Claire didn’t back down. “That’s right. As far as I understand it, you two are in recruitment, not offensive maneuvers. That’s my job. So we’re working with Al. Plus, at this point, if it’s a trap, we’re already trapped. He knows everything about us—what we’re after, and what we have. It doesn’t matter anymore.”
Lance turned back to his partner.
Remington shrugged. “Told you.”
Lance shook his head and sat back down.
“So,” the ghost continued, “we’re in agreement, then? I’ll go figure out what’s being talked about, and you all will all do whatever it is you do?”
“Yeah.” Claire turned toward the whiteboard. “Go figure out if he’s on the rooftops. We’ll keep planning here.”
Claire was alone in the hotel’s hall. Jack and the agents were still in the room, while Dr. Tharos and Marissa were learning spells.
Claire had been thinking a lot about what Remington had told her on the plane, and while she’d been stubborn a mile above the Earth, she now realized he was right. Marissa had come to her as both a friend and a leader, but Claire had sent her away.
That had to be fixed.
That’s not all, though, and you know it, she told herself. Remington was also right about what the mission is.
Claire had grown so focused on Frank and getting him back that she’d forgotten about the bigger picture. Ghosts were running amok, killing people and terrorizing an entire city. Yes, she loved Frank. He was important, but Remington was right. If she only focused on Frank, her team would die.
Claire’s judgment couldn’t be clouded, and killing those witches had to be the number one priority.
If I do that, I’ll also have a chance of saving Frank, Claire thought.
She moved across the hall and knocked on Marissa’s door. A second passed, then Dr. Tharos opened it.
“Hey, Claire.” He stepped back so the room was visible.
Marissa sat on a chair in the corner, not looking up, but rather continuing to look at the book in her lap.
Claire met Dr. Tharos’ gaze. “Can you give us a minute?”
He nodded. “Sure. I’ll be in the other room. Just come knock when you’re finished here.”
“Will do.” She moved out of the way and let the professor step out of the room, then went inside. She let the door close behind her, but Marissa still didn’t look up.
Claire spoke without moving from the door. “You’re upset.”
“What gave you that idea?” Marissa asked.
Claire put her hands on her hips. “Oh, the fact that you haven’t spoken to me in a few hours, and that you won’t look at me right now.”
“Well, don’t let anyone tell you that you’re not a genius,” Marissa quipped. She turned the book’s page, keeping her eyes down. “I’m doing what you asked of me, Captain. Studying this book.”
Claire looked at the floor and sighed. After a second, she walked farther into the room and sat down on the bed so she faced Marissa. “I’m sorry. I really am. I don’t know what else to say except that. I shouldn’t have spoken to you the way I did.” She looked at Marissa, hoping her friend would be looking back.
She wasn’t.
This was a new part of leadership that Claire didn’t fully understand. She was stumbling blindly through it, but all she could think was to be honest.
“Frank.” She shook her head slightly. “I care a lot about him, and I know you all do too, but I feel like this is my fault. Like he’s been kidnapped because of me. So, I’ve been putting all this pressure on myself to get him back. To make sure nothing happens to him. And on the plane...”
Claire paused, her eyes wide with exasperation at herself.
“On the plane, I took it out on you, and that’s not right. I’m sorry. I’m trying to balance my role at the school with my guilt for what happened to Frank.”
Claire didn’t look up, but she could feel Marissa’s eyes on her.
“I came to this school because I thought it would be a really, really good opportunity,” Marissa told her softly. “My parents weren’t thrilled because it could be dangerous, but they also thought that doing this would set me apart from pretty much anyone else in my generation.” She laughed dryly. “Seems silly now, given everything we’ve gotten into. Separating myself from my generation is the furthest thing from my mind.”
She sighed and was quiet for a second. “But Claire, that’s why I originally came here. Now, all those motivations have changed. Yes, I care about Frank, and so does Jack, but neither of us would be down here for Frank. Truth be told, we probably wouldn’t be down here just because the university told us to either. We’re here because of you. Jack and I, we’d follow you through the gates of Hell if that’s where you told us we had to go. So, yeah, it hurt my feelings when you told me to get back to work.”
Marissa shrugged, glancing down at the book. “But, you were partly right. Bitching to you in the front of the plane wasn’t helping me learn this stuff any faster.”
Claire looked up, their eyes meeting. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Let’s put it in the past,” Marissa answered. She moved the book from her lap, stood up, and opened her arms wide.
Claire stood from the bed and embraced her friend. They held each other for a few seconds.
Marissa shook her head. “There still isn’t enough time, though.”
Claire laughed, pulling back and looking down at the book. “Not making any headway?”
Marissa followed her gaze. “No, we’re making some. Just… I’m not fully sure what I’m going to be able to do against actual witches. No matter how much I learn over the next few hours, it will still fall woefully short of what I need to learn.”
“What are you learning?” Claire looked at the book, the words indecipherable to her.
“That’s a bit of a conundrum if you really want to know the truth.”
“I do.” Claire touched the page and slowly turned it. It was thick, heavy.
