Wow. Jess drew in a breath and struggled for something appropriate and witty, or even a little sexy, but not a single word formed. She could only stare, stupidly, like some silly thirteen-year-old with a celebrity fan-girl crush. Okay, so Gage was hot, but there were plenty of hot guys.
None of which made her feel weak in the knees like Gage did. She forced herself to focus on the board.
“You look like you’re in the middle of something else.”
“No!” Jess nearly shouted. “I mean, I really could use some help here.”
“So, then,” Gage said, and coughed.
It was bad enough he was hotter than the seven rings of hell, but he knew the effect he had on her. Probably had a lot of practice.
“I’ve never done this before. What should we ask it?”
“I think we’re supposed to put the board between us,” Jess replied somewhat reluctantly. Not that she wasn’t up for trying to work the board with him right by her side, but supposedly, that’s not how the board worked.
Gage scooted across from her, sitting cross-legged, and positioned the board across their knees. Jess scooted in until her knees touched his and placed her fingers on the planchette. Gage did the same, letting his fingers rest against hers.
Breathe, stupid. He’ll think you’re a clueless idiot.
“Ask away.” Gage’s eyes met hers. “Ask if it knows where Riley is right now.”
Jess returned her focus to the board and concentrated. The question wasn’t her first choice, but it’d do. “Where is Riley right now?”
The planchette moved over the letters slowly, their fingers floating along with it.
H O U S E
“Did you see that?” Gage asked.
Jess nodded. Shocked, it was all she could do. She’d hoped that the board would work, but seeing it in action was something else entirely.
“Ask it something else,” Gage urged.
“Is Riley in this room?”
Again, the planchette moved across the board.
Y E S
Jess’s heart began to race. She glanced at the mirrors the Silers had installed along the walls, but Riley wasn’t in them. Suddenly, she didn’t want to be in here. Not with all these mirrors.
“Ask it about demons. Ask the board about Allison.”
Jess wondered if it was a wise thing to do, but nodded. “Are there demons here?”
For a moment, the planchette didn’t move. Slowly, it spelled out an answer.
S O O N
Jess sucked in a breath. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.
“Which ones?” Gage asked, solemn, as they exchanged glances. The planchette didn’t move for him.
Resisting the urge to wipe her sweating palms on her shorts, Jess repeated his question. “Which ones?”
The planchette moved up, then down, creating a figure eight over and over again.
“He wants to channel a specific demon,” Allison said as she walked into the room.
Jess and Gage looked up from the board, surprised. The last place Jess figured Allison would venture into was a room with a Ouija board. The planchette stopped its repetitive figure eights.
“What are you doing here?” Jess asked. “I thought you didn’t want any part of this.”
“I don’t.” Allison inched carefully closer as though the board might suddenly lunge for her.
She nodded toward the board. “But he does.”
“Who?” Gage asked. “Who wants to channel a demon? Riley?”
Allison nodded again. “Yes. A really
bad
one.”
Gage frowned. “They’re
all
bad, Allison. Which demon?”
“The one who possessed him when he was alive?” Jess guessed.
Allison nodded once more.
“Well,” Gage pressed. “Does the demon have a name?”
The planchette began to vibrate on the board, although neither she nor Gage was touching it. Jess swallowed hard, trying to keep down the fear building inside.
This was so not a good idea.
“They
all
have names,” Allison replied shakily as she eyed the board. Jess had no idea how Allison was still here, why she hadn’t turned and run by now. “I’m not doing that, by the way.”
“Does the demon have a name?” Gage asked. If he was frightened, he didn’t seem like it. “What or who are we dealing with?”
The question finally broke Allison. “Don’t ask for its name!” she shrieked. “
Never
ask for a demon’s name when using the board!
Never!
”
As if feeding from Allison’s outburst, the planchette resumed figure eights again, faster and faster.
“See what you’ve done?” Her face had gone completely white.
The board rattled slightly.
“Allison,” Jess said quietly, trying to calm her. The board was feeding off their energy. It was all Jess could do not to push the board away from her, but that might upset Allison even more and if the board was feeding off her emotions, that wouldn’t be good.
