Spirit - Part Eleven
This episode is part of a larger story, Soft Touch. If you haven’t yet, you can go back and read it from the beginning right here.
It’s a good thing we don’t have to jump out of windows to avoid security when we stay extra late at City Hall, these days. Translating the ghost memories into English was a slow, difficult process that went deep into the night. But when we combined the best fragments and read the finished product…
“The Tree?” Aiden had murmured, speaking very softly and slowly even by his standards. “Rose’s Tree?”
He hasn’t said too much else about the discoveries we made in the Archives that night. But I know he’s been thinking about his own Tree ever since.
He woke up early and came with me on my morning visit to his Guardian Tree yesterday. Sat on the grass watching me while I carefully looked it over, checking its healing wounds and tracing my fingertips over the silver bark to feel for signs of trouble.
Normally Aiden stays home, and I get back to find him blissed-out in bed, looking like he’s had a long, thorough full-body massage after having my hands all over his Tree. This time, though, he decided to come and melt into a puddle of peacefulness right behind me while I worked.
I know the Tree is on his mind, and so are Rose, Leyla, and Charlie. They’ve occupied the thoughts of everyone on Team Ghost Office since we left the Archives that night. Or - everyone who’s aware of the discoveries we made at the farmhouse, that is. Floyd and Spencer haven’t been filled in. It’s all too wrapped up in magic to explain to them right now.
But Aiden, Kasey, Will, and I have been waiting for tonight in nervous anticipation.
I think Aiden is glad it’s a sports event. He’s in his element. He looks completely relaxed again, for the first time since I checked over his Tree.
He’s listening in obvious amusement to the argument going on between Ketterbridge FD and Greenrock FD about whether or not it’s actually fair for him to fill in on Ketterbridge’s team during this fundraising football game.
No one was bothered about it at the beginning, but given how critical Aiden has been to the stomping that the Ketterbridge fire department is in the process of laying down, the Greenrock team has seen fit to reconsider.
“We said that before we knew you were bringing in a ringer!” one of the Greenrock firefighters is telling Roger. “He should play on our team for the second half, it’s only fair!”
Aiden looks over at me from across the green field. His bronze skin is glowing with a light sheen of sweat, his cheeks heightened in color, his glossy hair tousled and damp. The rosy sunset light kisses his eyes and lights them up as he winks at me, fixing me with his sweet, disarming smile. I find myself blushing deeply where I’m sitting on the field.
A nice number of people turned out to watch the game and support the fire department. The bleachers are populated with a little crowd, but some people set up picnic blankets on the grass slightly back from the action of the game. Melanie brought enough blankets for all of us to sit on, and we ended up with a front-row view.
“Delay of game penalty, Greenrock!” Noah shouts, cupping an inky hand around his mouth. “Automatic after five straight minutes of whining!”
“What the f-?” One of the firemen from Greenrock squints in Noah’s direction. “Isn’t that the dude who mooned us at our homecoming game, senior year? Got himself removed from the game with his pants half down?”
“They remember me!” Noah whips around to face Raj, absolutely beaming. “Famous, dude!”
Raj and Noah hit an enthusiastic high-five.
“Oh, god.” Melanie suppresses a wave of giggles behind her hand, bouncing Nikita on her hip with the other. “I hate to say it, but I remember that, too. The refs couldn’t even figure out what kind of penalty it warranted.”
Raj goes back to smoothing sandpaper over the round piece of wood he has in his lap, but his laughing eyes linger fondly on Noah. “So many stories to tell our baby one day.”
“That?” Melanie loses the battle against her giggles. “That’s a story we want to tell our baby one day?”
“Is it any less embarrassing than Raj bringing a piece of woodworking to a sports game?” Noah protests, gesturing at Raj. “That’s such a dad thing to do, I’m fucking speechless.”
“I think it’s cute when he does dad things,” Mel laughs, reaching down to rifle her fingertips through Raj’s black curls as he works.
“Ugh, I know. It is.” Noah drops his face into his hands, makes an agonized noise, then lifts his adoring silver eyes to Raj. “Tout ce qu'il fait… god help me.”
Melanie melts into giggles again, and her laughter sets off Nik laughing, too. The sound of her sweet, breathless, bubbling baby giggles draws the eyes of the firefighters out on the field.
