The Haunting of Gabriel Ashe (23 page)

SOON AFTER THE FOUR STUMBLED into the lobby, wet and panicked and in obvious distress, the school’s administrators turned on the gymnasium lights, effectively shutting down the haunted house for the night. Several teachers stationed at the event took care of Felicia, who needed the most attention, until the paramedics arrived.

Later, Gabe, Seth, and Mazzy answered questions from a long stream of adults. Of course, after the group shared their story, the officers and others merely gifted them with skeptical stares before turning and whispering to one another.

Gabe purposely neglected to mention the silhouette of the boy at the shallow end to the police. But now he mentioned it again to his friends. “Did you guys see him?” Gabe asked. “The boy by the side of the pool.”

“I saw
something
,” Seth answered. “Couldn’t tell what it was though.”

“A boy?” Mazzy asked. “What boy? Who?”

A couple cops walked through the lobby carrying the soaking rag that was Milton Monster. By the front doors, they zipped the suit into a large plastic evidence bag and delivered it to a squad car waiting just outside.

Gabe felt a knot in his stomach. “When you guys were all safe on deck, when Milton was at the bottom of the pool, I saw someone else in the room with us.” He described what he’d seen, the way the silhouette had changed shape, expanding before fading away, the harsh laughter that had echoed across the rippling water.

“I heard that too,” Mazzy said. “It was Mason?”

Gabe nodded emphatically. He had no doubt.

“I asked him to come and play,” said Seth, looking mortified. He covered his face with his hands and mumbled through his fingers, “So he did.”

“He’d have shown up anyway,” said Gabe. “If not tonight, then soon. We haven’t set foot in Howler’s Notch for weeks now, but that hasn’t stopped him from visiting us.”

“How do we keep him from coming back again?” Mazzy asked. She’d collected the Olmstead and Ashe book from the pool deck. Now she handed it over to Gabe. “Is there something in here that tells you how to destroy an angry spirit?”

“
Revenant
,” Seth corrected.

Gabe clutched the book to his chest. The cover was damp and for a moment he felt bad that it would probably be crinkled when it dried. “Olmstead does mention that you can quiet a restless spirit by burying its remains in, what was it called…consecrated ground?”

“Like a cemetery,” said Mazzy.

“Yeah. Or if the spirit’s body is already buried in a cemetery, people believe that if you dig up the grave and destroy the bones, you send the spirit away.”

“Great,” said Seth. “Then all we’ve got to do is locate Mason’s grave and burn whatever’s left of him. Easy!”

“Easy?” Mazzy answered. “You’re suggesting that grave robbing is
easy
? Please don’t tell me you have any experience with that sort of thing.”

“Doesn’t matter whether grave robbing is easy or not,” said Gabe. “Mason
disappeared
over fifty years ago. Remember? My grandmother said she was sure that Mason never left town. If she’s right, and he’s still here in Slade, Mason’s resting place must be unmarked.” He shook his head. “It’s going to be impossible to find.”

“Not impossible,” said Mazzy. “Just…tricky. It’ll take some time is all.”

“That’s exactly what we don’t have,” said Gabe. “We don’t know what else Mason has in mind. I mean, it’s Halloween. According to Nathaniel Olmstead, tonight is the one night of the year that the restless dead are at their strongest. I wouldn’t be surprised if our little revenant showed up again, next time with more success.”

“
Success?
” Mazzy asked.

“David said the Hunter wanted us dead,” said Seth.

“Oh,” she whispered.

“But why?” Gabe asked. “What would Mason gain from…” The end of the thought stuck in his throat. “From
killing
us?”

“Simple,” said Seth, his voice hollow. “If we die, he wins the game.”

WHEN THE AMBULANCE ARRIVED, Mazzy rode with Felicia’s parents to the hospital. She promised that she’d check in with the boys later, to let them know about Felicia’s condition.

As the ambulance left, a voice called from near the school’s entrance. “Gabriel!” Gabe turned to find his grandmother walking briskly toward him. “Oh, thank goodness,” she said. The look on her face made him feel like he might faint, and when she grabbed him and hugged him close, he nearly did. “I was looking all over for you.”

“But I told you I’d be here. And I have my cell….” Gabe caught a glimpse out the lobby windows. Night had fallen over Slade, the sunset long past. He hadn’t realized how long he and his friends had been here. He yanked his phone from his pocket to check the time and saw that the battery had died.

Elyse glanced around, noticed the solemnity of the crowd, the gathering of cops and medics who were filling out paperwork. The front doors swung open and flashing red and white lights streaked into the lobby. “What’s going on?” she asked.

Gabe flinched. He’d imagined that somehow his grandmother had learned about what had happened to him and his friends, and that was why she’d hugged him so hard. But now he realized that she must have come looking for him for a different reason. “Felicia almost drowned,” Gabe answered. He quickly added, “They say she’ll be okay, but they took her away in an ambulance.”

His grandmother covered her mouth in shock. She closed her eyes. Sighed. “Awful night,” she said. Then she added with a
whisper, to herself, “A curse to suffer nights like these.” Then, as if struck by a jolt of electricity, she opened her eyes and looked at Gabe with such pity, it frightened him.

