The Haunting Season

by Michelle Muto

  A support wall stopped their progress. Jess’s panic was nearly unbearable now. Gage must have sensed her fear. He leaned in and kissed the side of her head.

  “Don’t worry. We’ve just got to follow this wall until we reach the next window.”

  Jess didn’t mention the obvious. That following the wall meant going back to the center of the basement. No one spoke as they inched their way in the near darkness. It felt like an eternity. Finally, they reached the end of the wall. Now, all they had to do was follow it back toward the windows. Jess wanted to run, just bolt toward it, but without lighting, they could get turned around.

  Gage stopped and flicked off the lighter. He turned to Jess and whispered. “Hear that?”

  Everyone stopped and listened.

  Jess shook her head. She heard absolutely nothing.

  “I don’t hear anything,” Allison said softly, stepping past Gage.

  He grabbed her arm and pulled her back. “Exactly. That means Brandt is probably around the corner.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  Brandt was ahead of them, somewhere around the support wall. Gage was certain of it. He moved away from the corner. “I have a plan, but I need you all to buy into this, okay?”

  “Sure,” Jess whispered.

  Bryan simply nodded, looking pale. Gage had no way to know for certain, but if Bryan used to get killer headaches before, he could only imagine the mother he must have right now.

  Allison eyed him suspiciously. He didn’t expect her to like his plan any better once he explained. “I’m bringing back Mrs. Hirsch.”

  “What?” Bryan managed to say.

  Allison stepped away from them. “No way! You want her to come after us, too?”

  “Do you have another plan? Because we’re listening,” Gage asked her.

  Allison shook her head. “Maybe if we run, we can get past him.”

  Gage was losing patience and they were wasting time arguing. “Really? That’s your plan? We’re not bringing back a ghost, Allison. We’re bringing back a person. She might not even have a soul. I don’t know what happens when I bring things back.”

  “Just have Bryan zap him!” Allison hissed.

  Jess motioned to Bryan. “Look at him, Allison! Does he look like he can keep this up all night?”

  Allison glanced at Bryan. Even in her fight or flight induced craziness she had to realize it was impossible for Bryan to nuke Brandt and every entity into oblivion without hemorrhaging to death.

  “Look,” Gage said. “We still have to get through Riley and the Evil Sisters are likely to make a reappearance at any time. If Bryan is going to use his mojo on anyone, it’s got to be them. Maybe we can use Mrs. Hirsch to take out Brandt.”

  Allison shook her head. “She’ll kill us.”

  Jess lightly shook her arm. “Wake up, Allison! It’s not like we’re going to stand around and watch! She’s going to gain us some time.”

  “Go for it,” Bryan said.

  Jess nodded. “Do it.”

  Gage thought about Mrs. Hirsch. Saw her in his mind. He pictured her as though he were standing right in front of her lifeless body, concentrating on her as he’d last seen her alive. He exhaled through his mouth, as though blowing air onto the faces of the images in his mind. We need you, Mrs. Hirsch. Are you there? We need to get out of the house. Brandt is blocking us.

  Would it work? Mrs. Hirsch was much different than a bird or dog. He kept concentrating. He sensed the housekeeper stirring. Although he wasn’t in front of her to see it, damned if it hadn’t worked. He had no way to know her thoughts or even what she was doing. He only sensed her and her emotions and man, was she was pissed.

  “She’s coming,” he said at last.

  He wondered if the communication worked both ways. Could Mrs. Hirsch hear him? Sense their fear? Their hesitation? Even so, what would it mean?

  Allison tried to push past him. “Wait,” he cautioned. “Not yet.”

  Allison pulled away, dropping the camera Bryan had handed her. Jess scrambled to catch it before it hit the ground. Allison bolted, forcing Gage to go after her.

  “Damn it, Allison! Wait!” Bryan was right behind him, as well as Jess. Allison ran ahead, still in full freak-out mode. It didn’t do much for not giving away their location, and it wasn’t helping them find the broken window.

  Gage feared Allison would be right. By chasing after her, they’d probably put themselves directly in Mrs. Hirsch’s path—or Brandt’s.

