The Haunting

by E. M. MacCallum

  Phoebe repeated huskily, “I threw up, and it was there.”

  “I think it was the ghost,” I explained and told her what I remembered.

  Once I had finished, she turned her gaze to the ring. Standing with assiduous care, she used paper from one of the open books to wipe off her hand. “Do I have to wear it?” she asked.

  I shrugged. “Unless you’re sure you won’t lose it somewhere else.”

  Nodding, she wiped the ring down again and put it on the middle finger of her right hand. “Better safe than sorry,” she said. Using the table for support, she looked me up and down. “Did you…get a ring?”

  I shook my head, feeling the jealous ache in the back of my mind. This was Phoebe’s guaranteed passage home, but we both knew what that meant, making the victory a cold and bitter one.

  Staring down at the ring on her hand, she said, “Where are the others?”

  “They went to look for clues.”

  Phoebe’s eyes bulged. “You mean Read, Cody, and Robin separated from us?” She hissed separated as if it were a dirty word.

  A very dark person inside of me was glad they did. They’d run away when we were helpless, hurting. They were out to save themselves then.

  I followed Phoebe out into the hallway. Both of us were able to step lighter, though my stomach still liked to flip flop.

  Phoebe walked straight up to Joel, who pushed himself away from the wall. Phoebe, who was taller than him, used it to look down at him, eyes narrow. “Where are they?”

  Joel shrugged. “They said they wanted to check the place out a bit.”

  “Are you kidding?” Anger steamed off of her as she poked her head out into the T-intersection, hands on her hips. “We can’t separate. They know this. What were they thinking?”

  Joel shrugged again, this time not arguing. He probably agreed with her.

  “Come on,” Phoebe grumbled.

  “Shouldn’t we wait here?” Joel raised his long, thin eyebrows. “If they come back and we’re gone, then we’re the ones who’ve separated.”

  “They could be in trouble,” Phoebe argued then motioned to me. “Come on, Fuller.”

  “Uh,” I began, unsure. “I think maybe we should stay here.”

  “What? Fuller, what if they’re in trouble and we’re just sitting here?” Phoebe’s expression tightened.

  “You heard her,” Joel said. “Two against one.”

  “How long have we been here anyway?” Phoebe cracked her knuckles, face reddening.

  “Don’t get mad at me just because your friend disagrees with you,” Joel said smugly.

  Clearing my throat, I repeated the question. “How long do you think they’ve been gone?”

  “I dunno.” He rolled his eyes before pretending to see something interesting down one of the hallways. “Less than a half hour. You laid there the whole time.” He pointed to the floor. “How long were they gone?”

  I hadn’t been sure. Weak and numbed with the idea that I was someone who my friends could leave behind had left me thinking, losing track of time. Phoebe had passed out. It was Joel who carried her into the library. He wouldn’t touch me, which was fine.

  “Whose bright idea was it?” Phoebe asked. She cracked her last knuckle, and her hand went limp at her wrist; she started to massage it, grimacing.

  “I don’t know.” Joel watched her unmoving hand. “The dark-haired guy wanted to check out the place for black doors.”

  “Read?” Phoebe asked, stunned. “Read suggested the split up?”

  Joel gave her a quick glance that clearly stated he wasn’t about to repeat himself.

  Shaking her head, Phoebe resumed her attempt at getting feeling back into her hand.

  “Maybe he didn’t know. He was unconscious when we found him,” I pointed out, attempting to assuage her temper a little. I didn’t need two hotheads.

  “We have to look for them,” Phoebe said. And before either of us could argue, she limped around the corner and out of sight.

  “Phoebe!” I hissed, hurrying after her.

  Joel groaned but followed. He grabbed Phoebe by the arm with his good hand, stopping her cold. She tried to yank free, but he wasn’t letting go.

  “Listen, we had cover back there,” Joel said, low and serious. “Out here, anyone can see us, and then we’d be trapped in that stupid library back there. Then if your friends do come back, they’ll be ambushed by whatever you managed to scare up. Now stop being an idiot and come back.”

