False Faces

False Faces
Sam's POV (Dead)

I'm floating above the beach, watching myself fight with Chief Kellerman about Marcus's body.
But that's impossible. I'm dead. I've been dead for three days.
So who is that woman wearing my face?
"Those aren't from rocks," the fake Sam tells Kellerman, pointing at the routine cuts on Marcus's chest. "Someone murdered this boy."
I try to scream, but no sound comes out. I'm a ghost, just like Marcus said. The thing down there claiming to be me killed me three days ago and has been wearing my body like a costume.
But how can I remember being alive if I'm dead?
Marcus floats next to me, his ghost sparkling with blue light. "It's confusing at first," he says. "The shadow walker steals our memories when it kills us, then uses them to pretend to be us."
"But I remember talking to Eleanor last night. I remember her threatening me."
"Those are the shadow walker's memories, not yours. It's been living your life for three days."
I watch the fake Sam argue with Kellerman. It looks exactly like me. It sounds exactly like me. Even I can't tell the difference.
"How do we stop it?" I ask.
"We can't. We're dead. All we can do is watch."
But I refuse to accept that. Down on the beach, the shadow walker is fooling everyone into thinking it's me. It's going to use my image as a detective to gain people's trust, then kill them one by one.
I put all my energy on trying to become solid, like Marcus said the ghost children did in Eleanor's basement. But nothing happens. I'm still see-through and useless.
"Don't waste your strength," Marcus says. "Only something incredibly powerful could give us enough energy to affect the living world."
"What kind of something?"
"I don't know. But three nights ago, when I was escaping from Eleanor's basement, all the dead children suddenly became solid and fought her. Something was helping us."
"Where is that something now?"
Marcus looks sad. "I think it was a one-time thing. A moment when the barrier between life and death got thin enough for us to cross over."
I watch Chief Kellerman tell the fake Sam to leave the crime scene. The shadow walker claims to be frustrated, just like I would be. It's a perfect show.
But then I notice something that makes my ghost heart race.
Kellerman's eyes. For just a second, they turn totally black. Like they're full of oil.
"Marcus," I say. "Look at Chief Kellerman's eyes."
Marcus follows my eyes and gasps. "No way."
"The shadow walker isn't just wearing my body. It's wearing Kellerman's too."
"But that's impossible. Shadow walkers can only possess one body at a time."
"Maybe there's more than one shadow walker."
We watch as both women end their conversation and walk in different directions. The fake Sam goes back to her car, while the fake Kellerman starts directing her officers.
But before they separate fully, they look at each other and smile. It's not a normal smile. It's the smile of two hunters who just fooled their prey.
"How many people in this town are really dead?" I ask.
Marcus counts on his ghostly fingers. "You, me, Dr. Carver, Eleanor Blackwood. Maybe more."
"Then who's running things?"
"The shadow walkers. They've been taking over one person at a time, building an army of stolen bodies."
A horrible thought comes to me. "Marcus, if they can possess anyone, how do we know who's still alive?"
"We don't."
I float higher above the beach, looking down at the town of Tidewaters. From up here, I can see people going about their daily morning routines. Walking dogs, opening shops, going to work.
How many of them are really shadow walkers wearing stolen faces?
"There has to be a way to fight them," I say. "There has to be something we can do."
"Like what? We're dead, Sam. We can't touch anything. We can't warn anyone. All we can do is watch them take over more and more people."
But I'm not giving up. I didn't become a detective because I was good at accepting impossible situations. I became a detective because I was good at finding answers nobody else could see.
"Marcus, you said the ghost children became solid in Eleanor's basement. What exactly happened that night?"
"I was about to be sacrificed. Eleanor raised her knife. Then suddenly all the dead kids climbed out of their pictures and attacked her."
"What made them able to do that?"
"I don't know. Maybe it was my fear. Maybe it was their anger. Maybe it was—"
Marcus stops talking and stares at me with wide eyes.
