The Haunting (5 page)

Their abandonment felt hollow. Would I have left them? I wondered, suddenly unsure.

The wave of nausea struck me first when I was able to move. I crawled forward just in time for another attack.

As the ghost freed itself, the hot twisting in my chest subsided, and I started crawling again until I reached Phoebe.

“Let her go,” I said. Hot saliva trickled against the insides of my cheeks, initiating the vomiting. Swallowing frantically, my stomach convulsed with the scratching pain that marked my stomach. Flailing my arms, I caught Phoebe’s hand. Then I threw up the little water and food I had left in my stomach. Luckily, I was able to turn my head in time so it wouldn’t hit her. Her bony fingers gripped mine, grinding my bones together.

“I said,” I felt the gag reflex quiver, “let–her–go.”

The warmth in my palm flashed hot, searing. The burn mark in my palm heated, pressing into Phoebe’s palm.

For an instant, I thought of letting her go. It was like accidentally leaning against a hot car in the blazing summer. Startled, I gripped her harder when I heard a sharp intake of breath.

Phoebe’s grin faltered. The ghost shrieked. “Demon!”

In that horrible moment, I realized I’d used it.

The ghost shot from Phoebe’s body as if I’d flung a cannon ball at him. Sliding back, he disappeared in the tables. Actually disappeared. One moment he was there and the next,
poof
. It was like I detonated a bomb.

Scrambling to her feet, Phoebe snatched me by the wrist and hauled me with her.

Together, we stumbled through the ghostly crowd on wobbly knees, sloshing our precarious stomachs. The sound of just us, running and panting in the chaos, was almost silly.

The ghosts were running, frantic, holding on to one another, but all of them were giving Phoebe and me a wide berth.

Cody still stood in the doorway, his arms outstretched.

Phoebe easily accompanied my rhythm, and we ran around the smoky bodies, careful not to touch them. The pain faded in pulsating throbs, but it still felt like I had bits of glass left in me.

I reached the open door and was the last one through.

Before it shut, I heard it.

Someone inside the room was laughing. A girl, who sounded eerily like Neive.

I let a few seconds pass, listening to the rain on the window and counting the minor injuries I’d accumulated. It was the scratches on my back and the throb of my finger mostly. The rest was a dull, internal ache. Like the feeling after a hard exercise but it wasn’t muscles that hurt; it was deeper.

I couldn’t see out the window. The smudged glass had a thick brownish-green sludge smeared over it.

Joel had stayed behind with me in the cobblestone hallway. He faced the T-intersection where the others disappeared. They wanted to investigate, but Phoebe and I were still feeling sick. So Joel stayed behind to watch us. Not that he’d do anything if something happened, beyond save himself.

He leaned against the stone wall, cradling his hand. Blood pockmarked the white sheets. If this were the real world, I’d have thought he would have bled out by now. But I wondered if my influence on the Grave before prevented it somehow. Damien said I created a loop last time. I’d found Joel’s thumb before he’d ever lost it, but that was a long story, and the more I thought about it, the more my head hurt. Time was different here. Thunder rumbled, and my stomach threatened another upchuck when I stiffened at the noise.

To my right, the opened door led to the study and Phoebe. Lanterns had been strategically placed all around to create a dim, eerie glow to the room. One lantern, lit by a traditional candle, swung above my head in the hallway.

“Why haven’t they come back yet?” I asked.

As if to answer my question, I heard the choking gag reflex of someone throwing up in the study. I rolled onto my hands and knees, a wave of nausea assaulting my head, throat, and stomach. Groaning again, I held still until the sensation passed. I wasn’t sure I had anything left to throw up at this point.

“Aren’t you going to help?” I glared at Joel and his nonchalant shrug.

“I have to keep watch.”

We glowered at each other for several seconds.

I used the cool wall to stand up before shuffling into the study. The stone floor was gritty under my socks.

