The Sibyl (4 page)

I ran from room to room as if I were a kid
instead of a college graduate. The kitchen was just as modern as
the great room with appliances that gleamed beneath the recessed
lighting. There was a half bath fully stocked and three bedrooms
off the hallway. I was exploring the master bedroom when I heard
voices filtering down the hallway.

“Eva’s in here somewhere, Dad. I thought she
should take a look around first.”

“Indeed. I heard the meeting went well this
morning.”

“It did. We’re both signed up and ready to
go.”

I could hear footsteps against the wood
floors so I checked myself in the mirror. Hair was still in place.
Face was still put together. I took a breath, smiled, and stepped
out into the hallway. They were standing by the television and I
could see the family resemblance immediately. Both were tall. Both
dark and brooding. The only real difference I could see between
them was stature. Joseph Lancaster wore his power like a cloak.
Elliot was more casual, slouching despite the expensive suit that
fit him so well.

“Hello.” I smiled and extended my hand. “Eva
McRayne. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Lancaster.”

“Same.” Joseph Lancaster clasped my hand in
both of his and smiled. “I’ve heard much about you from my son. I’m
sure the two of you will do quite well at this little project of
yours.”

“It’s not a project, Dad.” Elliot frowned as
his father released my hand. “We’re going to be doing serious
research for the show.”

“Of course.” Joseph extended his arm for me
to take. “I hope to hear all about your meeting with Connor. And
you let me know if there is anything you need. My son is quite
independent, so I’m counting on you to contact me, Ms.
McRayne.”

I looked back to Elliot as we left the condo
and noted how dark his features had become as Joseph led us out of
the building. I wanted to ask him what was wrong. I had questions
about why he was so different when his father was around. But I
couldn’t ask them. Not here. Not now.

Instead, I let myself get swept up by Joseph
Lancaster as he talked about the television business. Life in Los
Angeles. Everything but the son who sat quietly in the
background.

***

Our lunch date with Joseph went surprisingly
well. We made small talk through most of it, giving Joseph all the
details of the meeting. It wasn’t until Elliot excused himself to
go to the bathroom that Joseph asked me the question no one else
had bothered to concern themselves with.

“Eva, surely you don’t believe in this
nonsense. Elliot has always been,” He paused long enough to sip on
his wine. “Curious about the afterlife.”

“No.” I tilted my head to the side as I kept
an eye out for Elliot’s return. “I don’t believe in ghosts and
ghouls. Never have.”

“Then why are you here? Fame and
fortune?”

“I don’t want to be famous. But the fortune?
I don’t expect to make a mint, Mr. Lancaster. But the money did
factor into my decision.”

Joseph chuckled. “It always does. Tell me,
have you considered how your life is going to change if this
project takes off? You’ll be hounded by the paparazzi at every
step. Your life will no longer be your own.”

“I believe this will be a success because
Elliot believes in it.” I folded up my napkin and put it beside my
plate. “My reasons for being here are my own, sir. I believe in
Elliot just as he believes in the paranormal. I want to see him
happy. I can deal with hiding from the paparazzi if he’s
happy.”

“Between the two of us, I never would have
approved a show like this. If it were anyone but Elliot, I wouldn’t
have done it now.” Joseph stabbed at something on his plate. “I
want to see my son happy as well. If this is what it takes, then so
be it.”

I started to respond, but Joseph wasn’t
finished. He took a bite of his food then leaned across the
table.

“I was serious when I said I am counting on
you to keep my son grounded. He has a dislike for me which is
unfounded, so he so won’t listen to my advice.”

“Mr. Lancaster…”

“And I hear you are going to New York for a
conference in a few weeks.”

“Yes. Connor said it would help us sound like
we know what we are doing.” I shrugged. “I’m not so sure if a few
days talking with the so-called experts are going to help
though.”

Joseph nodded. “This is all part and parcel
of the magic of television, Eva. The audience must believe the lie
you present to them. Otherwise, all your hard work is for naught.
But perhaps, you will learn more than you could ever imagine.”