“So, what is supposed to happen is I read a few words, and magic takes place,” Marissa commented from behind her. “I don’t know exactly how that is going to work, though. I believe that magic is possible, I have to, given everything going on around me. What I’m not sure about is whether I will be able to do it. I understand the words and what is supposed to happen, but why would it happen for me?”
Claire understood the concern, nodding as she listened. “It works for the witches, though, right?”
Marissa shrugged. “That’s what they say. I guess it must, if they’re summoning ghosts from beyond, but what do I really know?”
Claire straightened and turned to her friend. She put both hands on Marissa’s shoulders. “You’re doing the very best you can, and that’s all anyone can ask. It’ll work, and if it doesn’t, what other choice did we have but to try?”
Marissa nodded, then sighed. She looked at the open book. “How much longer until we go after them?”
“A few hours.” Claire dropped her hands to her side.
Marissa nodded. “Okay. Let me keep at it, then. The more I know, the more I should be able to do. Theoretically.”
“Okay,” Al told them. “I’ve got some info.”
Claire sat up from the couch she’d been lying on. Jack did the same from the floor where he’d been resting with a pillow under his head. Remington and Lance had both been lying on the bed, on top of the blankets. Remington was the one to answer the door when Al knocked. Claire didn’t know who’d slept and who’d remained awake, only that she hadn’t been able to drift away.
“What is it?” she asked as Al walked in.
The ghost spoke as he went to the whiteboard. “Jack was right. He’s on top of a building.”
“Which one?” Jack asked, standing up.
“It’s not good,” Al answered.
The hair on Claire’s arms rose. “Get on with it, Al. Where is he?”
“He’s on the roof of a building downtown. It’s the P
anorama Tower. It’s the tallest building in Miami, and it’s completely hollowed out.”
Lance swung his feet off the bed. “Hollowed out?”
“Yeah,” Al answered. “Ghosts own the building. They’re waiting for you now.”
Claire crossed her arms. “Waiting for us?”
“Yeah,” Al responded, his shirt and shorts remaining still. “Frank is on top of the building, and the witches are expecting you to come.”
Claire turned to Remington, who still stood by the door. “What do we know about that building?”
He pulled his cell phone out. “Give me a few minutes.”
As Remington stepped out of the room, Claire looked at Al. “What’s their plan? Were you able to figure that out?”
The ghost sighed, sounding like a windy autumn evening. “It’s pretty simple. These witches want to kill you and your friends.”
Claire’s eyes narrowed. “That’s nothing new, but what are they doing down here? These ghosts, they’re not going to rule like Dracula. Even you wouldn’t rule like Dracula, Al. So what do they want?”
The ghost shrugged. “That’s what I’m saying. They’re already doing exactly what they want. Outside of killing you all, they don’t seem to have another plan. I guess they already own the city, but I don’t know if that’s their motivation.”
Claire closed her eyes tightly. She was tired and needed sleep, but that wasn’t possible. Not for a while.
“So, we’ve got two psychos down here with no plan except to destroy the city and make it a literal ghost town. They also want us to climb to the top of a tower—a tower filled with ghosts—and try to save Frank so that they can kill us either on the way up or once we reach the top. That about sum everything up?” She kept her eyes closed.
“Yeah, pretty much,” Al responded.
“This is great,” Jack commented. “I mean, this makes Dracula and those assholes look like sweet grandmothers.”
The hotel room door opened, and Remington stepped back in.
Claire opened her eyes and got a clear look at him. He looked almost as ragged as she did. Clearly, the hours were taking a toll on him, too.
“Okay,” he told them as the door closed behind him. “We’re going to have blueprints and a layout of the building in about twenty minutes.”
“Hold on,” Jack asked, looking at the ground. “Why do we have to go in there at all? Can’t you just send some Apache helicopters over there or something and shoot the place up?”
Claire raised an eyebrow. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah? I mean, we have the United States military behind us. Why do we have to go in there at all?” He looked genuinely confused.
Claire turned to Remington. “When this is done, we’re going to need to sleep for an entire year.” She shook her head and looked at Jack again. “First, we might kill Frank. Actually, we’d probably kill him. Second, you ever heard of shooting ghosts? Is that a way you’ve been able to defeat them before?”
“What about salt bullets, then?” Jack asked stubbornly. “We’re using them with shotguns.” He looked at Remington. “Can’t you guys put some salt in some guns up there and make it rain down salt bullets on the building?”
Lance laughed and Remington raised an eyebrow, clearly trying to figure out if Jack was serious. “Son, have you ever been around guns? Only a certain kind of bullet is hollow, and none that fit a chain gun.”
Jack wasn’t going to let this go. “Then why don’t we just drop salt across the city? We could chase the ghosts away and not have to worry about risking our lives.”
Remington looked at Claire, practically begging for help. She took over. “How much salt would that take, Jack? Also, do you own a salt mine? More, do you think that the witches might be able to cast a spell that combats it? There are so many questions that come from the plan, it would be impossible to pull off, and if we did, we don’t know if it’ll work. We trained to go up there and find these women, and that’s what we have to do.”
Jack opened his mouth to say something, but realized how stupid his suggestion had been.
