You Give Dead People a Bad Name
October 7
“No.”
“Oh, c’mon! It would be epic!”
“No.”
“But it would be fun! You know it.”
“Fun like a cavity. Fun like a history exam. Fun like a week of Suck Days.”
“Don’t be such a killjoy! Can’t you just imagine the looks on their faces? They’d crap their pants!”
“Yes, Bruce. I can imagine it. So, no.” Trixie stopped and turned to glare at the young man next to her. “I am not going to your frat house. I am not going to act like I’ve been possessed by you so that you can feed me lines to say with information no one but you would know. Forget it. It’s. Not. Gonna. Happen.”
“Okay. Fine. I guess I’ll hafta go hang out at the Kappa house for awhile. Never know who I might catch in a shower.”
Trixie decided not to bother with a response. She shoved her cell phone into her back pocket, no longer needing to pretend she was on a call to explain her conversation with someone who wasn’t there. If she’d read the map correctly, the sciences and mathematics building would be the next one up ahead. Haversham wasn’t a large college, by any means, but it had still taken her almost ten minutes to walk from visitor parking to the back of the campus. Ignoring the fact that Bruce had not made good on his “threat” and was still unfortunately hovering at her side, she hurriedly crossed the grassy quad.
“Hi. Excuse me,” she said to the first students she encountered inside her destination. “Can you point me to Professor Lee’s office?”
The two boys traded looks. Trixie got the sense some sort of silent communication passed between them before one of them spoke. “Yeah, sure, cutie. I can take you right up,” the dark-haired boy replied. “Catch you later, Joe,” he added with a nod to his friend.
“Sure, cutie. I can take you right up,” Bruce mimicked in a sing-song voice. “What a tool!”
“Takes one to know one,” Trixie muttered under her breath.
Her guide glanced over at her as he waved her through the open door to the stairwell. “I’m sorry? Did you just say something?”
“Uh, nothing. Sorry. I… uh… sometimes, I think out loud. It helps me… remember things I need to do.” Trixie felt the heat rise to her cheeks and was once again uncomfortably aware of her inability to lie with the kind of confidence needed to make herself sound at least somewhat believable.
“Hey. No worries. You do what you gotta do to stay sane and succeed here, right? My name’s Greg. Engineering. I haven’t seen you around before. Freshman?”
Trixie shook her head. “I’m not a student. I mean, I’m a student, but not a Haversham student.”
“Oh? You visiting from one of the schools in the city?” Greg guessed. “NYU?”
“Sleepyside. High School. I’m a high school student. I’m only here to see Professor Lee about some research.”
Greg grinned over at her and snapped his fingers. “Damn. Just my luck. If the cute ones don’t already have a boyfriend, there’s always something else… That something usually consisting of a complete lack of interest in the terrifying notion of dating yours truly.”
Trixie found herself laughing at Greg’s cheerful self-deprecation. She wasn’t sure, even if she had been older, that she’d want to date him either, but she did think, if circumstances had been different, that they might have become good friends.
“The prof’s office is down this hall,” he said as he led the way. “Are you thinking of coming here once you graduate? Haversham’s a fantastic school, especially if you’re interested in STEM.”
“STEM is for geeks,” Bruce announced, his lips turned up in a sneer.
Trixie continued to ignore him, wishing she could fully tune him out. “Uh… I’m not entirely sure what I want to major in,” she told Greg. “I’m tending toward criminology, though.”
“Oh, yeah? CSI?”
“More like Remington Steele. Without the fake boss.”
“Wow. She’s cute. She’s not afraid to admit she talks to herself. And she references 80’s television shows. How old are you? Because, just so you know… I’m willing to wait.”
They stopped outside a door with Professor Lee’s name stenciled on the opaque glass. Greg lifted a hand to knock.
“I’m only sixteen,” Trixie replied, shaking her head slightly. “Sorry.”
He heaved a drawn-out sigh. “Right. So, I’d be in graduate school by the time you got here. That could still work.”
“It’s open,” a muffled voice called from within the office. “Come in.”
