Riser (Teen Horror/Science Fiction) (Book #1 in The Riser Saga) ((Volume 1)) (44 page)

The guard sitting inside the booth hit the button for the intercom. “Mr. Forester is here to wait for the Vice President.”

“Copy. We’ll have refreshments ready,” came a friendly voice through the speaker above the guard’s head.

“Thank you,” the guard responded then turned to me. “You’re all set, Mr. Forester.”

“Thank….” I started to make him say.

BBBBZZZZT!

BBBZZZZTT!

Out of nowhere Bill was there with a stun club and both guards were down.

He turned to Mr. Forester with a smile, but his eyes were full of determination and bravery. “Get your butt up here. We’re getting Ryan together.”

I opened my eyes and it took me a second to make my own perspective the more dominant one. I couldn’t believe Bill! I was shocked, proud, scared and little excited by his aggression. He was right of course; three was better than one dead guy. Once we were in, who knew how many dead servants they employed that I could use to my advantage. Spiders and flies would work too in a pinch.

I followed the same route I made Jill’s dad travel and was next to Bill and Mr. Forester within seconds. I disconnected from Mr. Forester’s eyes, but remained linked to the rest of his body.

“Get that stun club ready,” I advised Bill.

Bill actually grinned at me.

I looked up at his bruised, cut face and his silly smile and I couldn’t help myself. I hugged him. “Thank you, Bill.”

Bill gently pushed me off, eyes sparkling, still smiling. “Hug me
after
we pull this off.”

“Right,” I said and took a deep breath, head back in the game.

I made Jill’s dad walk up the long cobblestone footpath that led to the front door. I followed next with Bill behind hiding his stun club. As far as I knew our plan was to stun the crap out of everyone until we found Ryan. The more I thought about it, the more nervous I became. This house was HUGE! Too many people, too many rooms. I put out my feelers for any corpses inside.

One.

Okay. Not ideal, but workable. I quickly popped into the dead person’s eyes.

My heart skipped about a million beats.

Ryan was sitting in front of me, chained to a metal chair that was bolted to the floor. The room was a small square of white, walls, linoleum floor and ceiling. No windows and just one single white door. I nearly crumbled when I could see how beat up Ryan was. I thought Nancy’s parents and Bill looked bad, Ryan apparently didn’t stop fighting the entire time. Two black eyes, bloody nose, swollen lip, bruises and cuts all over his arms and who knew where else. His worst nightmare came true, he was back with my grandparents and this time it was for keeps.

The body I was in slapped him hard across the face. So much for treating him like a King!

Ryan spit out blood and refused to make eye contact with his tormentor.

And then it occurred to me.

When I connected to this dead person, Turner’s usual barrier hadn’t been in place. This particular corpse didn’t have any defenses against me.

Odd.

Why?

A trick most likely. But what kind of trick?

I immediately took control of the rest of the dead person’s limbs. I looked down at the body. A woman. Clothes and skin ragged and dirty. Who was this person?

I made her bend down and whisper in Ryan’s ear. “Ryan, it’s me, Chelsan, Bill and I are at the house. Sit tight and we’ll be up in a few.”

Ryan’s head whirled around so fast to look in the corpse’s eyes it frightened me. “Chelsan, don’t! Leave me here, please!”

WHAM!

I was bumped out of the dead woman’s body.

“Roberta knows we’re here. We have to hurry,” I said as my head was spiraling. Why didn’t Ryan want us to rescue him? He couldn’t possibly want to stay. Maybe they were brainwashing him. I didn’t care. I was going after him whether he liked it or not.

Taking full control of Mr. Forester we opened the front door without waiting to knock.

It was empty. The foyer was all dark wood paneling and polished flooring. From the brightness emanating in front of us, I saw the glints of gold from the living room. It was hard to forget the gold gaudiness from my mother’s vision and apparently Roberta and Turner hadn’t changed their décor in the last twenty years.

The eerie stillness made my mind scream the word
trap
over and over. I finally understood why people in horror movies always
investigated
when every instinct in their bodies told them to run. It was like someone was controlling me and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Roberta stepped in front of us out of nowhere with five guards behind her. She smiled her stiff, stretched smile. “Chelsan.”

“Roberta.” I said wondering where on earth this was going. She wasn’t having the guards attack. She didn’t even look like she was mad that I was there. What was going on?

“Come with me. All of you.” Roberta turned and walked up a flight of stairs, her guards following dutifully. “You’re out numbered, dears, please,” she called over her shoulder.

“Should we?” Bill asked. I could tell he was thinking the same thing I was.

“Ryan told me to leave,” I confided in Bill.

“Maybe we should.” Bill was a smart guy. He knew something was wrong, too.

“I just can’t, Bill. I can’t leave Ryan here. They’ll never let him go.” Even though I knew I was most likely being an idiot and walking straight into the lion’s den. I just couldn’t abandon Ryan. I’d never be able to live with myself.

“Okay. I’m with you.” Bill leveled his stun club, ready to use it despite the odds.

