Vengeful Spirits series Box Set

by Val Crowe

  As darkness began to fall, the hint of the sun through the rain clouds cast a final greenish hue over everything, and it all appeared sinister and knowing, keeping its terrible secrets in the rain.

  Around that point, I noted Oscar darting out of his tent and over to my mother’s motorhome to knock on her door.

  She let him inside.

  I didn’t like it.

  I had to admit that Oscar had probably been miserable in that tent. No tent is truly waterproof, and I was sure that he was wet and cold and needed a dry place to escape to. But I didn’t like that guy. I wanted him away from my mother.

  “I wish you’d go,” I whispered to the growing darkness.

  And that was when I decided I’d go over there. I mean, if I was there, Oscar couldn’t make a move against my mom. She probably wouldn’t like it, but screw it. She could do better than Oscar, anyway.

  I dashed out of the Airstream and scurried over to my mother’s motorhome. I didn’t bother to knock. I threw open the door and hurled myself inside.

  My mother looked up from the back bedroom, where she was rummaging through some of her shelves. She had a sweatshirt in one hand. “Deacon,” she said. “Hi. Is everything okay?”

  I brushed wet hair out of my eyes. “Yeah, great. I… uh, I was bored.”

  She smiled, and then held up the sweatshirt. “I think this will fit you, Oscar.”

  Oscar, soaked to the bone, was shivering and dripping next to me.

  My mother snatched up a pair of sweatpants. “These might be short on you, but it’ll be better than what you’re wearing.”

  “Thank you so much, Cora,” said Oscar. “I really tried to stick it out, but the water is coming in through the sides of the tent. The rain fly just doesn’t cover enough.”

  “It’s not a problem,” she said. “There’s a bunk here.” She gestured. “It pulls down. It’s where Deacon used to sleep.” She smiled at me. “You can sleep here tonight, Oscar.”

  I folded my arms over my chest. Yeah, I wasn’t real pleased with that either. But I didn’t want him sleeping in the Airstream with me, and I couldn’t insist he sleep in a wet tent.

  “We’ll get your tent dried out,” said my mother. “And then it’ll be fine to sleep in tomorrow night.”

  “I’m not sure I’ll be here tomorrow night,” said Oscar.

  “That bad?” I said. “Roughing it too much for you after all?”

  Oscar didn’t answer. He just went to take the clothes from my mother and disappeared into her bathroom.

  “It is a little grim, isn’t it?” said my mother, looking out the window into the darkness. “I don’t know what it is. Everything seemed so good this morning, full of promise. But now…”

  “Yeah, I know what you mean,” I said in a soft voice.

  “Too bad it’s raining,” she said. “If it wasn’t, I’d be tempted to pack everything up and get out of here.” She laughed a little, almost nervously. “I mean, is that silly? It’s just that ever since this rain started, I’ve had a feeling, an awful feeling, as if this is a bad place and something bad will happen if we stay. I usually wouldn’t put stock in something like that. I mean, like I said, I felt great this morning. It’s only the rain, I suppose. Rain makes everything so gloomy.”

  I opened my mouth to tell her that I felt the same way, but there was a knock at the door.

  She went to open it up and there were Lily and Patrick.

  “Sorry,” said Lily, coming inside. “We don’t mean to gang up on you, it’s only that we saw that everyone else had come over, and…” She took a bottle out of her coat. “I brought wine.”

  “Come in, of course,” said my mother. “We’ll all fit around the table. I’ll pour some wine.”

  Compared to the previous night, when we’d been boisterous and laughing outside, sharing delicious food and feeling at home, this was a somber affair. Everyone sat around the table and drank too much, and no one seemed to have anything good to say.

  For my part, I was sitting at the end of the table, on a chair that my mother had pulled up, and my back was to the park. I could almost feel it there, behind me, somehow penetrating the barrier of the motorhome, as if the pieces of metal and twining vines had come free of their moorings and were coming to wrap themselves around me and drag me back inside there, kicking and screaming.

