Sequel to "Personal Demon" and "Sweet Child of Mine", prequel to "One Day at Christmas" (sorry for writing out of sequence, I write whichever story is speaking to me at the time).
Rated PG-13 for adult themes, language, and GB-style action. I don't own the characters, Ghost Corps and a bunch of other people do. I wish I did, the sequel would already be in the works.
This story is in-progress. I will post new chapters (or hopefully the remainder of the story) soon.
GHOSTBUSTERS
"Message in a Bottle"
by llnbooks
Prologue
The world would not end in fire.
The beginning, she knew, would start as a whisper in the heavens as space and time began to stretch and tear like a rip in fabric. It would not be obvious at first. The rip would reveal a nearly identical sky, maybe a star or two out of place or missing.
However, the truth would soon reveal itself as the rip grew, expanding until it encompassed the heavens as far as the humans on this Earth could see. It would appear to touch the ground, and by then the fear would begin. They would not comprehend what was happening…the fate that awaited them…but they would know something beyond their ken was about to reveal itself.
Some would panic and flee, as if distance could protect them.
Some would stand, paralyzed by their terror or their fascination, watching as their fate unfurled.
Only a very few would fight. This had been foreseen. They would fight their fate, and they would fail.
What revealed itself would not be fire nor brimstone. Death would not rain down from the heavens nor boil forth from the earth. From the perspective of the humans, through the chasm they would see a parallel earth-the differences might be miniscule as a butterfly fluttering along an alternate path, or as grave as an earth that had destroyed itself in nuclear war. They would see an identical rip forming in that parallel earth, revealing still another Earth.
The chasm would expand beyond earth, beyond its solar system, infinity upon infinity manifesting. This would happen in minutes. Space and time would stretch to their breaking point….
…and then, one by one, the infinities would be canceled out. One by one, the alternate earths-the parallel dimensions-would vanish along with everything within that reality, that universe, until finally, only the one perfect Earth remained.
Raina Chai hoped this earth would be one of those that simply winked out of existence. She had no desire to see the "perfect earth". There were surely other Rainas in the parallel universes, and perhaps some of them wished to survive, but she considered that a remote possibility. More likely, they were like her: Weary of sleep plagued by these visions of the coming death. Weary of waking hours of his voice, an incessant dialogue in her ears.
Weary and longing for the kiss of oblivion.
Until that day, he commanded and she obeyed.
"Dr. Chaix?"
Another irritating voice beckoned, this one quite human but no less insistent that the monologue echoing in her head. Images of heavens ripped into nonexistence faded, allowing her attention to return to her immediate surroundings.
Stone warriors towered from floor to the glass skylights. Display cases were full of primitive spears and blades and broken bits of pottery. Picture frames chronicled the various dig sites that Raina Chaix had personally visited, one-by-one over a span of time that nobody present in the room that afternoon would believe if she told them. The Temple of the Warriors, the mounds, Teotihuacan, Chichen Itza.
Then, there were other sites that did not exist on any map because only He could reveal their locations. He had warned Raina to keep them secret.
Raina caught her own face reflected in the glass display case-a face perpetually frozen at age thirty-two. Dark hair spilling over skin pale as snow. Ancient, haunted blue eyes.
A second face appeared beside hers in the glass, this one a bespectacled young man in an impeccably tailored gray-color suit and red tie. He was the interpreter that the hotel had hired for her, Raina remembered. He arched an eyebrow at her. "Dr. Chaix? They're waiting for you."
She mustered her smile before she turned from the artifacts to acknowledge him. What was this fool's name again? "Skip, was it?" Raina formed her words carefully, still trying to learn English.
He beckoned to the curtain that sectioned off this area from the Grand Atrium, where the crowd awaited. "This way, ma'am."
Skip stuck his head through the curtain long enough to give thumbs up to the man at the podium on the other side. The man addressed the assembly of guests, high rollers, and journalists from newspaper, television, and social media. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Hidalgo Casino is proud to present the woman whose tireless dedication made it possible to bring these wonderful Lost Treasures of the Toltec Empire here to Atlantic City today: Dr. Raina Chaix."
