Ashes to Ashes (Experiment in Terror #8) by Karina Halle Page A

mean,
interview them and such. I think we would need permission for that.
On camera, of course. Off camera I think it’s fine.”
    “ But doesn’t
the school care if the school—or their kids—are being featured in a
ghost hunting show? That’s bound to scare a lot of the parents,
isn’t it?” I asked. I know I’d be concerned.
    She leaned forward, her hair
swinging in her face. “Davenport doesn’t care. She’s been wanting
to build a brand new school since the other one burnt down. As far
as she’s concerned, she doesn’t care if parents get scared. It will
only make them want a better school, the one she thinks we
deserve.”
    “ And what do
you think?” Rebecca asked.
    Brenna’s eyes darted around the
room. “I’d have to agree. I need this job though and I can’t chance
getting hired elsewhere. If we could move, I would be a lot
happier.”
    At least it explained why they
were so willing to go on camera. Still, with that amount of
determination and attention, a part of me wondered if the whole
thing wasn’t exaggerated a little. Perhaps the little boy and his
bouncing ball were a fake, perhaps we’d already been lied to.
Perhaps there were no ghosts, just a faculty who really wanted a
new school.
    I looked quickly at Rebecca and
I could see from the skeptical raise to her forehead that she was
thinking the same thing. It was better to start treating this
episode with a side of caution.
    It wasn’t long before Dex came
trotting back into the room with his camera in hand. His eyes were
dancing, his body buzzing with adrenaline. “Get this,” he said,
raising his camera up and flipping the viewfinder around for us to
see. He pressed play, and as our four heads all converged around
the screen, we watched as he filmed the ground, a paper plane lying
at his feet. He picked it up and then aimed the camera up to the
roof of the building. Within seconds, another paper plane came
sailing down, barely visible against the foggy sky before it
drifted lazily on an air current.
    “ There were
only two planes,” he said, placing the camera down and pulling one
of the paper planes out of his pocket, rubbing it between his
fingers. “But still, I think that’s got to count for something.” He
looked at Brenna. “Does anyone have access to the roof?”
    She didn’t look shocked. “Just
the custodian. I can get the keys. It’s locked for safety
reasons.”
    “ So then it
had to be a ghost,” he said.
    “ Unless the
custodian’s taken up a new hobby,” Rebecca said, though I knew what
she was thinking. Davenport herself or even Kelly could be up on
the roof, tossing paper planes over the side, knowing they’d
provide a pretty good show. “Brenna was just telling us that Ms.
Davenport doesn’t mind if the school is featured on the show
because they’re hoping the parents will want to move their kids
into a newer school.” She stared hard at Dex, trying to pass on the
message without saying anything more.
    “ Oh,” he said.
He looked at Brenna. “Tell me, sweetcheeks, you wouldn’t happen to
be pulling our leg about the whole ghost shit in order to get a new
school, now would ya?” Leave it to Dex to be so direct. I knew for
a fact that his bullshitting tolerance was pretty damn
low.
    Brenna’s mouth turned
down, her eyes becoming rounder. “No. No, not at all. This is all
real. And it’s only happening to me. No one else. They all feel it,
they all believe me, but they don’t see it like I do. In fact, it’s
gotten worse since I got here, at least that’s what some of the
assholes here say, like it’s my fucking—sorry—my damn ,
fault. But I’m still the only one who gets haunted here. Me and a
few students.”
    “ Jody,” Dex
said slowly.
    She nodded fervently. “Yes,
Jody. They love her. Kyle too.” She stopped and looked at me. “You
have to believe me, this is happening. I want to leave. I want to
go to the new school. And if you guys can’t make the haunting stop,
then at