The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker

by Lauren James

  The fresher was chugging the drink, looking green.

  “… SEVEN … SIX … FIVE … FOUR … THREE … TWO … ONE!”

  Only recently, Harriet had been like them. A naïve, innocent fresher, whose biggest problem was finding new and disgusting ways to get drunk. She’d changed so much since then.

  Charlie held up the empty bottle, looking proud and nauseous in equal measure. The boy clapped her on the back, then shouted, “Let’s get this seance started!”

  Seance? Harriet suddenly clicked to attention.

  The students gathered in a circle, hooking their arms together, as Charlie wandered off down the corridor, presumably looking for a corner to throw up in.

  “Spectres of Mulcture Hall, hear our call. We wish you no harm,” a fresher intoned.

  “Give us our girl back!” one of the boys yelled.

  The students all burst into giggles, except one boy, who looked terrified.

  “We call upon the spirit of Harriet Stoker…”

  They were here for her? She’d only been dead a few days, but apparently she had become a university myth already.

  “If Harriet is still present in the building, please can she make herself known to us.”

  A sign? They wanted a sign?

  Harriet walked into the centre of the circle, spinning around to look at them all. Surely it wouldn’t hurt to take a little from one of these humans? Just a smidgen of energy would be enough to make Oscar’s power manifest. They had so much to spare, and they were practically offering it up to her. It could be the difference between life and death; between holding her ground against the others or being destroyed. Could she really…?

  Should she?

  “Harriet Stoker! Your life was taken too soon! In tribute, we offer up this … er – bottle of tequila!” One of the boys poured out a trail of liquid in the middle of the circle, right through Harriet’s spirit. It was a cold dart to the heart.

  The circle was moving, students swaying back and forth as they took swigs of their drinks. Before she could make a decision, one of the boys stumbled into her, passing through her body. Her instincts kicked into action involuntarily. She latched onto his energy, sucking it out of him in waves. She fought to stop it but it was like her hooks had caught onto him and she couldn’t move away.

  Oscar’s power pulsed inside her, coming to life as the student convulsed and fell to his knees. Something popped inside her head, a deep pressure swelling and pushing against the inside of her skull. She shook out her ears, trying to dispel it.

  A girl yelled, “Guys, I think there’s something wrong with Eric!”

  The students dragged him to his feet, carrying him away as they fled. Harriet was left alone, kneeling on the floor. She tipped her head back, energy burning up inside her. The power sprang into life. To her surprise, her whole body began to morph.

  She had transformed somehow, like when Rima turned into an animal. Though she was still human, something had changed. Her hands were smaller than usual and covered in wrinkles. When she peered into the cracked glass of a window, it was her grandmother’s face that stared back at her.

  Harriet skittered away in fright. It was only when her gran’s expression contorted in fear that she realized she had transformed into her. Harriet’s new power let her change her body.

  She focused her power again, thinking of Rima. Within seconds, her gran’s face morphed into Rima’s, looking first surprised then happy. This could come in handy. Incredibly handy.

  LEAH

  Leah was relieved to see that Felix was still here. She’d seen ghosts commit suicide when their loved ones disintegrated, in the hopes of following them into whatever afterlife came next. But this existence was all they had for certain, and it would be a waste for Felix to give it up in search of something more with his brother.

  “It’s pouring out there, you guys. Come back in,” Rima said to Felix and Kasper on the fire escape. “Back at it again with the pathetic fallacy, eh?”

  “It’s only drizzle,” Kasper said.

  Rima snorted. “Only drizzle. It thundered a second ago!”

  Felix watched them, looking a little stunned. Leah gently touched his shoulder. “My condolences on your loss, Felix Anekwe.”

  Taking her completely by surprise, he pulled Leah into a hug. She held still. Before Rima and the boys had appeared in her life, she hadn’t touched anyone except Claudia in centuries. She’d tried her hardest not to, in fact.

  “I’m sorry that I couldn’t warn you in time.”

