An idea shone forth in my head and brought me to a halt. Were these spirits, like Emily, arrayed against Leota? Not one had tried to stop or harm me. Peace stole over my heart. Hadn’t the thugs fled as soon as these apparitions formed? I gulped a deep welcome breath and glanced around. Everywhere I could see ghosts engaged in a boisterous tea party. The moon climbed high o’er a dead oak tree and by its light I spotted a twisting hooded figure inside the broken mausoleum nearby. It seemed to nod and motion me toward the large building at the end of the row. I walked calmly but with a purpose and could now more clearly examine the spirits. A king and queen rocked the teeter-totter, both with fiercely set smiles. A mummy popped out of his fallen sarcophagus, lifting his tea cup in defiance of the power which held him here. The truth came to me clear as the knell of a requiem bell: my action against Leota was beginning to work and the haunts knew it! They were struggling against her control and for the first time in a century they felt the hope of release. This joy must be torture for the Medium. She, trapped in her crystal ball and bereft of any happiness herself. “Ride! Ride”, I called out to the three cyclists coming down the berm and clapped as some minstrels raised the tune again, louder than before. Just then a movement caught my eye and my attention was drawn to a veritable geyser of disembodied souls bursting forth from the ground and spinning up out of sight. These must be the poor masses enslaved by Leota over the course of an unspeakably evil life. Who knew if they were free but the wishes of my heart rose with them.
Finally the long nightmare was almost over as I approached the family crypt. At my right an opera troupe lifted a soaring counterpoint to this simple reel I had come to love. So full of playful hope and dark whimsy, it erased the horrors of Leota’s schemes. Just as I mounted the final steps I passed a skinny arm industriously laying bricks to wall itself into a chamber.
I felt no fear as I turned my back on the ghostly congregation. It was only then I noticed the large black crow[1] sitting above me on the keystone of the beckoning arch. I sensed from it a hatred and venomous desire for revenge, if a bird could feel such things. I was disquieted and doubt began to creep into my heart. With one final glance I stepped into the utter blackness of the Gracey tomb.
As a boy, my cousin once wrapped me in a large blanket and rode me down the stairs. It was this same sense of crushing inescapable dark which greeted me now. I was engulfed just passing the threshold, as if the whole place were filled with anti-light.
I took a pair of hesitant steps forward only to trip on something solid and heavy. A rusty clink-clank rose from my legs and I couldn’t move.
“Now you’re down to Gus size!!” rang out shrilly and the blue-green form of Gus Gracey climbed up through the flagstones.
“You dirty, foul son-of-a-pig. You stepped on my head just now!”
In complete shock I answered inanely, “I’m sorry Gus. I didn’t see you there.”
“Because I’m short!?” He roared, “You shall pay for that insult too!”
I high cackle and deep booming guffaw seemed to fill the room. Ezra Dobbins and Phineas Queeg bounded through the wall, playing a game of backwards leapfrog.
“Ho Gus, what have you caught there?” wheezed Ezra. ?His tall frame bent double and brought us face to face, though I was flat on my back.
“Looks like a stuck pig, trussed-up like that”, added Phineas in his measured tones.
“He is a trespasser, come here to mock me. He needs to be…punished” sneered Gus, “I think I shall take him to the well. Miss Boots needs some company.”
He flicked his wrist and the chain he was holding began to glow red. One link after another illuminated like a quick dynamite fuse until, in the bloody light, I could see my legs had been entangled from knee to ankle. Gus had me good.
Finally the ball became a dull and tired red sun. It followed Gus down the corridor, rolling and dragging me with it. Soon it lifted off the ground and levitated me until I was hanging upside down three feet above the floor.
Gus turned and delved into in my eyes, “I’m gonna enjoy this.”
We started moving down the hall again. As if on a cue long rehearsed, Ezra and Phineas began to sing:
Who is the strongest of the strong?
Who is the boldest of the bold?
He can kill a thousand ways,
Gus Gracey’s who, or so I’m told.
With each beat my head bounced off the hard stone floor and Gus’ smile grew a little wider.
As a child he played odd games,
His parents thought they could escape,
But he found them after all,
By mailing himself inside a crate.
The song went on for quite a while, telling of all Gus’ exploits and making him out to be quite the gentleman. It seems he had never done anyone wrong but that they deserved it, or so the balladeers claimed.
It seemed an eternity before we reached our destination. I could tell by the unceremonious way I was dumped to the ground. At least I wasn’t bouncing anymore. Our companions slipped through a wall on the right and Gus made to follow when I murmured, “Gus, I can’t go past solid rock.”
“Right you are Sir. We must open the door for our corporeal captive. See that torch holder? Turn it to the left and pull down.”[flickr giddygirlie]
I clambered to my knees and just could reach the sconce. It turned with difficulty and activated a hidden door. My captor disappeared through the false wall which was then shoved open by my face. Endearing thoughts of Leota crept into my consciousness but were banished by what I saw next.
Almost at the midpoint of the incline we stopped cold and Gus became violently angry.
“No, nonononononononononononono!!!” He was stamping his feet like a 5-year-old at nap time. “You are not taking this one from me Leota. He’s mine and I owe him for insulting me. You can’t have him. I have to drop him down the well to wash away his sins.”
My mind reeled, “Leota? He said Leota. She can’t be here. She’s stuck in that ball.” I was so rapt in thought that I missed what she said. But Gus’ reaction told me he was deeply distressed.
“I can’t trust you Leota. You’ve never been good to me. Don’t think I’ve forgotten who pushed me down that well in the first place.”
