Unclean Spirits

Six

This is nice," Midian said, chambering a round with the rolling sound that only shotguns make. He looked down the barrel and nodded his appreciation. "Good workmanship."

Chogyi Jake and Aubrey were squatting by the coffee table. Three empty shells lay on the table's edge, two small piles of debris in the center. Ex stood by the kitchen table, copying the diagrams from the Inca Street whiteboard onto a legal pad.

"They're all loaded the same way," Aubrey said. "Silver shot, rock salt, and I'm not sure what this is."

"Iron filings," Ex said. "According to this, he loaded them with silver, salt, and iron."

"If he wasn't sure precisely what form the rider took, that would cover a very broad range," Chogyi Jake said.

"Or if he was loading for more than one," Midian said. "You gotta remember, he was hiring on a loupine for muscle. They're tough bastards, but not the last word in reliable."

I sat on the couch, my knees drawn up to my chest, watching and listening. Through the evening, the four men had decoded Eric's plan, details unfolding like petals falling open.

According to the calendar Eric had left us, the Invisible College was scheduled to begin the rituals that would summon riders and inject them into the new crop of initiates within the next day or two. As the ceremonies continued, the gap between the real world and what Eric called the Pleroma and Aubrey referred to as Next Door would turn permeable. Randolph Coin would be at his most vulnerable just before the final ceremony, scheduled for just after dawn on August 11, one week from today.

So now we had a countdown. Seven days.

In seven days, we were going to kill someone. The thought made my skin crawl. Or we were going to get the rat bastard who'd killed Eric, which felt better. My head kept bouncing between anxiety and wrath, like I was two different people.

"This is all from the one storage unit, right?" Ex asked, walking into the main room. "You didn't make it to the other one?"

"No room in the car," Aubrey said.

"We need to get to that other one," Ex said. "I think it has props for the invocation to draw Coin out. We'll need to inventory those."

"I've got to..." I said, standing and heading for the back door. "Excuse me."

I heard the silence behind me as I walked out into the backyard. I could feel their eyes on my back even after I closed the door. The yard was immaculate: the grass green as emeralds and freshly cut, mums in the flower beds threatening to bloom, a cherry tree with a little overripe fruit still on the branches making the air heavy with sweetness and corruption. I sat in the darkness and stared up at the moon. I saw the inked face of the blue-eyed woman.

The door slid open behind me, and then just as quietly shut.

"Hey. Are you all right?"

Aubrey looked uncertain in the dim light. He was wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt with the logo of an old science fiction show, long since off the air. His hair was mussed. It occurred to me that we'd forgotten to stop by his labs at the university.

"I can't do this," I said. "We're talking about murdering someone."

He came to my side and lowered himself to the ground, legs crossed.

"I thought you understood," he said. "These aren't people. Not anymore. They're-"

"Riders," I said. "Spiritual parasites that have magic powers and take over people's bodies. I understand that. I just..."

I closed my eyes and saw Midian fire his Lugar into the back of the woman's head.

"Jayn¨¦?"

"I just don't believe it," I said. "I want to. But I don't."

"You think we're lying?" he asked. The idea seemed to surprise him. I didn't laugh, partly because it wasn't funny.

"It isn't about trust. I believe that you think it's true," I said. "That's not the same. I grew up with a father who knew how the world worked. Who knew how God worked, and what was right and what was wrong. And I believed everything he said because he was sure. And then when it turned out that I wasn't sure..."

I spread my hands.

"Knowing that you all believe it isn't the same as believing it myself," I said. "And I can't do this if it isn't true. I can go to the police. I can hire a bodyguard. I can do a lot of different things, but I can't kill someone."

Aubrey was quiet. I wanted to brush the hair away from his eyes. I wanted to ask him to forgive me.

"If you knew that riders were real," he said. "If you had evidence that the world really does work the way we all say it does, could you trust me about Coin and the Invisible College?"

"I don't know," I said. "Probably."

He was silent for a moment, then sighed and looked up at the moon with me. I could feel the subtle warmth of his body. Somewhere nearby, a police siren rose and faded away. My stomach felt like I swallowed a bowlful of lead shot.

"You're angry?" I asked.

"What? No! No, I'm not mad. I'm just thinking."

"Did you believe it? When Eric came to you and told you all about this...this stuff. Did you believe it?"

"No," Aubrey said. "He had to prove it to me."

A minute later, he rose and walked slowly back into the house. I heard voices raised in conversation. Midian, Ex. I didn't think Chogyi Jake ever raised his voice, so if he was talking I might never know. He reminded me of my mother that way.

I had ten thousand dollars in my pocket, less forty that I'd spent on pizza and beer for the bunch of them. I could Google private investigators tonight, make a half-dozen calls in the morning, and set hounds on Randolph Coin's heels. If he was really the person who'd killed Eric, I could get the evidence and have the bastard thrown in jail for the rest of his life. I didn't know why that seemed to make less sense than magical vigilantes taking on a society of evil wizards.

