by Spear, Terry
“I don’t understand what we’re supposed to be doing,” Kevin said, his voice annoyed and a bit scared. He didn’t seem to be the kind of kid that did stuff like this usually.
She figured he wanted to be admired by these clowns and since he had a car, he’d been accepted into their group. Then again, he knew Daniel had murdered Armando. Why hadn’t he said anything? Unless he had been involved and wasn’t the innocent like she thought.
Daniel snarled, “I told you what we had to do. Just look for the blasted light switch.”
Something else crashed, sounding like the other, a chair falling from a table? One of the boys let loose another curse.
Armando had to be the one doing it, but he was on the other side of the room so the cold hadn’t reached her yet. The kids were coming unglued.
“You were supposed to bring a flashlight that worked,” Daniel growled.
“It was working. Can’t help it that after we broke into the school the crummy batteries went out. Why the hell are the chairs falling off the tables?”
“Some idiot didn’t put them up right. How do I know?”
Emily twisted her hands, trying to free them. Her wrists burned when the rope bit into her skin. Panicked, she hadn’t even thought of making one of the boys release her. She concentrated on Kevin, since he seemed the most likely candidate for persuasion. He’d been susceptible when he was driving the car next to the duck pond.
“Kevin, untie my hands,” she fed into his subconscious.
“Hey, where are you going?” Daniel asked.
“To untie Emily’s hands.”
She closed her eyes, frustrated he would tell Daniel.
“Are you nuts? Find the light switch!”
“But—”
“Now!”
Footsteps continued to move toward her, and she feared it was Daniel, and he would hit her so hard she’d be unconscious again. But Daniel swore under his breath, “Where the hell are you going? I told you to find a light switch.”
A scuffle followed. A slap sounded.
“Hey, damn it, Daniel, what’d you hit me for?”
“She’s using her mind control. At least that’s what Red says she does. As soon as we get the lights turned on, I’ll knock her out again. It’s the only way she can’t get to us.”
The thought flashed across Emily’s mind that Armando wouldn’t like that. He needed her conscious.
She couldn’t be certain, but it seemed the room had cooled a few degrees. Not really cold, but not so warm now. She shivered with dread. If Granny and Michael didn’t find her soon, she was doomed.
“Here it is,” Daniel said, his voice pleased.
Instantly, a third of the cafeteria lighted.
Emily squinted her eyes to keep the brightness out. The light sent sharp pains through her skull. The cold increased. Slowly at first, as if the air conditioner was finally beginning to work, shoving out the warm, stuffy air, then growing. She sensed Armando drawing near.
“You idiots.” Like Roberta’s voice, Armando’s echoed through her head, but his thoughts rippled through her brain, fading in and out like the tide. The anger so volatile it was like a volcano building, ready to explode. But she figured they were clueless as to what was going on.
“She’s useless to me if she’s unconscious.”
Kevin stared at Emily and rubbed his arms. “I think someone’s in the building. They just turned the air conditioner on. Don’t you feel it?”
Daniel slapped the dead flashlight in the palm of his hand, glaring at Emily. “All right, let’s go check it out. Don’t want the police to arrive all of a sudden while we’re taking care of business.”
The two boys tore out of the cafeteria, and Emily relaxed her tense muscles. While they searched the school for intruders, it bought her precious moments. Time for Michael to reach her…maybe. If she could let him know where she was.
Emily closed her eyes. What did Armando want with her? She couldn’t remember what Granny said, but she assumed the worse. He would use her to force the boys to kill each other. But Armando couldn’t push her to make the boys do anything until they were in the same room with her, could he? Yet, could Armando even coerce her to do something she didn’t want? If she had the same abilities as he, surely she could fight his influence.
But he was pure evil, driven to succeed. She lifted her chin, just as determined to win. If she could only get her hands free and give Armando Roberta’s necklace…
“Armando,” she began, intending to give him Roberta’s message. “Roberta…”
He projected ice cold rage into her thoughts. Her mind froze and blackness descended again.
