The Secrets of Ghosts

by Sarah Painter

  Max was pulling her backwards, she fell on top of him on the grass, but Henry was fighting back control. Then he went limp. He lifted his head and said, ‘Max?’ In a wavery tone. ‘Oh, Max.’

  Katie felt Max’s arms around her. Saw him looking into her face. A flash of lightning illuminated his face into a circle of white. ‘What happened? What the fuck was that?’

  ‘He tried to kill me.’ Henry was using a stuttering, frightened voice. It was Katie’s frightened voice, echoed in her own mind, but they weren’t her words.

  Don’t believe him, she urged Max. Don’t listen. It’s Henry.

  ‘Jesus, you scared me. How could he do that?’

  ‘Henry took over my body but he’s gone now. I overpowered him.’

  ‘Where’s he gone?’ Max was holding her tightly, looking around wildly as if a ghost were about to shout ‘boo’. ‘Where’s Violet?’

  Chapter 29

  Katie reached out to Violet, one trapped soul to another. She pictured herself patting Violet, telling her that everything was all right and that if she could just stop reciting the Lord’s Prayer, then perhaps they could join forces and eject Henry from Katie’s body. Regain control.

  Katie felt Violet’s thoughts. In an instant she knew it all. The man calling himself Henry was not Henry. He was the other man in that photograph, the archaeologist Alexander James. And Katie knew why Violet was so frightened. Alexander James had killed Violet. He’d drowned her in that pond in a jealous rage when she’d chosen Henry. He’d been so angry. That she’d chosen a mere lackey over him, a great historian, a man of money.

  Her bones were lying in the bottom, amongst the silt and the stones and the slimy weeds. Katie felt Violet remembering that as if it were her own memory, big hands around her neck, the terror as she realised she couldn’t take a breath and that Alexander wasn’t going to stop, wasn’t going to let go. Katie felt it all as if it had happened to her, not Violet, and she felt the pull of her bones down in the deep cold water. They were calling.

  Violet was folding in on herself, getting smaller and weaker. ‘He’s going to kill me again,’ she whispered. Her voice was quiet, just an itch at the back of her consciousness. But Katie’s thoughts were cloudy. Had she dreamed that she was a girl called Katie, working as a waitress and living in a tiny flat? Or was she Violet Beaufort?

  Katie felt herself being squeezed smaller; she wasn’t sure any more whether she was Katie or Violet. It hardly mattered. Alexander was getting stronger and stronger and she was getting weaker. Katie blinked, tried to see out of her own eyes, see past the fear and the ice. The black water of the ornamental pond was being pelted with rain so that the surface was dancing. The black clouds shifted and the evening sun lit the water for a moment and Katie thought of the warm light. There was something important about the light. Something strong and comforting. She remembered her name. Katie Harper.

  ‘Not murder, Violet.’ Alexander was speaking out loud, with Katie’s voice. ‘I don’t want to kill you, my love. I never meant to hurt you.’

  The warm light of the sun was on her face, reminding Katie that she had light of her own. She reached inside and found the light, gathering and stretching it around her. Then, as she felt a little stronger, she pictured breaking a tiny piece off and giving it to the form she knew was Violet’s soul, feeding it like a baby bird.

  ‘We can be together, for ever.’ Alexander was still talking with Katie’s voice. ‘I was angry before but that’s all in the past now. This is all we have dreamed of.’

  Something turned over inside and Katie felt Violet disappear. She stepped out of Katie’s body as if she were shedding a skin. ‘I don’t think so,’ Violet said, looking whole and solid and very un-ghost-like.

  ‘Behave yourself,’ Alexander said, sounding scared.

  Violet winked at Katie and then stepped into Max.

  Katie wanted to scream but she couldn’t. She saw the surprise on Max’s face and felt horror, but only in a very faint way. She was being squeezed tighter and tighter; her essence was being crushed. Alexander was getting stronger with every second. Katie had gathered the light around herself, but Alexander was digging in as if it were an all-you-can-eat buffet.

  Max reached into his pocket and pulled out a small copper-coloured object. It was the bronze brooch they’d found in the archaeologist’s things. In Alexander’s things.

  Max winked, in an exaggerated way that looked nothing like Max and entirely like Violet. Then he threw the brooch into the pond and said out loud, ‘You want me, come with me.’

