The plush cat lifts up from the pillow, stretches out its paws, arches its back, and pushes its black tail into the air while yawning and clawing at the covers. Advancing to the edge of the bed, its green plastic eyes become liquid and yellow. Its ebony fur transforms into the color of fog. It leaps from the bed and rocks back on its haunches, staring at me while lifting a paw to its outstretched tongue.
I watch in disbelief as the cat grows an inch, and then another, and then another. It raises onto its hind legs, and its shoulders roll to the sides. The fur recedes into skin. Silky black hair sprouts from the top of its head, and the orange eyes sparkle again with emerald brightness as its round, furry face elongates and turns smooth with angular cheeks and a tall, lanky body.
Whitney.
“Hello, Claire. This probably isn’t where you expected to see me again.”
I slowly shake my head. “No, no. You’re dead.”
“Yes, I am. For many, many years now. Surprised?”
Then I remember Julie’s words. The demon can multiply, divide into two or even three beings. It can take any form.
“Who are you?” I manage.
The entity morphs again, shrinking, sprouting fur and a tail, the eyes yellowing until the being is again a gray cat that crouches and scurries from the room.
Instinctively, I bound after the animal as it scampers down the stairs, makes a dash toward the open back door, and then barrels through it. As I follow its escape, I can only pray it will lead me to Annalen.
Once again, I’m standing in the night air, now heavy and damp with the beginnings of rain. The tip of a gray tail disappears through the gap in the fence. I clamber toward it and pause there, wrapping my fingers around either side of the opening as I stare into my own yard. The green and blue lights blink on and off, pulsing like strobes, illuminating two figures walking toward the shed, their forms alternatively silhouetted and darkened.
Whitney strolls toward the structure, holding the hand of my youngest daughter. A black stuffed cat dangles from Paris’s grasp.
“No!” I pitch forward, but my hands remain glued to the fence as invisible shackles jut out from either side of the gap, gripping me, holding my wrists, capturing me like a horse in cross-ties.
Just like Annalen, Paris strolls blithely through the rain, her lips tipped into a smile as she looks up at a grinning Whitney. They walk together toward the open door of the shed. Light glows within—welcoming, luring.
“Paris! Look over here. Paris, it’s Mommy. Look over here at me! Don’t go with her!”
A second before they step into the shed, Whitney glances up at me, but it’s the voice of the man in the leather hat that growls from her lips. “You should know better than to go into a stranger’s house, little girl.”
Then they’re inside, and the shed door slams shut. The windows go dark. The invisible shackles drop from my wrists, and I fall to the ground, my hands plunging into a puddle. Jumping up, I run and throw myself at the door of the shed, grasping the lever, rattling and shaking it. Again and again, I smash my shoulder into the door. Finally, I cup my hands and peer through the panes, but only darkness stares back at me.
“No use. She’s inside now.” The voice comes from behind me. Wrenching my head, I look over my shoulder at Hyo’s diminutive form.
I drop my hand from the lever and clutch my body. “Hyo, you have to help me—”
“He has them both now.”
I gasp out a sob. My mind fragments, breaking into a thousand pieces that tear at my soul. The pain is physical, the panic instant, propelling a half-cry, half scream from me. “Where? Where has he taken them?” The rain rivulets down my forehead and into my eyes, mixing with my tears and blurring my vision. Hyo’s image fuzzes around the edges. Maybe Hyo is one of them too. I can’t trust anyone.
She takes a step forward. “He has taken them where he takes all the others.” She points to the ground. “Into the earth.”
“What?” I feel like I’m about to lose consciousness. “Hyo, you’ve got to help me get them back!”
Hyo places her hand on my shoulder. “You will have to go after them.” Her gaze darts past me to the shed. “In there. He wants you to come after them.”
A swishing sound catches my attention. From around the side of the house, a woman in a hooded rain slicker marches toward me. Julie. Three men follow her: Jax, Mickey, and a tall African American man, wearing a black trench coat and a clerical collar. He must be the exorcist.
