I wished I had an Irish coffee.
We were discussing Mom’s funeral. And it had suddenly become a very controversial topic.
“Muller will be looking for you there,” Z argued. “You can’t go. Rule number one. Don’t go where the cops can find you.” His normally playful demeanor was dead serious.
I chewed my lip to stop myself from instantly retorting. I needed to let them get it all out first.
“Too many people. Extraction will be difficult. And if I fly you out that will be too obvious. The connection to my family will be made and then they’ve got eyes roaming for three of us instead of two.” Gray contributed, siding with Zavier. “It’s just not feasible, nemesis.”
Andros was silent, his arms crossed as he watched our crew split in half.
Evan leaned forward in his camp chair. “She needs this. Hayley deserves closure.”
“We also need the opportunity to put a bug in the press’s ear about the Pinnacle treating people like their own disposable little lab rats.” Malcolm shoved a speech he’d written in my direction. “Take a look.”
I glanced down at the speech, but couldn’t read it. Instead, I rubbed my eyes, worn out already, because I could feel the tension swirling around us like it was smoke from a forest fire. It was toxic and noxious and I didn’t know how to stop it. Because I was going to go. But it was a stupid move. Even with Malcolm’s thin justification, we all knew it was the dumb play.
But she was my mom.
The thought of turning my back on her shredded me.
Of course, Gray had to add salt to the wound. “Look, half the people there will only be there because that asshole Claude was on the Pinnacle Council—”
And there, behind Gray, the light flickered and then coalesced into my worst nightmare.
Claude King appeared behind Grayson in his perfectly pressed black suit, the one he wore when the Pinnacle was overseeing a trial. A blood red tie dripped down his neck. He even had on his wedding ring, that false promise.
I jumped out of a plane. I was shipwrecked in the middle of the ocean. I was watching a volcano erupt as I stood at its peak. Imminent death. Every nerve ending told me that was what this was. Imminent death. My brain screamed at me in panic. My breath came in quick gasps, I was shocked into silence for a moment.
A moment was all he needed. Claude gave me a vicious smile as he stuck his hand right through Grayson’s throat.
I screamed, scrambling to my feet as Gray started to writhe and twitch.
The guys all ran toward Gray, assuming he was having some sort of seizure.
But that wasn’t what was happening.
My stepfather was controlling Gray, because Claude King—bastard extraordinaire couldn’t just die like a normal person. The fucker was now a ghost.
29
I shoved shadows out of my hands without thought, trying to choke the monster who was choking my Gray.
“Hale!” Malcolm yelled in surprise, as suddenly the entire warehouse became darker than a mine shaft after a cave in.
“Claude King!” I screamed his name, hatred burning up my throat.
“What the fuck?” Z’s tone was puzzled.
One of them grabbed a phone and tried to switch on the flashlight feature, but I quickly hurled shadows and pinched the electrical pulses swimming through the battery. "No light. It lets ghosts work."
"Fuck!" Z cried. "Claude's a ghost?"
"Catch up." Andros’ tone was smooth.
"Catch up? She just fucking said it."
"Shut up—" Malcolm hissed. His voice sounded the closest to me in the darkness, like he was just diagonally in front to my left. "Shakespeare, you got this." his voice wrapped around my ears like silk, calm and undisturbed. It was exactly what I needed.
Because I was freaking the fuck out.
We'd killed him. Not just once. We'd fucking annihilated Claude. And yet, here he was.
I had to shove down the bile that rose in my throat at the realization that my years of torture weren't over. Somehow, this asshole had figured out a way to circumvent death. And my dad wasn't even here to help me—tears pooled in my eyes.
Evan's voice was gruff and sounded like it came from the ground several feet away. "I've got him. Gray isn't twitching anymore. I think ... I hope he's okay."
Hope? What the hell did he mean hope?
I released my shadows and rushed forward toward Gray. He lay sprawled on the cement, his head cocked to one side, his eyes wide open. I wasn’t able to see his chest rise before Claude swooped at me again, flying through the air, with his hand open, ready to grab me.
I threw up another set of shadows. But this time, I tried to shove down the panic. This time, I tried to shove down the scared little girl and find the sneaky little one who'd played hide and sneak with Matthew. The goal of our game hadn't been to hide and be found, it had been to hide and then sneak up and scare the shit out of the other person. It was one of the few games growing up where my power had felt useful, where I'd excelled. It was one of the few games I'd been able to beat him at.
Breathing carefully to offset my frantic heart, I carefully moved my right hand in a straight line to one side. As I moved, I imagined the shadows billowing out like smoke but then creating a hollow center. I'd used to hide from Matthew this way--he'd called it my chocolate Easter egg trick. Because the shadows didn't hit me, and I could see my surroundings. But no one else could see in.
As soon as I'd created the hollow, I glanced back at Evan, who crouched over Gray. "Is he breathing?" I asked softly.
Evan nodded. "But it's wheezy. He could use some magic."
Z reached out and took my arm. "You have time for me to heal him?" he questioned. "Can you hold this up long enough?" He gestured at the shadows surrounding us.
I nodded. "I can do maybe ten, fifteen minutes. That's all."
Malcolm took a deep breath. "And Claude's still out there?"
I nodded, my stomach twisting. "I assume so."
"Shit. So we need an escape plan. What do we know about ghosts?"
"We know they're listening," Claude taunted from beyond my shadows and I froze, limbs locked.
I almost lost my grip on my magic.
But Andros was watching me closely and he took a step closer. "What is it, Hayley?"
"He can hear."
"Fuck a duck," Malcolm cursed. "Get out your phones. Text me what the hell you know. Let's pool knowledge."
But no one bothered to reach for their phone.
"Shit."
"They don't know anything, do they? Your little puppets are so useless." Claude's voice taunted me just as it had in life. "Oh, this is gonna be so much fun, Hayley. I've always held back before. But now, when I get my hands on you, I'm going to make you dance. I'm going to take over that pretty little body and I'm going to slowly shred your mind. You'll wish I'd killed you down in that vault."
I screamed, just to block out the sound of his voice. All the guys' faces whipped toward me; Z's was white as a sheet because he'd just lifted his quill to write.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry—"
"You will be," Claude taunted.