Present Day -- northwest of Reno, Nevada
"Come back, damn it!" The girl kicked up dirt. "Curse your hide, you lousy --" she continued to shout and shake her fist at the cloud of dust until it drifted away at the end of the road leading from town.
She then curled her arms over her head in an angry gesture, turning in a circle. She continued to rant and rave, but Zeke knew she didn't yell at him or Lucky, since she couldn't possibly know they were there. After all, Peavine was a ghost town, and nobody lived there.
Zeke and Lucky glanced at each other, then back at the girl. "Boy, she's got a mouth on her, don't she?" Lucky asked.
The girl spun around and stared right at them, eyes wide and mouth open. Zeke hoped she didn’t start hollering. Other times, people had come to Peavine and Lucky had decided, on a lark, to spook them. Most times, Lucky was the one that got spooked, but sometimes the women would cut loose with screams like banshees.
Lucky jerked his arm, but Zeke didn't even notice how hard he pulled. He was staring at the girl.
"Do you see what I see?" Lucky jerked again and this time Zeke did feel it. He pulled away.
"Yeah, I see, but I don't think--"
"Why not? The voice said we'd know what to do when the time come, and I think over a hundred years is 'bout time enough."
"Let's get a closer look." Zeke took a step forward.
"I'll be danged and hog-tied." Zeke whistled through his teeth as he came face to face with the girl. The wind blew her blonde hair around an oval shaped face. He could see more hair, tied back with a scarf, though it weren't as long as Elizabeth's.
Well, a girl could cut her hair, couldn't she? Even as he thought it, he knew Elizabeth would never do that. She was always primping and patting her curls.
As they watched, the girl lifted slim-fingered hands to her narrow hips, scrunched up her eyes and turned slowly around. When she stopped, her gaze sliced right through the two brothers to survey one dilapidated old building after another.
"It's kinda fun when they can't see us, ain't it, Zeke?" Lucky chuckled as he stepped behind the girl and poked her in the ribs. She swiveled around, quick as a wink, her eyes growing wide.
"Look at them brown eyes. She's the spitting image of Elizabeth."
"I know," Zeke breathed softly. Finally, after more'n a hundred forty years floating around Peavine, watching it slowly fade to dust as the mines petered out and people moved on to other ventures, it 'peared the time had come. The voice had said they'd know what to do, and lord knows they'd already had plenty long enough to figure it out.
This here girl looked just like Jesse’s fiancée, Elizabeth Calhoun. He and Lucky’d had many a discussion ‘bout the explosion that killed Jesse back in '70, and they came to the conclusion Elizabeth must have had something to do with it. Proving that might be like holding a lit stick of dynamite, but prospects looked a mite better right about now. Even so, he hesitated.
"'Pears she ain't going nowhere, so let's just keep an eye on her for a spell."
"What for? Let's just take her and run. I'm mighty tired of living like this. I've a hankering for a good game of poker and a bottle of whiskey."
Zeke turned to his brother. "She might look just like Elizabeth, but she sure don't sound like her now, do she? S'pose we take her back and Jesse finds out real fast that she ain't the real thing -- what then?"
* * *
Ellie's gaze rebounded wildly from one end of the old ghost town to the other. There was something spooky going on here. After that jerk of a guide had taken off with her camera, purse and cell phone, she had been just plain mad. Now, fear edged its way into her consciousness. She swore she heard voices a few minutes ago. And just as certainly, she thought she felt hands on her as she stood in the middle of the street. Perhaps it was the wind. She prayed it was the wind.
She dug in her jeans’ pocket for her cigarettes. Thank goodness those had been in her pocket instead of her purse. As she lit the slightly bent cigarette, her gaze flickered from ruin to ruin, stopping only when she thought she saw a shadow against the wall of the building across the dusty street. "Calhoun's Bank and Trust," she said the name out loud. "Doesn't sound like a mining name at all."
She sniffed and shrugged her shoulders. The joke was on her. Before she started this assignment, she knew nothing about mining towns. Even now, her research had barely scratched the surface. She had told Hartman, her editor, she didn't want to know anything about the old west, but that hadn't gotten her out of the assignment.
"I want a story on ghost towns and old mines," he had insisted that day in the offices of Hartman Publishing, whose specialty was in travel magazines. "You get paid to write stories. What’s the problem?"
