Unhappy Medium (12 page)

“But why not?”

She lifted her head just enough to give me a sad look.

“I’ve already told you. I never lied, or pretended to my clients. I am
not
a fraud. But I never actually made contact with the spirit world, either. I suppose I wanted to be a medium, because everyone
I cared about had crossed over. And there were times when I was alone that I truly believed I could sense spirits. Even see
them. But the sad fact I must now face is that I have no abilities of second sight.”

“But Madame Serena, you
do
!” I assured her.

She raised one eyebrow, and stared at me, a question in her eyes.

I leaned toward her.

“You said that every time you sensed you were getting through to Loretta, that you would see the black cloud — that it interfered
with the connection and you felt forced to end it.”

“Yes,” Madame Serena said.

“But, Madame Serena, the fact that you could see the black cloud — the fact that it was aware of you — is because you
do
have the second sight. You were never a failure as a medium. The black cloud just interfered with you. And by cutting off
the sessions when you sensed it, you actually protected the Colonel’s wife.”

Madame Serena stared at me intently. Then she leaned over and grasped me by the arms. It didn’t feel like a real person was
touching me, but I could feel her hands, like two currents of energy.

“Simple Cat, are you certain you are not mistaken?”

I drew myself up theatrically, the way Madame Serena sometimes did.

“Simple Cat is
never
mistaken,” I declared. Then I gave her a grin.

She clapped her hands together.

“Then the Colonel’s wife had faith in me with good reason! I didn’t let her down!”

“You didn’t let her down. You kept her safe. And if all goes according to plan, you’ll see her soon enough. But, Madame Serena,
the black cloud is dangerous to living people. Especially mediums. You know that, don’t you?”

She nodded gravely.

“I can affect it,” she said. “I can slow it down. But I cannot overpower it.”

“And I can stop it from reaching my mind for a time, but I can’t overpower it either,” I said. “Not by myself. But we can’t
let that thing remain here. I believe it is responsible for at least one death at the Mountain House. We have to destroy it.
I can’t do it alone, and neither can you. But together, I think we have a shot of destroying it.”

Madame Serena looked sad.

“Simple Cat, I am so fatigued. I never knew how tired I was until you came. I just want to go to the Summerland.”

“I know you do,” I said. “But you can’t let the black cloud stay here. And you can’t let all the people who turned on the
Spiritualists win.”

She gave me an indignant glare.

“How would I be doing that?”

“After Maggie Fox told the newspapers that all of Spiritualism was a fraud, most of the country turned against people like
you. They believed that because Maggie claimed to be a fraud, all mediums were.”

Madame Serena nodded sadly.

“But you are
not
a fraud,” I told her. “And neither am I. I know that you’re tired of being here, and you are going to go. You’ll be in the
Summerland soon. But you have a chance to leave a legacy now, Madame Serena. Even if I’m the only one who knows about it.
You can help to rid the Mountain House of this terrible entity. The last act you do on this earth will be to use your abilities
to protect innocent people. And wouldn’t that be quite the thing for you to tell the Colonel’s wife?”

She looked at me for a minute like I was nuts, then she threw back her head and laughed, the way you’d expect an opera singer
to laugh — she heaved and quivered, and the sound seemed to reverberate all through the room.

“You are wise, Simple Cat,” she said. “It is right for Madame Serena to leave this world with a final gift.”

“Okay, then,” I said. “When it comes, do what you can to keep it away from me. It has the ability to push me — to move me,
and that terrifies me. I need to keep my mind focused — it feeds off of terror. If I get scared, I’m allowing it to get to
me. Can you help?”

Madame Serena drew herself up to her full, impressive height.

“I most certainly can,” she declared.

“Okay then. I’m going to try to get its attention.”

“How?” Madame Serena asked.

“I guess … I’m just going to open myself. As I would to sense any kind of spirit activity. I’m going to broadcast my intent
to communicate with the other side.”

“Broadcast?” she asked, perplexed.

“Oh, it means … never mind. Just sit with me, open your perceptions, take your gaze inward.”

