The Trail of Ruins

by Shannon Reber

  Deke didn’t respond. He had to climb. He had to.

  “Stop it. You can’t leave!”

  Deke stood on the second shelf, his hair plastered to his forehead with sweat, his clothes soaked. He climbed up one more shelf, worried when it shifted like his weight might be about to make it topple over.

  He took hold of the latch to the window and pulled. Nothing happened. He examined it a little closer and saw that the latch was supposed to turn. He turned it and with a squeak, the window was open. All he had to do was climb out.

  “You can’t leave! You can’t leave! You can’t!” the voice that came from everywhere and nowhere shrieked and everything on the shelf started to vibrate.

  Deke did his best to ignore the voice and the stuff. He just lifted the window, propped it open with the stick that was there and grabbed with his other hand for the window ledge.

  The shelf rumbled, then it shifted. It was moving away from him. He tried to reach for the outside but as the shelf fell, so did he.

  Deke caught himself on the window ledge, his fingers aching as he dangled there. But he was tired. His body ached. He was so cold. His fingers slipped.

  He landed on the floor, his eyes just starting to close as the basement door opened . . . and the mean man walked down the steps. He wanted to get up and run away. He was too weak. His eyes fluttered closed right when he heard the voice.

  “My Daddy needs you.”

  TEN

  Ian and I glanced at each other as we got to the office the following morning. It was too quiet. Erkens was always there before us. And Bukowski didn’t seem like the type to be late.

  But no one was behind the desk. No one was in the bathroom. The only live being in that office was Twitter and he was too busy sleeping to bother greeting us.

  That was when Ian’s phone beeped. “Looks like the chief called them in. Erkens says we should go and talk to Skylar and they’ll meet us here in a couple of hours.”

  “I love the chief right now,” I said with a smile, liking the idea of working with Ian rather than Bukowski.

  Ian raised his brows, his lips quirked up in a slight smile. “Sure you don’t want to stick around here for a little bit?” he asked, running his hand down my arm as he turned toward me.

  I leaned up on my toes and touched my lips to his. “I think we better do our job, otherwise we might end up on Erkens’ list.”

  He banded his arms around my waist and pulled me a little closer. “You couldn’t be on his idiot list. That’s reserved just for me.” He pulled me closer and pressed his lips to the top of my head. “We need to wait for Quinn anyway, don’t we?”

  Oh, right. I had almost forgotten she had my phone. I’d been so distracted, it had slipped my mind.

  I hooked my arms around his neck and eased my way up. “I could use a distraction from all the crap in my life.” I kissed his jaw, moving my lips slowly toward his.

  He guided me back until he rested against the desk, those eyes of his going foggy as I traced my lips away from his, moving them down his neck. He traced his fingers up and down my spine as he moved his head to give me freer access to . . . and a knock sounded on the door.

  I groaned a little and rested my brow against his. “I swear we’re jinxed,” I whispered, a mix of annoyance and amusement in my voice.

  He sighed. “Maybe we are,” he said, motioning me to the door. “Then again, we can spend some time tonight distracting each other.”

  I smiled at him. “You’re on,” I said, walking to the door.

  It was indeed Quinn who stood in the hallway. She looked like she hadn’t slept at all the night before. Her hair was pulled back in a messy knot and there were dark circles under her eyes. Despite that, she shot me a huge smile and held out my phone with a flourish.

  I took it, beckoning her in as I tried to figure out what she’d done to my phone.

  There was an app on there that wasn’t present the day before. I tapped it open and my mouth gaped. There were several menus, each with a heading. Heat. Sat. Lex. Face. I tapped the heat menu and found that she had modified the camera with a heat sensor.

  Possibilities flooded my mind. Quinn had just made our job a LOT easier.

  She waved her hand at me. “I know you can hack into anything at all, so if you can get into a satellite, there’s a lot more this app can do.”

  I beamed at her and started the process of reopening the backdoor I had created into a government satellite in high school. I had never used it. I had simply been bored one day and decided to see if I could do it. Turned out, it hadn’t been hard at all.

