“Good thought,” I said. “I’d forgotten you picked those up.”
“Portable lights, good call,” Ken agreed, joining us. “Let’s stick one of those in each circle of salt. Three stories…hm, maybe one circle in each hallway? Something we can run into and take refuge if shit hits the fan.”
Sounded like a plan to me. “Let’s do it.” I was all set to ask a question when a piece of paper caught my eye. I turned to get a better look and my jaw just about fell off. Above the front door was a slim piece of paper taped to the molding, white on white, which was why it hadn’t caught my attention before. One glance at the design and I had a feeling I knew where the bad ghost had come from. “Futain.”
Brandon immediately whirled to look where I did and he squinted a little. “That’s a talisman. Wait, is that drawn right?”
“More or less.” Falisa marched up closer and stared hard, hands planted on her hips. “But it probably looks wrong to you because it’s hung upside down.”
“Uh…if memory serves, hanging a talisman upside down is a bad idea.”
“You’re correct, cher,” I said grimly. “A properly drawn talisman hung upright will ward off evil spirits. A talisman hung upside down will do the opposite and open the four corners, invite them in. Whoever did this had no clue what they were doing.”
Falisa groaned, loud and long, sounding utterly done. “Damn it all to hell and back. Well, we know how that thing got in. Let’s get this off and keep an eye open for more of them. We absolutely do not want to invite anyone else into this party.”
I agreed heartily. “Cher, can I get a lift?”
“Always.” With no discernable effort on his part, he lifted me up to sit on his right shoulder, balancing me there so that I could grab the talisman and yank it down.
“Merci. Falisa, want to burn this?”
“Sure. Let’s clear this building first, burn them all at once. I have a bad feeling this talisman isn’t the only one.”
We couldn’t very well split up to set up bases, not with only one bag of salt. We trooped through the hallways, getting a feel for the place and figuring out the best spots to put the salt circles. I kept a sharp eye out for talismans as we went and found another at the top of the stairs, above the elevator. It was a bad sign that there were indeed multiples lurking throughout the building.
The hall was an interesting mix of old and new. The tiles looked old and worn in, and I was unclear if the off-white color was intentional or a testament to time. The walls either had faux-marble paneling or white beadboard, the painted section above it either grey or creamy white. The floors stayed tiled until we got to the second story, and then became a gold-brown wood. The university seemed to make an effort to keep the place up, as the trim and doors had all been recently painted grey, the floors clean. Their efforts were utterly ruined by the inky, sticky aura that pervaded the place like a dark mist.
Brandon’s warm hand settled on the small of my back, and he leaned in to murmur, “What’s wrong?”
“Place has a bad vibe, cher,” I answered, still staring uneasily about us. “It’s like swimming in a dark pond.”
Falisa, ahead of us, turned and gave me a grimace. “I couldn’t have described it better myself. Ken, you got that popgun of yours out?”
“Always. Figured I needed to, what with Brandon having his hands full.”
“I appreciate it,” Brandon responded, sounding more polite than sincere. “Ken, if you don’t mind my asking, what’s your background?”
“Sharpshooter with the Army up until I met this one.” He nodded his head toward Falisa. “I was about twenty-six then. Switched careers to stay with her. I understand you were SWAT?”
“Yeah. I was scouted before I ever met Mack, though.” Brandon seemed to settle with the answer, and I could only assume he’d not been easy until he understood what Ken was capable of. “We need to talk guns after this.”
Ken perked up visibly. “Okay.”
“Boys,” Falisa grumbled with an audible roll of the eyes. “How about here?”
The entire dorm floor was laid out in a giant rectangle, as far as I could tell. The hallways connected to form a circular path, one that led back to the stairs and hallway. Falisa wanted to put one near the intersection of two hallways. I agreed it was a good place, but I couldn’t help but put out my own opinion. “Maybe not precisely in the juncture? A little out from it?”
Falisa nodded absently, already pacing the area off. “We don’t want to get tangled up in an etheric flow.”
Seeing the blank expression on Brandon’s face, I filled him in. “Buildings like this, that have a circular floor plan, they’re easy for ghosts to wander and get lost in. They just keep going in circles. It’s part of the reason why this is getting worse, I think. Because it’s like a rat trap in here. The junctures are especially dangerous, as you can’t see around the bend.”
“So we put a safe place close, but not on top of it, to give ourselves time to react.” His expression cleared up. “Makes sense. Mack, if you’ll take the lights? I’ll pour salt.”
And that’s what we did, all three floors, using half the bag to do it with. I was glad for that other half, as I had a feeling we’d need to barricade something else before our time here was done. We found three other talismans in the process, all of them over the doors. One was upright, one was upside down, and one was sideways. I winced at the sideways one. I didn’t even want to contemplate what that had done.
As we worked, I could sense something watching us. I hoped it was the kind ghost, the one who was just mischievous and not harmful. Knowing my luck? It wasn’t the kind ghost.
Yeah. This was going to go so poorly.
12
Clearing the building took almost three hours, enough time for Connie to pull some of the students together for a quick interview. Falisa and Ken wanted to keep hunting for talismans, so we left them to it with Delaney. Mack and I headed for the quad, hopefully to meet with the students and get some answers.
Connie sat at the outdoor tables along with four other students, all of them eating a spread of hot dogs, hamburgers, and two baskets of fries. Connie, it seemed, was not above bribes to get things rolling. It was a shaded bench, pretty and picturesque and didn’t match the strained atmosphere of the group sitting around the table.
I flashed her a thankful smile and slowed my approach at the table. For this crowd, I felt like it was a good idea, so I pulled my badge and flashed it. “Special Agent Brandon Havili, Paranormal Activity Division. This is my partner, Special Agent Mackenzie Lafayette. Hiya, folks.”
Connie left her seat and bustled around it to stand near me. “I told them y’all were coming, Brandon, Mack. Here, sit, they’re ready to tell you the story. This is Tommy—”
A disheveled blond wearing a worn-in sweater and shorts gave me a nod hello, looking shy and overwhelmed.
“—Jill,” Connie indicated a young woman with tightly braided black hair and a heart-shaped face, “Damica, she’s the RA of the building.”
Damica gave a friendly hello and a wave. She looked a little older than college age, cute with her upturned nose and freckles, but her expression was serious as she met my eyes.