“Gus, how many times do I have to say it”, came a cool and sultry voice, “I didn’t push you. The siding gave way. I was trying to pull you back but I wasn’t strong enough.”
“Lies! Lies! You always hated me!”
“No Gus, my mother hated you. I tried to protect you from her. Now let me have the man and I promise I will work to get you free from this doom.”
I rolled onto my side; of all the impossible things I had seen tonight this was the most bizarre. Just visible was the silhouette of three-foot tall Gus Gracey on his knees parleying with a beautiful woman not more than herself.
“Can you really do it?’ He asked with a groveling whimper, “For Ezra and Phineas too? I would hate to be alive again without them.”
“Of course Gus, all three of you. You’ll be free to go where you like and that old witch won’t be able to stop you.’
If a tenth of the stories were true, this was the worst danger I had faced yet. Little Leota wanted me.
The dwarf wiped a tear from his eye and glanced hungrily in my direction. Then with a snort he flicked the chain again which faded and dropped off of my legs.
“Someday I’ll have a reckoning with you,” he threatened. “I’ll have my revenge on all of them.”
Little Leota whispered, “Leave us now, so I can prepare the magic.”
The three stood perfectly still and cast their thumbs out in unison. Suddenly a dark carriage whisked through the wall and carried them off in a flash.
As soon as the trio was gone she turned and began to examine me like a prized bull. “Tall, and fairly good looking. Could trim up a bit but not too bad. Wish he were a little smarter but he’ll have to do.”
“Excuse me but what exactly do you have in mind?” I asked. I was well passed feeling the absurdity of having a simple conversation with a ghost. It was time for answers. “Are you going to stop me?”
“Certainly not, you are free to go. I hope you have not been harmed while you were here.”
This was impossible. She was going to let me go just like that? I edged up the ramp and with two or three glances at the tiny girl, began to move in earnest.
“Of course, I may ask a small favor first.”
“Here it comes,” I thought. Just then my entire body jolted as if hitting a brick wall.
“I need something from you.”
It was easy to guess by now that mother and daughter both desired a restoration to life and it was no surprise what she asked for next.
“There is a book in the house. I think you may have seen it? I would like you to retrieve it for me. The rewards…” here she waved an arm toward the vast piles of gold and jewels and then demurely lowered her eyes to her own body before glancing seductively back to me, “would be immeasurable.”
I felt a rush through my whole being, which could only mean she was using some unholy power upon me. Jamie Padgett never had a chance. Yet he did not know of all her evil and this thought anchored me to reality. Quickly I considered the implications of her request. Obviously she was unaware of my previous encounter with mommy. So they were not in communication. If she wanted me to steal the book then they were not working together either. I wondered just how deep the schism ran.
“I think I did see a book in the séance room.”
“Yes, you did,” she answered acidly, “I can see it through your eyes. I can see many things…Michael.”
So she could read minds. This would be harder than I thought.
“Don’t try and trick me. I know my mother wanted you to bring Emily back for her to possess. I want her book to find out why it did not work.”
“It did work, I saw Emily form.”
“No Michael. You saw a golem form. It could not have sustained her spirit any more than that bit of gold over there. My mother has no understanding. She reads from the book and assumes the power is hers.”
Little Leota’s tone had changed the instant she mentioned her mother. The anger and resentment were there like a bare nerve waiting to be agonized.
“She seemed powerful and wise to me.”
“Powerful? Powerful!? She got caught in her own crystal ball! She is a fool. I was more powerful as a child than she will ever be and it galled her.”
The tiny woman began to pace back and forth, ranting aloud about all the wrongs perpetrated upon her.
“I never did poison those people at that tea party. And even if I did, was that any reason to deny me my right to become The Ota? Was it! Was it! They all deserved to die anyway. Rotten, smug, pompous jack-asses, the lot of them. Just like that deviant little Gus. I enjoyed shoving him down that well. It warmed the heart to hear him cursing and clanking all the way down. Some people need to die”
Her utter lack of humanity chilled me to the bone. This woman was capable of any crime, any monstrous evil.
“Did Jamie Padgett need to die?”
“He was a means to an end. Mother wanted to marry him and regain the original lands. His plantation held much of the ancient cemetery and the power she would have gained from that was immense. If she had succeeded then George may have finally made her Mistress of the House. She would have lived forever and my life be made worthless. I had to defend myself really. Oh how she railed when I refused to give her the deed. She had failed again.”
The faintest glimmer of a plan sparked into existence. If only I could keep it buried deep in my heart…
“Leota, the book you seek won’t help, it only contains the spells. I know where Melcher’s other two books are, the ones which explain how the magic works.”
Her eyes positively glowed at the thought of having that knowledge. I could see the wheels turning in her mind and a suspicious wrinkle crease her forehead.
“Look at me Michael and tell me the truth.”
Now was the moment life or death. I must not only think but absolutely believe that I wanted to help her. She had to accept my word.
“I have the books Leota. I can get them, restore your body and then we can rule this house together.”
I allowed myself to see her beauty, succumb to her charms and feel the love and desire which were her weapons.
Her eyes fluttered for just an instant and then she spoke, “Yes Michael, we shall rule the mansion forever. Many secrets shall we learn and have power beyond your imagination. Go get the books. Bring them to me.”
The invisible wall crumbled and I was practically thrown up the long ramp. I looked on her as lovingly as I had ever gazed on a woman and then turned and fled to the exit.
I emerged in the light of An ennervating sunrise. Before me lay the river and to the right was the accursed house. Even as I sped for the water I could hear her echoed call to “Hurry back!”
The End[4]
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