Chapter 50

KATHERINE.

‘What the fuck just happened?’ was the first thing that popped into my mind as silence reigned after the ghost took Chelsea’s friends into the woods. There was no one else around because this was the path that led to the clubhouse and it was time for dinner – students were at or headed to the dining hall – so the only person I could glance at to confirm I hadn’t just imagined that was Josie.

“...Josie?” I called. She was staring in the direction the ghost had gone in with a mixture of shock and anger on her face.

I was more shocked than she looked – I was terrified! A ghost just snatched a person in front of me, right after snatching my roommate. I didn’t even know ghosts could grab people! The CMES said that whenever ghosts became erratic, some of them took students, but I had just thought Theo had meant they possessed them and led them to wherever they wanted. I didn’t think he meant ‘physically’ taking people.

“Josie?” I called again when the expression slipped off her face, leaving it blank, before she suddenly rushed off at super speed in the direction the ghost had gone. “Josie!”

I thought about following her but it only took me a second to decide against it because she was going after a ghost, I didn’t know where she was heading, I didn’t know how to use super speed in a forest, and lastly, it was a fucking ‘ghost’. It didn’t matter if it was malevolent or not, I was scared out of my mind so even if I caught up to it, I would be pretty much useless. Besides, I didn’t have anything that I could use to defend myself against a ghost.

I wildly glanced around to see if anyone else was coming this way but I was still alone and I glanced at the forest once more before rushing off to the CMES clubhouse. When I came to a stop in front of the door, I hunched over, placing my hands against my knees, to catch my breath while my legs

I didn’t wait to fully catch my breath before I rose to my full height and ran into the building. Blake and Hunter were the only people in the main room and Blake was leaning against the wall, grinning at Hunter, before their attention immediately moved to me at my sudden arrival.

“Guys!” I sucked in a breath while my heart pounded in my chest and a worried expression crossed Hunter’s face.

“What’s wrong?”

“Josie and Lenore and –” I didn’t know the name of Chelsea’s friend. “—this other girl. We were going to the dining hall and there was this ghost lady. Lenore was walking behind us and when we looked back she wasn’t there.”

“Katherine!” Blake called and I snapped my mouth shut before blinking at him. He was no longer smiling and was only a couple of feet away from me now. “What happened?”

I blinked at him again before realizing I’d been rambling. “The ghost grabbed Lenore and the other girl. Josie went after them.”

“Crap. Keith!” Hunter called out, lifting his gaze to the second floor, while Blake scowled.

“What ghost?”

“I–” I tried to remember if she was one of the ghosts mentioned on the CMES website but I couldn’t so I shook my head. “I don’t know her name.”

“Which direction?”

“Blake, help me with this.” Hunter was quickly putting some of the devices and containers into a backpack while Keith ran down the stairs, asking what was wrong, but Blake kept his attention on me, waiting for an answer.

“She took them into the forest.” I hadn’t seen her grab Lenore but that was an accurate assumption.

“Is Lenore’s phone with her?”

“Yeah.”

And with that, he vanished. It took me a moment to register that the gust of wind that just blew past me was him and as I glanced over my shoulder, Hunter yelled his name.

“Hey, what happened?!” Keith asked and Hunter quickly told him what I said while packing the backpack. Then Keith turned his attention to me, a small frown on his face. “What did she look like?”

“Uh…” The ghost’s face flashed through my mind and I swallowed as I remembered her screaming. “She had long hair and she was wearing a long dress.”

The look on his face said ‘wow, that really narrows it down’ but I couldn’t be blamed for the description or lack of it. She was a ‘ghost’. She’d lost her color. The color of her hair was gone, along with the flush across her cheeks and the color of her dress. It had all been converted into the phantom white.

“Any other thing?”

‘Other thing…’ “Uh, she was screaming?”

“Screaming?” He drew his brows together and I nodded. “In fear or anger?”

The way her face contorted before she began to fly towards me came to mind. “Anger.”

Keith’s frown deepened. “That’s not good.”

“Just that part?” I mean, a ghost grabbed two people and took them into the woods, but he only found the fact that she was screaming in anger bad?

“Keith,” Hunter called as he stepped out of the office next to the stairs with a book in his hand. I hadn’t even noticed when he went in there. Then he tossed a set of keys at Keith and walked over to the table to grab the backpack on it while Keith picked up an absorber. “Let’s go.”

“Where’s Theo?” I had no idea why I asked that.

“He’s returning Belltower to the infirmary. I already texted him.” He handed the book in his hand to me before he and Keith headed towards the door. When they got to it, they both stopped and glanced at me, making me raise my brows. “Come on.”

“Me?” I asked and Hunter nodded. “Oh no, I’m good. I’ll just wait here. Hold down the fort.”

The expression on his face softened. “I don’t want you there any more than you don’t want to be there, but we need you to tell us who you saw.” He gestured at the book in my hand and I glanced before flipping through it to see that it was filled with sketches and pictures of ghosts, their names, primary haunting places and so on.

“I can just go through it now. I’ll do it quickly.”

“You can do it in the UTV,” Keith stated firmly, an impatient look on his face.

“But–”

“You said she was screaming in anger.”

“Yeah?”

“That means she’s violent. Your friends could be in danger,” he said and a cold wave embalmed me, making my stomach turn icy.

“What?” I immediately faced Hunter and a feeling of dread crept up from the pit of my stomach when the look on his face told me Keith was telling the truth. “I–”

“Would you still rather stay here to go through it or do it in the UTV?”

I knew the chances of me getting hurt by a ghost while I was with them was low but I was still scared out of my wits. The thought of my friends getting hurt because I was too scared to do what Hunter and Keith wanted me to do was much scarier though. “Let’s go.”