Poltergeeks (8 page)

  There was a hint of panic in my Mom's voice and that
never
happens. Naturally it scared the living shit out of me way more than the lockers or the spectral energy because Mom has dealt with supernatural phenomenon a lot longer than I have. Very simply, if it freaked Mom out then it
had
to be dangerous.

  If I was going to get everyone out of the school then I'd have to act fast. I tore down the hall until I spotted a fire alarm switch between two stacks of toppled lockers. I clenched my jaw and whispered, "
Hexus
". A bright orange shower of sparks flew out of the red and white switch, bouncing across the floor and the school fire alarm beeped so loud I could feel it in my fillings. Instinctively, all the students in the hall immediately began shoving one another to the nearest door. I spotted Marcus about to be run over as he bent down to pick up his backpack, so I ran interference between two head bangers and grabbed him by the collar.

  "Follow me," I ordered. "Take my hand and don't let go."

  The presence I'd felt only moments earlier was bearing down on the school like a smart bomb. I could see the east exit leading to the teachers' parking lot amid the huge gaggle of students and text messaged our location to my mom with one hand.

  "Poltergeist again, huh?" Marcus shouted in my ear.

  "Yes!" I shouted back. "A poltergeist from the blackest depths of you-know-where. My mother is on her way here."

  "They'll be talking about those lockers for months! Good luck to whoever tries to explain this one away!"

  I closed my cell phone and stuffed it back in my purse. "They won't be able to. This was a massive display of paranormal activity and I have to tell you, I'm beyond scared."

  It was at this point that Leila Belway, Crescent Ridge High's head cheerleader, came screaming out of the girls washroom, knocking me into a water fountain.

  "Everybody get out!" she shrieked, mascara running down her cheeks. "Oh my God, there's a dead guy in the girl's washroom!"

  The crowd of students spun around and stared at Leila for about two seconds and
that's
when panic really set in. Everyone in the hallway started shouting and screaming as the mob pushed forward in a mad dash to the east exit. Marcus grabbed me by my backpack and yanked me into the alcove of the girls' washroom just in time to keep me from being trampled to death. Seconds later, the temperature inside the hallway spiked up about twenty degrees as a wave of energy poured through the overheated corridor and I doubled over clutching my stomach.

  "Julie!" Marcus shouted, as he caught me before I did a face plant into the wall. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

  I shut my eyes tight as I gasped for air. "The spiritual energy in this building is laced with menace! I can feel its hatred, Marcus!"

  "We need to get out of here now!" he choked, as he helped me to my feet. "Are you okay to walk?"

  I opened my eyes to see the painted cinder block wall in front of me begin dripping ectoplasm in thin sticky threads that pooled at my feet. I tried to focus and could hear teachers were shouting for order but none of the students trying to escape from the building paid them any attention.

  And that's when I heard someone calling out from inside the girls' washroom.

  "Can you hear that?" I said, leaning on Marcus for support.

  "Yeah – someone's stuck in there," he said worriedly.

  I spun around on my heels and placed my left hand on the washroom door. "This is a targeted attack, Marcus. Ground zero is behind this door."

  "What do we do?"

  I could have grabbed one of the teachers but there would have been nothing they could do to help. My instincts told me I should sit tight and wait for my mother, but someone needed our help. I pushed down a tremor of fear in my chest and then reached into my purse and grabbed my amulet. "I'm going to try and get her out. I want you to head for the teachers' parking lot and find my mother."

  "Not a chance," he said, shaking his head. "If you're going in there, so am I."

  I wasn't going to argue because when Marcus digs his heels in there's no reasoning with him. I chewed my lip for a moment as I palmed my amulet. The atmosphere inside the alcove hummed with a supernatural force that raised the hairs on the back of my neck. The near-deafening beep of the school fire alarm stabbed at my brain like an ice pick, and I gave my head a hard shake.

  "Get behind me and crouch down," I said firmly.

  "How come?"