The thunderous applause was unsettling. It reminded her of the thunder of time ripping apart in her vision-plagued sleep. Her momentary faltering went unnoticed by the crowd as Raina stepped to the microphone, where Skip waited. The hotel's billionaire owner stood just a few steps behind the podium, wanting to share in the glory of this moment (as though he were not simply another piece to be manipulated for the greater vision of her master). Raina would have to suffer the indignity of the oaf's company for now.
"I wish to thank Mr. Kurt Vaughn…" Raina nodded in acknowledgement of the hotel's owner. "…our generous benefactor. He has made it possible to find the ancient temple of Voga Ra'El and prove that this great warrior was no myth but was, in fact, the most powerful warrior among the Toltecs. It is my honor to present to you now the treasures of the Temple of Voga Ra'El."
On cue, the curtain was drawn back to permit the guests to gaze upon the new Totlec exhibit. Mr. Vaughn had followed all Raina's instructions on how to arrange the stone warriors and how to display the weapons and pottery from the dig sites he had funded. He had commissioned contractors and artists to take Raina's descriptions of the ancient temple in order to make a reasonable reproduction here within this wretched tower of capitalism and greed. At the center was the stone sculpture of Voga Ra'El himself, towering four stories tall, with a dome of glass skylights above that would allow the sun to touch the monument for the first time in hundreds of years.
When the crash of applause and the excited chatter of the guests subsided, Raina continued. "Voga Ra'el rose from humble beginnings, as many great leaders do. He was born crippled, unable to fight, to hunt, to help his family farm. He was left to craft pottery in order to survive. In despair, in desperation to be one of the great warriors of the Totlecs, he begged the gods for healing, to make him the mightiest among his people. Finally, one night, the gods answered his prayers."
A spotlight illuminated one glass display case and the most valuable object within the collection: A tubular piece of blue crystal.
The guests obliged with 'oohs' and 'ahhs' because the lighting cue told them to, Raina scoffed. If they truly understood what they were seeing, they would be shrinking away in terror.
"The Eye of Tezcatlipoca. The patron god of warriors appeared in a ball of metal and fire and left behind this stone monolith. When Voga Ra'El laid his hands upon the stone, it healed him of his disability, infused him with superhuman healing power and strength. He did indeed rise to become the mightiest of the Toltecs. He demanded that his people worship him for his power. He demanded sacrifices in his honor. He fancied himself the equal of Tezcatlipoca and the other Toltec gods until they finally turned against him." Raina walked along the reproductions of the murals that depicted Voga Ra'El's downfall. "The gods gifted his most hated foe, the warrior Xochitl, with the vision of how to use the Eye of Tezcatlipoca to create a hole in the sky itself that swallowed Voga Ra'El alive in an eternal, celestial tomb."
Skip obediently translated her words, but he lacked the capacity to convey the true weight of this occasion. From his simple perspective, to the thinking of everyone here, this was another chance to gawk over the relics of a more 'primitive' era. They were unfit to gaze upon the artifacts from his kingdom, Raina scowled. They would smile at the quaintness of the bygone times. They would shake their heads in wonder at the rudimentary obsidian weapons of those times. They would cringe at reproductions of the murals depicting Voga Ra'El's brutal battles and the human sacrifices demanded by Tezcatlipoca.
What they wouldn't see, what they could not comprehend, was the true power of Voga Ra'El, which was not contained in stone and ceramic artifacts. They would not understand that Raina's description of her master as "the most powerful warrior among the Toltecs" was not intended as flattery to him-it was a warning to all of them.
They would understand all this when it was far too late.
Raina had come to a stop beside the glass case that contained the tubular crystal. She glanced to the simpletons who hung on her every word. "The most fantastic part of this tale, honored guests, is that every word is true."
With that, she raised her fist and punched the glass, shattering the 'unbreakable' security case with a single blow. When she seized the crystal Eye of Tezcatlipoca, it began to glow in her hands.
Ignoring the gasps of the audience and Vaughn's indignant shouts for his worthless security guards, Raina aimed the crystal at the rows of stone warriors. "I am Raina Chaix-Messenger of Voga Ra'El. Wake," she commanded in their ancient dialect.
Vaughn stormed across the room, grabbing her by the arm. "What the hell are you doing?!"
He froze as ghost warriors began to emerge from each of the stone statues. Specters in the form of feathered serpents flew from the murals to fly over the now-screaming audience.
