CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Gage looked over the edge of the book Brandt had given him. Jess smiled, her eyes lingering on his mouth. He raised an eyebrow and let a slow grin spread across his face as if to say, back ‘atcha.
The grin widened when Jess sucked in a breath of air. He liked having that effect on her. She looked away, and he tried to focus on the book. Again.
Pretending to read about powers of the mind and all sorts of weird voodoo stuff wasn’t easy. This crap just wasn’t his thing. In fact, it was downright freaky. His mind kept wandering. What he wouldn’t give for he and Jess to be able to go exploring in the house somewhere. Like one of the guest rooms. Of course, it would be Jess he’d actually explore. The rooms? Not so much.
Stay focused on getting us out of there. Not on Jess’s body.
Gage cleared his throat, forcing himself to look away from Jess’s legs and back at the book.
The short practice sessions Brandt had asked them to do when they gathered in the evenings were both the easiest and hardest part of their plan.
The easy part? They’d all agreed to put on a good show in front of Brandt, who sometimes watched them, although lately he was more and more preoccupied. Occasionally, Brandt would spend the time reading one of the books on ghosts, voodoo, spells or whatever. He never used to do that. He’d still pour over the computer, reading research on paranormal psychology, ethereal case studies and who knew what else. But mostly, he just stared off into space or wandered around the room touching things while they practiced their individual skills. Brandt took notes, but Gage didn’t think they had a lot to do with anything he’d asked them.
“You okay, Dr. B?” Gage asked.
“Hmm? Yes, I’m fine Gage. Fine.” Brandt looked confused. “Why do you ask?”
“No reason. You just seemed a little lost in thought, that’s all.”
“Just going over a few things in my head,” he replied. He got to his feet, excusing himself as he moved past Bryan and wandered into the dining room.
Bryan had been careful not to make anything larger than an empty teacup or saucer disappear. At least, not when Brandt or any of the staff were around. He had the most to prove, or since the night with the knives, to disprove. Lucky for them all, Brandt seemed less interested in Bryan than anyone else.
Allison, being Allison, remained uncooperative when under Brandt’s scrutiny. Not that she was all that eager to call upon demons even when they got together without Brandt, but at least she was willing to discuss them.
Then, there was Jess. Jess made practicing difficult. Well, actually, just being around her was difficult, especially when she was so close he could feel the heat from her skin as she sat next to him on the sofa. Allison sat on the other side of Jess, which meant that tonight, Jess was sitting a little too close for Gage’s comfort.
She was looking at him again. He could feel it. He let out a short huff of laughter and shook his head. They’d have to end this little game soon. Either that, or by the time they finally hooked up, they’d likely kill each other.
But, when it came down to this whole experiment thing, he had to hand it to her—Jess was putting on the best show of all. She’d sometimes close her eyes, her brows pulled together in a slight frown as though she were doing her best to talk to the other side. Except now. When she was just set on torturing him.
Jess leaned forward to grab her soda from the coffee table. She’d surprised him, the way she’d so casually answered Brandt’s questions about Gracie and Emma. She’d told Brandt the truth. Sort of. That Gracie and Emma had been visiting a little more over the past couple of days.
What she hadn’t told Dr. Brandt was that the girls had come around a lot more. The only room Jess hadn’t seen them in was the storage room across the hall from where she and Allison were staying. Riley was making more of a presence, too. No one mentioned that, either. They’d all taken to placing towels over the mirrors in their rooms.
It’d been easy to fool Brandt, but Gage wondered if it had been too easy. The doc was hard to read.
Right on cue, as if he knew Gage was thinking about him, Brandt stopped staring at those freaky faces in the dining room’s molding and turned to Bryan.
He took a couple steps back toward the connecting Great Room. “How have your headaches been, Bryan? Any nosebleeds?”
“Huh?” Bryan looked up from the potted plant he was pretending to try and make vanish.
“The headaches? The nosebleeds?” Brandt repeated.
“They’re gone,” Bryan said. “Of course, I haven’t been able to make anything disappear lately.”
Gage hid a smile. Way to go, Bryan! You lie like a pro!
Brandt nodded, either buying into the lie or not caring. “Well, keep trying.” He turned to Jess. “I need you to bring out the others, Jess. There must be more ghosts here.”
“I saw the man on the stairs again,” Jess replied.
“Tell us about him,” Brandt urged, suddenly interested. Gage wanted to groan. They’d almost been free of him for the night. Why did she have to go and say anything?
Jess sighed and shook her head. “He’s just a shadow. And he either can’t talk to me or he won’t.”
Brandt nodded. “You should ask the Ouija board who he is.”
