The Dead Ones (Death Herself Book 3) (19 page)

Yet another surge of energy ripples across her chest, this time reaching her face. She steps back again and steadies herself against the counter.

“It was worth it, though,” she continues, her eyes wide with fear as she stares down at the floor. “Never let it be said that I didn't have fun, that I didn't run with the possibilities. I really pushed the limits and tried to do things differently, and I changed a lot of lives, most of them for the better. If this is truly the end, I don't care what he does to me, or what he
says
to me, I still will
not
apologize for -”

She lets out another gasp as she doubles-over with pain. When I rush to help her, however, she pushes me away.

“Best not,” she hisses. “You can't do anything, anyway. He's just reeling me in. I'm sure he's got somewhere nice saved up for me, he'll deposit me in some kind of prison and then he'll let me know exactly what punishment he's going to dish out. He's had thousands of years to come up with a few ideas.”

“But why would someone want to punish you?” I ask, trying not to panic. “You help people! You're a good person, Hannah! You saved me, and you saved my hometown, and -”

“That's not enough!” she gasps. “Not the way he sees it, anyway. I broke too many rules. If he hadn't helped in the town square, I would have been noticed by the world, and that's the biggest sin of all.” She smiles, and I swear there are tears in her eyes. “I couldn't not help people, though. I just couldn't. What good are powers if you just sit on your hands and watch while people suffer? No, I'm not going to apologize for a damn thing. But there's still... I came to say goodbye, while you still know who I am.”

“While I know who you are?” I wait for her to explain, but she seems to be in too much pain. “What's that supposed to mean? Hannah, I'm never going to forget you.”

“You don't have a choice.”

“But -”

“He'll erase people's memories of me,” she continues. “He won't undo the work I did, he's not that cruel, but I know what he's like. He won't like people remembering me, so he'll wipe your minds. All of you, everyone I ever helped.”

“It won't work,” I tell her, feeling a flash of anger at the idea that someone might try to reach into my head and alter my memories. “I won't let it.”

“Just let it be,” she continues. “It'll be good for you, anyway. You're a mess right now. You're constantly terrified that you're going to lose your mind, and the worst part is, you're right. Mortal humans aren't supposed to be exposed to this kind of thing, your brains can't process it all. You've gone back and forth, constantly doubting your sanity. If you keep on like this, always second-guessing yourself and expecting Dyson to show up again, you'll go crazy. Absolutely, irreversibly out of your mind. So really, in your case, forgetting about me is going to be the best thing. You'll still remember what happened to your brother, but the rest... At most, it'll live on in your dreams, but it won't remain in your conscious memories.”

I open my mouth to argue with her, but before I can say another word she takes a step forward and then almost collapses. Reaching out, I'm able to grab hold of her and keep her up, but she's visibly weakening a little more with each passing moment.

“It's okay to forget about me,” she gasps, “but you're gonna have some... crazy dreams... and sometimes, you might even -”

And then, in the blink of an eye, she's gone.

I wait for her to reappear, but when I look around the kitchen I realize that she's really, truly nowhere to be seen.

“Hannah?” I call out, hurrying around to the other side of the counter and looking through into the hallway, just in case she might miraculously show up again. She has a history of showing up just when I think she won't, but after a moment I realize that somehow it feels different this time. The look in her eyes just now was horrific, as if she was truly scared. Even when we were facing Dyson and the Flesh Weaver, there was always a hint of confidence in the way Hannah handled things, but this time...

She was terrified. She was putting on a brave face, but she was terrified nonetheless. Wherever she was taken, and whoever she was going to see, the prospect seemed to strike pure fear into her soul.

“Good luck,” I whisper finally, feeling as if there's nothing else I can do for her. “Dear God, if you have any control over the situation at all, let her be okay. She doesn't deserve to be punished.” I pause for a moment. “And I will not forget her. I don't care who tries to take her out of my memory, but I refuse to forget my time with her.”

“Talking to yourself again?” a familiar voice asks.

Turning, I see that Janey has returned to grab some more bowls from the counter. She's grinning at me, and it's clear that she thinks I'm a little nuts. She's always thought that, and I've given up trying to persuade her otherwise. I just can't go into all the details about Hannah and everything else that happened to me. Even Josh seems to have decided that I was rambling incoherently when I first talked about my time as a semi-ghost, and the last thing I need is to start bashing my head against a brick wall again.

“Did you see someone else in here with me?” I ask, just in case Janey was aware of Hannah.

“Should I have done?” She grabs the bowl of sour cream and balances it on the other dishes, before turning and heading back to the door. “You should come out and try to calm Dad down. He's got a mountain of meat and he seems to think we don't need any salad at all.”

“That sounds pretty typical,” I mutter with a sigh.

Rolling her eyes, she makes her way out into the garden, and I grab the last bowl of salad leaves before heading out to join the others. Janey was right, Josh seems to have bought every steak and burger in town, but then again he has a history of going a little overboard with barbecues. As I start setting the salad out, however, I suddenly notice that someone appears to have stuck a finger in the sour cream. I ask around, but everyone denies it was them, even though the evidence is staring up at me. Figuring that I'll never get an honest answer, I grab a spoon and give the pot a quick stir, and soon the surface is smooth again.

After the barbecue, I finally talk to Janey about her uncle Malcolm, and about the awful thing he did one day several years ago. She asks me over and over if I can explain why he snapped, and I admit to her that I can't, and that all I can do is pray that in some way, some day, he finds peace wherever he is now. She asks if I think he
deserves
peace, and I tell her I can't answer that question because he's my brother, and because I still remember what he was like before all the awful things happened. That answer, at least, seems to satisfy her.

I wish it satisfied me.

