Cara touched her head, where she’d been hit and Amber had swiped at it, and winced at the sting. “Amber put something under the mattress she tied me to that looked just like this. She also tried to feed me something like pills or twigs, but I spit them out.”
Ethan chimed in. “She must have been trying to sedate you, to make sure you’d be exposed to the cursed object long enough. Did the stuff she fed you smell funny?”
“The whole room smelled like stinky feet. Whatever she fed me tasted sweet.” Cara grew more nauseated by the second, just thinking of all the disgusting smells she’d been subjected to. Her stomach made a miniheave. She closed her mouth and swallowed.
“That would be the herb valerian,” Ethan said.
Rachel’s mouth bunched up with irritation while he spoke, like she was holding back from telling him to shut up.
“Valerian works like a sedative,” Ethan continued. “Amber probably gave you something stronger, too. Good thing you spit it out.”
Cara turned back to Garren. “Amber took my bag, and my car keys are in it. I didn’t look for it before I left, but there should be a window open on the side of the house. Would you go over there and look for it for me? As long as she’s still gone?”
Garren stood. “Of course. I’ll get the other object she placed there, too. Ethan can come with me and we’ll try to find your backpack so we can get your car.”
Cara hoped Amber hadn’t taken her bag somewhere else. Or that she hadn’t gone back to the house and grabbed it. It wouldn’t be a good thing if the witch found her missing.
“What if Amber comes looking for me?” Cara asked.
“We obviously won’t let her in,” Rachel said.
“She hasn’t needed an invitation before,” Cara said. “And locks don’t seem to stop her.”
“I forgot,” Rachel said. “Amber said spells for breaking into places are simple ones. She never taught me any of them, though.”
“Me, neither,” Ethan said, shrugging.
Cara turned to Garren. Her eyes were drawn to the white package still clasped in his fist. “Can you show me what’s in the envelope?” she asked him.
Garren’s jaw tightened. “Quickly.” He peeled it open and pulled out what looked like a necklace made of small, curved sticks.
Cara leaned closer for a better look, but her stomach seized up, warning her not to get too close to the thing. The object resembled a rosary. From the bottom, rather than a crucifix, there hung what looked like an upside-down cross. The centerpiece was a small skull with fangs.
“What is that?” Cara asked.
“It’s devoted to a death curse Amber intended for you,” Garren said.
Cara’s stomach flopped. “What’s it made out of?”
“Snake bones.”
She looked at Garren with pleading eyes. “Can you help me break the death spells?”
Garren’s jaw loosened and his lips turned up into a soft smile. “A deliverance ritual should take care of all the spells.” He slid the ominous necklace back in the envelope.
Cara wondered what a deliverance ritual was exactly, but her concern shifted to David. “Amber must have put something in David’s pillow, too. We need to get it.”
Ethan rose from the love seat. “Amber’s not going to let you see David.”
“I can wait until she leaves his place,” Cara said.
“What makes you think David will give you his pillow?” Ethan asked.
Cara faltered, but maintained her resolve. “I have to try to help him.”
“The best thing would be to exorcize Amber’s demon,” Garren said.
“Amber summoned the demon to get revenge against Cara,” Rachel said. “She’s not going to let us perform an exorcism on her.”
“The demon of vengeance,” Garren said, as if he were referring to a familiar enemy. “A powerful one. It would have a good deal of control over Amber if she summoned it. There’s no guarantee it could be exorcised.”
Ethan rubbed his jaw, thinking. “If Cara can get David to go with her to the beach, I’ll bet I can get Amber to follow.”
Cara’s hope soared.
“Whatever happens,” Garren said, his focus on Cara, “we need to perform the deliverance ritual and destroy the cursed objects to ensure that Amber’s spells are broken.”
“How do we perform the ritual?” Cara asked.
“I’ll explain it to you later.” He waved Ethan over to follow him. “We shouldn’t waste any time.”
