Coldhearted (9781311888433) (20 page)

Mason snapped his fingers in the air,
excited. “Call Jules! She’d know how to get rid of him.”

Edie indulged her boyfriend (who’d before
thought Jules’s belief in the paranormal was a bunch of hooey) and
called the co-founder of GPS. After Edie had gotten Jules’s consent
to put her on speakerphone for everyone to hear, Diana, Madelyn,
and Mason crowded around Edie, staying silent.

Jules was ecstatic when Edie confirmed she
had a 24/7 ghost buddy, and that she’d been talking to him, but
Jules couldn’t tell Edie how to get rid of her unwanted
attachment.

“
Why would you even want
to?” Jules asked. “This is like awesome.”

“
No,” Edie told Jules. “It’s
not. He’s dangerous, a poltergeist, remember?”

“
Oh, yeah…well, how about
this: come to Grimsby Sanatorium this Saturday. Not all ghosts are
scary. Maybe we’ll get help. Maybe a ghost there’ll tell us how to
get rid of yours.”

“
Have you ever held a
conversation with a ghost?”

Jules paused, and then replied, “Well, no.
Not me. But weird stuff has happened on our investigations.”

“
Define: weird.”

“
Voices. Noises. Cold spots.
Shadow figures. White orbs. I’ve got recordings of what I think are
ghosts communicating, but the audio is difficult to understand,
muffled, distorted. How does your ghost sound?”

“
Crystal clear,” Edie said
in a tone.

“
That’s—”

“
Don’t say ‘awesome’,” Edie
cut her off, and then sighed. “All right, I’ll come this Saturday.
Text me the directions.” They said their goodbyes, and Edie ended
the call.

Mason’s arms were folded over his chest. “One
ghost isn’t enough?” He couldn’t keep silent any longer. “You’re
going to go out and find more ghosts?”

“
You heard Jules. She thinks
the ghosts there will tell me how to get rid of mine.”

“
Yeah, that sounds smart,”
Madelyn agreed, speaking up for Edie. “I mean, they’re all in the
ghost network or something like that. They know each
other.”

“
You’re speculating,” Diana
said, after being silent for so long. She wasn’t
convinced.

“
You’re right,” Mason said
to Diana, and then cut his eyes at Edie. “What if two, three, hell,
a dozen ghosts attach themselves to you at the
sanatorium?”

Edie shook her head. “I don’t think he’d let
them. He thinks he owns me.”

She shivered, feeling a cold presence beside
her.

“
I do,” the ghost affirmed
in her ear.

Mason reached out and grabbed her arms, his
eyes wide with alarm. “It’s him, isn’t it? What’s happening?”

Edie hesitated, and then said, “He said he
owns me.”

Mason pulled Edie to him, crushing her
against his chest. “He can’t have you.” Mason held her tight, as
she did him. “You’re mine.”

A loud growl reverberated around the room,
and then suddenly, Mason was torn from her embrace. His feet left
the floor, as his body was being hoisted up by unseen hands, and
then he flew across the room, before landing with a crash into
Diana’s bean bag chair.

Edie rushed toward Mason, panicking.
“Mason?”

“
He’s afraid,” the ghost
said in her ear, and then chuckled. “So are Diana and Madelyn. They
taste so sweet.”

Edie ignored him and held her boyfriend’s
hand. “Mason?”

He winced as he got up, being helped by Edie
and Diana. “Sorry about your bean bag, Di,” he apologized.

Diana waved a dismissive hand at the beans
falling out on the floor. “I don’t care about that. Are you all
right?”

Edie was the only one holding onto Mason and
she didn’t want to let go. “Mason?” she said. “Don’t be afraid. He
likes that.” She turned toward Diana and Madelyn. “Y’all too. Be
strong. That’s what he likes: people who are afraid. It’s like a
drug to him.”

“
I’ll try,” Madelyn said.
She tucked her red hair behind her ears in perhaps a nervous
gesture. “It’s kind of hard, you know?”

“
We have to,” Diana
encouraged, putting an arm around Madelyn’s shoulders.

Madelyn smiled, now confident, and wrapped an
arm around her friend’s waist. “You’re right.”

“
Aw, how touching,” the
ghost said, insincere. “They’re so brave, yet, so
stupid.”