  Next, I brought up my facial recognition software and entered it into the ‘faces’ menu. After that, I checked out the ‘Lex’ menu.

  It turned out that lex stood for lexicon. It held all the information we had on every paranormal being.

  “Quinn . . . this is amazing,” I enthused, my eyes fixed on the phone.

  She shrugged. “I’ve been working on this drone that’s the size of a bug. It would do basically the same thing but it would be able to get to places where you can’t.”

  My eyes went so wide, they burned. “So it’s a tiny, infrared camera. There would have to be a laser attached to it as well. And if it’s the size of a bug, the rotors would even make it SOUND like a bug.”

  She smiled at me and nodded. “Exactly. The only problem I’m having is the awkwardness of the control system. It looks like something that came out of some campy sci-fi movie.”

  “Why not just use a phone?” I asked, lifting it as though to show her what I meant. “You could create a charger port through the headphone jack and it could feed its info into the system you already have here. Plus, the phone is a lot less conspicuous than holding a whole other device.”

  She stared at me for a few seconds before she smacked her palm into her forehead. “That is perfect! As soon as I finish it, you can be my test subject. We can call it the Mad-Bug!”

  I raised my hands. “No, you can’t call it that,” I said, doing my best not to bust out laughing at her.

  Quinn grinned. “Sorry. Designer’s choice. It is indeed the Mad-Bug in my head if I call it that in its final stages or not.”

  Ian blew out a long breath. “Okaaay. Working with you two can make a guy feel like a moron,” he said, leaning back on the desk as he smirked at us.

  “Silence, infidel,” I teased, thrilled by the possibilities Quinn had just opened up for us.

  Quinn let out a laugh, turning to face him. “I actually wanted to talk to Mr. Erkens. Guess I missed him.”

  I reluctantly put my phone into my bag, determined to spend some serious time checking out that amazing app later. “He’ll be back later. What do you need him for?”

  She motioned around the office. “I was going to ask if you guys need another investigator. My brother just moved in with Dawson and he’s looking for a job. He knows a lot about the paranormal world.”

  Ian tipped his head to the side. “Human or supe?” he asked like he knew something I didn’t.

  “Human.”

  “I like it,” Ian said, looking over at me. “You know Erkens will listen to you if you tell him you like the idea. I think you should. Having backup around when me and Spencer are at work is a good idea.”

  I wasn’t sure but didn’t want to tell Quinn that. It was never easy to bring someone new into a place that worked so well as it was. I didn’t know Quinn’s brother. He might not be the right person.

  “I’ll mention it to him,” I said noncommittally, not too sure if I would or not.

  Quinn smiled and turned to the door. “Excellent. Now, I have to get to work,” she said, lifting her hand in a slight wave.

  “Quinn?”

  She turned back to look at me.

  I lifted the phone. “Thank you. This is amazing.”

  “No problem,” she said, waving as she walked out the door.

  “We should go too,” I said before the door had even fully closed behind her.
>
  Ian stood straight and walked over to me, resting his hands on my shoulders. “Mads, you know I’m totally in love with you?” he asked, tipping his head back to look down his nose at me. “You are a genius, babe. I need you to think about this for a second.”

  I scowled, not liking the addendum to his proclamation of love.

  “You don’t become any less special with more people around you. You are family to Erkens, Spencer, Imogen, Serena, and that cat.” He motioned over his shoulder to where Twitter was curled on his favorite chair. “You need to understand that we all love you. If Erkens does hire Quinn’s brother, all it means is that you’ll have backup when me and Spencer can’t be around. I like that idea. You should like it too.”

  Before I could say anything at all, he draped my bag over my shoulder and walked out of the office. I stared after him for a second before it occurred to me we had a job to do. It didn’t matter that Ian was being an idiot. What mattered was to work out the mystery.

  Okay. I could do that. Revenants. Right. Nothing more than the undead. Nope.

  Ian and I didn’t speak on our drive to Skylar Holtz’s place. I was busy researching the best ways to counteract whatever magic Skylar may have used to reanimate her brother’s body. Ian . . . I had no idea why he was so quiet.

