Wraiths of Winter (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 3) (23 page)

The
room
was
positively
alive with energy—dark,
negative energy. My skin prickled at the charge, not a single
square inch of it remained untouched. The air thickened and
wrapped itself around my wrists, tying them to the arms of
my chair with invisible restraints. Furiously, I wrenched my
arms up but they barely moved. My wrists stung as I fought
against whatever was holding them down. Tightly bound, I
watched my friends on stage reciting their lines oblivious to
what was happening to me.
They were so close but they
might as well have been miles away.

An icy cold trail made its way down the length of my
right arm followed by an intense burning sensation.
As it
trailed onto my hand, a red scratch became visible.
I was
being cut by the cold tip of a spectral blade, deep enough to
create small beads of blood along the way. She was torturing
me in the same way she herself was tortured.
A shrill cackle
erupted near my ear and as the last note died out another
sound replaced it.

CRASH!
Someone on the stage screamed and I was
instantly released from my bondage. The remnants of one of
the stage lights lay broken on the floor.

“Lucas!” Rachel shouted. “You could have been
killed!”

Lucas stood still, pale as a corpse, and stared at the
glass and metal just barely in front of him.
Jonas ushered
everyone off stage with a curt, “Take five!”

Rachel scampered down
the stairs
to where I sat
frozen from fear. “OMG! Did you see that? That thing missed
him by less than an inch!”

“Yeah,” I managed to mumble through my shock. Was
the falling light a mere coincidence or did Allison cause it?

“Ruby!” Rachel exclaimed. “You’re bleeding! It’s not
bad though.
Good thing, too, because you know how much I
hate the sight of blood.” She turned my wrist to get a better
look then pushed the sleeve of my sweater up to my elbow.
The path of the invisible blade wound its way up my arm and
disappeared under my sleeve. “What did she do to you?”

“I don’t know! It felt like I was tied up and being
tortured!” My voice shook as I described the sensation of
being bound, of feeling the ghostly dagger rip through the top
layer of my skin.

“How did you break free?” she queried.

“I didn’t—it just sort of happened.
Actually, I think
the sound of the light hitting the stage kind of broke the spell
or something.”

Rachel pulled a tissue out of her purse and wiped at
the small speckles of blood dotting my arm. “Drake
mentioned that Allison was cut. It sounds like she’s doing the
same things to you that were done to her.”

Rachel was about as comforting as a bed of nails.
When I agreed to look for Allison, the potential for torture
never entered my mind. Why would she want to inflict that
kind of pain on an innocent person? She knew agony.
She
knew the feelings of helplessness. Why perpetuate that kind
of suffering? It was brutal and cruel—the mark of insanity.

“Please, Rachel!” I implored. “I don’t want to think
about that right now! I don’t know if I can do this!” Tears
welled in my eyes and I struggled to keep them restrained.
“This is all too much—I need to leave!”

“It’s okay. Just take a deep breath and try to calm
down. I’ll stay here with you—I promise.”

With Rachel by my side, my frazzled nerves slowly
unwound. I watched Jonas inspect the mess on the stage with
a puzzled look on his face. He looked from the floor to the
ceiling
and
back down
again, clearly
bewildered by
the
accident.

“Jackson!” he shouted to someone off stage. “Clean
this up, please.”

Jackson ambled into view, shuffling his feet slowly
forward. The sight of him was almost as frightening as Allison
herself. He was a large, lumbering man with a pronounced
limp, dressed in a saggy, gray jumpsuit. Across the back of his
clothing was the word “Maintenance”. His hair was balding in
patches, cutting a bizarre path around his head that exposed
large chunks of his scalp. I shivered at the mere sight of him.

Rachel noticed my tremors. “We need to get your
mind onto better things—here.” She handed me her phone.
“Call Zach—talking to him will make you feel better.”

As
I took her phone, my
finger hit a button and
activated the camera. Click. Somehow, I managed to take a
photo.

“I don’t know how to turn your camera off—can you
do it for me?” I thrust it back at her impatiently. Then I took
notice of the photo I took and quickly snatched it back.

