Paradise Island: Complete Edition (44 page)

Pretty soon I found myself walking out of that dreadful place, Jack helping me to the car, ever patient and gentle with me. He watched me earlier as I swallowed the pills I was supposed to and when I was done he smiled and looked like he was proud of me. I wanted to punch him in the face just for that but I knew that would give them enough reason to keep me there longer, and I was sick of being locked up and looked at like I was crazy. I wasn’t crazy. I was special. I could see the dead roam the world of the living, or maybe I could see into the world of the dead. Either way, I had a gift that should be cherished, not extinguished by modern medicine. Of course, if I tried to explain all this to Jack I knew he wouldn’t be able to support me because he just didn’t believe. But I had a feeling there was someone that would.

As Jack helped me with the seatbelt I summoned up the courage to say what was on my mind. “I think we should go back to Wood House,” I finally said. I didn’t dare look at Jack’s face, instead I just stared straight ahead, at the mostly empty parking lot.

“We’re not welcome there anymore. Besides, I don’t think it’s a good idea. We should stay in the city for a few days and maybe go back to paradise island, depending on how Brandon is doing.”

“I need to speak with your mother,” I said. “I need to ask her something.”

“Umm, that doesn’t sound like a good idea, Sophie. My mother hates your right now.” To his credit, Jack kept his eyes on the road.

“She knows what’s going on, Jack. I don’t know how to explain it, I just know she’s somehow involved. I don’t think your mother is who she appears to be.”

Jack made a sudden turn and drove into a random parking lot. “You’re joking, right? You want me to take you back to Wood House so you could involve my mother in your delusions? I thought you wanted to get better, Sophie?”

I looked him straight in the eyes. “Jack, I just said that shit so that they’d let me out of that hell hole you took me to. Now I’m going to be blunt: no, I do not believe I’m crazy or that I lost it. Lucy took over my body. That happened. She, and sometimes the others from the island, have been haunting me for quite some time. If this is too much for you to handle, you can just let me out here and you’ll never have to see me again.” I turned away from him and looked out the side window. I waited for Jack to unlock my door but he never did.

Instead I saw him put his head in his hands. “Sophie, why are you doing this? I thought we left all of that behind when we left Ravenswood island. Why do you insist un bringing it back up to the surface? We did horrible things because we had to, but now we have to let them go. Do you understand?”

“There’s something in the attic, Jack. At Wood House, I mean. I heard noises that one day and I almost lost it. I had a sort of waking dream. I’m not even sure what it was. Anyway, I found the key in your mother’s room and I went and checked it out. I found nothing. But it was almost too perfect. Old junk and shit like that but I knew it was there just hiding something. I’m not sure what yet, but I plan on fin ding out. Lucy hinted that she knew something about your mother, but she didn’t tell me what. She visited me in the place you took me to, you know that? Anyway, I think if I go to the stream by myself she’ll show up again. I’ll be careful this time. I won’t let her trick me again. Don’t you understand what’s at stake here, Jack? You have to help me. We have to deal with this together.” I put a hand on his shoulder but he slid out of my reach.

He looked at me with the saddest look in his eyes. “You’re beyond help, Sophie. I don’t know what else I can do. Fuck, why couldn’t you just let that shit go. I think we need to go back to paradise island. You didn’t seem to have any hallucinations there, right?”

I remembered back and realized he was right. “No, I don’t remember anything weird happening there, besides the usual of course.” I was of course referring to Jack’s indecent proposal of a threesome, which I ended up enjoying. I missed seeing Rory’s face. Of running my hands through his curly hair and seeing that sweet smile of his. I even missed the gentle way he made love to me. I missed waking up not knowing where I ended and where Jack or Rory began. I missed that closeness our love making provided. I missed him terribly. “After you take me to Wood House one last time, we can go back to the island. Deal?”

Jack looked like he was ready to scream but eventually he nodded. “Fine,” he said through greeted teeth. “Make it quick.”

“Oh, don’t worry Jack, I plan to.”