“Ah, but enough to pull off the illusion of
being a ghost hunter?” I smiled, trying to make light of a
conversation which suddenly felt very heavy. “I am not an actress,
Mr. Lancaster. I won’t pretend to be something I’m not.”

“We shall see.” Joseph returned my smile,
shifting his gaze up to the spot behind my shoulder. “Welcome
back.”

“What did I miss?” Elliot squeezed my
shoulder as he came up behind me. “You two looked as if you’re
discussing the fate of the civilized world over here.”

“Nothing so frivolous, son.” Joseph signaled
for the waitress who appeared beside him in less than a second. He
handed her several bills, then shooed her away. “I am afraid I must
be getting back to the office.”

Joseph stood and we joined him. He shook
Elliot’s hand then mine. “It was a pleasure to finally meet you,
Eva. I’ll be seeing you around the office.”

“See you later.” Elliot pushed his seat in as
his father disappeared from view. “So what were you two talking
about?”

“Ghosts and ghouls.” I snagged my purse from
its spot on the back of my chair. “Seriously? Your dad seems nice,
Eli.”

“Everyone says that.” Elliot turned away from
me towards the direction his father went. “Too bad I can’t see
it.”

“Do you want to see his good side?” I took
his hand and squeezed it. “Or are you determined not to?”

Elliot gave me a sad smile in return. “One
conversation about me is enough for the day. What did you think
about the condo?”

“It’s perfect. I can’t believe we’re actually
going to be living there.”

“It is nice.” He admitted. “I will confess,
it’ll be better to pass out in my own bed than on your tiny couch
when we’re out too late, McRayne.”

“What’s wrong with my couch?” I grumbled as
we left the restaurant. “You’ve slept on it plenty of times.”

“My point exactly.” Elliot’s good spirits
were restored as he linked his arm with mine and led us to the car.
“We’ll head back over to the hotel to get our stuff to take it over
to the condo. No time like the present to get started on our
move.”

Our move. I still couldn’t believe I was
actually going to be leaving Athens. But as Elliot helped me into
the car, I was relieved. Relieved my job search was finally over.
Relieved I wouldn’t have to return home to my parents to hear my
dad boast about how right he was. Most of all? I was relieved I
would be able to stay with Elliot a little longer.

I will forever remember the two weeks
following our meeting with Connor Garrison as a blur. Elliot was
right when he said Connor had set up movers to ship my stuff across
the country. All I was responsible for was selling the things I
didn’t want to take with me and packing the necessities I would
need for the two days I would be without my belongings.

Once we arrived back in Los Angeles, my days
were filled with appointments with studio stylists. I was pampered
and petted to the point where it had become annoying. When I wasn’t
being transformed, Elliot and I were in training sessions. I
learned how to block a scene, where to stand for the best lighting,
and how to raise my voice so that the microphones could pick up my
words without me shouting.

I was exhausted by the time we landed in New
York to attend Paracon. Even Elliot, who thrived on deadlines and
crammed schedules, had dark circles under his eyes. Thankfully,
Theia Productions put us up in the same hotel so we didn’t have to
drive through New York traffic to get here on time.

“Are you sure we have to go?” I tugged at
Elliot’s sleeve as we entered into the area of the hotel where the
conference was being held. “We can just make something up. I’ll
pretend I’m sick or something. You know as well as I do that I’m
really good at coming up with excuses.”

Elliot chuckled as we approached the sign in
table. “Maybe we could skip out early this afternoon. Be tourists
for awhile. But only if you behave. No laughing out loud at the
psychics.”

“You know I can’t make any promises.” I
shuffled up to the table and managed to smile at the older woman
handing out the name badges. “Eva McRayne.”

“Welcome, Ms. McRayne.” She handed me a
manila envelope filled to the brim with papers and pamphlets. “Your
name badge is inside as well as the schedule of events. I hope you
enjoy yourself.”

I nodded then stepped aside so Elliot could
repeat the process I just went through. We stepped through a pair
of glass doors when he had his envelope in hand and I could have
sworn I’d fallen down the proverbial rabbit hole. Although it was
only nine in the morning, the place was swarming with people. Most
were in groups, going from table to table with banners proclaiming
the names of ghost hunting societies and psychics willing to sell
the answers to all of your questions. Other tables were filled to
their edges with merchandise of all kinds.

