The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker

by Lauren James

  She had been on the phone with Norma just before she’d tripped and fallen. What if it had never been an accident? What if her ankle had caught on something – some kind of tripwire, maybe – left by her grandmother? The hazard signs had been hidden out of sight, too. She’d only noticed them afterwards. Had they been deliberately moved?

  Norma kept saying that she wanted to spend eternity with the three of them. Not just her brothers, but Harriet, too. She could have killed herself here on the day of the tour when her memories returned, over a year ago. But she’d waited until Harriet was here.

  Norma had killed Harriet. Just like she’d killed her husband, her son and his wife.

  “Did you set up my death?” Harriet asked politely, suddenly completely calm.

  “Not at all,” Norma said, sounding surprised. “I would never do that to you, Harriet.”

  Vini looked at Rufus, mouth tightening.

  Harriet asked him, “Did she visit you in the basement? Before she set up the wire?”

  Vini looked somewhere over Harriet’s shoulder. “What?”

  “She must have done, you were expecting her today! And – Greg told me that you were looking up a woman online using my phone. That was her, wasn’t it? You were talking to her. She planned all of this with you two. When did she come here? Was it this summer, before uni started? Before she ‘broke her ankle’?”

  Norma snorted. “Oh, tell her whatever she wants to know. She’s too clever for her own good.”

  Given permission, Vini said, “That all sounds right.”

  Rufus elaborated. “She came down to the basement a few months ago. We thought she was some old lady at first. We were about to take her energy and kill her when she started speaking out loud. She said that she was Fabian, and she hoped that her brothers were listening. She explained who she was, and what she was planning. She told us that her memories had only just returned, and she really missed us.” He was getting teary-eyed as he recollected this.

  “You knew all along that I was Fabian’s granddaughter, then?” Harriet asked, feeling breathless. “From the first time I came to the basement and traded my phone for information, you knew I was your great-niece.”

  “We didn’t expect to see you that soon,” Rufus said. “You surprised us. You definitely have the family blood. Fabian told us that she’d leave a few days between the two deaths, to make sure they looked like accidents. Otherwise the building would have been overrun with police for weeks and weeks. So once you died, we started preparing for Fabian. But you turned up in the basement the very next day, asking us for a trade. We took the opportunity to get things ready for him.”

  “Her,” Norma interjected. “If you please. It has become a bit of a habit. It’s been a long time since I was a man, now.”

  “Sorry, sorry,” Rufus said. “For her. We decided to use you to make a bit of a disturbance upstairs. You did very well, Harriet. Even without any training, you were more trouble than we could have ever imagined.”

  “We’ve been guiding you from the very beginning, so you were ready when the time came. We made sure you knew how to kill and take powers, how to fight back. You’ve made us so proud.”

  Harriet rubbed her temples. They’d been systematically stripping away her humanity ever since she’d arrived in the building, turning her into the monster that Norma had been crafting since Harriet was a child.

  “You’re just like Fabian, you know,” Vini added. “You’re definitely one of us!”

  Harriet went cold.

  “I am not,” Harriet said severely. “Not in a thousand years.”

  Norma had been smiling at Rufus. At this, her smile turned thin as she looked at Harriet. “Oh, dear. Well, it seems that a decision needs to be made now, doesn’t it?”

  Chapter 25

  RIMA

  Hidden in the rafters of the roof, Rima couldn’t believe what she was hearing. They had crept through the walls of the building, searching each floor until they found the Tricksters on the rooftop. To her surprise, Norma had appeared, hugging Rufus affectionately. Harriet was there too, standing by her grandmother with a fraught, terrified expression.

  “Let’s attack them,” Kasper hissed, lunging forward like he was about to leap out onto the roof.

  “Wait!” Rima said, grabbing his arm in exasperation. “Let’s just listen first. I want to hear what they’re saying.”

  “I want to fight,” Kasper mumbled.

  Felix snorted, ignoring him completely. Kasper and Felix weren’t talking to each other. She couldn’t believe that after all that build-up, their relationship had lasted only a few hours. They were already in the awkward exes phase.

