Exile: Ghost Academy (YA paranormal adventure, book 4)

by K. E. O'Connor

  Grant hurled Charlie to one side, grabbed hold of Lauren and flew them both back against the wall. “You’re next if you don’t watch your step. I can see what you do with the portals and I know that you are powerful. But I could easily have taken you over Charlie, given that you seem to have developed an affinity with sleep. You were dead to the world when I came in your room.”

  Lauren struggled against Grant’s tight grip. “Why are you even feeding from him? If you’d have asked, I’d have given you more energy if you are feeling worn out.”

  Grant’s smile looked more like a snarl, his lips drawn back to reveal his teeth. “Do you remember when we first met and I told you about my little incident feeding on a human? That wasn’t a one-off thing. I do it all the time. It’s the reason I’m always on the move so the Academy cannot track me down.”

  “You didn’t leave the Academy voluntarily?” Lauren twisted in Grant’s grip but he held on. “They evicted you just like us?”

  “I developed something of an addiction to feeding from humans,” said Grant. “I just couldn’t stop once I started, and the Academy didn’t like that. They tried to rehabilitate me but nothing worked. They made the decision to cross me over, so I decided the best thing to do was leave and make my own way in the world. Then I can feed on whoever I like and whenever I like. Providing the Academy doesn’t catch me, I’m a free man.”

  Lauren’s gaze flashed to Charlie, who slumped on the floor, his head bent low. “Why are you feeding on Charlie?”

  “Because portal energy tastes so good,” said Grant. “And that’s what you’ve been giving him. It’s even better than humans. It must be all the concentrated human essence that the portals themselves live off of. I’ve never experienced anything like it and I intend to keep you both around so I can feed off the portal for as long as I like.”

  “That’s why you helped us to get this portal working? So we’d be your food source?”

  “Clever girl,” hissed Grant.

  “That’s not going to happen.” Lauren placed her hands over Grant’s and transported them outside the house in front of the fountain. “You need to leave us alone.”

  Grant glanced around and laughed. “You can’t make me leave.” He inhaled and Lauren felt a tug on her own energy.

  Lauren shoved hard against Grant and freed herself from his grip. She circled away around the fountain and Grant stalked after her.

  “I would have helped you. There was no need to steal what's not yours,” said Lauren.

  “You would never have given me as much as I needed.”

  “No, it’s what you want not what you need. We can all survive on a basic amount of energy, but it sounds like you’ve gotten greedy.”

  Grant shrugged. “Perhaps, but there is plenty of energy to go around. Why not take my fill?”

  “Because you hurt people. You’ve probably killed humans.”

  “Well, I certainly don’t need to be doing that now I have you and Charlie as my new best friends.” Grant grinned again. “I’ll even help you to finish up your pathetic portal experiment if you want. Although you’ll never actually be able to cross over. I wouldn’t allow that. You are both too valuable to me now. You in particular.”

  “We are not staying here, and we are certainly not going to continue to feed you with portal energy.” Lauren skated around the edge of the fountain, determined to keep out of Grant’s reach.

  “Where else will you go?” asked Grant. “Back to your Academy? I’m sure they will welcome you with open arms.”

  “They might if I bring you back with me,” said Lauren.

  Grant laughed. “Or how about your friendly Deviants? Maybe they can help you whilst they destroy all the other portals.”

  “Doesn’t matter where we go next, all I care about is that you leave us alone.” Lauren hurled herself across the fountain and grabbed hold of Grant, spinning him up into the sky.

  The startled look on Grant’s face changed to one of glee as he whisked them up high into the air. “I knew you had fight in you.”

  Lauren tried to focus as the cold wind dashed around them. She inhaled and tried to absorb Grant’s energy and weaken him.

  “We can both play that game.” Grant copied Lauren, grasping her head and inhaling deeply. She felt an equally strong tug on her own energy reserves.

  They battled for a few moments, spinning and falling through the air as they fought with each other. Lauren’s energy shot up and she realised she was winning against Grant as his grip slackened.

