Came Back Haunted (Experiment in Terror #10) - Karina Halle Page 0,121
whatever. As you said, can’t help what you’re born to do.” She bites her lip. “Sorry again for getting you in your ginger balls, Ginger Balls.”
I bring my eyes off of them and look at Lana, who is watching us curiously.
“And thank you,” I say to her. “Though I don’t really know what you did…”
Lana gives me a mysterious smile. “I did enough,” she says. “Enough to help, anyway. I was actually hoping that Samantha would have made it out too, I could have banished her for good.”
“So what happens to her now?”
“She’ll stay in this house.”
“Still cursed?”
She frowns. “I’m not sure. I don’t know where Ada sent that demon. If she sent the demon to Hell, to the deepest layers, it won’t be back. Samantha will still be dead, still in this house, but I don’t think she’ll be on a leash anymore.”
I’m not sure how I feel about that. A curse is an awful thing, but Samantha was also the one who decided to chop up her husband, as abusive as he was. Was she ever really trying to help me, or was she trying to use me from the start? I guess I’ll never know.
“Okay, so now can we go to the bar?” Ada asks, adjusting the neckline of her top.
“Fuck yes,” Max says emphatically. “You have no idea how badly I want a drink.”
“I can imagine,” Lana comments. “But if you don’t mind, I’m going to go home. I’m tuckered out from all that and I need to recharge my crystals overnight.”
We walk out of the basement and into the house, and the place already feels different. I have no doubt that there are a lot of souls trapped in this house, in fact we saw them on Halloween, but the evil is gone. It feels lighter, cleaner, like the air from the real world, from the outside, is finally flowing through it.
I open the door and step onto the porch, Lana by my side.
I turn to look behind me, to see Ada walk through the door.
Then Max.
He stands there on the other side, staring at us, then past us, into the world.
He steps over the threshold.
And grins, smile lines at the corners of his eyes. “We fucking did it.”
If he says anything about the gang being back together again, kick him in the shin, Dex tells me.
Tell him yourself. We’re almost at the car.
Fuck this, I’m leaving now.
And just like that I feel Dex leave my body. The movement is so rapid that I sway on my feet a little.
“You okay?” Ada asks me, hand on my arm.
I nod. “Dex just—”
On the street, the car door opens and Dex steps out of the passenger seat, adjusting the newsboy cap on his head. “Are we going to the fucking bar or what?” he yells up at us.
Max lets out a whoop and hurries down the steps, Ada following him.
I grin and look over at Lana next to me, expecting her to find this all amusing, even if she’s not a part of our crew. But her attention is elsewhere
I follow her eyes to see what she’s looking at.
At the street corner, under the light, in the rain, is Atlas Poe.
He’s staring right at Lana.
She’s staring right at him.
“That’s—” I begin.
“I know,” she says, cutting me off.
Then Atlas quickly turns and walks off into the darkness.
Gone.
I have to say, I feel sorry for the guy.
I nudge Lana with my elbow. “Are you going to be okay?”
She blinks and then looks at me. “Yeah. I’ll be fine.” Then she turns to me. “I’m really proud of you, you know? Not just as your doctor, but as a friend. You did good. You all did. You’re lucky to have these people in your life.”
“I know,” I tell her.
I really am.
“Do we still have an appointment next week?” she asks as we head down the steps. “I know you’re going to Hawaii next month.”
“Next month is in a week,” I say with a groan. “Time flies. It’s going to be 2018 already.”
“Might be your best year yet,” she says. “It certainly sounds like it’s starting off great. I’m jealous of all the sunshine you’ll get.”
“We’ll see if I spend most of the trip with a sunburn,” I tell her. “Might still be worth it though.”
She grins at me.
“Take care, Perry,” she says, giving me a wink before walking off to her car, her coat flowing behind her.
I wipe the rain from my face and then hurry over to the Highlander