Possession (21 page)

Yet…a part of me wanted to.

Wendy hesitantly joined us. “I don’t mean to
intrude, but I just wanted to let you know that the doctor wants to see me. So
you wouldn’t worry.”

I could see fear in her eyes. “Are you all right?”

She nodded her head. “I shouldn’t be too long. If
I don’t see you in the garden, I’ll catch you back at the room.” She turned and
walked away.

Dean watched her go. “It’s not one of Barton’s
usual days for therapy sessions.”

Wendy’s shoulders slumped the closer she got to
the door. And then she was through it and out of our sight. “They just let her
out this morning. Maybe they have to do some kind of follow-up,” I reasoned.

“Probably have to give her more drugs to take.”

“They do prescribe a lot of medication in this
place.”

Dean’s eyes scanned the room. “I would hate to see
some of these folks without the pills.” His eyes stopped on a man across the
room who seemed to be bowling, only he didn’t have a ball or pins.

“It does get surreal in here sometimes.”

He turned back to me. “Any word on Mildred?”

“Wendy said she’s safe in one of the isolation
rooms.”

“The reader has her uses. How do we find Mildred before
we leave?”

“As soon as it’s dark I can start looking for her.
Once I find her I’ll come to your room.”

“I won’t be there.”

I gave him a questioning look, and then I realized
what he meant. “Oh, right. Luke will be there.”

“You guys will escape, and I’ll have to sit back
and hope it all goes well.” His hands curled into fists.

“I’m sorry, I really am.” I reached out and
grabbed his hand. “The only time we can get out is at night.” I felt the guilt
again. I had no right to treat Dean like a second-class citizen in his own body.

He shook off my hand. “We both know you want Luke
with you when you try to get out.”

“Luke and I have been through a lot. We can rely
on each other…trust each other.”

His expression was guarded, trying to cover his
hurt, but he spoke matter-of-factly. “You don’t know about me. You aren’t sure
if I would be there for you in a crunch. If I can hold my own. If you can count
on me.”

I didn’t know what to say to that.

He looked toward the windows, obviously shelving
that conversation for another time. “Tonight you escape and tomorrow, when I’m
back, I’ll be on the outside.”

Freedom. It’s what I wanted more than anything. If
all went well, then by this time tomorrow we would be on the outside.
And if it doesn’t?
I shook my head and
refused to consider what would happen if we got caught.

After breakfast, Rachel came to see her son. She kept Dean
busy, which I was thankful for. I really didn’t know how to act around him. I
watched him and his mother sit close together, talking. Rachel beamed every
time she looked at him. It was nice that she had him back.

With Wendy out of the picture, I spent a few hours
playing checkers with Andrew. He didn’t want to talk about what happened, so I
didn’t push him. He won two games and I won three. I offered to play another
game, but he shook me off. He claimed to be tired and left to go take a nap.

I sat by the window, watching a bird flitter from
one branch to another. Nurse Harrington came over and sat down next to me.

“You seem very fond of that young man—Dean. I
see the way you two look at each other. It reminds me of my husband and I, back
when we were courting. My husband’s dead. He died last year.”

“I'm sorry.”

She looked out the window at the bird. “You’re
never really prepared to lose someone you love. I thought the two of us would
grow old together.”

I remembered the way I felt after Luke died. How
bleak and dark my future had seemed.

“It’s a miracle he came back.”

For a moment, I thought she was talking about
Luke. Then I realized she was watching Dean with his mother.

“The doctors have been working with him for such a
long
time,
and saw no improvement.” She
turned and looked at me. Her expression became serious. She started to say
something, and then stopped. She cleared her throat before starting again, “I
shouldn't say anything…”

I waited for her to continue. She looked
uncomfortable.

“I could lose my job saying anything about it. But
you remind me of my sister, and… I just think you should be careful.”

Careful of
who
? She looked over at Dean. I realized she was still talking about him. What
does she know?

She leaned closer and lowered her voice, “It’s
just… Look…there was talk when he first came in. They advised us that we had to
watch him because he could turn violent.”

Violent
?
Dean had never shown a hint that the customary death dealer violent streak raced
through him. At least, not that I’d detected.

She reached out and patted my arm. “It’s probably
just hospital gossip, but they told us… Well, they said he…killed someone.”

Her words shocked me so much that I just sat there
and stared at her. There was no way it was true. This was not a hospital for
the criminally insane. I shook my head, but I hadn’t imagined it—she just
said Dean killed someone.

