She flashed back to that concert. She couldn’t remember who played what, but she did remember her date for that night. Lulu had rosy cheeks that sparkled every time she smiled. More importantly, she had been doing a degree in animal behavior. Last Julie knew Lulu had landed a dream job with a big cat sanctuary, but when they dated she’d had a particular fascination with rats. The fact that she wouldn’t shut up about them, especially around bedtime, may have been a factor in their break up.
For the first time in Julie’s life, the knowledge Lulu had shared was useful and it was all coming back. For one thing, rats could be trained to sit on an owner’s shoulder, but not much more.
She’d never heard of attack rats, especially rats trained to attack certain people. Rats did not form lines. She stopped kicking and, holding back faint disgust, she picked up one of the rats. It felt light, like a balloon, and smelled like stagnant water. She squeezed it between her hands. It gave a shrill, gurgling sound before disintegrating, crumbling into dust. The rats were not real. They were like the arm-like vines that had tripped them up before.
“Catch as many of these things as you can and squeeze!” she yelled. For a moment she thought she saw a pale luminescence out of the corner of her eye, but then it was gone.
“No way!” Penny had plastered herself against a wall, trying to be as far away from the rats as possible.
Steve bent down, grabbed two rats, and squeezed. The rats popped and turned to dust. “Julie’s right. They’re not real!” He picked up more rats and squeezed, giggling.
The luminescence reappeared for just a moment. It seemed slightly larger, not quite as faint.
Penny peeled herself off the wall. Her foot came down on a rat’s back. It popped, its dust scattering on the ground. “Well, that wasn’t so bad.” She stomped on one rat and then another.
The others joined her, picking up rats and squeezing with great enthusiasm. The tunnel became filled with their shrieks and swearing and the sounds the rats made when they were squeezed out of existence.
Then, as suddenly as the rats appeared, the remaining rats disappeared, burrowing back into the tunnel wall. The spot on the wall glowed ever so slightly. Julie touched the luminescent area, but the temperature was no different than the surrounding area. The wall was solid.
“Do you see what I see?” Julie asked.
Steve approached the spot with his EDI meter. The readings were already so high. At this spot, they were higher, although not by much. The luminescence undulated farther down the tunnel, almost like it was signaling for them to follow.
“I do,” he said. “So interesting.”
“What is it?” Mrs. Forcier moved closer to Steve.
“I think it’s the way to Maya and Katie,” said Steve. “Let’s go.”
With the rats gone and the group still stunned by their appearance and disappearance, the tunnel acquired an eerie silence. They walked carefully, shaking rat dust off of their hands, and followed the luminescence that periodically got so faint that it disappeared. The tunnel began a gentle curve to the right, and Julie started to hear more than their footsteps.
She grabbed the back of Steve’s tank top.
“Wait,” she whispered. “I heard talking. I think it’s Maya. I think someone’s with her.”
“Is it Katie?” Mrs. Forcier asked.
“The other voice sounds male,” Julie whispered. Mrs. Forcier’s face fell.
Julie moved toward the voices with the others following close behind her. “I’m pretty sure it’s this way. I thought I heard her. Maya, is that you?” She turned a corner into a new chamber.
Maya was flat against a wall with an older male ghost hovering ever closer to her. On the other side of Maya was someone slumped against the wall. Julie threw light to that spot with her flashlight. It was Mike. He didn’t seem asleep or awake, alive or dead. He was just still.
“You’re here. Good. Young miss, please tell your friends to stay back. I have no interest in them. Only you,” the entity said.
Maya clenched her teeth as if she was resisting speaking and then gasped. Something was choking her. Steve drew his gun.
“Don’t come any closer,” Maya struggled to say.
“Get away from her!” Steve pointed his pistol at the entity.
The entity turned toward Steve, loosening his chokehold on Maya and leaving her gasping for air.
“You can’t shoot me,” screamed the entity.
What had originally looked like a respectable gentleman ghost started to glow red. Its teeth turned yellow and jagged. It stretched its arm out toward Steve’s neck and squeezed its fingers together. Steve started to struggle for air. He managed to get off a shot that hit the ghost in the shoulder. The wound healed quickly, but the luminescence that led them to this spot got brighter. A long shriek emanated from the walls, only to go silent when the entity’s shoulder wound closed. Maya slumped to the floor.
