‘I see a man in a cloak. I can’t see his face, but he carries a scythe; I think he’s the Grim Reaper. He’s stalking the fire in the sky. He feels cheated, that it wasn’t pure, the survivors tarnished it…he’s searching. There are caves and a pool of blood. The reaper’s reflection shows, but his face is a skull. I see a whirlpool, spinning faster and faster, and flames, such hot flames. There’s a gallows with men and women hanging from it. The reaper is laughing at them. He flashes his scythe, and they fall into the whirlpool, but they don’t drown; the whirlpool keeps circling them near the top. Ten skulls on an altar. Blood drips down a bed
and makes a small puddle, which turns into a tornado. The scythe flashes and takes a head. The reaper holds it up in triumph; he now feels vindicated. Death isn’t finished yet.’
“What’s your take?” I asked when she turned it off.
Inglorious leaned forward, interested in the answer too. Drew was making notes, a dubious expression on his face, but open to listening.
“A cloak hides the man, implying his identity isn’t known. He carries a scythe, which means he’s the killer. The scythe represents death. The fire in the sky obviously refers to the Titanic of the Skies. There weren’t meant to be any survivors, which is why he feels cheated. For whatever reason, he bombed the Titanic of the Skies; it didn’t give him what he wanted.
“The blood pool symbolises the blood of the victims. The gallows are a second sign of death, and those hanging from them represent the survivors. When he swings the scythe, he’s killing them, but someone is standing in his way: you, Vortex. A whirlpool is another word for Vortex. He thought that he was able to kill with impunity, but twice you’ve saved Amy, and he’s marked you as an adversary. The flames obviously reflect the huge fire from the zeppelin. The ten skulls puzzled me. If you included the eight who survived, plus the guy he murdered to take his place and himself, that makes ten. The tornado, I think, is also you.”
“And the taking of the heads?” Inglorious asked.
“It’s the survivors he killed so far, remember, I had the vision just before Mr Coleman was murdered. That fits,” Aurora said.
I was undecided, but a lot of what she explained made sense.
“What about the second vision?” Drew murmured.
“The man returning means the killer’s not done. There are five victims left, including himself,” Aurora-Victoria said.
“There should be six,” Drew interrupted.
“He’s already killed again. You’ve just not heard about it,” Aurora-Victoria was adamant.
Drew made a face of disbelief but waved for her to continue.
“The shadows show his identity is hidden. The Feds have found nothing on him; the man’s a ghost. Deviousness could mean the side attempts on the survivor’s lives, such as last night with the woman. She’s not the killer.”
“No,” Drew admitted. “Willow ID’d her already. She’s one of those movie fanatics, obsessed with the films. Bitch was trying to make the movies come true in real life.”
“But we’ve ruled out shit like that, right? This isn’t paranormal?” I asked, feeling stupid.
Drew and Inglorious sent me a bemused glance, but Aurora-Victoria shook her head.
“No, it’s not supernatural. And you shouldn’t make fun of Vortex for asking that. Remember Callie’s and Sunny’s investigations. Ghosts shouldn’t exist, but do.”
Inglorious shut his mouth. Callie was investigating hauntings and had certainly had proof coming out of her ears. Drew looked confused and shrugged.
“I don’t understand what the caves mean, unless they’re meant to highlight the pool of blood. Four of the ten skulls are now bloodied, which means four have died. The killer is after two linked to you, Vortex.”
“Amy and Declan,” I murmured.
“You know another survivor?” Klutz asked.
“The boy, Declan. He’s staying with Amy’s dads.”
“Best warn them,” Klutz stated.
“Yup. You’re the protective barrier where they’re concerned,” Aurora-Victoria pointed out.
There was a knock, and Bow stood outside, wearing a grim expression. “Thought you might want to know. Another survivor has been killed.”
“Four skulls,” Aurora-Victoria said direly.
I swapped glances with Inglorious. Shit.
???
