The Haunting Season (23 page)

How could Riley do that? How could anyone be capable of such a thing? He’d not only killed them, but buried their bodies, and then he’d come back later to…to…
eat
them. Why did they have to show her that part? Where were they? Had it worked? Had Gracie and Emma moved on?

Jess’s head buzzed with questions and fear.

If the girls
had
moved on, Riley wasn’t going to be happy about that. If they were finally free of Riley, there’d be hell to pay.

But the more she thought about it, she knew Gracie and Emma were still here. They’d told her they had been separated. That’s why they couldn’t move on. And heaven help her, but Jess knew what they’d have to do. But right now, she had to get out of these woods.

Jess ran, blindly, hoping she was headed in the right direction.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Gage had expected to find Jess with Allison when he and Bryan snuck out of the house. Allison had been alone, though, pacing on the lawn and looking rather anxious. Her already pale skin seemed even paler in the moonlight.

“She’s not with you?” Allison asked. The subtleness of her question didn’t go unnoticed. “No.” Gage shook his head. “Didn’t she come back to your room?”

“She did, but when the alarm went off, she was gone. I thought she might be with you.”

“Shit!” Something was wrong. Gage scanned the yard, hoping Jess just couldn’t sleep and was already out here.

Bryan frowned, looking as worried as Allison. “I hope she’s not still in the house. You don’t think—”

Allison’s eyes went wide. “I don’t think so.” She whirled to look up at it.

Gage looked, too. It seemed different than before, darker. More ominous. He rubbed his eyes.

It’s going down. It’s done playing. Riley and Siler House are knocking over the dominoes.

“We’ve got to find her. Something’s not right.” Gage walked on, hoping his first thought about Jess’s whereabouts was correct, that she was out here somewhere and just hadn’t seen them yet.

“Maybe Dr. Brandt caught her, or Mrs. Hirsch,” Bryan offered.

“No,” Allison said. “I don’t think so. It’s one of
them
.”

Allison said what he’d been thinking: Riley. He didn’t want to think of Jess trapped inside a room with that monster. But she was known to go off exploring. What if she’d ventured into a room with an uncovered mirror? If Riley could make knives appear, Gage had no doubt he could close and lock doors, too. With Jess’s ability, he didn’t think it’d be long before Riley found a way out of a mirror, or a way to get Jess
in
.

He had to keep calm. He could feel the paranoia trying to creep in. Gage resisted the urge to run back and search for Jess inside the house, to scream her name as he went from room to room.

The basement.

The music room.

Stay cool, man. She’s not in there.

He closed his eyes, recalling Jess—how her hair smelled of shampoo, how her skin had felt like silk under his touch. No, she was out here. Somewhere. He could feel her.

“Maybe she’s already out back waiting on us.” Gage was running now, hoping with all his might they’d find Jess by the oak tree.

“She’ll be okay,” Bryan said, catching up with him. “I know she means a lot to you. We’ll find her.”

Anger began to stir inside him, replacing the hint of panic. He’d be
damned
if he was going to let something happen to Jess.

“That bad, huh?” Bryan said, eyeing him on the run.

Gage glared. “We’re friends.”

“Yeah, I saw that,” Bryan said with a smirk.

They rounded the house and headed toward the oak. Gage had picked this spot because the tree and nearby area were cloaked in shadow, making it impossible for anyone to see them from the house.

When they reached it, Jess wasn’t there.

“Damn it!” Frustrated, Gage scrubbed his face as he scoured the yard for any sign of her.

“Gage, I think it’s okay,” Allison said as she joined them. “I don’t know where, but Jess is out here. I can sense her, too. I told you we were all connected.”

She walked toward the graves. Gage didn’t follow.

“She’s right,” Bryan said. “Chill, okay? We’ll find her.” He studied Gage’s face. “Gage, she’ll be okay, I promise, man.”

Gage clenched his jaw and scanned the grounds one more time. Where the hell was she? The estate grounds were huge.

Come on, Jess. Come on, sweetheart. Where are you?

Bryan shifted uneasily. “You know, I’m starting to buy into this collective thing. I mean, I didn’t at first. I thought Allison was nuts. But now? I dunno, man. It’s like I can pick up on all of our…vibes or something lately. What do you think?”