  Rima strained to hear what Norma was discussing with the Tricksters, keeping her hand on Cody’s scruff. If the fox wandered off, she would be consumed by an energy-hungry ghost from the basement.

  She heard “Fabian”, and frowned. Why was Norma discussing Leah’s husband? This conversation didn’t make any sense. Then with a start, Rima understood: Norma was Fabian, somehow. He’d come back.

  She turned to Leah who, judging by the colour she had turned, also understood. “Leah, it’s OK. We’re going to kill her. I promise. You never have to speak to him again. You can stay out of sight if you want to.”

  Leah shook her head, tight-lipped. “This isn’t going to work. We might have had a chance when it was just the two of them. But I’ve tried before, Rima. I’ve never managed to defeat the Tricksters when they’re all working together. They’re too strong.”

  Above them, Rufus and Vini were hugging Norma. Harriet had drifted closer, still looking uncomfortable. She clearly hadn’t known any of this either, which was at least some comfort.

  Rima frantically wracked her brain for a plan. If this turned into a fight, their main advantage was Leah’s ritual to leach away energy. But they only had Harriet’s eyelid. Rather than fighting, they would need to focus on darting in to steal some hair or skin from the other three too.

  Perhaps Rima could fly in as a small bird or insect, and bite the Tricksters and Norma? She might be able to take some hair while they were talking.

  “Does this mean Leah is Harriet’s step-grandma?” Kasper said, looking awestruck.

  When Rima frowned at him, he leaned in to whisper to Claudia, “The evil one is your new niece!”

  Claudia reared her head up, trying to look over Leah’s shoulder. Leah supported her head, so she could see. Rima wondered if Claudia remembered her father. What was she feeling about his return right now, if she was as intelligent as Rima had suspected she was?

  Suddenly, the discussion on the roof ended, and Norma raised her voice. “Are you with us, or are you against us, Harriet? I’m sick of pandering to you. Decide, once and for all. If you want to be part of this family, then you will never mention your parents after today. Otherwise, I don’t want to see your face again.”

  Harriet looked like she was thinking deeply, which sent dread through Rima. What would happen if she agreed? The four of them were like some strange boy band, all with matching snow-white hair.

  “What’s it going to be, Harriet?” Norma asked.

  Rima couldn’t even begin to guess what she was going to decide. Based on the conflicted look on Harriet’s face, she didn’t know herself.

  Vini had started pacing, looking bored by the discussion. He circled his brothers in wide loops, patrolling the perimeter. When he turned in their direction, Rima realized she’d lifted her head too high. She tried to duck down out of sight, but she wasn’t fast enough.

  Vini’s face lit up. “She’s here!” he yelled, breaking into a run towards Rima.

  They didn’t have time to flee. All they could do was stand their ground and fight.

  Burying her panic, Rima dived forward towards the Tricksters, transforming into a bear. As Felix tackled Vini, she jumped onto Norma’s back, sinking her teeth into her hair. She felt the strands catch on her teeth, and pulled back, hoping that one would snag and come free.
r />   Cody was biting at her calves, copying Rima. Norma let out a furious yell, grabbing at her as Kasper took Rufus down.

  “Stop it! Go to sleep!” Felix shouted at Vini as he tried to hypnotize him.

  For one small second, it seemed like they might have a chance. They had the three Tricksters on the ground, writhing and tugging at each other. Then Vini pressed his hand to Felix’s chest, reflecting the command back at him. Felix’s knees crumpled beneath him.

  Rufus let out a deafening roar and then there was a sudden thunder of feet from the floor below. The Tricksters’ army surged onto the roof. A ghost with worms writhing in the sockets of her eyeballs dragged Kasper away from Rufus by his feet. Another, whose teeth were coated in blood, kicked Felix in the flat of his back.

  Kasper lashed out at his captor, who fell backwards off the roof, disintegrating into dust as she passed through the boundary of the building.

