Thunder roared, and lightning flashed, but I barely noticed; I was far too caught up in his gaze and his words. My heart swelled with happiness and pure joy, because no one had ever said anything so beautiful to me. “I’m crazy about you too,” I said, touching his wet face.
He pulled me close, and I closed my eyes as he placed a soft, tender kiss on my lips. It wasn’t the deep, passionate one I’d dreamt about, but it was a start, and nothing had ever felt so right.
Chapter 8
I stared into the mirror and ran my fingers over it, noticing the flickering shadows. It was one of the coolest, most ornate mirrors I’d ever seen. Celtic knots adorned the huge frame, and a dragon on each side of the mirror held purple and red tea light candles to create a haunting glow. The bathroom was large, made completely of decorated stone.
Hunter had gone back to his room to change and finish the book report I’d reminded him to do a week ago; now he had to rush to get it done.
A knock on the bathroom door startled me.
“I’ll be out in a few minutes,” I said.
“It’s Zoey,” Blair said. “She’s hogging the bathroom.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m almost done!” I yelled. I had slipped out of my wet clothes and into some dry ones. As I started to brush my hair, the large mirror began to steam, as if I’d taken a shower, which I hadn’t. In the next moment, the bathroom grew ice cold—so cold I could see my misty breath.
Glancing around, I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. I assumed there was just a draft, nothing too uncommon in an old castle. I took a deep breath and grabbed my wet clothes, deciding I could just finish getting dressed in my room.
When I glanced at the mirror again, a shudder shot through me; there, in the steam, was written one word, a warning or a command by some unseen finger: “LEAVE!” My hand shot to my mouth. I was sure the word had not been there before.
I gasped as the lights flickered and the candles blew out, leaving me in complete and utter darkness. Utterly freaked out, with my heart thundering a panicked rhythm in my chest, my fingers frantically gripped around the doorknob, but the stubborn door refused to open. The room grew colder, till I could have sworn I was standing in the middle of an arctic blizzard, shivering from head to toe from the fear as much as the chill.
A hand gripped my shoulder, sending my heart into overdrive. I screamed like a banshee, and I refused to turn around to see who it was.
“Who’s in there?” Pam said, jiggling the door from the other side.
“It’s me, Zoey!” I couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. Fear and terror gripped me.
“Zoey?”
“Get me out of here!” I screamed, my heart throbbing so hard I thought it might crack my ribs. I tried the doorknob again, and this time, it released, sending me tumbling forward into Pam’s arms, nearly hyperventilating with terror.
“What happened?” she asked. “Are you okay?”
I hugged her tight. “It was freezing, the lights went out, and something touched my shoulder!” My voice wavered. “Then the door wouldn’t open. I bet you really think I’m crazy now, huh?”
“No,” Pam said. “If I didn’t believe in all this crap before, I’d have to now. You’re not the only one who’s seen and heard all this freaky nonsense.”
“Get a grip, people,” Blair snapped. “This entire place is spooky. I mean, it’s nerve-wracking to walk down to the kitchen in the middle of the night and walk past those empty suits of armor and all those gothic statues.”
“Are you okay?” Shantel asked me.
“Yeah, I’m all right,” I fibbed, giving her a fake smile. “Pam, can I talk to you…alone?” I said.
“Listen, I hope you don’t mind, but I filled Blair and Shantel in on everything. Shantel’s been hearing a little girl giggling all over the castle.”
“The same little girl you told me about?” I asked. “Elizabeth?”
“I didn’t exactly ask her name,” Shantel said.
Blair tapped her chin. “I’m not sure if I really believe any of this hocus-pocus. People are always scared of old buildings. Haven’t you ever seen one of those ghost-hunting shows? Most of that stuff is staged.”
“Oh, there’s nothing scripted about this,” I whispered. “It’s all too real, and I’m not helping them one tiny bit.”
“Helping who?” Shantel asked.
