The Sibyl (15 page)

“Ok.” I started to pace, but there wasn’t
enough room with all the knickknacks and tables cluttering the
room. I settled on tapping my fingers against my chin instead. “And
it is believed this place is haunted.”

“Yes.” Joanna’s face lit up as she saw an
opportunity for the theatrics to continue. “We see them, you know.
Catherine and Samuel. They appear before us in the shape of wisps
and shadows.”

“What else?” Elliot shifted in his seat and I
could see the interest in his eyes.

“Well, things move on their own accord. The
knickknacks and such. I believe Catherine loves to have them in her
home. She always loved such delicate things.”

“Ms. Whitaker,” I made sure the underlying
warning was clear in my words. “The facts and nothing more.”

“Oh, very well. Come see the rest of the
house I’ll show you the diary Samuel kept when they first moved
here.”

Joanna led us up a thin staircase and into an
even smaller hallway. When she reached the final room to her left,
she opened the door. “This was their bedroom. We had it restored to
fit the time period, just as every other room in the Tillotson
home.”

Elliot stepped inside, but before he could
utter a single word of warning, I followed in behind him to be
faced with a large oval mirror. There were no whispers in my head
this time; only the loud screams of the woman facing me in me the
glass. She was covered in the blood which ran from her neck. The
moment I stepped into the room, I felt a sharp pain rip across my
throat as her anger overwhelmed my mind. I’m afraid I screamed
along with her as she reached out, her arms slipping through the
glass as if it were liquid.

My screams were silent. I could feel myself
trying to get it out, but there was nothing. No sound. No echo.
Nothing.

“Eva!” Elliot grabbed me, pulling me from the
room so quickly I crumpled into a heap on the carpet. He then
turned to a bewildered Joanna. “Close the door. Now!”

I heard the door slam shut as Elliot gathered
me up in his arms. I couldn’t shake the fear surrounding me. I knew
the woman I’d seen was Catherine. I had been blindsided by the
mirror itself and she took advantage of it to scare the daylights
out of me. Elliot sat me back down on the sofa with Cyrus crouching
down beside me.

“Little One, Eva,” Cyrus reached up and
brushed his hand over my neck. “You are bleeding.”

“No, I’m not.” I was trying to get a hold of
myself as my voice came back. I sounded like I had swallowed a
bucket full of nails. “She didn’t touch me.”

“She didn’t have to.” Cyrus lifted up his
hand to show me his fingers were streaked with blood. “Catherine
Tillotson shared more than her presence with you, it seems.”

“She shared her wounds.” I finished his
sentence, staring incredulously at him. “How is this possible? Why
can’t I feel it?”

“What is going on here?” Joanna was standing
off to the side, upset she was no longer the center of our camera’s
attention. No, such an honor was reserved for me now. “I thought
you didn’t want dramatic.”

“Take care of her.” Cyrus gestured to Elliot
from his position by my feet. “She will only be in the way.”

“Damn you, no.” Elliot looked as if he were
going to knock Cyrus clear across the room as he put his cell phone
to his ear. “Let me get a doctor in here to take a look at Eva. She
needs help. That cut looks pretty serious.”

“It will heal on its own before any physician
can get here.” Cyrus stood and faced Elliot. “If my words weren’t
true, if she wasn’t what she is, then your Eva would be dead by
now. Obviously, she is very much alive. There is nothing to worry
about. Now go. Take care of the spectator. I will ensure the
Sibyl’s safety.”

“Spectator? Why, I never! And in my very own
house!” Joanna was so upset by Cyrus, her lily white complexion
became red with anger. “I have every right to be here if any of
this footage is going to be shown on television.”

“Ma’am, Eva has had an injury. It is best if
we give her some room.”

Elliot sounded tired as he took the woman’s
elbow to lead her outside. I could hear him as they stood out on
the porch. He was reassuring her I would be fine and that Theia
Productions was not going to sue her. I could tell he had his hands
full, but I didn’t have the strength to go outside to save him. I
reached to my throat and traced the jagged line stretching across
my skin. I took a brief moment to wonder if I would end up with a
scar as I pulled my hand away. A quick glance down at my shirt told
me it was ruined. After I finished my brief examination, I turn to
my keeper for answers.

