Between Worlds

Between Worlds
Marcus's POV (Dead)

I'm yelling, but no sound comes out of my mouth.
I float above my own body on the beach, watching Detective Rivera stare down at my dead face in fear. I want to tell her about Eleanor. I want to tell her to run before it's too late.
But I'm trapped between the world of the living and wherever dead people go.
It's like being stuck behind transparent glass. I can see everything, but I can't touch anything. I can't make anyone hear me except when something strong pulls me into their world for just a few seconds.
That's what happened when Detective Rivera found me. Something gave me enough strength to speak to her. To tell her about Lisa Chen and Eleanor's plan.
But now I'm floating again, helpless and angry.
I remember running through the town hall basement three nights ago. I remember Eleanor's cold white eyes and her bloody knife. I remember the ghost children climbing out of their pictures to save me.
But I don't remember dying.
There's a blank space in my memory between leaving the basement and waking up dead on this beach. Like someone removed the most important part of my story.
Why can't I remember how Eleanor killed me?
I try to follow Detective Rivera as she walks away from Chief Kellerman and the other cops. But something unseen holds me back. I can only move so far from my body before I get snapped back like I'm connected to it with a rubber band.
It's frustrating and frightening at the same time.
Hours pass. The sun gets higher. More people come to look at my body, but none of them seem surprised to find a dead youth on the beach.
"Poor Marcus," says Mrs. Henderson from the flower shop. "Always getting into trouble."
"Probably fell from the cliffs during the storm," adds Mr. Murphy from the diner. "Kids these days don't respect how dangerous those rocks can be."
They're all liars. They have to know this wasn't an accident. But they act like finding dead kids with ritual cuts is totally normal in Tidewaters.
How long has this been happening? How many children has Eleanor killed while the whole town looked the other way?
That's when I see him.
Another ghost boy, maybe thirteen years old, walking toward me across the sand. He's see-through like me, but he glows with soft blue light.
"You're new," he says. "I'm Jake Stevens. I died a month ago."
"Marcus Thorne. I died three nights ago, I think."
Jake nods sadly. "Eleanor got you too, huh?"
"Yeah. But I can't remember exactly how. There's this blank spot in my memory right before I died."
"That's normal. Eleanor does something to us when she kills us. Makes us forget the worst parts so we can't use our death memories against her."
"There are more of us?"
Jake points toward the town, and suddenly I can see them. Dozens of ghost children walking through the streets, floating through houses, standing in yards where they used to play.
All of them glowing. All of them dead. All of them killed by Eleanor Blackwood.
"We've been trying to stop her for years," Jake says. "But we can only appear to living people for a few seconds at a time. And most adults don't want to see us anyway."
"What about Detective Rivera? I was able to talk to her for almost a minute."
Jake's eyes get wide. "Really? That's amazing. Most living people can barely hear us whisper."
"Why is she different?"
"I think it's because she really cares about saving children. She's got this guilt that makes her more open to our world."
Jake walks closer to me. "Marcus, there's something you need to know. Something terrible is happening tonight."
"What?"
"Eleanor captured Dr. Carver's nephew. An eight-year-old boy named Tommy. She's planning to sacrifice him tonight instead of waiting for Lisa Chen."
"Why tonight?"
"Because Detective Rivera is getting too close to the truth. Eleanor wants to complete the ritual and get more power before Rivera can stop her."
My anger flares up like fire. "We have to do something!"
"We've been trying for years, Marcus. We're dead. We can't touch things. We can't fight living people. All we can do is watch."
"That's not true. Remember in the basement three nights ago? All the dead kids helped me escape from Eleanor."
Jake stares at me. "What are you talking about?"
"You were there, Jake. You and Sarah Kellerman and all the others. You climbed out of your photos and fought Eleanor so I could run away."
"Marcus, that's impossible. We can't climb out of anything. We can barely make ourselves visible."
"But I saw you! You grabbed Eleanor and told me to run!"
Jake shakes his head. "I was never in Eleanor's basement. None of us have ever been able to physically fight her."
A cold feeling spreads through my chest. "Then who saved me that night?"
"I don't know. But if something gave you and the other ghost children enough power to become solid and fight Eleanor, it must be incredibly strong."
"Stronger than Eleanor?"
"Maybe. But Marcus, if that's true, then why did you still die?"
That's the question I can't answer. If something strong enough to make ghost children solid was helping me, why am I floating over my own dead body?