* * *
“Emily,” Michael said, jumping into his car, then grinding his teeth while Granny climbed into the passenger’s seat. Hurry, he wanted to scream at her, but he knew she wasn’t that agile. And he needed her help once they found Emily. At least he’d finally had a damned premonition, too late, just like with Susie. But they weren’t too late, he reminded himself. She could still be all right if they could find her in time.
“I have the police on the line, Michael,” Granny said, holding her hand over the mouthpiece. “Who did you say the boys were?”
“Daniel was one, the blond-haired boy who cut up my tires earlier today. The other was the driver of the black car. The police questioned him at the Lonestar Café today. He had brown, spiked hair, and brown eyes, I think. Hurry with the call, Granny. You need to see if you can reach Emily and find out where they’ve taken her.”
His grandmother spoke into the phone while Michael pulled out of the driveway, then headed in the direction the boys had gone.
“No, no, I don’t know where they took her. But they have a black car with flames painted on the side. And …” Granny covered the phone. “…are you getting any visions?”
“Yes, yes, she’s tied up. But…I can’t see where they have her.” And he couldn’t see if she was alive. She lay still as death, curled up in a fetal position surrounded by bright lights.
“Try harder, Michael. We have to tell the police where they are.”
“Her eyes are closed. I think she’s unconscious. Wait, I think I see…” He yanked the car over to the shoulder and jammed on his brakes.
“What do you see, Michael? What?”
His skin prickled with the strangest sensation. “I think she’s trying to reach me.”
* * *
Emily barely was conscious and attempted to push Armando’s chilling thoughts of how he stabbed his parents from her mind. The anger, the frustration, the regret.
This time, she tried to contact Michael, but could barely focus on the stubble on his chin. One dark hair, then another.
“Michael,” she entreated, “I’m at the school cafeteria. School. Michael. Help me.”
She had no way of knowing whether she could reach him or not because their abilities were different and because they were so far from each other, but if they had a special bond, a connection, she had to try.
“Michael, the cafeteria.”
Armando must have moved away from her because the air warmed. Was he afraid she’d be too cold, her thoughts too jumbled that she couldn’t force the boys to do his bidding when the time came? He was right about that.
Footsteps ran toward the cafeteria. She prayed it was Michael and Granny; she feared it was Daniel and Kevin, returning from their search through the school and finding no one.
“I keep telling you, the air conditioner isn’t on,” Daniel grouched. “It’s got to be him…Armando. There’s no one here but us. Quit acting like some damn sissy.”
“You mean the dead guy’s spirit?”
Emily opened her eyes. Daniel narrowed his when he saw her conscious, then stalked toward her.
“What are you going to do?” Kevin asked, panic lacing his words.
“Knock her out before she tells you to untie her again.”
Before he made it halfway across the cafeteria, a chair toppled from
the table and fell in his path. He jumped back and gasped, his blue eyes narrowing.
Kevin looked mortified. Emily willed him again. “Kevin, untie me. I need to speak with Armando’s spirit. I can stop him. Please,” she pleaded, emphasizing the please. “Untie me.”
Kevin glanced at Daniel.
Running his hands through his hair, Daniel’s sinister gaze focused on Emily. Then he skirted around the chair.
Kevin was coming to her aid, if he could do it without Daniel stopping him. But first, she had to prevent Daniel from knocking her out. Though Armando seemed to be trying to do something about it.
Daniel hadn’t made but three or four quick strides in her direction when another chair crashed in front of him. The noise of metal and plastic hitting the floor reverberated across the room. Visibly shaken, Daniel glanced nervously about the cafeteria. Kevin looked like he wet his pants.
“Untie me, Kevin. I can protect you if you help me.” Thank God, Armando focused on keeping Daniel from getting to her, forgetting about her for the moment. But darned if he wasn’t frightening Kevin into inaction, too.
As soon as Daniel moved around the chair, cautiously this time, another smashed to the floor, this one nearly striking him.
