Because I wasn’t just hunting vengeance spirits. If the four of them were right, I was following the path my mom left behind, the one she hid from me for reasons I might never know. I had so many questions I needed to answer.
Was she really a member of the Legion?
And the question I didn’t even want to ask myself.
Am I?
14. WONDERLAND
Jared’s eyes searched mine, and it felt like he could see the fears I was fighting so hard to hide.
“You have to do exactly what I tell you in there.”
I nodded, too nervous to say anything.
When we came back around the side of the van, everyone was waiting. I knew they had probably overheard our entire conversation. Priest tried to act busy for my benefit, but Alara looked right at me.
You okay? Lukas mouthed.
I smiled weakly.
“Are we going to hang out here all day or what?” Alara stalked over to Priest’s duffel bag. She pulled out the heavy leather glove with the cold-iron spikes and slipped it on.
“Let’s go.” Lukas slung the crossbow over his shoulder.
I reached for the nail gun.
“No,” they said practically in unison.
“I can’t go in empty-handed. That can’t be safe.”
“You’re right.” Jared climbed into the van and came out with something I actually recognized.
“You want me to wear a bulletproof vest? Are the ghosts going to shoot me?”
“It won’t stop bullets, just vengeance spirits. Priest rigged it.” Jared handed it to me, and my shoulder almost jerked out of the socket when he let go.
“Are you serious? This thing must weigh fifty pounds.”
“I replaced the Kevlar fibers with cold-iron pellets.” Priest shrugged. “They weigh a little more. I’m still working out the kinks.”
I dropped the vest in the dirt.
“I’m good,” I said, wishing it were true.
Priest took Lilburn’s front steps two at a time and waved the handheld device around the door. “I’ve got nothing out here.”
“Did he make that thing?” I asked Alara.
“It’s an electromagnetic field meter,” she answered. “He didn’t make it, but I’m sure he tweaked it. Priest doesn’t trust anything he didn’t design.” She pulled out one of her own, a rectangular device with a band of numbers running along the top and a needle at the end. “Spirits give off electromagnetic energy we can’t sense. EMFs measure it.”
“I probably need one, too.”
Alara handed me a flashlight from her tool belt, with a smug smile. “Rule number one: only carry things you know how to use.”
Even if I had to walk inside with nothing but a plastic flashlight and the knowledge I’d picked up from watching bad horror movies, I was still going in, whether Alara liked it or not.
I turned away, and she caught my arm.
“It was a joke.” She sighed and handed me the EMF. “If that needle starts moving, there’s a good chance a spirit is nearby. Consider yourself trained.”
Priest leaned back, examining the upper stories. “This place is a lot bigger than it looked in the picture. You really think we can find the Shift?”
“It might not even be in there,” Jared said.
Lukas walked closer to the house. “It’s here. We just have to find it.”
Jared waved Priest down from the porch and glanced in my direction. “Kennedy, you can check out the tower with me and Priest.”
“She’s coming with us,” Lukas said forcefully.
Jared started to say something, then stopped. “I was trying to do you a favor, Luke. You’re gonna have to babysit her in there.”
My cheeks burned, and I stared at the scratches on the boots my mom had given me the night she died. How long before they were completely ruined?
Lukas nudged me with his shoulder. Something inside me relaxed, and a smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. “Ignore him. Jared always leaves behind a pretty high body count.”
Was he talking about girls?
My smile vanished. “It’s no big deal.”
He touched my arm lightly when we reached the door. “Stay close, and if I tell you to get out of the house, you go. No arguments and no looking back. Understand?”
I nodded, every nerve in my body on edge.
Lukas cracked the lock with the butt of his crossbow.
The door swung open. Light poured into the entryway, dust glittering in the stagnant air. I stepped into the hallway, heart pounding. My eyes followed the worn crimson carpet up the staircase.
The front door slammed behind us, and I spun around.
A shadow blackened the marble floor.
Lukas and Alara inched toward it slowly. I waited for a vengeance spirit to lunge at them.
The shadow didn’t move.
Alara edged closer and looked up, her eyes resting on a huge crystal chandelier. “I think we’re okay.”
“Sorry.” I felt like an idiot.
Lukas kicked one of the half-packed boxes scattered around a velvet sofa in the living room. “Better safe than sorry, right?”
Alara rolled her eyes and ran a finger along the dusty banister. “Reminds me of my house. Minus the dirt.” She zeroed in on the stained rose-colored sofa. “And the pink.”
I navigated between the boxes, watching the needle on my EMF. A mirror in a gilded frame hung above the sofa, the warped glass making the room appear off kilter.
The needle didn’t move as I followed them into the musty library on the other side of the staircase. Lukas stopped in the doorway.