“And besides, there’s a dead bee hive on the west wing,” I whispered to Bill sensing it as we followed Roberta and her men up the stairs. I didn’t know what I’d do with a bunch of bees, but at least it was something. Other than that, Roberta appeared to have had the house cleansed of anything dead aside from a fly here or there. A rush cleansing job. Which meant Turner must have informed her of my escape and they knew I’d be coming here for Ryan. I kept Mr. Forester with us as well, he was more of a shield now than anything else. Somehow, I didn’t think I’d be able to keep Jill’s dad safe, but my choices were slim and living was way more important than dying to keep my enemy’s
dead
dad in good shape.

Bill and I kept a good distance from the guards just in case they tried anything funny, but they seemed very disinterested in us. Their main concern was my feline grandmother who was striding down a long hallway with a slight bounce to her step. The flight of stairs was as tacky as the rest of the house with its gold-inlaid carvings of lion heads on the top and bottom of the railings to the silver and gold Chinese-style runner on the steps. But deep dark brown wood was the main attraction of the upstairs, just like the foyer the walls and floor were the same color. The few pieces of artwork hanging from the walls did little to lighten up the space. There wasn’t a window in sight, the only light source being the inset bulbs evenly spaced out on the ceiling.

Roberta stopped at a white door at the end of the hallway and turned to me with a large grin. “Here we are,” she practically purred.

I was sure that this was the door Ryan was behind. Sure, because of seeing through the dead woman’s eyes and sure, because I knew I was walking into the snappy part of her mousetrap. I looked over at Bill and the expression on his face matched what I was feeling.

Roberta’s guards stood next to her like statues, void of showing any emotion whatsoever.

“Shall we go in and see your lover?” Roberta cackled. Like a kid who had a surprise that they couldn’t wait to reveal.

“Keys, please. I know he’s in chains.” I decided that whatever she had planned for me I could handle, I only wanted to free Ryan and get out of there.

Suddenly we heard Ryan scream from behind the door. “CHELSAN! DON’T COME IN! GET OUT OF HERE! PLEASE!”

Hearing his desperate plea made me want to help him even more. I knew this was a mistake, but my heart was stronger than my head at this point. She handed me the keys a little too happily for my taste, but I took them anyway.

I shoved past Roberta and her guards, Mr. Forester in tow, and swung the door open.

There was Ryan just as I had seen him through the corpse’s eyes, chained to the metal chair. There were tears streaming down his bruised face as he looked at me. He was devastated to see me, as if I had sprung the trap and it was too late. All I saw was him, nothing here that could hurt me.

One step at a time. I ran over to his chains and started to unlock him.

“Chelsan,” came a woman’s voice from behind me.

Chills ran down my spine and I froze in place. It couldn’t be. No. No. No. No.

I looked up at Ryan and his eyes confirmed my worst fear.

“You should have left me here.” His face was wracked with sympathy.

I slowly turned my head.

I couldn’t breathe.

I couldn’t think.

I couldn’t react.

Standing in front of me was the corpse I had controlled.

Mommy.

I started to shake violently, dropping the keys to the floor.

Roberta’s cackle of delight was the only sound that reverberated off the walls.

Mom.

Mom.

Mom.

No.

She was barely recognizable, she was beaten to pulp, her eyes freshly gauged, her skin left to rot. She looked like a zombie out of horror film. Her black swirling hole was invisible to me. Somehow Roberta had found a way to block me from even seeing if a body was dead or not. This was her trick. This was her plan. She brought my mother here to torture me. To punish me. To watch with utter happiness as I suffered. And it was working like a charm.

I couldn’t even cry. I was frozen. Literally frozen.

I hardly noticed Bill as he picked up the keys and continued to unchain Ryan.

My mother walked forward and looked at me with her empty sockets. “Such a failure.”

I tried to rationalize this wasn’t my mom, this was Roberta making my mom talk, move, function, but the words were coming out of her mouth, with her voice… even with her torn-out eyes and her rotted skin, she was still Mom.

“Stop,” I whispered.

“Stop what? Stop telling you the truth? I can finally tell you what I really thought of you,” my mother laughed. And it was her laugh. Tears flowed freely. My body was shaking so badly I could barely stand.

I tried to find her black hole. To disconnect Roberta from my mother’s body. To make her stop myself, but it was as if a real live person was standing in front of me. If it weren’t for her condition I might think she was actually alive…

“Please,” I sputtered.

Mom walked up to me and placed her hand against my cheek lovingly. “You were nothing but a burden to me. You killed your father and forced me to marry Bruce. I’ll hate you forever, little one.”

Roberta and my mom laughed hysterically at the anguish on my face.

Ryan and Bill were both by my side now.

“Let’s get out of here.” Ryan tried to lead me out of the room.

Roberta nodded to her guards.

Her men quickly grabbed Ryan and Bill before they could even react. They were both so focused on me they didn’t have their defenses up. They both struggled to break free, but they weren’t strong enough for the…

…wait a minute…

I could sense something in the guards, something off.

Like flashes of light, it was flashes of dark. They were dead, and their swirling holes were hidden like the one in my mother. My emotions clouded me from seeing it in her, but the guards were another story. Just when I started to gain some kind of stability my mom smiled down at me.