Ghost Island (18 page)

CHAPTER 34

I am freezing in the rain, a searing cold like grabbing hold of ice and being unable to let go. Then just as suddenly, I smell the herbs in my mother’s garden. The sun rises and warms my arms.
No, not the sun.
I am being held, rocked. I look up into Aaron’s eyes. His gold hair reflects the fire, and in the soft light of the room, his eyes are the same color.

I sigh and settle against him on the sofa. It’s all I want, just to let him hold me like this all night.
To let him protect me.
He feels like home.

Then I remember how I got here.
Emily and the girls waiting in my room with their cards.
Johnny and his glazed expression as he threw the tea out of the window.
The moments on the bed as I tried to fight the sleep that must have overtaken me.

Aaron’s heart pounds against mine. His lips are near, and everything about him is perfect.
Too perfect.

“I love you,” he whispers against my hair.

“Do you really?” I ask, “Or does something make you think you do?”

“Nothing could make me feel this.” He touches my face, and his hands seem to melt into my skin. “You’re the brightest thing in this place. When I’m with you, I feel I can do anything and be anything. We’ll be out of here soon.

He’s just spoken the words I’ve needed to hear from a guy since Chris dumped me and probably long before that. Probably even before my dad told me, “One day you will love someone the way I love your mom.”

“I need to ask you something important.” I wrap my arms tightly around his neck so that I am almost sitting in his lap. “What do you know about Caitlin and the others?”

Beneath the tan, his face is ashen. “I’ve seen them downstairs. They act as if they know me.”

“Did you come here with them?”

“I was already here. They came when the storm did.” His expression is both confused and innocent, like a child trying to simplify something too complicated for his years.

“Somehow they know what the holes in our lives are,” I tell him. “Grace wanted to see her sister more than anything, and Caitlin made her think she
was
her sister and that all Grace had to do was spend the night in the casino.”

“But Caitlin’s still here,” he said.

“That’s because she hasn’t gotten Grace yet. Did you ever notice the girl in the white apron and the old-fashioned b
lu
e dress?
The one with the bitten fingernails?

He nods. “She left the night you got here, didn’t she?”

“I’m sure she did, because she’s another girl now, right down to ragged fingernails and irritating personality. Her name is Emily, but it’s that girl in the apron and the accent living Emily’s life.”

“That’s crazy.” I had never seen him look so frightened. “Why can I see them?”

My skin tingles, but I have to find out. “Aaron, how did you get to the hotel tonight?”

For an instant, his eyes cloud. “I guess I walked there.”

“You guess?”

“I don’t remember.” He pulls away from me. “How can that be?”

“Well then, how did you get here on the island?” I ask? Did you fly in? Did you come on someone’s boat?”

“I don’t know.” He holds out his hands, palms up, and I remember Charles when he looked for the imaginary money he thought he’d won while gambling. “There was something around my neck. I couldn’t breathe. Water, more water than you can imagine. I fell asleep in the water. That’s what it felt like. Then I woke up here with Norm and Peggy. I just wanted to be back here with my family.”

“But your family’s in Long Beach. Didn’t you come from there?”

“That’s what I thought. But I can’t remember much of what happened before I got here.
Just the water.”
He pulls me into his arms and holds me against him. I can feel his heart against my
chest,
feel the beating of it, the heat of him. “
Livia
, what if I really am one of them?”

“You can’t be,” I said. “I want you too much.”

“Isn’t that the point? Something you want more than anything? The guy you loved broke up with you, and I fell for you the first time I saw you.”

“Okay, but guys don’t take over girls.”

“I know.” He steps back from me. “But there’s this girl. She wears these bright diamond hoops in her ears. And she waits outside my door after you leave.
Watching you.”

I know the girl he means. I saw her, just once, but I remember. “Are you saying she’s after me the way Caitlin is after Grace?”

“I don’t know. But until I figure it out, you have to stay away from me.”

“No.” My need for him was greater than it had ever been. “You’ve never hurt me.”

“I’m not the one who worries me.” He shakes his head as if to clear it. “I feel as if I’m supposed to ask you to stay here tonight. I’m supposed to tell you I’ll keep you safe. You need to go,
Livia
, right now. We’ll figure it out later.”

“Let’s leave together,” I tell him, knowing I have to get both of us out of this dream.

“I don’t know how.”

“Let’s try.” I grab his hand. “Come with me.
Outside.”

“We’ll be soaked.”

“I don’t care. It’s the only way.”

Holding hands, we walk down the hall, down the stairs, and I open the front door of the casino. Water and night air blow in. He grabs me and pulls me back.

