CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
“We’ve got to keep moving,” Gage said.
He might be pretending to stay calm, but Jess knew otherwise. He was as terrified as everyone else. She slid her hand into his as he guided them in what she hoped was the right direction. The basement windows were only on one side. Of course, they had no idea what might be in their path, or which window had been broken. With only the light from the video camera, she found it difficult to gain her bearings.
Spiders nested along old basement windows. But Jess’s fear of them didn’t outweigh her fear of the house itself.
They moved through the area the remodeling crew had set up. The sawhorses and tools looked like wreckage from the Titanic in this light. Ladders, paint cans and other items were scattered around the area.
Gage tugged at her. He’d stopped to pick up something from a makeshift workbench littered with all kinds of things—a foam coffee cup, a soda can, wrappers from a fast-food place, a pack of cigarettes. And a can of paint thinner.
Gage grabbed the paint thinner. “Pay dirt!” He held up the first object he’d snagged—a lighter. “We’re gonna light this place up.”
“Not while we’re in it!” Bryan objected.
“No, once we crawl out the window. Keep an eye out for more stuff we can set on fire.”
Jess grabbed a couple of dirty rags hanging off a sawhorse. They weren’t much, but it was a start. With all the junk down here they should have no trouble setting the house ablaze. No house, no Riley. This nightmare would end.
“You’re going the wrong way!” a small voice said. “The window is over here.”
The voice remained bodiless for a second as Jess squinted into the dark. Gracie and Emma steadily materialized before them. “Hurry,” Emma said. “Dr. Brandt is coming! You have to hurry!”
“You’re supposed to be at peace,” Jess gasped. The sight of them frightened her. She was done seeing ghosts. If she never saw another, it’d be too soon.
“We promised to help,” Gracie said. She took her sister’s hand and they ran into the darkness.
Before Jess could object or dwell on what to do, Bryan headed the direction the girls had gone. Allison appeared doubtful, but followed them across the basement. The girls ran ahead, the camera light making them appear paper-thin. Somewhere in the basement, Brandt cursed as he stumbled around in the dark looking for them. He was getting closer, though.
“Over here!” Gracie called back. “He’ll be here soon!”
Emma pointed up. “There. There’s the window.”
Bryan panned the camera. It picked up the outline of a window frame, and a dirty reflection. Glass. The window wasn’t broken.
She turned to Gracie and Emma. “It’s not broken. It’s the wrong window.”
The girls smiled. “We know. We don’t want you to go.”
Gracie played with her sister’s hair, fixing the ribbon in it. “We said we’d help you, but we didn’t say how. We’re helping you come to us. We love you, Jess. We want you here. With us. Forever.”
“Light the place up,” Bryan whispered to Gage. “If we’re trapped, so are they. Fire is supposed to burn things clean, right? Make things pure again. Just light it up.”
“You don’t understand, do you?” Emma said.
“If you burn the house, you’ll free all the darkness inside it. You won’t stop Riley and you won’t stop us,” Gracie added.
Emma grinned, and for the first time, Jess saw all the malice behind that little girl smile. “Burn the house, you’ll set us all free. We can go anywhere, then.”
“The bones,” Jess whispered.
“Yes, thank you,” Gracie said. “Too bad they weren’t ours. They were Riley’s. Papa killed him and left him in the woods for the wild things to eat.”
This was it, Jess thought. They’d die here. Worse, they’d spend eternity here.
“Here.” Bryan handed Allison the camera.
She frowned. “What am I supposed to do with it?”
“Just hold it!” Bryan closed his eyes in concentration, wincing and inhaling sharply.
Gracie and Emma began to flicker. “We won’t stay gone. That part only works on physical things,” Gracie hissed, and then they vanished.
Bryan swayed, then managed to right himself. Blood trickled from his nose.
“Two down, two to go,” Gage murmured. “Come on, we’ve got to find that window.”
“You heard them,” Allison said, her voice trembling. “They’ll be back. Whatever Bryan can do, I don’t think it works the same on spirits.”
“That’s an understatement,” Bryan muttered.
“Yeah, well, we’ll take whatever time we’ve got.” Gage flicked the lighter and moved along the wall with it, searching. Allison righted the camera, aiming it at eye level.
“You okay?” Gage asked. Bryan nodded.
They fumbled their way to the next window, which wasn’t broken either, and the sick feeling in Jess’s stomach worsened. Had Brandt lied about the broken window to get them down here? Beside her, Bryan wasn’t looking so good. Apparently, zapping spirits took more out of him than dead birds, keys and abusive fathers. Jess took him by the arm to help steady him.
A support wall stopped their progress. Jess’s panic was nearly unbearable now. Gage must have sensed her fear. He leaned in and kissed the side of her head.
“Don’t worry. We’ve just got to follow this wall until we reach the next window.”
Jess didn’t mention the obvious. That following the wall meant going back to the center of the basement. No one spoke as they inched their way in the near darkness. It felt like an eternity. Finally, they reached the end of the wall. Now, all they had to do was follow it back toward the windows. Jess wanted to run, just bolt toward it, but without lighting, they could get turned around.
Gage stopped and flicked off the lighter. He turned to Jess and whispered. “Hear that?”
Everyone stopped and listened.
Jess shook her head. She heard absolutely nothing.
“I don’t hear anything,” Allison said softly, stepping past Gage.
He grabbed her arm and pulled her back. “Exactly. That means Brandt is probably around the corner.”