The Downside Ghosts Series Books 1-3: Unholy Ghosts, Unholy Magic, City of Ghosts. Stacia Kane
me.”
“Ain’t got all day, Earl.”
“Don’t you start with me either, boy. I tell it my own time, my own way. You wanted me to talk, you’re getting talk. Just you relax.”
Terrible raised an eyebrow, but did not reply. Earl nodded.
“Some of us tried to tell them no, when they talked about it. Building there, I means. Those days there was more land than you could shake a stick at. Guess it was kind of like it is now, only half the population hadn’t died. Or hadn’t died yet. Those damn Nazis and their Jap and Dago buddies sure killed enough in the years to come, oh yes. Near enough killed me, at least, one of them traitorous slimebag Vichy did. Wanna see my scar?”
His leer should have disgusted her, but the smoke was going to her head and she was finding his offensive patter oddly amusing. She’d never heard such words actually used in conversation before. It fascinated her.
At least, it did until she thought about Lex, about what those bygone words actually meant. Earl probably wouldn’t have been so eager to show her a scar on what she thought must be someplace normally hidden by layers of cloth if he knew who’d been seeing her bare skin—and exploring it fairly thoroughly—only a few hours before. Twice. Lex wasn’t Japanese, but she doubted Earl would care about the distinction.
“No, thanks.”
“Got some scars of your own, I see. And bruises. Did Terrible here do that to your face?”
“What?” She’d actually almost forgotten. “Oh, no! No. I fell.”
Earl made a face. “Sure you did. My momma used to say that, too.” He sucked in another chestful of smoke, his eyelids fluttering.
“But like I said, there was plenty of places for them to build their airport, instead of on those grounds. Wouldn’t have been so bad if they built homes or stores, but to bring planes there again just seemed wrong.”
“What do you mean, planes? Nothing was on that land before—what was there before?” The documents at the Church hadn’t said anything about the way the land was used before Chester was built.
Earl shook his head. “Such a terrible tragedy. I was just a boy then but even I remember when it happened, the night bright like I’d never seen before and didn’t see again until I got shipped overseas. Them flames rose so high looked like they were trying to burn down heaven—that was when we thought such a thing existed, you know, I ain’t saying it now.”
“Of course. Go on, please. What burned?”
“The base. The air base. Thought the Hun had crossed the ocean to get us.”
“The Hun? Wasn’t Germany the Nazis then?”
He glared at her. “What you think, missy, you think I don’t know the difference betwixt Hitler and Wilhelm? I say the Huns I mean the Huns. That fire happened when the air base stood, the base, not that damned Chester Airport. Not World War Two. The Great War. That base—Greenwood, they called it—burned down in 1917.”
“We must forgive the Old Government their failings. They understood not the consequences of their actions; they denied the Truth of the spirit world.”
—A History of the Old Government, Volume II: 1620–1800, from the introduction by the Grand Elder
“Shoulda known,” Terrible said, nosing back into traffic. “Heard about Greenwood, aye, but nobody ever agree whereabouts it was. Only a story. Ain’t even can find it in most books.”
“What do you mean?”
“Books on the war. Even them old ones don’t but mention Greenwood. One of the first bases for airmen. Knew they closed it, but none say why. Never even guessed it was around here.”
Chess glanced back over her shoulder as the Dream den disappeared in the mist. Old-timer Earl hadn’t been much use after telling them when Greenwood AFB burned down. Two more hits from his pipe and he’d started dozing, interrupting only to make a feeble pass that she suspected was more about his ego than anything else.
“No, I mean how would you—you have a lot of books about World War One?”
He hesitated. “Aye, well, it’s interesting, innit? Different world, first real air battles, aye? They called them aces, you know. Flying aces. Just ain’t figure out why I never connected it. Them ghosts we saw in that alley—bet that land used to be part of the base.”
The same knowledge that excited him made Chess feel even more lost. What difference did it make, except that she was now dealing with military ghosts, an entire battalion or what ever of them.
“Why would they hide that, though? It was a fire, what was so bad about that?”
“Aye, but not just a fire. All sorts of rumors about it, Chess. You heard about the study the Old Government done back in the when, in Tuskegee? With syphilis, aye? Or when they spray germs in the air, or in World War Two they studied tear gas and shit. Used people for them experiments, most of em ain’t even know.”
“Yeah … they were doing the same at Chester, at Greenwood I mean?”
“Nobody agree what they doing. Some say mustard gas, but I ain’t buy it. Others say more brain shit, dig. Holding them from sleeping, no food, no air, like that. They—”
“Sleep deprivation?”
He glanced at her. “Aye.”
“The Dreamthief.”
“Ain’t knowing for sure. But some say that fire was no accident. I got a book I found long time back, little book like a pamphlet. Says one of them pi lots escaped, said by the time they place burned they all crazy from no sleep. Said maybe somebody set that fire. Ain’t believe I don’t think of it, but everybody guess Greenwood down South somewheres, way down, aye? If it even true.”
“I can’t believe—I mean, wow. You know a lot about all this.” Of course he did. Memories clicked into place. He’d known the ghosts they’d seen were pi lots. She remembered the rapt look on his face at the airport, when he talked about having planes there again. She thought of the flash of wings she’d seen in the scar on his back. It made sense, didn’t it, that he would see himself as a soldier—after all, he basically was—and that this sort of thing would interest him? She wouldn’t have been surprised to discover the entire Chester thing was his idea.
“Passes the time.” He turned left, heading for the highway onramp to take them out of Downside. “Ain’t knowing Earl got so much knowledge on it. Knew he were old, aye, but not that old. Ain’t figure anything could be. You ever heard ought like it?”
She shrugged. “There’s spells you can do, but I don’t think he did. That’s really dark magic, the kind that leaves a mark, you know?”
“Figure he just forget to die, aye? Or too mean. Too high, maybe. He at them pipes every day long as I recall.”
Silence fell. Chess felt his discomfort, wondering if he’d said the wrong thing. Thinking of her own habits, hoping he hadn’t offended her.
“Terrible?”
“Aye?”
“Who taught you how to read?”
He shrugged like he wasn’t going to reply, then glanced at her. “Her name Lisa. Bump’s woman. Was Bump’s woman. This back when he took me in, dig. She liked me. Said I needed to know. Used to sit right next to me, wearin some low-cut slippy thing, making me sound out letters and write sentences.”
“Must have been quite encouraging.”
He grinned. “When I did right, she’d lean