The Ghost Files 2 (The Ghost Files - Book 2) (8 page)

“I’m not shouting.” Caleb frowns.

“Not you,” I tell him and open the passenger side door. My feet hit the ground a moment later and I catch hold of the door to keep from falling. I squint my eyes and look up at the old plantation home with its beautiful columns. I gasp as I feel the darkness emanating from it. It surrounds me and the ghosts wail in terror.

The pain behind my eyes intensifies and I see something standing on the porch. It’s hazy at first, but I can feel it. It’s daring me to come inside. That thing wants me in there. I’ve never come across a ghost like this. It’s full of hate and rage, but it
is
a ghost. It’s not like the demon thing from before. This is a ghost, but one unlike any I’ve ever come across.

I try to take a step and pain lances through my head, causing me to stumble. I feel the blackness coming and as much as I try to fight it, I can’t. I don’t want to go into that house.

It’s a bad, bad place full of bad things.

Chapter Nine

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” I hear. My eyes are too heavy to open. Pain surrounds me. I feel like I’ve just been ten rounds with a bulldog and the bulldog won.

“It’s the only thing I know that can block the whispers,” another deep voice speaks up.

“James, will that interfere with her gift, with what she can do? She’s not like you and the boys, her gift is different.” That’s the Doc. I’d know his voice anywhere. What are they talking about?

“I just don’t know, Doc.” I can hear frustration in the man’s voice. “We have to do something, though, and this is the only thing I know that will work. If we wait too much longer, she might hemorrhage.”

What? Hemorrhage? Then I remember my nose bleed. Is that what he means? Just freaking great. Survive a serial killer only to die because ghosts were trying to help me but ended up hurting me.

“Here, Dad, what about this?” Caleb maybe? “If we change the design just a bit, it might help her to control it without losing her ability. I did draw it right, yeah?”

“That’s not bad, Caleb,” the man says, pride in his voice. “This could work. We can always go back to the original design if her condition doesn’t improve.”

My condition? I manage to force my eyes to open a small crack only to be met by a blinding light. Pains stabs through my head again. It’s too much and I feel myself getting sucked back into the black hole of nothingness.

The next time I drag myself back to consciousness, it’s utterly quiet. I strain my ears, but hear nothing. My head isn’t exploding anymore, either. The cold is intense, but bearable and the whispers sound muted, not screaming full throttle.

I try to open my eyes and find that I can. The room is dark, so I can’t really make out anything, but I’m just glad I can do it without my entire being lighting up with shockwaves of pain. Deep breaths, I tell myself, and push up to a sitting position. The world doesn’t tilt and it’s a good sign. I listen again, trying to hear the ghosts talking. They’re muted. What in the world did Caleb and his dad do to me? Not that I’m complaining, mind you, but it’s weird not to be able to hear them in full technicolor. It’s like an old black and white movie, the sounds are fuzzy but you can almost make out what they’re saying.

The need for a bathroom motivates me and I swing my legs over the bed and wince at a sharp pain in my lower back. My hand finds the spot and it’s downright sore. I definitely need a mirror.

A small groan escapes as I stand up. I swear I feel like I’ve taken a serious beat down. Last time I felt like this was back in third grade when the school bully decided he wanted my lunch money, but I wanted it just as much. We’d ended up rolling around and I got the snot beat out of me. It’s a memory that sticks with me because not long after that I started to learn to defend myself.

I have seriously got to stop letting my emotions dictate my actions. If I hadn’t run from Dan and Meg and my own hurt feelings, I wouldn’t be in this situation right now. I could have been sitting home with Mary, eating a tub of ice cream and watching sappy movies. She’d have loved it and I would have been miserable, but at least I would have been safe. I don’t feel so safe right now.

This house makes me nervous and edgy. I feel like I’m being watched and the house itself is riddled with ghosts. Most seem afraid as none of them have shown themselves to me except for the one on the porch, but I can feel them all. Some are afraid, some feel lonely, but there are just as many that are angry and want to lash out. It’s those I’m worried about as I know firsthand that ghosts can cause a person serious harm when they want to.