Once such serpent intercepted Vaughn, tearing him away from Raina and carrying him upwards. The impact of his body with the skylights above send glass raining down on his fleeing guests. Vaughn himself vanished with the ghost snake into the night sky, his screams eventually fading.
Security guards who were stupid enough to shoot at the ghost warriors and flying serpents were tossed out windows, slammed into walls, or carried away into the night sky like their employer. One cornered Raina, training his gun on her and ordering her: "Make this stop!"
With a wave of her hand, Raina caused a spear to fly from its display case and impale the man. She felt no remorse. He was fortunate to be gifted with a swift death. What was still to come would be far worse for the living.
Tucking the Eye of Tezcatlipoca into her coat, Raina jumped to the top of the four-story statue of her master and then through the broken skylights to the roof of the casino, leaving Voga Ra'El's army to chase away anyone who might considered pursuing her. From her vantage point, she watched the chaos below, waiting. Minutes ticked by as Raina waited.
Nothing. The voice that was normally a non-stop monologue in her brain was silent for once. She was awaiting Voga Ra'El's next instructions. Why was he silent now?!
She did not track how many minutes ticked by before the thump of rotor blades began to drown out the screams of the people in the casino as they fled out of the building's doors and onto the sidewalks below. Several helicopters were swiftly approaching. Most of them were television news copters. Raina cared nothing for them.
One was a black military craft marked "Department of Homeland Security". At its arrival, the voice in Raina's head spoke a single word: Behold.
She watched.
The copter landed on the nearby beach, conveniently void of tourists and beachcombers as people distanced themselves from the spectral attack at the Hidalgo Casino. The side door of the airship slid open; three women in taupe colored jumpsuits emerged, wearing weapons on their backs unlike anything Raina had ever seen. A fourth woman climbed out the cockpit door.
Their uniforms were emblazoned with the logo of a ghost with a red line drawn through it. Raina puzzled at the symbol and the strangers. They were not military, she could tell, but who, then, were they? What was Voga Ra'El's interest in these odd women?
Raina's enhanced senses could easily hear their conversation, even from atop the roof. The woman with hair the color of fire addressed the blonde woman who had been in the cockpit. "It's a matter of physics. I told you that you can't fly helicopters upside down."
The blonde woman smirked at her. "I think I just proved that they can."
Erin rolled her eyes as she shrugged into her proton pack. "Fine. You shouldn't fly helicopters upside down. Is that better?"
Patty wondered why Erin was so surprised. She didn't need to be a science whiz like her friends to calculate that if you let Holtzmann into the cockpit of a helicopter, bad and mind-numbingly terrifying things were going to happen. "Holtz, just tell me you knew we were over the harbor…or do we owe Jesus a prayer of thanks that Agent Rorke landed in the water and didn't go 'splat' on the New Jersey turnpike?"
"Where did you learn to fly, anyway?" Erin pressed.
Holtzmann was almost insulted. "I built a portable nuclear accelerator out of dumpster scraps. I can figure out how a helicopter works."
Gathering her own gear from the chopper, Abby provided the answer, if only so that they could drop the subject of their most recent Holtzmann-generated near-death experience and start concentrating on the job at hand. "Holtz interned two years at Hudson Aerospace after college. She could fly the space shuttle if she had to."
She passed the silver duffel bag to Holtzmann, who was still grinning (mostly due to the endorphins from her aerial stunt). "That almost happened once when I was consulting at N.A.S.A.. Funny story. I was looking for the ladies' room, and I got sooo lost—"
Patty interrupted, "Why would a paranormal physicist need to know how to fly a space shuttle?"
Holtzmann was suddenly dead serious. "Two words: Space ghosts."
"That is not a real thing."
"Oh, they're real..."
Erin was officially sorry that she'd brought up the subject. "And on that note…let's go."
Predictably, the scene of the spectral disturbance was easy enough to spot-they only had to follow the lines of screaming tourists fleeing the scene and look for the familiar floating blobs of glowing green dotting the night sky. Ordinarily, the small Hidalgo Casino was lost among the taller, fancier, and more upscale venues of Atlantic City. However, at that moment, with specters of warriors and flying serpents shattering windows and chasing civilians and the illumination of green streaks stretching skyward, the tiny casino was the most visible spot in the city.