We’d ended up in some type of castle. The storm outside raged like any good classic horror film, but no monsters showed up yet. If they did, I might as well just find a platter and an apple to stuff in my mouth. Tall wooden bookshelves reached the ceiling. They were over-stuffed with a variety of hardcover books. Two ridiculously large desks sat in the center of the room; each had been stacked with books and with a single lantern at their edges. A thick layer of dust accompanied them as well. On the floor, with the help of the lanterns’ light, I could make out the footsteps of my friends in the dust.

Hunched in the corner, half hidden behind a bookshelf, Phoebe rested her golden head on her knees. The red-poisoned veins had stopped mid-calf, but she looked paler. One hand lifted away from her body, fingers closed in a wet, glossy fist. Hearing me, Phoebe lifted her forehead from her knees. Her eyes shifted from me to her hand. Still holding it out, she uncurled her fingers. The yellow vomit had mostly been wiped away, but it was what was in her palm that got my attention.

I put on my best scientific face when the stomach bile smell hit me. “You found one,” I said.

She nodded slowly and croaked, “I threw it up.”

“Seriously? Just now?” I refrained from hurrying towards her. The smell of vomit grew thicker the closer I drew to her, and I wasn’t completely over my nausea. I remembered the ghost that had flopped down onto her helpless body. He had been wearing a ring when he’d done it. When he got back up, I hadn’t checked for it.

Phoebe repeated huskily, “I threw up, and it was there.”

“I think it was the ghost,” I explained and told her what I remembered.

Once I had finished, she turned her gaze to the ring. Standing with assiduous care, she used paper from one of the open books to wipe off her hand. “Do I have to wear it?” she asked.

I shrugged. “Unless you’re sure you won’t lose it somewhere else.”

Nodding, she wiped the ring down again and put it on the middle finger of her right hand. “Better safe than sorry,” she said. Using the table for support, she looked me up and down. “Did you…get a ring?”

I shook my head, feeling the jealous ache in the back of my mind. This was Phoebe’s guaranteed passage home, but we both knew what that meant, making the victory a cold and bitter one.

Staring down at the ring on her hand, she said, “Where are the others?”

“They went to look for clues.”

Phoebe’s eyes bulged. “You mean Read, Cody, and Robin separated from us?” She hissed
separated
as if it were a dirty word.

A very dark person inside of me was glad they did. They’d run away when we were helpless, hurting. They were out to save themselves then.

I followed Phoebe out into the hallway. Both of us were able to step lighter, though my stomach still liked to flip flop.

Phoebe walked straight up to Joel, who pushed himself away from the wall. Phoebe, who was taller than him, used it to look down at him, eyes narrow. “Where are they?”

Joel shrugged. “They said they wanted to check the place out a bit.”

“Are you kidding?” Anger steamed off of her as she poked her head out into the T-intersection, hands on her hips. “We can’t separate.
They know this.
What were they thinking?”

Joel shrugged again, this time not arguing. He probably agreed with her.

“Come on,” Phoebe grumbled.

“Shouldn’t we wait here?” Joel raised his long, thin eyebrows. “If they come back and we’re gone, then
we’re
the ones who’ve separated.”

“They could be in trouble,” Phoebe argued then motioned to me. “Come on, Fuller.”

“Uh,” I began, unsure. “I think maybe we
should
stay here.”

“What? Fuller, what if they’re in trouble and we’re just sitting here?” Phoebe’s expression tightened.

“You heard her,” Joel said. “Two against one.”

“How long have we been here anyway?” Phoebe cracked her knuckles, face reddening.

“Don’t get mad at me just because your friend disagrees with you,” Joel said smugly.

Clearing my throat, I repeated the question. “How long do you think they’ve been gone?”

“I dunno.” He rolled his eyes before pretending to see something interesting down one of the hallways. “Less than a half hour. You laid there the whole time.” He pointed to the floor. “How long were they gone?”

I hadn’t been sure. Weak and numbed with the idea that I was someone who my friends could leave behind had left me thinking, losing track of time. Phoebe had passed out. It was Joel who carried her into the library. He wouldn’t touch me, which was fine.

