When They Fade (17 page)

“What noise?” Tatum asks.

A groan adds to the air. From behind the bushes I start to see figures emerge. Shadows in human form. They're coming out from behind the trees. They're emerging from the water. Bubbles rise to the surface. I whip around, and I can see blurry shapes in front of us, rambling down the path that leads to the road.

Wailing. The voices of a thousand dark souls fill my ears.

We're surrounded.

Parker's hand squeezes so tightly, it's as if he's trying to go right through my skin. “Don't let them near you,” he says. “Whatever you do, don't get too close.”

“Who is that?” Mary asks. She steps closer to us, finally understanding that something's wrong.

“Remnants,” Parker says.

“What is it?” Tatum asks. She's squinting into the distance, trying to see what we're seeing. She's staring right at them; whatever these ghosts are, they're not visible to the living. They're here for us.

A Remnant steps into view. My blood runs instantly cold. I want to say it's male, but I'm not fully sure. It has no face, just bumps and shadows where the eyes, mouth, and nose should be. It wears clothing, faded and dirty, but I can't make out any distinct features at all. When I look straight at it, everything blurs, as if energy is pouring off its body in waves. It moves toward us, neither slow nor fast. The pale skin where its mouth should be pulses, and a gurgling wail fills the air.

“Oh, Jesus,” Mary says. “Blessed Mother, protect us all.”

“What is it?” Tatum asks again. I can hear the urgency in her voice. Her eyes dart around, scanning the area, seeing nothing. There's nothing for her to focus on. She moves closer to Scott, who puts his arm around her, protectively pulling her close.

One of them appears from behind a tree, reaching out for Mary with blurred fingers. Parker recovers fast. He grabs Mary by the hem of her shawl and pulls her back. The Remnant's hands close around air. Parker lifts up his leg and kicks it squarely in the chest. The creature stumbles and falls, landing flat on its back, where it starts to sink beneath the surface.

“Don't let it near you,” Parker says again. “We have to go. Your rocks. Get them out.”

My hands tremble as my fingers close around my precious stone. I don't want to be the first to drop it. Not until everyone else is safe. I can't leave them behind. But Mary freezes. She stands perfectly still, unable to do anything as another creature closes in.

“Mary! Move it!” I scream.

She reaches her fingers down into the folds of her skirt pockets. “It's gone,” she says. “I can't find it.”

“It's got to be there,” Parker says. “You can't have dropped it. Otherwise you'd be gone.” He pushes his way in front of us both, spreading his arms out to try and protect us from the oncoming herd of Remnants. Two of them touch, their energy mixing together, making them look like creepy conjoined twins. The one on the right moans, a large lump forming where its mouth should be, tasting the air, tasting us.

“It's not here,” Mary insists. She turns to me, desperation on her face.

“Check all your pockets,” I say.

“What's going on?” Tatum asks. Her voice is a million miles away. When I look up, I can see one of the Remnants is almost at her. Will it walk right through her? Or will something happen? Just because Tatum can't see the creature, does that mean it can't hurt her? I find I don't want to take the chance.

There are too many of them. They're steadily closing in. Parker picks up a heavy branch and shoves the closest one back. Mary seems to have suddenly grown a dozen pockets in which to hide a pebble. We need more space. More time.

“Come on,” I say to Parker. “We have to get everyone up to the road.”

“What?” He looks at me incredulously.

“What if they hurt them?” I ask.

“They're human.”

“That doesn't mean they can't be hurt, does it?”

Parker pauses, and I can tell he doesn't know the answer.

“We need to make sure everyone is safe,” I say.

“If they catch you, you're going to die.”

“I'm already—”

Parker grabs both my arms. “No, Molly. Not dead like what you are now. Simply put: no more you. There's no coming back from that.”

I nod.

Parker turns and grabs Mary. “Come on,” he says. “Let's get to higher ground. No, don't stop looking. Find that damn rock.”

“What's going on?” Tatum asks.

“You don't want to know,” I say. “But trust me, it's bad. You've got to get out of here. We don't know if they can hurt you or not.”

“More ghosts like you?”

“Nothing like me.”

Tatum seems to finally get it. Scott, meanwhile, has his hand on the small of her back and is already pushing Tatum up the path.

“No!” I scream. “Not that way. We have to go around.”