Edie let go of Mason and clamped a hand on
each side of her head, shielding her ears from his cold, heartless
voice. Mason gently held her wrists, saying something—Edie didn’t
know what—because the ghost was talking over him. Actually, he was
inside her mind, his voice carrying across the synapses.

“
You can’t be rid of me that
easily, Edie. Your little schemes won’t work. The other ghosts
don’t know me, can’t see me. Going to the sanatorium with Jules is
futile. You’ll accomplish nothing. Give up. Surrender. Surrender to
me.”

Despite his words, Edie had never felt
happier than she did in this moment. When she let go of her head,
Mason let go of her wrists, and she looked up at him, smiling.

“
What is it?” Mason was
probably wondering what had brought about her abrupt, slightly
manic, change in demeanor.

“
The ghost,” she said,
beaming. “He doesn’t want me to go to the sanatorium this
Saturday.”

“
And?” Mason said, not
understanding her train of thought.

“
He’s scared,” Edie said. “I
can tell it in his voice. The other ghosts know something, I’m sure
of it.”

Diana asked, “But why the sanatorium?
Couldn’t you just as easily go to a graveyard”—she turned toward
Madelyn—“or what about that old Civil War battlefield at the edge
of town?” Madelyn nodded in agreement, and then Diana turned back
toward Edie.

“
Lots of ghosts there, I
bet.”

Edie shook her head. “No, it’s the
sanatorium.” She was beyond excited. “He’s afraid of that place, I
know it.”

“
Then how about we go now?”
Madelyn suggested. “Get this thing over with.”

“
Yeah,” Diana chimed in,
approving.

“
No,” Mason said, waving his
hands around in dissent. “How do we know this ghost isn’t playing
some trick on you, Edie? Trying to lure you to some unsafe,
abandoned loony bin?”

“
He’s not,” Edie argued
softly. “I know him. I sensed his fear about the
sanatorium.”

Mason clenched his jaw, and then loosened it,
saying, “So…you’re just that close?”

“
No,” Edie defended. “I-I
just…I can’t explain it. I just know.”

Diana stepped forward to ease the tension.
“Maybe we’ll just wait until this Saturday,” she suggested, “just
in case it is a ploy by your ghost, yeah?”

“
He’s not my ghost,” Edie
said through clenched teeth. When Diana’s face fell, upset, Edie
immediately apologized, feeling horrible. “Sorry,” she said. “I’m
just…I’m so tired of him, of this situation. I want it to end.
Now.”

Soon, she was being embraced in a smothering
hug by Diana, Madelyn, and Mason.

“
I’m sorry,” Mason
apologized, finding a space on her back to rub, competing with
Diana and Madelyn. “I’m just…jealous, I guess.”

Diana and Madelyn separated from Edie and
quietly left the room.

“
There’s no reason for you
to be,” Edie told him. “I’ll never choose him. It’ll always be you,
Mason. I’ll never leave you.”

Mason had been holding her face in his hands,
listening to her speech, and then suddenly, he swooped down, and
smashed his lips against hers. They kissed as if they were about to
die; raw, passionate, wet.

Then they were interrupted, as someone
cleared her throat, coughing.

Edie and Mason broke apart, and Edie turned
to see Diana and Madelyn, standing at the threshold of Diana’s
bedroom door.

Diana said, “I’ve already talked to my
parents and Madelyn’s called hers. They said it was all right.”

Edie furrowed her brow. “What’s all right?”
she repeated.

Madelyn skipped to Edie’s side, giddy. “Di
and I are going to spend the night with you at your house.”

“
Sleepover!” Diana sang,
excited.

“
Am I invited?” Mason asked,
showing a bit of a seductive smile at the prospect of bunking with
three girls.

“
No boys allowed,” Madelyn
declared, playfully pushing him aside. “Tonight’s all about Girl
Power.” She raised her fists and Mason backed away, acting
scared.

Edie wasn’t so confident. “I don’t know
y’all. You’ve seen the damage that he can do. Rochelle and Ravenna
have both been hurt, and they weren’t even my friends.” Edie shook
her head. “I can’t even imagine what he’d do to y’all.”

Diana and Madelyn smothered her in another
hug.