Erin read the giant banner hanging down the side of the Hidalgo's hotel tower "Lost Treasures of the Toltec Empire. Well, on a brighter note, we haven't seen a Toltec ghost before."
They sobered as they approached the building. Through the glass lobby doors, they could see one poor guard who had been impaled by a spear. There was another body, a man in an expensive-looking business suit-lying in the topiaries near the main entrance. In the short time since they'd defeated Rowan North, the few specters that the Ghostbusters had battled were relatively harmless, content to haunt, not harm. The fatalities meant this was a nastier than usual paranormal customer and time was of the essence if they were to prevent more loss of life.
Weapons drawn, they jumped into the fight.
From her place on the roof, Raina Chaix watched the new arrivals. Their weapons were terrifying. One by one, Voga Ra'El's spectral army began to vanish into the energy beams wielded by these women. Raina had believed nothing could harm, much less kill, soldiers who were already dead.
She ducked as the dark-haired Ghostbuster with the glasses took a wild shot at one of the serpent ghosts as it scaled the building, heading for the roof. The apparition screamed and dissolved before Raina's eyes as she reached for it helplessly, crying: "No!"
The women had small grenades as well. As Raina watched, they dispatched a half-dozen more ghosts with only two of the explosives. Miraculously, the panicked humans running from the casino were unharmed by the blasts that had obliterated the specters.
She hung her head in despair. What was Voga Ra'El's purpose in this-allowing his own army to be massacred while Raina watched, incapable of preventing it? If they'd wasted these years to be led to the slaughter now, she should pitch herself to the pavement below and end her suffering.
But, still his voice in her mind whispered: "Wait."
Slowly, the Ghostbusters beat back the tidal wave of vapors and apparitions, making their way into the demolished lobby of the casino, which was the central point of the invasion. Most of the ghosts were focused on pursuing the few remaining humans out of the building. Some were distracted as the psycho-kinetic energy set off the lights and whistles of the slot machines and floated to investigate the machines and the tiny coins spilling from the devices to the floor. A few screeched and scattered as the Ghostbusters entered the room.
Patty glanced around at the temple setting, stone monoliths, and the artifacts. "Someone has been watching way too many Indiana Jones movies."
Erin would have found it interesting if the artifacts weren't somehow generating homicidal spirits. "Holtz-this seems like a good time to test the new trap."
Holtzmann was happy to oblige. "Alright, which one do you want: Ugly warrior ghost or ugly snake ghost?"
At the center of the room was a towering statue of what the Ghostbusters assumed was some ancient Toltec warrior. A serpent ghost-twice as big as the ones that they'd obliterated outside-was coiled around the man's statue. When the women entered the lobby, weapons at the ready, the serpent hissed, baring pointed teeth at them, and began to disentangle itself from the statue to advance upon them.
Erin gestured towards it with her neutrino wand. "That one seems to be volunteering."
Holtzmann pulled the trap from its hook on her proton pack. She was rather stoked about the new toy. It wasn't physically that different from the regular traps. However, if it functioned correctly (and she took it as a personal failure if her machines didn't perform to perfection), the trap would be able to reopen without freeing the ghost inside. The ability to open a trap and communicate with an imprisoned ghost could come in handy, just in case they need to question a ghost about something (for example, like why a Toltec warrior specter had just pitched a bus into the lobby of Trump's casino down the street. He must not like how the Republican primaries turned out, Holtzmann shrugged.)
Catching the serpent ghost as it propelled itself at them was pathetically simple. She whistled, it aimed for her, and Abby and Patty snared it in a crossfire of neutrinos. Holtzmann hit the foot trigger and voila! Ghost in a box.
"That never gets old," Holtzmann grinned. She thumbed open a side panel of her proton pack, removing a cable. She attached it's plug to a port on the trap. "Ready?"
On the roof, watching through the broken skylight, Raina watched, paralyzed with fear and fascination.
Erin nodded, tensely aiming her weapon at the trap in case Holtzmann's new toy didn't work. It went against her instincts to open a trap except to empty it into the containment unit. She tried not to think of what had happened when she'd opened a trap to show off their first specter prisoner to that obnoxious Martin Heiss (who would hopefully wake from his coma someday).
