The Haunting Season (7 page)

“Did they find out who killed them?” Allison asked.

Dr. Brandt nodded. “Oh, yes! They did.”

“Did the parents do it?” Gage asked. “One of the servants?”

“No,” Dr. Brandt replied. “The parents were very kind, very loving. They doted on their daughters. Nothing was too good for them, as Jess and Allison can attest. Their graves are remarkable.”

“So, the house has been sitting empty for nearly a hundred years?” Bryan asked. “Seems like a waste.”

“It’s what the family felt best at the time,” Dr. Brandt said.

“Just because of a couple of murders?” Bryan asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

Allison rubbed her arms again. “See? The house got to them, didn’t it?”

“Enough!” Jess nearly shouted. “Would you stop it? You don’t actually know that’s true!”

Gage exchanged a glance with Bryan as though he thought the girls might break into a fight. Jess glared at him.

“Relax, okay?” Gage said. “Don’t get so uptight about it.”

Allison withdrew, balling herself up and continuing to rub her arms.

“I’m sorry,” Jess repeated, more quietly this time. “I didn’t mean to yell. But Siler House didn’t kill Gracie and Emma and dump them into the woods. As much as I believe in the supernatural, that’s impossible. It had to be someone close to the family, or some random stranger. Maybe the killer was someone tied to Mr. Siler’s business?”

Allison looked away from Jess.

Great. Now she’d done it. But what else could she do? Allison wasn’t dealing with the facts, just emotions. If she weren’t careful, they would consume her. Jess wasn’t ready to admit that she had her own observations about being watched when she’d first arrived—as though the house really
was
alive in some odd way. In all honesty, though, if something had been watching her, Jess was more inclined to believe that it had been a ghost who hadn’t wanted to show himself yet. Gage was right; anything else would be assigning human characteristics to an inanimate object.

“As it happens, however, Allison
is
correct,” Dr. Brandt said. “The house did get to the Siler girls. It got to them all in one way or another, or so the legend goes. But the question remains, is the legend metaphorical or literal? Does Siler House have a way of putting people under its spell? Is such a thing possible? And, will any of you think the deaths here had anything to do with the paranormal? Or did the Siler family merely experience a string of bad luck?”

CHAPTER NINE

The first night with Allison had been nearly impossible. Jess awoke on more than one occasion to find her roommate sitting upright in bed, rocking back and forth. Trying to ignore her, Jess turned over and faced the window. Sleeping in a strange place the first few nights bothered most everyone, she figured. Hotels were the worst because of the noise from elevators, doors and neighbors in close proximity. Jess put old houses right up there on the same list. But Siler House was a good distance from noisy highways and the sounds of city life. The chirp of crickets and chorus of bullfrogs in a nearby marsh had filled the night, and eventually lulled her to sleep.

It was only when the crickets and frogs stopped that she awoke. She blinked, trying to adjust her eyes to the dark. She turned back over, expecting Allison to be either still sitting up, or asleep. But her bed was empty and Allison stood in front of the dresser, hands at her sides, staring at the mirror. Alarmed, Jess sat upright.

“It’s happening again,” Allison said.

“Huh?”

“The spirits. They’re back. I can see them.”

Jess rubbed her eyes as a spark of uncertainty and a moment’s worth of fear rustled somewhere deep inside her. “They’re there, in the
mirror
?”

“Yes.”

Jess got out of bed and tentatively stood next to Allison. She looked at the mirror, then behind her. Nothing. Uncertainty gave way to disappointment. The mirror cast back only the shadowy figures of Allison and herself, their faces made pale by the moonlight streaming into the room. They were alone, as far as Jess could tell.

Damn it! Why couldn’t
she
see the ghosts? Were they here? Disappointment gave way to a pang of envy.

“You don’t seem as upset as you were before,” Jess said. “If they’re back, aren’t you afraid they’ll take over? Possess you?” She wasn’t making fun of Allison. Something horrible
had
happened to her, and she was probably more sensitive to the supernatural than Jess was.

“Yes, I’m afraid,” Allison replied calmly.

The way Allison spoke seemed at odds with her words. The hairs on Jess’s arms tingled, but not because of any ghosts she couldn’t see. Right now, the only thing creepy in the room was Allison. The girl had been possessed, after all.

Allison turned her head to look at Jess, her expression unreadable in the shadows, even this close up. “He collects souls.”

