The Night of Lili’s Echoing Screams

This time, Reagan stood in Elisa’s room, leaning against the wall to the left of her door.

“I didn’t find anyone who knew Dietfried, at least not by name,” she said, fiddling with the edge of the frayed sheet beneath her. “Most of the ghosts I spoke to died fairly recently, and the only thing they told me was to leave after the mages arrive tomorrow. They said there should be fewer monsters -- Schialtags, they called them -- near the barrier, so it’ll be easier to come and go.”

Reagan and Liam exchanged a look, then Reagan asked, “We didn’t find any mention of Dietfried in the death registries, but we did find something else. Did you speak to anyone from the Meier family?”

Elisa shook her head. “I heard some of the other ghosts mention them, but nobody’s seen them in years. They might’ve moved on already, or been sent away…” Looking from Liam to Reagan and back again, she frowned and asked, “Why are you asking about them? I heard they died in a fire over a decade ago.”

“That’s how they covered up the murder of my parents and Liam,” Reagan said, a bitter look on his face. “They set fire to my house, and later we heard rumors around town that the fire was from an oil lamp spilling while my family and I slept.” His chest felt tight, and he had to clench his hands into fists to stop them from shaking. Heat spread across his face and down the rest of his body, burning like the flames he’d felt that day.

“An awful tragedy, they called it,” Liam added softly. “Only my parents, Reagan, and I knew the truth.” He looked at Reagan as he added, “Dad told us he’d heard rumors of other mage families who died around the same time.”

“We thought the Meiers may be one of them,” Reagan finished. “They died a few months before Liam.”

Liam gave Elisa a sad smile. “It was a long shot, but we’d been hoping you could speak to them, and maybe we could’ve learned why Reagan’s family was targeted and by who. If we knew that, then he wouldn’t have to hide from everyone anymore.” He looked at Reagan, then down at their feet, positioned close together at the edge of the old brown rug in the center of the room.

“But if they’re already long gone…” Reagan said, trailing off. He tried not to let the disappointment show on his face. “It’s getting late, so we sho-”

“I might be able to summon one of them,” Elisa said, cutting him off. She gripped the chain of her necklace.

“How?”

“I’ve never done it before but… My mother once held a seance for a family who was grieving their daughter, so they could say goodbye to her. I would need something belonging to the Meier’s, and it would only bring them back for an hour at most, and I can’t guarantee it would even work, but…”

“If you’re willing to try, that’s enough for me,” Reagan said. “Thank you, Elisa.”

She nodded and said, “Let’s do it tonight, when there’s fewer people outside.”

The eastern quadrant of Apolde was all residential neighborhoods. Houses stood tall and dark against the night, and the only light came from the streetlamps lining either side of the narrow streets. Only a few nocturnal birds flew in the sky. All else was still and silent.

Even in the dim light, the Meiers’ home was easy to find. It stood above the other homes, a blackened outline of a once majestic house. The walkway had been cleared of shattered glass and burnt wood, but the soot stains remained on the cobblestone path leading into the crumbling doorway.

Where a door had once stood, there was only a dark, gaping hole leading into an even darker interior. Slivers of moonlight cut through the charred ceiling, illuminating blackened floorboards and the ashen remains of wooden support beams.

Liam wandered inside without reservation, passing through the wall. Reagan and Elisa, on the other hand, carefully tested their footing as they crossed the threshold. The boards beneath them creaked but held.

“If you can find any personal item,” Elisa said, her voice echoing around the empty space, “I should be able to use that to hold the seance. Anything they once held or used would be fine, even a scrap of clothing they once wore.”

All three of them looked, but it was hard to make out anything more than soot and ash in the pitch black living room. The lanterns they’d brought fought the darkness of their surroundings, but it was impossible to see more than a few steps ahead.

Almost an hour into the search, Liam called out from a room to the right, “I think I found something!” Reagan and Elisa rushed to meet him, avoiding a large hole in the center of the room where the wooden foundation had splintered and caved in. “Over here,” he said, pointing to something down in the corner. “It’s catching the moonlight.”

Elisa bent down and reached for the shimmering object. When she stood, Reagan saw it was a ring with a simple silver band and a small emerald in the center. Engraved on the inside of the band was the name “Lili.”

“This should work,” Elisa said. “I have to wear my ring, though.” She looked to Liam for permission, and only detached the ring from her necklace after he had nodded and stepped back.

Holding Lili’s ring tight and closing her eyes, Elisa brought her hands to her face in a silent prayer. Her brows furrowed in concentration, and her breathing slowed. Although her lips moved, no sound came out of them.

For a moment, the only sounds in the room were the creaks of the house settling and a faint rustling breeze sweeping in from outside.

Then, as if developing from a blank photograph, a young girl appeared. She looked to be around fifteen, with auburn hair and grey eyes. She wore a simple white blouse and a long black skirt. Like Liam, she didn’t quite touch the ground, even as she appeared to be standing before them. Unlike Liam, she was a little blurry, like they were trying to see her through fog.

She looked around the room. “Why am I back here?” she asked softly, focusing on Elisa. “Why have you brought me back?”

Reagan stepped forward, but the ghost didn’t acknowledge him. “We wanted to ask you about the night you died.” He hesitated, then ventured, “About who killed you.”

This time, the girl looked at him. “Why?” There was no reproach in her voice, only a soft-spoken confusion. She tilted her head to one side. “It was so long ago now.”

“Because my family was also killed, around the same time as yours, and I think the same people were responsible,” he said, feeling no need to lie to the spirit. “Please, I’m sorry to ask you to relive that night, but I need to know why we were targeted and by who.” He choked out the words despite the lump in his throat.

Lili stared at Reagan with sorrowful eyes, then shook her head and started, “I don’t know why they chose us or why they came that night. There were three men. They barged into the house while we were having supper -- a potato and bell pepper soup, along with some fresh rye bread from the local bakery. It was still warm. I’d only just taken a bite of it.

“My father tried to fight them off. He was a very powerful mage, at least I always thought so. But he wasn’t strong enough that night, and two of the men stabbed him with these glass-like daggers. I’d never seen one before that night, but I’ll never forget the look of them. The daggers turned red with his blood, like they’d absorbed it.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Reagan saw Liam shift.

“I screamed then,” Lili continued, undeterred. The expression on her face was distant, detached, like she was recounting a story she’d read. “And so did my mother, but not for long, because they got to her next. I tried to run, but I didn’t get very far before he caught up to me, the tall blond with dark eyes and a scar across his cheek.

“He had this crazy look in his eyes, manic. Desperate, even. He grabbed my arm so tight it hurt. And then everything went dark.”

“Do you remember anything else about him? About any of them?” Liam asked, his voice tinged with sorrow.

Lili looked at Liam for the first time, appraising him. Her mournful eyes seemed to say, You’re like me, aren’t you? “Only his name,” she responded. “The others called him Dietfried.”