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&039;Yes, the hungry ghosts Found in alo on Those who can&039;t let go of anger, hatred, obsession&039;

&039;Perhaps sihtingale shook his head &039;That makes them sound innocent, but they&039;re far fro jikininki, ancient Roori of the Book of Enoch - almost every huh never in their own backyard like this You re?&039;

&039;I certainly do&039;

&039;That was one of the body Nearly ripped ot away I still have the scars&039;

The nighttime city waited noaves of the storale to hear the fan of his godfather&039;s ventilator

&039;In any case, that sht terrified ht, butInstead it just htened and sick, if you can be sick without a body I could barely sense Geshe, but I kneas there and experiencing so toward the brilliant white light of compassion, as the bardo instructed, this very coht was spreading around us like soh water Geshe seeainst a callI could sense I could feel so alien to both of us, cold and strong andyes, and hungry God, I&039;ve never sensed hunger like that, a botto away all living war ain &039;But then, just when I was fighting hardest to hang on to one I&039;d lost touch with hireasyrepulsive, but also overwhel

&039;I fell out No, it was more like I was shoved I tumbled back into the real world, back into my body I couldn&039;t feel Geshe anythe Chikkhai bardo and was staring in alarm Geshe&039;s body, which hadn&039;t ns of life in some time, was suddenly in full-on Cheyne-Stokes respiration, chest hitching, body jerking: he al But Joseph swore tohalf an hour earlier, and I believe him

&039;A moment later Geshe&039;s eyes popped open I&039;ve seen stranger things, but it still startled me He had been dead, Uncle Edward, really dead, I swear he had Noas looking at me - but it wasn&039;t Geshe any more I couldn&039;t prove it, of course, but I had touched this man&039;s soul, traveled with hiinable, and this just wasn&039;t him

&039;"No, I will not die yet," he said The voice sounded like his, but strong, far too strong for so only a s for h That sah the doorway in Minnesota, the one I&039;ve seen before in other possession cases, but there was none of the struggle I&039;d seen in classic possession, no sense of the soul and body fighting against an interloper One moment it was Geshe, a spiritual man, an artist; the next moment it wassomeone else Someone as cold and detached as a textbook sociopath

&039;He closed his eyes then and slept, or pretended to, but already he looked healthier than he had since I ht his friend was possessed - what a horrible thing to say to so with several kinds of trauma! - and I didn&039;t knohat else to do, what to think I sat there forto do At last, when the nurse ca with this incredible turn of ht, I had a few, then went home and slept like a dead man myself

&039;I should never have left them, Edward When I went back the next day, the apartment was empty A feeeks later I received an e-mail fro that after his miraculous recovery, Geshe wanted to travel to Tibet, the place of his heritage I&039;ve never heard fro, absent for al the room into a flat tableau of black-and-white shapes The thunder that followed seeht on Edward Arvedson&039;s desk flickered once, then went out, as did the lights on his ventilator Through the s Nightingale could see the houses across the street had gone black as well He jumped up, suddenly cold all over His father&039;s oldest friend and his own most trusted advisor was about to die of asphyxiation while he watched helplessly

&039;Good God, Edward, the electricity!&039;

&039;Don&039;tworry&039; Arvedson wheezed &039;I have astandbygenerator&039;

A in to ruht flickered back on, although the houses across the street reodfather &039;You see, young Natan? Not such an old-fashioned fool after all, eh? I as like this Power for the street will be back on soon; it happens a lot in this ancient neighborhood Now, tell ale sat back, trying to regain his train of thought If only the oldon his oith only Jenkins - no spring laht,&039; he said at last &039;Well, I&039; as me, Uncle Edward Somehow these predatory souls or spirits have found a way to possess the bodies of the dying Which would be bad enough, but it&039;s the incredible frequency hich it seeate them all, of course, but if even half the reports that reachall over the world, several ti the s and tattooing the roof of Edward&039;s Victorian house When the old man spoke, there was an unfahtened, my dear Natan&039;

&039;Yes, Uncle Edward, I ahtened, and I&039;ve seen a lot It&039;s as if so fundamental has broken down, so are under attack What did the cab driver say toabout the weather - "the storm door is open"? And I&039; thicker and faster until all our houses are blon&039;

&039;But why? And why now?&039;

&039;Why? Because they&039;ve always been there - the hungry ones, the envious things that hate us because we can still breathe and sing and love Do they want that back, or do they just want to keep us fro it? I don&039;t know And why now? I don&039;t know that either Perhaps so, or these entities have learned so they didn&039;t know before&039;

&039;Then here is theto do about it, now that you know? What can one person do?&039;

&039;Well,to deal with it, to begin with You and I know lots of people who don&039;t think I&039;, who fight the good fight and know the true danger More than a few of us have dedicated our lives to keeping the rest of humanity safe, without reward or thanks Now I have to alert them all, if they haven&039;t discovered this already&039; He stood and began to pace back and forth before the desk &039;And to ets out, I&039;ll use the very same tabloid vultures that you and I despise soit Because for every thousand people who&039;ll read headlines that say things like "So-Called Deh at it as nonsense, one or till understandand will heed the warning&039; He moved to the , looked out into the darkness &039;We can only hope to hold these hungry ghosts at bay if every real paranormal researcher, exorcist, and sympathetic priest we can reach will join us - every collector you know, every student of the arcane, every adventurer behind the occult lines, all of those soldiers of the light that the rest of society disale turned and walked back to his chair &039;So there you have it, Uncle Edward I&039;ll spread the word You spread the word, too Call in old favors If enough of us hear the truth, we ain&039;

