“Um…no.” It never would have occurred to me to randomly head to the top floor, especially if that wasn’t where my room was.
“They have the best views.”
“I can see that,” I said, taking in the fine view of moldering stacks of old linens. It was a wonder the place hadn’t caught fire. I was glad we wouldn’t be staying much longer. Soon we’d be on our last overnight train, and after a few days in Hong Kong, I’d be on my way home. Strangely enough, I was actually looking forward to it. Usually I dreaded my return to the real world.
Kate smacked my arm. “Ass. Obviously I didn’t think it was going to be like this.”
“And yet you thought it was so awesome I should see it. I appreciate that.”
“Come on.” She took hold of my wrist and dragged me to the end of the hall near a window. Pulling two chairs off a stack, she gestured for me to sit down. In my weakened condition it was inviting, but I hesitated.
“What about that maid? She didn’t seem too happy to see us here.”
“She’s not going to come back. That’s the first time I’ve ran into anyone else here,” Kate said, making me wonder exactly how often she’d visited this furniture graveyard. “Besides, we’re not doing anything wrong, and if she does give us shit, we won’t understand a word she’s saying.”
True. It was one of the best and worst things about China. Sometimes it was frustrating not to know what people were saying, but on the other hand, ignorance was bliss.
Kate’s face had taken on that bluish-white cast again. The playful mood from a moment before was gone.
“Kate, what’s bugging you? Have you seen that woman before? Why was she staring at you like that?”
“You have to tell me everything about the night you met her. What happened exactly? It’s important. I’ll explain why in a bit.”
As I repeated the story, adding in any random detail I recalled, Kate paid close attention. She never took her eyes from mine, which got to be more than a little unnerving—I felt like some hapless creature being studied in a lab. It definitely wasn’t a sexy stare, let me put it that way. Other than whistling under her breath when I got to the part about inviting the girl into the shelter with me, she was silent, only nodding now and then.
“And that’s about it,” I finished. Usually my memory was the shits, but I’d had reason to think about that particular evening a few times, which kept it fresh in my mind. “Will you tell me what was going on in the restaurant now?”
“Just a minute. I have another question I need to ask you.”
“Okay.” I felt a bit dizzy. As soon as I was done talking to Kate, I planned on going downstairs for a nap. I hoped Harold hadn’t had the same idea.
“Did you ever…” she paused, studying my face as if wanting assurance it was safe to continue. “Did it strike you as strange that this woman manages to find you no matter where you are? That she can leave locked rooms without opening a door, or that Erik has never heard her speak, even though you’ve had conversations with her when he was a few feet away?”
Shit. That’s where I’d thought she was going, and I didn’t know if I was ready to hear it. “I’m sure she opened the door,” I said, hoping against hope that Kate would drop it. “We just never saw her, that’s all.”
“Jackson…” She took my hand, speaking to me softly as if I were a child who’d had a nightmare. “The woman who’s been following you is dead.”
“Bullshit.” I couldn’t accept it, even though I knew it was the only thing that made sense. The simplest explanation is usually correct. What were the odds I’d stumbled upon a multitalented magician in the middle of an abandoned ghost city, a woman who could make herself disappear at will?
“I’m telling you the truth, Jackson. That’s why she stared at me like that today, don’t you get it? She knew I could see her.”
“This is crazy. Ghosts don’t go around having conversations like normal people.”
“Some of them do.”
“With you, maybe. You’re a medium. But with me? I don’t even believe in this stuff.” Unable to stay still, I paced the little patch of worn carpet in front of the chairs. “She can’t be dead. She’s too real.”
“She’s a very strong manifestation. I can see how you would think she was flesh and blood, but I can tell you knew something wasn’t right. Denial is a powerful thing. It’s funny what people will attempt to find rational explanations for.”
My head was spinning. It felt like everything I’d known was a lie. Sure, I had this brilliant plan to write books about my ghost-hunting adventures, but I’d never expected to actually find one. Because they don’t exist. Ghosts don’t exist.
“I don’t believe in this stuff.” My protests sounded lame, even to my own ears. “I can’t believe in it. It’s just too surreal.”
“It really doesn’t matter whether you believe in her or not, Jackson. She believes in you.”
~ Chapter Fourteen ~
As I sank deeper and deeper into the clear green water, I fought hard to reach the surface, struggling against the current. I knew what was coming this time, and I didn’t want to face it. Using my arms to cut through the water, I kicked as hard as I could, but gravity tugged at my heels. It was like trying to swim in quicksand. No matter how much I resisted, I kept sinking.
Though I’d tried my best to avoid it, soon I could see the lights of the little village at the bottom of the river again. Something brushed against me and I cringed, expecting to see her stretching her hands toward me through the water, but it was only a violin. That was when I noticed the water was full of things—ordinary things, like Tupperware and cutlery and children’s toys. They floated along beside me, doing slow somersaults as they either sank to the bottom beneath my feet or bobbed above my head. I stopped swimming for a moment, fascinated by the parade of personal belongings gliding past.
A gentle tap on my elbow made me turn. I was horrified to see the corpse of a small white dog float by, its leash still attached and drifting above its head as if an invisible master were walking it.
