by Amy Cross
“Liam, she's there!” I blurt out, pulling back as I feel a ripple of panic in my chest.
He continues to read from the book.
“Liam! Look!”
He holds a hand up, as if to acknowledge that he's heard me, but he doesn't stop reading and he keeps his eyes fixed on the book.
“Fuck,” I whisper under my breath, as I watch the ghost. Why's she just standing there? What does she want?
Suddenly she screams, and then she's gone.
I pull back further, all the way up the steps until I bump into the base of the altar. I keep looking at the spot where the ghost was standing, but there's no sign of her at all. Looking around, I try to spot her anywhere else in the church, but it's as if she simply disappeared.
“Why did she do that?” I ask, turning to Liam.
Instead of replying, he simply continues to read out all that Latin stuff from the book. I flinch, and for a moment I almost reach out and snatch that stupid book straight out of his hands. I manage to hold back, however, and instead I look back across the church, trying to spot where Judith Prendergast will appear next.
“Why did she scream?” I whisper, as I try to make sense of all this shit. “I mean, she's still got a mind, right? She still thinks, she still has reasons for doing stuff. So did she scream just to scare us? She was way too far away for that.” I pause, as my mind races with the possibilities. “It doesn't make any fucking sense.”
For the next few minutes, I continue to watch for the ghost's return. At the same time, I've got this growing feeling that I'm being watched, and finally I realize that the sensation seemed to be coming from a spot about halfway along the aisle. I take a deep breath as I try to stay calm, but I swear it feels as if – since she disappeared – the ghost of Judith Prendergast has been silently making her way along the aisle, heading straight for us.
“I know you're there,” I say under my breath, as Liam continues to read out loud. Watching the empty space in the aisle, I realize I can definitely feel a gaze staring back at me, and it's as if the gaze is definitely coming this way.
I take a step back, until I'm standing right next to the altar.
“Liam, she's coming toward us,” I stammer, figuring that he might not realize. “I swear to you, she's almost here now.”
He reads some more of that stupid Latin bullshit.
“You'd better have something figured out,” I continue, as I watch the empty space and realize that the ghost is now right at the foot of the altar, just a few feet away. My heart is pounding and I don't mind admitting that I'm terrified. “You've got more than a few books, yeah?” I ask. “Maybe it's time to sprinkle out some of that holy water.”
I back away from the edge of the altar, as I sense the ghost coming up the steps.
Suddenly she appears and lunges at me, screaming again. I just have time to see her anguished, horrified face as I step back, and I feel a flash of ice-cold air as her hands reach for me.
And then she's gone again.
“Fuck,” I whisper as I step back around the altar. “Liam, did you see that?”
I look around, but now I can't tell where she is. I still feel as if I'm being watched, but I can't quite pinpoint where she's standing.
“Liam, mate,” I continue, as my panic grows and grows, “I reckon we might be in a bit deep here. You've got her attention, now it's time to do whatever else you're gonna do.”
I wait, before turning to him.
“Do something!” I yell, as he carries on reading. “Don't just stand there! You have to do something!”
I wait.
He keeps reading.
“Liam!”
I take a step toward him, but suddenly I feel something rushing at me from behind. I begin to turn, but in a flash I feel an icy hand grab the side of my neck and I freeze. I tell myself that this can't be what it seems like, that I have to be wrong, but then the fingers tighten their grip and when I try to turn away I find that I can't. And then, slowly, I sense something leaning over my shoulder, and I see Judith Prendergast's face staring straight into my eyes.
“Liam,” I whisper, barely managing to get the words out, “please...”
“What are you doing in my church?” the ghost asks. “Who invited you here?”
I try to answer, but I can't get any words out. And then, slowly, I realize that Liam has finally stopped speaking.
“This is my church and you have no right to be here,” the ghost continues. “You must leave at once, you are not -”
Suddenly she screams again, lunging at me before vanishing.
Falling forward, I slump down against the stone floor, only for Liam to grab me by the shoulders and haul me up.
“What happened?” he asks. “Did you see her?”
“She was talking to me,” I stammer, turning and looking back at the spot where Judith Prendergast was standing. “She screamed at me.”
“You cried out,” he replies.
I turn to him.
“You were asking why I'm in your church,” he continues cautiously, “and then you shouted. Like a scream, maybe. Mark, is this like what happened to your friend Kerry?”
“I'm getting out of here,” I say, turning to run, only for him to grab my hand and hold me back.
“We're halfway there!” he hisses.
“I don't care!” I try to pull free, but he grabs my arm and shoves me hard against the altar. “I don't want to be here!”
“She won't let you leave,” he replies, before hurrying back past the altar and grabbing the bottles of holy water. “I can't do anything when she's speaking through you,” he continues. “It has to be sooner than that. Mark, is she here now? Can you sense her?”
Looking around, all I feel is pure, cold panic.
“Tell me!” Liam shouts. “This is not the moment to flake out on me, Mark! Where is she?”
“I don't think she's here,” I reply, looking all around but still not sensing anything. “Man, I think she's gone. I think we should leave before she comes back.”
