I bit my tongue.
“Are you going to help me or not?” Mom demanded.
“Yeah, give me a second.”
“See how fury feeds?” Albert floated closer. I stepped back, my heart pattering against my ribs. “Like cancer. Devouring until it consumes everything in its path.”
I swallowed a lump. Oh yeah? I shot him a glare and made a beeline for the stairs. His hideous laugh trailed me and seemed to nip at my heels as I took the stairs up two at a time.
I unlocked Abria’s door and snatched her into my arms, enjoying a luscious feeling of victory. Let’s see how long you stick around now, psych-job.
I skipped down the stairs and Abria giggled in my arms at the jiggling movement. “That’s right, baby. You laugh all you want.”
Albert’s gaze fastened on the two of us the moment we were in his line of vision. He’d moved into the family room, fifteen feet away from the kitchen. He jerked upright. A stony expression flashed and held his face paralyzed shock. The faintest howling screams lifted into the air around him—and I realized the voices came from the noose of souls tied around his neck—their cries screeching like fingernails scraping a blackboard.
Abria went still, her blue eyes on Albert.
Albert turned his face, closed his eyes and dissolved.
I squeezed Abria to my chest. My racing heart finally started to slow.
“Good girl,” I whispered against her hair, kissing her.
“Goo gir,” she parroted.
“Did you see him?” I held her chin so that I could look into her round, blue eyes. “Did you?”
“Di ju.”
I set her on her feet, and she ran into the kitchen where Mom was cleaning. I jumped and tackled her. Abria screeched. My knees ached coming into contact with the cold tile. “No you don’t,” I grunted.
“Why did you bring her down?” Mom barked. “Take her back upstairs.
I’m too angry to be around her right now.” She scrubbed harder.
“Sorry.” But there was this evil guy here and I had to get rid of him. I carried my sister back up the stairs. Abria knew where we were headed, and started head-banging my chest in protest.
“I know, I know.” I tightened my grip so she wouldn’t wriggle free and race back downstairs for more syrup. “But you made a huge mess and we have to clean it up. Then you can go down.”
“Go-dow! Go-dow!”
Soft voices seeped out from underneath Luke’s closed bedroom door as I passed. I stopped, listened. Abria’s pleading drowned the quiet conversation.
I crossed the hall to her bedroom and set her on the floor. “I’ll be right back honey and we’ll take a bath.”
“Ba! Ba!” I could hardly bring myself to shut the door in her eager face but if I didn’t, she’d go bug Mom. I brought the door closed, my heart squeezing. I held my finger to my lips. “Shh.” As if that’ll work. Abria’s autism didn’t allow her to pick up on social cues of any kind, let alone most common commands. I closed the door, her chirps continuing on the other side.
I knocked on Luke’s door and the voices silenced. The door opened.
Luke had changed out of the slacks, shirt and tie he’d worn to Brady’s funeral earlier that day.
“Z.”
“What’s up? You okay?”
He nodded, glanced around, then motioned for me to enter. Abria still chirped from behind her closed door, “Ba! Ba!”
I entered Luke’s bedroom and took in a breath of incense. His sunset-colored lava lamp cast an orangey glow onto the boogie boards and skating posters hanging on the walls. Luke moved aside and I stopped. Krissy sat on his bed, head bowed. Her dated camel coat soggy and stained with mud splotches that also stained the hem of her denim jumper—the same clothes I’d seen her wearing earlier at Brady’s funeral. Her red-rimmed eyes lifted to mine.
Luke shut the door and stood beside me. “I found her on State Street, hitchhiking.”
Krissy lowered her head, averting her eyes.
“Chase and I went to your house looking for you,” I said, sitting next to her on the bed.
She wrung her hands.
“It’s cool, Krissy,” Luke said. “Zoe won’t snitch.”
Luke and I had made some strides for him to say that, and I couldn’t help that my lips lifted into a little grin.
“What happened?” I asked her.
She remained silent. Luke shrugged and tweaked his face as if to say he didn’t know anymore than I did. I reached out and laid my hand over her wringing fists. She went still. Suddenly, her shoulders buckled. Soft sobs followed.
Luke stepped back, shoving his hands in his front pockets. Krissy crumbled against me, her sobs growing into howls. I put my arms around her and patted her back.
“Shh, it’s okay,” I said.
Luke fidgeted, his hands scraping his face. He glanced at the door, as if anticipating Mom walking in to see what was going on. “Keep it down,” he whispered. Krissy’s cries lowered a few notches.
“Talk to me,” I said.
Krissy’s weeping slowed to hiccups and snorts. She sat erect, wiped her nose with the sleeve of her coat and kept her gaze focused on the denim fabric of her jumper crushed in her white-knuckles. “I can’t go home.”
“Okay,” I said.
She looked at me. “I’m serious. I can’t go home.”