  “Look, we’ll pay you for your trouble,” Patrick was saying, “but I think we’re going to get going in the morning. Lily and I were both talking about it, and we have a bad feeling about this whole idea.”

  “We’re sorry. I know we wasted your time,” said Lily. “But it’s as though the rain out there washed away some facade, and now we can see the truth of that park and it’s… well, I hesitate to say evil, that sounds ridiculous.” She made a noise that was probably supposed to be a laugh, but it didn’t quite sound like one. When she spoke again, her voice was barely louder than a whisper. “It did something to my sister. It probably killed her. Maybe it… chewed her up somehow, in its rusty metal teeth.”

  We all shuddered in spite of ourselves.

  None of us pointed out that the park didn’t have teeth.

  My mother put a hand on Lily’s. “Don’t you worry about it. I completely understand. Honestly, I don’t know why I was so eager to be here in the first place.”

  “As soon as the rain clears, we’ll pack up,” said Oscar.

  Everyone murmured their assent and we sucked down our cups of wine.

  But a little before midnight, the rain stopped.

  We all went outside. The air was humid and still a little warm. The sky cleared up a bit and we could see a hazy moon hanging in the sky, bright and nearly full.

  I yawned. I felt a gentle sense of sleepiness at my temples. I couldn’t think of anything nicer than climbing into the Airstream and sleeping.

  “Well, it’s late,” said Patrick. “There’s no point in trying to pack up now.”

  “No,” said Lily. “We’ll leave in the morning.” Her voice sounded dreamy.

  “The morning,” echoed my mother. “Good night, everyone.”

  “Night,” I said.

  “Good night,” said Oscar, who was yawning too.

  “Sleep tight,” said my mother.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  When I got back to the Airstream, I realized I hadn’t taken my cell phone over to my mother’s place. There was a voicemail from Wade.

  I got ready for bed and then slipped between the covers. Snuggling in, the covers at my chin, I called Wade.

  “Sorry,” I yawned. “I was away from my phone.”

  “How’s it going?” he said. “You find out anything yet about Negus?”

  “No,” I said. “I guess I won’t. We’re all leaving in the morning.”

  “Seriously?” said Wade. “Well, maybe that’s good. I mean, if that place was trying to draw you in, it could have been bad news. The spirits there might have had plans for you.”

  “Yeah,” I said, yawning again. But I felt a niggling bit of doubt at the back of my brain. Should I leave? I hadn’t found out anything about Negus, after all. That was the entire reason that I was here. Maybe, after we got packed up, I could convince my mother to go into the center of the park with me, back to the maze. I still had a strong feeling that we needed to go there.

  “They probably didn’t know anything anyway,” said Wade.

  “Why would they say they did, then?” I said.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” said Wade. “Maybe because you’re ringing the dinner bell for ghosts and they’d say or do anything to keep you there? Getting out of there is the best idea you’ve had.”

  “I guess,” I said. I was feeling less and less sure that I should leave. “Maybe I’m going to stay another day or so, though. I have enough food and water. I mean, maybe it would be a waste to leave so soon. I feel like I barely scratched the surface of this place.” Man, my bed was comfortable. I burrowed into my pillow, shutting my eyes but keeping the phone close.

>   “Look, if you stay, I’m thinking I really should come down,” he said. “I could come for a weekend at least. Just to look out for you.”

  “Wade.” I yawned. “Last time you were messed up in stuff like this, the ghosts used you against me. You were in danger. I think it’s better if you stay out of this.” I yawned again. The bed hugged my form. I didn’t think I’d ever been this comfortable in my life.

  “Deacon?”

  “What?”

  “I just said something and you didn’t even respond.”

  “What did you say?” I said in a sleep-ravaged voice. “I didn’t hear you.”

  “Are you falling asleep on me?”

