Ways to See a Ghost (16 page)

Dad laughed, and shook his head.

But I know. I’ve thought about it lots. The ghost of a species would look like itself. Like millions and one, at the same time. Birds or insects or fish or wild animals. Except most of us can only see them as lights.

You see, Stu and Dad had it wrong. It isn’t aliens who are trying to tell us something.

Hey, who’s there?

Shh. Gray, be still.

Someone’s knocking at the door.

Stu never got to do his interview. He nearly did, he even set up his camcorder, but then everything just kicked off.

It was probably about eight o’clock. I was at the top of the stairs, going into my bedroom, when the phone rang.

“Gray! Can you get that?” Dad yelled up from the living room.

“You’re nearer than me!” I shouted back.

The phone kept on ringing. Dad swore and came out of the living room.

“Yes,” he snapped into the phone, then, “What, what is it, Cally? No, stop crying, I can’t understand you… Of course, come round then…”

He put the phone down, a crinkly frown between his eyebrows. He glared up at me.

“What have you said to Cally?”

“Nothing,” I said, but Dad looked like he didn’t believe me.

About a minute later the doorbell rang. Cally must’ve phoned from her car, when she was already driving round.

Dad opened the door and made to kiss her, but Cally pushed past and turned on him. Her face was really white, and her eyes were red and teary.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she cried. “Interfering with my life, trying to turn my own daughter against me!”

In the living room, Stu froze. Dad backed up against the sofa.

“Cally, darling. What’s the matter?” He had his hands out to her, and his voice was… well, it’s the way he sounds when he’s got an angry girlfriend to deal with. I’ve heard it often enough.

Behind Cally, Isis was in the doorway, looking miserable. I went down the stairs and sneaked over to her.

“What’s going on?” I whispered to Isis. “Why are you here?”

“I tried to stop Cally,” Isis whispered back, “but she’s really mad at me.”

Dad had his hands on Cally’s shoulders, stroking them.
He always does that to women when they’re yelling at him, it distracts them or something.

“Why are you upset?” he said, in his calming voice.

“I’m upset because you’re poisoning my daughter’s mind!” shrieked Cally. “Because you’re using her against me!”

“What’s happened?” I asked Isis. She gripped onto her sleeves, stretching them down, like she was cold.

“I had to say something,” she whispered. “We went to these woods, and Philip Syndal was there. He told Cally some rubbish about cleaning our auras, but really he…” She looked at me. “He knows all about the ghost-eater. And…”

“I thought you loved me, Gil!” shrieked Cally, and she started sobbing.

In the living room, Stu was packing his camcorder away.

“Love you?” Dad’s hands stopped for a second, then he started stroking again. “I mean, it’s early days…”

Cally slapped at his hands.

“You’re just using me!” she cried. “I should have known! That woman in the bar, the one you said was an ‘old friend’. She warned me, but I ignored her.”

“Anna?” said Dad. “Don’t believe anything she says.”

“I don’t believe anything
you
say!” wailed Cally, tears running down her face.

Stu lifted up his bag, and shuffled for the front door.

“Right then, I’ll be going,” he said, pushing past me and Isis to get out. “We can do the interview another time.” And he was off down the road, only his smoke stink left behind.

“Who was that?” whispered Isis.

“One of Dad’s UFO mates.” We climbed up the stairs a few steps. Isis had her jumper sleeves scrunched up in her hands.

“Philip Syndal knows about me,” she whispered.

“What?” I mouthed, my eyes wide.

“He saw Angel, one time at his house, but he pretended not to. And he…” she was shaking, white as anything, “he says it’s going to leave him, and go into me.”

“The ghost-eater?” I asked, not quite believing.

She nodded.

“No.” I shook my head. “No way. He’s trying to scare you or something, that’s all. I saw you fight it! You’d never let it in.”

She looked away, at Cally, then spoke so quietly I could hardly hear her. “He said if I didn’t, he’d…”

“CALLY, just CALM DOWN!” shouted Dad, drowning out Isis. “I don’t even know what this is ABOUT!”

