Allison resumed picking at the grass. “The longer we stay, the more it takes.”
“No,” Bryan said softly. “Tell us about what happened, Allison. Not about the house. Tell us what happened before you came here.”
“EPAC isn’t the only one who needs our abilities. Siler House wants it, too. Dr. Brandt and EPAC haven’t figured that out. Yet. But they will. When Siler House takes us, it’ll take us all. The demons said so.”
Bryan knelt next to her. “You said they weren’t with you any more. You
said
—”
“I told the truth,” Allison interrupted. “The demons told me
before
I came here. They told me they’d be back. They said they’d come and take the others, too.”
“So they told you about
us?
” Gage asked.
Allison shook her head. “No, not like that. They just said there would be others with me. Others who could see. The demons are cryptic, just like ghosts, which is why I don’t trust them. Why I think they’re
all
bad. None of them ever come out and tell you anything straight.” She glanced at Jess as though this bit of explanation was for her benefit alone, and Jess supposed it was.
“But, it had to be you guys they were talking about, right?” Allison searched their faces.
“Go on,” Bryan urged.
“At first, when the demons were inside me, I just thought bad things. They were awful thoughts, but that’s
all
they were. People do that from time to time, right? I didn’t think it was the demons then. I thought it was depression or stress. Every day, my thoughts became less my own and more like someone else’s—like a
lot
of someones. By then, they’d taken control. They told me to do things.”
“What things did you do?” Bryan asked.
“
I
didn’t do anything,” Allison said. “Well,
technically
I didn’t do anything. I watched. I set fire to a girl’s house. She’d been bullying me. Her whole family was inside. They couldn’t get out.” Her smile was almost bittersweet. Her eyes were also distant, and it made the hair stand up on the back of Jess’s neck despite the heat.
“I climbed a tree across the street and watched everything from there. I heard them screaming. The flames…they were so…
beautiful
.” She plucked another blade of grass and blinked, snapping back to the present. “I didn’t even need a match.”
No one moved.
“The firefighters tried to save them,” Allison went on. “The flames were too much. When the firemen went to put out the fire, I ran at them, screaming. They all thought I was friends with the family inside, but I was just upset they were putting out the fire.”
Allison looked at them. “I tried to tell them the demons would be angry.”
Jess rubbed her arms. Allison was still one of the most unsettling things about Siler House.
Allison pulled her legs up against her chest. “They locked me away even though no one could prove I’d done anything wrong. The arson investigator determined the cause was faulty wiring. I knew better. They put me away for observation because I kept telling them I set the fire, even though the real me hadn’t meant to. The logical, moral me was horrified I could do such a thing. At first, I don’t think they believed me. Until I killed one of the orderlies.”
Allison tugged at her hair as she stared off into nothing. “I warned him.
Told
him I didn’t like needles. I fought him off. He went to get help and I…
they…
the demons
,
snapped his neck. From somewhere inside, I begged and pleaded for them not to kill him. I curled up on my bed and stared at his body. After awhile, I sort of
hid
somewhere inside my head. I call it my ivory tower.”
She laughed, a tear escaping down her cheek. “Run away, Allison! Hide!”
Jess clasped a hand over her mouth. Her heart ached for Allison, and yet she understood why her aunt had recoiled the way she had that first day.
Allison wiped at the tear. “That’s where I stayed. Hidden in my ivory tower.” She laughed at this, but no one else joined her.
“I don’t know the details or how it happened, but after a month in the psych ward I woke up, free of the demons. A priest was in the room. And those men in suits. The only reason I’m here instead of some mental ward or detention center is because of EPAC. Because of this study. So see? I don’t have anywhere to go.”
Tears ran freely down her cheeks. “I hate myself. I hate what they made me do! I lost…” She shuddered and choked back a sob. “I lost everything. Everyone. You guys are all I have. The only ones with half a chance at understanding me because you’re all different, too. I can’t leave and I can’t let this place get you. I don’t know how I can stop it, or even
IF
I can stop it. What if the demons come for me first? What if Riley gets to me? What then?”
Jess went to Allison and wrapped an arm around her. In that moment if didn’t matter that she was afraid of her. “I’m so sorry, Allison.”
