The Haunted

by Danielle Vega

  He glanced at her sideways, and Hendricks shrugged. There was something wrong with her house for sure. But Eddie made it sound like the whole town was haunted. Drearford felt cold, but otherwise it was like any other town. Maybe a little grayer and darker, but that was just because it was January and they were so far north.

  “I guess,” she said quietly.

  Eddie shook his head. “You don’t get it. There’s something rotten here.”

  Rotten. The word sent an unpleasant feeling squirming up Hendricks’s back.

  “Are you sure you’re not just saying that because of what happened to Maribeth?”

  Eddie shook his head. “No. It got worse after Maribeth, but the town has always been . . . wrong.” He blew air out through his teeth. “You just moved here. Give it time.”

  “I don’t see anyone else getting haunted,” Hendricks said.

  Eddie looked at her, a frown crossing his face. For the first time, she noticed the straight line of his jaw, the sharp cut of his cheekbone. When he stood up straight he was taller than her dad.

  He’s sort of hot, she realized. Anywhere else, he would’ve had his pick of moody chicks with dark eye makeup.

  She stared at his mouth for a moment, distracted. He had a little scar just beside his lower lip. It curved toward his cheek like a backward J.

  After a minute, Eddie cleared his throat and looked away. “Where’s your brother now?”

  “At the hospital with my parents.” Hendricks felt a lump forming in her throat. “That thing, the ghost or whatever it was, threw him against the wall. The doctors think he’s going to be okay, but it could have been so much worse. “

  “Jesus.” Eddie dragged a hand over his mouth. “So where are you staying?”

  “Park bench? Bus station? Anywhere but back there.” Eddie frowned, and Hendricks added, “It’s fine. I’ll probably just go back to the hospital and curl up in the waiting room. I want to be there anyway, in case Brady wakes up.”

  “But you need clothes or whatever? Toothbrush?”

  “I’m so not worried about that right now.”

  “You need a phone charger in case your phone dies and your parents need to get ahold of you. And books and stuff for school tomorrow. And a pillow, because those waiting rooms are uncomfortable as shit.”

  Hendricks chewed her lower lip. He had a point. “There’s no way I’m going back there.”

  “I could go with you.”

  “Really?”

  Eddie exhaled through his teeth, looking like he was trying to prepare himself for battle. “Yeah,” he said after a beat. “I could do that.”

  There was a chill in the night air as they cut through Hendricks’s yard, walking quickly past gnarly old trees, the empty pool, and the darkened windows of Steele House. Hendricks tried not to look up at those windows as she fumbled for her key. It was strange, but it sort of felt like the house was watching her.

  “Let’s do this quickly,” she muttered, throwing the door wide.

  “No shit,” Eddie said.

  They headed straight for Hendricks’s bedroom. She took her book bag from her desk without bothering to turn on her bedroom light, hoping all the school stuff she needed was still inside. She grabbed a change of underwear and a fresh sweater out of her dresser, then pulled her phone charger out of the wall.

  “I think that’s everything,” she said, looping her backpack over one shoulder. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  Eddie had been waiting in the hall while Hendricks gathered her things, but now he crossed her room and plucked a pillow from her bed. “For the waiting room,” he explained.

  “Thank you,” Hendricks said, touching his arm. Eddie glanced down at her hand, his posture stiffening.

  “Careful,” he said, suddenly sarcastic. “Haven’t you heard that leprosy is contagious?”

  “Ha, ha,” Hendricks said. But she was pretty sure there was something beneath his sarcasm, something sincere.

  God, he must hate living here, she thought and, without really thinking about it, she linked her arm through his, just to show him she wasn’t listening to the gossip.

  Eddie didn’t say anything, but she felt a faint pressure on the top of her head and she knew without looking up that he was staring down at her. She kept her eyes trained straight ahead. For some reason, her cheeks felt hot.

  They were halfway to the stairs. Hendricks was already anticipating the cool night air on her cheeks, the smell of chimney smoke in the air. And then—

  Stop.