Greg turned the knob and pulled. “Professor? I’ve brought you a visitor.”
Professor Lee glanced up from his papers and blinked owlishly at them. “Trixie! Hello.”
“Trixie, huh?” Greg flashed her another grin. “And now I know your name. This is where I leave you, though. Nice meeting you, Trixie. I hope we’ll see each other again sometime in the future.” He wandered off with a quick wave over his shoulder.
“Trixie? Is everything all right?” Professor Lee asked in concern as he pushed away from his desk and stood.
She held up one hand. “Before you say anything else, I should warn you. We aren’t alone.”
His eyes widened considerably behind his round glasses and he took one step in her direction. “There’s a spirit here? Now?”
“Yep. An extremely annoying one I accidentally picked up when I stopped at the admin building to find out where you would be.” She cocked her head to one side. “His name is Bruce. He didn’t actually tell me how he died, but I’m thinking alcohol poisoning would be a safe bet.”
“Did he say what he wanted? What he needs you to do?”
“He wants me to go over to some frat house and start reciting things he tells me to say – things I couldn’t possibly know personally – to freak out his fraternity brothers. And right now? He’s saying he won’t leave me alone until I do it. I don’t think it’s actually what he needs, though. I think he’s another Vernon. Deliberately hanging around for some unknown reason. Well, some reason beyond what he told me earlier. Apparently, he likes to take advantage of his invisibility and spy on sorority girls while they shower.”
The professor’s expression melted from curious interest to a severe frown. “Tell him I said I’ve found a particularly nasty spell you could use on him that would lock him in a frozen state for all eternity.”
“He can hear you even though you can’t hear him, remember? So, yeah. Message delivered.”
“And his response?”
Trixie studied the ghost at her side. “I don’t think he believes you. Yes, Bruce. A spell. A magic spell. Did it not cross your feeble mind to wonder why I can see and talk to you when most people can’t? Turns out? I’m a witch. And I don’t just mean in the catty sense.” She lifted her hands and wiggled her fingers in his direction. “Run along, or I’ll freeze you solid. Or maybe just turn you into a toad.”
For a long moment, Bruce appeared uncertain, but then finally, with a parting shot consisting of almost every foul word Trixie could think of, he vanished from sight.
“Huh. Well, it worked. At least for now. I doubt he’s gone for good, though.” She bit her lip as another thought occurred to her. “And it’s possible he might start trying to mess with you now. I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Professor Lee said dismissively. “I think it’s safe to say we have bigger fish to fry than one Animal House castoff.”
Trixie nodded at that, then huffed out a short breath. “Yeah. Right. That’s why I’m here, actually. I have a bunch of questions for you.”
“All right. Ah… I don’t mean to be… insinuating anything, but would you like to accompany me to the café in the student union building? We have a code of conduct all faculty must abide by, and they frown severely on any male instructors meeting in private with underage females.”
“Oh! Sorry! Yeah. Of course. I don’t want to get you into any trouble.” Trixie stepped quickly back out into the hall, waiting as he closed down his laptop and joined her, locking the door behind him.
The cafeteria proved to be somewhat crowded. Trixie was slightly amused by the number of bleary-eyed students who looked to be on their first meal of the day, despite the fact that it was mid-afternoon. She toyed with the straw in her soda cup, not sure, now that the time had come, exactly how to phrase her concerns. “No one knows I came to see you,” she confessed. She paused and her brows drew down, wondering if she should have admitted to that fact. If Professor Lee harbored any ill intentions, she’d naively given him an opening. And yet, she believed somehow that she could trust the man. Something about him made her feel that he was completely sincere in his offer to help. Maybe it was his “nice eyes,” she thought wryly.
“Dan and Mart went back to Lisgard House,” she continued. “To keep looking for the book. Honey had cheerleading practice, then she’s going home with our friend Diana. We thought it would be a good idea to have at least one of us keeping up the pretense that this is all about the Halloween party at the end of the month. I borrowed her car and everybody thinks I’ve gone to the library to do some homework.”
“I gathered from what you said last night that your schoolwork has been suffering lately?”
