Kris- Thanks for reviewing! I hope this chapter clears up some of the confusion. Since a lot of this is based on my dream, I decided to expand the background a bit. The culture and the period is based on current Philippines, but keep in mind, this is NOT our world.:)

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Part One of the Mul’Tou Tales: A Ghost Story

Chapter Two

“What happened?” Tina asked. My mother took one look at my sister and with a low cry hugged her. Cari, being in the no-touchy stage, squirmed in response. Connor started grinning.

“Finally!” Tina exclaimed. “Now that all of us have it, there’s no use hiding it!”

“Have what?” I asked. I was growing more irritated by the minute.

“You mean, you don’t—?”

“Martina...” Dad warned. Tina fell silent.

I looked at the faces of my family. Each of them had that slightly discernable glowing light. I was so confused and even a little angry; obviously, something was going on, something that didn’t include me.

That hurt.

Dad bade Cari and me to sit down on a sofa across him. The words he spoke next completely blew me away.

“Cari, Lisa...What I’m about to tell you might—no, would—be difficult to believe. There will be things that you might never fully understand.”

“Just tell us already!” Apprehension made my sister’s short patience even shorter.

“We are ghost hunters.”

What?

Dad explained our esoteric lineage as we sat, dumbfounded. There were such things as ghosts and goblins; Mul’tou weren’t simply bedtime stories. They were real, terrifying monsters that had almost destroyed the living world...

Until the Binders came.

No one really knew how or why the Binders were made. The oldest, mustiest books on the subject were incomprehensible. All that we knew was that through some kind of battle royale, the Binders vanquished the Mul’tou. Then the powers the originals possessed were passed on to the succeeding generations.

The Binders were humans endowed with to power to send the Mul’tou, those twisted souls, into the next plane of existence. They could converse with the dead and touch them; their human flesh could meet with decay. Those families that were invested with this power were duty-bound to keep the world safe from Mul’tou.

“So, you’re saying that we’re somehow related to these superheroes?” I asked. Dad looked pained.

“This is not one of your comic books or TV shows,” he said. I nodded sheepishly. He continued, “This is something our family is charged with.”

“But didn’t they kill all the Mul’tou already?” Cari asked. She sat on the couch with her elbows propped up on its arm, a look of superficial boredom on her face. However, I knew that inside, she was ecstatic that she had these ‘superpowers’...I knew, because I would have felt the same. The green-eyed monster reared its ugly head. Why didn’t I have? As Connor explained the current situation, I looked around the den in jealousy.

Trophy, wine, encyclopedia set, trophy, wine...wait. There was something on top of one of Dad’smanygolf trophies. As I stared at it, it grew brighter and brighter. I glanced around me—no reaction. Why didn’t anyone else notice it?

Idiot. I should’ve learned from the movies; one does not touch suspicious shiny objects.

So I touched it, and all colors bled away to reveal utter white. Then I saw a room that reminded me of those thick oil paintings of the colonial era. Beside the capiz shell window sat a lady in a saya of crimson, asvelte caramel beauty. There was something frightening about this beautiful woman, a malevolence that seemed to hover around her.

She moved, and her butterfly sleeves parted from her body to reveal a deeper, darker color which dripped down to the narra floor. I followed her faze, almost unwillingly, to the canopied bed. There on the covers lay a man, spread-eagled, with a too-wide grin on his face. The humidity in the room gradually increased, and shut windows prevented a putrid smell from escaping. The woman unfolded her fan. As she beat it against her face, the lady smiled dreamily. An unholy light came to her eyes, and from her red, red lips I heard the laughter of my nightmare...

“Lisa! Wake up!” I opened my eyes and saw Connor sitting on the edge of the sofa. He gave a relieved sort of smile. “Thank God. When you started shivering and rolling your eyes up like that, we feared the worst.”

The worst...I sat up and touched my cheek. It was wet; I had cried again. I looked around; Mom was speaking rapidly into the phone, talking in a foreign language and gesturing wildly; Tina was clicking away on the computer, with a focused expression on her face. Dad sat beside Cari, comforting her—it wasa nasty shock seeing your older sister supernaturally convulsing on the floor.

Still dazed, I thought that she should be glad that she wasn’t at the receiving end of the vision. It took me awhile to realize that my brother was still speaking.

“-And at first we saw nothing supernatural in the room. But as soon as you reached inside Dad’s golf trophy, it appeared. We were lucky to pry it off your hands.” He pointed towards a wooden object.

I blinked; it was enclosed by a purple light. Symbols skittered across the half-sphere, in writing that was vaguely familiar and almost comprehensible. I wondered if the enchantment was a containment shield. My intuition—and years of reading sci-fi and fantasy novels—told me it was. I bent forward and peered closely at the object.

It...It was part of a fan; a wooden slat, with starchy black lace still clinging to the yellowed fabric.

Mom hung up the phone. “Nothing,” she said, “They don’t know anything about bewitched fans.”

Tina said she couldn’t find anything either on the internet. If only we could find out who owned it, she said. Cari, face ashen, said nothing.

