this.”
“Well .. do you know who created you?”
Rachel asked. “Who were you attached to
when you were .. born?”
“She was beautiful,” Tony replied with
a wistful smile. “She just never saw
herself the same way I did. She felt
she was lacking. She was bullied at
school. They held her down and cut her
hair … After that, she was angry inside
and I was born. I protected her. I kept her safe from the bullies.”
Rachel nodded. “I’ve experienced a similar case. A Native American boy had a guardian spirit
to watch over him. He could become
solid too.”
“And did you save him?” Toby asked.
“No.
The boy broke the spell which had created this spirit and it left. Faded away.”
His face fell. Rachel didn’t tell him that the spirit had
turned on the boy and tried to kill him, and had actually succeeded, that it
was death which had broken the spell.
“Go on,” she invited,
encouragingly. “This is only the
beginning of the process.”
“She grew up. She went to university, made new
friends. They helped her see herself in
a different way. The anger died. She didn’t need me any more. And then .. I changed. I found myself like this.”
“What was her name?” Rachel
inquired. “Maybe I can track her
down. That’ll give me a timeframe to
work to.”
“What use is that?”
“It’ll tell me more about you,” she
shrugged. “We know the theory behind
poltergeists. You’ve confirmed it. The theory behind ghosts is that there’s a
reason for them to stay anchored in this plane of existence. Maybe you
have a reason not to go on. You didn’t
die unexpectedly or violently so we can rule that out. Strictly speaking, you never were alive to
be able to die. Unfinished business or
a need to pass on information are the usual two other reasons. I’d say, on balance, that you have
unfinished business. You may not yet
know what it is. It could be, for instance,
that finding this girl, seeing her as she is now in her life, will be enough to
let you go.”
“Will I cross over?” Toby asked.
“I don’t know, Toby,” Rachel
replied. “You may just .. fade into
nothing as you should have done.”
“Her name was Anne. Anne Blackthorn. She lived in Kennington, south of the river. 122 Sycamore Street.”
Rachel checked her watch. “I don’t think I’ve got time to get there
tonight. But I can duck out of the
morning session tomorrow, so long as I’m back in time for lunch.”
“I’ll be ready,” he nodded. “You’ll need a guide.”
“Okay. Let’s meet up at eight o’clock.”
*****
Marcus and Jennifer had, for some
reason, retreated to defensive positions.
Merlin couldn’t understand this.
They used their minds to fight, not their hands. Distance meant very little. All they needed to do was be able to see her
and they could do that from two feet away just as easily as they could from the
other side of the room and into the next one, behind the sofa and the kitchen
counter.
“C’mon, guys,” she called. “I’m giving you a chance here. Untie me, let me go, and we’ll put this
behind us. Or do you still believe you
have something to prove?”
“We do,” Marcus called back. “We’re waiting.”
“For what? Reinforcements?”
“For you to begin the offensive.”
Merlin laughed. She couldn’t help it. This wasn’t dealing with amateurs. It was like playing with children. However, they were dangerous children if
left undisciplined.
“That isn’t the way it works. You don’t abduct someone an’ then wait for
them to attack you. They have to defend
themselves. Let’s get the rules
straight, huh?”
“We’ve already attacked,” Jennifer
pointed out.
“That? You half choking me was an attack?” Merlin queried. “Oh. I’m sorry.
I thought you were just irritated by something.” She watched them. “You really want me to
attack?”
They glanced at each other.
“Cos let me tell you something – I
have never attacked you. When I whipped you last time, I was
defending myself. If you want me to attack .. okay. But d’you think you’re ready for it? Is that what you have to prove? And prove it to whom? Me .. or to yourself?”
Marcus straightened his shoulders, his
mouth pinching in. “You say you’re
stronger. So far, all I’ve seen you do
is talk.”
“All right then. Talking’s over.”
Merlin tensed her muscles and broke
the rope binding her wrists. She rose
to her feet, idly picking the strands away and dropping them on the floor. She faced the two in the kitchen.
“When you take on an enemy, it helps
to have a strategy. Helps even more to
have an ally. You think you have the
advantage. Two against one. You’re wrong. It’s two against two .. an’ I can still beat you both just by
myself.”
