Past Life Reflection

Her lips relaxed into a very subtle smile and her eyes narrowed. It was an expression of confirmation. “From what I’ve seen and heard, I wonder if maybe I trusted too much.”

“How are you here?”

“I never said you’d be alone.” Her Caribbean accent used to be so pronounced that I learned to use words with her that I’d understand when she spoke them back to me; now, it was barely present. In fact, her phrasing had taken on an almost Californian quality. Again I thought of Medusa.

“You’ve been here the whole time?”

“Some.”

“But how? The charm? Is this voodoo?”

She chuckled in the way grandmothers do, patiently, because the child only needs to learn. I chuckle that way sometimes. “It is the godparent of Voudou, the cousin of what you call your energies. I am here on earth but not where you are.”

Remembering against this bizarre turn that there was someplace else I needed to be, I decided that a fuller comprehension of the situation could be postponed. “I don’t get it, but Bella, I need to go. Can you come?”

“Your needs are urgent, I can see, and I can’t stay long myself. This is my first time trying this. You are registered with Chris, no?”

“Chris McGuire? Yeah, of course.”

“Good, then I will find you soon.”

Her image began to flicker again and, finally, to fade. When I became aware that I was still staring at the air where she had been, thinking about the Cheshire Cat, I started backtracking through the series of hallways to where I’d last left Dennis and Moshe. There was no time to wonder how she was still around, let alone how she'd appeared before me. If what had just happened was real, if I had not imagined it, she would be finding my contact information through Chris McGuire, the living Yellow Pages of the amortal community, and coming here soon. I could ask her then.

I reached the end of the long corridor under the quad but didn’t know where to go next. I was probably only a few minutes behind them, but a wrong turn could cost me more.

“Dennis!” I called. No answer. I checked my cell phone signal. It was there but very, very faint. I speed-dialed Dennis and wasn’t surprised that he didn’t pick up. The charm was in my pocket, but I couldn’t try summoning Moshe with it: if it broke the spell someone else had on him, it would defeat the purpose of letting him lead us there. I was wasting more time in my indecision than I might be with a wrong choice; if they were going to Applewood, as I suspected, then they’d have to surface eventually. I turned down the left fork to head toward the nearest access point.

An air vent runs along the ceiling here. It opens out onto a patch of foliage, alongside the art history building, containing a tree and some seasonally rotated fauna. In the winter, it contains decorative cabbage. A very observant person might notice that there is a space near the wall where air blows upward, sort of like a fan amid the cabbages. It is possible to enter the air vent only a few feet down from where it turns upward and opens into the planter. I took a moment to listen for the sound of anyone passing by before climbing through the vent, lest anyone catch a glimpse of a rather undignified assistant professor crawling out of the ground. Hearing nothing but the wind, I unscrewed the loosely fastened grate and pulled myself up.