  I glanced up from my phone when we pulled to a stop. The house we were parked in front of was a small ranch built on a slope. There were flowers galore and an open patio, the kind of spot that appeared to be the perfect place to bask in the glory of the pretty yard.

  A sigh escaped me as I got out, my heart and mind weighed down by all the grief in Skylar Holtz’s life. I had a feeling she was going to be a mess.

  We walked up the steps to the front door, Ian standing a little behind me. I kind of wanted to turn around and hug him just for one quick boost of peace. I did it internally, determined to make sure we would finish our makeout session later on.

  I knocked on the door, the piece of amber in one hand, my phone in the other. I knew Skylar was human but I wanted to be prepared for anything. If she had created a revenant, there was no telling what else she could do.

  As the door opened, all my preconceived notions flew out the window. Skylar was an average looking girl with blonde hair and a round face. It was her empty stare and stooped posture that told me I had been wrong.

  I glanced at the chunk of amber, seeing that the stone inside was pure silver. It was the color that symbolized purity.

  “Skylar?” I asked, already knowing it was her just because I had seen her picture on her social media accounts.

  She nodded.

  “I’m Madison Meyer and this is Ian Gregory. We work for TC Erkens, an investigator looking into--”

  “I told them it wasn’t possible,” she cut in, her voice so dull, she barely sounded like she was alive.

  I raised my brows. “What’s not possible, Skylar?” I asked in a quiet, coaxing voice.

  She stepped past us onto the porch, shuffling toward the patio. She didn’t speak until she had settled herself on one of the chairs, her red, puffy eyes fixed on her shoes. “My dad . . . he thinks he saw Deke in the woods. I think he thought I had made it happen. He never understood my beliefs. But I believe Deke’s heart was pure. He would have gotten through the tests. He will be with the Blessed Ancestors. I wouldn’t call him back here even if I had that ability.”

  I glanced at my phone. I already knew what it would say but looked anyway. Her heat signature was human. The facial recognition software showed no criminal record or anything that was a red flag at all. She was just a normal girl, grieving over the losses in her life.

  Ian sat down on the edge of one of the chairs, his elbows on his knees as he leaned closer to her. “The Blessed Ancestors do sometimes speak to us, though. Don’t you think it’s possible maybe your dad encountered Deke’s spirit?”

  Skylar glanced up at him, fresh tears coming to her eyes. “I . . . I told Dad he was crazy. I told him that, then Teresa called me. She never calls me. She’s hated me since Deke died.” She lowered her head, her shoulders shaking with the power of her grief. “It was my fault.”

  “How so?” Ian asked, his eyes fixed on the top of her head.

  “I was supposed to be watching him,” she whispered, her body bowed with the weight of her guilt. “Dad and Teresa went to Morgantown, just trying to get back to being a couple. I was supposed to watch Deke but . . . I . . . I resented him. He always got all their attention. It wasn’t his fault. I knew that. I just . . . I wanted to be seen.” She wrapped her arms tight around herself and went on. “I stuck in a movie for Deke and . . . I left. I went to a party. But . . . he told me before I left that he didn’t feel good. I thought he was just trying to get attention or something, so I ignored him. And while I was at the party, my little brother was burning up with a fever. I checked on him when I got home but he was asleep, so I went to bed. When I got up in the morning, he was dead.” An anguished sob escaped her like the pain was tearing a hole in her heart.

  “It wasn’t your fault, Skylar,” Ian said, his eyes brown as he gazed at her.

  I gaped at him, not sure whose spirit was speaking through him. Whoever it was looked at Skylar as though her story had broken their heart. Could that be Teresa?

  She didn’t look up. “Teresa called me yesterday. I haven’t talked to her since the day of Deke’s funeral. She said she never wanted to see my face again, so I stayed away. But she called me. She asked me if Deke could be back. I said it wasn’t possible. So, I guess she got off the phone with me and sh-shot herself.”