  Another yawn. A tugging feeling of comfort and floating. “No,” I murmured. “Maybe. I’ll call you in the morning, okay?” I didn’t wait for a response. I hung up the phone. I didn’t have the energy to put it next to the bed, so I tucked it under my pillow.

  That was the last thing I remembered doing.

  * * *

  Morning.

  Gray light cutting through the windows of the Airstream. I had forgotten to draw the blinds because it had been so gloomy yesterday.

  I sat up straight in bed. It was as though I had only closed my eyes a moment ago, but I felt well rested and ready to face the day. If I was really going to leave this place today, I needed to at least attempt to get some answers.

  I dressed quickly, surveying myself in the mirror. My scraggly stubble was fast becoming an actual beard and not an attractive one. I scratched the growth on my chin and promised myself I’d shave later.

  A skip in my step, I hurried out of the Airstream and into the park, crossing under the archway and down the brick pathway.

  In the distance, I could hear a buzzing sound, a faint droning, like the sound of a swarm.

  Blindly, I walked toward the buzzing.

  As it got louder, it became clear where I was heading, and I wasn’t even surprised by that. Of course, I should go to the mirror maze. Why would I go anywhere else? I even laughed aloud, because it was so obvious.

  Yeah, it was a good joke.

  I was in a great mood. I felt as though I’d embarked on an exciting adventure, like the beginning of a quest. When I was a kid, before all the crap with the ghosts, I’d been pretty imaginative. My favorite kinds of stories had been fantasy stories, like King Arthur, and space exploration, like Star Trek. Yeah, I hadn’t admitted it to Lily, but I used to really enjoy that kind of stuff as a kid. I guess all it proved was that I was shaping up to be a pretty big geek. I even used to get good grades in school, whenever my mother would plop me into an actual school instead of homeschooling me.

  But, yeah, after the ghosts, things had gotten pretty screwy. With them flitting around and following me all the time, it was hard to concentrate. And I found I didn’t much care about pretending I was on a big quest. Instead, all I wanted was to focus on getting rid of the spirits that were bothering me.

  Then Negus possessed my mom and…

  Well, I wasn’t the same after that.

  But now, walking through this park, heading toward the mirror maze, it almost felt as though none of those problems had ever happened, like I was still just a happy-go-lucky kid, and this was going to be my first big adventure, where I would prove myself as a hero and pull the sword out of the stone or save the oppressed alien woman.

  When I got to the mirror maze, it looked dull and dirty and rundown. The paint on Slappy’s tongue was worn off in several places.

  I approached, curious.

  Was it really as dangerous in there as my mother had claimed? Sure, there was some broken glass, but I could avoid that. The bigger problem would be if there was structural damage. The maze was several stories high. If some of the pathways were weakened, then I could crash through them and get trapped or hurt. I’d have to be careful.

  Because I’d already decided to go in. I was stepping up onto the tongue already, peering inside.

  A faint musty smell greeted me.

  Yeah, this place had been abandoned for a long time. It was probably mildewed. I wrinkled up my nose, but I stepped inside anyway.

  The walls were covered in sheets of mirrors. Most of them were intact, but two or three of them were shattered, pieces of reflective glass on the ground. One was broken but still against the wall, reflecting distorted pieces of me back at myself. The effect was still of a path that went on and on for infinity, swallowing itself.

  I turned to look back at the entrance, trying to assure myself that it was still there.

  Then, squaring my shoulders, I pressed inside further. I could do this. I was exploring the unknown. Boldly going where no one had gone before. Well… okay, where tons of people had gone before, but no one had gone recently. I smirked.

  I rounded a bend.

  A kid was sitting in the middle of the floor. He looked up at me. “Hey,” he said. “Do you know the way out?”

  I was stunned to see him there. “How’d you get in here?”

  “I got away from him,” the kid said. “He said it would be fun. He said there would be candy. But it was bad.” His face crumpled. “And then I got away, but now I’m lost.” He got to his feet.

