Ghost Island (13 page)

CHAPTER 25

I dreamed about him all night. The way our bodies blended into the music when we danced. The way his sweater smelled when I pressed my cheek against it.
The tickle of his hair across my face.
Although I knew Aaron had to be part of what was happening at the casino, I could still hope. No, strike that. I no longer hoped, but I could still remember.

I woke with a start and realized that Grace was shaking me.

“Are you okay,
Livia
?” She sat on the edge of the bed, already dressed, her hair pulled back into a messy copper-colored bun. “You were really out.”

“The tea must have worked.” I pulled myself up. Daylight flickered in through the partially open curtains, and rain trickled down the glass windowpanes. I wasn’t about to mention the ghost girl in the eyelet jacket. “What about you?”

“The best sleep I’ve had.” She got up and threw the curtains the rest of the way open.

I shielded my eyes from the bright sun then squinted at her. “You look great. No dreams?”

“None, thanks to that little bedtime cocktail. You made us take most of it. I was worried that you wouldn’t have enough for yourself.”

“Almost enough.
I started to drift back but kept waking up. That’s definitely the trick, Grace. We can’t let ourselves dream.”

“We hardly have any of Daniel’s tea left, and Johnny’s determined to find that Matt guy he’s been talking about.”

“Johnny!” I jumped out of bed. “He’s going to try to go to the casino. We need to stop him.”

“Charles is with him,” she said. “Besides, he drank more tea than any of us.”

“Because he needed it more than we did.”

“What about tonight? How are we going to keep from dreaming again?”

“I have an idea,” I told her.

I wasn’t sure it would work, but we were running out of options.

***

Through the steady rain, the island glistened like a toy city. From our perch on the top of the hill, the buildings were polished to bright hues of white, b
lu
e, and red. Far below us, the gleaming roof of the casino seemed too pristine to hide anything as evil as what we had experienced. Yet I knew better. The spirits there had tried to take Grace and Charles. Now they were after Johnny. Dissuading him was not going to be easy. They were able to hook into a need so deep and primal that reason was no match for their power.
Grace’s need to find her sister.
Charles’ need to reclaim his family’s wealth.
My need for...what?

“What’s the matter?” Grace asked as we headed for the hotel lobby.

“I’m just trying to figure out what to do to keep them away from Johnny.”

“There’s nothing you can say that will change his mind. Remember how you tried to convince me? All I could think about was Felicia and how close I was to finding her. Besides, what if Peggy doesn’t give us any tea?”

“I’m sure she will. I’ll admit I was starting to wonder about her. Now, I think she’s just confused.”

“What about her husband? Do you think Daniel was right?”

“All I know is I saw Norm,” I said. “I talked to him.”

“I didn’t.”

“He looked real to me, Grace.”

“But you’ve seen ghosts before, right?”

I nodded. “But usually I know what they are.”

The others hadn’t seemed real. Norm had.
So had Aaron.

“What’s the matter?” she asked again.

“Nothing.
I’m just trying to think.”

“I’m not sure Johnny will drink the tea,” she said. “He wants to be in that casino more than anything.”

“Then, we’ll just have to think of something else.” I pulled open the door.

Hazy dim light and the smell of coffee filled the room. Johnny and Charles sat at the long table, their heads bent in serious conversation. Johnny’s expression was angry. He pounded the table and said something to Charles.

Across from them, Emily leaned against the countertop and poured coffee for three girls who were holding out their empty cups.

“
Livia
, look,” Grace whispered. “It’s—”

“I know.” Those girls had been on the catamaran with us. Now they moved like dolls that had just come to life, testing their limbs, surveying their surroundings.

Emily glanced across the room. Our eyes met, and she held my gaze defiantly. The girls moved closer to her and studied me with curious expressions.

“Stay calm,” I told Grace.