“If you didn’t know what happened here, why did you come?” Gabe asked, trying to control his rising panic. He felt Seth move in close beside him as if to protect him from whatever news his grandmother might deliver. Elyse stared at him, holding inside what seemed like a hurricane of emotion, then she clasped his shoulders with her long fingers. Her grip felt like Death itself had taken hold of him, was toying with him, as the Hunter had been doing for the past few months. “Please tell me what’s wrong.”

“It’s your baby sister,” said Elyse. “Miri is missing.”

Gabe was suddenly glad that she was clutching his shoulders, otherwise, he might have collapsed.

Elyse offered Seth a ride home. On the way, Gabe and Seth sat in silence while Elyse explained what had happened.

Earlier in the evening, Dolores had left Miri in her high chair to answer the doorbell. Groups of trick-or-treaters had been arriving sporadically all afternoon. But when she got there, she found the stoop empty except for a few scattered leaves. Returning to the kitchen, Dolores discovered the high chair vacant as well. Miri had only just started crawling; there was no way she could have gotten down on her own. Glen was coming home late from a meeting in Boston, so Dolores and Elyse searched Temple House on their own. Almost ten minutes had gone by before Dolores was worried enough to call the police. Now, hours later, according to Elyse, Dolores was inconsolable.

As his grandmother turned a sharp curve, heading up into
the hills west of the schools, Gabe was seized by a thought more terrible than any other. He blinked, remembering what had happened to Vincent Price, his science teacher’s rat. If Mason was imitating the habits of the monster he’d invented, then Miri was in bigger trouble than anyone knew.

SEVERAL MINUTES LATER, the Cadillac turned onto the Hoppers’ long gravel driveway. Gabe felt helpless as the car slowed to a halt, stopping between the cottage and the old barn across the way. He knew that once Seth had gone, he’d be left alone with the reality of his missing sister.

“Thank you for the ride, Mrs. Ashe.” Seth opened the car door. He paused, as if searching for just the right thing to say. “Gabe, will you call me if anything changes?”

If he replied, Gabe knew he’d burst into tears. Instead, he merely nodded.

Elyse craned her neck over the steering wheel, peering out into the meadow. “Something’s burning.” She was right. As soon as Seth had cracked the door, an unmistakable aroma had drifted into the car. It brought Gabe back to his old neighborhood, standing on the sidewalk, watching flames devour his house across the street.

He clutched the door handle and squeezed, trying to force himself back to reality. The nightmares that had terrorized his sleep over the summer nipped at the edges of his vision. The fire demon. Arms made of flickering light and melting plastic reached out for him. He pressed himself backward, into the seat.

“My mom’s probably started a fire in the fireplace,” said Seth, stepping outside. “Weird.” He flinched. “It’s been a while since she’s done that. I didn’t even think we had any firewood….” He trailed off, staring into the distance.

Smoke was seeping from the roof of the barn. Seth darted across the driveway, then skidded to a halt. He clutched at his hair,
then turned back to the car. Gabe opened the front door. “I’ve gotta call the cops,” Seth said. “The fire department. Someone…I don’t know. Will you guys wait here?”

Elyse calmly leaned forward across Gabe’s seat. “Of course we will,” she said.

She yanked the gear into reverse before Gabe could close his door, then spun out onto the Hoppers’ lawn, moving a safe distance from the smoldering building. Once parked, they got out and made their way to the driveway ahead. Seth had already disappeared inside to call the authorities.

They stared up at the barn’s roof. Ribbons of gray curled into the sky, dancing gracefully between pinpoints of starlight. Elyse reached for Gabe’s hand. He imagined her thin fingers clutching a pen, dipping the nib into a well of ink, scratching across a white page, creating the monster that Gabe was certain had caused all this trouble. Was his grandmother to blame? And could she do something about it now? Backlit by the porch light, she looked otherworldly. When Gabe blinked, he could almost picture her as a girl, standing in this very spot, listening to the cries of Mason’s aunt Verna weeping for the slaughtered rooster.

“You know what this is,” he whispered. His grandmother turned to him. The evidence that Gabe was right was written on her face. “You know who’s responsible. Why else would you have told me that story?”

Trembling, she glanced at the cottage, pretending not to hear.

“Grandmother Elyse.” Gabe tugged at her coat, trying to capture her attention. “Talk to him. Ask him what we can do to make him stop.”

She shook her head, refusing to listen. “That noise,” she whispered. “Do you hear?”

The smoke was growing thicker at the roof; the barn was fighting against a beast that was trying to devour it. From inside,
there came a kind of cry, as if moisture within the wood was heating, turning to steam, escaping from tiny sealed pockets in the same way it would spew from the mouth of a boiling kettle. It was a harsh wail, and it pierced the night.

Elyse’s face went slack. “Oh my goodness.” She stumbled toward the barn, her limbs hanging limp. “That’s the baby crying,” she said. Then she screamed. “Miri’s in there!”