Part 4

  I looked Sam in the eyes. Every instinct inside me screamed to stop, to turn back before it was too late. To continue on with the ceremony. To assist this passed in their journey. I knew this was going to upset him. That inner voice—it's usually right. I should have learned to listen to it a long time ago.

  At first, the Passed in front of me remained calm. But the moment he heard the word money, his eyes darkened. Not much, just a flicker, like a storm cloud creeping over the sun.

  “The money?” Sam repeated, his voice slow, calculating. “You want to know about the money?”

  I swallowed hard. “Yes, Sam, please. What did you do with it? CJ has been searching everywhere, tearing this house apart, but he hasn’t found a thing.” My heart pounded in my chest. This was already going exactly as badly as I expected—but worse than I had hoped for. “CJ needs that money. His family needs it.”

  Sam’s translucent form seemed to tighten. “Do you know how long I’ve lived in this house?” he asked, his voice lower now, heavier. “Sixty-four years. Sixty-four long, happy years. CJ was just a boy when we moved in. Most of his childhood was spent in these walls.” His gaze sharpened, piercing into mine.

  A tendril of shimmering energy shot toward the ceiling, vanishing before it made contact. A warning.

  “CJ never learned,” Sam continued, his tone laced with resentment. “He doesn’t need that money for them. He never understood discipline, or respect. I’m glad he was never able to get with those kids. He would have ruined them, just like he ruins everything. Careless. Ungrateful.” His ethereal hands clenched, and a ripple of red passed through his form before fading back to the cool whites and blues.

  My breath came short, my mind racing faster than my heart could keep up. This was reckless. The most dangerous thing I had ever done. But there was no stopping now. I had to help CJ and his family. If this bitter old man wanted to get erased, that was his choice. The Exorcists could handle that. I would call them in an instant.

  “Your son needs this,” I pleaded, my voice raw. “His family needs this. The last good thing you could do would be to help him.”

  My mind begged me to stop, but I knew it was already too late. I hadn’t just flown too close to the sun—I had thrown myself straight into it. A single sob story, and I had forfeited every oath I had sworn. Really, I didn’t deserve to be a Guide. I didn’t deserve the praise and recognition it brought. I deserved none of this. Thinking about it, I did have to concede, I certainly deserved what was happening now.

  Darkness flooded Sam’s form, devouring the light within him. It spread into his tendrils, which twisted and thickened, slowly becoming solid. The transformation had begun.

  I dove off the couch, remembering exactly what happened last time. I cursed myself. How could I have been this stupid? I’d been in complete control—and I ruined everything.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  My hands scraped against the wooden floor as I landed, pain blooming up my arms from fresh cuts and scratches. I crawled backward, scrambling for my phone. My fingers fumbled against the screen, barely able to type. ‘Lacy. Help. Send Exorcists.’ I hit send.

  The moment I pressed the button, my phone was yanked from my grip.

  I barely had time to react before the spirit that had once been Sam absorbed it into his shifting mass. As soon as it made contact, his form imploded into the floor. Green energy rippled outward, creeping along the floorboards like vines.

  And then—

  Everything shot toward the chair.

  The same chair where Sam’s body still sat.

  I staggered to my feet, pressing myself against the farthest wall. I heard the voice before I saw him.

  “I watched as you left Bella and Tanya”

  Slowly, Sam’s corpse began to move.

  Its head lifted, green light glowing in its vacant eyes. Its mouth stretched open, jaw moving unnaturally as it spoke. “I wanted to know them.”

  I lunged for the door. The handle wouldn’t budge.

  I yanked. Pulled. Shoved with my entire body.

  Nothing.

  Oh, shit.

  CJ locked me in.

  Why? Why would he do that? Did he hear what was happening? Was he trying to trap me with Sam? My head raced through possibilities as a low, steady bass-like hum filled the room, vibrating through the floor.

  I turned back toward the body.

  It was standing now. And it was coming toward me.

  Over and over again, it muttered the same words.

  “Asking for money. I waited!”

  The steps were slow—mechanical, like a puppet pulled by strings.

  The glow in its eyes swirled, a mix of emerald green and abyssal black. Objects around the room lurched in response to its movement. The couch slammed against the far wall. The bed skidded sideways, scraping across the floor. Old clothes ripped from drawers, whipping through the air in every direction.

  I fumbled for my backup plan—my phone. The one Sam hadn’t absorbed, my work phone.

  I dialed the office. Three times, it rang until a woman’s voice echoed through.

  “Hello? Katy?” A woman’s voice said.

  It kept moving.

  Eight feet away.

  Each step was a slow shuffle, like it was still learning to use its legs.

  “Hello, hello!” I gasped, pressing the phone to my ear. I needed to hear her voice. Needed to know help was on the way.

  Her voice crackled through the line. “Katy? What’s—”

  The call cut to static.

  Five feet.

  “The money will be sent to them upon my death.” Its mouth mumbled as words became easier.

  My grip tightened around the phone. “Please, please, tell me they’re here! Tell me the Exorcists are coming!”

  Nothing but static.

  I looked up. The ceiling.

  Maybe if I imagined the Beyond, I could reach it. I could still help him.

  “Sincerely,” the thing in front of me painfully whispered. “I loved you”

  Three steps away.

  Something soft smacked against my face. A shirt. It smacked to the floor as I ripped it away, before continuing to fly around the room.

  I had never seen a Poltergeist before. They were one of the rarest devolution forms—spirits so desperate to finish something that they couldn’t let go. Their presence warped the space around them, turning everything in the room into a weapon. But they themselves—

  They weren’t strong.

  Which meant I had a chance.

  One step.

  It stood in front of me now. Its body looked almost normal—jeans, a button-up shirt, all wrinkled and smelling like decay.

  The eyes, though.

  The eyes were not human.

  Swirls of black and green churned inside them, bottomless and shifting.

  “I can no longer reward neglect with generosity.”

  Its arm reached out. My hand grabbed for the dream catcher, to access any bit of connection to the beyond I could.

  I squeezed my eyes shut. My hands reached up holding the catcher in front of me. The room was too loud, too chaotic, and I knew I had made my final mistake. I should have been stronger.

  Then—CRASH.

  Something above shattered.

  I snapped my eyes open just in time to see—

  A hand. The Poltergeist’s hand had punched straight through the door.