Trio of Sorcery (20 page)

The Chickasaw version of the legend completely dismissed the man after the “shot in the back and thrown in the river” part, and gave the much more important (to
them) “and the ghost of the maiden is seen on the top of the bluff to this day…” part in much greater detail.

Jennie took her notes and thanked the archivist who had helped her, then went in search of David and the Little Old Man.

They were waiting outside; David looked more amused than annoyed, and as usual, Grandfather looked inscrutable. “So,” he said, as Jennie emerged into the late-afternoon sun, “it looks like you found what you needed.”

“I'll tell you about it as we go. I left a message on Begay's answering machine to come by the house; we'll grab Chinese on the way home. Then we'll see if he fires us for playing Ghostbusters.”

“Good!” Grandfather lit up. “I want pot stickers, and mei fun. And Mongolian beef.”

“I think you were a Mongol in some previous life,” she said, her mind already working on how to get Caroline out of the clutches of the ghost.

“I know he was,” muttered David.

Begay listened quietly and without interruption while Jennie worked her way through everything she and David had done. When she got to the part about seeing the Osage dancer with Caroline, even though she hadn't yet revealed
what the dancer was, he sucked in a startled breath, his eyes widening, but remained silent.

“Now…I don't know how much you know about us…besides that David and I are PIs,” she began cautiously, and waited.

“You're Medicine People,” Begay said, as if he were saying, “It's dark out.” “All three of you. Your honored Grandfather is the strongest, as he would be, but all three of you have strong Medicine. Anyone with eyes can see that. And
you
saw the dancer with Caroline. So—that dancer. He's not—”

“He's a ghost. An old, bad one,” Grandfather put in.

To Jennie's surprise, Begay put his face down in his hands for a moment. When he looked back up, there was a welter of emotion in his eyes. Relief was prominent. His next words told her why.

“I saw him,” Begay said, his voice sounding strained. “I snuck out to her place once, and followed the drumming and saw him. I knew what he was—or I thought I did. And I thought I was going nuts. I've never seen a ghost before—I've never seen anything like that. I—”

He broke off, shaking his head. Jennie sympathized with the poor man. He had seen what had stolen his woman from him, he couldn't fight it, and he wasn't even sure it was real. And in a moment it would hit him that no, he wasn't going crazy and yes, it was a ghost—but he
still
couldn't fight it and it
still
had his woman.

“You wouldn't normally, unless you were skilled in Medicine,” she said. “But he's sucking her life away from her, little by little. That makes him stronger. The stronger he is, the easier it is to see him.”

Begay sat straight up. “We have to stop that, stop him,” he said, his voice hard and flat.

All three of them nodded. “That's exactly what we're going to do,” Jennie promised.

“As usual, you're scaring the hell out of me,” David said as the two of them drove out to Caroline's place. The BRAT rattled over the uneven road; the last light of the sunset faded behind them as they headed east. The air smelled of dust and honeysuckle. “I mean, I know you can handle this. This is what you do. But the last time I looked one of the Little People in the face, I was hoping it actually
would
be the last time. And they were more or less on your side then. They won't be now.”

She nodded, keeping her eyes on the road. She was behind the wheel, and out here, you had to watch for many things more exciting than the occasional bunny or possum darting in front of you. Deer, goats, wandering cattle, and the occasional escaped llama had interrupted her journeys before this, sometimes abruptly. “You have to remember, the Little People are never really on anyone's side but their own. You'd think Osage blood would get a
pass from them, but they're so full of hate most of the time that your only chance to have them as allies is if they hate something else more.”

She could see him nodding out of the corner of her eye as she switched on the headlights. He didn't ask what her plan was, which made her grateful, since she didn't actually have one, other than to try to catch the
mi-ah-lushka
by surprise and bluff him.

But it was too late for second thoughts. The sun was already down, they were within a minute of Caroline's place, and the only choice other than to let this thing
have
the woman was to try to face it down. Allowing the
mi-ah lushka
to have his way was unacceptable for any number of reasons. Primarily that it would be flat-out wrong, but coming a close second was that increasing his personal power that way would make him more of a hazard in the real world than he already was. Like a serial killer, he wouldn't stop at just one victim.

Begay's truck was in the driveway when they got there, exactly as Jennie had planned. Caroline hadn't kicked him out, which was good. It meant that the spirit didn't have complete control over her yet. Jennie and David pulled the BRAT in beside it, bailed out, and sprinted up a set of nicely made wooden stairs on to a tiny deck at the front door. Through the door they could hear arguing—trailers weren't known for soundproofing—but it didn't sound too bad…Caroline was tearful and Begay was pleading. David knocked on the door and the voices within fell silent.

Begay opened the door and nodded, indicating with a sideways motion of his head that they should come in. They edged past him into the narrow living room.

“I only got here a minute ago,” Begay said, closing the door. “I haven't had time to say much except I didn't want her to go out dancing, like you said.”

“Like
they
said? Nathan Begay, who
are
these people? And what are they doing here?” Caroline stood in the middle of the living room, arms crossed defensively, looking bewildered. And exhausted, and thinner than she should be. Things were clearly getting way out of hand.

