Chapter 16
Miss Akin walked into the parlor where I was watching The Notebook with Megan, who had showed up at noon with a peace offering of cupcakes. I had a feeling she wanted to make amends for blabbing to everyone, especially Tom, about my interest in ghosts.
“Sorry to bother you two, but I was hoping you could help me out,” Miss Akin said, flashlight in hand. “I keep losing power in the kitchen, and I need to check the fuse box.”
“Where’s the fuse box?” I asked.
“In the basement.”
I thought all basements were eerie, but given the age of the inn, I could only imagine how creepy this basement would be.
“I can check the fuse box while you flip the stove on,” she suggested.
Having seen how antiquated the stove was, I decided I didn’t want to take the chance of touching the wrong thing and blowing us all sky high.
“We’ll check the fuse box.”
Megan’s eyes widened. “Oh, no way.”
“Come on, Megan. I don’t want to go down there alone.” I wanted to tell her if she could brave a cemetery in the dark, then a musty old basement would be no problem, but I wouldn’t in front of Miss Akin. If Miss A knew what had happened at the mausoleum, she’d probably lock me in my room…or personally visit every parent of each kid that had been involved.
Just like my mom would have done.
The light to the basement was on, for all the good it did. It was a dark, cold, musty area with lots of places to hide behind, and I wondered if my dad had ever been down here. The steps weren’t solid, and I envisioned someone standing behind those stairs, just ready to stick a hand out and trip me up.
“Gross,” Megan said with a shudder, brushing at her arms. “Eew, there are cobwebs everywhere.”
I laughed under my breath, clicking the flashlight on and off beneath my chin. “Wah-hah-hah.”
Megan swatted me. “Stop it, Riley. Not all of us are brave like you, you know.”
I’d never considered myself to be brave, but apparently an hour in the mausoleum had changed that.
“The old caretaker said the fuse box is by the water heater,” Miss Akin said from the top of the stairs. “Give me a minute to get to the kitchen. When I’m there, I’ll call out, and if you could, Megan, tell me when Riley has flipped the switch.”
“Will do, Miss A!” I yelled, listening to her progress by way of the floorboards creaking overhead.
Megan hovered near the stairs. “I’m staying right here so Miss A can hear me.”
“Rrrright…”
“Hurry up,” Megan said, looking jumpy. “This place gives me the creeps.”
“Doesn’t everyone in town live in an old house?”
“Yeah, but not this old…and not this big.” She gave a shudder. “I wish your brother was here.”
I snickered. “I bet you do.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” I instantly caught the defensive tone of her voice. Despite the fact she and Milo had been together for six months now, I could tell she liked Shane. She got all giggly and red-faced around him.
“Nothing,” I said, walking toward the massive water heater. Sure enough the fuse box was nearby, and talk about antiquated. The box was large, white and rusty, and let out a loud squeak when I opened it. I found the tag that read ‘kitchen’ and reached for the right switch. “Ask Miss A if she’s ready.”
Megan yelled up the stairs to Miss Akin, who said she was ready.
I flipped the switch.
“Nothin’,” came the reply a second later, from what sounded like the kitchen. “Flip the main switch, but be sure you have your torch on,” Miss Akin called, her voice somewhat muffled. “We’ll lose all the lights.”
I flipped the switch and at the same time I felt hands slip around my neck.
“Very funny, Megan,” I said as I reached up to pull her hands away.
“What did you say?” Megan asked, her voice coming from farther away, by the stairs…which meant it was someone else.
“The stove is on, girls!” Miss A yelled triumphantly from upstairs. “Well done!”
The ice cold hands at my neck tightened, and I tried to pull away, but they held me firm, squeezing tighter by the second. Panic ensued. I dropped the flashlight and clawed at the hands around my neck. The more I struggled, the tighter the hands at my throat. I stepped backward, and felt a person behind me, and whoever they were, they were stronger than me.
“Riley, what’s wrong?” I heard Megan, her voice full of fear.
I tried to respond, but I couldn’t breathe and was getting dizzy.
“Forget him,” an eerie voice said in my ear. “Forget him…or die.”
“Riley, what’s going on?” Megan said, her footsteps coming closer.
The hands abruptly released me and I gasped for breath. I had come close to nearly passing out.
“Are you alright, Riley?” Megan asked, her voice anxious.
I held up a finger, signaling I needed a second.
“What happened?”
“I felt a shock,” I said, feeling bad for lying, but I couldn’t very well tell her I’d been attacked by a ghost.
“Oh my God, Riley. I’m so sorry. I thought for a minute there you were messing with me. You’re lucky you didn’t get electrocuted.”
I nodded in agreement. “I’m fine now. I just need to catch my breath.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Megan said, grabbing the flashlight, taking me by the hand, and leading me upstairs.
I scanned the basement as we ascended the stairs, and I didn’t see anyone—until I glanced down and nearly screamed when I saw Laria standing beneath the stairs, watching us with a malevolent smile on her face that chilled me to the bone.
“Come on, Riley,” Megan said, and I watched Laria as I continued up the steps. I refused to run…even though I wanted to.
Miss Akin met us at the top of the stairs, a huge smile on her lips that faded the second she saw me. “What’s wrong? You’re as white as paste…and what on earth is around your neck?”
Megan gasped. “Bloody hell, what’s that?”
They were both staring at my neck.
I reached up, touched my throat. “What do you mean?”
Miss Akin pushed my hands out of the way. “You have red marks around your neck, like finger prints.” She looked from me to Megan. “What on earth happened down there?”
“Riley couldn’t breathe for a second and said she felt a shock rush through her.” Megan stared at my neck in the same way Miss Akin was.
I walked to the large mirror that hung over the fireplace in the parlor and lifted my chin. I could understand why they were so alarmed. Sure enough, there were purplish imprints from Laria’s fingers around my neck.
“How can that be?” Megan said under her breath. “There was no one near you. It was just the two of us, and I swear to God, Riley, I didn’t touch you. I was standing by the stairs the entire time.”
“I know that, Megan. No one is saying you did.”
Miss Akin gave her a reassuring squeeze. “My dear, all is well.”
“It’s okay, Megan,” I said, but I could tell she wasn’t buying it. She jumped when her cell rang.
Megan looked at the caller ID, flipped the phone open. “I’ll be right there, Mum.” She closed her cell and rushed toward the door. “I gotta babysit my brother. I’ll call you later, alright?”
“Sure,” I replied as the door closed behind her.
Miss Akin touched my neck again. “Who did this to you, Riley?”
I didn’t know exactly how much to share with her, especially given how scared she’d been after the séance with Anne Marie. “I think it was Laria.”
“Has she touched or harmed you before?”
“No.”
She shook her head. “I should not have sent you downstairs. I should have just called a contractor.”
“Laria could have done it anywhere, Miss A.”
Miss Akin shook h
er head. “I do not like this at all. It makes me very uneasy. Even more so since I was supposed to meet with Anne Marie this morning for tea and she called to cancel. She hasn’t cancelled in over twenty years. She’s the healthiest, most active person I know—and now all she does is sit in her house all day.”
“What’s wrong with her?”
“I don’t know. She said she had a cold. She sounded horrible—tired and worn out, but I sensed something else was bothering her.”
I wondered if that something else had to do with a certain ghost who was making our lives unbearable.