  "We need to get behind a veil," I said, gathering my magic. "We'll hang tight until the hallway clears or one of the teachers is going to spot us."

  "Gotcha," he said nervously.

  I focused my spirit into a ball of concentration and whispered, "
Abscondus Occultus."

  Magical energies blanketed us in a thick shadow that blended into the darkness of the alcove. I peered out through the veil to see the throng of students pushing one another to the exit doors. I took a deep breath as I intensified my focus. Just as in the foyer, I could feel a percussive throbbing of spectral energy and this time there was a clear sense of purpose behind it. Sparks of supernatural force tantalized my senses and I could smell a combination of garlic mixed with a faint trace of rot, like a compost heap at the height of summer.

  We waited in silence until the hallway had emptied of students. When I was certain the coast was clear, I dropped the veil.

  "We're alone," I whispered. "You ready to go, Marcus?"

  He nodded. "Yep. Let's get whoever's stuck in there."

  "Agreed," I said firmly, as I took a deep breath and slowly pushed on the door. We waited a moment and then carefully poked our heads inside to look around.

  "No freaking way!" Marcus said.

  The temperature inside the bathroom had to be close to freezing as we could see our breath. There was a deafening clattering sound and our eyes were drawn to the four doors on the bathroom stalls that were repeatedly opening and slamming. I was about to step inside when Marcus stopped me.

  "Wait a minute," he said, pointing to the farthest stall. "I can hear her."

  I listened closely to the muted sobbing of a female voice. "We have to get to her."

  Marcus nodded and set one foot through the door. A trash can slid straight across the entrance to block his way.

  "Are you alright?" Marcus called out. "We're going to get you out of here!"

  The trash can floated about two feet in the air and hovered gently, as if the poltergeist was deliberately toying with us. I raised my magic and whispered the tiniest of hexes and the trash can immediately dropped to the floor, landing with a loud clang.

  "Are you injured?" I shouted. "I'm going to need you to make a run for it, okay?" At the sound of my voice, the slamming doors abruptly ceased.

  "I'm afraid to move," the voice sobbed.

  "Damn it, Marcus – that sounds like Marla!"

  Suddenly, as if someone had flipped Marcus into superhero mode, he raced into the bathroom. I didn't have time to stop him, so I ran to where my magical senses told me the source of the supernatural energy was coming from – the large mirror above the sinks. Marcus needed a diversion or he'd wind up in the same boat as whoever was trapped in the stall.

  "
Hexus!"
I shouted, sending a jolt of force that jetted across the tiled floor and straight into the mirror. Instead of shattering; the mirror absorbed my magical attack, sending liquid ripples across the glass like those from a stone being dropped into a pond.

  Marcus tried opening the door to the bathroom stall, but it wouldn't budge. He ran his hand along the painted steel surface like he was searching for a weak spot and he took a step backward as he drove his right foot into the middle of the door. It flew open and he disappeared into the stall, reappearing seconds later with Marla Lavik, the Goth queen of Crescent Ridge High School, hanging from his right shoulder like a sack of flour.

  "Back in a flash!" he huffed, as he ran past me. I doubled back to the doorway and it slammed shut with enough force to crack the doorframe in about three places. I felt a surge of paranormal energy that nearly took the breath from my lungs, so I span around on my heels, holding my amulet in front of me for protection. What I saw next at least confirmed Leila Belway's hysterical screaming about a dead guy in the bathroom.

  Seated on the counter was a wispy vaporous form of a man who looked like he belonged in the era of Charles I. On his head was a tall crowned, slightly conical hat and he was dressed in a doublet with silver dollar-sized buttons. He wore a blank expression as he drew his near-transparent hands to his breast pockets and turned to look at me. "Who are you?" I asked, stepping inside the washroom. The spectral vision cocked its head and gave me a curious look. It slid off the countertop and floated about a foot off the floor, its unblinking eyes fixed on me. I took a tentative step forward and asked again. "What is your name, spirit?"