  Ian’s eyes filled with tears. “Skylar, it wasn’t your fault. It was no one’s fault. Deke’s immune system was compromised because of the radiation. Nothing could have stopped that. You are not to blame.”

  She blinked and glanced up at him. “But Teresa--”

  “Teresa was in pain, Skylar. She blamed herself. She lashed out at you out of her own guilt but she knew she was wrong. Skylar, you weren’t responsible for your brother’s death. No one was. He was sick. That’s all there was to it.”

  She sniffled, examining the ground in front of her. She didn’t say anything else. It was like the weight of the world had been lifted off her shoulders.

  I stared at the house as Ian and I got back into the car, my heart aching. There was something else going on. I knew it. Glenn and Skylar Holtz had nothing to do with it. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind.

  ELEVEN

  “Whose spirit was speaking through you?” I asked Ian as we pulled into my parking place at the office.

  We hadn’t spoken on our drive back there. Ian had fallen asleep after he’d glugged down a sports drink and I had been busy trying to figure out what was going on.

  He blinked, rolling his shoulders as he got out of my car. “Teresa Holtz,” he said, confirming what I had already suspected.

  I swallowed hard, pulling him to a stop. “Did she tell you who killed her and why?” I asked, eager for some kind of information to help us.

  Ian looked away from me. “She did it, Maddie. She was in so much pain, it was the only thing that made sense to her. She was trying to escape.”

  “But why?” I yelled, throwing my hands up. “That doesn’t make sense. Mr. Holtz told her--”

  “She was in pain,” he repeated, meeting my eyes full on. “They spent two years thinking their son was going to die. Then there was a miracle and the doctors told them he was cancer free. The doctors also told them how difficult things were going to be, that Deke wasn’t completely out of the woods. She felt so guilty about leaving Deke that weekend, then about the way she’d treated Skylar, it felt like the only way out to her.”

  I blinked, my heart still pounding with anger. “I don’t understand that,” I whispered, unable to process the idea of giving up.

  Ian stepped closer to me and slid his hand down my arm. “I do. I saw how my mom suffered after what happened to Emma. I honestly worried some days that she might do the same thing. She
still hurts every day from losing Emma.”

  I stepped forward and rested my brow on his chest, calmness washing over me as he slid his hand down my hair and touched his lips to the top of my head. It was hard for me to fathom the idea of giving up on life. Even in my darkest moment, it was nothing I had ever contemplated. What did that mean?

  But no. I had to focus on the case, not on my own feelings.

  If there really was a revenant at Dead Man’s Hollow, who had awakened it? I hadn’t gotten any alerts about people being hurt or killed in a way that seemed suspicious. That did tend to be a revenant’s calling card.

  And if Deke Holtz had indeed been in the woods, why had he left? He had shown himself to his father, then run off? Why?

  “Someone summoned back Deke’s soul,” I said, pulling back to look Ian in the eye. “Why? Why Deke? Why go to all the trouble to dig up a little boy’s body, then let him go to wander Dead Man’s Hollow?”

  “Calling a spirit to earth is easy but the soul remains behind the veil, only showing itself through someone like me. Whoever is doing this is tearing a hole in that veil and cramming the soul back in. Pulling them out of their afterlife and shoving them back into a dead body would be excruciating.”

  I thought about that for a few seconds. “Ian, he’s sick. Deke’s immune system was destroyed by chemo. He’s not going to come back cured. The body is compromised.”

  Ian scrubbed his hands over his face and groaned. “They agree,” he said, apparently referring to his spirit group since his eyes flickered colors for a few seconds before he’d spoken.

  “Do they have any idea how we can find who’s calling souls back?”

  His eyes remained the same as he shook his head. “None of them know but my runner went to find somebody who might.”

  I opened my mouth to ask him more when Erkens’ truck pulled into the spot next to mine. Something about seeing the truck made my brain kick into overdrive. I needed answers, immediately.

  Before Erkens and Bukowski had even gotten to us, I got into the police database. The file from the day before was second from the top in open cases listed and it had all the information I needed.