FORTY-ONE
The front door closed behind Garren and Ethan and Rachel ran over to lock it. She came back, sat next to Cara on the couch, and lightly picked at her blood-crusted, matted-down hair. “You should get cleaned up while we wait for the guys to come back.”
Cara shook her head. A shower sounded too leisurely at a time like this.
“There’s nothing we can do until they get back anyway,” Rachel said. “If Amber comes, I’ll call the cops. They can catch her in the act if she tries to break in.”
Good luck with that.
“Your mom should be home soon, too. If she gets here before you’re done, I’ll let her know what’s happening.”
That oughta be good.
“Otherwise, I’ll have my mom call her.”
Even better.
It would be next to impossible to make Cara’s mom believe all the supernatural craziness going on in Liberty.
Giving in to the temptation of a shower, Cara took a quick one, gently washing the blood from her hair and ignoring the sting of her scalp and the burning around her ankles. When she was dressed, she sat against her headboard with her laptop and did a search for “deliverance prayers.” The first result sounded like the same prayer Garren had taught her during Rachel’s exorcism. She printed three copies, folded them into small squares, and shoved them in her pocket.
She made it downstairs just before Garren and Ethan returned.
Garren held out an apple for her. “You look hungry.”
She’d skipped breakfast and should be starving, but she didn’t have an appetite. The apples Garren gave her were too good to turn down, though. She accepted his offering and took a bite. Sweet and delicious as ever, she could swear one bite of the fruit infused her with energy.
“I found the cursed object Amber left for you at her house,” Garren told her.
“Amber hadn’t been back?” she asked.
“It didn’t look like it,” Garren answered. “Your backpack was in the corner of the room you were left in.” He slung it off his shoulder and handed it to her. “Ethan drove your car back from Boulder Beach.”
She set her backpack down. “How did you know what beach I went to?”
“It’s the most secluded,” Garren said.
He knew her too well.
“It’s also a good spot for the deliverance ritual,” he continued.
“When do we need to do that?” she asked.
“As soon as possible. Here’s the plan. I’ll get Archbishop Egan to help get the things we need. Ethan can wait until you and Rachel leave David’s house. Then he can try to get Amber to come with him to the beach. I’ll be waiting there with the supplies and the archbishop,” Garren told her.
Cara smirked. “What are you gonna do, teleport the archbishop there?”
Garren shook his head and chuckled. “He’s vacationing here. He wanted to make sure everything went smoothly with the exorcisms.”
“Oh.” How conveniently generous of him. “So do you think there’s hope for exorcising Amber’s demon?”
“There’s always hope,” Garren said, rubbing her shoulder.
That sentiment had become the theme of her life lately.
“Good,” Rachel said, moving away from Ethan, who had inched closer to her. “So Garren’s got the supplies and the exorcist.” She looked at Cara with a pained expression. “I just don’t think we’re going to be able to get David away from Amber.”
Cara ignored Rachel’s skepticism. “If Amber�
��s there, we’ll wait until she leaves.”
“What if she doesn’t leave?” Rachel asked.
“She’ll want to check to make sure I’m dying or dead, won’t she?”
Rachel frowned. “I guess you’re right. But we don’t know how long she’ll wait before she does that.”
“We’ll worry about that when we get to David’s place,” Cara said. Her tone made it clear she wouldn’t accept an alternative plan.
Rachel sighed with resignation and stood before Cara with her hands clasped together in mock prayer. “Will you let me drive your new car?”
Cara grinned and grabbed her backpack. Ethan came over, dangling her keychain from his pinky finger.
Cara grabbed the keys and tossed them to Rachel. “Drive safe.”
* * *
The elements echoed Cara’s outrage. Heavy wind blew sideways and shards of rain slashed at her face as she and Rachel dashed to the driveway to climb into the Fit. Waves beating on the shore sounded from blocks away.
