The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker

by Lauren James

  HARRIET

  There were only a few weak ghosts still fighting. The majority were lying on the roof, stoned on the rich energy they’d taken. Harriet recognized most of them from the basement. None of them would even be out here if it wasn’t for her.

  There had to be a way the ghosts could be locked in the basement again, even without Qi’s lightning power. Harriet’s power had shielded Leah and Claudia from Norma. That was a kind of barrier, wasn’t it? If her power could shield people, then it might be able to keep them imprisoned, too. It was a trap as much as a shield.

  She could restore the basement to how it had been before she’d broken it open. She saw now that there was a reason those ghosts had been inside. They were out of control, in a way that could only be isolated and contained. Even at her most furious, Harriet had never been like them.

  She shouted at the top of her voice, “LISTEN TO ME, NOW!”

  The nearest ghosts fell silent, and the quiet travelled like a wave through the rooftop until everyone was staring at her, waiting to hear what she had to say.

  Harriet gulped, and then summoned Norma’s confidence. She would use her gran’s advice to get what she wanted, one last time. Then she was going to pretend that Norma had never existed. That was all she deserved.

  “The Tricksters are gone,” she said, voice raised. “I’m in charge now.”

  Several ghosts reacted in shock. They must not have noticed that Rufus and Vini had been destroyed. There was a pause, as they all took in what this meant. Some of them looked at Leah, and then back at Harriet.

  Harriet paused, not daring to do anything that might endanger this grab for power. She tried to convey that she was tough and strong, like her grandmother. Finally, one of the ghosts dipped her head in Harriet’s direction. One after another, they started bowing to her. A few even knelt.

  They were going to accept her. This was going to work. “I want all of you to follow me now. The battle here is done. There is a lot we need to discuss.”

  Harriet summoned up all her strength, trying to convey an aura of strength and calm. With pain creaking in the deepest marrow of her bones, she strode across the roof and down the stairs, not letting herself turn her head to see if they were actually following her. She walked at a regal, steady pace – the kind of walk her grandmother had used.

  The Tricksters’ army split apart from the students of Mulcture Hall, following her down the stairs to the basement. She stood in the doorway and waited until the room was full of ghosts. They glowed so brightly that the room was almost white with light.

  Rima and the others stood in the hallway, watching her in confusion. Harriet raised one hand. “You’ve done well, my friends,” she told the ghosts.

  Then she expanded her shield until it filled the perimeter of the basement, just like Qi’s lightning had done. It made a new barrier of solid glowing energy between her and the ghosts, glowing in the doorway, opaque and thick and impassable. Several of the ghosts ran at it and were flung backwards, snarling at Harriet.

  Satisfied, she turned to Rima. “There. They won’t be able to get out. Not for a long, long time.”

  Rima said, “Thank you. You’ve saved a lot of lives.”

  Harriet shook her head. “I owe you a lot more than this. I’m sorry for what I’ve done and if you ever need my help, it’s yours. I owe you all a life debt.”

  She held Rima’s gaze, and then nodded once.

  None of them spoke, but she didn’t expect them to. They didn’t have to forgive her. She didn’t deserve that. But she had time – a whole eternity of it – to get back what they’d offered her when she first arrived in the hall. She’d gain their friendship one day. When she had earnt it.

  FELIX

  Harriet nodded at them, and then stepped through the shield into the basement. She moved through the crowd of furious ghosts, a new shield protecting herself from their wrath.

  She had made the right choice. They couldn’t let her go unpunished for what she’d done, even if she had helped them at the last moment. Her crimes were too terrible for that. Harriet had to repent, at least for now. The basement was the best place for her.

  When Felix turned away, Kasper was staring right at him. Suddenly, nothing in the universe existed except the two of them.

  “I’m sorry,” Kasper said. “Fear was the worst emotion I could have given Rufus. I ruined our chances before we’d even started.”

  “You’re back now. That’s all that matters.”

  When they kissed, Kasper made a soft noise of approval in the back of his throat.

  Felix said, “You know, bonds made in times of high peril don’t usually last once the shock has died away. People find each other too boring after everything calms down.”

