Phantoms of Fall (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 2)

by Joy Elbel

  At any second, I expected to see a young Mr. Raspatello creep up behind her and wrap a rope around her neck. But he never came. Instead, she pulled a pen and a crumpled note out of her pocket. I watched as she smoothed the paper out against the wall of the shower and wrote with a shaky hand. I had to see what she was writing.

  Emerging from the shadows, I took two steps toward where she stood but it was too late. She folded the paper neatly into a square, tucked it into the front of her dress and removed the rope sash from her waist. No. I knew now that I had it wrong, all wrong. As frightening as it would have been to watch Mr. Raspatello kill this sad and lonely girl, watching her take her own life was almost unbearable. I knew it was too late but my instinct to save her kicked in.

  No longer caring if I got caught, I yelled out to her. “No, Garnet! Don’t do it! Whoever he is, he’s not worth it!” But of course, she couldn’t hear me. She wound the rope into a hangman’s knot, slipped it around her neck and adjusted it to a tight fit. Then, she removed it long enough to tie the other end to a large towel hook bolted high up on the wall. I watched helplessly as she dragged a stool across the floor, placed it beneath the hook and then climbed on top of it.

  I didn’t want to watch what was going to happen next but I felt like she deserved to not be alone this time. Loneliness was one thing I knew well—too well. When I thought I was going to drown in the fountain outside of Rosewood, I’d never felt so alone in all my life. On some level, I hoped she would know that I was there to share those last few moments of her life with her. No one should ever have to die alone.

  Garnet fitted the rope around her neck and closed her eyes. A ribbon of tears rolled down each of her cheeks and each of mine simultaneously. Her lips formed the word “goodbye” but I never heard a sound. And then she jumped. The stool fell out from under her feet and crashed silently to the floor. As her weight bore down on the rope, her head lolled to the side, eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets. But then came the heartbreaking part—she changed her mind.

  Her hands shot to her throat, frantically clawing at the rope to free herself. There wasn’t any way out. Her slipper clad feet kicked furiously at the wall until the constriction of the rope overtook her. Her hands slowly dropped to her side and her face turned a hideous shade of blue. When her lips turned purple, I knew that she was dead. The scene turned hazy again and faded slowly away until I was alone again in the darkness.

  It was over but I wasn’t any closer to solving the mystery. In fact, I was further away. She wasn’t murdered so there was no killer for me to catch. Garnet killed herself—but why? Would I ever know what she wanted from me? If only I could have gotten a look at her suicide note—the answer had to be on that crumpled sheet of paper. This was my only chance to read it and now that opportunity was gone. I was right back where I started from.

  I shook off the feelings of defeat. Getting out of that locker room was my first priority—I could assess my next move later. Using the flashlight to guide my way back to the window I had a horrible realization. There was no way that I was getting out the way I got in. Even if I positioned the bench under the window, I could just barely reach the ledge. Dammit! My perfect plan wasn’t nearly as perfect as I thought it was.

  My pulse began to race. Would I have to stay in here all night? I didn’t even have my phone on me to let anyone know that I was okay. Dad and Shelly would be so worried about me—they would probably even call the police. What if the police went looking for me and found my car? Oh no, now what was I going to do? I was on the verge of hyperventilating so I sat down on the bench to calm down and think it through.

  Once my breathing was under control, I lit the flashlight to check my watch. It was almost seven o’clock. They would be wondering where I was by now. How could I formulate such an intricate plan to break in and forget to devise a way to get back out? I closed the window that I used to enter the school and began to pace the floor. I had to get out even if I had to break a lock to do it.

  After checking every possible outlet for escape in the locker room, I had no choice but to wander out into the main hallway in the hopes of finding an open door. But the doors to each classroom were all locked up tight. I was going to get caught—I could feel it in my bones. Would I get kicked out of school for doing this? Unlike Zach, luck wasn’t on my side. One thing I knew for sure—Jack Wolfe would send me to the proverbial electric chair if this went up before the school board for review.