L
ucy was messing with the wrong girl. Using my body as her own little play doll? Unforgivable. Tricking me into drinking that stream water? I’ll admit that was my fault. I don’t know why I trusted her. I guess she knew how to play me. I just hoped she was lying when she said Jack had a deep dark secret he was hiding from me. It seemed to me that we were pretty honest with each other. We’d killed people together, for goodness sake, and then helped each other cover up the murders. We went as far as burying the bodies together. We were definitely meant for each other, I just wished that he would trust me. If I said I saw a ghost, he should ask which one, not assume I was crazy and take me to a mental health clinic.

Pretty soon, we drove up to the Wood House and Jack parked in his old spot, next to Hunter’s jeep, which brought memories of its own back to me, and none of them bad. It was something that Jack had trusted me enough to take me back here, I had to admit. He really loved me, and on some level I knew he wanted me to be right and sane, no matter how hard it was for him. I leaned in across the car and kissed him gently on the lips. “Trust me, Jack. Everything will work out.”

“I’m trying, Sophie. I’m really trying.”

And we were in front of the house. The sun was setting in the west. Pretty soon it would be pitch dark outside, with only the moon and stars as our companions. This was going to be a long night, I suspected.

A familiar face greeted us when the heavy wooden door opened.

“What are you guys doing back here? Mother is still upset. She hasn’t come out of her room in hours,” Hunter said. He did not move out of our way or invite us in.

“I’m here to apologize,” I said before Jack could say anything. “I behaved abhorrently but there’s a good reason for that. And I think your mother could help make things right. But first I need to borrow a teacup!”

Hunter looked at me like I was crazy but he moved out of our way and let us in.

“What are you thinking?” Jack asked me as he followed me to the kitchen.

“Trust me, Jack,” I said as I chose a teacup and examined it in the light. “This should work just fine.”

I got out of the kitchen and headed for the front door.

“Where are you going now?”

“To the stream, Jack. Before the light runs out. I’m going to capture that bitch’s reflection and then your mother is gonna help me get rid of her.”

He followed me outside, complaining all the way there. When we were halfway through the woods I told him to wait right there, that Lucy wasn’t going to manifest if he was present and he begrudgingly crossed his arms and leaned against a tree. “This is crazy,” was the last thing I heard him say as I made my way to the stream. It might have been crazy but it was the only way I knew to stop all this madness. The thought of Lucy using my body like that. Coming on to Jack’s brothers, being nasty to his mother, and having unprotected sex with Jack, well it just made me very angry. I was willing to give her a benefit of the doubt before, but now all I wanted to do was destroy her.

I made it to the stream just in time. There was still some light left to see what was what.

I kneeled down and looked into the water. “Lucy,” I said. “Come out and play.”

Little by little I saw the image of her head form. “Hello, Sophie. Nice to see you again. How was the loony bin?”

“It sucked.”

“I’m glad.”

“You bitch.”

“Yeah, yeah. What do you want?” Then she saw the cup I was holding. “Yay! You want me to be with you after all! Yay! I know you won’t drink me again, but please take with you. I’ll be ever so helpful, I promise! Best friends forever!”

She sounded like a cheerleader. I rolled my eyes. Stupid bitch, I thought. “Something like that. Are you ready to be scooped up?”

“Yes! Yes! It’s so boring here.”

I scooped up her image and saw her head reform, only smaller, to fit the contours of the teacup.

“Hi, Lucy,” I said to her reflection.

“I’m so glad you changed your mind, Sophie. I’m sorry about the body jumping thingy. I missed having a physical body so bad. You understand why I did it, don’t you?”

“Of course,” I said. “Of course I do. Now be quiet. Jack doesn’t believe you’re real.”

“He won’t be able to hear or see me, Sophie. You’re special or something, that’s why you can. But as long as you don’t pay attention to me, we should be fine! Ooh, there he is. He was amazing in bed, again, I gotta say. You’re one lucky girl, Sophie!”

“And don’t I know it,” I whispered as Jack came into view.

Jack fell into step with me as we made our way to the house. “Awfully quiet,” said Lucy halfway there.

I looked down into the teacup and saw her as clear as day. I held the teacup to where Jack could see it, but he didn’t react at all. I guess Lucy was right: I was the only one who could see her. But I had an idea of someone else who might be able to.

Hunter waited by the door when we came back and locked the door behind us.