“I can’t go out there, but I’ll wait for you,
Livia
. We’ll find a way to make it work.”

“Please come,” I say and move farther out into the rain.

“I love you.” He steps out too. The storm seems to grow angry. Branches fall to the ground. Rain pours onto us. We kiss deeply, whispering against each other’s lips, against the wind that spins me out of his arms.

***

The night was soft with the sound of steady rain, and I was alone on the freezing cold sheets of my bed. The dream was back at the casino, and so was Aaron. I began to shiver. He might have saved me from a girl in the diamond earrings who wanted to take me over. If he had asked me to stay this time, I might have.

The door to my room stood ajar. I could only imagine what waited on the other side, but I knew what I had to do.

Once I was out of bed, I looked at myself in the mirror and adjusted my expression. My terror-filled eyes would give me away. I forced them to go blank. Then I pulled back my hair and clipped it at my neck.

The others had moved like dancers. I tried to mimic their self-conscious steps. One of them stood outside my door in the hall.

I walked past as if I didn’t see her and made my way down the hall. Johnny’s door stood open. Good. Maybe he had gotten out of here. I stopped at the kitchen. Although it must have been past midnight, they were gathered there, the boys at one table, the girls at the other. Johnny was not with them. Neither was Charles.

I couldn’t think about them right now or I would not be able to appear detached.

At the coffee pot, I took a bone-white mug and studied it as if trying to figure out its purpose. They were watching me, I knew. Slowly, I picked up the empty cup, moved unsteadily toward the table, and stood.

“Be seated.” Emily touched the bench beside her.

I sat and met her frozen eyes.

“How was your journey?”

Her probing expression unnerved me, but I spoke in a halting voice. “Long, but pleasant, considering.”

“We still have work here,” she said.

“Work?”

“There was a problem earlier. We have to take care of the other one. It must happen tonight.”

I nodded slowly as if not certain I comprehended.
“How?”

“She’s most uncooperative, and we don’t have much time. Whenever one of us goes into the room, it rouses her.”

“Should I go?” I asked.

“Your appearance could reassure her if she awakens. Just let her fall back asleep. Do you understand?”

“I’m trying to.” I looked at my cup again. “Will it be enough if I sit beside her?”

“Yes, by all means. You won’t be alone. I’ll wait outside. Now, hurry.”

I rose from the table but did not head toward the rooms.

“What’s the matter?” Emily asked.

“I’ll need directions,” I told her.

“Of course.”

I could see in her satisfied smile that she believed me.

I needed to keep her convinced down every step of that carpeted hall until I was finally able to talk to Grace. If not—if Emily found out that I hadn’t really been taken—I would lose my only chance to save Grace and maybe the rest of us as well.

CHAPTER 35

As Emily and the others led me down the hall, I tried to mimic the uncertain way I had seen them move.

The door to Grace’s room stood open a crack just as mine had.

“She’s in there,” Emily said. “I’ll wait in case you encounter any problems.”

Grace moaned.

“I believe it is too bright,” I told Emily. “Perhaps, if...”

I let the sentence hang, afraid to sound too assertive. Then I stepped inside and hoped the door would shut behind me.

It did.

Grace lay on top of the covers, her forehead glistening with sweat. As I moved closer, she whimpered in her sleep, and I could tell she was already in the dream. Emily had nothing to worry about, but she didn’t know that.

“Grace.” I took her hand and sat down on the bed beside her. “Remember the night we dreamed together?”

“No.” Her voice was a harsh whisper. “Leave me alone.”

“Let me go with you.” I lay down, closed my eyes and slowed my breathing.

“No,” she mumbled again.

I did my best to fall back into the state I had just left. Emily was in a hurry for only one reason. The storm was almost over. If I could just hang onto Grace, we might actually be able to get out of here.

***

I feel as if I am swimming, trying to stay afloat on the tides of sleep, but hanging onto Grace, following her into the dirty tangle of light ahead. I look down. We are both barefoot, holding hands, walking down the stairs of the casino.

Caitlin stands just inside the room. In her yellow dress, the black velvet choker around her neck, she is less transparent than before—almost, but not quite human.

“Well, hello,” she says to me. Then she sees Grace. “Is it really you, little sister? Have you finally come back to me?”

“Felicia?” Grace shoves my hand away and reaches for her.

Caitlin smiles the way she would at a child. “It wasn’t your fault, Gracie. I’ll tell you all about it now.”

“How could you leave us like that? I miss you so much.”

“Come with me.” Caitlin starts to lead her inside the theater, down the rows of seats. Behind her, another girl stands in shadow. I can see the gleam of the diamond hoops in her ears, but not her face.

“I’m going too,” I say.

