Everlasting (16 page)

“Beth!” she gasped, and for a split second was too stunned to fight.

The bruising weight had convinced her it was a guy. Even now Ivy’s mind refused to believe it, and she reached up to push back the curtain of hair. As she caught hold of the soft strands, Beth’s hand grasped Ivy’s with brutal strength. Ivy stared up at the face of her friend: her eyes had grown completely black, her pupils unnaturally dilated. It was like looking into the abyss of hell. Gregory’s hell.

Ivy started to fight again, struggling to push Beth off.
Angels, help me
, she prayed. Her arms began to tingle and the tingling rose to her skull. Her body ached for oxygen.

Suddenly Beth fell backward, and the pillow was knocked away. Ivy arched her back, gasping for breath, then caved against the sofa cushions. A hand rested on her chest, rising and falling with each hard breath. When her breaths grew even, another hand gently pushed back the hair that had tumbled over her face. He leaned forward.

“Will.” She began to cough.

“Shh. Catch your breath.”

“Ivy? Beth?” Dhanya called from upstairs. “Are you down there?”

Will turned quickly and Ivy followed his glance toward Beth. She was slumped in a chair, eyes closed.

“Are you okay?” he whispered to Ivy.

She nodded. Physically she was fine.

“Is everything all right?” Dhanya called down again, sounding uncertain.

“Yes.” Ivy struggled to keep her voice from quavering. “Fine,” she replied and started to cough. Hearing Dhanya on the steps, Ivy rose from the sofa and hurried toward the kitchen. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Will pick up Beth and carry her toward the front door.

Ivy met Dhanya at the bottom of the kitchen stairway. “Beth couldn’t sleep, that’s all.”

“That doesn’t mean the rest of us have to stay awake!” Kelsey hollered from above.

“Go back to bed,” Ivy said quietly to Dhanya. “I’ll keep Beth company.”

“Something’s really wrong with her,” Dhanya said.

“I know. I’ll stay with her. She’s almost asleep now. Go back to bed.”

“You’re sure you’re okay?”

Ivy wasn’t sure; inside she was still shaking. If Will hadn’t been there, she would have told Dhanya everything.

“Yes. G’night.”

Ivy returned to the living room, then slipped out the front door. Will had disappeared with Beth. For a minute Ivy didn’t know where to look, then a soft whistle drew her attention. She followed the path to the parking lot, glad Will was thinking more clearly than she, getting Beth away from the others.

When Beth came to, would she remember anything? Would she try again? Ivy couldn’t get out of her head the moment of looking up and seeing Beth’s hair swinging down over her face. She couldn’t block out the dark hatred and misery she had seen in Beth’s eyes. It wasn’t Beth—but it
was
. Ivy’s rib cage still felt the pressure of Beth’s knees; her heart felt broken in two.

When Ivy reached Will, she saw he had laid Beth in the grass beside his car. Ivy dropped to her knees next to him. “How is she?”

“Breathing. Her pulse is normal. But she didn’t respond when I tried to wake her.”

“We should take her to the ER.”

Will glanced up at Ivy. “Who would we ask to see—an exorcist? Oh, God, Ivy! I didn’t believe you. You tried to tell me, and I wouldn’t believe it. I could hardly believe even when I was watching her try to kill you!” Trembling, Will reached for Ivy’s hands. “I’m so sorry.”

Ivy rested her forehead against his.

“God help me,” he said. “God help us.”

For a few minutes they simply held onto each other, then Ivy spoke. “I keep telling myself that it was Gregory, not Beth, suffocating me.”

Will shook his head. “At this point, what’s the difference?”

“It makes a difference, Will, it has to! Gregory is in her mind, the way Tristan once slipped inside yours. He’s trying to take over, but we can still reach her.”

“Tristan never controlled me like that.”

“No,” Ivy admitted, “but Gregory doesn’t have complete control. He’s not stronger than the two of us, not yet.”

Then she told him about the amethyst. “I’ve been thinking about it since the other night. When this started, whenever Beth would warn me that Gregory was back, she played with the necklace. I thought it was just a habit, but now I think the stone gave her the strength to fight him.”

“
Gave
—you mean for a while, but no longer?”

“It’s gone.” Ivy gazed down at Beth. “She told me that the water wanted the amethyst and she threw it down to it. Gregory must have figured out its power when I did.”

“We can’t let him have her.”

“He’s using her. It’s me he wants.”