  A movement on the ground made Lauren glance over at the house and she saw Charlie dragging himself outside and collapse on the ground.

  Grant span Lauren up higher and then let go, flinging her out of his grip. “You're not going to spoil my fun.” He disappeared into the night as she shot away from him, spinning out of control as she hurtled towards the gravel.

  Lauren hit the ground hard but rolled upright and ran back to Charlie. He lay face down, his arms stretched out in front of him.

  Lauren turned him over. “Charlie, can you hear me?”

  His eyes flickered but remained shut.

  “Take some of my energy.” Lauren pressed her hands against Charlie’s face and exhaled over him. She did this several times, but it didn’t make a difference.

  “Charlie, you need to concentrate. Try to stay with me and feed on my energy.” Lauren’s tone was desperate and she exhaled over Charlie again, trying to make his form solid.

  Tears of frustration ran down Lauren’s face as she sat back and watched with horror as Charlie’s form flickered several times.

  “The portal,” she whispered. “If I take you in there you might be able to feed from the portal’s energy itself. It has to be stronger than me.”

  She grabbed Charlie’s shoulders. “Don’t you dare disappear on me.” Lauren transported them over to the island in the lake.

  Lauren hooked her hands under Charlie’s armpits and dragged him through the portal. She flipped open the panel with one hand and pulled Charlie upright, leaning his weight against her. “I have no idea if this is going to work.”

  Charlie groaned and his head fell back.

  Lauren pushed her hand into the panel and gripped hold of one of the energy beams. She moved her other hand around to Charlie’s face and pressed it against his cheek, hoping that she would be a strong enough conduit for the portal energy.

  She stayed like that for several minutes, feeling the warmth of the portal energy pulsing through her and across her arms. Although Lauren felt stronger, it seemed to have no effect on Charlie.

  Lauren withdrew her hand from the energy beam. “Charlie, you have to wake up.”

  Charlie made no movement to suggest he’d heard Lauren and remained slumped by her side his form continuing to flicker.

  The churning worry in Lauren’s stomach made her feel sick but she knew what she had to do. “Okay, hold on, I’m going to get you some help.”

  Chapter 6

  Lauren tightened her grip around Charlie as they appeared at the front of the Academy. “Are you still with me?”

  Charlie’s head slumped forward onto her shoulder but he made no comment.

  Lauren walked them both towards the front door, not certain of the welcome they would receive, or even if they would be able to get through the barrier that had previously prevented them from returning to the Academy.

  Her fingers brushed the surface of the door, no barrier appeared to be in place, yet Lauren struggled with the reluctance she felt about going inside.

  Before she’d grasped the door handle, the door was yanked open and Esmee stood on the other side, her blue eyes wide as she looked first at Lauren and then Charlie. She grabbed them both and hugged them to her.

  “You knew we were coming?” Lauren pulled back from Esmee. “How did you know?”

  “It was Alex, with a little help from Jeremy.” Esmee looked over her shoulder. “Come in, we don’t have much time, there are others about. A team has ju
st returned from a portal and brought back a ghost. They’re in the lab, but it won’t be long before they come out and I don’t want you getting spotted.”

  “Help me with Charlie,” said Lauren. “We ran into some problems and I needed to get him back here to restore his energy.”

  Esmee’s gaze ran swiftly over Charlie. “Whatever you’ve done to him, it doesn’t look too good.”

  “Nothing to do with me on this occasion, but we ran into a rogue ghost.”

  “Tell me later, we need to get you both hidden.” Esmee hooked an arm around Charlie and wrapped his own arm around her shoulders. Together the girls dragged Charlie inside the Academy and shut the door softly.

  “I’ll transport us up to my room,” said Esmee.

  “Charlie is very weak, I don’t think his form will take any more transportation,” said Lauren. “It was a risk me bringing him here, but I was all out of options.”

  Esmee frowned but then nodded. “Fine then, we’ll take the stairs, but go quickly.”

