by Heidi Lang
Uh-oh. Rae swallowed. Maybe Vivienne didn’t actually want to hang out. Maybe Rae was being too clingy? Maybe—
The door in back opened, and a girl came out. She had long brown hair hanging in a tangle down her back, and a pinched, haunted face. She kept her head down and didn’t respond when the receptionist told her goodbye. She just hurried outside and got in a car parked right up front.
“Sad, sad story, that one,” the old woman near Rae said suddenly.
“What?” Rae said.
“That’s Jasmine Green. You heard of her? Of course you must have, we all have. It’s a terrible thing. Very shocking. Everyone around here has been talking about it.”
“Um, I’m new, actually,” Rae admitted.
“Oh! Ohh,” the woman said, drawing out the second “oh” with her too-bright lips. “A new resident! Well, that is exciting. It’s a shame that you won’t be with us for long.”
Goose bumps marched up Rae’s back. “Why would you say that?”
“People from outside don’t usually stay around here, dear.”
Rae hugged herself, still feeling cold all over. “So… what’s the story with Jasmine Green?” she asked, unable to help herself.
“Have you heard about our town’s little serial eye snatcher?”
Rae thought about Brandi staggering out of the woods like some sort of zombie, and the article she’d read earlier this week: the attack on the kids playing hide-and-seek this summer.
The woman leaned closer. “Something,” she said in a loud whisper, “is sucking the peepers right out of kids’ heads. You’d better keep an eye out.” She grinned, obviously very pleased with herself for her terrible pun.
“Thanks for the warning,” Rae whispered, feeling sick.
“Doctor Anderson has always been a little, hmm, overly interested in the macabre, if you ask me. Even before his wife died. So of course he’s been practically dying to hear little Jasmine Green’s story. Too bad the girl’s not talking.”
“Does Jasmine know who the eye snatcher is?” she asked.
“Oh yes. Six kids have been attacked this year, and so far Jasmine is the only eyewitness.” The woman waited a beat. “Get it?”
“That’s really not funny.”
The woman pursed her lips. “Fine. Some people have no sense of humor at all.” She sniffed, stood up from her chair, and then glided right through the wall.
Rae gaped.
“Rae Carter?” the receptionist called. “Doctor Anderson is ready for you now.”
Rae stood slowly and walked to the desk, feeling like she must be in some sort of dream. “That woman… she just… she… she went through the wall.”
“Ah,” the receptionist said, not seeming surprised. “Bright pink lipstick? Matching shirt?”
“Yes.”
“That’s Dorothy Emerson. She had a long-standing appointment here on Wednesday evenings, but she died a few years ago.”
“She… what?”
The receptionist shrugged. “Sometimes she still likes to come out and wait. But don’t worry, she’s pretty harmless. Most of the time.”
“Most of the time?”
“Oh yes. Otherwise we’d call in the town exorcists. Although Doctor Anderson isn’t on good terms with them these days, so we’re lucky that Dorothy isn’t a problem.”
All of a sudden, Rae remembered where she’d heard Doctor Anderson’s name before, and the realization was enough to distract her, even from a resident ghost. “Serial eye snatcher,” she whispered.
“What?” the receptionist asked.
Doctor Anderson had been quoted in that article. Eyes are the windows to the soul, and I’m afraid both of those were taken from them.
“Nothing,” Rae said.
“Well then, you’d better hurry. You really don’t want to keep him waiting.”
Rae stared at the door standing open at the end of the hall. Eye snatchers, ghosts, soul stealers, and exorcists. Suddenly a man walking a pack of goats didn’t seem weird at all.
Maybe a psychologist living in a town like this would actually believe her, if she told him the truth about her dad.
14. CADEN
Caden’s stomach did a slow twist, and he felt suddenly too exposed out here on the porch swing.
I’ll be seeing you around…
“Are you okay?” his dad asked.
“What? Oh yes. Fine. Definitely.” Caden couldn’t tell his dad that his brother’s ghost had been here. His dad still thought Aiden might be alive somehow, somewhere. He hadn’t seen the way those tentacles had torn into Aiden’s flesh, hadn’t heard him screaming as he fell through the rift.
Caden thought of those creatures lurking behind his brother and the feeling of one of them sliding out past him—something with no eyes and plenty of teeth. He gazed across the street at Rae’s house, picturing Brandi with her maimed face, the way she’d pointed at Rae’s eyes. And he remembered his dream with cold clarity, the feeling deep in his gut that something terrible was about to happen to Rae.
He wasn’t the only one in danger.
“Dad,” he said slowly.
“Yes?”
“Do you think things from other dimensions can cross fully over to here?”
“Absolutely,” his dad said. “Ghosts. Poltergeists. Demons. All of those things are merely transdimensional beings, after all, trying to force the imprint of their energies onto our plane of existence.”
“But they’re not corporeal.” Caden knew the strongest ghosts could manipulate the energies around them, and sometimes that would be enough for them to injure or kill a person, even without their own physical form. But he didn’t believe they could remove a person’s eyes.
