I stared at my car. The snow was almost up to the tailpipe. “Oh crap,” I said. “We’d better close up because while I had them put on snow tires last month, I’m thinking that the slow rise up Arnica Avenue to my neighborhood is going to be rough. That’s an eighteen percent grade I have to climb, and unless I get up there, I may not make it home.”
“You’d better leave now,” Tad said. “I have a straight shot home, but I know you and Hank both have—” He paused as his phone rang. “It’s Louise,” he said. “Hello?… Are you all right?… Yes, I understand. What can we do?… I don’t know if that’s going to be possible—is there any place you can stay until we can get down there?”
I glanced at Hank. Of all the times to have the ghosts rise up and throw a party, now was not the best moment.
“All right, hold on. I’ll call you right back.” Tad punched the end-talk button and turned to us. “Well, problems. That was Louise, as you may have gathered. The spirits seem to be up in arms. They’re throwing glasses around the bar, she’s been seeing shadow men in the hallways, and something was rattling her doorknob last night, trying to get into her apartment. She said she thought it was going to break down the door.”
“Crap. I don’t know what I can do at this point,” I said. “Is there someplace she can stay until we can make it down there?”
“She said no. Her best friend is out of town and her other friends are buried under snow and can’t get down there. Louise doesn’t drive.” Tad looked as frustrated as I felt.
I stared out the window, wanting desperately to just forget about it and go home. But having seen the extent of the haunting, I couldn’t just leave her there alone. “Tell her I’ll pick her up as soon as I can. She can stay in my guest room.”
“Are you sure?” Tad asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. I’ll head out now. I should be able to swing downtown and make it home. Call her back and tell her to be at the door, waiting for me.”
As I headed out the door, I heard Tad talking to Louise on the phone. Oh yeah, this was going to be an adventure.
I arrived downtown about fifteen minutes later, having been stuck in a line of cars crawling along at ten miles per hour. But I didn’t blame them—the snow was sticking on wet roads, and the temperature had dropped enough so that the snow became ice the moment it touched the asphalt. It was twenty-five degrees outside and the windchill wasn’t helping any.
Why hadn’t I checked the weather report before leaving for work? I vowed from now on, I’d be pulling out my weather app to see what was happening.
My parents had bought our house up on a hill so that urban flooding wouldn’t be a problem, and that was all well and good. We’d never had a problem with flooding even during the heaviest rainstorms. But building at a higher elevation, with a hill leading down into the central part of the town, meant that during the winter we risked being stuck due to snow and ice. The Mystic Wood was behind us, so there was no easy workaround.
Moonshadow Bay was built on two levels—the lower, by the marina, which encompassed most of downtown, and a higher level away from the bay, buttressed up against the Mystic Wood. There were no gentle slopes where I lived. The hills led down steep grades into the town and toward the freeway.
As I pulled out of the parking lot, the back end of my Subaru swung wide, skidding a little as I made a right turn onto the street. Crap, I thought, pulling the car into line. The streets were slick, slush freezing right and left as fresh snow fell on top of it.
I flipped my lights on for extra protection, slowly edging into the right lane. It was hard to tell where the dividing lines were. The streets and the pavement were completely covered with snow, but people were making an effort to stick to their lanes. I left plenty of room between me and the car in front. We had the major slope coming up that led into the main part of downtown near the marina and I didn’t want to end up sliding into a Porsche’s rear end.
Like a line of ants in slow motion, we moved, one car at a time, and I found myself suddenly bilocating. I was still watching the road, but I was also above the car, watching the line of cars inch down the grade in the snow.
Shaking my head, I brought myself back, slamming into my body. Bilocation was fine and dandy, but it wasn’t a good thing to do while I was driving. I realized that I hadn’t eaten and was feeling a little lightheaded, so sliding into a trance would be much easier. Cursing, I reached into the cubby hole where I usually kept my coffee cup to see if I had stashed anything to munch on, but there was nothing there.
“Focus, damn it,” I muttered. “You can do this.”
For some reason, sliding out of my body seemed much easier today. That would have been fine if I was in the comfort of my home, but it didn’t bode well for the task ahead. I glanced to the side, spotting a drive-thru that was still open in the upcoming strip mall. Flipping on my turn signal, I slowly eased out of line, into the parking lot.
I ordered large fries, a cheeseburger, and a very tall, black coffee. After I drove through the window to collect my food, I parked to the side long enough to eat a few bites of the burger and a few fries. Cautiously, I guzzled down a third of the coffee. I felt refreshed, and I navigated my way back onto the street.
It took me half an hour, but I finally parked in front of the Spit & Whistle Pub. By now, the snow was coming down so hard that I was almost afraid to attempt the drive home. Louise came dashing out, only to promptly slip and fall on the sidewalk.
“Hell,” I muttered, hustling out of the car and around to help her up. “Are you all right?”
She shivered, shaking her head. “I don’t know. I got the wind knocked out of me, but at least it was just ice that was responsible this time.” She turned to me and I saw the bruises on her face.
“Louise! What happened to you? Who hit you?” I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and guided her to the car.
“Some…thing…in there. It pushed me down the stairs when I was coming down from my rooms to wait for you. I’m frightened, January.” She looked up at me, her eyes filled with tears. “Ever since you came over, the activity has gotten worse. I don’t know what’s going on.”
I glanced back at the restaurant. There were lights flashing on the top floor. Louise followed my gaze, and she shuddered.
“Whatever is in there, it doesn’t like me.” She gave me a plaintive look. “Thank you for coming for me today. I was so afraid I’d be stuck in there alone, and that I wouldn’t make it out alive if that happened.”
I bit my lip, glancing at the car. “We’ll try to make it to my house. We may have to stop somewhere along the way, but—” I stopped as the snowfall suddenly got heavier. “Let’s go, or we may never make it back to my place.” I hustled her into the passenger seat. “Buckle up. As Bette Davis said, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
As I turned the ignition, the car made a nasty sound and refused to turn over. “Cookie, come on! Work with me.” “Cookie” was what I had named my car. I tried another time, but she just fizzled. One more time and I knew it was a lost cause. “I should have bought a new car when I moved here, but I wanted to put it off until I got settled.”