Chapter Nineteen
A pair of caramel eyes opened tiredly and stared out across the waves. Mai's mind felt as if it were in a fog as she tried to recall where she was. The stars in the dark night sky reflected on the ocean like fireflies dancing across the waves.
"The ocean?" she whispered quietly.
Why was she outside?
She began to sit up but hissed in pain. A frown graced her lips as memories came flooding back to her. Irrationally running out of the base by herself. Getting pulled off of the cliff by the ghost. Oliver jumping after her. Their conversations under the setting sun.
Her eyes widened when she thought about Naru. Was he still okay? He had hit his head. She quickly jumped to her feet, ignoring the pain, and looked around but paused when she saw the man in question asleep against the rocky cliff. She knelt down beside him and sighed in relief when she noticed he was in fact breathing. From what he had told her, he hadn't slept since they arrived so she was happy he was finally able to rest. He looked so peaceful.
Her heart began to race in her chest. There was such a gentleness to his features as he slept. The wind blew and gently rustled his hair. As if on its own accord, Mai's hand reached out and tenderly pushed his hair out of his eyes.
He really was quite handsome, she thought with a wistful smile.
"Noll! Mai!" two urgent voices rang out from atop the cliffside causing Mai to jump and pull her hand back.
Looking up she saw the light of a torch growing closer, realizing it was Lin. She stood up and waved. "Lin! Ayako! We're down here!"
The man reached the edge of the cliff and aimed the torch towards them.
"Mai! Are the two of you alright?" Ayako questioned frantically.
She smiled up at them. "We're a little roughed up but otherwise okay."
Lin nodded in relief. "We'll go fetch a ladder, we'll be right back."
Mai knelt next to her boss again and gently shook his shoulder. "Naru? Sorry to wake you but you have to get up."
A pair of piercing blue eyes opened and looked at her.
Mai held out a hand to pull the man up. "Ayako and Lin found us. They're just getting a ladder."
Oliver nodded and rubbed the back of his aching neck. "Mai, I have a favor to ask of you."
She tilted her head, wondering what it was.
"Don't tell Lin about the coin," he said, looking out over the ocean, away from her prying eyes.
Mai nodded slowly, understanding his request. Lin was surely keeping an eye on Oliver's use of his powers for Martin and Luella, especially since it was his first true case in such a long time.
"Don't worry, I won't tell him," she smiled softly. "But are you okay? From what I have read in your books and heard around the office, using your PK can take a toll on you."
He studied her momentarily, realizing she truly had figured out how he had done his little trick earlier. "I am fine. It's safe to use in small doses. Gene is usually there when I need to use a stronger concentration of my abilities. My parents have just been overprotective and Lin has been watching me like a hawk."
"Your secret is safe with me," Mai reaffirmed with a wink.
Suddenly the light of a torch was blinding down on them once again signalling their friends' return. Lin arranged the ladder and Oliver had Mai go up first before following himself.
"I'm so glad the two of you are alright! We were so worried!" Ayako cried out and pulled Mai into a hug as they made their way back towards the building.
Mai tried to conceal her wince at the hug and smiled apologetically at the older woman. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay, but you really have to take better care of yourself," Ayako sighed as they made their way into the base. Once they arrived and sat down, the priestess pulled out her medical bag. "Okay, who's first?"
Oliver and Mai both said each other's names and gave each other an impatient look.
"Mai hit her head," Oliver stated, turning to pull up the camera footage
Mai glared at the man and back at Ayako. "Naru should be looked after first. He hit his head too and it was worse than mine. With his lack of sleep you should be more worried about him. Exhaustion and a head injury can't be a good mix, right? Plus he's the boss and needs to use that brilliant brain of his to solve this case."
"I agree with Mai," Ayako sighed. "Turn around, boss man."
Oliver sent Mai a less than impressed glance and she grinned in victory. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs and arms unhappily. Ayako set about sanitizing the wound on the man's forehead.
"So what happened?" the woman wondered.
Mai ran a strand of hair between her fingers subconsciously. "It was my fault. I shouldn't have gone off on my own. I was in the garden when I thought I heard crying and hoped by following it I would find Sarah's resting place."
Ayako turned and glared at the twenty-six year old. "So let me get this straight. First you went to the place the spirit had recently attacked you, alone by the way, and then you followed it off a cliff?"
"I didn't follow her off a cliff. She pulled me off," Mai muttered.
"What's the difference?" Ayako rolled her eyes and dressed Oliver's wound. "Man, why is this spirit targeting you?"
Mai paused, remembering something. "Well...She did call me Katherine when she pulled me off the cliff, and I suppose in my dream Katherine did look pretty similar to myself."
Oliver gave her a hard stare. "You didn't tell me that."
