I hope she stays in the circle. Please don’t let Vic step into that circle.
Less than a minute after the door closed, the drone of murmuring voices from outside teased at the window. Weston, or his people, praying.
Oh, shit. Not now!
Mia fought the urge to spring up and scream at them. Hah! I should storm outside just like this and see how they react. She kept herself as still as she could, holding the star position lest the slightest movement ruin the spell.
The front door creaked.
“I’d appreciate it if you went home and left us alone,” said Adam, outside. “Your concern is noted, but it’s late.”
The voices kept praying.
“Didn’t you hear him?” shouted Lisa. “You’re trespassing. Freedom of religion doesn’t mean everyone’s got the ‘freedom’ to be your religion.”
“I’d rather not have to take things that far,” said Adam. “But at least move your meeting off my property to the street or will I need to call Nate to come out here and ask you all to disperse. Look, I appreciate your concern, but this is more than a little intrusive.”
Mia sighed. “Oh, sure, hon. Argue with the religious wingnuts while I just lie here naked, waiting for you. Argh, the timing. Go away already. Why can’t they just leave us alone?”
29
Two Cups of Tea
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Adam folded his arms, staring at Weston and his small group of worshipers.
Twelve of them gathered behind the pastor in front of the porch, all holding flashlights so they could read their Bibles. They continued reciting the same passage in unison, something about casting out demons, while the pastor dug in his heels, a defiant scowl on his face.
“Look, I respect your beliefs,” said Adam. “But, you need to respect my wife’s.”
“This house corrupted every family to ever live here.” Weston narrowed his eyes. “You’re unable to see it because you are under the effect of the Tempter. I am trying to save your souls. The Devil has staked his claim here. This house belongs empty. Any who dwell within it risk their souls.”
Adam shifted his jaw side to side. Mia had been acting a little odd as of late. He felt sure she experienced something that had scared her quite badly, but for whatever reason hadn’t mentioned it. She’d been edgy and strange ever since that bath, and the basement certainly did have a strong dark energy. At no point in his life did he ever suspect he possessed anything close to psychic talent, and even he could feel malice down there. The sensation reminded him of going down the wrong alley at night while a giant man with bad intentions followed him.
Maybe the pastor had a point… but then again, a malicious entity wouldn’t make flour footprints when asked or write its name in such a cutesy way.
“You must banish these minions of the dark one before they do permanent damage to your souls.” Weston pointed at Lisa. “That child was innocent once, but look at her now.”
Adam glanced to his right. The blue-eyed blonde woman standing beside him appeared angry enough to punch someone in the nose, but not at all demonic or evil. “I don’t see horns or a spaded tail.”
Her glower softened, but she fell short of laughing.
“If you wanted this house to stay empty, you should’ve bought it when it was on the market, empty for three years. Now, please, go home. I’m going to go inside, wait thirty seconds, and then bother the sheriff if I still hear voices outside. Got a feeling he won’t be too happy at being disturbed at near ten on a Saturday night.”
Lisa hurried into the house, heading for the balcony.
“You’re throwing your soul away, Mr. Gartner,” called Weston.
Adam paused at the door to smile back at him. “I’m not telling you to stop praying for me… just do it at the end of the driveway.”
He went in and shut the door. Eighteen seconds later, the recitation outside stopped. Flashlights migrated down the driveway and collected in a group near the street. Whatever they resumed saying didn’t quite reach the house loud enough to understand.
Good enough.
Wilhelmina held a small sword up over her head, though it didn’t look sharp. She walked clockwise around the circle while speaking in an odd language he figured might be Gaelic. Two small indentations on the sheet shifted slightly, suggesting Robin remained there as Mia had asked, and turned in place to watch the older woman. Linda lit incense in bowls. Cheryl glided back and forth lighting the candles. After three orbits, Wilhelmina stopped at the point where she’d started. The other four women approached the sheet, each one standing at another star point.
