The Secrets of Ghosts (33 page)

Henry was thinking; she could hear him. He thought, I regret this, truly.

They walked out of the hallway and into the sheeting rain. Katie knew that they were heading for the pond, before Henry turned that way. She could hear Violet praying; she knew that Henry was walking to the pond to drown her.

‘Why?’ she asked him, silently.

‘You’re the door but in order for me to be with Violet, I need you to die.’

‘You knew that all along.’

‘Since we’re sharing one mind, there’s little point in my denying it.’

Katie struggled, but she couldn’t stop her legs from moving. She watched the pond get closer and hoped that Max would do something. Surely, he’d know something was wrong.

Her body spun around, a flash of pain on her arm. Max had it in a grip, was facing them. ‘What the hell are you doing?’

‘Just needed some fresh air,’ Henry said in Katie’s voice. ‘I feel a bit light-headed.’

‘In the rain?’ Max looked concerned. Not concerned enough, though.

‘Help!’ Katie shouted with her mind. She tried to force her eyes to convey anguish, to telegraph ‘help me, I’m possessed’ with her facial expression.

Henry sat on the low wall bordering the pond. He leaned down and Katie, fired with pure terror, put everything she could into stopping her body. It continued smoothly down, her face an inch above the surface.

‘Oh, fuck,’ Max said, his hair plastered against his head.

‘—forgive us our trespasses—’ said Violet.

‘Don’t struggle,’ Henry said. He plunged them into the water. Shocking and cold. Katie felt it shoot up her nose and down her throat. ‘Violent death. You’ll probably hang around. Be an unquiet spirit. You’ll live for ever.’

‘I’ll be dead for ever,’ Katie said. ‘Violet, stop praying. Help me. Stop Henry.’

‘He’s not Henry. He’s a bad man,’ Violet said, her voice little-girl and frightened. Katie felt despair. Violet was too far gone, too frightened. She couldn’t stop Henry; she couldn’t move her body. He was too strong.

Her body was jerked backwards. Air on her face. She tried to cough out the water, felt her body’s natural instincts override Henry’s determination and a waterfall spewed out of her mouth.

Max was pulling her backwards, she fell on top of him on the grass, but Henry was fighting back control. Then he went limp. He lifted his head and said, ‘Max?’ In a wavery tone. ‘Oh, Max.’

Katie felt Max’s arms around her. Saw him looking into her face. A flash of lightning illuminated his face into a circle of white. ‘What happened? What the fuck was that?’

‘He tried to kill me.’ Henry was using a stuttering, frightened voice. It was Katie’s frightened voice, echoed in her own mind, but they weren’t her words.

Don’t believe him, she urged Max. Don’t listen.
It’s Henry
.

‘Jesus, you scared me. How could he do that?’

‘Henry took over my body but he’s gone now. I overpowered him.’

‘Where’s he gone?’ Max was holding her tightly, looking around wildly as if a ghost were about to shout ‘boo’. ‘Where’s Violet?’

Chapter 29

Katie reached out to Violet, one trapped soul to another. She pictured herself patting Violet, telling her that everything was all right and that if she could just stop reciting the Lord’s Prayer, then perhaps they could join forces and eject Henry from Katie’s body. Regain control.

Katie felt Violet’s thoughts. In an instant she knew it all. The man calling himself Henry was not Henry. He was the other man in that photograph, the archaeologist Alexander James. And Katie knew why Violet was so frightened. Alexander James had killed Violet. He’d drowned her in that pond in a jealous rage when she’d chosen Henry. He’d been so angry. That she’d chosen a mere lackey over him, a great historian, a man of money.

Her bones were lying in the bottom, amongst the silt and the stones and the slimy weeds. Katie felt Violet remembering that as if it were her own memory, big hands around her neck, the terror as she realised she couldn’t take a breath and that Alexander wasn’t going to stop, wasn’t going to let go. Katie felt it all as if it had happened to her, not Violet, and she felt the pull of her bones down in the deep cold water. They were calling.

Violet was folding in on herself, getting smaller and weaker. ‘He’s going to kill me again,’ she whispered. Her voice was quiet, just an itch at the back of her consciousness. But Katie’s thoughts were cloudy. Had she dreamed that she was a girl called Katie, working as a waitress and living in a tiny flat? Or was she Violet Beaufort?