Scott stops; a Remnant reaches out and misses him by inches. Scott pulls back and flinches. That's the first time I've noticed that Scott is shivering. He's looking right at the Remnant, and it's obvious he's not seeing it. But unlike Tatum, he seems almost aware of them. He gives me a questioning look, and I motion in the other direction. Nodding, Scott seems to have come back to his senses. Even though he's terrified, he's thinking clearly.

The Remnants come back toward me, where Parker is pulling Mary to the left, trying to find a way through the tumble of bushes. Mother Nature seems to be doing whatever she can to complicate things. The undergrowth is thick, and the only free areas are filled with the creatures. More and more appear out of thin air. There are about a dozen of them now, and they've almost got us surrounded.

Parker finally finds a small path. He ushers everyone through, and I scramble up the muddy slope, ignoring the wetness of the earth as it soaks into my skirt. Mary slips in front of me, cutting her hand on a sharp piece of stone. She cries out. Blood drips from her fingers.

I think it's the exact moment I see the blood that I realize I'm exhaling heavily as if all the wind's been knocked from my lungs.

Blood. Breathing.

In this state, we're humanlike. We can be hurt. And I've been so self-absorbed, I haven't even noticed.

I glance to the side and see the closest Remnant reaching out from behind a thin birch tree. Energy pulsates from its upper body, its skin rippling as if insects are just underneath. Its hair is long and reddish orange, a stark contrast against its white-blue skin. If it touches us, will we become like it?

Panic shoots across my chest. For the first time since Walter brought the knife across my skin, I remember what absolute terror feels like.

It's slow going, but we finally reach the top of the slope. Everyone is covered in mud and dirt. Mary's fingers tremble as she tries to stop the bleeding. Her chest rises up and down in quick short gasps, her corset making it difficult to breathe in all that fear. I want to try and loosen it for her, but that will take too much time. Instead I reach into her closest pocket; if she can stand still long enough, I might be able to find her pebble for her. But I'm rewarded with only a wooden box full of matches and a couple of coins.

The thought is ridiculous. A stupid stone. How can something so meaningless suddenly become the most important essential for survival? I shove the matches and coins in my own pocket and continue the search.

“Come on,” Tatum says. She's panting too. The scramble up the steep banks has set us all back. “The car's just over there.”

“We don't need the car,” I say. “But you and Scott need to get out of here.”

“I'm not leaving you,” Tatum says.

“Don't worry, we've got our own exit strategy.” I've gone through both the skirt pockets. Now I'm reaching into Mary's blouse, sorting through a few more coins and whatever else she's managed to salvage from the past century. Parker joins me. Mary's become completely useless. She stands still, letting us search her, holding her fingers up and crying as the blood continues to seep away. For someone who was sliced apart by one of the world's worst killers of all time, she sure is having a hard time dealing with a little blood.

“Watch out!” Parker screams at me. I turn, and a Remnant stumbles straight into me. I fall, bringing Mary and all her petticoats with me, and we collapse into a heap on the road. Parker brings his branch up like a baseball bat and sends the Remnant reeling back into the woods.

I see Tatum rushing toward me with Scott trying to pull her back.

“Get out of here!” I yell at them. “Go. I'll find you.”

“But—”

“Go! Scott. Get her out of here. Now!”

Scott holds on to Tatum's arm, forcing her toward the car. He opens the door and ushers her inside. Tatum presses her face up against the window, screaming words I can't hear. I don't care. As long as she's safe, that's all that matters.

“I found it,” Mary says. With trembling fingers she holds up the tiny pebble, which she finally managed to yank from God knows where. “Now what do I do—”

Blurred fingers reach around her neck, squeezing tightly.

I think I scream. I'm not fully sure.

The Remnant's hand loops around Mary, grabbing a fistful of hair. Energy slithers along its arm, taking on a life of its own, pulsating away from the creature's body and wrapping tightly around Mary's. She opens her mouth to call out for me as currents squeeze her throat, cutting off the air. More energy encircles her chest, her legs and arms. It tightens, covering her, binding her to the Remnant.

I try to grab her fingers, which reach out toward me for help. Then hands go around my own waist, Parker holding me back as I scream and struggle. Parker is stronger than me; he pulls me across the road, away from Mary, as she writhes under her invisible bondage.