“Linda North.” Wilhelmina pointed her sword at the air above the woman’s head. “I invite you to enter my circle of power. How do you enter?”
“With perfect love and trust,” said Linda, raising her hands to the ceiling. “Praise be to the Mother Goddess.”
One by one, she ‘welcomed’ the others. That done, she invited The Moon Goddess, The Horned One, Lady Morrigan, and the elemental spirits all to join their circle. Wilhelmina held the sword high for a moment, said a few lines in Gaelic, then set the blade on the rug by her feet, and they all joined hands.
Wilhelmina chanted:
“The spirits path so long entwined,
“For eons old the way did bind.
“A bridge to cross, the fallow dark,
“To mother’s heart, the spirit hark.
“Lady Morrigan, hear our plea,
“So we beseech, so mote it be.”
The others repeated the chant in unison. Nothing visible happened. Adam stifled a smile of amusement, mostly at himself for being disappointed the ‘magic’ lacked flashy special effects.
Deep anger radiated from the kitchen. Seconds later, a loud slam came from the basement door. A few of the women—and Adam—jumped.
Wilhelmina nodded to Adam.
He took a deep breath. No pressure to perform right?
Careful to watch for anything attempting to trip him, Adam went upstairs and crept down the hall to his bedroom. Mia lay stretched out on the bed, arms out to her sides, legs apart, her body covered with markings similar to what the women had written on the linen cloth downstairs.
He blinked at the sight of her.
Mia exhaled. “Are they done with the spell?”
“I think so. At least, she gave me ‘the nod.’”
She relaxed from the uncomfortable—and highly vulnerable—pose, sat up, and plucked two half-sized cups from the table beside the bed.
“Are you sure this is what you want to do?” Adam shut the door behind him.
“Yes.”
He removed his clothes, tossing them on the floor by the bed. “What’s with the cups?”
“Tea. Wilhelmina said it’s important.”
Adam shrugged and downed the not-quite-hot tea like a shot. It scorched his throat with the bite of whiskey and a bizarre herbal taste like mint-berry cough syrup. Mia drank hers in three sips, cringing.
“Whoa. That’s some… interesting tea.” He coughed, patted his chest, and set the cup down.
Mia’s eyes fluttered. “Yeah.”
He sat beside her on the bed, taking in the beautiful sight of his wife’s body. After about ten seconds, lightheadedness made him smile and forget entirely about having other people in the house.
Mia reached up with both hands, rubbing his chest. “I’m ready.”
“You are so damn beautiful.”
“C’mere, handsome.” Mia tugged at him. “Careful not to smudge me.”
30
Hope
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Mia lay back, sweaty, out of breath, staring wide-eyed at the ceiling.
Well, I didn’t have a massive heart attack.
A rhythmic chant came from beneath the floor.
Since I’m not dead, that means Robin really is an innocent, or I’m a complete idiot for thinking ‘magic’ would do anything. Whatever had been in the tea hit her fairly h
ard. She grinned, snickered, then burst into full on laughter.
“I wasn’t that bad, was I?” half-whispered Adam.
“No, you were amazing. I just thought it funny that I’d been so terrified of magic and believed it might’ve killed me.”
“Killed you?” He sat up, propping himself on one elbow. “How so?”
“Yeah. If something dark got into that circle, it probably would’ve killed me.”
He stared. “That would’ve been… bad.”
“You’re not upset?” She covered her mouth with one hand, almost in slow motion. “Oh, I didn’t mean to tell you that. I didn’t want to upset you.”
“I am upset, but it’s not coming out.”
“We’re high as hell, aren’t we?”
Adam grinned. “I believe so.”
She traced her fingers around his chest. “We just tried to make a baby.”
“Yeah. No raincoat.”
Mia giggled. “I feel so relaxed. Could lay here like this all night.”
“We’ve got people downstairs still.”
“Yeah. We do.”
