Wraiths of Winter (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 3) (22 page)

“He planned it.”

What
? He blamed
Lucas
for this? “How?” I asked in
bewilderment. “He couldn’t possibly have known about
Drake’s arrest before Boone even knew! Breaking the vase
only seconds before midnight was a coincidence, Zach! You
were in the room—you saw the kind of chaos that erupted in
here!”

He still wouldn’t look at me. “Not the part about
Drake—he only saw his opportunity and took it. If it hadn’t
been that, it would have been something else. He heard me
tell everyone about Grandma’s superstition—he
knew
I
believed it. He knocked that vase over so you would rush to
his side. Hell, he probably even cut himself on purpose!”

“Zach! You make him out to be a complete sociopath!
It was just an accident!” Though I didn’t care for the things he
was saying about Lucas, I was seriously glad that he didn’t
blame
me
.

“Ruby, I’m telling you I don’t trust him! Until tonight,
I wasn’t positive—but now I am.
I saw the way he sang to
you—I’m not blind, you know.”

I wanted to play it off like I had no idea what he was
talking about but I could feel myself blushing violently. There
was no way I could talk my way out of this one.

“Okay,” I conceded, “Maybe he
does
have a little crush
on me but that doesn’t mean he cut himself to get my
attention.”

“You call that a crush? Seems more like a stalker to
me.” He finally turned to look at me and I instantly wished he
hadn’t. Calm rage was the only way to describe it. It would
have been the perfect time to remind him that
he
was the one
who followed me to Pittsburgh, not Lucas. But I was trying to
repair our relationship not destroy it.

“What he does shouldn’t matter, Zach. I love
you
! I’m
wearing
your
ring, remember?” I thrust out my hand and
pointed to my promise ring. “When you put this ring on my
finger, I promised to always be yours.
I promised to never
take it off and I haven’t. What more do you want?”

“What I want is for him to leave you alone—to stop
playing his games.”

We were at an impasse. No amount of arguing could
convince him that Lucas wasn’t playing games. I refused to
believe that Lucas
was
anything
more than an
innocent
bystander caught in Zach’s jealousy radar. We had to find a
way to agree to disagree.

“I’ll make you a deal—I’ll agree to only see Lucas at
school and the theater if you agree to back off of him. If we’re
never alone together, you won’t have anything to worry
about.”

“Fine—but what about finding his birth parents? That
was the excuse he kept using to get you to spend time with
him.” Zach had all the intensity of a hostage negotiator.

I forgot about that. A mutual desire to find his parents
was the reason Lucas and I started hanging out together in
the first place. I couldn’t just give up on that altogether.

“I’ll put that on hold for a while. Once you see how
wrong you are about Lucas, then maybe you’ll be able to let
me spend time with him without worrying so much. Deal?”
When Zach and I fought, it was like ramming an iceberg into
my own chest—bitterly cold and excruciatingly painful. But I
refused to give in completely. He had to know that my life
was still just that—
my
life.

The
leg
stopped bouncing
as
the
Siberian tiger
pranced a few circles around his cage and lay down with his
head on his paws. “Deal. Now can I get that kiss I missed or
what?”

I thought he would never ask.
Once my lips were
entangled with his, the iceberg slowly melted into a warm
pond. Which quickly turned into a sizzling hot spring. One
more kiss and I was sure that Old Faithful would blow sky
high.
But as we kissed, Lucas crept into my thoughts. The
way he looked at me, the way he sang to me.
No!
Maybe
some distance from him would be a good thing after all.

What I wanted more than anything in the world was
to take Zach upstairs so I could fall asleep beside him. It was a
big house—maybe Dad would never notice.
With the state
she was in, Shelly
definitely
wouldn’t notice. When I posed my
plan to Zach, he hesitated briefly before shooting it down.

“Even if your parent’s don’t notice, mine will. I’m
surprised they haven’t called yet.” Zach checked his watch
and sighed. “It’s almost three already—I think I’ve pushed my
luck about as far as it can be pushed. See you tomorrow?”

