Ready for a Scare? (11 page)

She stood shakily, holding the upholstered arm of the chair for support. She rested her phone on the cushioned seat. Then she walked to the television and stood directly before it. She raised her palm to the screen. It still felt warm. Ryan had been here not too long ago.

Upstairs. That was it. She sighed with relief. Ryan had probably gone upstairs to bed. She wanted to slap herself for being so silly.

“You okay?”

She turned toward him. Gavin had taken off his parka and was wearing the same T-shirt and jeans from earlier.

“I need to find my brother,” she murmured, not meeting his questioning gaze. She headed through the foyer. Gavin stayed behind for a minute, then followed.

She climbed the stairs methodically. She could hear Gavin climbing two steps behind but ignored him. She wanted to tell him to stay away, but she didn't want to be alone, either.

Midway up, she stopped when she smelled the peppermint. The odor came from behind her.

Her fingers danced nervously on the banister. Gavin had stopped climbing too. He waited one step below. What did the odor mean, coming from Gavin's direction? she wondered.

“Kelly, what's wrong?”

Was the odor linked to the spirit of Miss Mary? she wondered. Then would that make Gavin—?

“Do you feel okay?” His voice betrayed genuine concern.

“Do you smell that?” she blurted out. “The peppermint?”

For a moment, he looked confused. “You mean my gum? Is it bothering you? Do you want a piece?” He slid a slim foil pack out of his back jeans pocket and held it up to her.

Kelly flushed, feeling like a fool. She noticed now that he was chewing gum. Mint gum, obviously. “No. I'm good.” She continued up the last few stairs, refusing to look back at him.

At the landing, she turned left. Ryan's room was the first one. His door was closed. An old handwritten
KEEP OUT
sign from last summer was taped crookedly in the center.

She knocked. Twice.

Silence.

She pressed her face against the door. “Are you in there, Ryan?”

She waited.
Please,
she thought.
Please be in there.

“I'm coming in,” she warned.

She waited a moment, then pushed open the door.

The pain was immediate.

Sharp claws slashed through her sweatshirt, piercing the skin on her shoulders. She shrieked in agony. Her arms flailed frantically. She fought to release herself from the lethal grip.

And then she heard the high-pitched wail. A bone-chilling, inhuman sound like she'd never heard before.

Was this how it was going to end for her? Had June and Paige been attacked too, before disappearing? She squeezed her eyes closed.

“Get away! Get off her!” Gavin cried. His quick hands grabbed the creature, releasing her from its painful grip.

The creature hissed violently, struggling to free itself, yowling in protest. Turning, Kelly caught a glimpse of thrashing black fur, whiskers, and bared teeth.

Ezra.

T
he cat must be totally spooked,
Kelly thought.
Just like me.

Gavin tossed the thrashing cat into the hallway, where it darted away, ears flattened, tail held high.

She knew she should thank him, but try as she might, she couldn't force the words out. Instead she
gently rubbed her back where Ezra's claws had scratched. It throbbed slightly.

“There's some blood on your shirt. Not much. A few drops,” Gavin remarked.

“It's more the sting. His claws don't cause too much damage,” she said. “I've had it happen before.”

“Do you want to get some Band-Aids or something? Or wash it off?”

“In a minute,” she replied, suddenly remembering why she was in Ryan's room.

She lifted the light switch, and the answer was painfully obvious. Ryan wasn't here. He hadn't been here all day. The piles of clean, folded laundry his mother had set on his bed before rushing off to the airport remained undisturbed. His laptop was shut.

She swallowed hard. “If he's not here, where is he?” she cried.

“I don't know,” Gavin said.

She hadn't meant to say that aloud. It hadn't been her plan to confide in Gavin.

“Ryan's your
younger
brother, right?”

She nodded. “I just don't understand. Where is he? And Chrissie? They wouldn't just leave me here, alone,
unless something bad happened. Right? I mean, you don't think so, right?” She knew she was babbling, but for the moment it just felt good to have someone else there witnessing the craziness. She didn't care if it was Gavin.

“No. I don't think so,” he said carefully. He eyed her with concern again, and she wondered why he wasn't looking more concerned himself. True, it wasn't his family, but his friend was gone too. “I told you what I thought, though.”

She paused. “You think we did this—with the chanting and the spinning.”

“I do.”

“You think we brought her back. And then she . . . what?” Her voice sounded shrill even to her own ears, but she just needed him to say it—to say the outrageous things she'd been thinking.

“She was killed too young. Maybe it was an accident. Maybe it wasn't. Either way she was ticked off, you know? It wasn't fair.” Gavin blinked quickly for a few seconds. “I think she's after a little justice.”

“Justice?” she repeated sharply. “What's just about taking innocent people and . . . doing . . . well, I don't know what! Where
are
they?”

Gavin nervously blinked his eyes again. “I didn't say it made sense.”

She looked sideways at him. “And what about you? Why are you still here . . . with me?”

“No idea.” He reddened slightly, as if embarrassed. “It'll all be okay.”

