The Haunting (6 page)

Phoebe stumbled backwards, and the blackness adhered to her. All I could see were her shoes when she fell. It took me a second to realize that it wasn’t a shadow at all but a black cloak. Phoebe ripped it off of her head, her face scarlet with fury, and I heard a familiar voice around the corner.

“Oh thank God, it’s you,” Robin said.

“Yes, it’s me,” Phoebe spat, standing. She flung the black cloak to the floor, and one of her knees buckled. She grabbed the wall before she could fall again. I wondered if it had given out or went numb on her, but Phoebe glared at me when I raised my eyebrows at her in question.

“What the hell is this?” Joel kicked the cloak as Read and Cody stepped up around Robin.

“We found it back there,” Robin replied. “We heard you guys thinking maybe you weren’t really you and threw it at you just in case.”

Upon closer inspection, I saw the tiny hairs along the outside and recognized it. It was Neive’s cloak. I’d used my powers with the ghosts, I thought. Damien said something about it had changed. Was Neive paying for my mistake again? I thought of the missing patch of hair behind her ear.

“Because a cloak would stop a monster,” Phoebe snapped. She rotated the ankle of her buckled leg.

Read’s calm rational voice replied. It was the first time I had heard him speak since the first Challenge. I should have been delighted to see him doing well, but I couldn’t pull my mind away from Neive’s laugh. Why laugh if there was a punishment?

“No,” Read said, “but throwing it at a monster would delay it enough to give us a head start.”

“Did you guys find anything?” Joel asked Robin specifically. I noticed he didn’t even glance at Cody or Read. His tone was even polite rather than snarly.

Robin frowned. “Other than the cloak, no. Only clue is that someone might be running around the castle naked.”

“Castle?” Phoebe began. “How big is it?”

“Nora,” Read whispered, sliding closer to me, his hooded grey eyes shrouded in concern. “Are you okay?”

I shook my head; I couldn’t help myself. The others talked about where they had been, and I whispered, “It’s nothing.”

They didn’t know about Neive. They didn’t know about my partial demon blood. None of them knew any of it. Revealing it now didn’t feel
right
. It wasn’t their cross to bear; it was mine. Besides, I didn’t want to see Joel’s accusing stare or hear Phoebe rant or see Robin’s sympathetic glances. I didn’t want any of them to stop trusting me. I was still me.

Read eyed me. “Are you sure?”

Hugging myself, I attempted a smile. “I should be asking you that. You were barely awake when they got you out of the door.”

“You and Phoebe were worse off, I think,” Read pointed out. “You both had us really scared.”

My eyes shifted toward Robin and Cody. Robin smiled and, oddly enough, seeing her happy lit the fire of betrayal again. Then there was Phoebe. She had burst amongst the ghosts without talking it over with anyone. She always barreled into situations without thinking.
It’s what killed her
, I thought.

I avoided Read’s eyes; I feared he might see my dark thoughts. I reached down and plucked the cloak from the floor. The ache in my chest grew heavier as I draped it over my arm.

“What are you going to do with that?” Robin asked.

I restrained myself from snapping at her. “You never know,” I replied coldly. “We should get moving.”

“To where?” Joel asked.

“I don’t know, Joel,” I muttered, turning my back on them all. I was alone after all. All alone in this crowd of people I should trust. I should have been brave enough to go it alone in the first place. I hated that I was such a coward. “We have to face something here. We won’t find it just standing around.”

I wasn’t sure if it was my voice or the fact that I didn’t wait, but they’d fallen in behind anyway.

Phoebe didn’t stride up next to me as I half expected. She still didn’t trust me. And why should she?

I wished Aidan were here. He’d understand. He knew about my aunt and my twin, and I knew about his grandfather. I would have given anything in that moment to have him at my side.

As we passed the strange doll, I cast a sideways glance at it. The child-like figure disturbed me even more on the second pass.

