The Ghost Files 2 (The Ghost Files - Book 2)

by Apryl Baker

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Ax-man from the hallway lumbers towards me, swinging his bloody weapon. The grin on his face makes me flinch on the inside. I can just see his ax sinking into me, blood flying everywhere. My heartbeat speeds up and it’s all I can do to breathe. I know this ghost can cause me physical harm and that he wants to hurt me. The need to hurt, to maim pours off him in waves. I step back, terrified. The portal on the wall falters, starts to fade.

  “No, Emma, don’t think about him, just focus on the portal, think of what made it open to begin with,” the painter whispers to me.

  Easier said than done. He’s not the one with a maniac barreling down on him.

  Eli steps in front of me and distracts the ghost, giving me a chance to calm down and breathe. I close my eyes, blocking out the ghosts streaming through the door. I need to trust that Eli and his dad will take care of the farmer and the others.

  I think about Eric and how safe he always made me feel. My thoughts turn to Dan against my better judgment. He and Eric are the only two people in the world who have ever made me feel safe. They are always there when I need them. Dan is my rock, my one constant. He’s why I’m still sane after everything that’s happened to me and I understand in this moment that no matter what happens in the future, he’ll always be important to me and I can’t just throw everything we have away. If that means just being friends, then that’s what I’ll be. He needs me as much as I need him.

  Heat begins to burn through me, melting the ice that’s settled in my bones. Fire encompasses my body and for the first time since I was five years old, I’m warm. Really and truly warm. I can feel something pulsing, pulling me towards the heat. I’m terrified to open my eyes, but at the same time, I need to know what this is.

  The first thing I am aware of is a hum, it’s whizzing back and forth, and as I open my eyes, a bright, blinding light assaults me. Blinking, I see Eli and his dad hacking away at the ghosts trying to make their way to me. They are awful to look at, bloody and deformed, but it’s Eli who captures my attention. The light around him is so pure a white, it glitters blue, reminding me of the blue tint surrounding a fire’s flame. It’s beautiful.

  The heat I feel is radiating from Eli and into me through a string of light that connects us. I have left my psyche wide open and I can feel things I couldn’t before. There’s a connection between us that’s hard to define, has been there from the moment I met him, and has probably been there since I was born. I have always been restless, the need to constantly roam eating away at me. My mother’s penchant to move us from place to place was where I usually put the blame, but now I think it was something else.

  I think the chain between us has been pulling us together since forever. I remember back when I ran away from Jersey, I convinced myself that it was because of the foster home I was in. Granted it had been a bad one, but not awful enough to warrant running away. I felt this need to leave, to run towards something. That something is standing in front of me. I know this just like I know that Dan is my anchor.

  Eli is home. The realization floors me. How can this be? I don’t even know him, but he smells of home, makes me think of warm vanilla and sugar cookies, a scent I have always equated with home. I don’t know why. My mom wasn’t the milk and cookies kind of mom, but that’s what I think of when I think of home.

  He turns to stare at me, his aqua eyes glowing with a dark light. He looks dangerous and deadly, but instead of making me feel cautious, I feel safe and loved. Odd. He grins that stupid cocky grin of his and I laugh. His shoves his sword behind him without looking, and the ghost attacking him goes poof into soot and ash. It’s scary to watch, but I’m calmer right now than I’ve ever been.

  “You have to go, Emma Rose,” the painter interrupts my revelations. “His bones have been salted and burned. You crossed the last innocent soul over and he’s weak. You can kill him now.”

  “How?” I ask.

  “Just follow the trail and you’ll know how,” he says. “Go, now, before it’s too late.”

  I look back to where Eli and his dad are still fighting and before I can call out to them, I’m being shoved out of the room.

  “There’s no time to wait on them,” the painter tells me as he pushes me along. He feels as real as me. His skin is flesh and bone. What in the world?

  The next thing I know I’m in a hallway I’ve never seen before, but the light leading from me is going around the corner. I can’t believe I’m heading into another dangerous situation without weapons or a phone. Didn’t I promise Dan to never do that again? I can at least blame it on the ghost this time. Maybe. I’m not sure the painter is a ghost anymore.