“No one has come in,” Jennifer began and
felt a hand fall heavily on her shoulder.
“Think again,” Aquila breathed.
Marcus spun, his throat
convulsing. “But – ”
“You had your chance,” Merlin
remarked. “Two, in fact, but you wanted
to prove something. All you’ve proved
to me is that you’re still as arrogant an’ selfish as you were before. Time’s up, people. It’s late an’ I have a long trip back to my hotel, thanks to you,
so we’ll just get on with it.”
They were shaking in their shoes. Aquila stood behind them, her arms folded,
as immovable as a brick wall. Merlin
was the execution squad. Marcus and
Jennifer simply lacked a final cigarette and a blindfold.
Abruptly, Merlin blazed with
light. Jennifer screamed for help and
realized this was a very isolated cabin.
No help would come. That’s why
they’d chosen it. Marcus roared with
pain, his arms over his eyes. Then the
light died away, plunging the interior into darkness lit, as it had been
before, only by the two storm lanterns.
Jennifer blinked and stared, her arms
waving in front of her face. “I can’t
see … I’m blind!”
Marcus reached out too, groping
sightlessly for the counter. “What have
you done to us ..?”
“Taught you a much needed lesson, and,
again, no witnesses,” Merlin replied, nodding at Aquila who left them and rejoined
her shell. “I can’t kill you because
you’re stupid, not evil. You two have a
great power to do a lotta good in this world.
You just have to see that you can.
You can work in areas that I can’t.
Use your power to stop bad things happening. What you use as a punch against a person could push a car away
from someone about to be hit by that car.
You can use that power defensively an’ make the streets safer
places. People won’t thank you cos they
won’t know what you’ve done but you’ll get their gratitude from the look on
their faces.”
“We’re blind! How can we see anything?”
“It’s temporary,” Merlin
shrugged. “I’ll take your car .. well,
you can’t drive an’ I don’t see why we all have to sit around an’ wait for you
to get your eyes back. When I get back
to town, I’ll send a cab out here for you.
By that time, you should have recovered. Use the hours wisely to think about your options. Because you should know this – if I ever
find out that you’ve abused your gift, killed someone with it .. I will come
find you and the gloves really will be off.
And then, you’ll wish you’d stayed blind cos you don’t wanna see me go
on the offensive.”
She turned and started for the door,
then paused. “Any food in here?”
“No,” Marcus replied, sitting gingerly
in a chair.
Merlin slowly shook her head and went
out.
*****
Kat woke at nine and listened
carefully for sounds of movement. She
was now very scared. Merlin had been
gone over eighteen hours and what had begun as a minor glitch had spiraled out
of control. Kat looked up to
Merlin. Bad things happened, yes, but
she could always cope with it. She
might be physically helpless but she had a mental strength which Kat admired
immensely. Yet, now, Kat was alone, her
guardian vanished. This vacation was turning
into a nightmare.
A knock came on the door and Kat ran
to answer it. “Peri?” she called,
jerking the door open. “Oh. It’s you.”
“Not back yet?” James frowned and Kat
shook her head. “It’ll be okay. You eaten?”
“No.”
She backed away, her feet shuffling, her mouth turned down. “I’m not hungry.”
“Get dressed,” he ordered. “I’ll wait.
I’ll write a note in case she comes back while we’re out. Kat, it will be okay. Trust me.”
“What if she’s hurt?” Kat asked, her
eyes shimmering with tears.
“Oh, come on!” he exclaimed. “Even I
can see she kicks ass. No one would
dare hurt her. Go get dressed, an’ have
a little faith in your friend.” He put
his hands on her shoulders. “Kat
Corrigan .. Peri will be fine. Now, you
enjoy your vacation, huh?”
“Okay.”
James scrawled a note saying Kat was
with him, Laurence and Laurence’s parents and that they were going to the
museum downtown for the day. They
planned to be back around three, possibly four that afternoon. He added that he’d make sure Kat was taken
care of. James propped the note on the
table and grinned at Kat as she came out in shorts, sun top, sandals and hat.