  I had no choice but to break a window. This plan wasn’t supposed to include vandalism of any sort but there was no other way around it. I snagged a chair from the cafeteria and returned to the windows near the gym. Lifting it high over my head, I closed my eyes and swung it as hard as I could. The crash was deafening—so loud I could swear the whole town could hear it. As the cool October air flooded over me, I stepped out into freedom and ran like hell for the car.

  I hit every red light on my way back through town giving me time to rehearse my excuse for why I was so late. I would tell everyone that I forgot to lock the safe before leaving Something Wick-ed, so I had to go back to the shop. That would explain away about twenty minutes of my missing time—how could I account for that other hour? Think, Ruby, think! There had to be a lie big enough to cover my ass.

  It was super hard to think with a tsunami of paranoia washing over me. I checked my rear view a thousand times looking for the police car that was surely behind me somewhere. I drove with the music off—something I never dreamed of doing under normal circumstances. My ears were in hypersensitive mode waiting for the inevitable sirens. What if they sent me to jail? I wouldn’t last five minutes in a cell with some chick who shot her husband and then slept in the same bed with his corpse for two weeks. Contrary to popular belief, I was a delicate flower, one that would wilt and die under that kind of pressure. Not to mention the fact that no girl wanted to lose her virginity during a conjugal visit!

  As I pondered how bad I would look in an orange prison jumpsuit, the answer came to me. I had my perfect lie. The story went like this. The line at the grocery store was huge and it took forever to get rung up. When I was finally out of there and almost home, I remembered that I didn’t lock the safe at the candle shop. When I got to Something Wick-ed, I forgot to lock the door behind me and an old lady came in thinking the store was still open. I tried to explain to her that the store was closed, but she didn’t get it so I had to stay and wait for her to finish before I could leave. There. Now that all of my bases were covered, I was ready for the stupid party.

  And not a moment too soon. I was just putting the finishing touches on my excuse when I got to Rosewood. Two hundred people RSVP’d for the event which meant at least a hundred cars all of which lined both sides of the driveway. I really didn’t know what anyone drove so I didn’t even bother to scan the lineup for anyone I knew. Rachel would be my only friend there regardless of who else decided to come.

  Thankfully, someone had the foresight to reserve a parking spot for me so I pulled up next to the garage and gathered the snacks out of the car. Music was already blasting from the direction of the ball room and I wondered if anyone besides Rachel and my family would even notice if I didn’t show up to my own party. Most definitely not.

  Dad and Shelly met me at the front door. “What took you so long?” my dad asked with a worried expression on his face. “That car didn’t give you any problems, did it?” He turned to Shelly. “I knew we should have gone with a newer model!”

  With a practiced tongue, I retold the lie I told myself on the way home. When I was finished, I held my breath and waited. Would they believe me?

  “Oh, okay,” Shelly answered. “Next time, give us a call—we were worried about you. Five more minutes and someone was going out to start looking for you.”

  What exactly did they think happened to me? This wasn’t the big city. It’s not like girls went missing from the town of Charlotte’s Grove every day or anything. But that was inconsequential—they bought my lie and
that was all that mattered.

  I climbed the steps to the second floor hoping that Rachel wouldn’t catch sight of me. No such luck. The second my foot hit the bottom step to the attic stairs I heard her call my name. If I pretended not to hear her she would just follow me anyway so I stopped and turned her direction.

  It was kind of funny to see her in her costume. She picked out matching vampire and vampiress outfits for her and Boone to wear. It wasn’t the fake fangs that made me laugh, though—it was the long black wig on her head. So tonight I was a blond princess and she was a raven haired creature of the night—it was almost like we were dressed as each other this Halloween.

  “There you are…finally!” Rachel bent over to adjust the laces on her boots and I was almost blinded by her cleavage. It was so cool that Boone trusted her enough to not go berserk when she showed a little skin. If that were me, Zach would complete flip out. But I guess that was a pointless argument now.