Gage looked at him without saying a word. He wouldn’t admit it, mostly because it sounded girly, but he understood exactly what Bryan was saying. It was like they had some weird connection growing between all of them—and it seemed stronger almost every day.

Not just between them, either. The house, too. That part couldn’t be good
.

“There!” Allison pointed toward the woods. “It’s Jess!”

A dark figure emerged, running toward them. Jess. Gage breathed a sigh of relief and he quickened his step. What was she thinking, going out into the woods at night by herself? “Jess?” he called.

Reaching them, she flung herself into Gage’s arms. “Are you okay?” he asked.

She nodded yes, then shook her head, no. “I know how the girls died,” Jess sobbed, clinging to him tightly. “I saw what he did.”

Gage stroked her head. “It’s okay, Jess. It’ll be okay.” He gently pushed her back so he could look at her. Her eyes were wide with fright. “What happened?”

Jess took a long, shuddering breath.

“It’s okay,” Gage repeated. “Come on. Tell us about it.” He led her back toward the shadowed concealment of the oak tree and took a seat, pulling her up against his chest. Bryan and Allison took seats nearby.

Jess leaned into him, her body tight with fear as she filled them in about the girls leading her into the woods, the strange vision, and how she’d woken up next to partially unearthed bones.

“So, you’re saying you don’t remember digging anything up?” Bryan asked.

Jess shook her head. “No. But how can that be?” She picked at her fingernails, which clearly had dirt under them. She turned to Allison. “How can that be?” she repeated, as if not wanting to admit that she’d either been under Gracie and Emma’s influence, or had done something without the slightest recollection of it. But Gage knew the real reason—Allison was the only one of them who’d ever been under the influence of something or someone else. Jess was looking to Allison for answers, and damn if Gage didn’t agree with that.

Allison had grown quiet. She wasn’t blocking them out or shutting down as she sometimes did. Allison had heard every word Jess had said. She was probably just trying to figure out a tactful way of saying the obvious. That Gracie and Emma had become strong enough to take over Jess. They might not be demons, but they’d essentially done the same thing. Possession.

Jess, sweetheart, you’re playing with fire
.

He gave her a little squeeze. “Hey, maybe it’s not such a good idea to talk to the girls for a while.”

“I agree with Gage,” Bryan said. “Skills or not, I think we’re above our pay grade on this one. They’re stronger than us if they can take you over like that.”

Jess stiffened. “We’ve been saying it’s the house keeping us here, but I think it’s more than that. Allison was right. Siler House is sick. But it didn’t start that way. It has something to do with Riley. What if we bury the skull I found with the rest of their bodies? They said they’d been separated. Maybe if we bury it—”

“They’ll be at peace,” Bryan finished. “They’ll stop haunting Siler House. And us.”

Allison laughed bitterly. “And you
believe
that?”

Bryan shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe Jess has a point. Maybe part of breaking Siler House’s hold is to set their souls free from Riley’s control.”

Allison got to her feet. “They’re
spirits
. Spirits who are drawing their strength from Jess. I don’t trust ghosts. Not one.” She turned her face up toward Siler House.

“We could still use them to help us get rid of Riley,” Jess said. “They might not be what they appear, but how could they side with Riley? Evil or not, that doesn’t mean they don’t want him gone.”

Gage sighed. This wasn’t going to go down easily or end well. He could sense that, and wondered if the others could, too. Sure, he’d be happy to use Gracie and Emma to get rid of Riley, and then he’d be just as happy to send them packing, too. Good riddance.

Allison turned to Jess and knelt down inches in front of her. “If they’re such saints, Jess, then where the hell are their cute little girl angel wings?”

Jess tensed. “I never said they were angels. Never. But you’re the expert on demons. Am I right?”

Allison didn’t answer.

Jess pushed away from Gage and got to her feet. Damn. This
was
going to wind up in a fight.

“Jess—” he said, reaching for her.

She shoved his hand away and stood over Allison. “You said Gracie and Emma weren’t demons. Is that still true?”

Allison stared up at Jess in that emotionless, freaky way of hers.

“
ARE THEY DEMONS?
” Jess demanded.

“No,” Allison admitted.

