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“Who is he?” I ask quickly, trying not to sound too eager while she suffers.
“My farm hand. I knew something was off and I told Abel he needed to fire him. But my husband always did have a soft spot for the broken ones,” she explained. “When I saw him creeping into these woods, something told me I had to follow. I didn’t realize I’d be exchanging my life for that poor dear. I do hope she got out.”
“I’ll look into it. Did you know her name?” I ask gently.
“Abigail,” she said. “I’m Martha Downs. Please, let me rest. Get me out of this place.”
“I will,” I promise. That’s enough for her and she nods in thanks before she’s gone and I take my hand back. I kind of want to dip it in bleach after touching rotting bones but I keep forging ahead.
After giving Eli another set of information I go to the final skull, one crumpled on the ground in the corner. I’d have missed it if not for the sliver of sunlight beaming in hitting it just right. This one still had some hair coming from it, the faded tendrils sticking off at random points.
Each skull I’d touched and all the bones I’d witnessed were all in varying levels of decay. That means this went on for years. From the smell, maybe even recently.
Unease fills me as I crouch down and place my hand on the skull. The bone under my hand is icy cold and I nearly gasp as a black figure bursts from the ground, breaking the connection and knocking me back.
“He did it! That man ruined everything I built here!” he thundered. Features distorted in and out of the shadowy figure’s face as he started to pace, hands swinging wildly as he bellowed at me.
“Raven?” Eli’s voice is panicked and I try to tell him to stand back, but it’s too late. He crosses paths with the specter and my heart stops as Eli freezes. If not for Lucien behind him, ready to catch him, he would have hit the ground.
He doesn’t move and I know that he’s witnessing a horror he’ll never be able to shake. This one will start his nightmares back up.
“Who are you?” I demanded. “Why did you do this?”
“If he didn’t want me to take his daughter, he shouldn’t have been so careless!” the ghost snarls at me. This time, his features clear up. Dark, bushy eyebrows scrunched together in rage, almost completely black eyes glare back at me. His teeth are jagged on one side like someone had knocked them out, and the gaunt, sickly features have me wondering just how he managed to do all this.
“You took Pandora?!” I screamed, wishing I had the power to hurt him. I’ve never been the violent type, but if he was alive, I’d have done everything I could to end this monster. “I’m glad her father killed you. And I hope when we salt your sorry bones that you rot in hell!”
“Raven,” Lucien sounds both appalled and concerned.
A snide grin splits the ghost’s face as he approaches. I can almost smell his acrid breath as he smiles down at me.
“Oh yes. She was beautiful and I couldn’t resist. And now, she’s part of my collection forever. But don’t worry, my work yet continues. Watch yourself. He likes them feisty,” he taunts before Eli gasps for breath and both he and Lucien drag me out of the cave and away from the fucked-up entity that lives there.
“I’m calling the cops, now,” Eli bites out in a voice near tears.
“Good,” I say back in an equally as shaky tone. “He killed her. And my uncle killed him. More pieces in this fucked-up puzzle.”
“I don’t know if I can stay here,” Eli adds, giving Lucien an apologetic look. I don’t bother to argue. At the moment, I’m not sure I could either. Maybe if we found a witch who would be willing to cleanse these grounds, otherwise fuck that.
In less than an hour, we’re being questioned by the local police as they clear out the tomb. They aren’t happy about the fingerprints but there’s nothing I can do but lie and say I thought they were fake until the last one and we ran and called them.
What else can I say other than we’re all psychic in some ways and the ghosts admitted to the crime?
Todd and Martha deserve closure and the cops promise once forensics are done they’ll be returned to their families or given a proper grave.
The sheriff, however, doesn’t speak to us. His face is almost red with anger as he stomps through the crime scene and barks orders at his men.
When we’re back at the house and the cops finish up, I can’t shake the feeling that something is definitely not right here.
“That monster said someone was continuing his work. I don’t think this is the end, guys. Pandora might be down there but I can’t be sure,” I admit. “The way he described her was like she was this…prize for him.”
“And we just took his other prizes away. We might need protection outside of just the spiritual variety,” Lucien says solemnly. “It’s too late to back away now.”
We can’t leave. My cousin is here and now that I know this evil exists, I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t find a way to extinguish it.
One way or another.
Jayce