  The lighting is dim and freaks me out just a bit. It reminds me of all those haunted house movies I watched growing up. You’d think it wouldn’t bother me considering everything I’ve seen in the ghost department over the last twelve years, but it does. I feel like I’m in one of those cheesy B-rated horror flicks as I walk slowly down the hallway.

  The doors creak open as I pass them and the cold seeps out and follows me. It’s not really the cold, but more of Jonas’s guard. If I turn around, God knows what I’ll see and I might even lose my nerve now that all the innocent ghosts are gone. What’s to stop Jonas from collecting more souls, though, if I don’t stop him? Nothing. All that stands between him and his next victim is me. I laugh, but it’s a nervous laugh. His next potential victim is me.

  There’s a door at the end of the next hallway and the stream of energy goes through the door. The closer I get to it, the harder it is to put one foot in front of the other. I’m tired. That should be a shocking realization, but it isn’t a surprise. I’ve just crossed over hundreds of ghosts while my own energy was being drained. When I finally find Jonas, am I even going to have the energy to fight him? And how can I fight him with no weapon? Is it even possible to defeat him? He’s gotten so much stronger than me.

  My footsteps falter a little when I open the door and start down the stairs. It must be the basement of the house. I catch hold of the old railing for balance while trying to talk myself out of going down into the darkness. There are no lights here, but I can see because of the glow of my own essence being pulled from me. I should be upset or worried, but I’m not.

  There’s a problem here, I know it deep down. The way I’m feeling is wrong. I don’t care about anything, not even myself. I’m not afraid anymore, just resigned. Jonas is not only draining my soul, he’s draining my will to live.

  When I step down into the basement, I see him. He’s standing amongst a crew of his cronies, smiling at me.

  I am exactly where he’s wanted me from the moment I stepped foot on the property—in his lair, alone, and helpless.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “Well, well…” He smiles and I shiver. His face is twisted, bloated almost. I don’t think he realizes his leftovers are all gone or that his bones have been burned. This should make me feel triumphant, but it doesn’t. I can’t seem to muster up anything other than nonchalance.

  “You are braver than I thought,” Jonas tells me. “I assumed you’d come looking with your own guard.”

  “Why?” I ask him. “I don’t need them.”

  “No.” He shakes his head. “You don’t need them to die.”

  “Am I dying?”

  “Yes, you are, my dear.” He nods. “Soon you’ll be with me and I will have all the power I need.”

  “You’re dying too,” I tell him. “Don’t you feel it?”

  “Nonsense.” He smiles. “I’m getting stronger by the second.”

  “You haven’t noticed all the innocent ghosts are missing or that your bones have been salted and burned?”

  He laughs outright. “My dear girl, you have no idea of your value, do you? I sent my weakest to battle your guards, knowing they would fail, knowing you would cross over the souls that were too weak to do me any more good. The two imbeciles who thought to destroy me by burning my bones meant nothing to me. You are
all I need. Your light will power me for an eternity. I can collect new souls, better, stronger souls, now that I have you. I am undefeatable.”

  “Emma Rose, you need to snap out of this,” the painter hisses in my ear. “You are a fighter, fight this.”

  “Why?” I ask the painter. “This is much easier.”

  Jonas narrows his eyes at me. “Who are you speaking to, girl?”

  “He can’t hear you?” I ask the painter.

  “No,” he tells me. “The only person who can see or hear me is you.”

  Hmm…my own little devil on my shoulder. It makes me laugh. I get a devil instead of an angel. It fits, though. I’ve never been an angel. I’ve always caused more trouble than I could easily get myself out of. My smart mouth got me into so much trouble.

  “There you are,” the painter sighs. “Think about that girl, Emma Rose, think about the girl who has always fought everyone. Wake up, child, wake up and fight.”

  “I suppose it does not matter to whom you are speaking,” Jonas muses. “You will be dead soon enough and then I will consume those silly boys upstairs. Ah, good, the other two are back. What is the saying, the more the merrier?”