“It’s about you trying to stop me going to the Welkin Society!” screamed Cally. “Because you’re jealous of my friendship with Phil!” She whipped her hands through her hair, messing it up, going crazy-looking. “I was a doormat once!” she yelled. “But I won’t let you control me! I won’t go through that kind of thing again!”

“I’m NOT trying to control you!” shouted Dad. “I’ve never tried to stop you seeing Philip Syndal or his club of nutters!”

“Nutters?”
shrieked Cally. “Am I a nutter too? Is that what you think of me?”

“No! That’s not what I meant!”

They carried on like that. The front door was wide open, I bet the whole street was listening in. Me and Isis went further up the stairs, but I wished we could just leg it like Stu had.

“You
have
to tell your mum about him,” I said to Isis, when we got to the top step. “If Philip Syndal’s trying to set that monster on you, then he’s…” Dangerous, I should’ve said. A murderer.

“I can’t tell her,” she said, “I’d have to tell her so much to explain it properly. I’d have to tell her
everything.”

“So?”

She sat down on the landing, pulling her knees up.

“I keep thinking, about all that darkness just pouring inside him.” She looked scared. “I don’t want it inside me.”

Her knees were poking out from her skirt. They were grass and mud stained.

“You have to tell your mum, even some of it!” I said. “You have to get as far away from Philip as possible!”

She only shook her head, not looking at me.

Dad and Cally were still fighting. Cally yelled out, “Yes, you are!” and whacked Dad in the chest with a flat hand. It didn’t look like it hurt much.

“You’re crazy if you don’t say something!” I snapped at Isis. I was getting angry with her by then; I thought she was just being stupid, you know?

“I did!” snapped back Isis. “I told Cally she should leave the Welkin Society. That’s what all this is about!”

I frowned, I didn’t get it.

“I said your dad wants her to leave too,” she said guiltily.

“Oh.” That explained all the freaking out – it was exactly the kind of over-the-top reaction you’d expect from Cally.

“I didn’t say your dad was jealous, that’s her own stuff.”

We realised at the same time they’d gone quiet downstairs. Cally and Dad were looking up at us.

“Isis,” said Dad, “could you come down here please?”

Isis looked at me, then got up slowly and started down the stairs. Dad had his arm around Cally, and she was leaning into him. United.

I followed Isis, two steps behind.

Cally ran her hand through her hair. “Isis, why did you lie to me?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Isis, calm as anything.

Cally huffed. “You know perfectly well. Why did you say Gil doesn’t want me to stay in the Welkin Society? Why did you say he’s jealous of Phil?”

Isis didn’t answer.

“Isis,” said Dad, “are you unhappy that I’m dating your mum?”

Isis shrugged. “I don’t mind.”

Cally glared at her. “Isis,” she said, “you can’t drive Gil away by lying.”

“I didn’t lie,” said Isis. She was always full of surprises. I don’t think I could’ve stayed so cool.

A blush rose up Cally’s neck, and her eyes flashed dark. “Isis Dunbar, you’re in serious trouble!”

And that’s when I said it. Because I had to help Isis;
Dad and Cally didn’t even know what was going on.

“It’s true,” I said to Cally. “Dad
doesn’t
like your psychic club.” Dad widened his eyes at me, but I took no notice. Anyway, I’ve covered up for him loads of times, and I was sick of it. “He said so, just today. That it’s all a load of rubbish. I heard him say it to Stu.”

“What?” Cally pulled away from Dad.

“That’s not true!” lied dad, trying to catch her hand back, but she wouldn’t let him have it.

Dad looked daggers at me, but Isis smiled a thank you.

“I knew it!” Cally shouted at Dad. “You
are
jealous! Of my interests, of Philip.” She put her hand to her head. “I don’t know what to think!”

“Don’t listen to Gray!” said Dad. “He’s lying!”

Cally turned furious. “That’s the third person you’ve accused of lying about you! I wonder if I know you at all!” She pulled herself up, took a shuddering breath. “Maybe we aren’t right for each other. Maybe we should stop seeing each other…”

Isis gasped. I went still, wondering what’d happen if they split up.