  Rima tore at the ghosts who were trying to drag her off Norma. She fixed her bear jaws around limbs and pulled until she heard the bones snap and crack. However many she fought, the wave of attackers kept coming. There was so much energy bursting free from all of them that it filled the air and stung her eyes.

  This was it. She knew that the battle was lost. They couldn’t fight against hundreds. Rima kept tearing off chunks of Norma’s skin anyway, pushing them into her cheeks to store them. She clamped her huge molars around Norma’s skull until it creaked. At the very least, she could weaken her.

  Norma gripped her paw to suck energy out of her. Rima twisted into a snake and plunged her fangs into Norma’s shoulder, injecting venom. Norma tore her away, flesh clinging to the snake’s fangs.

  Rima prepared for the end. Then there was a roar from below – the stomp of feet and cries and smacks of flesh against flesh. Rima reared up, peering over Norma’s shoulder. More ghosts were surging up onto the roof – the students who usually kept to themselves, or spent most of their time sleeping to conserve their low energy levels. They were fighting, too, attacking the Tricksters’ army to defend their building.

  Hope surged through Rima. It wasn’t just the four of them! If the other ghosts could keep the army distracted while they dealt with the Tricksters, then they might still have a chance.

  With renewed determination, Rima began to transform in rapid succession. First a poisonous frog, covering Norma’s skin in toxic goo; then a skunk, spraying her face with musk; then a fox, like Cody. Cody and Rima tag-teamed Norma, hopping close to bite her, then away. Rima even got close enough to tear an eye out.

  They could do this. The fight wasn’t over yet.

  FELIX

  Felix hacked away at the clawed fingers gouging into his forearms, fighting off an injured ghost whose jaw hung loose and unhinged. Vini was struggling to get free, but Felix managed to slow him down with his hypnotism.

  White lightning crackled around them; thunderclouds rolled around the rooftop, covering everyone in ice-cold water. As power crashed into power, a tidal wave of reactions spread across the roof.

  Felix could barely see through the frost forming on his eyelashes. A ghost burst into flames in his arms, then disintegrated into dust, coils of smoke spiralling away in the wind.

  Someone tried to bite off his nose. He headbutted her until she backed off, flared nostrils dripping blood. The air was full of dust now, as the wind scattered energy from disintegrating ghosts. There were enormous shapeshifting beasts everywhere, crashing through the fight and searching for easy prey.

  Felix couldn’t tell which side anyone was on, so he focused on Rufus, Vini and Norma. The rest could wait.

  Rima was keeping Norma at bay as a fox, alongside Cody. Norma grabbed Cody’s tail, sucking out her energy. She yipped, skittering back, but Norma had a grip on her soul.

  Rima let out a guttural, horrified growl, twisting back into a human. “No!”

  Rima tried to pull Cody away, but it was too late. The fox tumbled over onto her side, whining.

  Norma didn’t stop to finish the job. She raced for Leah.

  “Cody, no!” Rima desperately pushed her own energy into the fox, trying to stop her disintegrating.

  Watching this, Felix was so distracted that he lost control of Vini, who broke free of the hypnotism and ran after Norma. All three Tricksters converged on Leah and Claudia.

  Felix tried to hypnotize them enough to give Leah a chance to escape. He visualized a huge chasm appearing in the roof, and threw the vision towards the Tricksters to make them see it too. They stopped at the edge, staring down into the canyon that had opened up.

  Norma took a step back, then narrowed her gaze at Felix. “It’s not real. Get him.”

  Rufus and Vini ran at Felix. Before he could turn and flee, his blood suddenly ran cold with fear. They were doing something to his emotions, amplifying his terror until it was bigger and stronger, incapacitating.

  Felix’s knees gave in, his eyes rolling back in his head. He could feel himself frothing at the mouth as waves of fear swelled through him. Rufus and Vini grabbed him by the elbows, dragging him to Norma.

  She touched his temple, sending a searing burn through his brain. She shuffled through his memories, scrolling past snapshots of Oscar and Rima; computing lectures; battling Harriet.

  This must be their team torture that Leah had talked about. She had said that Fabian was very good at playing with people’s brains.

