Chapter 14
With Samuel’s warning, we made sure everyone was fully geared up and we had something of a plan of action.
Mack, Gwyn, Beau, Hannah, and I chose to go ahead of the rest of the group to set up.
Eli had done a lot yesterday and was dragging this morning, so to give her a bit more time, it seemed sensible.
We had no intention of doing this building in one day. Maybe two. Two seemed reasonable for a building of this size. Or it did until I waltzed through the front door.
I would like to go back in time, about two hours, and smack myself on the back of the head. Could someone finish up a time machine so I could do so?
In my defense, the building from the front didn’t look very big.
Its appearance presented itself like it was—a former brothel renovated into a movie theater.
I’d expected two screen rooms at most. But noooo, this building had a whole basement and attic, and it went deep.
It was at least eight thousand square feet, maybe more.
But the Mediums didn’t seem to find it impossible. Beau was even mapping out a plan to start on the main floor and then split up, so…maybe this was doable? I knew for sure it’d take more than two days, though. We’d be lucky to not spend a solid week here.
Hannah came up to me and asked, “How much salt do you have in your SUV?”
“I’m thinking not enough.”
“I was afraid of that. I’ll ask Quinn to grab more on the way in.”
“Yeah, please do. I seriously only have about sixty pounds. Nowhere near enough for a building of this size.”
With a hum of agreement, she walked back to Beau, already pulling her cell phone out to make the call.
I eyed the dim recesses of the front hall uneasily, a pit growing in my stomach.
There wasn’t anything in this room except the ticket booth, the concession counter, and a few poster displays.
It shouldn’t have felt claustrophobic, but it did.
Maybe I’d played too much Five Nights at Freddy’s, but that ticket booth right there?
Something was going to pop out at any second, I knew it.
I felt a hand wrap around my arm and looked down to find Gwyn clutching me, eyeing everything around her uneasily.
“What’s up?” Hmm, thermal goggles were probably a really good idea in this building. I’d put them on next.
“Brandon, this place is…like, whoa.” Her head panned, eyes growing a bit wider as she did. “I thought I knew what a haunted building looks like. I’m, uh, yeah.”
“That bad, huh?”
“It now makes total sense why they had to shut down.”
“Ouch. So…how many of these ghost trails you seeing are white?”
She grimaced before admitting, “Only about half. The others are a mix of yellow and something…burnt umber? Like yellow trying to turn black. Lots of grey trails, too. One of them is more a charcoal color, I’m guessing from the wannabe demon ghost.”
That pit in the bottom of my stomach? Just became a yawning abyss. I immediately hailed Mack. “Hon?”
He turned and came to me, his expression grim. “Mon trésor, I don’t mind saying, nothing’s good about this building.”
“Gwyn tells me half the ghost trails are either grey, yellow, or yellow edging on black.”
“An unfortunate truth,” he confirmed, rubbing his jaw with one hand and looking very overwhelmed. “Beau’s thinking we need to stick together instead of forming teams so we can back each other up if needed.”
“Oh, is that what he meant?”
“Is that not what you heard?”
“I misunderstood him, apparently. I thought he wanted us to split into teams and take this a floor at a time.”
Mack shook his head immediately in horror. “Mais non, cher. No, that’s suicide.”
“I’m so relieved, you have no idea.” Felt like I could convince my heart to stop trying to hide in my throat.
We’d come a little ahead of everyone else to scout, as the nonmorning people weren’t moving fast and Eli needed all the recharge time she could get, but I was not willing to go farther into the building without them.
The lights were on—floor lights ran along the walls and old-fashioned pendant lights hung every five feet—but still somehow it was very dim.
Maybe it was the thick maroon carpet or the dark-patterned wallpaper on the walls sucking up all the light.
Maybe I was projecting.
Could be two things?
I heard the front doors behind us swing open and turned, half expecting real people. Half dreading dead people.
Only there was no one there.
The door swung open, then slammed closed with enough force to send a vibration right into the floor. I jumped in reaction, one hand reaching for my thermal goggles. Fuck, I couldn’t see! Beau whipped around, mouth open in warning, pointing toward us?
