The night was dark and full of voices. Our fellow Hell's Orphanage survivors were still milling around, talking about how scared or not scared they'd been inside. Stars filled the sky, clear and visible since we were farther out in the country.
"Are you sure you're up for it?" I asked Theo again. It was almost as though I were asking myself, too.
"Theo will be all right, she's a tough girl," Alex said. "Aren't you, babe?" He tried to put his arm around Theo's shoulders.
"Ew, c'mon." She wriggled out and stepped away, putting several feet of distance between them.
"Okay, the question now is, where can we hole up until everyone else has gotten out of Dodge?" I asked.
"How about over there?" Henry asked, and gestured towards an ugly, bushy jackpine squatting on the side of the yard. Barely visible behind the gnarled branches was a little wooden shack.
"Worth scoping out," I agreed.
We sneaked over behind the jackpine while the other haunted house patrons started shifting towards the front. The tiny cottage looked like something out of a fairy tale illustration, one that had been stained and torn with time and carelessness. Brown paint had peeled off the weathered wood in strips, and dirty white trim ran around the windows like a rotten gingerbread house.
Henry pushed at the crooked door. It creaked open, letting off a cloud of dust in the moonlight. The four of us exchanged glances. Alex nodded for Theo to go in first.
"Gee, thanks," she said grumpily. "Sacrifice your tiniest member." But she went into the darkened cottage, floorboards groaning in protest beneath her feet.
One at a time, we followed behind her. I inhaled the strong, stale smells of rainwater mold and decay. I shut the door behind us tightly.
Henry had brought two camping flashlights with him that he'd concealed in the waistband of his pants. He turned one on and pointed it at the ceiling, cutting through the gloom and lighting up the room rather brightly.
"Do you think they'll be able to see the light outside?" I asked.
"Shouldn't be able to." Henry frowned in concentration as he searched around for flaws. "I think the only window is that one with the shutters. But those should stop any light escaping. I doubt they're considering the idea that people are hanging behind, anyway."
"It's gross in here," Theo said, surveying the state of dirt and decrepitude. A metal bed held a mattress torn up by nesting mice. Boxes of surplus supplies were piled in the corner. Alex and Theo pawed through them, holding up glow sticks, rolls of yellowing Admit One tickets, corroded batteries.
"What exactly is it that we're doing?" Henry asked me, leaning up against the wall. The other flashlight stuck out in a silly, suggestive angle from his pants' pocket, and I busied my eyes elsewhere. "I'm just curious. Are we really going through with this whole seance bit?"
I didn't know exactly how to explain things now that I was on the spot. Alex and Theo had stopped scavenging and were staring at me too, their hands full of junk like two old women at a yard sale.
"That was my plan, yes," I said, aware of the defensive tone in my voice. "We're going to hang out here until the staff clears off, and then we'll go inside to hopefully...chat up some dead people."
"Just your typical Saturday," Theo said, dropping a handful of detritus back into the sagging box.
"You didn't really strike me as the law breaking type, Ariel," Alex observed. "Always doing your homework and wearing turtlenecks. I like this side of you. It's hot."
Henry scowled at him. "Shut up," he reprimanded. Then to me he asked, "As simple as that, then? A little b-and-e action?"
"As simple as that," I echoed, knowing it wasn't simple at all. "As long as we don't get caught."
"Well, then, let's not get caught," he said evenly, his gaze fixed on mine. The flashlight made his eyes glow amber, and cast sinister shadows on the wall behind his broad shoulders, like a figure creeping up on him.
A splintery table and mismatched chairs sat in the corner beneath a hand-carved shelf. Henry rooted around in the drawers and found an old deck of casino cards.
"Something to pass the time," he offered, shaking the card box.
Alex moved one of the chairs over and started pulling at the braided rug beneath it.
"What are you doing?" I asked. Every movement that boy made irritated me more.
"This rug is all damp and moldy," he complained. "I don't want my shoes ruined, they're new."
He tilted his foot so I could get a look at the Adidas in question. They looked like boy shoes to me, albeit squeaky clean. I rolled my eyes. Alex succeeded in yanking away the offending floor covering, which was falling apart in his hands. Underneath where the rug had been was a small, painted door.
