Lauren jumped back as an image of her mum flashed before her. She blinked and Maggie reappeared.
Maggie frowned. “Is something the matter?”
Lauren let out a shaky breath. “I just...I thought I saw something.”
“What did you see?” asked Theo.
Lauren blinked her eyes a few times. “It’s nothing.” She stared at Maggie.
“You do appear to be stressed.” Maggie dropped her hand to her side. “We can speak later once you have had time to adjust to your new surroundings.”
Lauren nodded and was more than happy to let Theo walk her along the corridor to the movie room. She glanced back over her shoulder and saw Maggie still watching her.
“What was that about?” asked Theo, once they were inside the movie room, the lights dimmed as if in readiness for a movie to start.
Lauren shuffled her feet, gaze on the floor. “It was nothing.”
“Come on, something happened when Maggie came near you,” said Theo. “Remember I have that annoying knack of picking up people’s emotions. I’m one of those really sensitive kind of guys, all poetry and sappy chat up lines.”
Lauren struggled to smile. “Really, it’s just my imagination going into overdrive.”
“Not true. You jumped when she touched you and your emotions spiked up like crazy.”
Lauren looked up at Theo, not sure how much to share with him. “I got a flash of an old memory, that’s all. I don’t really understand it. For a second, I thought I saw my mum.”
“That’s a bad thing?”
Lauren rubbed her head again. “It wasn’t the best of memories.” She gestured to the seats. “Let’s just watch a movie.”
Theo nodded and followed Lauren to the front row. “If you want to talk about it, I won’t judge. I know family can be messy. My dad wasn’t the greatest role model when I was growing up. Made me think gangs and guns were cool things to be involved in.”
“No, it’s not that. My family are pretty great. It’s just this particular memory is about my death.” Lauren slumped into a seat. “I don’t understand it.”
Theo sat next to Lauren. “You think your mum was involved somehow?”
“No, she’d never hurt me. She wouldn’t even squash spiders.” Lauren looked down at her hands.
“Wait here,” said Theo. “I’ll get the movie sorted out and then you can just relax and forget about everything for a while.”
Lauren nodded and hunched down in her seat, shutting her eyes and taking a few breaths.
The images flashed into her mind; sharp pictures of her mum standing over her brandishing a knife. The tang of blood filled her nose and Lauren struggled, screaming as she fought to get air into her damaged body. But there was something else, or rather someone else in the image this time. Lauren’s brain attempted to untangle the pictures she saw.
A hand roughly shook Lauren and her eyes opened, a panicked gasp coming out of her mouth as she tried to hit whoever was shaking her.
“Relax, it’s only me.” Theo’s fingers dug into Lauren’s shoulder and his other hand grasped her fist as she attempted to hit him.
“Theo? What happened? Where was I?” Rapid breaths shot out of Lauren.
“I’m not sure, but wherever it was it made you want to hit me.” Theo kept hold of Lauren, his gaze scanning her. “Are you okay?”
“How long was I out for?” Lauren struggled out of Theo’s grasp and stood up.
“I went to start the movie, and then got called away by Maggie. I was gone maybe twenty minutes.” Theo glanced towards the back of the room.
Lauren shuddered. “I was seeing the images of my mum again. But this time, there was somebody else there too.”
“Okay, but we have a more urgent problem on our hands.” Theo looked over his shoulder and then back to Lauren. “We’ve got unwanted company trying to get in.”
“Who?” Lauren’s thoughts immediately went to the Academy. Surely they wouldn’t waste their time trying to get Lauren and Charlie out of the Deviants house. After all, they no longer wanted them.
“Looks like a group of ghost hunters have found out about our location,” said Theo. “There are three of them outside. They pulled up in a black van a while ago. They are outside the building at the moment, but they are setting up equipment and we reckon they are planning on trying to get inside.”
Lauren felt guilt curl around her spine. It must be Joe and the other ghost hunters coming to explore the Deviants house; the house she had given them the details of how to find.
“Why don’t you just hide away and wait for them to leave?” asked Lauren.
“You know it’s not as simple as that,” said Theo. “These hunters look like professionals. We’ve checked out what they’ve brought with them and reckon they can do us some damage. If we did simply hide they could still detect us. Maggie is furious, this could mean we will need to find a new base. Now they know we are here they won’t leave us alone.”
“What are you going to do?”
“We are going to scare them away,” said Theo.
“You aren’t going to hurt them are you?”
“It’s what they came here to do to us.” Theo ran his hands through his hair. “We need to get out of here and see what Maggie has organised for us. She will know what to do.”
“But they’re only human, we can’t hurt them.”
“What option are they giving us?” Theo walked towards the door. “They are trying to invade our home. We have to be able to defend ourselves.”
Lauren hurried after him. “Maybe they will just do some readings and then leave. I’ve seen ghost hunters scout out areas before and then do nothing to us. It might not be as bad as you think.”
Theo pulled open the door and walked along the corridor with Lauren by his side. “These guys look professional to me. I was watching them before I came to collect you, and found you...daydreaming.” He gave her a confused look.
Lauren twisted her fingers in her hair. “I’ve spoken with a ghost hunter before. You know the house we went to that we accidentally set on fire?”