As though all of the sinews and muscles in my legs have given way, I drop to my knees with a cry.
Julie waves her arm as she continues to tramp through the wet grass. “Sorry, we’re late.”
“You’re too damn late!” I screech, water sputtering from my lips. “He has both of them—Annalen and my baby!”
She stops in front of me, squats down, and pulls back the hood of her raincoat so I can see her pale green eyes. “Well, let’s go get them.” Her voice is calm, determined.
Frustration and helplessness threaten to overwhelm me, and I want to attack her, pummel her face. But at the same time, I want to embrace her. My mouth falls open in a silent cry, and I blink the rain from my eyes as I focus on each of the would-be soldiers standing before me.
Looking at these mere mortals wilting in the deluge from the sky, it seems impossible that any of them can help me. This situation feels hopeless.
“They’ve taken my children—into the earth!” I wail, double over, bash my fists against my thighs. “Please, please, help me!”
Jax grasps my shoulders and pulls me to my feet. “Where did they go?”
I straighten and point desperately at the shed until I can gasp out the words. “It was Whitney. She took Paris, but Steel has Annalen.”
Jax lunges toward the shed, grasps the lever on the door, and rattles it. Then he throws his shoulder against it as I did moments ago.
“You won’t be able to get in like that,” Julie calls. “The door is sealed. Good intentions won’t work. We have to be strategic.” She casts her gaze toward the tall man behind her. “Father Forrest, this is Claire Vogel.”
Father Forrest steps forward and clutches my fingers in a hand-crushing grip. “Hi, Claire. You won’t remember me, but I knew your father—a long, long time ago. We were in seminary together. I knew you when you were just a tiny girl.”
His dark eyes stare into mine, and like a conduit, I feel a current of peace flow through me. It’s almost as though I’m looking into my father’s eyes—before he was destroyed by the entities he sought to subdue. The tears flow faster down my cheeks and mix with the cold rain.
“Please help my girls,” I whisper.
Father Forrest continues to clasp my hand, his voice projecting over the patter of the rain. “I am going to help you and your girls. We’re going to get your daughters back, and we’re going to get rid of these entities.”
With my free hand, I brush my dripping hair out of my face. The world darkens around the edges as my brain loses all sense of order. Hyo wraps her arm around my waist, and the simple gesture anchors me.
Jax continues to thump and kick the door of the shed.
“Jax, man,” Mickey calls out to him. “Julie already told you—the door is sealed.”
“What does that mean?” Jax huffs out with each blow.
“It means you can’t get in like that.”
Julie puts her arm on my shoulder and turns me to face her. “Claire, like I told you, the demon has wanted your children all along. It wants their souls. That’s what gives it strength, allows it to continue on, tormenting others. But I need you to find that steely strength I spoke of yesterday. I need you to find it right now.”
From somewhere overhead, I hear it—a faint cry. Am I imagining it? No, it’s Annalen—calling to me with a scream that sounds like it’s echoing from the bottom of a canyon.
“I’m going to get you, Annalen!” I call out to the sky. “Don’t worry, baby, I’m going to find you!”
&
nbsp; Her cry sharpens and then fades.
Hyo gesticulates wildly, pointing at the shed. “She must go in. Go in and get her daughters out.”
“Yes,” Julie nods at Hyo. “But this is battle. We have to have a plan to get Claire out as well.”
58
“The portal is wide open tonight,” Julie says. “The usher, the gatekeeper, is attempting to bring in as many souls as possible. Once they go through the portal, he can keep pulling them down until there’s no return.”
I cling to the edge of my kitchen island. It’s the only thing holding me up. As a parent, I’ve always protected my children from as little as a scraped knee. Now, reality devours my mothering desire to protect—rescue and survival have become the dominant instincts.
“If it’s wide open, why couldn’t I get inside?” Jax asks.