Katie felt herself being squeezed smaller; she wasn’t sure any more whether she was Katie or Violet. It hardly mattered. Alexander was getting stronger and stronger and she was getting weaker. Katie blinked, tried to see out of her own eyes, see past the fear and the ice. The black water of the ornamental pond was being pelted with rain so that the surface was dancing. The black clouds shifted and the evening sun lit the water for a moment and Katie thought of the warm light. There was something important about the light. Something strong and comforting. She remembered her name. Katie Harper.

‘Not murder, Violet.’ Alexander was speaking out loud, with Katie’s voice. ‘I don’t want to kill you, my love. I never meant to hurt you.’

The warm light of the sun was on her face, reminding Katie that she had light of her own. She reached inside and found the light, gathering and stretching it around her. Then, as she felt a little stronger, she pictured breaking a tiny piece off and giving it to the form she knew was Violet’s soul, feeding it like a baby bird.

‘We can be together, for ever.’ Alexander was still talking with Katie’s voice. ‘I was angry before but that’s all in the past now. This is all we have dreamed of.’

Something turned over inside and Katie felt Violet disappear. She stepped out of Katie’s body as if she were shedding a skin. ‘I don’t think so,’ Violet said, looking whole and solid and very un-ghost-like.

‘Behave yourself,’ Alexander said, sounding scared.

Violet winked at Katie and then stepped into Max.

Katie wanted to scream but she couldn’t. She saw the surprise on Max’s face and felt horror, but only in a very faint way. She was being squeezed tighter and tighter; her essence was being crushed. Alexander was getting stronger with every second. Katie had gathered the light around herself, but Alexander was digging in as if it were an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Max reached into his pocket and pulled out a small copper-coloured object. It was the bronze brooch they’d found in the archaeologist’s things. In Alexander’s things.

Max winked, in an exaggerated way that looked nothing like Max and entirely like Violet. Then he threw the brooch into the pond and said out loud, ‘You want me, come with me.’

Katie felt a rush as Alexander left her body. She staggered back as the ghost dived after it, the water not even rippling as he hit the surface and disappeared.

Violet stepped from Max. One moment, Katie could see her in his face and posture and the next moment she was next to him and Max was doubled over making retching noises.

‘Where did Violet go?’ Max said, once he’d caught his breath. ‘I felt her. I saw her thoughts, everything. That was—’ He sat down heavily. Shook his head as if he needed to clear it. ‘That was fucking horrible.’

‘She’s gone.’ Katie looked around. Zofia picked up the witch’s ball and wrapped it in its black cloth. She passed it to Katie. ‘You should break this. Then he can’t come back.’

‘She’s really gone.’ Katie couldn’t concentrate on anything else. She’d seen Violet step out of Max and then seen her disappear. Nothing dramatic, no flames or dust or bright light, just a flicker of a bulb, here one moment and gone the next. ‘I felt it,’ Katie said.

Zofia put her hand on Katie’s arm. ‘It’s for the best.’

‘I feel terrible. She saved my life. And now she’s gone God knows where.’

‘She saved your life,’ Max said. ‘Maybe that’s what she was here for. Maybe it was fate that you met her.’

‘I don’t care about fate,’ Katie said. She felt the tears spill over and sniffed to try and stop her nose from running, too. ‘I care about Violet.’

Max held her while she cried, stroking her back and saying, gently, ‘I know. I’m sorry.’

Chapter 30

Katie leaned into Max, feeling safe with his arms around her. The crying left as quickly as it had come and she felt calmer than she had in days. The warm light was still inside her, she could feel it and, looking down at her stomach, she almost expected to be glowing. The image of a shaft of light shining out of her belly button made her laugh.

‘Does she have hysteria?’ Zofia said. ‘It is shock, I think.’

‘I’m fine,’ Katie said. The rain was easing off, too. She looked up at the clearing sky and smiled, filled with wonderful knowledge. ‘Violet doesn’t have to be gone. I can bring her back.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I’ve been bringing them into being, yes? Making them stronger? I can do that. I can feel how to do that, now. I think—’ Katie stepped forward and held her hands above the surface of the water.

‘I don’t think that’s a good idea,’ Max said. ‘She’s been released or crossed over to the other side or whatever spirits do once they’re not kept here. And we should go inside and sit down. In the dry. Away from the water you just nearly drowned in.’

‘I’m fine,’ Katie said.

‘I’m not talking about you,’ Max said. He was gritting his teeth to stop them from chattering, but Katie couldn’t stop thinking about the light.