"Look what I found," Alex said, kneeling down to get a closer look. "Where do you think this goes?"
"No idea," I said, crouching down beside him, irritation momentarily forgotten. The door was a perfect square, made of rough wood, only three and a half or four feet across. I scratched off some of the dark, colorless paint with my fingernail. "But I would love to know."
"Come help me with this," Alex instructed Henry, who was sitting down counting out the cards.
"I didn't know I was your servant," Henry grumbled, but he stood and came over to help anyway. A thin loop of rope was hooked to the bottom half. Both Alex and Henry took turns tugging at it, but the entry was either locked or stuck.
"If we had a crowbar," Henry suggested, sitting back on his heels. "Otherwise, I think it's hopeless."
"Oh well. Not important," Alex said, losing interest instantly as he jumped up and brushed off the knees of his khakis. He rubbed his hands together. "So, who brought the booze?"
"Nobody brought booze, idiot," Henry growled, his voice strained. He patted the deck he'd counted out. "Only the queen of hearts is missing, but we can use the joker instead."
"Whoopee," Alex scoffed, flopping down on his chair like a sulky child, his hands hanging in between his thighs. "Can we at least play for something?"
"Like what, pennies?" Henry asked.
"I was thinking more like each penny is a dollar, and we hit the ATM on the way back," Alex joked, but Henry just glared at him and started doling out the cards.
Theo was standing over by the window, silently keeping watch. A thin sliver of light came through the shutters and marred her face, throwing distortions across her cheeks and eyelids.
I stood by her and peered outside. It wasn't a great view, but I could see that the cars that had been parked on the lawn were clearing away, headlights bursting on two-by-two as they retreated through the gate.
"Can I ask you a question?" Theo asked me quietly, catching me off guard. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to."
I laughed gently at the unexpectedness, assuming her inquiry would be about Henry. "Of course. What's your question?"
"Are we doing this seance because..." She swallowed hard and I watched a lump rise and fall in her throat. "Because of your friend that disappeared?"
She pushed her glasses up on either side with both palms. The next words ran together as if they were one. "I mean, if you don't want to talk about it, I won't pry. I was just curious."
"That's not prying," I said gently. "I'm really surprised you've never asked me about Jenna before."
"I'm sorry," she said, her face chagrined. "I didn't..."
I put my hand on her arm to calm her down before she made herself feel worse. "No, no. You're fine. I had so many people walking on eggshells around me; it was nice to be treated like a person for once, and not just some pathetic loose end."
I swallowed hard and trained my eyes back through the shutters. That made me more nervous, so I scanned the room instead, clutching my elbows.
"To answer your question...maybe," I continued, trying to keep my voice steady despite how shaky I felt inside. "I don't think she's dead. But I'm not completely sure."
The boys peered up from their card game. Henry's brow wa
s furrowed and I knew he was trying to decipher the look on my face. I attempted a weak smile. He and Alex looked down again, making themselves artificially busy with their cards.
"There's something here," I added. "And I think it has to do with her, or why she disappeared."
Theo had been nodding slowly the whole time. "That makes sense," she said finally. "Why you would want to come here. Did someone see her here after she went missing?"
"Yeah," I half-lied. I was the only one, and it had been in a nightmare, but still...
"I keep imagining what could have happened that night," I said. "She told me she was going to be back in a few hours, tops, and then I waited up until morning, freaking out. When I try to envision where she went, it's like a movie in my head, but I have no idea what scenes are right."
###
The last car inched out of the gate at ten o'clock. A middle-aged woman stepped out of the driver's side and shut the iron bars, then sped away like she felt happy to escape.
I pulled out my phone to call or text Corinne my cover about being at Theo's. The reception kept dropping to zero bars. I walked around the tiny interior of the shed, stepping over junk and dry leaves.
"Is anyone else getting crappy service?" I asked, looking around at my cohorts. Alex whipped out his phone and held it in front of him like he was in a commercial.