“We do.” He flopped flat on his back.
“I think maybe we should do something besides just lie here. Wow… our ceiling is so damn white. So clean. Could eat off it. How would we get food to stick to the ceiling to eat from it?” Mia rubbed her face. “Oh, wow. I’m stoned.”
“Have you ever been high before?”
“I told you already. Tried E once in college and dabbled with pot, but nothing serious.”
“Oh. Yeah, that’s right, you did mention that.”
Mia hopped out of bed and made it halfway to the stairs before she realized she hadn’t put any clothes on. She decided not to care, but only made it a few more steps before her embarrassment overpowered the effects of the tea.
“Hon? Forget something?” Adam leaned out the door, dangling her giant T-shirt from one hand. “You know, something tells me they wouldn’t mind if we were super casual.”
She scurried back to him. “Will you ask if it’s okay if I wipe these marks off? I want to clean up.”
“Sure.”
Adam hurriedly dressed, then went down the hall to the stairs. “Wilhelmina? Is it okay if she cleans up or should the marks remain?” He listened for a moment. “Sounds like they’re still doing something. Thanking various gods for helping them, closing the circle. Sec.” He went downstairs. A minute later, he came back and nodded. “Got a thumbs up.”
Mia hit the bathroom for a quick shower. By the time she stepped out of the tub, the hazy, relaxed effect of the tea had largely worn off, leaving her feeling sober but tired. She changed into a standard T-shirt and sweat pants, then went downstairs.
Adam sat in one of the recliners, Wilhelmina in the other with a pleased look on her face. Rebecca, Linda, and Cheryl occupied the couch, Lisa sprawled on the floor beside it like a teen.
Mia padded over and sat on her husband’s lap.
“So, did it work?” asked Adam.
Wilhelmina pursed her lips. “It’s difficult for me to say. I can tell you that nothing went wrong aside from Vic’s attempts to distract us, but he couldn’t breach the circle.
“I think it did.” Lisa grinned. “I saw the little footprints fade away.”
Mia opened her senses as much as she’d yet figured out how to do. “Maybe it did work… the house doesn’t feel so infused with sadness as it did before.”
“Or you’re still glowing from a good boinking.” Lisa laughed.
Adam cleared his throat.
Wilhelmina glanced off in a random direction, a hint of red in her cheeks.
“Robin?” called Mia. “Are you still here?”
She looked around at the silent living room, balcony room, and what little bit of dining room she could see past the arch from her present angle.
Wham!
Mia jumped, emitting a shriek of alarm—as did Lisa and Cheryl.
“What the hell was that?” asked Adam.
“Sounded like a cabinet door from the kitchen.” Linda scratched at her eyebrow. “I think someone’s pissed.”
“Robin never slammed doors.” Mia slipped off Adam’s lap and cautiously advanced into the dining room, heading for the kitchen.
“I don’t think Robin did that.” Wilhelmina got up and followed her.
One of the cabinet doors above the sink hung open, though nothing appeared damaged.
“Is he going to be a problem?”
“Difficult to say. We did stir up quite a bit of spirit energy tonight. It wouldn’t surprise me if that attracted some other entities to check out what we were doing. However, they ought to disperse soon.
Mia nudged the cabinet closed. “All right. Here’s hoping.”
For the next hour or so, they sat around being social, chatting about everything other than spirits or magic… until the crash of a heavy toolbox slammed into the floor in the back of the house. The requisite thudding went by toward the stairs.
“Wow, it’s late.” Mia yawned.
“1:03 a.m.,” said Adam without looking at any phone, watch, or clock.
“Whoa.” Cheryl slipped her phone back in her pocket. “Good guess.”
“Not a guess.” He scratched at his chin. “Every damn night that same thing repeats at exactly 1:03.”
“That one isn’t an active ghost. Just a psychic impression.” Mia pointed at the route the disturbance took from the kitchen to the stairs. “It’s like a glitched video on repeat. No intelligence.”
