Wraiths of Winter (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 3) (27 page)

Once I was in the room, I heard the sound of his
footsteps trudging back out to the stage but I closed the door
behind me anyway. There was no way I would let that man
sneak up behind me. If he decided to return, at least I would
have the sound of the opening door as a warning. I surveyed
the room I was in and realized it was a dressing room. It was
small and empty except for a small table with a large, badly
streaked mirror behind it.

I dragged the rack to an empty spot against the wall
and began to separate the costumes and hang them neatly one
by one.
With my back to the door, I started to get the
sensation that someone was watching me.
Swiftly, I swung
my head around expecting to catch Jackson staring back from
the doorway.
But the door was still closed and I was still
alone. Allison should have been my first suspect but for some
reason I knew that it wasn’t her. The invisible eyes on me
belonged to the living, not to the dead.

There weren’t any windows and the door was tightly
closed. There wasn’t anywhere in the room to hide. Even the
walls were bare so the old “moving eyes behind a painting
trick” wasn’t a possibility. If there was a video camera hidden
somewhere, would it give me that same sensation of being
watched? It was a discomforting thought but it wouldn’t be
the first time some perv filmed someone undressing. I knew
that
all too well. Misty would pay one day for what she did to
me—I just didn’t quite know how. Yet.

It didn’t take long for me to determine that there
weren’t any cameras in the room, either. The theater was
creepy and
gave me
the willies—maybe that was
all the
explanation I needed.
Returning to the rack of costumes, I
went back to work still plagued by uneasiness. Then, I heard
the noises.

They were soft and barely audible at first but grew
louder each time I heard them. Squish. Slide. Squish.
Slide.
Crick, crick, crick. The sounds repeated in that order over and
over and they were coming from the hallway.
If Jackson
thought he was sneaking up on me, he was dumber than he
looked and it was time to let him know that.

Tiptoeing to the door, I pressed my ear against the
wooden panel and listened quietly.
Squish.
Slide.
Squish.
Slide. Crick, crick, crick. The sound was definitely growing
closer but for once I had the element of surprise on my side. I
gripped the door knob in my left hand and waited until the
sound seemed to be just outside the room.
Then with a
dramatic flair, I swung the door open to confront him. Only it
wasn’t Jackson and the element of surprise undoubtedly
belonged to the figure in the hallway.

Allison lay there with her stomach on the floor,
dragging herself forward with the palms of her hands and
leaving a trail of blood behind her. With each movement, it
gushed out of her by the pint until there was a crimson stain
in every crack of the wooden floor. Crick, crick, crick. That
was the sound of vertebrae popping as her head moved in a
slow swivel until she was staring at the ceiling as she crawled.

Forget about the costumes, I’m out of here! Her cold,
porcelain-white hand grabbed for my ankle as I ran past her
down the hallway. EEEEAAAHHH!
Her piercing wail sliced
through the air and I was thrown into darkness. The lights in
the hallway extinguished simultaneously and the glow of the
chandelier in the auditorium disappeared as well.
Squish.
Slide. Squish. Slide. Crick, crick, crick. This time a new sound
followed.
It was the sound of furious scampering.
It was
behind me, beside me—above me.
She was moving around
me in an erratic pattern.
When I thought I knew where she
was, she was on the move again.

Something
dropped
down
from
the
ceiling
and
brushed
against
my
face.
I
released
a
scream
from
somewhere deep inside,
somewhere
dark and
primal.
I
stumbled blindly down the narrow hallway until I heard my
name being called from the shadows.

“Ru!” Lucas cried out to me. “We’re coming to get
you!”

I followed the sound of his voice, lurching down the
hallway with Allison taunting me at every step.
A frenzied
mix of voices in the auditorium blended together so that I
couldn’t tell what was being said. But I definitely heard the
word “flashlight” and then a beam of white cut through the
gloom.

Rachel and Lucas became visible only a few feet ahead
of me and the unearthly noises ceased. Allison was gone and I
was safe. Safe with Lucas.

