Chapter 30
CHAPTER THIRTY
Oscar led the way through the library and out onto the veranda. He could almost feel the tower looming above, but refused to look up and remind himself just how far Robin had fallen.
Clouds had crept in around sunset, blotting out the moon and stars. The strengthening wind moaned around the eaves. His senses were on high alert, but he didn’t feel Gloria nearby.
In an attempt to warn them if she approached, they’d broken out their newest equipment: EMF rope and a REM—Radiating ElectroMagnetism—pod, in addition to the PolterPal.
They’d moved the PolterPal into the second floor hall near the stairs; if Gloria passed by her, either the temperature or EMF sensors would go off, prompting the doll to speak. Chris had left a hot mic with it, so Tina could warn them if the PolterPal went off.
On the first floor, they’d stretched out the EMF rope, leading up the stairs. The EMF rope was a simple device that consisted of sensors spaced along a wire, powered by a portable battery pack. The individual sensors would flash and make noise if a spirit disturbed their fields.
Nigel had placed the REM pod just inside the library. The cylindrical device generated its own EMF field, and would flash lights and make a sound if anything interacted with it.
If Gloria wanted to come after them—or Robin, for that matter—she’d have to pass the PolterPal, EMF rope, and REM pod to do it. Hopefully that would give them enough warning to prepare.
“Do you have your salt ready?” Nigel asked, looking around at everyone.
He was answered by nods and people holding up either baggies or canisters of salt.
Montague and Lawson stood shoulder-to-shoulder a bit apart from everyone else.
They looked nervous, which Oscar understood.
If Robin were here, trapped by her failure to banish the spirits during the first investigation, it would mean they’d abandoned her all these years.
Not on purpose, but if he’d been in their place, the guilt would have eaten him alive.
Oscar took up position on the veranda, not far from where Robin would have struck the ground after her dizzying fall. “I’m going to try and reach Robin now,” he said.
No one spoke; even the wind seemed to grow quieter. Oscar closed his eyes, though he could still make out the light from Chris’s camera through his lids.
Three deep breaths. Feel the pavers under his feet, the earth beneath. Always there, always solid. His mind stilled.
There.
He turned and opened his eyes. A figure stood just feet away, colorless and oddly flat, like a projection laid over reality. Her face was familiar from the tapes they’d watched.
Montague let out a small gasp.
“What do you see?” Oscar asked.
“A mist?” Lawson replied, as though she wasn’t certain. “Is it her?”
“It is.” He turned all his attention on the spirit. “Robin, thank you for joining us. Is there anything you’d like to communicate?”
He expected some final words or goodbye for Lawson and Montague. Instead, a sense of urgency washed over him.
He took a calming breath to keep her emotions from infecting him. “We’re here to complete what you began. It’s time to put down your burden.”
“What is she saying?” Montague asked.
“Nothing so far.” But the urgency he sensed from Robin had become even stronger. Was she confused? Not every ghost realized they were dead.
“You’re a medium,” he went on. “Or you were in life. But you died a long time ago, and your work here is done. It’s time to cross over.” He visualized the gateway through the veil, silvery light spilling gently out, beckoning her through.
Robin shook her head violently.
Her refusal took him by surprise—as did what happened next.
Her lifelike appearance, such as it was, faded.
Her neck sagged to her left shoulder, the bones that should have held it up shattered, and the right side of her skull caved in.
Broken bones pierced the skin of her right arm, and decay bloomed throughout her body, mold marking her pallid skin with dark splotches.
Then she began to walk toward the library.
“What is she doing?” Montague demanded, at the same moment the REM pod in the library went off.
“I don’t know—she’s going somewhere?” Oscar shook off his momentary shock and hurried after her.
The REM pod fell silent, but as he emerged into the hall beyond, the EMF rope leading up to the second floor went off. Robin was no longer visible, even to his eyes, but each sensor flashed and bleated as she passed it by, then fell silent again.
Only dimly aware of the others behind him, Oscar followed her up. The rope ended at the second story landing, so he paused and listened intently for the sound of the PolterPal in the hallway.
The PolterPal didn’t go off…but there was a loud creak as a door on the floor above swung open. It sounded close to the stairs, so Oscar hurried up and out onto the third floor.
The door to the tower room just off the landing stood open, revealing the dusty old vacuum, broom, and mop. He approached warily and saw the sheet over the stored paintings had been pulled back slightly.
“Where is she?” Lawson asked in a low voice.
Oscar shook his head. “I don’t sense her any more. I think she used up all her energy leading us here.” He directed his light at the paintings. “It seems she wanted to show us something.”