Authors: Bonnie Hearn Hill
Ghost Island (16 page)
She wiped her eyes, and I felt guilty for reminding her of the truth about her husband.
“Daniel just happened to mention it.” My c
“I could show you the nice story the newspaper printed when he passed,” she said. “But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s here, and we’re together. I see him every day.”
“I understand that.” The rain started up again, and I stepped under the canopy. “What about the others in the casino building?”
“What about them?” She seemed angry, and I knew it was because I had confronted her with a painful reality. “They came in on the storm right before you arrived. I’ll be glad when they leave. It was so peaceful here before. I try to tend to the casino like always, but they do make it difficult.”
“Did Aaron come with them?”
“Of course not.
He and his parents have been spending time here since he was a little boy.”
“Then is he...” I began. “Is he like them, or is he like us?”
“Miss,” she said, her voice breaking, “I don’t know.”
Then, with one short nod, she stepped inside and closed the door behind her.
CHAPTER 30
Johnny and Charles waited in the golf cart for me, protected from the light sprinkle by the canopy. I ran toward them and let Johnny help me climb in beside him in the back.
In the driver’s seat, Charles used his shirt to dry his glasses then turned back to me with a grin. “How did I ever get to be the responsible one?”
“Process of elimination?”
Johnny asked. He brushed off a couple of raindrops from my cheek. “
Livia
, we’ve been talking about Daniel. Since we’re down here anyway, don’t you think we should go see if he’s in the harbor?”
“I can’t,” I told him. “Ms. Gates will bust me.”
“It’s five minutes from here. Besides, we’ll go up the back way to the hotel. Charles and I will say you were helping us try to get an internet connection. We’ve already got your alibi all figured out.”
“Ms. Gates won’t buy that,” I said. “But right now, I really don’t care. Let’s find him.”
Charles started the engine and hit the gas.
“It won’t take long, I promise.” Johnny squeezed my shoulder, and we headed into the drizzle in our rickety little cart. His arms felt almost too warm, almost too safe. I wanted Aaron, not Johnny, and I moved as far away as I could.
From Peggy’s, we traveled downhill toward the crescent-shaped harbor, the casino on our left. I wanted Daniel to be there. I wanted to find a phone. I wanted to win back Grace’s trust. Most of all, I wanted a way to be with Aaron.
Without the ghosts.
Without the risk.
Just Aaron and me.
How sad was that? How impossible.
“What did she say?” Charles asked.
“Norm’s dead. It’s what Daniel said. She’s kind of in both worlds, and she doesn’t always know which one. What’s going on at the casino upsets her. I don’t think she has anything to do with it.”
The golf cart bumped along the path toward the harbor. I felt every pit in the road.
“What about Aaron?” Johnny
asked,
his lips close to my ear. “Can she see him?”
“Of course she can, and so can I.”
“When did you last see him?”
“Shut up, will you?” Charles jerked around, and the cart almost swerved off the road. “Remember what we talked about, Johnny?
Liv
doesn’t need any more pressure.”
“I’m just asking her when she saw the stupid ghost guy. No big deal, right?”
He looked at me and nodded, clearly waiting for an answer.
“Right,” I said. I wasn’t much of a liar, but I needed to become one right away. “Probably a few days ago, before we got the tea. I can’t quite remember.”
“You wouldn’t really stay there, would you? In that casino, I mean?”
“I don’t think so.” I thought of Aaron and wondered what it would take to change my decision about staying there. If he
were
real, and we could be together, I would risk anything.
“You can’t,” Johnny said.
“Will you leave her alone?” Charles shouted. “Just please shut up, okay? You’re upsetting her.”
“I’m not upsetting anything, am I,
Livia
?”
He was cute. He’d always been cute, from the first moment I’d met him. At one time, I would have welcomed his attention. But now, all I could think about was Aaron.
Wondering how to connect with him again.
I leaned forward. “I’m okay,” I told Charles.
“Good. I intend to keep you that way. If you fall apart the way Grace did, we’re going to be in bigger trouble than we already are.”
