Ghost Slayers
Chapter Forty-eight
By Relm
It took the whole first intermission for Amelia to tell Pokota the whole story about Zelgadis and the evil people eating book. It greatly surprised Pokota and made him very envious. Her life sounded a thousand times more interesting than his. He had so many questions to ask her about Ghost Slayers but he didn't get a chance to as the play came back on. As interesting as the play was it didn't hold a candle to listening to Amelia talk.
The curtains opened and the scene began playing out. Naga was on stage with a few of the other actors. The last scene of the first act had ended on a cliff hanger making this scene very important and the focus of everyone in the theatre. Or it would be except one person was just having trouble keeping focused and that was Pokota. His eyes kept darting between the stage and Amelia. Every time Amelia took out her scanner to take some readings Pokota's eyes were glued to the machine. He really wanted to try out the scanner. Boys and their toys...
With each line on stage Pokota found himself looking at his watch more and more. Hoping that the act would go faster and it would be over soon. But alas time was a cruel mistress that only went fast when you didn't want it to and slowed down when things were lagging on.
Every time Naga spoke Pokota found himself cringing. Though the actress at first seemed beautiful and talented was now more annoying than anything. Pokota found her voice snotty and condescending and though she was tall and voluptuous he couldn't help but mentally compare her to a drag queen. Where those boobs even real?
After what seemed like eons the curtains closed signalling the end of the second act and the beginning of the second intermission. Following the second intermission will be the third and final act.
"Wow that was dramatic scene!" Amelia exclaimed.
"Yeah, yeah so how does the scanner work?" Pokota peered over at the device sitting in Amelia's lap.
"Well it's somewhat of an opposite of a thermal energy scanning device. It looks for voids instead where the temperatures are really cold. Because spectres absorb heat leaving the area colder." She turned on the scanner and showed him.
"Can we go try it out in another area?" Pokota asked all too eagerly.
"That's probably a good idea. We should get up and stretch our legs anyway." Amelia said stifling a giggle. She had initially been afraid to tell Pokota what she did for a living because she feared he would make fun of her. But as it was Pokota was extremely interested in her line of work. It filled her with pride. "Did you want to try?" She offered him the scanner once they had walked to the side wall of the theatre.
"Really? You trust me with it?"
"Sure. You're always good with gadgets so I know you won't break it. But even if you do Miss Filia can easily fix it." Amelia assured him.
"Okay. So I turn this dial here right?"
Amelia nodded.
Right away the scanner came to life with all kinds of lights. If the sound on the device was turned on it would have made all kinds of noise at that moment.
"What did I do?" Pokota looked at Amelia and the device in a panic.
"Don't worry it's supposed to do that." Amelia assured him.
"What does all the lights mean?"
"Oh that there's at least one ghost nearby." Amelia stated matter-of-factly.
That statement started Pokota so much that he almost dropped the scanner. "There is?!" He looked around in a panic.
"Yes. But it's low threat level ghost. So don't get all frightened. Barely enough to even move a piece of paper. Probably just hangs around to watch the plays." Amelia rationalized.
"I'm not scared." Pokota exclaimed defensively.
Amelia couldn't help but giggle.
...
Backstage Naga flopped down in her chair in her dressing room while throwing the props she had in hand haphazardly down. One of those props being the very book that Amelia was trying to find. Though the book radiated evil energy Naga seemed to be oblivious to its power. But Naga wasn't exactly pure as the freshly fallen white snow as it was so perhaps she was just too evil herself to notice.
The evil book was getting tired of being tossed about and it was making it very angry. It wanted revenge, it wanted blood and screams. But the woman had the oddest luck making it very hard for the book to get close. Even now the book was too far from the actress to reach out and grab her.
"Now time for the third act pick me up! OHOHOHOHOH!" Naga fished out a corkscrew and a bottle of red wine she had stashed away in a drawer in her vanity. Not one to care about being civilized when alone Naga popped the cork and drank straight from the bottle.
After drinking about a quarter of the bottle Naga stopped for air relishing in the warm feeling the wine was trailing down her throat.
"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH!" Naga belted out a god awful laugh as she twirled around in her chair spilling a bit of the wine in the process.
Some of that spilt wine found its way onto the evil book. The red of the wine bled in with the red of the ink making it glow a very fiery shade. The book was mad really mad.
Naga didn't see this display of anger she just drank more wine till only half the bottle remained. "OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH! Time to get changed!" Naga got up from her chair while dizzy from the spinning. Her loss of motor skills caused her to knock over a few things which caused a cascade reaction knocking all kinds of things onto the floor. Included with this big messy pile was the evil book. It fell in the space between the wall and the vanity. Naga cared little for the mess and just went on changing. Even after she was ready Naga failed to notice the evil book that she was using as a prop was missing. She just twirled out of her dressing room leaving the book behind.
...
Doing random scans around the theatre during the second intermission didn't yield any evil book sightings but proved to be interesting for Pokota and Amelia. To Amelia the ghost thing was old hat but to Pokota it was new and exhilarating. The pair found at least four different spectres. Of the four ghosts only one of them was powerful enough to see. It was only for a brief moment but they saw a figure smoking a cigar while sitting in the broken seat at the very back of the theatre. He smiled at them both and tipped his hat before fading away.
A quick conversation with one of the theatre ushers explained that no matter how many times they tried to fix that seat it was always broken come show time. The usher had laughed it off stating it was probably a ghost who kept breaking the chair. Little did the usher know that it was actually the truth.
Even though Pokota and Amelia were back in their seats ready to watch the third and final act Pokota couldn't help but look back at the empty seat at the back of the theatre.