The photo was an angled view of the floor in front of
us. Yet it wasn’t. The floor in the picture was a bright, glossy
hardwood surface, gleaming so brightly I could almost smell
the scent of the polish it would take to get it that way.
I
glanced from her phone to the actual floor.
The wood was
pock marked and weathered, a light film of dust covering the
surface.

Frantically, I snapped another photo.
This time my
subject was the seat beside me. Again, what I saw with my
eyes
was
dramatically different from
what the camera
produced. The ragged edges of the seat were tightly woven.
The faded velvet was vibrant and new.

“What is it, Ruby? What do you see?” Rachel peered
over my shoulder to get a better look. “I don’t see what’s so
exciting,” she replied with a frown.

“That’s the point! You don’t see what I’m seeing! The
entire theater looks drastically different to me!” I pointed to
the seat. “Look here—to you this seat looks brand new, right?
Well to me, it’s frayed and covered in mystery stains! It’s like
I’m seeing how this place looked in a different time or
something!”

“Whoa,” Rachel said gravely. “That’s messed up. No
wonder you don’t like it here.” Her eyes widened. “You know
what this means, don’t you? You’re time traveling now, too!”

The idea that Rachel thought I was time traveling was
amusing—so amusing I almost wanted to laugh. Almost, but
not quite. “No, it’s not time travel I don’t think. I think I’m
just seeing things the way Allison sees them. If this place was
recently renovated, it would have looked different when she
was here.”

With Scarlet, my energy was no longer my own. With
Garnet, my feelings were no longer my own. Now, it was my
sight. With each passing day, I was losing more of myself to
the unknown. Including my sanity. How did Rita manage to
not go crazy? She seemed so normal—how did she find a way
to balance reality with this kind of perverse fantasy?

As Rachel struggled to wrap her mind around it, Jonas
called for everyone’s attention.

“Because of our little accident, I’m going to cut
rehearsals short tonight. I’ll see you all tomorrow at seven.”
He approached Lucas who was now sitting on the steps of the
stage still staring at the light that nearly smashed into his
skull.
Jonas put his hand on Lucas’s shoulder and spoke
quietly to him. Lucas nodded his head and stood up.

I wanted to leave the theater but I had to know that he
was okay first. “Just a minute, Rachel,” I said. “He still looks
pretty shaken. I’m going to see if he needs a ride or anything.”

Rachel started to roll her eyes at the suggestion of
helping Lucas but stopped when she took a last look at the
chunk of metal as Jackson tossed it into the garbage. “Okay—
make it quick, though.”

I approached Lucas as he was putting on his jacket.
“That was a close call. Are you okay?”

He was still pale and visibly traumatized.
He tried to
put on a brave face but it was transparent. “I’m fine but
thanks for asking.” As he slid his arm into the sleeve, I saw
that he was trembling.

“You’re
not
fine!” I insisted. “You’re shaking! And you
shouldn’t be driving like that. Come with us. Rachel and I will
give you a ride home.”

His eyes flickered with emotion that I couldn’t quite
discern. I hadn’t seen that look since shortly after we first
met. When his eyes returned to normal, he spoke.

“I have to drive home. There’s no way I’m leaving my
car here.” He paused as he adjusted his jacket. “Unless you
want to volunteer to drive my car for me then Rachel could
just follow us in hers.”

Me?
Drive that awesome hunk of metal?
I had my
own frightening moment tonight but I was still calmer than he
looked. I guess ghostly encounters were like rollercoasters—
less heart stopping each time around. I couldn’t pass up an
opportunity to drive his car. I just couldn’t.

“Fine. Give me your keys.” I tried not to look too
happy about it but I was nearly ready to burst.

 

He fished into his pocket to retrieve them then handed
them to me with a smile. “Thanks, Ru.”

 

“Rachel, I’m going to drive him home. Follow us in
your car.”

She flashed me a desperate “are you sure you should
be doing this?” look but nodded her head in agreement. It
was just a ride home—what’s the worst that could happen?

