Geist (5 page)

It was closed. Nothing looked wrong with it. 

"Yes. The book used to be open." 

"It did?" I looked back at her. 

"It used to sit on this shore like the sun. It was like a beacon we could go to when we needed answers. The
Grimoire
has it all. It pulsed with life. Darren's life. But now," she sighed. "Without that page inside of it—it's locked." 

I pulled the page out again, but kept it folded. "Why can't I just put the page in now while I'm here?" 

Alice reached out and put a hand on my arm. "No Zoë. You can't. For two reasons." She nodded at the page. "Because that's not really here—just as you're not really here. You're a projection of the reality where you are. You're OOB right now, but you're inside of Darren." 

Ah...that was true. "Then you'd need to get the real page and it's with me in the Throne." I decided I liked the idea of it being a Throne. It sounded better than egg when talking to someone who hadn't seen it.

"Yes. And the second reason is because only Rhonda can place the page.  She has to raise the book from him, slip it in, and then put the book back."

The horizon brightened, which made the edges of the big ass book sharper. Wow...this really was a big book. 

"Dags is waking. I think he can hear you." 

I followed Alice back toward the cliffs and the darkness. 

•••

I could see through his eyes again, and if I concentrated—

OUCH—he was in pain! 

"He's coming around," that was Rhonda. "Baby—can you hear me?" 

"Y-yeah," and Dags' voice surrounded me. "Oh fuck that hurts." 

"I know. I got it stitched up but we just don't have access to the Society's funds for better medical treatment. And we can't let you walk into a hospital—" 

"Yeah...I know. They'll grab me and
rescue
me since I'm kidnapped. Son of a—" he hissed. The pain was localized in his right side, where the tattooed chick had thrust her machete. I felt it in my own side as if
I'd
been the one to get skewered. 

"Zoë?" Alice said.

"He's not kidding. This hurts," I pulled up my shirt. It was a simple black cotton top—I had no idea where it came from. Maybe my years working as a retail sales girl. 

I could see a faint ghost of the wound on my own skin. It did look stitched up—
gah
—and it looked like a third grader did it. Rhonda was not a seamstress. 

"I wonder why you have the mark of his wound," Alice muttered as she came up to look at it. 

Her light made it a lot clearer, and I wondered where I could get me one of those. "I have no idea. I can't remember if I could always do this before or not." 

"Might be that the page of the book that's making this possible. Either way, this is going put him out of commission again." 

"What did she mean they didn't have access to the Society's funds? I thought Rhonda was the head of it?" 

"Oh... you don't know." She looked awesomely pissed off. "Apparently the Virtues have guided the local Feds to indict the Society for kidnapping a diplomat's son and brainwashing him in their "devil worshiping" palatial estate." 

Blink. 

WTF? 

"Say dat again?" 

"It's all bullshit, but it didn't help that Rhonda had all of Rodriguez' torture devices—basically his whole damn laboratory—brought into the compound's basement. It was for storage and research—to see what he'd been doing—but that's not how it was spun. Most of the Society got out—and Nona and Nick were able to destroy a good deal of the files. At least the most important ones that revealed board members and supporters. Powerful list." 

"Mom and Nick? They did that?" 

"It was quite a night, Zoë. They want to find a way to get you back and they believe Dags has that key. But if he does we haven't found it yet." 

I patted my boob. "Yeah, you have. But we need to get everyone up to speed right now and see what our options are." I looked back at the wound. 

Was there anything I could do to it? 

Geist?

I really didn't expect him to answer. Not sure I wanted him too. 

I was floored when he actually came out of the darkness, still dressed in Joe's signature look. "You called Zoë?" 

I waited on Alice to notice him standing beside her—but she didn't. I frowned. 

"She cannot see me, Zoë. Only the Throne holders know of my presence and existence. Otherwise, I am invisible. If you would like me to become visible to the Familiar, I can."  

I opened my mouth to talk—and noticed Alice watching me—and decided maybe not.
Nah. I'll just talk in my head. I'm used to it.
So are you here in Dags' head with me? 

"Yes. And no. I am a projection as you are." 