  She froze, her skin crawling. “Did you hear that?”

  “Hear what?”

  Hendricks couldn’t bring herself to answer. Her blood was thumping loud and fast in her ears, blocking out all other thought. The voice had seemed to whisper directly into her head, almost like it’d been her own thought.

  Some impulse made her turn toward Brady’s nursery. The door was open a sliver, the barest hint of moonlight spilling into the hallway.

  Look.

  There was something in there.

  Hendricks moved slowly toward the door, her breath a dry rasp in her throat. Each step she took increased her dread, but she couldn’t bring herself to stop. There was something in there, waiting for her. She needed to know what it was.

  “Hendricks,” Eddie hissed. “What are you doing?”

  Just a quick look, she told herself. And then they could leave.

  The door hinges creaked slightly as she let herself in.

  When she saw what was inside of Brady’s room, Hendricks’s legs quaked with fear and, for a moment, she thought she might collapse. She groped clumsily for the doorframe. It felt like her breath was knocked out of her. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t do more than release a weak whimper.

  Scrawled onto the wall above Brady’s crib was a message, written in big, dripping letters that looked black in the dim light but were actually, Hendricks knew, a deep, blood red.

  CHAPTER

  18

  Hendricks wasn’t entirely sure how she got back outside, but the next thing she knew she was kneeling in her backyard, staring into the empty swimming pool. She brought a hand to her chest and tried to steady her breathing.

  “What the hell was that?”

  Eddie was shaking his head. His eyes were wide and frightened, his skin near white. “One more. One more what?”

  “Victim?” Hendricks had to suppress a shudder at the thought. “One more sacrifice?”

  “That’s not going to happen,” Eddie said, and she looked up at him quickly. There was so much confidence in his voice, like he was going to make absolutely certain that nothing bad happened to her or her family. It was reassuring, and Hendricks couldn’t help feeling a tiny bit better. It was nice to feel like there was someone looking out for her.

  And just like that, the tears welled up behind her eyes as she replayed what had happened—the sound of her brother’s body slamming into the wall. His broken, tearful voice.

  Ha-ha! Ha-ha!

  For a second Hendricks considered what it would be like to completely break down, to collapse against Eddie’s chest and cry until there was nothing left inside of her. She hadn’t cried since it happened.

  She held it together for another fraction of a second before doubling over, hands braced against her knees, tears falling down her cheeks. She felt Eddie hesitate beside her, and then his hand was on her back. It was tentative, almost imperceptible.

  “We’re going to figure this out,” he said. “I swear—”

  “It’s like they’re . . . they’re targeting my family. Like we did something to them.”

  Eddie shifted, seeming to make a sudden decision. He wiped a tear from her face with his thumb. He looked embarrassed about it a second later, as he mumbled, “I know. It felt like that, but—”

  Hendricks look
ed up at him through bleary eyes. Your sister died, she wanted to scream. Your brother committed suicide. I don’t want that to happen to my family. It was too cruel to say it out loud.

  She straightened, wiping more tears from her cheeks. “I just don’t know what they want from us,” she said, her voice still thick.

  “Maybe just this.” He gestured between them. “Maybe they just want to scare you.”

  Hendricks pressed her lips together. She couldn’t explain it, but she knew that wasn’t quite right. The ghosts wanted something. She just needed to figure out what it was.

  One more.

  She shivered, hard.

  Eddie’s hand was still on her shoulder. He seemed to realize this at the same moment that she did and dropped it, awkwardly.

  They stood there in silence for a few minutes, neither knowing what to say.

  Finally, Eddie cleared his throat. “I think we’re overthinking this. We probably don’t need to figure out what the ghost wants. We just need to find out how to get rid of him, right?”

  “How do we do that?”

  Eddie chewed at his lower lip. It looked like he was about to say something, but then he shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “Are you really going to hold back on me now?”

