Exile: Ghost Academy (YA paranormal adventure, book 4)

by K. E. O'Connor

  Lauren’s gaze flashed to Grant. “We haven’t made any decisions about what we are doing.”

  He held his hands up and leaned back. “I can only speak from my own knowledge of their work. It may be they have changed their ways.”

  “No, they haven't changed, they're still causing problems,” said Lauren. “But it's not as simple as that. When I do encounter a very powerful portal, I can only take so much energy. If I get too much it sort of leaks out of me. I’ve never had all that much control over what I did with the energy I absorbed. I don't imagine I would be as useful to the Deviants as you seem to think I would.”

  “Are you talking about the portal at the Academy?” asked Grant. “That is an old portal with such concentrated power. If so, I am astonished you were able to take any of it.”

  “Sounds like your ability is better than you realised,” said Charlie to Lauren.

  Lauren shifted in her seat. “It’s not so great.”

  “It sounds as if your ability is incredible and unique and the Academy would be fools to let you go.” Grant stretched his arms over his head. “Well, with all this extra energy I might go and explore outside myself. I suddenly feel like a new man thanks to you, Lauren.”

  “It was nothing really,” said Lauren. “But I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

  Grant stood up. “I also want to keep check that our unfriendly guest does not make a reappearance. I think I got rid of him, but you can never be too careful. We ghosts are tricky characters.”

  “Good idea,” said Charlie. “We’ll keep an eye out too just to make sure.”

  “I will see you later I expect,” said Grant. “We can have a fake ghost dinner together.” He grinned and then left the room.

  “He knew a lot about the Academy,” said Lauren.

  “Shows he was there. He definitely knows the professors and how things operate. And he’s a good example that you can leave the Academy and still carry on living as a ghost.”

  Lauren nodded. It did give her some hope that they may be able to get away from the Academy and remain free without being crossed over.

  “You didn’t have any after-effects from giving him some of your energy?” asked Charlie.

  “No, it was just a tiny amount. I held most of it back, but it seemed to help him.”

  “It’s good that you can control how much energy you give out,” said Charlie. “I wish I had that much control of my portal addiction.”

  Lauren twisted her fingers into her hair. She worried about Charlie’s portal addiction and how she was going to keep him safe from being taken into a portal and leaving her.

  Charlie stood up from the couch. “Speaking of which, let’s go figure out our new portal.” He held his hand out to Lauren and she stood and took hold of it, letting him lead her along the corridor to their makeshift bedroom.

  “What’s to figure out?” Lauren pushed open the door to the room.

  There was a bed in there but neither of them used it to sleep on. They had arranged two ancient, dusty couches along the walls so they both had space to spread out on. Other than the couches there was a side table, some dark green velvet curtains hanging at the window and a dusty fireplace.

  “How to repair it,” said Charlie as they both settled on the couches.

  Lauren flipped her feet off the floor and hung them over the edge of one of the arms. She glanced back at Charlie. “What exactly do you want to do with this new portal anyway?”

  “Get it working again.”

  “But why? Won’t you just want to go into it once it’s properly repaired?” Lauren studied her bitten fingernails.

  Charlie didn’t speak for a moment. When he did his voice was low. “Is that such a bad thing? If the Academy decides we have to cross over I’d have a place I can come to, or maybe even go before they make their decision.”

  Lauren abruptly sat up. “You’d really do that? But what about everything you were saying about not leaving me alone?”

  Charlie’s gaze went to the ceiling. “It’s always good to have options.”

  “It’s nice for you to have them you mean,” snapped Lauren.

  Charlie dipped his chin, his gaze briefly meeting Lauren’s. “Sorry, that was thoughtless of me.”

  Lauren hopped up from the couch and paced around the room. “You know, it’s maybe not such a stupid idea.”

  “My idea is not stupid? Well, that’s a good thing.” Charlie grinned at Lauren.

  “No, I didn’t mean that. I meant maybe we could get the portal working but not quite in the way that you were talking about. What if I could get the portal working so that it showed me an afterlife too? If I did that on one portal it wouldn’t affect the others would it?”

  Charlie scratched his chin. “I don’t know. I’d always assumed they were linked, somehow channelling everyone who had died to an afterlife, a single place.”

  “I don’t know about that. But if this portal is broken and is no longer being used, maybe I could get it up and running enough so that it would work for me.” Lauren looked over at Charlie. “It might still work for you as well.”

  “It’s worth a try,” said Charlie. “I don’t mind having a not so amazing afterlife if you get one as well.”

  Lauren’s stomach flipped over, surprised at how easily Charlie would give up a decent afterlife so they could still be together. “And if the Academy decides we should be forced over then we know we have something good to go to.”

  “I like your plan,” said Charlie.

  Lauren bounced on her toes. “I could maybe even get it to work for some of the Deviants too. Think about what that could mean. If they had an afterlife to go to, I bet most of them would cross over and stop messing with other portals.”

  “Not all of them would.” Charlie’s expression darkened. “Some of them just want to damage the portals and bring back those who have already crossed over.”

  “I bet most of them are just frustrated because they have nowhere else to go, no other options. If I could give them a better option it might work.”

