“Dude, I didn’t lock you in,” Liam said. He reached over and pulled on the cell door. It didn’t budge.
“What the…“ Liam’s voice trailed off.
Cadence was in the cell with Aiden. The shadowy thing that had been on the ceiling had now moved and was covering the cell door entirely. It looked like it was holding the door in place to trap Aiden inside.
Snow frowned. “Cadence, you need to be careful,” he said.
“Really? I thought I wouldn’t be,” she said, her tone sarcastic. “That’s been working so well for me so far. Any ideas, oh wise one?”
“Working on that. Not entirely sure what it is,” Snow said.
“It looks like the Lexington Hills creature, but it doesn’t act like it,” Cadence said.
“Agreed,” Snow said. “But remember, there were several ingredients, so to speak that went into the make-up of that creature. This could be what Whitfield was describing. Some creature created by bits of souls and sorrows and regrets.”
“So what do I do, Ozzy?” Cade snapped, getting frustrated. “Throw it a party? Send it to therapy? How do I cheer it up to make it go away and let Aiden out?”
Snow frowned. He moved a step towards the cell, then turned and walked into the cell next to the one Cade and Aiden were in. He then walked into the cell to join them.
“Scenic route?” Cade asked.
“I didn’t want to give that thing a chance to try to attack is all,” Snow said in answer.
Aiden had his hands wrapped around the bars of the cell door, through the shadowy creature and it didn’t seem to be affecting him at all. Now both he and Liam were pulling on the door, trying to get it open. The shadows thickened on the side of the cell door where it opened, strengthening itself to hold its prisoner in.
“Wait a minute…” Cadence said as she thought. “Maybe that’s it.”
“What’s it?” Snow asked, perplexed.
Cade flashed Snow a grin that he found both heartening and frightening at the same time. When she smiled, he often disapproved of whatever it was, she did next. Cadence walked over to Aiden and put a hand on his back.
Aiden stiffened at the touch, feeling it, but then relaxed as he recognized it. He didn’t understand how since he was not the psychic of their little group, but the words “HAPPY THOUGHTS” kept flashing in his mind. The light touch on his back disappeared as Cadence backed off. Snow moved up to join her, scowling.
“Cadence, what did you just do?” The British accent was clipped as he spoke, indicating his displeasure.
“Oh relax Ozzy. If I’m right I may have just gotten him out of this box,” Cadence said, crossing her arms over her chest and watching Aiden with a smile.
Aiden paused in his pulling and closed his eyes. Images came to his mind of hanging out and joking with Lauren and Derrick. Getting his new apartment. Times with Bethany when they were just together. Videos from the internet he had found hysterical. The shadows on the door began to pull away, retreating back from the person conveying such happiness. Their grip on the cell door loosened as they retreated and then failed entirely as they fled back up to their ceiling.
The cell door opened with a loud clang as both Aiden and Liam shoved it back, having both been pulling on it with all of their might. Aiden wasted no time in grabbing the equipment he had put on the floor by the door and getting out of the cell.
“How did you manage that?” Liam asked. “That door was not budging.”
“Maybe it just got stuck, and we both put in enough effort to get it unstuck,” Aiden said with a shrug. He sure as hell was not going to try to explain what had just happened since he didn’t understand the entire thing himself. He had no idea why Cade had told him to think happy thoughts at a locked or stuck door. He was even less sure of why it had worked.
“Now might be a good time to regroup and set up the experiment,” Liam said.
Teeny wiped the last of the tears from her eyes and face, careful of her make-up, and nodded. “Yeah. I could use a break after that.”
“Me too,” Aiden said.
“How did you know?” Snow asked as he and Cadence followed the breathers out of the corridor that held Solitary Confinement and Death Row.
“Know what?” Cadence asked with a smile.
“How did you know to tell him whatever it was you told him,” Snow said.
“Well if we were working on the theory that it is what Whitfield said it was, a creature made up of bits of souls, their regrets, their depression and desperation, anger and fear, those are all negative emotions,” Cadence said.
“Yes,” Snow said with a nod.
“So I told him to think happy thoughts. The antithesis of what the creature was.” Cadence shrugged and smiled at Snow. “I got lucky, it worked.”
“Indeed,” Snow said with a nod.
Chapter 21
Rustling and clanking of various things being shoved around in a drawer could be heard as the light of a video camera came on. Doug found the flashlight he had been feeling in the drawer for in the kitchen drawer just after that. Robin and Lauren took the flashlight from Doug and ran up the stairs as the men followed, using the light of the camera. Through the windows by the front door, Derrick had time to notice that the street lights were on, and lights in the neighbor’s houses were on. It was just this house that was dark.
“Ava,” Robin called as she reached the top of the stairs. “We’re coming.”
Sam was ahead of them all, having teleported up to the room when the power went out. The darkness didn’t affect his vision like it did the others. But even he was too late. Ava was gone, as was Emma. The door of the bedroom opened, and Robin ran in along with Lauren, followed by Doug and Derrick. They all saw the same thing. A child’s bedroom in the dark with no child in it.
