Revival: The Fifth Shadow, #2

By Alison Ashley

Murder

Mystery

Forbidden love

 

The last time Katie meddled with the paranormal, her best friend ended up dead, so there's no way she's getting involved in all that again. Yet how can she ignore the spirit currently haunting her when it has the ability to possess her body? The spirit leads her to the past where he reveals who took his life, and Katie must react before anyone else dies at this killer's hand.

Finally caught out, the killer feels there is only one option left. Who will die next?

            Riley, Katie's new and forbidden boyfriend, has the ability to heal. Can he save the latest victim? But his ability comes at a high price and no matter what, someone will die.

 

Revival is the second in the fifth shadow series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Warrambucca Books
• Release date: Aug 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201061524

Book preview

Prologue

I killed Zac. My best friend, dead, because I stupidly meddled with the paranormal. Of course, no one could prove it – at the time my best friend died, I was on the other side of the world and in a different decade. Ally and Jack still blame themselves, but it wasn’t their fault.

Regardless of whose fault it was, I realised that my dad’s ban on me messing with the supernatural had a genuine reason, but how was I supposed to stop the supernatural messing with me? 

I gazed in despair as the brilliant ball of red light burst yet again from the inkwell in my ancient desk and began zipping around me, sending shivers up and down my spine. It started yesterday on my first day at Trinnington, and at first I wondered if it was Zac’s spirit. I sort of hoped it was but when I thought about it, there’d been something haunting the school on open day, and Zac was still alive then.

I pulled my focus back to the board my Maths teacher was madly writing on. I’d been sent to the headmistress’s office yesterday because of the disruption I’d caused, so I was determined to ignore the orb. But the powerful and tart scent of lime began to leach into the ether and my resolve was weakened. Ally’s arm shuddered beside me and I glanced at her, wondering if she’d smelt it too. But she was busy gouging her name in her desk lid with a pair of compasses, her face drawn in grim concentration.

If she could sense anything, she was hiding it well, but that didn’t surprise me. Like Dad, she had always been against this stuff and since Zac died, she’d seemingly blocked her psychic ability. Even her mind, which I used to be able to see into, was now closed off.

Something cold dripped onto my skirt and I shrieked in horror at the thin trail of ectoplasm creeping down the sloped lid of my desk. I leapt to my feet and everyone in class pivoted to see what the fuss was about, but of course they couldn’t see anything. My classmates burst into loud, mocking laughter and my cheeks burned scarlet.

I so desperately wanted to be normal and wished I had Ally’s resolve, but even though it was scary, this stuff was fascinating, and the more I secretly read about it, the more intrigued I became.

Was this orb spirit here because it was part of me, or my past, or was it a student here when it had passed away? Or maybe it had actually died at school and wanted me to do something, investigate its death to prevent another accident?  

Now, I realised, it was too late to try and stop it. Each time it materialised it seemed stronger, and I had a feeling that whatever it was that had found me, wasn’t going to let me go. 

1

Miss Stewart! Mr Brennan’s voice seemed to come from a million miles away at the front of the class, but I knew he was talking to me. Mrs Redmond’s office.

No, please, I said, fumbling for my chair. Not again.

He pointed at the door, his bulbous nose twitching in anger. Now! 

Good luck, Riley whispered from his seat by the open window. Don’t let her intimidate you.

As far as I could tell, the only good thing about this ancient, haunted school, apart from my twin, was Riley. Riley never laughed at me. I forced a smile then negotiated the outstretched feet and scattered backpacks to the mud-stained doorway, only tripping when I reached Sarah’s desk by the exit.

You are such a child, Sarah said, quickly hiding the doodles in her workbook.

And you’re not?

I fumbled with the dressing strip bunched on my blistered heel and limped into the corridor, the door easing closed behind me. Between the orb, Brennan, Redmond and Connor Newton, my life at Trinnington was hell. Connor had supposedly left class because of gastro just minutes before the orb started its tricks, so at least he couldn’t make fun of me for that, but I didn’t like the way he was loitering halfway along the sloped walkway ahead of me. He had his back to the glass wall, trying to hide the fire extinguisher, but it was as visible in the reflection as Redmond’s scarlet hair was in her office.

