Dead End (Peri Jean Mace Ghost Thrillers Book 8)

by Catie Rhodes

  “What then? It’ll just jump into one of you,” I yelled at the door.

  Mysti said nothing for several seconds. It was as good as any answer she could have given. She had no idea what to do. She’d risk her own safety to help me. Not happening.

  “I’ve got an idea,” I yelled at the silence, the lie as smooth as foam over latte. The only idea I had was to hold this thing inside me so it couldn’t hurt my friends, combined with vague plans to figure out what to do next.

  “What is it?” Mysti asked.

  Caught in my lie, I said nothing.

  “I’m going to do some brainstorming.” Mysti didn’t sound too sure of herself. For once, my mentor couldn't just snap her fingers and fix it all. That scared me more than the thing inside me. I turned away from the door and stared into the mirror again.

  The hag wore a smug grin on its face. “You won’t be as hard to defeat as you think you will.”

  I smiled back and let the mantle squeeze the little jackass again. The effort made every bone in my body ache, and a fatigue like nothing I’d ever known spread over me. I gripped the sink, poured everything I had into it, and waited for the rider to start screaming again. But something else happened.

  Deep inside my psyche, where I never went, the rider slashed something open. It stung like a paper cut, and my own poison began to work its way through me. Emotional exhaustion crushed against my resolve, drowning it. Then the thoughts came.

  I was sick of life, sick of being a freak, sick of being alone. The worst part? There was no end in sight. My own nature would always set me apart. Battles like this one would end only when I died.

  The rider’s will pushed my hand to the mirror. Take it off the wall and break it. Cut your throat with one of the shards. My fingers found the plastic bracket securing the mirror to the wall and began to pick at it. The lethal creature whispered into my soul, blowing life into the truth I kept locked away and pretended did not exist.

  “Be stronger than this.” A figure appeared behind me in the mirror. Priscilla Herrera’s eyes blazed determined fire. Her strength bolstered me. I got hold of myself. Using my free hand, I forced my fingers off the mirror and curled them around the edge of the sink.

  Another knock came on the door. “You all right in there, baby?” It was Cecil.

  “I’m okay. We’re working it out.” My voice shook. Cecil loved me in his way, but he didn’t have the strength, magical or physical, to help me. This thing riding me was a stealer of life and happiness. It had to stay as far away from friends and family as possible. I sifted through my mind, trying to think of how to handle this, but the buzz of a fly splintered my ability to concentrate.

  The fly moved around my face, so close it tickled my skin. I swatted at it. The sink came on full blast. I jumped and backed away from it, glancing in the mirror. My pestilent passenger sat hunched on my shoulder. I expected to see it smirking at me, proud of scaring me, but its dark eyes widened.

  The old plumbing in the walls let out a pained screech. The water rushing from the faucet turned bright red and then stopped. The sink rattled on the wall. I pressed my back against the opposite wall.

  “Tell him to go away,” the passenger hissed in my head.

  Tell who to go away? Sol? He didn’t answer my call for help earlier. Was he coming now? I opened my second sight and searched for Sol’s magical essence, but he was so far beyond human, and I was so exhausted, I felt nothing.

  “I said make him go. Or I’ll kill you now. I’ll…”

  The hag would kill me now? That was a regular laugh-a-thon. “Eat my ass. You’re going to kill me anyway if you can.”

  The faucet, an old-fashioned metal one, let out a groan. The hag stiffened. The metal rippled and bulged as something moved through it. The first tingles of fear pricked at my back. A dripping black-shoed foot forced its way out of the faucet’s mouth. More like liquid silver than metal, the metal stretched even bigger. Another black-shoed foot came out. The smell of brackish water filled the room. The faucet stretched further to birth two legs covered by soaked black pants. The rest of the man slithered from the faucet, his head taking shape only after he was free of it. The smell of wild beasts joined the dank water smell. Sol, my contact from the dark outposts, straightened and adjusted his tie.

  “You’re late.” I tried not to stare at Sol’s pruney skin. Otherwise, I’d start calling him Pruney again, instead of his name. He might use his sharp teeth on me if I made him mad.

