Split at the Seams (32 page)

I took a breath, trying to calm my heartbeat. This wasn’t what I’d imagined when I’d first seen the chair and Mara. I’d assumed there was only one, but now the buzz in the air made sense. It made my whole body feel like an electrical current was running through it. I could only imagine what it was doing to these poor girls.

Concentrate, look beyond the seemingly normal.

When I focused and opened myself up completely, the cold air hit me so hard my lungs contracted. I gulped in a quick breath and got swept up in an unseen wind. The room faded to a murky gray and I noticed some of the girls weren’t just lying down, but also standing around together, talking. Others sat next to their motionless bodies, as if caught up in some sort of macabre bedside vigil.

The longer I looked around, the more I realized this murky gray wasn’t mist or even a place, it was caused by the succession of ghosts twirling in and around the girls. There were too many to differentiate real bodily shapes, but I knew what they were.

I’d seen spirits since I was a little girl and what I was seeing made my gut clench.

These spooks were being forcibly pulled away from wherever they remained and sucked into this room.

I watched as the ever-growing whirlwind formed, and couldn’t take my eyes off their wispy, almost not-there frames as they were absorbed into each girl. It happened so quickly and so often, none of the spook catchers seemed to register what was happening. Each spook smashed into a girl’s chest, went right through them and then bounced off, becoming a ball of blue energy that was sent flying across the room—to a spot on the wall resembling a wavering mirror.

It reminded me of the water wall we’d just come through.

Was this a shortcut as well? But to where?

I stepped away from Mace, no longer able to feel him beside me, and approached the wall. It didn’t take long to find myself standing in front of it, but it wasn’t my reflection I found. On the other side of the wavering wall a multitude of ghosts milled around, as if waiting for someone to show them where to go next.

Something from within called to me, and it wasn’t the bright light I’d heard the first time I entered the dark patch. I wasn’t controlling this. I’d gotten sucked into it because of the spectral activity and the girls. The catchers had sucked me in during their comatose states. Still, none of them seemed to have noticed me.

As I stepped closer to the wall, I realized it was probably more like a one-way mirror. I could look inside but no one on the other side seemed to see me. It was an oval shape, twice as wide as my body and taller than me, and it seemed to be getting bigger.

What is this thing? Am I staring right into the ghostly patch?

Standing there, as close as I could get, I felt the spooks continue to sweep past me and enter the patch, appearing in their true forms on the other side. Could I touch them? Would my fingers go right through?

I slowly raised a hand out in front of me, but paused when I noticed two particular ghosts.

My heart drummed inside my chest. As I stared at them, they both turned around to look at me. They were holding hands and looked just as I remembered them during the happiest summers of my childhood—smiling and happy, a lot younger than they’d been when they died years apart. None of their joint secrets had been in the open back then, and I’d been in blessed denial and with the best grandparents in the world. Knowing they hadn’t been perfect didn’t change the way I felt about them, or my desperate need to get them back.

Grandma smiled, and Grandpa waved. I somehow managed to do the same as tears collected in my eyes and blurred my vision. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

They took a step closer, as if they were headed right for me.

I couldn’t wait to speak to them, but a cloud of darkness appeared out of nowhere and formed a disjointed black arm with long, spiked fingers that engulfed them.

“Grandma, Grandpa…”

The dark, fingered form snapped back like a whip and when it evaporated, they were no longer there.

“No.” I reached out for the spot they’d just been standing in. I knew what that black cloud was, but why had it taken them?

A hand on my shoulder roused me out of wherever I’d slipped into.

I turned around to glare at Mace’s smiling face. “What in the heavens are you doing? Who the hell do you think you are?”

“Did you see them get dragged away? I’ve been waiting months to show you what I intended to do to your precious grandparents. It’s been hard keeping those shadows at bay.”

It was no wonder the scrying had led to the top of this building. It’s where they’d been the whole time, because there was an opening right
into
the ghostly patch right here. Oren’s hunch had been right.

“No.” I wanted to go back, to help them. I also needed to speak to the girls, had to find a way to help them where I’d failed Mara. “How did you get them?”

“Pop was really easy to nab, with Troy and Travis’s help, that is. I’ve had Granny for a while. You can’t possibly imagine how much energy was required to keep your grandparents where I wanted them, and for as long as I needed them there.” He shrugged. “Where they’re going, I don’t need to worry until I need them again. It’s not something you need to worry about, either.”

I clenched my hands into fists. “Is that what you’re going to do to me? Are you going to let the shadows swallow me whole as well?” I almost choked on the sobs.

Until recently, I’d thought my grandmother had moved on and that was why I hadn’t seen her for years. Finding out someone had been holding her spirit prisoner was too much.

Mace shook his head. “Oh no, I’ve got other plans for you.”

“What about the other catchers, what do you intend to do with them?” I wiped the tears away from my eyes, angry at myself for crying in front of him.

“You know, it wasn’t until what happened in the cemetery that I realized just how powerful your blood really is. The fact you managed to close a rift made me wonder how other catchers’ blood could be used in the same way.” He paced in front of me, slowly gazing at the rows of unconscious girls. “Using the chairs to do it just made sense.”

My heart dropped right into my feet. I hadn’t intended to give him any further insight into what I could do that night. I’d just wanted to close the rift before any more demons could get through. Only someone as despicable as Mace would benefit from what happened in the cemetery.