“The thing with Grace is just momentary,” I said. “She’s tough.”
“I don’t know. She seems to be losing it.”
“He’s right,” Johnny said. “Grace has had an easy life. I don’t think she can take much more of this.”
I thought of how she looked when she talked about Felicia. It was almost as if she blamed herself for what happened. “Her parents’ money hasn’t made her life all that easy. Besides, we’ve all had some moments of weakness.”
“You too?”
Johnny asked.
“Not like yours, but I’ve seen things that weren’t real.”
“Like Aaron.” He seemed to pounce on my words.
“I don’t want to talk about him.”
“We have to talk.
Livia
, those things almost had control of me, and you’re the only reason they didn’t. You made me face the truth about Matt and suggested that maybe I could possibly live without booze for a night. I’m not about to let you get hurt.”
“Take it easy.” Charles slowed down, and we approached the pier. “For all we know, Aaron could be a real guy.”
“A real guy who just happens to want
Livia
to move into the casino?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I told him. “I’m not going to. Instead, I’m going to try to find a phone so Grace can call her dad. That will make her feel better, restore her trust and, who knows, maybe he’ll come up with a way to get us out of here.”
“So, let’s just find Daniel before we talk about anything more complicated.”
“Good idea,” I said.
“Except...” He drew his finger along my neck. “You never want to talk about anything more complicated.”
“I might.” I removed his hand. “Once we get this thing figured out.”
“We’re not going to get anything figured out if you keep flirting with a ghost.”
I pulled away from him. “I am not flirting with anyone, Johnny. I’m a prisoner here, just like you guys, and all I want is to get away before we all end up like Emily and the others.”
“She’s right.” Charles pulled to a stop on the pier. “Leave it alone, will you? We’ve got enough to deal with right now, other than you being jealous of the guy in
Livia’s
dream.”
“That might be the dumbest thing you’ve said since we got here.” Johnny’s face f
“Forget it for now.” Charles hopped over the side of the cart. “There it is.”
The shore boat swayed in the harbor.
“Is it deserted?” I asked him.
“No, he’s there. Look.”
A figure moved across the deck and shaded his eyes to the sun. I recognized the pea coat and black watch cap. It was Daniel.
“Thank goodness.” I scrambled out of the golf cart and ran toward the boat.
Daniel waved. “Where do you think you’re going this time?” he called to me.
“Nowhere.”
I caught my breath and waited until Charles and Johnny joined us. “We just need to find a telephone.”
“What else is new?” He shook his head, which with the watch cap covering it, looked even larger than usual. “Everyone on the island is trying to find a phone.”
“Peggy said that you might know.”
“She’s the one you need to ask,” he said. “Hers is an old-fashioned job, but it works well now and then.”
“We just came from there,” I told him. “There was a dial tone, and then it went dead.”
He sighed and leaned against the rail. “If Peggy’s phone isn’t working, I’d wager no one’s is working.” Against his dark skin, his eyes were a light hazel green. “Why don’t you go back to the hotel and just wait it out?”
“Because we can’t take the risk.”
I was angry now, at the phones, at him, at our situation, at his smug smile. “Daniel, you said you wanted to help us because you had kids of your own. If you don’t help us find a phone or a way out of here, we are going to be destroyed by the spirits in the casino.”
“Congratulations,
Livia
,” Johnny said. “You’ve squelched the chance of any help this nice man might have given us.”
“He needs to know what’s going on, whether he believes it or not.”
“I’ll listen to anything,” Daniel said. “I’ve seen enough stuff
go
down around here to know what’s happening is more than just this storm. It’s almost as if the weather is a cover for something else, something a lot more....” He shook his head.
“Exactly.
You told me people got off your boat and you didn’t remember them getting on. You said they were going to the casino.” He nodded, so I kept talking. “The ones who do go to the casino and spend the night there come out different.”
Johnny groaned, but I didn’t care. I had this guy’s attention.
“What do you mean different?”
