Allison raised her eyebrows and grinned. “Is that so?”
So, Allison did suspect something had happened with her and Gage last night. Fine. “That has nothing to do with the house or ghosts.”
“I mean
all
of us, Jess. Not just this thing between you and Gage. Although I’m sure it’s helping with that, too. It’s like our connection with one another is getting stronger. Our connection with this
house
is getting stronger. It’s like that saying, we’re moths to a flame.”
She’d known exactly what Allison was going to say.
…
moths to a flame…
“
Are
we all crazy? Has Siler House made us crazy?”
“For staying, yes. I can’t explain why we’re still here either, Jess. I’m scared, and yet, believe it or not, I know I can’t leave. It’s like I’m waiting for something—the right moment. I don’t know.”
Jess fumbled with the phone again. “It can’t have that kind of power over us.”
Can it?
“So,
why
aren’t you calling your mom?” Allison asked.
Jess sighed. “Honestly? I just don’t want to deal with all the questions. You know parents. They read into things that aren’t there. You’re right. I do need to call her. Maybe when I’m done practicing my channeling. I think I’ll ask Dr. Brandt for the Ouija board. Then, I’m going upstairs to the music room.”
“You’ll need two people,” Allison said. “One on either side, with the board resting on your knees.”
“Speaking from experience?”
Allison nodded solemnly.
“I’ve only used a Ouija board once. I was by myself,” Jess relented. “Nothing happened. I guess I was doing it wrong.”
“I used one a few times. It started as a dare with a few friends,” Allison confided. “At first, nothing happened, either. I guess we forgot to close the portal and that’s when demons came. After that, I just sat and asked the board questions on my own. The demons answered.” Allison got up and went to the bathroom, closing the door. “I’m not helping you,” she shouted from the other side.
Jess stared at her phone again, then called her mother. The phone rang a few times before Paul answered.
“Hey, Paul!” Jess said as cheerily as possible.
“Hey, Ghost Hunter! How’s it going?”
“Everything’s fine, except we haven’t seen any ghosts,” Jess lied.
“Oh, bummer. I know you were looking forward to it. Everything else okay?”
“It’s great,” Jess said. “Allison and I are getting along really well, and the house is incredible. I was just checking in. Is everything okay there?”
“Everyone’s doing just fine,” Paul replied. “Your Mom and sister are at the mall. I’m sure she’d love to hear from you. Try her cell.”
“No, that’s okay,” Jess said. “I don’t have a lot of time. We’re all…” She fumbled for an excuse. “We’re supposed to meet downstairs in a few minutes. Tell her I’ll call her later in the week or I’ll send her an email or something.”
“I’ll tell her. Lily misses you. We all do. Just take care and enjoy yourself, okay?”
Jess smiled. Lily. Was it wrong that she really only missed her baby sister? “Yeah, I will. And I miss you guys, too.”
Something shifted under the bed. “Call you guys later,” Jess said and ended the call. The shuffling sound returned. Her runaway imagination warned her the knives might be there, swishing back and forth, waiting for her to step off the bed.
It’s not knives.
Don’t look…
Unable to stop herself, Jess peered over the edge of the bed and finding nothing there, she stepped carefully onto the floor.
Something stirred under the bed again and she took a few safe steps away from the bedskirt.
“Jess!” a child’s voice whispered. Her heart in her throat, Jess bent down and carefully lifted the bedskirt, nearly tumbling backward at the sight. Gracie looked out from under the bed, then slid the Ouija board forward.
She wasn’t afraid of the girls, but that didn’t make her any less nervous. Jess still rationalized that good ghosts could be trapped in the same location as evil ones. If Grams appeared inside Siler House right now, Jess would still be jumpy. No, what scared her was that the girls had shown up
under
the bed.
“Geez, Gracie! You scared the crap out of me!”
Gracie’s bottom lip took on a pout. “We didn’t mean to scare you. But
she
scares
us
. We’re sorry Allison won’t help you. She doesn’t want to help us, either.”
Jess took in a steadying breath. “It’s okay. I’m fine now. Hey, we were just talking—”
“We said we’d help,” Gracie interrupted, still staring unblinkingly at Jess. She pushed the board forward another inch. “Don’t be mad we took it.”
