by Rose Pressey
“We should go back to the house,” Stone said.
“I don’t think I like the sound of this,” Marilyn said.
I repeated Marilyn’s sentiment. “I don’t like the sound of this either.”
Stone moved toward the entrance and then turned to me again. “We have to go back there. Like I said, we will try to get rid of the portal.”
I moved a few steps and paused. “You know, that’s not a good idea if we don’t get rid of the spirits first. We don’t want the spirits stuck here forever.”
“No, I know, but I think we can get rid of the spirits first.”
“Get it to return where it came from?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yes, exactly.”
He made it sound so easy, but I knew it was anything but. It would be one of the hardest things we’d ever done.
Stone must have noticed the suspicion in my eyes, so he said, “It’s probably too late to go to the house tonight.”
“You’re right. We’ll have to wait until the morning.”
Bethany walked after us. “What about me?”
“Yes, we should help her first,” I said. “Your mother will be okay with that?”
Bethany hurried ahead of us. “She should be more than okay with it. She just wants things back to normal and so do I.”
“I can drive us there if you tell me where to go.” Stone motioned toward the street.
I couldn’t believe Stone was offering to help. What made him change his mind so abruptly? Something had to have happened.
We walked the rest of the way through the park toward the street. I was on high alert the whole time, waiting to see the dark shadows again. It felt as if they were watching us, so I knew, beyond the edges of the park, they had to be there waiting. If they came for us would Stone simply tell them to leave? After all, he said he simply told them to leave and it had worked. Gray clouds had quickly made their way over the moon, blocking out what little light we had over the park. At least the clouds had waited until we were leaving to make an appearance.
“This is my car,” Stone said when we reached the Mercedes.
I remembered it from that first day in the parking lot.
“Nice ride,” Roger said.
“Where are we all going to sit?” Marilyn asked.
“You’ll have to ride somewhere in the back,” I said.
“There’s no room,” Roger proclaimed.
Bethany climbed in the back seat and I got in the front passenger side. The ghosts stood on the curb looking confused.
“Can’t you just zoom and be there?” I motioned with a wave of my hand.
“No, we need to follow you.” James crossed his arms in front of his chest.
I sighed. “Okay, Marilyn can sit up here with me and the other two can squeeze in the back.”
The ghosts nodded, satisfied with my solution. I didn’t feel her, of course, but I scooted over to give her room anyway. I’d never thought I’d be sitting that close to Marilyn Monroe in a car as I was headed to fight off demons. Such was my life with ghosts.
After giving Stone directions, within a few minutes we had arrived at Bethany’s house. We all headed toward the front door, even the ghosts. I’d figured this might be the one time they’d stay in the car since they hadn’t seemed too keen on facing the dark shadows.
Bethany paused when she reached the door. “I hope my mom isn’t mad.”
“You talked to her. She’s fine now.” I put my arm around her shoulders.
Before Bethany had a chance to grab the doorknob, her mother pulled it open and then embraced Bethany in a hug.
Bonnie looked at me and said, “Thank you.”
“Is everything quiet now?” I asked.
“I heard some footsteps a few minutes ago.” She motioned over her shoulder.
Bonnie eyed Stone up and down.
“This is…” I paused unsure of what to call him. “A colleague… Stone Watkins. Is it all right that he came along? We need to come in and check out a few things. Maybe we can get rid of the problem.”
She waved her hand. “It’s perfectly fine. Please anything you can do.”
Bethany eased into the house. Stone and I followed her into the dimly lit living room.
“I can go get the board if you’d like?” Bethany scanned the room while asking.
“You’re going to use the Ouija now?” Bonnie asked.
I nodded. “Yes, I’m afraid it’s something we have to do.”
She sighed. “Well, I guess you know best.”
Roger snorted. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”
I gave him a dirty look. Bethany bound up the stairs to retrieve the board while Stone and I arranged chairs in a circle. After a couple seconds, Bethany returned with the board clutched in her hands. Anxiety danced in my stomach at the thought of using the thing, but I had used one in the past, so we just had to be careful.
I gestured toward the chairs. “Bethany and Bonnie, why don’t you sit there, and Stone and I will take the two chairs across from you.”
Once we’d formed our circle, we placed the board on the small table in front of us. Bethany knew how to use the board, but Bonnie seemed confused.
“We place our fingers on the planchette.” I motioned toward the plastic pointer. I took a deep breath. “I hope this works.” Turning to Bethany, I asked her, “Did this demon give you a name?” I asked.
Bethany nodded. “Yes, he did.”
Much as I didn’t want to know, I had to find out.
“What’s the name?” I asked.
“It said its name was Hilson.”
Since I’d never heard of this demon before, I wasn’t sure what I was dealing with.
“If you’re here, can you talk to us?” I called out.
We watched the board, waiting for the planchette to move. Nothing occurred. This time, Stone called out to the demon. Still there was no answer. It felt as if something was watching us, though.
“I think the board is broken,” Roger said as he paced across the floor.
I stared at Roger. “The thing is messing with us, you should know that Roger.”