Once I was behind the wheel of his car, I remembered
my deal with Zach.
I promised never to be alone with Lucas,
that I would only see him at school and the theater. This was
nothing more than an extension of the theater, right?
What
kind of person would I be if I let him drive home when he
clearly wasn’t in any state to do it? And besides, Rachel was
right behind us.
If anything happened, she would know it
instantly.

Lucas stayed quiet until we were out of the glow of the
streetlights and onto the back roads. “I could have died back
there, Ru.”

“I know, Lucas. Jonas
better
have the rest of those
lights inspected. I don’t want to see anyone get hurt.”

 

“I’ve never been that close to death before and it made
me realize something,” he announced. Then…silence.

“What?” I asked impatiently. “What did it make you
realize?” But I already thought I knew the answer. He was
going to tell me he liked me.

“I love you, Ru. I know we haven’t known each other
for very long but I feel like I’ve known you my whole life.”

Shut the front door!
He
loved
me?
Zach and Rachel
shared an odd twin connection. Was it possible that Lee and
Lucas were linked in a similar way? It could be even stronger
since they were, without a doubt, identical twins? It would
explain why he felt like he’d known me for years and not
weeks.

“I…I.…” I wrestled my brain for a response but came
up empty handed. Did I feel something for him?
Yes. Was it
love? Not exactly. At least not yet. When Zach first dropped
the L bomb, I was ready for it—breathlessly anticipating it.
But this came as more of a shock to me than any ghostly
encounter possibly
could.
In the end, I gave the worst
noncommittal reply in the books.

“Lucas, I’m with Zach—you know that.” Great. As
soon as the words were past my lips I knew what I
should
have said. I should have said, “I’m sorry but I’m in love with
Zach.” Why did I have to go and give him the perfect
opportunity to question my relationship with Zach?

“You’re with him but do you love him? I know you
have feelings for me, too, Ru. Can you actually sit there and
deny it?”

It’s a good thing it was dark in that car. I didn’t want
to see his face and I certainly didn’t want him to see mine.
“There’s nothing to deny. You and I are friends,” I replied
with certainty.

But that wasn’t entirely the truth.
He fell somewhere
in between just friends and more than just friends. It was a
gray area, an area I was unfamiliar with and unwilling to
explore. At least not yet.

He didn’t reply and the interior of his car was
consumed by an awkward silence. We didn’t speak again
until he directed me to the right house. I parked the car and
handed him his keys. “See you tomorrow, Lucas.”

“Goodnight, Ru,” he said and positioned himself
between me and Rachel’s car. He spoke quietly so she
wouldn’t hear. “Sooner or later, you’re going to have to break
one of our hearts. Ask yourself, whose will it be? If there’s
even a ghost of a chance for us, you have to follow your heart.”

“Goodnight,” I said quietly and got into Rachel’s car.
When we left the Bantam, I thought driving his car would be
quite a thrill ride. As it turned out, it wasn’t the horsepower
that got my blood pumping.

17. Anatomy of a Wraith

Rachel could tell that something happened on the ride
to Lucas’s house. I knew her well enough to see that the
second I got in her car. The fact that she didn’t drill me for
details was the shocking part.
Instead, she spoke only of
Allison and what I experienced earlier at the theater.
And
how any of it could help us find Crimson.

“I don’t know, Rachel. The one thing I’m sure of is that
I need to talk to Rita ASAP. I need to know what I’m dealing
with before I go any further. I refuse to set foot in that theater
again until I talk to her.” And even then I might still refuse.

She nodded her head in agreement. “You’ve told me
all the stories about what the other ghosts did to you but this
time it kind of hit home.
Seeing you there bleeding for no
apparent reason, well, it was hard on me, too.”

“I’m glad you understand.
Going through all of that
alone was the toughest part—knowing I have you helps.”

 

Quickly, she blurted out, “And Zach, too. You have
Zach.”

Zach.
I wanted to keep as much of it from him as I
could. How else would I know whether he loved me or just
loved saving me?
But Rachel sounded slightly panicked, as if
she’d heard every word Lucas spoke to me in the car. I knew
that wasn’t even remotely possible but it made me feel guilty.
So for her sake—and the sake of my conscience, I agreed.