Julie was next to attack, tossing lavender oil toward the entity. His skin absorbed the oil like a sponge. He turned his gaze on her. Vines snaked up from the ground and wrapped around her legs.
“Not again!” Julie yelled as she struggled to free herself from the vines.
“Lavender was not a good choice, child,” said the entity. “Lavender could have protected you like it is protecting me now.”
The vines tightened their grip and dragged Julie to the ground. Sharp spikes emerged from the vines and pressed into her skin. Julie screamed. A burning sensation emanated from the spikes making her gasp.
Penny was the next one to take a shot. She pushed past Jason who seemed trapped in some kind of trance and shot the entity in the belly. The shrieks, full of years of pain, got louder and longer. The luminescence was as bright as the sun for a brief moment. When the light dimmed, the entity’s belly had healed. He lunged for Mrs. Forcier, only to be stopped short by Katie. She had reappeared, but there was something different about her. She was completely solid, legs and all.
“Stop this now!” Katie said. Her voice was strong, unwavering. She moved from her sister’s side. Every step she took pushed the entity back until he was against the wall, near where Maya was regaining consciousness. Katie seemed to be surrounded by a force field that the entity couldn’t penetrate. Her every step was full of purpose. The entity started vibrating. A deep purple crack appeared in his forehead.
“What have you done?” Its voice had lost its power.
“I’ve stopped you. You can’t have her. You won’t hurt my sister. You’ve hurt her enough.”
The luminescence on the walls brightened. Faces formed and changed.
“How? You can’t manifest outside the vessel.”
“I’m not your vessel. My name is Maya,” she said as she stood up and took her place next to Katie. “But you’re right, Dr. Hargreaves. This has nothing to do with me.” She gave Katie’s shoulder a squeeze and moved back to where Mrs. Forcier stood. “This will end tonight.”
An arm emerged from the wall near Hargreaves’ head and wrapped around his throat. Another arm ensnared his waist. Vines wrapped around his arms and legs. Another crack, this one dark green, appeared at his shoulder.
“You’ve tried to keep us apart, keep us all scared, but you’ve been distracted by the construction and the need for a new caretaker and my sister and her friends. You can’t hold it all together anymore. We have figured out how to defeat you, to set ourselves free,” Katie said.
Hargreaves roared and ripped himself away from the arms and the vines. His chest broadened. He no longer looked like a gentleman. He looked like a brute. He pushed forward like he was walking in a wind tunnel.
“This is all mine. You won’t defeat me,” yelled Dr. Hargreaves.
Katie jumped back, looking for just a moment like the scared teenager Julie had gotten to know and like. Julie grabbed Mrs. Forcier’s hand. It was shaking.
The vines and arms extended once again. Dr. Hargreaves bit them and stamped on them as he was dragged back to the wall.
The vines and arms multiplied until only his eyes and mouth could be seen.
“Don’t do this!” he screamed. “I saved you! You can have eternal life with me!”
The luminescence that filled the underground space became brighter, but a dark shadow formed in front of Katie. It stretched out before her. Other spirits emerged from it. They wavered and flowed toward Hargreaves.
Jason whispered to Julie, “We’ve been down here for nearly an hour. Eddie’s going to open a way out for us soon. What do we do? I don’t want to get trapped in here.”
“I don’t think we’re going to need Eddie’s special gifts. Katie’s got this,” Julie said.
Hargreaves opened his mouth and released a gust of cold air. Icicles formed on the walls. Julie started to shiver. She exhaled, watching her breath curl away from her nose and mouth.
“We don’t want your life,” said Katie. Her voice was echoed by the other spirits, creating a cacophony. The phrase reverberated through the chamber over and over again. Dr. Hargreaves’ bondage grew until he disappeared, and the vines faded away.
Mrs. Forcier approached her sister. “Katie, is he gone?”
