I watched in horror as the strange stick figure shrank and then grew and then shrank down again before disappearing. In the last few seconds before it vanished, the figure made violent arcing motions toward Carmen and then disappeared. Joshua asked him to turn around and lift his shirt. Nobody was surprised to see a quick-rising red streak on his skin.
Oh, yeah, he’s been scratched.
“You guys okay?” I blipped the radio button.
Joshua and Carmen nodded and laughed somewhat nervously before turning back to their work. I was hoping to see the light arrays work, but nothing else made contact with the guys. Just to mix things up, I went in with Jericho. We gave the SLS a shot, but it didn’t do much. Besides some impressions, from both Jericho and me, there was no other evidence to be collected.
“Well, you know what they say. Sometimes the best thing to do is wait. Are we rolling overnight?” Carmen asked as we sat out by the van again, taking our last break for the night.
“Yeah, we’ll be rolling all night. Lots of film to review, which I know is everyone’s favorite part of this work. I’ll need help tomorrow,” I mentioned hopefully. Joshua was texting his mother, and I was doing my best not to stick my nose in the middle of that train wreck. If Emily was out of there and out of harm’s way, it was really none of my business. Who am I kidding? Mr. McBride is an absolute jerk. Talk about your midlife crisis. Having an affair with the neighbor, and she wasn’t even a hot neighbor.
“Sure, I’ll help,” Macie volunteered, as did Jericho. Carmen promised to come right after work. But I wasn’t paying attention at the moment. Something was happening in the backyard. Something strange.
I saw a green light bouncing across the yard. A weird, imperfect orb of green light moved from right to left and would soon disappear around the corner.
“Um, did you see that?” Macie touched my arm, and I nodded.
“Yep. I see it. I think we’d better go check it out, Macie. Last stab of the night,” I said as everyone watched us walk away.
“I don’t appreciate your choice of words,” she said in a wavery voice. Like me, she couldn’t look away.
“I know. I don’t either. Grab that flashlight and let’s go. I think we’re going to lose it if we don’t go now. Joshua, are you recording this?”
“On my phone, yes. Jericho has the camera. Oh, shoot, I think it’s gone. You guys go ahead, and we’ll hang back a bit to avoid pissing it off. Whatever it is.”
“Thanks,” I said as we hurried toward the back of Wayland Manor. Time to get down to business.
Chapter Ten—Jai
Jai floated above the girl—the girl she once feared. It was comical to think that she once had been afraid of Mary Alice, afraid of her name-calling and pinching and all the other horrible things she’d done to Jai. Afraid to be hated and harmed, but now she felt none of that. No fear at all. She found it freeing to exist without fear.
When she’d been alive, when she was breath and blood and bone, Jai wanted to love and be loved. She had wanted that more than anything at all. She’d been so happy when her little brother, Xin, came into the world. Despite the perilous birth and Mama’s screams in the night, Jai had been happy to have a little brother to love. But it did not last.
All she ever wanted was love. Now she had no need of it, and she was adrift in a realm that appeared to be the absence of love. Or so she believed.
Xin would not come to this place, and she called for him more than once. His spirit remained at once aloof and beckoning; he very much wanted her to come to him, but she would not.
Not quite yet. Jai had been weak when she lived—weak and young, and small for her age. But not anymore. She could move things just by thinking about moving them. Jai could touch and poke and pull to her heart’s content. She was not limited by anything except her own imagination. She wanted to make the most of this amazing ability.
Especially since Mary Alice could see her.
Jai smiled at her from the darkest corner of Mary Alice’s bedroom. The living girl cried endlessly and protested Jai’s presence, but no one believed her. No one in this home believed in ghosts and the like, even though ghosts had been here for an exceptionally long time.
And because of all the evil things that Mary Alice’s father did and continued to do, more evil things were coming.
