Page 39
I say, “Did you hear that?”
“No. What?”
“I don’t know. Let’s get behind some cover.”
There’s a wrecked armoire leaning against a palm tree nearby. We get behind them.
The street is dim, lit only by the couple of functioning streetlights.
Halfway down the block, a glowing pinpoint spins in the air. Soon it becomes a spectral rip that hovers just above the street. The rip expands, turning bright and hot, running down onto the pavement like molten glass. When the rip has dilated to the width of a bus, Little Cairo’s dead explode out in a mad, furious rush.
There are a lot of different kinds of ghosts. Some are hard to tell from regular people until they pull their heads off or vomit maggots all over you. If those things happen you know you’re dealing with a ghost—or possibly a parole officer. Anyway, these ghosts aren’t the subtle kind. They’re the kind that are dead and know it, barely here at all. Very pale and a little transparent, like people-shaped fog. But don’t let that fool you. These see-through fucks have destroyed a dozen streets and emptied a whole neighborhood. Don’t waste your pity on them. Save it for the poor assholes who are going to come home and find their secret porn stashes thrown all over the house. Then hubby or wifey gets to explain to the other what pony play is.
I throw a glamour on Candy and me. It makes us fuzzy and indistinct, kind of like the foggy ghosts. We follow the running horde to the edge of Little Cairo, where they slam headfirst into the wards. Some linger, clawing and gnawing at the barrier, while others run through the streets to continue wrecking the place.
Two even stranger things happen. We both notice an odd rhythmic murmuring coming from the direction of the spooks. Neither one of us can figure out what it is until Candy says, “It’s singing.”
I stare at the ghosts. None of their mouths are moving.
“It’s not them, but there’s definitely a sound coming from somewhere.”
The other strange thing is even stranger.
One of the last ghosts is a tall black woman in seventies Stevie Nicks drag. Long flowing faux-Gypsy dress and beads. As she exits the spectral rip, she casually raises her hand in the air. Stars are visible above the dim streets. As her hand rakes over them they tremble, like I’m looking at the stars reflected in water.
I say to Candy, “Did you just see that?”
“Yes. What the hell was it?”
“I don’t know.”
I put a hand up to tell Candy to stay put and creep out into the street.
“Stark!” she whispers.
I look back and put a finger to my lips to quiet her. With my head down, I trot slowly to the edge of the spook parade. The glamour must be working because they don’t do anything.
The ghosts who left the barrier spread out across Little Cairo, disappearing through walls and shattered windows. In no time, the street is full of the sounds of things breaking, being pulled off walls and out of closets and systematically destroyed. One house at the end of the block is just about gone. Doors off. Windows ripped out. Part of the roof collapsed. It doesn’t look to me like there’s much left to destroy there and the spooks seem to agree. Instead of going inside, a few of them get together and flip a Prius sitting in the driveway. These fuckers are stronger than I expected.
Candy creeps up beside me and holds on to my arm. Together, we follow several ghosts to different houses. It looks like she was right: one or two spooks run inside the house and tear the place apart—but selectively. Heading straight for bloodstained photos, paintings, small things on bedside tables, but leaving most of the other furniture alone.
“See? I told you,” Candy says.
I nod and put up my hand again for her to be quiet.
When I look back, there’s one lone ghost in the middle of the street by himself. He’s short but handsome. Like Tom Cruise good-looking. He doesn’t run like a maniac, just stands there trembling like he’s cold or having some kind of seizure. A minute later he stumbles forward right under a streetlight and I get a good look at him.
“Holy shit. I know that guy.”
“Is he a friend?”
“I mean, I don’t know him know him, but I know who he is. He’s Christopher Stein. An actor in the fifties and sixties. Mostly did B movies, but he was in a couple of big ones at the end. He was being groomed for the big time, but something happened and he dropped off the map.”
“This is a hell of a place for a matinee idol to end up.”
“He looks lost. Like he’s not sure where he is.”
“I don’t know,” says Candy. “That shaking could mean there’s something wrong with him, but it could also just be rage. I’ve seen Jades get paralyzed like that before they change.”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39 (Reading here)
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169