Chapter Eleven. NOT REAL
The whole neighborhood abounds with local tales, haunted spots, and twilight superstitions …
– “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”
Settling back into my chair, I gazed around the tiny room. Gray walls, gray ceiling, gray floor. I saw where the facility got its name from. A large picture window, grimy with dust and old age, took up half the wall across from us. Metal bars covered it in square-inch increments. Overall, the aesthetic had all the same pleasing qualities that I’d imagined a police interrogation room might have.
A loud bang echoed from the hall and made me jump out of my seat. I could hear harsh sobbing from someone, but it was quickly silenced. My skin began to crawl.
“This hasn’t been the greatest experience for you, has it?” Uri said.
“Not exactly.”
“Sorry about that.”
His words surprised me. The Revs didn’t seem like the type to project the warm and fuzzy. Except for the whole mind mojo thing. That was definitely fuzzy. “Can I ask you something?” I said.
“Sure.”
“Do you like being a Revenant?”
Uri stretched his legs out in front of him. “I don’t have a choice. I am what I am.”
“And what is that, exactly?”
His look told me that he “couldn’t say” but I gave him an Oh, come on, look in return. Glancing over at the open door, Uri said, “It’s hard to explain. Don’t take this the wrong way, but most humans don’t really get it.” Then he said, “Do you like being a Shade’s other half?”
I used his words and added a shrug. “I don’t have a choice. I am what I am.” Then I thought about it. “Or do I?”
“Abbey, I-”
“Come on, Uri. I’m not asking a whole lot here. Just talk to me. You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to, but … but I can guess, right? How about that? I’ll just throw some stuff out there, and you can nod or shake your head. That way you’re not technically telling me.”
“I can’t. Acacia will kill me.”
“Acacia?” My ears perked up.
“Cacey.” He clarified. “I mean Cacey.” He scrubbed one hand over his face with the long-suffering look of someone who’d realized he’d just opened a can of worms.
“Acacia,” I mused. “‘Cacey’ for short. Which means that ‘Uri’ could be short for something. We can start there.”
He stayed silent.
“So if ‘Cacey’ is a nickname, and ‘Uri’ is a nickname, odds are ‘Kame’ and ‘Sophie’ are nicknames too.”
“Not ‘Kame,’” he finally admitted. “But ‘Sophie’ is short for ‘Sophiel.’ And I’m Uriel.”
Now we’re getting somewhere. I just have to keep him talking. “Why do you use nicknames instead of your full names?”
“We were given proper names at the ceremony when we became Revenants. But they aren’t exactly traditional names. Modern people like easy, so it’s what we do when we’re here. It’s easier to fit in that way.”
He gave me a pointed look, and I held up two fingers. “I won’t tell anyone, I swear. Scouts’ honor. Besides, I’m going to die soon. Who am I going to tell?”
He looked uncertain, but I pressed on. “How come no one will tell me when my exact death day will be?”
“That’s the rule.”
“Rule? There are rules?”
“Not ‘rules’ specifically. Guidelines. Humans don’t know when they are going to die. That can’t be altered.”
“Yeah, but can’t you make an exception here? I’m not the norm. I already know about you guys. I know about Vincent. I know about Shades.”
Uri shook his head. “When the time comes, it will be revealed.”
Well that was a frustratingly unhelpful thing to say. I couldn’t let it distract me, though. “You keep saying ‘humans.’ Like we’re something different. What exactly are you? I mean, beyond the helpers that come to make sure a Shade can be completed or move on?”
“We’re not human,” he said. “If you couldn’t guess that already.”
I nodded. “Vincent said he was a ‘what’ not a ‘who.’ I don’t know if that means you’re angels, or demons, or what.”
“We’re not any of those things. We’re …” He held out his hands like he was trying to contain something. “We’re like … energy.”
“Okay.”
“That’s the best way to describe it.”
“But where do you live? What about your car?”
“We have cars and houses only when we have an assignment here.”
“Here? As in Sleepy Hollow here, or here as in Earth?”
“Earth.”
Oh. “So … where are you when you’re not here? On Earth, I mean.”
“When we’re not here, we’re in this space that’s sort of in between.”
“Heaven?”
“No.”
“Hell?”
He laughed. “Definitely not. Again, hard to explain. It’s a place where there’s nothing but energy and white light. No physical forms, no manifestations. Just pure energy.”
“Okay, a little boring, but it’s a Zen type place. I get it,” I said.
“No. You don’t. But that’s okay.”
“So one day you’re just in this Zen lovey-dovey white energy space, and then the next you’re zapped back to Earth to help a Shade or their other half be completed or pass over? How do you know what to do? Where to go? Do you get a Post-it note or something?”
“We work in teams, only two of us at a time. And when it’s our turn, yes, we do sort of wake up here and then get our assignment.”
“That’s why Nikolas said it was a problem that there are five of you here,” I replied. “There’s only supposed to be two. He said that, too, but I don’t think I really understood it.”
Uri agreed. “Although we may occasionally have simultaneous assignments-which is rare, but it does happen-we are never in the same place at once. There is no need.”
“So Vincent must have really screwed you all up, then, huh?”
“You could say that.”
“How come everyone can see you and Sophie and Cacey and Kame, but they can’t see Nikolas and Katy? Nikolas and Katy are different from me and Caspian because they’ve been completed, right?”
He nodded. “Humans can see us while we’re here on Earth because, for all intents and purposes, we are human while we’re here. Caspian is different because he’s dead, and Nikolas and Katy are different because they’ve been completed.”
I must have looked confused, because he said, “The easiest way to think about it is like blood types. Caspian is a certain type of ghost, say AB negative, while Nikolas and Katy are O positive. Both types are still blood, a.k.a. Shades, but if Caspian is completed, by you, he’ll become O positive, like Nikolas and Katy.”
“If he’s completed? Why wouldn’t I complete him?”
Uri glanced away. “Sometimes things … happen.”
“Oh, you mean like with Washington Irving? Nikolas told me that he was a Shade, but he wasn’t completed by his other half. She moved on.”
Uri nodded.
“Why do Shades even need to be completed?” I asked. “No one’s ever told me the reason why.”
He wanted to hedge. It was written all over his face, so I tried a different tactic. “What about other Shades that need help crossing over?”
He took a moment to answer but finally said, “For now things are being handled. But this matter needs to be resolved soon. For everyone’s sake.”
“Okay, so you come down here, get your assignment, and then poof? You have a house and a car and clothes? What about ID? Credit scores?”