  Katie felt a rush as Alexander left her body. She staggered back as the ghost dived after it, the water not even rippling as he hit the surface and disappeared.

  Violet stepped from Max. One moment, Katie could see her in his face and posture and the next moment she was next to him and Max was doubled over making retching noises.

  ‘Where did Violet go?’ Max said, once he’d caught his breath. ‘I felt her. I saw her thoughts, everything. That was—’ He sat down heavily. Shook his head as if he needed to clear it. ‘That was fucking horrible.’

  ‘She’s gone.’ Katie looked around. Zofia picked up the witch’s ball and wrapped it in its black cloth. She passed it to Katie. ‘You should break this. Then he can’t come back.’

  ‘She’s really gone.’ Katie couldn’t concentrate on anything else. She’d seen Violet step out of Max and then seen her disappear. Nothing dramatic, no flames or dust or bright light, just a flicker of a bulb, here one moment and gone the next. ‘I felt it,’ Katie said.

  Zofia put her hand on Katie’s arm. ‘It’s for the best.’

  ‘I feel terrible. She saved my life. And now she’s gone God knows where.’

  ‘She saved your life,’ Max said. ‘Maybe that’s what she was here for. Maybe it was fate that you met her.’

  ‘I don’t care about fate,’ Katie said. She felt the tears spill over and sniffed to try and stop her nose from running, too. ‘I care about Violet.’

  Max held her while she cried, stroking her back and saying, gently, ‘I know. I’m sorry.’

  Chapter 30

  Katie leaned into Max, feeling safe with his arms around her. The crying left as quickly as it had come and she felt calmer than she had in days. The warm light was still inside her, she could feel it and, looking down at her stomach, she almost expected to be glowing. The image of a shaft of light shining out of her belly button made her laugh.

  ‘Does she have hysteria?’ Zofia said. ‘It is shock, I think.’

  ‘I’m fine,’ Katie said. The rain was easing off, too. She looked up at the clearing sky and smiled, filled with wonderful knowledge. ‘Violet doesn’t have to be gone. I can bring her back.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I’ve been bringing them into being, yes? Making them stronger? I can do that. I can feel how to do that, now. I think—’ Katie stepped forward and held her hands above the surface of the water.

  ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea,’ Max said. ‘She’s been released or crossed over to the other side or whatever spirits do once they’re not kept here. And we should go inside and sit down. In the dry. Away from the water you just nearly drowned in.’

  ‘I’m fine,’ Katie said.

  ‘I’m not talking about you,’ Max said. He was gritting his teeth to stop them from chattering, but Katie couldn’t stop thinking about the light.

  ‘In a moment.’ Katie closed her eyes and reached out. She felt the trace of Violet’s soul, a tiny piece of her spirit. Very quiet, very thin. Very hard to catch. Like a tiny scrap of tissue paper blowing in a gale.

  ‘Got her,’ Katie said, opening her eyes. She pictured a pinch of light threading out and igniting that scrap of paper, until Violet was standing in front of her. Almost completely transparent, but there.

  ‘I’m the light,’ Katie said, reaching out her hands to Violet. ‘You don’t have to go.’

  Violet opened her mouth in a wail.

  ‘
Sweet Jesus,’ Max said. ‘I can see her.’

  ‘It’s okay,’ Katie said, threading more light to Violet, making her stronger again, watching as her transparent body became more and more solid. She was aware of Zofia mumbling in Polish, of Max grabbing her arm, but she stayed focused on Violet. She had a job to do.

  ‘Please stop,’ Violet said, in between horrible gasps. ‘You have to let me go.’

  ‘But I’m saving you. You can stay here with us.’ Katie gestured. ‘You said some life was better than none at all.’

  ‘I’m supposed to go,’ Violet said and her voice was so quiet, Katie wasn’t sure if she was speaking out loud or just in her mind. ‘I don’t belong here.’

  ‘But I don’t want you to leave me.’ Katie felt angry again. What was the point of having bloody power if you couldn’t do what you wanted? ‘I’ll miss you.’

  ‘I shan’t miss you,’ Violet said, sounding like her old self. ‘I’m ready for a new adventure.’ Violet was fading again; she was using the force of her own will to give back whatever energy Katie was passing along the golden thread.