“Ready?”
“Yeah. Thanks, James,” she replied with a small smile.
“No problem.”
When Merlin got back to the hotel, the
first thing she did was call for Kat.
The second thing she did was see the note and read it, then she
smiled. Next, she called a cab and gave
precise directions to where Marcus and Jennifer could be picked up. Finally, she called room service and ordered
dinner for breakfast. When she’d
showered and eaten till she could hardly move, she went down by the pool and,
at last, began her vacation.
*****
Rachel really hoped her subconscious
would come thru for her and give her the answers she needed. She woke feeling faintly hopeful but all she
could think of was Merlin.
“Well .. I hope they’re having a
fantastic time but knowing Peri an’ my daughter are in Hawaii and enjoying
tropical climes doesn’t help me help Toby,” she stated, sounding faintly
disgusted.
She showered and ordered breakfast
while she dressed. Rachel only had
today to crack this mystery because tomorrow, at eleven o’clock, she took the
stage for her speech.
Her order arrived and Rachel ate
quickly, keeping a careful watch on the time as she scanned the newspaper. She wanted to be away from the hotel at
eight sharp before the delegates began arriving. At seven fifty, Toby appeared in her room and made her jump.
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t wait,” he said with a smile. “I get lonely, you know.
It’s nice to have a friend to talk with.”
“No one else can see you?” she
wondered, finishing her tea and replacing the cup.
“No.
I wondered about you .. and, when I saw you blush because I was staring,
I knew I’d finally found my ally in this search.” He laughed softly. “It
wasn’t difficult to stare, Rachel.
You’re a beautiful woman.”
“Thank you very much,” she
responded. “It always does a woman’s
ego good to be told things like that.”
“I used to tell Anne. I’d write it in notes and leave them for
her. She’d cry when she read them … ”
“Well, when someone’s self esteem has
taken a real battering, often it’s very difficult to believe what’s true. There’s a destructive little voice inside
which drags you down, repeats the lies others have told you.”
He nodded slowly. “She never threw them away. Anne kept all the notes I wrote for her.”
“They must have been a great comfort.”
“I suppose so.” He looked away then up. “Are you ready?”
“Yes, I am,” Rachel smiled.
An hour later, Rachel had experienced
a ride on the London Underground in the rush hour and a long walk to a quiet
looking house in a rather rough area.
For all that she appeared to be alone, she was glad Toby was with her.
“This is the place,” he said with a
slight twitch of his shoulders. “This
is where I was .. born.”
Rachel straightened and raised her
chin. “Okay. Let’s find out who lives here now.”
She approached the front door and rang
the bell, then backed off several steps.
Inside, faintly, a dog barked and a baby began to cry. Someone shouted at the dog to shut up. At least, Rachel assumed it was at the dog.
The door opened and a flustered young
woman frowned at her. “Yeah?”
“My name’s Rachel Corrigan – ”
“You from America?”
“Yes, I am,” Rachel smiled. “I’m looking for the Blackthorn family. They used to live in this house.”
“Bloody ’ell, that was years ago,” the young woman
exclaimed. “Hang on, I’ll ask my Mum.”
The door was slammed shut and Rachel
glanced back at Toby. His face was
strained as hope and despair fought a war inside. Then the door opened again.
“Can I help you?” an older woman
asked.
“I hope so. I’m looking for the Blackthorn family, specifically their
daughter Anne. They used to live here.”
“That’s right, I bought this place
from them. But it was .. ten, eleven
years ago. There was no daughter here
then. I think she was at university.”
“Oh.
I don’t suppose they left a forwarding address?”
“I think they did but I threw it out a
long time ago. They were going to …
” Her face creased with thought. “To Tooting. Or was it Neasden ..? No,
it was over Crystal Palace way. I
remember now. He said he was going to open up a shop. Corner shop. Newsagents.”
“Thank you,” Rachel smiled.
“No worries,” the woman said and shut
the door again.
Rachel retreated to the sidewalk. “Crystal Palace way. Is that close?”
Toby smiled. “No, it isn’t. And
there’s no Underground out that way.
It’ll have to be a bus or a taxi.”
