The Grey Girl (18 page)

There was a light in the far corridor dimly aglow as I pushed open the heavy front door of Dudley Hall. I could hear soft whispers coming from the dining room and drawing room as I walked past them. I'd almost forgotten that the house was full of murder mystery guests – young adults dressed up in school uniforms thinking it was brilliantly exciting that a schoolgirl had been murdered.

Walking towards the kitchen, I paused next to the telephone in the hallway. Something made me reach into my back pocket and pull out the scrap of paper with Nate's number on it. I picked up the telephone and began to dial. With every ring that passed I held my breath, waiting for him to answer. Eventually the phone beeped onto voicemail.

‘Nate,' I said quietly into the receiver. ‘I'm so sorry about everything. When you get this … I just want you to know that I'm sorry.' I put down the phone and stared at it for a long moment, wondering when he'd ever listen to the message and whether he'd believe me – I really was so sorry.

The shoe box still in my hands, I walked towards the faint light coming from the kitchen at the end of the dark corridor.

Nell was sitting alone at the kitchen table, her tarot cards fanned out in front of her. The kitchen blinds were closed, barricading the daylight out, and the room was filled with candles, flickering away in the darkness. In one hand Nell twirled the shadow puppet that I'd taken from her house a few days before.

‘Did you find what you were looking for?' she asked, without looking up at me. I looked down guiltily at the shoe box in my hands, the box that contained only more riddles about who the grey girl was and why she died. Nell didn't sound angry, only tired. Maybe she felt like me, maybe she just wanted it to all be over.

‘Your mother knew her, didn't she?' I asked, coming towards the kitchen table.

Nell continued to study the cards laid out in front of her, the shadow puppet whirling around between her fingers and casting blurred shadows onto the kitchen walls.

‘I have no idea who my mother knew, or what she knew,' Nell said softly. ‘Sit down,' she told me. I pulled back one of the kitchen chairs and placed the shoe box on the table as I sat down. Nell's eyes briefly flicked up to look at the shoe box before settling back down to the cards on the table once again. ‘My mother refused to speak about her time as a schoolgirl here.'

‘I know,' I admitted, one hand resting on the shoe box, as if it gave me some kind of comfort. ‘Fiona told me.'

‘And did my sister tell you how we used to come here as children?' Nell asked, finally looking up at me. The soft candlelight sparkled in her eyes. ‘How we used to explore the house when it was nothing but a ruin. It looked nothing like it does now.'

‘She told me that you heard the grey girl crying up in the attic. When you went to see if you could find her you ran away. You found that on the stairs,' I said, pointing to the shadow puppet in her hands.

Nell nodded. ‘Fiona swears she saw her that day. Says she stood on the landing looking down on us as clear as any living girl might do. But I've never seen her. I come here every day and she's never once appeared to me. Me with all my crystal balls and tarot cards, you'd think I'd be an easy target for a restless spirit.'

‘Why did you come back to Dudley Hall to work if you knew it was haunted?'

Nell gave me an exaggerated shrug and looked down at her cards. ‘The cards told me that this was where I needed to be. The cards never lie. I came here thinking that I would be the one to help her move on, but she's never appeared to me.'

‘If you want to see her then why do you never go upstairs?' I asked.

‘I don't want to see her. I've seen what happened to my mother and sister – they were both driven mad by her in some way. I don't want to see her, but I know that somehow I have a part to play. I don't need to seek her out to know that. I've told you before, Suzy, the ghosts you chase you never catch.'

‘Did you ever tell your mother what happened that day?' I asked. ‘When Fiona saw the grey girl, when she gave you the shadow puppet?'

Nell shook her head solemnly. ‘My mother would have skinned us alive if she knew we were coming here. This place haunted her – she carried the weight of Dudley Hall around with her all her life. Living in the house's shadow ate away at my mother like a cancer, it killed her, but she couldn't bring herself to move away or confront whatever it was that troubled her.'

‘Your mother knew her,' I said, lifting the lid from the shoe box. ‘She knew the grey girl when she was alive.' I pulled out the picture of the grey girl, the one where she stood with another girl, both holding shadow puppets.

‘That was my mother as a girl,' Nell said, taking the picture from me. ‘But I don't know who this other girl is and why her spirit would haunt Dudley Hall.'

‘We need to find out,' I said, my voice as soft as a whisper. ‘We need to find a way to make her go.'

‘And how do you suppose we do that?' Nell lifted her eyebrow.