  “If you could get it working would you cross over?” asked Charlie.

  “No, well, I don’t know, probably not.” Lauren looked around the room as if seeking inspiration. “It would just be nice to know, like you, that there were options if my hand was forced.”

  “We can give it a go,” said Charlie. “How do you think we can get it working like that?”

  Lauren chewed on the inside of her mouth. That was the problem, she wasn’t entirely sure how to fix the portal enough so that it showed her an afterlife without affecting other ghosts like Charlie.

  Charlie stood up and joined Lauren. “You can use me as a guinea pig, see what you can achieve with this portal.”

  “Thanks for the offer,” said Lauren. “But you aren’t vanishing on me because I mess up our amateur portal repair efforts.”

  “We have time to practice, see what we can get right,” said Charlie. “We’ve got another week or so until the Academy make their decision about us.”

  “It would be good to try,” said Lauren.

  A knock at the door interrupted them.

  “Must be Grant.” Charlie walked to the door and opened it.

  Grant stood outside, his hands clasped together. “I believe our visitor has returned. I followed some sounds outside and they merged through one of the outside walls and into the kitchen.”

  “Let’s go and investigate,” said Lauren. “See if we can find out what this unfriendly ghost wants with us.”

  Charlie followed Lauren as she dashed towards the kitchen. He grabbed her arm just before she went through the door. “Maybe you need to slow down. We don’t know what we are dealing with. Remember it almost choked me the last time we met.”

  “We don’t want it here if it’s going to try to do us harm,” said Lauren. She looked at Grant who was right behind Charlie. “What do you think?”

  “We definitely need to investigate what our new friend is doing,”
said Grant. “If he wants to do any of us harm then we will need to encourage him to leave for good this time.”

  “Agreed,” said Lauren. “You coming?” She looked at Charlie.

  He let go of her arm, a sigh escaping his lips. “Okay, but just be careful.”

  “I’m always careful.” Lauren grinned at Charlie and then pushed through the kitchen door.

  “Whoever it is seemed weak,” said Grant. “I wasn’t able to make contact, but I passed through a number of cold spots, so there is someone here.”

  “You said it was a he?” asked Lauren.

  “If it’s the same ghost as last night, that was male, so I assumed it was the same entity that had returned to bother us again,” said Grant.

  Lauren nodded. “Maybe you damaged him when you fought?”

  “Quite possibly. I took a fair chunk of his energy, but he did the same to me, so neither of us came out of it particularly well.” Grant pointed to the far corner of the kitchen. “Over there.”

  Lauren couldn’t see anything, but moved towards the spot. “Charlie, do you sense anything?”

  Charlie shook his head. “Just us.” His gaze went around the room. “I don’t think anyone else is here.”

  Grant scratched his head. “I was certain there was someone else in here with me, just a moment ago.”

  “Could it have been some residual energy from the ghost you attacked?” suggested Lauren.

  “Possibly, but I was certain someone else was here.” Grant walked slowly around the kitchen. “There was a trail outside that led me into here.”

  “How about we all look around one more time?” suggested Charlie.

  “I don’t want to trouble you,” said Grant.

  “No, it’s fine, we were just trying to figure out a puzzle of our own. Maybe a break from that would help clear our minds.” Charlie looked over at Lauren. “What do you reckon?”

  “Sure.” Lauren shrugged, not certain it would help them figure out anything new about the malfunctioning portal.

  “Shall we?” Grant gestured back out into the main corridor and the three of them walked along it. “If you don’t mind me asking, what’s the puzzle you’re trying to solve?”

  Lauren and Charlie looked at each other.

  “I don’t mean to pry,” said Grant, “but I do love a good mystery.”

  “What do you know about the principles of the ghost portals?” asked Lauren.

  “Are you referring to the principles of energy and matter?”

  “I might be.” Lauren gave Charlie a confused glance.

  “It just so happens that in my living years I used to be a physicist. Nothing up there with Einstein, but I taught at colleges for many years, trying to get my unenthusiastic pupils excited by the principles of physical sciences. I also have an interest in electromagnetism and quantum mechanics, but that’s just a hobby. When I mentioned the Academy selected me because I was nosey, that was really what I meant. I enjoy solving and unpicking complicated ideas.”

  “Does that mean you understand how the portals work?” asked Charlie.

  “Yes, I have a decent understanding of energy transformation. As the Academy will have taught you, we are basically big human blobs of energy, and being energy, we have the capacity to change into different forms.”

  “They did talk a lot about that,” said Lauren. “Given what you know, could you repair a portal?”

  Grant paused from his inspection of a loose floorboard in the hallway. He looked up at Lauren. “I believe so.”

  Lauren grinned at Charlie. They may have just found a solution to get the portal fixed.

  Chapter 4

  Lauren, Charlie and Grant abandoned their investigation around the house and returned to the main dining room.

  Charlie sat down on the floor and Lauren and Grant took the two wooden chairs.

  “We found a portal that we’d like to try to repair.” Lauren focused her attention on Grant. “It looks like it’s been abandoned and the entrance buried underground, but it is just about operational.”

  “How intriguing. Why do you want to repair it?” asked Grant.