Gage didn’t dare look at the others. None of them was very fond of the Ouija board after the other night when it had told Jess to run, then hurled the planchette into the wall. Despite that, Jess had used it again at Brandt’s coaxing. They’d asked about Jess’s father, and Gracie and Emma. No one asked about Riley, the demons or even the ghost of a patron saint. And there had been no more planchette mishaps since then.
But if Allison had demons on speed dial, Jess had ghosts. There had been more ghosts around—two women who might have been maids when the Silers lived here had been spotted roaming the halls.
Jess nodded in response to Brandt’s suggestion about the man on the stairs. “I’ll ask.”
“And Gracie and Emma?” Dr. Brandt inquired.
“They’re not as transparent as they used to be.”
Yet another sign the house was getting stronger. Gage wondered if Brandt was drawing the same conclusion.
Brandt took a seat in one of the chairs. “It’s encouraging that Gracie and Emma are showing themselves to you and Allison. But we need them to show themselves around me.”
Gage exchanged glances with Bryan. Sure, the doc had been the only one who hadn’t seen them yet, but the way he’d said it seemed…off.
Jess simply nodded. “I’m trying to convince them. They’re just shy.”
Brandt stood and paced a few steps. “We need to bring out Riley. From our combined experiences, he’s the most willing. Draw out a few more ghosts, Jess. Then, we’ll hold a séance for Riley.”
With that, he walked away, leaving them alone in the Great Room. He’d been disappearing a lot lately. Two days ago had been the first time they’d noticed it, although even Allison thought some of Brandt’s earlier disappearances were because he’d been spending time in the basement. Everyone exchanged glances.
“The basement,” Allison said, echoing Gage’s thoughts. “Again.”
Mrs. Hirsch passed through, eyeing them. She’d been looking at them differently since the knife incident. Not that Gage could blame her.
He forced a smile and wiggled his fingers in mock greeting.
“Hey, Mrs. Hirsch,” Bryan said. “How’s it going?”
Bryan. Always the cheery, polite one. Mrs. Hirsch’s hand tightened on her key ring and the other hand fumbled for the pendant she wore around her neck, but her stare remained as icy as ever. Instead of answering, she nodded briefly before continuing through the Great Room and up the stairs.
Gage thought it was weird that she continued her rounds even though she could see all of them were right here. He’d have gotten used to it by now, except Mrs. Hirsch was just flat-out hard to get used to. Then again, she probably thought the same about all of them.
“Well that was pleasant,” Jess said, once Mrs. Hirsch had gone upstairs.
“Yeah, well, she’s a real people person,” Gage replied.
“I’ve got something for you,” Bryan said, reaching under the chair and pulling out a paper plate with a dead mouse on it.
“Ew!” Allison said.
Gage held up a hand. “No thanks, Bro. I’m still full from dinner.”
Bryan shot him a serious look. “It was an easy find. Do you want to practice while Brandt’s gone or not? Mrs. Hirsch won’t be back down for a little while.” He shrugged. “Not that she’d think much of it, anyway.”
Bryan nudged the plate and the mouse rolled over on its other side. “You bring it back, I make it vanish. Just like the lizard and the frog.”
Gage exhaled. He didn’t feel like doing this anymore. He wanted to do something…normal. Go out, watch TV. Anything. “We’re getting to be a real circus sideshow act here.”
For whatever reason, dead things hadn’t been too hard to find on the estate grounds. He’d been successful at reanimating a few of them, and Bryan had been equally successful at blinking them off into his version of the Bermuda Triangle.
Jess’s leg brushed against his again, making it damn impossible to think of anything else but her bare skin on his, how inviting and soft her mouth had been when they’d last kissed, how she had tasted as he’d kissed her neck, how she’d felt pressed up against him…
“I need something to drink,” he said, getting to his feet and heading to the kitchen. He opened the fridge, letting its cool air wash over his skin, then took a bottle of soda and unscrewed the cap.
“It’s getting to us all,” Allison said behind him.
Gage lifted a brow and scoffed. You have no idea, sister.
Allison retrieved the orange juice from the fridge. The bottle was almost empty. “The house,” she said removing the cap and not bothering with a glass. “The longer we’re here, the more it intensifies our emotions.”
Gage took a swig of soda. “Tell me about it.”
Which was the wrong thing to say around Allison because she would. Repeatedly. Enthusiastically. It was the one thing that made them all not to want to listen to her. It wasn’t that they didn’t believe her. How could they not? It was just that Allison took things to an extreme. Gage eyed the doorway. Jess might already be heading upstairs…
“It won’t be long,” Allison continued, clueless as to the real reason behind Gage’s discomfort. “We’ve got to hurry this up somehow. I feel it. The evil in the house. It’s like the demons are at the door and Riley is about to let them in.”
“Yeah, I know,” Gage replied. “We’re doing the best we can, okay? Stick to the plan.”