Diana said, “Don’t worry about us. We’re
tough. I’m the older sister of a one-year-old boy. Believe me, I’m
tough.”

Madelyn added, “Yeah, and I know karate. I
watched an instructional video on YouTube, once.”

Edie laughed. “I don’t think a chop to the
back of the neck would help.”

“
Well, how about a knee-kick
to the groin?” Madelyn offered, grinning.

“
You don’t need a black belt
for that,” Mason commented wryly, shielding himself.

“
I got pointy knees,” Diana
informed. “And elbows,” she added, exposing them for everyone to
see.

Edie laughed again. “Okay, okay, y’all are
tough.” She sighed, happy. “Okay, gather your stuff ladies while I
call my uncle and get his permission.”

“
Oh, I didn’t think of
that,” Diana said with a worried grimace.

“
I’m sure he’ll be fine with
it, but I should ask anyway.”

****

Edie thanked her uncle and ended the call.
She’d been right. He was fine with Diana and Madelyn coming over.
The four of them then decided what to do: Edie would drive Diana
over to her house. Madelyn would arrive at Edie’s after she’d gone
home and packed. Madelyn would drive Diana to school in the
morning. Mason would pick Edie up and take her to school in his
truck.

Madelyn left, and as Diana
packed, Edie and Mason talked, while admiring the Halloween
decorations. He said because they’d had never went on that first
date at Fabrizio’s, he wanted to make up for it. So after school,
they’d go to the movies.
Boy Meets
Ghoul
was playing and apparently it was the
must-see movie of the year by the way everyone had been talking
about it at school.

“
It’s scary, but funny,”
Edie had heard Candie tell Quinn in the hallway between classes,
trying to entice him to two hours of sitting in the dark. Quinn had
mumbled something about “being busy” and “maybe another time.” When
Edie and Quinn had brushed shoulders, passing each other in the
hallway, he’d smiled and said “Hey,” before moving on.

At least he doesn’t think
I’m a witch.
Or he didn’t care, finding
that sexy or whatever. Edie knew that he’d only joined GPS at first
to get with “Goth chicks,” but then, after being possessed once,
he’d taken ghost-hunting for real.

As she was wondering if he’d been possessed
by a ghost or a demon, Mason squeezed her hand.

“
Hey,” he said.

“
Hey,” Edie said
back.

They were sitting on the front steps of
Diana’s house, waiting while she continued to pack. Edie had wanted
to wait inside, but Danny had woken up, crying his little head off.
It’d happened when Mrs. Christensen had urged Edie to say “goodbye”
to the little tyke. He’d taken one look at Edie and went off like a
bomb.

I’m the only one who he doesn’t like. I’m the
only one who he’s scared of.

Back home, down south, she’d used to baby sit
all the time and the kids had loved her. Edie figured Danny wasn’t
scared of her, but what was attached to her; her ghost-admirer. She
didn’t know if Danny could see the ghost, but he’d sensed his
presence, his evil nature, and had responded the best way he knew
how: by screaming. That was smart. Maybe she should be screaming
too. Although she didn’t know what good it would do. She assumed
screaming and showing fear was exactly what the ghost wanted.

“
What are you thinking
about?” Mason asked, squeezing her hand again.

“
Life and its constant
surprises,” she replied vaguely.

“
Surprises,” he repeated.
“They can be good or bad.” He sighed, his breath visible, as well
as his anguish. “I wish you weren’t going through this. I wish this
damned ghost would just leave.” He shook his head. “I’m not
possessive, you know? I mean, back in Diana’s room, I said you were
mine, as if I were claiming you. I didn’t mean for it to come out
that way. It’s just…I want you all to myself. Selfish,
huh?”

Edie shook her head. “No, it’s not selfish,
and I didn’t take any offense when you said it. I know you’re not
one of those bullies, who’ll bark at every guy who looks my way.”
Edie squeezed his hand. “I’m yours and you’re mine.”

He kissed her cheek and whispered, “Forever,”
against her skin.

She’d been freezing, but now his kiss and
promise set her on fire. She snuggled against him, seeking to keep
the flames going. She realized in this moment that he was the
counterbalance to her ghost, who embodied everything cold and harsh
and mean and violent, whereas Mason embodied everything warm and
gentle and nice and passive.

Who would win? The bad guy or the good
guy?