“Please don’t leave,” I said. “If you could help in any way, please do. I know you guys are scared, but the only way to make this town safe for all spirits is to get rid of that group of evil spirits. If you could tell me anything you know, please do.”
“I’m out of here,” the man said. “You guys suit yourselves. But if you end up like those berserker spirits, don’t blame me.”
With that, the man flew away. A few other ghosts followed suit. But the old lady and a few others remained.
“Are you ready to talk?” I asked them.
“Not here,” the old lady said.
“Then just hang around our van and then follow us back to the house. If some of you already know where the Ghostly Hunters are staying, then you can meet us there.”
One of the ghosts stepped up. It was a teenage girl. “I know where they live,” she said. “Follow me!”
The rest of the remaining ghosts followed the teenage girl. I just hoped they wouldn’t scare anyone in the house too much while they were waiting for me. I took a deep breath and smiled as I saw Kane coming my way. He had a coffee for me and even handed me what looked like a pastry.
“What’s all this?” I asked him.
“I know it’s not as good as your grandmother’s, but they’re pretty tasty. I already ate one on my way here.”
I laughed and took a sip of the coffee. It was warm and delicious. Then I took a bite out of the pastry and Kane was right, it was pretty good. But definitely not as good as my grandmother made it.
“So what do we do now?” Kane asked. “Just wait?”
“That’s the plan,” I said. “Did you have anything else in mind?”
“Not as such,” he said. But I could see by the look in his eye that he was thinking of doing something illegal.
“No, we are not breaking into the inn,” I said.
“Why not? Don’t you want to sit in on the séance? See how Charles and Rebecca are doing?”
“Not really,” I said. “If they’re successful, that’s awesome. But if they’re not, I don’t want to be anywhere close to there. The detective made it pretty clear that I will be his number one suspect.”
“It was just an idea,” Kane said.
Standing around became boring after a while, so we went inside the van and waited there. I kept looking at the time on my cell phone. What was taking so long? Shouldn’t there be people running out of the inn right now?
Just as I thought that I saw the doors of the inn burst open and people just spilling out onto the street. There was no laughter or excitement, there was just panic as they ran back to their cars or wherever they came from.
It didn’t take long for Kane and me to get out of the van and make our way toward the inn. Before we had a chance to even think of coming in, Rebecca and Charles came out. At least they were all right.
“Did you do it? Did you stop the séance?” I asked Rebecca.
“We tried,” Rebecca said. “We really did. We went through so many people, and they felt chills, but that only made them even more excited to be there. Then we tried contacting the medium but something blocked us. Some terrible darkness didn’t want us there. Then it happened. The medium dropped dead.”
“Where’s the medium now?” I asked Charles and Rebecca.
“She was right behind us,” Rebecca said. “Let me check on her.”
A minute later, Rebecca was back but this time with a forty-something woman by her side. An obviously dead woman, because I could see right through her. She looked shocked. I’m not sure why, since she knew what had happened there only a few days earlier.
“Let’s get out of here before the police come,” I said.
“Good idea,” Rebecca said. “We’ll meet you at the house.”
“Wouldn’t it be faster if we just went with the van?” I said.
“Rochelle here is a new ghost, remember? I’ll show her the ropes on the way there, okay?”
“Fine,” I said. “See you there.”
What I failed to mention was that the house we were going to already had several ghosts there waiting for me. But that piece of drama could definitely wait.
Once we arrived, all hell broke loose pretty much. I told the ghosts from the inn to be patient while I talked to the newest addition to the ghostly realm. I took her aside away from the others. The ghost hunters gave me strange looks, but they should get used to me speaking to presumably empty air by now. If they were interested in seeing or hearing anything themselves, they had their equipment at hand.
“What happened to me?” Rochelle asked as soon as we were alone. Well, relatively alone. Rachel and Charles were still there, eager to hear what Rochelle had to say as well.
“Well, I was kind of hoping you could tell me. Charles here died the same way you did, and he doesn’t remember much.”
“I thought you had a heart attack?” Rochelle said to Charles. “Now I feel like such a fool.” She looked at her see-through hands. “I’m guessing there’s no way of fixing this mess, is there?”
“No, I’m afraid not,” I said. “But I can help you move on to a better place.”
“I’m not sure why I’m not there already. I don’t want to be earthbound, I know that much.”
“Neither do I,” Charles said. “But I’m still here. Apparently, we have to get justice before we move on.”
“And how do we do that?” Rochelle said.
“By stopping whoever did this to you from doing it to anyone else,” I said.
“I don’t remember much. I remember the attendees getting excited for one reason or another. They said they felt chills. They were under the impression that they were feeling ghosts in the room.”
“They were,” Rebecca said. “Charles and I tried to scare them away. Then we tried communicating with you, but something stopped us. Something evil.”
Rochelle seemed to be in deep thought. “I do remember something. It was after I had made contact with whatever it was. It spoke through me and it said a name. It’s at the tip of my tongue…”
Rachel and Charles quickly looked away then.