I thought of the three small stones dropping at the apartment, one-two-three. It could have been some kind of magical alarm system. It could have been something else.

I put my head in my hands and hoped that my mind would clear. It didn't.

I heard Aubrey come back out. When I looked over, something was glowing white and blue in the palm of his hand. It said something about my state of mind that I thought it was a ball of witch fire or some other tiny miracle. Then he stepped a little closer, and it was just the screen of Eric's cell phone. He held it out to me.

"Call her," he said.

"Who?" I asked, taking the phone. It was warm.

"The woman that called. The one with the dog."

I looked down at the phone. The icon for voice mail was still there.

"What if she's with the Invisible College?" I said.

"I'll take one of the shotguns," Aubrey said, and something in his voice was light, even though I knew he was serious. I thumbed through the logs, found the most recent missed call, and selected the menu option that returned it. Aubrey sat next to me. The branches of the cherry tree shifted in the breeze.

"Hello?" a woman said. I thought the voice was the same, but it seemed tighter.

"Hi," I said. "This is Jayn¨¦ Heller. I think you called my uncle Eric?"

"Oh, thank God," the woman said. She sounded like she was crying. "Oh, thank God."

I'D EXPECTED at the soonest, we'd arrange to meet the woman and her dog sometime in the morning. But ten minutes after I ended the call, Aubrey and I were in his minivan headed north for Boulder.

"It used to be left-wing hippie central, kind of the way Colorado Springs is the home port of all the right-wing nut jobs," Aubrey said. "There were a lot of people dabbling in alternative spiritualities and magic and drugs and things. These days, it's mostly people who feel like they're saving the planet because they're buying groceries from Whole Foods."

"Okay," I said.

"Did she tell you anything about what was going on?"

"Just that her dog wanted her to call us," I said. "I think it has to do with her boyfriend too, but I'm not sure."

"She was pretty upset, sounds like."

"Yeah," I said. Ahead of us, taillights tracked off into the darkness, lines of red in the black. "Yeah, she was pretty messed up. I don't know what we're doing, though. I don't know anything about what Eric used to do."

"I know enough to start," Aubrey said. "Hopefully it'll be simple."

We turned onto Highway 36, and then sooner than I'd expected, we were pulling onto the South Boulder Road exit. A knot was tying itself in my belly, embarrassment and fear.

I was embarrassed because I was about to go talk to a stranger-a desperate one-about supernatural ghosties slipping into her dog's mind, and only half of me thought it was possible. The fear was because the other half thought it was.

Candace Dorn's house was a pretty bungalow with a wide porch, complete with swing. A huge tree commanded the yard, choking out all competition. Even the grass looked thin and unlikely where the tree's shadow would have fallen in daylight. All the lights were on, the windows blazing, like the woman was trying to push back night itself. Aubrey killed the engine, then reached into the backseat for the leather satchel he'd packed before we left. I grabbed my backpack.

One of the shotguns was back there too. He didn't take it out, and as we headed up the root-cracked concrete walk to the house, I wasn't sure if I was relieved at that or worried.

The woman who answered the door reminded me of my high school art teacher. She had dark, curly hair and skin that had tanned too many times, now permanently dark and leathery. She had a dieter's figure and a pianist's hands. Something in the way she held herself caught my attention, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Candace Dorn? I'm Jayn¨¦," I said. "This is Aubrey. He's here to help."

"Please come in," she said, standing back. I wondered whether she'd have done the same thing if we'd had a shotgun. Something made me think she would. "Thank you for coming out. I don't...I just don't know what to do. I don't believe any of this is really happening."

"Can you tell us what exactly is going on?" Aubrey asked.

The house had hardwood floors and pale patterned rugs. Tin Mexican wall sconces threw white light up the walls, and clunky, colorful paintings struggled to give individuality to furniture that all came from IKEA. I noticed that there was a wicker basket by the fireplace cradling a crushed pillow slicked with white and brown dog hair.

"It started maybe a week ago," Candace Dorn said. "Charlie-that's my dog-woke up acting really strange. He was biting himself and barking at my fianc¨¦, who he always just loved before. He wouldn't eat, he wouldn't let me go out of the house. He's never been like that before."

"What did the vet say?" I asked.

Candace paced the length of her living room without answering me. Aubrey sat on the arm of an overstuffed chair.

"I don't believe in...voodoo or whatever," Candace said at last.

"What makes you think this is voodoo," I asked. "Or, you know, whatever?"

Candace opened her mouth, closed it, then walked back toward the rear of the house. Aubrey met my eyes with an unspoken question. I followed her.

The kitchen showed some signs of disarray. One of the cabinet doors was resting against the wall, its hinges broken. The wooden table had a long, fresh gouge white as a scar against the dark varnish. Candace walked to the back door, and I realized what about her stance bothered me. My first semester at college, I'd agreed to play tackle football with some friends even though they'd been drinking. I'd broken one rib and cracked another. For a month afterward, I'd walked just like Candace did now.