Hello, Skippy, Connor sneered as I passed him. 

I eyed him warily and hobbled towards the headmistress’ office. I grudgingly straightened my grey and pink uniform in the spy mirror in Redmond’s door and raised my fist. 

What now? Mrs Redmond demanded before I’d knocked.

I hesitantly opened the door onto the musty stink of mothballs reminiscent of my grandad Freddie’s bedroom and ducked to tie my shoelace. That way the headmistress couldn’t see the birthmark in my eye and mightn’t know if it was me or Ally.

Don’t try the ‘I’m my twin’ trick on me, she said, slamming papers onto the desk. Her lips stretched over her teeth when she sucked a breath in, as if they were too small for her mouth, and her hollow cheeks clung to her cheekbones as if they feared they’d disappear completely. It made it look as if her face would cave in. For someone so gaunt, she was incredibly overbearing, and her appearance didn’t seem to match her personality. I couldn’t work her out at all. You’re nothing alike.

So unalike that Brennan called me Miss Stewart rather than get my name wrong? But maybe I should straighten my hair like Ally’s.

Answer me!

My ear, still sore from the flight, pulsed painfully and her rage scared me. What if she spontaneously combusted and burned to just a pile of ashes?! I’d read of really freaky cases where people suddenly caught fire, leaving just a hand or foot and nothing else, yet whatever surrounded them was untouched. Which bit would be left if Redmond did combust? What if she came back as a ghost? The live version was bad enough.

I tried telling you yesterday, I said. My desk is haunted.

Silence! Her anger bit a hole in the air.

But it’s the truth!

You will stay in at lunchtime for the rest of the week and sandpaper the desk lids. She stood up and leaned across the desk, cloaking me with a mix of stale cigarettes and mint-infused breath. And once you have finished that, you can stay behind after school and varnish them!

But I catch the school coach.

Get out! She pointed behind me. AND PULL YOUR SOCKS UP.

I yanked my disgusting grey socks to my knees and headed back towards the classroom. Tatty wood and metal chairs were stacked against the wall of Main Hall, and I doubted anything in this dump had been updated since Dad had been a student here. The Upper School Annex in the portable classrooms to the side of the carpark had lockers, but the rest of us had to make do with the storage space in those hideous desks. I don’t think many used them though as they weren’t lockable.

A stream of foam snaked across the floor and I followed the trail of wet footprints leading from the fire extinguisher to the classroom. Through the door window I could see Connor in his seat at the front of class, two seats away from Sarah. Both glanced up when I tried slinking in.

Come to collect your things? Sarah said.

Huh? I tried closing the door before the automatic arm would let it and it jammed open with a loud clunk. I glanced at Mr Brennan, but he was helping someone midway down the room with his back to me.

You have been suspended, haven’t you? Sarah muttered.

No! I forced the door closed and the folding arm snapped. I ducked as a screw hurtled to the ground.

But I would have thought.

You? Thinking? I snatched up the screw and dropped it on the teacher’s desk, grabbing the box of tissues at the same time. That’s a first.

Mr Brennan shot me a warning look over his shoulder.

The foam on your shoes is a dead giveaway, I said as I passed Connor’s desk. And how come sick bay didn’t send you home?

He farted.

Bit risky for someone with gastro, I remarked.

The look Connor gave me sent a chill through me and I hurried to the back of the class. I eased into my seat as quietly as I could so as not to disturb the orb.

How’d it go with the redhead? Ally asked.

Dad’ll kill me, I whispered. Got detention all week.

So what – it’s Friday.

A splinter of wood flicked onto my sleeve as she finished carving the tail of the y, her name revealing fresher wood in the worn timber.

Yeah, but what about today? I cautiously began mopping up the slime. I got no idea how to get home by public transport.