"It slipped my mind, "Mai cringed.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" he asked sternly. "This information is vital, Mai. You can't disregard something so important."
"I'm sorry I forgot to mention it, Naru. It wasn't my intention. I got a little distracted by falling off that cliff," she explained.
"No wonder she has been targeting you. She thinks you are the person who was responsible for her death," he rubbed his head tiredly.
Ayako nodded. "That explains why she has been toying with you, too." The others looked at her. "She doesn't want to just kill you, she wants to make you break. Like Katherine tortured her."
Mai bit her lip nervously. "Well there goes my plan for trying to talk to the ghost to help her move on. I bet I'm the last one she's going to want to talk to."
Ayako finished tending to Oliver's cut and made her way over to Mai to do the same.
Oliver turned in his chair. "Lin. Tomorrow morning I will draw out the spirit. You know what to do. Unfortunately, it appears as if we won't be able to cleanse the spirit as we originally intended."
Mai felt an ache in her heart. "But Naru-"
"-Mai, when a spirit has become too violent we must resort to these measures," he interrupted, knowing what she was going to say.
"She had a horrible life and never should have been tortured to death. She at least deserves to find peace after the way she died," Mai argued.
Oliver's jaw clenched slightly. "She nearly killed us both."
"She was tortured, and I look like the one who did it. I don't blame her for attacking me, I understand now. I want to help her move on," she pleaded.
He rubbed his forehead, as if trying to explain something to a small child. "How do you intend to do that? You're her target so talking to her is out of the picture. We don't know where her remains are in order to cleanse her spirit and she is proving to be an increasing threat to my team. We're going to have to get rid of her the hard way before she tries to get rid of us again."
"But Naru-"
"Mai," he interrupted in a clipped tone. "Unfortunately unless we find where her remains are, this conversation is over." Standing up he grabbed the clipboard and looked over at Lin. "Lin and I will collect temperatures before we all turn in for the night."
Mai avoided Oliver's gaze as he and Lin left the office. He was right. She knew he was. But her heart ached for Sarah. Guilt filled her. She wished she had seen where her body had been hidden so they could cleanse her spirit and help her move on to the afterlife.
Sighing, leaned forward in defeat but cringed at the pain that rippled through her chest.
Ayako looked at the woman in alarm. "Mai are you alright?"
Hissing, Mai closed her eyes. "I think it's getting worse."
"What is?" the red-haired woman questioned.
"Where the spirit grabbed me. Can you help me with my shirt, Ayako?" Mai requested.
Back in the hallway Oliver sighed as he made his way back to the base. He was frustrated with himself for forgetting the thermometer. He had been in such haste on getting out of that room that he had forgotten the most essential thing he needed in order to take the temperatures of each room.
He made his way to the partially closed door but froze when he heard Mai hiss.
"It's going to hurt but I have to check to see if you have any broken ribs," he heard Ayako say in a hushed whisper.
Oliver's eyes narrowed and curiosity got the better of him. He stepped to the side and looked through the door that was open slightly. His features hardened. Mai was sitting on the couch in front of Ayako, wincing in pain. She had removed her shirt, leaving her top bare except for her white bra. But that wasn't what made him stop in his tracks. No. The thing that caught his attention were the two viciously black and blue bruises maring her skin. The shape of two ghostly hands were imprinted on her chest so distinctly that he knew the ghost must have used all of it's force to pull Mai off of that cliff to make such a clear mark.
Ayako gingerly presses on the woman's ribs to assess the level of damage. He clenched his hands into fists and stepped away from the gap in the door. However, he couldn't stop himself from listening.
"Mai why didn't you tell us about this sooner?" Ayako chastised quietly.
Oliver listened closely and wondered the same thing, frustrated that she would hide such a thing from him. He sighed and closed his eyes. He had no right to be frustrated, he thought to himself and looked down at his left wrist. His fingers tenderly touched it causing him to grimace at the sting. He had sprained it during the fall when he grabbed the vines to soften their impact.
"...I didn't want to bother any of you. Especially Naru," she admitted softly. Oliver closed his eyes at her words. "He took a big chance on me, hiring a random custodian to become a paranormal investigator for such a prestigious company. This is my first case working with him and I've already gotten hurt more times than I can count on one hand. I thought this case was going to be great. I thought that I could show him I'm worthy of working for BSPR and how much I've learned through my training, but all I've done is have useless dreams and get myself into trouble. It's only a matter of time before he realizes he's made a mistake and fires me."
"He won't fire you. And don't you dare belittle yourself around me, missy. I won't allow it," Ayako ordered. Mai hissed at the pressure Ayako was applying to one of her bruises. "Sorry! From the feel of things you've bruised the bone. It will heal much faster than a fracture would but it will take more time than a typical bruise."