  “You’re missing the best party evverrr, by the way! Go get into your costume! You have to meet Crimson and the rest of the band and Boone’s brother Drake, too.”

  Breaking into the school made me feel dirty, like I needed to wash away my sins. I wasn’t going to that party until I got a shower—there was no way on earth.

  “I have to get a quick shower first—I promise I won’t be long.” Rachel made a pouty face. “That’s a good idea but make it quick.” She shook her finger at me like I was a naughty child. “You don’t want to miss the masquerade dance. It’s guaranteed to be the best part of the night.” She flipped her black tresses over her shoulder and sauntered back down the hallway.

  What did she mean by that comment? She thought that me taking a shower was a good idea—did I smell like that scuzzy locker room or something? I did a quick smell check on my sleeve but smelled nothing but the faded scent of my Midnight Kiss perfume. Whatever. And she was wrong—I did want to miss the masquerade dance. Even if some fool did take pity on me and ask me to dance, I wouldn’t say yes. The only boy I ever wanted to dance with was Zach and we’d already shared our last dance.

  I took my time in the shower while I thought about Garnet. How was I going to help her now? She killed herself and I had no idea why she did it. Her father was the only one with those answers now. He probably had her suicide note tucked into a safe place somewhere—a place where I had no hopes of finding it. It’s not like I could break into Jonathan Hartley’s house and look for it—one break-in per lifetime was the max for me. I was just going to have to ignore her until graduation.

  Even though I would be wearing the blond wig, I took the time to straighten my hair anyway. I mean, there was always the chance my wig could fall off, right? Really, I was just prolonging the inevitable walk of shame to the ball room to face the rest of the school. Nearly every one of them saw that video Misty had taken of me. I had no desire to see them inside of school let alone in my own house.

  After a quick spritz of Midnight Kiss, I adjusted my dress and my crown and headed to the party. It was almost eight o’ clock—thanks to my extracurricular activities tonight, I would only have to put up with two hours of torture instead of four. The one consolation was the music—NeverMore was a freakin’ awesome band!

  I was more nervous walking into that ball room than I was when I broke into the school. I felt like I needed a cigarette and I didn’t even smoke. When I walked in, I expected every head to turn and for the whispering to commence but I was dead wrong. Instead of treating me like a pitiful museum exhibit, they actually…spoke to me.

  I didn’t know any of their names, but several people greeted me with, “Great party!” and I even got one, “Awesome costume, Ruby!” from one of the popular girls. I peered over my shoulder to see if there was another girl named Ruby behind me—someone way cooler than me. Nope, no one there. It felt like I just stepped into a parallel universe, one where I was normal and at least semi-popular. Was I hallucinating or something? No, I knew what it was—the punch was spiked. I walked over to the coffin buffet table and snagged a cup for myself as Mr. Raspatello stared at me strangely from the corner of the room. Why did he have to be so weird? He unnerved me. Spiked punch started to sound really good so I took a whiff and hoped for the best. It didn’t smell like alcohol but I chugged it anyway, just in case. Alcohol wasn’t something I normally drank, but it sure wouldn’t hurt tonight.

  Rachel spotted me just as the band wrapped up their song. She whispered something into the ear of the lead singer who then announced that they would be taking a ten minute break. Rachel motioned for me to join them so I snaked my way through the crowd to where they stood.

  “Finally, Ruby! I was starting to think maybe you weren’t alone in that shower!” She gave me the same wink she always gave me when she teased me about what Zach and I did on our dates. Did she forget we broke up? Who else would she think I would even consider sharing a shower with?

  “Definitely alone,” I confirmed. This was awkward. Highly awkward. I was talking about showering with—or not showering with, to be more accurate—some nameless guy in front of a total stranger. A stranger with cherry red hair and more piercings than I’d ever seen on one human being and a lacy, swirled tattoo on the side of her neck. This had to be Crimson.

