The Departed - J A Templeton Read online

  I took a long shower, even turning on the cold water to wake myself up a bit more. Dressed in skinny jeans, boots, and a lightweight sweater, I opened my bedroom door.

  Miss A was walking by with a basket of laundry on her hip. “Good morning, love. There’s some toast on a plate for you.”

  “Thanks, Miss A.”

  She grinned and continued down the hall, toward my dad’s room. The door was wide open, so either he had left or he was downstairs in his study or the kitchen.

  I walked into the kitchen. Dad was there, pouring himself a cup of coffee. He grabbed three packets of his favorite sweetener, opened them, and dumped them in. “I’ll be home sometime this weekend. Be sure to call if you need anything.”

  I knew the drill. I nodded, hating the awkwardness between us.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, his brows furrowed.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I said, picking up the piece of toast and taking a bite.

  His phone rang. He glanced at the screen and immediately walked out of the room.

  Toast in hand, I walked outside, onto the back porch. I looked toward the castle, and more specifically, the hill where Laria was buried. The place where countless sacrifices had gone down. I had seen the girl who had been sacrificed in my dreams last night. I wished she could have told me what she wanted. I kept recalling her repeated warning…Find her, and you find them all.

  “What are you doing?”

  I jumped, and turned to find Shane. His hair was still wet, curling at the collar of his well-worn T-shirt.

  “I had a dream about Laria’s grave the other night.”

  His eyes widened a little and he stepped out onto the porch, shutting the door behind him. “Where is it?”

  I knew my brother too well. If I told him exactly where the grave was, he’d go on his own or with Milo and Richie and try to confront Laria and the others, which would only make matters worse for all of us. “It’s up on that hill somewhere.”

  “You go alone, and I swear to God I’ll kick your ass, understand?” Shane said, sounding more like our dad by the day.

  I gave him a salute. “Got it.”

  “What if you do find the grave…then what?”

  “I don’t know yet. I just feel like I have to go there. Like I’m being drawn there. With Dad leaving, I’ll have time to actually browse websites. I hope that maybe something will surface that can help us.”

  “Well, anything’s worth a shot at this point,” he said, taking a bite out of an apple. “I say we take our friends with us. Safety in numbers and all that.”

  For some reason I couldn’t imagine some of our friends going on a ghost hunt in the woods.

  “You think Richie and Milo would go?”

  Shane nodded. “I think so, if I tell them I need them.”

  I seriously doubted Megan and Cass would be up for it, even if I told them I needed them, but I’d ask them all the same. “When do you want to go?”

  “We need daylight, because the last thing we need is to get lost in the woods at night. So it has to be on a weekend.”

  I couldn’t imagine not having Shane to talk to now. “Thanks for being here for me.”

  His brows furrowed and his lips quirked. “I’m your brother. I’ll always be there for you.”

  “Do your friends know about the haunting?”

  “I have a feeling Megan has spilled to Milo, especially since he’s been asking me questions about ghosts, a subject that was never brought up before.”

  I finished off the toast and licked the butter off my fingers. “They probably think we’re crazy.”

  “Speak for yourself.” He laughed under his breath. “Plus, if your friends don’t think you’re crazy, then I doubt mine will feel differently. And knowing Cass, she’s probably already run her mouth and they all know anyway.”

  True.

  He lifted his brows. “If they do give me shit, then maybe I need to invite them over for a little impromptu Ouija board session.”

  My stomach tightened. “I thought you got rid of it?”

  He winked. “Just messing with you.”

  I stopped myself short of asking him what exactly he’d done with the board, but honestly, I didn’t need to know. Just as long as it didn’t magically appear, I was fine with it.

  “By the way, you handled yourself really well with your friends the night of the sleepover.”

  I smiled. “Thanks, I tried. I know it’s not easy to hear, but I give them credit for staying around after hearing everything.” I pressed my lips together. “I told them about the cutting, too.”

