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

by K. E. O'Connor

  “You’re right about that.” Theo glared at Lauren. “I need to tell Maggie about this. She is not going to be happy.” Before Lauren had a chance to protest Theo vanished back inside the house leaving her on her own with the ghost hunters.

  Lauren licked her lips. She didn’t have much time left. She hurried over to the three ghost hunters.

  “Joe, go check out the back of the building. When we’ve got the readings from there we will attempt to get into the house. It doesn’t look like there are any human occupants inside so it shouldn’t be too difficult,” said Max. “A little breaking and entering all in the name of science should not be a problem.”

  “I’m on it, boss,” said Joe.

  Lauren followed Joe around to the back of the building, watching as he scanned the walls and gardens.

  She ran ahead a few steps and then turned to face him. “Can you hear me?”

  Joe walked straight through Lauren and then stopped. He shuddered and took a few steps back. “Man, that was a cold spot.” He stood there for a few seconds scanning the area.

  Lauren moved in front of him again and raised her voice. “It’s me, Lauren. Can you still hear me?”

  Joe looked around the walled garden and rubbed his hands up and down his arms. “There is something really creepy out here.” He moved forward a few steps, constantly scanning the area.

  Lauren heard raised voices and saw three Deviants coming outside. She looked back at Joe one more time and then hurried away. Once Theo told Maggie it was her fault the ghost hunters were there she would never be able to get away.

  Lauren entered the house through a back wall and scurried along the corridor towards Charlie. She was determined to get them both out before Maggie found out what she had done. She reached the entrance to the cells, checking around the whole time to make sure no one had spotted her. Lauren heard shouting but ignored it as she opened the door to the cells and shut it swiftly behind her.

  Remus was no longer monitoring the cells and the room appeared empty. She moved over to the control panel and looked down at the console, having no idea how to open Charlie’s cell, or what it would do to him if she did. All she could hope for was that Remus had managed to stabilise Charlie enough that he would be able to leave.

  Lauren walked over to Charlie’s cell, keeping her hands out in front of her so she would be able to sense the energy field around the cell. She stopped when she felt a buzz brush against her fingertips. She sighed in frustration, still several feet away from Charlie’s cell.

  “Charlie,” she whispered. “How are you doing?”

  Charlie slowly turned his head towards Lauren, his eyelids drooping down and his gaze unfocused. “I’m still here, but that’s about it.”

  “We’re going to have to leave and I need to release you from this energy field.”

  Charlie drew in a shaky breath. “Is something wrong?”

  “The ghost hunters have found the Deviants and it’s not safe here.” Lauren walked back and looked at the control panel, nerves spiralling in her stomach. “I just need to figure out how to use the panel to get you free.”

  “I’ll probably be okay in here.” Charlie’s speech slurred. “I can just disappear if the hunters do come.”

  “It’s more than that.” Lauren hesitated. “I was the one who invited them here. Maggie is not going to be happy with us.”

  Charlie's image wavered. “That could be a problem.”

  Lauren nodded. That was possibly the understatement of the year.

  The door behind them slammed open and Maggie stormed through, Theo on her heels. “Is this true? Were you the one who revealed our location to these ghost hunters?” Her eyes blazed as she glared at Lauren.

  Lauren looked over at Theo. He refused to meet her gaze and stared intently at the floor.

  “Well?” Maggie’s eyes narrowed to tiny slits, anger radiating out of her.

  “It was me.”

  “Is that all you have to say?” asked Maggie. “We have offered you sanctuary here on numerous occasions and this is how you decide to repay us. Allowing these hunters to invade our home and try to capture us. Do we really mean so little to you?”

  “It wasn’t about what you meant to me, it was what my friends at the Academy would lose if I didn’t get them free.”

  “Even though your Academy has refused you and failed to help you when your friend was in mortal danger, you still choose them over us.” Maggie’s mouth tugged down at the corners. “If you were my daughter I would be ashamed of you.”

  “I didn’t think they would really come here.” Lauren shuffled her feet, refusing to feel guilty.

