‘You called me,’ she says. ‘You know my name?’
The ‘pretty lady’ is standing in the doorway to the apartment. I’m pleased to say that right now she isn’t crackling with energy and destroying the world around her just by looking at it. In fact, she looks just like an ordinary ghost, although there is a definite electrical charge in the atmosphere. I need to act fast if I’m going to keep things on a less-than-lethal level.
‘Er…’ I say, stepping back and raising my hands a little. ‘Hi, Mary.’
‘You can see me?’ she says, looking confused. ‘Even without the lightning power? No one has seen me like this for over four centuries. Who are you?’
‘I’m Dan. This is my associate, Simon.’ Si gives his frilliest bow. ‘And like I tried to say earlier, we’re here to help.’
‘And as I told you, I don’t need help from anyone.’ Her face darkens, and a couple of static sparks dance amongst the designer copper pots and pans hanging in the kitchen. ‘How did you find my name?’
I hold up the tablet computer, wondering if I need to explain what it is to someone from the age of the quill pen and Shakespeare. But before I can speak, the tablet is tugged out of my hand by some unseen power, and floats over to Mary. It spins in front of her till she can see the screen. I remember that the transcript of her trial for witchcraft is still displayed there.
Oops.
With an angry gesture, Mary pulls a bright arc of power from the tablet’s battery. Then she lets it fall to the ground, where it clatters dead on the marble floor.
‘Everything in this time,’ she says, ‘has the spark of lightning in it.’
‘’Tis called “electricity”, miss,’ Si explains, stepping forward and putting on his best schoolteacher manner. ‘A most useful phenomenon, which…’
Si’s voice is drowned out by a boom of thunder that roars around the building outside. Mary is glaring daggers at him.
‘Do not call me that!’
‘Call you what?’ Si looks confused.
‘Witch!’
‘But I… oh!’ Si snaps his mouth shut.
‘The little girl,’ I say quickly, steering the conversation away from witches, however they’re spelled. ‘Stacey. Why have you taken her?’
‘She is young,’ Mary declares, holding her head high. ‘Her body is healthy. It is what I require.’
I exchange glances with Si.
‘Require? What do you require her body for?’
‘Fool!’ Mary flashes with power, sending the copper pans dancing on their hooks. ‘It is not complicated. My own body was destroyed by fire. Therefore I require a new one, I deserve a new one. The girl Stacey is my chance to live again.’
‘But…’ I can’t believe what I’m hearing. ‘You can’t do that!’
‘You think you can stop me?’
‘No, I mean, you can’t do that! It’s not possible.’ I turn to my side-kick. ‘Er… is it, Si?’
‘Oh, it is theoretically possible,’ Si says, still in schoolteacher mode. ‘Given sufficient power, and…’
‘Si!’
I’d kick him in the shins at this point, if he still had any solid enough to kick. He gets the hint, but just a little too late.
‘Oh, er… no, ’tis not possible, not possible at all,’ he says quickly, through a desperate grin. ‘It could never be done, not ever, so… er… don’t even try. At all. Um…’
Mary gives a shriek of manic joy, and sends a playful arc of electricity skipping across the sofa, destroying it and filling the room with acrid smoke.
‘I knew it could be done!’ she cries. ‘And I have the power.’ She makes a motion as if to take off up through the ceiling.
‘No, wait!’ I shout. ‘You can’t do this to her! Stacey has done nothing wrong. She’s innocent.’
Mary crackles.
‘Innocent! I too was innocent. And yet look what they did to me. Burnt for a witch!’
‘I’m really sorry that happened, Mary.’ I say. ‘It’s horrible what they did to you. I understand, but…’
‘You understand!’ There’s another boom of thunder, even louder than before, as a riot of lightning flickers beyond the windows. It’s so cold now that every surface in the apartment is growing ice crystals. ‘How can you possibly understand?’
‘Then tell me!’ I shout back, knowing that only by talking can I keep Mary here. If she leaves now, I’ll never catch her in time to stop her doing Death-knows-what to Stacey. ‘Talk to me. I’ve helped ghosts before. There must another way.’
Mary stops crackling and sparking. She gives me a look of sudden sadness and despair.
‘You really want to understand what I have been through? You really want to know?’
I nod. Well, actually, I don’t really want to know, because it all sounds so tragic and horrible, but nodding seems to be the only way to keep Mary away from Stacey, so I nod again.
Mary raises one eyebrow.
‘Would you like to see?’
I keep nodding, and manage to glance at Si. All he can do is shrug back. What does she mean, see?
Mary raises her hand. Slim tendrils of lightning leap from her fingers, and crawl over my scalp. My teeth clamp together. But this is not simply electricity – there’s ectoplasm mixed in there too. It’s something I’ve never experienced before. My eyesight goes blurry.
‘Then, boy,’ comes the voice of Mary, ‘I will show you.’
The tendrils of power reach into my mind.
Everything goes dark