Rachel raced toward me with her arms primed for an
embrace. But she wasn’t the one I wanted to comfort me.
Instead, I launched myself at Lucas, knocking the flashlight
out of his hand.

“Ru, you’re shaking! What happened?” Lucas asked as
he wrapped his arms around me.

“Someone was watching me! Then, the noises and the
lights! She didn’t want to let me go!” I buried my head in the
crook of his neck and began to sob.

“Who was watching you, Ru? Who wouldn’t let you
go?” Lucas stroked my hair comfortingly as I cried.

A blast of light hit me square in the eyes. “Yeah, Ruby.
You have some explaining to do.” Rachel said coldly, keeping
the flashlight trained on my face.

She wasn’t talking about my experience in the hallway
because she knew perfectly well what I was talking about.
She was referring to me and Lucas—arms wrapped tightly
around each other in what probably looked like more than a
friendly embrace.
And it
was
more but even I didn’t know
what it was exactly. How could I explain
that
?

20. Whiteout

Begrudgingly, I pulled away from Lucas who was just
as reluctant to let go.
Rachel glared at me as I stood there
frightened and confused. What did she expect? What I had to
tell her couldn’t be said until we were alone. And what she
had to say to me shouldn’t be said in front of Lucas. What was
wrong
with me lately? I had the most wonderful boyfriend in
the history of dating but I couldn’t seem to stay away from
Lucas. Zach was gorgeous and he treated me like a princess.
He was smart and funny and he respected me like no one else
I’d ever met. He was always there when I needed him. He
risked his life to save mine more than once—he even swore
that he would take a bullet for me! I was wearing the promise
ring he gave me and we had plans for our future together.
There wasn’t a single reason why I should ever doubt my
feelings for him.

Except there was.
Lucas
was
a living, breathing
replica of someone I loved with all my heart for more than
half my
life.
My
relationship with Lee wasn’t based on
chemistry—it was based on emotion. But the fire we never
had, I found in Lucas. They were two halves of one whole.
And those two halves were what was tearing me apart.

Rachel lit the way back to the auditorium and Lucas
and I followed her. Nearly two feet of space separated us as
we walked but the emotional gap had closed significantly.
Things were rapidly changing between us. I couldn’t deny it
anymore. I was in love with both of them. What was I going
to do?

The rest of the group
was
already
seated and
whispering wildly amongst themselves. What had everyone
so excited? Surely, my scream alone wouldn’t have set off this
kind
of
flurry.
Straining
to
hear
even
a
snippet
of
conversation, I noticed one word being uttered repeatedly.
Phantom.

Jonas emerged from the darkness with a flashlight of
his own. “Listen up,” he announced sternly. “I can assure you
this has nothing to do with the mythical phantom.
That old
legend was borne out of pure ignorance—nothing more. The
snowstorm is bearing down on us and I am certain that is
where our
blackout originated.
Regardless
of
how
it
occurred, the blackout has definitely ended our rehearsal for
tonight. If we get as much snow as they’re predicting, we may
not be meeting tomorrow, either.
I will post cancellations on
the theater’s website so be sure to check it. I’ll see you next
time—whenever that may be.”

Jonas led the way to the main exit and we followed in
single file. What phantom was everyone talking about? As far
as
I could tell,
Allison was
the only
ghost haunting
the
Bantam. Her death occurred five years ago while the theater
was closed. What kind of old legend could have arisen from
that?
No, the legend of the phantom seemed to go back
further than
that.
I would have to ask Dad if he
knew
anything about it.

The blowing snow assaulted us as we made our way
to our cars.
As bad as the stinging flakes felt against my
cheeks, it would be nothing compared to the verbal battering
Rachel undoubtedly had in store for me. After she was done
with me, I would probably be wishing I’d just let Allison drag
me down into the grave with her. And when she told Zach—
which I was sure she would—I would take another wave of
bashing from him. Was it too late to turn around and take my
chances with Allison instead?

