by B L Maxwell
“She said this spirit is different, but how? It’s stronger, or maybe it’s not a spirit,” Wade said.
“She said we needed to do a cleansing, we did it. She said we needed to bring the stones she’d chosen for us, we did. She said we should all be here during the cleansing, we were. What did we miss?” In my mind, I went over what she’d said—It won’t be easy, first you’ll need to go to the basement at the restaurant. There you will do a cleansing ceremony. It may not be as easy to cleanse this space as it will be in your own home, and it may take several times. The three of you should be in the spirit circle, along with the owner of the restaurant. You’ll need the help of someone who is tied to the building. And for your own sakes, bring your stones, you will need them.
“Oh god,” I breathed out. We’d fucked up.
“What is it? Did you remember something?” Wade asked.
“Yes, and Jimbo isn’t going to like it.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Wade
When Jason had turned to face me from the corner of the room, I knew in an instant it wasn’t him. The look he’d given me was pure evil, not the Jason I knew and loved. He hadn’t talked about it since it happened, but it had to be scaring the shit out of him. He’d been visibly shaking and sweating since it’d happened, and I knew he felt like he’d done something to contribute to all the trouble we’d had, but he hadn’t.
“Wade, we’ll need to cleanse this area again, did you bring your stone?” he asked.
“Yes, I wasn’t sure if we’d need it, but I was paranoid to not bring it. I’ve kept it in my pocket since Janis gave it to me.”
“Me too. I can’t believe I forgot about the spirit circle, we need to do everything again, and we need to do it down here,” Jason explained. “Did we bring some smudge sticks?”
“Yes, we packed everything we’ve used in the past,” I answered.
“Good, we’re going to need it.” He pressed the button on the walkie as he met my eyes. “Jimbo, you there?”
“Yeah, man, just watching you two on the live feed,” he answered.
“You’re not going to like this, but you and Dean need to come down, I’ll explain when you get here.”
“Fuck, are you sure we need to do that?” Fear and doubt were evident in his voice.
Jason’s gaze never left mine when he answered, “Yes, I’m sure.”
A few moments later, we heard them coming down the old wooden stairs, and the door creaked open. There was an intake of breath, probably from the shock of seeing how dark it was down here.
“Stay there, I’ll bring you a flashlight.” I walked toward them with the bag that held the lights.
“Thanks, man, I left my light upstairs. Not gonna lie, I’m freaking out a little,” Jimbo whispered, and stepped a little closer to Dean.
“I know, but it’ll be all right, we should have done what Janis said the first time. Jason remembered what we forgot. He’ll explain it all.” I nodded to where Jason stood to the side with his headlight still on.
“What’s going on, Jason? We both know I shouldn’t be down here,” Jimbo whispered, and looked around the dark space.
“We need to cleanse the area again, and do it exactly like Janis told us to. We forgot to hold a spirit circle, I think that may be what will force the spirits out of this area,” Jason explained.
Jimbo glanced at Dean and leaned closer to Jason. “You do realize what will happen if I lose control? This is not safe, Jason.”
“I know, we’ll do the cleansing, and hurry to do the circle. I’m sorry, Jimbo, but it has to be done.” Jimbo nodded but didn’t say a word; Dean looked back and forth between the two of them.
“Should I be worried?” he asked.
“We’ll know soon enough,” I said, and took out the smudge sticks and a lighter. I lit one and handed it to Dean. “Stick together. You two take this area, Jimbo knows what to do. We’ll do the back corner.” I caught the shocked look Jason gave me before he could hide it. He only hesitated for a moment before he was at my side. We moved quickly through the far area, making sure the smoke filled every nook and cranny within reach, and backing away from the wall and toward the center of the room. We finished the back corner with no issue and met Dean and Jimbo back by the crates.
“What’s next?” Dean asked. He looked excited, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad having him down here. As long as Jimbo could keep his emotions in check, everything should be fine.
“Now we need to do a spirit circle, a more intense cleansing,” Jason explained.
