Dead and Alive

Chapter 15

           Flynn hauled open the studio doors. The large room was dark, with no sign of the golden light that had brought them down there. But her Gift was still sensing like crazy in her head.
"Oh my God!" Julie cried and pushed past her, running to kneel beside...nothing on the floor. "Flynn, they're hurt!"
"Who's hurt?" Flynn said, heart racing. "Is it Reggie?"
"Yes, and Willie. Help me!"
"I can't see them." Flynn came into the room and turned on the light. There was still nothing for her to see. She fisted her hands in frustration.
"Hold on." A moment later there was a burst of bright white light, and suddenly the two boys were there. Reggie retched violently and then lay on the floor on his back, breathing heavily. Willie was in Julie's arms, eyes closed.
Flynn made a sound of distress and went to Reggie, helping him to sit up. He groaned like he was badly injured. "Where are you hurt?" she asked frantically, tugging his jacket off and throwing it aside. His white T-shirt was damp with sweat, but there wasn't a mark on him.
"Here." Reggie thrust out his arm, showing Flynn the stamp with the initials 'HGC' emblazoned on the tender skin of his wrist. It glowed an ugly, angry purple.
"What is it?" Flynn rubbed at it with her thumb. It didn't come off and Reggie whimpered.
He pushed her hand away. "Don't touch it. Makes it worse."
"Willie has one, too," Julie said in horror. It looked like a brand someone had burned into his shoulder just above his right collarbone.
"It's a stamp," Reggie said. He was shivering from a combination of shock and pain. "Caleb Covington put it on us. But he burned Willie--" He retched again.
"Here, eat these." Flynn shoved a quarter of the blister pack into his mouth. At least now she knew what her Gift had been trying to tell her. It had finally stopped ringing.
Reggie made a face at the taste. "Why am I eating these?" he mumbled around the tablets, chewing obligingly.
Julie looked around as if just realizing something. "Where are Alex and Luke?"
"Caleb has them," Reggie said. He swallowed the tablets. "I couldn't get them. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!"
Willie moaned and opened his eyes. "Julie?"
"Willie!" Julie hugged him. "I thought you were dead!"
"I'm already dead," Willie mumbled. He blinked as his head cleared. He sat up, hand pressed to his head and eyes searching. "Where's Alex?"
"Caleb still has him. Luke too." Reggie wiped his eyes.
"But why?" Julie asked desperately, "I thought he was going to help you guys!"
"He's an energy vampire," Willie said. "He wants to eat your Gift."
"Eat my...What?"
"Energy vampire," Willie repeated. "He absorbs energy and lifers make a lot of it. That's why he has the club, so he can eat the energy from the audience. A little here, a little there, they feel tired but otherwise don't notice. But you? With your Lifeforce Gift? You'd be a whole meal."
Suddenly Flynn knew why her Gift had gone off with Willie. "He's right. Caleb totally wants Julie for her Gift."
"That's why you didn't want Julie to go! Why the fuck didn't you tell us that?" Reggie lurched to his feet; hands balled into fists.
"I thought he'd help you!" Willie staggered upright; hands raised defensively. "I didn't know he was going to do this! But I should've told you guys. I should've told you everything. Alex could be dead and it's my fault!"
"No," Julie said, voice shaking. "No. Alex is not dead. He's fine, and Luke's fine and we are going to get them back!"
"I'm in," Flynn said immediately. "What's the plan?"
"We call the police and tell them—"
"Police?" Willie interrupted Julie, "what are we going to tell them?"
"There's no way they'd believe us," Flynn said.
Julie paused. "Okay. New plan. Reggie, you teleport us back and we get the boys."
"That's your plan?" Willie demanded at the same time Reggie said, "I can't teleport!"
"Yes, that's the plan. Unless you have a better one? And Reggie, you can totally teleport. How do you think you got Willie here?"
"Holy shit," Reggie whispered. He looked down at his hands. "I thought it was just a ghost thing."
"Yes, I have a better plan!" Willie said. "You don't go! It's you that Caleb wants. Let me and Reggie go rescue them."
"I'm going! And I don't want to argue about this any—" Julie cried out and sank to her knees.
