Page 50 of Into the Dark

“If you die, the university might ask me to come out of retirement to take over your classes,” she replied. “Come on—we’ll get some hot tea in all of you.”

Oscar held out his arms as they walked back to the tent. “I’d say I need a new change of clothes after the tub, but…I’m dry. Did Mariah just project the illusion of water into our minds?”

“No,” Dr. Lawson said grimly. “We saw the water on camera. And real or not, I have the feeling you would have drowned either way.”

Nigel shuddered and leaned against Oscar as they made for the tent. Now that they were out of the building, the adrenaline was beginning to recede and exhaustion taking its place. He desperately needed another decongestant and some sleep. But he was going to have to wait on the second one of those.

Tina stood waiting anxiously in the command center, a first aid kit in her hand. “Zeek! Are you all right?” she asked the moment he stepped in.

“Oh, yeah, just a scratch,” he said, trying and failing to project his normal cocky grin.

She raised a skeptical brow, then pointed at a chair. “Sit down and take your shirt off.”

Why he had to take his entire shirt off for a few shallow scratches on his stomach, Nigel couldn’t imagine. But Zeek went along with her request, and she fussed over him as if he’d taken a dire wound, while the rest of them accepted cups of tea from Dr. Lawson.

Once they’d had time for a few warming sips, and Nigel had washed down another decongestant tablet, Dr. Lawson said, “Okay, let’s go over what happened.” She pointed at Oscar. “You first.”

“Didn’t you see it on the cams?” Chris asked, glancing at the monitors, which currently showed the feed from their static cams.

“Some of it, but I want to hear it from your perspectives.” She folded her arms. “So start.”

Oscar did so, with Chris and Nigel chipping in here and there. Once they got to the panicked call from Tina, the other team took over the narrative.

“And now our spirit box is broken, too,” Adrienne finished, slumping back in her chair. “I dropped it while we were running and pieces went everywhere.”

“It’s okay—we’ll just use the EMF reader, stuff like that,” Zeek said, pulling his shirt back on. “We could borrow the SLS, maybe?”

Tina folded her arms and glared down at him. “You’re seriously thinking about going back in there?”

“Well…” Zeek took off his backward cap and scratched at his head. “It’s sort of our job? That people pay us for?”

“Especially Ms. Montague,” Ethan said from the tent entrance.

They all jumped. Nigel studied Ethan carefully. He looked as composed as always, his suit impeccable, his expression absolutely neutral. Utterly inoffensive on the surface, but Nigelwas rapidly coming to dislike him, though he wasn’t entirely sure why.

Dr. Lawson bristled. “Tell Patricia I’m not letting her send more people to their deaths.”

“Who has she sent to their death?” Adrienne asked, eyes widening in alarm.

“There was a young medium, a long time ago.” Dr. Lawson kept her gaze trained on Ethan.

Robin, in other words. The medium they’d both known back in the eighties. The one whose journal she’d given excerpts of to Oscar, to help him figure out his own mediumistic talents.

The one who’d died after being thrown out the window by a poltergeist.

Ethan didn’t seemed disturbed by the accusation. “It was a simple reminder, nothing more. I’m retiring for the evening—is there anything further you require?”

“No,” Dr. Lawson said in a cool voice. “That will be all.”

Dismissed, Ethan inclined his head slightly and let the tent flap fall. Dr. Lawson glared after him for a long moment, then turned back to them.

“For whatever reason, the asylum’s spirits have become far more dangerous,” she said. “You’ve done what Patricia asked, but Fox here could have been killed.” She nodded at Oscar. “You don’t have to go back inside.”

“That’s what I don’t understand.” Adrienne flung up her hands in frustration. “We got rid of the nurse who killed the investigator. Getting rid of her was supposed to make everything better, not worse!”

Nigel’s brain turned sluggishly, weighed down by his cold and exhaustion. “They were afraid of her. The other ghosts, I mean. With her gone, maybe they feel free to act?”

“Fuck.” Adrienne stood up and paced a few feet from her chair, then back. “What do we do? Release her back into the asylum?”

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