She wasn’t afraid of the evil things anymore. Had she become one of them? They weren’t coming for her, all the evil things, were they? Jai was already dead, thanks to Mary Alice and the emoi that used her hands to push Jai to her death. But now that she was dead, the emoi did not bother her. He barely acknowledged her. Jai was just another face in the crowd, another soul he had collected.
Death had freed the girl. Jai realized that when the pain ended, when her body ceased to bleed and jerk and her heart stopped banging for her mama. When did that happen? When had she died?
Yesterday? The day before?
She could not be sure because time had no meaning here. No meaning at all.
Jai had no recollection as to how she came to remain here. She had made no conscious choice to turn away from heaven and remain in this horrible house. But yet here she was, as much a part of this place as the white azaleas that lined the front lawn or the black and white floor tiles that made Mary Alice’s shoes clack.
Try as she might, she could not leave. Not that she had tried too hard. Once she realized Mary Alice could see her, Jai abandoned all attempts at leaving. The dead girl wanted nothing more than to make her presence known—at least to Mary Alice.
But she was quite different now. Living Jai would never have been so cruel as dead Jai was. She would never pull hair or pinch fingers or torment anyone. But now there was nothing else to do but torment the one who had tormented her in those last moments, days and weeks.
Was this all she was to be? Was this all there was to her existence? Being so young, she never really thought about these things except for when her brother passed away. And even then, all she could do was lose herself in her mother’s grief and love her with all her heart. But this place offered her an alternative.
An absence of love. An absence of grief. A chance to make things right.
Now she could play with the dolls all she liked, and Mary Alice could say nothing about it. In fact, one of Jai’s favorite activities was taking the dolls apart. Pulling heads from bodies. Hands from limbs. She meant nothing by it other than that she wanted to destroy the things that Mary Alice loved.
The things she had not been willing to share.
Eventually, Mary Alice’s father lost all patience with his daughter and returned to his own darkness. Yes, the dark arts. He was a slave to them. He did horrible things in the middle of the night in the woods behind the Dark House. That’s where Mary Alice collected her dolls. All the dolls and toys, barrettes and pins. All the things she collected from the miserable dead. The miserable dead that watched alongside Jai.
That was all Jai could do because the emoi would not allow them to get any closer.
But one day. When he had collected enough and gathered enough and had enough—then he would release them. He promised them that. Jai was just one of them. Just another lost soul. Another sad, lost soul.
But they were together.
They grew in the darkness, gathering their hatred.
Gathering their strength for taking revenge.
Waiting for the right moment.
Jai suddenly came to herself. She did not want to be here, a part of this moving mass of reaching blackness.
For a moment, she could cry. She could feel. She called for her mama. It did her no good, and after what felt like an eternity, she gave up. Then the man’s voice comforted her. A nice voice. A nice man. Yes, she wanted to go. She wanted to leave.
Could he help? Could he see her?
Then Mary Alice was gone, and the nice man was gone.
But the emoi, ah, he remained. Like her, they all remained.
And they waited.
Chap
ter Eleven—Sierra
Nothing now. The orbs we’d spotted had vanished, replaced by fireflies with bright yellow tails. We traveled up and down the yard, but there was nothing to see. Nothing at all. To say I was disappointed was an understatement. One minute we had something amazing cornered, and the next we were looking at a few photos with odd-shaped lights in them. The excitement faded just as quickly as it appeared. I hated this part of paranormal investigation. The waiting was the hardest. And the most boring. Well, we still had plenty of footage to review.
“Hey, I just got a text from Cassidy, Joshua. Do you want to see it?” I chewed my fingernail as I waited for his answer. I stared at the image, using my fingers to enlarge and stretch it to take in all the details. Like always, Cassidy’s work had more detail than you could grasp in a passing look. Man, my heart went out to the girl in this painting.
How had she died? How did she end up here at Wayland Manor?
Joshua replaced the batteries in the digital recorder and popped the case back on. “Sure, if you think it’s relative.”
“Relevant,” I corrected him playfully. “If I think it’s relevant. Not relative.”
“You know what I mean. Give me a break.”
