A Strange There After (14 page)

“Nope.”

“It’s a good thing, right? Means they aren’t
stuck. They’re someplace better.”

I drew my knees to my chest and rested my
chin on them, nodding. “That’s what I tell myself.”

Boone gazed around. “I really love it here.
I’m such a huge history nut, especially the Civil War era and the
Gold Rush out west. Doing what I do, being able to see what I see,
it makes it hard to enjoy these amazing places. But, on the other
hand, it makes history come alive. I get to experience the past in
a way most people don’t. Given the chance, I wouldn’t get rid of my
ability. It’s who I am.”

“Me too, present situation excluded. It’s
hard to explore old places. They all want help, and it’s hard to
say no, but stories of war and tragedy aren’t just stories to me. I
guess I’ve slowly started to appreciate it. As long as I can
control which spirits I let in.”

“I went to Gettysburg, which was something I
looked forward to my entire life. I don’t think I’ll ever go back.
I didn’t prepare myself. The spirits of the dead soldiers followed
me everywhere, begging for news of their loved ones. I really
thought I was going to lose it.” He glanced at me. “What’s it like?
On that side?”

“I don’t feel much, physically. Emotionally,
it’s a different story. I’d cry constantly if I let myself, but I
hate crying. All I have is anger, and sometimes, it takes over.” I
told him about the glass and the images I’ve had of hurting
Catherine. “I know it’s not coming from me, but it’s really
tempting. I’m worried I’m being manipulated.”

“Manipulated how?”

I chewed on my lip, unsure how much I should
share about what the man showed me. “The man says he can help. Lets
me see what I’ve got to lose, how things can be when I get my life
back. I’m afraid to ask what he wants in return, but his promises
have a way of sticking with me.”

“Keep in mind he approached Catherine the
same way.”

“I know. I never want to be her.” I pinned
him with an earnest stare. “But I can’t stay like this
forever.”

“I won’t let that happen. This situation is
so different than anything I’ve come across,” he said. “We need to
find out what exactly happened when she died, what this deal was.
I’m sure once you know the details it won’t be as enticing.”

“I hope not. Actually, Jackson mentioned
Catherine being fascinated with the slaves and their religions,
like voodoo. Can it be possible she reached out to some kind of god
when she died? Or it’s a huge coincidence and I’m grasping at
straws.”

“Voodoo gets a bad rep. It’s not all about
sticking dolls with pins and black magic. But there are some nasty
spirits associated with it. We should find someone who knows more
about how the religion works. I’ll look into it tomorrow.”

We passed a few minutes in silence, listening
to the sounds of crickets and watching fireflies dance around the
trunks of trees. Something about Boone comforted me. Unfortunately.
I still thought he was an ass, but I’d gained a mediocre of respect
for him tonight. I didn’t like him, regardless of our recent
bonding. No, to be honest, I didn’t
want
to like him, and
letting him in meant trust. I wasn’t sure I trusted him. I half
expected to find a video of me on the internet some day. But, who
else did I have to talk to?

“Why are you so confrontational in your
videos?”

He flashed me an unsure smile, a streetlight
reflecting in his glasses. “Why not?”

“It’s disrespectful?”

“Come on, it’s not as if I go into abandoned
orphanages and try to provoke child spirits. I’m not that
insensitive. I only do it when there have been reports of
aggressive spirit activity.”

“So you get a more dramatic reaction.”

“I’m not saying it’s the best way to go about
it.” Boone shrugged one shoulder. “But it gets results.”

“You should try it at my house.”

“No way. I’ve seen the movie
Poltergeist
, and I’ve witnessed what happens at your house.
I’m not getting eaten by a tree.” He laughed, plucking a blade of
grass and fidgeting with it.

I joined him, for a bit. Then, the reality of
what I had to confront sobered me.

“I’m scared to go home.”

“I’ll come with you. Not sure what I can do,
exactly, but I am great at moral support.”

He pushed to his feet and brushed off his
dark jeans. He bent and held out a hand, until he realized the
absurdity of the gesture.

“It’s so weird. I keep forgetting you’re not
real.”

I stood and grinned. “I’ll take that as a
compliment, I guess.”