  My head snaps back up at that. “You will not touch them.”

  Jonas laughed. “So protective of the lads, are you? You have barely any strength left, girl. There is nothing you can do to stop me from consuming them.”

  The thought of this…this thing harming Dan or Eli sets my blood to boiling. No one will harm them while there is a breath left in my body. Especially not some ghost with a god complex.

  “Oh, there’s plenty I can do,” I whisper and force my feet to move forward. They are heavy and it hurts to move, but I push on. He will not hurt them.

  Jonas sighs. “You must learn not to fight me. It will only cause you more pain in the long run.”

  A blast of air hits me and I can feel myself picked up and thrown backward. My entire body hits the wall of the basement. It is made of some kind of thin wood. The planks splinter with the force of my body and I slide down them, dazed and in a lot of pain. I heard a crack and I’m not sure if it was me or the wall. My head is fuzzy and my vision is a little blurry. My fingers reach up slowly and come away bloody. There is a cut above my eye dripping down into my eyes.

  Shaking my head, I stand up. It hurts like the devil, but at least I’m awake now. Losing your soul is the equivalent of losing your will to live, but threaten Dan and all bets are off.

  “That the best you can do?” I taunt, my voice low and rougher than I’ve ever heard it.

  “Oh, look, Tavis,” Jonas laughs. “The little girl wants to play. Why don’t you show her what happens to little girls who misbehave?”

  The pervy ghost from the hallway saunters towards me. His eyes are full of the promise of pain. He likes to hurt little girls and for just a moment, I’m afraid, but just for a moment. I have to protect my boys. Jonas will not touch them.

  He strokes my cheek and I force back the shudder it causes. He reeks of rot and I gag slightly. Fingers grip my arm and I wince at their strength. I’m so gonna have bruises later. Cold snakes up my arm, but instead of fighting it like I usually do, I embrace it, let it in and welcome it. The cold is the Between and that’s where Mr. Pervy is going.

  I think about the despair I felt earlier, the panic and helplessness. I think about Eric dying at my feet, becoming a part of me. I’ll never see his face or hear him laugh again. Pain wrenches through me and I hold onto to it, nurse it and wrap it around the cold inside me.

  There. I see the first faint flickers of that snowy, staticky…something…begin to appear behind him. It grows, becoming larger and larger. Jonas shouts a warning, but he’s too late. I use every ounce of strength I have and shove Mr. Pervy into the Between. He falls, arms flying as he tries to stop himself from falling backwards, but he can’t.

  The Between is a place full of scary things that are much, much scarier than Mr. Pervy and he knows it. He stand up warily and tries to step back into this reality, but once in the Between, there is no coming back for a ghost, especially one who has escaped Judgment for so long. I hear the distant wail of a creature. It is the scream of the hunt. Mr. Pervy stares at me for a long minute and then he takes off running.

  I turn my attention to Jonas and for the first time since I’ve met him, he looks a little worried, cautious. As well he should. He’s about to become food to one of the beasties that live in the Between.

  “No, Emma Rose.” The painter stops me with a hand on my shoulder. “If you send him there, you doom yourself. Your soul is inside of him now, almost all of it. If he goes there, so do you.”

  “Then how do I stop him?” I ask silently, aware of the fact Jonas can’t hear us.

  “You must reap him and send him to be judged.”

  “I don’t want that black soul inside me,” I whisper to myself. Eric, I can deal with, but Jonas? No way.

  “It is the only way I know to take back your soul.”

  Why did I know he was gonna say that?

  No help for it. I square my shoulders and start towards Jonas, leaving the portal to the Between open. No point in letting him know I can’t put him there without risking myself.

  “Interesting,” Jonas says. He takes a step back and I feel him pulling harder at my soul, making me weaker and weaker.

  “Do you know what’s in there, Jonas?” I ask him softly. “There is only fear and pain and death in the Between. There are monsters in there that make you look like Mother Theresa. How’d you like a one way ticket?”

