Brian Keene - Ghost Walk

“I’m single. I thought that women might be attracted to the beard. And as for the hat, it’s to keep the sun out of my eyes.”

Maria tried to suppress her laughter, but failed. She snorted once, twice, and then laughed out loud, jumping up and down in the seat. Tears streamed from her eyes.

“What?” Levi asked, seemingly puzzled. “What’s so funny? You don’t like my beard?”

“I…” Gasping for breath, Maria wiped the tears from her eyes. “I think it’s great. It’s unique, you know? A lot of guys these days just go with a goatee. You’ve got a very retro vibe going on. It works for you.”

“Excellent.” He sounded pleased.

She stifled another burst of laughter and smiled. When she felt she had control again, Maria explained her assignment—the feature article on the Ghost Walk and how it had inspired the book idea. She told him about her research into LeHorn’s Hollow, powwow magic, and, ultimately, Adam Senft’s involvement. Levi stayed silent throughout. He absentmindedly stroked his beard and listened. His face was expressionless.

“I guess it must all sound pretty bizarre to you,” she finished. “But there are people who still believe in this stuff, even today.”

“Oh, there’s no doubt. I’m one of them.”

Maria was stunned. “W-what?”

“My father worked powwow, as did my grandfather. It’s sort of a family tradition.”

“Wait a second,” Maria said. “Stoltzfus. Your father was Amos Stoltzfus?”

Levi cocked his head. “You’ve heard of him?”

“He was mentioned in some of the articles I read when I was researching. Sort of a famous guy, right?”

Levi shrugged. “He helped a lot of people.”

“So then you already knew all about Nelson LeHorn and the murders and all the legends about that area?”

Levi nodded. “I did.”

“Then why didn’t you interrupt me?”

“I needed to see what you knew. My reasons for speaking with Senft are related to your research into LeHorn’s Hollow. In fact, I was just there last night.”

“When? I was there, too. Are you helping with the Ghost Walk?”

He frowned. “No. But tell me more about this Ghost Walk. Your article sounds interesting.”

“Well,” Maria said, “it’s a Halloween trail that Ken Ripple is building for charity. It’s located in the same forest as LeHorn’s Hollow—or, at least where LeHorn’s Hollow used to be, before it burned down. My article about it runs this afternoon.”

“I see.”

“You must have noticed them working on it when you were there.”

“No,” Levi said. “I was preoccupied with something else. What is it, exactly?”

Maria shrugged. “People dress up in scary costumes and hide in the woods. Then other people pay money to walk through the woods and be scared.”

“Hmmm.” Levi’s frown deepened. “A lot of people probably attend an event like that.”

“Sure,” Maria agreed. “At least, that’s what the organizers are hoping. The proceeds go to help fight women’s cancer.”

“When does it open?”

“Tomorrow night. The trail opens at seven and stays open until midnight, followed by a party with live bands and stuff. You know, to celebrate the start of Halloween, since the holiday begins at midnight. I know a lot of people don’t really celebrate until the next night, but technically, the holiday starts at midnight.”

Levi’s face grew pale. He looked startled—or maybe sick. He sank into the seat, shoulders slumped, head hung low. He closed his eyes and sighed.

Maria leaned forward, concerned. “Are you okay? You look like you’re going to throw up.”

Levi didn’t answer her right away, and when he did, his voice was panicked. He covered his mouth with one trembling hand.

“Tomorrow night. Of course…The walls will be at their thinnest then, just after midnight. If it breaches with all those people in the area…My Lord! There’s no time…”

“What are you talking about?” Alarmed by his reaction, Maria inched her hand toward the pepper spray.

Levi bolted upright, reached out, and snatched her wrist. He squeezed—gently, but firm. Alarmed, Maria tried to pull away.

“Hey!” she shouted. “Let go of me or I’ll fucking scream.”

She hated that. Hated the threat of screaming, like that was the only thing a woman was capable of. If you don’t stop, the widdle girly will scweam . It sounded pathetic. There were other ways to defend herself. Her fear dissipated, replaced with anger. She was furious that he’d made her feel this way.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Levi said. “Please calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down.” She tried to get free again. “Let go of me, you son of a bitch.”

Maria raised her free hand and slapped at him. To her dismay, she missed. Levi blinked as the blow whizzed by. Her hand glanced off the seat. It seemed impossible to her. This close, there was no way she could have missed.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he repeated, his voice patient. “Please. I just need you to listen to me and I don’t want to be hit. Okay?”

Breathing hard, Maria nodded.

“Okay.” He released her wrist and folded his hands in his lap. “I’m sorry if I upset you. That wasn’t my intention. I’m just scared, is all.”

“What you are,” Maria said, “is lucky. Lucky I didn’t knock your head off.”

He smiled slightly. “Even if you’d wanted to, you couldn’t have.”

“Oh, believe me—I wanted to. You gonna tell me you’re an expert at Amish karate or something?”

“No, not at all. It’s just that I carry something on my person that prevents attacks like that. Your aim was true. It just wasn’t effective.”

Maria started to protest, but Levi held up his hand.

“Please, let me continue. I’m sorry for upsetting you. I shouldn’t have touched you and I know it was wrong. But we have a very serious situation here and not a lot of time to deal with it. I can’t do this alone. I need help, starting with Adam Senft.”

“Is this some kind of powwow thing?”

“No. The powers that I’ll be calling on and the methods I’ll be using have nothing to do with powwow. They are a much older and much more dangerous form of magic.”

“I think I’ve heard enough,” Maria said. She reached for the pepper spray again. “I’d like you to leave. Now.”

“Listen to me,” Levi pleaded. “You don’t understand what’s going on. If I could just—”

“I want you to get out of my car right now .”

“Please…”

“Let’s see if powwow has a cure for pepper spray to the fucking face!”

She raised the canister and pointed the nozzle at him. Her thumb was on the button.

“When you were eight years old,” Levi said quickly, “you had a pet turtle named Lucky. You called him that because your father found him in the middle of the Garden State Parkway, crossing several lanes of traffic. He was lucky to be alive.”

“What—” She lowered the pepper spray and stared at him, gaping.

“One day,” Levi continued, “you came home from school and took Lucky out into the backyard. You had a small, plastic wading pool with green and pink fish painted on the sides. You used to let Lucky splash around in it. On that day, Pete Nincetti, the bully from next door, came into the yard and stole Lucky from you. Your parents weren’t home yet, and you were scared of Pete because he was older than you were. You tried to get Lucky back but Pete shoved you down. You started crying. Then he tossed Lucky into the air and hit him with his baseball bat. He did this four more times, cracking the shell and finally knocking Lucky down into a sewer drain.”

Tears streamed down Maria’s shocked face. “Stop it. How do you—”