Holding her gaze, I reached towards the cards spread on the table and swept them into a pile. I picked up the pile from the table and shuffled it in my hands. I spread the cards out in front of me, face down, as I'd watched Nell do before. Looking down at the cards, I waited for the ones I needed to leap out at me. I repeated my question to the cards in my head:
Will she ever move on?
Slowly, my fingers moved towards one in the centre of the deck. I pulled it out and turned it over.

‘Death,' I whispered, looking down on the card. ‘Can't be good.'

‘Death is as much a part of life as living is,' Nell said gently. ‘
All that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity.
'

‘But some things don't pass to eternity. Some things are trapped here.'

Nell nodded steadily. ‘Pull out another card.'

I pulled out a second card, a card that seemed to glow brighter than the others in the flickering candlelight.

The five of wands.

Finally, I pulled out a third card and turned it over in front of me.

The four of swords.

‘I want you to read the cards,' I told her. ‘I need to know.'

Nell nodded her head in understanding. ‘This card here,' she pointed to Death, ‘this represents the past.'

‘Her past,' I said quietly.

‘The Death card represents the end of something. The end of life, the end of friendship, the end of sorrow or of happiness. And this card, the Five of Wands, the card that represents her present, is the card in the deck that means Conflict. She suffers great conflict now. Torn between one world and the next, between her desire for revenge and her need for peace. And this last card, the Four of Swords, the card for her future, represents Truce. She is ready to let go, Suzy. She is ready to leave.'

‘What do I need to do?'

‘You need to summon her again. She's so close to giving up her secrets. She wants to rest, Suzy. She's tired. She's been angry with this world for too long. She's ready to let go.'

‘Suzy,' came a familiar voice from behind me.

I turned around to see Frankie standing in the doorway. My best friend was back in Dudley Hall. I blinked at her, feeling too confused to say or do anything.

Frankie ran towards me, worry etched on her face as she pulled me out of my chair and flung her arms around me. ‘You're okay?' she asked breathily in my ear. ‘I thought … when I saw that email from you … I thought you were going to do something stupid. I came straight here.'

Frankie pulled away and I smiled at her. She really was amazing, the best friend I could have ever asked for. Someone who would drop everything and travel any distance just to see that I was okay.

‘What are you doing?' she asked, looking down at the tarot cards spread out on the table.

‘We need to banish the grey girl,' I said. ‘And we need to do it tonight.'

Frankie nodded in understanding. ‘I'll help in any way I can.'

‘Let's do this now,' Nell said slowly. ‘The sooner it's all over the sooner we can all move on.'

‘What do we need to do?' Frankie asked, her eyes resolute. I've always loved that about Frankie, the way her eyes land on something so steadily, the way she's so dependable.

‘We need to carry all these candles upstairs and put them around the attic room. That's where her presence seems to be strongest, so that's where this needs to be done. And we'll need chalk. Suzy,' Nell looked at me, ‘there's some in the library, in a small box by the window. The guests sometimes use it to draw around the dead bodies.'

At that moment Katie walked into the kitchen, a tray of empty wine bottles in her hands. She smiled nervously at Nell, whose face was a mask of dread and worry. Katie's gaze moved around the candle-lit room. ‘Candles and tarot cards are for the guests,' she muttered, walking over to the counter and putting the tray of empty bottles down. ‘What's going on in here?'

‘We're going up into the attic,' Nell replied slowly.

Katie's shoulders tensed. ‘Why? You know we're not meant to …'

‘There's something up there,' I said quickly. ‘I know you've heard it, Katie. It's not just the wind.'

Katie nodded her head slowly, her fair hair shimmering in the candlelight. ‘I've heard the stories about what's up there. I don't believe them.'

‘Then you won't mind helping us,' Nell said briskly, walking towards the nearest candle and blowing it out.

Katie hesitated. ‘The guests …'

‘Can look after themselves for a while,' Nell finished. ‘We need your help up there.'

‘Very well,' Katie said unconvincingly. ‘What do you need me to do?'

‘Help me take the candles upstairs,' Nell said to Katie, walking towards the next candle and snuffing it out. Frankie and I watched as Nell and Katie worked to gather up all the candles scattered around the kitchen.

‘I'll come with you to find the chalk,' Frankie said to me, slipping her hand into mine and squeezing my fingers.

