Ghost Betweens (10 page)

"You two are Ghost Betweens."

"Ghost Betweens? What does that mean? That's what the farmer at the barn called us."

"How many ghosts did you two see compared to Mr. Riley and Ms. Phelps?"

He and Whisper shared a look. "A lot, I guess," Josh said. "Neither of them could see that hanging ghost. And we were seeing all kinds of partial and full apparitions when Zach was complaining that he only saw occasional streaks of light out of the corner of his eye."

"Kendra saw the same things as Zach," Whisper added.

"And you both have seen strange things before. Right?"

Josh nodded, and Whisper said, "Yes, but not for a long time. Not since I was a little kid. I never saw anything by the time I was a teenager."

"Same with me."

"But when you were younger, you saw things. Chalked them up to imaginary friends. Am I right?"

They both nodded.

"But you've been to the farm where this demon resides and those images are back. And much more real. Stop me when I'm wrong."

"Fine, we see ghosts," Josh said. "We can't argue that. But what in the world is a Ghost Between? It's a strange name. I've never heard it before."

He stared at them for a second, gathering their full attention. "You two have powers when it comes to dealing with the supernatural. I've known about you, Mr. Hart, for quite some time. One Ghost Between is almost useless in the war against evil, but where you find one, another will surely follow. I was patient, and here you are, Ms. Douglas."

"Wait, you're saying my dad's company transferred him here because I was needed to help Josh fight an evil demon?

"That's exactly what I'm saying. The fickle hand of fate has been subtly working on getting you here for years. It did it slowly so it would all seem part of the natural flow of life."

"Do you know how insane that sounds?"

"Any more insane than seeing things most people can't?"

"I don't know. Maybe." She slumped her shoulders. "I guess not."

"What kind of powers do we have?" Josh hoped he didn't sound too anxious, but this could be a lot of fun. He hadn't read comic books in years, but he loved the movies about super heroes.

"You've already used two--you can see the supernatural much easier than most people, and you can turn yourself invisible to ghosts. And to a lesser degree the demon. With the success you had yesterday, I think she'll really have to strain to find you. Another thing you can do is read the ghosts. This is sort of like reading their minds. You'll be able to discover who they were when they were alive, how they died, why they haven't moved on. Things of that nature. It might not do you much good at the farm, as those ghosts are drawn there by the demon, but it will help you assist other ghosts out in the world."

"You mean we'll see other ghosts?" Whisper asked.

"Yes. The power is almost always shut off as adolescence approaches, but once it's turned back on, it'll never go away. And you two also have shared powers you can obviously only use when together. How are you two getting along, by the way?"

Josh looked over at Whisper and smiled, while she blushed and bit her bottom lip.

Mr. Baxter chuckled. "Good. I don't need to know anything about your personal life, but this really does go much smoother when the two Ghost Betweens enjoy each other's company.

"Anyway, your first power is easiest. All you need to do is touch each other and concentrate on scaring the ghosts away. Once you practice it a time or two, you'll instantly get any nearby ghosts to run away as if they were terrified."

"Kind of like when Pac-Man eats a big power pellet?" Whisper asked.

Josh laughed. He couldn't help it. The thought of one of those farmer ghosts turning blue and zipping away from them was too funny. Especially since he'd been playing that game on his phone that morning.

"Laugh all you want, Mr. Hart, but that's an almost perfect example. Like in Pac-Man, it'll wear off quickly, so use it to buy yourself some time for whatever you're trying to accomplish at the moment. It often helps with your next power, which is to actually banish the ghosts. This takes a bit more concentration to work."

"So how do we concentrate?" Josh asked. "Is it like when we turned invisible? We just say we want the ghosts gone or something?"

"Something like that. Today's just an explaining day. Tomorrow I'm going to have you two practice, and you'll see how it works. You'll pick it up easily, I have no doubt. You were born to do this."

"How about stunning them?" Josh asked.

Mr. Baxter looked at him, but Josh couldn't read his expression. Finally, he said, "Why would you ask that, Mr. Hart?"

"Remember when we told you about the farmer and the headless ghost at the barn?"

