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Cassie nodded but didn’t respond. They had turned the corner, but the Ghost Doctor was nowhere in sight. Had she lost her so soon? Cassie had a feeling the doctor was coaxing her forward. She wanted to be followed. Cassie just had to be patient.
They stopped to glance inside each room that lined the hallway. Vanessa had taken them to a room in minor care, which meant most of the patients here just needed a couple of stitches or some meds to get them back on their feet. They had drawn most of the curtains for privacy, but it didn’t matter. Cassie knew the Ghost Doctor wasn’t here. She could feel the invisible line tugging her forwa
rd.
“There’s bound to be security around here somewhere,” Jason whispered. “What’s your plan if we get stopped?”
“I don’t have a plan.”
Jason winced. “At least you’re honest.”
Cassie hoped she’d find what she needed before anyone noticed them roaming the halls aimlessly. She kept a quick pace, with Jason on her heels, to make it look like she knew where she was going. It would work for a short time, but she felt the clock ticking.
Ahead, a pair of double doors led to the short-stay wing. People who’d had surgery or needed to stay for overnight observation would be through there. Cassie skidded to a stop and pressed her face against the glass. At the end of the hall, the Ghost Doctor waited for her. As soon as their eyes locked, the doctor turned and walked straight through a wall.
Cassie had already pushed through the doors and was halfway down the hall before Jason caught up to her. “I don’t think we’re supposed to be back here.”
“It’ll just take a minute,” she said, though she had no way of knowing that. “She went into one of these rooms.”
Cassie peered into each one as she passed, just to be sure, but the invisible line tugged her forward until she was standing outside the last door on the right. It was open, with the curtain pulled back as if someone had left the room for just a moment.
The brightness of the room illuminated the man on the bed. His skin was yellow and bruised, and he looked deflated, like a balloon with all the air let out. His skin sagged off his bones, which only added to the effect. Cassie couldn’t tell what was wrong with him at a glance.
As harrowing as he was to look at, the man on the bed did not hold Cassie’s attention. The Ghost Doctor drew her gaze as she hovered over the man, like she was inspecting every freckle and mole on his body. She laid her spectral hand on his head and looked up at the ceiling, as if calculating his exact temperature. She shook her head. Prognosis not good.
Cassie had been so focused on tracking down the Ghost Doctor that she hadn’t thought of what to do once she found her. Should she stand back and observe? She’d already seen what the doctor could do from her dream, but more data could paint a better picture. If she wanted to save this patient, however, she had to act. But how could you fight a ghost? Even if she chased the doctor off now, Cassie couldn’t watch over this stranger for the next ten minutes, let alone the several days it would take for him to recover. Besides, there was a whole hospital of victims to choose from. The Ghost Doctor had free rein and the ability to appear wherever she wanted.
There was no way Cassie could stop her forever.
But she didn’t need to.
Two things happened at the exact same moment. Just as Cassie decided she’d do what she could to save the man before her, the Ghost Doctor plunged her hand into the middle of his chest cavity. Cassie gasped and faltered, caught between shock and terror. Jason asked her what was wrong, but all her senses were attuned to what was happening in front of her. He was as much a part of the background as the buzzing of the electricity overhead.
At Cassie’s exclamation, the Ghost Doctor turned to her, hazel eyes bright and wide, with her hand still in the man’s chest. Cassie was once again struck by how alive she looked. There was a consciousness behind her gaze that Cassie had never seen before. This woman, despite likely dying sometime in the ‘40s, had held onto herself for eighty years.
That meant she was a lot more powerful—and a lot more dangerous—than anything Cassie had seen before.
The Ghost Doctor held Cassie’s gaze for a second longer before scowling. She turned to the man before her and took a step back, only she didn’t let go of whatever it was she’d grabbed onto inside his chest. A paler, glowing version of the patient sat up in bed, more animated than his physical form. The doctor pulled her hand back, and alarms from the machine around his bed began blaring a warning for all to hear.
Cassie took a step into the room, but Jason latched onto her elbow and wrenched her back. She fought against him, but his grip was iron-tight. Meanwhile, the Ghost Doctor wrapped her own hand around the brand-new spirit and pulled him from the bed. He stumbled, but found his footing. All the while, he stared back at his body while the Ghost Doctor led him across the room.
“We have to leave.”
“What?” Cassie’s ears were full of pumping blood and blaring alarms. “We have to help.”
“That’s not our job.” Jason forced Cassie to look at him, turning her away from the room. “They’re going to wonder what we’re doing here. They might think we did something. We have to leave.”
The first nurse came sprinting around the corner and charged into the room. The movement snapped Cassie out of her stupor. She and Jason backed up until they hit the wall opposite the room. No one was paying them any mind, but that wouldn’t last forever.
Cassie chanced one more glance inside the room but couldn’t see the Ghost Doctor or her latest victim. Her head swam with a million explanations for what had just happened, but no matter how hard she thought about it, she kept coming back to the same one:
Their prime suspect in multiple murder cases might just be a ghost only Cassie could see.
21
Cassie wasn’t sure where Jason was taking them, and she didn’t care. She pressed her forehead to the window, relishing in the way it sent goosebumps across her skin. They’d had no trouble leaving the E.R. despite the commotion, but the run-in with the ghost had left her drained.
“Just to make sure I understand this,” Jason said, “you think a ghost is killing people at the hospital.”
