“Let’s try to make contact,” Blair said. Her voice was thick, but she hoped she didn’t sound too much like she was about to cry. “On three we both say hello down the well.”

  “Doesn’t sound very scientific, ma’am,” Leif teased.

  “Maybe I’m taking a leaf from your book,” Blair responded. She slipped her hand back into Leif’s, proud of how bold she was being. Leif squeezed her fingers.

  “Ha. Okay. One…”

  Leif leaned in closer to the well, disturbing the little mites that were buzzing around. Blair leaned in too.

  “Two.”

  They both turned their faces to the darkness below. Blair was pretty sure Leif was smiling as hard as she was.

  “Three!”

  “Hello,” they both shouted. Blair winced as the echoes chimed loud in her ears.

  “Huh. Inconclusive,” Leif stated.

  Blair laughed.

  Then a scream, male and terrified, rent the air.

  Blair and Leif both jumped backward, and for a brief moment, Blair thought, rather illogically, that the sound had come from the depths of the well.

  “Ah! What the fuck!” Johnny yelled.

  No. Of course it wasn’t coming from the well. It was coming from the front of the manor. “Who the fuck are you? Hey, get back here!”

  Leif’s hand slipped from Blair’s as they ran back around to the front of the manor.

  Johnny was on the ground, clutching at his head.

  “Johnny!” Leif called out, running toward him. “What happened?”

  “Someone tried to grab me,” he said. He laughed a sharp, hysterical laugh. “They fucking hit me in the head. I threw them off and they ran into the woods.”

  From the direction of the tent, Gen came rushing over. “What’s going on? I heard a yell!”

  “Where’d they go, Johnny?” Leif asked. She sounded frantic.

  “Down the path,” Johnny said.

  Rachel and Rose had come to the door and were heading over.

  “Stay here,” Leif said, though Blair wasn’t sure who she was talking to. She took off toward the woods, and Blair didn’t hesitate to follow. Leif wasn’t going to face whoever this was alone.

  They didn’t have to go far before Blair noticed that the weeds to the side of the path were crushed.

  Whoever had tried to take Johnny had run into the woods.

  “Leif, look.” Blair pointed. They both turned, following the weeds. Unfortunately, they led to a clearing, and there was no other sign of trampled brush.

  There was, however, a crowbar.

  It sat in the middle of the clearing, as though someone had thrown it down in a hurry. Blair took note that no grass had grown up around it, and it wasn’t rusted.

  It must be what they’d hit Johnny with.

  “Oh my, God,” Leif said, touching it with the tip of her sandal. “Johnny’s going to have one hell of a concussion.”

  Blair desperately wished they had some way to fingerprint it. But even if they did, they had no database to check it against.

  “Whoever tried to grab him went off the path,” Blair said. “Does that mean they’ve been navigating through the woods?”

  She was just glad that they hadn’t made it to the tent, or else they might have taken Gen next. Gen shouldn’t be in the tent. Blair would have to have a talk with her about avoiding the woods.

  “I don’t know. Fuck. If I’d been a little faster,” Leif said. She let out a little grunt of frustration, her hands fisted at her sides.

  “We didn’t know what was happening. You checked on Johnny first. That’s what a good friend does,” Blair reassured her.

  Leif sighed. “I know, you’re right. I just feel like if we’d caught this fucker, we’d be safer. Or at least be able to interrogate them and find out what’s going on.”

  Blair wished that too. But there was no point wishing, when the reality was that there was no way that they could check the woods without getting lost.

  “I bet they went back to that place,” Leif continued.

  “Let’s go make sure Johnny is all right,” Blair suggested. Hopefully that would help Leif deal with her misplaced guilt about not catching whoever tried to snatch him.

  When they returned to the path it didn’t take long before they heard yelling. It was Johnny again.

  “I know what happened to me, I’m not making this shit up!”

  Blair and Leif exchanged a look and quickened their pace toward where they’d left him. Rose, Rachel, and Gen were standing with Johnny now. He was being supported by Rachel, but he seemed to be angrily struggling against her help.

