I don't know if it was a coincidence or just dumb luck, but when I held my necklace, closed my eyes, and focused on summoning a spirit—any spirit—I was blessed with a response. I felt the air around me fill with faces that I didn't recognize. The faces spun around me, their mouths opening and closing as if to complain at me for summoning them. At least I didn't force them back into their corpses.
"Stop!" I screeched, and the many faces seemed to freeze, though their eyes fixed me in their cold stares. "Are all of you from Lyle House?" I only got a couple of nods in response, but it was enough for me. "Dr. Davidoff had many names, but for all of you, he only has one: death." I pointed over at the man who was so concentrated on using his powers against my friend. All of the faces turned, and I watched as their eyes filled with hatred. All of the ghosts swirled around Dr. Davidoff, though the only thing that he noticed was a slight breeze ruffle his oh-so-neat brown suit.
The tiles under the desk started to quiver as something that looked like a white stick poked through a spot where the tile was uneven. Several more of the little sticks popped up, and they wiggled as they tried desperately to grab a hold of the flooring. It was then that I realized it wasn't a bunch of sticks—it was bone.
I was the only one who noticed. I guess Casey was too busy trying to shield himself from the several objects that Dr. Davidoff—or Dr. Johnston—was sending flying through the air at him. Dr. Davidoff seemed to be finally noticing that the ghosts surrounding him were more than just a breeze of cold air. I knew that the ghosts couldn't do too much damage to him, but a zombie might be a whole different story. I leaped to the floor and started prying the three by three foot stone from the flooring. The first couple of attempts got me nowhere, but as I closed my eyes and willed it to come off, the stone seemed to fly off of the floor. I tossed it to the side and started digging through the thick layer of dirt that was blocking the corpse from freedom. I reared back when the whole hand broke through and grabbed my own wrist. It immediately let me go as a second hand started to break through the surface. It seemed like only a matter of seconds and the head appeared out of the clawed dirt.
I started backing away as the ivory-white skull dislodged itself from its earthen prison, revealing bare shoulders. This zombie must've been there much longer than the others, since there was no skin or hair left on its face. I was about to go back and help it the rest of the way when I was hit in the back of my own head with something hard. It didn't take two seconds for me to black out.
Though it felt like I slept forever, my passing out only lasted about two minutes. I opened my eyes and sat up, feeling the back of my now blood-streaked neck. I looked down to see a stapler lying on its side only a few feet away. I gradually began to remember where I was. I jumped up, expecting to see Casey lying dead on the floor somewhere. However, the cards were much more in my favor than I had expected.
Casey was crouched in a corner, trying to tear pieces of his shirt to soak up the blood from his multiple wounds. He was hurt, but he was definitely not dead. I glanced at the other side of the room to see Dr. Davidoff being taunted by the spirits I had summoned. He was able to see nothing, but I watched intently as the spirits grabbed and tore of pieces of his clothing, or slapped him across the face. I even thought I saw Brady in the mix off spirits, though they were all moving too much for me to be completely sure. The ghosts' rage seemed violent, and I suspected that they were the souls of the kids before me who were put into Lyle House and never returned to their normal lives. I wouldn't have been surprised if it had been Dr. Davidoff himself who somehow slaughtered these innocent victims.
"Casey, we need to get the safe and get out of here." I said, my voice stunningly calm for our situation. Casey nodded and stood up, wiping some of the sweat from his brow. I was about to start trying to wrench the stupid safe from the wall when something clung to my shawl. I spun on my heels to see the zombie that I raised at my feet, trying to grab me to help itself stand. "Stop." I commanded. It stayed on its knees, as if frozen by my words.
"What the--" I heard Casey say, but it was drowned out by the sound of running from above. God, please don't let it be Mrs. Enright or some other whack-job. I prayed to myself. I nearly hugged Tori when she came down the ladder so fast that it seemed like she had just flown down. Her face twisted with confusion when she saw Dr. Davidoff batting his hands at what she saw as just empty air. She turned to me and her face turned pale when she saw the zombie at my feet, though unlike all of the other times, she managed to hold in her screams of fright. I could tell she wanted an explanation for everything, but there was no way that that was going to happen.
"Ignore it." I said as she turned her head up to me, her eyes full of anxiety. "Can you blast the wall or something? Anything that will get this stupid thing out of here." Tori looked at the spot where the paint had been scratched and a slick black surface was now in view.
"I'll try." Tori said, motioning for me to step back. I gladly did so and watched nervously as she flung her wrist several times, each time resulting in a hole in the wall even larger than the last. Finally, there was barely anything holding the files up, and I was able to wrench it from the plaster wall. "Simon's started spreading the gasoline." Tori said, meaning that we needed to get out of there fast.
"What about Derek and your mom?" I asked.
"We put my mom under a sleeping spell and put her outside where she won't get burned," Tori answered "and Derek's following Simon. Now lets get out of here." I didn't need anymore coaxing.
I held the surprisingly heavy safe as I ran to the ladder. "Are you going to be able to get up alright?" I asked Casey as he wiped some blood from his cheek where glass had buried itself in his soft flesh.
"Yeah." He grunted, his voice even more raspy than usual as he grabbed the wrings of the ladder. I looked back nervously and realized that I couldn't see Dr. Davidoff or the spirits anymore. Everything seemed so quiet, so still. I knew there was something wrong. "Chloe?" Casey called from the next floor.
"You go ahead, I'll be right there." I shouted up. I knew Tori and Casey wouldn't be satisfied with my answer, but it was the only thing I could think of to say. My eyes darted from corner to corner of the office, looking for Dr. Davidoff.
"Chloe! We need to get out of here!" Tori yelled from above. I regretfully turned back to the ladder. "Pass me the safe!" Tori shouted, and I tried to toss the small but heavy safe up to her. She didn't catch it, but she must've learned some kind of new spell from Simon, since it seemed to float right into her awaiting arms. I started climbing the ladder, trying to focus on the next wring rather than my worries. That's when I felt freezing fingers wrap around my bare ankle.
I flailed my right leg, hoping that my heel would dig into Dr. Davidoff's face. I saw the absolute madness in his eyes and knew that there was no way he was going to let me go. He gave one yank that nearly made me fall, but I was thankfully able to hold on with one hand. I looked behind my shoulder and caught a glimpse of the corpse that I had raised then completely forgot about. I knew exactly what to do.
"Stand up!" I screamed, causing Dr. Davidoff to look around just long enough for me to get my foot out of his grasp and kick him hard in the back of the head. He stumbled backwards, clutching his head, but he remained standing. The look of anger in his eyes only increased. "Attack!" I yelled, holding onto the ladder for dear life. I was surprised by the speed of the undead corpse (or maybe skeleton would be a better word) as it ran at Dr. Davidoff; it's bony arms flailing. Dr. Davidoff immediately threw a punch, but the skeleton ducked and ran into his waist, knocking him into the wall. It was almost funny watching the two brawl. It was like the living and the dead were engaged in a football game. I hated to leave, but Tori and Casey were still calling me, and this was my opportune moment to run, so I took it.