“You don’t get it,” Allison said, her voice strained. “You’re not the only one who has eyes for Jess. Riley does, too.”
Allison’s observation didn’t faze him. He figured the way he and Jess had been lately, everyone would have to be blind not to see he was attracted to her. And it didn’t surprise him that Riley or any other male would find her attractive, too. Still, Gage was used to competition from living, breathing rivals. Not ones he couldn’t see.
He pushed away from the counter. “Yeah, I sort of got that. But, he’s not her type.”
It wasn’t as though he didn’t care—he did. He understood what Allison was really saying here—that Riley would probably go for Jess first.
“Don’t be a smart ass,” Allison said, leaning in. “I’m scared, Gage. Not just for me, but for Jess. Even though this EPAC committee probably wants me the most, Siler House wants Jess the most. It’ll stop at nothing to get her.”
“Look, not everyone handles their stress around here by freaking out. I use humor. Deal with it, okay?” He was sorry the moment he’d spoken. He took another swig of soda. “Sorry. I guess we’re all stressed. Look, about Riley. We’re not going to let that happen, Allison. I promise. But what else are we supposed to do about it right now? Because, if you’ve got a better plan, I’m listening.”
Why not? Unless he was ready to just march into the Great Room and toss Jess over his shoulder and carry her off—which wasn’t going to happen—he might as well hear Allison out.
Voices from the other room began to carry into the kitchen. It was getting late, and Bryan and Jess sounded like they were going to call it a night, after all.
“Well?” Gage asked. Allison might be a bucket of crazy, but something in her expression told him she’d clearly thought this over, probably quite a bit since she didn’t sleep much at night anymore. He was game to hear her out.
“Okay,” he said. “Let’s go talk to the gang.”
“We need to talk about a lot of things, but this can’t be done during the day, Gage. We need to do the séance, but not with Dr. Brandt around. Something’s wrong with him. We need to talk about this. Tonight. But not in the house.”
Gage thought it over and nodded. Sure. Made sense, God help him. Who knew where Riley was these days? And, if they couldn’t see all the ghosts all the time, it might be better if their ethereal ears weren’t around for a change. They’d have to sneak out after Brandt had gone to sleep and Mrs. Hirsch made her first set of rounds, and be back inside before her next. Good thing he’d already made a note of when those times where. Of course, it’d been for different reasons, but what the hell.
“We all meet by the oak, three in the morning.” He tossed the bottle cap into the trash and walked out.
“What do you think Brandt is doing down in the basement?” Bryan asked Gage once they were back in their room.
“No idea. We could follow him the next time.” Gage sank onto his bed. Brandt was either up to something or his train had left the station. But either way, the doc was beginning to worry him. It was as though he was on something, like he was spacing out on them.
The house? Could it be the house has gotten to him that much? Or is he shutting down, like Allison does sometimes after she overdoses on freak-out?
“I’m curious, but I don’t think we should push it,” Bryan replied. “Whatever he’s doing in the basement, it means he’s not spending as much time with us. Gives us time to practice.”
Gage stared up at the ceiling. “We’re going to have to be ready whenever he wants to do this séance. I hope Allison holds it together. If she doesn’t, there’s no telling what she’ll bring over.”
“Think she can fake it?”
Gage shrugged. “She’s not going to try to actually summon Riley, and neither am I, but we can’t be sure it won’t work, anyway. We’ve been pushing our luck with the Ouija board. I don’t know if whatever’s holed up on the other side is going to stay there if we end up doing a séance and the Ouija board is present.”
“What does Jess think?” Bryan asked. “Does she think Allison can do it? Close the door to anything that might want to drop in on her and stay a while?”
“Not sure. We haven’t had a lot of time to talk about that,” Gage said.
Bryan laughed softly.
“It’s not like that. Yet. Unfortunately. We just haven’t had a lot of time to ourselves at all. Much less to talk about Allison.”
Bryan laughed again.
“Shut up.”
Bryan grinned. “Fine. Truce.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “Hey, I’m going to the kitchen for something to drink. Want another soda or something?”
“No, I’m good,” Gage replied.
“Suit yourself,” Bryan said as he headed out of the room.
Gage lay on his bed, hands propped behind his head.
Jess. He couldn’t get her off his mind. Not just because she was turning him on all the time. But because she took his mind off everything else for a while—Ben, his parents, this house. Everyone looked to him to help make things right when he really didn’t have a clue at all how to do that.
He felt badly for Jess at times. All she wanted was a chance to see her dad once more—to tell him she was sorry for not being there when he’d died. To tell him she loved him. Sometimes, he lay awake at night wondering if there was some way to help her with that. Other nights, like tonight, it was just hard not to think of her in…other ways.
Gage rolled over and punched his pillow a few times.