  “I’m just saying that it doesn’t make sense,” Gen replied, a sour look on her face from being yelled at. “What could have hit you that hard? You said it felt like claws, not a person. It sounds like you’re making up monster stories.”

  “We found a crowbar in the woods,” Blair said, offering some proof that Johnny had been hit. She was sure Johnny wouldn’t make something like this up for attention, and just because he’d said it felt like claws didn’t mean that he believed it had been claws. Besides, the path through the weeds was proof enough that someone had been lurking around. “Someone hit him.”

  Gen glared at her, but then shrugged. “Okay. I guess a crowbar would feel like claws. Sorry. It’s just really freaky when you say things like that.”

  “He’s got a massive bump on his head,” Rachel told them, seemingly trying to change the subject and stop the fighting. “And there’s some blood. I think we need to check him for a concussion.”

  “Did you see who attacked you?” Leif asked.

  “No. The fucker came at me from behind like a coward,” Johnny said. He was staring at Gen like he wanted to punch her, and she was staring right back in much the same way, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

  Blair moved to stand in front of Johnny. She didn’t know much about concussions, but she knew the symptoms and she figured she would be able to tell if his eyes were unfocused or moved strangely.

  “I think we have to track your eye movement,” Blair told him. “Can you follow my finger with your eyes?”

  Johnny didn’t look at her, too busy staring daggers at Gen still. “Something feeling like claws doesn’t mean I think it was some fucking beast,” he said.

  “Johnny,” Blair said, her tone strict. It was the tone she used to use with her younger siblings. The one that meant they’d better listen, or else Mom was getting involved. “Can you follow my finger?”

  Johnny’s eyes snapped to her finger. The tone had worked.

  “Sure,” he said.

  “Who’s the mayor of Tantora?” Blair asked as she moved her finger.

  “Uh,” Johnny said. “I don’t know?”

  Well, that was worrying.

  Leif sighed. “Johnny abstains from local politics,” she informed Blair.

  “What? But local politics is what shapes most of our actual lives!” Blair said. She frowned. “You know, low voter turnout is a real issue.”

  “Blair, honey?” Leif cut in. “The concussion?”

  Right. Blair sniffed. “Fine. We can deal with your troubling lack of civic engagement later. If we all survive.”

  “Sure,” Johnny said. His eyes were moving a little more slowly than Blair would like. She put her finger down. Blair racked her brain for another question.

  “Who’s the Prime Minister?” she asked. “You must at least know that.”

  “Yeah, I know that one. It’s John Blanchard,” Johnny said.

  That was good at least. She was going to have her work cut out getting him involved in politics, but it was good that he knew the basics.

  “Where are we?” she asked next.

  “We’re in Masonville,” Johnny said, “where we’re all going to fucking die.”

  “I guess that counts,” Blair said, which surprised a laugh out of him. It felt good to make him laugh.

  “Do you feel nauseous? Dizzy? A sense of being not right?” she asked.

  “Yes, yes, and fucking yes,” Johnny said. That was fair, and probably a normal reaction based on the situation they were in. Still, it was pretty inconclusive.

  “Well, I can’t say for sure if you have a concussion, but it seems like you might,” Blair said. “You need to take it easy, okay, Johnny?”

  “Fine,” Johnny said. “If some fucking murderer tries to chase me, I guess I’ll just sit down and let them take me then.”

  “Johnny,” Leif snapped. “That’s not what she meant. Blair is trying to help you.”

  Johnny blinked slowly and then sighed.

  “It’s all right,” Blair said. “You’ve been through a lot today.”

  “No, she’s right. I’m being a jerk. I’m sorry, Blair,” he said. He met her eyes, his expression sincere. “Thank you. I appreciate you checking up on me.”

  “It’s no problem,” Blair said. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

  “Yeah,” Johnny said.

  Blair frowned again, not liking how listless Johnny sounded.

