“Mrs Marsh is coming!” I cried impulsively and saw the malice in the child’s face turn to terror before she disappeared.
Incensed, Isobel flew into the air to call her charges to her.
I didn’t have to look down into the seating area to know that people were losing strength. How long could they hold out against an enemy that never tired?
We were distracted by the sound of running feet heading toward us. I tensed, but it was only Mr Helton and his students, holding several large plastic bags of salt along with all the shakers they could carry from the cafeteria tables.
“Good work,” Alex said, and Mr Helton looked chuffed by the praise. “Now distribute them among your cast.”
Some of the actors looked reluctant to take the salt, but Alex spoke encouragingly to them. “I know you are all frightened, but you must be strong for just a while longer. I need you to fight back against the ghosts so your families and friends can get to safety. Throw salt on the wraiths and that will deter them for a time. Are you up to the task?”
I was worried the students would refuse, but Alex’s words seemed to fire them up. First Banquo nodded, then Lady Macbeth and Duncan were by his side in a show of solidarity.
Once each student was armed, Mr Helton let out a heroic battle cry, which in other circumstances might have been funny, and led the way into the seating area. We watched the newly formed army long enough to see that the strategy was working. As soon as a wraith came into contact with the salt, it hissed like steam before disintegrating. It only vanished for a minute or so before reappearing in a different location, but it was long enough to allow more people to take cover.
I strained my eyes to catch a glimpse of Rory and Dad but still couldn’t spot them. I couldn’t help wondering where Zac was too. He should have been here by now and we could really use his help. Had he arrived too late and been barred from entering? I just hoped he hadn’t gotten into a wreck speeding over here.
Even though the salt was slowing things down, the ghosts were still attacking the remaining people in the auditorium and I wondered if this nightmare would ever end.
Then an idea sprang into my mind with such conviction that it stopped me in my tracks. Perhaps we hadn’t exhausted all avenues yet. Perhaps there was one person left who could help us.
Alex could read me like an open book. “What are you thinking?” he asked.
“We have to summon the spirit of Agatha Marsh.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
It felt crazy even thinking it, let alone saying it out loud. The last thing we needed was to summon another spirit we might not be able to control. Although there’d been no evidence so far to suggest Mrs Marsh was also under Isobel’s influence, conjuring her was risky. But what other choice did we have?
I saw the doubt in Alex’s eyes. “I am not sure, Chloe, it is extremely dangerous. You have no idea how her spirit will react. How can we be sure she will not do more harm than good?”
He had a valid point, but we didn’t have time for sitting down and hashing out the pros and cons of my idea. Right now there were people fighting for their lives in here.
“I’ve seen her twice now, so chances are she’s still hanging around,” I said.
“Did you not hear anything I just said?”
“Yes, I did, but those ghosts are hurting people as we speak. No one can get in here to help us and we’re running out of time. This woman might be the only thing those kids will answer to and our only hope of putting a stop to this. So unless you have a better idea …”
The seconds that passed as I watched Alex try to come up with a less risky alternative were possibly the longest of my life.
He let out a groan of frustration and slammed his fist into his hand. “Alright! But there is no time to conduct a seance. Besides, we do not have the right tools at our disposal.”
“There has to be another way,” I said, and then it came to me. “An invocation!”
Alex said the same thing right at the same time. “We make a good team,” he added, and winked at me.
Even with all the havoc around us I could still look into his blue eyes and feel myself melt. Now is not the time, Chloe, I reminded myself. After all this was over we’d have time to enjoy a moment of intimacy together, like we had at Grange Hall. I’d never been surer that what Alex and I had was timeless, and no one, living or dead, was going to tamper with it.
Alex followed me back onto the stage, where I thought about how I was going to summon Agatha Marsh. Instinct told me I’d have to appeal to her desire for control. I had seen a coldness in her ghost’s eyes that suggested she was a hard woman, and Amelia Alcott had been terrified of her. Don’t let her catch me, she’d said. Yes, I’d bet money that Agatha Marsh was the sort of person who enjoyed enforcing discipline a little too much.
“Mrs Marsh!” I called out. “The children are out of control! They’re wreaking havoc and you’re the only one who can restore order. They’re running wild without you here to stop them. You must come and punish them.”
“How else will they ever learn their lesson?” Alex called, getting in on the act.
“They’re wicked, insubordinate children!” I yelled. “So come and stop them! Come and —”
I broke off as a voice hissed from the nearby shadows: “Ungrateful!”
A woman stood on the steps leading up to the stage. She was draped in a black shawl and had dark hair scraped into the tightest bun I’d ever seen. It pulled her eyes into narrow slits, giving her the look of a lizard. She stared into the audience with an expression like thunder, and I saw that her lips were quivering with rage, making her look all the more terrifying.
Luckily, we weren’t her target. With a wild screech that made both Alex and me jump, she flew down the steps and into the seating area. The ghost children stopped dead in their tracks and immediately released their victims. A few even dropped their weapons in a flimsy attempt to hide their guilt.
“I can’t believe it worked,” I whispered to Alex.