  He didn’t look surprised, which made me wonder if Cait had said something to him. It didn’t matter. The truth was out there, and I was at peace with everyone knowing.

  “Cait has your back, but I think you know that.”

  I did know it, and when it came to the supernatural, Cait seemed to have a better grasp on it than the others. Plus, she didn’t seem to be as afraid. “You like her a lot, don’t you?”

  He nodded. “She’s fun to be around. Do you mind if I see her?”

  I shook my head. “No. She’s a sweetheart, and I know she really likes you. I’m just curious—what happened to Joni?” When we had first moved to Braemar, Shane had started hanging out with Joni, a Emo girl who seemed as into Shane as he was her. Things had changed though when Laria had started possessing him.

  His jaw tightened, and a nerve ticked in his jaw. “I heard through the grapevine she had a long-term boyfriend in Glasgow.”

  That surprised me, especially since Joni seemed to genuinely like Shane. “Sorry.” At least I knew that Laria hadn’t destroyed that relationship.

  “Yeah, well, it is what it is. I like her, I do…but I’m not touching that one. I wouldn’t want the same thing to happen to me.”

  “Bad karma.”

  He nodded. “Right. No thanks. What about you and Kade? Cait said you’d patched things up.”

  Shane had really defended me when all the stuff about Dana and Kade came to light. “Yeah, we did. We’re really good.”

  “That’s gr—”

  “Are you trying to be late for school?” Dad asked, startling both me and Shane. I hadn’t even heard the door open. He made a show of checking the time on his watch. “It’s quarter after.”

  We had less than fifteen minutes to get to school.

  “We’re headed out now,” Shane said, ducking past him. “See ya this weekend!”

  Miss Akin handed Shane a breakfast sandwich and me a glass of milk. I chugged it and raced upstairs to brush my teeth and grab my backpack.

  Shane met me at the front door.

  “I’ll see you two at the end of the week,” Dad said, waving to us. “Friday, or maybe even Saturday, depending on my work load.”

  “Work load, my ass,” Shane said under his breath.

  There was no mention of calling us every night or wishing Shane good luck with his football game. How quickly things had changed.

  “Later,” Shane said, sliding his backpack onto his shoulder, and I waved to Dad before we crossed the road.

  We had just passed over the bridge into town when I felt like we were being followed. I glanced over my shoulder and didn’t see anyone, except two `tween girls who had their heads together and were giggling as the one read something from a book.

  I smiled to myself, remembering when Becca, my former best friend since elementary school, and I would do the same.

  The strange sensation of being followed and watched continued. By the time I turned and looked again, Shane asked. “What are you feeling?”

  “There’s someone following us.”

  He scanned the area. “Yeah, two girls.”

  “No, there’s a spirit.”

  “Can you tell who it is?”

  I shook my head. “Not yet.”

  The girls walked into the market. The feelings grew stronger.

  “Come on, we have to pick it up if we’re not going to be late.”


  We passed by the post office and I glanced at our reflections in the window. My pulse skittered when across the street I saw a girl standing on the sidewalk, facing us.

  The blonde ghost from the dream. The sacrifice.

  I glanced over and she was gone.

  I didn’t start to relax until I saw the school, or actually Kade’s Range Rover sitting in the parking lot. Shane seemed to relax, too.

  We parted ways in the courtyard. “Text me if you need anything,” he said. “I’ll check my cell phone during class breaks.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll see you tonight after football practice.”

  “See you then.”

  When I entered the hallway, Cass was standing at her locker, energy drink in hand. She had large black circles beneath her eyes.

  My stomach clenched. I had a horrible suspicion that Laria was the reason behind how tired Cass appeared. “You look exhausted.”

  “I am,” she said, pushing a shaky hand through her hair. “I couldn’t sleep for shit all weekend. I kept thinking about you being yanked under the bed. I talked to Megan and she’s having some pretty freaky dreams. I’m really concerned about her. I haven’t seen her this morning and she’s not picking up her phone.”

  I felt sick with guilt. My friends were going through hell because of me, and I was afraid things were only going to get worse for all of us.

