Velocity (10 page)

Principal McPherson’s arrest for the murder of Charlotte Gary had rocked the entire school. There was no new principal, just a substitute vice. No one knew what happened to him after the arrest, although the good gossip put money on a mental institution.

I saw Henry a few times, but he didn’t acknowledge me. He had a madding habit of pulling away when things got tough, although it had gotten better over the past year of our relationship. Still, I was glad to know he was well enough to be there. I’d been expecting it I instead focused on my schoolwork. In my normal routine, being part-angel-savior seemed like a laughable fantasy.

That night, while I was finishing my catch up work, Hugh dashed down to Erasmus. He was going to have a sale this week, and Gwen was coming back to work after her maternity leave. He was only going to be gone for twenty minutes, but he really wanted me to go with him.

“Ariel, I don’t like the thought of you being alone,” he insisted. “Not after what happened the last time.”

I’d already changed into my pajamas and wasn’t willing to budge. “I promise that nothing like that is going to happen. I have my phone right here. You said you’re only going to be gone for a little bit.”

He bit his lip, debating his options. Finally, he grabbed his coat and rushed to the door. “Keep it locked. I will be back before this show is over.”

It turned out I hadn’t been missing anything while not watching TV. It was all still crap.

Five minutes after Hugh left, someone knocked on the door. I shut the TV off, heart pounding in my chest. Of course, Phillip was watching our place. He’d probably come to do away with me. The last time someone had visited unannounced, it was Phillip’s lackey, Roger, and he’d brought a gun.

I gripped my phone, went to the peephole, and peered out. I could make out the top of Henry’s forehead and eyes.

My stomach fluttering, I ripped the chain down and yanked the door open. Upon seeing me, Henry’s gloomy face transformed. His eyes lit up and his lips parted. He rushed inside and wrapped his arms around me, kissing me firmly.

“Ariel, you’re here,” he breathed against my lips. He kissed me again with growing passion as he held on to me tightly. Stepping back, he took my hand in his and kissed the knuckles.

“I see you didn’t miss me very much,” I joked softly.

His eyes turned serious and intense, burning into mine. “I missed you like crazy.” Even in cargo pants and a t-shirt, he was the most handsome boy I’d ever seen. His broad shoulders and muscular, thin frame stood out against the pale blue fabric.

“Thanks for the warm welcome,” I said, blushing. “I tried texting your phone, but Roger sent me a photo, instead.”

“Yeah, well, Roger sneaked it away and started deleting your messages. I told him off. My father has apparently taken him on as his temporary assistant, as well.”

I blushed again at the thought of Roger reading my messages, and was happy I didn’t send anything too questionable.

“You know that they threatened us, right?” I asked, taking a step back.

“Yes. I thought my father had scared you out of town,” he said gravely. “The day you must have left, my dad came into the office gloating about it. He said that you and your dad were gone and not coming back. That you’d heeded his warning.”

My annoyance with Mr. Rhodes came back. I walked into the kitchen and got a drink from the fridge to distract myself. “He’s not getting rid of us that easily.”

He reached out for my hand and I let him take it. He rubbed his thumb along the back of my fingers. “Good.”

I looked away from him and at the floor. Being with him wasn’t the relief I’d sought―it seemed too weird and intense.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, peering into my face.

“Nothing,” I said, trying to grin. “How are you doing?”

“I’m recovering fine.” He pulled up his shirt and I blushed at the sight of his tanned skin. Bandages still wrapped his torso from his knife wound. “I have to leave these on for a while and change them every night. It’s a hassle. The doctor said that’ll cut down on the risk of scarring.”

“That’s good.” I tried to keep my hands busy with tidying up the kitchen. It allowed me to avert my eyes in the hopes that he wouldn’t see how flustered I was.

“My dad was super pissed about the injury,” Henry continued. “Kept asking the doctors about healing times. I thought he was going to go find McPherson and kill him himself.”

“What makes you sure he didn’t?” I looked up at him then, studying his reaction. He frowned, sensing the change in the air.

“Where did you two go, anyway?” he asked. “Impromptu vacation? Or are you sworn to secrecy?”

“Not really,” I said, steeling my resolve to tell him. “We went to Georgia to speak with Mr. Golem’s brother. His sister could see ghosts like me. He gave me this grounding stone that lets me see moments from the past.”

“Like, for real?” he quizzed.

I nodded. “This last week has been crazy. I learned all of this new stuff about what I see, and what I am. It’s been a lot to take in.”

“Well, share it with me. Maybe I can take the burden off a little bit.” His gaze intensified as he tilted his head to the side, trying to figure me out.

I hesitated, still feeling a lingering nag of distrust. Maybe it was because young Phillip had looked so much like him. The frown returned to his handsome face. My conflicting feelings made me feel dizzy and anxious.

“Does your father know we’re back now?”

“He knows. But―” Henry began, but he was cut off by the door opening. Hugh came in, searching around, and settled on Henry and me standing guiltily in the kitchenette.

“Henry,” he acknowledged coolly. Both of them nodded at each other. Then Hugh turned his attention to me. “We need to speak privately.”

“Okay.” I frowned.

Lines appeared between Henry’s brows. “What did I do?” he asked me softly.

“You didn’t do anything,” I said quickly. But Hugh cut me off.

“I’ve always liked you, Henry. You’re a good kid. But you’re from a bad family. And your father is planning on some really nasty business.”

“I know that,” Henry said. “I make no apologies for my father. I’ve seen his bad side more than anyone. I know that Ariel is psychic, so if that’s what this is about…”

“Like I said, we need to speak privately.” Hugh took off his jacket and sat down at the table.