Apart from Riley, everyone else was talking or listening to their music. Riley was sprawled across his desk, his hair ruffling in a mesmerising shimmer of burgundy and gold in the cool breeze. I thought he might actually be asleep. Despite the chill, warmth seemed to radiate from him, wrapping me in a sense of calm. If only the others in class were more like him. 

The orb shot towards me, snapping my focus back. My desk lid flew open then slammed shut and a spiral of mist wrapped around me. Slimy ectoplasm dripping from my fingers made me woozy, like I wasn’t fully there. Sounds seemed to come from underwater, my hands even looked blurred.

Everyone turned at the noise and I fought back tears as Mr Brennan marched towards the back of class. He came within two desks to me then recoiled a little and quickly turned around and headed back to the board. Had he seen the slime? But then I became aware of a pager going off on his desk and sighed heavily at the distorted view of my surrounds. Everything about the rest of the class was as normal as it should be but everything about me was not.

I didn’t know why, and I didn’t know how to stop it. But I had a feeling I was time slipping. Again.

2

Ally scribbled on the corner of her workbook then gazed at me miserably as she twisted it to show me what she’d written. Make it stop!

I gaped at her and she shook her head, her eyes pleading.

"You can see it? I whispered. Maybe it’s here for both of us?"

Leave me out of it, she hissed. You’re the one attracting it, not me! 

What d’ya mean by that! I swirled the last remnants of ectoplasm onto the tissue then pressed it into the inkwell. You think I like this?

Any more disruption from the back of the class, Mr Brennan warned, and I’ll see to it that you both get an internal suspension.

Ally glowered at me and scribbled me another note. Ignore it!

How? I wrote back, but the lunch bell rang and she leapt to her feet before I had a chance to pass it to her.

Stay in with me, I begged. I can’t do detention with a poltergeist, I just can’t!

Sarah appeared beside her, and I knew instantly that she had heard by the way she rolled her eyes. 

Excuse my twin, Ally said, grimacing. She got all the strange genes.

They looked over their shoulders, giggling, as they headed towards the door, and my shoulders sagged. It was bad enough being a freak, but for my own twin to turn against me was shattering.

Only Riley was left in the classroom, stretching himself awake. Don’t s’pose you’d, um, stay in, you know, while I do my detention?

Can’t. He yawned. Guitar lesson.

I love guitar, I sighed. "Well, listening to it – you wouldn’t want to hear me play."

I pointed at his shirt tail when he stood and he tugged the front out as well, grinning.

You use the school coach, don’t you? He snatched the plastic shopping bag by his chair and books and lunch spilled through the torn side. If you get off at my stop we could have a jam session?

Go to his house? The thought made my cheeks burn. I crouched to help him clear up and to hide my annoying blush, but he’d captured me with those searching brown eyes and I couldn’t drag my focus away. I needed to close the door on the person inside me in case he found the real me – even though I wished I could share the truth about my reincarnation, I couldn’t risk scaring him away.

I got a bag you can borrow, I mumbled. Can bring it Monday?

Thanks! he said, dashing to the door. I gotta go. Oh here, catch.

He tossed me his apple, but I wasn’t sure if it was for me or to put in his desk. I put it in his desk, frowning. Why had I felt the need to block my mind from him; it wasn’t like he’d be able to see into it anyway. Was I really that paranoid that people would label me a freak? It was too late for that.

Footsteps, a thump, and then giggles echoed in the hallway outside and I guessed someone had slipped on the foam. I hoped it was karma getting Connor. Chatter, zips opening, lunchboxes snapping, coins tinkling to the ground – the hustle and bustle of the corridor magnified the silence of the empty classroom. I ran to the door.

Where do you think you’re going?

My heart plummeted as Mrs Redmond loomed in the doorway.

To um, I mumbled, trying to think of an excuse, get sandpaper?

Woodwork room at the end of the Art Wing, Redmond said, pointing. And don’t dilly-dally!

I sidestepped a guy in brown overalls mopping up the foam and dawdled to the Art Wing. The air was laden with the smell of linseed oil and I inhaled deeply, imagining days back home when Mum painted in her rusty corrugated iron studio. It was her way of filling the void left by Dad during his trips over here. I wished we were still there. Mum seemed more relaxed, and Dad, when he was there, was fun to be with, Zac was alive and my school wasn’t haunted. 