“Let go of me,” I gasp.

“You can't help her. She's gone.”

But she's not. Mary is still there. She opens her outstretched hand, and I see her pebble drop to the ground.

She doesn't disappear. She doesn't Fade.

In the distance, I hear a car engine roar to life. Scott's finally listened to us. He's managed to find a way to keep Tatum inside the vehicle, and they're peeling out. Brake lights fade and tires squeal.

Parker's hand reaches into my pocket, and he's suddenly pressing something into my palm. A tiny rock.

“Drop it,” he says. His voice is weirdly calm.

I look up at what used to be Mary. She's struggling to stay standing, her leather boots the only thing that identifies her for who she used to be. She's faceless now, swaying slightly, taking her first step toward us. Her beautiful eyes have disappeared. The mouth that always had such colorful things to say.

Parker's right. She's gone.

I open my hand and let the pebble drop to the ground. I Fade away and back into the cave, where Parker finds me. My legs tremble, and I collapse into the dirt, sobbing uncontrollably. Parker kneels down and wraps his arms around me, holding me until the shaking stops.

“You're safe,” he says over and over.

He holds me until the end of time.

Scott doesn't stop. His foot is embedded in the floor, and the tires squeal, filling the car with the smell of burned rubber.

The girl, Mary, just disappeared into thin air. But not in a good way. Tatum is sure of that. There's no escaping the look of horror etched across her face or the way she gasped as if something was starting to suck the last bit of air from her body. The way Molly screamed and tried to help her, Parker holding her back as if their lives depended on it. Something horrible happened. But what? Helplessly, she watched Molly and Parker fade away into the distance.

Scott turns a corner, sending Tatum violently against the passenger-side door. Her head knocks against the window.

Seat belt.

“Go back,” she says.

“No way.”

“GO BACK!”

Scott ignores her, so Tatum grabs the emergency brake and pulls it. The car jerks, and the tires slip out from beneath them. Scott tries to keep control of the wheel while they spin around a hundred and eighty degrees. They don't end up in the ditch, but they come close. The engine sputters and dies, jerking to a halt. Scott slams his fist down on the dashboard.

“Are you nuts?”

“Yes. Now go back!”

“Molly told me to get you out of there.”

“And you did. Now we go back. I need to make sure they made it. I have to be sure she's safe.”

“How exactly will you know for sure?”

“Just do it.”

Scott swears, but he starts the car again and turns around. Moving more slowly this time, they head back down Frog Road and toward the train bridge. The path is empty. Wherever Parker and Molly are, they're no longer there.

Scott doesn't stop, but he slows to a crawl as they drive by. Tatum looks out into nothing, searching for a clue, something, that can explain the craziness that just happened.

What did Molly see? What scared them so bad that they freaked out like that?

“They're gone. Are you satisfied?”

“I don't know.”

Tatum lets out a steady stream of curse words herself, frustrated that she was just part of something horrifying and she couldn't see a damn thing.

Where is Molly? Did she get free? How long is it going to take before Tatum finds out for sure? How many days is she going to have to spend waiting before she can decide something terrible happened? A week? Two? Oh God, is this her fault?

“Come on,” Scott says. “I'm taking you home.”

Scott pulls up in front of her house. Tatum wants nothing more than to jump out of the car before it stops moving and run inside. But Scott wants an explanation; she can tell by the way he keeps opening and closing his mouth. When he stops, he turns off the car and waits.

“So this is what you do?” he finally says. “You're some kind of ghost hunter?”

Tatum laughs, although it's really not that funny. She looks at the driveway, where her car waits. Neither of her parents is home right now. Tatum wants to go up into the sanctuary of her bedroom, get into bed, and pull the covers up over her head until the cold feelings go away. Maybe a hot shower would help. Her hands are freezing. She stuffs them into her pockets, but it doesn't do a thing to warm them up. This kind of cold goes straight down to her bones.

“Care to explain what just happened?”

“I don't know,” she says. “I really don't.”

“You don't know how a bunch of ghosts turned up out of nowhere? Or you don't know why they called you by your name? Or that weird invisible attack? Was it an attack? Do we even know what happened?”

“You mean you believe it?” Tatum asks carefully.

“I have eyes, don't I?”