Robin went over to the bed while Doug went to the closet, both calling out for their daughter. “Ava, where are you honey?” They checked every conceivable hiding place in the room before beginning to scour the other upstairs rooms. Sam stayed in the little girl’s room, hoping to find some clue of where she had been taken, as he knew that Emma had somehow managed to teleport Ava somewhere.
“Sarah?” he called out, frustrated that he was finding no clue left behind. The little girl came out of the open closet, holding her hands in front of her defensively.
“I didn’t do it!”
“I know you didn’t take Ava,” Sam said, getting down on his knees to be face to face with the child. “Emma did. But do you know where she took her?”
“There are a lot of places around here that Emma likes to go,” Sarah said, her voice small and afraid.
“I know Emma was up here when the lights went out. Did you do something to the power so she could get away?”
“No. That was the man who did that.”
“The man? What man?” Sam was confused as this had been the first time a man had been brought up.
“He’s alive, but he knows about spirits. He’s the one who summoned Emma back. I think that since I am kind of tied to Emma, I came back too,” Sarah said, shrugging her thin shoulders.
Sam rocked back on his heels a little, his mind working. So there was a living man who summoned the girls. He also was here and cut the power to the house so that Emma could make a getaway with the child. What was all of this really about?
“Sarah, I want to help you, but I need you to help me too. Do you think you can do that?” Sam’s green eyes looked straight into the little girl’s big brown ones.
Sarah was slow to nod her head as she was not used to trusting people, but she did nod her head, agreeing to help.
“Thank you, sweetheart,” Sam said, hearing the breathers still moving around the house calling for Ava. “When the man summoned you and Emma, did he give you instructions?”
“Not me. I don’t know that he knew I was there,” Sarah said.
“Okay, did you hear any of the instructions he gave to Emma?”
“Some of it,” Sarah said.
“He wanted her to find Ava and make friends with her.”
“Did he mention Ava in particular,” Sam asked, “or did he just say to find another child?”
“He gave Emma this address and told her how to find it,” Sarah said. “I don’t think he gave her Ava’s name, but I could be wrong. I could have just not heard that part. I have to stay a few steps away from Emma, or she gets mad at me.”
“Okay so this address in particular,” Sam said, putting that piece of the puzzle aside in his mind. “Did he say why he wanted this child, befriended?”
“Not that I know of, and I don’t think Emma ever asked either. She was just too happy to be free.”
“You said the same man was here earlier, did he talk to her then?” Sam was trying to figure out why this family had been targeted by a living person who could obviously summon spirits to do his bidding.
“I’m pretty sure he did,” Sarah said. “I found her outside with him, but I think they had already finished talking. She just looked at me and grinned like she was up to somethin’ and then went back inside. The guy hung around, and I was keepin’ an eye on him, but he just kept an eye on his wristwatch. When it hit a certain time, I think, that’s when he cut the power.”
Sam nodded as he thought, looking at the carpet as his mind worked the problem over. The breathers were still searching the house, their voices becoming louder and more frantic as they called for Ava to come out from wherever she may be hiding. He had some important puzzle pieces; he knew that, but he just wasn’t sure where they fit yet. He also had a feeling that they fit into a much larger puzzle than just what was going on here. Everything going on here seemed a little too deliberate.
“Sarah, where were you and Emma summoned to when the man first brought you back?” An idea had occurred to Sam, and he hoped he was right.
“I think it’s where the house we lived in was,” Sarah said. “Everything’s changed so much I can’t be sure. But since that’s where we died, it would make sense that’s where we were summoned from, right? It wasn’t a boneyard.”
“Was it woods? Was it a house like this one?” He figured it was a good bet that Emma had taken Ava back to where she was summoned. Especially given the fact that whoever the man was that had brought the girls back from the other side was involved.
“It was gonna be a house I think,” Sarah said. “But it wasn’t done, it was being built still.”
“Could you lead me back to it so I can help these people find their daughter?”
Sarah frowned and looked doubtful. “Miss Emma will be real mad at me.”
“Yeah, well little Miss Emma needs to not be doing what she’s been doing,” Sam said in reply. “Can you lead me to the place?”
Lauren walked back into the room, her presence startling Sarah.
“Sam, are you here?” Lauren’s voice was barely audible in the room.
“Yeah,” Sam said, opening the connection between them. “Emma took Ava out of the house. I’m working on finding out where. Be ready to go looking. I’ll let you know as soon as I can.”
Lauren nodded and left the room, going back downstairs to comfort Robin and to get Derrick ready to leave. Sam turned back to Sarah.
“I know Emma scares you, Sarah,” he said. “But she can’t hurt you anymore. You’re both dead. You’re free from her if you want to be. Ava’s mom is scared of Emma too. And right now Emma has Ava and I’m willing to bet Ava is scared out of her mind since she doesn’t know where she is. Please, please help us end this. Take me to where the man summoned you and Emma.”
Sarah nodded, struck with the realization that he was right. She wasn’t Emma’s slave anymore. She didn’t have to follow her around and do as she said. She was free from Emma. Sarah’s small fists clenched and her jaw set in a stubborn look as anger began to replace fear in the little girl’s eyes.
