The Haunting Season (16 page)

“Under control? Well you’re taking it too far!” She reached out to retrieve one of the knives but they soared upright, their blades hovering directly over Bryan.

She gasped, then clutched the chain around her neck and the pendant that hung from it. She spun around to face Dr. Brandt. “Freaks!” she spat. “I warned you! I said bringing them here wasn’t a good idea, that you should call the whole thing off!”

“Mrs. Hirsch,” Dr. Brandt said, his tone edged with warning. “Go back to your duties. Or your room. Now.”

Her eyes narrowed. Without another word, she stormed from the room.

Everyone turned their attention back to Bryan and the knives dangling above him.

“Make her stop it,” Bryan said, motioning to Allison.

“I told you I’m not doing it!” Allison repeated.

“Then why were you here? You were here when I woke up!”

“Because I knew
he’d
be here!”

“Who?” Jess nearly shouted. “Who’d be here?”

“Slow down!” Gage said. “We’ll figure it all out, but first, let’s work on getting the knives away from Bryan.

“And us,” Dr. Brandt added. “Wouldn’t take much for the knives to change direction.”

“Allison?” Jess said as soothingly as she could. “Can you put the knives down someplace safe?”

From upstairs, the sound of piano keys echoed, the house seemingly using the air vents as its own speaker system.

She cut off their tails with a carving knife,

Have you ever seen such a sight in your life…

“It’s the same tune from the other day in the basement,” Jess said, no longer able to keep her voice from trembling.

“Allison, it’s okay. No one is going to hurt you,” Dr. Brandt coaxed. “Just make it stop, okay? You can control them. Bryan can’t focus on this many objects at once.”

Or under this kind of pressure
, Jess thought.

Allison shook her head. Tears streamed down her cheek. “I’m not possessed! It’s Riley.
He’s
doing it.”

“There’s no one else here!” Bryan said. His outburst caused the knives to drop a few inches closer.

“Chill, okay?” Gage said, taking a step toward Bryan. “Let’s all stay calm.”

Jess believed Allison—she wasn’t doing this. If the demons were back, Allison would have said so—that much, she was sure of. It had to be Riley. “Where is he, Allison? Where’s Riley?”

“In there.” Allison raised a trembling hand and pointed toward the dresser mirror.

Gage shook his head. “I got nothing.”

Jess stepped closer to the mirror despite the pounding in her heart telling her to stay away. The same dark hair and eyes that had looked back at her in the basement stared at her from within
this
mirror. Riley’s skin was pale and his complexion gaunt. Jess looked over her shoulder, but found only Dr. Brandt and Gage standing behind her. Allison still sat in the chair. The knives still hung over Bryan. The only difference was that in the mirror, Riley was crouched on the end of Bryan’s bed.

“Oh my God,” Jess said softly.

“Lord Riley would have sufficed, but…if you insist,” Riley said. He twirled a finger and the knives spun around, too.

“No one else sees this, do they?” Jess asked, keeping her eyes on the mirror. She didn’t want to turn her attention from Riley. His features seemed
off
just enough—just a little here and there. His eyes were solid black, void of the whites around his irises. His face seemed too long, the cheekbones a bit too pronounced. His facial features human, but
not
.

“Allison is telling the truth. She’s not doing this. Does anyone else see Riley?” Jess repeated.

“No,” everyone replied. Everyone except Allison.

“Is it the demons?” Dr. Brandt asked. “Allison? Are the demons back? Are you sure one isn’t inside you? Maybe Riley is a demon now. Tell him to put the knives down. You can do this,” Dr. Brandt said. “Order the demon to do as you ask.”

Inside the mirror, Riley growled. The sound was neither human nor animal and fear danced up Jess’s spine.

“I
can’t!
” Allison wailed. Her eyes turned to Jess and then to Bryan. Dr. Brandt paced some more, his expression both frightened and yet…exhilarated. Jess gave Gage a quick glance.

His expression was a definite
told you he was losing it
.

Corporation, government experiment, the house taking over Dr. Brandt or whatever else it might be, Jess couldn’t allow Riley to hurt Bryan. Her heart raced wildly. Every part of her wanted to turn and run, not take a step closer to the mirror. “Leave. Him. Alone, Riley!”

Riley grinned. His teeth were dark and thin.

“Now!” Jess demanded.

