Robin ducked under the table and crawled into Mia’s lap. “I waited for Mommy.”
Mia hugged her and kissed her atop the head. “You sure did, sweetie.”
“Any idea why Evelyn didn’t wind up haunting the house?” Adam inhaled a giant forkful of eggs.
“Oh, sometimes spirits take quite a while to get where they’re going. They don’t always take the most efficient route.” Wilhelmina kept her gaze on her plate, smiling to herself.
“So what can we do about him now?” asked Mia. “If he’s upset about Robin… would he have cared if she went through the cycle?”
“I imagine not. She wouldn’t have truly been Robin anymore. I doubt she would’ve had the drive to retain the person she once was as strongly. The energy that comprised her soul would’ve changed. Mixed with other energy, and so forth.”
Adam drank a few sips of coffee. “What kind of thing would keep someone together like that?”
“Oh, I can think of a few reasons. Perhaps a soul lost to sorrow jumped too quickly into the Pool and realized they had someone precious waiting for them.” Wilhelmina finished off the last of her potatoes. “But, I’m just an old woman. What do I know?”
Mia stared at her. She’s implying… Does she think I’m Evelyn reincarnated? She held Robin tighter, resting her chin on the girl’s head. If that were true, wouldn’t she know? Wouldn’t she remember things? She bit her lip. Those visions and dreams she’d had of finding Robin’s body, the powder blue purse… could those have been memories instead of psychic readings? Something she often said about her job restoring art hit her square in the feels: she loved restoring life to things considered dead.
“Hon, you okay?” asked Adam.
“Mommy’s got the sad. She’s thinking about what happened to me.”
Wilhelmina dabbed a napkin at her lip. “As for what to do about Vic…”
“Do you—” Mia took a deep breath to let her emotions settle. “Do you think there’s any possible truth to what Weston said? Could there be some kind of curse or dark energy affecting this house? Like an ancient burial ground, or some awful event that happened on this land before the house was ever built?”
“I don’t believe so.” Wilhelmina shook her head. “I have already spent quite an amount of years researching that exact thing, trying to make sense of the tragedy. In my professional opinion, Vic Kurtis was just a psycho.”
Adam held up a finger. “I concur.”
Wilhelmina winked at him. “Take it from the psychologist.”
Mia sat on the sofa, not really watching television.
Wilhelmina and the others would be there in another hour or so to scrub the house and perform another banishing ritual. This time, Mia would get over her fear and accompany them to the basement. Whether or not she had been Evelyn in a past life, she had a daughter to protect and she couldn’t let her childhood of being morbidly terrified of her parents’ basement threaten Robin.
A sudden, intense pang of worry hit her.
Without a word, she jumped to her feet and ran upstairs. A slosh of water came from the bathtub.
“Hon?” asked Adam.
Mia sprinted down the hall.
“Hon?” yelled Adam again, from the stairway.
The bathroom door started to swing shut on its own, but she leaned into her stride, ramming shoulder-first into it before it could latch, slamming it open. Adam thundered up the stairs behind her. Mia crashed into the cabinet and shoved herself away, spinning to face the tub. Robin lay flat on her back underwater, thrashing, kicking, and grabbing at the air as though something held her down. Two rubber ducks and a plastic faerie bobbed around over her. Air bubbles leaked from her mouth.
“No!” screamed Mia.
She dove to her knees, grabbed Robin’s hands, and pulled. The child seemed to weigh four hundred pounds. Adam burst in and stood there for not quite a full second taking in the scene, then grabbed Robin’s left wrist in both hands. Mia shifted her grip to the right arm, and they pulled together, but couldn’t dislodge the girl from the tub.
Robin’s eyes rolled up in her head. Her legs stopped kicking.
Mia snarled, pulling harder.
“Easy… don’t dislocate her arms,” yelled Adam. “Get under her shoulders.”
No! I’m not gonna lose her again!