  Norma came to a stop on a memory of Kasper from earlier that day – their kiss and immediate break-up. Felix rewatched the blank look on Kasper’s face, as he explained his lack of fear. It still hurt Felix to see Kasper like that.

  Norma replayed the memory, but this time it was slightly different. This time, it showed Kasper turning to grin at Leah and Rima after Felix stormed away down the tunnels. “Well, that got rid of him!” this version of Kasper said. “Good story, guys.”

  The three of them sniggered, and Rima rolled her eyes derisively. “Can you believe he actually fell for that? As if you’ve lost your fear!”

  Kasper snorted. “At least he won’t follow me around like a sad puppy all the time now.”

  “Do you think we can get him to leave the rest of us alone, too?” Leah asked, and the three of them laughed and laughed and laughed.

  Felix couldn’t look away. The new memory replaced the real thing, until he wasn’t sure what had happened and what Norma had added.

  Felix’s fear was still cresting over him, getting stronger and stronger as Rufus and Vini pushed the emotion into him through their hold on his elbows. The altered memory sent him over the edge. He screamed and blacked out.

  HARRIET

  Harriet stood in the eye of the battle, frozen with indecision. She wanted to support Rima and the others, but her scared heart was telling her to flee while Norma was distracted. She could find somewhere small and safe to hide, and never come out again.

  But she couldn’t leave Rima and the others to be destroyed, not after everything else she’d done to them. They’d done nothing to deserve all this.

  Felix went limp in the Tricksters’ arms, red froth tumbling from his lips. He hit the ground with a thud, and the canyon disappeared into mist. The Tricksters turned to chase down Leah again.

  Harriet knew that Norma was going to do to Leah what she’d done to Harriet and her parents. How could she let that happen again? She had to protect Leah and her daughter. They were the only family that Harriet had left.

  Without even knowing what she was going to do, Harriet’s body jolted into action. Energy started bubbling inside her chest, then surged out of her sternum, rolling towards Norma in a great wave.

  It was like all the powers she’d stolen from other ghosts, but so much stronger that it made those little talents feel like card tricks. It must be her true power manifesting at last. Not a stolen one. Hers – the one she was meant to have all along.

  Harriet’s power flooded over Leah and Claudia, curling around the girls in a glowing white dome. It solidified, just as Norma re
ached them. When she ran at the energy bubble, she bounced away.

  Growling, Norma tried to tear open the bubble, as Leah cowered against the far side. Rufus punched at it, but it was immovable.

  Harriet had made a shield. Her power was a shield? This must be why it had never manifested before. Until now, she’d never cared enough about anyone to feel the urge to protect them.

  She’d felt the same bubbling feeling in her chest before, when Kasper had nearly tripped on the stairs as he was talking about their Halloween date. Sunbathing on the fire escape, something had started to form inside her, too. She had pushed it away every time, not trusting the feeling, which had been formed from affection and love.

  It must have been inside her all this time, just waiting for the moment Harriet decided to protect her new friends. Her power had woken up to defend them.

  Harriet grinned. She had been right. She really was a good person, somewhere deep inside. She hadn’t even believed it herself until this moment. Now she could start trying to prove it.

  “Wait!” Norma said sharply. “Just stop for a moment.”

  Rufus and Vini stopped clawing at the shield. Norma rearranged her hair and stepped forward, peering through the shield at Leah and Claudia.

  Something inside Harriet told her that if she manipulated a little bit of the energy, she could…

  The shield went see-through.

  Leah stood inside, posture straight and calm, holding Claudia in her arms. She touched the shield in wonder.

  Harriet gave her a reassuring nod, and Leah’s expression cleared.

  Leah focused all her attention on Norma. “Husband. How are you?”

  Norma sighed. “I was hoping to surprise you with the good news.”

  Norma seemed to be ignoring her missing eye, which was weeping blood veins down her cheek. The socket flexed and moved as she spoke, revealing the white flesh and blue veins inside.

  “I wouldn’t describe it as good news. I would rather you were burning in the depths of hell than back here.” Leah grinned a sharp-toothed smile.