I handed him my phone and ceased my picking on him. Yeah, after the day he had, it was probably best. No sense in being the grammar police.
“Here’s the first one. I’m sure it’s the little girl spirit we’ve met in the upstairs closet. She’s incredibly angry. But this guy? The second picture? It’s even more disturbing than the first.” I leaned over his shoulder to examine it again. “I’ll send a copy to your phone.”
Cassidy sent me a message along with her contribution to our investigation, which I also shared with Joshua.
Please take care of yourselves. I get the feeling that there are several spirits at this location, but there’s one that’s pulling the strings. Kind of like that other place. Not the same but similar. Please look out for one another. I can’t get Midas involved. He’s just not ready.
“This changes things, Sierra. If it’s like the Leaf Academy—”
I touched his shoulder. “Don’t even say that, Joshua. I don’t get that vibe at all.” I texted Cassidy back and assured her we’d take all precautions. I didn’t like the idea that we could be dealing with another maelstrom. Those were so rare, so exceedingly rare that it wasn’t likely we would encounter another one. Not again.
“Not yet you don’t, but what happens if she’s right? I know you don’t like to think you can be wrong, Sierra, but there have been times. Is that a risk we want to take?”
“It’s not about being wrong,” I popped back. The team was gravitating toward us, and I hoped they didn’t hear us mention the Leaf Academy. Maybe Joshua had it right—we did need to regroup.
With a quick glance at my watch, I called it. “It’s almost one. Let’s go home a little early tonight. We’ve got plenty of evidence to look over. Especially if we leave the cameras running, guys. We’ll start tomorrow night’s work in the backyard. How does that sound?”
Carmen appeared relieved, while Jericho dallied around, obviously hoping to get one more stab at the closet. Nobody looked terribly disappointed at the prospect of going home for the night. I did feel kind of defeated, but it was what it was. And it was time to go.
As the team took the van back to the office, Joshua and I lingered to lock the place up. “How did you leave things at home? Has your dad come home? How is Emily?”
Joshua couldn’t hide the pain in his eyes. “The baby is fine. Fast asleep, I’m sure. Rebecca is sleeping on the couch—she has an early class. He’s gone to the Omni Hotel, but who knows after that. I can’t believe him—or her. She is perfectly fine taking him back without a care in the world. Like she deserves to be treated like he treats her. I don’t understand them, never have. You ready to roll? Everything shut off upstairs?”
“No, I left the arrays up and the cameras rolling. I have the cameras set to record upon motion detection. Pretty impressive work with those SLS cameras.”
“Great, let’s go home.”
“Those orbs were pretty amazing. Personally, I have never seen anything like that. I wish we could have gotten closer.”
Joshua reached in his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He pretended it wasn’t a big deal. The hell it wasn’t. It was a big deal. So big I wanted to grab them and throw them out the window.
“What do you think you’re doing, Joshua McBride?”
“It’s not obvious? I’m smoking. It’s this or I’ll lose my damn mind.”
Wow, I hadn’t seen this coming. I never knew Joshua to smoke at all. Never once. Now he was “jonesing” for a cigarette? Great. Just great. “I’m not going to allow you to use this situation with your parents to get locked into a bad habit. That’s not you, Joshua. I can’t believe you actually bought a pack of cigarettes.”
“I didn’t buy them. Carmen left them in the van. I picked them up.”
I snatched them away from him and put them in the glove box. “I knew I didn’t like that guy.”
“All because he’s a smoker?”
“That’s not the only reason…” I dug in my proverbial heels. “He’s a male chauvinist. I know, I know. You think I’m sensitive, but it’s the truth. I don’t like him, Josh.”
He clutched my hand as he stared at the house. My skin crawled even though I did not see what he saw. “What is it?” I whispered.
“A man, window, far left. He’s just standing, watching. Tell me you see him, Sierra.”
