Page 13 of Into the Dark

“It is, according to Ms. Montague’s wishes.” Ethan rose to his feet. “Speaking of which, I must attend to her supper. Excuse me.”

Once he was gone, Nigel said, “They can’t stop us from asking Zeek and Adrienne questions.”

“No, but they can throw us off site,” Oscar said unhappily. “Let’s forget it for now.” Ethan had been right; whateverZeeking the Unknownhad planned, it didn’t affect their investigation. Except in terms of not being as flashy—but surely Ms. Montague wouldn’t be swayed by something so superficial. “Let’s go to the mess tent and grab some food and a few hours of shut-eye before we head back into the asylum.”

As they left the tent, he glanced back at the colossal building. The westering sun bathed the old stone in golden light, the rotting clock tower an arrow against the pink-tinged sky. Despite its beauty, the asylum felt like a lurking presence, watchful and waiting.

He did turn his back, to head to the other tent. But as he did so, a shiver went up his spine that had nothing to do with the cool spring evening.

During previous investigations, they’d camped in sleeping bags on the floor or in the van, so Nigel was grateful to find cots in the mess tent. They retired after a meal of noodles cooked on a hotplate.

It took him a while to fall asleep. He’d tried to stay up late the night before so he’d be tired enough to pass out around 6 p.m., but his brain hadn’t gotten the memo. He tossed and turned, started to fade into sleep before waking himself up with a violent sneeze that left his sinuses clogged.

When he finally drifted, he was plagued by the uneasy dreams about the asylum, the details of which vanished when he woke to the clatter of cups and the scent of coffee.

He pulled off his sleep mask and found the tent lit up and everyone else milling around, except for Tina, who usually got up early to review any static cam footage. Oscar gave him a smile that warmed his heart and said, “Look who’s awake! I was just getting your coffee.”

Nigel sat up and accepted the cup gratefully. Ms. Montague had brought in an actual coffee maker, which was heavenly compared to the instant they usually made do with in the field. The drainage from his sinuses had left him with a sore throat, which the warm liquid soothed a bit.

“Thanks,” he said. “My allergies are killing me.”

“I thought your breathing sounded pretty raspy while you were sleeping,” Oscar said with a sympathetic wince. “Do you have any meds?”

“Not for allergies.” He’d need his testosterone shot in a couple of days, but that was all he’d thought to bring.

Chris went to Tina’s bag, which sat beside her cot. “Hold on—Tina carries half a pharmacy around with her.”

Zeek had been sitting so quietly Nigel hadn’t even really registered his presence. “Whoa, she really is prepared for anything!” He sounded impressed.

“Should you be going in her bag?” Nigel asked, but Chris flapped a hand in his direction.

“She expects us to get what we need—that’s why she carries it around. Ah!” They pulled out a strip of small red pills and passed them to Nigel. “Decongestants. That’ll fix you up, doc.”

While Nigel popped one of the pills through the foil backing, Zeek said, “So you’re really a doctor of, like, ghosts and stuff?”

He put the pill into his mouth, then chased it with hot coffee. “I have a PhD in parapsychology, yes.”

“That’s so cool. Isn’t that cool, A?”

Adrienne seemed less impressed. She was getting ready to be on camera for the night, peering into a small makeup mirror and applying eyeliner. “Sure.”

Chris glowered in her direction, but she didn’t look around. “Let’s go see if Tina found anything on the cams,” they said after a minute.

Zeek popped up like an excited puppy about to go on a walk. Nigel wasn’t entirely sure they should be sharing anything with the rival team, especially since Zeek and Adrienne were keeping secrets. He glanced at Oscar, who was looking speculatively at Zeek. Maybe he suspected Zeek was putting on an act to get them off guard? Surely this wasn’t his real personality, just a character he put on for the camera.

Either way, no one objected, and Zeek bounded along with them to the command tent. Tina sat hunched over her monitors,their glow bathing her face, an oversized coffee mug shaped like a sheet-covered ghost sitting at her elbow.

“Great mug!” Zeek exclaimed when he spotted it.

Tina’s smile was unusually bright when she turned it on him. “Thanks! I got it from this cute shop online?—”

“Did the cams catch anything?” Chris cut in.

She shot them a look Nigel couldn’t interpret, but said, “Yeah. I’ve just finished going over it.” She turned back to the monitor. Oscar leaned in over one shoulder, and Zeek over the other. “Mostly it was a bunch of nothing—a few moths fluttering around, some other bugs, that’s all. However…” she scrubbed through some of the footage. “Something checked out the PolterPal.”

The thermal cam showed shades of blue and yellow, the yellow representing the fading warmth that had come through the window during the day. A few seconds into the clip, a darker blue mass seemed to coalesce out of nowhere.

“There’s the cold spot,” Tina said. “Then…”

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