Tatum shrugs. Would she believe it if the tables were turned and she were sitting in Scott's position?

Scott exhales heavily. He taps his fingers absently on the steering wheel. “I don't know. I guess so. What should I say? That girl, Molly, she's a dead ringer for the girl in the photograph, and I know
it's
real. I gave you those articles myself. They weren't doctored or anything. Those other two looked like they stepped out of the Victorian era or something. Part of me wants to believe you're setting me up, but for what…I can't even begin to figure that out.”

“Parker is the guy,” Tatum says. “I met him for the first time the other night. I don't know about the girl. Mary. I've never seen her before. She really has a thing for food.”

“I don't think you're crazy,” Scott says. “If anyone knows you tell the truth, I guess it's me. So yeah, I believe you. Now I'm just wishing Granny was with us. She would have loved that, even if it did get weird.”

Tatum tells him everything. Scott must be cold too because halfway through her story he starts the car up so he can turn on the heater. She tells him first about how she met Molly on the road. She tells him about Molly's strange warning only because she can't think of a better lie on the spot. Since Molly only gives premonitions to certain people, like Scott's grandmother, she knows she can't leave that out. She probably could have made something up about a lost cat, but Scott deserves complete honesty. She goes on, talking about how she's been doing all that research to try and find a way to help Molly, but how do you help a ghost who obviously doesn't seem to need it?

While she's talking, both her parents come home. They see her in the car and wave. Mom can't stop smiling, apparently thrilled to see Tatum talking with a boy her own age. Dad frowns, but thankfully doesn't do anything to embarrass her. They go inside after Mom points to her watch and taps it. Twenty minutes and then it's time to go in for dinner.

“So what do we do now?” Scott asks when she finally finishes.

“Wait for Molly to come back,” Tatum says. “I hope she's safe.”

“No, not that,” Scott says. “What about you? If Molly says you're going to die, shouldn't you be more worried? She was right about my grandma. Completely right. Each little detail. And you said it yourself—you read that stuff online about other people she's spoken to. The things Molly says, they're true.”

“Just because she knew someone was being cheated on doesn't mean she's right about this,” Tatum says. “Come on, Claudette might be a big bitch, but she's not a psychopathic killer. She's never tried to pick a fight with me. She's having too much fun getting the guys to pee on my car.”

“That doesn't mean she won't take it up a notch.”

“She's not a killer,” Tatum says. “I've known her my whole life. She never tortured animals as a child or crap like that.”

“So you're just going to ignore the warning? Even though Molly keeps coming back? Did you not see that freak-out? It looks to me like she's taking a hell of a chance to try and make sure you're safe.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“You didn't feel it?”

“What?”

Scott shudders and turns the heat up. “There was something in the woods. I couldn't fully see it. Blurred images out of the corners of my eyes. Things moving. A lot of them. And the temperature. It was so cold I could see my breath. But whatever it was, they saw it. It terrified them. It got Mary.”

“Parker called them Remnants.”

Scott nodded. “I think it was a different type of ghost. Something that came after them. If Molly found a way to escape her afterlife like she told you, maybe they're set up to make sure these things can't happen.”

“If she comes back, she's putting herself in danger, then.”

“Exactly.”

Tatum doesn't want to think about that. These past few weeks have given her a purpose. Before Molly, she had nothing. She sat in her room and waited for everything to end so she could restart her life. It's been a horrible time; she doesn't want to go back to it. She needs Molly in her life. She wants to be her friend. Sure, that sounds stupid, but for the first time in ages Tatum feels good about herself. And then there's Scott. If it weren't for her ghostly friend, she never would have talked to him.

And thanks to Molly and to Scott's grandmother's stories, they're still talking.

“She's going through a lot of trouble to keep you safe,” Scott says. “She's risking her own life. Wait, ghosts are dead, right? Does that make it her soul she's risking?”

“Nothing is going to happen,” Tatum insists. She looks at the dashboard clock. Time's up. She'd better get inside before Dad comes out. “I've got to go.”

“Okay. But do me a favor and think about it,” Scott says. “Let's be careful over the next few days. Don't put yourself in a position where you're alone with Claudette.”

“Fine.”