Mr. Baxter nodded, and Whisper's eyes went wide. "Did we do that?"

"I didn't think so, but after hearing about our powers, maybe we did."

"What did you do?" Mr. Baxter asked.

"We stunned the ghosts," Josh said. "The headless one leapt at us, and Whisper grabbed my arm."

"We yelled, "Stop!" at the same time, and the ghosts did."

"How long were they stunned for?" Mr. Baxter's voice strained to get out.

Josh shrugged, and Whispered murmured that she didn't know.

"We ran out of there and didn't look back until we were halfway across the fields," Josh said.

Whisper frowned. "You're making this into a big deal, Mr. Baxter. Why?"

Mr. Baxter shook his head. Josh took it to be not because he didn't want to answer, but because he was buying time, collecting his thoughts. When he did speak, they had to lean forward to hear him.

"Are you sure about this? Did you feel power surge out of you when you stunned them?"

"Yes," Whisper said. "It was like an electrical current ran down my arm to where I touched Josh. Then it jumped out around us."

"That's what it felt like to me, too. As soon as it exploded off of us, the ghosts fell and froze."

Mr. Baxter ran his fingers through his hair, and Josh thought he heard the teacher say, "Wow."

"You never answered Whisper's question, Mr. Baxter. Why is this a big deal?"

"It might not be one at all." Josh could hear the careful treading in Mr. Baxter's voice. "We may be able to chalk it up to beginner's luck."

"But you don't believe that," Whisper said.

He shook his head. "I knew you kids were powerful, but I may have grossly underestimated you. Only seasoned Ghost Betweens, those with years of practice and experience, should be able to stun ghosts, and even then it's difficult to keep them down for more than a second or two. And you two did it on a whim as your first business as Ghost Betweens."

"So we really are like super heroes?" Josh said with a grin. He was only half-kidding.

"Yeah," Mr. Baxter said with a far away look in his eyes. He caught himself quickly, and put on a stern look. "Don't get cocky, though. You haven't even begun your lessons yet."

"No, sir."

"How do you know so much about this?" Whisper asked. "About the demon, the farm, the ghosts, and us being Ghost Betweens?"

"That's a story for another time. Just know that I'm on your side. I know I'm being vague about everything, but I'm doing my best to not overwhelm either of you. I wish I could go to the farm to help, but I can't. I can only make sure you two are ready to deal with the problem."

Josh opened his mouth to ask why he couldn't come with them to the farm, but Mr. Baxter silenced him before he started. "Also a question for another time, Mr. Hart. I promise I'll get to those answers, but it's not important today. I've already taken up a lot of time explaining. As I said, tomorrow I'll teach you two how to use your shared powers. Today, why don't you take another five minute trek to the farm? It's on your way home, right?" They both nodded. "See if you can read a ghost or two while you're invisible. Okay?"

Josh didn't know about Whisper, but all of this was a bit overwhelming, leaving him a bit numb. Though by the way she was moving, he had a feeling she did feel exactly that way. They said goodbye to Mr. Baxter and headed out to his car.

*****

Once they made it to the farm, they turned invisible and walked out to the fields. The ghosts, like yesterday, couldn't see them. Josh, much more comfortable with this today, moved in close to one of the spirits and really studied it. Uncanny! It was a see-through person, just another farmer out in the field. Since they'd turned themselves invisible in the parking lot, the ghosts had no clue they were there, and it looked like most were simply working the fields, as they'd likely done in life, be it here or whatever farm they originally lived at.

"Try reading him," Whisper said. "Find out what that's like."

Josh nodded and concentrated, both on keeping himself invisible and in digging into the ghost's history. Instantly, a mysterious, otherworldly voice started talking to him, as if reading a biography. Was that the ghost's voice, or just a generic voice of the reading? He'd have to ask Whisper to describe the one she heard when she did a reading.

This guy's name was Ezekiel Brown, from a large farm in Nebraska around the year 1900. He didn't own it, just worked for room, board, and a small wage. He spent none of the money he earned--no nights on the town, no gifts for himself, nothing frivolous at all--unless he needed necessities like shoes, new overalls, or the like. He saved it all so he could one day purchase a plot of land all his own, and finally ask his sweetheart, Mary Jane Simmons, to be his wife. He never got the chance, though, as a dozen heavy bales of hay fell from the barn one afternoon, killing him. He still wasn't quite sure he was dead. He had a feeling, but since the lady called him to live here, he didn't question anything anymore.

