Read Online Ghouls Gone Wild by Victoria Laurie - Free Book Online

was like some sort of smoky shadow just flew by the camera.”
    “What’d it look like exactly?” I asked.
    “It didn’t really look like anything. It was sort of like a big blob of dark mist moving through the air really fast.”
    “And it’s gone now?”
    “It is,” Gilley confirmed.
    “Okay,” I said, returning to trying to mount the camera. “Let me know if it comes back.”
    I’d just gotten those words out of my mouth when both Gilley and Gopher shouted, “Whoa!” in my ear.
    I winced just like Heath had and dropped the camera. “Hey,” I yelled. “Volume, guys!”
    “M. J.!” Gilley squealed. “The shadow!”
    “Is it back?”
    “Yes and no,” Gil said, his voice holding a tremor.
    “What does that mean?”
    “Yes, it’s back, but it’s not back in front of camera one. It’s hovering right in front of camera two!”
    The hair on the back of my neck prickled and a chill raced up my spine. “It’s on the move?” I asked.
    “Well, if by ‘on the move’ you mean it went from camera one to camera two, then yes, but right now it seems to be holding steady right in front of . . . oh . . . wait! There it goes again! Okay, it flew off and out of sight.”
    I eyed Heath, who was looking dully at me and holding his right arm out at an odd angle. “What’s wrong with your arm?” I asked him, momentarily forgetting about the camera and the shadow.
    “My armpit hurts,” he said. “And I feel like crap.”
    I set the camera on my duffel and moved over to him. Taking him by the arm, I coaxed him over to a small boulder and sat him down. I felt his forehead again, which was even hotter than before. “Honey, we’re gonna have to get you out of here and into bed.”
    Heath nodded and began to tug at his sweater and then his shirt. “My armpit really hurts,” he said. I helped him raise his clothing and the moment he had it up to his chin, I sucked in a breath. “What is it?” he asked me without any hint of alarm. “Is it swollen or something?”
    The area right under Heath’s arm was indeed swollen and a huge black boil emerged that was so ghastly-looking that I took a full step back. “Gilley,” I said into my microphone, forcing my voice to sound calm. “We have a situation down here. Heath’s in really bad shape. I think we need to get him out and to a hospital. Immediately.”
    But at that moment both Gilley and Gopher erupted in a fit of noise and shouts. For several seconds I couldn’t understand what they were yelling about, but then I clearly heard Gil say, “It’s at camera three! M. J.! It’s moving in your direction!”
    My heart began to race. Heath and I had laid six cameras along our route, which twisted and turned along the main corridor of the close. If the shadow that was making its way along the tunnel was in fact following our trail, it was only about three hundred yards behind us.
    “What’s it doing?” I demanded. The shadow was obviously a spook, but at this moment I didn’t know how powerful a spook it was, and I had Heath to worry about.
    “It’s just hovering,” Gilley whispered. “It’s like it’s looking right at us!”
    “How big is it?”
    “Full-body size.”
    “Is there any clarity to the shape?”
    “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Gil moaned.
    “Try me.”
    “It looks like a woman riding a broom,” Gopher said. “M. J., it looks like the ghost of a witch!”
    I closed my eyes and held my breath. That was the last thing I wanted to hear. “Rigella,” I whispered.
    Gilley said nothing, but I knew him well enough to know he was thinking the same thing. After taking a quick moment to gather my courage, I opened my eyes again and squatted down to rummage through my duffel. “Gil, tell me the moment she moves away from camera three,” I said urgently.
    “Roger,” Gil said.
    After digging through my bag, I located the map of the close we’d each been given, and inspected it. I had my grenade and fully intended to use