“No, you’re not.” Caitlin’s features shimmer. Her complexion becomes more flesh-and-blood as she holds onto Grace.

I grab Grace’s other hand. It is limp and cool in mine, and I try to squeeze some warmth back in it.

“Grace,” I say, “you’ve got to listen to me.”

“You don’t belong here,” Caitlin tells me. “Get back upstairs to your man.”

“What man?”

She laughs, short and ugly.
“Aaron, of course.
I have her now, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Smoke catches in the back of my throat and gags me. From far away, I can hear Grace choking too. Yet my hand still c
lu
tches hers.

Human forms rush through the dim theater the way a panicked crowd exits a building.
My eyes burn.

“Where are you taking us?” I ask Caitlin.

“Her,” she says. “Not you. She doesn’t need you anymore.”

“
It’s
okay,
Livia
.” Grace’s voice is distorted “You can leave now.”

I try to grab her.

Grace begins to cough, and I realize that the smoke is thicker inside, closer to the stage. A trans
lu
cent wisp, it winds around the chairs of the theater and the shapes making their way to it. I remember what Ms. Gates said. I can stop the dream whenever I want to.

“Hurry, little one,” Caitlin tells Grace. “We don’t have much time.”

“
You
don’t have much time,” I say. “Once the storm passes, you’re going back to whatever you’ve been all these years. You’ll blow somewhere else.”

I look up through the smoke-clouded room, at the girl behind Caitlin, then back at the door. Aaron is standing there.

“
Livia
,” he calls.

“Here.”

“This way,” he shouts, and I go blindly toward him, following the sound of his voice, pushing past the transparent shapes that hurry in the opposite direction.

Caitlin tries to break my hold on Grace’s arm. Grace stumbles, barely conscious.
 
“Let her go.”

“Never.”
I grab the choker around Caitlin’s neck, and it crumbles to dust.

Caitlin screams as if I’ve burned her and lifts her hand to her throat. I jerk Grace away, but I can no longer see Aaron through the smoke. Grace sobs and tries to break free of my grasp. I hang on tighter.

“I’m leaving this dream,” I say. “So are you, Grace. We’re free.”

Nothing changes. No, something is different. I feel as if I’ve just awakened. Grace rubs her eyes as if she feels it too. Then I lead her up the stairs, down the hall, and out of the building.

***

Once when we were still a family, my mom had tried to broil lobster tails. It was their anniversary, or maybe her birthday. I wasn’t sure. The broiler got too hot and turned the shell to a blackened crisp. The whole house smelled of shellfish smoke. My nostrils stung the way they did now. My mom couldn’t stop crying that day. She screamed at my dad all night long. How had I forgotten how miserable she was with us?

***

Aaron was outside, pounding on the door. He saw me and broke into a smile.

“Run,” he shouted.

Grace and I followed him down the hill, to the harbor. The others couldn’t leave the building, but he could.
Because he wasn’t one of them.
He wasn’t. He might be something else, but he wasn’t a spirit after my soul.

“I want to go home,” Grace sobbed.

“We’re going,” I told her.

We walked out on the deck of the harbor, Grace still crying, and Daniel waved at us. Or I thought it was Daniel, but then I realized that this man was shorter and much heavier. Above us, the casino’s lights were on, and the smoke was as dead as the dream that had conjured it.

Still stunned, Grace stumbled aboard.

I reached for Aaron’s hand and started to get on the boat.

“I have to stay here.” He glanced at the casino, then at me. “You need to go.”

I went numb all over, and my brain raced with questions. Was he saying he couldn’t leave or just couldn’t leave yet? Or did he even know? I looked up into his eyes. They were fierce and full of longing, and I knew that, whatever he was, I would rather be here with him than back to what my life had been before.

“I love you enough,” I said. “I don’t care what happens.”

“I do care.” He turned back to the casino again, and I could feel him start to pull away.

“What’s the matter?” I held on tighter. “I told you I don’t care. We can be together, even if it’s like Norm and Peggy.”

“It wouldn’t be like them,” he said. “They were together their whole lives. If I’m stuck in this place, I can’t take you with me. I’ve got to find out why I’m here and what I’m looking for.”

“I’ll help you look,” I told him, “and I’ll help you find out. I’m not afraid, Aaron.”

“Hey, you two,” the driver yelled. “Are you staying or going?”

“Staying,” I replied, my voice breaking. “I’m staying with him.”

“No. She’s going.” He pushed me onto the boat with such force I didn’t have time to protest. “I’ll find you if I can, Livia.”

Then he turned and ran back to the casino. I watched him until he disappeared inside. Then I put my arms around Grace and sobbed.