“And, even then, we don’t know where in Crystal Palace.”
“How about the phone book?” Toby
suggested. “Let our fingers do the
walking before our feet.”
“Good idea,” Rachel agreed.
*****
“Yes, we had a daughter. Still have,” Albert Blackthorn corrected
hastily. “But she doesn’t live here.” He leaned on the store counter. “She hasn’t lived at home since she went to
university.”
“I see,” Rachel said.
“Warwick.”
“That’s where she lives?” Rachel
queried, dismayed.
“Where she went to university. She did well. Upper second class honors degree. She moved back to London .. oh, four years back. That was after she’d been in practice in
Rugby for a few years.”
“And where is she living now?” Rachel
asked.
“Notting Hill. She’s done well for herself.”
Rachel took the address he scribbled
down. “Thank you.”
“Why’d you want to see Anne?” he
frowned.
“I’m a friend of a friend who asked me
to look her up an’ pass on his regards.”
“Oh.
That’s nice.”
They left the corner newsagent shop
and Rachel looked at Toby. “Notting
Hill. That’s just over a ways from
where I’m staying, isn’t it?”
“Yep,” he confirmed.
“Great,” Rachel sighed. “I just hope all this is worth it.”
“So do I, Rachel,” Toby agreed
somberly.
They took a cab back to the center of
the city and into Notting Hill. Rachel
found the address easily and went to the front door.
“She may not be home,” she warned Toby
as they waited for an answer. “She
could be at work.”
The door opened. Rachel smiled hesitantly. “It isn’t her,” Toby said on a sigh.
“Excuse me. I’m Rachel Corrigan and I’m looking for Anne Blackthorn. Her father gave me this address.”
“She isn’t here. She does live here,” the woman replied, “but
she’s out. We share this place. Keeps the costs down.”
“I understand. Um .. is she at work? Can I call back later?”
“I’m not sure when she’s coming
home. She’s attending a conference
today.”
“Out of the city?”
“No, just down the road really.”
Rachel hesitated. “At the Park Lane Hilton?”
“That’s right!”
“Small world. I’m at that conference too .. or I would be
if I hadn’t said I’d track Anne down for an old friend of hers. Well, thank you. You’ve been very
helpful. I’ll go see if I can find her
there.”
“She’s really interested in that kind
of thing but she never uses her real name.
Doesn’t want people to think she’s a bit weird. You should look out for Annie Whiteley.”
“Thank you. I will.”
Rachel paused a few steps away from
the house. “I’ve been over a very wide
area this morning an’ I could’ve stayed put.”
“Ah, but now you have a name to look
for.”
“You would’ve recognized her!” Rachel
pointed out.
“I didn’t know she’d be there,” Toby
defended. “Neither did you. Come on, we might be able to catch her
during the lunch break.”
“Don’t you find it interesting that she’s interested in parapsychology?”
Rachel remarked, looking at him. “It
could be that you had more of an effect than you realized.”
*****
Rachel arrived back at her starting
place just as the conference room was emptying for lunch.
“Keep an eye out,” she quietly
instructed Toby while she checked the delegates’ sign in list. Two thirds of the way down, she saw Annie
Whiteley’s name. “Well, she’s here ..
somewhere.”
“I’m nervous, Rachel. What if I see her and I just .. vanish?” he
asked.
“Whatever happens, Toby, it’s meant to
be.”
They wandered into the dining room and
Rachel waited in line for lunch.
“We missed you this morning, Dr
Corrigan,” Professor Marcus Graham remarked as he queued behind her.
“I’m sorry, I had business elsewhere,”
Rachel apologized. “But I think it’s
dealt with now so I am in residence for the rest of the conference.”
“That’s good to hear.”
Rachel collected her meal and went to
find an empty space so she could sit and eat.
The dining room was almost full but she spotted a gap and hurried to the
table.
“Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?”
“No,” the woman answered. “Are you one of the delegates?”
“Actually,” Rachel replied as she sat,
“I’m one of the speakers. Rachel
Corrigan.” She held out her hand.
“Annie Whiteley,” the woman said as
she shook it.
