Tamsyn Murray-My So-Called Haunting (17 page)

A ragged sob rose up in my throat. ‘Yes! Please don’t lock me in.’

I slowed as I got closer to the torch and relief flooded through me. Wrapped up in a fluorescent raincoat was the woman who’d sold us our tickets and she had a large bunch of keys in her
hand. Her face glowed eerily inside the yellow hood. ‘I thought everyone had left already. Come on, I’m just locking up. Terrible weather, isn’t it?’

She turned away. I glanced uneasily over my shoulder. There was no sign of Nico and I didn’t know what I’d do if he appeared on the path behind me. As we reached the heavy iron
gates, I chewed at my lip. Should I tell the woman he was still inside?

The gate swung open and the woman gestured at me to leave. ‘What an awful storm,’ she said. Then she frowned. ‘We ren’t there two of you?’

A flurry of hail battered at my head, causing me to lift a soggy arm in protection as we were buffeted by the wind. A sudden burst of rage charged through me. I was chilled to the bone, shocked
and soaking, all thanks to Nico. He’d shown no mercy when he’d tried to make me help him. Why should I show any to him?

‘He left before me,’ I said, crossing my fingers inside my sleeve and stepping through the gate. ‘Thanks for letting me out.’

I walked away without looking back, determined not to give in to the tears I felt prickling behind my eyes. As I moved further away from the cemetery, the wind died down and the vicious
hailstorm petered away to nothing. I guessed Nico could only control the weather in his immediate vicinity. I heard the heavy clang of gates behind me and tried to ignore the guilty whisper that I
was abandoning him. There would be another way out, I was sure – maybe a gap in the fence alongside the neighbouring Waterlow Park, or he’d find a way over the wall – so he
wouldn’t be there all night. But hopefully by the time he got out, I’d be long gone. I shook my numbed head, stunned by the evening’s events. What had happened to the real Nico;
the one who’d taken me to the Roundhouse and made me forget everything when he kissed me? Was he trapped inside the monster I’d left in the cemetery? I choked back a sudden sob at the
memory of his cruel expression and hurried home.

Celestine knew there was something wrong the second I stumbled through the front door.

‘Get out of those wet clothes and into the shower,’ she commanded, as my bag fell from my icy fingers and thudded on to the floor. ‘I’ll make you a hot drink.’

By the time the warm water had chased the last of the chill from my bones and I had dragged myself reluctantly out of the shower, the cup of tea had gone stone cold. After wrapping me up on the
sofa under a fleecy blanket, Celestine made another and then settled beside me.

‘What happened? And don’t say you got caught out in a downpour, I can see it was much more than that.’

Her blue eyes stared into mine and I knew there was no point in holding anything back. In a halting voice I told her everything. When I’d finished, she was silent.

‘Do you think we should call someone, to let them know he’s in there?’ I asked.

She shook her head. ‘He’s got a mobile, right?’ When I nodded, she went on, ‘Then I doubt he’s still there. He’d have called for help if he couldn’t
find a way out.’

Another worry rose up to take the place of the one she’d just put to rest. ‘What if he did meet a ghost?’

There was a derisive snort from the doorway. I looked up to see Mary hovering there, and from the look on her face she’d heard everything.

‘There art dark and restless souls in yonder graveyard,’ she said, grinning unpleasantly. ‘Mayhap the young fool received his heart’s desire and will bother thee no
more.’

‘Haven’t you ever heard that it’s rude to eavesdrop?’ I demanded. As scared as I’d been in the cemetery, I wouldn’t wish an evil spirit on anyone.

She raised a grime-covered hand to shake a warning finger at me. ‘The Solomonarii mean harm to all in the ghostly realm. If one should fall before gaining full strength it would be a
blessing.’

No matter what Nico had done, I didn’t want any harm to come to him. ‘Just who are the Solomonarii?’ I asked Celestine, not at all sure I was ready for her answer.
‘Dontay thought they might be a gang, but I couldn’t find anything on Google. Have you ever heard of them?’

‘Not for a long time,’ she said, her voice troubled. ‘And never outside of Romania. What did you say Nico’s surname was again?’

‘Albescu.’

‘They are unholy men,’ Mary intoned, determined to make us listen to her. ‘They do the devil’s shaded work.’

This seemed a bit rich, coming from a self-proclaimed witch who’d made it her mission to torment the life out of me. ‘Gee, Mary, you think?’

Celestine looked worried. ‘She’s right.The Solomonarii might have started out pretending to work for the good of mankind, but it didn’t take long for people to realise they
were serving a darker master.’

‘Who?’ I asked, my imagination conjuring up a bizarre cross between Satan and the genie from Aladdin.

‘No one knows. Their castle in Romania is called the Scholomance but the locals know it better as the Devil’s Academy.’

‘And they really communicate with the dead?’

Mary gave a hollow laugh. ‘They seek to commune with us but care not if the act consumes us.’

I glanced at my aunt helplessly. ‘Tr anslation?’

Her expression grew serious. ‘The Solomonarii don’t just talk to the dead. They put the dead to work for them. By the time they’ve finished with them, the ghost is nothing more
than an empty shell. They call them the Eaten. If Nico’s father is a member, then that would explain why Nico has been sucked in.’

Her words filled me with horror. I didn’t know what was worse: the thought of a ghost being used to do evil or the idea that Nico could be involved in something so terrible. ‘What
are we going to do?’

Celestine shook her head sadly. ‘We can consult the other psychics at the Dearly D. They might have some suggestions. In the meantime, keep away from Nico in case his powers
grow.’

I wasn’t exactly filled with confidence. His powers had seemed pretty strong already. ‘What do we do if he is controlling a spirit?’