“Oh, and now distraction tactics, too?” the Greenrock fireman who recognized Noah groans. He points a stern finger at Nik, who only giggles more at the additional attention. “Well, it’s not going to work! I know we’ve got a reputation for being an - an easily distracted bunch, in Greenrock, but we’re not just gonna-”
“Aw,” one of the other Greenrock firefighters interrupts, drifting closer to where Mel is standing. He bends to be eye-level with Nikita, his warm eyes on her tiny face. “She’s so cute! Hey, little one!”
“Can you blow him a kiss, baby?” Mel asks Nik, smoothing a hand over her soft, wispy curls.
Nik hesitates, holding onto Mel’s braid, glancing shyly at the Greenrock firefighter. She looks up at Mel nervously, and Mel makes a kissing sound, giving her an encouraging smile.
Nik starts to curl back towards Mel like she’s going to hide, but instead she faces the firefighter again. She slaps her hand over her own wide-open mouth - missing a little bit, so her fingers land splayed over her nose and her palm is pressed to her lips. Then she makes a kissing sound and flings her tiny hand out at the firefighter.
There’s an immediate, adoring chorus of simultaneous awws and gasps of delight from the Greenrock firefighters. More of them come over to join the first one. Nik giggles shyly, holding tight to Mel’s braid as a little cluster of admirers forms around her.
The firefighter who was arguing with Roger tosses his hands up in dismay, and Roger lets out a laugh he can’t fight down.
“Fine, fine, Mohamed,” he groans, waving a hand at the Greenrock firefighter. “You guys can have Aiden for the second half, but we get to pick whoever we want from your team to play on ours.”
Mohamed’s face brightens instantly. “Deal!”
“Assuming this is fine with Aiden?” Roger asks, clearly hoping that he’ll object.
“I’m having a good time either way,” Aiden answers, his big body shaking with a rumble of laughter. “And, I mean - you guys are splitting the fundraising money evenly, right? Who wins the game doesn’t really matter?”
This draws a pause from Roger and Mohamed.
“Duh, of course it doesn’t matter,” Roger answers, as Mohamed waves a hand dismissively. “We don’t even care.”
“Yeah, it’s about raising funds for community safety.” Mohamed closes his hand around Aiden’s wrist and starts dragging him to the Greenrock side. “Makes no difference who wins.”
Roger immediately seizes Aiden’s other wrist. “I said for the second half! Only for the second half!”
Ripley lets out a burst of laughter, having arrived back at the blanket to find me, Luca, and Mel all watching appreciatively as the handsome, sweat-slicked firefighters all argue and tussle over Aiden.
“I know why you guys are contributing to the fundraiser,” Ripley laughs, handing out the food he brought back from the booths the firefighters set up. “Nothing to do with the food or the game, is it?”
Luca and I both blush and let out sputters of protest, but Melanie grins widely.
“This is how they should do the fundraising,” she giggles, as Roger folds an arm around Aiden’s waist from behind. He pulls Aiden back against his chest, heatedly saying something to Mohamed, whose chiseled jaw flexes in outrage. “Alix agrees with me.”
“I wasn’t looking!” Alix quickly breaks her gaze away, her cheeks faintly pink. “Hey, babe!”
“Hey, busted,” Ripley laughs, dropping down next to her and looping an arm around her shoulders.
“I’m not busted!” Alix giggles. She snuggles into Ripley’s embrace, twining a finger around one of his green curls. “I’m just - thinking about how to apply this amazing fundraising idea to City Hall. It works, okay? Take a look at the bleachers. We’re not the only ones.”
Everyone on our blanket-patch glances up to follow Alix’s pointing finger. Most of the guys have left the bleachers, using this brief break in the game to get more food or lemonade or beer. But most of the girls - and a few of the guys - are watching what’s happening on the field with rapt attention.
“Oh, my god,” I sputter, my hands pressed to my cheeks in disbelief.
Luca bursts out laughing, and his laugh is ridiculously contagious. He always starts by staring at whoever or whatever made him laugh, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly open like he’s shocked, taking shallow breaths - then explodes into a fast, giggly laugh that wipes out everyone else instantly. It’s impossible not to laugh when he’s laughing, and soon everyone on our spread of blankets is leaning against each other for support.
“Jesus Christ,” Raj wheezes, as the firefighters stop what they’re doing and glance over at us in faint confusion.