Rachel resisted the urge to look round
at Toby. “Really? Would you believe I’ve been trying to find
you?”
“You have? Why?” she frowned.
“It’s a long story. Is that your notebook?” Rachel asked,
gesturing at the bound book by Anne’s elbow.
“It’s my scrapbook. It means a lot to me.” Anne Blackthorn rested a hand on the
cover. “I .. had a difficult time at
school and .. someone wrote me these wonderful letters. They were a lifeline. I honestly think that, without them, I would
have done something incredibly stupid.”
“Why’d you bring them here today?”
Rachel asked.
“Because .. I don’t think the person
who wrote them was real,” Anne replied quietly. “It sounds crazy. It
couldn’t possibly happen .. yet it did.
I have the proof.” Her hand
closed around the book. “I wanted to
ask about it but I didn’t have the courage to speak up.”
Rachel regarded her. “When you were a child, did you have an
imaginary friend?”
Anne smiled. “I did. His name was
Toby. Toby Johnson. Whenever I did something I shouldn’t, I
blamed him. He was my best friend, and,
later, my perfect hero. I was always
the princess who needed rescuing and he was my knight in shining armor.” She glanced at the book. “The letters were never signed but .. they
sound like they were written by him.”
Anne blushed. “Wishful
thinking.”
“They were written by him,” Rachel
said and Anne looked up quickly. “Some
children are born with a latent gift.
If the circumstances are right, this gift stops being latent an’ becomes
active. You were bullied at school – ”
“How did you know that?” Anne
whispered, her blush vanishing and her face becoming white with shock.
“Toby told me. Your .. pain and anger created a
poltergeist. Your imaginary friend became
a genuine force. Toby said he protected
you. Then, when you grew up an’ went to
university, you made new friends, your anger went away, and Toby wasn’t needed
anymore. It’s usually the way with
poltergeist hauntings. When they’re no
longer .. sustained by the emotional turmoil of their creator, they
vanish. Only Toby didn’t. He .. changed. He became a ghost and he’s trying to find a way to cross over to
the other side. He asked for my help
an’ that is why I’ve been all over London this morning trying to find you. We think Toby has unfinished business which
is holding him here. Maybe you are his unfinished business.” At last, Rachel looked round. Toby was staring, dumbstruck, awed. He had such love in his eyes that Rachel
felt warmed. “He’s here right now,” she
said to Anne.
“He is ..? Oh, I wish I could see him.
I wish I could help him, thank
him. He saved my life.” Anne gasped faintly, her eyes widening, her
mouth dropping open. “Toby ..? Is that you?”
“Hello, Anne,” he said. “You’re still as beautiful. More.”
Rachel saw another empty space at
another table. “I think I’ll leave you
two alone. You need to talk. Anne, a word of warning here. No one else can see him. Be careful how you talk. People will
think the wrong idea.”
*****
Rachel sat thru the afternoon session
with a contented heart. She felt sure
that any unfinished business would be finished by the time the day ended. Anne had not come back in with the other
delegates after lunch and Rachel hadn’t seen Toby since she’d left the dining
room.
Not exactly star-crossed lovers, she
mused, but two hurt souls for sure.
Each alone, aching for completion.
And now I’ve brought them together.
Man, that is a good
feeling. The frosting on the cake is
that I did it all by myself. Wait till
I tell Derek about this.
When the session was over, Rachel
wandered out, generally making herself available to anyone to wanted to talk or
ask a question in private.
“Dr Corrigan, I wondered if it was you
when I saw your name on the list of speakers.”
Rachel glanced round into a pair of
dark eyes she knew. “Alopex ..! This is a surprise!”
“Really? I am based in London and this topic is one of interest to me,” he
smiled. “I’ll listen to your
presentation tomorrow with great pleasure.”
“I’ll try to live up to your
expectations,” she laughed.
“Rachel!”
“Toby? I thought I wouldn’t see you again. Didn’t it work?” Rachel asked, dismayed.
“No.
We talked all afternoon. It was
wonderful. We said everything we had to
say, everything we’d always wanted to say and we wanted to say more but .. I
was ready to go. But I didn’t. I don’t know why.” He looked anguished. “You
said you’d help me, Rachel. Why haven’t
I crossed over?”