But Dad… he turned pale, then red, then he sort of sagged.

“Cally, no!” he croaked out. “I’m sorry if I said the wrong things. I’ll do anything to make it up. I couldn’t bear to lose you.” He held his arms out towards her. “Because I do… love you.”

I never heard him say that before. Not to any of them.

Cally burst into tears and flung herself at him.

“I won’t go to the Welkin Society again,” she sobbed. “Not if you don’t want me to.”

Isis grinned at me.

“No!” said Dad. “I want you to carry on. It’s important to you.”

Isis stopped smiling.

“I’ll prove I’m not jealous,” Dad said, looking all gooey at Cally. “You know my next chasing trip, this Friday?” Cally nodded. “Well I want you to invite your Welkin Society. They can investigate the spiritual energy you felt last time.”

“Oh, Gil!” Cally kissed him.

“Dad, no!” I cried. “They’re dangerous! Nutters, like you said.”

“Shut up, Gray!” snapped Dad. He looked so angry with me, it felt like getting slapped. He turned back to Cally. “I never said that,” he lied again. “But since Gray is so disapproving of them, he can miss out on this trip.”

So me and Isis were both in trouble. Not long after, Cally took Isis home. It was only later I remembered that I hadn’t even told Isis what I’d realised about the UFOs… I mean the ghosts in the sky.

I wish I could turn back time, and do everything another way.

“I don’t want to go!” shouted Isis. It must’ve been the twentieth time she’d yelled it. They’d argued round in circles, grinding down to a stony stalemate. Cally wouldn’t budge about going on Gil’s UFO hunt, Isis hadn’t been able to convince her not to. The only way would be to tell her the truth, all of it. But that was impossible.

She couldn’t even speak to Gray and get his ideas on what to do. Cally had banned her from talking to him. Isis had heard her on the phone to Grandma Janet, saying he was a bad influence.

Cally stood by the front door. Coat and car keys in her hands, their blankets and chairs bundled up on the floor.

“You are coming with us,” Cally said coldly. “If there was any other way, I’d happily leave you at home.”

“Do that then!”

“I’m not leaving you by yourself for a whole night. Who knows what might happen?” Cally’s phone rang and she answered it, the anger clearing out of her voice. “Yes, of course. We’ll be down in a minute.”

She looked at Isis. “It’s time to go, and I expect you to be civil to Philip. It was incredibly kind of him to forgive you, after the way you behaved.” She opened the front door, waving Isis through, and they heard footsteps in the stairwell. Philip Syndal coming up to meet them.

“Everyone set?” he called, jovial and merry. “Shall I follow your car, Calista? Here, let me help you with your things.” He took the camping chairs from Cally. She glared at Isis, pulling her by the arm and locking the door behind them.

You must come.

The memory fluttered up from deep inside Isis’s mind, but she couldn’t remember who’d said the words to her. Shuddering, she knew no one had.

Shadows were deepening over the field, the sun gleaming
red across a western roll of hills. This was a different place to last time, the location down to Gil’s calculations. And even after they’d found Gil’s camper van, parked up on the roadside, it had been a long walk to get to the field. Now they were all standing on a rough, nettle-strewn strip of grass next to a hedge.

A breeze fluttered through Isis’s hair, then hissed across the wheat. Cally shivered, drawing her cardigan around her shoulders.

“It’s chillier than I thought it would be.”

“You’re always cold!” said Gil, smiling at her. “You need someone to keep you warm.”

Cally giggled, but Isis said nothing. She’d seen the real reason for Cally’s chill: Angel had been running in circles around her legs. Recovered now, and back to her chubby, invisible self.

“I with Mummy!” she laughed.

Philip Syndal looked pointedly at Angel, then up to Isis. He winked.

“Go home!” mouthed Isis, but Angel took no notice, only plopping onto the ground and running her hands through the grass without moving it.