Jess peered harder into the mirror, trying not to show Allison she was indeed afraid. “He? Who are you talking about?”

“He’s looking at you. I can’t make out what he’s saying. But see?” she pointed to the mirror. “He wrote his name.”

Fear and a healthy dose of agitation rose inside Jess. Fear, because someone staring at them from inside a mirror was downright scary. Agitated, because she couldn’t see anything, and Allison’s continual freak-outs were wearing on her. After a long day getting here, she was exhausted and just wanted to sleep.

“Allison, I don’t see anything! He?
Who
are you talking about?”

“
Riley
,” Allison whispered.

“Riley? Who’s Riley?”

Allison stood just as still as she had upon Jess’s wakening. “He lives here. With the others.”

“Others?” Jess stepped closer to the mirror, leaning against the dresser to get a better look. Her breath fogged it enough to reveal a single name, written backward: Riley.

Jess’s heart and feet leapt in unison. “Oh my God! Oh my God!”

“See? I told you,” Allison said, still speaking in the same monotone voice.

Jess gulped in a breath and approached the dresser again, her heart still hammering in her chest. Shadows shifted eerily inside the mirror, but Jess told herself it was just the light refracting off the angular ceiling. She leaned even closer. She had to be sure.
Wanted
to be sure. The name was there, but she hadn’t actually seen anyone write it. Allison had been standing in front of the mirror before Jess woke up. What if she’d written the name herself?

What if she hadn’t?

Ghosts can’t hurt you. They’ve never hurt you—or anyone you know of
, Jess tried to reassure herself.

“Hello?” Jess whispered. She squinted, bringing her face closer to the glass, trying to seek out any movement, any form deep within the mirror.

Allison grabbed her arm and jerked her backward.

“
Allison! Ow!”

“Ignore him, Jess. Don’t talk to him. Don’t talk to any of them. It just makes them stronger. We’ll have to tell Gage and Bryan not to talk to them, either.”

Jess opened her mouth to say Allison was scaring her again, but snapped it shut. If there were ghosts here and Allison wanted to be afraid of them, fine. Not her. Not
yet
, anyway. A name in the mirror didn’t mean the ghost was evil.

“Allison, did you write that?”

Allison reached up and wiped at the name with her fingers. The name didn’t smudge. “If I had, don’t you think I’d be able to erase it?”

“Oh, my God,” Jess repeated. She paced in front of the mirror, rationalizing this out. “Okay, so a ghost wrote his name on the mirror. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s evil.”

“But he is,” Allison said. She still hadn’t budged an inch.

“Then maybe it’s a demon. Did the demons follow you here?” Jess asked. The thought of demons in their room
did
scare her.

“No,” Allison answered.

That was a huge relief. So Allison had only seen a ghost. One that tried to communicate with her and startled her. “Did he hurt you?”

“No.”

“Threaten you?” Jess asked.

“No.”

Jess resumed pacing. Allison had no real
proof
the ghost meant anyone harm. She couldn’t make out everything Riley said. She’d said so herself.

She didn’t doubt Allison had seen a ghost, just that she knew for certain it was evil. Allison was quick to freak out, quick to judge without good reason. Understandable, given her history, but no one else, not Jess, and neither Bryan nor Gage, had felt anything inside the house yet—especially anything bad. Weren’t they also sensitive to the paranormal?

“I don’t mean to sound bitchy, but why is it just you, Allison? Help me understand. Why are you the only one who thinks something is wrong here? How come the rest of us don’t sense anything in the house is evil?”

“I
told you
,” Allison said. “It’s fooled you. It’s fooled you all.”

Jess took another look into the mirror. No ghosts. No one named Riley stared back at them. She wished she could see what Allison did. Maybe then she could help her with her fears.

“Allison?”

“Yes?”

“Is it possible that you’re afraid of Siler House and ghosts because you’ve had such a bad experience? I mean, demons…that’s worse than anything I can imagine.”

Allison didn’t respond. Maybe Jess was getting somewhere. “Ghosts are spooky,” she continued. “I get that. They pop into and out of a room so quickly and so quietly. Sometimes they shimmer, or flicker. Sometimes they stand there and stare without saying a single word. I’d call that scary if I didn’t know better—if I hadn’t come across them as often as I have. I’ve seen hundreds! And not one of them ever threatened or hurt me. And ghosts aren’t the same as demons, right?”