“Yeah, well, Sleepyside High? Hogwarts, it is not. But it’s not like I can concentrate on anything! The whole world has flipped upside down and inside out and I’m supposed to keep right on going like nothing’s changed?”
“I’m sure this has been a rough week for you,” Professor Lee said sympathetically.
“I don’t even know what to think anymore. Ghosts are real. And witches, too, apparently. And I might even be one, though I think the jury is still out on that. Mart’s the one who read the spell book out loud and Dan’s the one who’s… somehow attached to the amulet. Does that make him a witch… eh, a warlock, too?”
“I honestly don’t know. There are so many conflicting stories and myths about the supernatural and the occult. We’re going to have to sift through the facts as we discover them and see where they fit into the big picture.”
“A couple of years ago? I went with Honey and one of her father’s employees – Dan’s uncle actually – to Minnesota. To make what is probably a long and dull story short, I almost drowned when I got swept away by a river. And I thought… I thought a ghost saved me. Dragged me out just as I was about to lose consciousness and go under for the last time. When I told everyone, their reactions ranged from telling me I’d been hallucinating because I thought I was going to die so my brain dreamed up a rescuer to save me, to essentially suggesting I might need to check myself into the funny farm on a permanent basis. I convinced myself that it was just a delusion, especially because everybody pointed out that a ghost wouldn’t be able to hold my hand and pull me up and I thought that made sense. Now I know that you can touch a ghost, if you want to bad enough. Mart proved that.”
“So you’re wondering if some sort of apparition really did save you, then.”
“Yes. I dunno. Is that possible? I mean, we’re operating under the assumption that Dan and Mart and I can see the ghosts because of a spell, but what if… what if I always could? At least, under extreme circumstances? What if Sarah’s spell only heightened that ability or something? Would that mean I really am some kind of witch?”
“That certainly seems like a plausible possibility, if one accepts that any of this is possible at all. Stories of witches and what they are or aren’t capable of go back almost to the very beginnings of human history. They can vary wildly, but practically every culture has had some kind of representation of a human with supernatural powers. For instance, in ancient – ah, sorry. How much back history do you want to know? I’ve been told I can get too, uh, enthusiastic about the topic. I’m afraid it’s even ruined a couple of potential romantic relationships for me.”
Trixie glanced at her watch. “I have to meet Dan and Mart outside town hall at 6:30. We’re going to try to deal with the jumper tonight. It seems almost cruel to leave him there, committing suicide over and over, you know? But otherwise, I’m free. My folks think I’m grabbing dinner somewhere in town after studying and they aren’t expecting me home before 8:00 or so. Which is all to say, I’ve got time for whatever you can tell me. I want to understand all this. I need to understand it.”
The professor smiled gently at her. “I would imagine so. And may I say, all things considered, I admire how well you and your friends and brother have been handling the enormous shock you received this week? You didn’t grow up dedicating every free moment to the study of the paranormal as I did. You must feel like you fell into an episode of The Twilight Zone.”
“Thanks,” Trixie said, a small smile briefly crossing her features. “As a sidebar to this whole conversation… do you really know a spell that can freeze ghosts? Because that has real potential.”
“I’m sorry to say that was a bit of a bluff. I have seen all sorts of spells that can supposedly do any number of things, but I imagine most of them are pure bunk. I’ve never had an actual witch who could test them for me. Ah, and don’t worry. I'm not going to push it all on you now. If we find ourselves in genuine need of something like that? We’ll address it when the time comes.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Someone’s coming!” Trixie whispered urgently. “Try to look casual.”
Dan turned and straightened, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Evening, folks,” he said to the middle-aged couple that was strolling by. They nodded in acknowledgment of his greeting, but thankfully did not stop for further conversation. As soon as they were a safe distance away, Dan reapplied himself to picking the lock on the small door that served as a side entrance into Sleepyside’s town hall.
“Dude. C’mon,” Mart muttered. “You got Larry’s storage unit open faster than this.”
“That was a different type of lock. And you know, you’re free to try your hand at this yourself. I love how you two are all, ‘Oh, we need to break into a building. Let’s get the ex-gang member to do it.’ For the record? Before I got busted? My specialty was hotwiring cars.”