  “BRANDT!” came Mrs. Hirsch’s gravelly voice from deep within the basement. She didn’t quite sound like she had when alive, but then, she was in a body that had been dead a couple days.

  More shuffling and banging noises he couldn’t identify. Mrs. Hirsch sounded closer now. “BRANDT!”

  Allison stumbled, tripping over something she’d run into in her blind attempt at escape. Gage grabbed her and she kicked and fought against him. “No!” She wailed. “Let me go!”

  Something crunched beneath Gage’s shoe. Jess panned down with the camera. Glass. Thank God for broken glass.

  “The window!” Jess exclaimed, panning the camera to reveal their escape route.

  “Jess, you should go first,” Bryan said. “Then Allison. Gage and I will try to hold off everyone else.”

  Jess shook her head. “Get Allison through first. Then I’ll go.”

  Allison had stopped struggling but was still crying. Without waiting, she scrambled toward the open window. It was several feet above the basement floor, and not a full-sized window. Gage hoisted her up and Allison grabbed the window frame. Once her feet wriggled through, he called to Jess. “Just run, okay? I’ll find you.”

  She didn’t seem so sure, but nodded. “You’d better.”

  His only thought was to get Jess to safety. That meant more than getting her out of the house, but he had to start somewhere.

  Jess handed Bryan the camera and Gage lifted her enough for her to grab onto the windowsill and finish pulling herself up. Once she wriggled through, she poked her head back in. “Come on.”

  “Bryan’s gotta go next,” he said. “He’s not doing well.”

  “No,” Bryan said. “I’m the only one who can make them vanish. Go, on.”

  “I’m not arguing with you,” Gage told him. “Once you’re up, you can help pull me through. Now move!”

  Bryan tossed the camera up to Allison and let Gage give him a leg up.

  “BRRRAANDT!”

  Jess helped guide Bryan through. “Gage!”

  Her warning made him turn to find Riley coming at him, his ashen face contorted with anger. Gage braced himself. There was no time to get out of Riley’s way.

  “Run, Jess!” Gage shouted.

  “No!” Jess screamed as Bryan pulled her away.

  Riley flung himself forward, and unexpectedly went right through the window.

  “Jess!” Gage yelled. “Jess!”

  Shit! He was after Jess. More screaming. Jess’s voice. Allison’s. Bryan’s, too.

  Gage backed up and took a running leap, grabbing onto the window frame, cutting himself on jagged glass. He pulled himself up, and pushed his way through.

  Bryan had Jess behind him, trying his best to guard her. He was squared off with Riley. And Allison was running for the woods.

  Something grabbed his foot and Gage kicked. Brandt? Hirsch? Whoever it was, they were strong. The pain in his ankle felt like they were trying to snap his leg in two. He rolled over, ignoring the pain. Brandt. He was halfway out the window. The Dr. Brandt they’d known was lost behind those crazed eyes. Gage brought his other foot down on Brandt’s face a few times—hard. Brandt rocked backward with each kick, his nose bleeding and clearly broken.

  Gage managed to free himself and scoot backward. He might have knocked him back into the house, but Brandt kept coming. Gage stood and an intense bolt of pain shot up his ankle. He’d twisted it, but at least he was able to put weight on it.

  And the hits just keep on coming, he though
t.

  His only hope was that Mrs. Hirsch would do something to Brandt. At least slow him down.

  Bryan and Jess hurried to his side, Bryan helping to steady him.

  “I’m good,” Gage said, hobbling. “We’ve got to go. Did you get him? Did you get Riley?”

  Bryan sighed. “No. I tried. He’s gone, but not because of me. Maybe he went after Allison, I don’t know.”

  Gage forced himself to put a little more weight on his leg and they made their way toward the front of the house. They couldn’t leave, not without sending Riley to the Twilight Zone first. Even then, he’d be back. “The front gates.”

  “We’ve tried that before,” Bryan reminded him.

  “Yeah, but this time, it’ll be different. He’s coming for us. I hope you’ve got enough juice for one more shot. When Riley comes for our asses, hit him.”

  Bryan frowned. “I don’t know if I can get rid of Riley as long as I did the girls. He’s stronger.”

