The Haunting Season (27 page)

Gage knelt down to examine it.

“Is it a skull?” Allison inquired. She hadn’t ventured as close as the boys, staying a good distance away.

Gage brushed away some of the dirt. “No idea until we dig it up.”

The guys dug up the area, uncovering not one, but three bones, although one was nothing more than a long fragment. Rib? Part of an arm bone? Jess refused to get too close for fear she’d see the vision again—see Riley biting into Gracie’s cheek.

Bryan held the first bone under his flashlight for all of them to view, but it didn’t take much to know what it was—a section of skull.

Moving closer, Allison reached in to touch it, then apparently thought better of it. “Why did they leave behind some of their bones?”

“No idea,” Bryan replied. “But it doesn’t really matter, does it? We’ve just got to get them back to the gravesite and bury them.”

He and Gage collected the bones and they began to walk back. Allison hurried behind them. Not wanting to be last to leave, Jess quickened her pace. She hadn’t noticed it the first time she’d been here, but the place didn’t feel right. It felt…

Evil?

When she could see the clearing, it was all she could do to keep from running.

“We’ve been gone awhile,” she said as they emerged from the woods. “Do you think Brandt has been looking for us?”

“Probably,” Gage replied. “But we’ll worry about that later. Let’s get these bones buried before Brandt comes out
here
looking for us.”

He walked on, stopping in front of the padlock on the iron gates surrounding the girls’ gravesite. He reached into his back pocket and extracted a small Allen wrench and a modified paperclip and immediately went to work.

He gave the lock a quick tug, and it opened. He glanced at her again, a cockeyed grin on his face. “Always come prepared for the job.”

Jess laughed and smacked him playfully on the arm.

Bryan grabbed the two shovels they’d left leaning against the fence, pushed past them and swung the gate open. A gust of wind kicked up as they stepped inside, and Jess recalled the figure pointing toward the graves and back to her.

Had this been what he’d meant? Were they doing the right thing?

Bryan and Gage began digging up a patch of earth at the base of the monument. Gracie and Emma’s statues had taken on an eerie glow in the moonlight and Jess shivered. It was as though the girls were watching them from their carved pedestals. The sound of the shovel seemed louder than what she’d expected. Brandt had to hear them out here. She glanced at the house, but no lights came on.

After a while, Bryan hit something with the tip of the shovel. They all exchanged glances.

“It’s got to be the casket,” he announced.

Gage shone the flashlight into the hole. “Hardwood. Probably mahogany or something like it, seeing as the Silers were wealthy.”

“Which grave?” Allison asked. “Is that Gracie’s or Emma’s?”

Gage glanced up at the monument. “No idea. Maybe Gracie’s. Of course, we don’t know whose bones we have, either.”

“Now what?” Jess asked nervously. She hadn’t thought about that part. “Can we just bury the bones on top or do we…”

…
break open the coffin?

From the looks on everyone’s faces, they were wondering the same thing.

Bryan leaned on the shovel. “Unless someone has a manual for this kind of stuff, we’re just winging it. I mean, we don’t know whose bones we’re even burying here. Unless we open up both caskets and can figure out who’s missing a rib or whatever that is, and part of their skull, it’s a crap shoot.”

Gage pitched the handle of his own shovel from hand to hand. “In or out of the casket, it doesn’t matter. We’re only going to bury the bones on top. Which means this one is as good as the other. Mind handing them to me, Allison?”

Allison shook her head and took a step back from the bones resting at her feet. “I’m not touching them.”

Gage shot her a hard glance, tossed the shovel down and picked up the bones. Jess understood both sides here—Allison’s reluctance to touch the bones, and Gage’s irritation after he and Bryan had been digging in the August heat while she and Allison merely watched.

“Aside from not knowing who’s missing what, is there a reason we’re not putting the bones back in the coffin?” Jess asked.

Using his forearm, Gage wiped sweat from his forehead. “Because, for whatever stupid reason, I paid attention to some crap on TV once—about burials. We have no way of knowing if the girls were embalmed with arsenic or not. It was common around the turn of the century. I can’t remember an exact year, but Gracie and Emma were buried close enough to the timeframe that I’m not willing to take any chances.”