“Really?” Trixie demanded curiously. Dan typically never even alluded to his past, much less provided any concrete details. “You were a car thief?”
Mart scowled at her. “Seriously, Sis?”
“What? He brought it up!”
Dan shrugged one shoulder as he continued to work at the small keyhole with the screwdriver he'd found in the back of his van. “Eh. I did what I had to. I’m not proud of it by any means, but I’m not really apologizing for it, either. And… got it. Okay. I’m about to open this door, but you need to be ready to book it if an alarm goes off.”
“What if it’s a silent alarm?” Trixie asked worriedly.
“Then we’d better hope we can come up with an excellent excuse to explain what we’re up to when the cops arrive.” He grasped the handle and pushed.
After exchanging uncertain glances, they slipped inside. It was nearly pitch dark. Rather than risk turning on a light that could possibly be seen by anyone passing by outside, they carefully crept along by feel.
“The stairs are in the back of the building,” Mart said quietly. “They keep them chained off to the public, but there’s no door or anything else to stop us.”
Going from the first floor to the second and then third was a relatively simple endeavor. The stairs were wide, somewhat shallow, and lit by way of a street lamp visible through a series of tall, narrow windows. Once there, they paused at the base of a black metal spiral staircase that presumably led to the cupola on top of the building.
Trixie climbed onto the first step and looked up, peering into the inky blackness. “I think actually going out onto the roof would be a bad idea,” she said. “Not just because someone might spot us, but because we don’t want to risk falling off. Problem is, I don’t think there’s enough room up there for all three of us. At least, it doesn’t look that way from street level. I guess I could be wrong.”
“You should be the one to go,” Dan told her.
“Huh? Why?”
It was Mart who answered. “Because, Sis, as much as it pains me to admit this, you seem to be the best at dealing with the ghosts. Especially the ones who… uh… put up some resistance.”
“Me? You were the one who scared off Vernon’s wife!”
“With some fake mumbo-jumbo and backed up by Vernon’s claim that we were a genuine threat to her. And besides, I already tried to help this one, remember? I got nowhere.”
“Okay. Fine. Whatever.” She grabbed the railing and began her ascent.
“Freckles.”
Dan spoke quietly, without his usual sarcastic drawl. Surprised at his tone, Trixie turned back to look at him. “Uh, huh?”
“Just… just be careful. All right?” For a moment, he seemed as if he wanted to say more, but then he clamped his lips together tightly and nodded at her instead.
“Yeah,” Trixie said slowly. “I plan on it. Seriously. If something seems hinky, I’ll come back down these steps so fast, you’ll probably need to catch me.”
She huffed out a breath and resumed climbing. She didn’t have to go too far before she encountered a small trap door. After fumbling around for several long seconds, she found a handle and tugged.
“I’ll jump! I swear! I’ll jump! You watch!”
“I know you will,” she said as she pulled herself part-way up into the tiny space the cupola provided. “Go on. I’ll be right here when you get back.”
“Wha…?” The shouting man turned to look at her with eyes rounded in shock. He gasped as he flailed backward, tumbling off the roof. Only moments later, he reappeared and let out a startled cry as soon as he saw her. Before she could utter a single word, he fell again, flapping his arms almost comically as he dropped away.
Trixie sighed. She suspected this was going to be a long night. Twenty minutes later, she knew she'd been right.
“I’ll jump! I’ll do it! You don’t believe me, but I will.”
Although she was aware it was something that in any other situation would have utterly horrified her, Trixie’s patience was sapped. “Oh, I believe you,” she muttered darkly. “But the thing is? My care meter? Has totally flat-lined.” She focused her thoughts in deep concentration, then reached out and gave the man a sharp push. He fell away with a startled cry.
She only just resisted banging her head on the wall when he popped back up in front of her seconds later, before she could even reach the count of 10.
“I’ll jump! You watch me! I’ll do it!”
“Dan?” she called, bending over to be heard. “I give! I’m coming down. It’s your turn!”
