“Right.” Jasmine switches back to her mystic persona impressively fast. “Jane,” she whispers. “Why are you here? What have you got to tell us?”
The board vibrates beneath our fingers and a hollow feeling starts to build inside me as I see what the board is spelling out.
N-I-A-M-H.
What the hell is Tommy playing at now? I glare at him and it takes me a second to realize the look of fear on his face is for real. He catches my eye and shakes his head, confusion carved into lines around his eyes.
If he’s not controlling this, then who is?
The planchette carries on, darting around faster and faster, spelling out my name over and over again.
N-I-A-M-H.
N-I-A-M-H.
N-I-A-M-H.
“Stop!” The sound of my own voice makes the circle jump and my finger loses contact with the wood, but not before my whole hand feels as though it is engulfed in flames. “I get it, you hate me, fine.” I spit, pointing at Jasmine. “But this is a really vile thing to do.”
Jasmine opens her mouth to respond, but Ben interrupts. “Er, guys?”
Six pairs of eyes shift from me back down to the board. No one is touching it now. But the planchette is still racing around.
On its own.
I force myself to keep breathing, even though a vice of sheer horror is tightening around my chest. The marker tears around the board, returning to the same letters over and over again, repeating the pattern until it becomes a blur of varnished wood. Black spots gather at the edges of my vision as a word seems to become clear.
R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N-R-U-N
“Tell me everything.”
Jess dumps her bag on the table between us, almost knocking my drink to the floor. We’re in the café at college and by the sounds of it, she was here cleaning up with Ruth most of the night. I fill her in on the horror of the night before to wake her up.
“I was too upset to call you,” I explain. “I legged it straight to the nearest bus stop and I’ve not spoken to Tommy since.”
“Do you think it was him moving the board?” Jess asks. I shake my head slowly.
“At first, yeah. But he seemed as shocked as I did when it started spelling my name out.”
Jess shivers. “You’ve given me goose bumps. That is so freaky. What do you reckon it was, then?”
“I really don’t know.” To be honest, I’ve been trying not to think about it. “Hey, I forgot to tell you! Last night, when I said Jane’s name, Jasmine said she waswarningme.”
“Warning you about what?”
“I dunno, she didn’t finish.”
“And she wanted to talk to Sara’s spirit?”
“Yeah.” I chew on my lip. “You don’t think she has something to do with it, do you?”
“I dunno. I mean, she’s tiny but then again, she’s clearly got a screw loose. Look at your cardigan. She’s a complete psycho.”
“Yeah.” I shudder, remembering the snarl distorting her face.
“Still, you went to a party with the lovely Tommy,” Jess says. “That has to be a silver lining.”
“I guess.” I bite my lip but can’t quite help the grin that spreads across my face.