“Focus!” he snaps. “She didn't just walk away. She's here somewhere.”
“She had me,” I point out, turning to him. “Why did she scream and let me go?”
“I don't know,” he replies, “but it's not important right now. All that matters is working out where she is right now, and then I can do the rest. Stay calm, Mark, and find her. I know how these things work, she won't have gone far.”
I look around again, but there's still no sign of her. Then, as I turn back to Liam and open my mouth to tell him that this is all hopeless, I realize that I can sense her. She's staring straight at me, and she's doing it from the space right behind Liam's left shoulder.
“Well?” he asks. “Anything?”
“She's here,” I stammer.
“Where? I need to know exactly.”
I swallow hard.
“Where is she?” he shouts.
“Right behind you,” I tell him. “She's right behind you. Your left shoulder.”
He pauses, and I can see the fear in his eyes. Then, slowly, he begins to open the lid of one of the vials. His hands are shaking and I can tell that he's scared, but after a moment he drops the lid and holds the vial up.
“Be ready,” he says, his voice shaking with fear.
“What -”
Suddenly he tosses the holy water over his shoulder and runs forward. Immediately, the face of Judith Prendergast appears behind him and screams, as if she's in pain as the holy water falls against her.
By the time Liam reaches me and turns to look, the face is already gone again.
“I don't think she liked that,” I tell him.
“She's part-demon,” he replies, as we both watch the space where the face appeared. “Holy water burns. Do you still sense her there?”
“No,” I reply, before realizing that maybe I can feel that we're being watched.
I turn slowly, looking out into the gloom, and then I point at one particular spot.
>
“There!” I shout.
Liam throws some more holy water in that direction. Judith's face appears again, screaming and wracked with pain, lunging toward us for a moment before vanishing again.
“She's trapped,” Liam explains. “She knows she has to stop us now, but the holy water is wearing her down. One more time should be enough, but you have to remain vigilant. If she gets close to use again, we might not be able to fight her off. Mark, where is she now?”
“I don't know,” I reply, still frantically looking around.
“You do!” he snaps. “You just have to stay focused!”
“She's not here!”
“Yes, she is!”
“If she was here, I'd be able to -”
Suddenly I spin around, and in an instant I can tell that I'm being watched from the shadows beyond the altar.
“There!” I shout, and I point at the exact spot.
Liam rushes forward and throws another vial holy water past the altar. Immediately, Judith Prendergast appears and screams, rushing forward only to fall and disappear down behind the altar.
I take a step back.
“Why does she keep vanishing like that?” I ask. “How are we going to get her if...”
My voice trails off as I realize I can hear a faint sobbing sound coming from the other side of the altar. I look over at Liam, but he's staring at the altar as if he doesn't quite understand what's happening. I wait, hoping that he'll spring into action and explain everything, and finally he takes a cautious step around the altar's far side.
Realizing that I have to know what's happening, I make my way around the altar's other side, until we both stop and look down at the shocking sight of Judith Prendergast kneel on the stone floor, weeping with her face in her hands.
I look at Liam, hoping for a cue, but he's simply staring down at the sobbing ghost.
“What's wrong with her?” I ask, as I feel a crippling fear in my chest. “What happened?”
As I say those words, Judith Prendergast slowly lifts her face and looks first at Liam and then at me. She looks different now, less evil and more like a regular person. In fact, the more she cries, the more she looks desperately sad.
“No,” she whimpers, and now her whole body is shaking, “please, you don't understand...”
“Don't let her get close to you,” Liam tells me, as he holds up the last vial of holy water.
“Help me,” she sobs, as she starts crawling toward me and reaches out a hand. “I'm begging you...”
“Don't let her touch you!” Liam shouts, before stepping up behind the ghost.
“Please,” she cries, “you have to help me! I'm so sorry for what I did, but you have to understand, I tried to hold her back! I tried to stop her! I was always -”
Suddenly she rushes at me and screams, but Liam throws the last of the holy water at her and she cries out. I step back against the wall, and in the very last moment the ghost of Judith Prendergast vanishes into thin air.
I wait, terrified, and then finally Liam drops the vial.
“She's gone,” he says, and now he sounds exhausted. “The holy water was enough. I wasn't sure it would be, but I suspect her sense of shame was enough to make her finally leave. Either that, or she couldn't stand the water as it fell upon her. Whatever. The most important thing is that she's gone.”
“And she can't come back?” I ask, turning to him.
He pauses, before shaking his head.
“She's gone forever,” he says with a sigh, still staring at the spot where we last saw the ghost. “She's gone to the same place as your friend Kerry. Wherever that might be.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Mark
“So what happens now?” I ask as I drop the last of the empty vials into Liam's bag. “To the church, I mean.”
All I hear is the sound of rain lashing against the stained-glass windows. After a moment, realizing that Liam hasn't replied, I turn to see that he's standing close to the altar and looking out across the burned pews.
“Can it just open again?” I continue. “Can the people of Briarwych start to use it?”