  “These hunters are obsessed. They will go wherever they need to if they think they can find some of us to trap and experiment upon.” Maggie turned to Theo. “Place her in the end cell. I will deal with Lauren later, once the hunters have been removed.”

  “I’m not going into a cell.” Lauren held her hands up and backed away from Theo until she felt the tingle of the energy field around Charlie’s cell press into her back, a warning she could go no farther.

  “That is not a choice I’m offering you,” said Maggie. “Theo, restrain Lauren and place her in a cell.”

  Theo nodded, his face grim as he approached Lauren. “Sorry, but you left us with no other choice.”

  Lauren dodged around Theo and hurled herself at Maggie, catching her off guard as she clung onto her arms and launched them both across the room.

  As Lauren made contact with Maggie she experienced another vision of her mum, the image so surprising that she mistimed her next move and Maggie dodged away.

  The startled expression on Maggie’s face morphed into an enraged smile. “You really think you can do me harm?”

  Lauren recovered and took a few steps back from Maggie. “I’ll do whatever I have to if it means Charlie and I stay safe.” She grabbed at Maggie again, catching hold of her arm.

  Maggie twisted out of Lauren’s grip and pushed her away. Lauren stumbled backwards, but then ran straight back at Maggie and caught hold of a handful of her hair, swinging her around as she did so. The same image of her mum reappeared.

  Lauren pinned Maggie against the wall. “Why do I see her every time we make contact?”

  Maggie paused in her struggling. “Tell me who you see?”

  “I told you before, it’s my mum. I get a memory of her hurting me, but then it’s replaced with you. Why is that?”

  Maggie laughed, ducked down and struck Lauren’s arm.

  Lauren’s fingers loosened in Maggie’s hair and she lost her grip on her.

  “Why do you think you see your mum when we are close?” Maggie ran her hands through her hair as she studied Lauren.

  Lauren shook her head, still confused by the images. “I don’t know. We didn’t know you when I was alive.”

  Maggie glanced over at Theo and then returned her focus to Lauren. “You may not have known about me but I knew about you.”

  An icy cold feeling traced across Lauren’s body. “How did you know me?”

  “I like to observe potential recruits to see if they are worthy of joining the Deviants.”

  Lauren swallowed. “Observing them when they are alive?”

  “Exactly. It is important to determine the strength of a person’s character whilst they are still alive. It will dictate how they behave when they become a ghost.”

  Lauren’s head ached and she struggled to focus. “And what do you do when you find someone you want to recruit?”

  A sly smile spread across Maggie’s face. “I make them a recruit.”

  Lauren’s head pounded harder. “It was you. You killed me just so I might join the Deviants?”

  “It was so easy. I did wonder if I’d made a mistake picking you,” said Maggie. “There was no fight in you, but I knew you would be powerful around the portals.”

  “Maggie, what are you saying?” Theo approached them, a look of horror on his face. “It was you who killed Lauren, and
not her mum?”

  “I may have borrowed her mother’s body for a short time to complete the deed.” Maggie tutted as she turned to Theo. “Don’t look so shocked. We need the finest recruits here if we are going to achieve our mission, and Lauren seemed ideal for us.”

  “What went wrong?” asked Lauren. “Why didn’t you find me and bring me straight here?”

  Maggie sniffed. “Unfortunately, the Academy got to you first. You must also have been on their radar. I am quite certain you would be working with us by now if I had captured your ghost first.”

  “You possessed my mum to kill me?” Lauren’s legs felt like they were about to give out and she moved over to the control panel and rested against it. “Does she remember that she did it?”

  “I am not a monster. She has no memory of murdering you and she has no memory of cleaning up afterwards or taking the knife and dumping it in the river. I did not want to leave your family in ruins, I care for my recruits." Maggie sighed and stared up at the ceiling. "That was my mistake. In my absence, the Academy swooped in and took you from me, after I had done the hard work.”

  Lauren snorted, uncertain whether to laugh or cry. “Right, my mum only remembers finding her dead daughter on the porch. That’s not going to ruin her.”