Theo grinned. “The one you set on fire, you mean. How could I forget that experience? You destroyed their place.” He pulled up abruptly. “Hold on, are these the same ghost hunters that we met at that house?”
“I’m not sure, but from your description of their vehicle, it could be. You saw them there as well when we were in their house. Did you recognise them?”
“No, but the flames and smoke made it tricky to see exactly what was going on when we were there.” Theo frowned. “If it is them, then you gave them Frankie.”
Lauren nodded. “They did have Frankie.”
Theo’s expression darkened. “Then I have a score to settle with them.”
“I don’t think they really mean to do us harm,” said Lauren.
Theo shrugged. “Even so, it doesn’t make it right what they do. They constantly hound us like we are animals to be hunted for sport. Makes me sick.”
They reached the main dining hall and walked in to find another fifty or so ghosts. Maggie stood at the front of the room, her hands on her hips.
Her gaze met Theo’s and she gave him a slight nod before scanning the rest of the room. “It would appear our location has been revealed to some hunters. We cannot allow them to enter and take any of us. You all know the procedure in relation to unwanted visitors. This is a small group, only three hunters, but they are well equipped with detection equipment and they have a number of containment boxes. Fortunately for the majority of us, these boxes have no affect so it will be harder for them to trap us easily into the boxes, but be careful not to get too close to them.”
Theo leaned towards Lauren. “I doubt the ghost hunters realise how difficult we will be to capture. They will be in for an unpleasant surprise when they have to face off with fifty angry ghosts.”
Lauren looked around the room, absorbing the unpleasantly tense, angry atmosphere around her. She worried about the gh
ost hunters, she knew they were not her friends but didn’t want to see them get injured by any of the Deviants.
“We will deal with the intruders,” continued Maggie. “However, it is clear that we have an informant amongst us. The ghost hunters would never have located us unless they had been told of our location. Does anyone want to step forward and let me know why they thought it was right to reveal us to the hunters?”
A few murmurs began as everyone looked around the room assessing each other to try to determine who might be the guilty party. Lauren felt the urge to hide behind Theo in case anyone spotted her and decided to point the finger quite correctly in her direction.
After a moment of uncomfortable mutterings amongst the Deviants, Maggie raised her hand to silence everyone. “Very well, but I will find out who revealed us to the hunters and it will not go unpunished. We are supposed to be a unit. With division in our ranks, we will never succeed in our mission.”
“She makes it sound like we’re in the army,” Lauren whispered to Theo.
“Well, she was when she was alive. Guess that’s where she gets it from,” said Theo.
“What about Charlie and the others inside the cells? Will they be safe if the ghost hunters get to them?” asked Lauren.
“They will have trouble getting through the containment fields that Remus has set up around the cells,” said Theo. “It’s probably one of the safest places to be right now. Most of the ghosts in the cells are invisible to the human eye so they won’t automatically know there is anything inside them. Of course, if they do scan the cells they will realise that something is going on, but with a bit of luck, the energy fields will distort the readings from their equipment and mean that they don’t target anyone in the cells. Your precious Charlie is safe.”
“Maybe I should get him out,” said Lauren. “We can get away from here before any trouble starts.”
“And go where?” asked Theo. “You’ve tried the Academy and they turned you away, you tried it on your own and were almost extinguished by a rogue ghost. Where else would you go?”
Lauren chewed on her bottom lip, Theo’s words were annoyingly accurate. She had no idea where they would go if they left the Deviants. She just knew it wasn’t safe now, especially if Maggie discovered it was Lauren who disclosed their location to the ghost hunters.
“Stay with me for now,” said Theo. “Only split up if we absolutely have to.”
“To your posts,” shouted Maggie. She walked through the crowd towards Theo and Lauren.
“We’ll stop them,” said Theo as Maggie reached his side.
Maggie nodded, her gaze on Lauren. “You will be joining us for the fight?”
“I won’t hurt them,” said Lauren. “But I will encourage them to leave and not harm anyone in here.”
“Good enough.” Maggie patted Lauren’s arm.
Lauren jumped back as if she’d been bitten. A vivid image of her mum flashed in front of her.
“What’s wrong, Lauren?” asked Theo.
She ignored him and grabbed hold of Maggie’s hand, immediately getting another image of her mum. “It can’t be.”
“It can’t be what?” Irritation laced through Maggie’s words. “We really don’t have time for this.”
Lauren tightened her grip on Maggie’s hand and yanked her closer. “Every time you touch me I see my mum.”
Maggie’s eyes narrowed. “Do I look like your mum?”
Lauren shook her head. “Nothing like her. So why do I see her when we touch?”
“I really have no idea.” Maggie pulled her hand from Lauren’s grasp but she simply grabbed it again and got another flash of her mum holding a knife.
“Were you involved?” Lauren could barely get the words out, her throat tight as she stared at Maggie.
“Involved in what?” Theo looked at Lauren and then Maggie. “What are you talking about?”
Lauren couldn’t stop staring at Maggie as she kept getting intermittent flashes of her mum. “I think...I’m not sure. I just keep getting these images.”