Frankie and I walked towards the library, still hand in hand. There were no guests in there – but we could hear their voices ringing out from the other rooms in the house. It was dark when we walked into the library. I flipped the switch on the wall and bright light flooded the room. ‘Wow,' Frankie gasped, looking around. ‘This place is amazing. If I were you I'd never want to leave.' She looked over at me and gave me a small smile. ‘Once the house is free of ghosts, of course.'

‘Is anywhere ever free of ghosts?' I asked, letting go of her hand and walking towards the window.

‘Maybe it's not places that are haunted,' Frankie said thoughtfully, following after me. ‘Maybe it's people.'

‘Who would the grey girl be haunting?' I asked. Answers to my own question buzzed around my head. The grey girl could have been haunting Nate's grandmother, she could have been haunting her daughters – Nell and Fiona. She could have been haunting anyone who stepped foot in the house that she died in. She could have been haunting me. ‘We need to put her to rest,' I said.

‘Tonight,' Frankie nodded. ‘We put her to rest tonight.'

Suddenly the sound of Nate's motorbike tyres on the gravel driveway outside tore my attention from my best friend. I looked out of the window to see him pulling off his helmet in a rush and taking long strides towards the house. I ran through the library, into the grand hallway and watched as the front door to Dudley Hall swung open.

‘You know who she is, don't you?' Nate said, walking straight up to me. ‘If this is all about to end, then I'm going to help you.'

I stood with Nate at the bottom of the grand staircase, next to the suit of armour. His motorbike helmet rested under one arm, and he ran his free hand through his short blonde hair. I'd never seen the expression on his face before – he seemed somehow lost. ‘Suzy, that message you left me …'

‘I'll meet you upstairs,' Frankie said quickly, walking up ahead of us.

‘You don't have anything to be sorry for,' Nate finished.

‘I stole your grandmother's shoe box of pictures,' I admitted. ‘The box that your mum kept the shadow puppet in.'

He frowned at me. ‘Why?'

‘She was a schoolgirl here,' I told him. ‘The grey girl. Your grandmother knew her – they were friends.'

‘Do you …' He put his helmet down on the bottom step and leant against the banister as he spoke. ‘Do you think my grandmother had something to do with her death?'

‘Maybe,' I nodded. ‘We'll find out tonight. We're going to summon the grey girl's spirit. One way or another, this ends tonight.'

‘Good,' he said seriously, staring me deep in the eyes. He reached out to take my hands in his. ‘All these years I thought my mum was insane for believing what she does. But after last night, after what we saw … I've been thinking about it all day. I can't think about anything else.' Nate looked down at my hands in his. ‘All my life, all I've wanted is to find a way to lift the weight that's hanging around my mother's neck. The same weight my grandmother carried. It's this house and what's in it – it does something terrible to people that they can't come back from. Maybe it's too late for my mother, but it's not too late for you, Suzy. I don't want anything to happen to you. I'll do anything. What do you need me to do?'

Before I could answer I heard footsteps coming towards us from the kitchen. I looked up to see Nell walking towards us. ‘It's time,' she said.

Nell stepped past us onto the stairs and began to walk up. Nate and I followed her wordlessly up the staircase, leaving his motorbike helmet behind on the bottom step. The sound of the murder mystery guests' laughter gradually fell away as we climbed higher. Every step I took felt like a mountain, as if my ankles were weighed down by an invisible force. I had no idea what to expect once we reached the attic room, and no idea what the outcome would be. But I knew that no matter what, we'd see the girl again that night. I could feel her all around me. I could almost feel her cold breath on my cheek, her cold tiny hands squeezing at my heart. My trembling hand traced the carvings on the banister as we climbed onto the first-floor landing, and then on to the next set of stairs. Not one of us spoke as we passed the second floor and continued to walk upwards, towards the attic. With each step my sense of dread grew, and the heaviness weighing me down felt more unbearable.

Nell stalled at the top of the stairs on the attic landing.

‘Are you okay?' I asked, gently resting my hand on her arm.

‘I haven't been up here since that day so long ago,' she whispered. ‘I've revisited it so many times in my head. These steps, the landing, the long corridor. It's just as I remember it.'

‘Come on.' I brushed past her, trying to stay calm, and turned right, walking down the corridor that led to the grey girl's room. I could hear Nate and Nell's footsteps as they followed me. The light outside had faded almost entirely now, and the only light in the corridor was coming from a dull glow in the grey girl's attic room.

Frankie and Katie were standing in the room as I entered. They had positioned candles all about the place. On the floor, on the old mantelpiece and on the windowsill. Candlelight flickered and glowed softly, illuminating them as they stood in the centre of the room, unsure of what to expect next.

