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"Sounds good to me. " Being here was like deja vu. The faster I solved their problem, the sooner I could leave and freak out in private.
"You're welcome. " Jack waved cheerfully, got a running start, and did several roundoffs down the length of the hall.
I turned to Raquel. "I think he's broken. "
She heaved a don't I know it sigh. "Jack's past isn't one that contributes to stability. But he's a good boy. "
He nearly got me disemboweled by my gym teacher. Good boy he was not.
More screams rang through the hall. "Seriously, what's going on here?"
"It's the poltergeist. Apparently we've pinpointed its current location. "
"Yippee. "
"If we can get this little problem taken care of, I'm certain that the other issues will be easier to address. Not only is it nearly impossible to keep employees functioning, important files keep disappearing. "
I followed her down the hall, trying not to think about all the times I ran wild here. This wasn't my home anymore. I was here for work. A job. I could be professionally detached. As long as we didn't have to go to-
Central Processing. Raquel stopped right in front of the sliding doors. Of course. Because nothing could possibly be easy tonight.
"Here?" I asked, already knowing the answer. Of all the places in the Center, the poltergeist had to take up residence here. I closed my eyes, picturing her aquarium as it had been-blue-green water; tropical fish; living coral reef; happy, funny, capable Lish in the middle of it all, running the computers and saying bleep.
No matter how hard I tried to hold on to that image, I could only remember the jagged hole in the glass, Lish's lifeless body iridescent in the lights as it lay at the bottom of the pool.
I opened my eyes, realizing that Raquel had been talking for a while now.
"-understand why I can't come in with you. "
I frowned. "Uh, sure. " I raised my hand to the palm pad and . . . nothing happened. The strangest sense of betrayal and abandonment surged through me. They'd changed the locks?
"Sorry about that," Raquel said, waiting for me to move so she could palm the door. It slid open with a hiss, and she backed up out of view. "I'll leave it unlocked. "
Taking a deep breath, I walked in. The emptiness of the large, white, circular room hit me like a blow. The aquarium was gone. No trace left except a faint ring around the middle of the floor. It was like Lish never existed. The door closed behind me, and I slid against it to the floor.
I definitely wasn't ready for this.
A bitter cold breeze tickled the back of my neck. Something dark darted past the edge of my vision. I turned my head, but nothing was there.
The lights flickered, then went out, except a single dim bulb.
"I've been waiting for you," a low voice hissed in my ear.
A tickle on my arm drew my attention to the black spider with a crimson hourglass belly creeping its way up. The last light died and a death scream ripped through the room as it plunged into darkness.
Chapter Twelve
Deadly Reunions
In the pitch black the only sensation was the spider's eight sinister legs on my arm. "You'll die in this room," a voice whispered in my ear. I wouldn't be the first. My chest tightened, thinking of Lish's last moments. Was she scared? Did it hurt?
The lights flashed back on to reveal my entire body covered by a writhing mass of black widows.
"Oh, piss off," I snapped, standing up. I'm sure I would have been scared, terrified even, if it weren't for the fact I could see right through the scampering little arachnids. Poltergeists' projections are a combination of glamour and manipulating air currents to create the illusion of sensation. Neat trick, really.
There was a pause, then the spiders disappeared, replaced by a howling wind. Blood seeped through the seams between the wall and ceiling, dripping down right in front of my face. I stuck my hand out and let the blood illusion pass right through it. "Maybe try corn syrup and red dye next time?"
A low growl echoed through the room, which proceeded to burst into flames, crackling as they devoured the walls and surrounded me.