“Come with me,” she said as she reached out for Sam’s hand. Sam took the offered hand and the two ghosts teleported away from the Owens’ house.
Chapter 22
The lobby of the prison was lit with battery operated lanterns and a couple of lighting rigs for filming. The white light and the grey concrete combined to give the room an otherworldly pale blue hue. Teeny sat on one of the old chairs, hugging her legs to her chest as she rocked back and forth slightly in the chair. Liam stood behind her, his hands on her shoulders, trying to comfort her. Aiden stood a few feet away, letting the two have their time. He busied himself with changing all the batteries, making sure everything was as charged up as possible. Snow and Cadence stayed closer to Liam and Teeny, concern evident in both of their expressions.
“Where the hell was Roy during all of that?” Cadence asked, and it was not the first time she had voiced the question.
“I wish I knew,” Snow said in his disapproving tone.
“I wish I knew too. How the hell did he get to be monitor if he isn’t going to do his damned job?” Cadence was pacing the floor, her hands shoved into her pockets.
“Well the previous officers in this region were obviously a bit lax when it came to this place, Mr. Pruitt even said as much. Perhaps their relaxed approach affected Mr. Pruitt’s own approach to his job,” Snow said.
“Something’s not right, Snow. You know it. I know you can feel it as much as I do,” Cadence said, still pacing.
“Yes, well, it doesn’t matter what we feel in our gut, so to speak,” Snow said, drawing a scowl from Cadence. “While we can go back and make a case to have Mr. Pruitt removed from his position as a monitor, we do still have a job to do here right now.”
“Are you ready to talk about it,” Liam asked, still gently rubbing Teeny’s shoulders.
“There’s not much to say,” Teeny said. Her tears had stopped, but the tracks of the tears down her face remained.
Aiden walked over to them, handing Teeny a bottle of water. “Can you take us through what happened?” He hunkered down beside her, looking up at her and Liam. “From the time you got in there until he got you out.”
Teeny took the water bottle Aiden gave her and fiddled with it in her hands. After giving a heavy sigh, she nodded. “Fine,” she said. “I went in and did the usual sweep of the room with the EMF detector. There was a small spike in the far corner. I went to the middle of the room and just sat down. I thought maybe whatever was there might communicate with me if I was seated, you know? Less threatening.”
Liam and Aiden exchanged glances but neither piped up to tell her that at her diminutive height and size, she was about as threatening as a floating feather.
“I had the recorder going for an EVP session, and a camera pointed towards where I was getting the EMF spike from,” she continued. “I was asking questions, and at one point, I thought I heard a growl, then a high pitched kind of laugh.” Teeny shivered a bit, more from the recollection of the sound than from the cold.
“For a long while after that it was silent,” she said, after taking a sip from the water bottle. “I asked questions, have no idea if I got any answers on the tape yet. But there was nothing audible. Then, about ten minutes, maybe before I lost it, there was a shift in the room. It felt more oppressive, and I could hear scratching on the walls.”
“Like rats?” Liam was trying to find a rational explanation in part to help calm his partner so they could continue with the investigation.
“That’s what I thought at first too,” Teeny said. “The scratching got louder, more frantic and it was coming from the corner that the EMF spike was in. I started to get up to go over there, but then…it was like there was this heavy weight on me all of a sudden. I couldn’t get up. I couldn’t move. That’s when I started hearing it.”
“Hearing what?” Aiden and Liam both asked the question in unison.
“A voice. A male voice, but it was high pitched like he was scared or frantic. He was talking fast, I couldn’t understand it at first. Then when I could figure out what he was saying…”
“What?” Liam asked, prodding her on.
“Shh, it’s okay Teeny,” Liam said. “He can’t hurt you. It’s just the ghost of some crazy old man who died here, miserable and alone. Don’t let it get under your skin.”
Aiden wanted to argue with Liam about ghosts not being able to harm you, but he knew that it wouldn’t help the situation at all. Instead, he reached out and patted Teeny gently on the arm. “It’s okay. Liam and I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“Why don’t you rest here while Aiden and I move the box into the rotunda like you wanted?” Liam was hoping his suggestion would spur his partner back into action. He knew she was dying to test out her latest experiment.
“If you think I am letting you leave me somewhere in this godforsaken place by myself you have another thing coming,” Teeny said, the light in her eyes as she answered him one of determination.
“So coming with us then,” Aiden said, and she nodded in response.
“Alright then, let’s get this baby situated and up and running,” Liam said with a smile.
“We still also have to get to the gallows,” Teeny said, her commitment to the investigation strengthening as she shook off the after-effects of the freaky whispers she had endured in solitary confinement. “But I think we should try this first.”
Snow and Cadence followed the three investigators as the two men carried the heavy box into the rotunda. It was the size of a large dog crate, with a thick metal bottom and then thick Plexiglas on the remaining five sides. All corners connected into copper tubing and copper wires that were embedded into the floor of the box.
The Dead Show Page 14
