Above the Vaulted Sky - Page 174

                'Find out who is watching them. If they're living or dead. Either way they'll be scared away in an appropriate fashion. No one, least of all your parents will come to any harm. Which reminds me,' she raises her finger. 'You caused a stir in New York, the pair of you. We had a close call.'

                She refers to our appearance on television. I wonder have my parents seen it yet, made any sort of move to find me.

                'I wouldn't worry about it,' she says. 'Stories about ghosts and spirits rarely have a repeat performance in mass media. They get sent to back corners of that dratted internet. A word to the wise though,' she looks each of us in the face. 'Halogen light is a spirit's worst enemy. The same as infrared, ultraviolet or any harsh lighting from the ends of the spectrum. We can appear, scare and our world is revealed to the living. That isn't something we want at the present moment.'

                'And what do you want?' I ask.

                'Answers concerning the universe,' Thacker explains. 'My life's work finally complete. The Great Beyond,' she says and pauses, 'lies just out of our reach. Understanding it, reaching it, and above all having the ability to cross there and return safely.'

                'What is the Great Beyond?' asks Yates, desperation creeping into his voice.