More than anything, though, I’m worried about the ghost I’d seen earlier, the one who’d wanted me in this house. I don’t know why he did, but it can’t be a good thing. That ghost isn’t interested in crossing over. He wants something from me and I can bet its not something I’m willing to give.

I stub my toe against something hard and hop around on one foot for second. Where’s the danged light switch? My hand finds the wall and I make my way slowly towards the sliver of light I see under what I’m assuming is the door. Man, I need to pee. A hand grabs me just as I reach the doorknob and hauls me backwards. Something like electricity shoots through me when his fingers wrap around my arm. Reacting on instinct, I go limp and the hand loosens enough for me to turn and kick as hard as I can. I’m pretty sure I connected with his leg, but it’s not enough for him to let me go. My eyes are finally adjusting to the darkness and I can make out the basic outline of his shape. He’s much bigger than me, which means I have to play smart here. My hands are pretty useless since the attack, so I have to rely on my feet. I twist and try to land another blow, aiming for what I hope is his knees.

He jerks backward, narrowly avoiding my foot, but then he yanks me against him and in trying to get away, we both end up falling on the floor. After a few rolls, I’m pinned to the floor and seething mad.

“Will you stop?” he hisses, his face close to mine.

Instead of answering, I do exactly what I was taught to do. I head butt him as hard as I can. Pain explodes in my own head, but he loosens his grip enough for me to throw him off and jump on his back. I grab a fistful of his hair and slam his face against the floor several times. He’s cussing up a storm all the while. I grab his forearm and force it behind his back and up, exerting just the right amount of pressure. If he moves, he’ll snap his arm.

Gotcha.

The door slams open and light floods the room. I don’t glance back. Even the slightest hesitation on my part could cause me to loosen my grip enough for him to get away.

“Mattie, what are you doing?” Doctor Olivet asks, his voice incredulous.

“This guy attacked me,” I say and pull on his arm just a little harder.

“Eli attacked you?” Caleb comes into my line of sight.

“No, I did NOT attack her,” the guy beneath me snarls. “I was trying to help her.”

“You were not! You grabbed my arm and…”

“And nothing,” he growls. “I was trying to get your attention so you didn’t kill yourself in the dark.”

“Then you should have said something instead of grabbing me!”

“As funny as this all is, Mattie, do you think you could let my son up before you break his arm?”

I know that voice. I remembered it from before. He was the one who was trying to help me. Caleb’s dad?

Caleb reaches a hand down to me and I take it, releasing my hold on his brother’s arm and let Caleb pull me up. Eli slowly gets to his feet and settles gorgeous aqua eyes on me. They are spitting mad. My breath catches a little when I take in his face. Good lord, I’ve never in my life thought of a boy as beautiful, but this one is. He’s tall, as tall as Caleb, but his hair is lighter than his brother’s. It’s a dark brown, but it’s streaked with caramel highlights, giving it a lighter appearance. His complexion is darker, a golden color compared to Caleb’s softer tones. High cheekbones speak of an Indian heritage and a day’s worth of facial hair make his face rugged and soft, full lips make me want to see how soft they’d feel against mine.

It’s his eyes, though, that I can’t look away from. His eyes remind me of one of the few things I love. They are like the ocean right at daybreak, when the waves are soft and the foam rushes the sand. I’ve never seen anyone with eyes that color.

“Dude, you got your ass kicked by a girl.” Caleb laughs, not even trying to conceal his smirk.

Eli lunges at his brother, but his dad catches him before he can move three inches. “Caleb, don’t antagonize your brother. I’m sure he didn’t expect her to come out swinging.” There’s a grin on their dad’s face and fortunately, Eli doesn’t see it as he’s still glaring menacingly at me and Caleb.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Dad,” Caleb grins.

Doctor Olivet sighs. “Mattie, how are you feeling? Is your head still hurting?”

“I’m okay,” I tell him. “Um, Doc, where’s the bathroom? I really need to find one.”

“I’ll show you.”

I step away from Caleb and make a wide girth around Eli to follow Doc down the hall. The bathroom is only three doors down from my room and it’s absolutely gorgeous. The room is all white with gold accents, but I don’t mind that. The old fashioned tub calls my name. It’s huge and deep. The toilet is modern, but everything else in the room screams 19
^th
century. The only splashes of color are the deep blue towels.