“No.”
“Oh, c’mon! It would be epic!”
“No.”
“But it would be fun! You know it.”
“Fun like a cavity. Fun like a history exam. Fun like a week of Suck Days.”
“Don’t be such a killjoy! Can’t you just imagine the looks on their faces? They’d crap their pants!”
“Yes, Bruce. I can imagine it. So, no.” Trixie stopped and turned to glare at the young man next to her. “I am not going to your frat house. I am not going to act like I’ve been possessed by you so that you can feed me lines to say with information no one but you would know. Forget it. It’s. Not. Gonna. Happen.”
“Okay. Fine. I guess I’ll hafta go hang out at the Kappa house for awhile. Never know who I might catch in a shower.”
Trixie decided not to bother with a response. She shoved her cell phone into her back pocket, no longer needing to pretend she was on a call to explain her conversation with someone who wasn’t there. If she’d read the map correctly, the sciences and mathematics building would be the next one up ahead. Haversham wasn’t a large college, by any means, but it had still taken her almost ten minutes to walk from visitor parking to the back of the campus. Ignoring the fact that Bruce had not made good on his “threat” and was still unfortunately hovering at her side, she hurriedly crossed the grassy quad.
“Hi. Excuse me,” she said to the first students she encountered inside her destination. “Can you point me to Professor Lee’s office?”
The two boys traded looks. Trixie got the sense some sort of silent communication passed between them before one of them spoke. “Yeah, sure, cutie. I can take you right up,” the dark-haired boy replied. “Catch you later, Joe,” he added with a nod to his friend.
“Sure, cutie. I can take you right up,” Bruce mimicked in a sing-song voice. “What a tool!”
“Takes one to know one,” Trixie muttered under her breath.
Her guide glanced over at her as he waved her through the open door to the stairwell. “I’m sorry? Did you just say something?”
“Uh, nothing. Sorry. I… uh… sometimes, I think out loud. It helps me… remember things I need to do.” Trixie felt the heat rise to her cheeks and was once again uncomfortably aware of her inability to lie with the kind of confidence needed to make herself sound at least somewhat believable.
“Hey. No worries. You do what you gotta do to stay sane and succeed here, right? My name’s Greg. Engineering. I haven’t seen you around before. Freshman?”
Trixie shook her head. “I’m not a student. I mean, I’m a student, but not a Haversham student.”
“Oh? You visiting from one of the schools in the city?” Greg guessed. “NYU?”
“Sleepyside. High School. I’m a high school student. I’m only here to see Professor Lee about some research.”
Greg grinned over at her and snapped his fingers. “Damn. Just my luck. If the cute ones don’t already have a boyfriend, there’s always something else… That something usually consisting of a complete lack of interest in the terrifying notion of dating yours truly.”
Trixie found herself laughing at Greg’s cheerful self-deprecation. She wasn’t sure, even if she had been older, that she’d want to date him either, but she did think, if circumstances had been different, that they might have become good friends.
“The prof’s office is down this hall,” he said as he led the way. “Are you thinking of coming here once you graduate? Haversham’s a fantastic school, especially if you’re interested in STEM.”
“STEM is for geeks,” Bruce announced, his lips turned up in a sneer.
Trixie continued to ignore him, wishing she could fully tune him out. “Uh… I’m not entirely sure what I want to major in,” she told Greg. “I’m tending toward criminology, though.”
“Oh, yeah? CSI?”
“More like Remington Steele. Without the fake boss.”
“Wow. She’s cute. She’s not afraid to admit she talks to herself. And she references 80’s television shows. How old are you? Because, just so you know… I’m willing to wait.”
They stopped outside a door with Professor Lee’s name stenciled on the opaque glass. Greg lifted a hand to knock.
“I’m only sixteen,” Trixie replied, shaking her head slightly. “Sorry.”
He heaved a drawn-out sigh. “Right. So, I’d be in graduate school by the time you got here. That could still work.”
“It’s open,” a muffled voice called from within the office. “Come in.”
Greg turned the knob and pulled. “Professor? I’ve brought you a visitor.”