Some of the orphans tried to run, but most stayed rooted to the spot with terror as Mrs Marsh swept over them like a tidal wave.
“You rotten little ingrates!” She grabbed the boy who’d been the first ghost to appear and slapped him so hard it left him reeling. “After everything I’ve done for you this is how you repay me!”
“I’m sorry, Mrs Marsh,” he stammered and I almost felt pity for him.
“Not as sorry as you will be,” she snarled. “The shame you have brought on this institution!”
She seized the ear of another child and pulled him into line with the first. They stood there trembling while she moved on to her next victim, looming over the little girl like a predatory bird. She only had to motion with her bony finger for the rest of the children to fall mutely in line.
The people still in the auditorium couldn’t believe what they were seeing and clung to one another for support. One person actually passed out from shock. When two worlds collided this violently there were bound to be repercussions; I wondered how many of them would never get over this.
Just as Mrs Marsh had assembled her bedraggled charges into a single file, one of the exit doors swung open. People scrambled toward it, tripping over themselves in their eagerness to get out. Then, suddenly, the cluster of bodies stopped. A tall witch-like figure loomed in the doorway, blocking the light from the foyer. Isobel seemed to fill the entire space and nobody dared go near her. I should have known she wouldn’t be so easily deterred. I should have known not to underestimate her.
At first I thought she was angry with us for thwarting her army of ghosts. But the look on her face wasn’t defeat; it was defiance. That look could only mean one thing: Isobel had a new strategy. The idea filled me with dread.
With a devilish smile at me, she stood aside to let someone enter the auditorium. At first I assumed it would be her father and accomplice. Instead a tall guy wearing a balaclava, gloves and a long coat stepped into view. I didn’t need to see
his face to know who he was; I recognised him by the designer combat boots he wore to school every day. It was Zac.
He took a few steps forward, his movements slow and deliberate, and I saw that he was under some kind of spell. Isobel had turned my friend into her living breathing puppet. But why? What did she need him for?
Isobel trailed spidery fingers tenderly across Zac’s exposed lips and tilted his face toward her. She kissed his mouth fervently, then bent to purr something into his ear.
“Zac, get away from her!” I screamed, but he was past hearing me.
He surveyed the crowd impassively. He may as well have been a sleepwalker, his steely eyes looking right through us. When his coat swung open, I caught sight of a gleam of metal and knew what Isobel’s final act was to be.
“Oh my God, he’s armed,” I said.
“I see that,” Alex said calmly.
“What do we do?”
“I will distract Isobel. You must break her spell on Zac before anyone else realises he has a gun.”
I stood dumbstruck. “How do you propose I do that?”
“You must find a way. You are the only one who can stop him.”
Things seemed to happen in slow motion after that. I knew I had to stay calm while I tried to talk to Zac. If any of the people still in the auditorium clued in to what was about to happen, mayhem would follow as they scrambled in all directions to get to safety.
I felt terrible knowing that all this chaos and horror was happening because of me. This wasn’t just some assault on the school by some random maniac. If I hadn’t fallen in love with Alex, Isobel wouldn’t be here. I’d had the temerity to cross a line and love a ghost, a man who had once loved her, and in doing so I had incurred Isobel’s eternal wrath. It was like she was taunting me: Didn’t you learn your lesson the first time, you stupid girl? I didn’t regret loving Alex for a minute, but now I had to take responsibility for the consequences. This was my mess and I was the only one who could clean it up.
Looking around the theatre, I could see some people had serious injuries and might not survive if help didn’t come soon. I had to act now before their injuries turned into fatalities.
Again my thoughts flew to Dad and Rory. The idea of something happening to them was more than I could stand. But I reminded myself that I hadn’t seen them at all since I’d arrived, so maybe they were someplace safe.
Just breathe, I told myself as I made my way toward Zac, trying to move slowly so as not to alarm people. It didn’t even occur to me to consider my own safety, that he might try and hurt me.
A girl collided with me, our foreheads smacking painfully together. She looked a mess, with hair sticking to her face and mascara-stained cheeks.
“Chloe!” she cried, and it took me a second to recognise her.
“Sam! Are you alright? Where’s Natalie?”
“She didn’t want to come, and I’m glad she didn’t now. Chloe, what’s happening?”
Her voice came out as a whimper and I noticed that blood was seeping from a gash in her arm and soaking her sleeve.
“Okay, listen to me,” I said. “Just get down and stay down, okay? Stay there until help comes.”
She nodded gratefully. I was moving away when she grabbed me by the shoulders. “Wait!” she said. “I want to tell you something.”
“Right now you just have to be safe,” I said, trying to pull away but she wouldn’t let go.
“Chloe, I don’t want you thinking I’m angry with you because I’m not. We’ve been friends a long time and just because we’re having some stupid fight doesn’t mean I don’t care about you.”
“I know,” I said gently. “And I care about you too. Now will you please do something for me?”
“Anything.”
“Hide!”
She hugged me, then turned away to squeeze under a row of seats. When she was in place, she gave me a thumbs-up. In that second, everything we’d shared since fifth grade flashed through my mind. It had never occurred to me before how much of my life had been spent with Sam. And now she was looking to me to take charge and save her and everyone else stuck in this theatre. I determined not to let her down.
