“As long as they’re quiet enough to not fuck up the EVP, I don’t care.”
Tru met them at the door. “Finally made it.” He shoved a device in her hand. “Here’s your EMF reader.”
Paige stared at the little box in her hand.
“Electro-magnetic frequencies,” Dexx said with a playful smile.
“I know what it is, asshole,” she said. “When are we going dark?”
Tru did a battery check on the EMF reader still in his hand. “Just as soon as everyone knows what they’re doing.”
Dexx took a camcorder. “I’ve got the basement.”
“I’m taking the main floor.” Tru clucked his tongue. “That leaves you the attic.”
Uh, no. “Why aren’t we going in pairs?”
“Are you scared?” Dexx’s expression widened with mischief. “Big bad demon summoner afraid of ghosts.”
She glared at him. “Just wait. Something’s going to go wrong and Leslie’s going to hear and you’re gonna have a new as—”
“Hey, hey, hey,” Tru said, his full hands raised. “No need to get all mean.”
Paige sent Dexx an evil grin.
Tru held a hand between the two of them. “I’m taking the thermal to see if I can’t catch anything.”
“Tru,” Paige said. “I know you’ve been doing this for a bit, but we could dirty any evidence we gather by going off in different directions.”
“We’re just sweeping. We’ll evidence gather after our initial sweep.” He handed Paige a digital voice recorder and a hand held video camera.
“I’m sweeping with a voice recorder.”
“Just in case.”
“The voice recorder is going to be useless,” she said in a sing-song voice.
“Huge house, Pea,” Tru said mimicking her tone.
“Fine. Fine. Okay. I thought you and Leslie already debunked this house last year or something.”
Tru nodded, taking the video camera back to check something.
“Then why are we here?”
“After the murders, apparently the owner has been hearing noises in the attic and doors closing on the main floor.”
Paige sent him a dark, frank look, her head tipped to the side.
Dexx gave her a lopsided grin. “Ah, you’re afraid. That’s so cute.”
“Dead people are weird.” So what she’d been raised around the paranormal and strange? Ghosts scared the crap out of her. “And slightly wrong.”
Both boys laughed at her.
His shoulders still bouncing with chuckles, Tru gave the all clear to go dark and everyone went their separate ways.
PAIGE TURNED ON the EMF reader as she climbed the stairs to the attic and watched the readings on the red screen. Tru had actually given her the Mel, which she’d seen on TV, but had never actually used before. It read EMF like any other, but had a wire sticking out the top, which meant it was probably directional reliant. It also read temperature, which was pretty cool. She jostled it around and thumped it against her hand to see if the readings would change.
She had to admit. A geeky part of her was excited to be playing with new equipment.
The readings were minimal. The highest reading was a point five, but after a little searching, she’d found it was only an electrical box in the unfinished part of the floor in the cluttered attic. She sat down in the middle of the large, crowded room and listened to the silence.
This was the other part of paranormal investigating she didn’t enjoy. The lounge time. Most of every investigation involved sitting around listening to silence. She turned on the camera and set it on the floor several feet in front of her. The light shown red as she hit record and settled back. The other thing she hated was being on camera . . . sitting in the dark . . . listening to nothing . . . picking her nose.
So, she picked her nose. She let her head fall back, waiting.
The house creaked and groaned. Something tapped the roof on the other side of the attic. Probably a branch from the overhanging tree. She sighed. Fun.
Something touched the back of her neck.
She swiped at it, shivering as her mind raced along what it could potentially be. A spider. A bug. Probably just hair. Though hers was tucked into a long braid, stray hairs happened.
The Mel read at a point two. Nothing.
She turned on the digital voice recorder. “Paige in the attic. Metley Plantation. Bored as crap. Nothing going on. Boys are elsewhere, but can’t hear them. Starting EVP session because I am so completely bored out of my skull. Thanks for giving me no one to talk to, Tru.”
She listened to the silence. Something scraped against the roof.
