mistaken for altruistic, but still continuing on when I said, “I’m a trainee,right? And it’s your job to — well — train me,correct?”
He nodded in his usual, noncommittal way, head bobbing forward ever so slightly but just enough for me to translate it as a yes, if only to make things easier and get it moving along.
Slinking around to his side and watching as he continued to chew on that same dented-up straw when I said, “So, with that in mind, what better way to train me, than to allow me to watch the master — meaning you — at work? What better way for me to learn something new than to watch, firsthand, how it’s done?
And maybe — just maybe — get a little hands-on experience as well? But only if permission to do so is granted by you, of course,” I added quickly, seeing the way his mouth sort of slammed down at the sides when I got to that last part. “So? Tell me, what do you say? Surely your guide can’t fault you for that — for letting me watch you do your thing and complete your task?”
Bodhi looked at me, clearly weighing the pros and cons in his mind. Then, squinting down the long hall, he sighed and said, “Fine. But just remember, you asked for it.”
He led us down the hall, far away from the blue room where I’d completed my task, and down the stairs, across a large foyer, and up another set of stairs, which led to yet another long hall, a smaller set of stairs, and a very narrow corridor with a tiny door at the very end that would require most people to stoop down low to get through, but not us, and onto still more stairs, until, at last, we were entering one of those turrets. One of those pointy tower-like things known to all the best castles that I’d always wanted to see the inside of.
But just as I started to rush the door, eager to manifest some seriously long, blond hair so I could have my long-awaited, much anticipated,Rapunzelesque moment, Bodhi stretched his arm across, barring me from going any farther when he said, “You sure about this?”
Please.It was all I could do not to roll my eyes in his face. Here I’d just faced down three glowing radiant brothers with red orbs for eyes and deep, dark, cavernous mouths, and he wanted to know if I could handle it? I mean, seriously, it was almost insulting. Just how bad could this possibly be?
“Because there’s no shame in being scared,” he said, studying me carefully, still chewing on that dumb straw, really working it into submission. “No shame at all. It’s perfectly natural and I won’t judge you if you decide to turn back while you still can. You’ve already proven yourself. You went in and succeeded where many before you have failed. You know, you’re pretty amazing, Riley Bloom. You’re the best Soul Catcher I’ve ever seen and it’s only your first day out! But this is my task, not yours. And trust me, there’s a reason for that.”
I couldn’t help it. For someone with a tendency to seek out all the compliments I could ever possibly get, the truth was, I wasn’t always so great at receiving them. And just after he said all of that my eyes started to burn as a lump took over my throat, and it was all I could do to nod and look away. I was so humbled and embarrassed by his praise.
“Okay,” I said, my voice hoarse, nearly a whisper. “But at least let me try,please. I’m eager to learn as much as I can.”
He looked at me, his eyes searching my face before he nodded in consent. And the second he opened the door I heard it.
In fact, all of us heard it.
Including Buttercup.
This low, awful, moaning/wailing type sound.
The sound of despair.
The sound of someone so lost in their grieving, they could no longer function, no longer do anything but emit a noise that rang of nothing but death.
It was continuous. Unceasing. Going on and on and on in a way that felt like forever.
In a way that definitely gave me the creeps.
Bodhi looked at me and I at him, our gaze holding for a moment before he slipped right in front of me and climbed the set of steep narrow steps, as Buttercup and I trudged up behind him.
And when we got to the top, I saw her. Though I have to admit it actually took me a moment to really focus and zoom in to just exactly where the noise was coming from. Because even though it probably sounds weird, it was like she was so old, so gray, so faded, and so washed out, she practically blended right into those old, gray, faded, and washed-out walls.
Like she’d been in that room for so long, she’d started to resemble it.
To become a part of it.
Like a solid piece of heavy old furniture that’s never been moved from its place.
I slunk back, clinging to the farthest wall as Bodhi approached her. Knowing that if I’d still been alive I’d be holding my breath in absolute horror, terrified to think of what might come next.
But, as it was, I was frozen in place. The bundle of energy that normally comprised the new, dead, ghostly version of me had come to a screeching halt as I hovered in place, with Buttercup crouched down beside me.
But no matter how close Bodhi crept, the woman remained totally and completely oblivious of his presence, unaware that we’d even entered the room.
She stood there, pressed up against the wall in a way so close, so seamless, it was like she was part of it. Appearing small and trim, her back curved as her narrow shoulders hunched forward, rising occasionally when a spasm of fresh tears overtook her, then dropping back again, falling well below the usual place. Her long cotton dress clinging to her in a series of unflattering, soaking wet clumps, everything about her so bland, so lackluster, so nondescript, the only thing that stood out, the only thing of any color was her hair. It was long, wavy, and dark, swept up into a careless bun that was barely held together by two pearl-tipped pins.
The three of us watched as she continued to stand there, peering out of a small, square window, grieving over something none of us could fathom, much less see.
Listening as the wailing continued, refusing to let up for even a second. It just went on and on and on, the sound of it so heartbreaking, so disconcerting, so disturbing, so discombobulating, even Buttercup sank all the way down to his belly, rested his chin flat against the old stone floor, and placed a paw over each ear in a desperate attempt to avoid it.
And honestly, the second I saw that, I came this close to doing the same. Stopped only by Bodhi glancing over his shoulder, checking to see how we were doing, and not wanting him to know how completely freaked out and disturbed I was, I just waved my hand in the air, fluttering my fingers in a way that meant for him to not mind us, to just continue his business. Knowing that the sooner he got down to it, the sooner we could clear out of this small, stone, practically airless prison of sorts.
Only a handful of seconds in her presence and my Rapunzel fantasy was over, not to mention my previous fascination with castles and turrets and anything else of the sort. It was awful, small, dark, dingy, and damp and completely claustrophobic even for those of us that no longer breathed, and I couldn’t even begin to see why anyone would choose to spend even a portion of their afterlife in such a horrible place, much less camp out here for hundreds of years.
The reasoning of some ghosts was beyond me.
Some of them just didn’t make the slightest bit of sense.
Bodhi spoke to her, calling to her softly, quietly, and though I couldn’t exactly make out the words, it was clear he was trying to steal her attention, gain her trust, and convince her to turn around and face him. He even went so far as to remove those ridiculous glasses he wears, and place them in his inside pocket. Though I wasn’t sure if it was so he could better see her, or so she could better see him — if she ever decided to turn around, that is.
Still, even though he looked a gazillion times better without them, the act alone pretty much amounting to one giant step away from total geekdom and one baby step toward, well, the opposite of geekdom — in the end, it’s not like it made the slightest bit of difference, or at least not to her anyway.
She remained right there in place, rooted to her post. Still crying, still staring out the small, square window.
Oblivious.