Oh that's good. Look, you see this
, and I showed him my side.
This is causing some issues. Is there a way I can fix it? 

"Yes. You simply have to wish it so." 

Get out of town
. I leaned back. "No shit?" 

Alice blinked. "No shit what, Zoë?" 

"Nothing." I looked at the wound again. Wish it so, huh? 

Okay, I wish Dags wasn't wounded. 

"And it is done," Geist bowed and vanished. 

The pain vanished. 

Three, two, one—

"What the fuck?" Rhonda said. 

I turned and looked through Dags' eyes. He was still on his back—somewhere—but the pain was gone. "What did you do?" he asked. 

"I didn't
do
anything," Rhonda said. "But—Jason—look at this." 

Jason's beautiful face came into view. His hair had grown a bit, and he looked at little haggard. I wondered idly if he needed blood. "It's—healed. Are you sure you didn't do something?" 

Maybe she leaked?
A deep, familiar voice spoke in my head.
 

Whoa... I stepped back. That was Mephistopheles' voice! Jason's First Born,though he often called Mephistopheles his Old Man. But since I was in Dags' body, did that mean that Dags could hear him? 

"Tell that old man I don't leak magic. Dags," she reached up and touched his cheek. "How does it feel?" 

"It doesn't feel like anything. It's like—it didn't happen." 

"How?" Alice said to my left. "Maureen and I haven't been able to heal him properly. At least not well." 

I nodded. I knew I'd done it. But something about it niggled at me. By healing him like that—had I screwed up something else? 

Like that other shoe dropping? 

"Dags—can you hear me?" I called out to him. And then I put a little force behind it.
"Dags—it's me. It's Zoë." 

"Zoë?" Dags' voice was loud and clear and he sat up. He started looking around at the others. I saw we were in a bedroom—not the nicest of places. It might have been a hotel. The walls were covered in some reddish wall paper with little black flowers. Heavy gold drapes hung over the windows. Two 1960s art deco lamps lit up most of the room. 

Jason and Rhonda were closest to me, and I could see Joe at the foot of the bed. I didn't see TC or Daniel...or mom. 

"Baby...you said before you heard Zoë. Do you hear her now?" 

Okay this whole "baby" thing was getting on my last nerve. I asserted control at that moment—and it was like donning a super sized suit of armor. I slid my arms down into his, my feet into his. I cleared his throat and spoke, my voice echoing with his own. "Okay—
that
just needs to fucking
stop
. Dags is
my
man, not
yours
and if you call him baby again I'm going to kick the shit out of you." 

-7-

I'm
Baaaaaaack

Rhonda stood up straight, her eyes wide. "What the—" 

I/Dags stood up and took a wobbly step toward her. "And another thing," I held out his hand. I loved his hands. Beautiful hands. "What the hell are you people doing? Why haven't you busted me out of the Abysmal plane yet?" 

Rhonda put her hands to her face. "ZOË!" 

Abruptly she had her arms around my neck—Dags' neck—and was crying on me. "Oh God you're alive...you're alive..." 

"Yes...and I need to—" 

The truth was Dags wanted control again. I'd told myself I wasn't doing this to take control of him. I didn't want to possess him. I stumbled backward against Alice who caught me. But she wasn't a happy camper. 

"You could have been a bit gentler about that. He's not as strong as he used to be." 

"And he won't ever be strong again until we get this page back into him," I said as I looked up at the screen. 

Dags had pulled back from Rhonda but kept his hands on her shoulders. "...you hear that? That wasn't me. I swear it wasn't me. That was Zoë." 

"I know!" Rhonda looked about ready to burst. "Zoë...are you in there with Dags?" 

"Yes." 

He relayed the response. 

"Zoë," Jason said as he stepped into view. "Are you possessing Dags, or overshadowing him?" 

"I just want to overshadow, but I can possess him if I need to. I hadn't planned on it." 

He nodded. "Then you're astrally here with him." 

"Yes. I have a lot of things to tell all of you—" 

"Zoë—" Dags interrupted me. "You don't have to keep yelling. I can hear you and I can tell them." 

