Free Ghost Key by Trish J. MacGregor

his late thirties whose curly black hair always looked as if he had just rolled out of bed. Those Mediterranean-blue eyes of his had gone dark, indicating that Gogh was fully in control of him and peering out.
    “Thanks for the drinks, Gogh,” she said, and helped herself to a bottle of cold water. “Could you try to be on time from now on?”
    “Sure thing. Where’re Jill and Joe?”
    “They’re late, too. Let’s get started.” She brought her hands to the box she had set on the table. “As you know, Von is accused of violating our most sacred law. He allegedly helped his host escape and it resulted in the annihilation of two members of our tribe. There were witnesses and we heard their testimony yesterday. Von has a chance to tell his side of the story, which will be broadcast throughout the brujo net. Then we’ll vote on guilt or innocence.”
    “Just the four of us are voting?” Liam asked.
    “That’s how it’s done, Liam. The committee votes. If members of the committee don’t show up, it means fewer votes. But every brujo who listens through the net is entitled to state an opinion and all of that is taken into consideration. Up until we vote, business can be conducted mind to mind or through the physical voices of our hosts or a combination.”
    I have a request, Von shouted.
    The net shuddered and trembled.
    “What is it, Von?”
    Could you let me out of the box, please? I promise I won’t try to escape.
    Dominica looked at the three men and they all nodded. She touched the rectangular box and slid the button on the side to the off position. It extinguished the fluorescent light that generated a field of extremely low frequency waves, which inflicted excruciating agony on any brujo that tried to pass through it. Von drifted out, no more than a whiff of discolored smoke, the way most brujos looked in their natural form.
    “What’s to prevent Von from escaping?” Gogh asked. “We don’t have any ELF fields in here.”
    “If he attempts to escape, he’ll be pursued,” Dominica said.
    “Yeah? By whom?” Liam asked. “Us? Or do we have a posse of ghosts for this purpose?”
    “Yeah.” Whit snickered. “We’ve got John Wayne and some of his buddies in the back room.”
    I’m not going to try to escape, Von said. Where the hell would I go?
    The plaintiveness in his words pleased Dominica. “So tell us what happened, Von. The tribe is listening.”
    Two days ago, my host and I were over on the pier. He lost his wife six months ago and was feeling really sad and depressed. I kept telling him she still existed somewhere, like I do. I explained how my death was really sudden—my heart just stopped beating one day when I was doing an emergency appendectomy. I pitched forward, right onto the patient. When I came to, I was conscious and in my own home, struggling to communicate with my wife and kids.
    “Get to the point, Von,” Dominica said.
    I kept talking to him like this, describing my own experience. And then he asked me how … how I ended up with such an evil group. And I … I started thinking about that and I couldn’t remember how I ended up here. I heard a voice, I guess it was your voice, Dominica, and I answered the call. I … I was grateful when I became physical again, but I suddenly understood what he meant. It’s like I had forgotten who I was and now I remembered. We have no right to possess someone else’s body, it’s—
    “For shit’s sake,” Whit burst out. “I’ve heard enough.”
    The net shook with gossip, chatter, turmoil. Dominica thought a moment, then said, “He’s entitled to tell his side, Whit.” It was good for the tribe to hear how twisted Von’s thoughts and beliefs were. Brujos weren’t evil. They only wanted to experience physical life. “Go on, Von.”
    He and I walked into a place on the water for a bite to eat. Three brujos were at the next table. It was just the four of us in the pub … well, eight of us if you count the hosts, right?