Chapter 4: Pale Things
It took Lewis a few moments to gather his wandering thoughts before he could even begin to open the door into the mansion, worrying now so he didn't suffer later. He believed that many bad things could be prevented by just a little bit of foresight, and he would rather cover every base mentally right now so that he didn't run into trouble physically inside the mansion, where he wouldn't have anywhere to run. Something inside of him said that, after today's mission, he would not be the same person. Lewis really didn't know if that was a good thing or not.
After the last job they took, they had been left crippled for seven days and probably would have been six feet under if Vivi hadn't worked her magic-like intuition to save them, distracting and calming the demon they faced before dispelling it back into the netherworld where it came from. Arthur had tripped as they ran, falling directly into the demon's path and straight into the arms of a clear death when the girl had stopped running, turned around, and faced the demon with the courage of a superhero, saving her friend as though they faced raging demons every Wednesday. While Vivi had looked back upon the excursion as proof of their teamwork and an overall gripping, exciting experience, Lewis was painfully aware of how close one-if not all-of them had come to losing their life.
He glanced at his hands, large enough to completely enclose the door handle and growing slightly sweaty as the handle absorbed and reflected his heat, his mind jumping to the ghost hunt ahead of them. These ghosts could be so much more than they seemed, and Vivi might not be able to tap into that killer instinct like she had before. Lewis thought briefly of his sibling and family, along with where he would be if he hadn't met Vivi and Arthur. Harvard had opened up to him with the promise of pre-med, his father's restaurant could've been his in time, a life with a family was still a possibility if he only turned around and forgot entirely of this life he was now leading. In no way did he have to do this, he was only forced by the an obligation to an elderly woman long dead and gone, someone who wouldn't care either way.
And yet, in a way, there was no way he could turn his back to this world he had discovered. There was too much to learn, too much to see, and whereas the great adventurers of the past had continents to discover and explore, he had in front of him an entire realm of possibilities. His curiosity swelled with every word spoken from a client's mouth, every bump in the night that lead them to a new haunt, every book his abuela had left specifically for him in the hopes that he would follow in her footsteps.
Plus, Vivi loved the chase so much. He could never leave her hanging.
So, without further ado, Lewis forced the doors open slowly and then all at once with the knowledge that he had chosen his life. The iron had grown warm in his grasp, and as his muscles clenched to push the door in, Vivi huddled behind him in childish anticipation, peering over the wide shoulders of the boy and into the house she had fallen so in love with. The wood gave way, and as the cobwebs and plaster fell onto their heads from far above, Lewis watched Vivi's eyes fill with wonder just as they had early that morning.
She whispered an exclamation under her breath, entering the room as though she were entering a dance with her feet soundless upon the wooden floors and her arms spread as she tried to absorb everything that she was seeing and feeling. Her hands ran along the peeling wallpaper, striped with light and dark purple, fondling the tears and rips gently and with a curious kindness. She looked ahead and into the long hall in front of them, adorned with candles all along the wall as it spread into a beautiful and grand foyer with tall stairs and an intricate iron chandelier, the imprints of hearts shining from every corner and every painting with the happiness and promise of love. Lewis had to admit, even if it looked a little bit beat up on the outside, he felt like he belonged in this place, as though it were his home.
"How about we leave the ghosts and buy the place off of him? This mansion is gorgeous." Vivi gasped, stopping to lightly caress one of the wax candles upon the wall in the hallway, still sticking straight up from its candlestick. As she poked the wax, dry after cooling, she noticed that it was still slightly warm to the touch, "How odd…"
Lewis didn't catch that last bit, "Even haunted, we'd never have enough money to buy such a beautiful piece of land, but I do agree. This place has to be at least-"
Vivi interrupted him with a quick inhale of breath, pointing into the hallway with a hand lifted to cover her gaping mouth. Lewis whipped around to look at her, startled by the sudden noise and slightly on edge after overthinking his entrance and what might be waiting for him and Vivi inside the haunted house. As he ran through all the possibilities in his head, each one ending with Vivi dying and her gasp being the last thing he ever heard escape from her mouth, he was met not with dread and terror and loss but with a pleasing sense of stupefaction.
Just as he was turning around, the candles within the hallway began lighting themselves on by one, their flames bright and orange as they flared into life. As the rows were lit together, each new flame bounced up faster and faster, as though the anticipation of company was fueling each and every one of them to burst into existence. They greeted the two eagerly and brightly, and with the candles lit, Vivi and Lewis could see more within the beautifully crafted mansion.