Allison backed up a few steps. “Now you’ve done it.” Tears began to flow down her cheeks, but at least her voice had returned to its normal pitch. “They’re angry.”
“
Who?
” Jess implored. “The demons? Riley? Who?” She could only stare at the board now.
“Make it stop!” Allison demanded. “Jess, just make it stop. Tell the board good-bye!”
The planchette continued its figure eights. It took all her will not to get up and run.
She’s right! Tell it! Tell it!
“I don’t know much about Ouija boards, but I think Allison’s right,” Gage said. His eyes were wide now, all pretense of calmness gone.
“Good-bye,” Jess said weakly.
The planchette didn’t stop.
“What do you know about all of this, Allison?” Gage’s eyes were focused on the board as if it were a venomous snake. “What’s it doing?”
Allison shook her head. Her voice was quiet. “You won’t believe me. No one would.”
How could Allison be calm all of the sudden? Because that is what Allison did. She shut down. She’d found someplace to hide within herself and she wasn’t coming out until she felt it was safe again.
“Try me,” Gage insisted.
“I shouldn’t have come up here. I knew it.” Allison took another step back. “Something’s wrong with the board.”
“You
think?
”
“He’s not alone,” Allison announced as she stopped at the doorway. One of her shoelaces on her sneakers had come untied, but she didn’t seem to notice. Allison wasn’t home.
“Riley isn’t the only one here,” she said, eyes glassy. “We need to go.”
That was all Jess needed to hear. The time for false bravado had passed. She scooted backward, letting the board fall to the ground. Gage followed her lead. The planchette clattered to a stop, still on top of the board. With a quick jerk, it returned to its center, however. Jess yelped. The board vibrated a few beats as though some epic struggle was going on for control of the planchette.
Finally, the planchette began to move, gliding slowly over letters.
J E S S
Gage grabbed her arm and pulled her up.
Again, the planchette abruptly returned to the middle before hovering over three more letters in quick succession.
R U N
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The next afternoon, Jess and Allison sat under the shade of the oaks while the boys tossed a football. Jess hated the nearly unbearable heat and humidity. Yet, discussing the house, the project and the Ouija board incident seemed safer to do on the back lawn than sitting in the Great Room—however wonderfully air-conditioned that might be. The maids were in today, and the painters were finishing up in some of the guest rooms.
Catching Gage’s throw, Bryan paused, wiping his forehead. “You’d think with a house that size the renovations would’ve included a pool.”
Gage peeled off his shirt, which almost made Jess forget about Riley and whatever else was going on inside Siler House. Almost.
“We could leave,” Bryan said. “Call our folks and tell them to come for us.”
Scowling, Gage shook his head. “Not mine. They’d remind me this is my best chance to talk with Ben. Besides, I made them a promise I’d stick this whole experiment out.”
“I’ve tried,” Allison said. “But they won’t even take my calls.” Her eyes met Jess’s and she recalled their earlier conversation about how Siler House was drawing them all in. It was sick, like some dysfunctional relationship or addiction. Yet Jess felt helpless against it. It was happening to the others, too.
“I’d never hear the end of it,” Jess said. “And my mom would harp on me to go back on medications.”
“Better than being here,” Allison said.
“It’s not so bad.” But Gage’s voice was far from convincing. “Well, if you take out the whole thing with Brandt and the history of the place and all.”
“HA HA!” Allison replied sarcastically.
“All I know is that I’m getting tired of practicing,” Bryan said. “Quarters, pens, books, junk from the basement. My headaches have headaches and I’m tired of all the nosebleeds, too.”
He shrugged. “At least Dr. Brandt doesn’t seem interested in pushing us as hard. Yesterday and the day before, he was so determined. All he did was tell me to try harder, to focus. Now, it’s like he doesn’t care if we practice or not. All he did this morning was walk around the house touching things. He’s acting like he’s in some museum or tourist shop.”
Jess had noticed the same thing.
“What about EPAC?” she asked. “Does anyone know if he’s talking to them?”
Everyone shrugged or shook their head.
“Well, no matter how you look at it, we’re still an experiment,” Gage said. “But I don’t think Brandt had planned to be another test subject.”