“So there you are.” I whirled around and came face-to-face with Ms. Gates. Her dark hair was part in and part out of her ponytail, and her eyes were wide with fear or anger, maybe both. “Do you have any idea how much trouble you’re in?”

“I can explain,” I said.

“You could have been killed, all of you. What possessed you to leave the island in the middle of the night?”

“And why don’t we all just calm down and start with the facts?” Grace said.

“Don’t try to cover for her. I know what you did.” Her gaze flicked from me, across the room, then back.

“Let me guess,” I said. “Emily told you. But before you’re in such a hurry to believe her, why don’t you talk to us?”

“There’s nothing you can say that would convince me what you did was right. You certainly should have spoken to me first.”

“I couldn’t,” I said. “You’d have made sure I stayed here.”

“What could be important enough to risk your life and the lives of the others?”

“The rest of the kids.”
Why couldn’t she understand that? “We went looking for them.”

“As you can see, several of them have already arrived safely.”

The girls had put down their coffee and stood watching us, their arms curved in front of them like ballerinas at rest.

“What’s wrong with them?” Grace asked.

“They’ve had a traumatic time,” Ms. Gates said. “Finding out you four were gone most of the night hasn’t helped any.”

“How they’d get here?”

“Mr. Freeman brought them on the catamaran. It was a dangerous trip, and they’re understandably upset. He’s having repairs made to the boat, and he and the boys will be back tonight. So everyone is safe, no thanks to you,
Livia
.”

“The same catamaran we were on?” I glanced at Grace. “There’s no way anyone could have sailed it here.”

“Well, someone did, and we need to show these kids a lot of kindness right now. And
Livia
, for the rest of our stay here, you will not leave the hotel.”

“I thought you were on my side,” I said.

“I was.”

Past tense.

“Please talk to Charles.” I hated the pleading sound of my voice. “Ask him what happened to him at the casino.”

“Perhaps I should.”

“Wow.” Grace gasped in fake surprise.
“An unbiased teacher.
Imagine.”

“I’ve had about enough of you,” Ms. Gates said. “You’re not to leave either.”

As the three of us approached the table, Charles and Johnny broke away from their conversation and glanced up at us.

“Johnny wants to go back to the casino,” Charles said.

“You don’t understand.” He gazed at me as if he’d never seen me before. “I have to.”

“No one’s going anywhere.” Ms. Gates crossed her arms and shot me yet one more disgusted look. “
Livia
was wrong to convince you to risk your lives last night. Mr. Freeman will be back here later today, and we’ll make sure no one tries anything that stupid again.”

Charles and I exchanged glances. Grace looked terrified. Both of them seemed to be asking me to explain to Ms. Gates what we knew about the casino and the spirits. I couldn’t do it, though. Emily had already convinced her that I was crazy or worse. Since she didn’t believe Emily had been taken, she would never believe that Mr. Freeman had been, or that, if we didn’t intervene, Johnny could be next.

“It wasn’t stupid,” I finally said.

“It certainly was. You accomplished nothing. You put yourselves in danger. And the other kids are fine.”

She nodded in their direction, and the girls, led by Emily, began crossing the room toward us.

“She says they arrived in the catamaran with Mr. Freeman,” I told Charles and Johnny.

“That’s impossible,” Charles said. “Ask Daniel, Ms. Gates, the shore boat driver. Ask him to tell you about the condition of that catamaran.”

“What’s the fuss?” Emily walked up to me, her eyes bright, her smile and voice as false as always. “Where’d you all go last night?”

“We were trying to find the rest of our group.” I glanced at the three girls standing behind her. “Obviously, we were too late.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ms. Gates said.

“That
Livia’s
lying, as usual.” Emily sighed and managed to look convincing. “She got to Grace
because,
well, because she’s Grace. Charles went along because he likes Grace.
And poor Johnny.
He’s the real victim here.”

“What about me?” Johnny rose from the table, as if under a spell. I didn’t have to guess who was casting it.