Smacking the Fit’s dashboard, Rachel let out her own angst, frustrating herself as she tried to figure out how to work the car’s windshield wipers. Cara gave her a quick rundown of the Fit’s controls.
Rachel parked a block away from David’s place, in an empty driveway. Cara figured the homeowner was at work and wouldn’t return for at least a couple of hours. The spot allowed her and Rachel to keep an eye on David’s house, while hopefully remaining inconspicuous. Ethan parked another half block away.
The tether cooled and hardened at the sight of the red Jetta parked on the street. After waiting on Amber for twenty minutes, Rachel started drumming her fingertips against the steering wheel. Rachel could act impatient all she wanted, but Cara planned to wait all day and night for an opportunity to help David, for a chance to salvage their relationship.
Another ten minutes ticked by. Finally, Amber appeared on David’s porch, looking like a supermodel in her skin-tight, slinky black clothes. She skipped down the stairs, slipped into her car, and drove off.
The Jetta disappeared around a corner. Cara raced down the street and up David’s front porch steps. She knocked on the door, and when David answered, he looked into her eyes. The still-icy tether began to melt.
He looked almost like his normal, handsome self. His cheeks flushed with color again and he was dressed in a pair of jeans and a charcoal-colored sweater. But his eyes were clouded over and she only felt a mild warmth when he looked at her.
She held out her hand. He stood back, then shook it. There was a flash of confusion, just like the last time she’d visited him. A shot of warmth coursed through her.
“Can I come in?” she asked and plastered on a fake smile.
His shoulders relaxed and he opened the door wide for her to enter. When he dropped her hand and closed the door behind them, he stiffened again. “What can I do for you?”
Keeping a semblance of a smile on her face was difficult. She didn’t know how to explain anything that was going on without sounding like she was out of her mind. Tears might work, but she didn’t want to manipulate him like Amber was doing. Nor did she want any more of his pity.
“I want to show you something in your pillow.”
“Excuse me?”
She looked over at the couch where he’d rested when he was sick. His bedding was still there. She rushed over and grabbed his pillow, then brought it over and pulled off the case to display the telltale gash sewn up with thick thread. He stared at it and backed several steps away from her.
This wasn’t working out the way she’d hoped. And time could run out. Her cell phone was tucked in her pocket, in vibrate mode. If Rachel texted to warn her Amber was back, she needed to get out of there, to take the pillow with her and destroy it. That was the only way to get David back—the real David—the one she’d come to know and love.
She tore open his pillow and pulled out the offensive object inside. It was similar to the thing at Amber’s house and the one Garren had taken from her pillow, only a combination of dark hair intertwined with blonde hair poked out of this one. The cloth was navy, the thread was red, and there didn’t appear to be any blood anywhere.
David eyed the object, slack-jawed, then looked at her with accusing eyes, as if she were the one who had planted the horrendous thing. She shook her head, but his rigid demeanor told her he wasn’t going to believe her if she told him Amber did this. Shoving the rough object back in the pillow’s filling took some effort. She was glad when it was out of sight.
He backed up another step. “I understand that I hurt you, and I’m sorry. But you can’t go around making up stories, following Amber around, and pulling pranks like this to try to get my attention.”
So now he believed Amber’s lies, just like the police did.
Cara swallowed her protests and tucked his pillow under her arm. “Please let me take this. And please don’t tell Amber.”
Her cell phone buzzed in her pocket. She was too late. Amber had figured out she’d disappeared more quickly than Cara had anticipated. The witch would walk in the door any second. And at this point, Amber’s attempts to stop her might be more direct.
Cara grabbed David’s hand to beg him to listen to her. Warmth flowed back and forth through the tether and his eyes cleared as he looked at her.
Footsteps clapped across the front porch. Time had run out.
She clung to David’s hand. “Please, come with me.”
He didn’t resist when she dragged him toward the French doors to the deck. The front door swung open just as they closed the back doors behind them. Hunching over, they ran down the deck stairs, hurried around the side yard through the tall sea grass, and fled down the street.