“Alright, enough,” Roger groans. He lets Aiden go, then scowls in defeat when Aiden is instantly pulled into the Greenrock ranks. “Whatever, let’s just get on with the game. People are definitely bored of watching us stand here doing this instead of playing.”
“No, it’s fine!” calls one of the girls from the bleachers.
“We get him back for the last quarter!” Cassie informs the Greenrock team, as everyone jogs out to their places on the field.
“Well, now I see why Roger was originally gonna ask me to fill in,” I tell Luca, taking a sip of the cold beer Ripley brought me from the drink stand. “I didn’t realize it was flag football. It still would have been a bad idea to ask me, but at least it makes some kind of sense.”
“Yeah, it was originally gonna be full contact,” Luca explains. “But I pointed out to Roger that all of the first responders in town repeatedly smashing their heads and bodies into each other might actually not be the best idea.”
“Fair enough,” I laugh, then stop and sit up more, my eyes caught on something at the edge of the field.
Ralph and Calla are headed for us, striding along silently just in front of the bleachers. I couldn’t pick them out of the shadows at first, but I got a glimpse of Tycho’s white fur and the fastest flash of blonde.
Aiden spots Ralph and Calla, too. He catches my eye from across the field, gives me a meaningful look.
“Calla!” Mel calls out with bright enthusiasm, handing off Nik to Noah and darting over to meet her. “Hey, babe!”
Alix is right on Mel’s heels to meet Calla, so Ralph leaves the girls to chat and comes over to where we’re all sitting.
“Sorry we’re late,” he begins, then breaks off as Tycho noses out towards the players on the field. “Hey, Tycho, don’t-”
“Aw!” one of the Greenrock firefighters calls out, his eyes widening as he catches sight of her. “There’s a puppy here! A little puppy!”
Tycho springs up and down in bewildered excitement as the Greenrock firefighters gather around her. She rushes around sniffing everyone’s fingers as they all start cooing and reaching out to her and trying to pet her.
“You guys,” Mohamed groans, grabbing two handfuls of his hair.
“There’s been some debate about which team is allowed to have the ringer,” Ripley tells Ralph, who looks down at him with obvious confusion when he catches Aiden standing on the Greenrock side of the field. “Aiden is in high demand.”
“One of the teams needs a ringer?” Calla asks, coming up to stand by Ralph.
Her eyes thoughtfully scan the field while Ripley explains the situation to her.
“Flag football, huh? So - none of these giant guys have an excuse to land on me?”
“What-?” Ralph begins, then breaks into a tiny, startled smile when Calla tugs off her jump boots. “What are you doing?”
“Well, I can’t play in boots,” she answers, like it should be obvious. “I’ll have to do it barefoot, but that’s fine.”
“Take my sneaks, Calla!” Mel offers, already using her toe to push one off of her foot.
We all watch in surprise as Calla laces up her shoes and jogs out onto the field, briefly bending to stretch and straighten out her leggings.
“She’s really gonna do it,” Alix sighs, with open admiration in her eyes.
“Get back to the Ketterbridge side where you belong, Aiden,” Calla calls out, trotting to stand with the Greenrock firefighters. “Let’s see how well Ketterbridge does against a Greenrock-Port Sitka alliance!”
The Greenrock firefighters look at Calla in total confusion, but Mohamed catches a glimpse of Aiden’s alarmed expression and instantly seems to feel good about this.
“Alright, let’s do it!” he says brightly. “Someone get her some flags!”
~~~~
Night has fallen by the time the firefighters finish up what turned out to be a very close game. The final score is the subject of intense debate. Both Ketterbridge and Greenrock won and lost in glorious fashion, depending on who you ask.
The event turns into a sort of casual, accidental party once the game is over and the sun goes down. People stick around to sit on the field and talk, surrounded by the music and the soft, summery night air. The food and drink booths stay open long after the announcement that the event has officially raised enough money to meet the goal, and the fire departments will be getting the new thermal imaging cameras they wanted.
“Firefighters really love their toys,” Luca laughingly told me, watching all the beaming faces of the firefighters during the announcement.
Kent showed up with Ellen, Emmett, and Olivia in the last quarter of the game. He’s finally given in to their little pleas and taken them to check out the fire trucks parked at the far edge of the field. A gathering of Greenrock firefighters goes to surround the kids, answering their eager questions.
