by Amy Cross
Turning, I see that Millicent's body is now sealed back where we found it. I reach up and touch the side of my face, and sure enough there's a bead of blood dribbling down from a gash just a short way under my left eye. I take a step back as I wipe the blood away, and then I take a deep breath as I realize that perhaps the little girl can at least rest in peace.
I head to the doorway, but at that moment I hear a bumping sound over my shoulder.
I look back, and I'm shocked to see that the ghost of Catherine Lannister is now kneeling in front of the panel. Her head is bowed and hands are clasped together, and I realize after a moment that she seems to be whispering. I guess she's praying, maybe for Millicent's soul or for her safety. I don't fully understand, but one thing I truly know now is that they have to be left alone. This is their home, even after all these years, and nobody has any right to come and disturb them.
I don't know how, but I'm going to persuade the world to leave these ghosts alone. Not only Catherine Lannister, either, but all the ghosts. We rushed in after the big discovery, desperate to understand everything about them, but we didn't give enough thought to the idea that maybe they still think and feel.
“Rest in peace,” I whisper, before making my way out to the corridor and then heading to the stairs.
I start to make my way down, but after a couple of steps I come to a halt as I see that Doctor Carter is kneeling in the hallway, holding one of the control units in his hands.
Josh's body is still nearby.
“I put the little girl back where she belongs,” I explain, struggling to suppress my anger as I head down and stop at the bottom of the stairs. “We came rushing in here without thinking about what we were doing. Nothing like this can ever be allowed to happen again.”
I look down at Josh.
“The price,” I add, “was too high.”
I stare at the dead body for a moment, before suddenly realizing that Doctor Carter is whispering something under his breath. Turning to him, I see that he's staring frantically at the control unit in his hands.
“It's time to go,” I tell him.
He doesn't reply. Instead, he simply continues to stare at the unit.
“I'm not arguing with you anymore,” I continue. “This has gone on for long enough, and now we have to get out of here. The ghost of Catherine Lannister is -”
“They're abominations!” he snaps, suddenly looking up at me.
“What?”
“They shouldn't be allowed!” he sneers, with tears running down his face. “It's immoral! It's wrong! We have to get rid of them all!”
“What are you talking about?” I ask cautiously. “We came here to study them.”
“I needed to see one with my own eyes,” he stammers. “I needed to see that they're truly real. I told myself that maybe, by seeing one, I'd come to understand. That I'd find peace. But the opposite happened. I knew instantly that the only right response is to wipe these things out completely. And that means destroying their habitats.”
“Doctor Carter,” I say cautiously, “I think maybe we should get out of here right now.”
“You were right about the sensors,” he replies. “They function the way I explained, but they have another function as well. A primary function. I must thank you for helping me set them out all through the house, because now they're perfectly positioned for the detonation.”
“Detonation?” I take a step toward him. “What detonation?”
“How can you live, knowing that they're real?” he screams, as more and more tears run from his eyes. “How can anyone live now? I can't handle the truth! We have to go back to how it was, when there were no ghosts, and there's only one way to do that.”
“Doctor Carter -”
“We have to destroy them all!”
“No!”
I reach out to grab the control unit from his hands, but I'm too late. He presses a button on the panel, and in an instant the sensors – which are dotted all around the house – explode with an almighty force.
I'm sent crashing into the wall, and I turn just as the entire upper floor of the house begins to creak and groan. I rush toward the main door, desperately hoping to get out, and in that instant the ceiling comes crashing down and I scream as Lannister Hall collapses all around me.
II
“Katie, can you hear me? Katie, if you can hear me, give me a sign. Squeeze my hand.”
I open my eyes, and I immediately see bright lights above my head. I immediately squint, and for a few seconds I have absolutely no idea who I am. Someone just said the name Katie, and that seems fairly familiar, but I feel as if something's missing. I blink a few times as my eyes get used to the brightness, and then I try to move, only to find that my entire body is filled with pain and stiffness.
“Katie!”
Suddenly a face leans into view, but it takes a moment before I realize who I'm seeing.
“Dad?” I whisper, barely able to get the word out. “What... Where am I?”
“I'll get Doctor Latham,” a woman's voice says, and I hear footsteps hurrying away.
“It's okay, Katie,” Dad says, “you're safe. You're in the hospital, you were involved in an accident. You're fine, though. You don't need to worry. Just relax.”
“An accident?” I whisper, as I struggle to remember how I got here. “What kind of accident?”
“It doesn't matter right now, Katie. All that matters is that you're alive. You're back with us.” He leans close and kisses me on the cheek. “It's so good to hear your voice again.”
“Wait,” I reply, “I was...”
I pause, and suddenly I remember the sight of Doctor Carter screaming at me. Then there was a bright flash, and the ground moved beneath my feet, and then it was as if the entire world began tumbling down all around me. I remember something slamming into my back, and I remember desperately trying to protect my head as more and more rubble came down. After that, there's nothing. I must have blacked out, but I remember the house, I remember the corridors and hallways, I remember -
“Lannister Hall!” I gasp, starting to sit up but quickly finding that tubes are holding me down against the bed. “I was at Lannister Hall!”