Gil set about putting out his monitors and scientific
instruments: unrolling long strands of wire back to his laptop, weaving a black, straggling electronic web around the field, lecturing them all as he worked.

“It’s to do with fluctuations in the electromagnetic field – they’re very unusual in this part of the country,” he said, as he set out a large grey metal box. “This is an EM field generator. I’m going to try communicating with them.”

Cally and Philip followed after him, asking questions, but Isis couldn’t pretend to care. Over the hedge, she saw the tops of three heads. Voices drifted in the evening air as more people headed their way.

Philip called out, and started towards them. Gil stood slowly, watching as the small group huddled on the other side of the field gate, seemingly baffled as to how to open it. He turned to Cally.

“More of you?” he asked.

“You said I could invite anyone from the Welkin Society,” she said.

“Yes, of course,” said Gil quickly, wilting a little under Cally’s challenging stare. “It’s great that they’re here.”

Cally headed off to the gate, but Isis kept back as a man and two women joined Cally and Philip in the field, all of them talking excitedly. Instead Isis watched for any
strange flutters in the sky, or a shivering sweep of blue.

Philip introduced Gil to an elderly woman called Jean, a tall soft-voiced man called Ian and a round, blousy woman wearing draping layers of clothing, who loudly announced herself to be Andrea Simms. Isis recognised all of them from the meeting at Philip’s house.

Almost straight away they gathered in a huddle, arguing about how to create a ‘psychic circle’. Isis stayed close to Angel, who was running about on her short legs, chasing after a moth fluttering along the hedgerow.

“Please go home, you’ll be safe there!” Isis hissed at her. But Angel only shook her head.

“No. I not doing that.”

If any of the adults had been watching Isis, they might have wondered at her odd wanderings up and down the field edge. But they weren’t paying her any attention, caught up with their own concerns.

“Just stick to the tramlines,” Gil was saying to the others, “and it’ll be easier to move around the crop.”

“What are the tramlines?” asked Jean, turning her
grey-haired
head towards the field.

“It’s where the tractor drives when they’re spraying
the crop,” said Gil, pointing at the long thin gaps in the wheat, heading straight into the field.

“This is wonderful,” said Philip, brightly. “I am sure we are going to have a most interesting night. I’d like us to start by calling on the spirits to come and assist us.”

Isis glared at him from a distance – he was such a hypocrite, leading the others into another of their sham seances. There were no spirits out here, except Angel.

“There are six of us,” said Philip, “so we can make a very effective circle.”

Gil shook his head. “Not me. I’m not included.”

“I thought you wanted…” started Cally, but Gil stood firm in this.

“I have my own work to do.”

There was a small moment of tension between them, ended by a smile from Cally. She turned to Philip. “It’ll have to be the five of us.”

Andrea Simms waved her arms, flapping several layers of her tentlike dress.

“No, no! Five is a terrible number. If the spirits draw lines between us, think of the shape…” She lowered her voice dramatically. “The dark star, the pentangle. We want to draw down angels, not
other things.
”

Ian snorted. “If you draw lines between five people, the shape you get is a pentagon.”

“It’s the same thing!” snapped Andrea.

“Actually, no,” said Jean, “a pentangle is an extension of a pentagon, so we’d need more people to form it. If there were ten of us, and we took up staggered positions…”

“The spirits are perfectly capable of making any shape they like!” cried Andrea dramatically. “Dark spirits will be attracted the instant we take our places, and before we know it we’ll be drawing in all sorts of evil!”

“I’m sure it will be all right,” said Cally, trying to calm her.

Andrea folded her arms. “I refuse to take part in anything involving five people.”

“Well we can’t just use four,” said Jean, “we’d make a rectangle or square. They’re very un-mystical shapes.”

Ian sighed. “If only three of us take part, then two people are left with nothing to do. Why don’t we just stick to what we have, and use the five of us.”

Andrea opened her mouth to argue, but Philip Syndal held up a hand to stop her. “We don’t just have five.” He pointed at Isis.

She froze.

