Wraiths of Winter (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 3)

by Joy Elbel

  Disbelief. Complete and utter disbelief. How could he be so mean to me? He just didn’t understand me at all! He handed the paper over to a very curious Shelly who gasped several times while reading the article. When she lowered the paper, She replied, “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you, Ruby. But why didn’t you come to us with a problem so huge? Why do you insist on trying to handle everything all by yourself?”

  “Because I was afraid you wouldn’t believe me—looks like I was right. And I wasn’t handling it alone. I had help until you guys took them away from me.” I took a scoop of mashed potatoes from the bowl and acted like I hadn’t said a word. “Chicken?” I asked as I held out the plate of barbecued breasts after taking one for myself. If Dad wanted to act like he hadn’t done anything wrong, I decided that two could play that game.

  We ate in silence and before I left the table I announced, “I’m going to IM Rachel and tell her that it’s okay to come over tonight. I need my laptop back now.”

  Shelly looked at my father like a deer caught in the headlights until he nodded his head in agreement. “I’ll go get it for you,” she said and headed for the stairs. I followed her to their room, took the laptop, and ignored her when she tried to talk to me. At this point, I had nothing to say to either of them.

  I did have something to say to Rachel but I decided not to say it. When she got there and started asking me questions that I didn’t want to answer, I simply told her the truth. “You’re here to learn your lines—not grill me about my personal life.” My new commanding attitude was working well. She didn’t ask me about Zach, Lucas, or the mystery text for the rest of the night. And I especially didn’t want to hear anything about Valentine’s Day. Between scenes, we discussed Crimson, Allison, and the Bantam Theater instead.

  “Oh, Ruby! I’m just so excited—excited for Drake, Crimson, and for you! I hated having to ask you to face Allison’s wrath to help but I didn’t know what else to do. They’re going to find Crimson alive—I know they are. I may not be able to see ghosts like you can but I just know that if she were already dead, I would be able to feel it. I haven’t told anyone else this because I thought they would think I was weird, but the day Grandma Mason died, I sensed it. I woke up feeling like I’d lost something but I didn’t know what it was. As soon as they told me the news, I knew that it was her that I was missing. I don’t have that feeling about Crimson. She’s definitely still alive.”

  Imagination, that’s all I thought it was. Rachel was so afraid that Crimson was dead that she found a way to make herself believe the exact opposite. But since there was a good chance that she was still alive, I agreed with her. The only thing I didn’t want to mention was the fact that with Jackson in custody, the sand in Crimson’s hourglass was quickly draining away.

  With only two weeks until opening night, Rachel needed to buckle down on learning her lines and I didn’t hesitate to tell her that—bluntly. with everything else that was concentrate on the play. But she definitely needed to. For the next two hours, I fought to keep her attention. If she didn’t embrace the role of Kira, her performance was going to be disastrous. A bad review would simply kill her confidence and any hope she had of becoming an actress someday. Just like with Lucas and Clay, I metaphorically rapped her on the nose repeatedly to get her to focus. Perhaps in the midst of all

  She was too preoccupied going on to be able to of this chaos I’d found my true calling in life—dog trainer. After Rachel left, I got ready for bed slowly. There were things in my life that I really needed to put some serious thought into. Now that I was no longer in danger from ghosts or gross maintenance workers, all of the big decisions I’d been avoiding were now approaching the point of unavoidability. Two big decisions in particular—college and love, however, not necessarily in that order. In all actuality though, the two issues were intricately tied together and one large, messy decision would resolve both problems. But I was too tired to even solve a Sudoku puzzle tonight, let alone find an answer to life’s big questions.

  As I settled into bed and gave my pillow a quick punch to flatten it out, my hair got tangled up in my ring. “Ouch!” I exclaimed out loud. When I looked down at my promise ring, I saw that a full ten strands or more of my once perfectly straightened hair were now woven around the stones instead of attached to my scalp like they should have been. Angrily, I unwound them and let them float to the floor. I slid the ring from my finger and placed it in the top drawer of my nightstand before turning out the lights.