With a disappointed pout, I agreed. “See you
tomorrow.”

After walking Zach to the door, I returned to the living
room one last time. I stared at the spot where the vase once
sat and said aloud, “Happy New Year.” Then I turned off the
lights and went to bed.

The
first week
back to school was
a hectic
one.
Instead of having midterms before winter break like we did at
my old school, they were all scheduled for the week after.
It
was supposed to give us more time to study but let’s face it,
no
one
studied over break. So the first chance I had to discuss
things with Rachel was on our way to the first rehearsal at the
Bantam
on Friday.
I wanted to talk to her
about the
Zach/Lucas situation and get her opinion on what happened
with the vase. But understandably so, Rachel’s one track
mind was focused on helping Drake and finding Crimson. As a
matter of fact, when I mentioned the broken vase, she had no
idea what I was talking about.

“So I’m really counting on you to make contact with
Allison tonight, Ruby.
Without your help, an innocent man
may spend the rest of his life in prison—or worse.
They still
have the death penalty in Pennsylvania, you know.”

Great—no pressure there. “I’ll do my best but no
guarantees, okay?
She wasn’t exactly a great
conversationalist last time, don’t forget.” Just thinking about
that hideous gaping mouth of hers gave me goose bumps.

“I know—but anything is better than what we have
right now which is nothing.”

I was curious about something but I wasn’t sure how
to approach the subject. Drake was happy to fill us in on the
details of Allison’s disappearance but hadn’t said one word
about what happened between him and Crimson the night she
went missing. I found that odd. And just what evidence did
the police find that made them confident enough to lock him
up?

“So,” I said slowly, “What’s Drake’s side of the story?
From Halloween, I mean.” There—that ought to be tactful
enough.

“Story? There’s no story—there’s just the truth,
Ruby!” Rachel replied defensively. “Drake’s innocent.”

Obviously my idea of tactful was far different from
hers. “I didn’t mean it like that, Rachel. I was just wondering
because he’s never really said what happened, has he?”

You could see the hamster running a marathon in his
wheel as she thought about it. “No—I guess he hasn’t.” For a
second, her face showed doubt. “But that’s okay, we’ll just
have to ask him.”

“How, Rachel? He’s in jail. They don’t just let anybody
in, you know. It’s not like we can waltz right in there and
pretend that we’re there for his conjugal visit or anything?”
But the second I said it, I knew she was trying to figure out a
way to pull it off.

“Simple—we’ll just get Boone to ask for us. He’s his
brother—they have to let him in.”

I had to give Rachel credit. Her plan was much better
than mine—and less likely to raise eyebrows.
After all, we
were both still underage and Drake didn’t need any more
scandal than he already had.
His arrest was all over the
news—both local and national.
NFL stars got into trouble
with the law every day but kidnapping and potential murder
charges still made the headlines.

As we pulled up in front of the Bantam, my muscles
began to tense and tighten. Was this how death row inmates
felt as they walked to their deaths? I couldn’t imagine it
feeling any worse. I had experience with ghosts—even ones
that wanted to kill me.
Why was Allison so much worse?
I
put one foot inside the theater and I realized why.

Even at the height of the haunting, Rosewood never
felt unwelcoming. And while the school wasn’t exactly my
favorite place, the building itself never felt malevolent. But
the Bantam, well,
it felt like pure evil.
The
walls, the
foundation, every part of it seemed to be steeped in violent
despair. I didn’t just sense death and sadness, I sensed agony.
It would take a lot of energy to make a structure that large
feel so vile.
What if Allison was too powerful for me to
handle?

I wanted to be a coward.
I wanted to run away
screaming and never look back. But if I did that, Rachel would
never forgive me. So I plastered some fake confidence on my
face and marched bravely beside her to the front row.
We
took seats beside the rest of the cast and waited for Jonas to
take the stage.
Or for Allison to level the building with a
blasting shriek—whichever came first.

“Okay people—can I have your attention please!”
Jonas called out with authority. “Welcome back actors and
actresses!”