“I just thought you should be careful. In case it’s
true. I know what it’s like to love someone who can turn violent.” She looked
away. “My husband had such a temper. It wasn’t his fault—he couldn’t
always control it.” She looked back at me. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“You didn’t. Thanks for telling me.” Confused
thoughts now fought for my attention.
Dean
is a killer? How is that possible?
I had never seen any inkling in him of a
murderous darkness, but could you really tell? Did I give any hint to the
outside world of the monster that I’d become? Can everyone see the blood on
my
hands? Can Wendy?

Nurse Harrington looked at her watch. “I told the
orderly I would be happy to escort you out to the garden. We’ll be heading out
in about half an hour, if that’s all right with you.”

“Half an hour sounds good,” I said, still trying to
absorb what she had told me.

She nodded, gave me a smile, got up, and walked
across the room.

I stared at Rachel and Dean. I had a strong urge
to race over there and demand to know if it was true. But how do you ask
someone a question like that?
Hey, did
you really kill someone? Can you fill me in on all the gruesome details?

When Dean got up and left his mother’s side, I saw
an opportunity to get some answers and walked over to Rachel.

“Hi.” I forced a smile on my face.

She looked up at me. “Hello. It’s nice to see you.
You look better.”

I sat down next to her. I tried to keep my tone
light. “Are you having a nice visit with your son?”

“I am. He just went back to his room to get
something.”

I had no idea how to broach the subject. “Rachel,
can I ask you…”

She reached out her hand and covered mine with it.
“You can ask me anything.”

“It’s about Dean.” I stopped, not sure what to
say.

“He’s such a wonderful boy, isn’t he?” She
grinned. “I think he has a crush on you. He talks about you a lot.”

I felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment. This
conversation was not going the way I planned. “Your son is very nice. We’re
good friends. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it, but I’ve got a boyfriend.”

“Oh, you do? I didn’t know. Dean never said.”

Dean was talking to his mother about me. What
exactly is he telling her? I forced myself to stop my curious train of thought
and focus on why I had approached her in the first place. “Rachel, I heard
someone talking about Dean and they were saying something about…something about
what happened before he came here.”

Her body tensed.

I forced the words out. “They said he killed
someone.”

She looked away.

“Is it true?”

When she turned back to me, her expression was one
of anguish. She reached out and grabbed both my hands. “Please don’t mention it
to him,” she pleaded. “He has no memory of it. I don’t want him to go through
it again…it was such an awful time. I wish we could all forget what happened.”

I sat there, stunned. “What happened?” I
whispered.

Tears slid down her cheeks. “He wasn’t himself. It
wasn’t his fault.” She reached up, wiped the tears away, and then suddenly
focused on me. “Dean told me that you aren’t actually a healer…that you’re one
of us. Is it true?”

I nodded my head.

She lowered her voice. “Then you know about the
trials. The rituals he had to go through. The first one was hard, but he made
it through.” Her hands went to her throat. “I watched them strangle my youngest
son…watched him die. It was awful. But you know what it’s like, what has to be
done.”

I did, and at her words I swear, for a brief
second, I could feel strong fingers wrapped around my throat. I resisted the
urge to touch my own neck. The bruises Luke had given me had been visible for
days.

“My son was so brave. He made it through to the
second ritual…”

Possession. It had been, for me, as terrifying as
the first ritual. Being tied to a chair, having a spirit rush into you… I still
shuddered at the memory. When she didn’t say anything I spoke up. “That’s when
he lost himself?”

She looked at me and then averted her eyes.
“That’s what we told people here. You have to understand… This is not something
that Dean remembers. When he woke up in this place, he was blissfully unaware.
It was a gift. My boy was back with us. Now he’s the way he used to be.”

“Rachel, what happened during the possession?”

“A spirit took him over,” she whispered.

I nodded my head. “A spirit pushed him down and he
got lost…”

“No. I mean, yes. The first spirit only took him
for a short time, and he forced it back. But then the second one…”

I gasped out loud. “More than one spirit possessed
him?”

“When he went through the ritual, we thought it
was okay. A spirit possessed him, but then it was gone and he was with us
again. But what we didn’t realize…it wasn’t him. I mean, something else went
into him that night. Something crept deep inside my son and hid. We didn’t
know. None of us felt it. But then, a few weeks later, he started acting a bit
strange.” The tears started again. “Looking back, I should have realized
something was wrong.” She sobbed. “But I didn’t. I couldn’t have imagined…and
then it happened…” She grabbed my hand and her fingers dug into mine. “You have
to understand, it wasn’t him. Dean would never hurt anyone.”

When Luke took control, Dean wasn’t conscious.
Luke moved around in Dean’s body, doing whatever he wanted. It must have been the
same. “The spirit inside him took control.”