“Because you went at it like a raging bull.” Julie crosses her arms. “The entities were toying with you. They know what we’re here to do. Claire is the one that has to go after her children.” Her eyes shift to me. “The demon wants Claire too.”
Mickey shrugs out of his jacket and flings it over the chair. Then he unzips the carrying case for his camera. “I never thought I’d be back in this house again.” His eyes meet mine. “No offense.” He pulls out a digital recorder and turns it on. “Every time I think back to that night when I was attacked,” he shakes his head, “it pisses me off. I want to crush that bastard. I want to send it screaming into hell.”
“That’s Father Forrest’s job,” Julie says. “And Claire’s.”
Father Forrest’s skin gleams with the rain. Unlike the rest of us, he hasn’t even bothered to dry off. He directs his gaze toward me. “Claire, I’m going to pass through every room of your house, anointing the tops of the door frames with oil and consecrating the space so that no demonic presence can dwell here.”
His words ring familiar to me—like the videos and memories that seemingly spring from a well of the past. My dad often “anointed with oil” the forehead of the person who was to be exorcised.
“As Father Forrest expels any presence from inside your home, it will most likely drive all the entities outside,” Julie explains. “They’ll move toward the portal.”
Mickey hovers near the kitchen island, aiming his digital recorder at our small huddle. “Where do you want us?”
“Jax, I need you standing by the shed with me. You’ll be the backup in case...” She pauses, her eyes searching mine. “In case we need to go in after Claire.”
Jax rubs a kitchen towel over his wet face. “I thought I couldn’t get in?”
“Once Claire’s in, any of us can enter. It’s expecting her, waiting for her.”
“How do you know?” Jax asks.
“I heard it.”
He lowers the towel. “I thought you didn’t talk to the spirits.”
“I don’t. But that doesn’t mean I don’t eavesdrop on their conversations.” Julie swipes her fingers across her electronic tablet, pulling up a map of the area. She enlarges our street and taps a metallic blue fingernail against the screen. “I sense that your shed is at the mouth of the portal—right here. Most likely it’s over top of it.”
So that’s why Steel wanted to rebuild my shed. He knew it would be easy access for moving people in and out of the underworld.
“Where does it go?” Jax asks.
“Eventually? To hell.”
I’m plagued with images of Dante’s Inferno along with Bible verses I learned as a child. “Be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” I swipe a tissue under my eyes.
Julie straightens. “The demon’s time is short. It’s aware that tonight we’re going to close the portal. The demon wants you, Claire, because it knows you—in more ways than one.” She arches an eyebrow.
My stomach bucks. “You mean because of Steel. Steel was possessed by the demon.”
She levels her gaze. “Claire, Steel is the demon.”
I shake my head. “No. No.”
“It’s only using the likeness of Steel.”
I shake my head harder. “That can’t be right.” But my mind trails back to everything Michael Dunn told me, Tina’s words. Steel isn’t faking his death. He is death.
Julie puts her hand on my arm. “Do not unravel right now. I need you to focus. For your children.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, forcing the images and tears from my eyes. “Once I get in there, how will I know where to find the girls?”
“You’re a mother. You’ll know where to find your children. And the demon will probably taunt you to get you to chase after them, to pull you further into the portal.”
Jax scrapes his hand over a stubbled chin. “Julie, are you sure about this? I mean, could Claire be hurt? What’s the worst-case scenario?”
Julie drags a finger under her nose. “Worst case? She could die and end up in hell.”
I think of Gretchen and Bridget waiting for me at Dawn’s. If I enter the portal, I may never see them again. But if I don’t, Annalen and Paris could die. It’s clearly up to me to get my girls back.
“But we’re not going to let that happen,” Father Forrest steps forward. “When recognized and renounced, demons have less power than you think.”
Jax palms the back of his neck, shakes his head. “No. This is too dangerous. We can’t send her in there.”
