She shook her head. “It’s normal this time. Just weird because”—she shrugged—“I knew him. It’s . . . different.” But she braced herself for the next bit, likely knowing it would be difficult, and asked, “Do you know where you are, Rob?”
“I’m in the woods,” he answered at once.
Jesse whispered to me, “She’s a lodestone for them. It’s uncanny, isn’t it? I think they tune in to her just as she uses the radio to tune in to them.”
I agreed with a silent nod, letting Shannon work.
“You’ve been out here a long time,” she told him gently. “Can you show me exactly where? I’d like to bring you home. Your mom is worried.”
There was a long silence, and then: “I’m dead, aren’t I?”
How could he not know? I flinched, thinking he might freak out. But the girl merely replied, “Yeah. Sorry.”
Even through the old, tinny speakers, his answer sounded wistful. “I’m glad you made it out. I always liked you, Shannon.”
Her eyes looked so old in her small face. “I liked you too, Rob. I need you to lead me to where you died. Can you do that?”
“I—yeah. It’s a ways from here,” he told her.
“Just give me the directions,” she assured him. “We’ll get you out, I promise.”
Thus followed one of the most chilling hours I’ve ever experienced; two kids, one of them dead, communicating via a decrepit transistor radio, as we trekked through the tangle of trees. Sometimes we hacked away at the undergrowth in order to pass where Rob’s spirit said we must. I think Chance shared my latent fear we might be walking into a trap, but we kept pushing forward because I couldn’t think what else to do.
I had to trust in Shannon and her gift. It was damn hard, even for a believer like me. Now I knew how other people must feel when I presented them with some inexplicable truth from touching their father’s pocket watch.
The unnatural cold sank into my very bones, making my joints ache. Only the fingers of my right hand contained any heat, still burning from their immersion in the soil. Pain accompanied that warmth, of course, but everything had its price.
Gradually, the ground sloped downward, leading toward a deep gully. I knew what we’d find at the bottom, but we climbed down nonetheless. The radio popped and hissed, revealing Rob’s agitation as we grew closer.
Overhead, the trees grew tight overhead, giving the gorge a bizarre greenish hue reminiscent of corpse flesh. My companions looked sick and strange in the primeval half-light. I braced myself for the smell I associated with dead bodies, but I detected only the dank vegetation surrounding us.
“Here.” The distant voice crackled from the radio, telling us we’d reached our destination.
The rest would be up to us.
At first I didn’t find what we were looking for, as dead leaves littered the forest floor. Shannon knelt, then brushed away some of the desiccated kudzu shroud, and I saw the pallid glimmer of bone. The rest of us joined her in uncovering his final resting place.
A hush fell as we worked, different than the eerie stillness signifying the absence of all life. This silence felt reverent. I’d been wrong, though. We couldn’t tell how this kid died. Thanks to scavengers and insects, there was nothing left but his skeleton.
We backed off so Jesse could take a look. Among all of us, he had the most expertise. He spent a few moments studying the remains, and then glanced up with a regretful shake of his head.
“Based on his posture, I’d say the kid died from a fall,” he said, pointing to damage on the skull. “To me it looks like he dashed his head on the way down, but I’m just guessing. It would take someone more skilled than me to be sure.”
I exchanged a wry look with Jesse. The chances of Kilmer possessing a bona fide forensics expert were less than the possibility of my morphing into a six-foot supermodel. I hadn’t expected this, but I guess I should have. A year was a long time for a body to lie exposed.
“We could try asking him,” Chance offered.
Shannon didn’t look eager, but she said, “Rob, do you remember what happened? How you—”
“Died?” the spirit filled in. “I was running. Scared. That’s all I know.” The radio popped with his frustration.
“What now?” Shannon sounded anxious. “I promised we’d get him out.”
Would a blessing and a proper burial be enough to usher his spirit where it needed to go? I wished Chuch were here; he might know. I made a mental note to call him when we got back to the house.
“We will,” Chance said, reassuring her. “We just have to decide the best way to go about it.”
Saldana rummaged through his backpack, cursing beneath his breath. “I wish I had flags,” he muttered. “We need to mark the site somehow.”
“Was anyone paying attention to the route we took?” I asked.
“I was,” Jesse answered. “I can get us back here again. But maybe . . .” He pulled out his cell phone and tried about six different angles before pocketing it with a huff of disgust. “Nothing,” he growled. “What the hell is wrong with this place?”
I really wished I knew. Or rather, I knew what was wrong, but I wished I knew why.
It went without saying that Shannon couldn’t use her radio trick once we’d notified the authorities. The girl didn’t want to leave, but we had to get Sheriff Robinson out here somehow. We couldn’t scoop up the bones and deliver them to Rob’s family. With our reputation, that would be the last straw.
Shadows curled around my peripheral vision. My skin prickled with awareness of the otherness that chased Jesse and me all the way to the forest edge. It was here now.
