The Hidden - Jessica Verday [70]
Not like this.
His gaze skittered away, and I couldn’t decipher what he was thinking.
It’s just pretend, I told myself. She won’t really come through. This is just a stupid thing that stupid teenagers do. Relax, Abbey. Just relax.
I almost had myself convinced when Cyn started talking again.
“Lift the veil, come forth,” she said urgently. “Lift the veil, come forth. Lift the veil, come forth. I beg of you. Lift the veil, come forth. Lift the veil, come forth. Lift the veil, come forth!”
The last time she said it, her voice turned to a scream and my back went ramrod straight. I sat up and inhaled sharply. Every hair on my arms lifted, and a cold sensation slithered down my spine.
Chapter Eighteen
A MESSAGE
But all these were nothing to the tales of ghosts and apparitions that succeeded.
—“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”
“Is anyone coming through?” Ben asked Cyn, leaning over to her. “Helllooooo. Are you with us?”
“Who’s here?” Sara asked. “Is there anyone with us?”
Someone snickered. I think it was Beth.
“Can you ask my grandmother to come through?” Sara said, loudly and eagerly. “Rose White. From Boston, Massachusetts. Can you bring her through? Is she here?”
“Chill, girl,” Beth muttered. Then Grant whispered something low to her, and she turned to him, giggling.
“I am channeling … Michael Jackson,” Ben said suddenly. “Whoo! I’m feeling the urge … the urge … to dance!” He stood up and did something that resembled a moonwalk, singing “Billie Jean” the whole time. Beth clapped her hands for him just as he was about to grab his—
“You guys,” Sara interrupted. “This is serious.”
“Silence!”
We all looked at Cyn. Her eyes were closed, but she had a look of determination on her face. “Someone is at the door. Trying to come through.”
She lifted her head but kept her eyes closed. When she spoke again, there was something different about the texture of her voice, and she couldn’t seem to get out a complete thought. “… have to warn …,” she said. “Trouble. Coming. Trouble.”
We all watched, mesmerized, as her body started jerking. Then her head fell forward.
“Oh, shit,” Beth said, finally breaking our shocked silence. “Is she, like, having a seizure or something?”
I couldn’t tell if this was all part of the show, or if something really was wrong. Either way, though, it was too much. It had gone on for too long.
“Cyn?” I managed to get out. “Cyn, are you okay?” I went to put my candle down, and the instant it left my hands, Cyn’s head lifted up. Her eyes opened, and she screamed. A hoarse, terrible scream.
We all gasped.
Cyn started weeping. She covered her face with her hands, and then all of a sudden, she pointed at me. “You’re next! You’re next, and he’s coming, and you better be careful. He wants you and he means to have you. You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”
I was frozen. She was talking about him. Vincent. Was it Kristen trying to warn me away from her killer? Or was it Cyn just playing me?
“Whoa, okay,” said Ben. “I think this is enough, Cyn. You scared us all pretty good.” He tried to put a hand on her arm, but she shook him off.
“If you think what happened before was bad, just wait,” she said. “A little blood is nothing.” She sobbed again. “He will tear you to pieces! He will rip out your heart and soul just as surely as he did mine. Nothing will stand in his way!”
Cyn reached out to me, bumping the pot so that it was dangerously close to tipping over. Someone dropped their candle, and it rolled across the floor, away from the group. Several heads turned to watch it.
“Let’s go, Abbey,” Caspian said behind me, standing up. “I don’t know what’s going on, but she’s fucking crazy.”
I scuttled back a bit. Closer to him, yet helpless to move away any farther. I was desperate not to hear what she was saying, and at the same time I was desperate to hear more.
Cyn lunged. And then grabbed my face.
“Abbey, Abbey, can you hear me?” she asked.
“Kristen?” I whispered. Low enough so that no one else could