“You don’t have to.”
“What will I do? I don’t have anywhere to go.”
“Do you have family here?” I asked.
“An aunt up in Ogden. My mom’s sister.”
“Want me to call her?”
“No! No one can know!”
Silence. No one can know… what?
A tap on the door froze us all. “Uh, busy,” Luke piped.
“Is Zoe in there?” Mom.
“Yeah, be right out,” I said.
“I thought you were going to help me.” Remnants of frustration clung to her tone.
“I am. I will. Give me five minutes.”
“I’ll be done in five minutes,” she growled. Her heavy footsteps pounded down the stairs. Surely Albert hadn’t come back. I couldn’t possibly handle him and Krissy.
“Five minutes?” Krissy’s voice was meek.
I patted her hand. “I’m not going anywhere. Now…” I moved closer and latched my gaze with hers. “Tell me what happened.”
Fragile moments stretched through papery silence. Her face shifted like sand beneath a violent wave, emotions tearing at her. She took a deep breath.
“I can’t.” She jumped to her feet, edgy. “I need to go.”
“Where are you going?” I joined her.
“Yeah, it’s freezing outside,” Luke added. “And you’re like all wet.”
“I don’t care.”
“Hold on a second.” I touched her elbow. Her eyes lifted to mine, empty. Lost. “You just said you can’t go home, and you don’t have anywhere to go. So…”
Krissy took a deep breath. “I was kidding.” Her face remained pale and her expression dead. “Can you give me a ride home?”
Luke and I exchanged glances.
“Zoe!” Mom.
Krissy’s defeated gaze dropped, as if she didn’t have the strength or courage to continue to fight anymore.
“You can either wait for me to take you, or Luke can take you.” Krissy’s father’s menacing threats hissed through my head. Whoever took her home would have to drop her a block away from her house for their own safety.
Krissy’s shoulders lifted.
Outside the bedroom came the slam of a distant door, thumps and Abria’s screaming.
“Zoe?” Mom again, her voice ratcheted up five tense notches. “Can I get some help here? Joe? Luke? Anybody?”
“I’m trying to work!” Dad yelled from his office downstairs.
Static discomfort jumped into the silence Krissy and Luke and I now shared.
“I should go,” Krissy whispered.
“Well, I’m trying to get some
help,” Mom shouted in reply to Dad.
“I’ll go help Mom.” Luke headed for the door.
“Come on.” I tilted my head in the direction of the now-open door.
“I’ll give you a ride.”
Luke tossed me the keys to his Samurai and I grabbed them mid-air. “In case they’re too into it to let you drive one of their cars.” Then he disappeared.
“I’m sorry.” Krissy’s eyes watered. “This is my fault. I shouldn’t be here.”
“How is my parents’ argument your fault?” I whispered as she and I slipped into the hall.
Abria’s laughter came from her bedroom, mixing with Luke’s bass voice and Mom’s crisp tone. “What’s Zoe doing?” Mom asked. “She was helping me and vanished.”
“Um. Not sure,” Luke said. “But I can get Abria dressed for bed.”
Abria squealed.
“Quit jumping on the bed, it’s not a trampoline!” Mom’s exasperated tone followed Krissy and me down the stairs even though Mom was in Abria’s bedroom.
Slam. The glass doors to Dad’s office clattered. My heart stammered.
The heavy foreboding I’d felt before when I’d been near Albert seeped at me from the living room, Mom’s pristinely clean sanctuary because no one but guests were allowed inside. Albert sat stretched out on the ivory couch, one arm along the back, legs crossed, his black-suited form like ink spilled on the unadulterated fabric.
His grin sparked fear and anger inside of me. I came to a halt. Krissy stopped by my side.
“Zoe.” His creamy voice—the familial tone—always reminded me of Matthias. “Did you think I was done here?”
If I spoke to him, Krissy would think I was insane. Compelled to defend my home, my family and everything I held dear, I glared, retorts bursting like fireworks in my brain, needing my voice.
“What?” Krissy whispered. Out of my peripheral vision, she followed my gaze to the couch, which I was certain to her was empty.
Albert waited, grinning. “I liked her party girl look better,” he finally said, though his eyes never left mine. A shudder rambled along my spine.
I took a deep breath, shoved Luke’s keys at Krissy and kept Albert locked in my locked vision. “Take Luke’s keys and get in the car,” I said. “I’ll be right there.”
She hesitated, but took the keys, her gaze darting from me to the living room couch I was so intensely focused on. Quietly, she went out the front door, shutting it behind her.
Dad sat inside his office, on my left. I didn’t verify with a look, too afraid and wanting to keep Albert in my sights, but I wondered if he saw me staring into the living room. He’d think I was nuts.
“Get out,” I hissed.
“Zoe, that’s hardly the way to treat a guest.” Albert gestured around the room, but his steely blue eyes never left mine.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t invite you.”