Claire continued talking. “Maybe we could have done something like that with the vampires. Like dropped a bomb on the tunnels and collapsed them, but it’s not going to work here.”
“All right, all right.” Jack shook his head. “I don’t know what I was thinking. Maybe you’re right, and we do need some sleep.”
“There isn’t time.” Claire focused on Remington again. “Okay, so we’ll look at the blueprints. Then what?”
“Then we head down there, I suppose,” the agent responded.
“Will the witches be there, Al?” Claire asked.
The ghost shrugged. “I can’t say for certain. But, I imagine if you’re going to be there, then they would at least show up. Like I said, they want to kill you.”
“All right. Let’s learn about this building, then give them their chance.” Claire nodded at Remington and Lance. “You two coming this time?”
They looked at each other, and Lance answered, “We are. I don’t think it’s our smartest decision, especially since we never made it out of Dr. Kilgore’s funhouse. We can see the Mythers now, though, so it’s our duty to help.”
Jack stepped up next to Claire. “But you guys might get hurt.”
“Yeah,” Claire agreed. “Especially since you didn’t train like us.”
“Told you,” Lance said to his partner. Looking at Claire, he continued, “Everyone is at risk. We couldn’t go down to the tunnels with you because the risk was too great that we would die, or that we’d hurt an innocent. The risk for both is diminished now, so we’re going. That’s all there is to it. You fought us last time about not going, and now you’re fighting us about going. You ever going to be happy, Claire?”
Claire remembered how angry she had been last semester when they had refused to go fight vampires. She’d thought then that it was unfair to her group. Now she realized she, Jack, and Marissa were better prepared than the two FBI agents. Yet, they were coming anyway.
“Thanks.” Claire extended her hand, and Remington took it. Lance shook it next.
“Yeah,” Jack interjected. “We’ll do our best to protect you two. Just don’t be bumbling idiots.”
Chapter Twenty
“The state of emergency makes sense,” Jack whispered.
Claire was quiet as she stared upward at the building. It was a true skyscraper, standing eighty-five floors high.
The streets were empty, and in a city like Miami, that was terrifying by itself. There weren’t even any cars to be seen. Ghosts ruled this city.
Marissa walked to Claire’s right, her head turning to gaze at the darkened building before them. She held the Book of Shadows under her right arm.
“I’m not sure we’re prepared for this,” she whispered as a wind blew by the group.
Remington and Lance stood behind, both of them holding shotguns loaded with rock salt. They had pistols attached to their hips as well, although Claire wasn’t sure how much they would help.
“Okay, we all know the plan, right?” Claire asked loudly enough for the entire group to hear. “We’re going to take the stairs, and stay away from all elevators. Al said Frank is at the top, so that means a lot of stairs. If anyone needs to rest, you have to be the one to call it out. Otherwise, we keep going up.”
She didn’t look away from the top of the building. That’s where he is, she thought. And most likely, that’s where the witches will be too.
Finally, she pulled her eyes from the building. Dusk was upon them, and soon it would be full dark, with only the moon to light most of the city. Some buildings still had power, but the vast majority had gone black.
Jack and Marissa turned with her so that the group of five formed a circle.
“Okay. We’re going in there alone,” Claire started. “Al won’t be there for us, which is fine. He’s not the most powerful ghost anyway, from what I can tell. Frank is at the top of that building, and wh
ile he came down here for us, we didn’t just come down here for him. Look around you. Humans no longer own this place. Ghosts do. Mythers do. And if we lose this city, we’re on the way to losing them all. We’re going into that building to find those witches, and to kill them. We’re gonna get Frank back, too, but if the choice is killing those witches or saving Frank, we kill the witches. You all understand that?”
Claire had no doubt she was in charge here. Not the oldest nor most experienced in battle, but everyone here was now looking to her.
That’s fine, she thought. This is why I came to the university. Maybe I didn’t know it then, but I do now. I came to lead.
“We got it,” Jack answered before looking at the FBI agents. “But you two still need to carry your own weight. If I’d known you’d be trying to get in on this, I would have made sure you went through that damned funhouse like the rest of us.”
“We’ll be fine,” Remington responded. His eyes fell on Claire. “And we understand. Kill the witches, then save Frank.”
Claire nodded in response before turning to look at the tall building holding who knew how many monstrosities. “Let’s do this.”
The door to the tower wasn’t locked, although the lobby was completely empty. Darkness ruled the building the way a despot would a country.
The five stood quietly, taking in their surroundings.
“Here.” Remington pulled the backpack off his back. “Take these.” He reached in and began handing out headlamps. Claire took hers, put it on, and hit the light.
“Yeah, for some reason, this is spookier than the tunnels,” Jack whispered, although due to the silence, his voice sounded loud.
Marissa nodded, her headlamp light moving up and down as she did.
“No ghosts, though, or at least not yet,” Claire remarked. She turned her head to the left, knowing from the blueprints that was where the stairwell was. “They’ll be in there. It makes the most sense because we’ll be cornered. It’s not as dark as the funhouse because of the headlamps, but we’ll need to be alert.”
Paranormal University: Second Semester: An Unveiled Academy Novel Page 19