"Go," was all she said.
Holtzmann hit the foot trigger once more, and the trap sprang open. Abby and Patty backed up Erin with their own weapons as a streak of green propelled itself from the device…only to be snared as energy from Holtzmann's proton pack fed through the trap to form a net of energy around the serpent ghost. Snared, the ghost struggled against the hold of the neutrino net, keening its rage.
Abby's finger poised over the trigger of her proton wand, keeping one eye on the test and the other watching in case any more of the Toltec ghost army should manifest to attack. The neutrino net seemed to be holding. "Try communicating with it!" she called to Erin over the crackling noise of the beams.
Erin kept her weapon aimed as she did so: "I'm Dr. Erin Gilbert. Can you understand what I'm saying?"
Unable to free itself of the net, the ghost blew a chunk of ectoplasm in her direction. Erin was expecting it (seemed like she was the favorite target for every slime-spewing ghoul in the Tri-State area) and ducked out of its path. Undaunted, she continued: "Can you tell me your name or the name of the specter, spook, or demigod you all serve?"
The serpent ghost keened something unintelligible at her. It might have been a dialect Erin didn't understand or it could have simply been the cry of the caged beast it was. "Okay, I don't know if the problem is a language barrier or a psychotic ghost barrier, but it looks like the cage is doing its thing at least. Nice work, Holtz."
Holtzmann gave a half-bow, appreciating the appreciation. "It's what I do."
The serpent ghost whirled on the blonde, lunging at Holtzmann with teeth bared, trying to rip out her throat. She didn't so much as flinch as the net held the creature at bay.
Abby fidgeted nervously. "Let's speed it up, ladies. Fido's wanting out of the doghouse and we don't know how long it'll take for that trap to drain the pack's power."
She was right, of course. Erin gave her a nod in answer. To the specter, she said: "On behalf of the State of New Jersey and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, I am ordering you to cease paranormal activity and return to your dimension of origin. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
The serpent strained against the hold of the net, straining to spread its wings. The force of its efforts lifted the trap, the cable nearly tugging Holtzmann off her feet. There was a design flaw she hadn't anticipated. She'd have to figure out an independent power source for the neutrino net.
Patty fired, adding her proton beam to the net to anchor the ghost. "That's definitely our cue to wrap this up."
"Right," Holtzmann hit the foot pedal one last time. The energy net drew the writhing spirit back into the trap.
Raina watched the blonde woman the others called "Holtz"-she noted the proton packs, the trap, the net of energy, the grenades.
This human wielded weapons of the gods…was creator of these weapons.
She thought of the prophecy of Voga Ra'El: The Architect (that was the closest modern English word for it) would be revealed at the Temple of the Warriors.
Raina had lived for years at the site of the real temple, waiting in vain for the prophesized "Architect". Now, the Temple had been recreated here-in this vile casino in this unholy city.
Could it possibly be-?
The Architect will create a bridge to the Kingdom of the Gods and Voga Ra'El shall be set free, the prophecy promimsed.
And if that pale, tiny creature had created such weapons, she surely could create a gateway to Voga Ra'El and his prison in the parallel dimension, Raina reasoned.
She spied one of the warrior ghosts hidden behind one of the temple pillars. The specter was closing on the four Ghostbusters. It hefted a spear, preparing to impale the blonde Ghostbuster from behind. Raina breathed a command that the ghost heard loud as a shout: "Stop."
The ghost paused, looking at Raina in confusion.
The delay allowed Patty to spots the danger to Holtz. "Watch it!" she yelled, drawing a grenade to dispatch the warrior ghost in a 'poof' of ectoplasmic vapor. The spear fell harmlessly to the floor.
"Where was that little booger hiding?" Holtzmann wondered aloud.
"Let's sweep the area, make sure we got them all." Abby drew her PKE meter and began a methodical search of the casino. When she aimed the scanner towards the roof, the warning lights flared. "Looks like we have some activity up on the roof."
She'd been discovered. Raina tucked the Eye of Tezcatlipoca into her cloak as she considered all she'd witnessed. She was stunned. For the first time in a century, she felt a bubble of hope within her soul.
This woman—"Holtz"-might be the One.
The Architect.
Raina's century of torment might finally come to an end.
