“He left it behind. Someone…Glass told him to. Told him to shove it away, but he only left it. The book isn’t happy about that.” Hugh asked Nick how he knew that. “It told us.”
Nick turned the book to them, and they all stared at it then back at him. When Hugh cleared his throat and looked at the others, Nick knew whatever he said was going to be more frightening than what the entire missive said.
“There’s nothing there, buddy. Just a blank page. I don’t think we’re supposed to be able to read it, just you and Addie.” He put his hands behind his back as he moved ahead of the rest of them. “What does it say? Can you…do you suppose you can tell us, or is that going to cause you some trouble?”
He didn’t know. Looking at Addie, he was pretty sure she had no idea either. When she took the book from him and sat down, he could see that her hands were trembling, and her knees were slightly wobbly looking too. His were too if he was honest with himself, and he sat on the floor at her feet.
“Joel Patrick Delaney, holder of the book, has disgraced and discarded these pages. His name has been stricken from the help that this can offer him. His heart is not true, his body is…his body is black. The new holder of this book will destroy him.”
“Christ.” Nick nodded and put his head down on Addie’s knee as Steele paced. “Do you have any idea what it takes to destroy the dead? The amount of power that…I don’t think either of you have it. I’m sorry, but I don’t, and it’s…sometimes it’s just too much.”
“I don’t want this.” Nick looked up at Addie when she spoke to Steele. “Here, you take it. You’re the all-powerful shit around here. I didn’t believe in ghosts before I came here, and I’d just as soon not have to kill one of them no matter what kind of abusive prick he was. I’m sure that in death he’s not any better, but right now I just want to go and buy my house and move on with my life.”
“What house?” They all looked at Mitch when he spoke. “The house with the green kitchenware? The black and white floor?”
“Yes.” Addie sounded scared. “You were there. I love that house. It has a lot of character. The appliances can be changed, the floor cleaned, but I love that house. I met…I think I met Nick there in another life.”
“It’s haunted again. But not with the dead.” Steele asked Mitch what he meant. “She’s there. Ellen. I wasn’t sure until today if it was her or not, but she’s there. And so is Glass.”
“No.” Mitch nodded at Nick. “No. My stepfather would not be hooking up with her. That would just be…Christ, she’s really with him?”
“I don’t think she knows he’s there as yet.” Mitch moved to the table and, using a spoon that was laying there, he pushed the book back at Addie. “Ask it. All you have to do is have your hand over it when you need something answered. Just ask it.”
“I don’t want to. I don’t want any part of this.” Mitch told Addie it was too late for that. “Please, don’t make me do this. I don’t want to have to meet up with either of them again.”
“They’re going to continue to kill. You know that as well as I do. Once he’s shown himself to her, there will be no end to their terror. The house, it has its own secrets, Addie, just as you do. But should they not be stopped, then they will hurt Nick.” Nick stood up and pulled Addie into his arms as Mitch continued. “There are nine ghosts there now, not including Glass and one other man I can’t recognize. Children too, though I’m not sure why they’re there just yet. It seems to me that he’s gathering an army. And we’ve seen what a bunch of ill-tempered ghosts can do when they get together.”
“Yes.” Nick lifted Addie’s chin up and looked down at her. “They can move things, pick things up. Their anger can kill people, control them too. Once they are a group with a human to feed them, and one as evil as Ellen—she’ll be able to feed an army—they will be nearly unstoppable.”
“What does the house have?” When she asked, Nick told her he didn’t understand. But she looked at Mitch. “You said the house had a secret. What is it? I have some too, but what does the house have to do with this?”