“The party’s at Blackwood Manor.” Dash pointed over his shoulder, then stuffed his hands back in his hoodie pockets. “Would you like an escort?”
“Curious,” Theodore said. “Most people don’t offer to help. They run away.”
People clearly included ghosts. Slate noticed that Thomas and Cain hadn’t spoken, and they kept their attention on the newcomers. “Well, we didn’t run,” Slate said. “So why are you really here?”
“As we said, we’re here for the party.” Wilbur stepped closer, and the wave of cold pressed against Slate’s skin. “Sounded like fun. Spirits deserve fun too, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Gary’s guests don’t make people feel like this,” Dash said flatly.
“Like what?” Theodore’s smile widened. “Cold? Tired? A little… drained?”
Slate’s skin crawled at the way he said ‘drained.’
“Enough!” Morten’s hand moved as he and Clifford stepped forward. “Let’s cut to the chase. You’re not welcome in Oriskany Falls.”
Wilbur and Theodore laughed, clearly amused by the ultimatum.
“Relax.” The shorter one held up his hands and stepped back. “We’re here to look around, not cause trouble.”
“Exactly,” Theodore added. “The invitation said Oriskany Falls was a safe place for all spirits. We wanted to see for ourselves.”
“Well, you’ve seen it,” Clifford said. His hands moved until they matched Morten’s. “Now you can leave.”
Theodore’s smirk faded, and Wilbur frowned. Slate expected them to protest, but Theodore nodded his head and backed up a step. “We’ll leave,” he said. “For now.”
“We’ll be back in time for the party,” Wilbur added. “We don’t want to miss the celebration.”
They vanished, and with them the oppressive cold lifted. Slate breathed in, and the air didn’t feel as heavy.
“What the hell was that?” Dash asked.
“Dark spirits,” Morten said softly. “And they’re not here for Gary’s party.”
“And then they left,” Slate said.
It had taken a few minutes to bring those not there up to speed. At first he questioned why he needed to explain things to non-mediums, but after a few questions from his mother and Millicent, Slate realized they probably knew more about ghosts than he and Dash.
The room went silent. Of course it did. The hard part was deciding what to do next. Everyone wanted someone else to go first.
“I know I’m new here,” Meredith said. “And maybe I don’t need to know, but what’s a dark spirit?”
This was precisely why he didn’t want to ‘gather everyone in the parlor to discuss the issue.’ If it hadn’t been his father whosaid it, he’d have pushed back. Faced with this question, maybe he should have pushed harder.
“Spirits that feed on negative energy, dear.” Morten turned from the window. “These ghosts create fear and terror and then drain the emotions from the people involved. It’s harmful to the person affected. They get depressed, can’t sleep, turn overly anxious, all the things you’d expect from someone who is being haunted. As you can imagine, no community wants them around because they sow discord wherever they settle.”
“Like the Amityville Horror, only real,” Marjorie said. “The father, George, was a wannabe medium who studied paranormal activity, then faked the encounters for some purpose only he knew. The symptoms he claimed his family suffered, however, would have occurred if it had been real.”
While his mother spoke, Slate watched Gary float back and forth in a corner. His cheerful, upbeat persona had been missing since Mrs. Schemanski had brought them the news. A few seconds after his mother finished, Gary floated into the center of the room.
“I brought them here,” he said, not looking anyone in the eye. “They weren’t supposed to show up. When I said all are welcome, I meant all good spirits. I didn’t think dark spirits would want to come.”
Gary’s extreme reaction to Theodore and Wilbur’s arrival confused Slate. Certainly, he knew dark spirits existed, but he assumed other ghosts were immune to their powers. “Can they hurt other ghosts?”
“Yes and no,” Thomas said. He’d been quiet since they’d met Theodore and Wilbur. “Just like people can bully one another, so too can ghosts. Most of us learn to keep them away, but some are too timid. Their fear feeds beings like Theodore and Wilbur just as well as humans. If it gets bad enough, it can cause thetormented spirit to go mad, and then a medium needs to come banish that soul.”
The way his friend spoke, he’d clearly encountered these bullies before.
“What the dude-man says,” Gary said, pointing at Thomas. “I had a friend who got harassed by some crazy old ghost. The nasty spirit sent my friend to scare people so the dude could feed. Drove my friend insane. I didn’t mean to bring two of them to the party. They’ll terrorize my friends.”