Professor Lee glanced up from his papers and blinked owlishly at them. “Trixie! Hello.”
“Trixie, huh?” Greg flashed her another grin. “And now I know your name. This is where I leave you, though. Nice meeting you, Trixie. I hope we’ll see each other again sometime in the future.” He wandered off with a quick wave over his shoulder.
“Trixie? Is everything all right?” Professor Lee asked in concern as he pushed away from his desk and stood.
She held up one hand. “Before you say anything else, I should warn you. We aren’t alone.”
His eyes widened considerably behind his round glasses and he took one step in her direction. “There’s a spirit here? Now?”
“Yep. An extremely annoying one I accidentally picked up when I stopped at the admin building to find out where you would be.” She cocked her head to one side. “His name is Bruce. He didn’t actually tell me how he died, but I’m thinking alcohol poisoning would be a safe bet.”
“Did he say what he wanted? What he needs you to do?”
“He wants me to go over to some frat house and start reciting things he tells me to say – things I couldn’t possibly know personally – to freak out his fraternity brothers. And right now? He’s saying he won’t leave me alone until I do it. I don’t think it’s actually what he needs, though. I think he’s another Vernon. Deliberately hanging around for some unknown reason. Well, some reason beyond what he told me earlier. Apparently, he likes to take advantage of his invisibility and spy on sorority girls while they shower.”
The professor’s expression melted from curious interest to a severe frown. “Tell him I said I’ve found a particularly nasty spell you could use on him that would lock him in a frozen state for all eternity.”
“He can hear you even though you can’t hear him, remember? So, yeah. Message delivered.”
“And his response?”
Trixie studied the ghost at her side. “I don’t think he believes you. Yes, Bruce. A spell. A magic spell. Did it not cross your feeble mind to wonder why I can see and talk to you when most people can’t? Turns out? I’m a witch. And I don’t just mean in the catty sense.” She lifted her hands and wiggled her fingers in his direction. “Run along, or I’ll freeze you solid. Or maybe just turn you into a toad.”
For a long moment, Bruce appeared uncertain, but then finally, with a parting shot consisting of almost every foul word Trixie could think of, he vanished from sight.
“Huh. Well, it worked. At least for now. I doubt he’s gone for good, though.” She bit her lip as another thought occurred to her. “And it’s possible he might start trying to mess with you now. I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Professor Lee said dismissively. “I think it’s safe to say we have bigger fish to fry than one Animal House castoff.”
Trixie nodded at that, then huffed out a short breath. “Yeah. Right. That’s why I’m here, actually. I have a bunch of questions for you.”
“All right. Ah… I don’t mean to be… insinuating anything, but would you like to accompany me to the café in the student union building? We have a code of conduct all faculty must abide by, and they frown severely on any male instructors meeting in private with underage females.”
“Oh! Sorry! Yeah. Of course. I don’t want to get you into any trouble.” Trixie stepped quickly back out into the hall, waiting as he closed down his laptop and joined her, locking the door behind him.
The cafeteria proved to be somewhat crowded. Trixie was slightly amused by the number of bleary-eyed students who looked to be on their first meal of the day, despite the fact that it was mid-afternoon. She toyed with the straw in her soda cup, not sure, now that the time had come, exactly how to phrase her concerns. “No one knows I came to see you,” she confessed. She paused and her brows drew down, wondering if she should have admitted to that fact. If Professor Lee harbored any ill intentions, she’d naively given him an opening. And yet, she believed somehow that she could trust the man. Something about him made her feel that he was completely sincere in his offer to help. Maybe it was his “nice eyes,” she thought wryly.
“Dan and Mart went back to Lisgard House,” she continued. “To keep looking for the book. Honey had cheerleading practice, then she’s going home with our friend Diana. We thought it would be a good idea to have at least one of us keeping up the pretense that this is all about the Halloween party at the end of the month. I borrowed her car and everybody thinks I’ve gone to the library to do some homework.”
“I gathered from what you said last night that your schoolwork has been suffering lately?”