  “To give us some options,” said Charlie. He looked at Lauren and shrugged. “It’s complicated.”

  Grant nodded his head swiftly. “I understand, it’s not my business to ask. But I am most interested in trying to restore a portal. In my short time at the Academy, I did use my knowledge to assist with some of Jeremy’s work. He has such fascinating ideas about how the portals work. I did enjoy my time with him.”

  Charlie nodded. “Jeremy is great.”

  “Have you been inside this portal or is it completely dead?” asked Grant.

  “We have both been inside,” said Lauren. “I saw nothing, but then that’s not unusual. Charlie also went in but it didn’t really do much for him either.”

  “And that definitely is unusual,” said Charlie. “I have something of an issue with the portals and can’t seem to resist their call.”

  Grant nodded his head again, his eyes shining. “Oh yes, I completely understand that. It’s what they are there for, after all, to encourage the recently dead to enter and cross over as swiftly and easily as possible.”

  “We want to try to alter the energy frequency inside this portal,” said Lauren. “At the moment, when I go into a portal I don’t see anything. I don’t have an afterlife to go to.”

  Grant blinked rapidly several times. “I can see how that could present a problem for you should you ever wish to cross over.”

  “Or be forced to cross over,” said Lauren. “However, I have been in a portal which has worked for me but it meant that it didn’t work for anybody else. We want to see if we can alter the energy frequency within a portal enough so that both Charlie and I can have an afterlife. Or can at least see an afterlife and can make a choice about whether to go in or not.”

  Grant leaned forward in his seat resting his elbows on his knees. “This is an interesting proposition. It would need to be a fine balance between creating a portal that opened up a pathway for you, Lauren, and also provided enough of an afterlife for Charlie. If it’s too far one way or the other either you will see nothing, or Charlie will want to disappear straight into the portal and you will never see him again.”

  “Exactly,” said Lauren. “We need to get this right. I don’t want to risk either of us disappearing inside the portal.” Her gaze drifted to Charlie and she raised an eyebrow.

  “I will be careful,” said Charlie. “If it gets too intense for me at any stage of this experiment I will come back here.”

  “I was actually thinking of tethering you to something in the house so that you couldn’t get away,” said Lauren.

  Grant gave a startled laugh.

  “She isn’t even joking,” said Charlie.

  “The principles of changing an energy frequency are fairly straightforward,” said Grant. “We would need a decent energy source. Also access to the energy panel within the portal itself. That will allow you to manipulate the flow of the energy, and also its strength, just to make sure that it doesn’t become overwhelming, or equally underwhelming, for either of you.”

  “I can alter energy inside a portal,” said Lauren. “I can take and give my own energy to a portal to adjust it.”

  “You will need to be careful giving away too much to a portal that has been drained or is not working correctly,” said Grant. “You run the risk of becoming too drained yourself and that would be dangerous for you.”

  “What do you suggest?” asked Lauren.

  “Some powerful batteries could be used to give you a boost of power.” Grant tapped his fingers against his chin. “It’s not ideal, a portal is much stronger, but we can use them as a backup if you become drained and your form starts to break down.”

  “You mean jump start Lauren like you would a car?” said Charlie.

  “Yes, that is it exactly,” said Grant.

  “Are you affected by the portals?” asked Charlie. “Would
you working on one be too difficult? I mean would you have the urge to go inside?”

  “Most likely,” said Grant. “I have been exposed to portals for forty years so I do have some degree of control when I am around them. However, if you sat me in front of the Academy’s portal and opened the door I would not be able to resist.”

  “I know that feeling,” said Charlie.

  “Do you think you could help us with this?” asked Lauren.

  “I would be happy to try,” said Grant. “I love a good experiment, it reminds me of my living years.”

  “Is it easy to get your hands on the equipment you will need?” asked Charlie.

  “Simple enough,” said Grant. “I’m sure we can find some of the things we need around here. In fact, I’m certain I saw an old generator in one of the garages. And there were several cars, so there could be spare batteries that may be of use to us.”

  “When can we start?” Charlie’s eyes lit up in anticipation.

  “Give me a few hours to get everything together and we can start as soon as you like after that,” said Grant. “How does that sound?”

  “Sounds good,” said Charlie.

  “Excellent.” Grant hopped up from his seat and clapped his hands together. “Well, I’d better not waste any time, we have work to do.” He blinked out of sight.

  Charlie smiled at Lauren. “If you can get the portal working how we both need it to, that will be amazing.”

  “It would.” Lauren’s gaze stayed on the spot Grant has just vacated. “It’s really handy that he knows how to alter portals.”

  Charlie’s grin faded. “You sound uncertain about him. He’s being good to us.”

  “He is, and I shouldn’t be worried about him. He’s been nothing but kind ever since we met. But he almost seems too good to be true.”

  “He’s just a decent guy,” said Charlie. “We’ve met a few rogues recently so I can understand your scepticism.”

  Lauren nodded. “No, you’re right. Grant is a good guy, he helped us out when he didn’t have to. He could have just left us to fend off that other ghost when it attacked us. And he doesn’t need to risk being around a portal trying to fix it for us. It’s not like it’s going to benefit him.”