Dez grinned. “I know, but he’s worried that this could be a trap. A way Gabriel is going to try to lure you out.”
“It could be,” I said, and Dez glanced over me. “I don’t know if he believes that the Wardens would bring me in or not. Maybe he does, but it’s not like he doesn’t know where I live. Imps and another demon showed up last night.”
“What? And you’re just now bringing this up?”
My eyes widened as Dez hit the brakes. A smaller red car had zipped out in front of him. “It’s not a big deal. I took care of them.”
“Not a big deal? You’re not safe there if Gabriel knows where you’re staying.”
“Gabriel has probably always known where I’ve been staying, and for whatever reason he sent his minions after me last night,” I pointed out.
“You can stay with us—”
“And put you in danger? Your wife and children? Is that what you’re suggesting?” I watched his jaw harden. “Because what’s stopping him from finding me there? I’m not willing to risk that. I don’t think you are, either.”
He was quiet as he guided the SUV down the tree-lined hill. “You shouldn’t be there by yourself.”
“I’m not. I have Peanut.”
Dez looked over at me.
“He’s a ghost,” I stated with another shrug.
“I don’t even know what to say to that.”
“There’s nothing to say.” I tapped my foot on the floor of the car. “I appreciate your concern. Even Nicolai’s. But I’m fine where I am and if that changes—” it quite possibly could “—I’ll let you all know.”
“I get why you don’t want to leave the apartment.”
“You do?” I arched a brow.
“You don’t want to leave in case Zayne comes back. You want to be there.”
I opened my mouth, but snapped it shut as I stared at the dark blue of the sky. Pressure clamped down on my chest. I didn’t want to put anyone else at risk, and I knew there could come a time that I would have to leave the apartment, but Dez was also right. I wanted to be there in case Zayne somehow snapped out of this without my intervention. I wanted to be there in case he came looking for me.
Even if it wasn’t to snuggle.
If Dez knew that Zayne had already been at the apartment—the roof of the apartment, to be exact—he’d probably hog-tie me and stash me away.
And I knew I was being irrational. I knew I should pack my ass up and hunker down, but when did I ever do the rational, sane thing? Never. I started nibbling on my thumbnail. But maybe by this time tomorrow night I’d have a way to neutralize Zayne so I could bring him back.
Or set him free.
“You need to be careful, Trinity,” Dez started.
“I am.” Kind of. Weight settled on my shoulders as the high school came into view. One marked police vehicle sat outside, beside another black, unmarked car.
Never did I think I’d be so happy to see a haunted high school.
Dez pulled in behind the unmarked vehicle. Killing the engine, he turned to me, and instinct told me he was gearing up for some kind of deep talk.
“Look! Cop lady!” I unhooked my seat belt and threw open the door. I all but fell out of the SUV.
Cop Lady was standing outside the unmarked sedan, speaking into her phone. Whether it was my shout or extraordinary exit/fall from the vehicle that gained her attention, the tall Black woman turned toward me.
I gave her a rather jaunty wave. “Did you call the Ghostbusters? If so, we’re here.”
She slowly lowered the phone and turned to Dez.
“Captain Washington, this is Trinity.” Dez already sounded tired. “She’s, uh, consulting with us.”
“Really?” The police captain’s tone was overflowing with doubt.
“She’s an expert in these kinds of things,” Dez insisted.
“‘I see dead people.’”
The captain opened her mouth and it took a moment for her to say, “You know, that’s just cool with me.”
I grinned.
“So what’s going on in there, Captain Washington?” Dez asked while shooting me a look I could read clearly.
Shut. Up.
“Hell if I know, Dez. I got three missing officers and one sitting in his cruiser,” she said, and as she placed the phone into the front pocket of her dark slacks, the short-sleeved blazer was pushed back, revealing the gun holstered at her side. “All he’s been doing is praying.”
My brows lifted. “For real?”
She spared me a brief glance, nodding. “He hasn’t said much. All I know is that they didn’t make it past the main hall before Officer Lewis was grabbed.”
“By a black mass in the ceiling?” Dez clarified.
“Yes, and let me tell you, Officer Lee has been on the force for thirty years. There is very little that freaks him out.” Placing her hands on her hips, she looked up at the school. “I’ve never seen him like this. I believe he saw what he said he did. That’s why I called you guys in, but like I told the other ones, I can’t promise how long I can let you guys have first go at this. I have missing officers, and even though the second call wasn’t over the radio, the first one was.”
I frowned. “Others—?”
A shadow dropped from above, landing with a loud thump in front of me. I squeaked, jumping back. All I saw was the hard, gray skin of a Warden. “Good God.”
“Sorry,” came the gruff reply as smooth-skinned wings snapped back. The Warden put a good foot or three of personal space between us. The dark-haired head bowed. His horns were the color of polished obsidian. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“It’s okay.” I looked up at the roof, squinting. Another Warden was perched on the edge. He stepped off, joining the first Warden. This one had lighter brown hair, cropped close to the skull, and horns, like the one before. “It’s raining gargoyles.”