“Something outside,” she sighed quietly into the mic. “The wind is blowing.”
A dog howled.
Her eyelids half-closed, she brought the recorder to her mouth, supporting her chin on her other hand, and muttered, “Dog.”
Something scurried across the shingles.
She yawned. “Squirrel.”
A box shifted across the floor on the opposite side of the room.
Paige.
She straightened, instantly alert. “Tag this. Something just called my name. Dexx, if this is you, come out.” Though she hadn’t heard anyone clomp up those wooden stairs. They weren’t quiet steps.
She pointed the camera in the direction of the noise, setting it on a box beside her. The camera’s night vision showed boxes and open space on the screen. “Is anyone there?”
Something slid in front of her. She heard it. It sounded heavy like a dresser, maybe? Wood on wood? It wasn’t a box, at least not a cardboard one. She set the Mel down. She needed light and the only thing she had was the flashlight on her key ring.
Nothing. Great.
She dragged herself to her feet and shuffled in that direction, flashlight in one hand, voice recorder in the other. The floorboards creaked under her weight. She peered around a stack of cardboard boxes.
Paige.
“Sounds like a little girl,” she whispered into the voice recorder. “Leslie, I thought you debunked this place.”
She headed back to the Mel and glanced at the red screen. Three point five. Could be nothing, but the base attic reading had been a point one. “Did you die here? What’s your name?”
The room was silent.
“Please make a sound. Let me know you’re here.” She tightened her lips. “Without scaring me half to death.”
The attic door slammed shut.
Paige screeched, her eyes glued to the door. “Okay.” She tried to control her erratically beating heart. “What do you want? You called my name. Can I help you?”
A furious force pushed against her. She stumbled as she raised her arms above her head. Something dragged her toward the now open door, hands like icy fire scalding her forearms. Her fingers latched onto the door, closing it on her way through. The force continued to pull her down the tight attic stairs. Her foot twisted. She grabbed at the wall, the railing, anything.
She landed on her back and slid down the remaining three stairs, thunking her head against each one on her way down. Her hand caught the banister and she laid there, feeling every step digging into her. She’d lost the voice recorder. Her keys and flashlight were gone too, who knew where.
She took in a deep breath and slowly sat up, closing her eyes momentarily.
As they opened, the flashlight turned itself on. Three steps below her.
Her heart froze. The only way to turn the light on was to hold the button.
It stuttered and shut off.
Her chest heaved as she stood, inching along the wall down the other half of the stairs.
“Is everything okay?”
She looked into the beam of Dexx’s flashlight as he turned the corner. She joined him on the second floor and picked up her keys. “Yeah. Peachy.”
“What happened? Did you miss your step?”
“Don’t I wish. Find anything in the basement?”
“Not a damned thing. Y
ou?”
“Kinda.”
Dexx took a spare flashlight out of his back pocket, pointed it at his face and turned it on. He jerked away, lighting the stairs with a grimace.
“I think I found a ghost.” Paige searched for her voice recorder afraid to move closer to the stairs. She wanted to get as far away from that attic as she could. “A girl ghost. And she hates me.”
“Really. What did you do to piss her off?”
“Not a clue.”
“Let’s go check it out.” He moved past her to the climb the stairs.
Backing up, Paige kicked her voice recorder. She stooped to pick it up. A chill ran over her as she rose. Her nostrils flared as she stared around the tiny landing trying to see what had thrown her before.
Dexx stopped about midway up. “What’s wrong?”
“Cold spot.” Her heart raced even though she knew she’d lose cool points if she freaked out. “Dead people. I think there are dead people around me.”
He brought out his video camera. “You talk to demons and get the willies around ghosts?” He flipped the screen. “I don’t see anything.”
Of course, by that time, the cold front had passed and everything felt perfectly normal. She shook herself and trudged up the stairs after Dexx. “I like demons better. I can at least see those.”
