“Disperse!” I demanded.
I could feel the ghosts on the other side dispersing.
“Now!” I said to Kane and Jonathan.
They opened the doors. People started rushing out before I had a chance to put a line of salt and iron there. The doors were open now, but they wouldn’t be for long.
The lights in the great hall started flickering.
“He’s close,” Rebecca said. “I can feel it.”
Kane and Jonathan held the doors open, but the task was becoming more difficult by the second. The ghosts were coming back, I could feel it now, too. Pretty soon, Mad Jack would be here. I needed to ready myself.
I turned around, facing the great hall, which was now emptying pretty quickly.
The lights were going wild now. They could give out at any second.
“What are you thinking, sis?” Troy said, standing next to me.
I looked at the iron and salt mixture in my hand.
“I’m thinking that Mad Jack is a coward. He’s afraid to face me.”
The lights almost gave out then.
I looked back and saw that the great hall was empty now. I smiled. At least Mad Jack wouldn’t be able to hurt any of them now.
Jackson, Jonathan, Troy, Kane, Rebecca, Mrs. V, the sheriff, and I were the only ones left.
I gave Jackson a look.
“What? I’m not running away from the final battle. What kind of hero would that make me?”
“Hero?” Troy said with raised eyebrows. “You’re a sidekick at best.”
Before they could get into an argument about stuff that didn’t really matter in the real world, the main hall doors shut closed by themselves. Mad Jack was definitely here.
I could feel his spirits all around us.
“They’re here,” I warned the others.
They threw their salt at the rogue ghosts, who dispersed as expected. But that wouldn’t work for long.
Then the lights went out right then. Before any of us had a chance to get hold of our cell phones for some much-needed light, the lights came back on. Except they were flickering like crazy now.
“Sis,” Troy said. “I might be in some trouble.”
I turned around and saw that Jackson held a knife to his throat. The same kind of knife used to kill the sheriff.
“Jackson, you don’t have to do this,” Jonathan said. “Let him go.”
“That’s not Jackson,” I said. “That’s Mad Jack. I don’t know how, but he managed to take over Jackson’s body.”
“You’re a slow one, aren’t you?” Jackson/Mad Jack said. “My blood runs through his veins. I felt it as soon as he stepped foot on this property. I gathered my strength and took over him. But as soon as I took care of that wretched sheriff, he somehow managed to dispel me. I’ve been trying to get back inside ever since. It seems that after your little trick with the doors, he let some of his guard down. So thanks for that.”
Jackson’s voice had a distorted quality to it that made me think of demons and horror movies, the last thing I needed to think about.
I looked at the iron and salt mixture in my hand.
Jackson laughed.
“It won’t work,” he said. “I’m in human form now.”
I threw some at him anyway, but he just brushed it off.
“I’ll let that slide, but if you don’t give me that guy,” he pointed to Jonathan, “you won’t have a brother anymore.”
Jonathan lifted his hands up in surrender.
“You can have me, just let Troy go, all right?”
Jackson smiled.
“Slowly. No funny business,” Jackson/Mad Jack said.
“Stop it. You’re giving him exactly what he wants,” Mrs. V said. “Please stop this.”
I gave Kane a look, but he was too far away. I just hoped Jonathan was thinking the same. I gave Troy a reassuring look as well.
“You’re going to be fine,” I told him, ignoring the knife at his throat. “He’s only human now,” I said, hoping that they’d get the hint.
The ghosts that were under Mad Jack’s control were nowhere to be found. Now that he was human, maybe they decided to think for themselves for once.
As soon as Jackson loosened his hold on Troy, Troy hit him hard with his elbow and pushed him off. Jackson charged for Jonathan, but Kane and Troy were quick on the draw.
They fought off Jackson.
“Don’t hurt him,” I reminded them. “He’s being possessed.”
The three men tried to hold Jackson down, but he pushed them off with ease.