  Felix kissed her cheek. “Don’t. Please. It wasn’t your fault, not even a little bit.”

  She took a deep breath and nodded. “I know. But I’m sorry, anyway.”

  When Claudia tugged at his hair, Felix took her from Leah.

  “Hey, munchkin,” he said. “I bet you’re glad your mum’s finally woken up, aren’t you?” Claudia adored Felix.

  Leah stretched out her arms. More and more, her whole body was a mass of pins and needles. Holding Claudia didn’t help.

  It wouldn’t be long before she disintegrated. She’d accepted that; now she was just impatient to get it over with. She’d had more than her fair share of time. Except … there was Claudia. There was always Claudia.

  Leah had been alone for most of the time she’d been alive. Her family’s goals were directly opposed to Leah’s own desires. She had always just been a pawn in their plans, miserable and lonely except for Claudia. At least she’d had her, someone on her side who she could trust.

  What would happen to her if Leah disintegrated? At least when they became Shells, they could stay together. She didn’t want Claudia to disintegrate with her. If there was an afterlife, it contained people who she didn’t want Claudia to have to see again. The two of them were safer here in Mulcture Hall, hiding out in the place between now and whatever came next.

  To Leah’s surprise, Rima looked at Claudia and asked, “Why couldn’t you have done something about Harriet, huh?”

  Claudia wriggled in outrage.

  “Next time,” Leah whispered in her ear.

  She wished there was a way for Claudia to talk to her. She could see just how much she wanted to say. Her eyes would fill with frustration, as she searched desperately for a way to communicate with Leah.

  “How are you doing, Felix?” Rima asked. “Seriously.”

  “I’m … coping. I think.”

  “Do you want to talk about it? Or would you rather we carried on pretending like nothing has happened?”

  Felix smiled. “Can we stick with the forced humour for right now?”

  Kasper was staring down at his hands. He had been touching Felix’s cheek when Rima had found them, but now he had pulled away. Leah wished that he would love himself as much as he loved the rest of them. Kasper was his own worst enemy, sometimes.

  It wasn’t his fault, though. Society was different now, compared to how it had been since she was alive. Most of those changes were good, a sign of progress – women could be their own people, with careers and incomes and bank accounts. But some things were bad. Over the centuries, she’d watched sexuality become something malicious and evil and suppressed. It was a step back, even as everything else in society progressed. Poor Kasper had taken the brunt of that.

  Rima said, “I think it’s time we discussed Harriet. I have a plan, but can you please get out of the rain before we start plotting? I know we can’t catch hypothermia, but this really isn’t a rom-com. Not every dramatic conversation needs to take place in the rain!”

  “Please stop with the genre criticisms,” Leah said. “I just woke up. It’s too early.”

  “Oh, be quiet, Miss Angst-and-Misery,” Rima said. “You’ve been awake for at least an hour.”

  “Have any of you seen Harriet recently? How do we know she’s not listening in again?” Felix asked, voice quavering. He looked around the room nervously.

  Kasper jogged a lap around the room, waving his arms madly. He didn’t bump into any invisible f
igures.

  “Satisfied?” he asked Felix.

  Felix rolled his eyes but nodded. “Carry on, Rima.”

  “Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about what we can do about her.” As Rima spoke, something in her posture changed minutely. The girl who had been teasing Felix only moments before was gone. In her place stood a commanding, determined figure. Leah had never been prouder.

  “I think we can all admit that we aren’t going to be able to stop her with force,” Rima continued, striding up and down as she spoke. “None of us have ever dealt with anything like this before – and Leah’s too weak right now to help, so it’s just the three of us. We can’t beat her with strength anyway. She must have four or five powers by now, between her own, the Shells’, and O— your brother’s. She might even have Greg’s power, too, seeing as we don’t even know what she did to him.”