Almost instantly, Riley stood directly on the other side of the glass, his dark eyes glittering. She could see Bryan lying on the bed behind Riley’s image. “What will you give me,
Jessss
?”

“What do you want?” She tried to sound defiant, but took a step back.

Riley grinned. “Why a queen, of course. For now, I’m just a dark prince. But if I had a queen, I could be king. You’ll do.
So pretty.
Is it a deal? A kingdom isn’t complete without a queen. Help me become king, Jes
ssss
. We’ll rule Siler House and all those within.”

“Stay away from me!” Jess managed to say.

“Don’t you want a family, Jess?” Riley leaned against the mirror and it pitted where his fingers touched the glass. “Don’t you want a family that will always be there for you? We’ll never die, Jess. No one here will ever leave you. Not like your father or grandmother. We’ll all stay here. Together. Forever.”

“Look at the fingerprints!” Dr. Brandt exclaimed. “My God, he’s really there!” He turned to Jess and Allison. “You’ve done it, you’ve actually done it!”

Jess wasn’t sure who made her flesh crawl more—Riley or Dr. Brandt. He didn’t seem scared. He seemed overly excited at the prospect of finally getting Riley to show himself.

“Jess?” Gage stepped closer to her. “Talk to me, Jess.”

“Why don’t you have lover boy bring me out?” Riley coaxed. “Oh, yes! I
know
.” Riley bent forward and his eyes glittered beneath stringy hair. “I didn’t see it since…” He tapered off, the smile fading from his lips. “But I can hear through the walls. It sounded like fun.” His mouth crooked into a menacing grin. “Are you having fun, Jess? Are you having fun with Gage?”

Jess hated the way he said her name with the snake-like hiss at the end. She stepped back, coming to rest against Gage.

“A little translation here?” Gage asked warily. “You girls are the only ones with Riley Vision. What’s he saying?”

“He watches through the mirrors,” Allison told him. “I don’t know why he’s trapped in the mirrors when the others aren’t.”

“So he’s
traveling
through the mirrors?” Gage asked.

Allison nodded. “He’s been watching us sleep.” Her eyes cut to Jess’s. “It’s why I’ve been up at night.”

Jess recalled when she had thought someone was watching her and shivered.

“Bryan,” Dr. Brandt said. “Concentrate. Concentrate on sending Riley away.”

Bryan closed his eyes and he mouthed the words
go away
over and over. Riley paced in out of view a few times.

Allison got to her feet and walked over to Bryan. She leaned close to him and whispered something in his ear. For a moment, Jess thought Bryan would pull away from Allison’s touch. She might not have caused the knives to hover or made Riley appear in the mirror, but Bryan was a bit freaked out. He listened, and nodded.

“Go away!” Bryan said, anger in his voice. Nothing happened. He repeated his words, louder this time. “I said, go away!”

“Oh, hell. Run!” Gage yelled. He grabbed Jess by the arm as he bolted for the door.

The knives rose upward, the tips of their blades facing outward. Seemingly no longer captive, Bryan was on his feet and running.

Jess screamed as a large knife flew past them and vanished as it hit the wall. She hurried into the hallway after the others.

“What just happened?” she nearly shrieked.

“They’re gone,” Bryan said, voice shaking. “I don’t know how, but I think they’re gone.”

Dr. Brandt walked back into the room. Jess and the others didn’t move. From inside it, he laughed. “You did it, Bryan! You did it!”

Gage reentered the room with Jess right behind him. Allison came as far as the doorway, but no farther.

Every knife was gone—vanished into thin air. Bryan stood beside Gage, his face an ashen gray.

Jess looked into the mirror. Riley was still there. “I’ll leave. For now,” he said. “But not because of him.” He glanced Bryan’s way. “Because you’re not ready. Make no mistake, my Jess. You
will
be ready.
All
of you. Soon.” He turned and walked off the edge of the mirror and out of view.

“He’s gone,” Jess said.

“The question is whether we can get him back,” Dr. Brandt said.

“What?” Gage looked at him, incredulous. “Get him back?”

“He’s
not
gone!” Allison cried. “Just because Jess or I don’t see him doesn’t mean he’s not there.”

Everyone stared into the mirror.

“
Is
he still there?” Bryan asked.

Jess studied the glass. “I think he’s gone. But, Allison’s right. He probably moved to a different one.”

“Then we’ll smash all the mirrors,” Gage said.

