The Haunting Season by Michelle Muto Read Free Book Online

table.
    He paused and swiped at his mouth as though brushing away the words he probably wanted to say. “A car door slammed in the driveway, which meant my sister was home from her date. She was an hour late and I knew she was going to be next. She’s sixteen—almost two years younger than me. Dad had set her curfew at nine. Not that it mattered. Even when she came home on time, Dad would give her a hard time about stuff. It was worse if she had a date. He’d ask her all sorts of questions. Except they were more accusations than questions.
    “Anyway, Dad stormed down the hall, ready to give her hell. I ran after him, hating him even more than usual and wishing he’d just go—that he’d leave us and never come back. I wished it with all my might.”
    Bryan tensed and the tendons in his neck began to stand out. “I’d had it, you know? I’d just reached my limit with him. I swore then that he’d never lay a hand on any of us again. Never! So, I grabbed a baseball bat I’d hidden in my room, and I ran downstairs.
    He paused, cracking the knuckles of his left hand. He shifted his eyes down to the table again, not looking at anyone.
    “He was screaming at my sister before she’d even walked in the door, threatening to teach her a lesson about coming home when she was told.” Bryan gave a cynical laugh. “Like he didn’t stay out until all hours, or not come home for days without an explanation. In fact, he’d get pissed if any of us asked where he’d been. Anyway, I had the bat in my hand when I got downstairs. But he wasn’t in the living room like I’d expected. I thought maybe he’d gone out the front door after my sister. But when I got outside, he wasn’t there either, and my sister was asking if I’d done something to him. I told her I hadn’t.”
    Bryan raked a hand through his hair. “I was so sure he was hiding, waiting for us, but we searched the whole house—even the garage. His wallet and keys were still upstairs on the dresser. It was winter and he hadn’t taken a coat. I swear, it was like I wished it and he was... gone .”
    “You’re saying you made him disappear?” Gage asked. “As in poof , he’s gone?”
    “Yeah. That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
    Gage rubbed his chin. “Is there any chance he just bailed, like you wished for? Maybe he saw you with the bat and left through another door?”
    “If I hadn’t made other things disappear before and after that, and if he hadn’t left his wallet and keys behind, then yeah, I’d say you might be right,” Bryan replied. “I can’t control it, so don’t ask how it works. For whatever reason, it just happens, and not all the time. Before that night, I’d made a bottle of his whiskey disappear. Got knocked around good for that one. He swore I’d hidden the bottle and he wanted it back. But mostly, it’s been small stuff. Pens, books, shoes. I can’t do it all the time, either. Sometimes nothing happens, no matter how hard I concentrate. And I’d never made a person disappear before, or since. I guess I’m here because the cops put what I said about him vanishing into thin air in their report and all. Somehow, this agency Dr. Brandt mentioned got hold of the report or something. No idea. But, here I am.”
    Car keys , Jess thought, remembering the scene in the hallway when they’d first arrived.
    All eyes turned to Gage.
    Gage set his knife and fork down, and straightened. It looked like an attempt to appear more confident than actual arrogance. “My folks think I’m a necromancer,” he said with a simple, matter-of-fact shrug. “They, um…think I can bring back the dead.”
    Jess’s breath caught. Gage had everyone’s attention, and why not? He had to be lying.
    But, what if he could? Could he bring back her father? Grams?
    No one could bring back the dead. Still, who wouldn’t want the chance to bring back someone they’d lost?
    Dr. Brandt shifted in his chair, hanging on to Gage’s words, probably aware that