“It did. It was evil.” She abruptly spat on the
ground. “It was pure evil that came straight from hell.” Her voice was full of
anger. “It took over my boy and made him do things…terrible things…things he
would never do if he were himself.” She stopped, another sob came out, and her
whole body trembled. She forced the words out. “He killed two girls from our
guild. They all grew up together. He loved those girls like sisters.”

Her words shocked me. We sat together in silence.

She seemed to mentally shake herself. She
straightened up and wiped the last of the tears away. “I’m not sure what we’ll
tell him when he comes back to join the guild. I’ve tried to think of how we
might explain it to him. No one in the guild blames him. The girls’ families know
it was not his doing. That thing took over, and it killed. My son, he would
never hurt a fly.” Her eyes met mine. “I know what you’re thinking. Now that
I’ve told you, you’re worried what he might do. There’s no need to worry. The
evil is not inside him anymore. We forced it out. We purged it and sent it back
to the depths of hell. But when we did, Dean was gone…”

“Lost.”

She nodded. “The strongest of my guild couldn’t
reach him. He was like…you saw him when you came. He was comatose. Harmless.
Now we know he was a prisoner inside. We couldn’t reach him, but he somehow
made it to the surface. And now he’s back.”

Or is he?

I couldn’t help the thought. Evil had possessed
him before and no one had guessed. No one had known. I didn’t know Dean. Was it
Dean I was dealing with, or someone else? I had been so sure that
Weatherton
was possessing Dr. Barton, but now I wondered.
What if I’m wrong?
What if the killer is
in someone else? What if the killer is in Dean? He had been possessed before by
a killer. I had done a spell and forced Luke’s spirit into him. What if Luke
wasn’t the only spirit that decided to hop in?
What if with my spell I opened the door and let evil back in?

* * *

Nurse Harrington had promised to take me out to the garden,
but when the time came she passed me over to Caroline, who escorted me instead.

I watched Dean show his mother around. She proudly
hung onto his arm. When she looked my way and our eyes met, a worried
expression crossed her face. She thought I might tell him. A part of me wanted
to. I desperately needed to find out if
Weatherton
was somewhere inside Dean. Was it possible? Wouldn’t Luke know if someone else
was inside? But how would he? Luke had no knowledge of what happened during the
day. When Dean had come back, I’d just assumed it was really him… But what if
Dean wasn’t around anymore? Could the real Dean have been forced out entirely?

I watched the two of them walking around,
laughing, talking. His mother would know if it wasn’t her son. Or would she?
Weeks had gone by before, and she hadn’t had a clue that something evil had
possessed Dean. No one from his family or guild had been aware. Evil roamed
free and two girls died.

I’d chosen Dean for Luke’s possession because he’d
been the perfect candidate. Maybe I wasn’t the only one looking and waiting for
the right person and body to come along.
Weatherton’s
spirit had roamed these halls for twenty years, waiting for the right
opportunity to come back.

My head was pounding. I raised a shaky hand to my
temple. There were too many what-if questions circling around in my head. How
could I be sure, once and for all, that Dean was actually
Dean
? I had to make sure before we escaped. If
Weatherton
possessed his body and I helped him escape, then the first chance he got he
would ditch me and the whole world would be his sick, twisted playground. How
many more people would he kill if he got loose in the unsuspecting populace?

But how could I find out the truth?

I was obsessing over the question, knee-deep in
weeds and dirt, when the answer fell into place.
Wendy
! Wendy was a reader, and she obviously had a problem with
Dean. She could feel Luke inside him. She could feel something wrong with him. Can
she tell me if it’s really Dean in there?

As though I had beckoned her to my side, Wendy was
suddenly there in the garden. I walked over to her.

She had a pained expression on her face, but the
moment she saw me her expression changed and she looked nonchalant. When I
looked closer, though, I could see sadness in her eyes. Were those tears she
wiped away as I approached?

“How was your session?” I asked, coming to stand
beside her.

She looked down at her shoes. “It went fine.”

“You’ve been seeing Dr. Barton longer than I have.
What do you think of him?”

That question made her head pop up. “He’s a head
shrink.” There was a look of disdain on her face.

“Does he ask you to open up to him? To tell him
all your secrets?”

She gave me a half smile before looking away from
me again. “He does, every time.”

“He gives me the creeps.”

“Honestly,
he
gives me the creeps.” I followed Wendy’s gaze curiously. She was staring over
at Dean.

Now was my chance. Now was the perfect time to
ask. “You seem to have an odd reaction to him.”

Her eyes darted to me before swinging back to where
Dean stood by his mother on the other side of the garden.

“Can you feel Luke inside him?”

She stared in his direction and her eyes became
unfocused.

My words rushed out this time. “Do you think you
could hone in on Dean’s thoughts and tell me if he’s thinking anything really
weird?”