As the chandelier burst into light, so pushed by the beginning of fire that it swayed back and forth with the creaking of its chain, Lewis felt a weight lifted off of his heavy chest. Just as he had expected, a ghost with such control over the nature outside of his home could only be two things: very benevolent, or very strong. With the lights switched on and the two greeted warmly, it was easy for him to see which one it was.
No monster of the night would dare hunt where the light reigns, true and fair.
He brushed himself off slightly, embarrassed by his over reaction earlier and hoping no one had noticed, "I think this place is safe enough. Should we head further, or do you think they'll come and find us eventually?"
"Uh-huh." Vivi mumbled, not quite listening to her companion as she nodded her head in an attempt to prove that she was, in fact, totally focussed on what he was saying. Hew mouth was still wide open as she walked further into the hallway, slowly teasing the flames with her hands as she watched the candles closely. Within her blue eyes, there was a spattering of curious stars that gazed into the orange flames with adoration and wonder. She was oblivious to the world around her at the moment; it was just her and that tiny candle within her own universe, her little void.
She began whispering to herself in wonderment, not even loud enough for Lewis to hear as she went through everything in her head, grasping onto the memory as it was made so she could file it away forever. He loved the way the girl reacted to every ghost hunt, even if her clear curiosity and overall lack of fear had gotten them into quite a few difficult scrapes in the past. When anything supernatural was even implied towards her, she lit up like the candles she was so immersed in without even trying to control her childish reactions and joy. Lewis had to admire her-even if he loved the paranormal, he could never run blindly into the unknown like she did. With her, everything was based on the simplest of feelings and emotions, every action she partook in due to the strong urges and recommendations of the heart that beat in her chest; with him, it was a fragile dance of rationalization and curiosity
Her passion made her beautiful in his eyes. Scratch that, she was always beautiful, but the light in her eyes when she fell in love with a mystery was a bonfire, and though the fireplace of her casual smiles and glances may be warm and bright, during her affairs with their investigations of the night she was a whirlwind of heat and light.
Lewis basked in that glow for a few moments before inhaling briskly, flinching dramatically as though he had been pushed back by an invisible palm to the chest. It hit him so suddenly, so fast, he hadn't the time to even recognize truly and fully the rush of blood throughout his extremities, the feeling of electricity from his spine that spread to the tips of his fingers and toes. He shook his head, turning away from her so that she wouldn't notice his tiny crisis while so hypnotized by her little flame. Lewis gripped a hand to his punctured heart, trying his best to pull the arrow that must of pierced it in order to make him feel so light-headed, so breathless, so out of control. It wasn't true, it couldn't be, he wouldn't let it be.
He couldn't love Vivi.
The boy tried to dissuade himself, tried to turn the emotion away with the power of his will. She was older than him, he had only known her for five months, he still didn't know that much about her or her life, he didn't want to ruin the only friendship he had really, truly had...but the heart doesn't listen to the musings of the brain, and, cheeks flushed, he looked down at the hand over his heart with a little bit of frustration.
Vivi and Arthur had found him when he needed them the most. With all the responsibilities he had faced throughout his life, never had he been given a day off to socialize and have a little bit of fun save for when he was with his siblings. Even if he had been given a little bit of freedom, everyone his age thought he was going to beat them up, what with his terrible size and shadowed face. Maybe he was just mistaking a very powerful platonic love for something more? He had never really had best friends before. It was possible, but he had to wonder whether or not it was likely.
"Lewis. Look."
The boy shook his head, ridding himself as best he could of his thoughts and worried to look back at the girl who caused so much turmoil within him. They had a job to do, and if he was going to get it done, he had to ignore anything his heart might be trying to say for at least a little while longer.
"Are you seeing this?"
Lewis could hear a low humming now, lilting throughout the mansion in a humble waltz. He hadn't fully comprehended it immediately, but as he remembered the description the clients had given him, he turned back towards Vivi with wide eyes. She stood her ground, bravery filling the eyes of the confronted as she was approached by one of the phantoms of the house. Nothing in the way she held herself resembled fear, only the courage that had Lewis so mesmerized as she was observed by the ghost in front of her. A few inches from her face, their target sang to her with a steady voice.