“
Livia
made you think you’d find your friend Matt out there, didn’t she?” Emily’s voice turned soothing and sweet as she spun her lie. “There’s no way she could do that, Johnny. She just pretended.”

“You know about Matt?” His hopeful expression made me want to cry, but I was too frightened to give into tears.

“Don’t listen to her,” I told him. “Come on.”

“I am right about your father. He’s a murderer. And I’m right about Matt.” She focused her attention on Johnny again. “It wasn’t your fault the gun went off, you know. You were just children. Sixth grade, wasn’t it? Seventh?”

“What’s she talking about?” Ms. Gates asked me, as if somehow I were to blame for Johnny’s current state of confusion.

“She’s lying,” I said.

“No, she’s not.” Johnny shoved his hands into his pockets and seemed to grow smaller. “It’s all true. It was seventh grade. We were playing Russian Roulette.”

I gasped.

“Don’t sound so surprised,
Livia
.” Emily moved closer and touched his arm. “It was an accident. You didn’t kill him, you know.” Then she turned to the other girls as if catching them up on a film the three of them had missed. “Shot in the head. It destroyed Matt’s family.”

“Mine too.” Johnny stared at the floor, his shoulders hunched. “I’ve got to find him.”

“You will.” She moved closer and whispered something in his ear.

His expression changed to something close to hopeful. “You’re not just making that up?”

“Of course I’m not,” she replied, then continued to whisper.

“Okay. I’ll do that.” He straightened up, and a smile spread across his face.

“I owe you. You’re the first one—”

“I know.” She put a finger to her lips. “We’ll talk more
later
.”

“Yeah, okay.” He nodded as if delighting in a secret only the two of them shared. “Later.”

Before I could say anything to object, Johnny bolted out of the room.

CHAPTER 26

They moved in silently. First, it was just the three girls at breakfast. Then two guys appeared at dinner. No Mr. Freeman. He was still taking care of the boat, one of the boys told Ms. Gates. They sat together and watched us, not with any apparent malice. No, they seemed more curious than evil.

That afternoon I was putting on some lip gloss and spotted one of the girls across the room paying too much attention to me. Unaware that I was watching her, she cocked her head and slowly drew her index finger over her lips, as if applying an imaginary color. I knew right then that regardless of how much she looked like the girl who had gotten on the boat with
us,
she had never applied lip gloss in her life.

Yet she was wearing it.

I glanced up and stared right at her. Clearly f
lu
stered, she toyed with her silverware. Then she whispered something to Emily, who shot me a nasty look.

I glared right back at her and smeared on a little more gloss.

They stood up in unison and left the room.

Why were the others docile while Emily was such a bitch? Perhaps dream people were like normal people, and some were more tolerable than others. Then I remembered that Emily had been quiet at first. Once the others got used to their surroundings, we could be in even bigger trouble.

The boys stayed together too, apart from the rest of us. They both wore expensive-looking sunglasses that seemed out of place, especially since the sun was setting.

That night, after dinner, I brewed the rest of the tea in our room and went to find Grace in the lobby. She motioned me into the hall, and I followed her outside to the deck. Protected by the balcony, we looked out at the oddly shaped swimming pool and an overturned umbrella table. Ms. Gates had told us the pool was supposed to resemble an arrowhead, keeping up with the western theme. In the dim light of dusk, its surface looked like a tight, dark lid on a pit that could be hiding anything.

“It’s creepy out here,” I said.

“Not as creepy as
what’s
inside.” Grace moved closer to me. “I had to get away from them for a minute.”

“I can’t stand the way they look at us.” I wasn’t sure why I was whispering, but I couldn’t help it.

“Neither can
I
. When I was getting coffee, one of the girls brushed against me and touched my hair like she was seeing it for the first time, even though hers is almost as long as yours.”

“At least they aren’t trying to take us over,” I told her. “The ones we need to watch out for are still in the casino.”