"What?"
"Sam, what if it wasn't some outside force that gave the ghost children power?"
"What do you mean?"
"What if it was you?"
"That's impossible. I was still alive three days ago."
"Were you? Think about it. When did you first arrive in Tidewaters?"
I try to remember, but my thoughts feel fuzzy and strange. "A few days ago. I drove here from Los Angeles."
"But the shadow walker has been using your body for three days. Which means you died at least three days ago."
"But I remember arriving in town. I remember getting my office above Murphy's Diner."
"Those are the shadow walker's memories, Sam. It killed you somewhere between Los Angeles and Tidewaters, then used your identity to infiltrate the town."
The truth hits me like a punch to the stomach. I never made it to Tidewaters alive. I died on the road somewhere, and the shadow walker has been claiming to be me ever since.
"But if I was already dead when the ghost children became solid," I say slowly, "then maybe I was the one giving them power."
Marcus nods happily. "That's it! You're not a normal ghost, Sam. You're something special. Something that can help other ghosts fight back."
"But why? What makes me different?"
"I think it's because you died trying to save a child. Carmen Mendoza. Your guilt and determination to protect kids is so strong that it followed you into death."
I look down at my ghostly hands. If Marcus is right, then I might be able to help the other dead children fight the shadow walkers.
But first, I need to figure out how to use whatever power I have.
"Marcus, gather all the ghost children. If we're going to stop the shadow walkers, we need to work together."
"What are you planning?"
"I'm planning to finish what I started when I was alive. I'm going to save the children of Tidewaters."
"But how?"
Before I can answer, we both hear screaming from the direction of town.
I look toward the sound and see smoke rising from Murphy's Diner. People are running out of buildings, yelling about a fire.
But this isn't a normal fire. The flames are black instead of orange, and they're moving in designs that make no sense.
"What's happening?" Marcus asks.
That's when I see them. Dozens of shadow walkers spilling out of buildings all over town. They're not hiding anymore. They're not trying to be human.
They're showing their true forms: dark, shapeless things with bright red eyes and too many teeth.
And they're moving all the living people toward the town square.
"They're ready to make their move," I whisper. "They're going to possess everyone at once."
Marcus grabs my arm. "Sam, if you have some kind of special power, now would be a really good time to use it."
I focus on the yelling people below, trying to feel whatever force Marcus thinks I have. But all I feel is hopeless rage.
Then I see her.
A little girl, maybe seven years old, running from one of the shadow walkers. She has dark hair and scared eyes, and she looks exactly like Carmen Mendoza.
The child I failed to save in Los Angeles.
The child whose absence drove me to leave the police force and start over in a small town.
The child whose death I've been carrying like a weight on my soul.
"Carmen?" I whisper.
The little girl looks up at me, even though living people aren't meant to be able to see ghosts.
She smiles and waves.
"Hello, Detective Rivera. I've been waiting for you."
But that's impossible. Carmen Mendoza vanished in Los Angeles, three hundred miles away from Tidewaters.
How can she be here?
Unless...
"Marcus," I say quietly, "I don't think the shadow walkers are from Tidewaters."
"What do you mean?"
"I think they've been following me. Ever since Carmen disappeared. They killed her, and they've been hunting me ever since."
The little girl who looks like Carmen starts walking toward us, but with each step, she changes. Her skin goes gray. Her eyes turn black. Her smile becomes too wide.
"Thank you for leading us to this lovely town, Detective Rivera," she says in a voice like breaking glass. "We've been looking for a place like this for so long. Isolated. Full of secrets. Perfect for our needs."
It's not Carmen. It's never been Carmen.
It's the thing that killed her, wearing her face to torture me.
And I led it straight to a town full of innocent people.
The shadow walker wearing Carmen's face laughs. "You thought you were starting fresh in Tidewaters. But you were just bringing us more food."
All around the town center, the shadow walkers are closing in on the trapped living people.
And it's all my fault.