Adelaide Confused (38 page)

Only I didn’t land in the
soft soil. My shoulder smacked into the drop-off as the rest of my
body tipped over the edge, continuing down the sharp incline. Small
white rocks cut at me as I roughly flipped headlong. I landed at
the bottom of the fifteen foot pit, jarred by impact.

The book had come free from
under my shirt. It sat half-open on the soil beside me. I was too
winded to even reach for it. But I found the strength to scramble
backwards when I saw Beagban pursuing. He was sliding into the pit,
boot heels digging in to slow his descent. One calloused hand was
outstretched, dragging through the dirt to keep him
balanced.

I toed the journal towards
him. “Take it.”

I no longer cared who had
the damned thing so long as I survived. But I could tell from the
look in his eye that I would not be leaving this pit. He intended
it to be my grave. Stepping over the journal, he reached down with
one arm—the other bandaged to his chest—and plucked me from the
earth. I dangled far above the ground, his meaty fist wrapped
around my neck. With a grumble of pleasure he began to squeeze.
“You aren’t giving it to me,” he said in his gravelly voice,
shaking me savagely. “I’m taking it.”

My scream choked off to
nothing as he compressed my throat completely. It was a terrible
thing to be without oxygen, it turned me into an animal. I was
unthinking, my mind had shut off and it was my body that took over.
I kicked at his shins, but he sidestepped, reminding me of his
gift. There was nothing I could do to stop him. Even as I clawed at
his wrists, he ignored me.

A sharp female voice called
from above. “Finish up!” Raina was shouting. “And bring me the
book.”

Her voice seemed to move
away, going distant. I felt like I was slipping, everything
darkening. And then I was smashed from the side, flailing through
the air. I landed in a small pile of dirt, gasping, sucking in deep
gulps of foul and putrid air. I blinked to see the corpse of
Anastas Demidov coming for me. “Boook,” the demon
moaned.

“
There!” I croaked,
pointing one weak finger toward the journal. But the demon ignored
my gesture, coming closer. The cadaver appeared dirtier and more
stinking than the last time I’d seen it. All the horrid details
were visible with no darkness to mute them. I gagged at its
nearness. My throat, already raw, ached from the vile
odor.

I no longer had to wonder
where the demon was hiding—it had found a fitting place. But I
couldn’t comprehend why it was coming for me when the book lay only
a few feet away.

“
She’s mine!” Beagban
bellowed, standing up from where the demon had bowled him over. He
launched himself at the thing and they tumbled to the earth
grappling with one another. It was a disgusting sight. Raina gasped
from above, her face horrified as she stood over the lip of the
pit. I saw her watching, and I saw when she turned and ran away. I
myself tried to move while they were distracted, crawling across
the pit to where a dirt ramp lay.

I watched them warily as I
shifted backward, noticing how they appeared evenly matched.
Beagban’s strength lay in his ability to sense an opponent’s move.
But his gift didn’t appear to work on demons and dead bodies.
Stripped of his combat sense and the use of one arm, Beagban relied
on strength and speed. He was large, meaty with muscle, and
towering, while Anastas had died a short, portly man. But the demon
worked Anastas’ dead muscles without restraint, unworried that the
body would tire as it was no longer held by living constraints.
Faster and more agile, Beagban beat at it, but his efforts made not
a hint of difference. The demon just kept coming, and eventually it
was Beagban that tired, growing slower, still unsure how to kill
the thing.

I stopped watching when I
reached the ramp, struggling to stand on my turned ankle. A loud
crack rang out and I jerked around in time to see Beagban’s body
slump to the ground, his neck turned backwards. He was dead.
Beagban was dead. And the demon had already resumed its slow
shamble towards me while I was gaping in disbelief. “Boook,” it
moaned.

“
It’s there!” I cried
desperately. Pushing forward up the rise, I tried to outrun it.
“Anastas!” I screamed, knowing he couldn’t hear me from the car. It
hardly mattered; I continued to scream his name while the demon
gained on me.