  37. My Bloody Valentine

  The cold shoulder—aside from Rachel, that’s what I was giving everyone in my life. I was still mad at my parents for not believing me. I was mad at Lucas for barely talking to me after the incident with my dad. Sure, I understood that he was probably a little bit afraid to talk to me. My dad was a surgeon after all and unlike most pissed off fathers, fully capable of castrating him if he came anywhere near his daughter. That fact acknowledged, I still didn’t see why he wasn’t at least talking to me at school. I was mad at Zach for so many reasons that I could barely keep track of them all.

  As Valentine’s Day drew closer, I found myself becoming more bitter and cynical with each passing moment. While two boys both claimed to love me, neither one of them seemed capable of showing it. As I walked out of my last period math class on Wednesday, I “accidentally” ripped the Cupid Cotillion poster off of the door and deposited it into a garbage can on my way to my locker. They really should have named it the Stupid Cotillion because love was for dreamers, idiots, and fools. People with brains should never listen to their hearts. Never.

  By the time Thursday morning arrived, I seriously wanted to stay home from school. Love was in the air and there I was caught without my gas mask. While everyone else seemed happy and excited for the infernal holiday, Rachel and I were the only exceptions. She had Boone—what reason did she have for being depressed? Even she was starting to get on my nerves—until I finally asked her what was wrong.

  “Jackson still hasn’t told the police where Crimson is!” she said through teary eyes. “They searched all of the places he’s familiar with—his apartment building, the campus, and even the Bantam. There isn’t a single trace of her anywhere!”

  Okay, so she did have a legitimate excuse for her depression. “I wish I could help, Rachel, but I just don’t know what else there is for me to do. I’m sorry.”

  “I know you are, Ruby,” she replied with a sigh. “You’ve already done more to help than most friends would even dream of doing. I guess it’s time for me to except the truth—she’s probably dead and they may never find her body. It’s such a shame that someone with so much beauty and talent should have to die like that.”

  There wasn’t anything I could say to make her feel better. Considering Jackson’s methods of torture, Crimson was tied up somewhere and slowly starving to death at this very minute. So I did the only thing a best friend could do—I gave her a hug and invited her over to hang out again after dinner.

  “I really wish I could, Ruby, but we have rehearsal tonight, remember?” “Make that you have rehearsal tonight. I’m just a stage hand and I’m not risking my life to set up props anymore. It’s okay—I’ll make some popcorn and watch a movie or something. You can drop by for a few minutes on your way home if you want to though.”

  “Thanks again but I’m going to Boone’s for a bit after I leave the theater to exchange Valentine’s Day gifts.” She paused for a moment and then asked quietly, “No plans with Zach tonight?”

  She had to go and ask that dreaded question, didn’t she? I shook my head briskly and said, “No. I have to get going—Shelly’s waiting for me in the parking lot. My car’s still impounded indefinitely.” I reached into my locker and grabbed my jacket and bag. With a dramatic flair, I tossed my math book onto the shelf and slammed the door shut. Solving extra equations to get my mind off of things wasn’t going to do the trick for me tonight. Now that I knew I wasn’t about to be murdered by an actual serial killer, I was in th
e mood for a good old fashioned horror movie. No ghost stories obviously, but curled up watching a nice chainsaw wielding, machete brandishing gore fest was how I wanted to spend the rest of my Valentine’s Day. Oh and chocolate—I definitely needed some hardcore chocolate.

  When I got home from school, I found that Dad had reinstalled all of the doors to the attic. No one commented on it so I figured that he was slowly realizing that he jumped to conclusions and acted irrationally but wasn’t ready to admit that to me yet. My phone and car were the only things left to be returned but they were the two things that I missed the most. As soon as dinner was over, I ran upstairs to start my horror marathon. I turned on the TV then went through my movie collection to find the bloodiest of the bunch. Once I’d made my selection and slid it into the Blu-Ray, I remembered that I never watched the evening news that I recorded the night Jackson was arrested. My craving for horror movies had to go on hold for a few minutes so I could see what they had to say about him.

