Page 67 of Possessed By Shadows

“Okay,” he agreed. “What’s the plan?”

I pointed to the bridge in the distance. It was a bridge over a road, a highway above, the space for the homeless below. “Talk to the dead. Use my superpower.”

Micah sucked in a deep breath.

“I don’t plan on letting them use me,” I said quickly. If it became necessary for that, I suspected I had something more powerful at my fingertips, though it might be endgame. “I just want to try talking to them first. See if we can communicate? Maybe they know where to find him?” I planned to embrace my crazy, if that was what it was. Let them all think I was mad, as long as it brought Lukas home safe.

Micah stayed silent beside me, his hand gripping mine tight. He didn’t point out that I’d encountered a lot of ghosts in our short time together, and other than the ghost girl in the shop across town, none had ever spoken to me. Most weren’t substantial enough to communicate. Maybe that was me? Not strong enough to really talk to them? Had Lukas been talking to them this whole time?

We found our way to the bridge area. It was early enough that the traffic down here was minimal, though up above it sounded like life had resumed as usual, the storm not chasing people out for more than a day.

There was an encampment of homeless down the road. A large enough group of them, that it would make the police hesitate to oust them without a big group of support. They were also far enough away from the businesses and highway that they wouldn’t be aneyesorefor the public at large. I headed for the dark recesses of the bridge; a back corner I knew a lot of the older ones used to hide.

In the light of the day the area looked clearer than the video Lukas had captured. Would they only come out at night? I had always thought that strange, like ghosts were charged by moonlight or something. More likely they were charged by a day’s long presence of people passing by leaving their energy around.

I headed toward the corner, watching a handful of street persons eye us with a wary gaze. Maybe I should have brought the candy?

The furthest edge was draped in shadow. Micah’s grip tightened, but I stepped in close, studying the shadows, and feeling like there was one a bit more person shaped. Hunched over and almost appearing to hide in a blanket. A real person? It was hard to tell in the dark underbelly of the bridge.

I swung my bag off one arm and dug out a protein bar. It was one of the better tasting ones, sort of like a Thin Mint cookie. Of course the underlying tar texture never really went away in these things, but it was better than nothing. I set the bar on the edge of one of the steel girders.

“Hey,” I called softly, not wanting to startle them too much. “Can I ask you a few questions? My brother is missing and he used to come by here a lot.”

Micah tucked himself close to me, and I let him since he felt good, warm and solid with my arm wrapped around him.

“The bar is a bit like candy. Not as good as Hershey’s or anything, but tastes like those Girl Scout Cookies everyone loves,” I added.

The lump moved a little. An odd rippling of the fabric. More like there were cats beneath it than a person, though the shape had been human enough. I waited. Glanced down at the bracelet on my wrist and startled, realizing I should probably take it off.

I fumbled with it for a minute, not wanting to let Micah go to release it, but finally got it free and shoved it in my pack. Micah had his face buried in my neck, breathing hard, and trembling a little. Was he feeling the ants? Or was he seeing more than I was now?

I stared at the spot, realizing the fabric was not really all that defined, and the rippling seemed more like smoke than movement, and sucked in a fast breath. It took a lot of willpower to not back away. The realization that what I was seeing was either some sort of specter, or my mind gone screwy was enough to set my teeth on edge.

“My brother Lukas,” I said quietly. “He used to be a cop. Comes down here a lot with candies,” I added. “Something bad might have happened to him. I was hoping you could help.”

It moved then. A burst of action like a man jumping from the blanket and throwing himself at us. I couldn’t help the half leap backward, dragging Micah with me as the silent screaming face lunged our way. The shadowy mist of it was solid, dark, and looking like all my thoughts of what a soul sucking demon might look like. Or at least a homeless man done with the world’s bullshit. But as he passed through a girder, he vanished.

I landed on my ass, gaping like a fish, and feeling like I’d run a mile. My heart was racing, and a fine tremble started in my belly. Maybe this was a bad idea. Should a man a decade dead have that much energy? Had I fueled it somehow? Or maybe the area and all the traffic fueled it.

Micah and I got up. He still refused to look toward where the man had been. Man, or ghost?

“Do you feel ants?” I asked. “See something?”

“Yes,” Micah said. He didn’t elaborate.

It wasn’t gone. But I couldn’t see it anymore. “He doesn’t want us here.”

“Okay,” Micah agreed, tugging me backward. I let him, but was frustrated and angry with myself for being afraid.

“Do you remember any of the other locations from that walk that Lukas did in the video?” He had recorded several locations, and I didn’t know the city well enough yet to identify all those nooks and crannies which I’d only glimpsed from the darkness of Lukas’s videos.

“A few,” Micah said sounding hesitant.

“I need to get over this fear.”

Micah made a sound that I couldn’t really define. Like he didn’t want to disagree, but wasn’t agreeing either. My heart was still racing, even while we were far from the bowels of the bridge. I headed toward the group of street people, opening my bag and pulling out the box of protein bars I’d packed. Food went a long way with the living folks, maybe they’d seen something, or could direct me to where a Latina girl had been murdered and my brother often visited her ghost.