The Maelstrom of the Leaf Academy (Gulf Coast Paranormal Book 11) Page 3

  And this entity knew it. And it knew we were coming.

  Chapter Four—Cassidy

  “Poor baby. I know, I know. I’m a terrible Mom.” Domino meowed one more time before snuggling back up in his bed. This latest trip to the vet would be one he never forgot, but at least he wouldn’t be populating the neighborhood if he managed to slip out of the house again. And that was totally possible because he was a sneaky rascal. I think my cat believed that whenever anyone rang that doorbell, especially the pizza guy on Friday nights, that was his cue to race out the door. I’d been training again and was pretty fast but not quite as fast as Domino. The thing was, once Domino got outside, he had no real destination. He’d stand in the middle of the yard and look around, so he was easy to catch. It was like a game for him. At this point, he probably believed it was a horrible game that ended with a preventative trip to the veterinarian.

  I heard the familiar tap on the back door. Midas! I thought with a smile. “Hey!” I said as I swung the door open and welcomed him inside. He didn’t look well, and there wasn’t a hint of his usual “happy to see me” expression on his face. In fact, if I had to pick one word to describe him at that moment, it would be ashen. And with his light olive skin and swarthy looks, he almost always looked the picture of health.

  “What is it? Midas?”

  He immediately began pacing my kitchen, his soft gray t-shirt clinging to his well-toned arms. His hand was over his mouth, and his dark eyes were troubled. I closed the door and glanced in the driveway. No, he was alone. This wasn’t typical Midas Demopolis behavior. My fiancé wasn’t usually this unsettled about anything. That was my job. He had a peaceful persona and was middle of the road, easygoing and steady as a rock in all things. What the heck? I could only imagine the worst. Had something happened with Papa Angelos? No, that couldn’t be it. But Midas mentioned earlier that he was going to the Leaf Academy. I got the shivers just thinking that whatever he was experiencing now might have something to do with his visit. That didn’t bode well for our upcoming investigation. Jocelyn had told us the place was a total creep fest, but the blonde was skimpy on the details…at Midas’ request, I gathered. As usual, he wanted the team to go into the investigation with our right brains ready to roll. Or was it the left? Whichever side preferred logical thinking. I couldn’t remember. After some of the creepy encounters I’d had, it was hard to be nonchalant about any kind of paranormal work.

  “Midas? Talk to me.”

  He pulled out a chair, sat at the table and finally looked me in the eye. “I heard Dominic’s voice at the Leaf Academy. I know it wasn’t him, but it shook me. And I saw that boy, the one Jocelyn was talking about, the one that haunted McCandlish.”

  “Hey, don’t jump to any conclusions, remember? What did he look like? Could it have been a kid checking the place out? Maybe someone who saw you there and wanted to have a peek inside?”

  He sighed as he leaned back in the chair. “That’s possible, I guess, but it doesn’t explain hearing my cousin’s voice.”

  “What did he say?” I asked as I touched his warm hand and squeezed it.

  “He asked me to help him. What’s funny is I was just telling Adrian about him. You know I never talk about him, but I felt like I needed to.”

  I went to the refrigerator and grabbed him a bottle of water. He looked like he needed one. I twisted my lips thoughtfully as he cracked open the bottle and took a long drink.

  “It’s not usual for spirits to listen in on what we have to say. Obviously, this is not a residual haunting but an intelligent one. It heard you guys talking about your cousin, and it wanted to connect with you.” I gave Midas the hopeful version of what I believed. This ghost or whatever it was could have been mocking him, trying to trick him. It was highly doubtful that it was merely parroting back what it heard.

  “I would think so too, but I didn’t tell her about Dominic until we left the Leaf Academy. She was really upset, and I was trying to comfort her. She wanted to get away from the property, so we went to a donut shop down the road. I told her there. We must have been at least a mile away from the Leaf Academy. Is it following her?”

  I tapped my fingers on the table as he spoke. That last bit gave me pause. “That’s possible. Is she haunted, do you think?”

