Lair of Dreams
Page 215

“Amen,” Memphis said, locking eyes with Ling, an unspoken understanding passing between them.
“As we’re all present and accounted for, I call this meeting to order.” Jericho paced the room, just as Will so often did. “It should be patently clear by now that something is going on in this country. First John Hobbes. Then this business with Wai-Mae and those wraiths in the tunnels. There are ghosts and demons among us. Every day, there are more reports. And it seems like we’re the only ones who can do something about it.”
“You mean we have to work together,” Mabel said coolly, looking from Evie to Jericho.
Sam raised an eyebrow. “You trying to unionize us, Mabel?”
“No. Even the Wobblies are easier to organize,” she said.
Evie’s eyes were still closed. “I hate ghosts.”
“All these powers and we know bupkes about ’em,” Sam said. “It’s like having the keys to a brand-new roadster and not knowing how to drive it.”
For a moment, there was nothing but the steady percussion of the rain and the crackle of the fire. With a sigh, Evie sat up and opened her bloodshot eyes. “Sam, I think we should tell them about what we’ve found.”
“Nothing doing,” Sam said.
“Either you do it or I will.”
“This is twice you’ve done this to me. Remind me never to tell you a secret again.”
“It’s not your secret anymore.”
“Fine,” Sam grumbled. He placed a coded punch card on the table. It was a little worse for the wear, thanks to the evening’s activities, but it was still intact.
“What’s this?” Memphis asked, picking it up.
“Evie and I found these files in a basement office in the post office. Used to belong to the U.S. Department of Paranormal.”
“The what?” Ling asked.
“It was a secret government division started by President Roosevelt to investigate supernatural phenomena and recruit Diviners to aid in the interests of national security,” Jericho explained.
“Teddy Roosevelt? On the level?” Theta said, impressed.
“Hey. How’d you know that, Freddy?” Sam asked.
“It’s all here in Will’s letters to Cornelius Rathbone. Diviners have been around since the dawn of the country,” Jericho explained, gesturing to the useless Diviners exhibit. “You’d know that if you’d been around. Sam, Evie, Memphis, Ling, Henry—every one of you is a Diviner in some way.”
Mabel put a hand on Theta’s shoulder. “Some of us are just hideously ordinary, I suppose. Or does that make us extraordinary?” Mabel said, digging at Jericho just a bit.
Sam and Theta exchanged a furtive glance, but Evie caught it.
“What was that look about?” Evie asked.
“Nothing. Just stretching my eyes,” Sam said quickly. “So what now? Do we start a speakeasy? A ghosty quilting bee? Does everybody want a radio show?”
“We find out why,” Ling said. “Why do we all have these powers? Where do they come from? Why now? Why us?”
“It used to be that I could only get a few seconds’ worth of secrets,” Evie said. “And it was patchy—like watching a movie shown through a broken projector. But in the past six months, it’s grown much stronger.”
Memphis said, “I couldn’t heal since… for a long while. But now it’s coming back, and yes, it’s much stronger.”
“Same for me,” Sam said. “When I took that soldier down, he was really gone.”
“Ling and I—our powers were stronger when we were together,” Henry said.
“It seems that we’re all connected,” Ling agreed. “Like atoms coming together to make a new molecule.”
“But why?” Theta said. “What for?”
“It must mean something,” Memphis said. “Was it Henry and Ling battling Wai-Mae in the dream world that got rid of those wraiths? Was it Evie reading those bones and us burying Wai-Mae’s remains in the Trinity Church cemetery so she could be at peace that ended the haunting? We don’t know.”
“You buried her where?” Ling said, eyebrows drawn to a tight V.
“Trinity… cemetery?” Sam said.
Ling threw her hands up. “You can’t bury someone in the city! That’s bad luck.”
“I’m sorry,” Sam said. “I didn’t stop to read up on it.”
Memphis continued. “All we know for sure is that it took all of us to stop it for good.”