He stopped in front of me. “Of course, none are as powerful as you. But having a collective amount of them hooked up at once provided some very interesting results. And enough blood to power my plans.” His hand caressed my face before I could move away, taking some of the moisture with it. “I know you can see the portal, Sierra. But do you know what the key to opening and widening it is? I doubt you’ll guess, so I’ll tell you—the blood and energy of spook catchers. Can you believe it’s that easy?”

“The spooks are then drawn toward them?” I took a step back, glad his hand fell away from me. These girls were being used as beacons and the poor ghosts of Sydney were being sucked in without a choice.

“Exactly,” he said, smiling. “It was amazing, really. By hooking them all up at the same time, they became outlets of power attracting all the ghostly energy around them.”

“But you’re banishing innocent spirits!”

He threw his head back and laughed. “Is there really such a thing? When you get down to it, spooks are all selfish spirits who can’t let go of their former lives. It’s sad, really.”

“If it wasn’t for these selfish spirits, you wouldn’t have a job, or free accommodation, and access to impressionable young girls to corrupt.”

“You’re getting cynical in your old age,” he said.

I couldn’t believe it, but he actually didn’t see this as hurting both innocent girls and spirits. “How did you find out how to do this?”

“I’ve got friends in dark places.” He laughed.

“You said nothing would happen to Ebony.”

“I lied.”

I slapped him again, hard enough to make my hand sting and to see a line of blood dribble out the side of his mouth. The disgusting leer stayed on his face.

I stepped away from him and made my way down the middle aisle created by the rows of chairs. Being so close to him was making me physically ill.

These things really did look like a cross between a demented dentist chair—with additional attachments—and something that belonged in the laboratory of a mad scientist. All the motionless bodies were wearing weird metal helmets. IV lines wound around the back of the chair and were attached to the girls’ arms, collecting on one side and injecting on the other. Vials embedded under the armrests collected blood, but I didn’t know what the clear liquids going in were.

“Are you going to keep these girls like this until they fade away as well?”

“Using their blood and energy keeps the portal open,” Mace answered in such a simplistic tone, anyone would think we were discussing a simple situation, instead of something so wrong and immoral.

“Why keep them here, but Mara in the hospital?” I looked back and caught the surprise in his eyes. “How can she still serve as a conduit without being strapped to the chair?”

“Mara’s in a much more advanced state than these girls. They still need the chair, but she doesn’t.” He looked so smug while explaining something so awful. “Having her in the hospital is practical. The more spooks we’re able to push into the ghostly patch, the bigger and stronger the portal gets. Having her there attracts those who die in the hospital. Eventually, the portal will be so big you’ll be able to walk through and meet the one spirit who will seal this deal.”

Did that mean Mara was beyond salvation? I spun around to stare at him, appalled. “So you intend to do this to me as well?”

“Well, of course. I imagine that as soon as you’re plugged in, you’ll be like the live wire we’ve been missing. Nothing’s going to stop me from getting what I want after you’re strapped in.”

“After everything I’ve seen and everything you’re doing, why the hell would I be willing to do this? The Council is supposed to regulate the ghosts and the catchers, not rule and force them to do their bidding. Is it just you, or is the whole Council involved?”

“Well, it’s just me and a few board members at the moment. But I couldn’t share with them what I wanted to do without some sort of evidence, and
you’re
going to be the evidence.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Anyone who walks into this room will only see a bunch of girls secured to some freaky chairs. You can’t actually
show
them anything!”

“See, that’s where you’re wrong. As soon as you’re strapped in and enter past the portal, the barrier connected between will collapse. It will shatter completely and then
everyone
will see ghosts. There’ll be nothing special about you, or any of these girls. No one will give a shit about any of you.” His smile widened. “But the Council, we’ll be famous and powerful. We’ll have all the ghosts under our control and will use it to our advantage.”

“That’s insane!” And exactly what Burr claimed was the worse-case scenario. Except, he probably hadn’t expected anyone to actually want the spirits to spill onto this side, or delude themselves into thinking they could control them. “You can’t release the spooks from the ghostly patch. You don’t know who you’re getting. It’s not just the silent ghosts that will get through, all the dangerous ones—orbs, shadows, and who knows what else, will also get free passage. You’ll change the world, destroy it and cause an imbalance in the patches. Is that what you want?”

“There you go again, being all dramatic and negative. The world’s not going to go anywhere. I wouldn’t be opening up the portal permanently if I didn’t have a way to control it.”

My blood turned to ice. “How exactly do you intend to do that?”

“Through you, of course…”

I snorted. “I really don’t know why you and your friends believe I’m some special force that’ll help you with all your dark exploits, but I can’t do what you want me to do.”

Mace shook his head. “Don’t be silly, Sierra. We all know you’ve got witchy blood in your veins…and a little something extra.”

“Why don’t you tell me what the hell you’re talking about?”

“I don’t think so. I like to keep my cards close to my chest.” Mace approached me, once again closing the distance between us. “Now, why don’t we get you strapped in and get this show on the road?”

“I don’t understand what you want me to do.” I put a hand on my hip, preparing to lean over and reach for the dagger.

“You only have to do one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“You need to cross over and Professor Spooker will do the rest. Then, the portal will collapse and will become a gateway.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” The sound of the professor’s name made me pause, my fingers itching to reach my weapon.

“Oh, I think you’ll eventually work it out.”

“So, you don’t want to bring this guy back, you want to destroy him. And me?”

“His spirit won’t survive, but I know yours will. We have a few more plans for you up our sleeves.”

“Is this the Council you’re talking about, or your little
friends
?”