Nate and Nell came in behind me and I turned around, waiting for Nell to tell us what to do next. Nate stood in the corner of the room, his eyes nervously casting about the place and taking in every detail. He nodded a hello to Frankie and Katie and they nodded back in acknowledgement.

‘Suzy, you have the chalk?' Nell asked.

I knew what to do without being told. I took the white chalk out of my pocket and crouched down towards the floor. Slowly, I drew a large five-starred pentagram on the attic floorboards. I swept the chalk across the wooden boards, then down, then up again, drawing the pattern that I'd seen carved into the weeping willow by the brook. The shape that the blonde girl in the picture had worn around her neck. The chalk scratched at the floor and left a white trail of dust in its wake. As I brought the chalk to a stop, joining up the two last lines and completing the shape, there was a sudden gust of wind that crashed into the attic room window.

Frankie flinched forwards and then froze, her eyes wide with fear. We exchanged a panicked look – both knowing that what we were about to do, what we were about to unleash could go so horribly wrong.

‘The candles,' whispered Katie, her voice trembling. I lifted my eyes from the floor and looked around the room. Every candle seemed to be burning brighter. The flames had risen into the air as though someone had poured oxygen onto them.

‘The pentagram is a very powerful symbol,' Nell said, walking towards one of the five points of the star. ‘It is a very ancient symbol. It is said to harness the power of the natural world. It is used to evoke the Goddess of nature, and it is used in many magical and satanic rituals. We use it here tonight to harness the power of the spirit world, so that we may contact the restless spirit that haunts this house.'

Once again another heavy gust of wind crashed into the window. Once again the five of us jumped at the sound and force of it.

‘What do you need us to do?' Nate asked, looking over at Nell in the candlelight.

Nell looked around at us. ‘Everyone is to stand at a corner of the pentagram. Everyone is to hold a candle.'

The four of us quickly moved to the nearest flickering candles and each picked one up between our shaking hands. I stood at the point at the top of the star, the point that sat nearest to the window. Nell and Nate stood at the points either side of me, the arms of the pentagram, and Frankie and Katie stood at the two points at the bottom.

The five of us stood there silently, candles in our hands, and looked around at each other. I could feel the crackle of anticipation in the air. Not one of us questioned what we were doing, or whether it would work or if it was stupid. Every single one of us had been touched by a ghost at some point of our lives. Every single one of us knew that this moment was important, and that we were on the verge of something both brilliant and terrible.

‘To all above.' Nell lifted her candle above her head and looked up at the ceiling. ‘And all below.' She lowered the candle towards the floor and looked down at the chalk markings. ‘To the spirits of the afterlife, and to the Goddess of the earth. We come here to speak to you, and to seek your help. Spirits, come to us.'

‘Spirits, come to us,' I echoed. As I said it again Frankie joined in. ‘Spirits, come to us.' Next all five of us spoke in perfect unison, repeating the phrase I had promised myself I would never utter again. ‘Spirits, come to us, Spirits, come to us, Spirits, come to us.'

A pounding silence fell across the room. No one dared speak or even breathe.

Then every candle in the room was snuffed out in a single heartbeat. In the next beat they all lit up again, burning brighter and more powerfully than before. My candle became too hot to hold and I nearly let it fall to the floor. I heard Katie curse at the heat in her hands, and Nate quickly passed his from hand to hand to avoid being burnt.

The sound of breaking glass and distant screaming filled the air. The screaming sounded as though it was coming from downstairs – the guests. ‘The light bulb,' Frankie pointed above her. ‘It exploded.'

‘The guests are screaming downstairs,' Katie said, her face pale and clammy. ‘All the bulbs in the house must have blown.'

‘She can hear us,' I whispered.

Nell lowered her candle to the floor and put it down by her feet and the four of us did the same.

‘She's near,' Nell said. ‘Join hands.'

The five of us held hands on Nell's command, forming a circle around the pentagram. ‘Keep chanting,' she instructed.

‘Spirits, come to us, Spirits, come to us,' we said in unison, again and again. I felt my eyes closing as we continued to chant. The distant sound of the guests' shouts downstairs began to fade away, and all I could hear were the words of the chant. In my head I saw dancing flames lick and the room begin to spin around me. We chanted and chanted and I began to feel sick from the sound and the feeling that the room was spinning uncontrollably.

I heard the sound of someone gasping – Frankie.

I opened my eyes and looked at her. Her eyes were wide open and locked on the centre of the circle, the centre of the pentagram. There, between us all, stood the grey girl.