  Come to think of it, I hadn’t heard from Megan at all since she’d left my house Saturday afternoon.

  Cass slid a thumb under her backpack strap. “Megan dreamt about Laria at your house the night of the slumber party.”

  “Is she sure it was Laria?”

  Cass nodded. “Yeah, she said she had the same brown hair, dark eyes, and even the same green gown Laria had been wearing the day we saw her on the roadside on the way home from Aberdeen.”

  No wonder Megan had been so quiet at breakfast. I wished she would have said something to me about the dream.

  “Then she dreamt about Laria on Saturday night and again last night.” Cass glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was listening. “She said when she wakes up she feels like she’s being held down. No matter how hard she tries to move, she can’t.”

  It sounded just like what Shane had been through, and Anne Marie had mentioned dreaming of Laria after the séance we’d had with Miss Akin. And now Anne Marie was dead.

  “You’re not having dreams?” I asked, holding my breath as I waited for her to answer.

  Cass shook her head. “I popped one of Bitchzilla’s sleeping pills last night because I couldn’t turn my brain off after talking to Megan about her nightmares. I didn’t have any dreams, but I feel all groggy this morning, kind of like I’m in a fog. Not good, especially since I have a chemistry test this morning.”

  This was too much. My friends’ lives were being affected by something they had no control over. I really hated the idea that Cass was taking her step mother’s sleeping pills.

  From the corner of my eye I saw someone standing toward the end of the hall, watching me. I glanced up and my pulse skittered. Peter lounged against the tile wall. When I looked at him, he pushed away from the wall and waved at me.

  Laria was unbelievable. Did she forget she had told me she was masquerading as Peter during the Ouija board session Friday night?

  I abruptly looked away.

  Riley! He yelled, like you would do if a friend was trying to gain your attention.

  Wow, really? Did she seriously believe I was going to fall for this?

  The warning bell for first period rang and Cass cussed under her breath and chugged the rest of her energy drink.

  “I’ll see you at lunch, okay?”

  I wish I’d gotten to school a little earlier, so at least I would have seen Kade before class started. As it was, I entered first period right as the bell rang. I was the only one who wasn’t in their seat. I almost didn’t recognize Dana, whose red hair had been bleached to an unflattering cat pee yellow.

  I bit back a smile. Still, crappy bleach job and all, she watched me with a smug smile that didn’t quite reach her narrowed eyes.

  Aaron, the guy known as “violin boy” was also a cutter, and he’d always been nice to me. He flashed a toothy grin when he saw me. “Hey, Riley.”

  “Hey,” I said, quickly taking my seat while ignoring Mr. Monahan’s icy stare. He expected students to be in their seats when the bell rang.

  “I heard about the wreck,” Aaron whispered. “You okay?”

  Thankfully Mr. Monahan was too busy writing our assignment on the board to pay any attention.

  “We’re both fine. Technically, it wasn’t a wreck. I mean, we took out a fence, but it looked worse than it—”

  “Mr. Johnson and Miss Williams, please do not socialize on my time,” Mr. Monahan said in a clipped tone, putting the chalk down.

  Everyone giggled, and Mr. Monahan clapped his hands together twice and snapped, “Enough!”

  Shaking his head in disgust, he lifted his clipboard and began to take roll, the sound of his pencil making a scraping sound against the paper as he checked each name off.

  Peter was suddenly standing beside my desk, an inch away. Startled, I nearly jumped out of my chair. The kid right next to me lifted his brows.

  I shifted in my seat, and tried to settle my nerves. This was going to be a very long day, especially if Peter, or Laria, was going to constantly try to get my attention.

  Ignoring the strange looks directed at me by my classmates, I stared straight ahead and didn’t let on that I could see Peter.

  Peter waved his hand in front of my face. I didn’t blink. I guess there was a part of me that didn’t want to look him in the eye and suddenly see Laria there. Why hadn’t I caught on before? I needed to be careful with who I trusted, especially anyone in the spirit world…kind of like the blonde woman from the witchcraft sacrifice who was showing up lately.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Peter asked.