Bryan spun the football in his hands. “You think EPAC knew?”
“Dude, I don’t think
anyone
knew,” Gage replied. “There’s something really wrong with this place. EPAC and the doc thought we were going to be the only ones affected. They couldn’t have been more wrong.”
Bryan ran a hand through his hair. “No wonder this place has been shut down for so long. So now what? What are we going to do about it?”
“We’re here until Siler House and Riley think we’re ready,” Allison said.
Jess forced herself to breathe. “Do you really think the house can keep us here?”
Allison nodded. Then Gage, then Bryan. They felt the same way she did.
“They call it Stockholm Syndrome,” Bryan told her. “It’s when captives start sympathizing with their captors. We know we should leave. But we also want to stay. We can’t explain why, but we do.”
Jess glanced toward the gates, wishing she didn’t already know it was true—that the damn house really had trapped them. She suspected that even if they walked up to the gates right now, no one would be able to go through them. She hadn’t even tried. She’d been afraid since the Ouija board incident, and yet something about walking up to the gates scared her too. The house had gotten to them all. It should have been impossible, but then half of what they all were here for should be impossible, too. How had she ever loved this place? “So now what?”
“We wait,” Allison said. “We wait until Siler house thinks we’re ready, or until it decides to kill us.”
“It won’t kill us,” Jess said. “Wouldn’t it already have done that?”
Bryan made a scoffing noise. “What do you think it’s going to do, Jess? What do you think it would have done to me with those knives? To any of us?”
Jess hadn’t wanted to think about that. She’d tried to put it out of her mind. But, the house did have plenty of opportunities and yet, here they all were—among the living.
“Hey! Ease up, okay?” Gage said, his tone defensive.
“Jess is right,” Allison said. “Riley was just playing with us. Riley or the house could have killed us had either of them wanted to. But that doesn’t mean they can’t. Or won’t.”
“I don’t get it,” Bryan huffed. “So if we’re all being held here, then why doesn’t EPAC step in? If Dr. Brandt isn’t reporting back, then why the hell aren’t a bunch of cars with tinted windows and men in suits invading the place?”
Gage shrugged. “It means he
is
reporting back to them. Just like we’re doing with our folks. He’s telling them what they want to hear to some degree or other. He’s just not telling them everything.”
“This EPAC...” Jess tucked a strand of flyaway hair behind her ear. “What’s going to happen?”
Bryan kicked at the base of the oak. “It isn’t good, that much is clear.” He looked at Allison. “You know, don’t you?”
“Yeah” she said. “I know enough. Maybe too much.”
Gage took a seat next to Jess, but his eyes never left Allison. “Enlighten us.”
Allison picked at the ground, breaking off a blade of grass. It grew like crabgrass here, broad and thick. “I didn’t say anything before because, you know...”
Gage motioned with his hands for her to hurry up and tell the story. “Yeah, yeah. We’d have thought you were a hot mess of crazy the way you freaked out all the time. It’s okay, Allison. Tell us. Tell us everything and don’t leave a thing out.”
Unfazed by Gage’s impatience, or maybe comforted in the knowledge he’d believe her, she continued. “When they called a priest and exorcised the demons in me, there were these men who came. One of them said he was from an organization that’d help me control the demons and their power. In turn, I might be able to help them. Talk about crazy, right?”
“Help them with what?” Jess asked.
“No idea, and they wouldn’t say,” Allison replied. “Before long, they were talking to my parents, who wanted the hospital to keep me because they were afraid of me. Next thing I know, I’m being sent here as part of some experiment. I get the feeling that once this is all over with I’m not going home.”
“You don’t know that,” Jess said reassuringly. “Maybe your parents—”
“
My parents don’t want me
. I understand what Riley went through on this one.” She lifted her head and offered them a weak smile as she blinked back tears. “That’s what scares me. That I’ll become like him.” She paused and no one spoke, instead waiting for what she’d say next. “Anyway, after what I did, everyone was afraid of me. I don’t blame them.”
Gage spoke softly. “It’ll be okay, Allison. Just tell us what you did.”
She stared up at Siler House, taking in the entire structure, checking every window. Jess looked too, but no one, human or otherwise, looked back.