  Kasper kissed his nose. “I already know you’re boring, Felix. That’s not going to happen with us.”

  “I’m going to hold you to that.” Felix swallowed down the bubbles of perfect, complete happiness that were rising from his stomach.

  “This is too pure for my sinful eyes,” Rima said. When they finally pulled away from each other, Felix saw that there were literal hearts in her eyes. Cody was sprawled in her arms, splayed out on her back in complete bliss as Rima rubbed her belly.

  “You needed your fear back, Kasper,” Leah said. “Without the bittersweet, there’s no sweet.”

  She smiled down at Claudia, a happiness on her face that Felix had never seen before. Felix still didn’t understand how Claudia had found so much energy for them, when they were forming the circle. Perhaps it was better if he didn’t. They were safe, and that was all that mattered.

  “Though, can I go and have a nap, now?” Leah asked. She was holding Claudia in exactly the same position as Rima was cradling Cody.

  “No!” they all chorused together.

  Leah rolled her eyes.

  “Get over here, Aeliana,” Rima said.

  “Fight me,” she mumbled, and then sighed in contentment when Rima pulled them all into a hug.

  “We did it, guys,” Kasper said, looking around like he was waiting for something to leap out at them. All was still and silent. Once again, Mulcture Hall was peaceful.

  “Good work, squad,” Felix said.

  “And they all lived happily ever after,” Rima said.

  “We should be so lucky,” Leah muttered.

  Here it is. The end. The only one that matters. I don’t have anything to wait for any more. It’s all done now. All the tangles have been untangled and most of the visions make sense.

  You’ve seen the end and the beginning, and hopefully you have more of an idea than me of which is which. But we have time for one more beginning, I think. Just a little one.

  A few months from now, Rima will babysit me. She spends a lot of time talking to me these days. I think she’s worked out that I’m listening to everything. She includes me in conversations even though I can’t reply.

  She talks about Oscar sometimes. About how much she wishes there was a way she could have saved him when he died. How, if she’d given him a bit of her energy, he might not have disintegrated. Felix could have had his brother back.

  I don’t think she’s so disappointed for his sake alone.

  I think there’s something I can do to help. I look back into the past, to the moment that Oscar died. I pull his ghost through into the future, just before Harriet can consume him totally.

  It won’t change anything in the past – in the confusion of the fight with Harriet, they’ll all think that he disappeared because he disintegrated. It was all so quick and strange, that maybe this is what happened all along. Harriet could never have consumed all his energy, not when she was already filled to the brim with stolen powers.

  When I tug Oscar’s ghost through into the present day, he re-forms into a dim and weak Shell. Rima is surprised at first, but she quickly jumps into action. She has to give him half her energy before he stops being a Shell.

  Rima tries to calm him down, explaining that he�
�s dead, a ghost, and his brother is here waiting for him.

  Once the shock leaves him, Oscar looks at Rima, frowning. “Are you Rima? Rima from uni?”

  She blushes bright red, and stutters out, “Yes.”

  Oscar grins and shakes her hand. “Good to see you, after all these years. You look … great.”

  The years have made Oscar distinguished. Maybe even handsome. Rima clearly thinks so. She says, “You too!” in a too-high voice.

  He tries to pull his hand away, but it takes her a moment to let go. “Sorry!” she says. “It’s just so nice to see you, after all these years. Let me show you around?”

  He grins. “Lead the way, Rima Hamid.”

  Rima sneaks glances at him all the way to Felix’s bedroom, trying to hide a smile.

  That’s a small beginning. And another, bigger, one: a week after that, while Rima and Leah are trying to make Cody play with a badger spirit that Felix found on the ground floor, a car pulls up outside Mulcture Hall. None of them notice the caretaker who staples a poster to the fence, whistling to himself.

  Not Felix, who is busy providing Rima and Leah with helpful comments – despite his insistence that he has no interest in the badger at all, and has never wanted a pet. Or Kasper, who is busy wrapping Felix as tightly in his arms as he can.

  The caretaker drives off, leaving behind a sign. It says that the building is scheduled to be demolished in one week, due to a recent spate of fatal incidents on the site.