  Eddie sighed. “We’re not exactly friends—”

  Hendricks felt a sudden surge of anger. “You’re the only one I trust with this. I ran to your house in the middle of the night, begging for help,” she pointed out. Then, because she’d already had one of the worst nights of her life, she added, “Maybe I shouldn’t have bothered.”

  Eddie studied her for a moment. Hendricks wondered if he was thinking about what happened at Tony’s earlier that day. Guilt squirmed through her again. No wonder he didn’t trust her.

  His thick eyebrows climbed his forehead and, in a rush, he blurted, “Okay, so I read about this ritual online. It’s like a . . . a de-ghosting. I was thinking about doing it before your family moved in, actually. You light a few candles, wave around some burning sage, and leave crystals lying around.” He shrugged with one shoulder. “Supposedly that’ll convince the ghost to move on.”

  Hendricks frowned. “What do you mean, you read about it online?”

  A pause, and then, “Reddit. There’s a whole ghost forum. I’ve been reading it a lot since Kyle . . .” He exhaled, heavily. “Anyway, it’s just an idea.”

  Hendricks swallowed. Her mouth and throat were both dry, so it hurt more than it should have. She brought her fingers to her neck, wincing.

  She thought of the horrible sound her brother’s body had made when it slammed into the wall. She could still remember how strained Brady’s voice had been when he called out to her.

  Eddie’s idea sounded a bit crazy to her. Would it really work? But she had to do something.

  “Yeah, okay,” she relented. “Let’s try it.”

  “Tomorrow night? I’d say we do it now, but we need supplies.” Eddie looked sheepish as he added, “You know, crystals and candles and stuff.”

  Hendricks nodded, turning this over in her head. Her parents had said Brady needed to stay at the hospital for a few days while everything set and healed. And there was no way they’d leave him there by himself. So the house would be empty tomorrow night. The timing worked out.

  “Okay.” She sucked in a deep breath, filling her lungs, and then exhaled slowly. “Tomorrow night. Let’s do it.”

  CHAPTER

  19

  School the next day was unbearable. Hendricks found it impossible to follow any conversation for longer than a few seconds. She kept spacing out in class and—twice—she didn’t hear the bell, and only realized that she had to stand up and start moving when a teacher came over to her desk to ask whether she was okay.

  “Fine, just tired,” she’d mumbled, cheeks flaring as she quickly gathered her things and hurried out of the classroom, trying to remember where she was supposed to go to next.

  She was tired. She’d snuck back into the hospital waiting room after saying good night to Eddie, and curled up on one of the hard plastic seats to steal a few hours of sleep before leaving for school the next day. She’d cleaned up in the bathroom and changed her clothes before school so at least she didn’t look like a total spaz.

  Despite this, her skin still had a grayish cast that she was convinced came from the hospital’s horrible overhead lights, and there were deep, purple circles around her eyes. Her clothes and her hair were mussed and creased in weird places.

  And did she really just tell that teacher she was fine? Because that was a lie. She wasn’t fine at all. Far from it.

  Portia tried to ask her about her “hobo-chic” look at lunch, but Hendricks barely registered that she’d spoken.

  “Sorry, didn’t sleep well,” she said when Portia poked her in the side. She knew she could tell Portia about what happened to Brady, but she didn’t want to get into it just now. Not if it meant thinking about the ghosts.

  Portia shook her head dramatically and looked like she was about to say something else, but the bell rang, cutting her off.

  As everyone pushed back their chairs and headed for the hall, Connor knelt beside Hendricks and put a hand on her forearm. In a low voice, he said, “I wanted to say that you look nice today, but now I want to upgrade that to amazing since you didn’t sleep well.”

  He flashed her a shy smile, leaving before she could say anything in return.

  Hendricks felt warmth flare up in her chest. At least that part of her life was still working, even if everything else was falling apart.

  * * *

  • • •

  Hendricks headed for the parking lot as soon as the last bell sounded, her eyes peeled. She and Eddie had agreed to meet there after school, but so far, she couldn’t find him.