Chapter
Fifteen

With each step I took closer to home, the
knots in my stomach worsened. I expected Catherine and the dark duo
to be waiting for me. While the man hadn’t threatened me yet, I
knew he worked with Catherine for years. He was dangerous, and my
actions might have ticked him off, pushing him from wanting to help
straight into deciding I was too much trouble. Going to bed without
dinner wouldn’t be a fitting punishment. Not after what I did.
Worrying about my well being was one thing, worrying about Boone’s
another. I didn’t want anyone else harmed because of me, not even
an egotistical maniac like Boone, but I couldn’t force myself to
tell him to leave.

Glancing up, I noticed Catherine standing out
on the sidewalk, still wearing her dress and studying the house. It
was one of the rare nights the paparazzi weren’t hanging around,
waiting to catch a glimpse of the new ‘it’ couple. The wrap party
probably had them all distracted.

Sensing my presence she turned to me with a
calculating gaze, ignoring the man at my side. “How much do you
think I can sell this place for?”

Despite the stab of nausea hitting me, I kept
my tone level. “Not gonna work. You’re just trying to get revenge
for what I did tonight. If you do sell, I’ll just follow you
anyway. Make any life you try and live miserable.”

She didn’t have a chance to react. Someone
walked up beside us. Abby, wearing a black sundress and carrying
her faithful pack. She cradled her broken arm and squinted at the
imposter.

“Nice dress...Catherine.”

After paling in reaction, Catherine bolted
inside, followed more leisurely by me, Boone and Abby. I grinned at
my friend’s back, relieved she was here, too. The girl knew how to
make an entrance. I was desperate to find out what she’d been up
to, but there were bigger concerns at the moment.

Boone smirked. “You’re going to have to give
me note cards so I can keep up with all the malicious spirits in
your life. Have you always attracted such negativity?”

“You’re here, aren’t you?”

Boone peered at Abby. “Your friend is
mean.”

“I’m sure you started it,” she replied.

“I repeat, mean. Both of you.”

By the time we entered the kitchen Catherine
had recovered and paced the tiled floor. Bewilderment spread across
her face, and she finally regarded Abby with a mixed expression of
confusion and concern. “Why did you call me Catherine earlier?”

Tucking away a groan at her trying to play
dumb, I leaned against the counter and prepared to take in the
spectacle of Abby confronting Catherine, then hopefully, Jason.
Tonight, everything would change. It had to.

“Why do you think?” My friend adapted a
stance similar to mine, propping her injured arm against the
island. Boone lingered near the fridge, his dark eyes taking in
every detail. I was glad to have him here to observe this on a
different level and offer up some fresh perspective.

She glanced to Boone. “What is your
name?”

“Boone, nice to meet you, Catherine.” He
smirked as her cheeks reddened.

“Why does everyone keep calling me that?
She’s gone!”

I chuckled to myself, amazed she was actually
attempting to prolong the ruse. Abby picked up on it, too. Her
laugh rang out.

“Please, it’s not going to work. Where’s
Quinn?”

The pretender snapped her brows together,
feigning surprise. “I’m right here. Are you okay? Do they have you
on pain pills for your arm?”

Abby ignored her, opening her pack and
pulling out the digital voice recorder I’d talked into on my first
visit to her. Without ceremony, she simply pushed, ‘play’. A couple
seconds later, a watered down version of my plea spilled out,
fading in and out, popping with bursts of static. I smiled proudly
at being able to produce a class A EVP.

Catherine didn’t give up. “Who do you think
it is?”

“This,” she waved the recorder in front of
Catherine, “is my best friend, Quinn. It all makes sense. She was
too excited about college to put it off, as you obviously have, and
she’d never pass up an investigation or leave me to rot in the
hospital. Quinn certainly wouldn’t pay for what appears to be a
very expensive blow out. Besides, he can see her.” She jerked her
thumb in Boone’s direction.

I studied Catherine’s hair closer. Abby was
right. It wasn’t just a color change. The strands shone in a way I
never figured out how to accomplish.

“Plus, you’re wearing lip gloss.”

All pretenses vanished off of Catherine’s
face, and a smirk appeared. “Well, aren’t you the little
sleuth.”