“Is there a problem?” Alopex inquired.
“I thought not,” Rachel replied,
throwing up her hands. “Seems I was
wrong. Can you see this man?”
Slowly, Alopex nodded. “Why shouldn’t I?”
“Well, of course you would. Nothing much
gets past those eyes!” She raked a hand thru her hair and looked
around for inspiration. She saw Toby
watching her, his eyes pleading. She
saw Anne Blackthorn, standing on the fringe of the crowd, hugging her scrapbook
to her chest, her cheeks stained with the trails of tears. She saw Alopex who was frowning in rising
bewilderment. Everyone else was a blur.
If there was only one thing Rachel had
learned as a member of the Legacy, it would have to be to work with what she
had. Right now, she had Toby, Anne,
Alopex, and herself.
Rachel slapped her hand to her
forehead. “Of course. Now
I get it.”
“What?” Alopex and Toby chorused and
glanced at each other.
“When I woke this morning, hoping to
have the answer, I thought of Peri. I
dismissed it an’ that was a mistake.
Creatures – excuse me – who can cross an’ come back. You
can do that!”
“Yes, that’s true,” Alopex warily
agreed.
“So .. you can take Toby over to the
other side.”
“And bring him back,” Alopex said.
“No!
Leave him there,” Rachel
replied and Alopex frowned sharply.
“Look, we can explain but .. not here.
Everyone – you too, Anne – let’s go to my room.”
Fifteen minutes later, they were in
Rachel’s room and, between them, they told the full story of Toby Johnson to
Alopex who listened in polite silence.
“And that’s why you have to take him over there,” Rachel concluded.
“And leave me there,” Toby said. “I can’t do it on my own.”
“Not now, no,” Alopex responded. “Rachel, I understand why this request has
been made .. but it isn’t necessary.”
Toby’s mouth sagged open. “You condemn me to this existence ..?”
“I do. I condemn you to this life.”
“What did you mean when you said ‘not
now’?” Anne ventured in a quiet voice.
“It isn’t Toby’s time. Anne, you didn’t bring life to this man when
you created him in your thoughts. You
prayed and God answered. When you no
longer needed Toby day to day, God changed him into a form which would endure
until you would need him again. God put
Rachel in Toby’s path and she found you for him. You gave him life with your wish to see him, thank him, and help
him. I can see him, Rachel, because
he’s a man, not a ghost.”
“I .. what?” Toby began.
Tentatively, he reached out a hand to Anne and she grasped it. “Oh my God .. it’s true! I am
a man!”
Alopex rose. “If I’m no longer needed, I’ll be on my way. Until tomorrow, Rachel. Please give my regards to your daughter when
you see her.”
“I will. Thank you.” She went with
him to the door. “I guess God works in
mysterious ways, huh?”
“Too many for even us to know about,” he agreed. He looked over her shoulder at the
others. “Some kind of miracle.”
“Absolutely,” she smiled.
Rachel closed the door and
turned.
“Thank you, Rachel,” Anne said,
hugging her. “From both of us.”
“Enjoy your life,” Rachel
responded. “Love each other.”
“We will,” Toby nodded.
And then she was alone. Rachel felt too wired to do anything
relaxing so she called room service and ordered dinner, and then she sat down and rewrote her
speech.
*****
“So, in closing,” Rachel said,
“however we go about this work, all the experimentation, the tests, the
documentation in search of the elusive proof we all want, the important aspect
is that we help those who are our research subjects. No matter how painstaking it is nor how long it takes, the
quality which must lay at the foundation of our every act and which must color
our every decision has to be compassion.
These .. lost souls cannot find rest on their own and they look to us to
help them. That must be our first priority .. and, if we document and
experiment along the way and, in so doing, acquire our proof, we must see that
for what it truly is – a bonus.”
She paused. “Thank you.”
There was a moment of silence then
someone began to applaud. Then another
pair of hands joined in, then another.
Soon the conference room thundered with acclaim and Rachel silently
thanked Toby Johnson for putting her on the right path.
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