The motionless figure of a woman lay sprawled on the glowing floor. She was somewhat past middle age, dressed in a long-sleeved sweater, overalls, and sturdy boots. She had a stocking cap pulled down over her short, gray hair.
"Here she is," he said. He went into the room and crouched beside the still form to check for a pulse. "She's alive."
"Thank God." Elly rushed across the room. "Bertha." She went down on her knees. "She's unconscious."
"Not surprising. Probably got brushed by that blue before she made it into this room. Lucky the burn didn't kill her."
"She didn't get fried, or at least that wasn't her only problem." Elly gently touched the stocking cap that covered Bertha's head. "Look. It's wet with blood. She must have hit her head when she fell. We've got to get her out of here."
He checked his watch. Time was slipping away fast.
"We'll use her sled," he said. He paused at the doorway and met her eyes. "One more thing. Very important."
"What's that?"
"When she wakes up, she probably won't have any clear memory of what happened just before she hit her head. And if she did get brushed by that ghost, it's a sure bet she'll have a case of amnesia that will wipe out the events of the past several hours."
"I know. So?"
"So we're going to tell her that she had an encounter with a ghost. But we're not going to tell her it was a blue. Let her think it was a routine UDEM."
Elly got slowly to her feet. "She probably wouldn't believe she ran into a blue, anyway."
"Something else," he added quietly.
"What's that?"
"It's okay to tell her that I'm from Aurora Springs, but I don't want her to know about my connection to the Aurora Springs Guild."
Elly wrinkled her nose. "It's not just a connection. You're the Guild boss."
"I don't want her or anyone else here in town to know who I am. From now on, I'm Cooper Jones."
"Why?" she asked.
"It's complicated."
"Let me guess," she said. "Guild business?"
"Yes."
"Gosh, what a stunning surprise."
He ignored that and went out into the hallway to get the utility vehicle. The blue was more than just routine Guild business. It was a potential public relations disaster, one that could threaten the future of all of the Guild organizations.
As far as the public was concerned, blues did not exist, and neither did hunters like him, who could de-rez them. Ever since their founding, the Guilds had gone to extraordinary lengths to keep the secrets of the blues buried deep in the archives. The effort had paid off. Over the years, the unusual blue ghosts and those who could summon them had receded into the realm of myth and legend.
There was a good reason for concealing the truth, he thought. People were inclined to get nervous when myths and legends came to life.
Chapter 8
BERTHA STIRRED AND OPENED HER EYES. ELLY EXHALED A sigh of relief.
"Bertha, it's me, Elly. You're safe."
"Elly?" Bertha's voice was hoarse. Her gray eyes were dazed. "What are you doing here?"
"My friend, Cooper, and Rose and I came looking for you. You're okay. You had a brush with a ghost, and you must have hit your head when you went unconscious."
Bertha screwed up her face. "Can't remember…"
"Don't worry about it." Elly patted her shoulder. "You know how it is after an encounter. You'll be all right in a day or so. That's all that matters."
Cooper de-rezzed the engine and got off the vehicle. His face was hard and taut. "Let's get her into the sled."
"No problem," Bertha said, sitting up cautiously. She put a hand to her head. "Got a headache, but that's all that's wrong. Be right as tuned amber tomorrow."
Cooper helped her to her feet.
"I think you should go to the emergency room," Elly said.
"No," Bertha replied. "No doctors. I'm okay, I tell you. Got some supplies in the sled. Just need to clean up the mess and put a bandage on my head."
They got Bertha into the back of the sled. Elly climbed in beside her and opened the first-aid kit. She was relieved to see that Bertha's wound, although bloody, was not as bad as she had feared.
Cooper started to get into the driver's seat. She saw him hesitate, and then step down from the vehicle.
He walked swiftly to where the blue vortex had been whirling a few minutes earlier. She watched him lean down to pick up a small, narrow object that was lying on the floor. Sliding it into a pocket, he loped back to the sled.
Before she could ask him what he had found, he was rezzing the engine.
She could question him about whatever it was he had picked up some other time, she thought. Right now she had to focus on cleaning Bertha's wound.
*****
TEN MINUTES LATER, SPORTING THE BANDAGE THAT ELLY had applied over the disinfected wound, Bertha managed to stagger up out of the cellar and into the darkened back room of her shop. She swayed a little, but she stayed on her feet.
"Need to sleep it off," she mumbled, rubbing her temples with her thumbs.
"If you won't go to the ER, you're going to come home with me," Elly said firmly. "I'm not leaving you here by yourself tonight."
For a few seconds she thought Bertha would refuse.
"Okay, okay," Bertha finally grumbled.
Cooper rechecked his watch and then draped one of Bertha's arms over his shoulders.
"Let's go," he ordered, obviously still in full hunter-in-charge mode.
"Whatever," Bertha said groggily. "Just need some sleep."
"You and me, both," Cooper added.
Elly watched him with growing concern as he maneuvered Bertha outside into the alley and eased her into the front seat of the Spectrum. Elly had not one but two people who were in imminent danger of collapsing on her, she thought. She had to get them both back to her apartment as quickly as possible.
"I'll drive." She held out her hand, palm up.
"Not necessary," Cooper growled.
"You are in no shape, and you know it."
"Your shop's in the next block, right?"
"The keys, Cooper."
He looked annoyed, but displaying the decisive thinking that had no doubt been responsible for taking him all the way to the top of the Aurora Springs Guild, he handed her the keys.
"Be careful," he warned. "The car belongs to a known Guild boss who won't be happy if it gets dinged up."
"Yeah, I've heard those guys can be real touchy," Elly said.
She tossed the Spectrum keys into the air. Was she nonchalant in the face of danger, or what?
Unfortunately she missed the catch. The keys clanged on the paving stones.
"Oops," she mumbled.
Cooper watched her scoop up the keys.
"This will probably be interesting," he said.
She drove the powerful car very gingerly through the alley. The headlights penetrated only a few feet into the heavy fog. Every trash can was a major hazard.
She made it across the narrow street that separated the blocks and drove cautiously into the alley that ran behind her own shop.
She was sure she heard a deep sigh of relief when she stopped at the rear door of St. Clair's Herbal Emporium and de-rezzed the ignition.
"See?" she said, handing Cooper the keys. "No problem."
He pocketed the keys without comment. With Rose hunched on his shoulder, he climbed out of the backseat, opened the passenger door, and reached down to assist Bertha.
Elly de-rezzed the heavy new lock that she had recently installed and opened the back door of the shop. The familiar scents and a pleasant trickle of psi energy wafted over her, soothing and comforting all of her senses.
She rezzed the lights, revealing the ranks of herbs and flowers that hung upside down from the ceiling and filled an array of baskets.
"My apartment is on the floor above the shop," she said. "We need to get Bertha up those stairs."