“I didn’t die because of the immortality
clause in this whole Sybil contract, right?”

Cyrus didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. I
could see the affirmation in his dark eyes as he busied himself
with examining me.

“How could she harm me? Cyrus, Catherine
wasn’t contained by the glass. She reached through it.”

Cyrus lifted himself up to sit on the couch
beside me when he was satisfied the wound had indeed closed on its
own. I was sure he did it to buy time to find his answer. I wasn’t
mistaken. When Cyrus spoke, his words were slow and careful.

“As I told you many times before, Eva, you
have much training to do in the event something like what just
happened does indeed occur. The spirit world is one of power.
Certain souls have more than others. You must be prepared.”

“So they can physically hurt me now?” I
hissed in an attempt to keep my voice down. It was hard enough to
sit here as if nothing had happened. “I thought my powers were
limited to just seeing and speaking with them. Messenger of the
dead, remember?”

“I do.” Cyrus kept his hands together in his
lap. “Messenger of the dead, daughter of Apollo. Those are your
titles, Little One. I thought you did the readings I gave you. Did
you skip the ones regarding Hades?”

“I don’t know. I read a lot, mind you. It
seems like I missed the most important parts though.” I sighed.
“How can I keep them from harming me? Or at the very least, from
being so scared I need to change my jeans after an encounter.”

He chuckled. “Time? Practice? Exposure? There
are no certain methods to protect yourself, Little One. I can only
tell you what the others before you found to be useful. Expect to
see them. Learn to listen to the sounds of the dead long before you
are faced with a portal they can get though.”

“Like the mirror upstairs.”

“Yes. I told you before, use only Apollo’s
mirror to make contact. The glass is too small for them to reach
through.” Cyrus tapped the side of my head gently. “Stop and listen
before you walk into any space. If you start to hear the whispers,
put up the door in your mind. This will hold them off until you can
actively do so when faced by them in the glass itself. If they come
through, form a shield much like your door around you. This too
will be easier with practice. I will be able to pull you free if I
must, but it is dangerous for you.”

“My new role has become extraordinarily
tedious.” I grumbled as I stood up to go outside. I could feel the
hate in this place now, and it was so much more than I could have
believed possible. The very walls seemed to vibrate with the
resounding scream still echoing inside my mind. “Let’s go. I think
we are done here for now.”

“Yes, I believe so as well.” Cyrus nodded as
he followed me. “For now.”

“I know this might be a bad time to bring up
the blood and all, but do either of you care to explain to me what
happened back there?”

Joey had a mouth full of pizza as he spoke. I
handed him a napkin from the basket in front of me with a sigh. We
had left the farmhouse on the pretense of getting ready for our
investigation tonight. Well, it wasn’t much of a pretense. We
really did need to get our equipment together. Truth be told
though, I needed to get out of there and the boys needed to eat.
After a quick stop so I could change clothes, we found a pizza
joint and collapsed into the most secluded booth we could find.

“I’m not sure if you want to know, Joey.” I
pushed my own plate aside. Having your throat slit by an angry
spirit did wonders for killing your appetite. “It’s quite the long
story.”

“Hey, I’m on the clock. I got nothing but
time since you’re paying me to be here.” Joey turned his attention
to Elliot as if he would give him the answers I wasn’t willing to
give up so easily. “So what gives, Lancaster? Your girl some sort
of psychic or something?”

“Or something.” Elliot took my hand from
across the table. “It’s up to you, Eva. Your story. Your
choice.”

“If Joey is going to be with us for awhile,
he will need to know.” I sighed. “Ok. Just promise you won’t call
me crazy when I’m done, ok?”

“I won’t call you crazy. I can make no
promises, however, of not making fun of you.”

I smiled despite myself. “Fair enough.
Remember Paracon?”

“Yeah. I got out of it since I’m just the
equipment guy.”

“Well, we had to go because of the classes
being offered on the paranormal. I just walked away with a bigger
souvenir than the classic swag bag.”