  “Maggie, this is too much.” Theo frowned as he looked between Lauren and Maggie. “You can’t do this.”

  “I’ve been doing this for years,” said Maggie. “Of course I can.”

  Theo took a couple of steps back. “Even to me?”

  “You were a happy accident. I didn’t need to do anything in order to get you killed and join us. Your family did an excellent job of making you an ideal candidate for the Deviants. I simply needed to step in at the appropriate time and invite you to be with us.”

  The remaining colour in Theo’s cheeks drained away and his mouth dropped open. “You played us, you played Lauren especially. She didn’t deserve to die just so she could join you in completing whatever twisted mission you actually want to achieve.”

  “Do not misunderstand me, I do want to alter the portals so that we can all have our ideal afterlife. I may have a few other small ambitions I would like to achieve along the way, but ultimately we are all going in the same direction.” Maggie smiled at Theo.

  Lauren shook her head as she tried to come to terms with the information she’d just received. “Your ambitions are going to come to an end. Right now.” She threw herself at Maggie again, curling her fingers towards her face to try to make contact and drain her energy.

  Lauren’s fingers skimmed along Maggie’s arm as she twisted out of her way. “You’ll have to try harder than that.”

  “Lauren don’t,” said Theo. “You’re only making things worse.”

  “Things can’t get any worse,” snapped Lauren, turning towards Theo. “She murdered me. She’s the reason I’m here, the reason I don’t have an afterlife. How can you stay with her after everything she’s just told us?”

  “Theo knows what the Deviants stand for,” said Maggie.

  “They don’t stand for this,” said Theo. “I didn’t agree to any of this. I didn’t agree to have innocents killed so that they could join you. That was never in the plan, you never told us anything about that.”

  “Do relax,” said Maggie. “I know you are fond of Lauren but you’re wasting your time.” She glanced at Charlie’s cell. “She is already taken.”

  “That’s not the point.” Theo’s cheeks blossomed with colour.

  “If it wasn’t Lauren it would have been someone else,” said Maggie. “I needed a strong ghost, someone who I sensed would have power when it came to the portals. There were other candidates but Lauren seemed the most likely to fit in with us at the time. She isn’t as special as you seem to think.”

  Lauren crouched down in preparation for another assault on Maggie but a wave of electromagnetic energy pulsed through the room knocking them all to their knees.

  Theo was the first to his feet, staggering up and holding his head in his hands. “What was that?”

  Lauren rolled over several times expecting to meet resistance from Charlie’s containment barrier as she grew closer to his cell, but she passed straight through and her hands touched the glass front of the cell. She looked over to see Maggie still on her knees. This was the opportunity she needed.

  She jumped up, tested Charlie’s door, and found it unlocked. Whatever had just happened had knocked out the energy fields in the room.

  “Come on,” she whispered to Charlie. “We’re getting out of here.”

  “No, you cannot leave, neither of you can go.” Maggie lurched to her feet and rushed towards the cell. “I will not allow you to leave.”

  “We’re not staying, not after what you’ve told me,” said Lauren. “You’re a murderer.”

  Maggie pushed Lauren roughly aside, grabbed hold of Charlie and they both disappeared.

  Lauren stared at the space Charlie and Maggie had been in. “Where has she taken him?” She span on her heel and glared at Theo.

  Theo was looking around in confusion. “I have no idea what Maggie is doing any more. She completely fooled me.”

  “You really didn’t know she was killing people to get them to join the Deviants?”

  “No, I really didn’t.” Theo raked his hand through his hair. “She’s lied to us all. This whole place is a lie.”

  Lauren shook her head. “We don’t have time to worry about that now. I need to get Charlie back. Where might she have taken him?”

  “I'm not sure, but I’ll help you look for him,” said Theo. “Trust me, I’m no longer a fan of Maggie. What she did was wrong and we can’t let her get away with that.”