“We waited like you asked,” the first Warden said, and as I recovered from my mini heart attack, I realized he was wearing a shirt. While he was in his Warden form with wings out.
Huh.
“We haven’t heard anything coming from inside there,” the other Warden said while I stepped sideways to get a better view.
The shirt the first Warden wore had two slits running up both sides of his spine. More than enough space for his wings to come out. That was ridiculously clever, and embarrassingly so, considering no one else seemed to have caught on to that method.
“Not a single sound,” the first Warden confirmed, glancing at me.
I clasped my hands together and smiled. “I like your shirt.”
He turned briefly to Dez and then swallowed. “Thanks?”
“She’s a...consultant?” Captain Washington asked. “In what capacity other than seeing dead people?”
“That kind,” I said, pointing to the darkening sky as I allowed the grace to pulse inside me.
People normally had no clue what I was. Not until I allowed a little of my grace through. I had no idea what they saw or if it was something they sensed—something that spoke to whatever survival instinct in them—but Captain Washington took a step back, bumping into the fender of the sedan.
And she didn’t look like a lady that took a step back often.
“Cool. Cool,” she whispered, clearing her throat. “You all should get in there.”
“We’ll find your officers,” Dez promised, and I thought that probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do.
Dez caught ahold of my shirt as he walked past, bringing me with him. “I thought you weren’t supposed to reveal what you are,” he stated in a low voice.
“She doesn’t know what I am, and the Wardens already know, so whatever.” Taking a deep breath, I finally lifted my gaze to the actual school.
Immediately, I wished I hadn’t. Lights were on inside,
a glare that was welcomed and yet grotesque. Hundreds of tiny bumps broke out over my skin. Like before, it felt like thousands of eyes were on me even though the lit windows of the first floor were empty.
They were still in there—the ghosts, wraiths and Shadow People. And they were waiting.
12
Iclimbed the wide steps carefully, not wanting to trip and break my neck in front of the captain. That would totally ruin my perceived badassery. My sedate pace had nothing to do with the creepy crawly sensation tap-dancing over my skin. Nope. Not at all.
Once we reached the covered entrance of the school, I drew in a shallow breath and looked to the two Wardens. The feeling of being watched increased tenfold. “I don’t think I’ve met either of you.”
“Only in passing,” the one with the clever shirt replied. “My name is Jordan.” He then nodded his head at the other Warden. “That’s Teller.”
The lighter-haired Warden nodded.
“It’s nice to meet you guys.” I refocused on the school. “I hope you all are smart and listen to me when I say you should stay out here.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Dez stated in a gravelly voice, having shifted as we’d made our way up the steps.
“I already know you’re not smart. I’m hoping they are.” Tension settled on the nape of my neck. “You guys aren’t going to be able to see what’s in there unless they’re really powerful. You might get lucky or unlucky, and be able to see the Shadow People if they want to be seen. Either way, there’s probably not going to be much you can do.”
“We know that,” Teller answered as he scanned the windows. “But we’re not letting you go in there by yourself. It’s bad enough that you’re even here. Nic’s going to have our asses for that alone.”
“You’re not going to talk us out of this,” Jordan confirmed. “We’re going in there with you. Arguing will just delay this, and what good will that do?”
None. Because if anyone was still alive in there, they needed to be rescued. Worse yet, I had a feeling that the captain would have to make a move to get her officers out, which meant more people would be going in there, and that was the last thing I wanted.
“Okay. If you need years of therapy because of this, you can’t say I didn’t warn you,” I said, starting forward.
My foot immediately snagged on the step I didn’t see. I stumbled forward, catching myself as Dez took ahold of my arm.
“You okay?” Jordan asked.
“Yes.” I sighed. “I’m basically legally blind—actually, I’m legally blind,” I said, surprising myself with the truth.
“Damn,” Jordan murmured. “I would’ve never noticed.”
“Really?” I said doubtfully.
I thought I saw a half grin. “I just assumed you weren’t very observant.”
“Well, that’s also true,” Dez commented.
I rolled my eyes, but I... I couldn’t believe I’d just admitted to virtual strangers that I couldn’t see well. I always either kept my vision issues to myself or played it off like it wasn’t that big of a deal, which usually ended with me walking into something sharp and painful or being unable to read instructions and winging it with disastrous results. It had taken eons for me to confide in Zayne, and I trusted him with my life, even now. I didn’t even know why I was so reluctant to tell people.
Okay, that was a lie.
I knew exactly why.
I didn’t want people to think my lack of vision made me weak or that I wasn’t capable. I didn’t want people’s sympathy or pity. I wanted to be seen as me and not the girl who was going blind, but the thing was, I was me—a Trueborn who knew how to fight and was ready to throw down, who loved marathoning old ’90s sitcoms and missed her mom, who knew what lost felt like and who was madly, deeply in love. I was also the girl who was going blind. What was happening to me wasn’t the sum of who I was, but it was a part of who I was.
