Came Back Haunted (Experiment in Terror #10) - Karina Halle Page 0,76

to free her. Sometimes she’s not in my mind at all, but right in front of me. Screaming at me.”

I can barely swallow. “Can she…hurt you? Is she actually appearing before you?”

“I’m not sure if she can physically hurt me, if that’s what you’re asking, but she can project herself. She’s obviously projecting herself to you if you think she’s haunting you.”

“I just need to know if I’m in any danger.”

He opens his eyes and fixes his stare on me. “Has she made physical contact with you?”

I shake my head. “No. But she’s like…in the room. Like she can open doors, turn on a shower, that kind of thing.”

Atlas keeps staring at me for a moment, thinking. “I think you’d know if she could hurt you or touch you at this point. You might be okay. Still horribly traumatizing, but okay.”

“Perry can’t live like this,” Dex points out. “No one can, not even you. So how do we get rid of her for good?”

Atlas flinches, tea spilling over. He reaches over for a napkin and mops it up, shaking his head. “This is the problem. I don’t know how. I can’t get rid of her, and that’s when I want to. Most of the time, I won’t let you do it. I want you to free her, even if I know it’s a bad idea. Because she gets this control sometimes and…”

Basically, Atlas wants to help but at some point his mother will make him do what she wants.

“If we stay away from the house,” Dex says, “do you think she’ll lose interest in Perry?”

“Maybe. It’s worth a shot. I certainly never expect you two to go back there ever again. And that’s for the best.”

“Yeah, but the only problem is we have to go back to get Max out.”

Atlas’ eyes go wide. “Who the hell is Max?”

“You haven’t met Ginger Balls?” Dex asks. Then he shoots me a grin. “Finally, something we know that he doesn’t.”

“Maximus is a friend of ours,” I tell Atlas. “A friend that was dragged into Hell in exchange for saving our lives, and he happens to be in the house now.”

He shakes his head. “Fucking portal,” he swears. “It’s Samhain all the time in there.”

“We want to get him out,” I go on. “When we finally do, then we won’t come back.”

Atlas’ brows go up. “You think you can get him out?”

“We’re trying to figure that out,” Dex says. “Though you seem to think we can get your mother out.”

“Different story. Is your friend a witch?”

“No, he’s a Jacob.”

“I don’t know him.”

“Supernatural guardian for the gifted?” I say. “Neutral gatekeepers? Paranormal babysitters? Bunch of redheads?”

Atlas shrugs. “There’s a lot of different things out there that I’m not familiar with. Either way, if you think you can get him out, there’s no way you’ll be able to do it without my mother coming out too.”

His words fall on us like ashes, the diner seeming to go silent except for the steady rain outside. Jacob had said as much but it sounds worse coming from Atlas.

“Well, fuck,” Dex says, slumping back against the booth.

“Indeed,” says Atlas.

“But we have to try,” I say quietly. “Maybe we can do it in a way where she can’t.” I want to mention that Maximus was pretty adamant that he was safe in the smoking room in the basement, and that perhaps if Rose or whoever is able to open the Veil there, Samantha won’t know. But I don’t say that, because I know not to trust Atlas now. He said so himself, that his mother sometimes has control.

“Suit yourself,” Atlas says. “But just keep that in mind.”

“So now what?” Dex says. “The biggest issue here is your mother, Atlas. And what she wants with Perry.”

Atlas studies me. “I don’t know what she wants with Perry,” he says. “Maybe she’s trying to manipulate you the way she manipulates me. Maybe she’s trying to glamor you, or compel you.”

My heart thuds in my chest. “To do what?”

“Get her free?” He gives me a wan smile. “If it puts your mind at ease, she loves women. She hates men. I don’t see her wanting to harm you, a woman that she doesn’t know. It doesn’t make sense to me.”

But her demon thing, I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t mind slicing me up. And that thing is the one in control, apparently.

“None of this makes any fucking sense,” Dex says with a shake of his head. He glances up at Atlas. “But I have to