Father Forrest straightens the chain that holds his gold cross. “Well, we can try to draw the girls out with prayer and petition. That way, Claire doesn’t have to go in.”
Julie taps her fingers against the screen of the electronic tablet. “But that could take a long time—longer than what we have.”
It may only be my imagination, but Annalen’s voice vibrates in my head, crying out to me from somewhere inside this house. “I have to go in after them.”
For a moment, Julie disappears into the living room. When she comes back seconds later, she holds out my antique dagger covered in its leather sheath with golden edges. “You should take this.”
“For what?”
“You told me your great, great grandfather’s story.”
I nod. “Yeah, but who knows if it’s true.”
“Now, you get to find out for yourself.” She grabs the edge of the pocket of my jeans, pushes the dagger inside, and pulls my sweatshirt over it. “A little faith goes a long way.”
Jax frowns. “What if one of us goes with her?”
Julie jerks her thumb at him. “You wanna go?”
He hesitates, his eyes darting back and forth.
I put my hand on his arm. “No, Jax. You’re not going with me. I’ll go in alone. These are my children. I brought them into this world and into this house. It’s my responsibility.”
“I will go with you,” Hyo says from the kitchen doorway.
I’d almost forgotten she was here. I spin around and look at her tiny form, her serious face, and all-too-sincere eyes. “No way, Hyo. You should go home to Linda and Jay. Thank you for trying to help, but it’s too dangerous.”
“I know dokkaebi,” she says. “If I go too, the dokkaebi will be confused. Two will make it easier to find the children.”
“I don’t think so, Hyo.”
Julie eyes me. “We don’t have much time, Claire. Whoever is going has to go now.”
I pivot toward the back door. “I’m ready.”
Julie takes my arm and steps in front of me, her voice low. “Just know something. The demon will lie. It will say many things to confuse you. It’ll try to break you down. Don’t let it.”
I inhale deeply. “Okay.”
“And one last thing.”
“What?”
“Do everything you can to learn the demon’s real name. That will give you power over it.”
WHEN WE STEP OUTSIDE, it’s raining even harder. Hyo pushes past us and lingers at the edge of the deck.
Mickey hoists his camera, recording us as we prepare to embark on this hellish journey.
My chest h
eaves as I stare at the open door of the shed. It’s calling to me, waiting for me to enter. What if I never see Gretchen and Bridget again? For that matter, what if this is all for naught and I don’t even find Annalen and Paris? I take this last opportunity to face the camera and speak directly to my children.
“Annalen, Gretchen, Bridget, and Paris, if for whatever reason, I don’t make it, and you don’t see me again, just know that I love you girls more than anything in the world. I’d do absolutely anything to save any one of you.”
Mickey shifts the camera away from his face and his forehead lines. “You’re going to make it.”
“But if I don’t, please make sure the girls see this.”
He nods. “I will.”
As I approach the steps leading down into the yard, Hyo catches my hand. “We go in together.”
“Are you sure?”
Her cheeks rise and her eyes crease at the corners. It’s the first smile I’ve ever seen from her.
“I know how to ward off devils.”
“Thank you, Hyo.”
“Get your daughters back. That will thank me.” She grasps my hand tighter, and I feel her strength emanating through the grip of her fingers.
“All right,” Julie instructs. “Once you have the girls, move toward the most familiar place you know.
I look at her. “The most familiar place I know?”
Julie nods, pulling the hood of her raincoat over her head.
“How will anything be familiar to me in a portal that leads to hell?”
Ignoring my question, she continues. “When you reach the end of the portal, you’ll hear my voice. I’ll do my best to guide you out again. When you see the door to the exit, don’t stop and don’t look back. At that point, Father Forrest will start anointing the shed with holy oil and saying the prayers to close the portal. I don’t want you to get stuck inside.” She steps back to stand beside Jax and Mickey. “We’ll all be waiting for you on the other side.”
The Neighbor: A terrifying tale of supernatural suspense Page 28