“Ah, so you’re asking if something could physically cross over.” His dad rubbed his chin, thinking. “Well, yes, I believe so,” he said at last. “Although it would require a sacrifice of some kind, or some sort of major display of power. And a host on this side.”
“A host? What kind of host?”
“Well, either someone knowingly inviting the being over and allowing them to use their body—”
“Like a possession,” Caden said.
“Exactly. Or an unknowing host who was vulnerable in some fashion. Basically, it would need some sort of physical tie to this dimension. This is why I don’t recommend letting kids play with Ouija boards, for instance. Leaves them wide open unless they know how to properly ground themselves first. It’s basically an open invitation. And once you invite something to join you, it’s much harder to get it to leave. Normal banishing spells and charms won’t work.”
“What would work?”
“First you sever the physical tie, and then you need to send it back to the place from whence it came. That’s really the only way to make sure it’s truly gone. Otherwise, you can displace it, but the energies will still be here, waiting for another opportunity.” He paused. “Why are you asking?”
“Just curious.”
His dad looked hard at him. Caden kept his shields up and his emotions in, and after a long moment his dad nodded. “Okay then. I’m going to head inside, see if your mom is almost done with her appointment, then maybe wrangle us up an early dinner. Sound good?”
“Sounds great, Dad,” Caden said. “I’ll come inside in a minute.”
After his dad left, Caden sat there on the swing alone, his mind racing. If something had gotten out before he’d sealed the rift around his brother, then it was his responsibility to somehow get rid of it. Which meant he had to sever its physical link and then send it back.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t even sure where it came from. He didn’t know enough about what Aiden had done or where he’d gone. But he knew where he could find out: his mother’s Book of Shadows.
The Book of Shadows was his mother’s own personal grimoire. The information in it had been passed down from her mother, and her grandmother before that, and her grandmother’s grandmother, and possibly a whole lot further back than that. Cad
en wasn’t sure; his mother always kept it locked up and protected. No one else was allowed to look at it.
Which meant that of course Aiden had to read it. Caden remembered how obsessed his brother had been with the idea. It had started just after his thirteenth birthday. He’d gone on an assignment with their mom, and afterward she’d told him how he was already as strong and skilled as any adult practitioner she’d ever met.
Does that mean I’m ready for the book? he’d asked. He didn’t have to specify which book; he’d been asking about her Book of Shadows off and on ever since he’d caught her writing in it two years ago. Usually she just brushed him off, but this time she got angry.
No, she’d said. For the final time, you’ll get to read it when you’re ready to take over the family business.
What if I’m ready now?
You are ready only when I say you are ready. And I’ll hear no more about this. Her expression had been fierce and furious and a little scary. It was one of the only times Caden had ever seen her yell at his brother.
Aiden had gone sullen for the next few weeks, hiding out in his room, barely talking to any of them. He’d always been moody, so at first it wasn’t that unusual. But in the past, he’d sulk for a few days, and then their mom would give in and get him whatever it was he wanted and he’d be all sunshine and rainbows again. This time was different. When he didn’t want to leave his room, or talk, she just shrugged and left him alone.
So he stopped coming out for meals. Their mom still didn’t budge. He’s not going to starve, was all she said. Caden had been worried, though, as the first day came and went, and the second. By the third day, he couldn’t take it anymore. He loaded up his pockets with food and snuck over to his brother’s room.
He’d found Aiden still alive, and still smoldering with resentment. Aiden had devoured all of Caden’s granola bars, the banana, and the bag of chips in about two minutes flat. And then he’d started pacing, back and forth and back and forth, the way he did when he was thinking hard about something. It’s not fair, he’d said. I’m ready for it, I know I am.
She said she’ll let you read it eventually, Caden had told him.
Yeah, maybe when I’m old and shriveled. I want to read it now. Somehow or another, I will get ahold of it. And on my own timeline, not hers.
And Aiden always did what he said. Always.
Their mom kept her book hidden and protected under the strongest spells. Things that would literally peel the skin from your fingertips or make you bleed from your eyes and your nose. And those were just the initial guard spells. If you got past them, there were worse things lurking underneath, and you risked losing more than a little skin and blood. Caden didn’t see how even his brother would get past them.
Aiden had eventually come out of his room. He quietly started joining the family for dinners, and he didn’t mention the book again. But Caden had sensed a difference in his brother from that day forward. It had felt like a wire pulled taut and vibrating, an undercurrent of tension that was always there.
And three years later, his brother had succeeded. A month before he vanished, he confided in Caden that he’d gotten to read the book.
It’s bigger than you could ever imagine, he’d said, his eyes glowing with excitement in a way that Caden had never seen before.
What is? Caden had asked.
The world. The universe. Everything. He’d laughed. I always knew there was another dimension. It’s a place full of power. And now I know how to get to it.
Caden shifted uneasily on the swing, the memories swirling thick and choking around him. If Aiden had discovered this other dimension through his mom’s book, then Caden could find out more about it there too. And then maybe he could send this thing back.
Before it was too late.
15. RAE
Doctor Anderson’s office was more brightly lit than the lobby, and painted a cheerful yellow. The chairs were pine green, the carpet purple. It was too much to take in all at once, and Rae froze in the doorway.