"Thanks, Ayako," Mai said gently, pulling her shirt back over her torso.
The older woman looked at her new friends sympathetically. "Chin up, buttercup. You will be okay, I know it. Now these bruises on the other hand, I have no idea when these bad boys will heal."
Mai sighed. "It's okay, I have something that can help."
"Oh you do, do you?" the priestess asked curiously.
Mai nodded. "It's a salve I've been making for over a decade."
Ayako looked at her with a small frown. "A decade? And why would a teenager need to know how to make a salve for bruises?"
Playing with the hem of her shirt, Mai shrugged. "You said so yourself, I'm a magnet for danger."
The red-haired woman's frown deepened. She sighed knowingly, and reached out to rub her hand atop Mai's head. "Well you've got us now. I'll try my best to keep you as bruise free as possible while I'm around, and I know your team feels the same."
Mai smiled up at the woman. "Thank you, Ayako."
Back in the hallway Oliver pushed himself off the wall, deciding he didn't need the thermometer anymore.
Mai laid in bed, staring at the ceiling in thought. When Oliver had returned to the base with Lin, he seemed different. He was quiet, more so than usual, and he didn't look any of them in the eye. When he talked to any of them it was short yet polite. She sighed, wishing she could read that complex mind of his.
Rolling over she saw that Ayako was fast asleep. Mai closed her eyes, trying to get her boss out of her head and thought back to the spirit. Where could her body be? There was more to Sarah's story than she had seen; she could feel it.
Feeling a familiar sensation, Mai opened her eyes to find herself in a dream. She waited for the darkness surrounding her to change into a scene or memory but nothing happened. Instead, she felt something behind her and she spun around with her hands raised.
Standing in front of Mai was Sarah's bloody and marred body. She wore nothing but a torn and soiled slip that appeared to have once been white. There were bruises and gashes covering her skin. Some of her fingers were broken and branched in unnatural directions. Her hair was a mangled mess, intentionally cut at odd lengths.
Sarah's blank eyes stared into the dark abyss and Mai could feel the pain emanating from them. The brunette lowered her hands and took a step closer to the woman and realized her mistake. The woman's eyes locked onto her own and she could feel an overwhelming cloud aura of hatred rolling off of her.
"What are you doing here, Katherine?" Sarah rasped venomously, blood spilling from her lips.
Mai quickly stepped back and raised her hands, ready to perform the nine cuts even though she was unsure if it would work in the dream realm.
"I'm not Katherine," the brunette defended. "My name is Mai. I know what happened and want to help you."
Sarah's eyes narrowed darkly. "You know what happened because it was done by your own hand!"
Mai braced herself as the spirit ran towards her but gasped when she felt herself wake from her dream. Opening her eyes, Mai saw Ayako looking down at her nervously.
"Hey, kid," the woman greeted softly. "It's time to wake up. Are you alright? You were breathing pretty heavy and looking rather nervous."
Mai looked around in confusion. "It's morning already?"
The priestess nodded and reached out to feel her forehead. "No fever. Are you okay?"
The brunette propped herself up and nodded with a hand on her head. "I just have a headache. I had a dream. It was very short, but it was different from my other dreams. I saw Sarah and it wasn't a scene or memory. Instead it was just her staring at me and calling me Katherine before trying to attack me. I tried to tell her I wasn't Katherine but she didn't listen. Then you woke me up."
Ayako raised a brow. "She saw you?"
Mai nodded.
The red-haired woman hummed curiously. "Interesting. Be sure to write that in your journal. That boss of yours likes to know everything about your dreams. Also we should head down soon. I know he wanted to get this exorcism over with as soon as possible."
Mai looked down at the ground sadly, upset with herself for having another useless dream. She just wanted to help Sarah and find her body.
Making their way downstairs, Mai couldn't help feeling helpless. She couldn't help but feel useless knowing that Sarah was going to be exorcised instead of cleansed and it was all because of her dreams. She let out a soft sigh and Ayako placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as they finally reached the base.
Stepping into the room, Mai noticed Lin writing what looked to be a wooden charm in the shape of a person.
"What is that for?" she wondered.
Oliver glanced over his shoulder. "It is a hitogata charm. It is meant to represent you."
"Me?" she asked and pointed a finger to her chest.
"When Lin is finished, you're going to have to sign your name on it. If everything goes according to plan, the spirit will believe the charm is you and come out of hiding," he explained.
Mai nodded in understanding. "So she will attack that piece of wood thinking it is me?"
"Precisely."
"What about me? Will I need to do anything so she doesn't notice there are two of me?"
"That is where I will need Ayako's expertise." Blue eyes turned to the red-haired woman. "You have experience in making protection charms for people, correct?"