“Isis could take a part,” he said. “Then we’d be six, which is a very pleasing number for the spirits.”

“A child?” said Jean. “Would that be safe?”

“The spirits wouldn’t hurt her,” said Philip, confidently.

“But does she have the gift?” asked Andrea. “She’s rather small to be a channel.”

“She
is
gifted!” said Cally, bristling. “My daughter had a very strong psychic experience recently.”

“So she’ll be perfect,” said Philip.

“No!” Isis said, her heart pounding. There was no way she was doing anything he wanted. Whatever this was about, he couldn’t be trusted.

“Isis.
” Cally spoke her name as a warning, but Philip gave Isis a kind, gentle look.

“It’s all right,” he said quietly. “I understand if you’re nervous.”

“I was scared the first time I heard the spirits,” said Andrea, speaking loudly and slowly, as if Isis were stupid. “However, once you face the truth of your gift, you’ll find there’s nothing to fear, really.”

Isis kept her eyes on the adults. She had to get out of this, and so she let a little bit of fear creep into her voice. “Ghosts do scare me,” she said, hoping they’d believe her.

Philip’s mouth twitched, as if they were sharing a private joke. “We’ll all be with you,” he said.

Isis shook her head.

Cally held her hand out. “This is really important to me.”

“You can stay with your mother,” said Philip, his
kind-sounding
words reminding her of his threats.

Isis looked at Cally. “I don’t want to,” she said desperately, needing her mum to understand, to stand by her, even if she didn’t know the reason why.

“I expect Isis wants to text her friends,” Ian said, “or play a game on her phone. So sad how children these days aren’t interested in anything.”

Cally winced. “I don’t let Isis have those things,” she said quickly, before turning to Isis. “Will you stop being so difficult?”

“I’m not!”

“Yes you are!” cried Cally, her temper flashing. “You’re always difficult these days! You won’t do one thing for anyone else!”

Philip took the few steps towards them, his hand resting on Cally’s elbow. “Now there’s no need to shout,” he said, pulling Cally away from Isis. The other adults
watched, looking a little awkward. Apart from Gil, who was absorbed in his electronics.

“She’s just going through a difficult stage,” said Cally.

“She is?” asked Philip quietly, sympathetically. “Could it be between the two of you perhaps?”

“What? I mean we do argue, but…” started Cally. Behind her, Isis saw Andrea and Jean exchange meaningful glances.

“I always say teenagers need extra attention, not extra discipline,” said Andrea loudly. “Parenting is so much more important at their age.”

“I do give her attention,” said Cally to Philip. “Although I suppose it’s less since I started seeing Gil.”

Philip nodded, his eyes on Cally. But when he spoke it was loud enough for everyone to hear. “Children act out what they see around them, especially if their parents are absent or unpredictable. But screaming and shouting at them never helps, I think we can all agree on that.”

“She wasn’t screaming at me,” said Isis.

“Bringing up a child on your own can be very challenging,” said Philip.

“But you must restrain yourself,” Andrea told Cally. “Put her needs first.”

Cally stared at her. “I do!”

Andrea raised her eyebrows, and glanced at Philip.

Suddenly Isis understood; Philip had already started laying the groundwork on his threat. He’d obviously told the others his ‘concerns’ about Cally. There was an almost invisible smile on his lips as he listened to Andrea lecture Cally about childcare, and watched Cally’s growing irritation.

“I’ll help,” said Isis loudly. She looked at Cally. “You were right, I was being selfish.”

Cally blinked, then smiled at her. “Thank you, darling.” Her anger was gone like it had never been, and she kissed the top of Isis’s head, unaware of the cold, scrutinising stares of the other adults.

They walked out into the wheat, Philip leading the adults and Isis following reluctantly after. As they trod the narrow tramline into the crop, Jean dropped back so she was walking with Isis. She didn’t say anything for a moment, then she put her thin-boned hand on Isis’s shoulder and gave a little squeeze.

“Don’t worry, dear,” she said. “Things may be difficult with your mother, but I hope you won’t have to put up with living with her for much longer.”