Grave Possession (Wraith 3) (24 page)

“He was wait-listed?” Connor asked. “He’s incredibly talented. I can’t imagine him not getting in.”

“He’s better than anyone else I’ve met so far,” I agreed. “And what an amazing gift, visions that he turns into realistic paintings. Way better than ghost whisperer.”

“His visions are new. He didn’t start having them until this past summer. Before that, he had some early signs of carrying on my own abilities, but nothing like the paintings. He’d always been an average painter, but motivated. He really wanted to go to school here. It all changed when he started the vision paintings and had a small show in a local gallery. The head of the visual arts program came to the opening and they talked. He pushed Tony’s application through.”

“Wow,” I said. “That’s a lot to handle so fast. It took me a couple years to get a handle on my gift and I’m still working on it. Including the idea of calling it a gift and not a curse.”

“Me, too,” Connor said.

“My abilities are less traditional – similar to Mama’s. She always had a touch of sight, combined with some old school superstition and quasi-witchcraft.”

“Sounds like my experience with your mother.”

“She probably gave you this necklace for a reason. You should wear it.” He handed me the chain and charm.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Positive.”

“So this cleansing ritual? Your mother taught you this?”

“Yes, it should work. I’ll get the supplies and talk to some of the others.”

I smiled and gave Darius one last hug before he walked out of the lounge.

“A cleansing? Like the ones people journal about on Facebook, giving me TMI about their poop?”

“No,” I said, rolling over to look at Ava. “Like to get rid of the evil parasites following me around.”

“So evil poop.”

“Gross.”

“If I can’t joke about all of this, I’ll cry. You know that, right?”

After leaving Connor, I dropped into my bed ready to sleep for days. The last 24 hours had been exhausting. An emotional roller coaster and tomorrow wouldn’t be any better. Filling Ava in on all the details added its own stress to the situation. I was increasingly uncomfortable involving her. Kelsey’s death was probably tied to this somehow, which meant a murderer lived in our community. If there was anything I’d learned in all these years, there was no such thing as a coincidence.

“So, Tony is Tonya’s nephew. That’s kind of cool.”

“I can’t even imagine how excited Ms. Frances will be when she finds out he’s okay,” I said. “She thought he was dead.”

“When is he going to talk to her?”

“I don’t know. I think Tony needs some time to adjust to everything and we have to deal with all this,” I said. “It’s pretty wild that he’s only had this artistic gift for a couple of months. I don’t see how that’s possible.”

“It just happened one day? He got a vision and, bam! Master painter?”

“That’s what Darius said.” I yawned and stretched out on the bed. “I’ve gotta sleep.”

“Night, babe.”

“Night.”

Ava switched off the light and I laid awake for a minute thinking about the day. Thinking about tomorrow. I had no idea where this was all going to lead. The nagging in my chest didn’t inspire confidence. I pushed the worries out of my mind and closed my eyes, for once, drifting easily to sleep.

I woke, feeling something on my skin. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. A spider crept along my skin, traveling down my arm and resting on my hand. I fought to get away, but my body wouldn’t cooperate. My limbs felt heavy. “Get away,” I tried to say, but no words came out.

“Jane.”

“Hmmm?”

“Jane, wake up.”

Released from the dream, I rolled over and squinted into the dark room. Evan squatted next to the bed. He held my palm in his hand. The ticklish feeling was him tracing his finger across my skin. I jerked my hand away. “What?”

“Take this,” he said, taking my hand back and pushing something cool inside. I opened my palm, but the room was too dark to see what he’d given me.

“What is it?”

“Use it tomorrow. Use it to lock the door.”

“What door?” I sat up, now more coherent. I looked down. Just one body. I was still in my room. Not in the other place. “What are you doing here? How are you here? Am I dreaming?”

He shook his head, the blond curls moving silently. “When you see the door, find the lock. No matter what, use the key. Don’t be fooled. Use the key.”

“You’re not making sense, Evan.”

“I’ve got to go. Don’t forget.”

The room flashed white hot and then he was gone.

*

“I need to tell you something, but you have to promise to listen to me and not get mad and jump to conclusions.” It was the next day and Connor and I were sitting on the bench outside his dorm. I’d been awake since my dream and now we had nothing to do but kill time before we met Nina and Darius in the basement. I hid both hands in my pockets.

“You pretty much just guaranteed that I’m going to get mad, you know that, right?” he said, working his jaw.

“I know, but I’m serious.”

“Okay, fine. What do you need to tell me?”

“Last night, I saw Evan…” I heard him suck in a sharp breath and I put my hand on his. “Listen, okay? In a dream. I was dreaming, I promise. I didn’t touch him or see any spirits in the room. I was in my body – not separated from it. It was a dream.”

“Why do I feel a big ‘but’ coming up?”

“But, then this happened.” I removed my hand from my pocket and offered it to Connor, palm up.

“What is this?” He ran his thumb over the angry, red mark. In the daylight, it looked more like a symbol of some kind. “Are you okay?”

“I think Evan did it. But I don’t know how. I was asleep. Can he visit me in my dreams and touch me? This is really confusing.”

“Yeah, that’s one thing,” he said with a hard edge. “But, Jane, he cut you. He hurt you.”

“I’m not hurt.”

“You bled.” He held up my hand. The spider feeling from the night before? That was Evan cutting into my skin and leaving the harsh, red mark. In my other hand, I held the object he left with me. A single silver key. One of those old ones, a skeleton key, the silver finish worn and tarnished. “Okay, it wasn’t a dream, but you weren’t visiting Evan either. Are you sure it was him?”

“Of course it was him.” Connor gave me a wary look and anger flared. “He’s my best friend. I know.”

