Free The Haunting by E.M. MacCallum Page B

and kicked at something solid.
    Hurrying to see, I came around the corner to see a solid stone wall. “This wasn’t here before,” I said. It was where Robin, Cody, and Read had thrown the cloak on Phoebe. Cody glared at me as if it were obvious, shutting me up. He nearly bowled me over to stalk past me and back down the hallway, past the niche and to the opposite corner. The sound of the thunder and patter of rain on the warbled windows was the only sound as we watched him, following at a safe distance.
    Joel and Claire stopped near the creepy doll on the bench. Claire stared at it, hands clasped close to her chest in apprehension.
    Cody rounded the corner, out of sight.
    I could hear the raging shouts and curses echo. It must have been blocked. I realized that Neive’s cloak had been left down there, and now it was lost.
    “Everything’s blocked. What about Robin’s door?” I whispered to Read.
    Without further explanation, we both brushed past Joel and Claire toward the niche. The door leading to the library that Phoebe had woken up in was gone, replaced by a solid wall.
    Cody caught up with us. “We shouldn’t have stopped,” he snapped. “We should have tried to break that door down while it was still there.”
    “We couldn’t have gotten in!” Joel argued from behind us.
    Cody’s shoulders hunched.
    Joel’s voice carried to us again. “If we weren’t supposed to get in, that demon-thing would stop us. Robin might be dead already anyway.”
    I raised my hands to catch Cody’s arm as he burst past Read and me. His foreign rage made him look different.
    “Cody, don’t!” Phoebe warned, stepping up behind him, but like us, she couldn’t catch him.
    It was too late, and Claire became aware of what was happening only at the last second. Cody’s shoulder bumped into her, throwing her off balance. She fell onto the bench beside the doll, struggling to sit up. Cody threw a punch at Joel’s face, fury boiling over at last.
    The fight was on.

CHAPTER NINE
    Phoebe bellowed, the sound of her voice dwarfing the sound of the first smacking punch. “Stop it!”
    Joel took the first hit, his head snapping, stunned. It didn’t take long for him to recover as Cody brought his arm back, moving his body with the next punch. Joel swatted Cody’s wrist away as if it were an annoying fly. Then with a stone-hard fist, he caught Cody in the stomach. The wheezing gasp that erupted from my friend was tragic.
    I wanted to run between them but wasn’t sure if it would stop them from swinging. I’d probably end up with a black eye for my troubles.
    Phoebe was shouting, swatting at the two of them, but was careful not to leap within the fray. Joel grabbed chunks of Cody’s spiked, icy blonde hair and jerked his knee up, catching Cody in the face.
    “Get away from him, Joel!” Phoebe shouted before diving in.
    Blood gushed from Cody’s face, splattering the floor when Phoebe rammed her shoulder into Joel. To my relief, Joel let Cody go when he was thrown off balance. He landed on the bench and on top of the doll.
    Cody backed away, nearing Read and me. He was still doubled over, his hands over his face and leaking crimson.
    “Was that really necessary?” I heard Phoebe demand as I touched Cody’s bare, raw shoulder.
    He shouldn’t have gone after one of fullbacks of the college football team.
    Cody lifted his head, bloody rivers coating his mouth and chin. He sputtered and wiped at the blood.
    “Tilt your head back,” Read offered.
    Cody did as he was told, too dazed to argue.
    When Phoebe was through giving Joel a shouting match, she stomped towards Cody. “Is it broken?” she snarled, empathy drained completely. She started to reach out for his nose.
    Cody flinched away. “I’ll be fine.” He sounded nasally, like he had a cold. The blood was splattering his chest and jeans.
    Infuriated, Phoebe said, “I can’t believe this. We can’t be fighting like this. What were you thinking?”
    I stepped past