"Why the old west? The closest I've ever come is liking the Eagles' song, Desperado," Ellie had replied. "You've always sent me to the eastern seaboard and on European tours. Why do you want to bury me under things old and dusty?"
"You know Jake is covering Civil War reenactments and Becky Sue is on maternity leave. That only leaves you.”
Becky Sue and Jake -- now those were names that belonged in the west, Ellie had thought miserably as her boss droned on.
“Our largest client, Gold Mine Casino, wants a bigger draw, but most tourists don’t go to Reno just to gamble any more. They want other things to do during the day. So, I figure we focus on hiking around nearby ghost towns, mines, panning for gold -- you know. Now, get a ticket and go west, young . . .woman."
So Ellie had spent days researching and digging around other old ruins in the hot, dry desert after landing in Reno a week ago. Last night, the cool, dark interior of the casino had beckoned, and she had spent most of the night playing Black Jack. Perhaps if she hadn't, she would have noticed the shifty eyes of the new guide who had been out front bright and early to pick her up. The casino had made the arrangements, and boy, would she let them have it when she got back.
Ellie sighed as she surveyed the old buildings. Regardless of whether she had wanted this assignment, she was still a professional and had done her background research. Peavine didn't look much different than Hunter's Station and Crystal Peak, two ghost towns she'd already visited.
She got up from the splintery boardwalk and sauntered around the buildings. She could almost visualize how it would have looked in 1870. Her gaze followed the line of old timber as she ticked off the buildings in her mind -- mercantile, hotel, bank, church. Unlike refurbished Belmont and Steamboat Springs, today's Peavine was totally deserted.
In her meandering, Ellie came to a creek that ran along the back edge of town. Her research hadn't uncovered much information about the creek, but this would make her story even better. She reached down and scooped some crystal clear water into her hands. Not only could people dig through the rubble for artifacts, but they could pan for gold in the creek. Very touristy.
She snorted as she stood, ready to head back to the buildings and look for a way into town. "Hell, the only thing Peavine needs is a couple of grizzled, old miners."
* * *
"Howdy, little lady." Zeke decided to make his presence known, figuring there was no other way they could get the girl’s cooperation. When she whirled around at the sound of his voice, her eyes wide with fright and screeching like a polecat, he changed his mind but it was too late. Knowing that becoming invisible again would only make a bigger problem, he gritted his teeth and continued.
"I heared you hollering and yelling and wondered if I could help?" As he spoke, she scooted back, slipping on loose gravel along the creek bed, but she didn't go down.
“Who are you?” She whispered. Her voice sounded much better than when she shrieked, but Zeke wasn’t a’tall sure she sounded like Elizabeth.
He stood still, hands at his sides, as she gave him the once over, staring at him so hard he almost blushed.
“Where did you come from? How come I didn’t see you before?” The girl managed to keep her distance, one hand up in the air as though to ward off danger. Zeke could tell she was a mite curious and more’n a mite scared.
“Well, I live here.”
She glanced around wildly. “Nobody lives here. It’s a ghost town.”
“Looky, Miss, I ain’t gonna hurt you. I was up in the hills ‘til I heared you.” He figured it'd take a few minutes for her to decide he meant no harm.
The girl continued to stare, then slowly allowed her gaze to shift side to side. Zeke figured she was looking for someone else to jump out and grab her. He just hoped Lucky didn’t show up yet.
She about made Zeke jump out of his skin when she sprung right up at him. "You have a car! You can get me back to Reno!" The girl was awful excited all of a sudden, waving her arms in his face.
"A wh … what?" Not seeing too many real people in the last century, the girl’s closeness and excitement caused Zeke to stammer.
"A vehicle -- jeep, car, motorcycle -- I don't care as long as it can get me back to town."
"Well, we ain't got one."
"You don't -- you have to. How could anyone live out here without a car?" She was hollering again, and Zeke scrunched his head into his shoulders.
"What sense do it make to have something that we can't work?" Zeke shrugged and turned. He had seen contraptions like the girl mentioned whenever tourists had come to the ghost town. But the few times people had wandered off to the creek and he and Lucky had tried to work the horseless wagons, they couldn't get them to move. "Heckfire, we don't even got a mule no more. Come on."