“This isn’t over,” Jackson yelled as he ran from the great hall to one of the hallways leading to the rest of the hotel.
“We have to go after him. He can’t get out of this hotel,” I said. “He could attack anyone right outside.” And there were a lot of people there.
Just as we started to run after him, the lights started flickering like crazy again.
“This…is not good,” Troy said.
“No, it isn’t,” I agreed. “It means he somehow has control of the ghosts, even in his human form.”
I armed myself with the iron and salt mixture and gave some to each of them as well.
“We need to find Jackson and subdue him,” I said. “Let’s just hope we can get to him before he does anything too drastic.”
“Besides killing the town sheriff?” The sheriff said.
“Yeah, besides that.”
“He killed me, too,” Mrs. V said.
“This isn’t a contest,” I said to both of them.
“What could he be up to?” Jonathan said. “He wants to kill me, right? So why isn’t he here trying?”
“He knows there’s too many of us,” I said. “He can’t face us alone.”
“But he knows we can fight off any ghosts he sends our way, right?” Kane said, holding onto the salt and iron mixture.
“Yeah, we need to find him,” I said. “And quick.”
Rebecca and the sheriff went in search of Jackson while Mrs. V stayed behind, practically glued to Jonathan.
“Does anyone else smell gas?” Troy said.
I could smell it now too.
“He’s going to burn the place down, isn’t he?” Kane said.
Twenty-Two
I threw some of the iron and salt mixture onto an oncoming ghost.
“Stay right there,” I told it.
It was now frozen in midair, awaiting further instructions. But this wasn’t over yet. More ghosts were coming our way, and each time we stopped one, another seemed to be right behind.
“He wants us to use up our iron and salt mixture, doesn’t he?” Troy said.
“Very observant of you, but what other choice do we have?” I asked him.
“How about we just get out of here before this place blows?” He said.
He wasn’t wrong.
“We have to stop him before he gets out of here with Jackson’s body in tow,” I said. “I don’t think he’s planning on experiencing a fire for the second time. This is just a distraction. Or maybe he’s just trying to get rid of Jonathan before Jackson regains control again? He did it after stabbing the sheriff.”
“That would mean that Jackson would blow up in the fire as well,” Jonathan said. “I’m not going to let one of my fellow officers die. If anyone has any second thoughts, this is your chance to get out now. Take the first exit you see.”
“I’m staying,” I said. “I’m the only one that can stop Mad Jack from hurting anyone else.”
“I’m staying, too,” Kane said. He looked at me. “Where she goes, I go.”
Troy rolled his eyes. “Fine, I guess I’m staying with you guys as well. But if I die, you can count on me haunting all of you.”
“I’ll be the only one who’ll be able to see you, though. And Rebecca, of course,” I informed him.
“I guess that’s one upside: I’d finally get to meet your elusive best friend.”
“Guys, let’s not joke about dying. Let’s
just find Jackson and stop this place from blowing up,” Jonathan admonished us, but he certainly had a point.
The lights flickered worse the closer we got to the kitchen. It seemed like the most logical place where he could have released the gas from.
I could hear the sound of someone loading a gun. It was coming from Jonathan’s direction.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I asked him when I saw the gun Sarah had fired earlier in his hands.
“What does it look like? I’m protecting all of us,” he said.
“Where’s your salt and iron mixture?”
“In my pocket,” he said. “But don’t worry, I’m not dumb enough to fire this thing in a gas-filled building. I’ll only threaten him with it. And I’ll only use it if he’s outside.”
“Sounds reasonable enough to me,” Troy said.
“Yeah, Meredith, I’m kind of on their side,” Kane said.
“Guys, remember that we’re trying to get Jackson back to his body. We don’t want to hurt him,” I reminded them.
“I don’t want to hurt him either, but if he tries to kill anyone else, we have to be prepared to do what’s necessary,” Jonathan said.
“Rebecca and the sheriff have been gone a long time,” I said, changing the subject. “I hope they’re not in trouble.”