“Whose bright idea was it?” Phoebe asked. She cracked her last knuckle, and her hand went limp at her wrist; she started to massage it, grimacing.

“I don’t know.” Joel watched her unmoving hand. “The dark-haired guy wanted to check out the place for black doors.”

“Read?” Phoebe asked, stunned. “Read suggested the split up?”

Joel gave her a quick glance that clearly stated he wasn’t about to repeat himself.

Shaking her head, Phoebe resumed her attempt at getting feeling back into her hand.

“Maybe he didn’t know. He was unconscious when we found him,” I pointed out, attempting to assuage her temper a little. I didn’t need two hotheads.

“We have to look for them,” Phoebe said. And before either of us could argue, she limped around the corner and out of sight.

“Phoebe!” I hissed, hurrying after her.

Joel groaned but followed. He grabbed Phoebe by the arm with his good hand, stopping her cold. She tried to yank free, but he wasn’t letting go.

“Listen, we had cover back there,” Joel said, low and serious. “Out here, anyone can see us, and then we’d be trapped in that stupid library back there. Then if your friends do come back, they’ll be ambushed by whatever you managed to scare up. Now stop being an idiot and come back.”

I pressed my back against the wall and nodded, pleading with my eyes when she glanced at me. “Come on, Phoebe. A few minutes,” I whispered.

Taking a deep breath, she nodded.

Joel let her go. A distinct white handprint left an impression on her arm.

Phoebe didn’t wince when he let her go, but she rubbed it the second his back was turned. Her limp hand began to curl her fingers, making it look difficult and twitchy.

Now that I was out in the hallway, I took the opportunity to look around.

The cobblestone hallway had a dark wooden bench facing one of the numerous windows and a dying leafy plant beside it. Otherwise, there was little in the way of anything I could use as a weapon.

A shout froze all of our steps. It echoed down the hallway behind us.

My first thought was of Neive, but somehow I knew it wasn’t her.

“What was that?” I asked in a whisper.

The empty hallway didn’t reveal anything new.

“It could be Read,” Phoebe replied, her eyes flickering between Joel and me. “We should go check it out.”

However, the eerie silence following the shout disturbed me.

Joel rolled his eyes again and threw up his arms when Phoebe stepped in front of me and led the way down the barely lit hallway.

As we passed the bench, I saw a creepy tattered doll sitting there. Blonde hair fell over its porcelain smiling face. It was a huge doll, about the size of a four year old, though she was ill proportioned. The arms were too short and the legs too long beneath the tattered pink dress.

Phoebe eyed it, and we both hugged the opposite wall as we passed.

The glassy blue eyes stared, the tiny chipped lips continued to smile, but it didn’t move.

At the end of the hallway, I saw a corner that turned right. I ducked my head, and my hands came up in front of me just in case something jumped me from the shadows.

Phoebe had slowed down so much we were walking side by side. I could hear her panicked breathes as we neared the edge.

What if something was right there, waiting for us? It was just a single unrecognizable shout, after all. It could easily be a trap. In that instant, I wanted to turn around and walk back to our little niche and huddle in the corner. Our friends could come to us instead of us to them. They were the ones that wandered off in the first place. If only they could have waited a while longer.

So why are you helping?
the dark voice asked.

Robin and Cody were capable of diving in and pulling one of us off the dance floor, even at the small risk of being caught themselves. We hadn’t been that far away by the end. Instead, they went to the door. Only then did they wait when we started running toward them and saved ourselves.

Cody had saved Aidan and me before, but that was before Robin came back. I remembered Robin talking to him while I’d been attacked.
She had convinced him
, I thought viciously. She was going to just leave us behind, like they did in the first Challenge. If they were there, I didn’t want to try and save them if they were in trouble.

“We should turn around,” I whispered.

Phoebe didn’t pay attention to me as she leapt into the open to confront whatever was around the corner. Joel dove after her. Whether it was to pull her back or join her, I would never know.

The instant Phoebe hit the ground, a black shadow fell over her. It wasn’t a shadow exactly but a solid blackness, and it dropped over Phoebe, making her disappear.