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

by K. E. O'Connor

  “Exactly, I think he just wants to help us. I get the impression he’s a bit lonely travelling around on his own all the time. Maybe he just wants some company.”

  “Could be that,” said Lauren. “So, we’ve got some time to kill before we can do anything with the portal. What do you want to do?”

  “Fancy some more classic hits from our former home owner?” Charlie stood up from the floor. “Would you like to dance again?”

  Lauren laughed and followed Charlie out of the room and back into the study.

  They spent the rest of the day listening to music and relaxing as they waited for Grant to return.

  It was just past ten o’clock at night when he suddenly reappeared, a bag in his hand.

  “Did you find everything you needed?” Lauren switched off the music.

  “Yes. I may even have been overly ambitious in what I collected,” said Grant. “As I was hunting for equipment, I was thinking about the energy manipulation we need to achieve. It really shouldn’t be too tricky, particularly if you will be acting as an energy conduit, Lauren. It’s simply about getting the balance right.”

  “Shall we go to the portal now?” Charlie was already on his feet.

  “Maybe we should wait until morning.” Lauren looked out the window into the night sky.

  “It makes no bones to me,” said Grant. “I’m happy to go now if it suits you both.”

  “We can always take some torches,” said Charlie. “I saw some in the kitchen.”

  “Their batteries will be dead,” said Lauren.

  “Batteries aren’t a problem, I found plenty of those,” said Grant.

  “Okay, let’s give it a go.” Lauren fetched two torches from the kitchen before returning to the study. She held her hands out and Grant and Charlie took hold and she transported them back to the edge of the lake.

  Grant stepped back and looked around. “There really is a portal here? And it’s so close to the house. I’m surprised I’ve not sensed it myself.”

  “I found it in the middle of the lake on a tiny island. Initially, I thought it was underwater and spent some time exploring the bottom of the lake bed.” Charlie shrugged at Grant’s look of surprise. “I’m really sensitive when it comes to identifying portals.”

  “That must have been fun hunting underwater,” said Grant.

  Charlie grinned in response. “It was. I finally discovered the portal half buried on the island, as if it had tilted over and become sucked in by the mud.”

  “It’s very weak,” said Lauren. “When I went inside and examined the energy panel there was only one working energy beam and it didn't look too healthy. I hope we aren’t too late to repair it.”

  “Let’s find out,” said Grant. They all transported onto the island and Lauren was relieved to see the portal entrance still standing.

  Grant walked up to the small wooden portal and ran his hands around the edge. “This is fascinating. It must have had some kind of covering over the wood initially, otherwise, it would simply have rotted away.”

  “It’s got some carvings on it too,” said Charlie.

  “I see them.” Grant ran his fingers along a couple of the carvings. “And as you’ve both said I also don’t get much sense that the portal is working. Maybe a very weak sensation of portal energy but nothing more.”

  “Do you want to take a look inside?” asked Charlie.

  “First, I need to set up the equipment, then I will have a quick investigation inside.” Grant opened the bag and pulled out three car batteries. He took out some heavy duty jump leads, a roll of copper coil and an ammeter.

  “Lauren, why don’t you go in and check to see the state of the energy panel,” said Grant. “Assess the state of play as it were.”

  “Will do.” Lauren turned and stepped through the portal door. She was instantly wrapped in the usual drabness of a portal. As she moved forward, Lauren felt several blasts of cold air. She hurried forward, not keen to spend too much time in the portal on her own, located the panel and opened it.

  Inside were the five dead looking energy beams and a single beam that pulsed a sickly, yellow light at her.

  Lauren left the panel open and returned to Grant and Charlie. “It all looks the same in there. But I thought I sensed others inside, possibly other ghosts. Is that possible? Could the portal have trapped ghosts inside because it isn’t working correctly?”

  Grant looked up from the wire he was uncurling. “Well, I’m not entirely certain. I guess it could if the energy signal wasn’t working correctly. It may be able to lure in a ghost and then trap them. Let’s hope that isn’t the case or there could be many distressed ghosts that have been trapped inside for I don’t know how long.”

  “Will we cause them any harm if we mess with the portal?” asked Charlie.

  “The outcome should be positive for them,” said Grant. “If we can repair the portal, anyone trapped inside should simply cross over. I don’t see how it could do them any harm. Most likely they will thank us for it if they are even aware of what is going on.”

  “Another reason to get the portal working.” Charlie grinned at Lauren.

  Grant stood up and scrubbed at the mud on his trousers. “The batteries have been set up so we have a backup system if Lauren needs a boost of energy. You should also be able to use them to help jump start the broken energy beams inside the portal if you need to. We can hook these batteries up to the portal and try to jump start them just like you would a car.”

  “Will there be enough power in the batteries to do that?” Lauren looked down at the three batteries. “Surely, a portal is more powerful than they are.”

  “The portal should only need a small jolt to get it operational again. From your earlier account of the energy beams, it looks like the portal has some residual power still remaining. In addition, if there are ghosts in there, their energy should help to sustain the portal when it is running again. Once functional, more ghosts will cross over and help make the portal even stronger. The batteries will work if we need them.”