He carefully set the bones on the coffin’s top, then picked up his shovel and started tossing dirt back onto the coffin. “Hell, for that matter, I have no idea if this stuff leaches into the soil.”

Bryan scoffed. “You’re kidding, right? It’s probably mahogany like you said. You think arsenic might have seeped through the caskets and into the soil?”

A sheen of sweat covered Gage’s muscular arms. “Sorry. Can’t answer that. I’m not a mortician. I’m not a chemist, either, but I don’t think coming into contact with a poisonous substance at a haunted house is a good thing.”

Jess watched as the bones disappeared beneath the spray of orange earth.

“Should we say something?” Jess asked.

“Like what?” Bryan asked.

She shrugged. “A prayer?”

She recalled the first time Gracie and Emma had shown themselves to her, their faces so frightened and pale. She thought of how young they were when they’d died. How they had promised to help her.

How they creeped her out at times.

As Gage continued shoveling dirt onto the gravesite, Jess recited a childhood prayer. It was the only prayer she could think of.

“Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep.” She paused. The next part didn’t fit.

If I should die before I wake…

Jess knelt once Gage had thrown the last of the dirt onto the grave. “I hope you two are at rest now. I hope you’re free of Riley and this place. Take care, Gracie and Emma.”

Allison handed her some flowers she’d picked nearby and Jess placed them on the broken earth.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Gage had expected Dr. Brandt to ask where they had been and what they’d been up to, seeing as how dirty and grimy they were—especially him and Bryan. He didn’t know how Brandt could miss it—they all
looked
like they’d been digging up graves. But Brandt merely glanced up from his spot on the sofa, eyeing them briefly, then ordered them to get cleaned up before the séance.

Weird. Too weird.

“Snap, snap!” Brandt said cheerfully. “The room is ready for us except for the candles. I just need to get them from the basement.”

“I’ll help,” Gage offered. “It won’t take me but a few minutes to clean up. Bryan can use the shower first.”

Dr. Brandt seemed genuinely surprised by his offer, which confirmed Gage’s suspicions. He was hiding something. Had he been doing a little practicing of his own—without them? Allison had thought he might be, and Gage agreed. Until tonight, Brandt was the only one actively working on crossing Riley over into their realm.

Then why do the séance with us at all?

Easy. Because despite his efforts, Brandt had failed. He hadn’t told them about his work in the basement because they’d…

What? Stop him? Ask him why he was conducting séances without them?

“No,” Brandt said, voice no longer cheery. “I’ll get the candles. Get cleaned up. And find separate rooms. It’ll take too long if you have to wait on the others.” He glanced at Jess and Allison, who were waiting on the bottom stair. “Besides, the renovation crew broke a window and left everything a mess. I don’t want anyone injured.”

“Okay,” Gage replied. “It’s a good idea. We don’t have much time left before midnight.”

Brandt stood patiently in the Great Room. With a final glance, Jess and Allison headed up to the third floor. Bryan waited for Gage and they went to their own floor together.

“I’d bet anything he’s been holding séances without us,” Bryan said once they were out of earshot. “He’s been acting weirder every day. You think he’s using the Ouija board and trying to channel Riley?”

“No doubt,” Gage replied. “The question is who answered. Riley or some other spirit in the house? He’s clearly not himself.”

“What do we do, then? Do we go on with the séance?”

“Yeah. Right after we knock his ass out cold.”

Bryan laughed. “Dude. We can’t just knock him out.”

“He’ll be
fine
. We need something to tie him up with, though.”

“Yeah, well. I’ll think about it. I’m going to go to the next room and shower,” Bryan said, grabbing some clean clothes. “Maybe if we’re done fast enough we should check out what he’s been up to.”

“Good plan.” Gage avoided telling Bryan that maybe they didn’t really want to know what Brandt was up to—that it didn’t matter because he didn’t think Brandt was entirely Brandt anymore.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Jess collected her hairbrush, a few toiletries and a fresh change of clothes. Allison hadn’t taken part in Jess’s earlier explorations and wasn’t comfortable showering in a strange room. And at this point, neither was Jess. She promised herself she’d hurry—she would just shower and change. She would dry her hair when she got back to the room.