  “Let’s head back to the manor, everyone,” Leif said. “Nothing good is going to happen in the woods after dark.”

  Blair looked up at the sky to find it aglow with oranges and pinks. The sun was setting on another day trapped in Masonville.

  * * *

  Johnny was quiet and strange the next day. He growled out answers to their questions. And even when he was in the same room as them all, it felt like he was a ghost inhabiting their space, rather than the bright and friendly person Leif was used to. Leif was worried that he had a concussion. She was also worried that he didn’t and that maybe her friend was just losing himself under all the stress.

  Rose and Gen had trotted off somewhere together, having grown tired of Johnny’s mood. Leif kind of wanted to join them, but she owed it to Johnny to stick by his side and show him that he wasn’t alone. Rachel and Blair chatted idly while Leif watched him out of the corner of her eye.

  He was so still. So despondent. It hurt to see.

  The rumble of an engine made Leif look toward the front door.

  “Food truck again?” Blair posited.

  Johnny was out the door before anyone could say another word.

  Leif, Rachel, and Blair exchanged a look, then hopped up in tandem.

  “Johnny, wait,” Leif called after him.

  “Who sent you?” Johnny was screaming. The man remained completely unfazed by the onslaught of yelling and began to move toward the back of the truck.

  “Don’t fucking ignore me,” Johnny said as the man opened the truck. “Tell me what the hell is going on here!”

  “Hey, Johnny. Leave him alone,” Leif said. “There’s something wrong with him. He might hurt you.”

  Johnny’s answering laugh was the most unhinged thing Leif had ever heard.

  “Him? Hurt me? He’s the one who’s going to get hurt if he doesn’t give us some answers,” he said.

  “Johnny, don’t threaten him,” Rachel chided. “Just leave him alone.”

  “Why won’t he leave us alone?” Johnny said. His voice was loud, and he was clenching his fists at his sides. Leif had never felt afraid of Johnny before, but now she was. She was scared, and he wasn’t calming down. “Our friends are dead, you fucking asshole. Tell us what you know!”

  Johnny was moving erratically, barely suppressed rage clear in every line of his body.

  The man moved to walk away, and Johnny lost it.

  “I know you’re in on this,” Johnny screamed, grabbing the listless man by the front of his shirt and shaking him. “Who sent you here? Who the fuck are you? I’m taking your fucking truck and getting the hell out of here!”

  “Johnny! Get off of him!” Leif yelled. She and Rachel rushed forward, pulling him away, but he shook them off roughly. Rachel nearly fell to the ground, and Leif was mad enough to spit fire. How dare he. It was one thing to menace some creepy stranger, but to nearly hurt Rachel? That was too much.

  But before Leif could yell at him, Johnny reeled back and punched the man in the face.

  Blair gasped, covering her mouth in horror. They all watched, feeling helpless as the man fell to the ground. He landed with a loud thud, going limp the moment he hit the stone pathway.

  “Johnny! What the hell are you doing?” Leif shouted. Johnny fell to his knees, shaking the man’s stone-still body so hard that Leif was scared he’d smash the man’s head on the ground. Johnny screamed, a wordless sound of rage as he landed more punches.

  Leif had never seen Johnny resort to violence. She hadn’t thought he was capable of it.

  “Fuck you! Fuck all of this! I can’t—” His shout was cut off, and he shivered from head to toe. In an instant, all of the fight went out of him, and he became perfectly still.

  Then, in one swift motion, Johnny stood and screamed, ripping out his lip ring and throwing it on the ground.

  “Johnny!” Rachel was crying now. “Stop it! Please.”

  Johnny turned away from them, walking calmly toward the truck, as though he hadn’t just mutilated himself. As though he hadn’t attacked someone mere seconds earlier. He didn’t rush in the slightest, and didn’t turn around when Leif called his name again.

  He climbed into the driver’s seat of the truck and turned the ignition.