“Yeah, well, Sleepyside High? Hogwarts, it is not. But it’s not like I can concentrate on anything! The whole world has flipped upside down and inside out and I’m supposed to keep right on going like nothing’s changed?”
“I’m sure this has been a rough week for you,” Professor Lee said sympathetically.
“I don’t even know what to think anymore. Ghosts are real. And witches, too, apparently. And I might even be one, though I think the jury is still out on that. Mart’s the one who read the spell book out loud and Dan’s the one who’s… somehow attached to the amulet. Does that make him a witch… eh, a warlock, too?”
“I honestly don’t know. There are so many conflicting stories and myths about the supernatural and the occult. We’re going to have to sift through the facts as we discover them and see where they fit into the big picture.”
“A couple of years ago? I went with Honey and one of her father’s employees – Dan’s uncle actually – to Minnesota. To make what is probably a long and dull story short, I almost drowned when I got swept away by a river. And I thought… I thought a ghost saved me. Dragged me out just as I was about to lose consciousness and go under for the last time. When I told everyone, their reactions ranged from telling me I’d been hallucinating because I thought I was going to die so my brain dreamed up a rescuer to save me, to essentially suggesting I might need to check myself into the funny farm on a permanent basis. I convinced myself that it was just a delusion, especially because everybody pointed out that a ghost wouldn’t be able to hold my hand and pull me up and I thought that made sense. Now I know that you can touch a ghost, if you want to bad enough. Mart proved that.”
“So you’re wondering if some sort of apparition really did save you, then.”
“Yes. I dunno. Is that possible? I mean, we’re operating under the assumption that Dan and Mart and I can see the ghosts because of a spell, but what if… what if I always could? At least, under extreme circumstances? What if Sarah’s spell only heightened that ability or something? Would that mean I really am some kind of witch?”
“That certainly seems like a plausible possibility, if one accepts that any of this is possible at all. Stories of witches and what they are or aren’t capable of go back almost to the very beginnings of human history. They can vary wildly, but practically every culture has had some kind of representation of a human with supernatural powers. For instance, in ancient – ah, sorry. How much back history do you want to know? I’ve been told I can get too, uh, enthusiastic about the topic. I’m afraid it’s even ruined a couple of potential romantic relationships for me.”
Trixie glanced at her watch. “I have to meet Dan and Mart outside town hall at 6:30. We’re going to try to deal with the jumper tonight. It seems almost cruel to leave him there, committing suicide over and over, you know? But otherwise, I’m free. My folks think I’m grabbing dinner somewhere in town after studying and they aren’t expecting me home before 8:00 or so. Which is all to say, I’ve got time for whatever you can tell me. I want to understand all this. I need to understand it.”
The professor smiled gently at her. “I would imagine so. And may I say, all things considered, I admire how well you and your friends and brother have been handling the enormous shock you received this week? You didn’t grow up dedicating every free moment to the study of the paranormal as I did. You must feel like you fell into an episode of The Twilight Zone.”
“Thanks,” Trixie said, a small smile briefly crossing her features. “As a sidebar to this whole conversation… do you really know a spell that can freeze ghosts? Because that has real potential.”
“I’m sorry to say that was a bit of a bluff. I have seen all sorts of spells that can supposedly do any number of things, but I imagine most of them are pure bunk. I’ve never had an actual witch who could test them for me. Ah, and don’t worry. I'm not going to push it all on you now. If we find ourselves in genuine need of something like that? We’ll address it when the time comes.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Someone’s coming!” Trixie whispered urgently. “Try to look casual.”
Dan turned and straightened, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Evening, folks,” he said to the middle-aged couple that was strolling by. They nodded in acknowledgment of his greeting, but thankfully did not stop for further conversation. As soon as they were a safe distance away, Dan reapplied himself to picking the lock on the small door that served as a side entrance into Sleepyside’s town hall.
“Dude. C’mon,” Mart muttered. “You got Larry’s storage unit open faster than this.”
“That was a different type of lock. And you know, you’re free to try your hand at this yourself. I love how you two are all, ‘Oh, we need to break into a building. Let’s get the ex-gang member to do it.’ For the record? Before I got busted? My specialty was hotwiring cars.”