“A more forceful cleansing or banishing ritual might deal with it…” Wilhelmina tapped her fingertips together. “Unless of course, you enjoy a nightly reminder of that bastard.”
“Getting rid of that noise would be great.” Mia nodded. “Once we’re sure you’re not going to banish Robin, too.”
Wilhelmina wagged her eyebrows. “Oh, I suspect you’ll banish her… in about nine months.”
Mia leaned against Adam, trying to prepare herself mentally to cope with the disappointment that at any minute, she’d see a crying little ghost emerge from a dark corner.
“And it is still one in the morning.” Cheryl stood. “My bed is calling me, and I’m sure these two want some rest.”
The coven got up to leave, all hugging Mia in turn, wishing her luck and good fortune with the baby. Lisa and Rebecca hugged Adam as well, the rest shaking hands with him.
“Thank you all so much,” said Mia. “It’s… I’m still not sure if I should believe that magic is going to work, but I can’t thank you all enough for what you’ve done.”
“You’re welcome, dear.” Wilhelmina patted her shoulder, then picked up the bags of ritual supplies.
The others filed out behind her. Mia stood in the doorway watching the women walk to their cars, Adam behind her. She slipped a hand up under her shirt, idly scratching at her stomach. It didn’t seem likely that ‘special tea’ would hasten her cycle or magic would work, and hoping so much that it would made her feel a wee bit silly.
Car doors outside closed with soft whumps. One by one, engines started and the women drove off.
“Am I a hypocrite for hoping this could work after making fun of my parents for praying?”
Adam rested his chin on her shoulder and hugged her. “You know what the difference between prayer and magic is?”
“The supernatural beings the witches call on aren’t supposed to be infallible or all-powerful?”
“I was going to say there’s more supplies involved in magic.”
Mia patted her belly and let her arm drop. Hope wouldn’t hurt anyone… and it did stand out that she hadn’t seen any trace of Robin since she’d gone upstairs. Maybe the spell had done something. For all she knew, perhaps merely suggesting to Robin that she could jump into a baby was all it took and the magic merely made everyone feel better. She sighed to herself, feeling as foolish as an adult who believed in Santa Claus to hope that anything they did tonight would work.
However…
<
br /> The house did feel less sad… but also angry.
31
Time
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
The fragrance of pancakes saturated the kitchen.
Mia patted her tremendously pregnant belly. Cravings for pancakes had gotten out of hand the past few days. She’d had them every morning that week. The baby kicked happily while Mia ate.
“I know you love pancakes, but if you keep making me eat them, you’re going to be sending me to the gym once you bust out of jail, kiddo.”
The ultrasound had confirmed she carried a girl. The tea allowing her to become pregnant at all out of her cycle had been enough of a shock to open the doors of hope, and that hope had reached dangerous levels of anticipation after she hadn’t seen any sign of Robin anywhere in the house over the past nine months. Dangerous in the sense that if it didn’t turn out to be Robin in her womb, she’d be crushed. That much, she had confided in Adam. If they determined that Robin had simply ‘gone away’ and they had an ordinary baby, he would be on guard to help her through the resulting depression.
While the girl had gone quiet, other supernatural events had picked up with increasing frequency.
She couldn’t tell if the increased activity happened due to Wilhelmina’s banishing ritual or Robin’s absence. If Vic had been a ‘plug’ of sorts keeping Robin from going down the drain to the Pool of Life, perhaps her absence agitated him. The toolbox crash had ceased as a result of the deep cleansing ritual Wilhelmina conducted in the little room between the kitchen and the back door, but now, doors opened and closed at random, lights turned on or off, the TV switched on and off, small objects moved around constantly. A few times, she’d been thrown out of bed. Lately, she’d taken to sleeping on an air mattress so a fall wouldn’t harm the baby.
The Spirits of Six Minstrel Run Page 25