detector to a party?"
She's completely unfazed, as if to say, Celia Nichols, that's who!
Even though we're supposed to be chilling out at a fab party, I'm with Celia on this. There's a buzzing in the air that's not emanating from the speakers. The whole house has a hum to it that I sense all the way down to my fingertips.
"Let's take a lap around the room," Celia suggests. We head over to where Clay and Jason are standing talking to a few other guys and excuse ourselves from our dates, saying we'll be right back.
"Are you getting anything, Kendall?" Celia asks once we're in the front parlor.
"I think so." This sensation I'm picking up can only be described as funky. "It's this extremely old feeling. Like I can smell the mustiness. The air is all weighted down around me. Very heavy and dense"
She scans her meter around, watching as the lights blink on and the needle begins registering electromagnetic activity: 2.2, 3.4, 5.5. "We're definitely getting paranormal activity," she confirms.
I lay my hand on a nearby bureau with a vase of fresh flowers on the top. The furniture nearly murmurs with place memory, flashing images of others who have come before me through this room and left their energetic mark. "Some serious shit went down in this house many years ago, but I can't quite put my finger on it yet."
"Should I get Taylor and Becca?" Celia asks.
"No." I stop her with my hand on her arm. "Let's not interrupt their fun."
Out of the corner of my eye, I see that guy who's dressed like a Union soldier. "There he is!"
"Who? Where?" Celia yells after me.
It's too late, though, because I take off down the hallway after him. Only, by the time I get down the corridor, there's no one there. I know for a fact that it's definitely a spirit who hasn't passed into the light. I know it in every fiber of my being.
"It was a soldier," I say to Celia.
"What did he look like?"
"Umm ... a soldier."
"Duh, I mean specifically. Age, rank, serial number."
"I didn't get a good peek at his face."
Celia points her meter down the hall, continuing to get readings. "If you can see him close up, then you can describe him to me later and I can try and sketch him out."
"Smart thinking," I say.
I follow the curve of the house, passing a large dining room that a lot of my fellow partygoers have overflowed into. The next room is a library area and a cut-through to the kitchen. I freeze in my tracks at the sudden intense pressure I'm feeling, like I've landed after a long flight and my ears haven't popped properly. My temples pound fiercely, and the noise inside my head is equivalent to being strapped under an Amtrak locomotive. There's churning and twisting, and then I feel myself being pushed. Not physically, but mentally. Someone is trying to get me out of the way. Or get my mind. My soul. What is going on?
Celia picks up that something is totally wrong. "Kendall! Kendall!"
I stare at her with what must be glassy eyes. I'm entranced by the force inside me that's telling me to make way. "Oh no, you don't!" I eke out.
"Those aren't your eyes, Kendall. Where have you gone? Talk to me!" Celia screams.
The music from the party plays loudly overhead, filling the entire house. No one can hear either of us as we battle this unknown entity. Hot tears sting the corners of my eyes, and I squeeze them shut, concentrating as hard as I can to stay grounded and in my body. It's as if my ribs are expanding from the pressure within. My lungs fill to capacity, making even the slightest breath seem like it takes an act of Congress to accomplish. Hot liquid rushes through my veins, searing me from the inside, as the impact of mentally fighting off this assault begins to take a toll on me. My muscles cramp and my bones crackle in a knuckle-popping-fest of the ages. Whatever this is, it's big and strong and thinks it can bully me.
"S-s-something is trying t-t-to get inside me."
Flicking the meter my way, Celia gasps as the needle flies off the charts. She grabs my hand and says, "You don't know how to channel a spirit, Kendall. Don't do it. You've got to do everything you can to kick this guy out."
I muster up my mental strength, seeing myself as a Herculean woman of