Eager as I was to get out of these woods, I suspected that if we walked away now, Rob’s remains would disappear in a malicious game of hide-and-seek. There’d be nothing to show for the sheriff’s trouble, making him unlikely to believe us ever again. We might need his goodwill down the line. Of course, I could only gauge our moves by Jesse’s impression that Sheriff Robinson was scared, not a conspirator.
“I’ll stay,” I said quietly. “It seems quiet enough right here. It won’t take you more than three or four hours to get back.”
I expected an argument, but instead, Chance said, “Not by yourself. We can break into teams. Jesse knows the way back, and Shannon knows the town, so they should go. I’ll stay with you.”
He clearly intended to fight whatever might be coming for us, even if he didn’t have his luck. I wasn’t sure what lived in the woods could be combated with fists or feet. No point in saying so, however; Chance hadn’t been here with Jesse and me, so he didn’t know how it felt.
Jesse hesitated, obviously remembering our previous ordeal. “I don’t like it,” he finally said. “But it makes sense. We need a cover story.”
“We were hiking,” I suggested, kicking my backpack. “And we came across the body.”
Coincidental, sure, but as concerned citizens, we just wanted to make sure the poor kid got a proper burial. We might even get some good press out of this.
“And I knew he was missing,” Shannon put in. “So I figured it must be Rob, and”—she bent down, checking something—“I confirmed it with his class ring.”
“Well done.” Jesse looked seriously impressed.
“You should go tell Rob’s mother first,” Chance suggested. “If she goes with you to see the sheriff, he won’t be able to say no.”
I agreed with that too.
Jesse took me aside, a good thirty yards away and behind some trees. He grasped my forearms in his big hands. His palms slid up and down as if chafing me to keep warm. “If anything goes wrong, Corine, I’ll know. We’ll come back. But damn, I don’t want you doing this.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said. “If it wanted to hurt me, it would have before.”
I didn’t completely believe it, but he needed to hear it in order to walk away. Jesse kissed my forehead and my cheeks, and then he brushed my lips with his, as if in benediction. His touch sent a sweet little shock through me, and then we rejoined the others. Chance gave me a cool, measuring look.
A whispery echo spilled out of the radio, making me jump. I’d forgotten about Rob’s spirit. “Thanks, Shannon. Will you tell my mom I love her and . . . I’m sorry?”
I never knew regret could have a scent until that moment, but it spilled from the ghost like burnt almonds. So many opportunities lost, possibilities denied, and for what? He probably didn’t even remember if he’d had fun sneaking off in the woods to drink cheap liquor with his classmates.
“Yeah,” she whispered.
But she would couch his words in ways a regular person could comprehend. I’m sure Rob loves you and he’s sorry you were worried, but he’s in a better place now. I’m so glad I could give you closure. Such normal condolences and comforts could hide the reality of who we were and what we could do. I totally understood her bleak look and gave her a brief hug to show I did.
All too soon, Shannon and Jesse took off, leaving Chance and me alone in the woods.
Burning Visions
Chance and I sat at either side of what had been Robert Walker, aged seventeen.
The bones lay between us.
I stared at them, blind and unseeing, until something occurred to me. Though they had once supported life, these were inanimate now. Maybe we could find out what had happened to Rob Walker without a forensic team. My sore fingers flexed. If I did this, I’d have to use my left hand.
Did I really want to cripple myself? Well, if we could do some good with the information, then yeah, I’d risk it.
Chance followed my gaze with his, and I saw the exact moment he realized what I meant to do. He reached for my wrist too late. My left hand made contact with the bones.
There was nothing, not even a small shock of pain. I felt only the cool and pitted surface where scavengers had gnawed. Surprise washed over me.
“There was nobody to imprint them,” Chance guessed, as I drew my hand away. “The occasional nibble of wild animals wouldn’t do it.”
I conceded that with a nod. “I should have thought of that.”
“Truthfully,” Chance said, “I’m glad it didn’t work.”
“Truthfully?” I repeated. “Me too.”
It felt oddly like we were keeping vigil for Rob. There were no candles or holy words, but the intent remained. He’d been out here alone too long. I wondered—could he see us or sense us? I already knew he couldn’t hear anyone but Shannon. Was that all that awaited us? A lonely afterlife filled with tormenting glimpses of the living?
A heavy, sorrowful feeling came over me, too much work to move. From that point, I must have daydreamed. I didn’t think I had spoken to Chance in a while. He seemed to be feeling that same pressure, as if it would be easier just to topple over.
Lethargy trickled through me, weighting my limbs with lead. So tired. I wanted to curl up on my side and go to sleep. Through layers of exhaustion, I knew a spike of alarm. This wasn’t like me. I wouldn’t doze off in the middle of a scary wood. Nearly too late, I recognized the swirling darkness around us, deeper and darker than any shadow.