  But, like I said – none of them notice any of this. Not even me. Not yet.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Thank you to my editors, Annalie Grainger and Frances Taffinder, and my agent, Claire Wilson, for guiding this messy book through the many, many rounds of edits it took to turn it into something readable. It was a long process, but worth it in the end!

  The team behind the scenes – thank you to Miriam Tobin at Rogers, Coleridge & White Literary Agency, and Kirsten Cozens, Rosi Crawley, John Moore, Georgie Hookings, Jenny Bish, Anna Robinette and Chloé Tartinville at Walker Books.

  And my writer pals! Thank you to the irreplaceable Alice Oseman, Lucy Powrie, Non Pratt, Emma Mills, Beth Reeks, Laura Wood, Sarah Barnard *and* Sara Barnard, Kat Harris and Beth Worrall and Clare Samson (who has always been a big support of #ghosthouse!). You all guided me through the aches and pains of creating such a long and complicated narrative.

  Mum, Dad, Chris, Charlie – thanks for being so supportive, always. And Cody the dog, for donating her name to Rima’s fox.

  AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

  Lauren James was born in 1992, and has a Masters degree from the University of Nottingham, UK, where she studied Chemistry and Physics. Lauren is a passionate advocate of STEM further education, and many of her books feature female scientists in prominent roles.

  She started writing during secondary school English classes, because she couldn’t stop thinking about a couple who kept falling in love throughout history. She sold the rights to the novel when she was twenty-one, while she was still at university.

  Lauren lives in the West Midlands and is an Arts Council grant recipient. She has written articles for The Guardian, Buzzfeed, Den of Geek, The Toast and the Children’s Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook. She teaches Creative Writing for Coventry University, Writing West Midlands and WriteMentor.

  Her books have been twice-nominated for the Carnegie Medal, and include The Loneliest Girl in the Universe, The Quiet at the End of the World and The Next Together series, as well as the dyslexia-friendly novella The Starlight Watchmaker and serialized online novel An Unauthorised Fan Treatise.

  You can find her on Twitter at @Lauren_E_James, Tumblr at @laurenjames or her website, laurenejames.co.uk, where you can subscribe to her newsletter to be kept up to date with her new releases and receive bonus content.

  “A HUGELY REWARDING READ.”

  SFX MAGAZINE

  How far would you go to save those you love?

  Lowrie and Shen are the youngest people on the planet after a virus caused global infertility. Closeted in a pocket of London and doted upon by a small, ageing community, the pair spend their days mudlarking and looking for treasure – until a secret is uncovered that threatens their entire existence. Now Lowrie and Shen face an impossible choice: in the quiet at the end of the world, they must decide what to sacrifice to save the whole human race…

  PRAISE FOR LAUREN JAMES:

  “Lauren James is a genius.”

  SFX Magazine

  “Lauren James isn’t just headed for the stars – she’s already there.”

  Samantha Shannon, author of The Bone Season

  THE LONELIEST GIRL IN THE UNIVERSE:

  “A strange, witty, compulsively unpredictable read which blows most of its new YA-suspense brethren out of the water.”

  Entertainment Weekly

  THE NEXT TOGETHER:

  “Beautifully and masterfully written… This book is the kind that you want to use as a pillow so that some of its brilliance flows into you.”

  The Guardian

  THE LAST BEGINNING:

  “An explosion of storytelling. It’s everything I love about books. Read it.”

  Alice Oseman, author of I Was Born For This

  Other books by Lauren James

  The Next Together

  The Last Beginning

  The Loneliest Girl in the Universe

  The Quiet at the End of the World

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, used fictitiously. All statements, activities, stunts, descriptions, information and material of any other kind contained herein are included for entertainment purposes only and should not be relied on for accuracy or replicated as they may result in injury.

  First published in Great Britain 2020 by Walker Books Ltd

  87 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5HJ

  Text © 2020 Lauren James

  Cover illustration © 2020 Lisa Horton Design

  The right of Lauren James to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, taping and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data:

  a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  ISBN 978-1-4063-9632-4 (ePub)

  www.walker.co.uk