“But I’m sure their little friends on this side would love to offer their support. The way that thing touched me...” She shuddered.

“I think they’re too new to know how to help the others. Emily’s a different story, though.”

“Oh, am I?”

Moments before, Grace and I had been the only ones on the deck. Now Emily stood beside me, her pink sundress f
lu
ttering in the wind. She wasn’t wearing a jacket, and didn’t seem to notice the weather.

“Don’t even try to pretend with us,” I told her. “You might have convinced Ms. Gates, but we know the truth about you.”

“I have nothing to hide.
My
father didn’t murder my mother, after all.” She shot Grace a condescending smile. “Nor did he make a fortune, as his father did before him, by burying dead people. Do you know what’s actually involved in that little process, Grace?”

“You’re the one who should know,” I told her. “You underwent ‘that little
process’
not long ago, right?”

I expected a smug response. Instead, she tilted her head.

“And what’s
your
father’s occupation?” I asked her. “Do you have any idea?”

“Of course, I do.”

“Well? What is he then?”

“An anthropologist?”

“Are you asking me?” My skin began to crawl. Watching her hesitate terrified me almost as much as witnessing her win Johnny’s trust had earlier.

“An accountant.
His name is Monty Burrow, legal name Montgomery, the same as my grandfather. My mother’s name is Florence. I’m named after her, unfortunately, and Emily is my middle name. You can look us up if you insist on playing your silly games.”

“This isn’t a game,” I said. “You made your switch, or whatever you call it. But you aren’t even sure if your father is an anthropologist or an accountant.”

“I’m more certain about that than you are about where your mother is.
Much more certain.
Besides, I don’t care what you think.” She was back to her clipped speech and huffy attitude. “I have friends here now. You can’t hurt me.”

“And you can’t hurt me.”

“I’m not interested in you.”

The door opened behind us, and the warm air pulsed out.

“There you are,” Emily gushed.

“Johnny,” Grace whispered, but I already knew, even before I turned.

He stood there, shoulders pulled back, still holding the door. Over his jeans he wore a black leather jacket I had never seen before. I knew at once that it wasn’t his, and I also knew Emily was somehow responsible for it.

“Where are you going?” I asked him.

Emily’s smile turned thin and deliberate. “Where do you think?”

“Don’t do it, Johnny,” I said. “Stay with us.”

For a moment, he seemed to consider it. “But Matt—” he began.

“Matt doesn’t exist, Johnny. You know he’s dead.”

The air from inside warmed my face, almost as if it was coming from him and not the heating system. Emily lifted her chin as if she were absorbing it as well.

“Remember what I told you about
Livia
. She has her own agenda.”

“And you don’t?” Maybe I didn’t have the same feelings for Johnny that I did for Aaron, but I cared, and I knew he cared about me too. I tried to keep my voice low and controlled. “My only agenda is to keep you from ending up like Emily and the others. You can see what they are, can’t you?”

He nodded slowly. “The new kids are weird. That’s for sure.”

“You’d be weird if you’d been in a shipwreck too.” Emily touched his arm, and Johnny stood there awkwardly, his gaze focused on me.

“You saw that boat,” I reminded him. “Stay here with us, with me.”

It’s what Aaron had begged me to do. Now I was saying it to Johnny.

“Matt will never forgive you.” Emily moved closer to him and ran her hand along the arm of his jacket. “He wants to see you again, you know.”

“If that’s the case, why not wait until morning?” I told him.

“Yes,” Grace chimed in. “You don’t want to go out with the weather getting so ugly, do you, Johnny?”

“She’s right.” I moved to his other side and touched the hand that still c
lu
tched the door.

The warmth of his flesh was a shock to my frozen fingers.

He let go of the door and shook loose of Emily. “Maybe we should wait.”

“You can’t.” Her eyes grew frantic. “Haven’t you done enough to poor Matt?”

Johnny winced as if from a blow. “I didn’t mean to.”

