Page 14 of Unruly
“Not as well as I’d like to be. You say there was a Horror here?”
Georgina’s dead eyes are fixed on Borja. “Hello, handsome. What’s your name?”
“Uh, Borja.”
“Ooh.” Georgina bats her lashes. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such a fine specimen of a man.”
“Which you can do nothing about, dear Georgina,” I remind her. “What do you know about the Horror? Can you help us?”
She pops her bottom lip in a pout, patting her messy blond updo. She died after falling into a frozen lake while out on a solo walk one day, sometime in the 1700s, I believe.
“Spoilsport,” she mutters. “I can help. There was a Horror here for three days, but it left yesterday.”
“How?” I ask.
“In an object. A book. Some poor soul bought it, even though we tried to scare them away.”
I glance at Borja, who’s staring wide-eyed at Georgina.
“Do you know who bought it?”
“No names were exchanged but the woman said she taught at the university.”
Borja huffs then. “Harvard is huge, and it’s not the only university in town. That’s a needle in a haystack.”
“Do you have any idea what the book title was?” I ask.
“I do.” The spirit of a young boy pops out of the wall, dressed in Victorian-era clothing. How did a child get out? He must not be from my region since I don’t recognize him. “I saw it.”
“What was the title?”
“Early Spiritualism Practices. Written in 1901 by William Grosvenor.”
“That’s helpful, thank you.”
The boy nods. “I followed the pretty lady. Only for a block though, because she went down in the tunnel where the fast machine lives.”
“The subway?” Borja asks, but the boy shrugs.
“On her bag, it said W. Carole.”
“W. Carole,” I repeat. “That is very helpful. Thank you.”
“You’ll keep it from coming back, won’t you?” Georgina asks. “It was nasty.”
“In what way?”
“It was looking for something,” another voice says from behind us.
A male spirit dressed in fairly modern clothes appears. Ah, CJM1873, died 2014 in a skiing accident.
“It flipped through items,” the spirit continues. “Books mostly, but some pictures before it attached to the item it chose.”
“It must’ve been intentional. We need to find out more about that book.”
“But you’ll keep it away?” Georgina asks again. “We have a peaceful life here. We don’t cause any trouble. No one wants a malicious spirit among us.”
“I’ll do my best. It’s why I’m in the Above. Do summon me if it returns.”