  “It’s the fault of that witch in there.” His voice carried a piggy squeal, which fit because I’d seen him transform into a big, pink pig on occasion.

  “Her name’s Mysti,” I muttered, trying out every scenario I could think of to keep from having to make a deal with Sol. He’d had my blood, taken locks of my hair. I owed him an unspecified favor. What would he ask for now? The fly returned to circle my head. I waved it away.

  Sol snorted. “You and I both know that’s not her true name. The witch put holy water around the corners of the building. We couldn’t come in the door like regular people.”

  The “we” gave me a start. Who had Sol brought with him? I’d seen other things from Sol’s world. I didn’t want to play with any of them.

  Sol’s teeth, ugly needle tipped things, flashed in the bathroom’s bright lights. “Do you understand how disgusting the interior of a plumbing system is?”

  I shook my head, still focused on the "we."

  Sol disregarded me and stared into the mirror, body tensing. “Here he comes now.”

  My stomach hardened. The fly hummed, the sound maddening. Another fly joined it. They gathered on top of the mirror. A third joined. Then a fourth. And more after that. The hum became so loud it made the air vibrate against my skin. Still they came, black shadows in the harsh overhead light. Before long, I couldn’t see the mirror through all the flies covering it. The mirror bulged out in the shape of a head with horns.

  My mind scrambled madly through the things I’d seen with horns like this. All of them scared me. The fly-covered horns emerged from the mirror. Now a fly-covered head pushed through the glass, which stretched more like bubblegum than something breakable.

  Sol reached into the mirror and pulled out a furry hand tipped with short black fingernails. Flies swarmed to it. The hand grappled for purchase on the sink. The rest of the beast inched its way into the room and spilled onto the floor. It waved its arms and made an annoyed sound. The flies went to the ceiling in a huge, black swarm, where they rested, humming. The creature stood and brushed itself off. Its magic circled the room, buzzing in my back teeth, and making the edges of things dance.

  I took a good look at the being in front of me. Beyond fight or flight, I could do nothing but stare. The beast had a goat’s head and a black fur-covered body. His legs ended in hooves. A long tailed black coat covered his torso, and a priest’s white collar circled his neck. He wore no other clothes. The hugest uncircumcised penis I’d ever seen hung between the being's legs.

  Bile stung my throat. I wondered how appropriate it would be for me barf. The goat man and I had met before, the day I found the Mace Treasure. Goat man. The silly name made me want to belt out hysterical laughter. Wasn’t there a mythological name for this thing? Rainey or Hannah would have known it right away, but I had to struggle to find it. Then it came. Satyr. Yes. That was it.

  Mysti would have told me that mythology was created by humans and that humans couldn’t understand what this thing was. But I needed something familiar to cling to so I wouldn’t float away on a magic carpet with the last of my sanity. Oh, I was in so deep. The satyr reached back into the mirror and withdrew a huge black book covered with symbols that burned and wiggled like fire.

  “We’re all here.” Sol rubbed his hands together. Water dripped from them, pattering on the floor. Someone banged on the bathroom door, hollering my name, but the voice sounded far, far away. Too far for me to even tell who it was. The goat man bleated at Sol, its slit-pupiled eyes resting on me
. “Oh, yes. You haven’t formally met—” Sol made a weird sound, but I heard “Bub.”

  Bub bleated. This time I understood him. “She’s the one who broke up my choir.”

  The choir in question had been made of bloodthirsty zombies singing religious hymns backward. I bowed my head and hoped it looked repentant enough.

  Bub bleated again. “No matter. I’d had some of them for centuries. They’d grown boring.” I raised my head to find Bub staring at the rider on my back. He spoke to it. “What’s your name?”

  The rider hissed. Bub bleated and raised his book as though he was going to whomp the rider one. I sort of hoped he would, but I didn’t want to get hit upside the head, and I had a feeling that was how it would end.

  Sol held out one dripping arm to stop Bub from swinging his book. “No. We’re going to bargain like civil creatures.”

  I didn’t want to bargain and wanted to say so, but my tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth. The rider’s growl vibrated from within me.