“What the hell is that?” He asked me when he saw the cup full of water in my hands.

“It’s hard to explain, but let’s just say it’s water from the stream. Is your mother still in her room?”

He nodded.

“Good, I’m going to pay her a visit.” I started up the stairs carefully, so as not to spill any of the water. I didn’t know if it was going to affect Lucy’s manifestation, but I didn’t want to take any chances anyway.

“Wait, I’m coming with you,” Jack called as he started climbing the stairs.

“No, Jack,” I said when I turned around slowly. “This is something only I and your mother can discuss.”

He gave me a strange look, clearly confused by what I’d just said, but he stopped coming up the stairs.

And pretty soon I found myself in front of Margaret’s door. I took a deep breath and knocked three times.

“Go away,” I heard her yell after I knocked another three.

“You’ll want to see this, Mrs. Stark,” I said. “Please open the door.”

It took her a minute but finally the door opened an inch. When she saw the cup in my hands she looked up at my face. “It’s not possible,” she said.

“Oh, yes it is, hag!” Lucy said from the cup.

“She took over my body earlier. That wasn’t me doing and saying all those nasty things,” I said as way of explanation.

“Hey, there’s no need for that!” Lucy protested from the cup but I ignored her.

“I see,” Margaret said. “I knew there was something off about you the other day but I couldn’t put my finger on it. But why are you here? And why have you brought this...creature here?”

“Get the key to the attic and once we’re up there I’ll explain everything,” I said.

She looked at me strangely and then went back into her room, leaving the door ajar. She was back in less than a minute with key in hand. “I sure hope you know what you’re doing, young lady.”

“Oh, I know very well,” was all I said as we made our way up to the attic.

“Hey! What’s going on here?” I heard Lucy yell from the cup but I ignored her. “What the hell are you planning, Sophie! You better not be trying anything funny, or I’ll show you what I’m really made of!”

“Has she always been this obnoxious?” Margaret asked as we headed up the stairs leading to the attic.

I looked down in the cup and saw Lucy’s angry face. “Pretty much,” I said.

Margaret unlocked the door and let me in. Before there were a bunch of old stuff, now all of it was cleared away, as if it never was there to begin with.

“I knew there was something strange about this attic,” I said as I looked around the vast empty space. The only piece of furniture an altar in the middle with a book, a candle, and a metal bowl on it. It was inside a circle drawn in salt in the middle of the space. There were a bunch of different cabinets up against all the walls and nooks and crannies.

“Goddamn it! A fucking witch? You’re a witch, hag?” Lucy demanded to know. I looked up at Margaret as well, the question in my eyes.

“That’s one word for it,” she said as way of explanation.

“Huh,” I said. “So I wasn’t going crazy after all?”

“That I cannot tell you, my dear, but it would seem not.” Margaret entered the circle and motioned for me to stay back.

“You fucking bitch! What are you planning on doing, Sophie? Tell me now!” Lucy was getting to be very annoying. I had the urge to just splash her all over the floor but I kept my temper in check. That would accomplish nothing. I needed to hurt her in the only way I knew how.

“Do your sons know?” I asked as Margaret flipped through the book looking for God knows what.

“No, and I’d like to keep it that way. They have no idea about the supernatural. I’m pretty sure you know Jack’s thoughts on the matter.”

I nodded. “Yeah, he seems to be a very staunch atheist.”

“That’s mostly my fault,” she said. “In order to protect him from the truth I had to do some pretty horrible things. Now he hates me forever, but it’s a small price to pay to make sure that he and my other sons are safe. The supernatural is not something most people can handle, as you’ve no doubt learned yourself.”

I looked down into the cup at the angry face of Lucy and I nodded again. “Yeah, the last couple of days have been very illuminating.”

I saw the water starting to swirl inside the cup and Lucy’s image started to break up. “Shit! I think she’d trying to escape!” I said as I showed Margaret what was happening.

“She won’t go far, but just in case, put her on the floor there,” she pointed towards a spot on the floor.

After I put the swirling cup of water there, she exited the circle of salt and made a smaller one around the cup. The water immediately stopped swirling and Lucy’s image was back to normal. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” Lucy yelled out. “I knew I should have listened to them!”