Zen and the Art of Vampires

The man, who wore a reproduction Viking outfit of leather and wool, carrying a huge tub of ice cream, nodded. "English, yes. You sick?"

"Just need a breath of fresh air. Is that the way out? Great. I'll just get a little air and then get back to the show. It's great so far," I said as I hurried out the door to freedom.

I was about a block away when I was grabbed from behind.

"Gotcha!" Magda said, laughing when I clutched my chest. I seemed to be doing a lot of that lately.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, looking around for anyone else.

"I'm coming with you. You don't think I'd miss meeting Alec and Karl and your murderous husband, do you?" She grinned. "This is the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me, and I'm not going to miss one single moment of it!"

Chapter 8

"You're insane."

"I know, but it's better than being bored, don't you think? Where are we going?"

"The library." I gave Magda a very stern look. "You really should not be getting involved in this."

She whapped me on the arm with the bottle of water I'd given her earlier. "I already am involved. You're wanted by the police, you know. And I helped you escape. That's aiding and abetting or something like that, so I figured as long as I'm in it for that, I might as well have some fun out of the whole thing. Why are we going to the library? Is that where the murderer is? I've never seen a murderer up close. Are you sure it's safe?"

"I don't know where Kristoff is," I said, somewhat bemused by her enthusiasm for something that seemed so horrible to me. "And honestly, I don't want to know. There are some… er… people in the library. Magda…"

I stopped outside the window that I had used to leave the library, biting my lip as I considered the woman standing beside me. I didn't quite know how I was going to explain the ghosts and the whole bit about being a Zorya.

"What? If it's about me being here, don't worry. I told Raymond that I needed some time to myself, and that I'd see him tomorrow." Dimples burst forth on her cheeks as she grinned. "Since we've been going at it rather fast and furious the last few days, I think he was only too happy to get a decent night's rest."

"It's not that I'm worried about. It's… well… do you believe in life after death?"

Her eyebrows rose in surprise. "Do I believe in what?"

"Ghosts. You know, spirits of people who have died but, for whatever reason, haven't made it to heaven or hell or whatever afterlife you believe in. That sort of thing." I watched her closely, worried she'd regret helping me.

To my surprise, she didn't scoff at the question. "As a matter of fact, I do believe in it. When my grandmother died, I knew the exact moment even though I was all the way over in California, and she was in Maine. She woke me up in the middle of the night, and said she loved me, and she wanted me to be happy. In the morning, when I woke up, I thought I'd had a dream, but later my mom called to say Grandma had died at the same exact time I saw her. So yes, I believe in spirits."

"That's going to make things a whole lot easier," I said, and tapped on the window. Marta appeared. I gestured toward the lock, watching Magda.

Marta transformed herself into a solid figure and flipped open the lock. Magda's jaw dropped.

"Did she… is that…" she stammered, pointing at Marta.

"You can see her? Oh, good. I wondered if other people can see them in their solid form. I guess only Zoryas can see them in their normal state. Come on, I don't want anyone to see us loitering out here."

Magda followed me into the window, watching with complete astonishment as Marta, smiling, faded back to her normal translucent self.

"Where'd she go?" Magda asked in a whisper.

"She's here, but in a low-energy state. You can't see her without this," I said, holding up my wrist. The stone had switched into lantern form and was glowing with a gentle silvery light. "I'm a Zorya. They're someone who takes dead people to their final resting places. Or some dead people—I'm not quite sure about all the details. But the upshot is that there are fifteen ghosts here, sixteen if you count the horse, and I'm supposed to take them to Ostri. I don't suppose you've ever heard of it?"

Magda, uncharacteristically silent, just shook her head, her mouth slightly ajar as she looked around the main room of the library. Several of the ghosts were seated at a table, bent over books, alternating between solid and transparent modes in order, I assumed, to save energy.

"Who are they?"

"That's Karl and his wife, Marta. They're the first ghosts I met. Ulfur is over there at the computer with a young woman whose name I don't know. That's his horse eating the potted plant. The rest of the people are from Ulfur's village. Their village was wiped out by a natural disaster sometime in the mid 1800s, from what I can tell. Don't bring up the subject of pigs or chicken."

She pursed her lips for a moment, then nodded. "What are they doing?"