But she had to know for sure—and clearly Raina would not be able to reach the golden-haired woman while she was armed and surrounded by her comrades.
Raina debated simply having the warrior ghosts take the woman. They'd likely suffer minimal losses before escaping with the Architect. But, if this woman was not the Architect, Raina did not want to reveal Voga Ra'El's plans. And time spent pondering a course of action was costing more of Voga Ra'El's warriors.
She had to find out for sure.
She had to find out more about these Ghostbusters and the one they called Holtz.
Raina stretched forth her arm, beckoning Voga Ra'El's army: "To me."
The last specters of Voga Ra'El's army gathered, swarming back into the hotel from outside and emerging from their hiding places in the reconstructed temple. The Ghostbusters watched as a river of green floated overhead to funnel through the broken skylight.
Erin watched the exodus, confused. "Now where are they going?"
"Is that it?" Patty asked. "It took me longer to fight with the seat belt on the chopper."
Abby took a few stray shots at the retreating ghosts, but gave up quickly. It was like smashing one ant to stop the whole swarm. She didn't think the ghosts were running away because they were giving up, which meant they had whatever they'd come to the casino to find.
Three of the ghosts bolted past Holtzmann, snagging the trap from her hands before she could do anything besides give an indignant shout: "What the-? Damn it, that was my prototype!" She took a few shots, but the ghosts played keep away with the trap until they were out of range of her weapon.
Watching the swirling protoplasmic mass, the Ghostbusters finally spotted the hooded figure watching them from above.
Patty gestured to Raina with her proton wand. "Okay, so who's that? That doesn't look like no damn ghost."
Erin ran for the staircase. "We can ask her when we catch her. Hurry! Follow them!"
The Ghostbusters raced through the trashed casino and up the flights of stairs to the roof. Raina turned from them, lifting her arms to the winged serpent ghosts. They picked her up as they sprang aloft and vanished into the night sky.
By the time the Ghostbusters reached the roof, the spectral army was long gone.
Abby holstered her weapon and stowed the PKE meter. "Okay, unless we can sprout wings, we aren't going to catch them. I'd say we definitely showed up too late for this party.""
"This obviously wasn't an invasion. At least not yet. Maybe Atlantic City wasn't exciting enough for them?" Erin joked.
Holtzmann shrugged. "If I were a ghost, I'd invade Las Vegas-catch a show, play a little baccarat, slime the all-you-can-eat buffets, and drop flyers for hookers on the Scientology convention. The usual tourist stuff."
Patty gave her ear a pinch. "My Aunt Trudy is a Scientologist. The signs down there said the artifacts came from the Temple of the Warriors and the tomb of some Toltec dude named Voga Ra'El," she said. The other three women blinked at her. Secretly, Patty was pleased she had noticed something the scientists had missed. "What? I can read and shoot ghosts at the same time. I'm a multi-tasker."
"Voga Ra'El," Erin repeated. "I don't recognize the name. I'll check Tobin's Spirit Guide, FindAGhost dot com, the usual sites."
"They wanted something." Abby turned the puzzle in her mind as they made their way back to the lobby and the Toltec exhibit. She noticed the most prominent glass case of the display was shattered. "Let's find out what was in this case and if anything else is missing from exhibit. Maybe have Agent Hawkins check if the security camera caught anything...like our mystery woman's face."
GBGBGBGBGBGBGB
Five weeks later…
The pile of flowers, gifts, get well cards, and candles had begun to partially block the stairs leading into the apartment building. The makeshift monument had started accumulating the night that the building's resident Ghostbuster had been injured. Twelve days later, the supervisor was fed up with the mess and finally called the firehouse, demanding that the Ghostbusters do something with the pile.
Kevin had been dispatched with a carload of empty boxes to gather up Holtzmann's presents and bring them back to the firehouse. There wasn't much point in leaving the items in her decimated apartment. Without a front door-or walls-the apartment couldn't be secured, and Holtz's neighbors couldn't keep guarding the place indefinitely. Erin and Patty had already combed through the wreckage checking for any of Holtz's belongings that had survived the ghost fight. They'd brought the items back to HQ before looters and souvenir hunters could ransack the apartment.