Mia grunted, took a huge breath, and plunged her face into the water, breathing into Robin’s mouth. The girl snapped awake and clamped on with both arms and legs, trapping Mia’s face underwater. Her lungs mostly empty from giving the child air, Mia’s head spun in a dizzy whorl. She braced her hands on the tub floor on either side of the girl’s head and pushed. Robin’s fingers scraped over her back, slipping away, unable to hold on against the force pinning her to the tub. Again, the child went limp.
Adam grabbed Mia around the chest.
She threaded her arms behind Robin’s back, fighting the tremendous weight holding her down. It reminded her too much of the horrible dream when Vic pinned her to the floor. Mia screamed inside her head and pulled, beyond caring if she hurt herself.
Robin started to sit up, then broke free from the force.
Adam, Mia, and Robin flew backward. He landed sitting on the floor, Mia in his lap, Robin still wrapped around her like a koala bear. Both Mia and Robin gasped for air.
“Holy shit,” muttered Adam.
Mia squeezed her daughter, clinging to the tiny body wracked with choking coughs. Adam held them both in silence for a while.
“Mommy?” wheezed Robin. “I changed my mind. I’m not a big girl yet. Please stay with me for baths.”
I’m going to sit beside the tub until she’s thirty. Mia nodded, rocking her. “I will.”
“Son of a…” Adam exhaled hard. “Are you okay? Let me see her.”
Mia shifted sideways, relaxing her grip.
A faint red handprint marked Robin’s chest. Adam gently overlaid his hand on the mark, which extended a little bit on all sides.
“Vic,” said Mia.
Adam nodded.
Robin sniffled. “Sorry for getting water all over.”
“Oh, sweetie. That’s not your fault.” Mia kissed the top of her head. “C’mon, let’s dry you off.”
She toweled the girl off while Adam pulled the plug on the drain and retrieved a mop for the floor. A few minutes later, the doorbell rang. Robin zoomed out of the towel. Mia tried to grab her, but missed.
“Wilhelmina!” cheered Robin from down the hall.
“Get back here! You’re naked!” shouted Mia.
“Oh, I don’t think the witches will mind.” Adam chuckled.
Mia scrambled to her feet and hurried down the hall with towel in hand. Robin had opened the door to let the coven inside, all of them laughing at her bouncing with excitement at seeing them. Lisa announced that since the little one went sky clad, she would, too.
Robin pointed emphatically at the stairs. “Bad daddy tried to drown me!”
Their mirth fell in an instant to silence.
Mia swooped in and picked Robin up, wrapping her in the towel.
“What happened?” asked Wilhelmina.
Robin pulled the towel open enough to show off the almost-faded handprint.
Mia explained.
Wilhelmina approached and cupped Robin’s cheeks in both hands. “You’re not going to go to sleep now, are you?”
Robin shook her head. “Nope. Too scared.”
“Well, you might as well help us out with the banishing then.” Wilhelmina patted her on the head.
“Are you trying to lure my daughter to devil-worship?” Mia managed a weak grin.
“She’s already dressed for a bonfire ritual,” said Lisa.
“I swear…” Rebecca rolled her eyes. “You’re part wood nymph. Girl just can’t wait to take her clothes off.”
“It’s good she’ll be with us.” Wilhelmina tapped a finger to Robin’s nose. “We can directly involve her in the protection spell.”
“Okay
. But first… someone needs her nightgown.” Mia looked down at herself. “And I need to change, too. I’m soaked.”
The group walked from room to room.
Robin dutifully held a smoking sage bundle, following Mia, who primarily kept quiet and watched. In each room, Wilhelmina led the others in a banishing ritual, during which she called upon The Goddess, The Horned God, Morrigan, and Brigit. They cleansed the upstairs after the first floor. When they reached Robin’s bedroom, Wilhelmina hung three talismans of twigs and herbs, one by the door, one between the windows, and one on the wall above the bed.
Eventually, they returned to the ground floor and went down to the basement.
Mia steeled herself, but accompanied them despite her inherent fear.
The air smelled mostly of dryness and heating oil. Boxes stood against the walls in piles, all things abandoned by the house’s prior occupants. Based on the thickness of dust, she suspected quite a few of them had belonged to the Kurtis family. Flaking white paint fell from the brick walls around a largely open space. An old workbench ran along the far wall, next to an alcove where an ancient washer and dryer still stood. They appeared as though they hadn’t been used in half a century.