Maggie tore her hand from Lauren’s grip. “You need to focus on our mission. We can deal with your strange memories later. Right now we have ghost hunters to get rid of.”
“She’s right.” Theo turned Lauren away from Maggie. “Whatever is going on in your head, we can deal with it later. We have to stop the ghost hunters from getting inside.”
Lauren shook herself and then nodded. “Okay, I’ll come with you.” She followed Theo out of the dining room, pausing at the door to have one last look back at Maggie.
Maggie stood watching Lauren, her gaze intent. Lauren gave a shudder. Could it be true? Could Maggie somehow be involved in her death?
Chapter 9
“Let’s go.” Theo tugged at Lauren’s elbow and she turned away from Maggie and hurried along the corridor with him.
“Where are we going?”
“To get a good look at the ghost hunters,” said Theo. “I want you to confirm it’s the ones we met at that house.”
“And what if it is?”
“Then I need to get even with them for what they did to Frankie.” Theo paused by a door. “He’s still not completely himself, and it’s because of them.”
Lauren felt queasy. It was actually because of her that Frankie had ended up with the ghost hunters. Theo could just as easily blame her for what had happened to his best friend.
“What are you going to do to them?” asked Lauren.
“Show them that they really do need to be afraid of ghosts.”
This only made Lauren’s stomach feel even worse. “Maybe we shouldn’t. They might just go away.”
“Doubtful. You know what they’re like, once a ghost hunter has one of us in his sights, he won’t give up until we are caught or manage to escape.” Theo gestured to the door. “They are just outside. Their van is parked to the left of the door and they were unloading equipment and scanning around the building the last time I saw them.”
“I need to be careful around humans,” said Lauren. “I’ve been having problems keeping myself invisible to them. If it is the same hunters, one of them was able to see me and speak to me without me making myself visible. He may still be able to do that.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much. Even if they do realise we are here, they aren’t going to go away simply by us asking nicely.” He gestured to the door and then carefully slid through.
After a moment of hesitation, Lauren followed Theo and they stood at the front of the house, the spotlights around the perimeter lighting up the building.
Theo pointed to the van and then to the side of the building. “Is that one of them?”
Lauren looked over and immediately saw Max dressed in head to toe black, a baseball cap pulled down over his eyes as he examined a device in his hand.
“Well?” Theo’s tone highlighted his impatience.
“It’s them, the ones from the house.” She kept her voice low.
“Looks like their equipment wasn’t completely destroyed in the fire,” said Theo. “Which is a shame.”
Lauren watched as Theo walked closer and leaned over Max’s shoulder, studying the device in his hand. It beeped several times as Theo moved around him and a sly grin appeared on his face as he watched Max get excited by the change in readings.
“Looks like we’ve got something,” called Max, as he raised his head.
Patti rounded the corner of the house, dressed in identical clothes to Max, her hair scraped back and hidden under her baseball cap. “What you got?”
“Strong readings right here.” Max held out the monitor.
Patti gave it a cursory glance. “There are readings like that all over this house. It seems to be a hotspot for paranormal activity. I don’t often praise Joe, but that idiot has finally come good and found us a genuine haunted house to investigate.”
Joe poked his head around the edge of the building. “Was that a compliment you just paid me, Patti?” He walked round the corner, a grin
on his face.
Lauren instinctively shrunk back against the door not keen to be seen by Joe. He seemed to be the one who was most receptive to her.
Patti gave a snort. “You did okay this time, Joe.”
“I knew this would come good. I know you didn’t believe me and thought I was crazy for being able to actually talk to a ghost, but her information was legitimate.”
Lauren gritted her teeth and hoped that Joe wasn’t about to reveal her involvement.
“We don’t think you are crazy,” said Max.
Patti snorted a laugh. “Well, he doesn’t. I’ve always had my doubts.”
Joe laughed. “You’re just jealous because the ghost wanted to make a connection with me and not you.”
“We believe you,” said Max. “It’s just never happened before and I could never figure out why a ghost would want to reveal to you where other ghosts are hidden away.”
Joe shrugged. “It didn’t seem like she was friendly with these ghosts and she was more than happy to let on where they were based, providing I gave her friends back.”
Theo’s head whipped round and he looked over at Lauren, his eyes wide.
Lauren shrank back even further.
Theo stamped over to her. “They’re talking about you aren’t they? You told them where we are based, you revealed our home to the hunters. What were you hoping they would do, come here and eradicate all of us to remove the problem for your precious Academy?”
Lauren chewed the inside of her mouth. “No, it was nothing like that. Honestly, I only told them that because I was desperate. They had Esmee and Alex trapped and I had to do a deal to get them free.”
“So you told them where we were.” Theo threw his hands up. “You are unbelievable. Here I was, thinking you might want to join us, and actually, you want to do the exact opposite, you want to get us all extinguished. Even though you know what’s left for us in the afterlife. We would spend eternity in the Greyness and it would be thanks to you if we hadn’t spotted these ghost hunters in time.”
“I know, it was a lousy thing to do.” Lauren’s gaze went to the floor.
Exile: Ghost Academy (YA paranormal adventure, book 4) Page 11