Jess’s hands shook slightly as she took the Ouija board and planchette Gracie offered her. She’d explain about taking the board to Dr. Brandt later. Maybe he wouldn’t notice if it was gone for a few hours. “Thanks,” Jess managed to say.
Gracie smiled, then scooted backward, disappearing behind the bedskirt. From underneath the mattress came the sound of Gracie and Emma’s echoing laughter.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Gage watched as Dr. Brandt sat another item on the coffee table in front of Bryan. This time, he’d brought up one of those creepy-ass dolls from the basement.
“Try it again,” Dr. Brandt urged, focusing the video camera on Bryan.
Bryan rubbed his temples. Clearly, the aspirin he’d taken for his headache hadn’t kicked in.
“You’ve got your own work to do, Gage. You’re not concentrating,” Brandt said.
Gage stared at the dead crow in the shoebox. “Sorry. Maybe it’s been dead too long.”
The truth was, Gage had no intention of trying to resurrect the damn thing. Not the birds, the squirrel or anything else Dr. Brandt brought him. Hell, he had no idea if he even
could
anymore.
But the last thing he was going to do was find out in front of Dr. Brandt. He agreed with Allison—the dude was acting strangely. His obsession with Riley, the ghosts and demons, not to mention his ever-increasing fondness for Siler House. It was all too weird for comfort.
Besides, look what it had gotten Bryan—Brandt was pushing him way too hard. Of course, had Bryan not made those knives disappear yesterday, they’d all be in some serious shit.
“Focus, Gage.” Dr. Brandt went back to filming Bryan.
Bryan’s eyebrows furrowed, and he pursed his lips as he stared at the doll.
“Dude, you look constipated,” Gage said.
“Enough!” Dr. Brandt snapped. “Bryan, keep trying. It’s very important you learn to do this. It’s important to all of us.”
All of us? Gage frowned. As far as he was concerned, Brandt was turning into a world-class douchebag. Forcing Bryan to practice until he damn near passed out or got a nosebleed wasn’t cool. What was up with Brandt, anyway? At first, he couldn’t take enough notes. Now, he took very few. Wouldn’t EPAC be pissed off when they found out?
A drop of blood fell from Bryan’s nose onto the table, quickly followed by a couple more. He swiped at his nose, while still giving the session his all. But his
all
wasn’t working. Whatever juice Bryan had yesterday, he didn’t have it today.
“Seriously?” Gage said.
“
Seriously
, Gage,” Dr. Brandt shouted. He set the video camera down on the table. “You need to go practice outside somewhere. Now!”
“I’m all right,” Bryan said, not looking even
close
to it.
Gage put the cover on the shoebox and stood. Fine. He didn’t want to sit here, anyway. He couldn’t have concentrated if he’d wanted to. “Bro, it’s not worth it, okay?”
Bryan leaned his head back and pinched his nose closed in a failed attempt to stop the bleeding. A small trail of blood leaked between Bryan’s fingers.
“Suit yourself,” Gage said more to Bryan than Dr. Brandt. If Bryan wasn’t going to walk away from this, Gage couldn’t force him. Bryan had wanted to try it just one more time—to prove to himself he’d actually made the knives vanish. Maybe Bryan would listen to Jess, but even then, he doubted it. Bryan had pretty much stepped aside when it looked like she and Gage might hook up.
Dr. Brandt handed Bryan a napkin. Bryan held it to his nose. “Really, I’m fine,” he finally said. “Doc Brandt is right. I think this is important right now.”
“Sure,” Gage said in disgust as he started to walk away.
“You forgot your book,” Dr. Brandt said.
Gage turned and snatched the book off the table. “Call me when Bryan has an aneurysm.”
“Dude, I’ll be fine,” Bryan insisted.
“Yeah, whatever, man. I’ll catch up with you later.” He headed for the door again.
“Gage!” Dr. Brandt called out. “Jess is practicing her channeling skills upstairs in the music room today. She’ll be by herself. Go talk to her. If you aren’t in the mood for your studies, maybe you’ll be in the mood for hers.”
Was Brandt encouraging him? Or just pacifying him while Bryan bled to death at the dining room table?
Bryan glanced at Gage. “Dude, if you don’t go, I will. Girls get all sympathetic over injured guys.”