  I reached down, grabbed my backpack, and unloaded my textbook and notebook paper.

  “Did I do something to make you mad at me?” There was no ignoring the desperation in his voice. Laria was good; I’d give her that. Extremely convincing.

  “I don’t understand,” he said, almost to himself. He reached out, put his hand over mine and squeezed. It took everything within me not to look at him. Why didn’t I have that dark feeling whenever Laria was around? Wouldn’t I feel something that made me think it was her? Even when she’d masqueraded as my mom, I’d felt something was off. All I felt now was sadness…and that’s exactly what Laria wanted. For me to be as miserable as she was.

  Mr. Monahan opened the classroom door and walked into the hall to place the roll sheet into the box for the office aide to collect. Through the small window in the door, I saw him talking to the attendance secretary.

  Peter sighed heavily and walked to the far side of the room, sitting on the table where I’d first seen him. His gaze drilled into me, like he was almost daring me to look at him.

  “Do you want to come over sometime?” Aaron asked me, and I looked up, surprised. It had been so quiet in the room, that others had heard us.

  “Go, Aaron,” a guy in the back row said.

  Dana, or one of her friends must have heard too, because she was cracking up. She leaned over and whispered in her friend’s ear. They both laughed and glanced back at me.

  Aaron obviously didn’t know that Kade and I were back together. Actually, no one aside from friends and family knew, but soon they would. I didn’t want to shut Aaron down in front of everyone because I hoped we could be friends.

  Aaron shifted in his chair. “I thought you might want to see my puppy.”

  “Yeah, puppy as in cock,” I heard Dana say under her breath.

  “You are such a bitch.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. Everyone turned to stare at me, their gazes shifting back and forth between me and Dana, like they were expecting me to leap out of my chair and atta
ck her.

  Though I was tempted, I stayed in my seat. Dana was completely twisted around in her chair, staring at me, her eyes mere slits. “What did you say?”

  “I called you a bitch,” I replied, not backing down.

  Dana lifted a penciled-in brow. “You’re just pissed because you couldn’t keep your boyfriend satisfied and he had to come to me.”

  More than one person in the room gasped.

  In my peripheral vision, Peter stood up. Now was not the time for Laria to taunt me.

  “Dana, you spread your legs for anyone,” Aaron said, and at the most inopportune time—when Mr. Monahan was walking back into the room.

  His brows lifted to his receding hairline. “Did you say something, Mr. Johnson?”

  Aaron sank back in his chair.

  I felt horrible. The last thing I wanted was to get Aaron in trouble. He was a sweet guy, and he’d probably never been in trouble a day in his life.

  “Mr. Johnson, may I have a word with you out in the hall?” Mr. Monahan said.

  Shit. I chewed on my thumb nail, mad at myself for responding to Dana to begin with. She had managed to get under my skin.

  Aaron sighed heavily and grabbed his backpack.

  “Leave it,” Mr. Monahan barked.

  The backpack slid to the floor. Aaron swallowed hard, glanced at me, and followed Mr. Monahan out the door.

  Dana looked over her shoulder. “Looks like you got your new boyfriend in trouble,” she said, just above a whisper.

  “Why don’t you shut up,” the quiet boy who sat to my right, said, surprising everyone, especially me. He never said too much to me.

  “Fuck off, fatty,” Dana quipped. She opened her mouth to say something else when Peter ran his fingers down the length of the chalkboard. Surprisingly, everyone heard it. On the chalkboard, there were nail marks.

  “What the hell?” a girl said behind me. “Where did those lines come from?”

  Dana made a reference that I was telekinetic like the girl from the movie Carrie, and that I had made the noise and marks while remaining seated.

  Mr. Monahan walked back into the room with Aaron on his heels. Two bright blotches of color stained Aaron’s cheeks. He glanced at me, and ever so slowly the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.