He held his hands up. “Hey, I’m not a demon.”
I smirked. “No, you just act like one sometimes.”
That shut him up. He didn’t say another word. Of course now Bonnie and Bethany were eyeing me as if I was a sandwich short of a picnic.
“I have a couple ghosts that followed me, but they’re nice, I promise.” I attempted a smile, as if that would make what I said sound completely normal.
Bonnie and Bethany’s eyes widened. They didn’t say anything, but I was sure they wanted to run away from me now. They really would be shocked if they knew one of the ghosts was Marilyn Monroe.
A nervous Marilyn fidgeted on the sofa. The ghosts weren’t participating in the Ouija board session, but she was uneasy just the same. Still, we weren’t getting a response from this thing. I didn’t know what we could try next if this didn’t work. I was all out of ideas and I wasn’t sure if I trusted Stone’s idea of closing the portal. I might not have a choice but to give it a try.
“We need to talk to you,” I said again, hoping I would get an answer this time.
Suddenly, the planchette started to move. We exchanged a look of excitement about what we might find out. Well, excitement blended with terror.
“We need to know why you are here.” I scanned the room as if something would appear.
Of course, it was never that easy. The planchette moved to the letter F. It continued on until it reached the letter O. Next was R. After a few more times of moving to different letters, it had spelled out YOU.
“For you,” I said, almost at a whisper.
Since I had asked the question, did that mean the demon was there for me? That had to be it, as much as I didn’t want to admit it. It wouldn’t be unheard of for a demon to get me by other means. They would have someone else seek me out unknowingly.
“Why do you want me?” I
yelled.
To be honest, I was afraid to find out what the answer was. I had to push forward, though. We placed our fingers on the planchette again. The thing moved around the board like a ship lost at sea during a storm. This time it had spelled out FOR YOUR SOUL. The words sent a shiver down my spine. Marilyn gasped when she realized what the demon had said. In spite of the message, I had to be tough. This thing was just playing games with me. Yes, that was what I kept telling myself. If I gave into the fear, it would all be over. It would be able to truly get my soul.
Chapter 20
There was another question I wanted to ask this dark shadow.
I motioned for everyone to place their fingers onto the planchette again. “Is there more than one demon here?”
The object moved across the board to the yes.
“Oh, that’s it. We should get out of here.” Roger motioned for me to get up.
“Just stay calm,” I said.
“Yeah, right.” Roger paced across the room.
“How many more are here?” I asked.
“I don’t even want to know the answer to that question.” Marilyn crossed her arms in front of her waist, giving herself a hug.
The planchette moved across the board and stopped on the “2.”
“Well, thank heavens for small favors,” Roger said.
“What is the name of the other demon who is here?” I called out.
We watched the board and nothing materialized. The tricks that these things played was frustrating. Just when I was about to give up, the thing started to move around the board. However, it appeared as if it wasn’t really going to stop on anything. Finally, the planchette halted on letters again. So far, it had paused on the L and the A. I felt Stone tense up as he sat next to me. We continued to watch the letters until it had spelled out a name. LASME was the name it had given us.
Stone jumped up from his chair and backed away from the table. He almost stumbled, but managed to keep himself upright. His faced turned pale.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as I ran over to him.
Stone looked as if he’d seen a ghost. Well, what a person who didn’t see ghosts on a regular basis would look like. It had something to do with the name the Ouija board had just given us. He swayed a bit as if he might pass out. Bonnie and I led him back over to the chair.
“Here, sit,” I pushed on his arm, forcing him down.
Stone did as he was told, but he still hadn’t spoken. It was as if he had been stunned into silence.
“Talk to me, Stone. Tell me what’s wrong,” I said.
He stared me in the eyes. “That’s the same one.”
“The same one as what?” I asked.
His expression darkened. “The demon from the house. The one that has been following you around.”
That was what I was afraid he was talking about. Of course, I’d known the demon was still around. At least now, I had a name and maybe with that knowledge I could figure out how to get rid of it.
Apparently, hearing the name had brought back a lot of emotion for Stone. I really wanted to know more about what had happened to him, but right now it seemed as if he wanted away from the room.
“Do you think the demons are connected?” Bethany asked.
“I don’t know, but I think there’s a good chance of it,” I said.
How had Stone invited this spirit in? Had it been with the Ouija board and he wasn’t telling me? Whatever it was, he needed to be honest so we could figure out how to get rid of it.
I touched Stone’s arm. “Do you think you can ask more questions?”
He appeared to have calmed down some, but he said, “I don’t think I want to talk to it anymore.”
We could try to get rid of the demons without him, but it would be stronger if we had him. I didn’t want to seem weak to the demon. That was how the things were able to come through in the first place.
“I think there must be a portal in this house, too,” Stone said.
“What is that? What does that mean?” Bonnie asked with a bit of panic in her voice.
“It’s like a hole in this dimension for spirits to come through from their world,” I explained.
She frowned. “How does that happen?”