I started from the beginning. How could I
not? I told him about the scrying session, how Kathy Carter tricked
me into taking the mirror, and how I had chanted the words which
changed me. Cyrus was lurking in the shadows, leaning against the
wall next to our table, and only nodded when I introduced him to
Joey for what he really was. I told our poor camera man everything
I knew, which admittedly, wasn’t much. When I finally fell silent,
Joey whistled.

“That’s one hell of a hook, McRayne. You
gonna use it?”

I laughed. I couldn’t help myself. With all
the blood and death and screaming spirits, I had to find something
amusing. Joey taking this so well? That was my something. “Yeah, I
guess it is.”

I ignored his mention of the show. I had
already made the promise to Apollo to use television to bring
attention to him. I just had no idea how to do it yet.

“So this is it. You found the one thing to
make yourself stand out from all the other paranormal gigs out
there.”

“I don’t know, Joey.” Elliot grimaced. “I
don’t want Eva to turn into a sideshow.”

“She won’t be.” Joey rubbed his hands
together before taking another slice of pizza from the pan in
between us. “You’ve already promised Connor you’d find a way to
make the show stand out, right? This is how you do it. We won’t
have to change much in the way of formatting, either. We go in, get
the history. Then, bring out the fancy mirror. Let Eva talk to the
spirits while we film the whole encounter in the dark. Hell, you
gave me enough footage this afternoon to get started. We’ll call it
Grave
Messages
. ”

“I hate to admit it, but I do like that
title.” I took a sip of my water as I considered what he said.
“This just might work. Cyrus is teaching me how to keep the voices
quiet. And I’m working on how to shut the mirrors down before I can
be attacked. We can cover the mirrors in our locations until we are
ready to film the part where I contact them.”

Elliot pulled a notebook out of his jeans and
gestured to me for a pen. I handed him the first one out of my
purse. He began to write, jotting down the ideas now flying between
the three of us about the show. This was a meeting that should have
happened back in L.A. when the contracts were first signed. But the
timing never seemed right. Now, we had ideas. We had
formatting.

We had a show.

***

After our impromptu meeting, the four of us
had gone back to the hotel to grab the equipment; packing it up in
the back of the crew’s rented SUV. Elliot had pulled me aside once
we finished, tugging me into a dark corner of the hotel lobby.

“Eva, are you sure about this?” Elliot was
holding my hands between us, searching my face for any signs of
doubt. “We can find some other way for this to work.”

“Eli, I’m sure.” I freed one hand to caress
his cheek. “I believe this is going to work. I believe Cyrus will
protect me if need be.”

“I will be there, too.” Elliot leaned into my
touch. “Cyrus isn’t the only one who can help you.”

“I know you are.” I smiled as he tugged on
the hand he still held to pull me into his embrace. “Just stay safe
yourself, ok? I’ve seen Catherine twice now. She is extraordinarily
strong.”

“Twice?” Elliot rested his chin on the top of
my head. “I didn’t realize.”

“Yeah. She hit me up in the midst of my
beauty routine this morning.” I closed my eyes, relishing in how
good it felt to be held by him. “Besides, neither of us can get
hurt. You never did take me out for coffee in New York, Eli. I’m
holding you to your promise.”

His laughter ruffled my hair as he pulled
away just enough to look down at me. “And you have been a really
good sport about all this.”

“Exactly.” I hit his chest lightly. “So
forget the cheap corner stuff. We’re talking Starbucks quality now,
mister.”

Elliot’s only response was to close all
distance between us. He kissed me; slow and sweet. I didn’t want
this moment to end.

Too bad we were interrupted by the sound of
someone clearing their throat. I turned to see Cyrus tapping his
fingers against the hotel counter and Joey rolling his eyes as he
headed to the door.

“We going or what?” Joey held the door open.
“I didn’t lug all those cases down those stairs for nothing, you
know.”

“Fine.” I muttered as Elliot returned his
grip on my hand. “I guess we shouldn’t keep the others
waiting.”

“Guess not. Those two might just go off and
leave us here.”

“Do you really think they would?”

“Don’t sound so hopeful.” Elliot smirked as
we walked outside. He was right. The other two were already
climbing inside the vehicle. “It’ll ruin your reputation as a good
ghost hunter if people find out you don’t want to go into spooky
old houses.”