Unless...
"Jake, what if I didn't die in the basement?"
"What do you mean?"
"What if Eleanor didn't kill me that night? What if something else happened after I escaped?"
Jake looks confused. "Like what?"
I try to remember running from the town hall. I remember getting outside. I remember feeling safe for the first time in hours.
But then what?
"I need to see my death," I say. "I need to remember what really happened."
"Marcus, that's dangerous. There's a reason our minds block out the worst memories."
"I don't care. An innocent kid is going to die tonight because I failed to stop Eleanor. I need to know what went wrong."
Jake sighs. "There might be a way. But it's risky."
"Tell me."
"The other ghost children who have been here longest... they sometimes remember fragments of each other's deaths. If we all focus together, we might be able to show you what happened to you."
"Let's do it."
Jake calls out in a voice only dead people can hear. Within minutes, dozens of ghost children gather around us on the beach. Sarah Kellerman, Tommy Morrison, and so many others whose names I don't know yet.
"Marcus wants to see his death memory," Jake says. "He thinks it might help save Tommy Carver."
"That's dangerous," says Sarah. "Death memories can drive a ghost insane."
"I have to try," I tell them. "Detective Rivera is brave enough to face Eleanor. The least I can do is face my own death."
The ghost children make a circle around me. They reach out their bright hands and touch my shoulders.
Suddenly, I'm not on the beach anymore.
I'm running through the dark streets three nights ago, my heart pounding with fear. I ran from Eleanor's basement, but I know she'll come after me.
I have to get to Detective Rivera. She's the only adult who might believe me about what's happening in this town.
But as I run toward her office, someone steps out of the darkness ahead of me.
It's not Eleanor.
It's Detective Rivera herself.
But something's wrong with her. Her eyes are totally black, like they're full of oil. And when she smiles at me, her teeth look sharp.
"Hello, Marcus," she says in a voice that doesn't sound human. "Going somewhere?"
"Detective Rivera? How are you... your eyes..."
"I'm not Detective Rivera, boy. I'm something much older. Something that's been sleeping in this town for a very long time."
The thing wearing Detective Rivera's face starts walking toward me.
"Eleanor woke me up when she tried to sacrifice you tonight. She doesn't know it, but her little ritual cracked open a door that should have stayed closed forever."
"What are you?"
"I'm what your people used to call a shadow walker. A thing that steals bodies and wears them like clothes." The fake Rivera laughs, and the sound makes my teeth hurt. "Eleanor thinks she controls the supernatural forces in this town. She has no idea what she's really been feeding all these years."
I try to run, but my feet won't move. The shadow walker is doing something to my thoughts.
"Eleanor's rituals don't just give her power, Marcus. They give me power too. And now I'm strong enough to take a new body."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because you're going to help me destroy Eleanor Blackwood. But first, I need to borrow your corpse for a few days."
The shadow walker reaches out with Detective Rivera's hands and touches my face.
Pain explodes through my head. I feel my soul being ripped out of my body like someone pulling off my skin.
"Don't worry," the shadow walker says as my vision goes black. "I'll take good care of your body. And when the real Detective Rivera arrives in town, I'll be ready for her."
The memory ends, and I'm back on the beach with the other ghost children.
But now I understand the horrible truth.
Detective Rivera isn't trying to save Tommy Carver.
Detective Rivera died three days ago, just like I did.
The thing walking around town in her body is the real enemy. Something ancient and evil that's been pretending to examine Eleanor's crimes while actually planning something much worse.
Eleanor thinks she's in charge, but she's just a puppet. The shadow walker has been using her practices to get stronger, and now it's strong enough to take over the whole town.
Jake looks at me in horror. "Marcus, if that thing is wearing Detective Rivera's body, then what happened to the real Detective Rivera?"
I look toward town, where the fake Detective Rivera is probably getting ready to "sacrifice" herself to save Tommy tonight.
But I know it's all a lie. The ghost walker isn't going to save anyone.
It's going to use tonight's ritual to become strong enough to possess every person in Tidewaters.
And then it's going to spread beyond the town lines.
"We have to warn someone," I say. "But who's going to believe a bunch of dead kids?"
That's when I see her.
The real Detective Rivera, walking across the beach toward us.
But she's see-through and glowing, just like the rest of us.
She's been dead for three days, and she doesn't even know it yet.