Allison was already in the shower.

“I’ll be back,” Jess shouted into the bathroom.

“Okay,” Allison shouted back. “Hurry, will you?”

“I will.” Taking a deep breath for courage, Jess padded down the hall quickly. She chose the room at the end of the hall, the one she was most familiar with. Not that it would make any difference. By now, Siler House knew exactly where they were at any given time.

Stop thinking about stuff like that.

Her hand paused as she reached for the doorknob. With a quick glance back to her own room, Jess opened the door and let herself in, leaving the door open—just in case.

As if it would do any good if Siler House or anyone in it decided to come after them. The room was empty. No sign of ghosts of any sort. No demons. No Riley. Just a normal room.

Keep thinking that. Normal. Everything’s normal.

Jess made sure the towel in the bathroom covered the mirror before undressing. After waiting for the water temp to adjust, she stepped into the shower. She washed in what she thought was record time. Grabbing the towel, Jess ran it over her body and then over her hair. She dressed, tugging her short-sleeved shirt over her head and resisting the urge to bolt from the room.

Normal, normal, normal. Everything’s just fine, Jess.

Heart pounding, she quickly scooped up her things and hurried from the bathroom.

Don’t look behind you. Just keep moving. There’s nothing there. Nothing there.

The door was still open, but it felt as though it were a hundred yards away. In her mind, she pictured the door slamming shut in front of her.

Stay casual, Jess
.

Her eyes focused on the door as she crossed the room, letting out a sigh of relief once she was back in the hallway.

Exploring Siler House used to excite her. She’d loved to go from room to room, taking in the furnishings and atmosphere. Now, everything about the place made her uneasy.
Very
uneasy. The sooner they did this, the sooner Riley was gone, the better. Of course, what about afterward? Would the experiment be over? Or would EPAC have more in store for them?

You’d better hope you’ll get out of here at all.

The hall was as empty as she’d hoped. Still, the eeriness of it made her break into a run to her room. She opened the door and stepped inside.

Allison gave her a smile of relief. “Glad you’re back.”

“Something happen?” Jess asked, trying to sound composed.

She was back in her room. Allison was here. Yeah, like that was a whole lot better—the girl who could become possessed at any moment.

She’s not. It’s Allison. Just Allison.

“Everything’s fine. If you’re going to dry your hair, you’d better hurry. You can use my dryer. I left it plugged in.”

Jess nodded. “Thanks.”

Why did it feel as though something was about to go wrong? Terribly,
horribly
wrong? And how had Allison suddenly become the calm one?

Jess closed the door to the bathroom as she dried her hair, leaving it slightly damp to save time. She unplugged the dryer and walked back into the bedroom. Allison was sitting on the edge of her bed facing the doorway.

“Sshhh!” she said turning her head back to Jess.

Jess crept over to Allison. Outside the door, someone paced the hallway.

“It’s like the other night,” Allison whispered. She scooted back on the bed and wrapped her arms around herself.

The pacing continued and Allison’s fear was escalating. She buried her head in her palms and began to whimper. Which was why Jess had to go and open the door. By now, she believed there were things that wanted to hurt them in Siler House. But, realistically, it could also be Gage or Bryan, or Dr. Brandt.

Or someone else entirely.

Each creak of the boards set Jess’s nerves on edge.

She went across the room. They couldn’t jump at every shadow. They’d be a wreck by the time they had to do the séance.

“Don’t!” Allison pled. “It’ll know which room we’re in.”

More footfalls sounded outside the door.

“Whatever it is, it
already
knows which room we’re in.”

The doorknob turned back and forth, but no one entered. Jess held her breath, but Allison…Allison was curled up on the bed whimpering.

Enough of this! It’s scaring the shit out of her.

And me!

But it’s going to make Allison crack completely.

The pacing resumed. Jess took a final step forward and the pacing stopped.

Open it. It’s right on the other side of the door. Just open it!

As Gage had put it, if they weren’t calm, they weren’t thinking. Right now, Allison wasn’t thinking. They’d need her for later. They couldn’t afford for her to make any mistakes in telling them how to guide Riley over into their realm.