“Dad, I don’t like the sound of this,” Connor faced our father. Gone was his slacker-video-gaming exterior, replaced by a commanding presence. My brother’s transformation startled me; later, I found out how much of a leader he really was.

“The stray dogs and the other animals are behaving oddly. More and more people are gaining Binder powers,” Connor nodded at Cari, “and now this. It’s very disturbing. Then there’s Jay’s disappearance.”

“JAY?” I squawked. Just how many surprises can a person have in a day? My cousin was missing? And then something clicked in my head—Forsythe residence, of course. “I’m an idiot. He’s Julius D, isn’t he?”

How denser could I possibly get? They nodded; I groaned. I had another flash of too-late insight, and I groaned again. “He’s one of you, isn’t he?”

Observant, I wasn’t.

“He was supposed to be investigating the cause of the animal’s behavior,” Dad explained. “The night of his disappearance, he called to say that there was a breakthrough.”

I remembered; last Friday was Pig-out-and-watch-DVDs Day. We were in the middle of ‘The Starkiller Saga: Hope Born’, when Jay showed up in our house. He was breathing hard, his face dotted with sweat. Back then I thought he was just coming home from basketball practice. He went straight to Dad without even saying hello, and talked in a low, urgent voice. After a while I turned to watch the movie and stopped paying attention to them; eavesdropping would have been too obvious. When he was done saying whatever he had to say Jay raced out the door, yelling that a final check to his house will confirm everything.

“Your Tita was the last one who saw him,” Dad informed Cari. What? I cleared my throat. “No, Dad, he was here—remember? He walked in when Luc met the princess Alaia.”

Looking at their blank faces, I sighed and told them what I remembered about last Friday. There was still no recognition. I glanced to the left and saw that the purple shield was gone. Without thinking I picked up an empty container, covered the fan slat, and placed my hand on top of the box.

“Honey, what are you do...” Mom’s eyes widened, as did everyone else’s. “Of course!” she exclaimed. “Now I remember! How could I have forgotten?” The others said similar things. When Tina asked how I knew what to do, I shook my head and shrugged.

“Two more questions,” my brother mused, “Who is powerful enough to make this many Binders forget an event? Why did the person want us to forget Jay? And, what made you do that...What exactly are you?”

The last bit was directed at me. A part of me dimly noted that there were four questions, not two.

I was beginning to get fuzzy. The aura—if that was the word to describe it—was slowly seeping through the box, and I was starting to see spots of black. But something told me that if I lifted my hand, if my flesh ceased contact, then my family would forget again. Without losing my hold on the box, I opened the drawer and took out a needle. Carefully I pricked my finger, and winced as the blood dripped down to the box. I withdrew my hand, and turned to face my gaping family.

“What?” I asked. They simply stared. Mom and Dad shared their what-shall-we-do-with-our-kids look. Cari opened her mouth to speak, but Dad cut her off. He looked at me for one long moment, and then—

“You’re not my daughter, are you?” he asked.

“No,” was the soft reply. I heard Mom’s quick intake of breath. But it wasn’t me...someone was using my mouth to speak. Within myself I felt her laying a hand on my shoulder. It made me feel safer, somehow. I watched through my eyes as she talked to my family. “Do not fear for your daughter; I have not harmed her. But ask your questions quickly, for time grows short.”

“Why is my daughter different from other Binders?”

“That, you shall discover in time. Let us just say now that her abilities are amplified.”

“Why were we made to forget Julian?”

“Because your nephew was close to learning the truth. She has encountered you Binders before, and a concerted effort to thwart her plans would have succeeded had you known her intents.”

“She...?”

“Maria Matanza; a Mul’tou of incomprehensible power. She was the daughter of the alferez and his native wife, Pia Digmaan.” Mom gasped; Digmaan was her maiden name. My voice continued, “Maria Matanza was mad; she liked her lovers deceased.”

Gross. Too much information, woman-inside-me. It startled me to realize how at ease I was at someone usurping my body. I would have thought about this more, but she went on, and I paused to listen to the sound of my voice. “After her death she became a powerful Mul’tou, mainly because of her Binder heritage.”

“I think I’ve heard of her,” Connor mused. Then his brows furrowed in sudden realization. “Wasn’t she Bound already?”

“Another of your kind has loosed her chains,” my mouth replied. Then my voice grew urgent. “You must make haste! Ask quickly.”

“What is her intent?” Connor asked. My body turned to face him.

“She desires to be free from the Binder’s thrall, and become corporeal again. To do that, she believes she must drain the blood of a newly-made Binder of the fullest moon.” My finger pointed at Cari, who looked like she couldn’t believe this was happening. I can’t say I didn’t feel the same way.

“In two days hence, she will accept the powers inherited at birth. Mark my words, protect her! Else all would be too late,” the woman whispered.

Then she was gone.

I massaged my throat. “Hi, me again,” I said. I winced. “Can I get a glass of water?”

When I went back to the den, Dad was in a pensive mood. He said aloud the same questions I’ve been having. “What was Julius doing that was close to the truth? And who is the renegade Binder?” He gave me a sidelong look. “It seems that we were given more questions than answers.”