After taking care of my urgent need to pee, I rinse out my sewer mouth. Dear Lord, it tastes foul. How long had I been out? Now that I’ve taken care of my immediate needs, I don’t really want to leave the bathroom. Truth be told, I’m a little embarrassed, something entirely new for me, but there it is. I grew up with the mentality of hit first before you get hit. Being a foster kid who lived in some really bad homes, I had to think like that. It gave me a bit of a reputation.

I lost my last boyfriend, Jake, because he saw me beat the snot out of his friend Tommy for threatening me. It disturbed him to know that the rumors about me were true. I mean it’s one thing to hear about it, and another to see it live, up close, and personal. He was the first guy I ever dated who I thought might be able to see past all the shields I put up and see
me
. He did see the softer side most never bothered to get to know, but the first time he met the foster kid who doesn’t take crap from anyone, he bailed. I mean, he didn’t even officially break up with me. He just stopped talking to me. Not even a text or phone call when I was in the hospital recovering from Mrs. Olson’s torture. It hurt a lot more than I liked to admit. I really, really liked Jake, but he couldn’t handle the real Mattie Hathaway any more than the other guys.

I sigh and run my fingers through my hair. I have curls and they are snarled and tangled. My face is pale and the skin under my hazel eyes is bruised. I look awful. The past couple months have been rough on me. I’ve lost weight and I’ve closed myself off more than usual. It’s not healthy. Nancy wants me to see a psychologist, but I keep refusing. Shrinks I don’t do. I’ll eventually get a handle on being tortured without any help. I will. Maybe if I say it enough, even I’ll believe it.

Most nights I can’t convince myself of that, though. I wake up screaming and I’m right back in that basement. I don’t do scared, I go on the offensive when I’m scared. I lashed out at everyone, even Dan. He stuck around, was there in the beginning every night when the nightmares terrorized me. I used to wake up in the hospital bed with him beside me and I’d calm down almost instantly. I need him.

Being around Caleb and his dad makes me miss Dan. Heck, they even look like him. It could just be me missing him and seeing him everywhere, but I don’t think so. They all have the same brown eyes and chocolate hair, the same facial structure and Caleb even sounds like Dan when he laughs. It’s a little freaky. Eli, on the other hand, looks nothing like his family. Must take after their mother.

Eli… I don’t really want to think about him. He’s another reason I want to hide in the bathroom. I had a strange reaction to him. I’ve never touched someone before and felt electricity run through me. It was the oddest feeling, like my body tensed up and every nerve in it snapped. If I were still talking to Meg, I’d ask her about it. She seems much more boy savvy than me, even though I know for a fact I’ve had more boyfriends than her. I’m still a virgin, though, and she’s not. She would know what my reaction to him means.

I laugh bitterly. Meg betrayed me worse than Dan did. Dan never promised to stay away from her, but Meg did and she went after him anyway. Here I am wanting advice from someone who didn’t think twice about lying to my face. I need to start acting like the old Mattie again, the one who never let anyone in, who never got hurt. I don’t like this new person who has feelings.

Stop it
. I need to pull it together. Sitting in here hiding is not something Mattie Hathaway would ever do, at least not the old Mattie. Time to start acting like me again. Taking a deep breath, I square my shoulders and walk out to face everyone.

Chapter Ten

They’re still in my room or at least I assume it’s my room because I woke up there. I can hear them talking softly and stop to eavesdrop.

“Mattie is unique,” Doctor Olivet tells them. “She grew up in one foster home after another. That’s why she is the way she is. She had to learn to defend herself.”

“Her parents ditch her?” Eli asks.

It’s a long moment before the Doc answers. I think he’s debating how to answer. He knows how private I am, but again, he needs them to understand if we are going to work together.

“Do you remember me telling you that Mattie is different from you?”

I hear a murmur.

“In order for Mattie to be able to do what she does, she had to die and be brought back. When she was little, her mother tried to kill her. Mattie died for just a few minutes, but it was long enough for her gift to activate.”