Possession Read Online Free Page B

reader? Of course he was
nuts—he was in a nuthouse—but
his crazy sounded less crazy than it
should. Did that mean I was nuts, too?
    “Not to worry, I can’t hear a thing you’re
thinking. You wouldn’t believe how weirded out people get around my kind.
They’re always worried we’ll pick up their deep, dark secrets.” He laughed, but
the laughter sounded strained. “Not that I haven’t picked a secret out here and
there in my time. If I told you all the things I’ve heard over the years…” He stopped
and seemed to catch himself. He stared at a spot over my shoulder for a long
time and then focused on me again; the stillness was jarring after his constant
movement. “If you’re a healer, you’re a young one. But it’s odd—I’ve
never known a Scottish healer to be put in a place like this. Normally the clans
can help their people. I hear some of your kind can take away mental pain, too,
not just physical pain.”
    He waited for me to say something in response. As
the silence stretched on, the twitch in his hand slowly increased.
    I’m a young
healer from a Scottish clan. If this guy’s right and clans usually help their
own kind, why am I here? Where’s my family? That last thought filled me with
an inconsolable sadness. Why was I
suddenly so sad? I forced myself to shake it off.
    Breaking the silence, I said the first thing that
came to mind. “So, Andrew… Have you been in here long?”
    “Six months, four days, and seventeen hours.” He
gave me a sheepish smile. “Not that I’m counting.”
    He lifted up a small packet of salt from his tray.
“You’ll have to be careful. See the salt?” He pointed to the packet tucked
under my plate. “At every meal, make sure you keep it. You need to get enough
of the stuff to sprinkle across your doorway and across the windowsill.”
    Trying to keep track of everything he was saying
was exhausting. Could I even believe any of it? “Sorry, I’m supposed to do what
with the salt?”
    “You use it to keep the spirits out.” He touched
the pouch around his neck. “This thing is great at blocking the thoughts of the
living, but it doesn’t work at all when it comes to keeping out the dead.” He
lifted up the salt packet and gave me a salute with it. “Ghosts, my young
friend. The place is chock-full of them. They don’t often come out in the daytime.”
He looked around, an expression of fear on his face. “At night’s when you have
to worry. And it’s not pretty, I tell you. They’re not happy ghosts. Not that
I’ve ever seen a happy ghost, but these spirits seem especially angry and
powerful.”
    Ghosts. Andrew thinks ghosts roam around the
insane asylum at night. First a murder plot, and now irritated spirits. I
wondered what other kind of delusions I would hear from my fellow patients.
    And then I reminded myself, You wouldn’t be in this place if you were in your right mind.
    When I didn’t say anything, Andrew went back to
shuffling his milk carton around his tray. “You’ll see, just wait. Tonight
after midnight, if you’re one of the mage-born folks, you won’t be able to stop
hearing them. Not these ghosts. Even those with the smallest amount of magic
seem to sense when these spirits are around.”
     
    * * *
     
    Andrew drifted away, and I finished my meal. After a time,
my nurse came back and wheeled me out of the cafeteria. We headed down a
different hallway and went into a room at the far end.
    This room was different from the last one I’d been
in. No padding on the walls. The room was
bigger and fit two beds, and next to each bed was a small table with a lamp.
There was a chest of drawers in the corner and a window covered with metal
bars.
    The nurse helped
me out of the chair and onto the bed. “I know it’s still early, but the doctor
insisted you get some rest,” she said. “The night shift will check in on you
later and give you your nighttime medications, if you take any.” I looked
closer at the nurse. She was