  ‘I could make you stay,’ Katie said, flexing her fingers and feeling the power within her move. She could feel its texture, its weight. She wondered what would happen if she used it all. Maybe she could make Violet strong enough to play with her doll’s house, to eat food, to dance with nice-looking men at weddings, to kiss.

  Violet smiled sadly, her face just a suggestion shimmering in the air. ‘No, you couldn’t. You’re not that cruel.’

  Katie stopped fighting. She watched as Violet faded away, her soul gone and just a tiny echo of a life once again.

  ‘Good.’ Zofia let out a noisy breath and patted Katie’s arm. ‘Time to go in now, I think.’

  Katie nodded and followed Zofia. She was dimly aware of Max’s arm around her shoulder and, then, of familiar voices shouting from the driveway.

  Gwen and Cam rounded the corner and began crunching across the gravel. Katie pulled away from Max and went to meet them.

  ‘I’m fine,’ she said. ‘It’s over.’ She found herself promptly in a Cam and Gwen sandwich, getting hugged to within an inch of her life. Cam broke away first and grabbed Max in a quick hug, too. ‘You all right?’

  ‘Sort of,’ Max said. ‘Henry tried to drown Katie.’

  ‘Shh.’ Katie shot him a warning look. ‘It wasn’t that bad.’

  ‘Oh, my God,’ Gwen said. She was shaking. ‘I told you not to come back here. I told you—’

  ‘And it wasn’t Henry. It was Alexander James.’

  Max raised an eyebrow. ‘Violet’s other suitor?’

  Katie nodded. For the benefit of Cam and Gwen, she said, ‘He was an archaeologist and a friend of the Beaufort family. He was obsessed with Violet, wrote her loads of love letters, but she didn’t feel the same way. He saw her kissing Henry in the garden and drowned her in the ornamental pond.’ Katie pointed to the large rectangle of water. Even now the rain had stopped, the sky was grey and the water looked black.

  ‘Bastard,’ Max said.

  ‘Is her body down there?’ Gwen said, swallowing.

  ‘What’s left of it, yes.’

  ‘Do we have to burn her bones?’ Max said and Gwen looked surprised.

  ‘No.’ Katie patted his arm. ‘I’m beyond all of that.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Cam said, but Katie was striding across the wet grass. Violet hadn’t wanted her help, but there was something else she could do.

  *

  The electricity still wasn’t on, but the clouds had parted and light was streaming through the mullioned windows. Barton was standing on the parquet of the reception hall, by the front window. He looked a little shaken. ‘What was all that about?’

  ‘A murderous ghost called Alexander James just tried to kill me,’ Katie said. ‘I like the way you rushed out to help.’

  ‘I didn’t know what was happening,’ Barton said, indignant.

  Katie turned to Max. ‘Do you see? He absolutely has no idea. No psychic ability.’

  ‘Now, hang on—’ Barton said.

  ‘If you did—’ Katie turned back and began advancing on Barton ‘—you would be running right about now.’

  She knew Gwen and Cam and Zofia and Max had come in behind her and she flashed them what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

  Barton shrugged. He was trying to pull off his usual, confident pose, but his foot was tapping on the floor, giving him away. ‘Magda says there’s nothing to be frightened of. Spirits can’t hurt us. You should know that.’

  ‘Magda’s wrong. Which, given that she’s a figment of your imagination, is not a surprise.’ She put her face near to Barton’s. ‘I don’t like you, but I don’t want you dead. At least, I don’t want your death on my conscience. Alexander James is desperate. He’ll use anybody he thinks has the least little bit of psychic power. If you don’t tell him you don’t have any, that you were lying about communicating with the other side, about having a spirit guide called Magda, then he’s going to try to use you as a doorway and I don’t know what that’ll do to you. I don’t know if you’d survive.’

  ‘Oh, God,’ Barton moaned. ‘Help me.’

  ‘Help yourself,’ Katie said. ‘Can’t you feel how cold it is in here?’ She reached out and felt the echoes of the hundreds of people who had passed through the space, those who’d lived and died. Like turning up the gas on an antique lamp, she pushed out a little bit of her power, until the echoes got louder and there were voices clamouring, faces appearing out of the walls and the glass and the air. The room was instantly freezing.

  ‘Please,’ Barton said, his eyes wide.