  They hurried along as fast as they could, Charlie’s weight slowing them down as they dragged him up the stairs and into Esmee’s bedroom.

  Alex stood in the middle of the room with a monitor in his hands. His eyes brightened when he saw Lauren and Charlie. “I knew it was you.” He held up the monitor.

  “Charlie needs help,” said Esmee. “We need to get Jeremy.”

  “Wait, is that such a good idea?” asked Lauren. “Won’t he tell Professor Templeton or one of the other professors that we’ve returned?”

  “No, he’s on our side,” said Esmee. “He’s the one who gave Alex this monitor so that we could check to see if your energy signatures returned and you tried to get back into the Academy at any time.”

  “We knew you’d come back.” Alex grinned, his smile fading as he took in the unconscious form of Charlie draped over the girls. “What happened to him?”

  “I’ll go get Jeremy and bring him here.” Esmee let go of Charlie and hurried out of the room.

  Alex took her place and helped Lauren move Charlie to the bed. “He doesn’t look too hot.”

  Lauren tried to arrange Charlie in what looked like a comfortable position, his hands by his sides and head on Esmee’s pillow. “He’s not, his energy is almost gone.”

  “Can’t you give him a boost?” asked Alex.

  “I tried, but it didn’t work. I even tried to use the energy from a portal we had found but it had no effect on Charlie. I’m worried that he’s been drained too badly and won’t recover.” Lauren twisted her fingers into her hair as she stared down at Charlie’s flickering form.

  “If anyone can get him right it will be Jeremy. He was so unhappy to hear that both you and Charlie had been excluded from the Academy. He even argued with Professor Mackintosh over it, they almost came to blows.”

  “What about the other professors?” asked Lauren.

  “Well, you know about Professor Granville already and Professor Templeton seemed in agreement with you leaving. But Calypso is furious and raged for days. She had voted for you both to stay but was overruled.”

  “And what about Professor Rose? I’m sure he doesn’t have much love for me given that I got him crushed by a car on one of our first assignments together.”

  “You know the Professor. He is more interested in drinking tea and getting his next fix of energy to worry too much about us poor students.” Alex smiled at her. “I get the impression he voted with the majority simply to have a quiet life.”

  The bedroom door opened and Esmee and Jeremy hurried through, shutting the door behind them.

  Jeremy’s hair stood up in messy peaks around his head and his glasses sat at an uneven angle on his nose. He set down the bag he carried by the edge of the bed. “Lauren, Charlie, good to have you both back with us. I hear you’ve run into a spot of bother?” He leaned over Charlie and ran a monitor up and down his form.

  “A rogue ghost drained Charlie of his energy. I tried to stop him but by the time I found them together it was almost too late,” said Lauren. “Nothing I’ve tried so far has worked.”

  Jeremy nodded, his focus intent on Charlie. He held up his electromagnetic resonance metre and studied the readings.

  “Can you do anything to help him?” Lauren shifted from foot to foot as she watched Jeremy.

  “What have you already tried?” asked Jeremy.

  “I attempted to give him some of my own energy but he didn’t seem able to absorb it. I also went directly to a portal and tapped into that energy source. It wasn’t a particularly strong portal, we had only just brought it back to life, but that didn’t work either.”

  Jeremy looked up at Lauren. “You fixed a dead portal?”

  Lauren nodded. “It was almost dead. We managed to get it going again.”

  Jeremy blinked rapidly. “That’s quite a skill you have in portal repair. It’s such a shame the other professors couldn’t see that.” He looked down at the monitor in his hand again.

  “What do the readings say?” asked Alex. “Anything you can do to help Charlie?”

  “He is incredibly weak and his energy pattern seems to be having trouble organising itself, almost as if his rhythms are out of sync and keep fluctuating.” Jeremy looked up and noticed the confused expressions around him. “Basically, it means the remaining energy that Charlie has doesn’t seem to know what to do with itself. Should it form a solid shape or should it disperse? It seems to be in conflict, pulling in two different directions.”

  Esmee gasped. “Don’t let him disperse, you must save him.”