“Looking the same but replaced by someone else, someone who died who knows how many years ago and was just waiting for what’s been happening here since the storm.”
“So that’s what it is.” He stared out at the sea, his jaw clenched. “I never would have believed this if I hadn’t seen all I have lately.”
“It’s the truth, Daniel. You don’t have to believe it, though. Just find a phone for me.”
“I’ll do my best. That kid who’s staying at the casino is trying to find one for you too.”
“Aaron?” Johnny asked. “Isn’t he one of them?”
“No way, man,” Daniel said. “He’s been coming here with his folks for at least ten years. They’re from Long Beach. Good people.” He looked at me, and his expression softened.
“Kind of into you.
Kid can’t talk about anything else but the girl with the long black hair and the b
I felt myself b
“Tell you the truth, I don’t know.” He leaned against the rail. “It’s not going to matter for much longer, though. I just got some good news today from my buddy who’s a weatherman for a TV station in Long Beach. One of his text messages made it through.”
“What does he say?” I asked.
“That the storm is almost over. If he’s right, and he usually is, it will pass through in two days, maybe three. You kids will be okay. You just need to hang tight for a little longer.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“I’m sure.” He patted my hand on the rail. “It’s not long now. You’ll be okay if you just hang on.”
CHAPTER 31
Just hang on
. It sounded good in theory, but I wasn’t sure how to proceed. Two days, maybe three. If Daniel was right, maybe we could get out of here. But I didn’t know how we could stay free of the dreams long enough to do so.
To add to my anxiety, Johnny continued hitting on me. Although I had once thought of him as a good-looking guy who drank too much, I now knew how decent he was. I couldn’t lead him on, especially not now that the guy I really wanted might not be one of the dream people after all. Hadn’t Daniel told us that Aaron and his parents had been coming here for years? Hadn’t he actually said that Aaron talked about a girl with b
He wasn’t confined to the casino like the others in the dream. He had come to the hotel, to my room, something that would be impossible for a ghost. Wouldn’t it? I wasn’t sure what to do. That romantic part of me, the part that could still feel Aaron’s arms, wanted to go back to the casino and find him. My cautious side reminded me of what had happened to everybody else in that place.
I sneaked back into the hotel with Charles and Johnny. Ms. Gates seemed distracted by the ghost kids or maybe just something she saw outside.
Either way, she didn’t notice us, and
we soon blended in and made our way down the hall. We hid out in my room until early evening, watching the rain, keeping away from the other kids and talking about what to do next. The jar of tea Peggy had given me sat on the polished wood dresser as a reminder to stay alert and protect ourselves. We decided to wait until after dinner and then return to the kitchen.
Charles found the crackers Grace had left, and we ate them with two of the oranges she had brought from the kitchen.
“I feel like we’re camping out,” Charles said, and that reminded me of something.
Once when we were still a family, my parents had taken my brother Drew and me camping.
My mom had found a scorpion in her sleeping bag and insisted on sleeping with her shoes on. Dad decided we should all cook dinner for her, even though she said that the deadly bug had caused her to lose her appetite. That night was the first time I heard the jagged voices that later exposed the arguments she and my dad tried to hide from us. Right then, I realized my elegant mother hadn’t wanted to be there in the wilderness with the dehydrated food, the sooty smell of the campfire, and our charred marshmallows. Every time we went camping after that, she stayed at home.
“You okay?” Johnny asked. I jerked around from the mirror and smiled at him.
“I’m fine. Are you and Charles ready to go exploring?”
“I am.”
“Me too,” Charles said. “Let’s hit the kitchen first.”
“Why’s that?” I asked him.
“You know.”
Because Grace liked to drink coffee at night.
She said it helped her sleep.
Poor Charles.
He was really worried about her. So was I.
We walked single-file down the hall, and the moment we entered the kitchen, I heard Charles catch his breath.
Grace stood there in her jeans, scooping ground coffee into the basket. Apparently, the spirit kids still hadn’t figured out that the stuff in the cups they carried around was supposed to be hot.