“Helping ‘boo’ is more like it—the spirits,” I gasped between breaths. “For all I care, they can stay stranded in this stuffy castle for all eternity. What happened in that restroom was entirely uncalled for and certainly not the way to ask for my help.”
“Hold on a minute. Do you hear yourself?” Blair criticized. “Do you really think a ghost locked you in the bathroom?”
I glanced back at the mirror; the steam had dissipated, and the writing was gone. “I guess it does kind of sound ridiculous when you say it like that,” I admitted, blowing out a breath. “Where’s Hunter? I should tell him about this, and—”
“Are you sure about that?” Pam chimed in.
“Uh…no,” I said, breaking from my friend’s comforting embrace. “On second thought, I don’t want him knowing about any of this. He’s going to think I’m headed for a rubber room, and straightjackets aren’t very figure flattering.”
Pam laughed and shook her head.
“I’m sure there’s some logical explanation.” Blair walked into the bathroom and glanced around, then waved her hand in front of the vent. “See? Cold air is blowing out.”
“But it was ice cold,” I whispered.
“Yeah, because you were all wet from your little rain dance with Hunter,” she said, grinning coyly at me.
“Oh. You saw us?”
“The place has windows,” she said. “We were heading back to the room and caught a glimpse of you from the hall.” She cocked a brow, then smiled. “What were you guys doing out in the rain anyway? Then again, do I even wanna know?”
“We were looking for the graveyard.”
Pam sighed. “Grave-digging doesn’t sound too romantic to me. Zoey, it sounds to me like you need a lesson on Snagging a Hot Guy 101, and spooky old cemeteries have nothing to do with it. You’re going about it all wrong.”
“It wasn’t a date, Pam. It was more like an investigation into the unknown.”
“Hmm. That’s interesting.”
“What?”
“I’ve never seen investigative research performed while one investigator’s arm is wrapped so tightly around the other. Your little spirit hunt seemed a bit chummy, if you ask me.”
“I was scared,” I said. “He was just trying to make me feel better.”
“And that’s exactly why you don’t take a potential date to a graveyard,” Pam scolded.
“Wait,” Blair interjected. “If walking around tombstones in the rain makes a guy like Hunter hold Zoey the way he was holding her, maybe we all oughtta start hanging out in the graveyard,” she surmised, drawing a laugh from Pam.
“You have a point, Blair,” Pam said, “but it’s really best to take him to the gardens, preferably when there’s sunshine. No wonder you got so freaked out in the bathroom,” she said to me.
“How do you explain the lights turning off?” I muttered.
“This is an old house,” Blair said. “How many times have we seen the lights flicker? They really need to invest in an electrician.”
“I guess you’re right. All these ghost stories and hanging out in the graveyard in that creepy storm must’ve just freaked me out. I thought the door wouldn’t open, but I probably just didn’t pull on it hard enough. I don’t know. Maybe I am one step away from the asylum and massive doses of lithium.”
“You’re not going crazy,” Pam said. “Other students are reporting weird things just like you. Maybe there’s something in the food they’re feeding us.”
“Or maybe the orbs are pouring out their wrath because I trespassed in their attic.”
“Angry orbs, huh? If that wa
s the case, why aren’t we all being punished? We were all up there.”
“Hmm. I guess you’re right. It’s like some personal vendetta against me, and I don’t know what I did to deserve it.”
“Well, I’m sure the truth is out there,” Pam encouraged. “A bunch of us gathered downstairs in the den a little earlier to talk about it.”
“Really?” I asked, surprised.
“Yeah. Of course you have a standing invitation, but you were too busy getting soaking wet in the rain with Hunter,” she teased.
“You didn’t miss anything,” Blair said sarcastically. “It was just a bunch of freaked-out people talking about a bunch of nonsense.”
I met her gaze. She was the polar opposite of Pam, dark and gothic to Pam’s bright and happy personality. She even dressed differently, always in dark colors, including her black-as-night dyed hair. “If you think this is all nonsense, why are you even hanging out with Pam?”
“When she’s not off on one of her paranormal tangents, she’s funny and makes me laugh.”