  Leah shivered. Greg had used his power on her once. He’d waited around the corner to pounce on her. His touch had made her trust him unquestioningly. Against all her better judgement, he had convinced her to come down to the basement with him. He’d almost managed it, too – only Claudia’s insistent screaming had made her pause and reconsider, just before she passed through the lightning barrier. If Harriet had Greg’s power, they were all in trouble.

  Rima continued, “At this point, we can’t even predict what things she could do to us. We have to assume any power is within her grasp, if she’s started picking off weaker ghosts. If we fight her, we’re going to turn into Shells long before she even gets tired.”

  Kasper ran a hand over his scalp. “Can you get to the solution? This summary is stressing me out.”

  “Sorry. Basically, I think we need to use something other than brute force. There must be some way we can combine our powers to get her under control without fighting, right? That didn’t work last time and she’s only grown stronger. We need to use our brains instead of muscle.”

  Leah considered this. There was a chance that Rima was on to something. The idea of combining powers reminded her of some advice an old ghost had told her. They’d been living in the building when she was newly dead, and had disintegrated soon after. Leah had never tried it out, but she’d kept the idea in the back of her mind – just in case she needed to use it one day.

  “You know, I’ve heard of something we could try. It might take some preparation, though.”

  Rima asked, “What is it?”

  Leah frowned, trying to remember the details. “If you can get hold of a body part, then we can use it as a connection to her energy. We can draw out the excess energy until she’s weak enough that we can subdue her. Something like a strand of her hair or a fingernail would work. Anything that used to be part of her body. It will still be running off her energy, and we can tap into that connection.”

  “Maybe we can distract her and steal some hair without her noticing?” Felix offered.

  Rima winced. “She’s on her guard now. I don’t think she’d let any of us get that close. She knows we want to lock her in the basement.”

  Felix held up a hand. “Wait – the basement. Couldn’t her … eyelid be down there? It was torn off by the Tricksters, remember?”

  Rima gasped.

  “An eyelid could work!” Leah said.

  “What if we made a trade with the Tricksters for it?” Rima suggested.

  Kasper looked frightened. “Rima, you know what they did to Lisa. We can’t risk it. They’d take everything from us.”

  She shook her head, expression taut. “I can’t see how we have any other choice. I’d rather be in debt to the Tricksters than let Harriet keep killing people.”

  Leah said, “I agree. I can show you how to suck out Harriet’s energy using the eyelid, once you have it. But I’m afraid I won’t be able to come to the basement with you. The Tricksters and I have … unfinished business. My presence might make it harder to negotiate with them.”

  It had been decades since she’d seen Rufus and Vini, and she had no interest in repeating the experience. She definitely wasn’t letting her daughter get anywhere near them.

  Rima looked intensely curious, but to Leah’s relief, she didn’t ask any questions. “I’ve got loads of credit on the black market from all the squid ink they’ve ordered for tattoos. We can use that to trade for it.”

  Kasper sighed. “Do we really have to go and see the Tricksters? Would they even still have it? Everyone knows that Vini likes skin. He’s probably eaten it by now.”

  “Rufus wouldn’t let him,” Leah said firmly. “He will know how valuable it is.”

  “Does he know that he can control people with part of their body?” Felix asked.

  “I think so.” Leah winced. She was lucky that he’d never managed to get hold of anything from her or Claudia. He’d have destroyed them both in an instant.

  Felix said, “Sorry Rima, but I don’t think your credit on its own is going to be enough for this. He’d be stupid to give up part of Harriet’s spirit unless there was something even better on offer. She’s the most powerful ghost in the building right now.”

  “What could we offer that he wouldn’t be able to resist?” Rima asked, frowning. “What can possibly be better than a way to control the most powerful ghost in the building?”

  Kasper had gone pale. “Me.”

  It’s been eighty years since we last saw Rufus and Vini. And that’s nowhere near long enough for them to forgive me for what I did.

  I don’t think I’m ready to talk about it yet. I’m sorry.

  Leah would do anything to protect me, but she can’t avoid this confrontation for ever. Time is running out, and when we see Rufus and Vini again, I’m going to do what I was never brave enough to do before. I’m going to end this, once and for all.

