“I’ve had enough of this.” Tyler pulled his hand away.
“No!” Becca shrieked. “Don’t do that.”
“Fine.” He reached out again, but at that moment the planchette moved to the center of the board. It sat there, as if it was waiting, and then, all of a sudden, spun counter clockwise so fast that all four drew their hands away instinctively.
“Dammit.” Becca tried to catch the unfettered pointer, but before she could grab it, the triangular piece of wood was off again. It careened across the board, picking out letters so fast that it was hard to keep track.
“What’s it spelling?” Tyler was watching the pointer, his eyes wide.
“I have no idea,” Becca said. “But this is bad. Really bad.”
“Close the board,” Sarah said. She had no idea what the repercussions might be if they did not end the session, but she also knew they couldn’t let the pointer keep going on its own. “Do it now.”
“No,” Becca said. “I don’t know what will happen if we do that. ”
“We have to do something.” Sarah reached toward the still moving pointer, then changed her mind and drew her hand back. “We can’t let it carry on like this.”
“Get me a pen and paper,” Becca said. “Quickly.”
Sarah jumped up, went to her nightstand, and pulled out her diary, the one she never wrote in. There was a pen lying next to it. She snatched that up too. “Here, how about this?”
“Perfect.” Becca took the proffered items and pulled the cap off the pen. She opened the diary and started to jot down letters. “Someone call these out to me. It’s moving too fast for me to watch the pointer and write at the same time.”
“I’ll do it.” Tyler shifted forward, his eyes following the planchette. “The first one’s a W. Then an E. L. C.”
“Keep going.” Becca scrawled the letters down in quick succession.
“O. M. E.”
“Welcome.” Becca stared at the word.
“Doesn’t sound like a very frightening spirit to me,” Logan said.
“We’re not done yet.” Tyler was still following the pointer as it scurried across the board. “Y.O.U.A.R.E.” He shot a glance at Becca. “You getting all of this?”
“Yes.”
“N.O.T.”
“Welcome you are not?” Logan raised an eyebrow. “That’s an odd turn of phrase.”
Tyler hadn’t taken his eyes from the board. “It’s still going. W.E.L.C.O.—”
“The board is repeating the same phrase over and over.” Sarah felt a shudder run through her. “You are not welcome.”
Chapter 56
The planchette stopped.
All four teens drew back a little, as if they expected something worse to fill the sudden void of activity.
“Is it done?” Sarah asked, her eyes focused on the pointer.
“I don’t know.” Becca shrugged, her face pale.
“Put the board away,” Tyler said. “Quick, before something else happens.”
But even as his words dissipated into the ether, something did happen. The planchette started up again, scrapping across the board, slower now, until it reached the letter T.
“Not again.” Sarah pushed herself backward until her back contacted the side of the bed, trying to get as far away from the unruly board as possible.
The pointer slid sideways, stopped at Y.
It moved again, the motion erratic and jerky. L.
“It’s spelling my name.” Tyler watched in horror as the planchette picked out the final two letters, and then started to repeat the word. “It’s not the group that isn’t welcome. It’s me.”
“Ask it something,” Becca said.
“No way.” Tyler shook his head.
“Then I will.”
“No, don’t.” Tyler’s eyes were wild. “We might make things worse.”
“Worse than the board just spelling out whatever it wants?” Becca said, then cleared her throat before talking in a slow, calm voice. “Why don’t you like Tyler?”
The pointer, which was still spelling out his name over and over again, came to a juddering halt.
“Why don’t you like Tyler?” Becca repeated, louder this time.
The pointer crept forward, stopped, moved again. It crawled to a letter and hovered there a moment before moving off.
The four friends watched as the pointer meandered around slowly until it completed its answer.
R-E-M-I-N-D-S M-E.
Becca starred down at the phrase she had jotted down as the pointer moved. “Reminds you of what?”
The planchette started up again, spelling another answer.
B-A-D M-A-N.
“Bad man?” Sarah said, doing her best to keep the fear from showing in her voice. “What does that mean?”
“Beats me.” Becca shrugged. To the board she asked, “What bad man?”
H-A-N-G-M-A-N.
“The man who hung you?” Becca asked.
Y-E-S.
“Tyler isn’t that person.”
R-E-M-I-N-D-S M-E.
“He’s sorry about that, but he really isn’t to blame.”
“I’ve had enough of this,” Tyler blurted.
Becca shot him a glance, silencing him just as the planchette moved again.
W-A-N-T H-I-M G-O-N-E.
“You want Tyler to leave?”
N-O.
“I don’t understand,” Becca said. “You said you wanted him to go, but you don’t want him to leave?”
N-O.
“So what do you want?”
Sarah felt her gut tighten at this question. She wished Becca hadn’t asked, but it was too late now. The pointer was off again, spelling out one more message.
W-A-N-T H-I-M T-O D-I-E.
There was a hushed silence as each of them let the message sink in, and then Tyler stood up, his face dark and angry.
“This is a bunch of crap.” He snatched up the board, the pointer toppling and falling to the floor. He turned toward the window.