“We know, honey,” Dad replies, placing a hand on my shoulder. “We know all about it. Well, not all about it, there are still a lot of questions, but for now you really just need to relax. The police will ask you a little later about exactly what happened.”
“Josh! Where's Josh?”
“Katie -”
“Doctor Carter blew it up,” I stammer, as I try to pull the tubes away. “I have to get back there. Where's Josh?”
“Honey -”
“You don't understand!” I hiss. “I have to get back to Lannister Hall.”
“No, you don't understand,” he replies. “Katie, the accident was six months ago.”
“What?” Turning to him, I feel absolutely certain that he has to be wrong. And yet, as I stare at him, I can see the sadness in his eyes, and I realize that there's no reason for him to lie to me about something like that. “I've been unconscious for six months?”
“You were in a coma,” he explains. “You took a few pretty big bumps on the head when that place blew up. Frankly, it's a miracle that you made it out of there at all. The firefighters found you in the rubble. Even after you reached the hospital, it was touch and go for a while. You have no idea how many nights I've spent sitting here by your side, talking to you and praying that you might respond. Did you ever hear me talking, Katie? I knew at the time that it was unlikely, but I just needed you to understand that I was right here waiting for you.”
I open my mouth to ask him about Josh, but suddenly I'm filled with a sense of panic. Memories are flooding back, and I realize that Josh died with those nails sticking out of his eyes. Doctor Carter, meanwhile, went completely insane, and I remember the sight of Catherine Lannister's ghost. Everything's coming tumbling back in a huge, chaotic mess, and for a moment I'm not sure what happened
when. It's as if those two days at Lannister Hall have merged, but finally I remember the sight of a child's dead body laid out on the floor.
“Milly,” I whisper.
“What was that?”
“The little girl.” I turn to Dad. “Millicent Lannister. We found her body, it was hidden in one of the walls.”
“I think they did find a child's body in the ruins,” he replies. “That's one of the things they're going to want to ask you about, but don't worry about that right now. There'll be time for all of that later.”
“Where is she?” I ask.
“I'm not -”
“What have they done with her?” I continue, trying but failing to stay calm. “Dad, where is Milly Lannister's body?”
“She was taken to be analyzed.”
“Analyzed?” I take a deep breath, but I feel as if I can barely get any air into my lungs at all. “Dad, they can't do that! They can't just take her away, they have to...”
My voice trails off as I realize that I don't actually know what they should do with Milly's corpse. Catherine Lannister was absolutely determined to keep her safe, and I'm horrified by the idea that anyone would ever have moved that little collection of bones and skin away from the house.
“Just stay calm,” Dad says firmly. “Don't think about anything right now, Katie. All that matters is your recovery.”
“They have to put the body back in the house!”
“There's no house to put it back in, Katie,” he replies. “Lannister Hall was completely destroyed, and the rubble's already been cleared away. As far as I know, Lannister Hall is nothing more than a patch of scorched dirt in the middle of a forest.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, before suddenly realizing the awful truth. “It's gone? Completely?”
“It was an old building,” he points out.
“But if it's gone...”
Again, my voice trails off as I try to understand exactly what has happened. If all the pain and sorrow and anger of Catherine Lannister was twisted and caught in rooms of Lannister Hall, then where would her soul go if the house no longer existed? For a moment, I tell myself that she'd simply dissipate, that there'd be nothing to hold all her rage together. After a few seconds, however, I begin to consider another, more awful possibility. What if she's free now? What if she's lost her daughter, and she wants revenge on those she deems responsible? Doctor Carter's dead, so is Josh, so that leaves...
I look around the hospital room, but I don't see anyone who shouldn't be here.
“I have to get back to the university,” I whisper finally. “I have to figure out what's going to happen next.”
“You're not going anywhere right now,” Dad replies.
“I have to go back to the department!” I snap, trying in vain to keep from panicking. “I have to talk to the others about what this all means!”
“What department?” He hesitates. “Katie, while you were unconscious, there were some... developments. Some pretty big developments.”
“What kind of developments?”
I stare at him, waiting for an answer, but he says nothing.
“What kind of developments, Dad?” I ask finally, as I feel my chest start to tighten with a growing sense of dread. “Why won't you tell me? What's going on?”
III
“And that,” Doctor Alice Reynolds says on the television screen, with tears running down her face, “is why I falsified the results of my research. It's why I did everything. On behalf of myself, and everyone else who was involved in this huge deception, I can only apologize from the bottom of my heart.”
“And there we have a statement that tops off one of the greatest scientific hoaxes of all time,” the news reporter says somberly, as Doctor Reynolds walks away from the rostrum. “If you're just tuning in, a reminder of the remarkable news that's coming out of London this evening. Doctor Alice Reynolds has confirmed rumors that have been circulating over the past few days. The confirmation of ghosts was part of a global hoax, perpetrated by several hundred members of the scientific and academic communities, with the aim being to gain funding for various studies. And it's a hoax that, tonight, has fallen apart in the most public way possible.”