She wonders if Scott might lean over and go for that kiss he missed earlier, but he doesn't. Instead he watches her as she walks up the driveway. It isn't until she reaches the door that he drives off. She goes inside, bracing herself for the barrage of questions that will be coming her way. Mom will most likely think that Tatum's being with Scott is the best thing in the world that could happen to her oversexed, older man–chasing daughter.

Tatum tosses and turns all night. No matter how much she tries to ignore it, Scott's warning keeps popping up in the back of her mind. What if he's right? What if she's completely underestimating Claudette? Why else would Molly risk her soul to keep coming back?

She gets out of bed and turns on the computer to research Remnants, but finds nothing. She's not overly surprised, since humans can't see them and ghosts don't exactly keep blogs. Finally, around three a.m., she falls into a poor sleep that ends with nightmares in which she's being chased by shadow monsters with extra-large heads. In the morning, before she showers, her face in the mirror looks haggard. No amount of makeup can hide those dark marks under her eyes.

School is uneventful. No one looks at her or says a single word. She talks to Scott briefly in the hall before class, but that's about it.

Just before lunch, she gets called into the office.

The principal takes her outside to the parking lot without really talking to her. He hasn't said a friendly word since the last official office visit, months ago, when Tatum got called out for being a liar. Now his face is red and sweaty. He repeats that he doesn't have time for this nonsense. He wants to know where she was during first period. Was she in class? He is going to check with her teacher, so she'd better tell the truth. Tatum can't help but think he'd behave differently if it were any student other than her.

The damage is extensive.

They've broken all the windows in her car. From first glance it looks like they used a baseball bat. The fenders are dented in several spots. They opened the hood and tore out every single wire they could find. They removed the battery and smashed it open on the ground. Acid stains the asphalt beneath her feet. All the tires have been slashed. The seats cut and pulled apart. The CD player disabled and lying in pieces on the floorboards.

Someone used a key to scratch all sorts of nasty remarks in the paint job. Words even worse than what she normally finds on her locker. What's more is that they used something other than lipstick this time. On the hood of the car, the words are still drying. It's probably paint, but it looks like the words were written in blood.

DIE, BITCH, DIE.

The words make her shudder the first time she reads them. Scott is going to have a lot to say about this. Oh God, this is true. Claudette is capable of doing a lot more than Tatum's given her credit for. Maybe all that time spent with Mr. Paracini has done something to her brain.

There is so much damage that her car no longer resembles itself. It's more like a lump of gray metal now. Glass is scattered across the ground, along with bits of cloth from the seats. No amount of insurance money will put it back together. It's a write-off.

Dad's going to kill her.

The police are called in, although the principal isn't happy about it. He talks to the officers, and she knows he's telling them about her sketchy past. It's suggested more than once that she probably did this herself to get the attention and sympathy from the other students. One of the cops, a woman, gives her a compassionate glance, but the man obviously thinks Tatum must have brought this on herself. Still, he takes her statement and writes down everything she says.

No one saw anything. Tatum gives them a list of names, and the female officer assures her they'll follow it all up. But the odds are good that Claudette and her army will have alibis.

“If you did this, you should come clean,” the principal says again. “I'm going to check with your teachers. If you so much as even went to the bathroom, I'll find out.”

“They destroyed my car,” Tatum counters. “There's blood all over it.”

“It's just paint,” the principal says.

“It smells like blood.” She turns to the male cop. “Aren't you even going to test it to find out where it came from?”

“This isn't some stupid crime show,” he grumbles. But he goes over to his car and pulls out a crime kit.

The lunch bell rings and students come out, curious about all the commotion. They stand around in the distance, and Tatum notices that Claudette and Graham are noticeably absent. Levi is there, taking pictures on his phone, laughing with Juniper. At least he's smart enough not to shout anything or get too close.

“Can you think of anyone else who might want to harm you?” the female officer asks.

“It's some sort of stupid prank,” the male cop says. “Went a bit too far, but kids say this sort of stuff all the time. It's all that time on the Internet. Makes them feel invincible.”

“Doesn't look that way to me.”

“It had to be Claudette,” Tatum says. “She hates me more than anything.” As much as she wants the officers to believe her, she also wonders what the point is. None of this matters anymore. Her car is gone, and it's not like Dad's about to get her another, especially with college a year away. And now her salvation, the one thing she thought she could rely on to get her far away from this town, has been taken away.