  The news of his arrest was their opening segment. I cranked up the volume and sat on the floor directly in front of the screen so that I wouldn’t miss a thing. The story was quite lengthy and the anchorman left out no details of anyone involved with the case, except for me of course. It was simply mentioned that a potential fourth victim produced crucial evidence that led to his arrest. At the end, they mentioned that Jackson was taken into custody at his place of employment, the soon to be reopened Bantam Theater. That’s when they replayed a portion of the clip that I recorded the news for in the first place. As I watched the camera pan across the balcony, it finally hit me. I knew exactly where to find Crimson.

  My depression over being alone on Valentine’s Day— again—was now the furthest thing from my mind. Maybe it wasn’t too late to save her! Maybe I wouldn’t have the romantic day I always envisioned having but I might be able to do something wonderful for someone I loved—Rachel. Zach or no Zach, she was like a sister to me and always would be. And even if it was too late for Crimson, at least I could give her friends and family some closure by finding her body.

  I didn’t even bother to shut off the TV. In one quick movement, I kicked off my slippers while sliding back into the hoodie I wore to school today. I grabbed my sneakers from their usual spot just inside the door to the attic and ran downstairs to find Shelly. They weren’t ready to give me back my car keys but all I really needed was a ride. It didn’t matter how I got there—I just needed to get there fast.

  “Shelly!” I called out as soon as I hit the landing on the second floor. She used to be so easy to find in that rambling mansion but once she finished writing her last book, her study was the last place I ever found her. When she didn’t answer immediately, I tried again. There wasn’t enough time to search for her so I screamed a little louder the third time. “SHELLY!!”

  “Ruby,” she replied as she poked her head out of the dining room doorway. “You haven’t spoken to your father or me in days so I know you aren’t just looking for idle chitchat. What’s wrong?”

  I sat down on the bottom step of the grand staircase and hustled into my sneaks. “I need a ride to the Bantam. There’s a rehearsal tonight that I forgot about.”

  “But you aren’t even in the play, are you?” she asked suspiciously. “I’ll have to run this past Jason first.” She pulled her phone out of her pocket and began to type out a text.

  “Seriously, Shelly? I’m late! I’m not asking for my phone or car back—all I’m asking for is a ride. You know that if Dad’s busy, he won’t even look at his phone for hours. I admit that Lucas will be at the Bantam but he’s not the reason I want to go. If you don’t trust me, you can go in and discuss it with Jonas yourself. Please, I need to get there fast,” I pleaded.

  “Okay,” she replied hesitantly, “But if you get into any trouble tonight, your Dad’s going to kill both of us. Understood?”

  “Perfectly. I have absolutely no intentions of getting into any kind of trouble. I swear.” I wasn’t a Boy Scout—hell, I never even remotely considered joining the Girl Scouts—but I mimicked Clay’s hand signal and solemnly said, “Scout’s honor.”

  While I wasn’t totally truthful about why it was so urgent for me to get to the theater, there was one thing that I didn’t lie about. I had zero intentions of getting into any kind of trouble. My reason for being there had nothing to do with Lucas or Zach or anything to do with boys at all. I was going to the Bantam to hopefully find and rescue Crimson. What’s the worst that could happen?

  All heads turned as I flamboyantly flung open the door to the theater and marched down the aisle to where Rachel was sitting. I was rudely interrupting a monologue from Jonas and I knew my lateness wouldn’t go unnoticed. So before he could scold me for tardiness, I apologized and took the empty seat next to Rachel. Lucas was sitting alone on the opposite side and I prayed that he would stay where he was. As long as he kept his distance from me, Jonas wouldn’t have anything bad to tell Shelly if she decided to grill him about my behavior when she came back to pick me up. That’s when I realized that I never told her what time I would need a ride home. Oh well, that wasn’t going to be a problem. As soon as I found Crimson, I would borrow Rachel’s phone and take care of that little oversight.

  Rachel gave me an odd look but before she could ask me what I was doing there, Jonas returned to lecturing everyone on how much work they needed to do to be stageready in two weeks. As he droned on about dedication and concentration, I was squirming in my pants. I decided on the ride to the theater that I wasn’t going to get anyone else’s hopes up about why I was there tonight. If my brilliant idea about where to find Crimson was wrong, Rachel would be heartbroken and I would look like a complete idiot to everyone else. When the lecture was over, Jonas called Lucas and Brian to the stage giving me the perfect opportunity to talk to Rachel.