“It will help us focus all of our energies to force the spirit out that’s not willing to leave, it won’t be able to hide, and it won’t be able to resist the pull of our combined power. But we’ll have to work together to cloak Jimbo. If the spirit realizes he can draw other spirits here, it may use that to trap even more, and draw more power off of their essence,” I said.
Jimbo once again looked worried. Dean noticed the same time I did and squeezed his hand.
“Dean, do you have your stone?” Jason asked.
“Yes, I’ve carried it every day since you guys gave it to me, I figured it couldn’t hurt.”
“Good, we’ll need it later. First, we need the remains of both smudge sticks. Jason, are you okay to close the circle?” I asked. He looked a little unsure for a moment, before he picked up the bag of salt.
“Everyone stand together, I’ll pour out a circle. Once it’s sealed, we cannot cross the line,” Jason warned. We all watched as he poured out a thick line of salt in a circle around us. There was a small box in the center, and I took out a small metal bowl and set both smoldering smudge sticks in it. The smoke wafted around us in the closed area, and the salt made it feel like we were somehow enclosed by an invisible wall.
“Take a seat in a circle around the bowl, we’ll need to put our stones in it,” Jason said, as I took out a few small candles.
“What are those for?” Dean asked.
“They’ll help focus the energy, and draw whatever energy is available in the area to us,” Jason explained.
We all did as directed and sat cross-legged in the center of the circle, facing the little shrine we’d made.
“Okay, everyone ready?” Jason asked.
“Yep,” I said, and took his hand.
“Sure,” Dean said, and looked between the two of us.
“Fuck, here we go,” Jimbo said, and wasn’t the least bit subtle in reaching for Dean’s hand.
“We got this,” I said to everyone.
“I hope we do,” Jimbo mumbled.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jason
“We call on the spirits that reside in this basement, show yourself,” I said, aiming for a serious tone, but sounding like an idiot. I looked at Jimbo, his mouth was hanging open, brows pushed together in annoyance, before shaking his head and looking away. Wade wasn’t so subtle.
“What the fuck? What was that?” he asked.
“Just trying to be serious and professional,” I explained.
“Well, don’t. Okay?” he said, with a shake of his head and a barely concealed grin. “Just do you, stop with the dramatics.”
“All righty, then, is anyone there? We want to help you, but we need to talk to you first. Show us how to help you.” There was nothing at first, the room was still silent, except for the EMF meter beeping now and then, suddenly it came to life. “What’s the reading on that?” I asked Wade.
He didn’t answer but pointed his thumb toward the ceiling. It was high, a really high reading. Dean looked between us all, not seeming to know who to look at or what to pay attention to. “Are you here?” I asked.
“Jason, they’re here,” Wade whispered. I looked around the room but didn’t see anything. I could feel the deep cold that I sometimes felt and didn’t realize, until recently, was a sign that a spirit was near.
“Hello, we don’t want to hurt you, we just want to help you move on,” I explained.
“Jason, they�
��re afraid, something is holding them back. They feel almost desperate to leave, but can’t,” Wade said.
The room changed, it felt heavier and colder all at once. Jimbo looked even more uneasy. “Jason, something’s not right,” he whispered without meeting my eyes, as he continued to look around the dark space.
“I feel it too, something’s here. It’s the same thing I felt when I was stuck in the mineshaft,” Wade whispered. His voice quivered; whatever it was, Wade was afraid of it. Really afraid.
“Show yourself, if you’re so powerful you can keep all these other spirits in check, show yourself,” I yelled, and waited. At first nothing happened. I was about to say something else, when Wade set his hand on my arm.
“Wait, something’s happening,” he said.
Wade and I were facing the back corner where everything weird had happened so far. I caught a shimmer out of the corner of my eye in that direction. A voice, I could hear it, and looking at Jimbo and Dean, they’d heard it too, only I couldn’t tell what it was saying. It was a low whisper, not loud enough to make out, but enough to know it was a voice.