Mia shivered at the heavy presence lurking behind the furnace. A darker spot formed the vague hint of a humanoid outline in the gloom. If not for having the five coven members surrounding her, she had no doubt she’d have screamed and run back upstairs. The initial blast of fear faded, leaving her furious that he tried to kill Robin for the second time.
“Vic!” Mia stepped in front of her daughter and pointed at the shadow. “Go away! You’re not welcome here. You have no power over me.”
The shadow rushed at her. Physical force crashed into her with the presence of hands at her throat, lifting her off her feet and slamming her back against the wall, strangling her. Reality flashed away to a brief vision of Vic in his mechanic’s uniform holding her—holding Evelyn—against the wall in the same manner.
“Who do you think you are, bitch!” he shouted, then slapped her hard.
Mia returned to the now, her cheek throbbing. Adam grabbed at the vaporous apparition, his hands passing through it without purchase. Unlike her vision, the shadow figure didn’t scream at her or make any noise, merely stared into her soul with two pale white eye spots. She sensed Evelyn curling up on the floor, apologizing over and over again, begging him to stop. A snarl slipped from Mia’s lips. “Get off me, you bastard!”
She punched the shadow figure in its vaporous head, but the apparition flowed around her arm. Robin screamed. Hearing her child so terrified set Mia off like a bomb.
“You’re a damn coward, Vic! I’m not scared of you. Go the hell back to whatever sad little hole you crawled out of.”
The force pinning her against the wall dissipated. She slid down to her feet, still glaring at the hanging shadow. At her refusal to fear him, the malice inside him grew—but she sensed his ability to harm her waning. Mia took a defiant step toward him; the shadow receded.
Wilhelmina aimed a hand at him. “I call upon The Goddess to cast out all negative spirits. I call upon the Horned God to purge from this place all energies dark and malign.” She raised her hands over her head, then swept them down. “We call upon the energies of creation, the protective forces of the universe. We establish this as sacred space free from all forces chaotic and malicious.”
The others repeated the chant.
Wilhelmina recited an invocation of elements that largely skirted the edges of Mia’s consciousness while the drifting shadow held all her attention. Despite its sinister appearance, she refused to give him the satisfaction of showing fear. He’d attempted to drown her daughter. Anger bloomed. She projected it outward at the shadow figure, telling herself mentally over and over that he had no power over her.
The shadow melted in place, sinking to the floor. She sensed it still watching her and glared at the spot until all sense of his presence receded from her awareness.
Robin waved the smoking sage bundle and yelled, “Go away!”
Mia jumped at the touch of a hand on her shoulder. She turned to find Adam beside her. Wilhelmina and the others roamed the basement, still muttering and spreading sage smoke around.
“You okay?”
“Yeah. Just had a staredown with the bastard. I think he’s left the house… but I don’t think we’re done with him yet. This just got serious.”
“Bad Daddy’s angry,” whispered Robin.
38
Rules
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
In spite of no longer sensing dread inside the house, Mia still tossed around the idea of moving.
She kept it to herself for several reasons. One, she no longer believed that Vic was exclusively bound to the house, and worried he would simply follow them if they went anywhere else. Secondly, this place had numerous protections in place from Wilhelmina and the others. Witch bottles, talismans, and an amulet or two stood guard in windows upstairs and down. Third, she didn’t want to surrender to that bastard.
Fourth, and most compelling, she hadn’t picked up on any supernatural doom in the week since the banishing. Robin no longer wanted to be alone for bath time, not that Mia would’ve permitted it anyway for at least another few years. She’d probably decide to be embarrassed about having Mom or Dad in the room with her while she bathed by eight or nine, and—provided Vic stayed gone—it shouldn’t be a problem at that point.
Mia fixed a breakfast of oatmeal for herself and Adam, cereal for Robin. As had become routine, she’d drop the girl off at Wilhelmina’s house—a bit less than two miles down Minstrel Run—then go to work. The extra stop (going in the opposite direction from Syracuse) necessitated her leaving earlier than she used to, so she wound up walking out the door only seconds after Adam.