“Do you want me here?” Henry asked me.

I hesitated again. Of course I wanted him there, but I was suddenly feeling so raw.

“Fine.” Henry went to the door and stormed out, slamming it behind him.

I put my hand on my forehead, taking a deep, shaky breath, and joined Hugh at the table.

“I’m sorry Ariel, but I just can’t trust him. Not enough to justify letting him in on our secrets. And you can’t say he’s never betrayed you.”

“That’s a low blow,” I said in a gravelly voice, glaring at him. “We’ve been over this. Phillip wanted Henry to date Lainey, Henry didn’t want anything to do with it.”

“You didn’t protest him leaving,” Hugh pointed out. “So obviously you agree with me on some level.”

I rested my chin on the back of the chair. I hated to admit he was right.

“What do we need to discuss?” I asked.

“I spoke with Phillip today,” Hugh explained, tension in his voice. “Called me right in the middle of my work day. Told me that if I wasn’t going to make it easy for myself, I was inviting difficulty.”

“That definitely sounds like he wants to make good on his threat. But Henry isn’t a part of it.”

“How much did you tell him?” Hugh asked, ignoring my defense of my boyfriend.

“I just mentioned going to Luke’s and the grounding stone,” I said, wondering if I’d said too much.

“Ariel!” Hugh admonished me, shooting to his feet. “You shouldn’t have told him anything! The grounding stone might be our one good chance of figuring out exactly what their plans are. What if he runs and tells his father?”

“He won’t,” I insisted.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I know him better than anyone.” That’s what he’d said, after all. I tried to shut up the nagging doubts, but they wouldn’t be silenced. “Is that your serious business?”

Hugh drummed his knuckles on the table, apparently giving me a pass. “I talked to Callie about the grounding stone. She has this weekend off, and she’s more than willing to come and assist us. As long as Phillip doesn’t come storming over here to destroy the stone, I thought you could try experimenting with it again.”

My excitement was renewed. “That’s great. Can we look at Eleanor’s diary in the meantime? We should probably figure out points in time that I should check up on, not just those in the recent past.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

He went to retrieve it from his room. He was keeping both the diary and the grounding stone hidden from me, even though I wasn’t planning on looking at them. I was trying to cooperate, not wanting to rebel this time.

He came back out and handed me the red book. I cracked the creaky spine and looked it over.

“She has really nice handwriting,” I commented. Hugh peered over.

“Yeah, she did. Your mom always did, too.” His words hung in the air.

As I read through the diary, I had a pad of paper nearby to take notes. I didn’t end up taking many, though, too swept up in Eleanor’s remembrances.

My family has started only coming once every few weeks,
she’d written.
I feel abandoned. I think they are ready to let me go.

Eleanor was lonely and even though she’d been adopted by a good family, she felt like they’d given up on her when she’d had her breakdown. She saw the spirits of dead former asylum patients, and those around town.

What freaked me out was the frequency of which she saw them―nearly every day. Surely it wouldn’t get like that for me. I looked up and at the shadows in the room. They’d been staying pretty still since they took my mother, but I almost thought I saw them start to quiver.

I just wish I could talk to them. A few of them seem to hear me speak―there was a girl in the great room yesterday who seemed to listen to my every word. But when she opened her mouth all she could do was scream without noise. Oh God, I just wish if I have to see these spirits, that I could find out why. I can’t stand to see them without being able to help them find peace.

Eleanor sounded fluid and rational. She didn’t sound crazy at all.

I found a few entries about the necklace, readjusted in my seat, honing in my focus.

When I came here, I vowed to only use the pendant if I absolutely had to. But of course, it still calls to me. I wish I had the strength to let it go, but it’s the only real thing of value that came with me from the orphanage where I grew up.

I put it on the other day and walked the halls, just having a look around. There are so many shadows in the corners, and sometimes they follow me, but disappear when I turn around. I peeked in some of the patient’s rooms, but I didn’t see any spirits. For once.

The necklace grows hot when it’s against my skin. I think it’s because of the energy it emits. The more I use it, the stranger I feel when I return to my body.

It was late by then, and Hugh was watching the tail end of a Red Wings game. I shut the diary and he peered at me, TV light flickering across his curious face.

“Anything good?” he asked.

“Why did mom give me that necklace? The one for my fifteenth birthday?”

He sat up. “She kept saying she just felt like she had to give it to you. That necklace was actually very important. But she didn’t realize what it was when she gave it to you.”

“How can you be so sure?”

He shrugged. “I suppose I can’t. But there’s no logical reason for her to give it to you if she knew it would end up with Thornhill. She told me later that she realized it was a mistake. I didn’t fully understand until our group researched it more. It’s called a Mortius Pendant. Your grandma was a sweet lady, but the woman had more jewels than the Tower of London. She told me specifically, ‘I really feel like Ariel should have this.’”

“That’s kind of what I thought,” I admitted. “That she didn’t know. I heard her talking to Deana Ford about it after that stupid Christmas party. It allowed me to walk in Dark.”

“That’s why I wish we could find it,” Hugh admitted.

“Is that why you rushed out the night that you found out McPherson might have it?”

Hugh nodded. “That necklace was used by John Dexter at the original ritual. People close to him wrote about it afterward. It’s what would have triggered his ascension to dark master. Then the necklace seemed to disappear. Claire found it among her mother’s things―this is going to sound gruesome, honey, but don’t judge where it came from―from the hospital after she died in the car accident. She told me she just felt like there was something special about it. I didn’t realize what it was until right before Christmas, because Callie and I were doing research. That necklace is invaluable.”