“Oh, shit,” Bryan said. “I get it. Holy shit, I
get
it. You think that part of the experiment is to—”
“It’s speculation, but yeah. They’d use Allison as some sort of weapon,” Gage interrupted. “She can start fires and snap necks without lifting a finger. Look at her. Who’d suspect?”
Allison nodded. She turned to Bryan. “As long as they think they can control it. As long as they can find a way to banish the demons at will.” She turned her eyes to Jess and Gage. “As long as they can find them, conjure them and be able to communicate with them whenever they want.”
Jess understood, too. “Allison isn’t the only one, is she?”
“Damn!” Bryan raked rubbed the back of his neck. “If what you say is true, Jess locates the ghosts and is the communicator. Allison brings in the wrath of hell. And, if anything goes wrong, Gage is the re-animator. Dead troops? No problem. Gage brings them back with a different soul inside. The ones Allison or Jess bring.”
“Why do they need me?” Jess asked. “If they’ve got Allison…”
“Ghosts are drawn to
you
,” Allison said. “And they can’t always count on me. Demons aren’t known to let their hosts live very long. You’re the backup.”
Gage’s forehead wrinkled in concern. “So, it’s like you’re the conduit, but Jess is the magnet?”
Allison nodded and eyed the house. “Yeah. We might all be able to see ghosts, but without Jess, the odds go way down. Again, it’s speculation, like Gage said. You guys could just be the control factors in the group. The point is, they have plans for me. Plans I want no part of.”
“Can they do that? Can they force her to do things for them?” Jess asked.
“Possible,” Gage replied.
“What do we do?” Bryan asked, pacing now. “We just can’t sit here and wait for this to go down.”
“Easy,” Gage said to him. He shrugged. “We give them what they want. We do a séance or we use the Ouija board. Except we all fake it. We blank our minds, we don’t call for anything or anyone.” He gave Jess a quick glance. “Not in front of them, anyway.”
Bryan laughed. “You’re kidding, right?”
“What else are we
supposed
to do?” Gage asked. “The spirits are getting stronger. What do you think will happen? You think that if the ghosts get stronger then EPAC or Brandt will let us walk out of here? They’ll think they’ve struck pay dirt. You heard Allison. We end this. In front of Brandt, we fake it the best way we can. But when we’re together, we practice. We exterminate everything here that’s supernatural. If the reading and sightings vanish, there’s no experiment. There’s no reason for them to want us.”
“What if something else comes for us in the meantime? What if it’s Riley?” Bryan asked.
“Then we’ll crank up the juice before that happens.” Gage turned to Allison. “Look, I know you don’t want any part of this and I don’t blame you. None of us do, either. Not like this. You saw what happened to Brandt. You and Jess saw this Riley dude. Now, you’re telling us that he’s getting stronger the longer we’re here and we’ve got to be able to protect ourselves somehow. I think that means you and Jess need to keep your eyes open. We could use some help, though.” His gaze moved to Jess. “Maybe those two girls you keep seeing are your first recruits. They should have one hell of a grudge against Riley.”
“They’ve been dead forever,” Allison argued. “And they’ve been here for too long.”
Gage shook his head. “What’s that supposed to mean? We either sit here and do nothing and wait for this douchebag Riley to come after us, or we take our best shot at ending this experiment and getting out of here. I’m all for getting the hell out of Dodge.”
Allison nodded, but looked defeated.
“After we show Brandt and EPAC we don’t have any mojo, we’ll try our own séance,” Gage continued. “Without anyone else looking. One shot. Just Jess’s dad and those two girls. Don’t bring
anything
else back. No matter what. Everyone got that?”
Jess shook her head along with the others. “What about—”
“We can’t go looking for Ben,” Gage replied sharply. “I don’t want my brother to set one ghostly foot in this place.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Gage looked over the edge of the book Brandt had given him. Jess smiled, her eyes lingering on his mouth. He raised an eyebrow and let a slow grin spread across his face as if to say,
back ‘atcha
.
The grin widened when Jess sucked in a breath of air. He liked having that effect on her. She looked away, and he tried to focus on the book. Again.