My fingers sticky with her blood, I moved closer to Zac. Isobel loomed behind him like a puppeteer, her movements a little jerky as she adjusted to having a physical form. Something told me she needed to stay close to Zac to maintain her control over him.
Alex must have realised that too because suddenly he appeared at her side. They circled each other like adversaries rather than past lovers. He was the first to pounce, grabbing Isobel and dragging her out into the foyer. Even though they were both ghosts, he was still stronger than her. I noticed that once their bodies made contact they lost some of their physicality, becoming a tangle of frenetic energy as they wrestled on the ground.
Alex was giving me the valuable minutes I needed to try and avert disaster. My legs turned to jelly. How was I going to pull this off? I was sure I was going to mess up. I would let everybody down and have to live with the guilt for the rest of my life.
A voice in my head snapped me to my senses. This wasn’t about me. Whether I failed or not, I had to give it my best shot.
I stood directly in front of Zac and waited for him to notice me. He didn’t move, just stood there transfixed. I wished I could see his face. It was creepy with only his eyes visible through the balaclava’s slits. At least they’d lost some of their glassiness now that Alex had drawn Isobel away.
“Zac, it’s me,” I said. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
“I can’t stop her.”
His voice sounded resigned and I could tell he’d moved past fear to an unnatural calm.
“You can,” I said. “You’re stronger than you think.”
He shook his head vehemently. “No one can stop her.”
I hated hearing him sound so defeated. I knew Zac had a noble heart; he was the sort of kid who’d get himself hurt intervening in a fight that had nothing to do with him. That was the part of him I needed to get through to now.
“I can help you!” I said, and I took a step forward and held out my hands to him.
If he took them, I knew he’d have a chance of shaking off whatever spell Isobel had him under. I wasn’t going to let her use Zac this way. If she succeeded, his entire life would be in ruins. This wasn’t something he could ever come back from.
I saw him waver as memories filtered through the fog. Then his face changed.
“Get out of my way,” he said, and the chilling voice was no longer his. I saw his hand slip under his coat, reaching for the gun I knew was hidden there.
I glanced quickly toward the empty foyer and knew Isobel had somehow got free. But where was Alex?
I looked back at Zac and he growled at me, his lips curling in a way I’d never seen before. I realised it was Isobel inside his skin now; she had taken possession of him.
“You have been a thorn in my side long enough, Chloe Kennedy.”
Isobel uttered my name as if it were poison, but I ignored her and searched Zac’s eyes for a sign that he was still in there somewhere. His pupils were massive, like he’d taken some kind of drug. His head twitched and he cocked it to one side as if struggling to recognise me.
“Hang on, Zac,” I told him. “She can’t do this to you. You have to fight back. If you don’t, she’ll destroy us all.”
“You will have to do better than that!” Isobel jeered. “This boy is mine. You cannot always win, Chloe. You have taken from me the only person I loved. I am entitled to have some fun now.”
I wondered why Isobel was bothering to talk to me when she had the power simply to tear me limb from limb. And then I realised the battle that was raging inside Zac. She had him in her clutches, but she didn’t own him entirely. There was a part of him still putting up a fight. If I kept focused on him, there was a chance I’d get through.
“It’s up to you!” I told him. “You have to fight her!”
A pleading loo
k flashed across Zac’s eyes, like he was asking me, How?
I had an answer; something my mom had taught me long ago. When I spoke, it was as if the words were coming from a deep well inside me.
“Order her to leave. Cast her out and claim your mind back. The dead have no dominion here.”
But Isobel had created a wall around Zac’s mind and I needed to do more to help him break through it. What else could I say?
An idea came to me. I had to reconnect him with his old self.
“Zac, when all this is over I can’t wait to come over for a swim and have one of your gourmet breakfasts. Where did you learn to cook like that? Oh, that’s right, your mom is Martha Stewart.”
It was a lame joke, but it did the trick. A flicker of recognition came into his eyes and the hand that had reached for the gun dropped to his side, empty.
“Chloe, help me,” he managed to croak out.
An instant later he was flying across the auditorium. He hit the brick wall with a thud, tumbled down some steps and landed in a heap like a broken toy.
I rushed to his side and lifted his head to remove the balaclava. He was breathing raggedly. As I scanned his face, he opened his eyes and I saw the demented stare was gone. The guy looking back at me was lost, confused and barely coherent, but just Zac.
I opened his coat, found the revolver and also a hunting knife, and hid both under the heavy velvet stage curtains out of harm’s way.
“Stay here,” I instructed him. “Don’t try to move.”
“Okay. Hey, Chloe?”
“Yeah?”
“I beat her, didn’t I?”
“You did, Zac. You did great.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
I finally saw Alex shepherding some of the injured out of the theatre. By now the phones were working again and people wasted no time calling for help. I signalled to Alex and he came over to where I was sitting with Zac, who had passed out after his ordeal with Isobel.
“How is he?” Alex asked me.
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