A Grave Problem

34. The Banshee Trap

"Are you guys ready?" Carmine asked, sounding somewhat less than ready herself.

"I guess." Mia mumbled. Anna merely nodded her head. Only Luke seemed to be even remotely looking forward to this.

"I am," he informed the girls.

The four of them headed to the only place in town that seemed to consistently house a banshee - the hospital. The location was only one of the reasons Mia was having trouble drumming up enthusiasm for their excursion. As they approached the hospital, Mia's mind naturally drifted to all the things that could go wrong. What if they couldn't catch the banshee before it disappeared? Would they get another chance? Or would Summer decide they'd had enough time? Even if they did get this one, would they be able to get the others? And worst of all, what if that thing that had let the banshees out in the first place decided to come back for them?

As the group climbed out of the elevator on the last floor, no one said a word. They walked around the now-familiar corner and opened the door leading to the stairs. Everyone piled together onto the landing and Mia closed the door behind them.

"Ok." Carmine said. "Here are the coins."

She handed one of Anna's coins to each of them. Mia took hers with hesitation. Even though she'd done many things in her life that were harder and much more dangerous than this, she still wasn't looking forward to it. She just didn't like dealing with death, she decided, and was glad that it was something she herself would probably never have to face.

Quietly, Luke opened the door leading to the roof. They wanted to get ready as silently as possible - last time, the banshee was spooked when she noticed the group, and they were hoping to avoid a repeat of that.

As the door was pulled silently shut, everybody ran into position. Since they didn't know exactly where the banshee was going to be before they opened the door, everyone had agreed to get on certain sides of her beforehand. They didn't want to ruin their chances while they all sat and watched uselessly from the side, debating on who should go where.

Mia quickly scanned the roof. She was both relieved and nervous to see a pale figure sitting along the ledge on the far side of the roof. Anna immediately headed to the far corner on the left and Mia ran to the right. Luke took the close corner on the left. It meant he was on the opposite corner from Mia, and she wouldn't be able to keep as close an eye on him as she would have liked. But she had more important things to worry about right now. It was more important to have someone guarding that section of the roof, and Mia knew that Luke was faster than Carmine. She just hoped Anna and Carmine wouldn't think too much about how fast he got there. As soon as the door closed, Carmine high-tailed it to the closest corner of the roof.

Throughout all this, the banshee stayed where she was, perched on the ledge between where Mia and Anna now stood. She'd been too busy crying her eyes out to notice the highschoolers surrounding her. The four held out their coins in front of them, as if they were tiny shields.

No one bothered too much with being quiet as they approached. They were more focused on cornering the banshee as fast as they could. If they did it fast enough, she wouldn't be able to escape; the gold on all sides would force her to stay right where she was.

The banshee looked up, the wind tangling her snow-white hair in front of her face, and her crying turned to screaming. She got up, and Mia knew she was preparing to vanish like she had before. But stopped at the sight of Mia's gold coin. She turned away in horror and came face to face with Anna and her coin. She turned and saw Luke, then Carmine. As the group closed in on her, the banshee got a wild, trapped look in her eye. Mia almost felt sorry for her.