“Hey, Grace,” I said. “Need any help?”
“Even I know how to make a pot of coffee.”
“They don’t,” I told her and glanced at the door where the others gathered in the dusk like soft, pale clouds. “When I got up this morning, they were all sitting over there with their cups the way they’re doing now. Except the stuff in the pot looked as if it was left over from yesterday. I wonder if they sat out here all night.”
“If you don’t mind,
Livia
, I’d rather not contemplate such matters. In fact, I’d love it if you would just take your theories and your weirdness anywhere but here.”
The coffee flowed into the pot. The steam rose and stung my eyes.
“Last time I noticed, we were on the same side,” I said.
“I thought so too.” She pulled out a cup, lifted the pot, and filled it.
“Until I saw a certain video.”
“If it bothered you so much, imagine what it did to me.”
“I told you I’ve had enough,” she said. “I can’t stand this place and these people another minute.”
“You won’t have to for long. We’re going to get out of here, Grace.”
“Oh, of course we are. Because that’s what your ghost boyfriend told you, right?”
“No. Because Daniel said the storm’s passing.”
“So the shore boat driver’s gone psychic now?” she asked, her voice getting shrill.
“A friend of his does weather for a TV station. He managed to get a text to Daniel.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it. Right now, I’m going back to my room and locking the door.”
I glanced over at Emily and the girls. “I doubt that a locked door will stop them.”
“It’ll stop you, though.” She looked at me as if I were the most disgusting creature on the planet.
“Fine, if that’s the way you want it.” I teetered between shame and anger but wasn’t about to let her see how much she was hurting me. “Just be careful, Grace.”
“She’s right,” Johnny said from behind me. “We were there when Daniel said the storm was passing. Tell her, Charles.”
He shook his head. “There’s nothing I can tell Grace that she’ll believe right now.”
“That’s for sure.” She took a sip of the coffee and then slammed the mug on the counter. “
Livia
has you convinced that she knows what’s happening, but you might just ask Ms. Gates to let you look at the video. Now, I’m going back to my room. I only wish I had stayed there tonight.”
“Wait,” I said. “Don’t go.”
“I have to.” She turned and ran through the door, hair flying behind her.
Although I couldn’t hear her sobs, I imagined them.
My friend.
Grace was my friend, the first person who had liked me without scrutinizing my family history. Now, all she wanted was to get away from me.
I sat down at the table and tried to keep from crying.
“It’s okay.” Johnny pulled a chair up beside me. Soothing as his voice was, I only felt more miserable.
He was trying to comfort me, but Aaron was the one I needed.
“It’s not okay.”
“She’s just scared.”
“Not to mention she’s losing control.” Charles sat down on my right. “That’s why we were so worried about you,
Liv
. The four of us have to stick together if we’re going to make it through the next few days. Grace isn’t going to be much help. She’s going to need us.”
“She won’t let me help her,” I told him.
“Not right now. She’s too confused. We need to check in on her, though. The way she’s acting...”
“What?” I asked.
“It’s as if she’s forgotten how close she came to ending up like those girls over there.”
Then I realized what he was getting at. “You’re afraid she won’t take the pills?”
“We both are,” Johnny said. “We think she might fall right back into the dreams again. If that happens, we lose her.”
“Well, she hasn’t trusted me since she saw the video. Maybe you should be the one to check up on her, Charles.”
“I only wish she’d be as open with me as she was at first.” He got up from the table. “I’ll try to get through to her again, though. See you later.”
That left Johnny and me looking outside through the rain-streaked glass of the sliding door.
“Charles really cares about Grace,” he said.
“So do
I
. At least, I did before she got so nasty.”
Johnny moved closer. “And how do you feel about me?”
I felt his breath on my neck and shivered. “Don’t, Johnny.”
“Well, that’s the answer to
that
question.” I was glad he’d made a joke out of it. “It’s because of what Daniel said, isn’t it? You think Aaron is real.”
“I’m starting to think he might be.” I looked into his challenging brown eyes. “If he really has been coming here with his parents for years, then he’s not like the others.”