I suppose such crowds were normal at a
convention. It was the patrons who gave me reason to feel so
disoriented. For every one person dressed in jeans, there were
three more dressed as witches or demons. There were more than a few
girls dressed in fairy wings and angel costumes. Elliot had to
raise his voice so that I could hear him over the crescendo of
voices around us.

“Well? What do you think?”

“I think I’m overdressed.” I waved off a man
in a silver alien costume handing out flyers as he started to
approach me. “You didn’t say I needed to visit a Halloween store
before we left L.A.”

He placed his hand on my lower back and led
me towards an area where the organizers had set up benches for the
conference goers to rest on.

“Come on. I want to take a look at this
schedule. It’s packed.”

I opened the folder and pulled out the papers
the moment we sat down. Connor had emailed this same document to us
several days before but neither of us had taken the time to look it
over. Elliot was right. For every time slot, there were three to
four classes being offered. Everything from how to sell your spells
to spirit photography was listed. At night, there was a promise of
parties. Each night had an event lined up so the convention goers
could get drunk and socialize with those of their own kind.

“So how long are we here for again?”

Elliot stopped marking on his paper but he
didn’t look away from it. “Three days.”

“Alright. And what do you suggest we go to?”
I had decided from the moment we stepped off the plane to let
Elliot take the lead on this one. I knew if I didn’t, there would
be no way I could trust myself to take any of this seriously. Even
now, I wasn’t sure if I could. “Chose wisely. I swear, I will punch
you if you say you want to go to the session about flying through
the astral plane.”

“Today it’ll be the history of spirit
photography, then video.” Elliot was back to making those marks on
his paper. “And scrying. The presentation is led by Kathy Carter.
It should be a very interesting day.”

“Scrying?” I bit my lip to keep from
laughing. “Sounds like a good way to clean your stove.”

“Hardy har.” Elliot smiled. “Look, Eva, I
know you don’t believe in this. But maybe something here will
change your mind.”

“Yeah?” I gestured towards the booth
announcing that the Yeti had been found. “Like an authentic picture
of a Yeti? Or the eighty-five year old woman who says she can give
me the lottery numbers for a small donation?”

“Always go with the lottery numbers.
Photographs can be altered.”

I didn’t realize he was joking until he
grabbed my hand and pulled me up from the bench. “Come on. Spirit
photography starts in twenty minutes. I want to get a good
seat.”

“Oh, right. I can’t wait.” I mumbled as I let
him drag me through the crowd. “Hey, did you know photographs can
be altered? Maybe we should go get coffee instead.”

“I’ve heard about that somewhere before.”
Elliot was still smirking when we found the conference room where
the class was being held. “If you are going to be discrediting my
findings, you need to know how to do it. Remember, you promised not
to laugh.”

“I promised to try. I was going to try not to
laugh.” I made sure to stress my words as I collapsed in the first
seat in the back row. “But you promised we could leave early if I
didn’t. A deal is a deal, Eli. I’m holding you to it.”

“Shush, it’s starting.” Elliot lowered
himself into the chair next to mine as the man behind us shut the
door. I shifted down into my own, preparing myself for the boredom
sure to come from a man droning on about cameras, lenses, and
lighting techniques.

I was not disappointed.



I was ready to head up to my room by the time
Elliot’s scrying session was scheduled to start. In fact, I
considered slipping out when we got back from lunch. But Elliot was
right. If I was going to be on television trying to debunk any
evidence he found of the paranormal, I had to know just what I was
trying to disprove. This was supposed to be the fun lesson. It was
an introduction into one of the methods people use to contact the
spirit world. So I played along and followed Elliot into the same
conference room we had been in just that morning.

This time, it was packed. So much so that
Elliot had to nudge his way through the crowd so we could grab the
last two empty chairs by the aisle on the front row. When we were
seated, I leaned over so he could hear me over the noise of those
around us.