Walnut Grove House

by Alexie Aaron

  “But what would the original Atwater get from the demon?”

  “Heritage demons can eliminate competition, twist the minds of voters, and much more in order to secure the success of an endeavor for the person they have bonded with. In this case, Congressman Atwater, who I’m starting to suspect isn’t Arnold at all, but August, and he will soon be Bridgeton if he hasn’t already been consumed.”

  “You mean sacrificed,” Jessie said. “Isn’t that what these demon worshipers do?”

  “Every instance is different,” Cid said. “I think even demonologists don’t have a complete picture of demons.”

  “They must evolve like people do,” Sally said.

  Cid looked over at her and nodded. “That’s as good an explanation if any.”

  “If what you say is true, it would explain Bridgeton’s attitude towards me,” Kiki said. “He treated me like a suffragette. He seemed quite put out that I was in charge of a company of men. It only makes sense if Bridgeton is actually August.”

  “But I just saw Congressman Arnold Atwater on the news, and that dude was old,” Pete said.

  “Glamour,” Cid said.

  “I don’t understand what you mean by glamour,” Carl admitted.

  “In this case, it’s an illusion, an enchantment,” Cid explained. “When people cease to remember what Bridgeton looked like, the glamour will lift, and you’ll see August at the age of his binding with the demon.”

  “Do these heritage demons feed off ghosts?” Wayne asked.

  “I don’t think so. I think the demons have independent power. Why?”

  “Why trap the ghosts?” Wayne asked. “I assume they are trapped because none of them have come after us outside the house.”

  “Good question,” Cid said scratching his head.

  “May I offer a suggestion?” Jesse asked.

  “Please.”

  “What if these men witnessed the deal? If they are released to move on to their reward, Heaven, Purgatory, or perhaps Hell may get an idea of what’s up with the Atwaters.”

  “Then you’re thinking that we may be the first to find this out?” Kiki asked. She rubbed her arms to stave off the chill. “Guys, we have to bury this deep. I don’t want the demon to come after us.”

  “Doesn’t this make us complicit?” Sally asked. “Are we no better than Atwater, now that we know?”

  “She’s just like you,” Faye whispered to Cid, keeping her invisibility.

  “Yes,” Kiki answered. “Tell you what. Let’s store this information for if we have to use it in order to keep our client under control. In the meanwhile, we gather information we can use to keep us safe on the job. Cid has a lot of experience dealing with the paranormal. You are the best contractors around. Let’s pool our experience, strength and abilities to get this job done in the shortest time possible.”

  “What happens once we’re done?” Cid asked.

  “We collect our paycheck and leave. Wait a few days and bring in the big guns to release the ghosts who aren’t crazy and extinguish the ones who are harmful. This way, we aren’t breaking our contract with Atwater and our contract with humanity,” Kiki promised.

  Chapter Seven

  Cid scooted over and patted the communal couch cushion beside him. Sally sat down. “Thanks for waiting until I was finished with the dishes.”

  “I would have helped.”

  “You’re not being paid to do the dishes,” Sally said.

  “I’ll remember that when the grandkids visit. You’ll be standing there in your Betty Crocker apron, and I’ll be sitting on the couch in my grandpa pants.”

  “What exactly are grandpa pants?” Sally asked.

  “You know, the elastic-waisted ones with suspenders because my behind is too flat to keep the pants up below my tremendous round belly,” Cid explained. “They will be denim because I’ll still be a cool grandpa. You’ll be asking me to help with the dishes. And I’ll tell you I don’t get paid to do them.”

  Sally laughed. “You don’t intend on living to see the great-grandkids, do you?”

  “I guess not. The stew was wonderful. Once everyone got their appetite back, I was worried that I’d get mine stolen out from under me if I didn’t hang on to my bowl.”

  “I didn’t have any leftovers,” Sally said contented. “Kiki eats as much as Carl does.”