  “She says the last thing she saw was at the school. She and two girlfriends broke in there in the ’90s. They went there hoping to provoke the spirits by smoking on the premises, more specifically in the upstairs room. The one Jocelyn was telling us about.”

  “Hugh McCandlish’s room? The one he shared with Ollie?”

  “Yes, that’s the one. They got choked, and a male’s voice told them to stop smoking.”

  “Wow, that’s a first for me.” After a minute of thinking, I offered my thoughts on the matter, “It must be pretty powerful to have overheard your conversation from that distance. Maybe it just picked it out of your brain when you got back? That doesn’t comfort me to know something could hear our thoughts, but I think I would rather believe that than believe it can follow you around and eavesdrop.”

  He finished off his water and tossed the bottle into the garbage can. “You’re probably right. How about we stay in tonight?”

  “That means, ‘how about we work tonight,’ doesn’t it?” I asked with a grin.

  “Would you be okay with that?” I could sense his excitement. Midas was an adrenaline junkie when it came to the paranormal.

  “Yes, but let me check on the kitten first. And then put on some jeans. Are we working at the office? Never mind, that’s a dumb question. Be right back. And you’re buying dinner.”

  “Agreed,” he purred as he kissed me. “I’m going to call Sierra and Josh and see what they’re up to.”

  “Midas, let them have a night off. They have a baby, remember? Joshua has been working a lot of hours lately,” I said as I recalled a conversation I had earlier with Sierra. “You’ll just have to deal with being stuck with me for a research assistant.” Midas sat on the couch as I hung out in the hallway door. Of course, I was joking around, but the look on his face let me know he didn’t find it amusing. In fact, he looked even more shook up than when he arrived. “Give me five minutes to change and grab my supplies.”

  “That sounds great. I’ll call Papa Angelos. I promised I would check in with him to see how his day went.”

  “Give him my love,” I called as I hurried down the hall to change my clothes. I put my hand on the doorknob and tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t open. That made no sense; there was no lock on the door. I stepped back and stared at it. What the heck? Glancing down the hall to the living room, I could see Midas on his phone. I bit my lip and tried again. Still nothing. I put my shoulder into it as I turned the knob, but the door still wouldn’t budge. In fact, it kind of felt like someone was on the other side. I could see shadows under the door when I peeked down at my feet.

  “Hey! Who’s in there?” I yelled as I tapped on the door with one hand and kept twisting the knob. Midas was coming up the hall when it finally came open. “Midas?” I waved him over furiously as the door swung open.

  There was no one there. Not a shadow. Not a living person. Nothing at all. “The door was stuck, and I swear…hey, what’s that?”

  In the center of my bed was one black feather. It hadn’t been there before. I was a stickler for making my bed every morning. I had no feathers lying around, and it couldn’t have been Domino bringing me a present. He could barely make it to the litter box, much less jump on my bed.

  “Close the door, Cassidy.”

  I stepped out of the room and did as he asked. We tried the door again, and it opened just fine now. Whoever had been blocking me, whatever it was, had left the room. And left this gift behind. I’d heard enough of Jocelyn’s story to know what this could mean.

  Midas and I were being invited to the Leaf Academy.

  Chapter Five—Cassidy

  “Sorry, sweet boy, but I can’t let you wander around the house
while I’m gone. It’s not safe.” Kissing my cat’s head, I put his basket in the laundry room along with his food and water dish and closed the door behind me. He complained immediately, but he wasn’t going to talk me out of this. He couldn’t understand how shook up I was, nor did he understand the possible danger we faced. But then again, maybe he did know. Uncle Derek’s ghost used to pop in occasionally, and Domino hated him. He didn’t come around anymore, or at least not where I was aware of him, but I kind of hoped he would come by. I believed that in a strange, disconnected way, Uncle Derek loved me and would protect me if he could. But maybe he couldn’t. If the feather arrived by the hand of whatever entity waited for us at the Leaf Academy, I could only imagine how this investigation would go. But that couldn’t be right. There had to be another explanation.

  Get a grip, Cassidy. You know what’s going on here.