  “Who?” I said. There was someone in the park?

  “Do you know the way out?”

  “Yeah, it’s just back there.” I pointed. But then I realized that the way out wasn’t the way out anymore. It was just a reflection, an endless reflection, mirrors reflecting mirrors…. My heart picked up speed. I went to the way I thought was out, put my hand against the mirror. It was solid. “That can’t…” I turned back to the kid. Was he a real kid or a ghost kid?

  “Please help me,” said the kid. “I want my mom. I want to go home.”

  I crossed to the kid and offered him my hand.

  He put his hand in mine.

  Except my fingers went right through his.

  The kid sighed, his face falling.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. I knelt down so that I was facing him. “Look, we can still get you out of here.” Maybe that was the kid’s unfinished business. Maybe he could follow me out and then he would be released. “You can follow me.” Of course, I might be trapped in here now too…

  The kid raised his face, and now his features twisted. “My mom… she’s different.”

  I recoiled.

  The kid came for me, looking more and more like a pint-sized me as he did so. “Can you help me? Please?”

  “I’m not dead,” I said in a grating voice, backing away from him—it. “Don’t be me. I’m not dead.”

  “I asked her to stop.” It was still talking. “She wouldn’t. She just laughed in my face.”

  “Shut up.” And now I was stumbling back the way I came, and there was no barrier, nothing at all, just a clear pathway to the outside world. Within minutes, I was out of the maze, my heart pulsing at my temples.

  CHAPTER SIX

  “Mom,” I said. I was standing over her shoulder. She was at the grill again, the griddle spread out over it. She was flipping pancakes.

  “Good morning,” she said cheerily.

  “I need you to come with me to the maze,” I said. “I can’t go in there alone. I tried, but I can’t. And if you’re there, it’s going to be different, I just know it.”

  She turned to look at me. “How’d you sleep, kiddo?”

  “Are you listening to me?”

  She patted my cheek. “You need to shave.”

  I sighed.

  She turned back to the griddle. “I think the syrup is in your refrigerator.”

  Right, another thing she’d forced us to get. Real maple syrup. Once opened, it had be refrigerated, and she had opened it to taste it, and then claimed I needed to store it in the Airstream. “I need to talk to you about this maze thing,” I said.

  “Can you check and make sure the syrup is there? And if it is, bring it out.”

  I groaned. But I didn’t see what good pancakes would be without syrup, so I went
over and sorted through the crap in my fridge until I found the syrup and came back.

  “Now,” my mother was saying as she transferred pancakes to stacks on two different platters, “these are the gluten pancakes, and these are gluten free.”

  “They look great, Mom, but I really want us to go to the maze. Especially if we’re all leaving. This is our last chance to figure out what’s going with that. I feel strongly that it has answers, and I need to know what’s going on with me.”

  “Oh, that’s something I wanted to talk to you about.” She gestured with her spatula. “I know we were all talking about leaving last night, but I’m not sure it’s such a good idea. I need you to help me convince the Fletchers to stay. Talk to Lily. She likes you.”

  “Wait, what? They said they didn’t want to stay,” I said. “Anyway, who cares about that? What I’m talking about, it’s about you and me. It’s our past, and I think we need to face it together—”

  “You don’t think Lily needs to face the past?” said my mother. “That’s why she and Patrick came here in the first place, don’t you think? They want to understand the past. They want closure for what happened with their sister. They came to me for that, and I can give it to them.”

  “Not really,” I said, and I lowered my voice, in case anyone was listening. “You don’t know anything about what really happened to Molly.”

  “That’s not important,” she said. “What’s important is closure.”

  “And the jewelry?” I said. “You’re never going to be able to tell them where that is.”

  She shrugged. “Oh, that’s the least important thing of all. They care about their sister, not about money.”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Patrick seems pretty interested in the money. I mean, maybe he considers paying you an investment, right? Like if you can help him find the jewels, then it’ll be worth it to have hired you.”