The two hesitated, and they trembled.
Gathering his nerve, Daniel took a step forward. A chair rose and hovered in front of him, as if daring him to make another move.
Daniel screamed, “We brought her here like you told us to! What more do you want? Kill her and make the nightmares stop.”
Kill her?
“What’s he saying to you?” Kevin asked, his voice quaking.
“He doesn’t speak to me, you idiot. He haunts me at school, chilling me whenever he can. At night, he gives me nightmares. He tells me what to do in the dreams, but not when I’m awake. I can’t understand what he’s mad about now.” He turned his ice blue eyes on Emily. “But maybe she does. She’s got some kind of abilities. That’s what he wants.”
“To use on you!” she told Daniel and Kevin both.
Daniel’s Adam apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. “Take off the tape. Maybe she can tell us what he wants.”
The hovering chair dropped in place. But as soon as Kevin approached Emily, another flew across the room, then wavered between her and the bully as if Armando used it as a shield.
“I don’t like this, Daniel, one bit. Something’s not right. He’s not killing her, and he’s not letting me get near her.”
“He doesn’t want to end my life,” Emily told Kevin. “He wants me to kill Daniel and anyone who came with him tonight.”
Kevin laughed, the sound strangled with fear.
“What’s so funny?” Daniel snarled, but didn’t move one step from where he stood.
“She told me that Armando wants her to kill us.”
“Right. A girl? Tied up? Right.”
“I can control your mind, can’t I?” Emily asked Kevin. “Armando can’t. But I can make you kill each other.”
Kevin glanced nervously back at Daniel.
“What? Remove the tape. What are you waiting for?” Daniel asked, waving his hands at her.
“She says Armando wants her to control our minds and make us kill each other.”
His mouth turned down, Daniel pulled out his knife and motioned to Kevin. “You’re not killing me.”
Kevin’s face turned green, and he took a step back.
Armando hadn’t made Emily push them into this scene, had he? Had she played into his hands after all? Beaten at the game by an evil entity? She closed her eyes, furious for failing. But then again, Daniel was the one he wanted killed. Daniel was Armando’s murderer.
The sound of footsteps running in the direction of the cafeteria made them all turn to look. Michael and his grandmother rushed into the room, and her heart lifted. “Emily!” he shouted.
His grandmother motioned to her. “Get her, Michael. I’ll try to stop Armando. The boys have injured her, and her mind’s not clear.”
Emily felt so nauseous, she wanted to throw up, and her head pained her.
“But what about you, Granny?” Michael asked, his voice filled with anxiety.
“Get her, Michael.”
Michael ran to Emily, but Daniel blocked his path, waving the knife. Granny stayed near the doorway, but Emily couldn’t tell what she was doing.
Emily squirmed to sit upright, wanting to protect Michael and Granny. But how? Her mind muddled, she knew Granny was right.
Closing her eyes, she focused on Armando, like she should have done from the beginning if she’d had all her senses functioning properly. “Roberta still loves you, Armando. We found her and have put her spirit to rest. I promised I’d return the gold chain you gave her to you. Let someone free my hands, and I’ll give it to you.”
The chair shielding her from Kevin dropped, and instantly he backed toward one of the cafeteria doors. The four doors slammed shut, one after another.
“What does it mean, Daniel? What’s happening?” Kevin squeaked.
“He means to kill you, both of you,” Michael said, maneuvering in Emily’s direction.
Daniel still waved his knife at Michael, taunting him to come closer.
“Emily never did anything to him but find the girl he loved and help her to rest in peace. Why would he want to hurt Emily? She has a message for Armando and a gift to give him from Roberta. It’s the two of you he wants dead. He can’t eliminate you, not in the form he’s in now. But to carry out his revenge, he plans to use Emily to do away with you.”
Daniel snorted. “Yeah, she’s no match for this.” He twisted the blade in the air and stabbed twice in Michael’s direction.