“He should have used me instead!” Will exclaimed. “He should have used anyone but Beth. She’s too gentle, too vulnerable—”

“Which is why he chose her. When he first came back,
his powers were weak. He is growing in strength, but together we are still stronger than him.”

Will pressed his lips together as if he were struggling to believe in Ivy’s strand of hope.

“When I needed you tonight, you came. How did you know to come, Will? Did Lacey tell you?”

“Lacey’s still around?”

Ivy nodded. “Philip kept in touch with her. I called to her when”—Ivy caught herself; telling Will about Tristan would needlessly confuse things—“when I first noticed something wasn’t right with Beth. I thought maybe Lacey called you to help me.”

“No.” He sat back on the grass
,
leaning against his car. “I’ve been worried about Beth—you know that. At first I thought Chase was pushing her too hard, and that she found Kelsey and Dhanya annoying. And I told myself she was right to be mad at you, but deep down, I was afraid something more was going on.” He gazed at Beth, his brown eyes troubled. “At work, with guests, she was okay for a while, then I saw her withdrawing from them, too. Aunt Cindy noticed. She said she was worried about both of you.

“When I was out tonight, I saw Beth walking toward the steps that go down to the beach. I followed her. She stopped at the top for a long time, her lips moving, saying nothing. When I called to her, she acted as if she couldn’t hear me. I
stood next to her, but she wouldn’t look at me. I turned her toward me, then asked her who she was talking to.

“‘The water,’ Beth said. I knew things had gone too far. It was already eleven o’clock, so I decided I’d talk to you tomorrow.

“An hour later, I couldn’t sleep and heard an e-mail come in—Suzanne. She forwarded the e-mails Beth had sent her. After I read them, I ran to the cottage. I didn’t think about what I was doing—why I was running—I just had to find you and Beth.”

Sheer luck?
Ivy wondered. Too much had happened in her life to believe in sheer luck.

“I guess everything I’d been denying suddenly became clear to me, including how I was putting both Beth and you in danger.”

Ivy took Will’s hand and he squeezed hers hard. She rested her other hand in Beth’s open palm, then felt Beth’s fingers curl over hers. Ivy fought the urge to pull back and swallowed hard, as if she could keep the fear from rising in her.

“Beth? Wake up,” Will said. “You’re with Ivy and me. You’re safe, Beth.”

Her eyes opened. She clung to Ivy’s hand and stared up at Will.

“Is he gone?” Will asked. “Did Gregory leave you?”

Beth turned to Ivy without answering. Ivy saw the lighter
ring of blue in her friend’s eyes; the darkness had lessened, but it had not disappeared. “He’s retreating,” Ivy said.

“No, he’s resting and waiting.” Beth’s voice shook. “He’s winning.”

“We won’t let him,” Will said.

Beth lifted her hand and touched Ivy’s mouth. Ivy steeled herself—wouldn’t let herself shrink back.

“Was it real?” Beth asked.

“Was
what
real?” Ivy replied.

Beth shuddered. “I wanted it to be a nightmare, but it wasn’t. I did it—I tried to suffocate you.”

“
Gregory
tried.”

Beth sat up. “If you hadn’t been there to stop me,” she said to Will, “I would have killed her.”

He put his arm around her.

“Ivy, if ever I hurt you, I couldn’t live with myself!”

“You’re not going to hurt me.”

“When this started, I didn’t understand what was going on,” Beth continued. “If I had known enough to run away—”

“No!” Ivy said sharply. “When Gregory was alive, his strategy was to isolate and control. Beth, think about it, think how he managed me . . . Suzanne . . . Eric. Don’t let him separate you from us. Our strength is in our love for one another.”

Beth looked from one to the other. The color that had just come into her cheeks vanished again.

“Lie down,” Ivy told her. “You’re exhausted.”

Will put his arms around Beth and eased her back on the grass. He took off his shirt and laid it under her head, then stroked her cheek. His tenderness brought tears to Ivy’s eyes. She wiped them before he could notice.

When Beth was peaceful again, Will gestured to Ivy and she followed him to a place beneath the trees, where they could keep an eye on Beth.

“As long as Gregory is in her mind, you’re still in danger,” he said in a quiet voice. “And Beth’s not the only one who’s exhausted. Why don’t you go home for a few days, stay safe with your family, and get some rest.”

Ivy shook her head. “We should stay together.”