  I go flying backwards again, my head hitting something sharp. Sharp, jagged pain explodes behind my eyes, but I force myself to stand back up. Jonas is but a blob in a bright haze now. This can’t be at all good, but I won’t let him near Dan or Eli. Not a snowball’s chance in Hades will he ever lay hands on them, not as long as I have breath in my body.

  “You just do not learn, do you?” Jonas asks, but I can hear the desperation in his voice. I shouldn’t be able to stand, to come at him, yet I am and he’s confused.

  “You. Will. Not. Touch. Them.”

  Each word is punctuated with a step forward. The distance between us is eaten up by my slow, methodical steps. I just need to touch him. Cold creeps up my back and I know without looking more of his guards are coming at me. I don’t stop walking, just focus on the feel of the cold at my back. The tattoo the boys gave me is not just for controlling the voices, I realize. It’s helping me focus on more than one ghost at a time. I know exactly how many are behind me and it’s easy enough to imagine them being tossed into the Between. I can hear their screams as they fall into the snowy field. Jonas looks truly alarmed by now and it’s my turn to smile.

  “Never, ever threaten this girl’s family,” I hiss at him, deflecting more ghosts as they rush at me. Now that I’ve figured out how to control this part of my gift, it is easy enough to toss them into the Between. They need to be judged and so they shall. “I am a reaper, Jonas, and it is my right to send souls to their judgment. It is long past your reaping and I mean to set that right.”

  Jonas hisses at me, now understanding just what I mean to do. He throws me again, but the closer I get to him, the stronger I become. It is my soul he has inside of him and I want it back. Why can I not consume my own soul the way he is? From a distance? I focus on the energy bleeding out from me into him. I imagine my fingers wrapping around it, pulling it towards me and into me. The flow reverses and I smile wider.

  “You’re not the only one who can consume energy,” I laugh. “You really should have just run the moment you saw me because I’m going to be your downfall.”

  Jonas pulls with all his might, but it’s a useless effort. The energy is mine, belongs to me, and therefore responds to me more than it does him. He wails in frustration and I laugh harder. The power rushing into me makes my head spin, makes me feel like nothing can hurt me. It’s a heady feeling and I know why he does this. It’s addictive. A girl could get used t
o this.

  With a resounding snap, every ounce of my energy flows back into me. Jonas sags, his strength gone.

  “Feeling the loss of those souls now?” I ask him snidely. “Your bones are gone and your power base has been obliterated. Time to give it up, old boy.”

  “Never,” he snarls and rushes me. The Between is still open behind me and if I but step aside, he’ll run right into that, but I won’t let that happen. The Between is too good for him. He has caused more pain and suffering than most in his life and in his afterlife.

  No, it’s time for Jonas to face up to his past.

  I close the Between and then open another portal before stepping aside. Jonas runs into the light, his arms outstretched to grab me. He stumbles and falls, his face cringing when he sees where he has landed.

  A noise begins to vibrate in the basement, a screeching so loud I cover my ears, and I still hear it. There is a figure that walks out of the light and stands over Jonas.

  “Elizabeth,” he whispers.

  “Hello, husband,” she snarls. The beautiful golden light darkens and streaks of fire caress Jonas’s flesh. He screams and tries to run, but Elizabeth grabs him, holding him close. “Oh, no, husband. You condemned us the moment you made that deal. Now, it’s time to pay the piper.”

  There is a slight fissure that opens in the ground beneath them, growing and rumbling. Jonas looks panicked, fighting to get away from Elizabeth, but she’s got a grip like a terrier has on a bone he’s just stolen. There’s no escaping this.

  The distinct smell of rotten eggs surrounds us. Sulphur. Sulphur means demons. The crack widens and dark shapes rise up, latching onto Jonas and Elizabeth, dragging them down. Jonas fights the entire way, but Elizabeth only smiles.

  “MATTIE, LOOK OUT!”

  I hear Eli shout the warning a mere second before hands grip my throat and I can’t breathe, can’t see, can’t do anything.

  Sulphur, sulphur, sulphur! Why didn’t I realize it?

  My demon stalker.