Part 22 (1/2)

”They were probably just waiting for our megawatt magnets to leave the area.”

”At least the phantom's been keeping a safe distance.”

”Let's hope it lasts,” he said.

But it didn't.

Just as I was beginning to relax a little, Heath and I rounded the corner of the last group of stairs and came face-to-face with one p.i.s.sed-off poltergeist.

Chapter 11.

”Jesus!” I shouted, and took a step backward, b.u.mping right into Heath. My body knocked him off-balance and he fell back hard onto the stone stairs, howling in pain.

Meanwhile the phantom itself backed up ten yards from us, hissing like a giant angry cobra before growling and spitting in our direction. I was so scared that I clambered past Heath, back up the stairs and s.h.i.+vered, closing my eyes and attempting to push away the images starting to creep into my mind.

Heath continued to arch his back and moan. ”Son of a b.i.t.c.h!” he hissed.

And I think that was what snapped my attention away from my own fears-hearing Heath in pain got me to realize that he was actually seriously hurt. Trembling, I inched my way down the stairs to him. He was curled over onto his side, clutching the stair. His flashlight lay next to him and I could see that several of the loose spikes we'd put into his backpack had pierced the canvas and had actually punctured his skin.

”OhmiG.o.d!” I said, hurrying to undo the buckles and get the backpack off him.

”Don't!” he cried, his eyes tightly closed and his face pale. ”Wait until it leaves!”

I eyed the phantom nervously. It had moved even farther away from us, but it was pacing again like a caged animal, hissing and growling and spitting in our direction. I wanted to cower in fear and shrink away, but a voice came into my head, loud and clear.

Help him, M. J. Help my grandson to safety.

Sam's presence in my mind gave me courage. As carefully as I could, I eased the zipper on Heath's backpack open and took out a handful of spikes. ”Jesus!” ”Jesus!” he gasped when I rattled them. he gasped when I rattled them.

”Hold on, honey,” I whispered urgently. ”I need these to get us out of here.”

As I removed the spikes, I held them over my head and stood up. The phantom stopped pacing and considered me before it darted forward several feet. I threw several of the spikes right at it and it howled and whirled away. ”Stay back!” I shouted. ”Stay away from us, you polluted piece of ectoplasm, or I'll dump the entire backpack of spikes on you!”

The phantom moved beyond the spikes I'd thrown, which gave us a little more room to maneuver. ”We have to get you out of here!” I told Heath, coming back to crouch at his side.

His jaw was clenched and he was in so much pain he was making a hissing sound through his teeth. ”It's blocking the way out!” he groaned, looking just beyond the phantom.

I turned my head with dread, and realized the phantom had gone back to pacing again, right in front of the only way out. ”Where's the blueprint?” I asked quickly.

Heath sucked in a breath and moved his hand to his back pocket with a small grunt of pain. I stopped his hand and moved my own into his pocket. With great care I removed the map, unfolded it, and held it under the beam of the flashlight. ”There!” I said, pointing to the back of the castle where we'd seen the phantom pacing in front of the door. ”There's a door at the back of the church! We can get to the church from here, then out the back, and make a run for the stairs.”

”Christ, M. J.!” Heath said, his teeth still clenched. ”I don't think I can walk, let alone run!”

I eyed the phantom again and made a decision. ”Your backpack has got to come off, sweetheart,” I said, my fingers flying over the buckles. He tried to protest, but I glared hard at him and shook my head. ”Trust me!”

When the last buckle was undone, I s.h.i.+mmied out of my sweats.h.i.+rt and tied the sleeves gently around his neck with the bulk of the s.h.i.+rt hanging in front of him so as not to lie against his back.

I then eased the backpack off his shoulders and got one arm through the strap when the phantom suddenly darted forward again. I gasped and reached for a spike to hurtle at the approaching menace. The phantom flinched and backed up to resume its spitting and snarling thing.

I decided then that instead of wearing the backpack, I would hold on to it, and throw spikes at the phantom as needed, because I was fairly certain it planned to follow us. ”Let's go,” I said, and eased Heath's arm over my shoulders.

He got up with a m.u.f.fled cry and walked hunched over next to me as we moved away from the stairs.

The phantom sank low to the ground like a crouching tiger, and I did my best to hold my fear at bay. I decided to fight fire with fire and dug into the backpack. ”Take that, you flimsy demon!” I yelled, throwing a few spikes at it.

Each time a spike came near the phantom, it darted to the side, spitting and growling and curling up into a ball, but then it would unfold, zip around the spike and continue to stalk us.

We moved as quickly as Heath's injury would allow, which wasn't nearly as fast as I wanted to go, but we finally got to the church and eased inside. In the hallway leading to the church the phantom's snarl became more enraged, but my continual tossing of spikes kept it at bay.

As we moved deeper into the church, the phantom stopped stalking us; instead it remained just beyond the doorway, hissing and growling and making a h.e.l.l of a racket.

”Why isn't it following us inside?” Heath said through clenched teeth.

”I don't know,” I admitted, watching it cautiously. We continued to the back of the small chapel and the phantom appeared to grow more and more agitated the farther away we got, but it made no further move to approach us, even though I was sure the range of our magnets no longer extended to it out in the hallway.

A sudden thought occurred to me as I looked around the church, and I had a theory about why it wasn't approaching. ”It's the chapel!” I said. ”We're in a holy place of wors.h.i.+p, and that thing can't come in here!”

Heath stopped, which forced me to stop too. ”If that's the case, can I sit for a second?”

”Oh, G.o.d!” I said, easing him over to one of the stone pews. ”Of course. Sit here for a minute and let me see your back.”

Heath sat down and I slung the backpack over my shoulder, then held the flashlight up and lifted his coat to pull his s.h.i.+rttail out of his jeans. ”Easy!” he begged.

I moved as slowly as I dared and pulled up the s.h.i.+rt, exposing his back. I sucked in a breath at the sight.

”Is it bad?”

One of the spikes had punctured a hole right into the bone of his spine, and I was convinced that was the one that was causing the most pain, but much of the middle of his back was bruised and held small wounds as well. From the main wound he was bleeding badly, and I was very worried about him losing too much blood, even though I knew he was lucky the one spike hadn't severed his spinal column. ”It's not good,” I told him truthfully.

”It hurts like a b.i.t.c.h.”

”I'll bet.” I lowered his s.h.i.+rt and came around to face him. ”We need to get you out of here and we need to do it soon.”

”That bad?”

”Like I said, it ain't good.”

Heath nodded. ”Okay. I'm ready when you are.”

I looked over my shoulder and realized that the phantom was gone. ”Uh-oh,” I whispered.

”What?”