When she opened the door, a German shepherd was waiting. He froze when he saw us, his gaze shifting from Aubrey to me and back again. This was Charlie.

"These are the people I called," Candace said. Her voice was unsteady. "They're the ones who can help."

I had never watched an animal's expression change before. Charlie's unease became something else. He nodded to me and then to Aubrey. If he'd been human, it would have been a perfect gesture of masculine greeting.

"Charlie," I said, acting on a hunch, "could you go to Aubrey's right hand and touch it with your left forepaw?"

Charlie barked once, and then did exactly as I'd asked. Aubrey's brows rose. Candace Dorn touched her hand to her mouth. There were tears in her eyes.

"That isn't Charlie in there, is it?" I asked.

She shook her head. The dog looked up at me with an intelligence that I could only think of as human. You wanted proof, I told myself. You wanted to be sure.

"Before this happened," Aubrey asked, "had anything else changed? A new piece of art or some new person coming into your home? Was anything different?"

"No," she said. "Nothing happened. It was just one day..."

"And when did your fianc¨¦ start beating you up?" I asked.

The silence was total. When Candace spoke again, she sounded defeated.

"After I called you," she said. "After he found out that I'd called."

Aubrey let out his breath like someone had punched him. Charlie the dog looked up at me, brown eyes fearful and resolute. When I knelt and put my hand on his ruff, he whimpered once.

"There are some things that can displace people," Aubrey said. "Move into a body and cast the former owner out."

"Like into an animal," I said. "Unclean spirits. So when you said that you could handle the easy ones, this wasn't what you had in mind, was it?"

"Not so much, no," Aubrey said. "I think we'll need Ex. If any of us can fix this, it'll be him. He used to be a Jesuit. Casting out spirits was one part of the coursework."

Candace Dorn stepped forward, her hand out as if she was stopping us. The unease in her expression made perfect sense to me. We'd just come into this sudden surreal hell that her life had become and started talking like we understood it.

"What are you saying?" she demanded. "What's going on here?"

"There are things called riders," I said, surprised by how informed and competent I sounded given that I only knew what I'd been told in the last day or so. "They're spirits. Our best guess is that one of them took over your fianc¨¦'s body and pushed his soul, or whatever you want to call it..."

I pointed at the dog. Charlie whined again. Candace didn't kneel down so much as melt. Her spun, emptied expression was perfectly familiar. I'd felt exactly like that since my first visit with Eric's lawyer.

"Aaron?" she said.

The dog-Charlie or Aaron or some combination of the two-stood up and walked over to her. The movement had a dignity that spoke as eloquently as words. I would never have done this to you. Candace started crying in earnest now, confusion and fear and relief. Aubrey already had his cell phone out. His face was gray and serious. I motioned him to come out to the front room with me.

Candace and her dog needed a moment alone.

Aubrey sat on the couch, explaining the situation in fast, telegraphic sentences. I could hear Ex's voice compressed to a thin, synthesized version of itself coming from the phone. I stood with my arms crossed, looked out the window into the hot August night, and tried to make sense of my own heart.

My sense of doubt and confusion was gone, and in its place, something richer and stranger was growing. The tattooed assassins, Midian's curse, Eric's death. My alleged powers. None of those had been as convincing as the expression in the dog's eyes.

So, okay, riders existed. Aubrey and Chogyi Jake and Ex and Midian weren't suffering a group delusion. They were telling the truth. I'd seen the evidence now, and so at last I could really believe.

And Eric. I was standing now where he would have been, doing-however poorly, however uncertainly, with my near total ignorance intact-what he would have done. I was proud of him, and sad beyond words that I hadn't known what he was when I could still have asked him about it.

There had to be a reason he hadn't told me. All the things he'd done for me over the years, all the little intercessions that kept me out of trouble with my dad. He'd been watching out for me then, and so maybe he'd been watching out for me in this too. One thing was certain: there were more kinds of danger in this than I had ever imagined.

But he'd also left it to me. He'd left me the keys to the kingdom. So he hadn't thought there were more kinds of danger than I could handle.

And that, oddly, was the answer I'd been looking for. The warmth in my heart was pride that he'd chosen me to take up his work. To step into lives like Candace's. It beat the crap out of being a college dropout with a bad reputation and no family. And maybe he'd known that too.

Still lost in speculation, I didn't notice the police cruiser slowing down until it pulled in behind Aubrey's minivan. I watched the cop get out, consider the house and the back of the minivan, then turn on the flashing lights and mutter into a radio strapped to his lapel. Aubrey cut the connection with Ex and looked out with me. He muttered something obscene.

"He must have seen the shotgun. We can't have this guy around when Ex shows up," Aubrey said. "Let me go see what's the trouble."

He'd started walking past me toward the door, then stopped, his weight tugging at me. He turned to look at me, and I realized that I'd grabbed his arm. I hadn't meant to, but having done it, I knew why I had.

"Don't. Don't go," I said. Then, louder, "Candace? Hey, Candace. Your fianc¨¦ wouldn't be a cop, would he?"