“Should I check up on them?” Mrs. V offered, which surprised me a bit.
“No, we’ll be there soon enough,” I said.
As soon as we turned the corner to where the kitchen was, we knew that we were in trouble. Not only was there a line of ghosts there, the door seemed to be barricaded shut as well.
“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” I asked them.
“Yup,” Troy said. “It looks like all the ghosts that were outside are inside now.”
I looked around but I couldn’t see a sign of either Rebecca or the sheriff.
“We need to get through and stop that gas leak,” Jonathan said.
“Maybe we don’t,” I said.
I noticed that the line of ghosts extended to a hallway that led to an exit out back.
“I think Jackson or Mad Jack or whoever he is, is on his way out of the building as we speak,” I said.
I took some salt and iron mixture from Troy because I didn’t want to waste my own and threw it at the wall of ghosts gathered there.
“Disperse,” I demanded and they did.
“Cool,” Troy said. “Way cool, sis.”
As soon as the ghosts dispersed, a few familiar ghost faces showed up.
Rebecca practically ran to my side. “He had us trapped,” she pointed to the ghosts on the other side. “We couldn’t get to you. He could very well be out and about now. All the people outside are in danger.”
“But the one he wants dead the most is right here,” I said, pointing to Jonathan.
“Thanks,” Jonathan said sarcastically. While he could see Mad Jack’s ghost army, he couldn’t see or hear Rebecca.
I used some of Kane’s iron and salt mixture to disperse the spirits that were blocking our exit.
On the other side of it, we could see Jackson standing at the exit, presumably contemplating what his next move would be.
Jonathan drew the gun as soon as he saw him.
“Stop right there and drop that lighter,” Jonathan said.
It was only then that I noticed that Jackson did, in fact, have a lighter in the palm of his hand.
Jackson turned around and smiled.
“What are you going to do, Jonathan Valentine? Shoot me? Go right ahead. This place is filled with gas. You’ll only be killing yourself and your friends.”
“Don’t do this,” Troy said. “This isn’t you. Jackson, if you’re in there, please stop this.”
Jackson headed for the exit.
“You can’t leave this place,” I reminded him. “You’re bound to it for all eternity.”
“We’ll see about that,” Mad Jack said. “This body seems strong enough to hold me.”
He headed for the exit, the threat of the lighter still looming high.
We ran after him. He threw the lit lighter behind him.
I had no time to think, I just ran for safety.
We ran and ran until we were next to the parking lot, in a field of green grass. It was early morning. We’d been stuck in that hotel the whole night it seemed.
A loud boom could be heard behind us. Then fire and smoke burst out of a couple of windows. Thankfully, there was nobody inside. Except for the dead of course.
“Stop!” Jonathan yelled. “Stop right there!”
Jackson turned around.
“We’ve already been through this. You wouldn’t shoot your fellow officer, now would you?”
“I don’t smell any gasoline here,” Jonathan said.
“Please don’t hurt him,” I implored Jonathan.
Then I got an idea.
“Shoot him,” I said, changing my mind. “But just in the arm or something. It should be enough to expel Mad Jack out of him.”
Jonathan gave me a questioning look.
“What? It’s worth a shot,” I said, preparing the salt and iron mixture. As soon as Mad Jack was out of Jackson’s body, he was mine.
“I’m out of here,” Jackson said. “If you want to shoot me, you’ll have to shoot me in the back.”
Jonathan remained cool and collected. He fired the gun.
For a moment I thought that he had killed poor Jackson, because he fell to the ground. But he was just holding his arm. Jonathan had listened.
Then I saw black smoke rising up out of his body. I was quick. I threw the iron and salt mixture at the ghostly form as soon as it exited Jackson and before it could make its escape.
“Freeze,” I said to the ghost, and that’s where it stayed, while Jonathan attended to Jackson’s wound, who seemed pretty surprised that he was shot, on the ground, and outside of the hotel.