  I grabbed my backpack and keys and walked out of the house behind Midas. I glanced around once more as I stepped outside, but there wasn’t anything to see. Nothing at all. What about that feather? I couldn’t very well leave it on my bed, but I didn’t want to touch the thing either. Midas promised to help me figure it out when he dropped me off tonight. I wasn’t sure what he could possibly propose. How could we safely remove the item without putting one or both of us in further danger? And Midas…he wasn’t himself. Seeing his cousin, or the thing pretending to be his cousin, clearly had a horrible effect on him. Not that I could blame him. I would die if I saw my late sister hanging out anywhere.

  “Jocelyn is on her way to the office. She’s going to go over the case with us—I told her about the feather. I have to ask, just to say I did. Do you think there is any possible way that you brought the feather inside and just forgot about it? Maybe the cat?”

  “One hundred percent no. Did you see that thing? It had to be at least twelve inches long. That’s not something that gets picked up by accident, and my poor cat can barely get in and out of his box, much less jump up on the bed. And where would he pick up a feather? I don’t let him outside.”

  Midas fiddled with his rearview mirror, and an awkward silence passed between us. Finally, he said, “Adrian Shanahan gave me the journal, the one that Jocelyn found. It’s right there in the back seat.”

  I glanced over my shoulder to look for the item. “Journal? Whose journal?”

  “A former headmaster, Moriah Mitchell. He describes the haunting in detail, she says. They knew about the October People but chose to pretend nothing was going on.”

  I reached for the journal and mused, “That sounds familiar. Nothing much has changed in the world, has it?” I rubbed my fingers over the faded cover.

  Midas said in a stern voice, “I still can’t believe Jocelyn went by herself to that place. It’s huge, and every corner feels…occupied. She’s probably the most reckless person I know.”

  I didn’t argue with him. I didn’t know Jocelyn as well as he did, but I wouldn’t necessarily call her reckless. Fearless? Yes, she was that for sure. I skimmed through the pages carefully. This was an old book, and I didn’t want to damage it. Midas swore softly under his breath as a rogue motorcyclist jetted around him. “Now that’s reckless,” I declared as I clutched the door and waited for him to regain his composure.

  “He’s got a death wish,” he answered as the SUV rolled down the narrow Mobile streets. “Do you see anything interesting in there?”

  Confident that we wouldn’t die in a fiery car and motorcycle crash, I opened the book again. I glanced at page after page of faded writing but stopped when I came to a section of riveting sketches. I blurted out, “These drawings don’t match.” I didn’t know how I knew that, but I did. I flipped through at least ten pages, each more detailed and disturbing than the last. I flinched at the images of a raven’s eye and beak, and a pile of feathers. Lots and lots of those. But the last sketches were spellbinding. Many, many faces—an old woman with a twisted mouth and a bun of dirty gray hair, a woman with an oddly long face and an open screaming mouth. The most haunting of the drawings was not as frightening as the others, but it was no less intense. This was a drawing of a young man, of Native American descent if I had to guess from his clothing and his lovely, long dark hair.

  “What makes you say that?” Midas asked as his turn signal ticked. He stared at me even though the light had changed.

  “It’s green,” I told him as I flipped on the map light. The SUV crept forward and onto the road that would take us to the Gulf Coast Paranormal office. “They’re different in ways that are hard to explain, but I’ll try it. Maybe it’s more of a feeling. Look at this. No, wait. On second thought, please don’t look. Keep your eyes on the road, Midas. I can see that Mitchell’s handwriting is carefully slanted. There’s not one extraneous dot or loop. This guy isn’t an artist. That and the pressure is different.”

  “Come again?”

  “Some people write with a light touch, and others press down very firmly on the paper. Moriah Mitchell wrote with a light touch. These drawings are different. They’re really good but also kind of childish and drawn with a heavy hand.” I couldn’t stop staring at the young man. He was beautiful, with fierce dark eyes and full lips. I shook my head and closed the book. I had to get my head in the game.

  Before I knew it, we were pulling into the parking spot in front of the office. Midas turned off the vehicle and leaned closer. I thought he wanted to get a better look at the drawing, but he kissed me instead. It was a lovely kiss, all warm and inviting. The tension between us took a back seat as he stroked my cheek with his fingers and pressed his forehead to mine.