  I pressed my back against the wall and nodded, pleading with my eyes when she glanced at me. “Come on, Phoebe. A few minutes,” I whispered.

  Taking a deep breath, she nodded.

  Joel let her go. A distinct white handprint left an impression on her arm.

  Phoebe didn’t wince when he let her go, but she rubbed it the second his back was turned. Her limp hand began to curl her fingers, making it look difficult and twitchy.

  Now that I was out in the hallway, I took the opportunity to look around.

  The cobblestone hallway had a dark wooden bench facing one of the numerous windows and a dying leafy plant beside it. Otherwise, there was little in the way of anything I could use as a weapon.

  A shout froze all of our steps. It echoed down the hallway behind us.

  My first thought was of Neive, but somehow I knew it wasn’t her.

  “What was that?” I asked in a whisper.

  The empty hallway didn’t reveal anything new.

  “It could be Read,” Phoebe replied, her eyes flickering between Joel and me. “We should go check it out.”

  However, the eerie silence following the shout disturbed me.

  Joel rolled his eyes again and threw up his arms when Phoebe stepped in front of me and led the way down the barely lit hallway.

  As we passed the bench, I saw a creepy tattered doll sitting there. Blonde hair fell over its porcelain smiling face. It was a huge doll, about the size of a four year old, though she was ill proportioned. The arms were too short and the legs too long beneath the tattered pink dress.

  Phoebe eyed it, and we both hugged the opposite wall as we passed.

  The glassy blue eyes stared, the tiny chipped lips continued to smile, but it didn’t move.

  At the end of the hallway, I saw a corner that turned right. I ducked my head, and my hands came up in front of me just in case something jumped me from the shadows.

  Phoebe had slowed down so much we were walking side by side. I could hear her panicked breathes as we neared the edge.

  What if something was right there, waiting for us? It was just a single unrecognizable shout, after all. It could easily be a trap. In that instant, I wanted to turn around and walk back to our little niche and huddle in the corner. Our friends could come to us instead of us to them. They were the ones that wandered off in the first place. If only they could have waited a while longer.

  So why are you helping? the dark voice asked.

  Robin and Cody were capable of diving in and pulling one of us off the dance floor, even at the small risk of being caught themselves. We hadn’t been that far away by the end. Instead, they went to the door. Only then did they wait when we started running toward them and saved ourselves.

  Cody had saved Aidan and me before, but that was before Robin came back. I remembered Robin talking to him while I’d been attacked. She had convinced him, I thought viciously. She was going to just leave us behind, like they did in the first Challenge. If they were there, I didn’t want to try and save them if they were in trouble.

  “We should turn around,” I whispered.

  Phoebe didn’t pay attention to me as she leapt into the open to confront whatever was around the corner. Joel dove after her. Whether it was to pull her back or join her, I would never know.

  The instant Phoebe hit the ground, a black shadow fell over her. It wasn’t a shadow exactly but a solid blackness, and it dropped over Phoebe, making her disappear.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Phoebe stu
mbled backwards, and the blackness adhered to her. All I could see were her shoes when she fell. It took me a second to realize that it wasn’t a shadow at all but a black cloak. Phoebe ripped it off of her head, her face scarlet with fury, and I heard a familiar voice around the corner.

  “Oh thank God, it’s you,” Robin said.

  “Yes, it’s me,” Phoebe spat, standing. She flung the black cloak to the floor, and one of her knees buckled. She grabbed the wall before she could fall again. I wondered if it had given out or went numb on her, but Phoebe glared at me when I raised my eyebrows at her in question.

  “What the hell is this?” Joel kicked the cloak as Read and Cody stepped up around Robin.

  “We found it back there,” Robin replied. “We heard you guys thinking maybe you weren’t really you and threw it at you just in case.”

  Upon closer inspection, I saw the tiny hairs along the outside and recognized it. It was Neive’s cloak. I’d used my powers with the ghosts, I thought. Damien said something about it had changed. Was Neive paying for my mistake again? I thought of the missing patch of hair behind her ear.