The girl sized him up once more. Zeke guessed since he was old as the hills and shorter than her, she figured she could outrun him if’n he tried anything.
She followed him to the porch of Murphy's. Zeke watched her light a cigarette. He sniffed appreciatively at the wisp of smoke. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had tobacco, though he usually chewed. He was just about to ask her if she had a plug when he saw Lucky running up from the direction of the mine. Zeke could tell by his shimmer that Lucky hadn't solidified hisself.
"'Cuse me, Miss," Zeke said hurriedly and jerked his head at Lucky as he scooted back into Murphy's, hoping his brother would follow.
"You talked to her." Lucky accused, poking Zeke hard in the belly with a bony finger. "You showed yourself."
"How else we going to get her to help us?"
Lucky didn't have an answer for that, and hung his head.
Zeke knew how to make Lucky feel better. "Make yourself visible, Lucky."
Together they moved back outside. Night had fallen and for a minute Zeke panicked, not able to locate the girl. When the flicker of a fire caught his eye, he breathed easier.
They hurried passed the alley to the hotel, where the girl sat huddled on the boardwalk, her knees hugged tightly to her chest. She glanced up as Zeke drew near, eyes widening at the sight of Lucky. She grabbed a piece of wood from the edge of the fire and swung it at them.
"Who's he?"
Zeke thought he heard a note of fear in her question, but at least she didn’t scream again.
Before he could answer, she chuckled and shrugged, dropping the wood back into the blaze. “Hell, I asked for two grizzled old miners, so what do I expect?” She looked from one to the other, an eyebrow raised. “You are miners, aren’t you, or is this some incredibly sick joke of Hartman’s?”
“‘Course we’re miners -- the best.” Lucky boosted, then his face fell and shoulders sagged. “Well, we used to be, a’fore the accident back in seventy--”
“Who’s Hartman?” Zeke interrupted, poking Lucky in the ribs before he could spill the beans.
“Never mind. I really doubt you two would know him.” The girl shrugged off his question. She tossed more wood on the fire, the flames now jumping and sparking several feet in the air.
"You trying to burn the town down?" Lucky demanded.
That brought a snicker. "Like it would make any difference?"
"'Course it would. Peavine's one of the richest gold towns in the territory."
The girl looked around. "Excuse me if I'm missing something here, but there's nobody in this town. Who’s going to care?" Although Lucky was dense at times, the girl's sarcasm wasn't lost on Zeke.
Lucky continued as though she hadn't spoken. "In 1870, why, there was over two hundred people living in this town. This here hotel you're hell bent on burning down had real leather seats inside." He turned and pointed across the street. "Calhoun's bank backed more'n one mining venture. There was even a church and post office called Poeville and a ten stamp mill."
"Well, la-tee-da." The girl didn’t act at all impressed.
Zeke had a feeling she was all bluster to cover up her fright.
"This here's Lucky, my brother." Zeke felt maybe knowing their names would help set her heart to rest. "I'm Zeke."
She looked from Lucky to him, back to Lucky then to the fire, ignoring them both. How would they get her to help them if she wouldn't even talk to them?
Lucky didn't take no offense and began chattering away. "We don't get us many visitors here. Why'd you come? What's your name?"
"It doesn't matter. I just want to get back to town."
"That'd be a feat, for sure, seeing as how we got no way to get you there."
Silence met his statement.
Finally, with an audible sigh, she said, "Ellie."
Lucky's face fell. "Your name ain't Elizabeth?"
The girl made a face. "God, no, although that would be better than Eleanor. That's why I go by Ellie."
"But can we call you Elizabeth -- since you don't 'pear to like your own name?" Lucky asked hopefully and Zeke got the feeling he was pushing way too hard.
Ellie's forehead scrunched up. "What is your problem? Why would I want to be called that?"
Zeke piped up when he saw Lucky's face scrunch into a frown. "I'll explain to Miss Ellie."
"Why can't I explain?" Lucky argued.
"'Cuz I'm the oldest, that's why."
"You always say that and it ain't fair. We're twins."
"Yeah, but I come out first."
"P-l-ea-se." The girl interrupted them, then proceeded to cuss. Lucky's eyes opened in shock and Zeke had an awful feeling even if they convinced this girl to help, it would only get them in more trouble.
