19 - Ghosts of the Past

On the drive home from Keith’s, Maia could only wonder at the information he’d given her.  And not just about Natalie.  As concerned as she was about her daughter’s safety and well-being, Maia felt like her whole life was beginning to crumble, and her very identity was in question.  Even her name wasn’t really hers!

It seemed as though everyone had lied to her about everything her entire life.  If her parents hadn’t died when she was a child, why was she told they were, and where were they all these years? How did Charlie Ray know these things about her past, and why hadn’t he ever told her?  Even Aashif was bound to secrecy about her deal with the reaper, and as for Grim himself, he obviously had some ulterior motives he wasn’t sharing with her.  After all, what reason could he have for bringing her back from the dead to bear and raise 100 babies?

Maia was tired of not knowing.  She had tried to just go along with what life brought her, but problems seemed to keep recurring, mostly because she didn’t have the answers it seemed she needed. Maybe it was time to find out. Maybe in order to get on with her future, she was going to have to seek out her past.

And Maia knew exactly what she was going to do to start her search.  She was going to visit the ghost of her deceased husband, and she knew just where to find him.

Buckshot Mansion hadn’t changed much since Maia had lived there, but she hadn’t expected it to.  Most of the townsfolk knew it was haunted, and no one in Starlight Shores seemed interested in sharing a home with its ghostly inhabitants.

Speaking of whom, the Buckshot ghosts and their deceased houseguest hadn’t changed much either, and kept to their old habits.

Charlie Ray was still brooding at the bar, glaring at Finnegan, while Finnegan was still throwing parties in his house.  Apparently, being dead didn’t change Charlie Ray's opinion of his ex-wife’s lover.

“Hello, Charlie Ray.”

“Maia! It’s good to see you after so many years!  But you look as young as you did the day I... died.”  He frowned.  “I don’t know how that’s possible, but I’m so glad you survived the fire.  Are you a famous magician now?  You are, aren’t you?”

Maia wasn’t sure where to start with her own questions, so she answered Charlie Ray’s. 

“I guess I am pretty famous...” she began.

“I knew it!  I always knew you had the talent!”  Charlie Ray grinned.

“How did you know I’d be a famous magician, Charlie Ray?  We barely knew one another when we got married. How can you claim to have known this about me?”

“Well, I only meant...” 

“And what about all those other things you knew of my past, but didn’t tell me?”  Maia pressed. “What about my name that isn’t really mine? What about my dead parents who aren’t really dead? How do you know these things about me when I DON’T?” Maia didn’t mean to start crying, but she was so frustrated she couldn’t seem to help it.

Charlie Ray looked at her sadly. “Tell me what you do know, Maia, and everything that’s happened in the years since I’ve passed, and I promise I will tell you about the things I’ve kept from you.”

So Maia told him.  About how she had actually died in the fire that killed him.

About her deal with the reaper.

About Aashif and her children and Steve Cupp’s attempts on their lives, and all the information Steve had dug up about the things in her past she had never suspected.

“I’m sorry you’re hurting because I kept secrets from you, Maia, but I did it only to protect you.  Had there been no fire, I would've had the chance to tell you, and your life might've turned out differently,” he said.

“I wasn’t told everything,” he continued, “and that was intentional, since the less any of us knew, the better. But I’ll tell you what I know now, because it seems you’re in more danger not knowing the truth.”

And Charlie Ray told Maia:

“When I was younger, I was quite the adventurer.

“I became good friends of your biological parents, Chen and Hui Tao, when I met them during a trip to Shang Simla. They were good, kind people, and I enjoyed my visits with them immensely.

“What I remember best is how very much in love they were, and I hoped to have such a love for myself someday...

“You and your sisters were all very young then.

“Yes, Maia, you have sisters; six of them in fact.  You’re the oldest of the seven, and your name was Sying.

“It was a time of civil unrest; when those who were different, or spoke out against discrimination, like your parents, were persecuted. One night, there was a riot in the Forbidden City, and the home you lived in was set on fire.

 

“Tragedies of fire have followed your ancestors for centuries, not unlike your own life. Though the fire you died in at this mansion was an accident, the fire from your childhood home was not.  But you were pulled from that blaze and sent into hiding, as were your parents and siblings.

“Your folks and those protecting them knew they couldn't keep their escape from the fire a secret if you rejoined one another, not with seven daughters so close in age.  Such a distinctive family was sure to be easily discovered, and another arson attempt might end less fortuitously. 

“So, though it pained them to do so, your parents agreed to split their children up permanently, and you and your sisters were all given phony documents with different names and sent to different orphanages in different parts of the world, to be raised separately.  I don’t know for certain what happened with your sisters, since I never saw any of them again. I believe your parents may still be in hiding in Shang Simla, though I can’t be sure.

“As for my part in this, when we met at the Simfest, I recognized who you were right away.  I was overcome by the need to protect you, not just from the criminals in the bad part of town where you lived, but from any of those who might still be looking for you. That’s why I proposed marriage, even though I was, and still am, in love with my Madeleine. And it’s also why I was so angry about Finnegan flirting with you.

“I knew he was going to try and ruin my plan, which was to keep you as far away from the big venues as possible. I knew Finnegan would encourage you to fame so he could be famous by association, and celebrity status was something I was trying to prevent you from achieving, in order to better keep you hidden.

“Because of my death, my plan failed, and you were just too gifted to stay unknown for long. Or perhaps my plan would've failed even if I had lived.  After all, your talent as a magician is inherited, and it’s not based solely on sleight of hand like the other performers.  That is why it’s always come easy to you, and why you've done so well professionally.

“Your life as you've known it may seem like an illusion to you, filled with secrets as it is, but your magic is quite real.  Like your parents, and many of your ancestors before you... Maia, you're a witch."