The little niche we had hidden in before was still lit and empty as we passed. Our footsteps were remarkably quiet on the stone floor, though socks, bare feet, and sneakers often did that. I glanced over my shoulder to make sure everyone was still there. Read was the only one who met my gaze. The rest had their eyes wandering the walls and shadows for any sign of a threat.

The windows, though spread apart, got all the attention as we passed. I couldn’t see anything but darkness and the occasional lightning strike. No hills, no clouds, just the storm.

We made our way around the first corner; this hallway looked exactly the same as the last.

My confident footsteps faltered as I noticed the brown wooden door in the wall. It stood between two of the rain-splattered windows. The windows were just as grimy and gave no indication that there was anything but the storm behind them.

Phoebe moved to step past me, her hand outstretched for the doorknob. I stepped in front of her before she could just grab it. Her forest-green eyes widened in surprise as she ran into me. “What the…”

“Don’t just dive in this time. We’re a group. We need to decide this as a group.”

“I was just going to—”

“No,” I interrupted.

“What is your problem?” Phoebe asked, her eyes wide and threatening. She was trying to intimidate me, and usually it worked. I admit I felt the urge to look away but held firm.

“I don’t have a problem. But I would like to get out of here alive.” The moment I said it, I realized what I’d said and instantly regretted it.

Phoebe stepped back, sucking in her cheeks, looking wounded.

“It’s just a door,” Joel pointed out. “It’s not even black.”

“A door that leads to nowhere.” I pointed toward the window.

Joel’s frown creased the corner of his full mouth. “We’ll never know ‘til we open that door.” He moved to step around me.

Slamming my back against the door, I blocked him completely. “Would you stop? We need to vote or something.” If I were forced to grapple with Joel, I knew I’d lose, but I’d have tried.

“Fine,” Phoebe snapped. “I’m with Joel.”

Before the others could vote, I snapped, “Just because you have a ring doesn’t mean nothing will happen to—”

“Ring?” Joel boomed.

Phoebe narrowed her stinging gaze at me before she turned to face our friends.

“You got one?” Robin gasped, her eyes already staring at Phoebe’s right hand. Cody grimaced and fell back a step. Robin grabbed Phoebe’s hand and stared down at the silver circle as if it were an engagement ring. “How’d you get it?”

Joel scowled. “Yeah, how’d you get it?”

Phoebe explained about the ghost and vomit. Robin made a face at this and released Phoebe’s hand as if it stung her.

“Which means there could still be a ring in here somewhere.” I pointed to the hallways. “So if this door is our way out, we know where it is.”

“So what now?” Joel asked, meeting my eyes in a challenge.

I shrugged. “We can keep walking?”

“I know,” Joel said, an unnerving grin creasing his lips. He almost looked handsome with the smile. “Why don’t you ask Damien?”

Astounded, I couldn’t help but laugh at him. It was such an absurd suggestion that I couldn’t believe I’d expected something worse. “Sure thing,” I snorted. “Give me a second and I’ll text him.”

Robin said, “What? She can’t just go and ask him.”

“No?” Joel asked, cocking an eyebrow. “He sure seems to like to show up to her only. Has he even talked to any of us alone other than to explain a Challenge?”

No one answered. No one had to.

“So what makes you so special?” Joel asked.

Phoebe rolled her eyes to the ceiling, exasperated. Cody stared down, dragging abstract patterns in the dust with the toe of his shoe.

Robin inspected the faces around her, confused. “I think I missed something. He talks to you
alone
?” she asked me finally.

I shrugged, my tongue tying itself up in my mouth.

I barely heard Robin ask, “What did you talk about?”

“What?” I asked, stalling shamefully.

Joel sounded pompous even when faking cheeriness. “What did you two love birds talk about?”

Robin sneered. “Love…oh my God, Joel don’t be…” Her sneer slackened as she trailed off, her eyes widening.

“What?” I asked again.