Zeke turned to the girl and tried to explain. After all, the voice didn't say outsiders couldn't know. But, how could he explain that their friend, Jesse, was dead and they had to make him undead?
"Look, we can try to get you back to town, but could you maybe help us out first?" He took her silence for a good sign and continued. "We got us a friend named Jesse Cole that's in trouble. The only way to fix it is to keep something else bad from happening."
"I'm sorry about your friend, but I did lose a lot of equipment, not to mention my purse and ride back to Reno,” Miss Ellie replied, waving a hand off to the west, even though Zeke knew Reno laid to the south. “The sooner I get back and report it, the better chance they'll have of finding the guy. Besides, what's your friend got to do with me?"
"You look just like Jesse’s fiancée, Elizabeth, so we was thinking you could take her place 'til we find out who killed . . .uh . . .tried to hurt him." Zeke waited for that idea to soak in.
"Now wait a minute. I'm not doing any kinky sex games."
Zeke could feel his face flame. He cleared his voice. "No, no. Lucky and me think Miss Elizabeth had something to do with what happened. If you was to take her place, then we’d figure it out for sure this time.”
“You want me to play undercover cop? How’s that going to get my equipment back?” She raised a brow in question, looking just the same as Miss Elizabeth did whenever she had quizzed Zeke about Jesse’s whereabouts.
Zeke hoped God would forgive him for lying. It just seemed to him a man’s life was worth more’n a couple pieces of equipment. “We’ll get your stuff back, Miss, but first we gotta take you back to Peavine with us and make sure things go right this time."
"Back to Peavine? This is Peavine, and there's nothing here. What exactly do you mean?" Now she not only looked like Elizabeth, but sounded like her too -- always questioning him.
Before he could come up with a likely excuse, Lucky jumped right smack into the middle of things.
"If'n we take her back to Peavine, how we going to tell her apart from the real Elizabeth?" He asked.
Zeke thought, then said, "It's got to be something visible."
The girl held both arms in front of her, elbows bent, her fingers straight and close together. She widened her stance and braced her feet and Zeke thought she might try to hit them. She didn't look the least ladylike, and he began to doubt she'd be much help a'tall. Still, they had to try. He took a step toward her, and she raised a hand threateningly.
"Get away from me, damnit! I don't trust either of you and I don't believe your story."
"She has ear bobs," Lucky said, having ignored everything else since his earlier concern. "I'm dead sure Miss Elizabeth don't, cuz it just might hurt to have a hole poked in your ear."
"That might work," Zeke agreed, "but we gotta do something 'bout her swearing. Miss Elizabeth would never say words like that and how we gonna make sure this one don't?"
"I'm not going anywhere with you so what difference does it make?" The girl hissed at him through clinched teeth.
In the next instant, Zeke knew they were in trouble. His brother started shimmering and glowing 'til Zeke could hardly see him. One look at the girl's face told him she was having the same trouble. Lucky sometimes forgot to concentrate on being solid.
Zeke might have been able to explain the shimmer, but Lucky reached out to grab the girl's arm and his hand went right through her.
Zeke began to count. "One, two, three, four, five--" The girl fell forward in a dead faint and Zeke caught her under the arms. "Well, she lasted longer than most."
Lucky shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't mean to scare her."
"Might be the best thing you ever done." Zeke grunted as he turned the girl over. "Now concentrate and grab her legs." When Lucky caught hold, together they carried their burden to the mine.
"I guess we can worry 'bout her swearing once we get her back to Peavine." Zeke shook his head and sighed. He only hoped he’d be rewarded for his patience, for the Lord knows he was gonna need lots of it.
In the distance, where the mine shaft intersected with another tunnel, Zeke could see a bluish glow off to the right – the same light that had vanished the day Jesse Cole died.
"Come on." He motioned to his brother and grabbed the unconscious girl. They scurried towards the glow, never slowing down as the light became brighter and brighter until it appeared to swallow them right up.
Zeke dropped his burden when he felt himself falling, empty space all around as he tumbled head over heels. He couldn't shout, couldn't feel nothing as the brightness swirled around him. He only hoped his brother and the girl were following him through the spiraling emptiness.