“Thank you,” said one of the spirits as it floated up and disappeared. Then another one vanished, then another. When Katie turned to face her sister, she was no longer as solid. She broke into a smile.
“Don’t go,” wailed Mrs. Forcier. “I’ve only just found you.”
Katie reached out and grabbed her sister’s hand. “I wanted you to find me. This is what I wanted, and now you’ve set me free. I’m so sorry we couldn’t have all the things that sisters had. I’m so sorry.”
The spirits continued disappearing until only Katie was left.
“I have to go,” she said.
“I know. I don’t like it, but I know,” said Mrs. Forcier.
The temperature in the chamber started to increase, and then Katie faded away as well. Mrs. Forcier collapsed and sobbed.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Leaving the barn
Maya was amazed that, after the chamber had been filled with so much noise, it could be so quiet. The only sound was Mrs. Forcier’s crying. Julie and Penny were trying to comfort her and get her to her feet. Jason and Steve were figuring out what to do with Mike. They decided to drag the unconscious man with them. Mrs. Forcier was weak, but able to walk. They passed through the tunnels toward the exit with minimal chit chat.
“I can’t wait to get out of here,” Maya said. The others nodded. The tunnels got warmer, but they were no longer guided by ghostly luminescence. That was gone. The trapped spirits were finally free. Maya hoped Dr. Hargreaves was in a hell designed just for him.
“And I’m so sorry I hurt you,” said Maya to Steve and Jason.
“It’s all okay,” said Steve. Jason just gave her the okay sign.
When they got to the exit, they clambered out of the hole, but, while the underground tunnels had changed, the barn had not.
“This isn’t right,” Steve said. His EDI meter suddenly beeped with renewed vigor.
“Why? What’s wrong?” Penny asked.
To Maya’s ears, Penny sounded a bit panicked no matter how much she tried to mask her fear.
Steve said, “I thought I’d turned it off.”
The air was cold. The barn was still covered in frost and ice. The barn door was not visible. All Maya could see was solid ice. Did we go through all this for nothing? We’re trapped in here?
“Dr. Hargreaves is gone. We should be able to get out of here,” Maya said. Her stomach fell. She did not want to run into Hargreaves or anyone like him ever again.
“Maybe it just takes a while for everything to defrost?” asked Penny, cradling her injured hand. She sounded unconvinced by her own explanation.
Maya heard someone grunt.
“He’s not that heavy,” said Steve to Jason.
Jason said, “I know that.”
“Well, hang on!” Steve said.
“I am hanging on,” Jason snapped. “He keeps trying to move.”
They had Mike’s body braced between them, but they seemed to be having a hard time holding onto him. Maya could see that Jason was right. Mike was moving. Another grunt.
Julie and Penny turned toward Steve and Jason. Even Mrs. Forcier, who had cried all the way from the cave junction, turned her attention to Steve and Jason, sniffling though she still was. Mike’s feet were no longer dragging behind him.
Another grunt.
“What’s happening?” Mrs. Forcier asked.
“Mike!” yelled Maya.
At that moment, Mike stood on his own two feet. His arms flung out and sent Steve and Jason skidding on the ice. Unable to keep their footing, they fell and slid into the walls of the barn with a loud crack. They did not get up.
Mike no longer looked like the genial forest service caretaker Maya remembered meeting a few days ago. His once normal brown eyes were now bright red. He opened his mouth, revealing jagged, yellow teeth. He hissed
“My spirits are gone. You will be my new vessel.” He reached toward Maya. “And your friends will join my new cadre of spirits. We will be together forever. I let all the others go, so I can live again and again.”
The women pulled Maya back. Julie fell on a patch of ice and screamed. Maya felt Dr. Hargreaves’ hands on her throat again, even though he wasn’t actually touching her.
Then Mrs. Forcier, the woman who Maya couldn’t even imagine breaking a nail, grabbed the salt gun out of the holster around Penny’s waist. It didn’t look like she’d held a gun before, but she seemed to have a good grip on it. She moved quickly toward Mike/Dr. Hargreaves, shooting and screaming. She moved with the force of someone who had nothing left to lose.