“Jay said that he was going to check his house,” I recalled. I looked at Mom. “Is that important?”

My mother shook her head. “I have no idea,” she said. “That house has been in our family for years.”

“Wait!” my sister spoke. “The other person—whoever was speaking through Ate—said that Matanza was a Digmaan. Do you think that has anything to do with it?”

Mom shook her head again, but Connor nodded. “Like I said awhile ago, I’ve heard that name before. Casey researched on all of the crazy Binders in history,” he named one of my many cousins, “and Maria ‘Bloodbath’ intrigued her the most. If my hunch is correct...Dad, can I call her?”

Dad agreed, and Connor punched in the numbers. A crisp, cool voice came over the speaker phone. “You have reached the home of Cassandra Kimball, art dealer. I am not available right now, so please leave a message at the sound of the beep—”

“Casey. I know that you’re there. Your online status is still blinking,” Connor cut in. I stole a glance at the computer; he was right.

After a pause, her real voice came on. “Cripes, Connor,” she complained, “Don’t you know what time it is here? It’s nearly three a.m.!”

Tina frowned. “But you weren’t asleep anyway,” she pointed out.

On the speaker I heard my twenty-something cousin laugh. “Tina? I suppose you have me there, old girl. Just how many people am I talking to, now?” We all said ‘hi’. She said ‘marvelous’.

“So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?” Dad explained the situation.

“Oh, dear...that certainly is distressing news. Let’s see; Maria Matanza—quite a crazy, that one. Hang on; I’ll check my database...” I heard the tap-tap of her keyboard. “Well, Connor’s hunch was correct. The Digmaan residence was, in fact, her humble abode. From what I heard tell, her last lover was a necromage. He killed her before she got the chance to kill him. Of course, he made her into a Mul’tou...and the first thing she did was feed on his living flesh. Smashing couple, aren’t they? Rampant mayhem and many macabre deaths were caused before we finally Bound her.

“Her remains are missing. The house was searched top and low, but her body was never found. A few decades later, the place was deemed fit for rehabitation. And eventually, everyone forgot the story of the loon who became a dangerous specter.” Her constant tapping stopped. “Bugger. There’s nothing else.”

“Thank you for your help, Casey,” Mom said. My brother chimed in.

“Yeah, thanks. You can go back to chatting with your guru boyfriend.” Connor pushed the off button before she could retaliate.

“She’s going to get you for that,” Tina warned. Brother Dear shrugged.

“So what do we do now?” I asked my parents. They looked at each other.

“We’ll arrange for Cari’s Passage—the Binder rite—to have the highest number of our kind in attendance,” Dad said finally. “If need be, we’ll arrange to have every Binder in this country come. But in the meantime, it’s best if Cari stays here. You’ll have to be absent for a few days.” Then he looked at the clock. “It’s past ten-thirty. Go to sleep, guys.”

We kissed our parents goodnight and made our ways to our own bedrooms. Cari chose to sleep with our parents. When I reached my bedroom, I took a quick shower and put on a nightgown. After brushing my teeth, I turned off the lights and buried myself beneath the blankets.

It was so silent. The only sound was the whirring of the electric fan. Light from the hall shone through a glass pane, casting a yellowish tint on my books. I heard Dad walking up the stairs—a click, and the light was gone. Only moonbeams and light from distant hotels filtered down the left window. It was a perfectly calm night.

Then the rocking chair started moving.

I could only stare as it rocked back and forth. Fear locked me in place as icy gusts traveled around my room—there were no winds outside, and my windows were shut. Fear kept me from acting as I watched the blinds directly across my bed slowly being raised. Fear silenced my voice as I saw her outside my window.

She was...she was beautiful. Her features were as I remembered them, a strange blend of aquiline nose, pouting lips and slightly slanting eyes. She was also devoid of color, save for her glowing ocean stare.

From my bed I could see her mouth moving. ‘Won’t you let me in, little girl?’ I couldn’t speak.

‘No matter. Your Binder wards are not enough to stop me.’ She glided inside. I wanted to scream, to run, to do anything that would alert the house. But I was too paralyzed by terror. She drifted closer. ‘You and I, we are the same,’ the ghost of Maria Matanza whispered. She smiled, and somehow, she was even more frightening.

‘I can show you true power. Join me...just give me you sister.’ A gruesome image of her devouring Cari flooded my mind, making me forget my fear.

“Are you insane?” I scoffed. Then I remembered who I was talking to, and paled. Yes, she definitely was.

The Mul’tou scowled and reached for me. I closed my eyes and prepared for the worst. I heard her scream, and I opened my eyes to see her hand smoking. With a howl, she flew through the window.

I ran down the hall all the way to my parent’s bedroom, and pounded desperately on the door. When Dad opened it, he found me shaking.

“Can I sleep here tonight?” I asked.

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We found out why Lisa hasn't had her powers yet--at least, partly why has this Maria Matanza surfaced from the undead?

Please review. I would greatly appreciate it.

tbc...