“You! How did you get in here?” she demanded.
He bowed. “Yes, me. Captain Lucien Flynn of theOnly Love. As for how I got here, I climbed the outer stairs.” Luc stepped into the room.
“No!” Grace raised her palm outward, as if that would ward him off. “Don’t come any closer.”
He gave a single nod. “May I sit on the bed? We must talk. I have a great deal to tell you.”
“I am not certain I want to hear it…any of it. You cannot convince me you are a ghost. I know you don’t exist at all, save in my imagination.”
“I’m not a ghost. I am simply a very cursed man.” His expression was soft, sad and very sincere.
She wouldn’t have it. “Nonsense.”
“I can tell you what is written on those blank pages.”
“The pages are empty.”
“Not really.” The figment of her imagination smirked.
“I don’t know what game you are playing at, but I’ll give you the chance you ask for. When you fail, I expect you to leave and never bother me again.”
“Fair enough.” He nodded.
Her brows rose. “You don’t believe you will fail. You honestly think there are words hiding on these pages that will reveal themselves as you speak them?”
“I know the words. I wrote them. I am not completely certain they will appear. The chance is good as it is a full moon, and I am completely myself. What comes from me should, if my curse holds true, have a physical existence.”
Grace rolled her eyes. “More nonsense. Just get on with it.”
“Are you looking at the top of the first blank page?”
“Yes.”
“The date is 24 December 1814, and notated as after moon rise.”
As he spoke, ink black script appeared on the parchment, the script less shaky than on the previous page.
Cal was here, and he’s very afraid. More letters appeared as Luc continued reciting. I feel what he feels. How, I do not know, but I know his thoughts and the emotions he attempts to hide.
He asked Astracamino how he will know when to return to escort him back to New Orleans, but my friend had left. So, I answered for him.
“He’ll know, because the moon will set.”
Cal turned toward the sound of my voice. He searched the deck before him. When the moon’s light gleamed off the ship’s rail, I began to take physical form, just inside the ship’s bulkhead. I knew Cal could see the bulkhead through my translucent body before it solidified completely.
He choked out my name. “‘Luc?”
“Yes, brother.”
What? How? That is quite the trick. He had so many questions. I agreed it was quite the trick and wished it actually were a trick. He told me not to joke, exclaimed that I was hurt. I wasn’t, not physically. What he saw was the blood on my shirt that had appeared when Mawu stabbed the gris gris of me….
Grace listened and watched the script appear. Not possible. It’s happening, so it has to be possible. I don’t believe this. I don’t want to believe this.
Her mind circled and circled the longer Luc spoke
I told Cal it was time to leave as Astracamino climbed back aboard. My brother did not want to go. He even panicked a bit. I used calm logical reason—not my forte—and reminded Cal his wife needed him. We embraced. It was the last time, I believed, that I would ever see him, ever feel his physical presence. This touch, this ability to embrace another human being will only be mine on rare occasions. My future is indeed bleak, he said some pages later. I bid him farewell as the last of the moonlight disappeared. I vanished along with it. I stood there, invisible to everyone, and watched Cal stare into the space where he’d seen me moments ago.
“Enough.” Grace closed the book. “I don’t know how you did this. I still don’t believe it.”