  “What’s that for?” I asked as he hovered close.

  “Just because. Thanks for indulging me. I’m sure this is not what you had in mind for our date night. I never want to put you in danger, Cassidy. Never.”

  “I know, Midas. I know that. And I had no plans, and I love what we do as much as you do.” He breathed a sigh of relief at hearing my promise that I held no ill will about our movie night being postponed. “Explain to me where that feather came from? Other than by the hand of Casper the Unfriendly Ghost. Do you think it’s from the Leaf Academy spirit? Seems like kind of a coincidence that it would show up now. Especially after all the feather drawings in this journal.”

  “I have no theories yet, but I can promise you I will remove it if it’s not gone when we get back.”

  I shuddered at the thought. If it had been left by this spirit, that was bad enough, but to think about it returning to retrieve it…the idea made me sick to my stomach. “I don’t want you to touch it, but I don’t want to touch it either. Let’s go check out this journal. Maybe Moriah Mitchell left us some clues. Hey, there’s Jocelyn. I don’t see Aaron with her. Do you think he’ll ever come back?”

  Midas shrugged as he unlocked the office. “I’m not sure. He hasn’t said, and I don’t want to push him.”

  I stared at the approaching figure. I could tell by her signature lope that it was Jocelyn but with one marked difference. She’d cut off all her dreadlocks. Instead of long blond twisted strands of hair cascading down her back and shoulders, she was sporting a super-short hairstyle. Kind of a pixie cut but a bit edgier. I liked it, but I liked her dreadlocks too.

  “Hey! Wow! You look great!” I greeted her as she got closer.

  “Yeah, well, I hate it. I got a wild hair, pardon the pun, and this is the result.” She shrugged as she stuffed her hands into the pockets of her ripped jeans, sighed and followed us into the building.

  “How have you been?” I hadn’t seen Jocelyn in weeks. Mostly because she stayed on the road with her photography work. That and paranormal cases had been hard to come by lately. The rumor was there was a new group of investigators in town who were digging into the action. Midas acted like he didn’t care, but I had a feeling he was a little let down that the phones weren’t ringing off the hook. He disappeared into his office, and I flipped on the lights.

  “I’m doing great. Still avoiding taking that trip to
California. I told Midas I was going to go after we wrapped the Gulfport investigation, but I bailed. Just couldn’t face it. Mom’s really eager for me to go home, but I’m…not. I went and took photos of some interesting Pensacola lighthouses instead. Nothing in the way of the paranormal, but with old places like that, you can’t help but get the feeling that you’re in the presence of history. How is your cat? Sierra told me you took him to get snipped.”

  Jocelyn was like that…she offered you some information but not too much. I remembered that her mother lived in California and that she was sick. And I gathered that they didn’t get along very well, but beyond that, I couldn’t say why she didn’t want to return to her home state.

  “Yeah, Domino’s not real happy with me. How’s Sherman?”

  “Good. It’s funny, I can’t imagine life without my dog now, and I’d never owned a pet before. Not beyond the occasional fair fish. You know the kind, the ones you win at the fair that never live past the weekend? I’ve had Sherman for almost three months, and he’s my family. He’s a good traveler too. That helps.” She smiled her lopsided grin.

  Midas greeted her, and while I could tell he noticed her hair too, he was much less likely to make comments about anyone’s personal appearance. “Are you ready to go back to the Leaf Academy?” he asked as he sat at the table and invited us to join him.

  “Ready or not, here we come, right?” She rubbed at her short hair and crossed her legs under her as she sat in the chair, as was her custom.

  He shook his head. “You have a choice, Jocelyn. I’m not going to make you go back. I can’t do that. I won’t.”

  She visibly breathed a sigh of relief. “I am grateful to hear you say that because I’m not sure I want to go back. Crazy, huh? I mean, it’s not your typical haunt—this is what we live for, right? Whatever resides at the Leaf Academy is calculating and intelligent. And I think it is a killer.”

  Midas paused as he flipped open his laptop.