The group of ghosts all listened to Jace in horrified silence. Sal looked outraged. If Artie could have barfed, he would have.
“What do ya want us to do, Boss?” Sal asked with a cold gleam in his eye. “We want in on this.”
“I’m asking you to help me take them out if it comes to that.”
Silence greeted his request. The ghosts all looked afraid and muttered to themselves, clearly unwilling to go that far, even for their new friend.
“We can’t take that chance, Jace,” Sal said sadly and shook his head. The old, Italian man met his gaze bleakly. “We’re still waiting to be saved, Boss.”
Jace fumed as he paced within their group. The dozen or so he managed to round up lacked his control. They were good at making noise but their skills weren’t developed as they should be for what he needed them to do. Now, they seemed unwilling to believe him that nobody was ever coming for them.
“These guys like killing people,” he told them and his face was grim. “They’ll do it again. I heard them talking about it. They do it for fun!”
“Wait a minute,” Artie grumbled. “We can’t do what you want us to do. We’ll be stuck here forever. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m out. I’m not risking going to Hell for anything.”
Jace lost patience then. He had an hour before he met Lindsay. He didn’t have time for this. He decided the ghosts deserved to hear the truth.
“Nobody’s coming!” he told them in a grating voice and shook his head. “You got lost or something. They aren’t coming for you. You’re just stuck here. You’re worse off than I was on the other side. People cross over in that place at least.”
Sal looked angry at that. “You mean we been standin’ around waitin’ all this time and nobody’s comin’ for us?”
“That’s right,” Jace said and eyed them sadly. “I’m sorry, but it’s the truth. I wish I could tell you different, but look around. I bet most of these ghosts have been here a long time already.”
“What year is it?” a woman asked and looked miserable.
“It’s 2011,” Jace told her and she looked dazed.
“I’ve been here almost fifty years,” the woman said and looked like she would cry. “I wasn’t a bad person. I drowned in my pool. Why am I here still?”
“I died of leukemia,” the hippie said and looked sad. “Guess somebody forgot me.”
“How’d you die, Sal?” Jace asked, seeing they all believed him and digested his news.
“I choked on a piece of my wife’s leftover cannelloni,” he muttered and rolled his eyes. “Bada Bing this is bad news, guys. I don’t know about you but I ain’t waitin’ here no more.”
“It’s the truth,” Jace told them all. “I don’t know why you all got left here. All I can tell you is whether you help me or not you’re still gonna be here when it’s all over.”
“I’ll help ya on one condition,” Sal said and frowned. “I wanna get outta here. You take me back wherever you came from and I’ll help ya wack these two clowns.”
“You got a deal,” Jace told him, grinning at his words.
“I ain’t hangin’ around here no more,” Sal said in disgust and looked at the others. “What do ya say? You guys in or out?”
Artie was the only one who seemed the most resistant. He glared and stomped away, walking through the walls of Cameron’s neighbors house to pout.
“Don’t mind him, kid,” Sal said and grinned. “He’ll come around.”
“I meant what I said,” Jace called out, speaking to all twenty of the ghosts. “You help me and you can go back with me. People from there have crossed over. You stay and you take your chances.”
Sal smiled at him. “I’ll talk to them, kid. Where do ya want us to meet you?”
“Merriman’s parking lot at seven o’clock,” he told him. “I need to finish this tonight. We leave tomorrow.”
Sal nodded and he left him to handle the other ghosts all arguing and talking amongst themselves. Jace left knowing Sal would work them all over. The old man knew nobody was coming, unlike the others. He’d been there since the forties. He should know.