He dodged the long, sharp knife. “You know she doesn’t need to use her physical strength to kill you.”
Tears blurred her eyes, and her heart pounded so hard she knew it would bruise her ribs. “Roberta loves you, Armando. She gave me her necklace and wanted me to give it to you.”
“What does Michael mean, Daniel?” Kevin’s voice shook with fear.
An apparition appeared, hazy, wavering near the table where he’d died.
“He’s bluffing.” Daniel looked in the direction of Armando’s ghostly figure. “Armando.” He gawked at the spirit, then puffed up his chest and furrowed his brows. “Kill her, and do away with the rest of them.”
As if Daniel could order Armando around! But the ghost didn’t respond in a threatening manner like she expected him to. Gloating? Waiting for Emily to make the two boys eliminate one another?
“If he wanted to kill her, he’d have already done it. He wants you dead for poisoning him.” Michael nodded at Kevin. “And he wants to destroy him for being your accomplice.”
“He’s lying,” Daniel growled. “Armando, slaughter her!”
Icy tendrils stretched out to Emily, poking into her mind. The ribbons of cold intertwined with the electrical impulses feeding her brain. “Make Daniel kill Kevin with the knife,” Armando ordered Emily, his words bitter and hostile.
Struggling against his strength, Emily fought his presence in her mind. Her head swooned with lightheadedness, the only thing grounding her—the insistent pain. Then a warm shield moved inside her mind, bracing against the frigid tentacles wrapping around her thoughts. Granny?
With the help of the shield and not having to fight Armando’s commands, Emily tried to reach him again. “Roberta loves you!” she silently pleaded with him. “She loves you!”
Emily’s head pounded like an invading enemy slamming battering rams against the castle gate. The enemy without would break through soon.
“Concentrate, Emily, concentrate. Keep him out,” Granny cheered her on.
“She loves you, Armando!” Emily implored.
Cracks splintered her resolve. Hurricane-force, frosty waves crashed against the sea wall. Soon they’d wash the barrier away and everything with it.
“Make Daniel shove the blade into his own heart! Do it, Emily!” Armando commanded, anger
boiling to the surface.
Emily struggled to free her hands. The cross. She had to give him Roberta’s gold necklace.
When Daniel turned his head to look at the ghost, Michael dove for him, tackling him to the floor. But the maniac still had the knife.
Kevin ran to Emily. With a jerk, he ripped the tape from her mouth.
Emily blurted between stinging lips, “Armando will kill you through me. Michael’s right. Free my hands.”
He hesitated and Emily closed her eyes. She couldn’t let her concentration slip away from Granny. Only the two of them could keep Armando from using either of them alone as a vessel to commit murder.
When Kevin’s fingers touched the ropes that bound her, hope seeped into her bones. “Hurry, Kevin.”
Michael still struggled to get the knife away from Daniel. They slammed into tables, sending more chairs crashing to the floor. “The police are coming!” Michael shouted suddenly.
Kevin grabbed Emily’s wrist, but with her free hand she pulled Roberta’s necklace over her head and tossed it toward Armando.
“She wanted you to have it. She loves you still and doesn’t hold a grudge. She loves you.”
The anguish screaming through Emily’s head shattered any reasonable thought, crumbling what little wall was left to shelter her mind from Armando’s evil.
Shadowy, black robed, hooded figures grabbed him, and he struggled violently. In the next instant, Armando and the figures vanished.
Granny cried out, “Emily!”
Emily floated above the cafeteria, watching the strange scene unfold below her, unable to rejoin Michael or Granny. Her own body lay unmoving on the floor, her head cradled in Granny’s lap while Granny called to her, imploring her to wake.
She felt no pain, just extremely lightheaded, serene, at peace. All at once, she felt like she had so long ago, years and years ago, saw her body floating face down in a blue pool of water, her red hair floating about her.
But then police rushed into the cafeteria, armed, and shouting, “Drop the weapon! Hands in the air! Get on the ground! On the ground!”