‘In a moment.’ Katie closed her eyes and reached out. She felt the trace of Violet’s soul, a tiny piece of her spirit. Very quiet, very thin. Very hard to catch. Like a tiny scrap of tissue paper blowing in a gale.

‘Got her,’ Katie said, opening her eyes. She pictured a pinch of light threading out and igniting that scrap of paper, until Violet was standing in front of her. Almost completely transparent, but there.

‘I’m the light,’ Katie said, reaching out her hands to Violet. ‘You don’t have to go.’

Violet opened her mouth in a wail.

‘Sweet Jesus,’ Max said. ‘I can see her.’

‘It’s okay,’ Katie said, threading more light to Violet, making her stronger again, watching as her transparent body became more and more solid. She was aware of Zofia mumbling in Polish, of Max grabbing her arm, but she stayed focused on Violet. She had a job to do.

‘Please stop,’ Violet said, in between horrible gasps. ‘You have to let me go.’

‘But I’m saving you. You can stay here with us.’ Katie gestured. ‘You said some life was better than none at all.’

‘I’m supposed to go,’ Violet said and her voice was so quiet, Katie wasn’t sure if she was speaking out loud or just in her mind. ‘I don’t belong here.’

‘But I don’t want you to leave me.’ Katie felt angry again. What was the point of having bloody power if you couldn’t do what you wanted? ‘I’ll miss you.’

‘I shan’t miss you,’ Violet said, sounding like her old self. ‘I’m ready for a new adventure.’ Violet was fading again; she was using the force of her own will to give back whatever energy Katie was passing along the golden thread.

‘I could make you stay,’ Katie said, flexing her fingers and feeling the power within her move. She could feel its texture, its weight. She wondered what would happen if she used it all. Maybe she could make Violet strong enough to play with her doll’s house, to eat food, to dance with nice-looking men at weddings, to kiss.

Violet smiled sadly, her face just a suggestion shimmering in the air. ‘No, you couldn’t. You’re not that cruel.’

Katie stopped fighting. She watched as Violet faded away, her soul gone and just a tiny echo of a life once again.

‘Good.’ Zofia let out a noisy breath and patted Katie’s arm. ‘Time to go in now, I think.’

Katie nodded and followed Zofia. She was dimly aware of Max’s arm around her shoulder and, then, of familiar voices shouting from the driveway.

Gwen and Cam rounded the corner and began crunching across the gravel. Katie pulled away from Max and went to meet them.

‘I’m fine,’ she said. ‘It’s over.’ She found herself promptly in a Cam and Gwen sandwich, getting hugged to within an inch of her life. Cam broke away first and grabbed Max in a quick hug, too. ‘You all right?’

‘Sort of,’ Max said. ‘Henry tried to drown Katie.’

‘Shh.’ Katie shot him a warning look. ‘It wasn’t that bad.’

‘Oh, my God,’ Gwen said. She was shaking. ‘I told you not to come back here. I told you—’

‘And it wasn’t Henry. It was Alexander James.’

Max raised an eyebrow. ‘Violet’s other suitor?’

Katie nodded. For the benefit of Cam and Gwen, she said, ‘He was an archaeologist and a friend of the Beaufort family. He was obsessed with Violet, wrote her loads of love letters, but she didn’t feel the same way. He saw her kissing Henry in the garden and drowned her in the ornamental pond.’ Katie pointed to the large rectangle of water. Even now the rain had stopped, the sky was grey and the water looked black.

‘Bastard,’ Max said.

‘Is her body down there?’ Gwen said, swallowing.

‘What’s left of it, yes.’

‘Do we have to burn her bones?’ Max said and Gwen looked surprised.

‘No.’ Katie patted his arm. ‘I’m beyond all of that.’

‘What do you mean?’ Cam said, but Katie was striding across the wet grass. Violet hadn’t wanted her help, but there was something else she could do.

*

The electricity still wasn’t on, but the clouds had parted and light was streaming through the mullioned windows. Barton was standing on the parquet of the reception hall, by the front window. He looked a little shaken. ‘What was all that about?’

‘A murderous ghost called Alexander James just tried to kill me,’ Katie said. ‘I like the way you rushed out to help.’

‘I didn’t know what was happening,’ Barton said, indignant.

Katie turned to Max. ‘Do you see? He absolutely has no idea. No psychic ability.’

‘Now, hang on—’ Barton said.

‘If you did—’ Katie turned back and began advancing on Barton ‘—you would be running right about now.’

She knew Gwen and Cam and Zofia and Max had come in behind her and she flashed them what she hoped was a reassuring smile.