Gwyn flinched back, screaming, and my senses went haywire. Something was there, something was scaring her, and shit, I should have put the goggles on before even crossing the threshold!
Mack was a blur of movement, so fast I could barely clock him as both his hands reached out and then clenched into fists. I backed Gwyn up automatically, getting her out of range, because I’d seen Mack with that expression before and, generally, exorcisms followed.
“She is off limits, coullion,” Mack snarled at whoever he had in his grasp. “Let this be a lesson to anyone in the building. Gwyn is off limits. You come for her, you deal with me!”
Then he tore his hands apart like he was ripping something asunder, and Gwyn flinched again, her breath sucking in sharply.
“He just ended that sonuvabitch, didn’t he?” I guessed.
Gwyn nodded emphatically.
Mack turned, eyes sweeping over Gwyn. “Ma petite chère, I am so sorry. I didn’t think anything would target you this fast. You okay?”
She stepped forward those five steps and gave him a big hug. “I am, thanks to you.”
He hugged her back, but his eyes caught mine over her shoulders. Uh-oh, my cute Creole was hopping mad because someone came after his girl. Which meant he was not stopping until everything in this building had been cleared out, willingly or not.
Looked like we were going to be here a while.
“Mack, while we’re waiting on the rest of the team, how about me and Gwyn wait outside?”
“I think you have a smart idea, cher.”
I didn’t want her in this building more than she needed to be. In fact, I might take her back early, depending on how much of a shitshow this was. “Beau, Hannah, you got Mack?”
“We do,” Hannah promised me. “But take Gwyn out. She’s the most vulnerable right now.”
I knew those two could back him up, I wasn’t even worried, but I was glad Hannah reassured me.
We retreated to the outside steps, and honestly, I felt like I could breathe better out here. The atmosphere inside was suffocating.
I intended to ask Gwyn a question but was sidetracked by my phone ringing. Oh, Don was calling. “Hang on a sec, Gwyn, my brother’s calling. Hey, Don.”
For some reason he had me on video. “Hey. How’s it going over there?” he asked with a smile.
“Out of curiosity, do you know what’s worse than a shitshow?”
“A FUBAR?”
“That tracks. I figured there was a term for it. We’re at FUBAR level.”
Don’s expression screwed up into a grimace. “That good, huh? Is it manageable, at least?”
“Jury’s still out on that one. We’re doing all we can, though. Anyway, why are you calling?”
“I set up the furniture for Gwyn and wanted to know if the layout works or if she wants things arranged differently.”
“Ahh.” I waved Gwyn in closer. “Then let me introduce you. Gwyn, this is Don.”
She shyly waggled her fingers. “Hi.”
“Hi, Gwyn.” Don smiled. “Welcome to the family. We seem to be collecting apprentices, so you can join right in.”
We had told her about Jon’s apprentice, and really, he had two, as Skylar was Abby’s anchor. Those two were beyond joined at the hip.
“Thanks. I look forward to meeting everyone.”
“So do we. Now, take a look, how’s the room looking to you?”
Don slowly panned the camera. He’d put the bed against one wall, nightstand next to it, then a mirror dresser with a built-in vanity against the opposite wall. There was a desk in the corner for schoolwork and such, and one bookcase bracketed the desk. Looked good to me.
Gwyn gave a thumbs-up. “Perfect. I wouldn’t change a thing. Thank you so much for setting it up for me.”
“Happy to help,” Don assured her. “Just let me know if anything else needs to be put in here. Do you have an idea of when you’ll be back?”
“Probably a good month before we can.” I hated saying those words, but it was sadly the truth of the matter. “It’s seriously insane over here.”
“On a scale of one to ten?”
“Solid thirteen. Mack’s already had to exorcise several souls, and we’ve only been here a week!”
Don’s grimace screwed up a bit tighter. “That is a bad sign. All right, well, we’ll do what we can to support you from here.”
“I appreciate it, trust me.”
Was it bad I wanted to go home already?