  Bryan really didn’t look well. The moonlight made them all seemed pale, but Bryan’s complexion looked downright gray. Gage mustered what he hoped was a half-assed but comforting grin. If they didn’t get out soon, Bryan wasn’t going to make it.

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  Jess had a horrible thought—what if Brandt killed the power to the front gate? What then? Maybe they should try the woods. Make a break for it. With any luck, they might get to the road. Maybe Allison would reach it before them. She glanced toward the line of trees only to see Allison’s form heading back toward them.

  “There’s no way out!” Allison called.

  Jess hurried to her. “What happened? Are the woods fenced off?” She didn’t want to think about the other possibilities—that if Siler House was able to control the doors and windows, it would be able to control other things. Jess shuddered thinking of what might lurk in the woods.

  Allison’s wavy hair was as wild as her eyes. “There’s something in there,” she whimpered.

  Not good, Jess thought. Not good at all. Gage had a sprained ankle. Bryan’s nosebleed was pretty bad, as was the mammoth migraine that threatened to drop him where he stood. They were still no closer to getting out of here.

  Jess looked back at the house, wondering what she’d ever seen in it. Brandt had finished making his way out of the window. “Shit,” she said.

  The others turned to look.

  “Well, now what?” Bryan asked. He’d wiped at the blood on his face, but already a fresh trickle was visible under his nose. His shirt was bloodstained, reminding her of just how much it had taken out of him to make the girls vanish.

  Gage shook his head. “Sorry, man. I’m fresh out of plans.”

  He exchanged glances with Jess and she wondered if he was thinking the same thing. The only defense they had would be for Bryan to get rid of Brandt, after all. And the girls when they came back. And Riley, too. Jess looked at Bryan. It would kill him.

  Gage stood, waiting for Brandt, ready to fight if necessary. Jess would fight alongside him if she had to.

  Laughter, dark and bitter, came from up in the oak tree. Riley crouched on one of the wide, lower limbs. “A duel to the death. Who will win? My wager goes to the good doctor.”

  Jess glared up at him, nearly blind with fury and fright. “GO AWAY!”

  She searched the ground for anything to throw, a rock or discarded brick, and came up with a small metal hinge most likely left over from when the renovation crew had built the new iron fencing around Gracie and Emma’s graves. She hurled the hinge at Riley, hitting him dead-on. He cried out as a red burning hole appeared on his chest.

  A hinge?

  She glanced at the gravesite, recalled the man (Dad?) standing under the oak, pointing to her, then to the gravesite and back to her again. Riley said he didn’t kill Mrs. Hirsch, even though he could have. Why? Because of the pendant. It was made of the same material as the hinge.

  Iron.

  Mrs. Hirsch had known all along. Hadn’t Brandt mentioned that her family had owned Siler House for years before finally selling it?

  Brandt grinned at Gage. “I have strength you won’t believe. I guess you could say the gift was on the house. I can’t let you leave, Gage. None of you. You understand, right? The experiment isn’t over yet.”

  Behind Brandt, Mrs. Hirsch had crawled through the window. Would she help them or join forces with Riley?

  Gage held his head up, defiant. “The experiment is over for us.”

  Mrs. Hirsch held something thin and shiny in her hand as she stumbled across the yard toward them, her attention solely on Brandt. Was that a golf club? A wood iron? Brandt was too focused on Gage to notice her approach.

  Gage stepped back.

  Brandt laughed. “Not so tough now, are you?”

  “Gah!” Mrs. Hirsch brought the head of the golf club down on Brandt’s head. She swung again, splitting his head open. He toppled forward, falling face first. Mrs. Hirsh continued to bring the golf club down on Brandt’s lifeless body again and again, her blows becoming harder and quicker with each swing.

  “The gravesite!” Jess shouted, trying not to watch the grisly scene in front of her. “The fence—it’s iron!”

  Allison perked up. “That’s right! Demons can’t cross over it!”

  Jess removed the already opened lock and swung the gate open. Allison darted inside first, then Bryan.