"I can't believe there's a ghost sitting there right next to those people and they have no idea at all!" Pokota exclaimed while shaking his head in disbelief.
"They are probably thinking it's just a draft but yeah they probably don't know. Oh the general public's innocence. If only they knew just how many ghosts there were surrounding them they would all go into a massive panic." Amelia joked while giggling.
"I'm surprised the theatre hasn't called you guys in get rid of the ghosts."
"I'm not. All the great theatres out there are hunted. When everything is said and done and people stop going to plays in favor of going to movies it's going to be the novelty factor of ghosts that will keep places like this going." Amelia stated very sagely. "Plus the ghosts add to history of this theatre."
"I'll tell you I'll never be able to look at an old building the same way again." Pokota admitted with a shiver. Yes he found the whole thing creepy but in a good way.
Amelia let a chuckle. "You're not the first one to say that to me."
"Sorry we didn't find your book."
"It's okay. This only one of several places it could be anyway. To be honest I'm glad I haven't found it yet. What the heck would I do if I did find it?" Amelia let out a shudder.
"I have no idea."
The curtains opened once more and the play resumed. Pokota and Amelia settled back into their chairs and tried to finish watching the show. Of course it was easier said than done as both of them had things on their mind distracting them. For Pokota it was the ghosts floating around the theatre and for Amelia it was horrors a rogue demonic book terrorizing the city.
...
Despite the lead actress being somewhat drunk the play went along swimmingly. Naga delivered each line perfectly without even slurring a single word. It was amazing that Naga could manage to do such a thing but then again this was the great Naga actress extraordinaire. Even drunk she could still give a performance of a lifetime. (Actually Naga was a better actress when she was drunk rather than sober.)
At the end almost everyone was standing up cheering for the cast and crew, applauding the wonderful performance. Probably the only one that wasn't so impressed was Amelia. The younger Sailune sister was frowning at her sister's acting.
Amelia could tell from the way Naga carried herself on stage that something was different. Her older sister had been drinking. Yes she was aware her sister had a bit of a problem and usually she was okay with that but drinking while she was working? That just pushed Amelia's boundaries too far.
"Why are you frowning?" Pokota asked while clapping.
"She was drinking before she started act three." Amelia mumbled disapprovingly.
"Well acting on stage in front of a while roomful of people can be nerve racking so why is so strange that had a little bit to drink to calm her nerves? And besides it wasn't like she was drinking throughout the last act." Pokota rationalized.
Amelia pressed her lips together in a tighter frown but said nothing. She had a feeling that it wasn't coloured water Naga was drinking during her scenes.
"So we're going to get to go back stage right?"
Amelia nodded. "Possibly. My sister said she was going to try and get us back there. We'll have to wait and see."
There was much talking amongst people as the theatre slowly emptied out. A few stayed behind waiting hoping to talk to a star or two. Some were adoring fans while others were just friends and family of the crew. Amelia and Pokota were amongst these people waiting. There was no telling how much time they were going to have to wait.
"Sissy!" Naga called out booming her way out to aisles with her arms outstretched.
"Gracia!" Amelia embraced her older sister in a typical Sailune family bone crushing hug.
"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH! Tell me who's the brightest star in all the world?! You don't have to since I know it's me! OHOHOHOHOHOHOH!" Naga laughed with head held high.
Pokota inwardly cringed at the sound of Naga's laugh. It was annoying to say the least.
"You did wonderful Gracia. It was a great play." Amelia beamed.
"Yes it was a very good show." Pokota added.
Naga was about to jump into another stream of laughs when she stopped to take a good look at her little sister's date. "Well, well look what we have here. Oh sissy he is yummy. Maybe not as yummy as my delicious fashion accessory but this one almost as good. OHOHOHOHOHOHOH!"
Pokota immediately blushed in embarrassment. Amelia's face matched making a perfectly reddened pair.
"This is Pokota." Amelia introduced him to Naga. "And Pokota this is my sister, Gracia. Or as you and the rest of the public know her, Naga."
Naga gave Pokota a saucy little wink before turning around. "Alright my little pretties let's go. You wanted to see the back so going back we are."
"Are you sure it's okay? There are no problems with us going backstage?" Amelia wondered out loud as she and Pokota fallowed Naga towards the back.
"Meh. I could care less what the silly director says. I'm Naga the White Serpent and I go wherever the hell I want! OHOHOHOHOHOH!" Naga bellowed throwing her head back dramatically.
"Gracia are you drunk?" Amelia frowned at her sister.
"Of course! I'm an artist. I need my muse!" Naga declared. "And my muse is red and liquidy. OHOHOHOHOHOHOH!"
Amelia just rolled her eyes and pulled out her scanner. There was a lot of activity on the stage proving there were more than four ghosts in the theatre. This was to be expected so Amelia just kept scanning. She checked the all over the stage, in the wings and in the props and costume closets. Amelia found nothing out of the ordinary.
"Did you find anything Amelia?" Pokota asked looking over Amelia's shoulder.
"This theatre is way more haunted than I thought..." Amelia mumbled more to herself than to Pokota.
"FANTASTIC! OHOHOHOHOH!" Naga laughed.
Amelia's scanner responded to Naga's laughing proving that even ghosts were repelled by her sister's laughter.
"What about the book?" Pokota prompted her while ignoring Naga.
Amelia shook her head. "Nope, looks all clear."
"See sissy! I told you. You should always listen to your smart, sexy older sister! OHOHOHOHOH!"
Amelia frowned. 'Well at least this is one place Miss Lina can cross off her list...'