Page 83 of Possessed By Shadows

I exited through the gate entrance and turned toward Lukas’s house instead of the Quarter. He was there for a reason, right? Both Lukas buying the house, and the thing that had been caught on camera?

Since it was only a little after eleven, I sent my dad a text. Would he be sleeping? It would really suck to not be able to get into the house, since I did not have a key. I walked toward it anyway, mind racing over some ideas, and resigned to others. A longing to go back home and crawl into bed with Micah was strong. The idea that Lukas was out there in trouble somewhere kept me moving.

A text came back,Am up. House is fucking nuts.

I paused to stare at the text. Fucking nuts how?Haunted?I sent back.

Demons or something.

I blinked at the text, then sped up my pace. I sent him the clips from the school.Do you recognize the second guy?I asked, hoping for some little glimmer of light in all this madness.

No. This guy took Lukas? Do I need to call the police?

My dad was never one to offer to call the police. Part of being a black man in the South, it spelled more trouble than it was worth most days. At least he was finally showing some concern for Lukas. It made me wonder if he’d cared at all when I’d been released from the military and ended up on the streets and in the psych ward. I thought maybe he didn’t know, but perhaps that wasn’t it at all.

I did.I sent back.They weren’t much interested.

He used to work for them!

Yeah, that bothered me too. But the fact that he’d shot another officer and that had been buried? That made me think all this led to something else.Almost to you,I sent back, staring at Lukas’s new house a half-dozen yards down the street.

Micah would have felt the fire ants. I knew because the street got really heavy, like the air was thin. The house itself seemed to almost be swallowed by a cloud of smoke. My brain saidfire, but it wasn’t a fire.

This was a bit like the Lalaurie place at its worst.

I paused on the street in front of the house, breathing hard, and not wanting to go in. Was this the end? Would it take over my body and still leave Lukas lost?

Something moved out of the corner of my eye and I turned, half startled to find the black-eyed child. Fuck.

“Hi,” I said lamely.

It looked my way. So creepy. Not exactly like something out of a movie, but substantial enough that if I hadn’t seen its eyes, I’d have thought it was a real kid.

“I’m trying to find my brother,” I told the kid. The aura of the house didn’t change. Whatever was in there wasn’t my demon since it stood right next to me.

It quirked a smile my way. I hugged myself to keep from moving backwards. Technically, this thing was bound to me somehow. That was the hard part of our last meeting. Realizing that no matter where I ran, it could find me.

“Can you help me find him?” I wondered. Maybe it wasn’t all bad. It had helped me bring Micah back after all.

Not ours,a strange whispered voice breezed through my mind as the kid flickered and vanished leaving me blinking into the dark and staring up at a house of horrors. Was I really going in there?

My dad was inside. Would he be possessed by some invisible monster, or was that my lot alone in life?

I squared my shoulders, clenched my fists, and headed toward the door. Lukas had always said I was the hero. Going off to war, being brave. I didn’t feel very brave facing down that smoldering shadow covering the house. When I reached the door, I knocked, waiting a minute before trying the handle. It was locked of course. My dad would never have left it open. I knocked again and waited. What if the ghost had him too?

It felt like forever, but I could hear footsteps on the other side, and the door finally opened. My dad stood there, looking exhausted, and more than a little spooked. His gaze kept turning upward like he was hearing something, but I didn’t yet catch any other noise. He stared at me a minute before stepping out of the way to let me in.

Once I was inside, he closed and locked the door behind me, and I heard the noise he’d been hearing. Banging, like something was inside the walls. Insanely loud footsteps racing from one side of the house to the other, coming from upstairs.

“Second floor or attic?” I asked.

“Fuck if I know,” my dad cursed. “I’ve followed it and found nothing.”

Maybe he wasn’t as sensitive as I was. I turned on the digital recorder, clipping it to the side of my bag, and headed for the stairs. It looked like every light that could be on was turned on. My father trying to ward away the spirits with light, maybe? I could have told him it didn’t work. The thing that followed me showed up in the bright sands of a midday sky across the world—a few lamps weren’t going to deter it.

“Found some information on this house,” my dad said. “Did you know it was owned by a cop? Died on the job? You think it’s him upstairs?”

I paused, halfway up the steps. “Like how long ago did he die?”