“Why don’t you go ahead of me?” He stepped to one side of the narrow stair. “That way if this ghost or whatever does something, I’m here to catch it.”
“Great.” She pushed ahead of him.
“There shouldn’t be anything here. One guy was shot downstairs about a century ago.” Dexx entered the attic and stood by the stair entrance. “Well, and there’s a mirror with the creepy face that sometimes shows up.”
“That one’s easily de-bunked.” Paige looked at the Mel meter, but couldn’t make out the reading. “I don’t un—” Her feet left the floor. She flew across the room. She hit a beam and landed on the floor with a loud thump.
“Holy shit! Paige, you okay?”
She hurt. Every muscle in her body felt bruised. She lifted her head. Her flashlight lay on the floor between her and the door.
Dexx scanned the room with his camera as he approached toward her. “Pea?”
“I’m fine.” Her voice quivered. The cop in her told her to stay, figure out what was going on, but she wanted to get the hell out of there. “Let’s go.”
“Yeah. I think that might be a good idea.”
Together, they gathered her gear and walked carefully out of the room.
“I want to know how she got here,” Dexx said quietly in Paige’s ear as they eased down the rickety, narrow stairs. “She wasn’t here the last time.”
“Could be she just never decided to show herself.”
“Yeah, but who is she? She didn’t show up on any of my research. Like I said, there was only the one guy.”
“What about some little girl who got really sick and just died?”
Dexx moved around her as they moved to the main staircase. “Nope. All the kids that lived in this house lived to ripe old ages.”
“No childhood deaths?” she asked. “At all?”
“None. Let’s go find Tru. There’s one more spot I wanted to check before we left for the night, but I thought it might be best if we tag-teamed this one.”
“This is why Les insists on going in teams.” Paige descended the stairs to the main entrance, her entire body shaking. The night had just begun and she was ready for it to be over.
TRU STEPPED OUT of another room. “Find anything?”
Warmth from Dexx’s fingertips seeped into the cold base of Paige’s lower back. “You are going to piss yourself when you review the tapes.”
“Really.” Tru’s face lit up like someone told him Santa was real. “What happened?”
“Paige was attacked.”
“Holy shit. Paige, are you okay?”
She nodded, the slight movement tugging on her sore neck. “Yeah, but I’d sure like to be done now.”
Tru winced at Dexx. “We could check out the cellar later, another day?”
“We could take her back to her room?”
“I’m not staying by myself, guys. I know I’m a big girl, all grown up, but I am not staying by myself.”
Both men were good and refrained from laughing.
Tru screwed his lips to the side, his expression folded in worry. “You’re sure you’re okay.”
He did care. How sweet. “Banged and bruised, but good. Frightened as all hell, but good.”
He released a puff of breath. “Okay. Well, D, we’ll just come back tomorrow night.”
Dexx glanced at her. “You want to break down or keep it set up?”
“Keep it set up. I’ve got the whole weekend. I was just going to record and see what I came up with. You won’t believe the equipment I’ve got set up.”
Paige set the Mel and the camera on the table next to her, her hands still shaking. Shaking? Seriously? She hoped the boys didn’t notice. “You know what? We’re here. Let’s just do it.”
“No.” Tru went to the corner and laid a hard-sided case on the floor, popping it open. “You were attacked.”
“Typically, that means go investigate.”
“I’ve got cameras up. Safety first.” He turned back to his case, stashing the hand-held equipment. “Les is already going to kill me.”
Paige shook out her hands and feet. “No. Come on. Just really quick.”
Dexx and Tru exchanged a look.
“Okay,” Tru rose from storing his electronics. “If you’re sure.”
“We’re paranormal investigators tonight, right? Being pushed by invisible people is part of the job description.”
“Actually, not really. Pushed?” He opened the front door for her and Dexx. “Seriously?”
“Like he said. You’re gonna piss yourself.”
They walked out of the house and around to the side. The night was quiet and cool.
