“The old classroom is this way.” Preston led them down a hallway to the right of the lobby. “This wing houses kindergarten and first grade. Second grade is down the opposite way. Third and fourth grade classes are on the second floor. We have junior high a few blocks away that houses fifth through eighth grade and then the senior high with nine through twelve.”
“Daddy explained to me that Miss Fairbanks’s classroom was sealed shut,” Everly said. “Have you ever been inside?”
“No, never. I’ve seen the crawl space corridor that I’ll be taking you into, but I’ve never been in the room itself. Can you tell me why you think Miss Fairbanks is trapped in the room?”
“Sort of,” Everly said. “When I was here last week, I thought I could feel her spirit, but I couldn’t get to her. You know that feeling you get when you have water in your ears?”
Max nodded but stayed silent.
“That’s how it felt, like there were words, but I couldn’t hear or understand them because they were stuck in something, like fruit in Jell-O.”
“My nana used to make that for me with grapes and pineapple.” Max wore a wistful smile. “And you think the reason you can’t hear her is because the spirit is trapped in the room?”
“Yes.” Everly looked as if she had more to say but didn’t.
“This might sound like a silly question, but can’t her spirit just pass through the walls, like Casper the Friendly Ghost?” Max grinned at his own joke.
Everly giggled. “Miss Fairbanks’s spirit should be able to move around, but there are things out of her control that could be holding her in that room.”
“What kind of things?” Max sounded really interested in what Everly was telling him.
“Guilt. Fear. Uncertainty. Loneliness,” Ten said. “There are also magical reasons, like we talked about before.”
“And you think you can help free her?” Max asked, sounding awed.
“I hope so,” Everly said. “It might be harder if she’s staying in her old classroom for a reason of her own.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It’s possible that Marie is physically trapped, in which case she’d sail out of the room like a rehabilitated bird released into the wild when we open the door. If she’s here because she’s waiting for her murder to be solved or because she has unfinished business with her husband or her killer, then things get more complicated,” Ten said.
“Won’t she be able to tell us who killed her?” Max asked, sounding confused.
“Again, it’s not always as easy as it sounds. Her death was traumatic, and sometimes spirits suffer PTSD and can’t recall what happened to them. Some of them don’t want to remember because they were betrayed or because they can’t believe who hurt them. Lastly, the killer could have been a stranger.”
“Hmm, I guess I never thought about it that way before.” Max paused outside room 15. “Do spirits become omniscient when they die? Like do they know who shot President Kennedy or where Atlantis is located?”
“I wish,” Ten laughed. “Sometimes they get a more focused view on their own life, but they don’t get the secrets of the ages. Otherwise, we would have found the Ark of the Covenant or Cleopatra’s tomb by now. Same goes for unsolved murders. We’d know who killed Marilyn Monroe, JFK, and so many others.”
Max seemed a bit overwhelmed by Ten’s crash course in Spirits 101. He pulled out his keys and slid one into the lock. With a quick turn of the key, the classroom door was open. “This is Miss Layton’s kindergarten classroom,” he said, ushering everyone into the room.
“Oh, I love the rainbow reading rug.” Everly walked to the back of the room and rubbed her hands over the plush rug. “We need one of these at our school.”
“This is the door that connects to room thirteen, Miss Fairbanks’s classroom.” The door stood at the front of the room on the far right-hand side.
“Thirteen?” Jude shivered.
“It’s just a number, Uncle Jude.” Everly rolled her eyes in a perfect impersonation of Ronan. “I need a few seconds before we go in there.” Everly’s eyes slid shut.
Ronan knew his daughter was slowing her breathing and focusing her gift on the murdered teacher. He meditated along with her, knowing he’d an extra bit of patience to deal with the former crime scene along with everyone else who was about to crowd into the room.
A few seconds later, Everly’s eyes popped open. “I’m ready to work, Principal Preston.”
Pulling his keys out, Max unlocked the connecting door. “You’re going to need to turn on your phone’s flashlight to see.” He stepped out of the way to allow Ronan past him.
“What exactly am I looking for?” Ronan asked, shining his light down the murky corridor.
“There should be a hinged panel that opens into the old classroom.” Max wore a guilty look. “I’ve only ever opened this door. I never went inside.”