Just like last time, the door in the back opened with a
loud bang and Lucas rambled in apologetically.
Jonas gave
him a sideways glance and continued on.

“Tonight is the first of many rehearsals. We will meet
every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from now until the end of
February. That last weekend, of course, will be our time to
shine—shine for the town of Charlotte’s Grove and shine for
ourselves. But before we can shine, we need to polish.
Did
you all bring your copies of the script?”

En masse, the sound of rustling paper erupted from
the entire group. Everyone but me of course.

Jonas noticed immediately, jumped down from
the
stage and strolled over to where I sat. His eyes fairly pierced
into my skull.
Great.
This place made me uncomfortable
enough as it was without his intense scrutiny.
Someone,
please, shoot me now.

“I seem to recall that you didn’t even audition,” he said
in an accusatory manner.

 

“I…I…” I clearly didn’t know what to say to him.
Thankfully, Rachel did.

“Stage fright—she’s trying to overcome it. We thought
maybe she could help with some of the backstage stuff, you
know, to build her courage a little. Maybe she’ll even be cured
in time to audition for your next production in March.”

Now
that
was
what best friends
were for!
Jonas
studied me closely. “I like the idea. There is a part in that one
that would definitely fit you.”

Okay, now things were getting a little out of hand. If I
didn’t find answers soon, I was going to be drafted into acting
against my will. He would have to drag me onto that stage
kicking and screaming—I would
never
get up there willingly!
But for now, I just had to play along.

I nodded my head and smiled. Jonas seemed satisfied
by this and returned to the stage. “Let’s start at the
beginning—Act One, Scene One. I need my Kira and actresses
numbers one and two on stage. Roarke, take your place off
stage left.”

While they ran through their lines, Lucas made his
way over to me and plunked down in Rachel’s empty seat.
With a smile, he said only one word to me.

“Bullshit.”

 

“Huh? What’s bullshit?” I said utterly confused.

“You told me before—quite adamantly, if I remember
correctly—that you would never get on that stage. You lied to
Jonas just now and I want to know why.”

Lies—why did I always seem to get caught in them?
“Rachel needs me here for moral support but she doesn’t
want him to know that.” Once more I got that same one word
reply.

“Bullshit.” His smile grew wider and he tilted his head
in a cocky manner.

“What? It’s the truth,” I answered nonchalantly but
inside I was panicking. What did he really think I was doing
here?

He motioned to the stage where Rachel was busy
reciting her lines like a pro. “She doesn’t seem to need any
support. You’re not here for her, you’re here for me.”

He couldn’t have been further from the truth. I
was
there for Rachel, just not in the way I said I was. If it weren’t
for Drake and Crimson, I would probably be out with Zach
right now. Not probably, definitely.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m here for
Rachel—I told you that already.”

“No. After what happened New Year’s Eve, you’ve
been keeping your distance from me. But that wasn’t your
choice, was it? It was Zach’s. But if you’re here with his sister,
he won’t worry that anything’s going on between us and you
still get to spend time with me.”

I started to protest but he interrupted. “Save it, Ru. I
know I’m right.” Jonas called for the next scene, a scene Lucas
was in.
He brushed my chin lightly with his fingers before
taking his place on stage. “Don’t worry, though, I’ll keep that
our little secret.”

Whoa. I was
not
expecting that. I stayed in my seat
and kept my focus on Rachel. Zach was right—this was more
than just a crush. Lucas wanted me as way more than merely
a friend. What was I going to do? It used to be easy to deny
that his advances meant more. Now, not so much.

As I sat there analyzing my situation, a chill crept into
the theater. It was the chill I was searching for but far from
ready for.
Instinct kicked in and I snapped my head around
expecting to see Allison in the balcony above me just like in
my dream.
Nothing.
I kept my eyes trained on that spot,
allowing them to adjust to the lighting.
No shadows, no
movement.
Where
was
she?
Sometimes
not
seeing ghosts
was
far more
nerve wracking
than having
a full bodied
apparition right in your face.