Orpheus - Haunting the Dead.pdf - Dice

HAUNTING THE DEAD
SETH LINDBERG
Later, when he was getting a soda, he caught a
reflection of something weird in the machine, and
turned to find a body slowly forming—made up of that
same silvery gauze-like substance, translucent, like
webbing made out of fog.
It spoke quietly. “Saw Hayes. He asked to pass on a
message.”
Anders suppressed the chill that was running up his
spine. It still got to him, no matter how much he dealt
with this shit, it still got to him. “What’s that?”
“He says he saw the memo. Wants to talk to you
about it, meet him in your car in the lot, this evening.
Bring Ouija board.”
Anders nodded. “Thank you.”
The ghost had no expression. “My pleasure.” It
faded from sight, as if it was never there.
***
That night, Anders sat alone in his car, digging
through his CDs until he found some cheerful, oldschool
techno to listen to. He put it on low, then dug
around and pulled out the Ouija board he’d stolen from
the office. Funny how the Orpheus Group kept a good
supply of those things around.
So Tom Hayes needed a Ouija board to communicate
this time out. Andres supposed it made some sort
of sense. People manifested as ghosts in different ways.
The Group had a whole complicated system regarding
that, all based on personality profiles, alpha wave
emissions, you name it. When Anders projected as a
ghost, he could, with little effort, be heard but neither
seen nor felt. Actually taking on material form took
much more effort, as Hayes had apparently done in the
back of Anders car. For the older agent, moving a small,
light object was easier than anything else. So Anders
sat there, Ouija board in his lap.
He held the planchette lightly, the board on his
knees, and waited.
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