Voices From Beyond (A Ghost Finders Novel) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Martin was looking openly contemptuous now. Elspeth shuddered suddenly.
    “Hey! Did everyone else feel that?”
    “Feel what?” asked Dominic.
    “Like . . . a sudden cold breeze,” said Elspeth, looking around uncertainly.
    “Rubbish,” said Martin.
    “I did feel it!” said Elspeth. “Look; I’ve got goose pimples!”
    “I didn’t feel anything,” said Angie. “And I’m right next to you.”
    “What are you all feeling?” said the professor’s voice. “I need you to articulate your feelings, for the record. What is going through your minds, right now?”
    “I’m feeling completely ridiculous,” said Martin. “And I’m starting to wonder if any grade is enough to justify this.”
    “It feels like . . . someone’s watching us,” said Elspeth. “And no, I don’t mean the camera. It feels like there’s someone else here, in the room with us . . .”
    All four students looked round the room, not taking their fingertips off the glass. Elspeth looked spooked. Angie and Dominic looked impatient. Martin seemed increasingly angry.
    “There’s no-one here but us idiots,” he said firmly. “I don’t feel any dread presence, and I didn’t feel any breeze. Can we please get on with this, and get it over and done with, before I die of terminal shame?”
    “I guess we do have to start with the traditional question, after all,” said Dominic. “Come on; I’ll start the ball rolling. Is there anybody there . . . ?”
    And all of them were shocked silent as the upturned glass immediately began racing round and round the wooden board, moving so fast the students had to struggle to keep their fingers on it. The glass was moving so quickly, they couldn’t even make out what it was trying to spell. It shot back and forth, all over the board, then went round and round in circles, dragging the students’ arms after it.
    “Martin!” said Dominic, so angry he could hardly speak. “This is you, isn’t it?”
    “How could I be doing this?” Martin protested. His face was very pale. “Look at how fast the bloody thing’s moving!”
    “No-one is to take their fingers off the glass,” the professor said urgently.
    “I can’t!” said Elspeth, her voice rising. “I’m trying to let go, and I can’t! It’s stuck!”
    The glass jerked viciously this way and that across the wooden board, in swift, angry movements. Angie was crying quietly. Dominic was struggling to get his feet under him, so he could get up from the table, but the glass jerked his hand back and forth so rapidly he couldn’t get his balance. Elspeth looked quickly around her, as though catching sight of something out of the corner of her eye. Martin looked shocked. All four students were open-mouthed and wide-eyed at what was happening right in front of them.
    “Professor?” said Martin. “Are you getting this? I’m not doing this; I swear I’m not doing any of this!”
    “What’s the glass doing?” said Angie. “Why isn’t it spelling anything? How are we supposed to . . . communicate, like this?”
    “Something’s here in the room with us!” Elspeth said loudly. “I can feel it, staring over my shoulder!”
    “There’s no-one here but us!” said Dominic. “Everyone, take your finger off the glass!”
    The glass exploded—shattered, and blew apart. All four students cried out in shock and pain as they were hit by flying glass splinters. They recoiled from the board and the table, snatching their freed hands back. No-one was badly hurt, only a few scratches; but there were bits of broken glass all over the table and all over their clothes. The students brushed the glass fragments away with almost hysterical speed. They looked at each other, breathing hard. All the good humour and scepticism were gone, slapped right out of them. Something had definitely happened even if they weren’t sure what.
    Strange lights flared suddenly, all around them. Great blasts of vivid colour, come and gone in a moment. The air shimmered,