“What is it?” I asked them. “Is there something I should know?”
“Mary, maybe Marie?” Rochelle said.
“Was it Meredith, perhaps?” I said.
“Yes! That’s it! But how did you know?” Rochelle asked.
“Because that’s my name,” I said.
Nineteen
“Oh,” Rochelle said.
“What’s the big deal?” I asked Rebecca and Charles. “I already know the spirits want me dead, so why are you being so cagey about it?”
“We just didn’t want to freak you out,” Rebecca said. “I guess it’s too late for that now?”
“It’s been late for a while now,” I said. “Anyway, the plan is still the same. We have to stop these evil spirits from killing any more people.”
“How are we going to do that when we’re not allowed to go back to the inn?” Rebecca said.
“We’ll have to find another way,” I said. “Chloe found out something interesting about the abandoned church. When she touched the piece of wood we had, she felt some things. Something about a preacher preaching hate, which I guess is not really that uncommon, but still. She also felt that there was a fire there. I guess we’ll have to do some more research.”
Just then, my cell phone rang. What was it now? I didn’t recognize the number, but I answered it anyway.
“Hello, is this Meredith Good?” I heard a familiar voice say. But I couldn’t quite place it. It was a woman’s voice, I knew that much.
“Yep, that’s me,” I said.
“Hi, it’s Sheila, the owner of the inn. The Ghostly Inn,” she said.
“Oh,” I said. “What do you want? I was nowhere near your inn tonight.”
“There’s been another death here and the local police has told me that I’m not allowed to hold any more séances.”
“So are you trying to say that I was right?”
“Yes,” she said, though it was clear by the tone of her voice that she did not like this one bit. “I should have listened to you.”
“Well, it’s too late now. Another medium is dead. So why are you calling me? I assume it’s not for an apology?”
“I want you to get rid of whatever is haunting my inn and killing mediums,” she said. “Of course, I will pay you for your troubles.”
“When do you want me there?”
“As soon as possible,” she said. “I’m afraid of what else will happen here. People are canceling their reservations, leaving early. It’s chaos here.”
I guess when two mediums died one right after each other, it wasn’t much of a problem for the ghostly tourists. But now that a third death had happened on the premises, they were starting to think that they might be next.
“Fine, we’ll be there soon. I’m going to bring the local ghost hunters with me as well.”
“Of course, that sounds excellent. I’ll be waiting for you to arrive.”
I hung up the phone and went to tell the others what had just happened.
“Color me surprised,” Mike said. “That woman has never been a fan of ours. She always saw us as some kind of competition, I guess.”
“Will you have a problem helping her?” I asked. “I can go by myself if I have to.”
“No, I’ll go get my equipment,” he said. And that’s exactly what he did. Jacob joined him.
Rachel looked excited. “This is so cool,” she said. “Let me go get my herbs and salt and holy water.”
“Holy water?” I said, a bit surprised she had it at hand.
“Yeah, I stopped by the church earlier. You can never be too safe!” Rachel ran up the stairs to get her things.
I turned to Chloe, who was sitting on the couch, looking like she would rather be anywhere else.
“How are you doing?” I asked her.
“I’m fine,” she said. Then she held herself closer. “Of course, I’m not looking forward to going back to that place. But if it’s what needs to be done to finally put a stop to all this madness, I’m willing to do it.”
“Me too,” I said.
“Do we have a plan?” Kane asked.
“We just need to go back there and see what the situation is.”
“We already know what the situation is. A bunch of evil spirits are killing people, and they’re threatening your life.”
“What else is new?” I joked.
“Meredith, this isn’t funny,” Kane said. “I’m really worried about you.”
“There’s nothing to worry about. We’re not going to do anything tonight anyway. We have to do research on the abandoned church and the inn as well. I just think that being there will make our research a lot easier.”
“If you say so,” Kane said.
“Did you forget about us?” One of the ghosts that had come there to be helped asked me.
“Of course not,” I said. “But you know that this is an emergency of sorts.”
“Who are you talking to now?” Kane asked. “I swear, more than half the time I’m in the room, you completely ignore me.”
“It’s the ghosts from the inn, Kane. Now could you give us some privacy?”
Kane shrugged his shoulders and just left the room. I knew that it must not be the easiest thing to have a girlfriend that talked to invisible people a lot, but he knew what he signed up for. I even warned him that this was how my life was.
I turned back to the ghosts and their questioning glances. The old lady stepped up.
“We understand,” she said calmly. The other ghosts behind her didn’t really look like they agreed but they didn’t say anything.
“You know, you guys could make this a lot easier,” I said.
“Not a chance,” one of the other ghosts immediately chimed in. “We don’t want to end up like the rest.”
“Were there other ghosts that tried to talk about what was happening in this town?” I asked the group as a whole.
Of course, none of them would even look at me. The old lady did step forward.
“We just want to move on,” she said. “We don’t want any trouble.”