Robin gasped, loud enough to startle me. “It makes sense. Why he’d only come to you. I mean, you got out once, right? You were able to get back. What if Damien…” She hesitated and glanced at Cody, unsure, before continuing. “…
likes
you.”

Two comments in ten minutes that had me floored. “Are you kidding me?” I squeaked. “If Damien liked me,” I pointed out, “don’t you think I’d get a ring first instead of Phoebe?”

If they knew about the kiss, I’d be damned.

That’s when it hit me, nearly as sharp as Damien’s slap.

He liked me, really liked me. He’d been offended when I wanted it to all to be a dream. He was downright pissed that I’d kiss him, thinking it wasn’t real. After the dream, he’d disappeared, hadn’t showed himself again. Instead, it had been Neive that I’d heard and Neive who’d saved me from the cemetery.

The part I decided not to dwell on was that I was somehow glad it was real. It meant the kiss before had been real.
I could stay here.
I shuddered at the involuntary idea and brushed my sides as if that could expel the notion.

Phoebe said, “She’s got a point though. Why give me the ring first?”

“Why would he want to give her one? It would mean she could go home,” Joel argued. “He was more than happy to trade her before.” His stony expression never wavered. “What did you two talk about? When he’s stealing you off while we’re left behind?”

Robin opened her mouth to ask when Cody touched her arm, silencing her.

“We talked about the Challenge,” I said slowly. It wasn’t exactly a lie. I tried to think of what to do. Face the truth and risk them leaving me behind? I felt sick at the thought. I knew Joel would drop me the second he could, but would Phoebe? Phoebe, who turned around to come back for me? How about Cody? Who had helped me escape the wolves in the first Challenge? Or Robin, who was scared of everything except balconies? Then there was Read, who had always been my buddy in the real world, but here things were different. Survival meant a lot to us as individuals rather than the group. We could die here. Cooper never had a chance.

“What about it? What couldn’t you discuss in front of the rest of us?” Joel loomed like a menacing shadow.

I glared up at him, standing my ground. “We talked about…” I saw all three of my friends staring at me as I answered as cryptically and simply as I could, “…me.”

“You?” Joel gritted his teeth, unsatisfied.

“Yes and it’s none of your business,” I snapped.

“Why would he want to talk about you?” Joel continued, ignoring my demands completely. “What is so special about you? He could talk about any one of us, but he keeps choosing you.”

I realized that I didn’t want to tell Joel. If it were just me and my friends, I might have been able to spill the truth easier, but with Joel’s accusing stares and snide remarks, I wasn’t sure if I could reveal the power. “We talked about my sister.”

“Mona or Caitlin?” Phoebe asked.

I shook my head, closing my eyes so I wouldn’t have to look at them.

Neive had disappeared when we were five. The loss of her had stricken my parents so much that they had decided to move to Leland. Only one picture in the house saluted her memory.

“No,” Phoebe whispered, understanding. “Your twin?”

I nodded, squinting through my lashes to look at her. “My aunt,”
or rather our mother
, I shuddered at the thought, “knew about the Demon’s Grave. She tried to break into it. As a sacrifice, she had to use one of her own flesh and blood.”

Robin pressed her hands to her mouth.

I hated the dramatics and wanted Robin to turn her teary pale eyes away. I should have hated her for leaving me behind, and instead I wanted her to stop looking so sad.

“Neive died, and I got away. At least I thought she had died. She’s here.”

“Like
here
?” Robin’s bottom lip trembled. “In the Demon’s Grave?”

I avoided meeting her gaze, fearing that the sight of her tears might spring my own. “Yeah. I didn’t know it at the time, but she was the tiger. I met her for the first time before this Challenge started.”

“Was she older?” Phoebe asked. At Joel’s queried eyebrow, she added, “Time is different here. Maybe she was still a kid.”

“No.” I waved my hands to stop her. “She looked the same age as me.”

“Sooooo.” Joel stared at me, the malice melting away. “What happened to your aunt?”