“Why the hell did you shoot me?” He asked Jonathan.
“It’s a long story,” Jonathan said. He yelled for someone to call an ambulance.
Just then, from the corner of my eye, I saw Sarah running toward us.
Troy took over the stopping-the-blood-flow duties. Jonathan gave Sarah a hug, but she quickly untangled herself from him.
“I thought you might need this,” she said, handing me a bag full of iron filings and salt.
“You don’t know it, but you might have just saved the day,” I told her.
“Then what did I just do?” Jonathan said.
“You helped,” I said, while I quickly made an iron and salt circle around Mad Jack, who was still frozen in midair. Pretty soon, the iron would wear off, but now, he was just black smoke suspended in air. He looked almost harmless, but I knew better.
“I don’t see anything,” Jonathan said. “Are you sure you got him?”
“Of course I’m sure. He’s just not as powerful anymore. Getting out of the hotel and taking over Jackson’s body must have taken a lot out of him.”
“Who took over my body again?” Jackson asked, confused.
While Troy reassured him that answers to all his questions were forthcoming, I focused on Mad Jack. He was slowly but surely getting back to his original form.
“What are you going to do to him?” Mrs. V asked.
“I’m going to send him to a place where he can’t hurt anyone else,” I said.
Mad Jack was whole now.
Once he realized what had happened, he tried to get out of the iron and salt circle, but to no avail.
“What did you do to me, witch?”
“There’s no need for name-calling,” I told him. “By the way, you lost.”
“Let me out! Let me out!” He demanded.
I just laughed. “Good luck with that. And you can’t call on your ghostly friends because you just blew up the only thing they call home. I think they’ll be busy for a while yet trying to bring themselves back together.”
“Let me out!”
“This
is getting old,” Rebecca said. “Just send him on his way before the cops arrive. I mean, the ones in cop cars and uniforms, of course.”
“Why did you kill me?” Mrs. V asked Mad Jack, but he just turned his gaze away from her.
“Because he could,” I told her. “Because your ancestors did him wrong. Or maybe because he’s as mad as they said he was.”
“You’re going to pay for this,” he said.
“Your business here is done,” I told him. “It’s time for you to move on.”
A portal of light started to open in the ground underneath him.
“No! You can’t! Please stop this!”
“I don’t make the rules,” I said. “Once you’ve misbehaved as badly as you have, something out there in the universe wants you. Good luck on the other side, Mad Jack.”
“I’ll do anything! Please just let me out of this circle! I’ll do your bidding!”
I pointed to Rebecca. “I kind of already have a ghost like that.”
“Hey,” Rebecca complained. “I’m no slave. I’m a friend.”
“You make me sick,” Mad Jack said to Rebecca. “All of you do,” he said, looking at the sheriff, Mrs. V, and me.
“That means a lot, coming from a psycho like you,” Rebecca retorted.
“Goodbye, Mad Jack,” I said as the portal of light got bigger and bigger. Until finally, it sucked him in. He screamed. I saw how the light transformed him from a formidable looking figure to a pitiful looking man.
And then the light was gone, and so was Mad Jack.
“Is it over?” Mrs. V asked.
“Pretty much. I’ll have to go back to the hotel, or what’s left of it, once it’s safe. I have to help all those tortured souls move on, but there’s no reason you can’t move on. You too, sheriff.”
Just then, a door of light appeared in the distance.
“I can see my husband,” Mrs. V said. Then she looked back at Jonathan and Sarah standing side by side, holding each other. “I think he’ll be okay without me, won’t he?”
“He’ll miss you, but yeah, I think he’ll be fine,” I said.
Mrs. V walked over to Jonathan and touched his cheek with her ghostly hand.
He put his hand where her ghostly hand had been. “What was that?” he asked me.
“It was your grandmother saying goodbye. She’s ready to move on.”
Ghostly Wedding (A Ghost Hunter P.I. Mystery Book 3) Page 15