“Really?” Trixie demanded curiously. Dan typically never even alluded to his past, much less provided any concrete details. “You were a car thief?”
Mart scowled at her. “Seriously, Sis?”
“What? He brought it up!”
Dan shrugged one shoulder as he continued to work at the small keyhole with the screwdriver he'd found in the back of his van. “Eh. I did what I had to. I’m not proud of it by any means, but I’m not really apologizing for it, either. And… got it. Okay. I’m about to open this door, but you need to be ready to book it if an alarm goes off.”
“What if it’s a silent alarm?” Trixie asked worriedly.
“Then we’d better hope we can come up with an excellent excuse to explain what we’re up to when the cops arrive.” He grasped the handle and pushed.
After exchanging uncertain glances, they slipped inside. It was nearly pitch dark. Rather than risk turning on a light that could possibly be seen by anyone passing by outside, they carefully crept along by feel.
“The stairs are in the back of the building,” Mart said quietly. “They keep them chained off to the public, but there’s no door or anything else to stop us.”
Going from the first floor to the second and then third was a relatively simple endeavor. The stairs were wide, somewhat shallow, and lit by way of a street lamp visible through a series of tall, narrow windows. Once there, they paused at the base of a black metal spiral staircase that presumably led to the cupola on top of the building.
Trixie climbed onto the first step and looked up, peering into the inky blackness. “I think actually going out onto the roof would be a bad idea,” she said. “Not just because someone might spot us, but because we don’t want to risk falling off. Problem is, I don’t think there’s enough room up there for all three of us. At least, it doesn’t look that way from street level. I guess I could be wrong.”
“You should be the one to go,” Dan told her.
“Huh? Why?”
It was Mart who answered. “Because, Sis, as much as it pains me to admit this, you seem to be the best at dealing with the ghosts. Especially the ones who… uh… put up some resistance.”
“Me? You were the one who scared off Vernon’s wife!”
“With some fake mumbo-jumbo and backed up by Vernon’s claim that we were a genuine threat to her. And besides, I already tried to help this one, remember? I got nowhere.”
“Okay. Fine. Whatever.” She grabbed the railing and began her ascent.
“Freckles.”
Dan spoke quietly, without his usual sarcastic drawl. Surprised at his tone, Trixie turned back to look at him. “Uh, huh?”
“Just… just be careful. All right?” For a moment, he seemed as if he wanted to say more, but then he clamped his lips together tightly and nodded at her instead.
“Yeah,” Trixie said slowly. “I plan on it. Seriously. If something seems hinky, I’ll come back down these steps so fast, you’ll probably need to catch me.”
She huffed out a breath and resumed climbing. She didn’t have to go too far before she encountered a small trap door. After fumbling around for several long seconds, she found a handle and tugged.
“I’ll jump! I swear! I’ll jump! You watch!”
“I know you will,” she said as she pulled herself part-way up into the tiny space the cupola provided. “Go on. I’ll be right here when you get back.”
“Wha…?” The shouting man turned to look at her with eyes rounded in shock. He gasped as he flailed backward, tumbling off the roof. Only moments later, he reappeared and let out a startled cry as soon as he saw her. Before she could utter a single word, he fell again, flapping his arms almost comically as he dropped away.
Trixie sighed. She suspected this was going to be a long night. Twenty minutes later, she knew she'd been right.
“I’ll jump! I’ll do it! You don’t believe me, but I will.”
Although she was aware it was something that in any other situation would have utterly horrified her, Trixie’s patience was sapped. “Oh, I believe you,” she muttered darkly. “But the thing is? My care meter? Has totally flat-lined.” She focused her thoughts in deep concentration, then reached out and gave the man a sharp push. He fell away with a startled cry.
She only just resisted banging her head on the wall when he popped back up in front of her seconds later, before she could even reach the count of 10.
“I’ll jump! You watch me! I’ll do it!”
“Dan?” she called, bending over to be heard. “I give! I’m coming down. It’s your turn!”