I was almost out of the
pit, with the demon just behind. “Anastas!” I screamed through a
river of tears. And then he was there, a white blur streaming
forward. His emotions were like a ton of bricks falling all over
me, disgust, anger, shame, and so many other strong and complicated
things. As the milky mist coalesced into Anastas’ living form, I
reached out and grabbed his arm, willing him to turn solid and stay
visible. And to my amazement—he did, his wrist filling out beneath
my fingers, cool and smooth.

I felt drained, more tired
than I’d ever been in my entire life. But I forced the words out,
hoping they would work. “Raulriechmydl, on behalf of Anastas
Demidov, I dismiss you.” I said it harshly, but anyone could hear
the desperate pleading in my voice.

I held my breath, waiting
for something to happen. And at first nothing did, but then I
noticed the corpse shifting. The head tipped back slightly and then
it flopped over altogether, neck craned at a sharp angle while the
Adam’s apple bobbed. Slowly the shoulders sank back, peeling away
from the demon’s incorporeal form which remained upright, half in
and half out of the corpse. Its expression was unreadable but
otherworldly. And though it had two eyes, a nose, and mouth, the
same features as a human being, it was nothing like anyone I’d ever
seen before.

It opened its mouth, but
the words came scratching out from the corpse behind it as the
demon struggled to control one last message. “The journal is of my
essence,” it moaned, barely discernable. “And dismissal cannot
separate me from myself.”

The words barely made it
out of the demon before it faded fast, slipping into nothing. I
knew when it was gone because Demidov’s body crumpled as the
animation was removed. It slumped backwards, falling off the ramp.
I made no move to stop it. The ghost followed his body, seemingly
satisfied, yet sorrowful.

I limped back into the pit.
As I neared Beagban’s body I turned away, not wanting to see. I
kicked open the journal that had caused so much trouble. A slight
breeze caused the pages to flicker back and forth restlessly. I
toed them apart with my bare foot, staring down at the page in
disbelief. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John stared back at me, with
verses, endless verses. I didn’t bother bending over to pick it up,
determined to leave it behind. A few days ago I had never seen a
dead body, and now I was in the earth with two. I couldn’t climb
out of that pit fast enough.

Reed Wallace was standing
in the middle of Brunswick Park when I surfaced from the pit. He
was talking to Tim. Seeing me limp forward, Tim beat a hasty
retreat, scurrying for the parking lot. Smart man.

“
You fucking bastard!” I
screamed at Reed when I was close enough. “A Bible!” I hit his
chest with both fists, angrier than I’d ever been and all on my
own, needing no one to feed it to me.

“
It was necessary,” he said
without remorse, grabbing my wrists to halt the assault. “It’s over
now. Not the way I planned, but over.”

“
You manipulated me!” I
shrieked as I struggled to thrash him. “Why not just tell me like
you did Tim!”

“
I knew Tim would
eventually agree to whatever I planned, even reluctant as he was.
But you, you’re unpredictable. It was the only way.”

“
So what?” I asked, pulling
my hands away from him. “You give me false information about Tim so
I’ll get suspicious and go poking around.” I scoffed. “I should
have known! He just happened to ask my friend for directions while
carrying a book. Ridiculous!”

“
I knew you would believe
it, because I knew you didn’t trust Tim, never have.”

“
Why involve me at all?” I
demanded. “Why not just carry out your plan without me?”

He sighed. “After hinting
that Tim had the book and making sure you’d follow him here, I
planted information with the leak, Richard Addler, knowing he’d
pass it along to Lars. You were supposed to arrive just before Ms.
Thompson and Beagban, not long enough to cause trouble. Tim was
prepared to destroy the book, he had a lighter and the pages were
soaked in oil. The idea being that Raina and Beagban would return
to Lars, telling him the journal had been destroyed. Only you stole
the book and ran away.” He paused, slightly worried. “Tim was just
telling me that Beagban chased you, but then I saw you limping
over. He also said Raina ran past a few minutes ago screaming about
demons? What happened? Where is Beagban?”

“
He’s dead,” I said
bluntly. “We fell into the pit, the demon was there, they fought,
he died, and I guess...” I struggled to think up a suitable lie. “I
guess the demon wore itself out because Demidov’s body is... no
longer walking.”