  Chapter 18

  KASPER

  “I really, really don’t want to do this,” Kasper groaned, standing outside the basement. He was so nervous that he could taste acid in his throat. The Tricksters had been trying for so long to get Kasper to use his power for them. Now he was actually going to give it to them.

  They hadn’t seen anyone on the way here. Everyone had gone into hiding while Harriet was on the loose. Only Rima and Felix were foolhardy – and brave – enough to try and stop her. If they hadn’t been here with him, Kasper would be hiding away, too. He definitely wouldn’t be preparing to go inside the basement.

  He hated this dark, dingy floor, where everything was damp and the sun never shone. He hated even thinking about it, let alone coming down here. But this plan was their best shot at stopping Harriet. When Kasper thought about Harriet, his brain screamed Stay away! and Not a good idea! It offered up no suggestions about how to defeat her.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Felix asked, worrying at his bottom lip with his teeth.

  “I need to help. She killed your brother. I have to stop her.”

  Felix dropped his head. “It’s too much. We’ll try something else. We’ll—”

  “There’s nothing else.” There must have been something final in his voice because Felix stopped talking.

  “Rock, paper, scissors to go in first?” Rima suggested. She was doing a very good job of hiding her terror. Or maybe he was the only one who was terrified.

  Felix gritted his teeth. “No. I’ll go in first. I can protect you both, then.”

  A shiver ran down the nape of Kasper’s neck. He really, really didn’t like the sound of that. Did Felix think he would have to hypnotize someone today?

  He touched the back of his hand to Felix’s, and he immediately interlinked their fingers. Kasper was carefully not thinking about Felix’s confession earlier. Obviously, it hadn’t come as a surprise to Kasper that Felix liked him. He wasn’t that oblivious. But Kasper never, ever, ever let himself think about Felix’s feelings. It was off limits; an existential crisis waiting to happen.

  Kasper had been perfectly happy burying it at the back of his mind, never to be acknowledged or addressed. But now, he had to face it, ev
en though his mind kept skittering away in absolute terror. Felix wanted things from him. Things that Kasper couldn’t let himself give.

  Whatever happened, all he knew was he absolutely couldn’t lose him.

  He focused on the warmth of Felix’s skin, and tried not to think about what they were about to do. He gulped.

  With Felix leading the way, they stepped inside the basement. Kasper’s heart was thudding in his ears like he was underwater and he knew the Tricksters would sense his fear and try to feed off it.

  Everyone in the basement turned to watch them enter.

  “Hi,” Felix said, into the roaring silence. “We’ve come to ask for a trade.”

  His voice sounded steady. Only someone who knew him well would be able to detect the tremble of fear laced through the words. Kasper squeezed his hand.

  No one moved or spoke, until Rufus stepped out of the darkness. The Trickster glowed with energy, looking as mind-numbingly awful as Kasper remembered.

  Terror swept up his spine, but he ignored it. If any of them panicked, this was all over. Once you entered the basement, you were fair game. Any sign of weakness or fear, and the Tricksters would pounce.

  “Felix Anekwe. What a pleasure.”

  When Rufus sniffed the air, Kasper flinched. He could feel Rima trembling beside him. The Tricksters had been here long before him. They were old, and that hadn’t made them weak, like it had Leah. It had made them strong.

  “Would you be willing to trade with us?” Felix repeated.

  Vini was inching towards them, eyes fixed on Kasper. He must be able to feel the fear pouring off him.

  “What, no time for chit-chat?” Rufus rolled up his sleeve, looking down at the tattooed spreadsheet on his arm. He counted up the Roman numerals, then said, “I see you’re in credit. I’m always happy to do business with someone reliable. This is the first time you’ve come to us personally with a request, though. Are things not working out to your liking upstairs?”

  When Rufus took a step towards them, they all jumped back involuntarily. Felix held out one hand. “I know that you know what my power is. I will use it. Please stay where you are.”