"Julie! What's wrong?" Flynn was at her side in an instant.
"It's Caleb. He's hurting Alex and Luke to make you come to him, and that's why you can't go!" Willie said.
"That is so Empire Strikes Back," Flynn whispered. She helped Julie climb to her feet.
Julie's skin was grey. She was hunched over, face tight with pain. She started to glow softly and straightened her posture, her expression easing. "I can hold off the pain with my Gift." She winced. "Mostly."
Willie opened his mouth to argue again but Flynn stopped him. "Willie, Julie has to go. My Gift says so and it's never wrong. I'll stay to look after Carlos, but Julie has to go." She really wanted to go with them, but Carlos was only eleven. He shouldn't be alone.
"Thank you." Julie embraced her.
"Okay, fine!" Willie gave in. "But Reggie teleports us a block away. I'll take you to the back entrance. It will lead us right to where I'm pretty sure Caleb is holding Alex and Luke."
"Here. You'll probably need these." Flynn shoved the remainder of the tablets into Julie's hand. "Promise me you'll come back safe," Flynn said, hugging Julie as hard as she could.
"I promise," Julie whispered.
"Flynn?" Reggie said quietly after Flynn and Julie had stopped hugging. Flynn turned towards him, and suddenly they were kissing desperately, like he was going off to war. "Flynn," he said again when their kiss ended, foreheads touching. "I love you."
"Just come back, okay?" Flynn blinked back tears. "I need you to come back."
"I promise," he whispered, and kissed her again.
Reluctantly, Flynn released him and he went to Julie and Willie, taking one of their hands in each of his own. Julie gave her a brave smile and Reggie nodded.
"I can do this," he muttered, and then they were gone in a flash of golden light.
Flynn sighed heavily. There was puke on the floor she needed to clean up, and then she should go inside and check to make sure Carlos was still sleeping. And maybe she'd bake some cookies for when they got back because they'd probably be hungry. Because they'd rescue Alex and Luke and come home. Safe and sound.
Her Gift alarmed in her head again at the thought, telling her that something bad was coming.
She burst into tears.
Alex was flickering.
Alex's body was spasming with pain. He hadn't woken up, despite how bad Luke knew it felt. And now he was flickering, like a light about to go out.
"Stop it. Please," Luke begged Caleb. He could barely move. It hurt to speak, or breathe, or think. He felt like he was flickering, like Alex. About to go out, too.
"Do you know what that flickering means?" Caleb asked conversationally. He was lounging in a chair, like they were having a casual chat. "It means your friend's ghostly molecules are coming apart. The energy that animates him is—" he made an opening gesture with one hand "—dissipating."
"Stop it! You'll kill him!" Luke heaved himself up to his elbows, then crawled towards where Alex was still trembling.
"I'm not going to kill him. He's already dead." Caleb laughed. He flicked his wrist and Luke collapsed as pain roared through him. He lay there, stunned. Alex just beyond his reach.
Alex's body blinked out and back in again.
"Help him, please!" Luke was crying now, helpless to save his friend.
"It's not up to me," Caleb said. "I'm sure Julie will be able to save him...if she comes in time."
"I won't let you touch her!" Luke's words ended in a cry of pain as Caleb activated the stamp yet again. Don't come, Luke thought desperately. He hoped she could hear it. He managed to get himself up on his elbows.
"You won't be able to stop me." Caleb got up and kicked Luke in the side.
Luke cried out and collapsed back to the floor.
There was a sudden flash of bright, white light and the intense pain shut off like a switch.
Caleb's eyes widened. "What just happened?"
We're solid! Luke realized. Reggie must have made it back to Julie. He lurched to his feet, then stumbled to Alex and dropped to his knees. He pulled the other boy into his arms. "Alex!"
Alex's eyes opened. They were clouded with pain, but he'd stopped flickering and felt warm and alive in Luke's arms. "Luke?"
"She did something to you, didn't she?" Caleb loomed over them, gaze piercing. "She's turned you into real boys!"
Luke moved so his body was between Alex and Caleb. "Yes, she did. Which means she's not coming here." He hoped that was true. "You need to let us go."