Holtzmann had wanted to stay at the firehouse while she convalesced from her injuries (if she ever escaped from the doctors, who seemed intent upon keeping her in the hospital). Abby flatly insisted on setting up the second bedroom in her own small apartment for her while Holtz's place underwent repairs. It was the only way to keep an eye on Holtz to make sure she followed the doctor's orders to rest ("I only need four hours of sleep") and took her medicine ("Pills give me brain fog").
Kevin was concentrating on sorting out dried up flowers (Erin wanted to make 'potpourri'. Women had strange hobbies), deflated 'Get Well' balloons, stuffed animals, and other trinkets. He barely paid attention to the people passing by on the sidewalk or coming and going from the building…until he turned to carry a box to the car and nearly collided with a woman who had crept up behind him while he worked.
He still bumped into her, nearly sending them both toppling and almost making her drop the blue crystal object in her hands. Kevin's hurried to catch her elbow before the woman fell. "Sorry, ma'am-didn't see you there."
The woman clutched her package to her chest, relieved she'd kept her grip on it. She frowned at the boy.
Getting a good look at the woman, Kevin instinctively withdrew his hand.
She might have been an attractive woman, he mused, if not for the fact that one look at her made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. She was bundled up against the-warm September afternoon?-in a beaten brown overcoat and hood. Black curls spilled from beneath the hood, stark against her pale skin. Her eyes were such pale blue that Kevin wondered if they might actually glow in the dark (not that he'd want to be caught in the dark with this freaky Sheila). The eyes were like ice and sent a piercing bit of cold right into his bones. At least, it made him feel like his blood ran cold.
Maybe she was a snowman—or snowwoman, he thought. Except there was no snow and she'd melt in that overcoat. Kevin dismissed that notion.
She smelled odd, too. Kind of like the room at the National History Museum where they kept the mummies. He'd found that room once when he'd got lost while taking a tour.
Then the woman smiled, and Kevin hoped she never did it again because it was flatly disturbing.
"Pardon," she half-bowed in apology. She spoke slowly and deliberately, as if English was not her native language and she was having to work at finding her words. "Am I too late to leave a gift for the Ghost Buster?" She held out the crystal object to Kevin. "So unfortunate…such a tragedy…such a clever girl to master the secrets of the universe."
Kevin had no idea what the woman was talking about, but he forgot to be creeped out in his eagerness to accept the gift. He loved presents even if they weren't for him. He puzzled over the crystal. It was nearly formless. He would have bought something that had been carved into a recognizable shape like a horse or a bird. Maybe this was new age art?
"Oh…I get it. I've seen these before. It's a salt lamp, right?" he guessed, despite the obvious lack of a power cord or a base for batteries. He just didn't want the scary woman to think he couldn't appreciate art.
Her smile vanished. She cocked her head at him.
"They have a salt lamp at my gym. Supposed to have healing powers. Or something. If you believe that stuff. Which I don't," he babbled in the uncomfortable silence.
"Healing powers…yes," the woman said. "This will heal. You will see the Arch-the Ghost Buster-receives it?"
Kevin shrugged. "Yeah, sure." He chucked the crystal into one of the empty boxes.
The woman made a noise like a hiss, snatching back the figuring and replacing it in the maddening boy's hands. "You will see the Ghost Buster receives it," she repeated.
Kevin sighed. Fanboys could be so pushy. "No worries." He winked at the woman. She recoiled as if he'd tried to bite her.
Raina Chaix stared, watching with quiet exasperation as the boy once again placed the crystal into a box (using exaggerated care this time). She had tried to deliver the Eye of Tezcatlipoca to the Architect in person, but her hospital door had been guarded by men with guns hidden beneath their coats. They seemed buffoonish, but that made them no less dangerous.
Therefore, she was dependent upon this equally-buffoonish blonde boy to deliver the crystal to the Architect. He did not understand the supreme importance of what she was asking him to do, and she could not explain it to him.
How long Voga Ra'El has waited…waited for the Architect. So many had been tested and failed, but as soon as she'd seen the Ghost Buster called 'Holtzmann' and the miraculous machines she created on the news channels, she had known: This was the Architect. Finally.
Voga Ra'El had waited long. He would have to wait a bit longer. There was no choice at the moment.
Resigned, Raina withdrew, leaving Kevin to his work.
TBC…