But that night, I have the strangest dream about a girl who seems to know the universe's darkest secrets. It's a hectic, crazy dream and I can't quite keep up, but I enjoy spending time with her, following her through vast, dark lands, and finally she leads me to a place where my brother is waiting. When I wake up the next day, I don't remember the details of the dream, or what Malcolm said to me, but I'm somehow calmer and more collected than I've felt in a long time. Putting the dream out of my mind as I head out to work, I tell myself it was
just
a dream, that I didn't really speak to my brother. Still, I swear the world seems different now. I'm not second-guessing or doubting myself nearly so much. Somehow, deep down, I'm at peace with my past.

I just wish I could get rid of that faint feeling that I've forgotten something. Or someone.

Epilogue

She stops in the doorway, staring at the empty reception area. Nearby, a sign on the wall welcomes guests to Harper's Hotel, while over by the staircase there's a sofa and a set of chairs, with magazines resting on a coffee table.

“Can I help you?” a voice asks suddenly.

Turning, Hannah sees a bellboy smiling at her.

“Do you have any bags with you, M'am?” he asks.

She hesitates for a moment. Glancing over her shoulder, she sees a dull, nondescript suburban street outside, but she doesn't remember anything about her journey to the hotel. Finally she turns back to the bellboy, eying him with suspicion. “Um... What?”

“Any
bags
, M'am?” he continues with a smile. “Perhaps you would you like me to show you to your room?”

“I don't have a room.”

“One was booked in your name, M'am.”

“It was?”

“Most certainly.”

“By who?”

“I'm not at liberty to divulge that information, M'am. However, dinner is included, and the first seating will start promptly at 6pm. Shall I add your name to the list, or would you prefer the late seating at eight?”

She stares at him for a moment, before stepping forward and looking around at the reception area. There's another chair in the corner, next to a table with a chessboard that looks all set for a game, while a fire is burning gently in the hearth. The whole scene is strangely peaceful, almost preternaturally still, until suddenly there's a loud thud and the building shudders for a moment. Framed photos rattle on the wall and the chessboard's pieces are almost toppled, but the vibration ends as quickly as it began, leaving Hannah once again standing quietly with a bemused expression.

“Or perhaps you would like to take a drink in the lounge?” the bellboy asks, still smiling. “I recommend the cocktails most highly indeed.”

“Huh,” she mutters, feeling a shiver pass up her spine as she steps forward and looks up the large spiral staircase that winds up toward the hotel's higher levels. “Well, this is definitely not what I was expecting.”

Coming soon

HARPER'S HOTEL GHOST GIRL

(Death Herself book 4)

“I've never been to a hotel that didn't have at least one ghost.”

Everyone knows that
Harper's Hotel
is haunted. A ghostly presence is even mentioned on the official website, although most people just assume the stories have been exaggerated. When a new family checks in, however, they quickly discover that there really
is
a strange presence lurking in the building, and that its intentions are not necessarily benign. Something is waiting in one of the rooms, and its mind seems to be reaching out through the entire hotel.

Meanwhile, a strange girl has shown up in the lobby. She seems lost and confused, and terrified of a chessboard in the corner. Taunted by the bellboy, she constantly tries to speak to the hotel's manager, only to be rebuffed at every opportunity. She keeps muttering about punishment, about paying a terrible price for her actions, but she also complains about being stuck in the hotel and unable to leave. Can she stop the presence that's hiding in upstairs, or is everyone at the hotel doomed to wander its hallways forever?

Also available in this series

ALICE ISN'T WELL

(Death Herself book 1)

“There are lots of demons in the sky above London. The problem is, this one came crashing down to earth.”
Ten years ago, Alice Warner was attacked and disfigured by an attacker in her own home. She remembers nothing of the attack, and she has been in a psychiatric hospital ever since. When she's finally released, however, she starts working as a security guard at an abandoned shopping mall. And that's when she starts to realize that something is haunting her, keeping just one step out of sight at all times...
Meanwhile, seventy years earlier, a little girl named Wendy is left orphaned after a World War 2 fighter plane crashes onto her house. Taken to a monastery, Wendy is quickly singled out by the nuns for special attention. They say she has been possessed by a demon, and that there's only one way to save her soul. Fortunately for Wendy, however, there's someone else who seems to know far more about the situation.

THE HOUSE ON EVERLEY STREET

(Death Herself book 2)

“She always said that if she could come back to haunt me, she would.”
John Myers is a popular and successful novelist, but memories of his troubled childhood still haunt him. When his childhood home comes onto the market, he snaps it up and goes back, determined to find out whether the place is really haunted, or whether he simply imagined the events of twenty years ago.
Soon, John finds his entire existence starting to fall apart, and he's forced to question some of his most basic assumptions. Did his grandmother's ghost really haunt him when he was younger, and if so, is she still around? After his wife and children join him unexpectedly at the house, John is forced to face the horrific truth, as it becomes clear that the events that happened twenty years ago were far more awful than he remembers

Also by Amy Cross

THE FARM

No-one ever remembers what happens to them when they go into the barn at Bondalen farm. Some never come out again, and the rest... Something about them is different.
In 1979, the farm is home to three young girls. As winter fades to spring, Elizabeth, Kari and Sara each come to face the secrets of the barn, and they each emerge with their own injuries. But someone else is lurking nearby, a man who claims to be Death incarnate, and for these three girls the spring of 1979 is set to end in tragedy.
In the modern day, meanwhile, Bondalen farm has finally been sold to a new family. Dragged from London by her widowed father, Paula Ridley hates the idea of rural life. Soon, however, she starts to realize that her new home retains hints of its horrific past, while the darkness of the barn still awaits anyone who dares venture inside.
Set over the course of several decades,
The Farm
is a horror novel about people who live with no idea of the terror in their midst, and about a girl who finally has a chance to confront a source of great evil that has been feeding on the farm for generations.