“Tyler, don’t,” Becca warned, realizing what he intended to do.
“Why not?” He was at the window now, prying the bottom pane upward.
“Because we don’t know what will happen, we haven’t closed the session. Things could get out of hand.”
“More than they already are?” Tyler countered. “The board is talking to us on its own.”
“Becca’s right.” Sarah didn’t want to see any more either, but she was also afraid of what might happen if the connection with the other side was left open. She didn’t want to provoke Martha Ward anymore than they already had. “Please, come and sit down. Give us the board back.”
“Hell no.” Tyler stood silhouetted in the open window, the wind ruffling his hair, tugging at his clothes. He took the board, twisting until the small brass hinges along the fold gave way. And then, holding the ruined pieces like some vanquished enemy, he tossed the board out into the night.
“What have you done?” Becca screamed, her face contorted with fear and rage. She leaped to her feet, running to the window and pushing past Tyler, but the board was lost in the darkness. After a moment she turned toward him, her eyes two narrow slits. “I can’t believe you just did that.”
“What were you going to do?” Tyler replied. “Let the damn thing keep talking all on its own?”
“Well, I wasn’t going to destroy it.”
“I’m sorry.” He turned and walked back to the others, sliding down next to Sarah. “It freaked me out, that’s all.”
“It freaked all of us out, Tyler.” Becca advanced on him. “But the rest of us had the good sense not to do anything stupid.”
“I didn’t-“ Tyler had barely gotten two words out when Sarah stood up.
“That’s enough.” She shot a look at Tyler, and then turned her glare upon Becca. “Don’t you see, this is what Martha wants, to make us turn on each other.”
“Sorry.” Tyler dropped his head, staring at the floor. “I’ll go out a
nd get the board. I can probably screw it back together.”
“Don’t bother.” The anger fell away from Becca’s face. “It’s been nothing but trouble. We should never have used the board tonight. We should have known better.”
“What’s done is done.” Sarah said, relieved that the board was gone, despite Becca’s distress. For a while she had thought neither of them would let the matter drop.
“Well, this has been fun and all,” Logan said, climbing to his feet and glancing at his watch. “But I have to be home by midnight or my dad will make Martha the witch look like a nun.”
“You’re leaving?” Becca looked disappointed.
“Yeah.” Logan nodded, his hair flopping over his forehead as he did so. “But I’d like to call you when you’re back in Boston, if that’s okay.”
“I’d like that.”
“Awesome.” Their eyes met, sharing a silent moment, and then, sensing that Sarah and Tyler were watching them, Logan dropped his eyes and turned toward the door.
And then he froze.
Sarah, sensing the shift in mood, followed his gaze, and when she did, a prickle of fear crept down her spine.
Jake was standing at the top of the stairs, blocking the doorway. His face was tense, jaw set forward as if he was angry. His eyes, cold and hard, found her, drilling into her very soul.
She gasped and took an involuntary step back.
Jake watched them, unblinking, arms placed at his sides. His pajamas, blue with white cartoon elephants parading over them, added to the creepiness, despite the almost comical nature of their subject matter.
He swallowed, opened his mouth to speak.
Sarah held her breath, terrified of what he might say.
“You shouldn’t have done that.” Her brother turned his attention to Tyler, still sitting next to the bed. “She wasn’t finished.”
“Sorry,” Tyler mumbled. He drew his knees up as if he wanted to make himself as small as possible.
“Mommy’s very mad,” Jake said, his eyes once more finding his sister. “She doesn’t like to be interrupted.”
A sudden chill shot through Sarah. She shuddered.
Jake took one look around the room, his gaze coming to rest on each of the four teenagers. And then, without uttering another word, he turned and walked back down the stairs.
Only after she heard her brother’s bedroom door slam was Sarah able to drag her eyes away from the empty doorway, relieved that the confrontation was over, scared for what might happen next.
Chapter 57
“Are you sure you have to leave already?” Becca stood on the driveway and watched Logan fish his car keys from his pocket, wishing she could convince him to stay.
“My dad will go berserk if I’m home late.” Logan gave an apologetic smile. “You don’t know what he’s like.”
“Can’t you call him, ask him if you can stay longer?”
“No chance.” Logan took a step toward his car. “But I’ll call you next week, I promise. Maybe we can go to the movies or something.”
Becca followed behind, doing her best to quell the disappointment that she felt. “Next week is so far away.”
“Then you will miss me that much more.” Logan grinned, climbing into his car. He rolled the window down and leaned out. “Besides, it’s not like we could do anything, not here.”
“Logan.” Becca felt her face redden. Thankfully, they were out of earshot, but even so, she glanced back toward the others to make sure they hadn’t heard.
“What?” He shrugged. “I’m just saying.”
“I think you should get out of here.” Becca leaned through the window, gave Logan a peck on the cheek.
“Are you sure you will be okay up here?” He looked up at her. “That was pretty scary back there.”
“I’ll be fine.” Becca reassured him. “I’m not alone. Besides, I have my phone if anything happens.”
“I wish you’d come back with me.” Logan started the engine.
“I can’t.” Becca shook her head. “Sarah needs me. Don’t worry.”