  “She works hard. I’m glad to see she’s got her head on straight.”

  “Does she?” Sally challenged. “She seems to waver like a flag caught in a cross breeze.”

  “I’ve been picking up that vibe. I do feel for her, being a woman in charge of six dopes, a temperamental ghost, and a fabulous cook.”

  “I left before you guys settled in on a game plan,” Sally said to change the subject.

  “The plan is to secure the plumbing and electrical first. Then we can attack each room together with the knowledge that the most dangerous area has already been taken care of.”

  “So instead of working from the top down…”

  “Up we go,” Cid finished.

  “Please be careful,” Sally said.

  Cid smiled. “I will. I learned a few hard lessons in the beginning of my ghost-hunting days. I’m an excellent student. I don’t tend to repeat my mistakes.”

  “That’s good to know. I’m going to sit in on the refresher you’re going to give the guys tomorrow morning. All my knowledge comes from fiction.”

  “You didn’t react when you first saw Faye.”

  “Ah, you were watching.”

  “Yes.”

  “Carl warned me about Faye.”

  “Was she your first ghost?”

  “First active haunt.”

  “You’ve been studying,” Cid said, taking Sally’s hand in his.

  “I like to be prepared. Nothing will prepare you for battle though. The things I’ve seen still haunt me. Of course, that’s more on me than the paranormal world. I did see a line of hollow-eyed men walking on the road once when I was traveling in the Somme Valley with some other soldiers. You’d call that a residual haunt, I imagine.”

  “You’re right.”

  “What scares you?” Sally asked.

  “Lots of things, but losing my eyesight again is the biggest. It wasn’t wearing the heavy lenses that were the biggest problem but the vulnerability of when my glasses were not at hand. I once got lost in a snowstorm when I tried to escape my captors without my glasses. Mia found me and sent help.”

  “Why didn’t she just rescue you?”

  “It’s a long complicated story…” Cid said and looked at Sally and made a leap. “Mia can travel out of her body. She calls it OOBing. Others would call it a state of bilocation. She moves faster than ghosts do. She has no solid form. And it was a miracle that I could hear her. She told me to stay still. She returned to her body and guided the deputies to me.”

  “I’ve heard of bilocation and read a few accounts of out of body experiences,” Sally said. “You said you heard her…”

  “Because of years of being near blind, my hearing is very strong. If I concentrate, I can tell you what Wayne and your brother are talking about down in the workroom.”

  “You’re an amazing man, Cid.”

  Cid blushed.

  Sally took her free hand and gently touched his face. “Thank you for today. Thank you for forgiving my ignorance regarding your lifestyle. I can tell trust is very important to you, as it is to me. Your words and revelations will not be mocked by me. Well, not in public. I am a bit of a joker. It’s a defense mechanism.”

  “I better get going. The men are headed upstairs, and I’m beat. I’m going to secure the trailer and get some sleep.”

  Cid kissed Sally lightly on the lips and got up. He extended a hand. “Walk me out?”

  “I’ll just grab my coat,” Sally said and moved quickly to the room she shared with Kiki.

  “They’re not all crazy,” Faye said, materializing in
front of Cid.

  “Who?”

  “The ghosts. I met one who is as sane as Mr. Wonderful, and he evidently has a friend of similar stability called Blue Daniel.”

  “Does this sane ghost have a name?” Cid asked, pulling out his cellphone to take a note.

  “Jon, spelt with no H, O’Connor.”

  “I’ll have Audrey look him up.”

  Faye sensed Sally approaching and disappeared. Cid finished his note and took Sally’s hand. The couple bore the jeers and teases from the four contractors as they passed them. Carl gave Cid a look that translated to, “I’ve got my eye on you.”

  Outside, Cid stopped and turned and drew Sally into his arms. He kissed her, enjoying the feeling of being kissed back. Sally wasn’t aggressive but neither was she shy. She kissed with her eyes open as if she were afraid that he’d disappear.