  Katie looked over his shoulder, as if she could see a ghostly figure rising up ready to smite Barton. His eyes rolled in his head and for moment Katie thought he was just going to faint. ‘I’d hurry up if I were you,’ she added.

  ‘I was lying. I don’t have a spirit guide. I chose the name Magda from a book. I never got a message. Not any kind of message. I can’t talk to the other side. I can’t see ghosts.’

  Katie stepped forward, ready to stop him, but Barton was in full flow. His eyes were wide and terrified, not seeing Katie or Max or Zofia. ‘I thought I did, once,’ he said, ‘when I was a child. It scared me silly but then all the grown ups liked hearing about it. Mother made me tell the story at her dinner parties and everyone would look at me like I was important and I just started embellishing.’ His eyes skimmed Katie’s face and then seemed to refocus. ‘Please. I never meant for it to go this far. Please help me.’

  ‘It’s okay. He’s gone.’ Katie reached out and patted Barton on the arm. ‘You’re quite safe.’ She pulled the light back, tucked it away. The voices quieted, the faces disappeared and the temperature went back up to normal.

  ‘Oh, thank God.’ Barton sank into the nearest armchair. He put his head in his hands and they were shaking.

  ‘Shall I get you a drink?’ Zofia said, kindly. ‘Scotch?’

  Barton lifted his head and, blinking back tears, said, ‘Single malt if you’ve got it. I can’t stomach a blend.’

  Max shook his head. ‘I think he’s recovering.’

  ‘What was that?’ Gwen touched Katie’s arm. ‘What did you do? What were all those voices?’

  Katie hugged her tight. She hadn’t thought about Gwen. Of course she’d be able to hear them. ‘Sorry,’ she whispered into Gwen’s ear. ‘Just a party trick. Nothing to worry about.’

  ‘A ghost tried to kill you? Alexander? Is he still here?’

  Katie held up the witch’s ball and tilted it, so that Gwen could see. ‘Oh, my God.’

  Katie looked at the image in the reflection of the burnished surface of the ball. Rather than reflecting the hallway and the main staircase, with its ornately carved finials, it was showing the oak panelling of the library. And, standing by the fireplace, his unlit pipe in one hand and a scowl of defeat on his face, was Alexander James. His lips were moving but she couldn’t hear a thing. It was brill
iant.

  ‘So,’ Zofia said, peering over Katie’s shoulder. ‘He was in there the whole time. When you were scaring Mr Barton.’

  ‘He wasn’t in any danger,’ Katie said. ‘And neither are you. He’s going to stay trapped in here and I’ll keep it far away from the hotel.’

  ‘How did he get in there?’ Gwen said. She looked at Katie, fear in her eyes. ‘How did you—?’

  ‘His soul was linked to a brooch we found.’ Katie nodded to Max. ‘The bronze one. When Violet threw it into the pond, Alexander had to follow it and that’s what pulled him out from my body. Once he wasn’t linked to me, Zofia uncovered the witch’s ball and that trapped him.’ She turned to Zofia. ‘I don’t know how to thank you for that.’

  Patrick came through the staff door, his arms full of torches and candles. He stopped when he saw the group, blinked at Gwen and Cam and said, ‘What did I miss?’

  Chapter 31

  Katie walked down the driveway with Gwen. Max had volunteered to finish his shift at The Grange before coming back to the house as Anna and Zofia were run off their feet with restless MOPs. Katie couldn’t believe that she’d thought he was egotistical. When push came to shove, Max always tried to do the right thing. For an ex-con-man, he was strangely moral. Which was a peculiarly old-fashioned thing to think. Maybe she’d been spending too much time in the nineteen thirties.

  ‘Hannah will be worried,’ Gwen said, keeping a brisk pace. ‘She came to warn you. About your energy spilling out.’

  Katie wasn’t sure if she was imagining it, but Gwen didn’t seem to be able to look her in the eye.

  ‘It’s okay, you know,’ she said. ‘I know how to control it now.’

  Gwen nodded, but she still looked slightly dazed.

  Hannah Ash wasn’t in the kitchen of End House, but there was a lime-green Post-it note attached to the fridge. It said: ‘Glad you’re not dead. Hannah.’

  ‘Bloody wise women,’ Katie said. She went to the freezer and got out an ice-cube tray. ‘Drink?’