The central characters of Poltergeist: the Legacy do not belong to me –

they are the property of Trilogy and MGM; I’ve only borrowed them for a while.

All other characters are created by me. Hope you enjoy …

POLTERGEIST:

THE LEGACY

POWDER AND STEEL

Prolog

“That’s right. A couple more days.”

Alex cast an eye around her motel room.

“We’ve been living out of cases, Derek. We’re mostly packed ready to leave. Are we ready to leave? Personally, yes. Nick wants to get back to see Peri, Rachel has Kat waiting, an’ we all want to get home to see – A couple more days, I told you. We have a few more interviews to do. Some results to collect. No, thank God, no quakes or tremors. We should be home .. Wednesday sometime. Okay. I’ll see you then.”

She eased upright.

“No, I won’t be ready to make a full report. We have a lot of data to analyze. Okay,” Alex laughed. “Wednesday. Bye. Oh, Derek – ”

She sighed. He’d gone, hung up before she could ask. It would have to wait until Wednesday.

Alex had been so fired up about this fieldtrip. Incredibly motivated. It was her project. She’d devised it. Planned it. Put together the research proposal and presented it. Yes, Rachel had helped and she had done some amazing work here, but that was extra. Alex had the lead, Rachel was providing technical input, expertise and assistance. Nick was the gopher. The guy who made things happen. The one who got people to talk just by standing there quietly and watching them. The fetcher and carrier. Reliable, like a rock, Nick. Back to normal, and keen to prove it.

And none of them had wanted to come.

When Philip had walked in just as they were heading out … No. They’d wanted to stay. For one thing, Philip was a friend, an old friend. More than anything else, they’d wanted to stay because of that. They were pleased – and surprised – to see him. Hello, goodbye was not the right thing to do. For another thing, his announcement had startled them. They’d wanted to know what was behind it and, rather cynically, Nick wanted to know how long it would last this time. Lastly, they wanted to know if Derek had agreed to Philip’s request. It broke the rules. Philip had left once, and Derek had persuaded him to return. He’d told London that Philip had taken a sabbatical .. but it was a lie. Then Philip had left again. Really left. Yes, he’d returned from time to time but he wasn’t a member of the Legacy. A friend of the Legacy, sure. And he was always willing to help out when asked. He’d drop everything to fly right across the country to help out. And, now, he wanted back in.

Derek should refuse. They all knew it. What they didn’t know was would he? Derek had said no to replacing Philip. He’d made do with four, and it had been the right call. Four worked. Sometimes, four plus, like when Kristin was on the team. But it had only ever been four permanent members at San Francisco. When London had applied persistent pressure, Derek had yielded .. and look how it had turned out. They were back to four again. Yet, now, they might be five.

There had been a horrible few seconds of indecisiveness as Derek had stared in mute and astonished surprise tinged with pleasure and the others had wavered between keeping hold of their bags and putting them down. They could have easily postponed the trip for twenty four hours. But, Derek, recovering quickly, had told them to proceed.

A week later, they still didn’t know what had been decided, if anything. They’d all called at various times over the seven days. Derek had asked about their trip but given nothing in return. It seemed they would have to wait a while longer to find out if four had indeed become five.

“Alex? We’re going to the diner. Wanna come?” Rachel called.

She snapped back to reality. “Sure.”

She scrambled up and collected her purse from the table by the door. Rachel and Nick waited outside.

“You speak to him?” Nick inquired as they set off for the stairs to the parking lot.

“I did. An’, no, he hung up before I could ask.”

“You too, huh?” Rachel commented. “Maybe we’re being too obvious. Too direct. Nick,” she went on, glancing slyly sideways, “have you tried asking Peri?”

“Damn, seems to have completely slipped my mind,” he remarked, then laughed flatly. “Yeah, of course, I’ve tried. She must be under strict orders cos she changed the subject.”

“What’s the big secret?” Rachel wondered, shaking her head. “Either Philip’s staying .. or he isn’t.”

Alex couldn’t answer. She wondered too, they all did, but, without firm information, it could only ever be speculation.

“I say we let it go,” she announced. “We’re beating on ourselves trying to figure it out an’ we’re getting nowhere. It’s taking over our lives. Let’s focus on the last couple of days, pack up, head home, an’ find out then. Do we agree on that?”

“Works for me,” Nick agreed.

Later, much later as Alex sat in her bed, her journal open on her knees, the pen in her hand, she paused in the recording of the day’s events.

I like Philip. I like him a lot, I have done for .. years. We have always said – always – that he should come back .. and we have always known he wouldn’t. But we’ve been proved wrong. That’s great. So why do I have such a hollow feeling in my gut? Why do I sense that everything’s going to go badly wrong ..?

Alex frowned and shook herself.

That isn’t correct. C’mon, Alex. There’s no one else here, only you. You can be honest.

I feel .. that my life, my ordered, mostly logical life, is going to be turned upside down. That the control I have over the things I do is going to be torn away. I’m going to be scared.

She nodded. That’s more like it. But you’ve been scared before. You’ve come thru.

I know. This is different .. and I don’t know how or why it’ll be different. It’ll be something I’ve never confronted before. I won’t be a victim like Nick was. I’ll just be … I’ll feel like everyone else is deciding for me, that I’m just along for a ride I don’t want to take.

And what upsets me the most is that I can’t answer how Philip fits with this horrible feeling. Why won’t Derek tell us anything?

Alex sighed and remembered her own words of earlier.

Let it go, Alex. You can’t force the issue. You can’t make Derek tell you, not when you’re at the end of a phone. Parkfield deserves your full attention. Give it to your research.

She re-read the last few sentences and began to write where she’d left off. She hadn’t recorded one word about Philip’s return, nor would she until she knew what had been decided. Then she put her journal in her suitcase, climbed into bed and switched off the light. She closed her eyes. It was late. Time to sleep.

It doesn’t mean that the feeling is false. It could happen. At least you know how you’ll feel when it does. Use it. Prepare. Then, when it hits, you’ll be ready …

Continue to Chapter 1 Return to Home