"Uh, yeah. That sucks," he muttered, glaring at his phone like it was a personal sleight. "This is 4G, it's supposed to pick up on Mars."
I finally held on to one bar enough to send a text through. I hoped Corinne would find it acceptable instead of a phone call. I imagined her passed out in front of the TV again, the afghan cockeyed over her bony knees. I wasn't too worried.
"Everybody's gone. Time to move," I instructed.
We exited the shed the way we'd come in and stood on the lawn, four awkward teenagers that had no idea what we were doing. High, ancient birch trees around the fence made us practically invisible, not like there were any close neighbors. Yet I felt exposed, vulnerable.
"Why does this feel like the lead-in to a news story?" Henry asked, and adopted a broadcaster voice. "Four teens arrested today for abandoned house shenanigans. When asked for comment, they said, 'Ariel made us do it.'" He grinned at me, and I bumped his shoulder with mine, happy to have him next to me in the gloom.
"We'll be careful," I assured him. "No shenanigans. Can you guys check the doors and see if any of them are open?"
The boys plodded off and disappeared around the side of the building. Meanwhile, Theo and I checked the row of windows on the back side. The place had seen its fair share of hard partying, and the evidence lay all over: empty liquor bottles, broken glass, twisted sandwich baggies. The Hell's Orphanage staff obviously hadn't bothered to clean up the backyard.
Many of the windowpanes had been broken in, and black garbage bags and grocery sacks had been taped inside the frames. Graffiti in wild colors marred the stone, tags bleeding together. Cigarettes and smashed beer cans lined the ground.
"I've never done anything like this before," Theo admitted, sounding giddy as she stood on her tiptoes to look inside. "Peering in windows, yes, but never actually stepping into somebody else's domain. This is really exciting."
"All that means is that we both need to get out more," I said, but I was smiling, the earlier trepidation I'd felt during the haunted house and Ambrose's assault all but forgotten.
Among the layers of graffiti, the shape of an orange devil's face stood out on the brick. Hell is closer than you think read the faded scrawl beneath. A large picture window that reached from above my head down to my waist had also been given the garbage bag treatment. Wind whistled through pinholes in the plastic, making it expand and contract.
I heard its heart, and now it's breathing. I frowned at the disturbing thought.
Alex and Henry came back around, their footfalls crunching on twigs and litter. Their faces were hidden in shadow, two wraiths in the night.
"Everything's locked up tight," Henry reported.
"I think we can sneak in through here," I said, gesturing towards the window. With careful fingers, I separated the bag and the tape, exposing a hole inside.
"Not exactly trying very hard to keep out intruders, are they?" Henry observed. "They've got padlocks up front. Did they get lazy back here?"
"Maybe that means we're invited," I said. "Who wants to go first?"
"Me!" Theo chirped, all of her earlier fear replaced by eagerness. She scrambled up on the sill, Alex giving her leg a last minute boost. When she was inside, she stuck her upturned thumb out for confirmation. "Just be careful of the glass, you guys. It's sharp."
Alex proceeded in next, his rotund behind filling the window frame before he landed with a plop inside. He towered over the rest of us shorties at over six feet, and he was built like a linebacker.
Henry and I watched from outside as the pair glided farther into the darkness. When we could no longer see them, Henry gestured for me to go next.
"Ladies first, to be cliche."
"I appreciate your cliche. It makes you sound like a gentleman. Unlike when Alex does it." I looked into the bleak hole. It's just a building. It can't hurt you.
Grasping the sides of the frame, I carefully avoided the broken glass still sticking out. I pulled myself up, balancing on the splintered wood and maneuvering my other leg over.
But the ledge was slimmer than I'd anticipated. I lost my grip, tumbling inside. I fell hard on my arm, the side of my skull rebounding off of the cement floor with a crack. Stars shot through my vision. The shock left me breathless as sadness flooded through me. Everything always falls apart, I thought in a flash.
So much for not getting hurt.
Henry scrambled in beside me. My head throbbed, the stars still sparkling, tiny dots of pain in my pupils. I was vaguely aware of how close he was as he leaned over me, assessing the damage.