  “I’ll come with you,” said Charlie.

  “That’s not a good idea,” replied Lauren. “If I get the portal working you might just disappear on me.”

  “Attach yourself to this.” Grant held out a length of rope to Charlie. “If you tie yourself to me I can keep hold of one end and if I feel you moving too far into the portal I will bring you back safely.”

  Charlie nodded as he looped the rope around his waist and tied it securely. “That sounds like a good idea. I’d like to see Lauren in action.”

  Lauren’s cheeks coloured. “I’m no expert, this is done more by luck than anything else.”

  “Then you are one lucky ghost.” Grant smiled as he tied himself to the rope. “I’m ready when you both are.”

  Lauren nodded and then led the way through into the portal, her grip tight on Charlie’s arm as she headed straight over to the energy panel.

  “How are you doing?” Lauren asked Charlie. “Any issues with the portal?”

  “No problems so far.” Charlie looked around the inside of the portal. “I don’t get a strong sense of anything in here. There are occasional lights and sound but nothing else.”

  “Pay attention as I work on the energy beams and let me know if things change.” Lauren stared at the dead looking energy beams. “I’m going to start with the one that has some power in it to see if I can make it any stronger.”

  “I’ll keep watch,” said Charlie.

  Lauren discreetly studied Charlie, checking for any signs of his portal addiction, but he seemed relaxed, his hands in his jeans pockets as he rocked gently backwards and forwards and looked around the portal. She turned her attention back to the panel and carefully slid her hands inside, running them along the energy beam.

  “There’s definitely a small amount of power still in here,” said Lauren. “I’m going to try to use some of my own energy to make it stronger.”

  “Don’t drain yourself too much,�
� said Charlie. “I’m not sure those batteries Grant has outside will be strong enough to restore you.”

  “I’ve got plenty of energy,” said Lauren. “I think I’ve probably been absorbing energy from every portal I’ve ever been inside without realising it.” The energy beam in Lauren’s hand pulsed and then flickered out.

  Charlie looked at the now dead beam. “Did you mean to do that? All the light just faded.”

  “Yes, that was exactly my plan.” Lauren shook her head and tightened her grip on the beam. “Looks like we got here just in time.”

  “Can you bring it back to life?”

  “Let’s see.” She focused on feeding the portal some of her energy, releasing it through her hands and feeling the warmth of her energy flow into the beam. A few seconds later the beam flickered back to life, this time, the colour looking green and healthy.

  “I definitely felt a change in the portal,” said Charlie. “I’m now getting stronger flashes of colour in here when I look around.”

  “I’m going to try with the next beam, but there’s no energy coming out of any of the others.” Lauren adjusted her grip and felt around for the second beam.

  “Could you use the energy from the working beam to get the others operating too? Are they connected?” asked Charlie.

  “They might be, but it seems like they are in a huge loop, and I don’t know how to get to any damaged bits deeper inside the panel.” Lauren ran her hands along one of the dead energy beams and focused on replenishing some of its energy. After a moment, her head began to ache uncomfortably and she removed her hands from the panel. “I’m not sure this is going to work.”

  “Shall I go and get the batteries?” asked Charlie.

  “Yes, let’s see if they will get the dead beams working again.” Lauren took her hands out of the panel.

  “Be right back.” Charlie headed back out of the portal, leaving Lauren alone in the greyness.

  She looked around and tried to see the flashes Charlie had experienced, but the greyness stuck to her like a fog, dense and swirling, almost choking her if she focused on it for too long.

  Charlie emerged back through the portal carrying two of the batteries and the jump leads. “Grant said to attach the jump leads to the batteries and then attach the other end to the energy beams if you can.” He placed the batteries on the ground and then handed Lauren the leads.

  “It’s worth a go.” She followed Charlie’s instructions and then carefully pushed her hands back into the portal and slowly attached the jump leads to the first dead energy beam.

  “Grant said it might take a moment for anything to happen,” said Charlie.

  They both watched the energy beam for any signs of life but it remained resolutely dead.

  “Grant seemed really excited about doing this experiment,” said Charlie.

  “I get the impression he’s a bit of a science geek like Jeremy.”

  “I like him, he’s been really helpful.”

  “Yeah, he seems like a decent guy.” Lauren adjusted the jump leads and reapplied the connectors.

  “Give it a minute.” Charlie squeezed Lauren’s arm.

  She sighed and then smiled at Charlie. “I know, I’m too impatient.”

  “It’s one of your most endearing qualities.”

  “Sure it is.” Lauren smirked. “Wait a second, I think the beam just flickered.”

  A few more seconds passed, and the portal dimmed before lights flickered all around them. Lauren stared at the energy beam as a tiny white light shone out of it.

  “It’s working,” she said.

  Charlie looked around. “It’s definitely changing in here.”

  “Are you still with me? You're not going to fade away are you?”

  “Okay so far.”

  Lauren waited another five minutes before removing the leads and applying them to the next energy beam. “If you need to go I won’t mind. I’m trying to get the next beam going.”

  It took another twenty minutes before the third energy beam started to glow.

  “I’m going to leave now,” said Charlie. “I’m starting to see things.”