“Yes,” Madame Serena said, very quietly. We sat together for a moment, side by side, the sound of our breathing quietly audible
over the drum of rainfall.

It seemed barely any time had passed at all when I felt the black cloud’s presence — wet and dark and sour.

“It is here,” Madame Serena said.

I could see it by the door, swirling darkly. Madame Serena stood up and put herself between us, like a bodyguard. It instantly
rose up toward the ceiling, so that I could see it pulsating over the medium’s head.

“Dark energy, leave this place,” I said, with as much authority as I could gather. I had to pretend I was Madame Serena to
muster the commanding tone.

It hung there, menacing.

“In the name of all that is good, in the name of the Divine Guides and all Keepers of Light, I command you to leave this place.”

The thing seemed to waver for a moment. Then it began to move toward me.

“Do not approach her,” Madame Serena declared loudly. “Comply.”

She seemed to be keeping the black cloud in place for the moment, but I could see that she was struggling, and beginning to
lose ground. I felt a wave of panic as the thing got a little closer. Fear ate at my stomach, and my hands trembled.

If you let the fear in, you open the door,
I told myself.
The black cloud feeds on terror.

Madame Serena cried out and staggered back, as if she’d been shoved. The cloud glided closer.

Orin had told me to hit the thing with an image of what I loved most in the world.

I closed my eyes and blotted out everything in the room, and replaced it.

With the face of my mother.

I thought of the sensation of her rubbing my back. The smell of her cookies baking. The sound of her laughter. I thought of
her reverence for all forms of life — the way she carried spiders outside of the house, and wouldn’t even kill wasps. I thought
of the way she offered help to others no matter who they were. And I thought of the way she cared for me, the ways she always
had and would.

Then I let myself feel the love I had inside for her — I felt it expand and surge far beyond the confines of my body.

“In the name of light,
be gone
!” I heard Madame Serena shout as she staggered back toward me.

Something ripped through me, tearing me open down the middle. Then I felt a sense of enormous space, like gravity had released
its pull and I was tumbling into the sky. The floor hit me hard, knocking the breath out of me. The entity seemed to be sucked
into itself like a black hole, until it was completely gone.

And the room was flooded with light.

At first I thought I was alone in the room, as I sat on the floor trying to regain my senses. I didn’t know how long the power
had been back on, but the lights were working now. Everything seemed too bright. Then I caught sight of Madame Serena’s turban
peeking over the foot of the bed. Then two bejeweled hands grasped the footboard, and she pulled herself up.

“I do believe, Simple Cat, that we were successful,” she declared, straightening her turban solemnly.

I started to stand, but felt kind of wobbly, so I perched on the end of the bed. The energy in the room was totally different
— though the sky was still dark outside the room felt as sunny and warm as a beach on a bright July afternoon.

“You’re right,” I said. “You’re right! Madame Serena, we did it!”

She pressed her hand to her chest, as she always did when she was feeling emotional. Her eyes filled with tears. A strand
of iron gray hair hung down from beneath the turban, and she tucked it behind one ear.

“Thank you, Simple Cat,” she said. “It is so meaningful … to know that I made a difference before I departed.”

“You did,” I told her earnestly. “I couldn’t have done it without you. I would never have even tried.”

A tear spilled out of one eye and rolled down her wrinkled face. When it reached her lip, she smiled.

“You want to go now, don’t you?” I asked her.

I almost wished she’d say no. Madame Serena was one of my people. I wouldn’t have minded spending some quality time with her,
now that the black cloud was gone.

“I do, Simple Cat. I want to go — more than anything.”

“I’ll try to help with that now. Come sit next to me,” I said. “Facing the window.”

She sat down obediently, her phantom form making an impressive dent on the mattress. I’d never actually helped a spirit cross
over. Suzanne Bennis at school had done it herself. The ghosts at the house next to mine had needed a different kind of help.
But my mother had told me many stories of how she’d helped spirits who had accepted their deaths leave the physical dimension
for good. I had a general idea how it worked. Still, I felt a little nervous. After all this, what if Madame Serena was still
stuck here with me?