“You're Caroline Gray,” Jennie stated. “I'm Jennifer Talldeer and this is David Spotted Horse. Mr. Begay asked for our help. We're private investigators, but we're also Medicine People, and Ms. Gray, you are neck-deep in a Medicine problem that is only going to get worse. You think you're hurting now—but believe me, this is nothing compared to what that spirit thing out on your back forty is planning for you.”

Caroline blinked at them as if she couldn't quite believe what she was hearing. “I think I had better sit down,” she said carefully.

“Caro, I think we had all better sit down,” Begay replied. “You really need to listen to these people.”

David and Jennie explained how Nathan Begay had contacted them and what they'd done since. When Jennie got to the part about watching Caroline dance and seeing the ghost, the young woman gasped.

Since she didn't interrupt, Jennie carried on, outlining what the spirit was and what her research had uncovered.

While she talked, one emotion after another raced across Caroline's face. Relief, fear, more relief, a flash of anger, and finally, acceptance.

“You saw him. You actually saw him.” There was a touch of pleading in there, not unlike Begay's own reaction.

“More than that, Ms. Gray, it didn't take someone able to see the spirits to see him.” David came in like the good tag-team player he was. “That means he's getting stronger, and the way he's getting stronger is by feeding on you. That's bad all the way around, and it's not going to stop unless we stop it right now.”

“We'd like it if you would stay in the trailer tonight and let me handle this thing,” Jennie said. “I don't entirely know what it ultimately wants from you, but the
mi-ah lushka
are rarely friendly. In life, this man had no compunction about simply taking what he wanted. That won't have changed now that he's a spirit.”

Again that flash of anger. Good. “What are you going to do?” Caroline asked. “I won't stand for it if it's going to put Nate in danger.”

“Force it to leave you alone, I hope,” said Jennie. “Right now, his thinking is still stuck in his own time, and so far, he's only come when the drumming calls him. I doubt he knows about Nate, and he may not understand that we are a lot more mobile in the twentieth century than he was in his; I'd like to keep it that way.” She stood
up. “So if you'll let me take your boom box out there, I'll see about putting an end to this in a way that if he's angry at anyone, it will be at me.”

Caroline and Begay exchanged a look; Begay's was anxious, and so was Caroline's, but Caroline finally nodded. “It's right by the door,” she said, pointing with her chin.

Now it was David's turn to exchange a look with Jennie. “You're sure you want to do this alone?” David asked.

She nodded. “I'd rather he didn't know about anyone but me and Caroline. If this doesn't work, then nobody but me is going to be in line for his malice. That means you'll be my ace in the hole for the second try. Let's just keep this simple, one-on-one for now.”

Jennie could tell David didn't like it, but he didn't argue with her. She picked up the boom box on her way out the door, pulling a red flashlight out of her pocket to keep from ruining her night vision while still avoiding the worst stumbles on the path. It wasn't too bad actually, there was so much rock here that the path was almost a series of natural rock terraces, relatively flat and easy to walk on, the sort of thing that rich people paid small fortunes to re-create on their property. Off in the distance, she heard a barred owl whooping, but near at hand things were unnaturally silent. The wildlife knew, then; they were giving this spot a wide berth at night.

When she got to the clearing that was Caroline's “practice space,” she saw that it was another big expanse of flat rock, perfect for dancing on if you were doing the
traditional women's dances. It would be hell on your feet if you were going to do fancy dances, like the shawl-dance Jennie favored; it would be like dancing on concrete. Caroline had laid a fire in the middle, ready to light. Jennie put the boom box down on the edge of the clearing and got out her lighter. She had the fire kindled and going quickly; Caroline certainly knew how to build a good fire. When the wood was burning briskly, Jennie went back to the boom box, bent, and pushed the Play button.

The sound of drums filled the small clearing. She shoved her hands in her pockets, waiting. There was a bad feeling in the air, like a thunderstorm about to break, a feeling she knew very well. It always felt like that to her when she was about to go head-to-head with bad Medicine. She flexed her fingers a little, keeping her eyes fixed on the place where she had seen the
mi-ah-lushka
the last time.

There was a sudden spike in the “bad feeling” and a sharp sense of fear and dread came over her—that was a warning, the result of her protections. Her senses had been honed by years of dealing with these things. Caroline likely wouldn't have felt a thing, or if she had, she might have mistaken it for a brief fit of nerves.

Just as if Jennie was being lured, that warning thrill was quickly submerged in an incredibly seductive urge to give in, let go—just relax—and let whatever was going to happen, happen.

She fought it off without trouble but she could see how easy it would have been to be ensnared by it. If Caroline had
been deeply immersed in her practice steps, she probably wouldn't have noticed anything. The power would have crept over her, ambushing her, making her more susceptible to the
mi-ah-lushka
when he finally did appear.

As he was doing now. Gradually, like the Cheshire Cat fading into view smile first, the spirit materialized at the edge of the clearing, in the half-light of the fire. At first, it was just a shape formed out of smoke gathering in a gap between two trees. Then the colors and shapes of his costume swam into focus, details emerging as she watched; shirt, leggings, regalia, then his backwards-incorrect feathers on either side of his deerskin roach, and last of all, his face. The same eagerness and greed she had seen the last time she had watched him were quickly replaced by surprise, then anger.