Josh pulled away, somehow managing to keep his thoughts on staying invisible, but severing the connection. The ghost jumped a bit, too. He couldn't dig too hard or too long.

"What happened?" Whisper asked, her eyes wide.

He explained what the experience was like, and what the weird voice had said. "Did you see him jump at the end? Like he got a bit of an electric shock?"

She nodded.

"I think we need to be careful when we read ghosts. Just get the surface information, or they'll know we're here."

She nodded again. "But remember what Mr. Baxter said. Reading these ghosts won't do us much good. I think the reading thing is more for ghosts that aren't tainted with the demon's evil."

Josh pondered this for a second. "Yeah, I think you're right. But you try anyway, so you know you can do it."

She glanced around, and then pointed to a female ghost carrying a pitcher of water. "I'll try her."

Whisper moved in front of the ghost, which paused while she stared at it. A few seconds later, both jumped apart, and the ghost continued on her way.

"That was Maude McCarran. She's a plantation owner from Georgia before the Civil War. She used to bring her slaves glasses of fresh lemonade throughout the day. She only had a couple, and they were almost like family. I pulled away before I got any more." She gave him a weak smile. "I didn't want to read for too long."

"Was the voice a ladies, or just some weird garbled one?"

"A lady's voice. I figured it was hers."

"Maybe the ghost I got sounded weird. I don't know."

They found themselves parallel with the barn, and Josh started towards it. "Where are you going?" Whisper asked. He could hear the fear in her voice, and he didn't blame her. He didn't want to do this, either, but he felt he had to.

"To read them. I want to know who they are, what they are."

Whisper bit her bottom lip, but fell in step beside him. "They're different from the other ghosts, right?"

He nodded. "They couldn’t see us yesterday, and even if they do today, we can stun them and get out."

She grabbed his arm, and they stopped. "But we don't know how. Not really. Mr. Baxter said it might have just been beginner's luck."

"But he didn't think so. Besides, you know we have to do this, Whisper."

She hesitated, and then nodded. "Okay. Let's go."

They continued forward, and the barn door opened. The headless ghost stepped out, and Josh got the impression he was looking around, however he did that without a head.

Josh stepped up next to the ghost and tried a reading. Nothing at first, but then the farmer's voice came into his head.

"Nice try, Ghost Between, but you can't read what doesn't exist. I control his every action."

"Who are you?"

"Her second in command. Though at times like this, I wish I called the shots. I'd snuff both of your insignificant little lives out before you could blink. Now run and be glad I'm bound to this barn, or I'll make you wish I would kill you."

The connection dropped, and Josh fell to his knees. The headless ghost lurched backwards, and then stepped back into the barn. Whisper zipped to Josh's side and helped him up.

"What happened?"

"Later. First we need to get out into the field. Stay invisible."

As they walked, he relayed the conversation. She hadn't heard any of it; it all took place in his mind.

"So is he another demon?" she asked.

"I don't know. He didn't say. He looks like a ghost to me."

She nodded. "Yeah, and she didn't."

When they were far enough away, Whisper dug her camera out of her bag, but before she took pictures, she gave him a sheepish look. "Mr. Baxter didn't say anything about taking pictures this time, did he?"

"No, I don't see what the problem would be. I think we're pretty good about staying invisible."

"Excellent. Even though it's a creepy place, it still looks neat. I'd like to get some of the atmosphere instead of the ghosts. I bet those will come out really well."

As they continued walking, Whisper took a few pictures. After the first one, Josh could tell something wasn't right. Balls of energy popped seemingly right out of the dead soil. Mist surrounded them. And worst of all, the apparitions focused on Whisper.

"Whisper, stop! Turn invisible!"

She looked at him with fear in her eyes, but listened. He couldn't sense if she was invisible or not, but by the way the ghosts quit advancing on her, she'd been successful.