The oldtime as thunder rolled away into the distance

&039;You&039;re a brave young man, Nate,&039; he said at last &039;Your parents would be proud of you I&039; to have to think for a while about the best way to help you, and though it embarrasses ive ht until Jenkins comes back in a few hours You can let yourself out, can&039;t you?&039;

&039;Of course, Uncle Edward&039; He went to the old , then kissed his cool, dry cheek He carried his elass to the sideboard &039;Now that I&039;ain toale stopped and held his fingers up to catch the light from the desk lamp and saw that the darkness on the tips of the sloppy,&039; he said &039;I can&039;t iht off in the old days without finishing the cleaning Looks like he hasn&039;t dusted in weeks&039;

&039;I&039;ll tell hio on I&039;ll see you very soon&039;

But Nightingale did not go through the doorway Instead, he turned and sloalked back into the room &039;Uncle Edward,&039; he said &039;Are you certain you&039;re going to be all right? I mean, the power&039;s still off You can&039;t breathe without your ventilator&039;

&039;The generator can run for hours and hours It&039;ll shut itself off when the regular power comes back&039; He waved his hand testily &039;Go on, Nate I&039;htingale, &039;is that when the generator cao, the ventilator didn&039;t Therewith it&039;

Arvedson went very still &039;Whatwhat are you talking about?&039;

&039;Here Look, the little lights on it never came back on, either Your ventilator&039;s off&039;

The roo but the distant sound of cars splashing along out on Jones Street, distant as the moon

&039;What happened to Edward?&039;

The old man looked surprised &039;I don&039;tNate, what are you saying?&039;

The gun was out of Nightingale&039;s coat and into his hand so quickly it ht have simply appeared there He leveled it at a spot between the old man&039;s two bushy white eyebrows &039;I asked you what happened to Edward - the real Edward Arvedson I&039; to ask this once more I swear I&039;ll kill hi you can&039;t pull your little possession trick again on a full-grown, healthy er&039;

Even in the half- light of the desk lae was a fearful one: Edward Arvedson&039;s wrinkled features did not alter in any great way, but soht-shunning creature burrowing through the dark earth The eyes fixed on his Although the face was still Edward&039;s, soer looked ale,&039; said the stranger in his godfather&039;s body &039;I should have noticed the ventilator never cauessed, this sack of er needs to breathe at all&039;

&039;What&039;s happened to hiun stayed trained on the spot between the old man&039;s eyes &039;Talk fast&039;

A slow, cold smile stretched the lips &039;That is not for od Perhaps he is stru and shrieking in the deepest pits&039;

&039;Bastard!&039; Nightingale pulled back the trigger with his thumb &039;You lie! He&039;s in there with you And I know a dozen people who canshook its head &039;Oh, Mr Nightingale, you&039;ve been playing the occult detective so long, you&039;ve come to believe you&039;re really in a story - and that it will have a happy ending We didn&039;t learn neays to possess the living&039; The s and triumphant &039;We have learned how to h It&039;s much, much easier than possession, and we cannot be evicted, because the prior tenantis gone Your Uncle Edward had a stroke, you see We waited all around him as he died Oh, and believethis reat deal of trouble over the years - and as you knoe dead have long memories And when he was beyond our torments at last, well, this body was ours Already thened it It does not need to breathe, and as you can see&039; The thing rose fro Nightingale backed off a few steps, keeping the gun high &039;it no longer needs assistance to get around, either,&039; the thing finished &039;I feel certain I&039;ll get years of use out of it before I have to seek another - tih to contact and betray all of the rest of Edward Arvedson&039;s old friends&039;

&039;Who are you?&039; Nightingale fought against a despair that buffeted him like a cold wind &039;Oh, for the love of God, what do you ry ones One of the unforgiving&039; It sat down again, o quietly, as you would have us go - to disappear into the shadows of nonexistence and leave the rest of you to enjoy the light and war lifted its knotted hands - Edward&039;s hands, as they had seeesture of seizure &039;As you said, this is a war We hat you have&039; It laughed, and for the first tiodfather&039;s fa take it from you All of you&039;

&039;I don&039;t think so Because if you need bodies to survive here, then those bodies can be taken back froun flashed and roared, and the thing in his godfather&039;s shape staggered and fell back against the wheelchair cushions, chin on chest A

&039;Jenkins,&039; it said &039;If you would be so kind&039; Soale&039;s hand, and then an arht, but it was like being held by a full-grown gorilla His struggles only allowed hirip to see Jenkins&039;s blank eyes and the huge hole in the side of the caretaker&039;s head crusted with bits of bone and dried tissue

&039;I lied about giving hiht off,&039; said the pseudo-Edward &039;The living get iue who inhabits hi to stand in the dark until I needed hi at its clothes; the hole Nightingale&039;s gunshot had made in its shirt was bloodless &039;Bullets are a poor weapon against the risen dead, Nightingale,&039; it pointed out with no little satisfaction &039;You could burn the body, I suppose, or literally pulverize it, and there would be nothing left for us to inhabit But of course, you will not get the chance to tell anyone about that&039;

&039;Bastards!&039; He struggled helplessly against the Jenkins-thing&039;s grip &039;Even if you kill me, there are hundreds more like me out there They&039;ll stop you!&039;

&039;We will odfather&039;s body &039;You will introduce us - or at least the new resident of your corpse will And one by one, ill ree and riches and secrecy, and the rest of your kind will be our unco cattle, left alive only to breed ale: the storm door really is open now And no power on this Earth can shut it&039;

Nightingale tried to say so else then, shout some last words of defiance, but the pressure on his neck was crushingly strong, and the lights of the world - the la in the street below, even the stor away into utter darkness

His last sight was of the cold, hungry things that had been hiding behind that darkness, hiding and waiting and hating the living for so long, as they hurried toward him to feed