“Well—“
“You’d better get going before you are late.” Becca took a step backward. “Go on.”
“Next week.” Logan blew her a kiss and pushed the car into reverse, then steered it backward until he could turn around.
Becca watched him pull away before turning back to her friend. Her eyes fell upon Tyler. “What time do you have to be home?”
“I don’t.” Tyler weaved an arm around Sarah’s waist and pulled her toward him. Becca noticed her stiffen for a moment, unsure of herself, but then she relaxed. “I told my mom that I was staying over at my friend Pete’s. It’s all good.”
“You told your parents you were staying at Pete’s?” Sarah asked. “What if they find out you aren’t there?”
“How are they going to find out?” Tyler replied. “If they want to check to make sure I’m alright, they can always call my cell phone, and Pete will cover for me if they call him. Don’t worry about it.”
“Sounds like you’ve done this before.” Sarah pulled away. “Have you snuck out to meet other girls?”
“No.” Tyler sounded indignant. “Pete owes me one. I covered for him a few weeks ago, that’s all.”
“You’d better not be planning to sleep upstairs with us,” Becca said. “I don’t want to listen to you two making out all night.”
“That’s not why I’m staying,” Tyler said. “I don’t think you girls should be alone tonight. Not after what happened.”
“A knight in shinning armor,” Becca replied.
“You’re welcome.” Tyler gave an exaggerated bow.
“Except that you arranged all this with Pete beforehand.”
“Look, I was hoping Sarah would ask me to stay over. I admit that. But when things got out of hand I decided to stay even if she didn’t invite me. I meant what I said, you shouldn’t be by yourselves in this house right now.”
“You’re still not sleeping in the same room as me.”
“Fine. I’ll take the couch,” Tyler reassured her. “Just give me a blanket and a couple of pillows.”
“Come on, Becca, ease up a bit.” Sarah took Tyler’s hand in hers. “This whole thing was your idea, remember?”
“I know that.” Becca wished that Logan had planned things with as much forethought as Tyler. If so, she would have had no problem with the boys sleeping in the attic bedroom. She wondered if she was being petty, acting out of jealousy, but she came to the conclusion that she was not. It didn’t feel right to have Tyler up there with them without Logan, and besides, Sarah would not let Tyler fool around with her there anyway, so what was the harm?
“Can we go back inside now?” Tyler shivered. “It’s getting really cold out here.”
“It is cold.” Becca hadn’t noticed before, but it seemed more like December than the middle of summer. The sudden chill had come out of nowhere. She shivered and moved toward the door, following the others inside. As she stepped across the threshold, she caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye, back where Tyler’s car was parked. She turned her head, and for a split second thought she saw the dark outline of a large crow circle up into the night, but then it was gone. She lingered, staring out into the black void above the tree line, her eyes searching for any sign of movement, but whatever had drawn her attention was gone now, swallowed up by the blackness.
“Are you coming in?”
Becca turned to find Sarah looking at her, a quizzical expression on her face.
“Of course.” She backed up and closed the front door. “Sorry.”
“What were you looking at?” Sarah asked.
“Nothing,” Becca replied. Had she really seen a crow? It was unlikely. She was sure birds didn’t fly around at night. Maybe it was a bat she’d seen, or maybe it was nothing at all. Just a figment of her over stimulated imagination. That must be it, she told herself. It was simply her mind playing tricks. But even so, as she followed Sara
h and Tyler up the stairs, she couldn’t quite shake the feeling that there really had been a crow out there, watching them. Worse, she couldn’t quell the nagging thought that it was the same bird that had been at the attic window a few days before.
Chapter 58
Andrew was in the hotel bar, on his third scotch of the evening. The book signing had been long and boring, the dinner that followed, a disaster.
Despite Harvey’s reassurance that the publishers could be placated by a personal appearance and some well chosen words, that was not the case.
Four weeks.
If the manuscript was not on the table of Bob Knowles, the Editor in Chief, when that deadline expired, he was done. Within days every major publisher, and most of the smaller ones, would view him as a liability, a washed up writer who was not worth the trouble. Andrew would be persona non grata in New York.
Not that he minded so much. He hated the editorial meetings. The long wait while the book weaved its way through everything from typesetting to marketing. He loathed the business side of things. The writing was what gave him joy, the artistic expression — at least until the well had dried up and the words stopped coming.
What he did mind was that without a publisher, the writing was useless, even assuming he did ever manage another manuscript. There would be no more hefty advances, no more book tours or interviews. He would sink into obscurity until even the royalty checks from his previous books dwindled to nothing.
And then what?
Take work teaching English at some inner city high school? Farm himself out as an editor? Neither of those jobs sounded appealing, and there were no guarantees that he would succeed at either one.
There was only one thing he could do.
Finish the book, even if it sucked. Even if the publishers hated it.
So that was what he would do.
But not before he had another drink.
He signaled the bartender, a gruff looking individual with dragon tattoos snaking down both muscular arms. While he waited for his drink he pulled out his cell phone and tapped out a brief text message to Sarah.
The Haunting of Willow House Page 20