Mary raised a dirt-encrusted finger and dragged it across her throat. I felt the colour drain from my face.

‘Why don’t we cross that bridge when we get to it?’ Celestine cut in, offering me a reassuring smile. ‘In the meantime, make sure you’re not alone with him. Would
it help if I spoke to your teachers?’

I stared at my folded hands, an empty feeling rising up inside me. I’d trusted Nico. Was it only a week ago that I’d been crying myself to sleep because I missed him so much? Now
he’d betrayed me and I was scared to see him again. I shivered, remembering his face as he’d summoned the thunder and lightning. Whoever the Solomonarii were, they couldn’t be a
force for good if joining them brought about such a drastic change in someone’s personality. What kind of monster forced his son into such a clan? Unless it had been Nico’s choice and
he’d been acting out a role when he’d been kissing me? Maybe he’d only pretended to care about me and the darkness was his true character. The thought made me want to throw
up.

Aware that Celestine was waiting for an answer, I said, ‘I don’t think so.’ I felt my voice crack. ‘It’s going home that worries me.’

Mary drifted towards us. ‘Fear not. I shall guard thy steps at the rising of the sun and the fall of each night.’

She bared her blackened teeth in a stumpy smile and my heart rose a little bit more. As minders went, I could do a lot worse than Mary. If Nico so much as flicked a snowflake in my direction,
he’d have Mary to deal with. The smallest of smiles tugged at my mouth at the thought. She might not have the presence of a prize-winning boxer, but she knew how to fight dirty. I had no
doubt who would come off worst.

Mary was as good as her word. Every morning after that, she accompanied me to the school gates and she was waiting there for me at the end of the day. I could only guess how
many of the other kids walked through her as she stood watching me cross the playground. From the pained expression on her face it was more than one, and I felt bad that I’d ever wished she
didn’t exist.

I’d decided not to tell Dontay about my encounter in the cemetery. He thought little enough of Nico as it was; it was better to pretend we’d split up. Besides, he
seemed constantly on edge these days; Nelson was getting in deeper with Shank and had started lying to his parents about where he was going and who with. Dontay had enough on his plate without me
adding to it. Anyway, given the amount of pent-up anger I felt rolling off him every time I saw him recently, I couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t go and teach Nico the kind of lesson
he’d never forget. The last thing I needed was a ghost with a taste for blood.

It hurt to see Nico every day without ever knowing if he’d really cared about me. In some ways I preferred not knowing; the thought that the real Nico was trapped somewhere inside that
monstrous side he’d shown at the cemetery kept me awake at nights. But as long as we each pretended the other didn’t exist things were mostly bearable. The official line was that
we’d split up after a massive argument. Megan refused to believe it but she could see how much I was hurting and morphed into a kind of weird, overprotective guardian angel. If anyone so much
as looked at me the wrong way she bit their head off; the other kids started crossing the corridor to avoid us, including Ellie, and I’m sure even some of the teachers were scared of her.

It helped that Nico himself was avoiding me like I was a plague victim; I’d seen him ducking into corridors to escape me. Knowing that he wanted nothing to do with me gave our relationship
a sense of finality. I tried to ignore the heaviness of my heart and told myself it was the only way to get him out of my system.

Given Megan’s concern, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that she caught my hastily swallowed gasp when Dontay materialised through the wall of our Tuesday morning English
lesson the following week.

‘Are you OK?’ she whispered, leaning closer. ‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’

Thankfully, she had no idea how right she was. My hands had gone clammy and my heart hammered in my ears. After our last meeting at school, there was only one reason he’d come to find me
there: Nelson was in trouble.

‘I feel a bit sick,’ I whispered back, and it was only half a lie. Dontay’s eyes scanned the class until he saw me in the second-to-back row.

‘Finally,’ he said. ‘I’ve been everywhere. You had to be in the last room I went to, didn’t you?’

I stared at him wordlessly, hoping he’d remember I couldn’t answer him.

‘Make an excuse and get out of here.’ Dontay’s voice was flat but I caught his underlying panic. ‘Nelson bunked off school today and no one knows where he is, except
me.’ A flash of urgency sparked from his eyes. ‘Something’s going down. He’s got a gun.’

The classroom spun crazily before my eyes. I gripped the table in front of me and tried to ignore the terror bubbling up inside me.

Megan frowned in concern and pressed a cool hand against my cheek. ‘You look awful.’

I turned to her. ‘I have to go.’

Her frown deepened. ‘Yeah, sure. I’ll come with you.’

‘No!’ I got to my feet and took a deep breath. Now the rest of the class was watching me, as well as Megan. ‘I don’t feel well, miss. Can I go to the toilet,
please?’

Mrs Craig lowered her copy of
The Crucible
and peered at me. ‘You are very pale.’ Her scarlet lips pursed and she sighed. ‘Go on, then. Don’t be long.’

Megan’s worried gaze followed me all the way to the door. I’d have to drop her a text to let her know I wouldn’t be back that day. As I staggered out into corridor and let the
door close behind me, I couldn’t help thinking that if things were as bad as Dontay feared, there was a chance I might not be back at all.

‘We should go to the police,’ I told Dontay as soon as we were clear of the school buildings. Dontay was hell-bent on getting out of school as quickly as possible
and, since I didn’t have the luxury of walking through walls, I had to run along the corridors to catch up with him outside. It was lucky the halls were quiet and I didn’t have to
explain myself to anyone, although Dr Bailey spotted us through the window and I cringed as his angry shouts followed us across the playground. I was relieved we didn’t bump into Nico either;
the last thing I needed in my stressed state was an encounter with him.