Ayako nodded. "Yes, but a protection charm only keeps the spirit from harming the person. She would still pick up on Mai's presence and the charm Lin is making would prove to be futile. However, there is something I might be able to put together. I'll need to take a look at the local flora and see what I can find. Certain plants have different energies and properties. I may be able to use some of them to create a charm that will make Mai nearly invisible to the spirit. The only downside is that it is short term. Sometimes it can last ten minutes, sometimes it can last thirty. It all depends on the types of plants that are used."
Oliver leaned his chin on a fist in thought. "Very well. Lin, after you are finished, please assist Ayako around the grounds."
"I can go with her," Mai suggested.
Ayako gave the younger woman a look. "Thanks for the offer, but after yesterday I think it's best if you stay in the base with the boss. I don't want you falling off any more cliffs."
Mai nodded in defeat. She hadn't been alone with Oliver since the incident, and she was more than a little nervous. She hoped he wasn't still irritated with her. She had thought they had worked things out while they were at the bottom of the cliff but then he had been acting really distant before she went to bed.
The sound of the base door clicking shut brought her out of her thoughts and she came to the realization that Lin and Ayako had left. Biting her lip timidly, she turned to look at her boss who was writing something in his notebook. Forcing her feet to move, she stood and made her way to the seat next to him.
"I had a dream last night. It wasn't like my other ones," she began. Even though he didn't turn to look at her she knew she had his attention. "Sarah was there. It wasn't a memory or something that happened. She was just standing there, bloody and beaten. She saw me. I tried to tell her I wasn't Katherine and that I was here to help her but I don't think she listened and she tried to attack me."
Oliver looked over at her. "She interacted with you in your dream? Did she hurt you?"
Mai shook her head. "Ayako woke me up before she could touch me." The raven haired man was silent once again and she took a deep breath. "I'm really sorry, Naru."
He raised an eyebrow at her apology.
"I'm sorry about yesterday, and questioning your decision to do the exorcism. You have a lot more experience with all of this than I do and know you must have weighed out all the possibilities before coming to that conclusion. I shouldn't have opposed you, especially in front of the others," she finished quietly, avoiding his gaze.
After a moment she heard him give a soft sigh beside her. "I'm not a fan of exorcisms myself."
She smiled gently at him. "I can tell. In most of your books you talk about how an exorcism should be a last case scenario. You just seemed a little off last night and I thought I upset you."
Oliver turned back to his notebook and she could see his jaw tighten. "All of you are entitled to their own opinion, I would not be upset about that."
Pressing her luck she leaned closer curiously, "Then what was wrong?"
"When Lin and Ayako come back we will prepare for the exorcism," he said, changing the subject. She didn't need to know he had overheard her conversation with Ayako the previous night. "With any luck we should be done here within the hour."
Mai leaned back in her chair in defeat. "Okay."
Before long, Ayako and Lin returned. The priestess laid some flowers and plants on the coffee table and began to twine them together. After a few minutes she was finished.
"All done," she exclaimed. "I'll put it on Mai once we are ready for the exorcism.
Oliver nodded and stood from his seat. "Very well. Lin, are you ready?"
The tall man nodded and they all gathered the needed equipment. Mai followed behind as everyone made their way outside into the garden.
Ayako looked at Oliver questioningly. "Why out here?"
"Since we have been here, the spirit has seemed to be more active here than most other places. She has already targeted Mai here three times so it is more likely that she will attack the charm here as well," he explained.
The two women nodded as Naru and Lin arranged the charm with Mai's name on it in the garden.
Lin turned to Ayako and Mai. "Ayako, please put the cloaking charm on Mai and we will all wait out of sight. We want the spirit to think Mai is alone."
The priestess pinned the bundle to Mai's shirt and they waited around the corner of the house. After a minute, Mai felt a chill go through her, signaling the spirit's arrival.
Oliver had been watching Mai's reaction from the corner of his eye and he nodded to Lin. "Now."
Lin held two fingers up to his mouth and an ear piercing whistle echoed around them. White orbs swirled around the man before they flew in the direction of the garden. Both Lin and Ayako followed after the orbs and Mai was about to follow when she suddenly froze.
Oliver stopped and watched her carefully.
The air around her grew thick with hatred and malice. She shook her head, hoping to clear it but it didn't help. Mai looked up and saw the spirit beginning to take form in the garden. A white orb flew through the spirit and the air grew heavier. Mai reached up to grab her forehead which began to throb.
Oliver was by her side in an instant, calling her name. "Mai?"
The brunette leaned against him unsteadily. Another orb flew through Sarah's body and Mai's eyes grew wide before they stared blankly in front of her. Oliver held her in his arms with narrowed blue eyes, realizing his assistant was having a vision.