Reed studied me. “You
weren’t supposed to be brave. You were only here for show. Lars has
heard about you, it seems his employees were curious to discover
your role in my life. If you hadn’t been involved he might have
disbelieved the whole thing.”

“
What will Lars think now
that I messed it up?”

“
After talking to Raina
he’ll think that the demon got its book back. Not destroyed as I’d
planned, but gone nonetheless. So I’ll be leaving soon. Lars will
grow suspicious if I remain. I need to return to New York and
resume my life.”

“
I hope I never see you
again,” I said honestly.

“
Don’t be ridiculous,
you’ll call me the moment you find the book.”

“
I already did, it was even
under a turtle shaped tree. It’s not my fault that I was fated to
find a fake.”

He shook his head. “I
orchestrated that. Those bushes were planted this morning. The real
book is still on the island somewhere, under a different turtle
perhaps.”

“
Find it yourself,” I said,
turning for my car. “And you owe me lots of money.”

* * *

My Chevette was tired as I, rattling in
protest as I steered her home. My eyes wanted to drift shut, my
body seeking ease and peace now that the danger had passed. But
there was still so much to do. I had to get my friends back,
Stephen, Francesca. And I had to make Lucas be my boyfriend. As for
the ghosts… well, only time could tell.

I sat behind the front desk
at Sterling’s trying to ignore the newspaper that was strewn about.
The front page proclaimed that two bodies had been found in
Brunswick Park, though many of the details remained unclear. The
island was in a tizzy, sensationalism running wild. Even as the
days passed, no one would let it go. I wasn’t sure if it was Reed
that reported the bodies, if he’d attempted to explain with a few
elaborate lies. If so then his name was being hushed up.

Eventually Agata must have
identified her uncle because when she prepared to take him back to
Canada, I knew. He came to say goodbye one evening, looking more
real than his body ever had. I pulled out the Ouija board, wanting
to communicate more fully.

In truth, I thought Anastas
was an idiot. Only an idiot would play with demons. But still, I
felt like I’d done a crap job at giving him closure. Sure, the
demon was gone, but Anastas was not. He still lingered, heartsick
and guilty. But no matter how many times I asked, or how
persuasively I wheedled, Demidov wanted nothing from me. Maybe
Percy could have gotten him to confess, to pass on through the
veil. But Anastas simply wouldn’t tell me how to help, though with
the Ouija board he told me many other things.

With Reed, Demidov, and his
niece Agata gone, I waited for life to return to normal. Meanwhile
the townies fearfully anticipated that things would slow, assuming
the gruesome local discovery would put people off. Fortunately for
the Golden Isles’ economy, not even a stabbing and two dead bodies
could keep the tourists away. Appallingly contrary to expectations,
the island’s numbers swelled, business booming with the
curious.

But not everyone took the
news in stride. When Francesca found out that there were two dead
bodies in Brunswick Park, she... well, it was like that fantasy I
had of her running to my hospital bed, all sad and apologetic.
Although after finding out that I was not only alive, but couldn’t
explain myself, she got really pissed and threatened to strangle
me. On the bright side, she now believed me when I said it was only
work between Reed Wallace and me. So we were friends again. She
pretty much went back to normal the moment he left
Georgia.

In fact, Francesca had
sworn (against my protests) to devote her full attention on
ensuring that Lucas Finch fell madly in love with me. As of now it
was highly unlikely as he was currently out of state, gone on
another business trip. Who knew mechanics traveled so often? But at
least this time he’d left me a note. It was simple, just one line
taped to my door, promising we’d finish the puzzle when he got
back.

Leaning on the desk,
Stephen folded a sheet of newspaper with excessive flapping. He was
currently using the rain as an excuse to hang around the office,
waiting for a ride home. Like everyone else on St. Simons, he
wanted to talk about the dead bodies. I could tell by the way he
plied me with questions that he suspected I knew more than I let
on. I avoided his interrogation or ignored him altogether, feeling
relieved when Missy finally arrived.