Nik is popular with the firefighters all night, drawing waves of melting laughter when she does something particularly cute. Roger and Mohamed - who are old friends, as it turns out - watched the flock of Greenrock firefighters form around Raj and Nik as soon as the game was over. Roger closed his eyes and shook with silent laughter when Mohamed sheepishly, inevitably caved to the temptation and went to go say hi to the baby with the others.
It’s been a lively night, full of music and laughter. The warm weight of Aiden’s arm resting around my shoulders, his blue, blue gaze lingering on me all night long - those are just two of many sweet distractions that take my mind off of what we have to do.
But we do have to do it. Aiden and I both know that. Our eyes keep going back to Calla.
She knocked us all flat with her performance in the football game. Ralph in particular, based on the way he’s still grinning about it. But the whole time I watched, part of me kept thinking about how her light-footed grace so resembles what I saw from Leyla in the ghost memories.
She’s leaning against Ralph, laughing at something he’s murmuring to her. Her cheeks are always slightly sunburned, but they have a deeper scarlet glow after all the activity. She seems perfectly at ease, cozy in Ralph’s arms.
Ralph mentioned that Calla’s been more relaxed lately. He wasn’t exaggerating, I can tell. She looks way more approachable right now than she usually does. Thank god, because we have no choice but to approach. Kasey told us that tonight was the right moment to do this, and Kasey is always right.
It’s probably about time. Aiden seems to be thinking along the same lines, because he runs his fingers through my hair to get my attention, then catches my eye. Our eyes meet in understanding.
Together, we slip through the crowd towards Calla and Ralph. I lead the way, and Aiden follows in my wake, his warm fingers clasped around mine. Ralph has turned away, busy taking Nikita from Noah so he can track down her pacifier. But Calla glances over and sees us coming.
“Hey,” I say quietly, stopping at her side. “Would it be okay if, um… could we talk to you, for a second? Alone?”
Calla narrows her almond eyes at me searchingly, then shrugs her shoulders.
She leads us to the bleachers, which are mostly empty now that the party has moved to the field. We go up a few steps, getting some space from the crowd. Calla drops to sit on the bleachers just above me and Aiden, then watches us curiously as we sit down facing her.
“What’s going on, boys?” she asks, sipping on the straw of her lemonade. “You need me to steal something for you?”
“What-? No,” Aiden laughs, startled. “Appreciate that that’s right where your mind went, though. That’s nice, thanks.”
“Yeah, well.” Calla shrugs her shoulders, smiling at Aiden in the soft glow of the little party happening on the field. “I owe you two goons a few favors, at this point.”
She lets out a raspy laugh, then adds, “And I’m always looking for an excuse to steal something.”
Aiden and I both laugh, too, relieved to find Calla in such a bright mood. She relaxes back against the bleachers, leaning into her elbows, kicking up her boots. The multicolored light from the field glimmers on her piercings, and on her cheeks rounded out with her smile.
Charlie’s smile, I realize suddenly.
That same exact round-cheeked smile that nearly closed his eyes when he laughed in the ghost memory. I can see him reflected so clearly in Calla’s features, now that I know what to look for.
“Aiden and I don’t keep track of favors, actually,” I tell Calla, watching her with tentative, hopeful eyes. “But - we did want to ask you for something. We need your help, Calla.”
Her eyes flit to me, growing more serious. The full intensity of her hazel stare makes me nervous, and maybe Aiden can tell, because he takes over for me.
“God, it’s gonna sound so weird,” he mutters beneath his breath, then reluctantly lifts his eyes to Calla. “We were - hoping you would introduce us to your grandma?”
Calla blinks at Aiden, once. “I’m sorry?”
Aiden swallows nervously as he meets her unrelenting stare.
“Leyla,” he forges on, filling me with pure admiration for his bravery. “We were hoping you could ask her if she'd be willing to meet with us.”
Calla stares at Aiden in frozen, thunderstruck silence. After a moment she slowly and silently sits up, her hazel eyes unblinking. She rests her elbows on her knees, her grasp tightening around her drink.
“This is about the case?” she asks, very softly, in a strained voice. “I was hoping you guys dropped that.”
“No.” I shake my head apologetically. “We’ve actually made some pretty serious progress.”