“Rabbit!” yelled Robin.
She dashed off the front porch, chasing after a streak of white fur. Adam stopped by the Nissan, smiling at the child’s gleeful but futile pursuit. Mia turned to pull the front door closed, and froze at a sudden pang of worry. She whirled back toward the yard and ran, calling for Robin to stop.
A dull clunk came from the Tahoe—and it rolled backward down the inclined driveway, picking up speed.
The girl tripped and fell flat on her chest with a yelp of startled pain, her head directly in the path of the SUV’s back tire. Mia screamed. Without superhuman speed, she’d never cover the distance in time. Adam zoomed across the driveway, crashing into Robin with a slide. The Tahoe bounced over his foot, the right corner of the back bumper clipped the open door of the Nissan, and the truck rolled out onto Minstrel run, coming to a stop with a whump against a tree.
Adam rolled onto his back, clinging to Robin, who appeared unhurt but disoriented. He hissed in pain, but didn’t make much noise, though his face had turned bright red.
Mia rushed over and grabbed them. “Adam… holy shit…”
“Yeah.”
Mia held them both until she stopped shaking, her emotions a storm of fury and panic. “You’ve got serious ‘dad reflexes.’”
“I’m sorry,” whispered Robin.
“It’s not your fault.” Adam fussed at the grass next to him. “Damn gophers or whatever… she stepped in a hole.”
Robin rubbed the side of her head where it hit the driveway. “No. I mean I’m sorry for being scared of you before when I was squishy.”
He hugged her, then handed her off to Mia. “Already forgiven… before you were born.” He winked.
“You’re a good daddy.” She smiled.
Mia cradled the girl, staring at the wayward Tahoe out in the street. “The parking brake didn’t slip on its own.”
“Hah!” Adam laughed.
She shifted her gaze to him, unimpressed. “What’s funny about this?”
“Nothing.”
“So… you’re laughing at what?”
“Do you remember the first day we were here?”
“Kinda.”
&nbs
p; “When you pulled into the driveway, your left foot hurt.” He pointed at his left foot. “I think it’s broken. You probably sensed the truck would run me over.”
Mia raked a hand through her hair. “I don’t remember that, but I’ll take your word for it.”
“Looks like I’m going to be late for work today.”
She eyed the Tahoe. It’s probably safe to drive. Damn Vic. The rabbit reappeared in the brush at the far side of the yard, staring at them in an almost taunting manner. For the first time in her life, Mia glared at a cute, fuzzy thing with malice. Indifferent to her opinion of it, the rabbit sniffed the air and hopped into the brush.
“I guess I should be more careful until Bad Daddy doesn’t wanna make me a ghost again.” Robin brushed grass bits off her dress.
Dread built up in Mia’s gut at the worry it might not be Vic this time. He hadn’t shown any sign of being here for over a week. Sure, the bathtub had clearly been him… but this? Robin Kurtis had died at seven. What if The Universe caught on to them cheating the system and intended to make sure Robin Gartner also died by seven? Had they broken the rules?
No. I’m just being paranoid and worrying about everything. She would’ve eventually reincarnated anyway, and if the Universe would get pissy about us altering the rules, why did fate line up to send me to this house in the first place—assuming I really am Evelyn reincarnated? She almost scoffed at the thought of that, but it would help explain how rapidly she’d become attached to Robin’s ghost… and the random dream memories of Evelyn’s life. Perhaps they had come from within, unlocked by her return to this house or proximity to the ghost of the child she’d once failed so horribly. Never having been in a situation with a man like that, Mia couldn’t fault the woman for making the decisions she’d made back then… but had she grabbed Robin and gone to her parents’ place instead of work that night, tragedy might have been averted.
Of course, had she done that, Vic could have chased her there and murdered all of them…
Mia rocked her daughter side to side, half ready to spend the next few hours sitting there and holding her to keep her safe.
The Spirits of Six Minstrel Run Page 29