“Ah, yes. But I enjoyed a fruitful visit with your parents.”
“You can’t stay.” I inched closer, so my voice wouldn’t carry and rouse Dad. I glanced over my shoulder at him; he was glued to the computer, the icy blue light of the monitor reflecting on his stressed face. My mind scrambled with my options.
“What are you going to do, go get your sister every time I show up?”
Albert sat forward and clasped his hands.
“If I have to.”
“You can’t wear her around your neck like a cross or a clove of garlic, Zoe.” He chuckled. “As if something so puny could actually repel me. No one—not even Abria—can protect you from me.”
His words sent fear rumbling through my soul. He was wrong, he had to be. Matthias said evil couldn’t stay in the presence of an innocent, like Abria. And I had Matthias. Where was he?
“Looking for Matthias?” he asked.
My heart thrashed inside my chest. Albert couldn’t read my thoughts, could he? “I can get rid of you myself, loser.” Anger pulsed in my blood stream.
I crossed to him, body shaking, fury rising like a tornado inside of me.
I stared down at him, at the wretched noose tie. The twisted pale remnants of souls locked in a hellish prison—on display for the world to witness was utterly humiliating. But the faint screeching and howling that trickled into the air from their bondage sent me into a comfortless round of shudders. “Get out.”
Albert rose from the couch to tower over me. His angled face turned rock hard, his eyes leveled me. I shrunk. I realized my anger and frustration were products of his influence. I had to resist the overwhelming urge to leap on him and tear his head off.
I can do this, I can do this, I can do this. I closed my eyes for a second, searching for calm, remembering Matthias’ words: evil can’t have a place inside unless it’s invited. Albert may have come into the house with my parents’
argument, but I was kicking him out. Right. Now.
“You can’t dismiss me, you’re too weak.” Albert’s voice slithered into my head. My eyes snapped open. His face was inches from mine.
“I’m not weak.” I tried to tamp out the anger smoldering inside of me.
Why was it so hard? I’d always had a short wick, and standing this close to a flame wasn’t helping.
I stepped back, hoping distance would help. I didn’t even see Albert move. With my next breath, he was chest-to-chest with me, his submerging evil so dense my knees knocked. I thought I was going to crumble to the floor and lie helpless at his feet.
“You see?” Albert whispered.
“Zoe?” Dad. I hadn’t heard the office doors open, hadn’t sensed him in the living room but here he was. His brows creased. “What’s going on?”
Albert never took his eyes off me, an eerie, stripped-naked feeling I couldn’t be rid of.
“Someone’s here.” Dad’s tone was irritated, and he tipped his head in the direction of the front door.
I glanced through the front room windows. Two headlights beamed at the house from the driveway. Luke’s car remained dark and parked at the curb.
I didn’t see Krissy’s silhouette inside. Where was she? I hoped she hadn’t split.
The doorbell rang, followed by an angry pound. Albert’s grin spread wide.
Dad crossed to the front door and swung it open. Krissy’s dad filled the frame. Covering his body, a pack of wild black spirits crawled and writhed in their usual silent but frightening frenzy of malevolence.
Chapter Three
____________________
“I’m looking for my daughter, Krissy.” He peered past Dad, saw me and his eyes slit. Six black spirits leapt from his torso to his shoulders and jumped in a horrific dance.
“I’m Joe.” Dad stuck out his hand but Krissy’s Dad ignored the gesture.
“Peter. Is she here?”
“Do you know where she is?” Dad asked me.
Krissy’s father glared past Dad, scanning the house. Dad stiffened.“If Zoe says she’s not here, she’s not.”
“We’ve looked everywhere for her,” Peter barked, spitting a black spirit out of his mouth. The creature joined the revelers on the top of his head.
“Amateurs,” Albert whispered in my ear. Goosebumps rippled my skin.
Albert nodded in the direction of the wicked spirits. He lifted his hands in the air and suddenly, the beings infesting Krissy’s dad came to a halt, their soulless eyes shifting to Albert.
What’s he going to do? I had the fleeting hope Albert would dismiss the hideous creatures, but he wasn’t Matthias. He encouraged trouble, not disseminated it.
Albert glided toward the door. Peter’s chest rose and fell beneath his shirt and long, black coat. His face pinked. As Albert drew closer, the wild spirits became crazed, their mouths opened in silent screams, their wiry shapes jumped and skittered, translucent eyes hollowing.
Albert lifted his right hand and sliced the air. The pack swirled upward in a whirling black effluence that shot out the front door and into the dark night.
A shudder raked my skin. Albert se
nt a dazzling grin at me over his shoulder and then slid into Peter. He stepped over the threshold, his ferocious glare locked on Dad. “I want my daughter.”
Dad stepped forward, shoulders erect. “Hold on—”