"I'm so sorry," he said, as if it had been his fault instead of my lack of grace. He gently took up my arm, inspecting it. "You ripped this up pretty good, dear."
I sat up slowly and looked myself over, suddenly more aware of him touching me than I was of the pain. Bits of broken glass were lodged inside my flesh like peppermint bark. Blood bloomed from the cuts, spilling down my skin.
"You're bleeding," he said softly, his eyebrows cinched together again, still not letting go of me. I didn't want him to.
"I know. It doesn't hurt," I said in an equally soft tone. His face was so close. I had the sudden, desperate urge to kiss him.
"Blood doesn't bother you?" he asked skeptically, cocking one eyebrow.
I steadied myself, and swiftly picked out the shards of glass with my fingers, wincing only momentarily. "Not really. My friend Jenna and I used to be the neighborhood tomboys. My tree climbing was unparalleled."
My arm really didn't sting much, but I dug tissues out of my purse to sop up the wound. But my head was killing me, pounding harder with every throb of my pulse in my temples.
"You should go into medicine," Henry said.
"Because of my tree climbing?" I asked, confused.
"Well, that would be a useful skill, but I meant with your strong disposition."
"Don't I need to not suck at math to go into medicine?"
Henry scoffed, shaking his head at me. He sat back on his haunches, his knees brushing the dirty floor, and dropped my arm unceremoniously.
"We should just leave," he said firmly, his expression serious and his full lips pursed, giving him an aloof air. "You need to get that arm looked at. With all the bacteria and grime that's inside this place, you could get a nasty infection."
"I'm all right," I insisted. "We're doing this. Look at all the trouble we've already gone through."
I'd be damned before someone stopped me from getting answers when I'd come this far, even Henry. I hoisted my purse strap up on my shoulder and stood, while he offered his arm for support.
"I'm fine
," I insisted.
"All right, but don't say I didn't warn you when they have to chop your arm off," he grumbled, shoving his hands into his sweatshirt pockets.
Realizing that Theo and Alex must be far into the orphanage by now, I started walking away from him. I wanted to put distance between us, so the unrelenting urge to kiss him would go away. It ached that I couldn't touch him, that I couldn't just reach out and brush my fingers across his warm skin.
In my eagerness to get away, I was glad he didn't see the fat drop of blood roll down my forehead and cascade to the floor.
CHAPTER 15
I WAS THANKFUL the dark concealed me. It made it easy to hide my actions as I blotted my bleeding head. From what I could tell, I wasn't too badly injured, but the thin trickle didn't completely stop, either.
Henry turned on one of his flashlights again. The other he'd sent off with Alex. He shined the beam in my direction and I winced.
"Thanks, now I'm blind," I said, awkwardly holding the back of my hand to my forehead, Scarlet O'Hara style.
"Your head is bleeding, too?" he asked, a current of frustration flowing from him.
"A little," I admitted meekly, dropping my hand.
"Ariel, come on. You should really go to the hospital."
"I hate hospitals," I said, shuddering. Blood slowly started to creep back down to my eyebrow. "No, thank you."
"Why are you being so incredibly difficult?" he asked, glaring at me. I felt my resolve momentarily waver under his harsh gaze.
"I'm not trying to be. I just want to follow this through," I said, putting my hands on my hips and standing my ground.
"You will be the death of me, I swear," he growled, stomping on ahead. "You drive me crazy sometimes, a girl who knows better and does the foolish thing anyway."
His words stung me deeply, sudden sorrow making it hard to swallow. A hundred romantic fantasies of us kissing in the moonlight crashed and burned.
"I didn't know I was so irritating." I managed to mask the hurt with all the anger I could muster.
"That's not what I meant," he said, frowning as he looked back at me.
"Let's keep going," I said flippantly. "I don't want to argue anymore. It never gets anybody anywhere."
Henry's flashlight bobbed throughout the rooms, illuminating now why our haunted orphanage experience had been confined to specific areas. I had once seen pictures of Chernobyl, a city destroyed by a nuclear plant explosion, in a textbook. The shattered belly of Dexter reminded me of that.