“This can't be real,” I whisper, staring at the screen as I feel another wave of disbelief filling my chest. I pause the video on a still of Doctor Reynolds' face. “The breakthrough happened. Ghosts were shown to exist. There's no way a conspiracy like this could ever have succeeded.”
“Of course there isn't.”
Turning, I see that Evie has come through to the faculty office.
“Hey, Katie,” she says, forcing an unconvincing half-smile. “It's good to see that you're up and about again.”
“What's going on?” I ask. “None of this makes any sense. Ghosts are real! Doctor Reynolds proved that!”
“I know.”
“Then what -”
“Society was falling apart,” she adds, cutting me off. “Governments around the world were losing control. Even supposedly smart guys like Henry Carter were losing their minds. The economy was thrown into turmoil. Suicide rates were spiraling. When the human race genuinely believed that there was an afterlife, en masse, the results were catastrophic.”
“But...”
My voice trails off, and after a moment I turn back to look at the still image of Doctor Reynolds.
“They got to her,” Evie continues. “Everyone in the community knows it, but we also know we can't speak out. They got to Doctor Reynolds and they forced her to issue a false confession. Approximately two hundred researchers around the world have been arrested as part of a coordinated global investigation. Or cover-up, if you prefer that term. I don't know how they persuaded Doctor Reynolds to play along with them. She was a principled woman, she valued scientific truth above all else. I can only assume that they made her an offer she couldn't refuse. She had grandchildren, didn't she? Maybe they threatened them.”
“They? Who do you mean by they?”
I turn to her, and she shrugs.
“Alice Reynolds was supposed to be an honorable person,” I point out. “If she -”
“She's dead.”
I open my mouth to reply, but suddenly I realize what Evie just said.
“It was on the news about an hour ago,” she continues. “She was found hanging in her apartment. I guess whatever she agreed to, it didn't include that. But she had to be silenced, so...”
I step toward her.
“This can't happen,” I say firmly. “The truth is out there, it's known, it's -”
“It's been written off as a giant hoax,” she says firmly. “They've done a pretty good job of it, too. There are still a few hold-outs, people who insist it was all real, but they're mostly seen as cranks now. Most people are happy to believe the lie. I guess it's somehow more comforting.”
“But ghosts are real!”
“I know. And those of us who still believe... I guess we'll continue our research. In the shadows. In the margins. You should know, however, that laws have been passed, making it a crime to promote Doctor Reynolds' ideas as fact. These people really don't mess about. I guess I can understand, at least partly. They don't want human civilization to collapse.”
“So we're back to how things were before?” I ask, still struggling to understand. “People think ghosts are just... stories?”
“There'll always be those of us who know the truth,” she replies, “but we're very much in the minority. I guess that's the price we have to pay, in order to bring some sanity back to the world. It got really scary for a while, Katie. When people thought ghosts were real, suddenly this life seemed less valuable. Disposable, in a way. I think humanity only works if those things are kept in the shadows.”
“But people know the truth,” I point out, exasperated. “Billions of people can't all have been tricked into thinking it was a hoax!”
“They can if, deep down, that's what they want.”
I want to tell her that this is
insane, but somehow the words stuck in my throat. My mind is racing and I feel as if nothing makes sense. Doctor Alice Reynolds was a principled woman, she was a pioneer, she was one of the most respected researchers in the world. She was, in some ways, my hero. Yet somehow all her work has been undone. Can humanity really not accept the truth about ghosts? Do we really need to keep them tucked away out of sight, continually teased but never confirmed? Can we really not handle the truth?
IV
I bring the car to a halt as my headlights pick out a fence blocking the road ahead. A security guard is already walking this way, and I roll my window down as he gets closer.
“Sorry, M'am,” he says, “but this is private property. You're going to have to turn around.”
Looking past him, I see several large signs warning that there's no access to the land ahead. On several of the signs, there's a familiar L-shaped logo that I know is linked to the Lannister family. There wasn't a fence here before. When we first came to Lannister Hall, the fences were much closer to the house. It seems the Lannisters have now doubled down on their determination to keep everyone away, even though the house itself no longer stands.
“M'am?”
I look back up at the security guard.
“You can't be here,” he says firmly. “I'm assuming that you've taken a wrong turn, in which case you need to turn around right now.”
“I...”
I hesitate for a moment.
“Sure,” I say finally, “I'm sorry. Yeah, I must have come the wrong way. I'll get going. I'm sorry for bothering you.”
***
Half an hour later, with the car parked at the side of the road, I make my way through the dark forest. I have a flashlight on my phone, although I'm loath to use it in case I draw attention to myself. There's just enough moonlight to let me find my way, although the ground is uneven and I can't help but stumble every so often.
Finally, up ahead, another stretch of the fence comes into view.
I'm a little out of breath by the time I reach the fence, and I hold back as soon as I see a sign warning about an electrical current. I guess the Lannisters really don't want anyone breaking through, and a moment later I spot two cameras high up in the trees, watching me.