  “Because a cloak would stop a monster,” Phoebe snapped. She rotated the ankle of her buckled leg.

  Read’s calm rational voice replied. It was the first time I had heard him speak since the first Challenge. I should have been delighted to see him doing well, but I couldn’t pull my mind away from Neive’s laugh. Why laugh if there was a punishment?

  “No,” Read said, “but throwing it at a monster would delay it enough to give us a head start.”

  “Did you guys find anything?” Joel asked Robin specifically. I noticed he didn’t even glance at Cody or Read. His tone was even polite rather than snarly.

  Robin frowned. “Other than the cloak, no. Only clue is that someone might be running around the castle naked.”

  “Castle?” Phoebe began. “How big is it?”

  “Nora,” Read whispered, sliding closer to me, his hooded grey eyes shrouded in concern. “Are you okay?”

  I shook my head; I couldn’t help myself. The others talked about where they had been, and I whispered, “It’s nothing.”

  They didn’t know about Neive. They didn’t know about my partial demon blood. None of them knew any of it. Revealing it now didn’t feel right. It wasn’t their cross to bear; it was mine. Besides, I didn’t want to see Joel’s accusing stare or hear Phoebe rant or see Robin’s sympathetic glances. I didn’t want any of them to stop trusting me. I was still me.

  Read eyed me. “Are you sure?”

  Hugging myself, I attempted a smile. “I should be asking you that. You were barely awake when they got you out of the door.”

  “You and Phoebe were worse off, I think,” Read pointed out. “You both had us really scared.”

  My eyes shifted toward Robin and Cody. Robin smiled and, oddly enough, seeing her happy lit the fire of betrayal again. Then there was Phoebe. She had burst amongst the ghosts without talking it over with anyone. She always barreled into situations without thinking. It’s what killed her, I thought.

  I avoided Read’s eyes; I feared he might see my dark thoughts. I reached down and plucked the cloak from the floor. The ache in my chest grew heavier as I draped it over my arm.

  “What are you going to do with that?” Robin asked.

  I restrained myself from snapping at her. “You never know,” I replied coldly. “We should get moving.”

  “To where?” Joel asked.

  “I don’t know, Joel,” I muttered, turning my back on them all. I was alone after all. All alone in this crowd of people I should trust. I should have been brave enough to go it alone in the first place. I hated that I was such a coward. “We have to face something here. We won’t find it just standing around.”

  I wasn’t sure if it was my voice or the fact that I didn’t wait, but they’d fallen in behind anyway.

  Phoebe didn’t stride up next to me as I half expected. She still didn’t trust me. And why should she?

  I wished Aidan were here. He’d understand. He knew about my aunt and my twin, and I knew about his grandfather. I would have given anything in that moment to have him at my side.

  As we passed the strange doll, I cast a sideways glance at it. The child-like figure disturbed me even more on the second pass.

  The little niche we had hidden in before was still lit and empty as we passed. Our footsteps were remarkably quiet on the stone floor, though socks, bare feet, and sneakers often did that. I glanced over my shoulder to make sure everyone was still there. Read was the only one who met my gaze. The rest had their eyes wandering the walls and shadows for any sign of a threat.

  The windows, though spread apart, got all the attention as we passed. I couldn’t see anything but darkness and the occasional lightning strike. No hills, no clouds, just the storm.

  We made our way around the first corner; this hallway looked exactly the same as the last.

  My confident footsteps faltered as I noticed the brown wooden door in the wall. It stood between two of the rain-splattered windows. The windows were just as grimy and gave no indication that there was anything but the storm behind them.

  Phoebe moved to step past me, her hand outstretched for the doorknob. I stepped in front of her before she could just grab it. Her forest-green eyes widened in surprise as she ran into me. “What the…”

  “Don’t just dive in this time. We’re a group. We need to decide this as a group.”

  “I was just going to—”

  “No,” I interrupted.