“We have to look at every angle.” He took my hands in his and I felt a surge of warmth through the anger.

“Why isn’t it surprising every angle for you means being suspicious of my relationship with Evan?”

“This again? I don’t want to talk about this again. Evan and I are not enemies.”

“So, it’s not him, it’s me. You don’t trust me! You have major…” I stopped cold.

“Major what?” he barked.

“Doubts.” I jerked my hands away from his and slapped myself on the forehead. “Ugh, I’m so stupid. I can’t believe I let it happen again.”

“Let what happen?” he scooted toward me. I moved further away.

“Stay over there. Don’t move any closer.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Remember yesterday before Tony brought Darius to us and I said I’d figured part of this out? I think it’s about us and all the fighting. It all stems from that junk with Charlotte last year. The distrust, the doubt. I think the evil generates it so we’re distracted from what’s really going on. Just like how they’ve taken away enough of my power that I can’t even see the ghosts half the time. I’m left with these crazy, convoluted dreams. It’s like the ultimate mindfuck.”

“That’s pretty much what Charlotte did to me. I couldn’t see her, but she got in my head and really confused me.”

“Exactly. So what’s real and what’s not? Even more so, why do you and I keep fighting over the same things?”

“I’m not jealous of Evan,” he said.

“I know. And I believe you’ve changed. I know you have. I trust you, Connor, but something happens to us when we’re together. Close. When we touch or kiss. I feel fuzzy and lightheaded. I get the same feeling I do when I’m taking ghost energy.”

“I feel the same way. Like we’re connected. Really connected. But it makes me irrational. It all started that night after break, when we…” he gestured between us.

“Nina’s right. There’s some sort of hotspot at the dorm. Me, you, Tony, Kelsey, Hazel… we’re all interconnected. The evil wants something and it does not want us to figure out what it is.”

“I think you’re right.” He reached for my hand, but stopped himself.

I stood, stuffing my hands in my pockets. No room for mistakes. “Let’s go do this cleansing and kick these demons out of my body for good.”

A crooked out of order sign hung on the basement door. Connor knocked quietly and Nina opened the door, peering out to confirm it was us.

“We’re alone,” Connor assured her and we rushed inside.

She slid the bolt back, locking us in. She and Darius wanted time to set up and, once we got inside, I saw why. The normal fluorescents had been switched off and candles lit the dark, underground room. A wide, open space had been cleared in the center of the floor. I coughed and waved my hand through the thick, incensed air. Nina went back to work. She’d been in the middle of creating a sacred circle out of a black, powdery substance. It was similar to the one Ava made from salt when we fought Charlotte.

If I wasn’t nervous before, I was definitely feeling it now.

Darius stood behind the table normally used for folding laundry with several containers surrounding him. He concentrated on his task, blending ingredients in a clay bowl with a pestle.

“Don’t worry,” Nina said, assessing the look on my face. “This should be pretty quick and easy.”

“That’s what doctors says before giving you a shot,” I said.

Connor snorted and added, “Or the dentist before he pulls your tooth.”

“Nothing that bad,” she assured us. “Darius is a pro.”

“You do this often?” I joked.

“Maybe not to this extent, but the elements are the same. The group is often called to cleanse houses or property. Don’t worry. We’ll get you cleaned up so we can figure this out a little better.”

“How’s Tony?” I asked, approaching Darius.

“He’s handling it pretty well. We talked a bit more last night. I’ve told him the truth about my family. His response has been to throw himself into his work, which is better than I’d hoped.”

A sharp knock on the door startled us all. “That’s probably Misha,” Nina said.

Misha’s
slick, leather, boot-clad legs emerged at the top of the stairs. At the bottom, she said, “Sorry I’m late.”

“You’re fine,” Nina said, locking the door behind her. “I invited
Misha because she specifically sees negative energies. Think of it like a body scan. We want you evil-free.”

“I’m ready,” Darius said. He held the bowl in his hands. My stomach twisted with nerves.

“Before you enter the circle, we need to clean your hands and feet. Please take off your shoes,” Misha said. Weird, but okay. I toed off my sneakers. Misha gestured to Connor. “You too.”

“Me?” Connor asked.

“Yes,” Misha said. “Your aura is tainted as well. Probably from your proximity to Jane.”

“I entered the space with Evan, but I didn’t think about being a host to the spirits, too.”

“You’re not as covered as Jane, but we should cleanse you both just to be safe.”

We removed our shoes and Darius knelt before me with the bowl. A white cloth floated on top of the water. Gently, he wiped my hands, glancing up briefly when he saw the cut on my palm, but said nothing. He moved on to my feet, bathing them in the warm water. He moved to
Connor next.

When he finished,
Misha said, “Please move into the circle and sit down facing one another.”

We settled on the ground, legs crossed and knees banging into one another. “I’m going to start by cleansing you individually and then as a pair,” Darius said. “Purifying the air between you.”

“When I begin, please don’t speak. It interferes with the ritual. The spirits should only hear my voice.”

I nodded and Connor quietly agreed. Darius handed both Nina and
Misha a cloth bag to tie around our necks and a small pot of incense to place on the floor between us. A slim curl of smoke rose from the bowl, burning my eyes and nose.

Darius cleared his throat and began speaking – chanting really – the rhythm of his words soothing and calm. Connor’s eyes looked tired, his lids drooping. I sat up straight trying to wake myself up, but the warmth of the room felt heavy and sleepy.

The perfume made my eyes itch and I shut them, drifting off. When I opened them, Darius’ voice sounded far away and the room was dark. My hands were still clasped with Connor’s and I squeezed them. His eyes snapped open and his fingers held tight.