The air was sucked out of my lungs and I felt a horrible crushing sensation in my chest. My instinct was to pull my arms away from Nell and Nate – to break the circle, break the spell and send her back from whatever hellish dimension we had summoned her from. But I forced myself to watch her, and I forced myself to keep the circle unbroken.

Katie, Nate and Nell continued to chant with their eyes closed as Frankie and I watched the grey girl in the centre of our circle with horror. The girl turned, very slowly, until she was staring straight at me. Her hollow grey gaze burnt into me and filled my veins with ice. One by one, the other three stopped chanting and opened their eyes.

Everyone saw her.

Still looking at me, the grey girl sank to her knees and began to claw at the floor beneath her. The flickering candles snuffed out and re-lit themselves again and again, like strobe lighting in the small attic room. The air in the room grew colder and soon I could see the warm puffs of breath hover in front of my face as I laboured for air.

The image of the grey girl clawing at the floor continued to waver in and out of existence as the candlelight flickered from light to dark.

I felt Nate's hand begin to pull away from me. ‘Don't let go,' I shouted at him. ‘Don't break the circle.'

‘What does she want?' Katie shouted into the room. Her face was wide with terror, her blue eyes alight with the flickering flames that engulfed the room.

‘What do you want?' Nell shouted at the grey girl, who continued to claw at the floor.

The girl looked up at Nell and for a moment her hands were still. She opened her mouth and the sound that came out was more like the croak of death than a small girl speaking. ‘I want peace.'

‘We want you to have peace,' I said, my voice wobbling as much as the light in the room.

‘Who are you?' Nell shouted at the girl.

‘Tilly,' the girl croaked back.

‘How did you die?' Frankie shouted.

The grey girl didn't answer, she looked back down at the floor and began to claw at it again. Soon her fingers began to tear and blood started to pour from open wounds.

Once again I felt Nate pull at my hand. ‘Don't break the circle,' I shouted at him. ‘We need to keep her there.'

‘Suzy, let go!' he screamed at me, his hand pulling and pulling to be released from mine.

I tried in vain to hold onto his hand. I knew that once the circle had broken then she would disappear. This was our chance to speak to her, our chance to find out how we could finally put her spirit to rest. If we broke the circle and she vanished, we might never have that chance again.

‘This is it, Nate,' I shouted at him. ‘This is our chance to finally put an end to it all. For your mother, your grandmother, for Toby, for Tilly. For me. Please, Nate, keep the circle for me.' He tugged at my hand again, desperate to be released from my grasp. ‘Nate, please!' I begged.

‘Let go, Suzy,' he shouted at me, his hazel eyes aflame with determination.

My palm was sweaty and slippery, and Nate was so much stronger. As if in slow motion I felt his hand slide from my grasp. His fingers slipped through mine and the circle was broken.

Every candle in the room went out and we were suddenly plunged into darkness.

‘You broke the circle,' Frankie screamed at Nate. ‘She's gone.'

Nate sank to his knees in the darkness.

‘Quick, re-light the candles,' Nell instructed.

Katie pulled a box of matches from her pocket and re-lit the candle by her feet, then she lit the candle by Frankie's and then Nell's feet. Soon the five candles at the five points of the pentagram were re-lit. Nell, Katie, Frankie and I stood at our points of the star, but Nate was crouched down in the middle of the pentagram. His fingers were moving frantically over the floorboards. He traced the edge of a board with his fingertips and then began to pick at the rusted nails that bound the floorboard to the floor.

‘What are you doing?' I shouted, afraid that the vision of the grey girl had sent Nate mad. Seeing him paw at the floor in that way reminded me of the grey girl – Tilly – and how she had repeatedly scratched at it until her fingers bled.

‘She was trying to show us something,' Nate muttered, his fingers running over the board obsessively. ‘I need a knife, anything … we need to lift this floorboard up.'

Suddenly understanding what he wanted, I sank to my knees and joined Nate on the floor. I began to pick at the rusty nails in the floorboards, desperately trying to lift them out.

The tips of my fingers began to bleed as I picked and picked at the nearest nail. Nate's hands were bleeding too, but he was managing to lift the nail out of its small hole. Soon I'd lifted the nail nearest me out. Nate and I ran our fingers over the edge of the floorboard, trying to find a point to lift it. The other three crouched down and did the same, and with some kind of miraculous strength, the five of us managed to lift the old floorboard out of the floor and throw it to the other side of the room.