  “Hurry!” Jess screamed at Gage. The gaping red, smoldering hole in Riley was closing up. Mrs. Hirsch was still busy practicing her golf swing on what was left of Brandt’s head, but she doubted that would last much longer. They couldn’t risk she’d turn on them next.

  Riley began to scale his way down the tree.

  “GAGE!” Jess screamed.

  Gage made his way to her, although not nearly as fast as she wanted him to—his ankle preventing him from running. Her heart pounded furiously in her chest.

  Hurry, damn it! Hurry!

  “Close the gate!” Allison shrieked. “He’s not going to make it. I’m sorry, Jess!”

  “No!” Jess shouted back. She wouldn’t leave anyone behind. Especially Gage.

  “You can reopen it when he’s closer! Do it! Close the gate!” Allison dove forward, but Bryan held her back.

  “You’re risking all of us for Gage!” Allison wailed.

  “He’d do the same for us,” Bryan reminded.

  Fear did strange things to people and Jess believed that coming here after having to deal with the possession had broken Allison permanently. She was a rat drowning in a sewer flood. She’d bite and climb over anything in her path to escape.

  A shadow, because that’s all Jess could describe it as, appeared on the other side of the fence. She called the entity a shadow, but in reality, what appeared before them seemed more like a void—as though all the light, all the space where the figure stood, existed in some black hole. The ample moonlight failed to penetrate it. The figure was tall and male, but nothing like the transparent ghosts she’d been accustomed to seeing. The ghost’s features were impossible to see because they blended in with the night…

  Dad?

  Wishful thinking. Dad would show himself. This ghost is intentionally hiding his identity.

  Still…

  “The man on the stairs!” Allison said. “He’s going to make it in! Close the gate!”

  “He’s not after us,” Jess said.

  “You don’t know that! It’s a ghost! They’re bad, Jess. Why can’t you get it through your head? Damn you!”

  The shadowy figure stepped aside as Gage drew closer, then stood in Riley’s path. The two shoved each other for a moment before the figure vanished. Gage limped inside the gate just as Riley’s hand grasped the back of his shirt.

  “Let go!” Jess yelled, slamming the gate closed. As she did so, it made contact with Riley’s hand. He screamed and the iron burned him.

  Riley circled the gravesite, but ventured no further. Jess embraced Gage, hugging him tightly against her. For a mom
ent, she thought Riley had him.

  He kissed the top of her head. “I’m okay. Are you?”

  She nodded.

  Gage turned to Bryan and Allison. “Are you guys okay?”

  “I’d be better if you had something for this headache,” Bryan replied solemnly.

  Allison didn’t look up. “I’m sorry. I thought—”

  Jess let go of Gage and turned to Allison. This was as close to admitting that not every ghost meant them harm as Jess would ever hear from her. “You’re going to be fine, Allison. We all are. When it’s daylight, they’ll find us here.”

  Allison sniffed. “But what if the house doesn’t let them in?” She stole a glance outside the gates where the ghosts of Siler House waited and watched.

  “I don’t know,” Jess replied.

  They sat together at the base of the monument. No one mentioned they were sitting with the girls’ and Riley’s remains just a feet away. Gage rested with his back against the monument, cradling Jess against his chest. Allison faced the house, staring, rocking in place. Bryan finally stretched out on the ground. He needed a doctor—or something to knock him out for a few hours until his head stopped pounding.

  Mrs. Hirsch continued to stare at them from the other side of the fence.

  “Now what?” Jess asked.

  Gage shrugged. “If Riley doesn’t kill us first, we’re stuck here until Monday.”

  “I hope the house lets them in,” Jess said.

  “It’s got to let them in, right?” Bryan asked. “It has to.”

  Allison continued rocking. “Riley will think of something else. He won’t wait until Monday.”

  Riley had resumed his place in the oak, his glowing eyes fixated on them from his perch.

  “He’s figuring out a way to open the gate,” Allison said.

  They huddled together in the dark, watching Riley and Mrs. Hirsch. Jess wondered how badly Riley and the house wanted them.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  Dawn took its time chasing away the night. One by one, the ghosts returned to Siler House. Except Riley. He’d remained vigilant the entire night. He currently hunkered next to Brandt’s body. He scooped up something with a finger and tasted it.