“Huh?” He turns to me, and it's clear that he wasn't paying attention. “The church? Oh, yes, I suppose so. There'll be superstitions aplenty, I'm sure, and it'll take a while for those to blow over. I imagine some of the locals will never be persuaded to give the place a try, but that's just how people are.”
“I bet Caroline and Brian will refuse,” I reply. “They seem totally -”
Before I can finish, I hear a bumping sound coming from out in the corridor. I turn and look toward the arched doorway, but now the church has fallen silent again.
“Did you hear that?” I ask.
“Hear what?”
“There was a sound again,” I tell him. “I'm not lying, I swear.”
“I'm sure this time it was just something innocuous,” he replies. “I know it's something of a cliche, Mark, but this really is a very old building. Parts of it date back as far as the twelfth century. Maybe what you heard was just the foundations settling a little.”
“Yeah, but...”
I watch the archway for a moment longer, before reminding myself that I really need to listen to Liam. After all, he's been right about everything so far.
“So what happened to the demon?” I ask, turning to him. “Did it just vanish after you got rid of Judith Prendergast's ghost?”
“What do you mean?”
“You said she'd become one with the demon, right?”
“Right.”
“And you got rid of Judith, but did the demon go with her? 'Cause just now, when we saw her, she didn't seem very demonic.”
“You can't always judge such things from appearances alone, Mark.”
“She didn't sound very demonic, either.”
“To be honest, this is a situation I've never encountered before,” he says. “Nor have I heard of anything quite like this. But if Judith and Shaltak were entwined, it stands to reason that getting rid of one would get rid of the other. The demon was anchored here by Judith, and now the anchor is gone. I see no reason why the demon would still be here. Don't you agree?”
“I guess so,” I reply, but I'm still a little worried about something. “Why was she sobbing?”
“Judith?” He closes the zipper on his bag. “Fear, perhaps,” he continues. “Maybe she realized that once she was forced out of the church, she'd be gone forever. After all, as you pointed out, she consistently referred to this as her church. I imagine it was quite a wrench for her to realize that she wouldn't be able to haunt the place forever.”
“Is that really all she wanted?”
“You think there was something else?”
“It just doesn't seem like much motivation, that's all.”
“There was an element of revenge, as well,” he continues. “Maybe she was expecting to one day -”
Suddenly there's another bumping sound, and I turn just in time to see that one of the farthest pews seems to have shifted slightly. I might not know much, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't the sound of any foundations settling.
“What was that?” I ask, turning back to Liam.
He watches the pews for a few seconds, before glancing at me and then grabbing his jacket from the floor.
“I'm sure it was nothing,” he says, forcing a smile. “You won't get over this experience quickly, Mark. I remember the first time I encountered such things. I was nervous and jumpy for months, and my view of the world had been changed forever. You now know that demons and ghosts are real, which means that your understanding of the world has changed rather radically. Not many people have the knowledge that you've acquired. I can help you, if you like. You don't have to face this challenge alone.”
“We should tell people.”
“Tell them?”
“About all of it! Everyone has a right to know that this kind of shit is real!”
“I'm not sure that would be very wise,” he says cautiou
sly. “Can you imagine the panic? Society isn't ready for that information.”
“Is that why you're offering to help me, then?” I ask. “Is it just part of your attempt to cover it all up?”
“I'm offering to help because I think you need help. You've been through a lot, Mark, and my understanding is that you're alone in the world. I work for an organization that has financial wherewithal to assist you.”
“I don't want anything to do with any of this,” I tell him, “or with any organization. I just -”
Suddenly there's another bang, and I turn to see that the two long pews on the back row have both been pushed aside by some unseen force.
“You saw that,” I stammer, as I realize that there's definitely something still here in the church. “You can't tell me you didn't!”
“Wait a moment,” he says, and I can hear him stepping up behind me.
“No, don't lie, you saw it!” I shout, and then I turn to him. “Liam, you -”
Before I can finish, something sharp digs into my belly. Letting out a gasp, I step back and look down, and to my horror I see that Liam is holding a small, bloodied knife in his right hand. And as I stare at the blood that's already dripping from the blade's edge, I feel a growing pain in my gut. Looking at the front of my shirt, I see blood soaking through the fabric around a large, gashed rip.
“What...”
“I'm sorry, Mark,” Liam says, before grabbing my shoulder and pulling me closer.
I try to cry out, but he stabs me again, this time pushing the blade in all the way and then twisting it hard.
“You're a good kid,” he continues, “and it's a shame you got caught up in all of this, but I can't help that. Just know that I'm really, really sorry for everything.”
With that, he pulls the knife out, and then he shoves me hard. I try to step back, but instead I fall and clatter down the stone steps until I land in a heap on the floor at the head of the aisle. I try to get up, but the pain in my belly is intense and then I freeze as I see two more of the pews getting ripped up from the ground and sent clattering through the air until they smash against the walls. Then two more pews are tossed aside, then two more, with each row getting blasted away as if something is coming closer and closer toward us.