Dance of Magic - The Books of Beginning [1]

3. Dead But Not Gone

Kate threw open the door to her room and dashed into the upstairs hall as soon as she heard the scream. Michael and Emma were entering the hall at the same time, looking at their big sister with a mix of shock and fear.

"Do we go down there?" Michael whispered.

Emma frowned, "maybe we should sneak out the window. In case the monsters came back for us."

"The second floor window," Michael protested.

Kate held up a hand to put a stop to their whispered arguing. She said, "you two stay up here. It was Robert who screamed. I need to see if he's alright. Don't come down unless I give you the all clear. And if I yell or scream - I want you to run like hell, to get out of here and get somewhere, anywhere safe. Understand?"

The two younger children nodded in unison, but there was an understanding between them that if Kate was in trouble they would certainly not run. They would fight to save her. Kate knew this too, but she still felt obligated to give them the direction.

Slowly, quietly, Kate began creeping down the stairs, holding her breath out of fear that someone would hear it. She told herself to stay calm, even though she knew, she knew in her very bones that this had something to do with the magical world.

Kate reached the living room but Robert was not there on the couch. She listened intently, and finally heard noises of fear coming from the kitchen. Kate took a deep breath and prepared herself to go in, expecting the worst. But when she pushed that door open, all she found was Robert hiding behind the counter, his face white and twisted in terror, but otherwise unharmed.

"Robert," Kate said, "Robert, what happened? I heard you scream."

"I... there was this old man hovering over me Kate," Robert panicked, "I woke up and he was staring at me with this puzzled expression, and then I blinked and he was gone."

Kate sighed, "Robert, I think that was just a dream."

"No Kate! It wasn't! And he was oddly blurred too.. like a grainy photograph or a... or a..."

"Or a what?" Kate questioned.

"A ghost," Robert whispered in terror.

Kate frowned. After all she had seen, ghosts were not much of a stretch. But why would one be coming around now? And why had none of her friends in the magical world ever mentioned the existence of ghosts? Kate wasn't sure what to believe in this situation.

"Robert," Kate said firmly, knowing that whether it was true or not she had to protect the existence of magic, "I think you just woke up and saw things funny. Sometimes vision is a bit blurry when people wake up. That's all."

Robert did not seem reassured but still said, "uh...ok."

"Here, you go into the living room and calm your jitters. I'll get you a glass of water," Kate instructed.

Robert nodded, still appearing shaken, but did as Kate told him. Once he was gone, Kate whirled around and in a hissed whisper said to the empty kitchen, "alright, if there are any ghosts here, don't play games. Show yourself now."

To their credit, they did as she said. The slightly translucent but otherwise visible ghosts of Dr. Stanislaus Pym and the warrior Gabriel materialized right there, in Kate's kitchen, almost immediately. Kate's hand shot up to her mouth, stifling her gasp so Robert did not hear.

Dr. Pym smiled triumphantly, "you see Gabriel, I told you this was the Wibberly family house."

"What are you doing here?" Kate asked once she trusted herself to speak, "and how are you here? I didn't even know ghosts were a thing."