“Sure. Why not? You know where to find me.” He headed up the stairs, taking two at a time.
Gage had to hand it to Brandt—only one thing had any possibility of taking his mind off Bryan for a while, and that was spending time alone with Jess.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Jess sat in the middle of the music room floor and placed the Ouija board in front of her. On it, the illustration of disembodied heads seemed so creepy in comparison to the happier, glowing Ouija board she’d used a few years ago. In the top left corner next to the word YES was a picture of the sun, only with a man’s mustached and goateed face. The sun wasn’t quite smiling, but close. In contrast, in the upper right corner, the face on the moon appeared to have an annoyed or disapproving expression. Letters were arranged in arcs across two rows. Beneath them were numbers one through zero. And printed underneath the name were the words
The Mystifying Oracle
.
Be careful, Jess.
It was just a board.
A witchboard. That’s what they used to be called before.
What if Allison was right? What if she called the darker spirits in Siler House instead of friendly ones?
“Are you going to do this or not?” she whispered aloud in the empty room.
Taking a deep breath, she placed the planchette on the center of the board and lightly rested three fingers of each hand on the base. Staring at the open hole at the top of the planchette, she called out. “Gracie? Emma? Are you here?”
No answer. No movement from the planchette. She wiped at her forehead. Despite the air conditioner running almost day and night, the room was sweltering. August was usually the warmest of the summer months in the South, and this year, it seemed determined to break all records. Back home in Asheville, the temperature would be nearly ten degrees cooler and at least there would be a breeze. The air in Savannah felt as stagnant and thick as the moss draping the oaks.
Jess glanced around the room. “Could you guys at least cool it off in here a little?” The strong presence of a ghost sometimes meant a drop in the air temperature. “Gracie? Emma?
Anyone?
” She paused. An eerie silence filled the room as though the house were listening.
On a whim, she whispered, “Grams? Dad?”
The word seemed to hang in the air, expectantly. It’d been the first time she’d called to them since coming here.
There was no reply, not a single word, not a breeze or solitary creak. Feeling foolish, she stared at the board. The moon and sun continued to smile and frown, respectively. The women in the bottom corners were still conjuring spirits. The planchette’s triangular shape sat on the board like some alien fly, patient and still. She tried to visualize the planchette moving, spelling out the words:
I’m here.
Your imagination. Your misplaced imagination.
Admit they’re gone. Both Grams and your father are gone, Jess. They’ve moved on.
No. They wouldn’t leave her. Not forever. Not without saying—
Her eyes glanced to the bottom of the board and the two words written underneath the line of numbers. GOOD-BYE.
The word rekindled a familiar ache inside her chest. Regardless of what the board was, or did, it
was
her best hope. The girls had promised to help, and they’d given her the board. That had to mean something. This was her best hope of being able to say those two words to her father. She desperately wanted to see him, tell him one last time that she loved him and wished him well—wherever he was.
Dad. Grams.
I miss you guys so much. You have no idea.
It almost felt too good to be true. Was this all there was to it? To find an old board? One that had…
aged?
The board was old enough. Dr. Brandt had said that although it wasn’t the one Mrs. Siler had used in her séances, the planchette was. Ghosts and spirits often attached themselves to objects. If there were ever a fact guide for ghosts, she was sure that tidbit would be in there.
And if it wasn’t fact?
What if nothing happened?
God, Jess. You really are losing it. You’re sliding down a slippery slope. It’s commercially produced, for heaven’s sake. There’s a trademark symbol—
“Need an assistant?”
The words broke her concentration and Jess glanced up to find Gage walking toward her. She inhaled deeply, regaining control, or at least the illusion of it. She adjusted her shirt, hoping the action would offer some relief from the heat. Despite the warmth, Gage gave off a cool appearance, even dressed in a sleeved shirt and jeans. She wondered if he ever broke into a sweat, and an image of his bare chest glistening in the summer heat made her look away and focus on the Ouija board instead. “Aren’t you supposed to be resurrecting a bird or something?”
Gage grinned as he sat on the floor next to her, leaving barely a breath of air between them. Jess’s pulse picked up a notch.
“Sorry. No phoenixes from the ashes today. I like the idea of resurrecting
something
, though. Like the other night?”