  “Okay, if you’re sure,” Rachel laughed. She flung her arm around the other girl’s shoulders and introduced her to me. “This is Crimson, lead singer of NeverMore the coolest band ever. Crimson, this is Ruby, the girl with the wicked mausoleum I was telling you about.”

  “Nice to meet you, Ruby. Rachel’s told me so much about you that I feel like I know you already. The band will be in town for a few months. I’d like to check out that mausoleum—that’s if the offer still stands,” she said with a smile.

  Crimson’s smile was contagious. It was genuine— she was genuine—like every word she ever said would be the honest truth. After my first impression of Chloe, I learned that I shouldn’t trust my instincts anymore. But for Crimson, I was willing to make an exception.

  “Absolutely!” I blurted. Why couldn’t I have said something cooler? Next to Crimson I felt like such a dork. She was everything I wished I could be. Pretty in a unique sort of way, talented, and confident with who she was. I, however, fell short in every category.

  “So…,” Rachel gave me a strange look and I feared what would come out of her mouth next. “I was wondering how you would feel about me telling Crimson about our adventures this summer?” She cocked one eyebrow at me mysteriously.

  “Our what?” Rachel was usually about five minutes behind me in conversation but this time she was way ahead. When I finally realized what she was talking about, I cringed.

  Talk about ghosts? Here? Now? Not with so many ears in the room simply waiting for the next bit of juicy gossip they could use against me. Misty was a no-show but several denizens of her snake pit were slithering around here somewhere. I could see the headlines in the school newspaper now. “Ruby sees ghosts—should see a shrink instead.”

  “Um, I don’t think now’s a good time—maybe some other day.” Like the third Monday after never, maybe? “She’s cool—you can totally trust her, Ruby. She’s really into stuff like that.” Rachel fished for a different answer from me but she wasn’t going to get one.

  “Oh, it’s not her I don’t trust,” I said motioning toward the center of the room. “I’m already the most picked on person in school. If anyone else were to hear.…” I trailed off now picturing the headlines on the front of the Charlotte’s Grove Courier, too.

  Rachel was about to beg me to change my mind when Crimson stopped her. “It’s okay, Rachel. Like Ruby said, some other day. Maybe the three of us could go out for a girl’s night sometime. We could drive around town and yell at all the hot guys like we always used to do.”

  What a mindless way to blow an evening—it sounded perfect. I couldn’t believe Crimson wanted to hang out with me. The rest of the band looked just as cool as she did. Why would she want to waste time with me when she c
ould be with them? Crimson excused herself for a restroom break so I asked Rachel that very question.

  “There’s some trouble in paradise, so to speak.” Rachel nodded her head in the direction of the rest of the band. “Do you see that girl over there? The blond in the corner with the green stripe in her hair?”

  “What about her?” That’s Ivy. She and Crimson have never seen eye to eye on anything but things are getting worse. If they can’t work out their creative differences one of them will have to leave the band. And since Crimson is the driving force behind NeverMore, Ivy is the most likely candidate. She’s trying to turn the rest of the band against Crimson and things are getting ugly.”

  I studied Ivy from where I stood. She wasn’t as well pierced as Crimson but she sure had her beat in the tattoo competition. Her left arm was inked in an intricate pattern of leaves and vines that started at the tips of her fingers and trailed all the way up her arm. I didn’t know either girl very well but I got a negative vibe from Ivy—the kind of feeling you get when you know someone’s up to something but you have no idea what.

  “Hey, before we get to the masquerade dance I want you to meet Drake Sterling. Whatever you do, though, don’t mention Crimson. They used to date and it didn’t end very well. It was a few years ago and I forgot about it or I wouldn’t have invited both of them. But it’s too late now, I guess.”

  I didn’t have to look around too hard to figure out which one he was. He was standing at the far end of the room near the spiral staircase leading down to the conservatory and towering above everyone else in the room. He looked just like Boone only bigger and hotter.

  When he spotted Rachel, he lifted her off of the floor like she was no heavier than a two year old. “There’s my little sister!” He swung her around in a bear hug that would put even a grizzly to shame.