“What the fuck is that?” Dean whispered, turning left and right to look behind him.
“Shhh,” Jimbo said, his finger over his lips. “Don’t draw any attention to it, they like it. Once they know you can hear them, they always want to communicate.” Just as he finished speaking, a blur appeared at the edge of the light cast by the candles. It wasn’t big, maybe four feet high, and still had no real form. But somehow, I knew exactly who and what it was.
“Emma?” Wade asked. I turned my head to look at him before turning back to look in the direction his eyes were locked. “Why are you here?” he asked, and never took his eyes off what still looked like a blur. “How can we help?” His expression held so much grief. I wasn’t sure why, but seeing him in pain hurt me on a level I had no way of preparing for. I reached my hand out and took his. He didn’t look away from the spirit, but he squeezed my hand so tight it nearly hurt. But still I held on, hoping that somehow this was helping, but knowing he was so focused on the spirit, he only knew I was here through my touch.
“What do you mean he doesn’t know what he’s done? I don’t understand what you mean,” Wade said, answering some unheard question.
I pulled my gaze away from the blur to find Jimbo white-faced and shaking. Dean put his arm around him and whispered what I thought must be reassuring words, close to Jimbo’s ear. His eyes met mine, and I knew, in that moment, that Jimbo wouldn’t be able to keep it together. He was struggling with his fear, and his need to stay here and make sure we were all safe, especially Dean.
“Jimbo? Are you okay?” I whispered to him. He squeezed his eyes shut and leaned closer to Dean. He nodded his head but continued to visibly shake and lean into Dean.
“Jimbo, you know what will happen if you don’t control it,” Wade said.
I turned my head to look at him, and now his complete attention was on Jimbo. “Emma says that’s what it wants. For you to lose control so it will have enough energy to get to me. It’ll destroy me, Jimbo. You have to hold strong. Can you do that?”
I was so shocked by his words I couldn’t react, all I could do was continue to stare, and hope like hell that never happened. “Wade? I don’t understand what the fuck is going on!” I yelled, as I fought to stay in control of my emotions.
“You were right, Jason, it wants me. It thinks it can use my body to cross over into the living world again.”
“Is that possible?” I asked. I was so shocked, I couldn’t think based on any bit of logic. If it, whatever it was, thought I’d let it take Wade from me, it was in for a big surprise, because it was about to have the fight of its existence. “What do we do?” I was starting to feel like Jimbo looked, I could feel the color drain from my face, and the cold grip of terror wrapped around me. I started to shake uncontrollably, and my teeth chattered. My gaze flicked between Jimbo, Dean, and Wade, not knowing what I should do, or who to turn to, to make this nightmare end.
The room went silent once again, only this time it was a heavy, dark silence. The room beyond the candlelight was bathed in a dark so inky black, my sight couldn’t penetrate it, no matter how hard I tried to focus my vision. The salt barrier started to glow. Dean noticed it and flinched away from it.
“Don’t touch it, I’m not sure what’s happening,” I said. I was supposed to be the one who knew what to expect, but none of this was anything I’d ever seen or read about. I realized Wade had loosened his grip on my hand and turned to look at him.
He sat with a frozen look on his face, staring at a point a few feet above Jimbo’s head. His eyes held a now familiar fear. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his, but I knew there was something I was missing, something he knew, and was terrified by the knowledge.
Slowly he raised the hand I did not hold, and I noticed how badly he shook. He pointed to the spot he’d been focused on a moment ago, his mouth opened, but no words came out. I looked to the spot above Jimbo’s head, and what I saw made my blood run cold. A face. The shape of a head, neck, and shoulders seemed to press into the spirit circle, somehow using the power we’d gathered for protection to show us its actual form. The shape was too transparent to make out much detail, other than it appeared to be a male entity. It stretched farther into the circle and slowly turned its head and looked at each of us with eyes we were barely able to make out.