“Yes, he is. He’s exactly like the rest of them, maybe worse.”
“How could you know that?”
“Because I did some research of my own last night.
I went over to the casino again. He wasn’t anywhere around, and I checked everywhere, believe me.”
“Tell me you didn’t go to the theater,” I replied. “Just please tell me you weren’t crazy enough to do that.”
“I went everywhere.”
“Oh, that’s really smart, Johnny. Do you know what could have happened to you?”
“I needed to prove that Aaron isn’t real. And he isn’t,
Livia
. There’s not a trace of him in the casino.”
“Of course not.
He wasn’t in the casino last night. He was here.”
“Here? Are you saying Aaron was in this hotel?”
“In my room.”
“You can’t be serious.” He shot up out of his chair. “That does it. Let’s get out of here. I need to tell you something, and I don’t know who’s listening in this place. Come on, let’s go outside.”
“In this rain?”
“It’s slowing down. Maybe we really are hitting the end of the storm.”
“I hope so, but listen, I don’t like the fact that you went to that place after what almost happened to you.”
“And I don’t like that you let that guy into your room.”
“I didn’t,” I said. “He just kind of showed up.”
He shook his head and shot me a disgusted look. “And how many normal guys do you know who just
kind of
show up in your room? Now I know I did the right thing by checking it out.”
I followed him outside. Although he was wrong about Aaron, he was right about the weather. The rain seemed softer, less violent.
“So what do you want to tell me?” I asked. “Make it quick because I don’t want to get drenched.”
“There’s a canopy up there.” He looked up at it. “Besides, you need to hear this,
Livia
. When I was at the casino, I went upstairs, to the library where your boyfriend’s supposed to be staying.”
His voice was low, and he watched my face so intently as he spoke that I was afraid to register any reaction.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” I said.
“It’s exactly what I should have done, and here’s why. There’s nothing there in that empty room but a bunch of cobwebs. How do you explain that?”
He was either lying or mistaken.
“Obviously, you had the wrong room.” From the corner of my eye, I glimpsed a shadow and moved closer to Johnny. “I’ve seen the library where Aaron is staying, and there isn’t a cobweb in the place.”
“You should see it now.” He slid his arm around my waist, no doubt misreading my moving closer to him. “I’m tempted to take you there.”
The door behind us slid open. I turned with a start, almost expecting to see Emily and her companions.
Instead, Ms. Gates stepped outside, lips tense and unsmiling.
“I asked you not to leave the hotel,” she said.
“Outside the hotel, on the patio, doesn’t mean leaving it.” I tried to make my voice sound clipped, the way Grace’s was, if only so that I didn’t seem like such a loser.
“I just found out that you convinced some of the other kids to leave with you before breakfast.”
“Gee,” I said. “Wonder who could be spreading that lie.”
“I’m not in the mood to argue about this with you tonight,” she said. “Step inside, please.”
“Can I say goodnight to Johnny first?”
She shook her head. “I’m exhausted,
Livia
. I don’t want to wait while you figure out some new game. Come in now.”
“I’ll make sure she goes inside,” Johnny said. “Just give us a little privacy, okay?”
“You have exactly five minutes,” Ms. Gates said. “I’ll be waiting on the sofa. Please don’t make me come back out here again.”
She stepped inside and slid the door almost all the way shut.
Johnny tightened his arms around me.
“Now she’s going to think we’re a couple,” I said.
“At least it bought us a little more time. You can’t have anything else to do with that guy,
Livia
. If he shows up in your room, run, scream. Come find me.”
“He’s never hurt me,” I told him.
“Of course not.
They never hurt us until it’s too late. They try to earn our trust. He’s worse than the others because he’s stronger. For all we know, he could be the leader.”
I jerked away from him. “That’s enough. I’m going to my room.”
“Promise me you won’t see him again.” In the moonlight, his features looked soft and safe.
“And you promise me you won’t go back to the casino.”
“I can’t,” he said.
“Neither can
I
.”