A noise sounded from the hallway and I turned around. Nothing was there. I focused on Bonnie again. “Well, it could have occurred naturally or someone could have caused it.”
Bonnie and I focused on Bethany. Bethany studied her shoes, but didn’t offer an explanation.
“How can we get rid of it?” Bonnie asked.
“Like I said, I think I have a way to close it,” Stone’s voice was low, as if he barely had the energy to speak.
“Yeah, but before we do that, we have to get the demons into the portal.” Every muscle in my body felt as if it was coiled with tension.
“That sounds impossible.” Marilyn sashayed across the room.
Stone watched her. “It’s not impossible, but it isn’t easy either.”
“How soon can you do this?” Bonnie asked.
“We can try now, but I can’t guarantee it will work,” I said.
I really needed Stone’s help. I sensed that he just wanted to close the portal and be done with it. Without getting rid of the spirits though, it would be a bad idea. I looked to Stone for an answer.
Finally, he nodded and said, “I will help all I can.”
Just then, a large glass vase flew off the mantel and through the air. The thing landed at my feet breaking into a million pieces. We all gasped in shock. Apparently this evil spirit wanted my attention and, worst of all, to possibly hurt me, as well. The room fell silent as we stared at the shards of glass.
“I’m scared,” Bethany whispered.
I touched her arm. “Remember what I said. You can’t be scared. You can’t let them know you are afraid. That’s how they get their energy.”
Bonnie stepped over to her daughter and hugged her. It was easier said than done when I told them not to be frightened. I was fighting it with all the power in me. The demons wanted that power, too. They wanted us to be tired because we were more vulnerable then. Things were only going to get worse before they got better. I didn’t want to tell Bonnie and Bethany that, though. We had to prepare ourselves for a battle.
“Where should we start?” More unease came into his eyes.
I hoped I had to right answer for him. Everyone was waiting for my answer expectantly.
“First, we have to let it know it can’t have my soul. Or anyone else’s for that matter. We should gather around and give the demon the message.” I motioned for everyone to join me in the middle of the room.
We clasped hands and moved into a circle. The energy weaved around us and a charge shot up my arm when I held Stone’s hand. I’d never felt anyone have that much energy before. I’d only felt it within my own body.
“We have a message for you,” I said in the loudest voice I could muster. I wanted my intentions to be loud and clear. “You are not welcome here.” I paused for a moment and then added, “You can't have my soul,” I said even louder.
I made my intent perfectly clear now. There was no way I would allow this to happen. We continued to hold hands and then, suddenly, one by one, the pictures fell from the walls. They flew across the room onto the floor, landing by our feet. Bonnie held my hand tighter on one side and Stone tensed up even more on my other. I wasn’t sure how long we could continue if things escalated. I didn’t want to put everyone in danger.
I had to stop this before it got out of control. I released their hands and stepped back. “We should go search for the spot where the portal is located.”
“You’re sure there’s a portal here in the house?” Bonnie asked.
“We think there is. Do you think you can find it?” I asked Stone.
He nodded, but looked nervous. “I can try.”
That was about all I could hope for at the moment. Stone closed his eyes and I knew he was trying to get in tune with the supernatura
l around us. That in itself was a dangerous thing.
After a couple of seconds, he opened his eyes and released a deep breath. “I think I know where it is.”
I exchanged a look with Bonnie and Bethany.
“You shouldn’t do this,” James said in a stern voice.
He’d been quiet as he’d watched us from the corner of the room. Now, James glared at me when I focused my attention on him. I wasn’t about to let a ghost tell me what to do.
Stone started walking toward the hallway and we followed him. When the ghosts didn’t come along with us, I figured they decided to stay behind. I wasn’t so sure it was any safer in there than it was out in the hallway. James cast an agitated expression my way when I walked by.
Stone moved down to the end of the hall, past the staircase, and into a small area that led to the rear entrance of the house. On the left was a small laundry room. He paused and looked around for a moment and then peered up at the ceiling.
He pointed. “There it is, right there.”
We all gazed up, but there was nothing there. Of course, it wouldn’t be something we could see with the naked eye. I stepped closer to Stone. Now, I was supposedly standing right under the spot where the portal was located. Instantly, the pull of the energy came down on me.
I nodded. “This is it. I can feel it.”
“Oh, Larue, don’t stand under it. Get out of there.” Marilyn stood at the end of the hallway while the others peeked out from the room.
Even though I was nervous, I needed to feel what it was like. I suppose I was inspecting it. Was there a way to truly close this thing? Then, another thought crossed my mind.
“Do you think it’s connected to the other portal that was in the house on Heritage Street?” I asked.
Stone studied my face for a moment. Finally, he nodded. “Yes, I think they could be related.”
“I feel like you could enter one and then end up at the other house on the other side. I don’t think this is two separate portals. I think it’s one that’s connected,” I said.
“This is too heavy for me,” Roger said.
“You should leave the portal alone,” James said.
The ghosts now stood closer to us. They hadn’t been able to stay away. There was no way I would leave the portal alone. It had to be dealt with. Stone turned and walked toward the front door.