  Well, talk wasn’t exactly the word for it. Listen was a more appropriate description of what happened. Before I could open my mouth, multiple sentences were already flying out of hers.

  “Ruby, what are you doing here? I thought you were grounded! I thought you were dead set against ever setting foot in this place again! Aren’t you afraid of what Allison might do to you? Seriously, as your best friend I have to say this. Get out of here now!”

  Allison! In my rush to play the hero, I forgot that Jackson wasn’t the only dangerous thing at the Bantam. While the place still looked like a wreck to me, it hadn’t gotten any more rundown since the last time I was there. That had to be a good sign, right? I wonder….

  “Trust me when I say that I have an excellent reason for being here. And about Allison, I’m thinking that Jackson’s arrest may have taken some of her anger away. The fact that her killer was in the same building with her—the building he killed her in, no less—may have been part of why she was so vengeful. I don’t think she’s as dangerous as she used to be.”

  Rachel gave me a skeptical look. “Maybe not but I still don’t think you should be here. Did you talk to Rita about it?”

  “No, I didn’t. But—“ “But nothing,” she interjected. “If you’re convinced for some dumb reason that you need to be here tonight, call her right now and get her opinion on it.”

  “Fine,” I agreed begrudgingly. “But I need to borrow your phone. The wardens still haven’t given mine back to me yet.”

  “Here,” she said as she fished it out of her bag and handed it to me. “I want you to promise me that if she tells you to leave, you’ll leave. If whatever reason you’re here for is important enough for you to risk your life over, I can always do it for you. Unless you’re here to talk to Lucas, that is. I love you, Ruby, but I refuse to help you break my brother’s heart.”

  “Oh my God, no!” I said as I dialed the number to Something Wick-ed. “This has absolutely nothing to do with Zach or Lucas.”

  Unless she was flooded with customers, Rita was never more than a few feet from the phone so when it rang four times without answer, I was puzzled. There couldn’t be that many
last minute shoppers fighting to buy their sweethearts a candle for Valentine’s Day. There was simply no way. When it got to the sixth ring, I did something impulsive—I lied.

  “Hey Rita,” I said, pretending that she finally picked up the phone on the other end. “I’m sure you’re busy but I have a question for you about the Bantam.”

  Rachel listened to every word of my side of the fake conversation never guessing that my side was the only side. I relayed my theory that the theater would be safe now and “Rita” confirmed it for me. I even reiterated it so Rachel wouldn’t question it. When I was certain that my performance was Oscar-worthy, I said goodbye and handed the phone back to Rachel. If it weren’t for paralyzing stage fright, I really would make a good actress.

  What happened next couldn’t have gone more perfectly than if I’d written it myself. Jonas called Rachel up for the next scene and pointed me toward a stack of full dry cleaner bags to the left of the stage. The rest of the costumes for “A Phantom Affair” arrived that afternoon and he needed me to hang them with the rest. Before I gathered up the heaping pile of clothing, I gave Rachel a thumbs-up and she gave me a weird look but did the same. By the end of the night, she would realize why I did that. Hopefully.

  Once in the back dressing room, I tossed the costumes aside and turned my attention to the dressing table and the mirror behind it. Every time I entered that room, I felt the odd sensation of being watched except for now. My optimism drained as I contemplated what I was going to find on the other side of that mirror. Crimson was in there but was she alive or dead? I took a deep breath as I pulled the table away from the wall. Either way, I was about to find out.

  If she was dead, an awful feeling of guilt would hang over my heart forever. This theater was built by Dr. Baker—a huge supporter of the Underground Railroad. There was a huge network of tunnels beneath Rosewood and it only made sense that the theater was full of them, too. I never paid much attention to the history of the theater but I should have. There were so many points where I should have made the connection. If I hadn’t been so preoccupied with my own love life, I would have found Crimson a long time ago.