Doctor Who_ Psi-Ence Fiction - Chris Boucher [72]
No sense of humour! That was worse than saying they were a bad driver or a poor lover. A lot worse. And supposing he could read her mind. How embarrassing would that be? She glanced at Ralph. He showed no sign of knowing what she was thinking. That was a relief.
'Is there anybody there?'Josh asked.
As Chloe turned her head back to look at the Ouija board something caught her eye by the big yew tree on the far side of the graveyard.
'Is there anybody there?'Josh repeated.
Chloe stared at the yew tree. It was hard to tell, but it looked as though there was a hooded figure standing just at the edge of the deep shadow underneath it.
Josh said for a third time, 'Is there anybody there?'
Was it a figure? Chloe narrowed her eyes and concentrated. Was it a tall figure wearing a monk's habit? Or was it some sort of robe? A shroud!, ‘Oh God, it was a shroud. It was a figure in a shroud!
'If there is somebody there,' Josh said. 'Come closer and make yourself known.'
As Chloe watched the figure moved slowly away from the tree. What was it doing? Was it coming here to them?
'Come closer and make yourself known,' Josh repeated.
Could he see it too? Was he calling it? Chloe tore her eyes away from the figure and looked at Josh. He wasn't looking in the right direction. He was looking directly down at the board. He wasn't aware of the thing that was watching them. Was it watching them? The thing that was coming to them.
Was it coming to them? She had to look at it. She had no choice, she had to look at it again. She had to know how far it had got. She had to see where it was now. She was beginning to be terrified. She was beginning to fall apart. She could hardly breathe. Her lungs were full of unbreathable ice.
She had to look. She had to look now. She looked. There was nothing there.
'I feel like a bit of a prat now, don't you?' Josh said. 'Got meself all excited and up for it and there's nothing there.'
Chloe pressed her knees against the tomb. She could feel the roughness of the stone through the denim of her jeans. It was comfortingly real. She looked around surreptitiously. There was no shrouded figure anywhere to be seen. It must have been a trick of the light. Or a trick of the dark. A trick of the day for night perhaps. The ice in her chest began to melt slowly. The problem with that was it seemed to be soaking through her skin and covering her in cold sweat. Abruptly her mouth filled with saliva, and for a long moment she thought she was going to pass out or be sick. She swallowed hard and concentrated on keeping her finger on the planchette. She was not about to be called hysterically girly by a moron like Josh.
'Maybe we should ask the questions,' Meg suggested. 'You're only a bystander. It's our fingers on the pointy thing.'
'Feel free,' Josh said.
'I do,' Meg said, ‘I feel freer all the time. There are days when I feel almost equal. But thanks for the permission big boy. We hysterical girlies have trouble making these decisions.'
'Why did you ask?'Josh demanded.
Meg ignored him and looked at the board. Is there a message for anyone here?'
The planchette began to move immediately.
'Hello,' Josh said. "I think we have a winner.'
The pointer picked out the letters H-E-L-L-O and then it paused.
'Don't you hate it when the dead are so predictable?' Tommy murmured.
Hello? What does it think: it's answering the phone?'
'Concentrate,' Josh hissed. We don't know who it wants.'
'Relax,' Tommy said. 'We'll take a message.'
The planchette began to move again. More slowly it picked out the C and then the L.
Chloe's nausea was coming back. This message was going to be for her.
She knew it. It might not be going to spell her name right, but it was going to talk to her.
The pointer speeded up: A-R-R-Y .
'Hello Clarry?' Ralph said. 'Obviously