Dark Fall II

Part III: The Past

Chapter 24: Speculation

Cody picked up the phone as soon as Zack called despite the late hour. Zack was calling from a payphone, a true rarity by this point in the early 21st century. But Kettlepod was quite behind the times. Zack felt relieved just hearing that Cody was still safe.

He briefly wondered to himself if Cody's phone had been bugged. It would probably make little difference if they were, he realized.

Zack introduced his attempt to update Cody with: "If you'd thought what I'd told you was hard enough to believe, then I've got even more."

"I'll play." Cody said.

Zack explained everything that had happened.

"So, the boy was the same Archimedes of Fetch Rock after all."

"Yes." Zack said. "But I'm pretty certain he's not the same Archimedes as before the ritual."

"So, you actually think there's something else walking around in his body?"

"I'm pretty certain that the ghost boy I've been seeing is the real Archimedes. I think the whole purpose of the family living at that house was more than to just safeguard the house. I think it was to prepare a vessel for the ritual. I think the old man I saw was the 'Archimedes' that we know. I think the ritual was meant to transfer whatever was in the old man into the young boy's body. And if that's true, then God knows how long they've been doing this."

"That's… just what the heck are they up to?" Cody mused.

"If what I've just said is true, then that means that not only is Archimedes trying to find a way to change history, he seems to have found a way to make himself immortal."

"I feel like I'm crazy for suggesting this, but all this has been pretty crazy from the get-go…" Cody said. "Do you think there could be an actual demon walking around in Archimedes' body?"

"I don't know. I really don't know what we're dealing with." Zack said. Then he remembered something else and said: "But I do have a sneaking suspicion that what we're dealing with is human."

"Why do you feel that?"

"The things he wrote that I found in Fetch Rock. He wrote like a human. He wrote as if acknowledging his very human limitations and continual lack of fully understanding the other realms, even though he's had more experience with them than most people. And he also wrote of having a brother. At one time he apparently had a brother he considered 'stupid.'"

"So then he's a ghost jumping from body to body, perhaps?"

"I know it's insane, but I can't think of any other solution that matches what I saw."

"Something is very curious to me, though." Cody said. "It's interesting that you can see this stuff when you put on the goggles. It's like the boy was able to possess you… or them… and make you see these things only when you had them on. You said you got them from Maddie. Did she ever recount seeing any of this stuff?"

"No, not as far as I know. And I still am not even sure how I got them."

"I just find it interesting because I've never heard of any technology that's capable of doing what you say they can do."

"Maybe it's just me hallucinating."

"I'd love to believe that, but it just doesn't explain any of the weird stuff you showed me in the Tipton. It just doesn't add up."

"Maybe the goggles I have are not normal. Maybe I didn't get them from Maddie." Zack suggested. It was a valid question. Could it actually be a possibility? That the set he had was not the set he had assumed he had? And if that was true, then where might they have come from?

"Either way," Cody said. "If a ghost has been able to communicate with you using them thus far… maybe it's true you need to go back to the lighthouse. Maybe if there are any spirits in the lighthouse, you can get them to talk to you."

Zack shuddered. "The only spirit I'm absolutely certain is there is Oliver."

"He seems to have already been trying to communicate with you through that book." Cody said.

"For all I know, he's extremely dangerous."

"Maybe. Do you have any other choice?"

"No, I really don't." Zack sighed. "By the way, you and Bailey okay up there?"

"Yeah. No problems. Nothing has happened."

"That's good. I'm just as worried about you as I am for myself."

"Just do what you need to do, Zack. We'll hold our own up here."

"Yeah." Zack said, sighing again. "Yeah, I guess I'm returning to that lighthouse tomorrow night. I'm sick to death of that place. But I guess I've got no choice."

"Tomorrow's a full moon, though. You're not going to wait until there's less light?" Cody said concernedly.

"I can't afford to wait any longer to make my move. God knows what they will do if I wait. I'm not even concerned any more if they know what I am or am not doing. I'm sure someone knows. If they want to stop me so bad, I'm sure they know where to find me."

"Just don't let your guard down."

"I know. I keep a silenced handgun on me at all times for a reason."

"And Zack?"

"Yeah?"

"Good luck."

They said a few more words before hanging up. Zack stood a few more minutes by the payphone in the dead of the night.

Luck… yeah, right. I'm going to need an awful lot more than luck. He thought to himself, lighting up a cigarette.

Tomorrow he was going to continue his quest for answers. And apparently, since he'd had little luck with the living, he was now going to be turning to the dead, if they would speak to him at all.