"I thought you, speaking to me.... I thought it was all a dream. I can't deal with this right now," Irene said, almost to herself rather than to Dax.
"Irene, look at me. You need to remember."
"Remember WHAT?"
"Remember who you are. It's the only way to bring you back fully. A lot of people are relying on you for their safety," Dax said, making Irene scoff.
"Rely on me? Who?"
"My dear girl, you're the future of all of Blackwood," Dax said, and Irene raised her eyebrows at him.
"What are you talking about?" she asked.
"Unfortunately, that's all I can tell you for now," Dax said, making Irene roll her eyes.
"What's the use of being able to talk if you're just going to speak in riddles?" Irene retorted.
"It's an unfortunate side effect of the spell, I'm afraid. That's all I can tell you. The rest you must figure out for yourself," Dax said like a wise old man, while Irene snickered.
"I'm trying."
"What sort of party were you at the night you disappeared? That might be a place to start."
"But I don't know—" Irene paused when Dax interrupted her.
"So find out." He commanded, squinting his green eyes at her.
Just as Irene scowled at the black cat that seemed to know more than she did, her phone buzzed in her hand with a text message. It was Tristan, telling her that they'd be headed to the Silver Tower in fifteen minutes.
"Looks like I'm headed out, Dax," Irene said, while the cat pulled away from her ankles. Ignoring Irene, he sauntered out of the living room.
*****
Irene arrived at the Silver Tower and met Tristan and Amelia there already, with Tristan's cousin, Eugene, in the lobby.
"Hey, cousin… How are things?" Tristan greeted Eugene.
"Cut the greetings, Tristan. Did you bring what I asked for?" Eugene asked, making Tristan's face fall.
He glanced back at Irene and Amelia, a little embarrassed. Tristan sighed, then reached for a sticky note and pen from Eugene's desk.
Irene watched over his shoulder as he wrote down some information on it, then handed it over to Eugene. "There you go."
Amelia, who was standing beside Tristan and saw what he had written, gasped, "Not your level forty-three freak-night account."
"Freak-night?" Irene repeated.
"It's just a video game. Don't worry about it," Tristan said, waving Irene off dismissively, while Amelia shook her head.
"Tristan, you spent two years grinding for that gear…. And you're just going to give it all away?" said Amelia.
"I'm not giving it away. I am exchanging it for a tour of the sixteenth floor. Right, Eugene?"
"Yeah, fine, but it's got to be quick. And you can't touch anything. Got it?" Eugene commented.
"Got it," Tristan answered.
"I don't know why you guys want to go up there. Anyway, I know I don't want to…. But for a level forty-three account, it's got to be worth it," Eugene remarked with a smile on his face, as he led them to the elevator taking them to the sixteenth floor.
Everything was eerily quiet as they stepped out into the office.
"Anyone else here as frightened as I am right now?" Amelia asked, but nobody answered as they all noticed a massive magical sigil on the wall.
Irene stared at it, transfixed. It was the same one from the photo Detective Diego showed her.
"Yeah, that should be painted over soon, but my boss said there were some problems getting contractors to come in and get rid of it," Eugene disclosed, as he walked a few paces away and pointed to the spot on the floor. "Check it. Here's where I found that girl the night everyone was looking for her."
Tristan shot Irene a look, and she managed to hold back her outward surprise as she thought, 'Eugene was the one who found me?'
"Well, it doesn't seem strange to me. Maybe we should go," Amelia said, as her eyes darted around wearily.
"What was it like, Eugene, when you found the girl?" Tristan asked, while Eugene noticed the three of them paying close attention to him, and he started right in, as if he was enjoying every second of the attention he was getting.
"Well, when I came in for my shift that night, the day-shift guy was all freaked out. He said the police had come by looking for some missing girl. He didn't get most of his checklist done that night because he was trying to keep up with the search on social media. If he hadn't been, he might have noticed whoever it was sneaking in through the back entrance and using the stairs to get up there. Anyway, they fired that guy because of it," Eugene explained.
"And there wasn't any security cam footage or anything?" Tristan asked.
"It was the weirdest thing. Our cams usually back up to cloud storage, but for whatever reason, they had been turned off, so the footage taken was never saved. Anyway, when I went on my nightly rounds, I thought I should do an extra thorough job since the day-shift guy had been on his phone all day…. That's when I found her. It's strange, but I–I thought I saw something else first, and that's what led me to her."
"What did you see, Eugene?" Amelia asked.
"I really shouldn't say. You'll think I'm crazy if I tell you. Besides, it was probably my imagination," Eugene answered with a shake of his head.
Irene sighed as she mused to herself, 'That's what I thought about my cat talking to me, until it happened a second time.'
Eugene continued, "It scared the damn out of me, though. That's all I can tell you."
"Aw, come on. Don't leave us in suspense. You're so brave to patrol here alone at night in the first place. Whatever you saw must have been terrifying," Irene said, wanting Eugene to spill whatever he witnessed to them.
Tristan shot Irene a meaningful look, while Eugene smiled, clearly a little flustered by her praise. "Alright. I saw a woman—"
"The world's full of women. Some of them probably even work in this office building," Tristan cut off Eugene's words, rolling his eyes.
"Not like that, dude. She was floating, I think. The room was freezing, too, like someone had cranked the AC," Eugene said, and Amelia clutched Irene's arm, clearly spooked.
"What? Floating?" Amelia repeated in alarm.
"I could see through her, you know? She was wearing this long dress, and she looked dead. Floating there," Eugene said as he pointed behind them.
"So a ghost… You saw a ghost," Tristan said with indifference.
"I can't explain it. And she turned to look at me, and I just hid behind the wall and shut my eyes. I swore she was coming for me, and I knew I wouldn't be able to do anything about it. In my head, I'm like, 'Eugene. You've got to do something.' So, finally, I opened my eyes. And that's when I saw the girl's body, but I didn't know that. I thought she was dead. I didn't check; I just called 911 and the police took it from there. You guys think I'm crazy, don't you?"
Amelia bobbed her head at his words. "Yeah. Totally. Ghosts don't exist, right, Irene?"
Irene shrugged. "I didn't before, but I might now. It sounds like too strange of an experience to keep to yourself. I'm glad you shared it."
"Thanks. I'm still freaked out, but I can't let something like that get in the way of doing my job. Anyway, if there's nothing else you guys want to check out, I would love to get out of here now."
"Was there anyone else you saw that night?" Irene asked.
"No. Not that I can remember. But I was really scared. I may have missed something. But please don't tell my boss anything like that," Eugene said, as he squinted at Irene in the dark and aimed his flashlight at her face.
Irene flinched and put her hand up to shield herself. "Hang on, do I know you from somewhere?"
"I'm just Tristan's friend. I've known him since we were kids," Irene answered, and Eugene looked at her for a moment, then nodded.
"Hmm, okay. Well, let's get out of here, then," Eugene said, and they walked back toward the exit.
On their way back to the elevator, Irene passed by the strange sigil again. She stopped walking and turned toward it.
'That whispering,' she mused, as she heard a sound in her ears, as if someone was whispering a song. "I've heard it before," Irene mumbled, as she glimpsed through her memories dancing just out of reach, then blackness fell around her like a heavy curtain. Her knees gave out, and she fell to the floor.