Page 36 of Sinistram
Helene gave Brent a look that seemed to see down to his bones. “You’ve been injured recently by something supernatural. It’s left a mark on you.”
“I got hurt on a hunt,” Brent replied.
Helene shook her head. “I know demon energy when I sense it. On top of your new injury.”
Ben didn’t like to remember his run-in with Mavet in Mosul, or his brushes with demons since then. He had suspected that something attracted them, but hearing confirmation didn’t help his mood.
Helene ran a hand just above the surface of Brent’s arm and leg where the gnome had clawed him, and her lips moved silently as she concentrated.
“Gnomes are nasty business,” Helene said, even though neither man had mentioned Brent’s attacker. “Supernatural injuries often fester. Yours is clean and healing well. I added a little something to help things along,” she added with a smile.
“Thank you.” Brent’s features looked less pinched, telling Travis that the healing had been effective.
“Call me when you’re ready to go,” Helene told them as they took their leave. “I’ll keep my calendar open over the next couple of days.”
CHAPTER SIX
Two days later,after winning Matthew’s grudging clearance, Brent and Travis headed toward the site of the Walter Brothers’s wreck. Helene had agreed to meet them there.
Brent fidgeted on the drive to the site of the circus train crash.
“Penny for your thoughts,” Travis prompted. After all the ghosts he and Brent had sent packing, the fairly routine banishment didn’t seem like it should set his partner on edge.
Brent didn’t seem surprised that Travis had picked up on his jitters, since he vibrated with nervous energy. “I’m edgier than usual, and I’m not sure why.”
Travis shrugged. “Listen to your intuition. Is it worried that we don’t know enough about the hunt, or something else?”
Brent took a deep breath and paused as if silently asking himself that question. “I’m wondering what riled up the circus train ghosts and whether it’s tied into whoever is trying to kill hunters.”
“You think it’s a setup?”
“Could be,” Brent replied. “Didn’t you question it, coming up now after all this time?”
“Yeah. I think we need to be extra careful,” Travis said. “Maybe get some of the friendly ghosts to scout the area and see if there’s someone else around.”
“It’s daylight, so that should keep the vampires away, if they’re involved,” Brent noted. “Although I guess they could always send in their minions. Think Ike will show up?”
Travis snorted. “He hasn’t bothered to so far, although I’ll never turn down help.”
Brent pulled up his case notes on his phone, even though Travis knew he had read them over multiple times. “The Walter Brothers circus wasn’t a big outfit. Back then there were plenty of second-string shows that crisscrossed the country to entertain the smaller cities, like the one that was in New Castle.”
“The train lost its brakes on a long hill, and there was a curve at the bottom,” Travis recalled from his research. “Some of their cars were heavier than normal trains, which probably didn’t help. The engine made it around the bend, but the other cars went off the tracks.”
“Most of the performers survived,” Brent noted, checking his phone. “Unfortunately, a lot of the horses and exotic animals were killed or injured. A Bengal tiger got loose and scared a lady who was milking her cows. She ran away, and the tiger killed the cows.”
“That’s actually documented,” Travis replied, shaking his head. “But people claimed to see parrots and lions and even a few kangaroos for years afterward.”
“Not too many native kangaroos in this part of Pennsylvania,” Brent agreed with a chuckle, then sobered as he looked back at his notes. “The train’s brakeman died in the wreck, and the coal tenders, along with some of the circus people. The people were buried in the closest town cemetery, and the animals were buried in a pit dug near the wreck site.”
“Yeah, I read that. Which makes me wonder about the haunting. If the people were properly buried on sacred ground, then who are the ghosts?” Travis asked.
“Most of the reports talk about people seeing horses and zoo-type animals, like lions and bears,” Brent replied. “Although there have also been stories about a headless man in a train-worker’s jumpsuit walking the old rail line at night with a lantern. The legends say he’ll kill anyone he catches.”
“Yeah, but the records don’t say anyone was decapitated,” Travis pointed out. “The brakeman was crushed, and the other train crew who died were burned by the boiler and coal fire. The circus performers were thrown from the car and died from the impact.”
Travis drummed his fingers against the steering wheel. “For a lot of crashes, I’d guess that the ghosts were restless being buried so far from home. But for the performers, the circus was their home. They moved around all the time. The train belonged to the circus, so I’d guess the same was true for the crewmen.”
“Helene said some of the survivors came back every year for decades to commemorate the wreck,” Brent said. “I found an article about it. In the first couple of years, they even had elephants lay a wreath at the marker by the accident site.”