The first shot to hit Hargreaves healed, albeit slowly. The second one remained a gaping wound in Mike’s leg. Then Dr. Hargreaves exited Mike’s body. Mike dropped to the ground with a thud. The blood stain on his trousers darkened and grew.
“What do we do?” Penny asked.
“We stay out of her way.” Maya slowly backed away from Mrs. Forcier.
Maybe Dr. Hargreaves had nothing left to protect himself? Maybe the strength of an angry woman who was facing her sister’s murderer for the first time after decades of pain was just too much for him? In any case, the salt bullets tore through his ethereal form, leaving weeping holes. When the gun was empty, Mrs. Forcier threw it at him. Her usually perfectly styled gray hair flew wildly. Her shirt had come untucked and ripped in the fight. He didn’t have much left, but, what he did have she pummeled with her fists until he shattered into a million pieces and she was on her knees hitting cold icy ground. Her hands were bleeding. Still, she screamed and punched even when there was nothing left to hit.
Julie picked herself up from the icy barn floor and started to carefully make her way over to where Steve and Jason ended up. “Who knew she had some bad ass in her?”
“I know, right?” Penny said.
“Mrs. Forcier, he’s gone,” said Maya as she approached her. She stopped the older woman from punching the ground and held her hands gently.
The ice began to disappear as the temperature in the barn suddenly increased by fifty degrees. The ground turned to sticky mud. The door appeared.
Mrs. Forcier remained on her knees, hunched over with Maya holding her hands. “Oh, Katie,” she whispered. “We’ve done it. We’ve finally done it.”
Penny asked, “Is he really gone?”
“I think so,” said Maya.
Julie helped her brother up from the ground. Penny checked on Steve. They were okay. Everyone had bruises, and Steve needed his possibly broken nose looked at.
Mrs. Forcier, however, was not okay.
“I can’t breathe. Get me out of here,” she said. Maya held out her hand and tried to help Mrs. Forcier stand. The older woman’s limbs shook and then gave out. She closed her eyes.
Eddie flung open the barn door. “What happened in here? The frost melted off.”
“
Call 911!” yelled Maya.
Jason and Julie, closely followed by Steve and Penny, came over to where Maya was holding Mrs. Forcier.
“No signal!” Eddie ran out of the barn.
Maya cradled Mrs. Forcier in her arms and hoped Eddie didn’t have to go far to get a signal. Mrs. Forcier didn’t look good. Maya couldn’t tell whether it was simple exhaustion that had taken the older woman down or the effects of her cancer and its treatment. Maya looked at the others who hovered nearby. She knew they must be tired, but they also looked concerned for Mrs. Forcier. As fearful as Maya was, she allowed herself to catch her breath. Maya had to admit that Mrs. Forcier was right. She and Julie did work really well together. Now wasn’t the time, though, to ask Julie if she agreed. She heard a tearing of some paper. When she looked around, she saw Jason unwrapping a chocolate bar. The aroma of the chocolate stood out from the smells of the dirt and bits of hay in the barn. Jason took a bite and then passed it to Julie who took a bite and passed it on to Steve and on and on until everyone, except Mrs. Forcier, had tasted it.
“Good chocolate,” Steve said. “Thanks, Jason.”
Jason nodded. “No worries.”
“He always has chocolate on him,” Julie said.
“Of course. Chocolate is always welcome,” Jason said.
“I hope she’s all right,” Penny said, indicating to Mrs. Forcier with a wave of her hand.
“You and me both,” Maya said softly.
Maya wasn’t sure how much time had passed, maybe only a few minutes, but it seemed like a long time before EMTs were bustling in the barn.
They tended to Mrs. Forcier and Mike, who had yet to regain consciousness. His pulse was slow, and he had lost a lot of blood. He and Mrs. Forcier, who still couldn’t catch her breath, were strapped onto gurneys in preparation to be taken to the hospital. Steve, Jason, Penny, Maya, and Julie all had various cuts and bruises.
One of the paramedics asked, “What are you guys doing in here so late? These woods are haunted you know. I had an uncle who worked here once a long time ago. He’s had nightmares ever since.”
The Curse of the Old Woods Page 15