Free The Haunting Season by Michelle Muto Page B

they’d been trapped this long and no one else had helped them, Jess figured she and the others were the girls’ best hope.
    “Did he tell you how he killed them?” Dr. Brandt asked.
    “No,” Allison said. “I didn’t want to know. At first, I was afraid he was a demon, because he looks that way. He doesn’t look entirely human anymore.”
    “Why didn’t you tell me he’d killed them?” Jess asked.
    Allison laughed, but it was more cynical than humorous. “I didn’t want to scare you more than you already were. Don’t look at me that way! I know what you think of me. All you’ve ever seen are normal ghosts. I see the kind like Riley. Once you’re touched by darkness, it follows you. No matter where you go.”
    Careful what you let in, Jess...
    The chill spread from her spine down her arms as she remembered Grams’ warning, but Jess shoved the thought aside. She wouldn’t let Allison spook her. Fear was paralyzing, and Jess refused to let Allison’s fears keep her from the very reason she was here—to break down whatever barrier was keeping her from seeing ghosts on the other side. But, the ghost of a murderer was enough to make her a bit more cautious.
    Maybe Dr. Brandt knew of some way to banish evil spirits. He was an expert in the field, after all. Surely he knew how.
    What was she doing? Considering going up against something she couldn’t see? A demon or something else? Jess was barely starting to learn to take care of herself, make her own way, and now she was considering how to get rid of an evil spirit?
    She’d had the thought before—that she was holding onto this whole ghost thing as a way to believe that death didn’t really matter. That Grams and her father were still with her and always would be. It was a way of holding onto the past as though nothing had happened—that Grams hadn’t died. That her parents hadn’t divorced. That her father hadn’t died, either.
    That life wasn’t moving too fast.
    You want ghosts, but what you need is something real to hold onto.
    Jess shook the thoughts from her head. Ghosts were real. So was the past. She wasn’t ready to set those memories aside just yet.
    Baby steps. Stick to the plan. See if I can talk to ghosts again and prove I’m not going mad. Get my college fund back. THEN go to college and get a normal life. Whatever that is.
    “Allison? Did Riley follow you here?” Jess asked.
    “Oh no, he’s been here a long time,” Allison replied. “And before that, he wasn’t Riley. Although that’s what he calls himself.”
    “Go on,” Dr. Brandt encouraged.
    “There are others here,” Allison said, moving the discussion away from Riley.
    She had mentioned this before, but her tone unnerved Jess. Even if Allison managed to hold it together long enough to help her find and talk to the girls, even if she found some way to help them find their way out of Siler House, what scared her most was not the ghosts of the girls or anyone else. Dr. Brandt kept asking Allison whom she was talking about, but Jess began to wonder if maybe it was more of a what than a who.
    The guys had entered the room while Allison was talking, but Dr. Brandt had motioned for them to keep quiet. They each took a seat and listened, too.
    “Allison, who was he before he became Riley?”
    “A demon,” she said.
    “Which demon, Allison?”
    Allison began to tear her paper napkin into tiny pieces. “They don’t like to give up their real names, and bad things happen when you try to force them. People die.”

 
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER ELEVEN
     
    Gage took a seat quietly, as Dr. Brandt had motioned for him and Bryan to do. Allison was at it again. Demons. Evil spirits. The girl needed to let off the crazy pedal. Okay, so they all had some sort of experience and, as he saw it, had time to come to grips with it before they’d come here. It wasn’t like they’d all been invited here for a picnic.
    Sure, it was a bit freaky. But if Allison didn’t chill, she’d