“I don’t know,” Allison said, still staring into the mirror. “Until now, I’d never seen a ghost. We need to warn the others. Gage. Bryan. Dr. Brandt. Even Mrs. Hirsch.”

Jess nodded slowly. “Fine. We’ll tell them what you saw, okay?” They’d tell the others, all right. And if Allison’s behavior got any stranger, she’d insist on her own room. Jess was exhausted and if it wasn’t already so late, she’d find another room right now.

“Sorry. Go back to sleep.” Allison turned away from the mirror at last, and crawled back into her bed. “I think he’s gone now, but I’ll stay up and watch for him. If you want.”

“No,” Jess said. “We should
both
go back to sleep. If you say he’s gone, then he’s gone. We’ll tell Dr. Brandt about it first thing in the morning. Will we be okay until then?”

The odd, trance-like state Allison had been in was finally gone. “You think I’m crazy, don’t you?”

Jess struggled for the right words, but came up short. It had been a long day. Her brain couldn’t rationalize anything right now except sleep. And she was worried that there might truly be something wrong with her roommate.

Like there’s not something wrong with all of us,
Jess thought.

Allison laughed. “I wouldn’t believe me, either. The girl who sees malevolent spirits in mirrors.” She turned to face Jess. “I’m sorry about grabbing you so hard. I don’t want you to be afraid of
me
. But, we’ve got something in common, don’t we? We’ve both been to a psychiatrist. You’re like
me
, Jess. People think we imagine things. They may not say it out loud, but they think we’re crazy, you and me, both.”

Jess wanted to disagree, that seeing ghosts or whatever didn’t necessarily make them crazy. But she couldn’t, because Jess
had
felt that her parents and everyone else who knew about it
did
think she was crazy.

She communicated with ghosts, or at least, used to. Allison had demons on speed dial. Bryan sent stuff (and people) to the Twilight Zone, and Gage reanimated the dead. Yeah. To most people, they had a lot of crazy in common. What if this whole experiment was about them, and how madness sets in? How people begin to hallucinate, see things others didn’t? Claim that things happened that never did?

Allison’s eyes were pleading now, and her voice began to quiver. “Everyone is
always
afraid of me. Please don’t be scared of me, Jess. You’re all I have here. You’re the only person who can understand.”

CHAPTER TEN

Morning came a bit too bright and early. Jess glanced at the alarm clock. It was close to seven-thirty. Breakfast wasn’t until nine. Allison was still sound asleep. Jess slid out of bed, dressed as quietly as possible, and padded across the room, thankful none of the floorboards creaked. She opened the door, again relieved it didn’t make a sound. Oddly, it had a slight squeak to it the day before, but Jess passed it off as the door expanding and contracting with the temperature. She stood in the hallway, listening to the sounds of the house. She imagined it breathing, stirring awake along with the birds and the wind. Of course, that was ridiculous. Siler House was wood, brick and stone. Not blood, bone or soul. Just like she’d said last night.

It was definitely time to do some exploring. Dr. Brandt had said they were free to roam. Some of the rooms would be locked, he’d told them. But, any room
unlocked
was hers to check out.

Jess walked across the hall to the room opposite hers. The doorknob turned easily in her hand, and she pushed the door open enough to see inside. Sheets blanketed a roomful of furniture, making it look like some ghostly convention. Dark yellow-gold paint covered the walls. Heavy brocade curtains hung at the windows. Jess stepped inside and gently closed the door behind her, taking in the musty smell of the stored furniture. Making her way around the room, she pulled aside the sheet draped over a tall piece of furniture and found a floor-length mirror. It was old and the glass pitted and dark. She stared at it for a moment, examining it, curious and scared at the same time.

“Riley?” she said softly, not surprised when no one answered. She’d let her imagination run the show again.

She let the sheet slide back over the mirror as she walked to the window. The curtains made most of the room impenetrable to the morning light. She pushed one of the panels aside, although it took some effort. The material was dense and heavy. Jess squinted against the light that spilled onto her face. As she did, she swore someone shrieked. The sound was faint, but it had come from within the room, she was sure of it. She spun, looking for whoever might have entered—a maid, perhaps. Even Allison. But she was alone. The light from the window had momentarily hurt her eyes, but now she noticed the sunlight did little to chase away the dark shadows resting in the corners.