I felt my cheeks glow. I was yelling?
"I'm sorry. I'm just so excited to see you again." 

"Me too. Are you on a time limit? I mean, minutes to expire?" 

"I don't think so. I'm not tired or anything. I'm in here talking to Alice."
 

"I thought I'd heard voices earlier. What about Maureen." 

"Darren," Alice spoke up. "I can't sense Maureen. Can you?" 

He paused for a few minutes. I could see Rhonda and Jason watching him and waiting. He was talking out loud so it was a one sided conversation.
"Can Mephistopheles hear me?"
 

Yes. And I can allow Jason to hear you if you wish.

"Yes!" 

Dags sighed. "I can't feel Maureen." 

"What do you mean you can't feel Maureen?" Rhonda asked. "I thought she was with you half an hour ago, during the fight?" 

"She was but then she vanished—" 

He and I came to the same conclusion at the same time. 

Uh oh. 

Alice touched my arm. "That's not possible is it?" 

"I don't know, but I can check." I called out again.
Geist!

And within seconds he was there. It was faster this time. "Yes Zoë?"

There's usually another Familiar in here with Alice. Her name is Maureen. Where is she?

"This vessel can only be inhabited by two entities other than the soul at one time, especially while the
Grimoire
is offline. I am afraid for you to be here and not feel the ill effects of separation, a surrogate had to be placed inside of your body." 

Oh.

My. 

Freak'n. 

God.

I nearly had a coronary.
Geist—are you telling me Maureen is in
my
body?

"Yes. But please do not worry. She is not strong enough to...what was the word you used...overshadow, or even possess your body. She is simply there to fill space. As they say, nature abhors a vacuum." 

Is that going to hurt her? 

"No. She will have no memories of the experience." He gave me a lopsided grin. "I sense you are distressed?" 

Well yeah...Maureen hasn't exactly been...trustworthy. She's responsible for a lot of bad things that happened to Dags. 

"Yes I am aware of Maureen Lafferty's history. But I have taken precautions." 

"Zoë?" Alice said. 

"Dags?" Rhonda said. 

I thanked Geist, and he disappeared.
"Did you hear that?"
 

"Yeah I did," Dags said aloud. "Who—what was that?" 

"Long story. Let's just say I trust his information for now." 

"But it looked like—" 

"Yeah, I know. Don't worry about it."
I don't know why I didn't want to talk about the Geist just yet. Alice had pretty much confirmed it existed. But somehow—I'd gotten the impression she thought it was bad. But he was the reason I was here—I'd done this on his advice I guessed. And I wasn't ready to give up that connection. Or what was turning into a nice fount of information. 

My own Big Book of Everything. 

But I had this nagging feeling Rhonda wouldn't approve. And how come Dags could hear and see Geist but Alice couldn't?

"But Zoë—without Maureen—"

"What do you mean
without
Maureen?" Rhonda butted in. 

"Tell her to shut the fuck up." 

Dags did. Rhonda looked pissed. Jason merely smiled. Where was everyone else? 

I looked at Alice. "Maureen isn't here. When I came here—she was somehow sucked into my place. She's in my body back in the Throne." 

Alice's eyes widened. Oh that wasn't a good sign. "Zoë—Maureen's not—" 

"Trustworthy. I know—" 

But she was shaking her head. "Let me finish. Maureen's not really a part of the picture at the moment." 

"I'm not getting it."

"Neither am I," Dags said out loud. 

Jason is listening. And I will inform Inanna and Daniel. 

Alice continued. "After—her last indiscretion—whether it was done by the powers that be or by the
Grimoire
itself—Maureen was removed from Dags' hand. She's part of the triumvirate, and she was here while Dags was catatonic, but once the pages were re-ordered she hasn't been able to reconnect to her place. Zoë," Alice took my hand. "Maureen and I act as his connections to the two spheres of the universe—the Abysmal and the Ethereal. She's his Abysmic connection. Without her—" 

"I'm not sure I know what you're getting at." And I wasn't sure I wanted to know. 

"Right now,
you're
that connection.
You
are the Abysmic plane manifestation."