“Relax and breathe,” I told her. “Follow the breath, nothing but the breath. In. Out. In. Out.”

Her chest rose and fell, and the room felt very silent and serene.

“Try and release your connection to this place. Tell yourself it’s okay to go now. Tell yourself you’ve done what you needed
to do.”

Her lips moved silently.

I waited.

“Do you see anything?” I asked her. She opened her eyes, and shook her head.

“Is something wrong?” Madame Serena asked. “What am I supposed to see?”

Heck if I knew.

“You’re doing fine,” I said. “Everything is fine. Um, direct your senses outward, like you would when you were trying to reach
Loretta for the Colonel’s wife.”

Madame Serena nodded.

“Visualize a … a door,” I said.

I really hoped I was going in the right direction here.

“I see the door,” Madame Serena said.

“You do?” I asked. “I mean, yes, you do and you can reach out and … open it.”

There was silence for a moment, then Madame Serena nodded excitedly.

“Yes! It’s open!”

“Do you … see anything through the door?” I asked.

“Light. It’s very bright through the door,” she said.

“That’s right,” I said, relieved. “That’s right. And the light can see you, too. Talk to it. Ask for the light to come through
to you, Madame Serena. Call to the light, and tell it you are ready to cross over.”

“Light of Summerland, I ask you come to me now. I am ready to leave this place. I am ready to render myself unto your grace.”

Oh good. She said it much better than I could have. And something must be working because her face was lit with a glorious
smile. Actually, her face was lit with … light.

I turned toward where the window had been. I gasped. Sun seeped through a rectangular outline. Nothing, not even my mother’s
descriptions, could have prepared me for this. It was warm and golden and alive — I could sense a deep and loving intelligence
coming from inside it. I wanted to laugh and sob at the same time.

As I stared at the rectangle of light, transfixed, a figure appeared just inside it.

“The Colonel’s wife,” whispered Madame Serena. “She’s come to guide me over!”

Sure enough, I could now see the figure was a woman, short and slender with gray hair and a pleasant face. She was cradling
something in her arms, holding it close to her heart.

Madame Serena got to her feet.

“Is it … oh my dear, have you brought Loretta?”

The woman smiled and nodded. Light seemed to be coming out of her, too. She walked to the very edge of the doorway, so that
it seemed she was standing both in the light and in the room just in front of us.

Still holding Loretta close to her chest, the Colonel’s wife raised her other hand, and beckoned for Madame Serena to come
toward her.

“It’s okay,” I told her. “Go, Madame Serena.”

She turned and looked at me, her eyes clear and bright. She reached up and pulled her turban off, and let it drop to the floor.
Beautiful silver hair tumbled out, long and wavy and falling well below her shoulders. As I watched her, the hair seemed to
change from gray to blond. The wrinkles and lines began to fade from her face. Her waist began to melt until she was as slender
as a girl. I was stunned. Did this happen to everyone? Madame Serena looked no older than me! Maybe she was reverting to the
last age she was really happy.

“Thank you, Simple Cat,” she said. “I will watch over you. If you ever need me, I will be listening for your call.”

I smiled and nodded, too emotional to say anything. What I was witnessing was so mind-boggling I could hardly breathe.

Madame Serena took several steps. She was at the very edge of the light, and then she was in it. She stood next to the Colonel’s
wife, and gazed down at Loretta, smiling.

Unable to stop myself, I took a few steps toward them. They were both smiling at me. I looked down at the little bundle in
the arms of the Colonel’s wife — and got a quick glimpse at the face of Loretta.

Then it all faded out very suddenly — like someone had switched off a television. I was looking out and through the window
now, at the lake and the cliffs facing the Mountain House. The room was absolutely silent. Even the rain had stopped.

I sat heavily down on the bed. Speechless. I don’t know what affected me the most. We had defeated the black cloud. The light
had come. Madame Serena had been greeted by the Colonel’s wife, and had crossed over to the other side.

I had seen the face of Loretta, whose death had so devastated the Colonel’s wife.