The lights were brighter now, allowing me a clearer view of the houses on the riverbed. When I’d seen them before, I’d thought the people had been surprised, but now I saw they were screaming. Some pounded at the windows, panicking, while others simply watched me, resigned to their situation.
Drifting past them one by one, I was unable to fight the current, unable to stop and help. The person in the last house was familiar. It was her, standing in the window in her blue dress, condemning me with her eyes.
Before I could react, the lights went out and I was left in darkness.
* * *
After the nightmare, I couldn’t get back to sleep. I tossed and turned for what felt like years and was probably ten minutes before thinking of something that might cure my insomnia. I’d never finished listening to the recording I’d made in Hensu, and there would never be a quieter place in China to do it. The last time I’d tried to listen to it, I’d fallen asleep, and I hoped it would work its magic again.
Thankfully I’d slipped it into an easy-to-access outside pocket on my pack this time. Otherwise I would have had to dump everything on the floor, no doubt waking Harold in the process. And he was one guy I definitely did not want to disturb.
After jamming my earbuds in as far as they would go, I got comfortable—as comfortable as one could get in a room that was like the inside of a smelly, moldy volcano. Pushing the covers down to my waist in a futile attempt to cool off, I closed my eyes.
“You scared the crap out of me, girl. Where did you come from?”
This time I held my breath, listening as hard as I could for her voice. But there was nothing, just me babbling, except….
Was that something in the background?
It hadn’t sounded like the fire, or the wind, or the rain. It was only a murmur, but it had the cadence of human speech.
I increased the volume until it was as high as it could go, wincing when my ow
n voice boomed in my ears.
“Were you left behind too?”
Holding my breath again, I waited. I was sure the noise I’d heard was her voice, so soft it was barely decipherable.
Nothing.
I must have imagined it. The recording was as useful as a one-sided telephone conversation.
When I heard the other voice again I was almost asleep. This time it was louder.
Increasing the volume once more, I replayed that portion of the recording.
Someone was speaking, all right, and whoever it was sounded upset, pleading for something.
Problem was, the person was speaking Mandarin. I couldn’t understand a word, but that wasn’t what bothered me most.
The person on the recording wasn’t the girl I’d met that night.
It was a man.
* * *
Knocking as quietly as I could, I prayed the right person would hear me.
As usual, my prayers weren’t answered.
After the token pause for the peephole squint, the door was flung open to reveal Meghan in all her glory. Her face puckered into a frown so ferocious it was almost comical. I was amused to see she was wearing something that had last been in style during the Victorian era, all high necked and ruffled. I guess I should have been grateful she didn’t sleep in the nude.
“What are you doing here?” Her whisper was so harsh it sounded more like a hiss. “It’s three in the fucking morning.”
“Aren’t you afraid it’s going to freeze like that?” I gestured to her face.
“Really? Are you serious? You disturb me at an ungodly hour, and the best you can do is insult me? You can go fuck yourself, Jackson. I should report you to Harold.”
“Go ahead. He can add it to his list of grievances. I need to talk to Kate.”
A light came on behind her, and the door opened a little wider. Rolling her eyes, Meghan stomped back to bed with that huffing noise she made when she was peeved about something. “All I can say is you two better be quiet. Some of us are trying to sleep.”
I was too startled by Kate’s appearance to come up with a snarky reply. She wasn’t the girl I’d said goodnight to after dinner. Her eyelids were swollen and puffy.
“Hey, are you okay? What happened?”
She eased out the door, pulling it most of the way shut behind her.
“Was it Meghan?” I whispered, caring enough for Kate’s sake to keep my voice low, but not really caring whether or not her ogre of a roommate overheard me. “What did she do?”
“It’s nothing, really.” Kate averted her eyes, but I’d already seen how bloodshot they were. It didn’t look like nothing to me.
“Was it something else? Was it—”
“No, you were right the first time. Wait, let me grab my key card. We can go to the sixth floor again.”
I nodded, waiting as she slipped into her room. I could hear Meghan say something and Kate reply, but I couldn’t make out what they were talking about. From their tone, it wasn’t anything good.
And then she was back, hurriedly yanking a sweatshirt over her thin nightshirt and closing the door behind her. I had the feeling she hadn’t been sleeping either.
Once we were in the stairwell it felt safe enough to talk.
“What happened between you guys?”
“The usual.” Kate’s tone was flippant, but the fact she was sniffling made it obvious the fight with Meghan bothered her more than she wanted to admit. “Apparently I’m nothing but a big ol’ whore.”
It took all my self-control not to run down the stairs and tell that nasty woman exactly what I thought of her. “Why do you let her talk to you that way? She shouldn’t be allowed to walk on you.”
Kate led the way to the now-familiar row of chairs beneath the sixth-floor window. “What am I supposed to do, beat her up? You’ve spent a few weeks with her now. You know that nothing can stop her from saying everything and anything that crosses her mind.” She ran a hand through her hair and sighed. “Besides, I don’t care what she thinks of me.”
“Yeah, I can see that.”