No students allowed at lunch or recess.

A prefect in upper-school black uniform startled me from my memory.

Redmond sent me for sandpaper.

Like I said, she outstretched her arms to block the corridor.

Well, you tell Redmond why I couldn’t get it, I stared at her prefect’s badge, Josephine Templestowe.

You might find some in the storeroom, she said, in the Sports’ Wing.

I retraced my steps and turned left at the side of Main Hall.

Two sets of changing rooms perforated the grey walls of the sports’ corridor but I couldn’t see a storeroom. I peered into the girls’ athletics change area on the random chance the storeroom was inside. In the dull yellow light, I could only just see beyond the damp-smelling entry alcove. A lone grey jumper sagged from a row of coat hooks above a slatted bench and condensation was thinning on the horizontal mirror along the far wall.

Above the annoying drip, plop, drip of a dripping tap I heard an ominous rasping of metal on metal. The sound set my teeth on edge. What on earth was it?

A glint of light momentarily lit the far shadows and I stiffened when I realised it was a pair of lethal-looking scissors. The woman holding them emerged from the gloom towards me, stepping over several more pairs scattered across a cloth on the floor. The sweet scent of jasmine grew stronger as she neared me.

My heart beat erratically and my chest suddenly felt constricted. I backed slowly down the passageway as the woman adjusted the blue shawl around her shoulders. She was muttering something, but I couldn’t make out her accent to know what she said. I gradually increased the distance between us until I was far enough to turn on my heels and run. Back into Main Hall, past Redmond’s door...

No running inside!

My feet braked as the door flung open and Redmond burst from her office.

You! I might have known! Where have you been?

Changing rooms! Woman – armed!

You’re not making any sense. Redmond shook her head irritably. And what were you doing down there?

Sandpaper?

I told you where to find sandpaper, yet you took it upon yourself to spy on my staff?

Staff? She’s dangerous!

How dare you interrupt me! She ushered me inside the next office. Mr Davies is on long-term sick leave so you can wait in his office until the end of lunch. She slammed the door and locked it.

What about my lunch! I yelled.

The window was high in the wall and covered in metal mesh so I couldn’t sneak out that way. There was no computer, and the phone didn’t have a dial tone or any lights to indicate it worked. I propelled myself in circles on the swivel chair until it got to the highest point and jammed and wouldn’t wind back down. I jumped off and tucked it underneath the desk, hoping Redmond wouldn’t notice when she let me out.

One wall was stacked with white and brown archive boxes labelled for each school year and I slid one off the top, bored. It contained personal files for students and, suddenly curious, I scanned the stack for the current records in the hope I could find some scandal on Connor. I bet he was expelled from other schools before he came here. But the most recent box wasn’t even from this century.

The stack nudged the wall as I returned the box.

Don’t poke your nose in where it doesn’t belong! Redmond yelled from her office next door.

What if there was something in the files Redmond didn’t want me to see? But I cancelled the thought. She wouldn’t have locked me in here with the records if she didn’t want me to find anything, surely? But then why had the thought even crossed my mind that she could be hiding something?

I really did need to stop over-thinking things!

I waved at the meshed window even though I knew I was too short to be seen from outside. In a flash of inspiration, I flicked the light on and off, but after a couple of minutes I sank to the floor and hugged my knees, staring at the archives. Would there be anything in them about the dead student?

I cursed myself for even thinking it. I was determined not to get involved.

Finally, a bell signified the end of lunch. I waited another couple of minutes before I realised that no one was coming. Jiggling the handle of the locked door didn’t work and my pleas for freedom were unanswered.

I upended the desk drawer in search of a spare key but all that fell out were pencil shavings, a broken ruler and crumbs. There wasn’t even a paperclip to force the lock. I glanced around to see if there was anything else that might help me pick the lock and the sight of the archive stack took my breath away. A box that had been wedged in the middle now stuck out by