‘Pictures of what?’ Matt asked.
‘Stick figures, really childish, even though I knew she could draw better than that. But I could tell who they were supposed to be. They were us; me and the girls and …’ a tremble ran through her. ‘In every picture, twenty of them, maybe thirty, she’d drawn a tall black shape next to it. A black shape with long ears in all of them, holding her hand. And then she finally spoke …’
Matt waited. ‘What did she say?’
Rachel suddenly stopped crying and her voice sounded measured and clear. Like this was the only conclusion that made sense. ‘Holly just said … rabbit’s coming … rabbit’s coming.’ She looked at Matt, but this time her eyes were saying – are you getting this now, Matt? Are you starting to believe?
‘I thought we’d driven her crazy,’ she said, ‘and the poltergeist was some mad, lonely thing she did herself. But after all that’s happened … I think she must have picked something up in the vaults.’ She looked at Joyce. ‘Some entity?’
‘I think that’s very, very likely,’ Joyce whispered. ‘In fact, this makes a lot of sense.’
‘Does it, now?’ Larry said, closing his book.
‘Yes … I believe Holly’s anger at what happened that night is fuelling the negative energy and the chaos that’s reigning all around us. Sometimes pain, hurt and anger can manifest into a living spirit.’
‘Oh, come on,’ Matt said. ‘A ghost or demon or malignant bloody whatever didn’t set fire to Jo Finch last night. But somebody did. Somebody dangerous.’
‘Or something …’ Rachel said.
He gawped and stared at her. ‘You cannot still …’
Of all the emotions he could have shared with Rachel at that moment, snarling disappointment shouldn’t have been one of them. He couldn’t help it, though. He stared at her like a fish he’d caught that wasn’t up to standard. He quickly changed his expression: went all pastoral again. ‘Look, I understand that you’re upset. Who wouldn’t be, but—’
Too late.
She looked away from him, shaking her head.
‘Miss Wasson. Matt’s quite right,’ Larry said. ‘It’s sensible to deal with the practical matters first. And the fact is we have a real-life crime on our—’
‘And completely ignore the fact that something happened in that seance?’ Rachel glared at him. ‘Something set the alarms off.’
Matt threw up his hands. ‘That was the cross coming through the window!’
‘So what made the school bell ring?’
‘Someone must have grabbed it.’
‘And what spoke through Joyce?’
‘These can all be explained naturally.’
‘Oh, can they? And how do I explain the fact that I saw some sort of monster on my roof when I was a kid? And how do I explain what I feel?’
He waited. ‘And what do you feel?’
‘I feel …’ Her anger slid away for a moment. Now she looked at him with a look of such dread, it made the room feel instantly cold and horribly small. ‘I feel this darkness. This thick, thick darkness … and it’s been with me ever since that night. But now it’s creeping around me every single second I walk in this town. I think Holly wants to hurt me,’ she looked at Kassy, ‘and hurt us. Maybe what’s happening is … payback.’
Matt looked, and spoke as softly as he could. ‘That darkness you feel … it’s shame, Rachel. It’s regret. And it’s normal.’
‘Yeah? And how normal is the timing?’ Rachel said. ‘Because it’s Halloween tonight, Matt. Tonight.’
Kassy leant forward. ‘You should listen to him.’
‘Look … even if a person did do that to Jo … that’s not even the point,’ Joyce suddenly said. ‘It’s what’s fuelling them. Something spiritual, something negative is driving whoever it is to—’
‘Aw, come off it Joyce … you didn’t even figure out what happened to Holly until Rachel told us.’
‘Didn’t I?’ Joyce pulled Rachel closer to her chest. Patting her like a mother would.
Kassy, who’d been quiet for a while, saw the gesture and shook her head.
Larry checked his watch and caught Matt’s gaze. Not quite an eye roll, but enough to say that the info unfurling here was a little too spectral to matter much.
‘I know what must be done,’ Joyce said. ‘We need to contact Holly again and let Rachel express her sorrow. Her regret.’
Larry was on his feet. ‘You want to finish the seance?’
‘Yes. Only, this time Rachel can finally be honest about all of this. She can ask for forgiveness and stop the cycle. I’m sure it will help.’ Joyce looked up at Kassy. ‘You should be there, too. To apologise.’
‘Hey, no way, I’m done,’ Kassy said. ‘We told the truth, so how about we just leave it at that?’
Bob walked towards Kassy at the window. ‘Don’t you think you should be supporting your friend right—’
‘Get away from me,’ Kassy shouted. ‘Don’t you dare tell me what to do.’
Bob’s jaw dropped. He stopped walking. Everybody stared.
‘Spend a lot of time with Holly, did you?’ Kassy said.
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘The two of you,’ she nodded at Joyce. ‘Spend a lot of time with Holly … by herself? And now you can hug her sister too.’
‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’ Bob stepped forward.
‘Don’t even think about touching me, you old man.’
‘Calm down, Miss West,’ Larry said, frowning. ‘Just sit down and we’ll—’
‘We’ve told the truth.’ Kassy turned and hurried to the door. ‘End of.’
‘Wait …’ Rachel called after her. ‘What about what happened to Steph? And Jo?’
Kassy paused with her fingers on the handle, then she turned to Larry. ‘Just some random psycho who’s cruising through town. Who the police should be chasing right now, rather than sitting around listening to campfire tales.’ She pushed the door open. ‘I’m done, Rach. See you at the funerals.’ She vanished into the corridor, calling out behind her, ‘Assuming you bother to turn up.’
‘Let her go,’ Joyce said. ‘Let her go.’
Larry got up. ‘I’ll go after her.’
The door closed, and Matt turned back to see Rachel’s face. Now it