  Then, at the corner of the lot, a beat-up old Buick flashed its lights.

  Hendricks squinted and shaded her eyes with one hand. The Buick was a slate-gray color that was hard to make out against the flat, gray sky and asphalt. Now, though, she saw a shadowy figure hunched in the front seat.

  She hurried across the lot and pulled the passenger door open. A burst of radiator heat rolled out of the car.

  “Nice wheels,” she said, sliding inside.

  Eddie jerked his chin instead of saying hello. His dark hair was disheveled, and she was pretty sure he was wearing the same T-shirt as yesterday. Not that she had much room to talk, seeing as she’d bathed herself in a public bathroom this morning.

  “Thanks,” Eddie said. “It used to be Kyle’s.”

  The Buick was ancient. It looked like it was at least fifteen years old, with holes in the interior and stains on the floor. Despite all that, Hendricks could tell that it had been impeccably maintained. There might be food stains on the floor, but there wasn’t a crumb anywhere. The dashboard and cup holders looked like they’d just been wiped down.

  Hendricks felt a little pang in her chest. She hadn’t seen Eddie in any of their afternoon classes. That wasn’t unusual, but . . . was it possible that he’d skipped school to clean his car, because he knew she’d be sitting in it?

  Eddie put the car into drive and steered out of the parking lot. “We’re not far from Devon,” he said, turning onto Main Street. “It’s this bullshit little tourist town about twenty minutes away. They have an occult shop.”

  Hendricks lifted her eyebrows. “Really?”

  “Don’t look so surprised. The whole New Age thing is in right now, apparently.” He rolled his eyes. “Anyway, I think it’s mostly greeting cards and dream catchers, but I called this afternoon and they have what we need.”

  “What do we need?”

  “Sage. Crystals.” Eddie ticked the items off on his fingers, even as he kept his hands balanced against the steering wheel. “A bunch of candles, some blessed salt, and the ritual itself, bu
t I already got that printed that out.”

  Hendricks shifted in her seat, not entirely sure where she should put her hands, or where to look. She couldn’t place her finger on why, exactly, but it felt weird being in such a small space with Eddie.

  She’d never actually thought about it before, but cars sort of forced you to sit right next to someone. Hendricks didn’t know Eddie that well, and she was suddenly intensely aware of that fact.

  She could smell whatever he wore in his hair. It was a mix of baby shampoo and campfire.

  She shifted her arm onto the armrest at the exact moment that Eddie reached for the gearshift. His arm brushed hers, and a heat like static prickled through her skin. She jerked back so quickly she nearly dislocated her shoulder.

  “Sorry,” she muttered when Eddie gave her a look.

  God, she was such a freak.

  * * *

  • • •

  The shop wasn’t on Devon’s Main Street but down a narrow residential road lined with run-down houses and scraggly yards. Hendricks studied the houses as Eddie brought his car to a crawl. It didn’t look like people lived here. Windows were dark and boarded up, and the yards were unkempt.

  Devon’s Main Street had been cute, but the town seemed to fall to ruins as soon as you stepped outside of the area meant for tourists. Hendricks wondered if Eddie had gotten the address wrong.

  They drove down the road twice before Hendricks noticed a small black sign near the curb: Magik & Tarot.

  “Hold up. Is that it?” she asked.

  Eddie pulled over and leaned across Hendricks’s lap to squint at the sign. It was propped in the yard outside of a Victorian-style house that looked just as abandoned as the rest of the houses on the street. He frowned. “Is the shop supposed to be inside there?”

  “You’re the one who found it. You tell me.”

  Eddie scratched his chin. “There weren’t any pictures online.”

  They got out of the car and cut across the yard. Now that they were closer, Hendricks noticed that there was a staircase to the side of the porch, and another sign indicated that the store was located in the basement. Hendricks chewed her lip as they made their way down the concrete steps. She felt a little nervous.