  Bub bleated again. My mind translated his words. “Parasite, you’ll lose whatever pass you have to be here if you’re unreasonable.”

  The rider shifted on my back. Its sharp taloned toes dug into my sides. “I must kill this woman. Otherwise I can’t go back to my master.” He wrapped his spindly arms around my neck, choking me.

  Master? The idea sent icicles of terror shooting through my body. The hag’s half-assed attempt to strangle me was nothing compared to it working for something bigger and meaner than itself. Neither Mysti’s nor my best magic had come close to beating the hag. How could we expect to beat its master?

  “You can’t kill her.” Sol reached one waterlogged and wrinkled hand forward and pulled at the passenger’s arm until it gave me some breathing room. “Her destiny and mine are entwined and promised.”

  I swallowed against a scream. I didn’t want to be entwined with Sol. Or Bub. I wanted some semblance of normalcy. The punchline was that I’d never get it. The sad, dark thoughts the hag’s claws had released circulated through my brain, reminded me I could kill myself. End it all. In death, everybody was normal. The hag shivered in pleasure at the death song running through my mind.

  “You can’t stop me from killing her.” The passenger put his bony arm over my windpipe and began to whisper in my ear. “Death will be sweet, restful. There’ll be no more uncertainty. No more loneliness.”

  The thought didn't sound all together bad. Death might hold the peace that eluded me in life. Nobody would ever get hurt because of me. I’d never feel like a freak again. I’d seen enough ghosts step into the light to know that was all I had to do to escape this world.

  Sol snapped his fingers in my face, and the thoughts cut off. A stream of water dripped from his too-white hand to patter on the tiles. The snap was like a cold blast of water to my face. The death fog backed away, and I saw it for the abomination it was. My thoughts had been so cold and clinical. So reasonable. Had I been alone, I might well have decided to let myself tumble into darkness, across the line of life and death. My teeth began to chatter.

  Sol nodded at the change in me but spoke to the hag. “No, I cannot stop you alone. But Bub is here already. I can call in more markers. How many of us can you fight?”

  “My master will send me back to darkness if I don’t fulfill my orders.” For the first time, the passenger sounded afraid. “I was stationed in that room to wait for her, to attach myself to anybody who might know her. Now I’ve found her. My orders are to kill her.”

  “Who is your master?” Bub asked.

  The hag stiffened. “A being much more powerful than I. He commands many and is able to assume more than one form. The Kessler woman met him.”

  Bub and Sol stared at one another as though they were having a conversation I couldn’t hear. I tensed. What now? Sol finally nodded and muttered, “I’m not sure Peri Jean will agree.”

  Bub bleated, but my mind translated his words like a computer. “She must. It’s the only way she’ll survive. This glutton will keep eating at her until she gives up.” He turned to me and bleated again. “You’ll negotiate for this parasite’s contract from his master.”

  I couldn’t do that. There was nothing I could offer a supernatural baddie like the one hag belonged to. The concept of a mirror shard splitting the skin on my neck sounded more and more like sweet relief with every passing second. At least it would be over. No more weird shit.

  “There’s going to be weird shit for you whether you’re alive or dead.” Bub acted as though I’d spoken my thoughts aloud. “You have destiny. Be grateful. Most don’t.” He stepped forward and put one furry hand on my arm. Magic pressed against my skin, and my teeth buzzed again. “As for being able to pull this off, you can. A few of my kind have gained entry into this world. They all have things they want.” Bub shrugged and glanced at Sol. He opened his wrinkled lips to speak, but he never got the chance.

  The hag spoke quickly. “I’m willing to bargain. I want my freedom. I’m willing to stop trying to kill her until we see if she can negotiate my release. But I’m not going to stop feeding on her until she finds me a new host,” said the creature on my back.

  The idea nauseated me. I’d lost control of the situation, of my life. All these creatures crowded around me negotiating. My family and friends taking turns knocking on the door. The walls seemed closer than ever. Heat from the room’s light fixture beat down on the top of my head. I thought again about breaking the mirror. My father’s face flashed in it, filled with disappointment. Shame heated my cheeks.