  “What is your problem?” Phoebe asked, her eyes wide and threatening. She was trying to intimidate me, and usually it worked. I admit I felt the urge to look away but held firm.

  “I don’t have a problem. But I would like to get out of here alive.” The moment I said it, I realized what I’d said and instantly regretted it.

  Phoebe stepped back, sucking in her cheeks, looking wounded.

  “It’s just a door,” Joel pointed out. “It’s not even black.”

  “A door that leads to nowhere.” I pointed toward the window.

  Joel’s frown creased the corner of his full mouth. “We’ll never know ‘til we open that door.” He moved to step around me.

  Slamming my back against the door, I blocked him completely. “Would you stop? We need to vote or something.” If I were forced to grapple with Joel, I knew I’d lose, but I’d have tried.

  “Fine,” Phoebe snapped. “I’m with Joel.”

  Before the others could vote, I snapped, “Just because you have a ring doesn’t mean nothing will happen to—”

  “Ring?” Joel boomed.

  Phoebe narrowed her stinging gaze at me before she turned to face our friends.

  “You got one?” Robin gasped, her eyes already staring at Phoebe’s right hand. Cody grimaced and fell back a step. Robin grabbed Phoebe’s hand and stared down at the silver circle as if it were an engagement ring. “How’d you get it?”

  Joel scowled. “Yeah, how’d you get it?”

  Phoebe explained about the ghost and vomit. Robin made a face at this and released Phoebe’s hand as if it stung her.

  “Which means there could still be a ring in here somewhere.” I pointed to the hallways. “So if this door is our way out, we know where it is.”

  “So what now?” Joel asked, meeting my eyes in a challenge.

  I shrugged. “We can keep walking?”

  “I know,” Joel said, an unnerving grin creasing his lips. He almost looked handsome with the smile. “Why don’t you ask Damien?”

  Astounded, I couldn’t help but laugh at him. It was such an absurd suggestion that I couldn’t believe I’d expected something worse. “Sure thing,” I snorted. “Give me a second and I’ll text him.”

  Robin said, “What? She can’t just go and ask him.”

  “No?” Joel asked, cocking an eyebrow. “He sure seems to like to show up to her only. Has he even talked to any of us alone other than to explain a Challenge?”<
br />
  No one answered. No one had to.

  “So what makes you so special?” Joel asked.

  Phoebe rolled her eyes to the ceiling, exasperated. Cody stared down, dragging abstract patterns in the dust with the toe of his shoe.

  Robin inspected the faces around her, confused. “I think I missed something. He talks to you alone?” she asked me finally.

  I shrugged, my tongue tying itself up in my mouth.

  I barely heard Robin ask, “What did you talk about?”

  “What?” I asked, stalling shamefully.

  Joel sounded pompous even when faking cheeriness. “What did you two love birds talk about?”

  Robin sneered. “Love…oh my God, Joel don’t be…” Her sneer slackened as she trailed off, her eyes widening.

  “What?” I asked again.

  Robin gasped, loud enough to startle me. “It makes sense. Why he’d only come to you. I mean, you got out once, right? You were able to get back. What if Damien…” She hesitated and glanced at Cody, unsure, before continuing. “…likes you.”

  Two comments in ten minutes that had me floored. “Are you kidding me?” I squeaked. “If Damien liked me,” I pointed out, “don’t you think I’d get a ring first instead of Phoebe?”

  If they knew about the kiss, I’d be damned.

  That’s when it hit me, nearly as sharp as Damien’s slap.

  He liked me, really liked me. He’d been offended when I wanted it to all to be a dream. He was downright pissed that I’d kiss him, thinking it wasn’t real. After the dream, he’d disappeared, hadn’t showed himself again. Instead, it had been Neive that I’d heard and Neive who’d saved me from the cemetery.

  The part I decided not to dwell on was that I was somehow glad it was real. It meant the kiss before had been real. I could stay here. I shuddered at the involuntary idea and brushed my sides as if that could expel the notion.

  Phoebe said, “She’s got a point though. Why give me the ring first?”