I blinked against the darkness. It didn’t help at all. “No, but I’ll take a picture.” As subtly as I could, I raised the phone and snapped a few photos. I still couldn’t see anything, but I felt sick, a strange kind of sick. Then it passed, and Joshua finally put the keys in the ignition. The investigator in me wanted nothing more than to go back inside and tear the place apart, find out what exactly was happening, but Emily’s Mommy needed to see her baby. I can’t say why, but I wanted to cry, weep, plead for her to return.
Jai! Jai! Come back to me. My little one!
I needed to hold her, kiss her. Keep her close.
“Take me home, Josh. Please, take me home.”
I cried the whole way.
Chapter Twelve—Macie
Last night’s events followed me into my dreams. Not good dreams either, but eventually I found my way. They weren’t exactly lucid, just bits and pieces, snippets of a film that didn’t quite go together, but I needed to understand it. The only good thing about these dreams was the fact that I sensed my sister watching over me. That brought a welcomed comfort.
I miss you, Jocelyn. I wish I’d known you better.
This way, Macie! Follow me!
Jocelyn?
In my dream, I was standing in a pile of dust. Gray dust. The kind produced when things were burned at a high heat. There was no charcoal, no pieces of wood or anything that would give a hint as to what this might have been, this heap of gray. The sky above me was gray, and there were no trees, no buildings, nothing at all.
Then the ground beneath me began shifting, moving, twisting. The gray dust rose in plumes. The plumes became something else. Souls, ghosts, people. Each gray plume represented one, and there were dozens and dozens of them.
Oh, God! There had been a fire here!
I stood up in the dream, and then everything went dark. I could see Wayland Manor, at least the back of it. It was beautiful, but there wasn’t a light shining anywhere. Suddenly, a gray column rose beside me and I felt someone holding my hand. I glanced down at my hand, but I could see nothing, oh, but I could feel it. Yes, I could feel skin and bone. A small hand. A child’s hand.
Then the dream shifted and instead of being in a peaceful countryside dotted with columns of gray smoke, I heard whispering. The sound of a predator. That’s the only way I could describe it. I didn’t like that I was here, that I was watching and seeing.
I began to run.
; Jocelyn? Where do I go? Where? Where do I go?
I wasn’t sure, and I didn’t see my sister. Oh, he would burn me if I didn’t run! He’d burned so many already. Yes, he burned them up. Sometimes he cried over them. Sometimes he liked doing it.
Come with me! Run!
I ran until I realized that I was alone. Completely alone. There was no one there at all. I didn’t see a soul, nor did I feel one. Then I heard the shuffling of feet.
Please, don’t leave me. It is dark here, and I cannot see.
“Who are you?”
He’s coming!
“Little girl? Jocelyn?” And then I was awake! Fully awake and sweating, like I’d stepped out of a furnace. I got up, the sweaty sheets sliding on the floor as I rose from the bed.
Shaking with fear, I waited for the other shoe to drop. Something was about to happen, wasn’t it? I clutched my t-shirt; my saggy ponytail and wet clothes made me even more uncomfortable. But nothing else happened.
Nobody came. But I could smell fire, the burning of flesh, ever so faintly. I’d never smelled burning flesh before, but this man, the one that chased me through my dreams, knew all about it. He enjoyed the aroma; I knew this because he shared his emotions with me.
And he wanted to smell me burn too.
“Jocelyn!” I pleaded with my sister, hoping that she might still be nearby even though the dream was long gone. “Jocelyn?” My computer beeped, and I caught my breath.
Okay, time to calm down. Time to bring it down.
I picked up the sheets and tossed them back on the bed. With shaking fingers, I turned on the lamp and sat at my desk. I loved my one-room studio. It was so efficient but not quite big enough now that I had Sherman. Poor guy. He still didn’t know if he liked me or not. I felt kind of guilty for taking him away from Bozo, but I wanted to be close to my sister. She loved Sherman, so I would too. If I could get used to having a dog. I wasn’t that great at it, but I was trying. Currently, he was curled up under the window, staring at me. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to come see what I was doing or stay away.
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