Pam glanced at her. “Gee, thanks. That’s an Oscar-worthy speech if I ever heard one.”
“See?” Blair chuckled. “The girl’s hilarious. I like that we’re different. We complement each other, like an old married couple.”
“Ahem…” Pam cleared her throat. “I’m neither old nor married, thank you.”
Blair rolled her eyes and continued, “You know what I mean. It just doesn’t matter how different we are. Pam just…accepts me as I am and doesn’t try to change me. That’s a real friend, and that’s what I love about her.”
Pam blushed a little, but then tried to play it off casually. “Flattered,” she said, smiling. “Now, Zoey, are you coming downstairs with us?”
I wiped the sweat off my brow. “I’m not really up to socializing right now.”
“Yes you are. I refuse to let you go back to your room to sulk.”
“But, Pam, I just need to—”
She gripped my hand and wouldn’t let me finish, in no mood to hear my excuses. “It’s about time you step outside your comfort zone and do a little mingling. Quit hanging around in graveyards and that old room of yours and join us in the Land of the Living. I know you’d be content to gawk at Hunter for the rest of the time you’re here, but there are other people around besides the two of you and me and Eric. A few of them are even tolerable,” she said, gesturing toward Blair.
“Hey!” Blair said, darting her dark eyes with the ridiculously thick eyeliner in Pam’s direction.
I laughed and decided there was no use arguing. “Fine. I’ll come hang with you guys, but only for a little while.”
She smiled, her blue eyes shining. “Of course you will.”
We walked down to the den, a room I hadn’t yet explored. I glanced at the brown stone walls. There was one big, giant, oval window with frosted glass and no curtains. There were four chairs covered in brilliant fabric in deep purples, and two antique couches were situated in front of a stonework fireplace, complete with a blazing fire that warmed the place and cast a orange-red glow. Some of the students were sitting on the dark carpet in front of the fire.
Pam officially introduced me to a group of my classmates who were snacking on chips, pretzels, and soda. I shook their hands and nervously exchanged pleasantries, then took a seat in an oversized chair. I waved to Eric, and he smiled. When I saw Shannon, the glare she shot me made me want to turn around and leave but the stubborn part of me remembered Shantel’s pep talk; after that, wild horses couldn’t have dragged me away, and I intended to stay, if only to piss her off.
“So…as I was saying,” Shannon said, “what if those skeletons were all buried in the back yard? I mean, we don’t know what really happened to all the people who died within these walls, do we?”
“You’re right,” Brad said, nodding and checking out her cleavage in her ridiculously low-cut shirt. “The small cemetery in the woods couldn’t possibly have held them all.”
“I’ve been thinking,” Eric said.
“Did it hurt?” Blair chimed in.
He rolled his eyes and said, “What if there are two forces residing in this castle, like good and evil or something. When I saw those orbs, I felt like they meant us no harm.”
I shot Pam a look. “Wait…you guys are telling everyone about the orbs?”
“Sure. Why not? Everyone here except Blair has seen and heard things, and even if she has, she wouldn’t admit it for fear that I’d get to say, ‘I told you so.’”
Blair cast Pam a disapproving look and crossed her arms.
“Tell us more about these orbs,” Brad said, running a hand through his brown hair.
I didn’t like being put on the spot, but I had not choice but to speak up. “Um…well, I just saw these balls of light bouncing around everywhere.” I bit my lip and looked at Pam, wondering just how much of my lunacy she’d already disclosed to these strangers who didn’t even know me. Do they know about Princess Isabella and how much I look like her? Do they know about my necklace? What about my vision of the attack?
“Well, had I’d known this place was haunted, I never would’ve signed up,” Cindy said.
“The weirdest things keep happening to me,” Brad said. “Every time I set something down in my room, it disappears, then reappears days later. It even happens with money.”
Shannon beamed. “A klepto-specter? A pick-pocketing phantasm?”