Why it took some nineteen years to realize that, I had no idea, but I felt way mature. I was smiling when I walked into the school.
The smile didn’t last.
As soon as the door swung shut behind us, the air seemed to thicken and swirl around us. Continuously scanning the empty glass cases and closed locker doors, I walked forward. The goose bumps returned with a vengeance as my ears pricked. My steps slowed as I strained to listen...
“Is it just me or does it feel as if it’s damn near close to freezing in here?” Jordan asked.
I was half expecting to see my breath when I breathed, but that wasn’t what I was focused on. Brows knitting, I tilted my head to the side, listening for a few more moments. “I’m guessing you guys don’t hear that.”
“I hear nothing other than the voice whispering in my head that this place gives me the creeps,” Teller muttered. “And that’s my own voice.”
I cracked a grin. “I hear...chattering.”
“You don’t see anything?” Dez turned to me.
I shook my head. “Not yet.” I glanced up at what appeared to be a normal ceiling. “The cop that got eaten by the ceiling? They didn’t make it any farther than this, right?”
“Right,” Jordan answered.
I turned to my right, entire body tensing. The doors to the gymnasium were closed and the lights were on inside, but I remembered what was beyond the doors last time. A gym full of dead people who weren’t playing basketball.
“The portal is accessed through there, isn’t it?” Jordan asked.
I nodded. “I’m sure you all are eager to see it, but I don’t think it will be wise to go down there unless we have to. That’s where a bulk of the Shadow People were last time. I killed a lot of them, but I bet they’ve been replaced.”
“They’re guarding the portal,” Teller asserted.
“They’re definitely—” A dark shape moved past the windows on the gym doors, and a second later, a face appeared in the window, gray and distorted as the mouth dropped open, letting out a silent scream.
Another ghost appeared, this one hanging upside down. Stringy, dark hair obscured the face. A hand clawed the glass, its skin patchy and an unnatural dark shade.
“Do I want to know what you’re looking at?” Dez asked.
“A whole room full of nope.” I exhaled noisily as I walked toward the gym. The hairs on my arms stood up as my grace pulsed and throbbed. I reached for the handle.
“Shouldn’t we be looking upstairs since the officer was sucked through the ceiling?” Teller wondered.
We could, but I had a feeling we didn’t need to. “Stay out here until I give you the all clear.”
Hoping they listened to me, I opened the doors wide.
And ghosts spilled out into the hall, brushing past me and through me as I stared in. The last time I’d been here, the lights had been turned off. I hadn’t been able to see what was in here, and I’d thought that had been a nightmare come to life.
I’d been wrong.
Seeing was so much worse.
The gym was packed with ghosts. Those milling about randomly looked the most...fresh. Some of them almost looked alive, having passed either naturally or from causes that weren’t visible. They seemed unaware of the others around them, and they didn’t even turn toward the open door. I had a sinking feeling they hadn’t been here the last time. My heart ached upon the sight of them. Somehow they’d been led here and then trapped inside by the angelic wards. They were good people who would most likely never have a chance to move on.
A man in a white shirt with some kind of blue graphic on the chest and blue jeans paced, pulling at his brown hair. “I don’t understand. I don’t understand,” he mumbled over and over.
I dragged my gaze from him. The others, though?
Ew.
They’d been dead awhile, and trapped here long enough that they were one step away from wraiths. Their skin was a ghoulish co
lor, gray or waxy, and most had some really gross wounds. Holes in the head and chest. Bullet wounds. Throats cut. Faces bloated and bruised. Bodies swollen and misshapen.
They were well aware of our presence and they smiled, reeking of pure malevolency.
“What the...?” Jordan’s wings fluttered as he looked around him. A man with a nasty, bloody hole in his head had just walked through him. The Warden’s blue eyes went wide. “Did a—? You know what? Don’t answer that. I don’t want to know.”
Swallowing roughly, I lifted my head and wished I hadn’t. “God.”
They swarmed the ceiling like a thousand cockroaches, crawling over the beams and each other. They smothered the walls and the stacked bleachers.
A ghost drifted past me and into the hall, coming into unfortunate detail. She was young—had been no older than me when she died. Her throat and chest were torn open, revealing thick, jellylike tissue. She looked like a Raver had gotten ahold of her, but blackened veins covered her shoulders and upper arms. Maybe a Nightcrawler? Their claws and teeth were poisonous, and there was definitely something very wrong inside of her.
Her feet didn’t touch the ground as she stopped in front of Dez. “Did you come to collect your dead?” she asked in a wispy, singsong voice. “Or did you come to die?”
“He can’t see or hear you,” I told her. “I can, so leave them alone.”
Dez looked at me as the ghost’s head swung jerkily in my direction. I waved at her. “Yeah. Hi. Where are the people?”
Teller and Jordan exchanged looks while another ghost shuffled out from the thickest crowd, dragging a mangled leg that was hanging on by a few stringy tendons. He was older, his plain shirt spotted with blood. “We’re here,” he whispered. “Right in front of you.”
Grace and Glory Page 12