  “You better go in now. Until I know what may be crawling around these premises, I’d sleep better knowing you were inside.”

  “Yes, General,” Sally said and walked inside and closed the door. She pressed her face against the high panes of the window and watched as Cid walked through the cold night to the trailer. The coolness of the glass stilled the heat that had built up. Once she got control of herself, she ran up the stairs.

  Cid found Jesse sitting in the banquette of the trailer, transcribing his notes into a laptop. Jesse looked up. “Hell of a day.”

  “Nice ending though,” Cid admitted, walking past him. “Would you like a snack before I call it a night?”

  “I wouldn’t say no,” Jesse said. “How’s Sally?”

  “Wonderful.”

  “If you ever need privacy, just kick me out. But I’d appreciate it if I wasn’t left outside all night like a cat.”

  “We’re not there yet,” Cid said, his ears turning red.

  “Whatever, I’m just laying the ground rules.”

  “When did you come up with the peashooter?”

  “I spent some time in the Field Museum. I was looking at the ancient weapons and saw the various blowguns and got to thinking. As long as I didn’t inhale it, seems like an adequate way of launching a piece of iron.”

  “Why not an iron arrow?”

  “I could hurt a living person with a misfire of an arrow. Now, a little round ball of iron seems like a good idea, just as long as I didn’t shoot someone in the eye. This is why I figured the peashooter was a good idea.”

  “Where’d you get the ammo?”

  “Etsy of all places.”

  “It’s a lot less dangerous than the pistol Tom gave Mia,” Cid considered.

  “In my hands certainly. Guns and I don’t mix. My parents cursed me with, ‘You’ll shoot your eye out with that thing,’” Jesse said. “Guns are fine in the right hands - law enforcement and the military - but this cowboy packs a peashooter.”

  “Small enough to fit in a tool belt.”

  “The inventor mind has woken up,” Jesse observed.

  “The only flaw is…”

  “Here it comes,” Jesse said.

  “Iron seems to only work once, a few times at most on the same ghost. They build up an immunity.”

  “But what if I soaked them in salt water?”

  “Holy water would be better,” Cid said, taking out the George Foreman grill from the cupboard. “Panini or quesadilla?”

  “Whatever you’re making, I’m eating. It’s not that Sally isn’t a fabulous cook. I wasn’t feeling like eating after our little adventure,” Jesse said. “Being in that house made me a little queasy. I don’t know if it was nerves or…”

  “You could be sensitive. We humans have latent warning systems we don’t normally use from the caveman days,” Cid said. “Like the ability to know when you’re being stared at. We nerds access that when we’re tweens.”

  “Tell me more,” Jesse encouraged, closing his laptop.

  “Mike Dupree gets a bad stomach when there is an overabundance of evil in a house. Mia taught him how to stop it.”

  “How?”

  “Visualization is the quickest answer. Pretend your mind is a house with open windows and doors. When you’re going through your normal day, the doors and windows are open so you can process ideas, memories and feelings. Evil is like a storm coming. Close all your windows and doors. If you feel that evil is already in and attacking your soul, you can fight it, and hopefully expel it, closing the door after you.”

  “What if I’m possessed?”

  “You need a priest or someone who can guide you better than me.”

  “What about Mia?”

  “When you see her, ask,” Cid said, putting the final touches on the panini before closing the top of the grill.

  “I hope it won’t be too late.”

  “You could call Becky Bealuieu. She helped us up in Michigan,” Cid said. “Have you ever met Sabine Norwood?”

  “Not sure…”

  “Pale as a ghost and twice as beautiful. Kind of airy-fairy.”

  “No.”

  “She’s an option.”

  “How come this is the first I’ve heard about Sabine?” Jesse asked.

  “She was sweet on me, but I wasn’t interested.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know. I think my level of immaturity needs a stronger female.”

  “My god, you’re honest,” Jesse said. “Tell me more about Sabine.”