  “Go back to the house,” said Lauren. “We’ll meet you there once we’ve got everything working again.”

  Charlie hesitated, his gaze taking in the new surroundings.

  “Get out of here.” Lauren tugged hard on the rope around Charlie’s waist and instantly it tightened as Grant pulled on the other end.

  “I’ll see you later.” Charlie disappeared swiftly out of the portal.

  ******

  Three hours later, Lauren and Grant returned to the house, their mission a success, the portal was now functioning again.

  Lauren headed to the room she shared with Charlie and flopped onto one of the couches, letting out an exhausted, happy sigh.

  “You got it working?” Charlie appeared in front of her. “I was looking around upstairs when I heard you both come back.”

  Lauren grinned. “We did. It felt really good to get that portal working. It’s not quite right yet but I saw something in there as we were adjusting the energy frequencies.”

  Charlie joined her on the couch. “Sorry, I had to abandon you in there.”

  “It’s fine. I knew you wouldn’t be able to stay for too long. You’ll have to come back and see if we can tweak the energy enough so that it works for both of us. It will be great to have a portal that we can both use if we need to.”

  “Or even if we want to,” said Charlie. “We have choices now.”

  Grant knocked on the door and then walked in. “A good evening’s work I think.”

  “We were just saying the same thing,” said Charlie. “We can go back tomorrow and finish up if you want to.”

  “Yes, fine by me,” said Grant. “I will bring along some monitoring equipment this time and then we can really fine tune the portal so that you both get the most out of it without adversely affecting either of you.”

  “I’ll also need to give myself an energy boost,” said Lauren. “I’m feeling pretty tired, which is definitely not usual.”

  “I don’t like to insult you but you do look a little ragged around the edges,” said Grant. “You may have used a little more energy than you should have done when you were getting the portal up and running.”

  “I didn’t realise it was absorbing so much of my energy.” Lauren looked herself over, noticing the colours on her clothes appeared faded.

  “It will be perfectly fine for you to take a little of the energy from the portal now it is operational. Ghosts will become attracted to it once again so they will help to sustain the portal. If you could leave it for a few days just to give the portal time to stabilise that would be ideal, but if you need to feed straightaway then don’t wait,” said Grant.

  “No, I can wait,” said Lauren. “I’m still feeling pretty good, no holes in me just yet.”

  “Well, then it’s a date.” Grant smiled at them both. “If you would excuse me, I’d like to record our studies so far. This is a body of work I am fascinated by and could definitely build upon it. You never know, it might even entice the Academy to ask me back to teach their recruits.”

  Charlie nodded. “I could just imagine you as a teacher. I think you’d be great there.”

  Grant chuckled. “They would need to change a few of their rules before I went back, but it’s an interesting idea. I will see you both tomorrow.”

  As Grant left the room, Charlie rested his arm against Lauren’s. “I think we’ve finally done it.”

  “Done what?” Lauren enjoyed the closeness of Charlie.

  “Found a solution for both of us, and if the worst happens at the Academy, we have another option. We don’t need to run or hide, we can both leave and go on to whatever is next for us.”

  A little of Lauren’s happiness drifted away as Charlie spoke. She knew it was good to have the option to cross over, especially if they were going to be forced to by the Academy, but she just didn’t feel ready to lea
ve yet. Lauren still didn’t know who really killed her and she just couldn’t believe that her mum had been involved. Until she had solved that mystery she wasn’t going anywhere, no matter what Charlie or the Academy had to say.

  Chapter 5

  Lauren’s eyes flicked open. The room was icy cold, but it was the images that flashed in front of her that left her trembling. She’d had the same vision as before, seeing her mum stab her and then leave her dying on the front porch of their house. Lauren drew in a ragged breath and looked over at Charlie. But he had gone. He was not in his usual place, next to her on the couch.

  Lauren scrubbed her hand across her face and then looked around the room. It felt like the dead of night, barely any light coming in through the window.

  She stood up and took a few more breaths, focusing on pushing away the disturbing visions that had hit her. Where was Charlie? It was not like him to go wandering, he usually stayed by Lauren’s side all night.

  She walked to the door and then paused, listening for any sounds in the house. She thought she heard someone breathing, but it was very faint. Lauren gently pushed her way through the door and out into the main hallway. She looked in both directions but couldn’t see anybody.

  “Charlie.” Lauren’s voice was low as she walked towards the kitchen.

  She stopped again and listened. There was definitely the sound of someone breathing, inhaling deeply, and she was closer to the sound now. She walked through the kitchen door and stopped.

  Grant had Charlie pinned against the kitchen cabinets, his fingers around his throat. A dark red mist of energy shot from Charlie's mouth.

  “What are you doing?” Lauren ran over and grabbed Grant’s shoulder, tugging him away from Charlie.

  Grant span round and shoved Lauren away from him. “I’m feeding.”

  “Did Charlie say you could feed on him?” Lauren staggered and then righted herself.

  “I’ll leave enough so he survives.” Grant turned back to Charlie and yanked him forward by his jacket collar.

  “Let him go.” Lauren’s fists clenched and she ran over and pummelled Grant’s back.