“Go ahead and close the door,” Doctor Anderson called from behind his desk. Rae closed it, then took a seat across from him. He looked like someone’s grandfather, worn and patched and easy to bully into buying you ice cream. Only his eyes didn’t quite fit the rest of his faded appearance. They shone a brilliant blue as bright as this room. He watched her silently, but she was used to this kind of tactic and didn’t speak. Finally, after several long moments, he asked, “Did you want to tell me about yourself?”
“Not really.”
“Okay. That’s fine.”
Rae blinked. Was it that easy? It almost made her want to tell him about herself… which was probably the point. She pressed her lips together firmly.
“We could play a game instead, if you’d prefer?” he said.
“A game?”
“I have several.” He indicated a small bookshelf behind him, piled with a variety of board games and stacks of playing cards neatly organized by size. “Choose whatever you’d like.”
She shrugged and pulled out some cards.
He didn’t ask her anything the whole time she shuffled, which was weird. Was she supposed to crack like an egg under the silence? Spill her guts? Rae clenched her jaw and just dealt the cards. She could handle the quiet.
“I see that you have given me seven cards, and there’s the draw stack and our discard pile,” Doctor Anderson said. “May I assume we are playing rummy?”
Rae nodded.
Doctor Anderson sorted through his hand. “I have always liked games.” He pulled a card from the draw pile and discarded the three of hearts. “But do you know what board game is my favorite?”
Rae shook her head. She drew an ace and tossed out one of her low cards.
“Clue. I love the whole idea of solving those whodunit-type mysteries. It’s something that has always fascinated me.”
Rae studied the doctor. Maybe… maybe he was the kind of person who could understand her obsession, her need for real answers.
His eyes brightened, and he cocked his head to the side, waiting. It was like he could smell her wavering.
Rae clenched her jaw shut and turned her focus back to the game. She’d sworn not to tell anyone else the truth about what happened to her dad—not until she had more proof—and that included therapists. And if she couldn’t tell him the truth, she might as well not tell him anything at all.
Doctor Anderson sighed and went quiet the rest of the game. Finally, just before their hour was up, he paused, his long fingers hovering over the cards. “I want you to know, Rae, that you can tell me anything, and I’ll believe you.” His eyes were fever bright. “Anything.”
“I’ve heard that before,” Rae muttered.
“I have seen enough oddities in my time here that I don’t doubt anything is possible. I actually specialize in the supernatural, the unexplainable, the extraterrestrial.”
Rae stiffened. But of course her mom would have told him everything.
Doctor Anderson steepled his fingers under his chin, regarding her. “In fact, you might almost say I collect such stories. And I would very much like to know yours.”
A shiver raced up Rae’s spine. She stood up. “Thank you for the game. I’m going to go now.”
“Next time, then, perhaps.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Maybe.” And she left his office as quickly as she could. He might actually believe her—the man had a literal ghost in his waiting room, after all—but she didn’t like the way he’d said “collect,” like if she told him her story, it would belong to him.
She paused in the lobby. A familiar-looking boy with curly blond hair and brown eyes sat there, playing on his phone: Jeremy Bentley, Alyssa’s on-again-off-again boyfriend. He glanced up at her, then away, not saying anything. Rae took her cue from him, and slipped past as if he were invisible. She wondered what he was seeing Doctor Anderson about, but knew she’d never ask.
While she waited outside the plaza for Ava to pick her up, s
he glanced at her phone. Vivienne had responded.
VIVI: Sure, tomorrow sounds great! Got any plans?
Rae thought of Jasmine Green and her haunted, pinched little face. She pictured Brandi, the first person in this town who had been nice to her. And she thought of Dorothy’s warning about keeping an eye out. Rae had sworn to find out who was responsible for attacking Brandi. Maybe it was time for her to stop reading articles in her safe little room and be more proactive.
She typed: How do you feel about a hike through the woods?
Her dad would have investigated, after all. He was a big believer in focusing on one thing and then digging from there.
Imagine yourself as a tree root. You need to get nice and deep into that soil, and then you can start putting out your feelers, your little side roots, working all the angles. But that first plunge down is what will determine whether or not your tree survives.
Rae’s mom claimed her dad was a little too focused. It was one of the last fights Rae remembered hearing them have, a week before he vanished. Her mom practically begging, Can’t you just leave well enough alone? You have a family to think of.
I am thinking of my family. That’s the reason I’m doing this.
And then her dad had opened their bedroom door and caught Rae standing there, and her parents let the argument slide away.
VIVI: I’m game if you’re really serious?
Ava honked, her car idling in front. Rae quickly typed a response. Just one simple word: Yes. And then she got in the car.
She would search for the truth, just like her dad. She tried to hold on to her determination and ignore the thought that battered insistently at her mind like tree branches against a window:
But look where that search got him.
16. CADEN
Caden stumbled through the next day of school, his mind focused on his mother’s Book of Shadows. Whenever he pictured himself finding it, a jolt of excitement intermingled with fear shot through him. It was the same feeling he used to have those times when Aiden suggested trying a new spell together: that anticipation of being part of something bigger, something a little dangerous.