They crawled into the back of the Fit. Rachel started the engine, and Cara threw David’s pillow in the front passenger seat. She glanced back toward David’s house. Ethan ran up the front steps.
Rachel turned onto the highway. David moved closer to Cara in the compact rear seat. He used his free hand to rub his forehead, then reached out to run his fingers through her hair.
His face fell. “What did I do?”
“You don’t remember dumping me?” she asked with sarcastic brightness.
He flinched. “I do now. I’m so sorry—”
This apology she was grateful for. She cut him off with a soft kiss. His fingers wove into her hair and he kissed her back as if he might never get the chance again.
She eased back and tightened her grip on his hand. “The spell only seems to break when we touch. So hold on to me. Don’t let go.”
“Is that what’s happening? I’m under a spell?”
“We’re on our way to break it. Permanently,” she said.
He caressed her cheek and warmth flooded her as his clear green eyes held hers. The last remnants of ice melted from the tether. He pulled her head down to rest on his chest.
Rachel’s eyes smiled at Cara in the rearview mirror. Cara sighed, for the moment completely at peace. David was back to himself and was with her, where he belonged. She wouldn’t lose him again. This deliverance ritual had to work.
FORTY-TWO
Above Boulder Beach, gray clouds concealed the sun as it continued its slow descent toward the horizon. The rain had stopped and the wind had died down. A few yards from the water, Garren and Archbishop Egan—who again wore his purple robe—stood behind a large metal drum.
Garren hailed them over. Rachel ran to him. He handed her the pillows containing the cursed objects and hung the mockery of a rosary from her left wrist. She tossed the objects in the drum. Then Garren handed her a bottle of holy water and a can of kerosene and she poured both over the items.
David stopped close to the stairs and tugged on Cara’s hand to hold her back. His brows furrowed as he surveyed the scene farther down the beach.
“We need to perform a ritual to break Amber’s spells. She placed spells on objects she put in the pillows,” Cara explained.
“Why are there two pillows?”
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“Amber placed spells on me, too. Destruction spells.”
“Destruction spells?”
“Like death spells. To get rid of me.”
He squeezed her hand and pulled her closer. “Well, thank God those spells didn’t work.”
Garren walked over to them.
“They might have,” Cara said. “I just happened to use the wrong pillow, not open an envelope, and escape from Amber’s house when she tied me up.”
David spoke through his teeth. “How do we stop her?”
Garren stepped to Cara’s side. “Now that Rachel poured holy water and kerosene over the objects, we’ll need to pray over them, burn them, and scatter the ashes in running water.”
Rachel approached and David whispered in Cara’s ear. “What is Garren, a witch hunter?”
“I don’t know,” Cara whispered back. “But he knows what’s going on here. Believe me.”
She turned to Garren. “Should we wait and see if Ethan’s able to get Amber to come?”
“No. We should get started.”
Cara reached into her pocket with her free hand and retrieved the copies of the deliverance prayer she’d printed. She handed one to Rachel.
“I have three copies of the deliverance prayer you taught me,” Cara told Garren. “We can recite it if Amber shows up. If that would help?”
“Prayer always helps,” Garren said before he headed back toward the water where Archbishop Egan waited by the drum.
A car door slammed on the road above. Ethan followed Amber as she scurried down the stairs to the sand. A large tote hung from her arm. Cara couldn’t help but worry what Amber might have stashed there. The witch headed for David and stopped less than a foot in front of him.
Wind kicked up and Amber’s vanilla, orange, and clove scent mingled with a stench like rotting garbage. Cara gagged.
“David, please don’t tell me you’re listening to any foolishness from these kids.” She sounded like a parent scolding a child.
David eased Cara behind him. “I won’t let you hurt her.”
Amber’s gaze shot down to the water and shifted between Garren and Archbishop Egan. “What’s going on here?” she asked Ethan, her eyes narrowing with suspicion.
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