  The apparition's body pivoted in mid-air and then it raised its hand and pointed to the large stainlesssteel-framed mirror above the row of sinks. Suddenly, a thick grey vapour billowed out from the sink's drains. The spirit opened its mouth to say something as the cloud formed a thick steamy mist that clung to the mirror like a shadow. It pointed a bony, vaporous index finger at the center of the mirror and then gracefully started to make swirling motions, like it was conducting an invisible orchestra.

  Another jolt of cold force pushed through my body as a series of words took form on the mirror's mist covered surface.

 

 

  And that's when all hell broke loose.

 
 

 
 
 

No sooner had I read the words on the mirror aloud when the ghost in the girls' washroom floated up to the ceiling and dissolved into a shimmering mist. The doors on the bathroom stalls started slamming into their chrome locking mechanisms so hard the bolts flew off. Then, all four toilets flushed simultaneously as four concentric pillars of cold water shot straight up to the ceiling, splashing down the walls.

  "Gross!" I shrieked as I pulled my blazer over my head and stepped back into the bathroom foyer. A shattering sound cut through the noise of the splashing water and I span around to see an empty stainless steel mirror frame with about a dozen or so large shards of glass floating in the air.

  
"Oh shit!"
I said, nearly choking on the words. I crouched down into a ball and held my amulet in front of me. I clenched my jaw and directed my magic to form a protective dome of energy as the shards of glass sailed toward me like jagged daggers. They impacted in a series of splintering thuds that flashed electric blue, and tiny fragments of glass collected at my feet.

  Suddenly all three bathroom sinks started shifting up and down, the invisible force trying to tear them from the tiled wall. I had about ten seconds before they'd be transformed into fifty-pound projectiles and I knew there was no way my magic could protect me. The ceramic tiles shattered and crumbled to the floor and more water poured out of the broken pipes in the wall. I grabbed the cold steel door handle and pulled with all my might, but it wouldn't budge, so I did the only thing that came to mind: I raced across the bathroom and dove through the cold, disgusting toilet water, sliding underneath the bathroom stall Marla Lavik had been trapped in. I got to my feet and turned around to see a pentagram, scorched into the tiles behind the toilet.

  
"What the hell?"
I gasped.

  Suddenly there was an explosion of noise and a cloud of plaster dust filled the air, clogging my nostrils. I could barely see through the powdery white haze as I hunched down on the toilet seat, my body drenched by the cold water pouring up the wall and I braced the door with my feet. I grated my teeth together and willed every last ounce of magic into my amulet, enveloping me in a bubble of energy. The three sinks sailed into the door, sending me careening off the toilet and crashing into the wall behind me.

  The coppery taste of blood filled my mouth, the force of my collision with the wall had caused me to bite my tongue, and I cursed in a spray of bloody saliva as I shook my head to clear it.

  I could hear pounding on the bathroom door and Marcus' panicked voice.

  
"Julie, are you okay? Just stand back, I'm going to
try and break through the door to get you!"

  "Don't try to come in here, Marcus!" I shouted back, ignoring my throbbing tongue. "Just go find my mom!"

  "Not a chance!" he bellowed. "I'm coming in after you!"

  The door thumped loudly as Marcus threw his weight against it in an attempt to break through. I frantically scanned my brain for a quick protective spell just as the toilet beneath me began to shake violently. I could hear a grinding sound as a tremor rolled through the floor. It was at this point I realized the poltergeist, having been unsuccessful at killing me with shards of broken glass and three fifty-pound sinks, was intent on pummelling me to death with the toilets.

  Not exactly the classiest way to go.

  "I gotta get out of here," I snarled. I dove onto the floor and scrambled out from underneath the stall. The floor pitched violently as I tumbled forward, I could hear the toilets being ripped from the floor so I raced as fast as I could to the furthest corner of the bathroom.

  Just then, there was a blast of white-hot energy as the bathroom door exploded into splinters no more than fifty feet away from me. Smoke and dust filled the air as a much stronger magical signature entered the girls' washroom, and I could tell from the way it tingled against my skin that it was really angry.