Page 110 of Haunting the Deep

I stand my ground. “My dad. My dad and Mrs. Meriwether. What did youdo?”

At the mention of them the tension leaves his eyes, like he knows he’s in control. “It doesn’t matter now. Or it won’t very soon. Your aunt was the last passenger we needed.”

My mind spins. “You have all of them?”

“Every single one,” he says with pride. “And everyone inside will remain inside.”

Elijah’s warning rings in my head. He plans on keeping me here? With all these spirits for the rest of time? No. I’m not doing that. I can’t do that. “We? You said Myra was the last passenger ‘we’ needed.”

“I thought you would have pieced that together by now.” He laughs. “Maybe you’re not as smart as I give you credit for. I’m not the first Collector, just one of them. I’m actually Alexander the Fifth. Building this spell and collecting these people took five generations of Jessups the better part of a century. Most people couldn’t do something like this.”

Redd’s story about the Collector when she was a girl.My eyes widen. “It was your family’s last name I would have found in the old Salem newspapers, wasn’t it?”

He looks at me like he is trying to decide something. “You remember that story I told you about buying tickets off of someone to get on theTitanic?” He doesn’t wait for me to confirm that I do. “That was Alexander the First. Only, he couldn’t afford to barter his way to first or second class. He had carried his family’s entire fortune with him to start a business in America. As you may have guessed, he never made it onto a lifeboat. And his family was financially ruined. His daughter died when his wife couldn’t afford a doctor. His wife died shortly after of a fever. His son was adopted by the Wilder family and moved to America. He losteverything,including his name. But his son was old enough to remember, and he was determined to right the wrongs. He did his part, as did his son, and his grandson. And now it’s my turn. I am going to give Alexander the pleasant journey he deserved.”

For a second I just stare at him. Alice was right. They’re trying to rewrite history. “So one family gets privilege and power”—I gesture at the lavish suite—“at the expense of everyone else? Don’t pretend for a second that this isn’t selfish. You say your ancestordeservesthis? What about all those third-class passengers locked in the bottom of the ship? What do they deserve? What about free will? You’re not—”

“Oh, come on. I see spirits, Samantha, like you do. You know how awful it is for them to be stuck throughout the ages, never passing on. This place is like a retreat.”

“Do you even hear yourself right now? A ship that sank and killed fifteen hundred people isnota retreat. It’s been more than a hundred years—this place is nothing more than a distorted time loop, a tomb. You want to do something? Help them all pass on, don’t trap them here!”

Anger flashes in his eyes. “I’m not going to warn you again about talking about theTitaniclike that.”

“That’s how you talk to someone you just proposed to? How confused are you?”

“You should jump the hell off your high horse, Samantha, and bethankingme right now.” By the look in his eyes and the tone of his voice, I know he believes what he’s saying. “You pulled that stunt in the lounge, questioning Bruce Ismay about the speed of the ship. It was Alexander who threw you over that night. Do you know how long it took me to convince him that I didn’t need to kill you right away? To let me do things this way instead?”

A chill runs through my body.Right away? This way instead? Please, Alice, Elijah, someone get me out of here.

“Where are the other Jessups? Why have I only seen you and Alexander the First?”

Matt smirks like he’s been waiting for me to ask this question. “They each maintained the spell until their deaths, and they passed on. The only way to stay here if you weren’t originally a passenger…is todiehere.”

I look down at the silver dance card he wanted me to sign in blood.

Matt follows my line of sight. “That would have been the gentle way to go.”

Three more seconds under his spell and I would have signed my life away. I glance over my shoulder at the door.

“Don’t bother. Even if you get out of this room, you would never make it off the ship.”

“That’s what you think.”

“That’s what Iknow. Do you really think I could let you leave after you figured out what this place is? Who I am? You should have left it alone.”

“So seal me out.” Although the moment the words leave my mouth, I regret them. I can’t leave these spirits trapped here for the rest of time and do nothing. I’d be as bad as him, assuming my life counts for more.

“It doesn’t work that way.”

I take a step backward. The room suddenly feels claustrophobic. “So your solution is to kill me?”

“I just want to help you transition,” he says, like I’ve got it all wrong.

“Like hell you do. If it’s so great here,youdie and transition here.”

“I maintain the spell, Samantha, and will for my entire life. I can’t die until there’s someone else to take my place. It was passed on to me when my father died in a car crash last year.”

I grip the engraved dance card in my hand, my pulse impossibly fast.