Abby advanced on her, stopping only inches
away. “What did you do to Quinn?”

“Oh, she’s here somewhere. Pity she has more
friends as a spirit than she ever did alive.”

“That’s not what I asked,” Abby ground
out.

“You might as well tell us,” I added, hopping
up to sit on the counter.

My friend jerked, startled, and glanced in my
direction. “I saw something move out of the corner of my eye.
That’s you, right, Quinn?”

“Yes, it’s her. She is quite annoying,”
Catherine huffed out.

Abby spun on her so fast Catherine had to
take a step back. “Just because you’re in Quinn’s body, don’t
assume I won’t slap you, you psychotic wench.”

“My, my, I’m so scared.” Catherine laughed, a
tinkling sound that grated on my nerves. “What’s done is done. No
point in getting worked up.”

“You at least owe me an explanation,” I
ordered.

“She’s got a point,” Boone said, helping
himself to a bottle of water from the fridge. “It’ll be better for
you to simply cooperate.”

She turned her gaze on me. “Why do I owe you
anything?”

“Is that Quinn? Are you talking to her? What
does she say?” This came from Abby, who stared in my general
direction with wide eyes. Boone motioned to her and pointed to his
ears. She grinned and plugged ear buds into her recorder, like she
had the other day to hear our conversation.

“You took everything from me, the same way
your parents and William did. It only seems fair you give me a
reason.”

Her nose wrinkled. “There is nothing similar
about our situations. I saw what I wanted, and I took it.”

“But how?” Abby asked. “A normal ghost
doesn’t have the power to oust someone from their body.”

“I had help.” Catherine lifted a shoulder,
trying to convey indifference, but I saw through it. As bad as she
was, with all the terrible things she’d done, some of her actions
still shamed her. Obviously, not enough to do anything about
reversing it.

“By making a deal with whatever is on the
property?” I asked as Abby posed her own question.

“From what?”

“Something evil, from the feel of it,” Boone
added.

Catherine’s gaze shifted, concentrating on
the tile beneath her feet. Uneasiness spread through my chest, and
I wasn’t sure if it came from myself or from the odd connection we
seemed to share.

“Tell them what you did.”

Spinning toward the new voice, I spotted
Jackson standing near the rear staircase and slid from my perch to
shift in Abby’s direction. Normally, being in the same room as
these two, things tended to get a little violent.

“It’s none of their business!” she
screeched.

“Who are you talking to now?”

I sensed Abby’s frustration. She was the only
one here not able to see who belonged to the voices in her
recorder.

Boone sidled next to her. “Some guy in a
confederate soldier uniform.”

“A pathetic man who can’t let go,” Catherine
added.

“What happened to you?” Jackson said with a
soft sigh.

This ticked Catherine off. Her eyes flared,
and her body went rigid. “None of you can begin to understand what
it feels like to be tossed in the river, alive. Or to be sold off
to the highest bidder, all in an attempt to keep the beloved family
business running.” She turned to Jackson, her voice shrill. “If you
had loved me as much as you professed, you would have saved me. You
would have left that damn war to be with me.”

My heart broke watching Jackson’s face fall.
His jaw clenched, and grief flashed across his expression. In the
next moment, he vanished.

“That’s unfair. He couldn’t desert his fellow
soldiers, just for you,” I mumbled.

“These same arguments are getting old,” Abby
added. “And I haven’t had near as much interaction with you as
Quinn has. You have to stop blaming your family for the terrible
decisions you made. Get over it.”

I squealed in alarm as Catherine’s arm shot
out, fingers seizing Abby’s neck. She tilted her head as she
watched the other girl gasping for air.

“Don’t ever speak to me about my family,”
Catherine warned.

Rage burst inside, and I pulled every ounce
of energy I could from the air around me. Then I attacked, brushing
past Boone who was already reacting. Part of me expected to be
helpless, but my palms connected with Catherine’s chest. With a
simple push, she flew backward and slammed into the pantry door. I
studied my hands in shock, torn between satisfaction and horror at
how the anger pulsed along my skin. It came quicker today than it
had before in the laundry room.