All of us were focused on the vision we were seeing, and none of us seemed able to move and react to it. After looking at each of us, a smile appeared on its face, and it pulled away and disappeared. I forced myself to wrench my eyes away from where it had appeared and looked around at the others.
“We need to get the fuck out of here, I’m not kidding, guys. This is dangerous for us all,” Jimbo said. No one answered for a moment, all of us still in shock and trying to process what we’d just seen.
“You might be right, but if we don’t try to get it to cross over, it never will. And the longer it’s here, the stronger it gets. It thinks it just hit the mother lode, catching the three of us here at once,” Wade said. I still couldn’t wrap my mind around how in tune he was with the spiritual realm. “We can’t leave, we have to fight, and we have to win. Because if we don’t, there may not be another chance.” He looked to all of us.
Jimbo straightened, and seemed to force himself to find some strength. “Wade, whatever you need, man, I’m here. We’ll do whatever it takes to makes sure that asshole stays out of our world and crosses over to where he should be.”
Everyone was focused on listening to Jimbo when there was a loud thud directly behind where he was sitting. It was obvious we’d all heard it, but no one seemed to know where the noise had come from. Suddenly Jimbo seemed to be pushed forward, and narrowly missed crashing into the bowl that held the candles and stones. He scrambled to sit and scooted to the side. Behind him, two transparent hands seemed to push through the salt barrier and reach for him. He dove toward Dean and pulled him closer to where Wade and I sat.
“Fuck it, let’s do this. This asshole needs to go,” Jimbo said, and pulled Dean into his arms.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Wade
I didn’t understand why Emma picked me to reach out to, maybe she knew it would be easier for some reason, or maybe she just chose me for her own reasons. Either way, she had spoken to me. I could see her standing outside our spirit circle, as clearly as if she were alive—long hair in braids, wearing an old-fashioned dress, the same as she’d looked when we’d seen her at The Vineyard House. But why was she here? I tried to ask her, but she wouldn’t let me. She spoke quickly and left no room for discussion.
“Wade, I know you don’t want to believe what I am about to tell you, but you must. I’m afraid if you do nothing, you will cease to exist, and he will take over your body and your life.” I asked her a few questions at first, but soon realized I didn’t need to speak, she knew what I was thinking.
“Who is it? Wh
y did he jump into Jason before if he wants me?” I asked.
“I think he wanted to see if he could do it. He’s wanted to try for many years, but hadn’t found the perfect host,” Emma said.
“Who is it, Emma?”
“I can’t say, he’s forgotten who he was, now he’s only hate and fear.”
“Can we make him leave? Will he move on?” I asked, hoping it was possible.
“You can, but it will not be easy. He won’t want to leave what has taken him so long to build.”
“You mean all the souls that he has kept bound here?”
“Yes, he was alone and lost for so long. He did not understand that he should have moved on. He stayed and wandered for many years. He believes we left him, but it’s not true. He does not understand.”
“Why wouldn’t he move on?” I asked, not understanding at all what she meant.
“You will need to trap him, the same way you did at the old house. I was trapped there before you released us. Thank you for that.”
“If it released you, why are you here? Shouldn’t you be in another realm, or somewhere other than Sacramento?”
“I cannot, my soul is tied to him. I can do nothing until you release him and set us all free.” She turned in the direction of the back corner, as though someone had called her name. “I have to go, he’ll be angry if he knows I’m here. He can never know I’ve helped you.” She turned once more and walked quickly away from us.
“Wait, Emma, don’t go yet.”
“Bye, Wade, and be careful,” she said as she slowly faded out of view.
“Wade, what the fuck is going on?” Jason yelled as he shook me. It was like waking up from a dream, except I hadn’t been asleep. No one else seemed to notice Emma had even been here. And then all hell broke loose! A dark shape shoving its way into the spirit circle, showing us without a doubt how strong it was. Jimbo was visibly shaken, but still tried to keep it together. Dean didn’t seem to know what was going on, but when he saw Jimbo’s reaction, it seemed to ignite his fear.