“Okay? Okay? You think this is okay?” She could hear herself screaming. It felt as if she were watching herself from the other side of the room. As if this scared girl were no longer connected to her. She squeezed her eyes tightly and let the waves of fear run through her body. She felt Gavin's hand lightly pat her shoulder, but she quickly pushed it away. She didn't want him touching her.

She walked across the bedroom, over to Ryan's window. She needed some space. She had to figure out what to do. She peered out. Since she'd come inside, the pace of the snow had picked up. She watched the whiteness blanket the yard, concealing all their footprints. Soon there would be no evidence that she had been there.

She would call her parents. Her dad, this time. He'd be calm and logical. He'd tell her what to do.

She glanced up. Gavin had stepped into the hall, right outside the door. He hovered in the shadows.

She reached around blindly for her cell phone. Where was it? She realized she'd left it behind in the family room.

She pushed past Gavin. She needed to get her phone and call her dad. It felt good to have a plan. Her dad would fix this. Somehow.

Gavin trailed her to the stairs. The slapping of their feet on the wood echoed throughout the quiet house. She paused halfway down, and Gavin tumbled clumsily into her. He grabbed the banister to steady himself.

“What is it?” he demanded.

“Shhhh. Listen.”

They both stood silently.

Whispers. Whispered voices from down below.

Her hand gripped the banister so tightly her knuckles grew white. “Who is it?” she asked in a hushed tone.

He shrugged, leaning over to hear.

Faint whispers. In the house.

She took a tentative step. The stair beneath her creaked. She held her breath and stopped.

The voices had a rhythm. A hushed chanting. She listened hard but couldn't make out the words.

What were they chanting?

Then just as suddenly as they'd started, the whispered voices stopped.

She and Gavin waited, frozen. Silence overtook the house once again. The steady gusting of the wind was now the only background noise.

“I want to see,” she declared, fear now driving her determination. “I want to see who's speaking.” It suddenly seemed more important than anything to find the whispering voices. She scrambled down the stairs, no longer caring how much noise she made. Gavin followed at her heels. Rounding the front foyer, she headed back toward the kitchen and . . .

Everything plunged into total blackness.

Kelly gasped. Her heart thudded. She stood blindly, surrounded by crushing darkness.

“I think we lost the power,” Gavin said quietly.

She blinked, trying to adjust her eyes to the darkness. She could hear his shallow, raspy breaths. He was so very close. Her mind flashed back to his hands reaching for Spencer's neck. Squeezing tight. His vacant gaze and strange mutterings.

Would he try to strangle her, too? Here in the dark?

She had to get away. The darkness gave him the
perfect cover to try so many horrible things. She trembled at the thought. She took tiny steps forward, reaching out her arms in search of the wall. She found it and groped along its smooth surface. Slowly she inched her way into the kitchen. Gavin trailed steadily behind her.

Suddenly his hand grabbed her shoulder, and she jumped. “Turn this way,” he instructed.

“Don't touch me again,” she snapped. She took a giant step away from him. She needed to keep distance between them.

“Whatever,” he muttered.

I have to find a flashlight,
she thought. She edged her way around the room and bumped into her mother's desk. Tracing its contours with her fingers, she located the bottom drawer and pulled out the emergency flashlight her father kept inside. With a flick of the switch, she blasted a beam of light into Gavin's surprised face.

“Whoa!” He raised his arms in mock surrender.

The melody sounded before she could answer.

She stiffened, listening to the familiar notes. The same sinister eight notes, playing again and again.

Gavin furrowed his thick eyebrows. “Weird song. The same one we heard outside.”

She nodded, her eyes locating the phone in the middle of the kitchen counter. They watched the phone glow eerily in the darkness. It played the haunting ring-tone over and over.

The phone definitely hadn't been there minutes earlier, when they had come in from outside. She was sure of that.

“Is it yours?” Gavin asked, his eyes trained on the phone too.

She shook her head. “Chrissie's.” The phone continued to ring. A spine-tingling summons.

Together, they both stepped toward it, as if being drawn out of the depths of the ocean by a fisherman's line.

“Who's calling?” Kelly whispered. The phone pulsed with light, a tiny strobe in the blackness of the kitchen.

They bent over the counter and gazed at the illuminated caller ID screen. Neither dared touch the phone. “I don't know the number. Do you?” she asked warily.

“No.”

The foreboding melody played again.

“Should I answer it?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said, his eyes wide.

She wondered if she was making a huge mistake. She reached for the phone. “Hello?”

“Hello?” she repeated into the phone.

For a moment, all she could hear was static. Then a female voice asked shakily, “Who is this?”

Kelly hesitated. She didn't know what to say. Gavin leaned annoyingly close, blatantly curious. She turned slightly, facing the refrigerator, resting the flashlight on the counter. “It's Kelly. Who's this?”

“It's Paige.”

“Paige! Is it really you?” Kelly cried. An injection of relief spread through her veins.

“Yes. It is.”

“I am so, so happy. I've been searching everywhere for you!” The words flew from her mouth. “Wow! You're okay!”

“I'm sorry.”

“Sorry? Why are you sorry?” Kelly asked. She smiled at Gavin and mouthed, “It's Paige!”

He nodded.

“Paige. Paige?” Kelly said into the phone, when her friend didn't answer. “Are you okay? Where are you?”