  “That seems fair…” Sol trailed off.

  “He’s trying to convince me to kill myself.” I glanced from Sol to Bub. They gave me blank stares back.

  “He brings forth nothing that wasn’t already present.” Sol’s cold gaze penetrated mine.

  “Everything has to eat,” Bub supplied.

  “You have got to be kidding me. What is this shit? I thought y’all came to help.” My voice rose. The knocking on the door started again. I spun around and slapped the door. “Will you stop that? I am trying to make a deal.” The knocking cut off like magic.

  “Look at surviving this as honing your gifts.” Bub’s snout pulled back in grotesque parody of a smile.

  My temper flared. “That’s not fair. I can’t rescue Wade, fight off this thing trying to make me kill myself, kill King Tolliver, and play matchmaker for this hovering turd.” I jerked my thumb at my shoulder.

  The hag hissed over being called a hovering turd. Too damn bad.

  Sol stared at the hag perched my shoulder. “Twenty-four hours for Peri Jean Mace to negotiate your freedom?” He was ignoring me. If I’d thought I could have won, I’d have beat his ass.

  “Yes.” The rider’s body tightened with excitement.

  “Now, wait just a damn minute…” This was happening too fast. A million protests crowded my mind so full I couldn’t speak any of them.

  “What is it?” Bub bleated.

  “When does he leave?” My voice trembled. I didn’t want this malignant cancer hanging off me, trying to get me to self-destruct, for the rest of my life.

  “I can’t survive on my own after so many years in captivity. I have to rebuild my strength,” the hag shouted.

  “Not by feeding off me.” I whipped my head back and forth.

  “You’ll move to a suitable host once you’ve attained your freedom,” Bub told the hag.

  “If she can find me a suitable one.” The hag sounded put out, and there was something about this bargain that didn’t feel quite right. I tried to put my finger on it. Bub let out an impatient grunt.

  “The two of you will find a way to work it out.” The final word ended in a goaty bleat.

  Sol clapped his hands together with a wet smack. “This is the deal. Peri Jean Mace will remove this parasite from its contract. In return, the parasite will choose a new host and move on immediately. Do both of you agree?”

  “Yes.” I waited for the hag to speak. The se
conds dragged until I worried it was going to renege.

  Finally its answer came. “Yessss.”

  Bub climbed onto the sink and threw his book through the mirror. “Good thing. I can’t stand around in this shithole anymore.” He climbed in after the book. Glass rippled and bent with his movements. Flies swarmed over the mirror.

  Sol waited until Bub was gone and climbed into the sink. He began to shrink. “If you have problems, summon me. But remember. This call was free. The next one won’t be.” In other words, I better want him real damn bad before I reached out. Sol went headfirst into the drain and disappeared.

  The pounding on the door started back up. I groaned.

  “Peri Jean!” Mysti screamed. “Say you’re okay, or I’m getting Tubman to break down the door.”

  I let her hammer for a several seconds while I massaged my temples. The hag’s presence hovered at the base of my consciousness, a wisp of noxious smoke. I stared into the mirror and watched it materialize on my shoulders. Its liver-colored lips broke into a wide smile, revealing the fishy barbs it had for teeth.

  Its thoughts met mine. Kill yourself now. Save the misery.

  I sent back my own message. Where’s Barbie’s tape? Isn’t that what you were guarding when you got hold of Hannah?

  Confusion came back. I only know the tasks I was given.

  Other than killing me, what was that? I thought at it.

  I was attached to a telephone. The front desk chose when to ring it. If it was answered, the person was mine.

  Holy guacamole. How many people had this thing consumed from the inside out? My skin crawled.

  “Please, Peri Jean, please. At least tell me you’re all right.” Mysti, her voice tight with worry, tapped three more times.

  I opened the door and forced a smile onto my face. “Don’t worry about me. I’m just peachy.”

  10

  The upstairs loft looked exactly the same as it had when I went into the bathroom. The same air from the ceiling fan feathered over my skin. The same spicy smell still hung in the kitchen. That bothered me.