  “Johnny, stop!” Leif demanded. “What the fuck are you doing?” She ran up to the side of the truck, where Johnny had left the door open. “Hey! Come on, man, you’re freaking us all out.”

  He didn’t spare her a glance. All the hairs on her neck stood on end. She wanted to reach out and shake him. Wanted to scream and cry and do anything she could to make him stop.

  Johnny hit the gas, speeding away before she could make a move. She had a feeling that he would have dragged her behind the truck if she had grabbed onto him. That wasn’t like him. He would never hurt her. Not on purpose.

  Leif turned around and stooped down to pick up Johnny’s lip ring. It was covered in his blood. “What the hell?” she said. Her eyes burned with the prickle of tears.

  “Oh my God,” Rachel said. Leif looked over to her, only to find her staring at the man on the ground. Leif realized with a horrible lurch in her stomach that he was gasping for air.

  “Sir, it’s okay,” Blair was saying as she rushed to his side. “Just try to breathe. Nice and slow.” She knelt on the ground next to him and gently eased him onto his side so that he was in recovery position.

  Leif watched, feeling helpless. There was nothing she could do here to help. She didn’t know first aid, and there was nothing she could say or do to make what was happening any less horrible.

  “There’s four more,” the man on the ground rasped. “They forget that we need food. We can’t move. Can’t scream.”

  “It’s all right. Don’t try to talk, just keep breathing nice and slow, okay?” Blair said. She was checking him over for injuries, but he looked fine to Leif, if a bit skinny and hollow-eyed. The blood on his face from Johnny’s punch was the only sign of blood on him.

  “I can still hear it in my head,” he said. “The noise. The voice. The doctor said it wouldn’t hurt, but it did. It does.”

  “What doctor?” Rachel asked. Her voice made Leif jump. She’d forgotten that Rachel was beside her.

  The man didn’t answer. Instead, he closed his eyes as though he was in pain.

  “We need to get him some sort of medical attention,” Leif said. She could hear the panic in her own voice. Because where could they take him? There was no possible way to get him to a working hospital. He was as trapped as they were.

  “I don’t think that’s necessary,” Blair said. She looked up at Leif with tears in her eyes. “He’s dead.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Video Recording Tape 1

  Masonville. Many of you will recognize the name. It’s well known even outside of paranormal circles as the northern town that sits empty, abandoned by its people. This ghost town has been off-limits to the public for fourteen years. Until, that is, the Ghost Crew and I received our invitation to investigate its empty streets. What kind of paranormal phenomena could have driven out an entire town’s worth of people? And how safe is it for us, three investigators, when a whole town couldn’t stand the activity there? You’re about to find out, and so are we.

  July 18, Masonville

  The death of the food truck man and the loss of Johnny had shaken the group. The three of them had been in tears as they’d told Rose and Gen what happened. Gen had disappeared soon after, saying she felt sick. Rachel sat by the fireplace, staring into its depths like it could give her answers.

  Leif had excused herself to her room, with the others saying they’d stay in the main parlor together.

  The Hastings Estate was a quiet house, now that so many of them were gone. Leif missed the chatter. She missed Johnny clattering around. God, she missed Johnny. Whatever had happened to him, she was sure it wasn’t good. Every time she walked outside, she expected to see his body strewn across a pathway. The worst part was not knowing where he was. She kept thinking about him being held at that facility in the woods, but there was no guarantee that he’d actually gone there. He could be anywhere.

  Everyone in the manor was subdued, and now the only sounds were the creaks of the old house and the occasional sound of footsteps.

  Leif fell asleep, only to be woken by a fitful dream in which Erik had been wrestling a fox. He’d cried out as the fox bit his neck and blood spurted from the wound. Leif had run toward him only to realize that it was actually Johnny, not Erik, who was bleeding out.

  She took a few steadying breaths and tried to calm her racing heart. Now that she’d woken up, she knew she had to make her way to the parlor.

  She was going to suggest that they stick together as much as possible from now on. She wondered if maybe they ought to all sleep in the same space as well.

 

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