“What about me?” Rochelle said, entering the room out of nowhere. Or maybe I just wasn’t paying enough attention to my surroundings. Pretty soon, Rebecca and Charles were there as well.
“What about you?” One of the ghosts asked.
“If you lot talked, I might still be alive, that’s what’s up,” Rochelle was quick to say.
“Me too,” Charles agreed. “And poor Madeline wouldn’t be in the state she’s in now.”
“Don’t worry about her,” the old lady said. “She won’t be in that state for long.”
“What do you mean?” I asked her.
“I’ve already said too much…”
“Please,” I implored her.
The old woman let out a ghostly sigh. It was strange to think that there was breathing involved when one was dead, but that’s what it sounded like.
“Once they’re in that state, the berserker state we call it, they’re not long for this world. They get swept up by the cabal and become just another foot soldier in their war on the living.”
“So you’ve seen this happen before? The cabal killing people and then taking control of them like that?”
The old lady looked at the others but they looked away. They all looked afraid out of their minds. Perhaps there was a fate worse than death…
“I’ve never seen them commit outright murder. But they have caused accidents from what I’ve heard. They prey on the newly dead, no matter how they died. Most reject them and move on. Some angry souls do take them up on their offer and join the cabal. But then there are others. Those that might not want to join or outright reject the cabal but are too weak to fight them off. The cabal turns them berserker if they already weren’t in that state. And then when they become weak enough, they’re snatched up to never be seen again…”
This all sounded more than a little unnerving.
“Thank you for that. That might come in handy later. But I do have one question: why do you guys hang around the inn at all if the cabal is active there? Aren’t you afraid that they’ll snatch you up too?”
The old woman laughed. “They already tried and failed with us. But yes, we do try to stay out of their way. Their energy is strongest at the abandoned church and we do not tread there for any reason. It’s only recently that they’ve become fairly active at the inn. In fact, before Charles here died, they rarely came there unless it was to try to recruit us.”
One of the ghosts stepped up and whispered in the old lady’s ear.
“We’ll make ourselves scarce. The next time you see us will be here or around town. We’re not going back to the inn. We can’t risk it after what I’ve just told you. I wish you luck. But please do be careful. You’re our only hope of ever moving on from this world and into the next.”
“That’s not true,” I was quick to say. “My way may be quicker, but the choice is always yours. Elevate your state of being, let go of your earthly existence, and I’m sure the door of light will come for you without my aid.”
“Thank you,” the old lady said and then she left. The rest of the ghosts followed her.
“Are you ready?” Kane asked, peering through the doorway. “The others are already by the van.”
I looked back and saw that even Chloe was gone. I was so enamored by what the old lady was saying, that I had completely forgotten about my surroundings.
“We should take your van,” I said. “I have a feeling we might be staying the night.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Kane was quick to say.
“Me neither,” I said.
Charles, Rebecca, and Rochelle decided to take the ghostly route back to the inn. Though I can’t say that Rochelle was all that excited about going back there after what she just heard.
“You can keep your distance,” Rachel reassured her. “But we h
ave to know where you are.”
“It’s all right,” Rochelle said. “Right now I think you lot are my best chance of getting out of this town for good. I never did like this town. I just came here for the tourist dollars. I even had a good nest egg saved up for myself for my old age. Isn’t that funny? I guess somebody else will be enjoying that money now.”
“Yeah, you kind of have to get used to stuff like that when you’re dead,” I said. “And the sooner you let go of your material attachments, the sooner you’ll be moving on to a better place.”
The three ghosts took off. I joined Kane and we followed the Ghostly Hunters van back to the inn.
It was strange when we got there. There was police tape all around. Sheila, the inn owner, opened the door for us as soon as she saw us approaching. She looked disheveled. Not at all like her usual self.
Once I was at the door, I saw something else peculiar about her. Her breath was visible, like white smoke that one gets in winter, but it wasn’t that cold outside. She also had on extra layers of clothing and was holding herself close.
“It took you long enough,” she said and then remembered that I was the one doing her a favor. “I’m sorry,” she quickly said. “At least you’re here now.”
“What’s going on?” I asked. “Did your heat get turned off or something?”
“No,” she said. “It’s been like this ever since they wheeled out Rochelle’s body.”
I was afraid of that. This meant that the spirit activity at the inn was stronger now than ever. But why?
“Are you all right?” Sheila asked. “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”
“Worse,” I said. “I have a feeling your inn is littered with them at the moment.”
Now the only thing I needed to figure out was whether they were the friendly, needy kind. Or the evil, medium killing kind that had their sights set on me.
There was only one way to find out.
Twenty
As soon as I entered the inn, I felt the chills. My breath became like white smoke as well. I looked around and was surprised I couldn’t see any ghosts in sight. Usually, when it was this cold for no apparent reason, the ghosts weren’t far behind. And by the chills I felt at the inn, the place should have been teeming with them. Yet I couldn’t see any.
Ghostly Town (A Ghost Hunter P.I. Mystery Book 4) Page 13