“Then make it right with him.”

“You can do that,” I said. “No need to go to the casino, though. Why can’t Matt just come here?”

“He told me he couldn’t,” Johnny said.

“Why not?
If he really isn’t dead the way you thought, he can go anywhere he wants, right?”

I could see Johnny faltering.

Emily had noticed too. “Remember what he looked like that day, Johnny? The shock in his eyes as the bullet in your gun blasted into his head.”

“I’ll never forget it.” He once again seemed mesmerized.

“So you’re saying Matt is dead?” I asked her, speaking loudly in an attempt to chase the memories out of Johnny’s head. “Is it his spirit at the casino, then?”

“No.
Of course not.”

“Then why can’t he come here?” Before she could answer, I nodded to Grace. “Can you go get what I made in the room? And bring it back here?”

She knew I meant the tea and left without saying a word.

“You must listen to me.” Emily’s voice was growing more desperate. “We need to get to the casino. The weather isn’t that bad, and I have an umbrella.”

“Why should you have to go to the casino?” I asked, and he nodded.

“Because
Livia
is lying to you.”
She f
lu
ffed her blond hair and pulled back her bare, slender shoulders.

“Warning him about you is not lying,” I said.

“I’ll not tolerate your interruptions,
Livia
.” She moved closer to him. “The problem is
Livia
likes you, but she’s afraid that you might fancy me. She doesn’t want us to be alone together.”

“Fancy?” he asked.

“What century are you from?” I asked her.

“As if I’d tell you,” she shot back.

“As if you know.”

Grace rushed through the door holding the mug. “This is the last of it,” she said. “Sorry, but I ran so fast I spilled some on the floor.”

“We’ll be okay.” I took the mug from her and pressed it into Johnny’s hands.

“Drink this,” I told him.
“Quickly.”

He paused, then looked at Emily, and downed it in a couple of swallows, as if he were chugging beer.

“Tastes good,” he said.

“He’s all yours,” I told Emily. “Have fun.”

“What did you do?” she demanded.

“Tell her,
Livia
,” Grace said.

“It’s pretty simple.” I looked at Emily’s
bare
arms as my own froze inside my jacket. “We know what you guys are. We know that if we fall asleep naturally, we’re going to have a dream about the casino where everything and everyone we want the most hang out. Only they aren’t real, and neither are you.”

“What am I then?” She smiled up at him. “Did you tell her you kissed me last night?”

Johnny was back. “I never kissed you. What are you talking about? Thanks for the tea, Grace. I feel better already.”

“What about Matt?” Emily said. “Don’t you want to see him again?”

“Matt’s dead.” He yawned. “I’m going to bed now.”

“You can’t.”

“Sure you can,” I said. “Get rid of that jacket while you’re at it, Johnny.”

“Good idea.” He yanked it off and shoved it into Emily’s hands. “Save it for somebody else,” he said.

“Perfect,” Grace shouted.

“Wonderful.” I hugged him.

His arms were strong. We had won this round.

“See you all in the morning.” He pulled me close to him and whispered, “Thank you.”

I watched him walk away, only a t-shirt protecting him from the weather, and I knew that for one night, at least, I didn’t have to be afraid for him.

“Johnny, wait,” Emily called.

The door swung shut behind him.

“So that’s how you guys get to come back?
By trying to get the rest of us?”
I asked. “Are you just the bait?”

“I have no idea how to answer that or any of your accusations.” She threw the jacket on the ground. “Fortunately, Ms. Gates has a video that will show you and anyone else who cares to watch how disturbed you are.”

“What video?” I asked.

“One that will expose you for good.
And once that happens, probably tomorrow, Johnny and I are going to be just fine. Without your inf
lu
ence, he’ll do whatever I ask.”

“You lost your chance tonight, though, didn’t you?” I said.

“Compared to your losses, mine are only temporary,
Livia
. By this time tomorrow, everyone will know you’re crazy.”