"You poor, sweet, summer child. Don't you understand how useful you are to me? Now that you're almost real..." Caleb whipped out his hand like a snake and fisted it in Luke's collar. "I can take your Lifeforce as my own!"
Luke screamed as Caleb did something to him. It felt like he was being turned inside-out, molecule by molecule. Like his very essence was being ripped from him. It was agony.
"Leave him alone!" Alex tried to drag himself to his feet, but his legs gave out and he slumped back to the floor.
"Did you know the Gifted have different Lifeforces than regular humans? It's thicker, richer than ordinary folk. Far more nourishing. I can't eat the energy of other ghosts, but your friend can make you almost alive. And the three of you are Gifted! I'm so pleased that Willie brought you to me."
"They're not," Luke moaned. He knew he wouldn't be able to save himself, but maybe Alex and Reggie? "Only me. You just want me."
"Oh, they're Gifted, don't you worry," Caleb said. "Reggie is a teleporter, as you must have seen. And Your drummer is ridiculously—dare I say, Giftedly—coordinated."
"I am?" Alex breathed.
"Oh yes," Caleb said. "The three of you are very fortunate. And delicious."
"No!" Luke kicked out and managed to clip Caleb's knee with the side of his foot. Caleb hissed in surprise and dropped him. Luke fell to the floor. He couldn't move. All his strength was gone.
Caleb rubbed his knee. "That packed quite the kick." He laughed at his own joke and sat back down at his vanity, this time perching on the table. "Don't worry boys," he said "I'm sure Julie will be here very soon."
There was no one around.
This is too easy, Julie thought anxiously as Willie led them through the dimly lit and apparently deserted Hollywood Ghost Club. It looked like everything had been shut off and everyone had gone home.
"Remember that scene in Return of the Jedi, when Admiral Akbar shouts 'it's a trap?'" Reggie hissed quietly as they crept through the dark hallway.
Willie grimaced. "I have that feeling, too."
"We can't go back," Julie said, even though no one had suggested that. "The boys—"
"We'll get them, don't worry," Reggie said. "We just need to keep on our toes."
"The stairs to Caleb's dressing room are this way." Willie led them to a set of stairs. The wall next to it was decorated in framed magazines, all from the turn of the last century. Each cover had a picture of a severely handsome blond man. Caleb, Julie thought. There was no doubt who he was.
Julie put her foot on the first step and then gasped as she was hit by a jolt of pain. It was like banging her funny bone on something, only through her whole body and ten times worse. Willie wrapped his arm around her shoulders to help steady her. "You okay?"
"Caleb's hurting them again," Julie forced out through gritted teeth, "he's got Luke—" she broke off with a groan, knees buckling.
"Julie!" Willie grabbed her around the waist, keeping her from falling.
"Maybe I should teleport her back?" Reggie asked.
"No," Julie panted, forcing her legs to hold her weight. "I just need a minute." She took out one of the glucose tablets Flynn had given her and ate it, then refocused her Gift to shield her from what Caleb was doing. It helped enough that she could stand on her own.
"It's not safe—" Willie started.
"Do you want to save Alex or not?" she snapped at him.
"Fine," Willie said. "But Reggie and I go first."
They made their way slowly up the stairs. For such an old building, the stairs didn't creak. Julie wished it meant they would take Caleb by surprise, but she had no illusions they would. It made her realize they didn't actually have a plan beyond finding the boys and Caleb. She grabbed Reggie's T-shirt to stop him. "What's our plan?" she hissed.
"We distract him, and Reggie teleports Alex and Luke out of there," Willie said.
"And then I'll come back for you," Reggie said.
"Okay." Julie nodded. As plans went, it wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.
They crept up to the narrow landing. The door to Caleb's dressing room was the only door there, making the space completely private. The only reason anyone would come here would be for him.
"Let's do this like the movies," Reggie said.
"Good idea." Julie moved to one side of the door, expecting Reggie and Willie to go to the other, so they could ease it open.
They'd obviously been watching different movies. Reggie kicked open the door and ran in, with Willie right behind him.
Julie scrambled after them, hoping Caleb didn't have a gun, because they'd all be dead.