  “Agreed. It makes me sick to think that she used my mum that way.” A chill ran through Lauren. “What if the police had found evidence linking her to my death? My mum could have gone to prison, my sister would have gone into care, the whole family ruined because of Maggie’s selfish act.”

  “I know, she is wrong.” Theo gave Lauren a weary smile. “I get it now.”

  Another pulse of electromagnetic energy swept through the room knocking them both to the floor again.

  Lauren rolled over, her legs feeling like lead weights and her head pounding. “It must be the ghost hunters. They used a similar device to weaken Esmee and Alex and managed to trap them in their containment boxes. They have something that drains the energy from ghosts.”

  Theo struggled to his feet. “Whatever it is, it seems like they’ve made a bigger version of it. If this is going on throughout the house, then we are in real trouble. We have some unstable ghosts in here and they won’t be able to stand this kind of electrical interference.”

  “I don’t care about the rest of the house, I just need to find Charlie and get out of here in one piece.” Lauren knew her words were harsh, but she couldn’t help the Deviants. She hurried towards the door. “Think, Theo. Where will Maggie have taken him?”

  “Don’t know,” said Theo. “And I don’t know why she would suddenly abandon us like this. None of this makes sense.”

  Lauren wanted to shake Theo. “She must be somewhere. Maggie has only taken Charlie to get to me, so she must want me to follow her.”

  “Let’s look around the house first.” Theo scrubbed his hand over his face several times. “She may still be here, just hiding and waiting for the ghost hunters to go, hoping they will catch enough of us and leave her alone.”

  “Fine, you take upstairs and I’ll check down here and we’ll meet at the entrance in ten minutes.” Lauren dashed out of the room and searched along corridors and all the rooms she came to. Most of them were empty, but she occasionally got the sense of another ghost hiding. None of them felt like Charlie and there was no sign of Maggie anywhere.

  Frustration burst through Lauren as she ran back to the main entrance. She skidded to a halt. Joe, Max and Patti were there, the front door open behind them as they looked around the entrance, amazement etched on their faces.


  “If this really is a house for ghosts then I’m in the wrong business,” said Patti. “They have some nice things in here.”

  “Maybe they were left behind by the former owner.” Joe looked around the room and scratched underneath his baseball cap. “I can’t see ghosts wanting to keep hold of so much material stuff.”

  “We can admire the decorations later, people,” said Max. “We have multiple ghosts to catch before the night is over.”

  Joe clapped his hands together and grinned. “I bet I get the most.”

  “You never get the most.” Patti shook her head.

  “There’s plenty for everyone here,” said Max. “Just take your time and keep your wits about you. We only have a dozen containment boxes and I want to take as many specimens as possible to present to the University. With this evidence, they must fund us, give us more equipment and possibly even a new base.”

  “We need one after the smoke damage in the house,” said Patti. “I’m going to be smelling charred wood for the rest of my life having to sleep in that place.”

  Theo appeared in front of Lauren and his eyes widened as he took in the three ghost hunters.

  “Any sign of Maggie?” Lauren whispered to him.

  He shook his head. “I didn’t get any sign of her upstairs, and I guess you didn’t find her down here.” Theo’s gaze didn’t leave the ghost hunters.

  “Where else would she have taken Charlie?” Do you have any other bases?”

  “This is it,” said Theo.

  “I’m going to do another burst of the electromagnetic energy drain,” said Patti. “It should impact any irregular frequencies in the building and make them easier to capture. Once we spot them we simply need to move the boxes in the right locations and open them up. The weakened entities should go straight in without any problems.”

  “I do not like the sound of that,” said Theo. He pointed to the other side of the room. “And Abigail doesn’t look so good.”

  Lauren looked over and saw a girl of about eighteen lying on her side, eyes closed and curled in a ball on the floor. "Did the ghost hunters do that to her?"

  “Most likely. If they blast that energy disruptor thing in here one more time it will probably obliterate a number of the ghosts. They don’t seem to realise how much power they’ve got pumping out of that thing,” said Theo. “You’re lucky, you’ve just been inside a portal and had an energy boost.”