‘I told you,’ said Crawler. ‘Three types of poison. One to slow your heart rate right down, to the brink of it stopping, and two to slow your organs down, to bring you to the point of certain death.’
Will frowned. ‘You’ve … poisoned me?’
Crawler nodded. ‘Indeed.’
‘You’re …’ Will’s lips trembled, ‘killing me?’
‘That’s murther,’ said Obediah, shocked.
‘Murder,’ I murmured. ‘That’s what we call it now.’
IN THE DARK, cold room, Crawler cocked his head to one side and regarded the dying man.
‘I’m not killing you. I’m bringing you to the brink of death, in order to enhance your viewing pleasure. Now, let’s go back to the counting. Last bit of the experiment. I think you’ll find it very interesting.’
‘No, no,’ shouted Will, lunging towards the door. ‘I’m not going to do any counting. I must get help. I’m dying! Got to call the ambulance – my heart …’
‘You’ll do no such thing,’ snapped Crawler. ‘I won’t let you die, I assure you. I have an antidote right here …’ he patted his other coat pocket, ‘which will render the poisons useless and pull you back from fundamentally expiring. Once I decide it’s time. But now you’re going to do your last bit of counting, as agreed.’
Will slumped in the doorway, looking yearningly out towards the corridor. He allowed Crawler to guide him back into the room, walking with small, shuffling movements. His skin had turned a horrible greyish, purple colour. He looked like a dying jellyfish.
‘Now, count again. Tell me how many people are in this room,’ demanded Crawler.
With a bleary, confused face, Will counted aloud with slurred words. ‘Me – one. You – two. Your son …’ There was a pause, while he struggled with the calculations. ‘Three.’ And then his eyes widened. ‘Wait. Wait. What? Who are you?’
‘What can you see?’ Crawler’s voice was taut. ‘Tell me.’
Will’s face swelled with fear. ‘A girl … in ripped clothes – it looks like she’s wet herself. Four. A big woman – tall – with plaits. Five. Two little bo—’ He gasped again and rubbed his chest. ‘Two little boys, all – wrong an’ … blood. An’ a tiny dirty toddler … er, eight.’
The looks he gave us were full of fear. ‘And a woman – funny dent in her chest – nine.’
‘Yes!’ shouted Crawler, dancing around the room in triumph. ‘Bingo! Jackpot! All those years of experiments have paid off!’
‘But who are they?’ whispered Will, as his body trembled like a cold dog. ‘What are they doing here? Where did they come from?’
‘I will explain everything to you another time,’ said Crawler, giving Will a blister pack containing two pills. ‘For a price. Come back when you’re better and you can see the whole show. Now, take your medicine – on me. You’re welcome. You’ll vomit for a few days, but that will go, and I expect you’ll be raring to come back and see this lot properly. Off you go now. Taxi waiting right outside to take you back to the caravan park.’
Will limped out, casting a fascinated glance over his shoulder at us.
There was a stunned silence once he’d gone, then Crawler smirked triumphantly in my general direction. ‘Hopefully that deals with your, er, concern.’
Scanlon swallowed. ‘But,’ he said slowly, ‘do you seriously think that people – ordinary people – are going to willingly take poison so they nearly die just so they can see a couple of ghosts?’
‘Yes,’ said Crawler matter-of-factly. ‘I do. I know people. Look at Will. He did.’
‘But he’s one of the most stupid people at the caravan park,’ Scanlon said. ‘And you made him. Not everyone is like that.’
Crawler looked at his son. ‘Never underestimate mankind’s desire,’ he said, with eyes that seemed suddenly hollow, ‘for escape. Most of humanity poisons itself every day with all sorts of rubbish. Some people will take absolutely anything if it promises them even ten minutes of entertainment or comfort. Most people really are happiest when they just have something to stare at. My stuff will allow them to do that.’
‘B-but … even if you’re right and they do all take it, won’t they get bored? All they’ll see will be some sad-looking dead people,’ Scanlon said.
‘No they won’t. They’ll see the only ghost ride in the world with real ghosts. And they’ll see proof of eternal life. Bored? Not a chance. Once word gets out, they’ll be fighting each other to be the first in line. They’ll open their wallets and tell me to help myself. And they won’t be able to get that poison down their throats quick enough. Because …’ Crawler smirked, ‘they’ll see a show they’ll never forget.
Scanlon fell silent.
Crawler’s gaze settled somewhere a few centimetres short of my face.
‘Now then, Frances,’ he said. ‘Time to see your room, I think.’
THE GHOST TRAIN resumed its slow chug along the track, through a windowless tunnel that got colder the higher we climbed. Everyone had gone quiet; the shock of Will’s poisoning and the reality of our situation were sinking in. Behind me, Obediah and Theo clutched each other as we clattered through the darkness; the little girl’s eyes grew wide in the gloom, and she whimpered slightly.
It dawned on me then how upside down this whole thing was. As far as I could remember, humans were meant to be frightened of haunted houses. But here, it was the ghosts who were scared, and Crawler seemed completely at home. The whole place seemed to fit him like a second skin.
The train groaned and squeaked on its hinges, and an eerie, discordant organ tune filled the building.
After a while, the train slammed its way with a clatter through a set of double doors, and I found myself in a bedroom that looked eerily familiar.
‘How’d you like it, Frances?’ shouted Crawler from the front. ‘I tried to make it as much as possible like your old
