He turned back to thebathroom, finished cleaning his hands, and then turned off the sink. He changedhis clothes, leaving the blood-splattered ones on the floor and dressing in apair of jeans and a t-shirt. Fuck formality.
Emmeline hugged herself,watching him with pressed lips, like she wasn't sure if she should be angry orguilty. That seemed about right for Emmeline. She was never guilty without alittle anger rearing up.
He sighed, staring at his bagafter he pulled out a fresh pair of socks. He couldn't look at her when heasked, "Em, is the anger infecting my mother'sghost yours?"
"Yes."
Benedict nodded once, pulledon his sockets and his shoes, and then grabbed his bag. "Let's gohome." If he took her away from this place, maybe his mother would settledown and Elysium could convince her to move on. At the very least, maybe shewould stop slaughtering everyone inside.
Chapter Fourteen
Benedict dropped his bagbeside the front door, staring out at what he had already heard. A summer stormwas passing over the property, pelting the house with heavy drops of rain that appearedas a haze outside, obscuring the tree line into a smear of distant greens. Thedirt roads were thick puddles fast bleeding into one another, creating ashallow river, and the whole house sang with the soundof rain beating at the rooftop and rattling the old windows in their frames.
Elysium met him at theentrance, his shirt and vest soaked through and dark hair sticking to hischeek. "The tires have been slashed on all of the cars. Allof them. Even the spares," he said.
Benedict's brow pinched."How is that possible?"
"We can't findLucy..." Theodore reported, winded and standing in the foyer behind them."She vanished sometime after the séance and before dad..." His jawtwitched, tears welling unbidden in his eyes. He looked up, as though he couldstub out his own sadness. "I checked the whole house, but I can't findher."
"You think she'spossessed?" Elysium asked.
"I don't know,"Theodore said quickly. "Maybe she made a run for it?"
"And slashed all thetires before leaving?" Benedict pressed. He glanced around, looking forEmmeline, but he hadn't seen her since he left his room.
"Maybe."
"Can we call someonethen?" Benedict asked, though he suspected he already knew the answer. Andhe couldn't exactly drive out on the rims in the mud.
"The house line is dead,and we're not getting service. I think the storm is interfering," Elysiumsaid grimly. They had never gotten particularly good wireless connections outhere on the estate, and Mother hadn't minded. She preferred calls to the oldhouse phone.
"What are we going to donow?" Theodore asked, impatient. "The sun is coming up. We need tofigure something out before night."
Benedict turned, staring athis cousin. Since when was he afraid of the dark?
Theodore clicked his teethangrily at him, seeming to hear the accusation. "Everything got worse whenthe clock struck midnight. And the night before—when that maid killed thefootman and then herself—that was after midnight, too."
From the way Elysiumstraightened, it seemed Benedict hadn't been the only one not to think of thetiming.
"If we don't think ofsomething soon, I'm going to start walking," Theodore said.
"It might not be theworst idea..." Benedict agreed.
"And just give up thehouse to a ghost?" Hazel snapped from the staircase. All three men turnedto look up at her. Her hair was still wet from a shower. Last time Benedict hadseen her, she'd been clinging to her father's corpse, his blood pouring outover her hands and dripping onto the floor. "No. This is our house."
Theodore barked a laugh at hissister. "Who gives a shit about the house, Hazel? I'll buy you anotherone!"
Hazel ignored him, the furiouspatter of the storm still rolling in thick and humid through the open frontdoors. She glared down at Elysium. "Are you really going to leave yourmother to haunt this place? For how long?"
Elysium weighed her with hisdark gaze, appearing unconvinced.
"AndLuis's body? My father's? Will youleave them in the kitchen to rot?"
Elysium cringed. "We'llcome back for them."
"Bullshit," Hazelsnapped. "You know you can't just walk out of here. There are miles ofwoods between you and the road and a poltergeist in this house. Are you willingto bet she can't follow you to the edge of the estate?"
Theodore swore and began topace, much like his father used to. "That's absurd..."
"All of this isabsurd!" Hazel yelled. "But we have a job to do. We can cleanse thishouse and put our dead to rest."
"This isn't the time toplay leader of the pack," Theodore muttered bitterly.
Hazel ignored her brother, stillstaring hard at Elysium. "Gloria would not have run from her ownhouse."
Benedict laughed then,surprising them all. "No. She wouldn't. Which is exactlywhy Elysium is trying to get us out of here. I am not stupid enough tothink that I can force her out of this house, especially not now that she'sgone poltergeist."
"Of course, youcan't," Hazel raked her gaze over him, lip curling. "You didn't evenhave the sight, let alone any gifts—"
"Stop it," Elysiumwarned.
She rolled her eyes and lookedaway. "We have to put them to rest. We can't just run away."
"And are you going to bethe one digging a grave in a downpour? Or maybe you'd like to build apyre?" Theodore's voice rose as he spoke, one long arm sweeping toward theopen doors to gesture at the storm outside and the morning darkened by thecurtains of rain.
The floorboards creaked downthe length of the foyer, dragging all of their attention into the shadows at thefar end. Lucy shifted from one foot to the other. A puddle of mud grew aroundher, water dripping off her dress, her sleeves, and her curls.
"Lucy?" Elysiumcalled, catching Theodore's elbow before he could walk toward her. They studiedher for seconds that felt drawn out into minutes before relaxing all at once.Benedict understood why—they had used their sight to search for a ghostpossessing her and found none. Benedict pretended to have come to the sameconclusion.
"It's her..." Lucymumbled, making no move to come closer.
As a group, they inched