  The sound of laughter from the corridor made them all pause and look up.

  “We won’t have much time,” said Jeremy. “It will only take one of the professors to look for any anomalies in the energy signatures within the Academy and the two of you will be spotted. I will do what I can whilst you are here, but the best thing to do is remove yourselves to a safe place. I do worry that if you are discovered you may not be able to leave of your own free will.”

  “I won’t become a prisoner of the Academy. They excluded us, they can’t trap us as well.” Lauren's hands curled into fists. “They can’t make us stay if we don’t want to.”

  “They may try to, considering it safer for you to be here until they make their final decision on your futures,” said Jeremy. “They have still not made a decision, despite several of us insisting that you be returned to the Academy.”

  “We can decide our own futures.” Lauren’s eyes narrowed as she glared at Jeremy.

  Jeremy took a step away from Lauren and tripped over his bag.

  “He’s trying to help.” Alex touched Lauren’s arm.

  Lauren exhaled, her shoulders creaking with tension. “I know, sorry. I’m just so worried about Charlie. What can you do to help him?”

  Jeremy scratched his head. “I would have suggested taking him directly into our own portal, but that is off-limits at the moment.”

  “Off-limits to students?” asked Lauren.

  “No, off-limits to everyone. Students, professors, ghosts that need to cross over. The portal is still not operating correctly ever since the last attack by the Deviants,” said Jeremy.

  “And that’s not all,” said Esmee. “Most of the nearby portals have been acting up and not attracting ghosts anymore. It means we are going out and having to locate new ghosts and lead them directly to the portals. The portals aren’t sending out the right signals and ghosts are getting lost.”

  “It’s the Deviants doing this?” asked Lauren.

  “That’s what the professors think,” said Esmee.

  “So what do we do if we can’t use the portal to help Charlie?” Lauren’s voice pitched high with anxiety.

  “For now, I’m going to put him into a containment box.” Jeremy pulled a box out of the bag by the bed. “It’s not the perfect solution but it will help to keep his form contained. I will adjust the energy signature in the box so that it does not leach out the remaining energy that Char
lie has and helps to keep him as stable as possible until we can find a way to restore his energy.”

  “Whatever you think best,” said Alex. “Perhaps we should leave the room so we aren’t tempted to go into the box ourselves when you open it.” He held his hand out to Esmee and she took hold of it.

  “We’ll be right outside, Lauren,” said Esmee. “Don’t worry, Jeremy knows what he’s doing.”

  They both left the room, leaving just the three of them behind.

  “Try not to worry too much.” Jeremy patted the back of Lauren’s hand. “I know it looks bad but I have managed to get ghosts back from worse than this. The professors do send you on difficult and dangerous assignments at times and I have had to repair many ghosts who have been injured in the line of duty.”

  “Just get Charlie back for me.” Lauren scrubbed her hand over her eyes. “It’s not right that he gets lost in this way. We were planning a life together, away from the Academy, and if that has to end...”

  “You know I will do my very best for him.” Jeremy adjusted a dial on the side of the containment box. “Once Charlie is inside the box I will be able to take more detailed readings back in my laboratory which will help me to determine exactly why he is not able to maintain a human shape, and why he also looks as if he is slowly fading.”

  They both looked down at the bed where Charlie lay. There was a small hole that had appeared in his right arm and his whole image now flickered in and out with alarming speed.

  “Just do whatever you need to,” said Lauren. “And if I can help, give my energy, or anything you need, just let me know.”

  Jeremy nodded. He flipped open the lid of the box and held it next to Charlie. Charlie’s form shot into the box and Jeremy snapped the lid shut.

  “This box will also help to obscure Charlie’s energy signature. I’m not sure even I would have recognised it from how intermittent the signature is that is coming from him.” Jeremy paused, a look of concern on his face. “But you will be easy to spot. You might need to hide and find a safe place until I have restored Charlie.”

  “There is no safe place. If the professors want to find me they will,” said Lauren. “Besides, I don’t want to leave Charlie.”