She whacked me on the arm. “Seriously. It’s not so much Meghan, but women in general. No matter how nice I am, a lot of them don’t like me. I’ve never understood it. They act like they hate me on sight.”
“It’s because you’re beautiful.” The words came out before I could stop them.
“Get serious,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“No, really. Women can be competitive and vindictive if they feel threatened. And you’re beautiful and smart enough to make anyone feel threatened.” I was laying it on a little thick, but it was the truth. Meghan was jealous—anyone could see that, except maybe the person who was standing in her line of fire.
“What am I supposed to do? I can’t exactly help the way I look.” Kate’s voice rose in frustration, so I decided to do what guys have done since time immemorial when faced with a distraught woman. Lighten the mood.
“You could get fat.”
I got the laugh I’d hoped for, but it faded quickly.
“I might try that.”
“How did this start, anyway? She called you a whore out of the blue?” I’d always thought Meghan was twisted, but now I was beginning to suspect severe mental illness. Which should have made me feel sorry for her, but it didn’t. I liked Kate a lot, and anyone who enjoyed making her miserable was automatically on my shit list.
“No,” Kate said, wiping away the last of her tears. “It was that stuff the guys said at dinner about us spending the day alone together. She accused me of being inappropriate with you when I have a boyfriend at home.”
“Hey, you haven’t done anything wrong. We’re friends, that’s all. You’ve done nothing to feel guilty about.” But in the back of my mind, I knew that if she were my girlfriend, I wouldn’t be thrilled to hear she’d spent so much time alone with a single guy. That said, Kate had been nothing but friendly to me. If ol’ Mr. Happy got the wrong idea from time to time, that was my fault, not hers.
“Can I tell you a secret?”
My pulse quickened. Was she going to admit she had feelings for me too? That she was second-guessing her relationship with the mysterious boyfriend? Or maybe it was a case of ‘what happens in China stays in China,’ wink-wink-nudge-nudge.
“I think we’re past having to ask, don’t you?”
She laughed, and it sounded more genuine this time. “Yeah. We have been through a lot together.”
“So go ahead, hit me. What’s the secret?”
Kate focused on her hands, which were twisting and untwisting the bottom of her sleep shirt. I braced myself for the big reveal, while telling Mr. Happy to hold himself in check. We had to be gentlemen. It wouldn’t do to make hot, passionate love in this dusty hallway. That would be awesome, but a girl like Kate deserved better.
“I don’t exactly have a boyfriend.”
It took a moment for her words to register. “What?”
“I know it’s stupid, but I’ve been on a few of these trips before. Some guys view them as a chance to hook up with anything in a skirt. It’s easier to say I’m unavailable.”
“Oh.” There is no boyfriend. There is no boyfriend! THERE IS NO BOYFRIEND. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I strived to sound casual. “Did you tell Meghan that?”
“No, I told her pretty much what you said a minute ago—that you and I are friends, and that nothing sexual is going on. But I also told her it was none of her fucking business.”
I would have given anything to see Meghan’s expression when she heard that. “Bravo.”
“Anyway, enough about her and my non-existent love life. Why were you knocking on our door at three in the morning?”
With all the drama, I’d completely forgotten my original reason for seeking her out. I handed her the recorder. “I wanted to get your opinion on something. This is a recording I made the night I stayed in Hensu. If you keep the volume high, you can hear a man’s voice saying something in Chinese. T
he thing is, there was no man there. Other than me, of course, and this definitely isn’t me.”
“Creepy. What are you hoping for from me?” She untangled the earbuds.
Oh, don’t ask me such loaded questions, Kate. This is difficult enough. “A professional opinion. I guess I wanted to know if you think it could be supernatural.”
She smiled. “I thought you didn’t believe in that stuff.”
“Let’s just say recent events have convinced me to keep an open mind. See what you think.”
I tried not to stare at her as she listened to my recording, but it was difficult to focus on anything else. At one point she frowned, raised the volume, and replayed part of it, like I had. Finally she took out the earbuds and handed the contraption to me.
“I wish we knew what he was saying.”
“Well, what do you think? Is it a ghost?”
“Are you sure there’s no chance the voice could have come from something else, like maybe you picked up a radio station or something like that?”
“Pretty sure, yeah.” It had been silent as a proverbial tomb out there.
“Then it could be EVP. You’d probably need to have it analyzed to know for sure. Sometimes the voices of the dead are at a different frequency than our own, so the frequencies can be an indicator of something supernatural. That’s why most of us can’t hear spirits. But if the frequencies are normal, we’d only have your word that there wasn’t a man in Hensu with you.” She ran a hand through her hair. “Like most paranormal stuff, it’s difficult to prove. But if you’re asking for my opinion, then yes, I think you’ve got something here.”
We sat quietly for a minute. “I’m actually glad you knocked on my door tonight, because there’s something important I need to tell you.”
“What’s that?” My mind raced with the possibilities. One thing you could say about Kate—she was definitely unpredictable.
“You’re not going to like it,” she warned.
I laughed, remembering the unwelcome bomb she’d dropped about my stalker earlier in the day. “I think that ship has sailed. It’s not about that woman again, is it?”
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