Harriet wanted to cry. No, she wanted to hit something.
The forensics team were taking samples from the bloody concrete around her corpse, filling evidence bags with tiny fragments of her skull. Harriet’s hand rubbed at the hole in the back of her head, hidden under her hair. If she pressed hard enough, she could feel the sharp edges of bone. She shivered, pulling her fingers away even though it didn’t hurt at all.
Qi came over and said, “My condolences, Miss Stoker. I do hope you’ll feel more settled, now that this inconvenience is out of the way. You’ll be able to move on.”
Harriet tried to accept this kindly. Her body was more than an inconvenience to her, even if that’s all it was to Qi. But she wasn’t going to snap at Qi like she had at Rima.
“I hope so,” she said.
“You’re looking very bright today. The new hair is pretty. You must be getting on well?”
Heat rushed through her in an odd mixture of guilt and dread. Was it that obvious that she’d absorbed so much energy? Harriet couldn’t meet Qi’s eye in case she worked out what she’d done to the Shells. To explain why she was glowing so much, she said, “I’ve been very well, thank you. Everyone has been generous. I’ve been given lots of rodents.”
Qi said, bemused, “How unusual. I’ve clearly underestimated the kindness of the Mulcture Hall residents. This was a gesture of goodwill, was it?”
“Something like that,” Harriet replied. She could barely manage to make the words audible. After everything, Qi still scared her. The memory of her lightning bonds skittered over Harriet’s forearms. She wrapped her arms around her torso.
“What else have you been doing?” Qi asked. “Apart from charming everyone into giving you spirits, of course.”
Harriet swallowed. Why was she asking these questions? Did she want something from her? “Nothing much. Getting to know everyone, you know! Idle chit-chat. Nothing too exciting.”
“I hear you’ve explored the lower floors, too. Someone saw you going down to the basement earlier.”
Harriet blanched. “The basement? Huh. No, I don’t think that was me.”
Qi eyed her. “Hmm. Let me know if you need any advice. I’ll be keeping an eye on you, in case you … get into any trouble.” She stared hard at Harriet for the length of three heartbeats – long enough for Harriet to start planning her escape route if Qi attacked.
Qi smiled and clapped her hands together. “Well! I hope the police finish up quickly. I can never get to sleep when there are humans in the building. Everyone gets far too overexcited.”
Harriet relaxed a little. Maybe she’d imagined Qi’s suspicion? She couldn’t find the words to say goodbye, so she just dipped her head.
“Bye, Qi!” Kasper said, apparently oblivious to the undertones of their conversation.
“Have a good one, Kasper. Now, I’ll be off. I’m in the middle of the most interesting experiment with a woodlouse spirit.”
Harriet hoped that the woodlouse disintegrated on her. “Have fun!” she said brightly.
Qi didn’t die on the same night as the other students. They all died together in a sudden, inexplicable accident which baffled the police.
But Qi wasn’t part of that. She died ten years earlier in her sleep from an early-onset heart failure. In 1994, she was here to greet everyone. Qi was the one to explain how to be a ghost to Felix, Rima and Kasper. She put up with their tears and denials and anger, until she got too absorbed in her research.
She was even there the first time Felix came out. Rima had told him how much she’d liked his cute brother Oscar, who had survived the mysterious incident. She’d then smiled shyly at Felix as if she liked him too.
He’d blurted it out immediately – “I’m gay, sorry!” Then, “Oh. That’s the first time I’ve ever said that.”
Qi had been the one to say into the surprised silence, “Congratulations!” Then she’d glared at the others until they’d rushed to agree.
For all this time, she’s been studying the physics of ghost powers, hypnotism, shapeshifting and possession. She’s learnt a lot, but despite all her time and effort, it won’t be enough to make a difference.
HARRIET
“We should go,” Kasper said in Harriet’s ear, after they’d stood watching the police work for three hours. “You don’t have to watch it all.”
He’d taken hold of her hand again. He was clearly enjoying playing the role of supportive boyfriend in front of the other ghosts.
“No.” She said it through clenched teeth. It wasn’t enough to watch the police meticulously file and process every aspect of her death. When they lifted her corpse onto a stretcher and carried it through the front door, Harriet sprang into action. Time was running out. This was the perfect opportunity to try to leave Mulcture Hall again.
She would dissolve outside of a building, but what if she could follow her own body? Maybe that was different. She could tag along with her body in the ambulance, and from there, she might be able to get home.
There was a police car parked only a few metres from the entrance. If she could make it that far without disintegrating, the car might take her to her gran’s house, when they went to tell her the bad news.
Surely, with all her new energy and powers, she was strong enough to get that far? It was a crazy idea, but right now she was desperate enough to try anything.
She walked towards the main entrance, tugging her hand free of Kasper’s grip. As she passed, she waved her hand in a police officer’s face, but he didn’t even blink.
Beyond the line of police cars, students from the nearby buildings had gathered to see the crime scene. She caught sight of a girl from her lectures. Harriet had tried to chat with her before class once, but it had been awkward and strained, and the girl hadn’t sat near her again, after that.
Now, Harriet focused on her, concentrating on moving towards the police cars, and keeping her atoms firmly in place.
“Harriet?” Kasper shouted in panic. “Harriet?!”
The girl had curly hair, dyed pink at the tips.
Harriet took a step. She was not disintegrating. Not this time. Her new power was seconds away from kicking in, she knew it. She was going to leave this awful place.
The girl’s glasses were horn-rimmed, round and glossy, and Harriet was completely, totally corporeal. Her atoms were behaving like normal atoms and staying inside her body.
Harriet took a step. Harriet took a step. Harriet took a step.
The car was close, but out of reach. If she could keep going, then she would be free.
The girl was still there, talking to a police officer guarding the entrance. Harriet knew she was there, but suddenly she couldn’t see her. Her eye twitched, involuntarily.
The noise of the crowd and the car engines had disappeared, replaced by a high-pitched, aching thrum in her eardrums.
Harriet stopped. She stared down at where her feet would be, if only she could see them, willing herself to take another step.
But she didn’t have feet, and there was nowhere to step to, and nothing existed, and Harriet couldn’t even remember what she was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was…
KASPER