Brad didn’t seem to take any humor in her stupid puns, though I was amazed that someone with so little between her ears could come up with them. “I’m telling you, one minute I have fifty bucks in my wallet, and when I go to look, there’s only ten. Then a few days later, there’s twenty bucks. It’s the weirdest thing.”
“Something’s trying to get our attention,” Sandy said. “Something keeps knocking all the papers off my desk.”
Not to be upstaged, Shannon butted in again, “Well, I felt something tickling my ear one time, and I swear I heard a little girl giggling by the staircase.”
“So our experiences have been positive, for the most part,” Mike said.
“Positive? Mine wasn’t!” I said. “I had a horrible experience just now, and there was nothing positive about it. Some people think it’s all just our imagination or that there’s gotta be some logical excuse to explain it all away,” I said, glancing at Blair, “but what if Eric is right? What if there is good and evil here?”
“Zoey thinks a ghost locked her in the bathroom,” Blair laughed.
I rolled my eyes. “Think? I know! It happened just a little while ago. I think I’m getting the brunt of it because my family knows how to communicate with them. I mean, I don’t, but maybe there’s some kind of special DNA that makes me sensitive to them.”
“Maybe only the evil ones can connect with you because of your mom’s abilities,” Cindy said.
“She’s has a point,” Melody said. “Has anyone else had a bad experience?”
Nobody raised a hand.
“I’ve had moments when I can feel pure evil standing right next to me. I can’t explain it, but it freaks me out,” I said. “I also feel that some good spirits have reached out to me, trying to show me their pain and misery, as if they expect me to help them somehow.”
“How can we do that?” Pam asked.
“I have no idea, but they need help. I feel like this dark force is holding them back.”
As the others continued to talk, Shantel and I moved to a private conversation on the other side of the room. I felt like Shantel knew more than she was letting on.
“Look at them,” she said, nodding in the other kids’ direction.
I glanced at all the students, studying each and every one of them in the room.
“Notice anything?” Shantel asked casually.
“Not really. Like what?”
“Look closely.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t get what you mean. They’re just kids, like us.”
“Like us, huh?” She s
nickered, then looked at me, her voice soft. “Maybe I should start off with myself. I’m from Harlem, in New York City.
“New York? That’s fantastic.”
“Not really. I didn’t exactly live a glamorous life. I got in with the wrong crowd six months ago and started dating this totally hot guy who got me in all kinds of trouble. When I realized how toxic he was, I dumped him. It was for the best. Now, I’m back on track to straighten out my life.” She let out a long breath, then looked at me. “Zoey, I’ve got a record.”
“A record?”
“Yeah, and I’m not talking track and field in the school trophy case. I’m talking about a rap sheet.”
“Oh.”
“Well, they still let me into the program, so that’s something. I really can’t believe I’m here.”
“They saw potential in you,” I said.
“I’m gonna make something out of my life. I plan to become a doctor and make a real difference. I don’t know how I’ll pay for medical school, but I’ll figure it out.”
I was impressed. “Those are inspiring goals.”
“When I told the school I couldn’t afford this program and couldn’t even afford the right clothes, they paid for everything. Can you believe that? Not only did they cover my tuition, but they also bought me an entire wardrobe, complete with accessories and jewelry, so I’d fit in with the wealthier crowd here.”
“That’s some scholarship! How fantastic.”
“These people have more money than the queen of England, but I have to wonder why they’d invest so much in a so-so student who’s been nothing but trouble. Why would they give me such a beautiful, luxurious, private room, one that’s way bigger than the whole apartment I share with my mom back home?”
“I don’t know.”
“There’s this vase in my room. I spent some time looking it up on Google. You know what I found out?”
“What?”
“The thing’s worth thousands.”
“Really? Wow. I assumed all the furnishings were just replicas.”
“Nope. They’re the real deal, signed and numbered and all. Zoey, this place is gorgeous, from the gardens to each and every glamorous room. Why would they invite somebody like me to be here?”
My Haunted Fairytale - Book 2 (The Enchanted Castle Series) Page 8