“And wait for this to happen again?” he argued.

Ivy gazed at Beth, lying pale in the grass. How much more could her friend endure?

If I left
, Ivy wondered,
would Gregory follow me and leave Beth alone?
“Let me think about it,” she said aloud.

Both Will and Ivy wanted to stay with Beth till morning. Will nudged Beth awake and helped her to her feet. “I’ll get blankets,” Ivy said.

“We’ll meet you behind the dunes,” Will replied.

Ten minutes later they spread them in a warm hollow between the bluff and dunes, about thirty feet from the steps, out of view from the inn. Ivy set her cell phone to awaken them for work. She hoped none of the inn’s guests would
be out for a dawn stroll, but knew that “camping under the stars” would be more acceptable to Aunt Cindy than Will sleeping at the girls’ cottage or Beth staying in his room.

Beth was already asleep again. Will lay down next to her, and Ivy next to him. She was the last to drift into a fitful sleep, and she awoke before the others.

Sitting up, feeling the morning’s damp chill, she hugged her knees to her chest. On one side of them the dunes looked like pale and rounded hills against an orange sky. On the other, the bank of dark vegetation gradually assumed the leafy outlines of shrubs and dwarfed trees. As the sky brightened, Ivy’s gaze fell upon the end of the narrow boardwalk extending from the bluff’s stairway to the dunes. “Dusty.”

She rose to her feet, and the cat, tail held high, turned circles on the walkway, meowing when she was close enough to pet him.

“Some watch-cat you are, cutting out when things get rough.”

Dusty rubbed his cheek against her hand and trotted toward the steps.

“I’m not in danger now, thank you.”

The cat waited for her at the bottom of the steep stairway, his back to her, his nose pointed upward and tail waving lightly. Ivy glanced toward the landing, halfway up the steps.

“Looking for me?” Lacey asked.

“Actually . . . yes.” Ivy climbed the stairs, arriving at the facing benches just as Dusty leaped into Lacey’s lap.

“Good boy,” Lacey said, running her purple-painted nails through the cat’s orange fur. “You know, when Ella was alive, it took all my energy just to materialize the tips of my fingers so I could pet her.”

“Ella liked you and Tristan.”

“She was partial to Tristan,” Lacey replied. “But then, aren’t we all?”

Lacey looked as Ivy had seen her the last time, dressed in a tank top and ripped jeans. Her blunt cut bangs blew in the wind.

Ivy sat down opposite her. “Lacey—”

“‘
I need your help
,’” Lacey interrupted. “You know, if I had a feather for every time you’ve said that, I’d be—”

“An angel?”

“A cockatoo. So what is it this time?” Lacey asked.

“Beth, Will, and I need your help.”

“The radio especially.”
Radio
was Lacey’s term for a natural medium, a person open to spirits from the other side. “She’s getting mostly one channel now. Gregory’s.”

“Can you help her?” Ivy asked. “Can you slip inside Beth?”

“What? Do you think I’m crazy?” Lacey exclaimed

“Or inside me,” Ivy said, “and help Will and me expel Gregory.”

“The way you talk, chick, you’d think it was as easy as
voting him off the island.” She spread her hands as if holding up a title. “I can see it:
Soul Survivor
, Heaven’s newest reality show.”

Ivy grimaced.

“I’ve been making some inquiries about the situation,” Lacey went on. “A demon is expelled from this world if the person he’s occupying dies. Of course, if the demon realizes what’s going on, he’ll slip out before his doom is sealed and find another host.”

Ivy shook her head. “There must be some other way to get rid of Gregory.”

“Well, then, you figure it out. I have other clients who appreciate me and—”

“Beth tried to kill me last night.”

Lacey blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Afterward she passed out, but when she came to, Will and I could communicate with her. The only other time I could get through to Beth was when she was holding a pendant we’d given her. Could it have special power?”

Lacey sat back against the bench, thinking. “No more power than you and Will have. And no less either. Must work kind of like saints’ relics—as an extension of the strength in you and Will. She shouldn’t take it off.”

“It’s gone.”

“A pendant, you said. With an amethyst? Look anything like this?” Lacey asked, holding it up.

“Where did you find it?” Ivy cried, both stunned and relieved.

Lacey flicked her head. “At the bottom of the steps.”

Beth had said the water wanted it, and Will had seen Beth standing at the top of the stairway, talking to “the water.” This was as far as she had been able to throw it.