Lucas issued a brief statement before getting into his
car, Rachel’s burning gaze prevented him from saying more.
“Be careful driving home.”

I smiled and nodded. “You, too.” Then a funny thing
struck me—the street lights were all aglow.
Looks like the
storm wasn’t responsible for the blackout after all. I wasn’t
surprised.

Once inside Rachel’s car, I waited nervously for her to
chastise me for running to Lucas for comfort.
How could I
explain it to her in a way that she would understand? If she
weren’t Zach’s sister, I would tell her everything. But how
could I tell her that I loved her brother and Lucas both at the
same time? Why did my life have to be so complicated?

“Tell me what happened in the hallway—the Allison
part first, please,” she instructed.

I relayed what I heard and saw before the lights went
out and she listened intently.
The roads were blanketed in
white so the drive was much slower than it should have been.
Just my luck—the one time I wanted to get away from her
fast, I was stuck in the car with her indefinitely.
To make
matters worse, we ended up behind the slowest moving snow
plow in the entire state of Pennsylvania. Again, FML.

“Do you know anything about the phantom they were
all whispering about? Jonas seemed pretty jacked that they
brought it up.” Maybe if we talked about the theater long
enough, she would forget all about me and Lucas.

“No,” she said brusquely, “I’ll ask Mom and Dad if
they’ve ever heard of it. Right now, though, I want you to tell
me what’s going on between you and Lucas. You two looked
awfully cozy there in the dark.”

“Rachel, I was just scared—nothing more! If Zach had
been there, I would have run to him instead—I swear!”

 

“Are you sure about that?” she said accusingly.

 

“Positive!” And I
was
positive.

“You have feelings for Lucas. Don’t even
try
to
pretend you don’t—it’s obvious. But I can tell you still love
my brother, too. You can talk to me about this, you know.”

“There’s nothing to talk about, Rachel.
And please,
don’t say anything to Zach! He already hates Lucas enough as
it is. If he hears this, he might do something stupid like he did
with Ryan.”

Rachel remained quiet for a moment as she turned
down the road to Rosewood. “Fine,” she finally said. “But you
better get this whole thing straightened out fast. If you would
rather be with Lucas, don’t string Zach along, okay? He loves
you. Don’t keep hurting him like this.”

Hurting Zach was the last thing in the world I wanted
to do. So why did I seem to keep doing it? I agreed to Rachel’s
request and got out of the car.
Wading through the heaps of
snow, I made my way to the house even more torn than when
I left it. She was right about one thing, though. This
did
need
to end.
But what I used to think was the obvious ending
suddenly didn’t seem so definite anymore. What was I going
to do?

The storm turned into a full out blizzard by morning,
leaving me with no work and no rehearsal. I was left alone
with my thoughts which were just as dangerous as the snow
covered roads outside. Zach’s phone call that night convinced
me that Rachel didn’t breathe a word of what happened
between me and Lucas. I felt horrible that I asked his own
sister to lie to him, but what else could I do? If he found out,
he would kill Lucas. I had to take this time alone to dissect my
heart and make a final decision.

I lay down in bed and stared at the ceiling for hours
making a pros and cons list in my head to see who would
come out on top. I kept track of the reasons to choose Lucas
on my left hand and Zach on my right.
When I ran out of
fingers on my right hand, I knew the answer was clear. Zach.
It always came back to Zach. So why was I still thinking about
Lucas?

Simple. He represented all of the moments I never got
to have with Lee. Like crossing that bridge safely for one and
getting to live a normal life for another.
He was my only
connection to my past, a past not fraught with death and
danger on a daily basis. If I were to tell him all of my dark
secrets, maybe that bond would be broken.
Once he was a
part of my new hideous existence, that feeling of being free
when I was with him would be gone. He wouldn’t reveal my
secrets if I shared them with him. I
knew
he wouldn’t.