“That won’t do any good,” Allison replied. “Don’t you guys get it? He’s in the house! He’s in the walls and ceilings. He’s in the attic, the basement. Even the floors!”

“We’ll have to do something about that,” Dr. Brandt said. “But first, we need to draw him out.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The next afternoon, Jess sat on her bed and fiddled with her cell phone. She should call home. She hadn’t made a single phone call since coming here. If she didn’t call soon, her mother would not only be calling
her
, but Dr. Brandt, too. Yet, she didn’t
want
to talk to her mother. Oddly, she didn’t want to talk to
anyone
outside of Siler House. She’d have to lie about the experiment—tell her mother half-truths. If her mother knew what was going on, Jess had no doubt she’d be on the next plane to Savannah. It didn’t matter that Jess was eighteen.

“Are you going to call her, or what?” Allison asked as she sat at the dresser, painting her short fingernails a bright shade of pink.

“Yeah, I suppose.”

“It’s the house,” Allison said. “Have you noticed?”

Jess frowned. “Noticed what?”

“Exactly,” Allison said softly. She shook her head and sighed. “Why am I
not
surprised? Look at what’s happened so far. We’ve experienced some weird things in the basement. We’ve seen things in the mirrors. You’ve seen ghosts. Bryan has been making small objects disappear, and then there’s the thing with the knives.”

“I’ve noticed. Sure, there’s been a lot of weird stuff going on,” Jess said.

“
Weird?
Siler House is a lot more than
weird
. Don’t you see? No one is running for the doors. Dr. Brandt hasn’t brought in his peers.”

Come to think of it, Allison was right. Jess started to mention that the reason she hadn’t called home had been because her mother wouldn’t believe her and frankly, Jess hadn’t felt like explaining everything to her. After all, Jess’s imagination was one of the reasons they’d sent her to a psychiatrist to begin with. What would her mother think if she told her any of what had happened? She’d show up, chew Dr. Brandt out, and cause a scene in general. That was the logical part about why she hadn’t called home. The rest? She was at a complete loss to explain why they hadn’t all packed their bags last night.

She couldn’t explain why she wanted to stay—why it was still important to help Gracie and Emma instead of just getting out of here. Of course, there
was
Gage. He was part of the reason she wasn’t ready to give up and go home, too.

You could still call him from home,
a little voice in her head told her. Jess ignored it, knowing it wouldn’t be the same between them once they left Siler House.

Allison was right even though it defied logic. Somehow, the house was keeping them here. Not in the physical sense, but through some other means.

Allison tested one fingernail. “No one in their right mind would stay here after the incident with the knives. No one normal, that is.”

Jess laughed. “When did any of us turn normal? Maybe that’s why we’re all drawn to stay—because Siler House magnifies what we are, what we could be and somehow, deep inside, we all want that.” She regretted her choice of words the minute she’d let them slip out. Of course Allison didn’t want the demons to come back. Allison was here because she had nowhere else to go. For the next several weeks, she was still a minor. She’d sort of given up hope that anyone would come for her, and even if the house let her leave, Dr. Brandt wouldn’t.

“I don’t know. I mean, I believe you, but I wonder if somehow, it’s only
us
that’s keeping us here. It’d make more sense.”

“If it’s
just
us, why isn’t Mrs. Hirsch gone?” Allison replied without so much as a blink in response to Jess’s words. “Why hasn’t Dr. Brandt called in more of his scientist friends?”

Jess shrugged. “Because Mrs. Hirsch is just plain scary at times? And I’ve always thought Dr. Brandt was at
least
as crazy as we are.”

“No. It’s because we all live here day and night. The maids and the renovation crew come and go. We’re all starting to be drawn more to each other, too,” Allison said.

Was Allison hinting about Jess’s meeting with Gage last night? This morning over breakfast, they had been staring at each other a lot. If Gage felt anything like Jess did, there was going to be a
lot
of staring until they were able to find time alone again. Jess squirmed at the thought. It was hard to not think of how Gage’s touch felt last night, despite the whole incident with Bryan. It’s not like she hadn’t had boyfriends before, so why did Gage make her so nervous?

Admit it. Allison is right. The house is getting a hold on all of us.

But, the house wasn’t getting her all dizzy over some hot guy with six-pack abs and a kissable mouth. Jess shook her head. “We’ve all got something in common. We’ve all been spending a lot of time together.”