Voices From Beyond (A Ghost Finders Novel) by Simon R. Green Read Free Book Online

into the camera for the first time.
    “We’ve moved,” she said, almost defiantly. “Had no choice. Got out, while we still could. I burned the Ouija board before we left. Apparently, it’s been quiet in the house ever since. But I wouldn’t trust it. And God help whatever family moves in.”
    She disappeared from the screen, replaced by a tight shot on Isobel Hardestry. From the change of light behind her, it was obvious some time had passed.
    “I also talked to the local priest, Father Callahan.”
    He turned out to be a surprisingly young man, barely into his twenties. Calm and relaxed, not obviously concerned.
    “Yes,” he said. “I was called in, by the family. To examine the house and the situation. Nothing happened while I was there.”
    “Did you perform an exorcism, Father Callahan?”
    “No,” said the priest, a little condescendingly. “I would have to ask permission from my bishop first, before I could take on such a thing. And there really wasn’t anything I could take to him to justify such an extreme response.”
    “And you didn’t . . . feel anything?” said the reporter, clearly doing her best to encourage him without leading him.
    “I didn’t say that,” said the priest. “I did feel a certain . . . presence, in the house.”
    “What kind of presence, Father Callahan?”
    “Malignant.”
    The two-shot disappeared, replaced by a close-up of the reporter’s face. She smiled bravely into the camera.
    “The Perrins are gone. A new family lives in the house now, and they . . . have nothing disturbing to report. What really happened here? I don’t suppose we’ll ever know, for sure. But whatever it was, I think we can safely say, it’s over.”
    The television screen went blank. Happy sniffed loudly.
    “Just as well they didn’t try an exorcism. Would have been like trying to put out a raging inferno with a water-pistol.”
    “Whatever came through the dimensional door must have retreated back to its own world, once the house was empty, and there was no-one left to play with,” said JC. “But the door didn’t close completely. It stayed a little ajar; perhaps merely the potential of a door . . . Until the professor’s séance blasted it wide open again. And now, I think Something that has been waiting on the other side of that door for all these years . . . has come through again.”
    “What sort of Something?” asked the professor. “And why did it take my students’ . . . minds?”
    He couldn’t bring himself to say the word
souls
.
    “Because it could,” said JC. “Because it’s hungry. Perhaps because it likes to play. Depends on what it is we’re dealing with here.”
    “Are we talking about some kind of ghost?” said the professor.
    “If we’re lucky,” said JC.
    “And if we’re not?”
    “It’s a Beast,” said Happy.
    “Something from the Outer Rim,” said Melody. “The furthest reaches of existence, the most extreme dimensions, where Life, or something like it, takes on powerful and disturbing forms. Spiritual monsters; terrible abstracts given shape and form and appalling appetites.”
    The professor looked like he wanted to say something scathing but couldn’t bring himself to. The atmosphere in the room wouldn’t let him.
    JC looked steadily at the upturned plastic cup, still holding resolutely still on the Ouija board. He prodded the cup carefully with one fingertip; and it scraped noisily across the wooden board, unresisting. JC raised his head, and addressed the room outside the circle of Melody’s spotlights.
    “Hello!” he said loudly. “We are the pros from the Carnacki Institute! Who are you?”
    The television turned itself back on. A thick grey fog filled the screen, twisting and curling; while a heavy buzzing static blasted from the speakers.
    “Okay,” said Melody. “That wasn’t me. Did any of you touch the remote? Of course you didn’t. Ah, that’s interesting . . . According to my instruments, there’s no incoming