Pretending to read about powers of the mind and all sorts of weird voodoo stuff wasn’t easy. This crap just wasn’t his thing. In fact, it was downright freaky. His mind kept wandering. What he wouldn’t give for he and Jess to be able to go exploring in the house somewhere. Like one of the guest rooms. Of course, it would be Jess he’d actually explore. The rooms? Not so much.
Stay focused on getting us out of there. Not on Jess’s body.
Gage cleared his throat, forcing himself to look away from Jess’s legs and back at the book.
The short practice sessions Brandt had asked them to do when they gathered in the evenings were both the easiest and hardest part of their plan.
The easy part? They’d all agreed to put on a good show in front of Brandt, who sometimes watched them, although lately he was more and more preoccupied. Occasionally, Brandt would spend the time reading one of the books on ghosts, voodoo, spells or whatever. He never used to do that. He’d still pour over the computer, reading research on paranormal psychology, ethereal case studies and who knew what else. But mostly, he just stared off into space or wandered around the room touching things while they practiced their individual skills. Brandt took notes, but Gage didn’t think they had a lot to do with anything he’d asked them.
“You okay, Dr. B?” Gage asked.
“Hmm? Yes, I’m fine Gage. Fine.” Brandt looked confused. “Why do you ask?”
“No reason. You just seemed a little lost in thought, that’s all.”
“Just going over a few things in my head,” he replied. He got to his feet, excusing himself as he moved past Bryan and wandered into the dining room.
Bryan had been careful not to make anything larger than an empty teacup or saucer disappear. At least, not when Brandt or any of the staff were around. He had the most to prove, or since the night with the knives, to
dis
prove. Lucky for them all, Brandt seemed less interested in Bryan than anyone else.
Allison, being
Allison
, remained uncooperative when under Brandt’s scrutiny. Not that she was all that eager to call upon demons even when they got together without Brandt, but at least she was willing to discuss them.
Then, there was Jess. Jess made practicing difficult. Well, actually, just being around her was difficult, especially when she was so close he could feel the heat from her skin as she sat next to him on the sofa. Allison sat on the other side of Jess, which meant that tonight, Jess was sitting a little too close for Gage’s comfort.
She was looking at him again. He could feel it. He let out a short huff of laughter and shook his head. They’d have to end this little game soon. Either that, or by the time they finally hooked up, they’d likely kill each other.
But, when it came down to this whole experiment thing, he had to hand it to her—Jess was putting on the best show of all. She’d sometimes close her eyes, her brows pulled together in a slight frown as though she were doing her best to talk to the other side. Except now. When she was just set on torturing him.
Jess leaned forward to grab her soda from the coffee table. She’d surprised him, the way she’d so casually answered Brandt’s questions about Gracie and Emma. She’d told Brandt the truth. Sort of. That Gracie and Emma had been visiting a little more over the past couple of days.
What she
hadn’t
told Dr. Brandt was that the girls had come around a
lot
more. The only room Jess hadn’t seen them in was the storage room across the hall from where she and Allison were staying. Riley was making more of a presence, too. No one mentioned that, either. They’d all taken to placing towels over the mirrors in their rooms.
It’d been easy to fool Brandt, but Gage wondered if it had been
too
easy. The doc was hard to read.
Right on cue, as if he knew Gage was thinking about him, Brandt stopped staring at those freaky faces in the dining room’s molding and turned to Bryan.
He took a couple steps back toward the connecting Great Room. “How have your headaches been, Bryan? Any nosebleeds?”
“Huh?” Bryan looked up from the potted plant he was pretending to try and make vanish.
“The headaches? The nosebleeds?” Brandt repeated.
“They’re gone,” Bryan said. “Of course, I haven’t been able to make anything disappear lately.”
Gage hid a smile.
Way to go, Bryan! You lie like a pro!
Brandt nodded, either buying into the lie or not caring. “Well, keep trying.” He turned to Jess. “I need you to bring out the others, Jess. There must be more ghosts here.”
“I saw the man on the stairs again,” Jess replied.
“Tell us about him,” Brandt urged, suddenly interested. Gage wanted to groan. They’d almost been free of him for the night. Why did she have to go and say anything?