Tru threw open the large wooden doors leading down to the cellar.
Paige paused. “Do you hear that?” No sounds. No cars. No insects. No breeze. Nothing.
Dexx met her gaze in the near darkness, one eyebrow raised. “Something’s going on.”
Paige stared at the slave shack she knew was out there somewhere beyond her sight. “Connected to the case, or an anomaly?”
“Now, that’s a damn good question.” Dexx retreated through the cellar stairwell.
“Ah, fuck.” She squared her shoulders then descended the stairs after Tru. Solid earth met her feet at the bottom. Shelves lined the walls. Dust and must choked the air.
Dexx touched one of the jars on the shelves that looked as though they’d been around since before the Revolutionary War. “So this is what happens to . . . I can’t even tell what these are.”
“Guys,” Tru said, his eyes glued to the screen. “You’ve gotta see this.”
They walked to his side. The screen of the thermal camera showed everything in the room in hues of the heat-directed color spectrum. The solid walls were a brilliant red. However, the far corner blazed white.
“What the hell is that?” Paige asked.
“Let’s get some readings.” Tru grabbed the EMF reader from his pocket, handing the thermal imager to Dexx. He started his sweep away from the odd corner. “Base reading of the room is a point five. But the closer I get to that corner, the hotter it gets. Three point two. Three point eight.”
Paige edged toward the far corner, her body tight. The cool touch of the night dissipated as she drew nearer. She found it harder and harder to breathe. “Do you smell that?”
Dexx shook his head. The screen of the thermal camera cast a green illumination on his face. “Over the dirt?”
“It smells like something’s dead,” Tru said, standing just behind her.
“Sulfur.” Dexx’s hand shot out and grabbed Paige. “Demons.”
“Great. Something I can deal with.” Though she didn’t feel strong
enough to deal with them. Not at the moment.
“I got a bad feeling about this, guys,” Dexx said. “Let’s pack it up.”
Tru shined his light on Paige. “You don’t look so good.”
“It’s just—” Her chest constricted. Spots of bright light scattered before her eyes. A wave of dizziness attacked her. Voices intruded her mind. An invisible fist slammed against her mental shields. Visions flashed behind her eyelids.
“Sit down.” Dexx dragged her toward the old wooden steps.
The voices crowded inward, forcing her thoughts in every direction. “Dexx, something’s wrong.” She leaned back on the steps, closing her eyes.
Dexx looked at Tru “You catching anything? Is this paranormal, or is she safe?”
Tru pulled another camcorder out of one of his other pockets. He turned it on and placed it on a shelf, pointing it to the corner. He pulled out the LCD screen. “I got a shadow. Maybe we should just go. Let the evidence talk to us in the morning.”
“Could the shadow be one of ours?”
“Nope. Not us. Dude, I’m spooked, and I don’t spook.”
Dexx returned his attention to Paige, a worried frown furrowing his brow. “How often do people get pushed? Violently pushed in a house your wife cleared?” His gaze flicked in the direction of the far corner. “Set your equipment quickly. We need to get out of here.”
Tru stopped, his EMF reader out in front of him. “This thing’s spiking. The energy’s building. We’re in double digits. Guys.”
“My arsenal’s in the trunk of my car.”
“We’ve gotta go!”
Paige shuddered, her entire world shrinking. The lack of oxygen to the brain distorted everything. Dexx’s and Tru’s voices sounded like they were under water.
“Let’s get her out of here. Now.” Dexx took her arm, shoving her up the stairs.
A guttural roar echoed through the room.
Dexx stumbled. “What the fuck?”
Paige’s world tilted, angled to one side. Sound sliced through her head like a knife; a river, a tree breaking, a car door, a woman screaming.
“What the hell are you doing, man?” Dexx shouted.
Chief White stood at the top of the stairs, one of the doors of the cellar in his hand. “You’re not going anywhere.” A crazed gleam boiled in his eyes as he let the door drop.
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