Kelley Armstrong - The Reckoning

“Everyone decent?” he called, and started opening it.

“Excuse me?” Tori said. “Could you at least give us a chance to answer?”

“It was a warning, not a question. I was being polite.”

“Being polite would mean waiting for-”

I held up my hand. That was all it took to stop the bickering.

“I found something,” Simon said as he walked in. He whipped an old-fashioned key from his pocket and grinned at me. “It was taped to the back of my dresser drawer. What do you think? Buried treasure? Secret passageway? Locked room where they keep crazy old Aunt Edna?”

“It probably unlocks another dresser,” Tori said. “One they threw out fifty years ago.”

“It’s tragic, being born without an imagination. Do they hold telethons for that?” He turned back to me. “Chloe, help me out here.”

I took the key. It was heavy and rusting. “It’s definitely old. And it was hidden.” I glanced up at him. “Bored, aren’t you?”

“To death. So will you come exploring?”

Tori rolled her eyes. “I think I’ll lie down and dream of being home, with kids who don’t think hunting for a locked door is fun.”

“Hey, I told you we were uncool,” Simon said. “The more time you spend with us, the more it rubs off.” He looked at me. “Coming?”

When I didn’t answer right away, he said, “No?” Disappointment dragged down his voice before he propped it up with a forced smile. “That’s cool. You’re tired-”

“It’s not that. It’s just…we need to ID that kid I saw and figure out if he has a connection to this house.”

“What kid?” Tori asked.

I explained about the ghost, then said, “I know Derek said we shouldn’t do too much tonight, but…”

“But, apparently, that warning only applies to us, because he’s off right now, hunting for clues about that kid. He doesn’t want us pitching in. He says it’ll look suspicious if we’re all poking around.”

So Derek was searching without me? I felt a pang of…I don’t know, disappointment, I guess. Then I thought about earlier, in the hall. Had he been trying to invite me along? The disappointment grew.

“How about those self-defense lessons?” Tori said.

“Sure, I guess…” Simon said. “Better than nothing.”

“Actually, there’s something else I should do,” I said. “You guys go on.”

They looked at me like I’d suggested they swim with sharks. Not a bad analogy, really. Simon and Tori doing self-defense together was bound to result in bloodshed.

“What did you have in mind?” Simon asked.

“Just…Well, my aunt…What I saw last night…I’d like to…”

“Try summoning her,” Tori finished for me. “See if she’s dead, right?”

Simon shot her a look for being so blunt, but I nodded. “Right. And Liz. I want to try contacting Liz. She’d come in handy searching for clues. The problem is that, if I summon, I might call up that other guy.”

“Which is why you shouldn’t do it alone,” Simon said. “I’ll stay.”

“Me, too,” Tori said. “If you do summon the demon kid, maybe I can get him to talk.”

She put out her hand. A ball of energy started to swirl.

“All right,” I said.

SUMMONINGS AREN’T NEARLY AS cool as they look in the movies. Basically, it’s the reverse of how I banish a spirit. I close my eyes and picture pulling a ghost out instead of shoving him back in.

Ideally, I’d have something that belonged to the deceased. I’d been using a hoodie of Liz’s before Tori’s mom confiscated it. I didn’t have anything of my aunt’s. So the only way this would work was if they were hovering around, waiting to make contact.

I suspected one spirit was hovering around-the jerk from this morning. While I was tempted to question him further, a voice in my head-which sounded suspiciously like Derek’s-warned me against it. He hadn’t been forthcoming before, and I’d pissed him off by banishing him. So as I sat on the floor in our room, I was careful to keep very clear pictures of my aunt and Liz in my head, alternating between them.

While I hoped I wouldn’t see my aunt, I really did want to contact Liz, my former roommate at Lyle House. She had been killed the night I arrived. It’d taken time for her to believe she was dead, but once she did, she refused to go to the other side. She’d stayed and helped.

Not only was a ghost the perfect spy, but Liz was the same type of half-demon as that kid from this morning-telekinetic, meaning she was a poltergeist. So, yes, Liz would be very useful right now; but, more than that, I just wanted to see her, make sure she was okay.

“That necklace is supposed to prevent you from seeing ghosts, right?” Tori asked after a few moments of unsuccessful summoning.

Simon opened his mouth to tell her off for interrupting, but I cut him short.

“Obviously I still see them,” I said. “Either it doesn’t work or things would be a lot worse without it, something I’m sure I’ll test eventually. I want to talk to Margaret about it.”

“Okay, but if it keeps ghosts away, maybe that’s why Liz isn’t coming.”

She had a point. And yet…I fingered the necklace. If it did work, what else was it keeping at bay? Something worse than that telekinetic half-demon kid?

“Why don’t you take it off?” Tori began.

“Because she-” Simon snapped, then caught himself. “Let her try a bit more with it on. These things take time, and we’re not in any rush. If you’re bored, our room’s empty.”

Tori looked like she wanted to snap back, but couldn’t, not when he’d said it reasonably.

“I’m good,” she said, and I resumed the summoning.

Because Liz was the one I really wanted to see, she was the one I concentrated on, throwing out only the occasional calls to my aunt, praying they wouldn’t be answered. Finally, when Liz didn’t respond, I ramped up the appeals to Aunt Lauren. If I wanted reassurance that she was still alive, I needed to know that I’d tried as hard as I could to summon her.

“Don’t,” Tori whispered.

My eyes snapped open. “Don’t what?”

She frowned.

“You said ‘don’t,’” I prompted.

“Um, no, I didn’t open my mouth.”

“She didn’t,” Simon said. “You must be hearing a ghost.”

I closed my eyes and concentrated on Liz.

“Don’t,” the faint female voice whispered. “Please, baby.”

My gut seized. That wasn’t Liz. But it wasn’t something Aunt Lauren called me, either. Or did she? I wasn’t sure.

“If you’re there, whoever you are, please show yourself.”

Nothing.

“The amulet,” Tori whispered. “If she can’t get through, that must be stopping her.”

I reached for my necklace.

“No!” the voice whispered. “Not safe.”

“You don’t want me to take it off?”

No answer. My hands shook so badly the amulet knocked against my neck.

“Go on,” Simon said. “We’re right here. Anything happens, I’ll get it back on you.”

I started lifting it.

“No! Please, baby. Too dangerous. Not here. He’ll come.”

“Who’ll come?”

Silence. Then I thought I heard her whisper, but it was too faint for me to make out.

“She’s trying to warn me about something, but I can’t hear it,” I said.

Simon gestured for me to take off the necklace. I raised it over my head-

“What the hell are you doing?” a voice roared.

Derek strode into the room and yanked the amulet back down. “You’re summoning without your amulet? Are you crazy? A ghost lured you onto the roof this morning, could have gotten you killed.”

Simon got to his feet. “Ease off, okay? We were trying to get hold of Liz. Then a spirit wanted to warn Chloe about something, but she couldn’t hear her, so we suggested she take off the necklace, see if that would help it materialize.”