It was a pale thing, white as a bedsheet with eyes closed peacefully as though in sleep as it spun circles around Vivi. There was a gaping hole within its cheat, a heart-shaped indent alluding to a missing piece as it hummed, never opening its mouth yet filling the mansion so completely with his song. It was very curious of Vivi, and as its singing grew louder and more confident, he called for his brothers to appear from the walls and the shadows with the same song on their mind. Their separate harmonies creating a choir of sound, the two were soon surrounded by the voices of the dead.
Vivi's curious new friends were whirling around her lazily, their tiny arms reaching to touch her hair or pat her sweater, but never quite reaching her before backing off, stunned for a second or two before continuing their whirlpool surrounding her. They wanted so bad to touch her, but every time they tried, something pushed them away as though they had been shocked. Vivi was more excited than Lewis had ever seen her.
"I've never seen ghosts congregate like this before! And the way they try and reach out to touch me...they might not know what they are, not fully. They might not even be human spirits! Did your grandma ever say anything about non-human ghosts? I've never seen anything like them before." She had pulled a hand up to cover her chest, the fluttering of her lungs leaving her gasping with awe, "And their hearts...Lulu, it's so sad."
As she said his name, the ghosts stopped dancing around Vivi, their music pausing and their closed eyes opening to reveal a display of blazing orange, just like the still lit flames. They spotted Lewis standing a ways away from the girl, still not quite certain how he was supposed to handle the situation with his eyes wide and wary of the pale things surrounding her. They rushed to him, Vivi giggling as they swarmed the purple-haired boy with a new sort of vigor and began mimicking the behavior they had performed on her to Lewis; only this time, they fully touched him.
Their singing hurried as they caressed the boys pompadour, his arms, his back and shoulders. With each touch upon his magenta vest or stunned face, a pulse of purple-pink ran through their white bodies, the indentations of their hearts filling with an orange light as a beat attempted to start. Vivi was rambling on, observing everything with a light in her eyes and theories on her tongue while Lewis was still engrossed by the very unusual actions of the ghosts surrounding him. He hadn't read anything about this sort of behavior-this may have been a new discovery, a totally different breed of ghost that his abuela had never encountered.
They opened their mouth now, ditching the light humming they had stuck to in order to repeat one syllable over and over again, a soft 'mo'. With Lewis, their eyes stayed open and staring, observing him just as much as he did them.
Vivi, growing quiet as time went by and she lost material to talk of, watched in wonder as the ghosts began to disperse from the entryway of the mansion. Their eyes were closing as they left Lewis behind, the song coming to a silent and abrupt end as they phased through the walls, leaving just as soon as they had come without a trace of them having been there. Lewis heart sunk, his brain still fighting confusion as they left him behind.
"Wait!" he cried, trying to reach out and grab one by their tiny tail as it disappeared into a portrait of a finely dressed woman, but Vivi stopped him with a gentle touch to the shoulder. Usually, he would have ignored her and kept going, but the thoughtfulness in the way her fingers wrapped around his arm stopped him dead in his tracks, and he turned back around to look at the girl incredulously.
"It's okay. They're not ready to leave yet."
He squinted at her, not quite believing what he was hearing from the mouth of a girl who never left a mystery unsolved, "No ghost is, that's our job. We help them to find peace, to become ready," He looked to the side, relaxing his gaze as he began to question what had happened earlier, "What did they want with me? Is that the key to giving them peace, is their something I have that they want?"
Vivi shook her head with an understanding grin upon her cheeks, "They aren't your average ghosts, Lewis-they aren't human, and so they don't have desire, only duty. They're waiting for someone."
He sighed, looking at her from the corner of his eyes, "Let me guess, your intuition is working overtime?"
She nodded, "I don't know how I know, Lulu, but I just do. Count this mystery solved, even if the ghosts are still running around this place. They'll just have to wait this one out." she grabbed his hand habitually, heading again towards the door they came through, "It wouldn't be right to dispel them when they've really done no harm. They'd just become angry, then. I'd love to explore this place a little more, but now's not the time. Ready to go?"
Lewis looked down at his large hand, clasped gently within Vivi's chubby little ones. She had silenced him with the lump in his throat and the chill down his spine that he had felt when he had only just realized how he felt, unable to speak past the disorder in his mind. His face grew bright red, and he nodded quickly to try and prevent her from looking at him any longer. How would he ever be able to deal with these feelings and keep Vivi from suspecting something at the same time?
She smiled at his somewhat awkward nod, and, hands connecting the two, Lewis understood his prior premonition with a sudden stroke of lucidity. With the way he felt pumping through his veins, the Mystery skulls would never-no, could never-be the same again.