“Okay, then,” Jess said, taking a few steps away, her arms folded across her chest. “Look, I’m not saying I’m turning into their big sister. I’m just saying that if we are over our heads here, and since the girls
aren’t
demons, we see if we can use them against Riley before we put them to rest. Why don’t we just give it a try?”

Allison rolled her eyes.

Jess sighed and threw her hands into the air in exasperation. “Why would they help Riley, Allison? Why would they want to help the person who killed them and then
ate
part of them?”

“But then why show you that, Jess?” Bryan asked. “I mean, what’s the point? Why not just tell you?”

Jess sighed. “Because ghosts don’t operate the way you and I do.”

Gage thought the twin dead girls were just creepy, no matter what their intentions. Hell, for that matter,
all
dead things were creepy—especially when they came back.

Allison finally got to her feet. Gage watched carefully, but it didn’t seem like Allison was in a catfight mood.

“Okay,” Allison said, her voice soft and calm. “We’ll see if they can help us against Riley. But then we get rid of them, too.”

Jess nodded. “Fair enough.”

“But it’ll have to be in the daylight,” Gage said. “No wandering around in the woods at night.”

Allison’s gaze returned to the house. “I wish there was another way to get out of here. Let Siler House and everything in it be someone else’s problem.”

“That
is
the problem, though, isn’t it?” Jess said. “The house isn’t going to let us leave.”

“No,” Bryan admitted. “I tried. The day after that whole knife thing. I got as far as the gates, and…I dunno. It was weird. It was like I had this…panic attack or something.”

“You tried to leave?” Jess asked.

Gage shrugged. “Can’t blame him, really.”

Allison nodded. “We’re bound here. Bound to each other until we break whatever’s holding us.”

Jess relaxed as if all the wind, all the fight had gone out of her. “Sounds like we need to just do this thing with Riley and the girls. Get it over with. The sooner, the better.”

Allison let out a nervous laugh. “You know the house is going to be so pissed, right? It’s going to be
so
freaking pissed.”

“Yeah, I think so, too,” Jess agreed.

Gage dusted himself off. “Well, good to see you two are BFFs again.”

“So, what’s the first step, Gage?” Bryan asked, motioning toward the house. “Because if the ghosts are taking control of Jess, Riley isn’t too far from freeing himself from wherever he is, either. And since Jess is the most susceptible to ghosts, he’ll be coming after her first.”

Gage gave them a half-cocked smile. “We’re going to do what we came here for. We’re resurrecting Riley. And then we’re going to hand him a one-way ticket back to hell.”

Bryan snorted. “Yeah? How are we gonna do that?”

“With a few things I snagged from Brandt’s room. He printed out some voodoo crap about vanquishing spirits. I guess in case things got out of control. There’s a small bag of weird stuff still in his room, too.”

“So, we’ve got to get back into his room without anyone seeing us.” A line of wrinkles claimed Bryan’s forehead. “Sure. But I think he’d miss the whole box, so what do we need from it?”

Gage shrugged. “Weird stuff, like a small piece of wood tied to cardboard. It’s from a Rowen tree or something. There’s a rabbit’s foot, some smelly flower stuff rolled up into a turd-sized joint looking thing, and what looks like a four-leaf clover in a glass vial.”

“Sage,” Jess informed them. “The stuff that looks like a super-sized joint? It’s called sage.”

Bryan laughed. “And you think that’s going to work? A four-leaf clover? Some herbs? Man, that’s the worst plan I’ve heard yet.”

“Probably,” Gage said, clapping a hand onto Bryan’s shoulder. He doubted any of that was their silver bullet. If he was right, the end-all answer was standing right in front of him. “But that’s why we have you.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Jess swatted at another mosquito. Funny how she couldn’t stand the little bloodsuckers when she’d first gotten here, but now found them almost preferable to being inside. She stood in the dark with Gage, Allison, and Bryan, facing the back of Siler House. It loomed over them as they contemplated the best way to end this—the best way to free themselves from its stranglehold.

The house
had
become an addiction. And, like an addict who’s suddenly come to terms with his or her dependency, finally admitting it was both frightening and also provided an overwhelming sense of relief.

Bryan laughed. “It’s weird, don’t you think? The house can keep us from leaving, but it can’t stop us from feeling like rats in a snake pit?”