  “She’s what’s called a dual vessel. She can house another soul within her for a long period of time. She taught Mia a few things. Sabine fell in love with Brian Norwich, a man who was dying of a wasting disease. They managed to have triplet girls before he passed. They would be school age now.”

  “Three girls! No wonder you weren’t interested.”

  “I like kids,” Cid argued. “Sabine is just too fragile and feminine for me.”

  “Is she dating anyone?” Jesse asked.

  “Yes. An Irishman named Patrick Callen. He’s distantly related to Murphy, so watch yourself,” Cid warned.

  “Is he alive or a ghost?” Jesse asked.

  Cid chuckled. “Alive. Think back to the conversations we had before we started working for Kiki. Do you ever remember asking if a person was alive or a ghost?”

  “No,” Jesse realized. “Those Irish guys are tough.”

  “Speaking of,” Cid started. He served Jesse his sandwich and put his own on the grill before continuing, “Faye says there is an Irish ghost named Jon O’Connor who isn’t crazy like the rest in the house.”

  “Is our little ghostie smitten?” Jesse asked.

  “I don’t know, I didn’t ask.”

  “You’re chicken. I’ll ask her.”

  “Anyway, I got to thinking about ghosts who go crazy and…”

  Jesse looked up and waited.

  “I better give you another instance of Irish ghosts first before I tell you my theory.”

  “I’m all ears.”

  “Years back, they unearthed an Irish pub in the heart of Chicago. It had sunk into the ground - sinkhole we think. Anyway, out walks Fergus, Roy, Grady and, later, Kevin Murphy, sane as you or me.”

  “That’s not saying much,” Jesse said.

  “Be serious. They were trapped for a hundred and fifty years, thereabouts. Not crazy. Stephen Murphy, not crazy. Jon O’Connor, not crazy. Mia says ghosts, if trapped, are most likely to go crazy. Is there an exception for Irish ghosts?”

  “Seems like a theory you need to examine. Murphy, to my understanding, wasn’t trapped inside the farmhouse,” Jesse reminded Cid.

  “He was trapped on the farm. Trapped is trapped,” Cid said, lifting his sandwich off the grill.

  “Just tossing it out there, but the Irish seemed to have had a very hard time of it. Maybe their souls evolved to be more settled and accepting than most?”

  “Could be.”

  “I have a question involving the ghosts in the Atwater house.”

  “Go on
,” Cid said, sitting down.

  “How come they are trapped, but Faye can move in and out?”

  “I don’t know. It could have something to do with the little boxes we saw in the four corners of the attic, or the summoning circle, both or neither.”

  “You’re not helping.”

  “I need more information. I sent the picture of the floor to Audrey. I may ask Faye to chat up Jon and find out what went down at the house prior to him dying,” Cid said.

  “You may ask?”

  “I think it’s Kiki’s place. Faye and we are coworkers. Kiki is her boss.”

  “Division of labor woes,” Jesse said. “You gave Kiki quite a piece of your mind tonight.”

  “I may have overstepped,” Cid said. “I finally understand the problem Mia has with Burt, and well, all of us, when she feels that we are walking into danger that can be avoided.”

  “Are you outgrowing Kiki as a boss?” Jesse asked.

  “Not when it comes to a project this large, but I’m having problems holding my tongue when she’s lying to herself and to us. It’s all about the bonus. As much as I would love to be wrong, I fear Kiki has her mind set on us completing this job no matter the cost.”

  “I don’t get that vibe, Cid. Maybe you’ve finally found a reason not to be so cavalier with your life and you’re starting to see shadows when they are just contrasting hues.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  Kiki stared out the window at the house from the darkened room. Sally had already fallen asleep in the twin bed next to hers. Kiki had slid out and was headed to the common room when something caught her eye outside. It could have been an owl or a bat, but something drew her eye. She had been standing, trying to see if the creature would fly by again when the house caught her attention.