Calla closes her eyes. She takes a deep breath, gearing up to say something, and I hastily jump in before she can.
“If Leyla’s answer is no, then we understand, honestly! But could you ask her for us? That’s all we want, is for you to ask.”
“How the fuck did you even know that she’s my-?” Calla suddenly opens her eyes, staring at Aiden and me in complete confusion. “How do you know her name, how…? No, listen - it doesn’t matter. I’m not gonna ask her that. There’s no point. Why would she ever agree to meet with you about this? Would you agree to meet with two strangers about something like that, if you were her?”
“But we’re not strangers to you,” I answer hopefully. “You can tell her about us. I mean - don’t say we’re not your friends by now. Because we are. I’m sorry, but we are.”
Calla had already opened her mouth to argue with me, but now she stops. She stares hard at me for a second, and then her expression collapses into some warm blend of affection and exasperation.
“We’ve done two heists together,” Aiden reminds her. “That’s some real friendship shit.”
“I know, I know,” Calla groan-laughs, tilting her head back, her raspy voice pained. “Alright, look, even if I ask my grandma for this - what’s the point? Seriously, why the fuck would she say yes? Give me one good reason.”
Aiden and I exchange a nervous glance, bracing ourselves before we turn back to face Calla.
“Can we just give you the message we want you to give her?”
Calla shrugs her shoulders at me and folds her arms over her chest, sighing deeply. “May as well.”
We worked it out in advance with Will and Kasey, after we finalized the translations and talked through what they meant for hours in the semidarkness of the Archives.
“Please tell Leyla that we know she didn’t do it, even though on the surface it looks like she did.”
Calla freezes again, staring at me with enormous eyes.
“Tell her that we know about Rose, and about what John Botswick tried to do,” I forge on, trying not to falter beneath Calla’s gaze. “We know about the Tree.”
Calla gives a little start, then silently sinks back against the bleachers, running a hand over her buzzed hair. Her expression has gone completely blank.
“We just want to talk to her about it,” I rush to pin on. “We think we’re only missing the last few pieces of her story, and - we were hoping to hear them from her.”
“We thought she might want the chance to tell someone the truth,” Aiden adds. “Set the record straight. So to speak. We know she’s not straight.”
Calla finally snaps out of her daze to let out a raspy burst of startled laughter. She hastily fights it down, biting her lip, trying her best to look angry.
“You two really have some infuriating levels of unrelenting persistence, don’t you?” she groans. “A true gift for it.”
“Oh - thank you!” I answer brightly, pressing a hand to my chest in pleased surprise.
Calla makes a strangulation gesture in my direction, then swats a hand at me.
“Calla,” Aiden murmurs, his voice growing serious. “If you can’t quite trust us with this, then - can you trust in the fact that Ralph trusts us? You know he does.”
Calla’s eyes flit to the crowd, where Ralph is holding Nik cuddled up to his chest, letting her feel the texture of the sandpaper Raj is holding out. He seems to sense Calla watching him, because his grey-green eyes flit up to find her in the bleachers, then fill with affectionate warmth when they meet hers.
“We promise,” I tell Calla earnestly, as her eyes linger on Ralph. “We just need to hear Leyla’s story. We won’t take it anywhere. We won’t do anything with it. We just want to talk to her.”
The deep rumble of Aiden’s voice draws Calla’s gaze back to him. “Can you ask her for us?”
Calla sits perfectly still for a long moment, glancing back and forth between me and Aiden. There’s a silence, and then she heaves out an enormous sigh, tilting her head back.
She opens her eyes to fix me and Aiden with an exasperated glare. “This wipes out every favor I owe you, alright? All of them. And it still counts even if she says no.”
“Well - like I said, we don’t keep track. But sure, okay, if that helps.” I glance excitedly at Aiden, whose lips are slowly turning up in a tentative smile, just like mine. We both turn back to Calla, holding our breaths. “Does that mean you’ll do it, Calla? You’ll ask Leyla?”
“Do not look at me like that, boys,” she says warningly, a dark glare taking over her face. “Don’t even try those puppy-dog eyes on me, because I’m not as soft as you Ketterbridge people, and it’s not gonna w…”
Calla trails off, staring at the hopeful, eager expressions on our faces. She closes her eyes, screws her face up, then slowly, helplessly shakes her head.
“Verdammt,” she sighs.
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