Vanquishing Ghosts (Tess Schafer-Medium)

by Deborah J. Hughes

  "He told me to give you this." The dark stranger held out a slip of parchment paper, folded neatly.

  "Do not take it, young one!" Naylee took a step forward, intent on pulling the young one back to safety but the stranger in the door glanced at her and stopped her in her tracks. Naylee closed her eyes and started chanting words as old as time and known to few. But it would not be enough.

  "What is this?" the young ones voice was faint with uncertainty. A sure sign of her crumbling confidence.

  Naylee opened her eyes and watched in despair as the young one's light grew dimmer. "You cannot trust him. Listen not to his lies." But when the young one turned to her, the light shining so bright in her eyes only moments before was gone. Naylee saw death. She saw the young one’s heart shattering. "No." Wishing to deny what she so clearly could see, Naylee reached for her but the young one drew back and swung around to confront the man in the doorway.

  Shaking the note at him in her fisted hand, the young one faced him without fear. And that kept him out there. But Naylee knew he would enter and take control of this battle. Soon.

  "Where is he?"

  "Gone. As the note says. He sent me. Will you let me in?"

  "No." Naylee managed to fight the paralysis he was trying to force on her and fought to get close enough to the young one to touch her arm. "Do not let him come in here."

  "How do you know him?" the young one paid no heed to Naylee, her focus was not in the moment. Her mind was scrambling for him and reeling with the sudden fear that her future would not include him.

  "He is my friend. May I come in? Perhaps I can explain." His voice rumbled low and soft. Soothing to fearful ears.

  "No.” Naylee raised her own voice to a sharp cry, hoping with all her worth of getting the young one’s attention. “Send him away!"

  But the young one's heart was breaking and she thought only to save it. "Yes. Come in."

  The stranger smiled though it didn't reach his eyes. They were cold and black and hard. And now he was invited to enter their haven. He stepped through the door and the dark rushed in with him.

  Naylee heard the young one gasp as a rush of air swept passed them. It blew with such destructive force the shutters flew open and shattered on impact with the wall. Their harvest of magick swung violently from their leather strappings which could not hold up to the onslaught. Naylee watched with a sinking heart as they blew out the windows and into the night.

  The young one grabbed Naylee and hugged her tight. "What is happening?"

  "He's removing our protection and weakening our position."

  The young one shook her head in wild denial and made a grab for one of the bundles rolling across the floor. But he stepped in the way, blocking her from its reach and it flew out the door. Everything they cherished gave way to the wind and the young one's wide green eyes, so much the color of mother Earth, met Naylee's. "What can we do?"

  "Your power comes from within, my young one. The strength of your will cannot be broken unless you give it up."

  "Then I won't."

  But Naylee knew the young one’s attachment to he who had her heart would be her downfall and though she knew it not, he was gone. And she would not stay without him. Naylee touched her young charge's cheek as tears blurred her vision. "I have failed you, my dearest young one. I am so sorry."

  "No, Naylee!" the young one flung her arms around her and held tight. "No." Her voice hardened with fierce determination. “I will not give up.” So strong was her conviction that it caused a surge of power through the young one’s psyche, shocking Naylee and filling her with hope yet again. But then he spoke.

  "He said you could tell me many things. And so I've come to hear them." The stranger stepped close and that one movement stilled the air and muffled all sound. The silence was not natural. "We've much to discuss, you and I. He has told me of your power but you will tell me more."

  "He would tell you nothing. You lie."

  The stranger's laugh bellowed loud, its sound hard and harsh. Cold shivers trembled through Naylee's body and were echoed in the young one she held so tightly to her. If only she could fight this battle herself. But it was not hers to fight. "The more you listen to him ... the more power you give him."

  If the young one heard her, she gave no indication of it. "What do you know?"

  And the more he spoke, the more the young one's heart shattered, breaking to pieces until it felt no more. Naylee's heart did the same and she slumped to the floor. Though the young one knelt over her and cried tears of pain, most of those tears were for him. Certainly she loved Naylee, but the young one was already mourning a loss beyond her ability to cope.

  Naylee watched her young one from a distance and waited. No longer encumbered with a body, she was free to go and no longer endure this drama. But she could not leave her now. She watched the young one with concentrated focus and wished she’d had more time. There was so much she wanted to say. But her time was done. It was up to the young one now to make her choice and live out her fate. All she could do was wait.

  A tickling on my chin brought me out of the story and I realized that I was crying. I pulled my hands from the keyboard and swiped at the stream of tears with a shaky hand. My heart hurt. It hurt for the young one and it hurt for Naylee. I didn't want to write anymore. I couldn't handle it right now. The rest of this story was going to be worse than anything I had written so far. Knowing that made it nearly impossible to go on.

  "What's wrong, Tess?"

  Kade’s voice startled me and I turned to him as he leaned down to press a kiss against my temple. “It's a sad story, Kade."

  He wrapped his arms around me and held me close, soothing me with his presence and the strength of his love. His energy wrapped around me like a pulsing cloak and I drew from it thankfully, thinking of Naylee as I did so. I thought it was interesting the way she saw the young one's aura as a light which dimmed or brightened depending on her feelings. When she was filled with thoughts of love, her light was bright. Based on that, I imagined mine and Kade’s light was lighting up the whole entire house! The thought made me smile and it dried my tears.

  "I love you, Kade."

  "And I love you, Tess. Now, you want to talk about it?"

  I pushed back from the desk and stood up, stretching my aching muscles as I did so. "How about we get something to drink and discuss it in the kitchen?"

  "Sounds good to me." Kade draped an arm across my shoulders and turned with me to head out of the room. I glanced over at his easel but it was turned away toward the window. "How's the painting coming along? May I see it?"

  "Soon, but not yet. Okay?"

  "Okay."

  It wasn't until we entered the kitchen that I noticed Alex wasn't with us. "Where's our dog?"

  "I'm not sure."

  "You think he and Dennis are in the attic?"

  "Possibly. Let's get us something to drink and then we'll look for them."

  "Okay." I was feeling very complacent, willing to let Kade take the lead and determine our moves. That story really drained me. I wished I could just sit quietly and process it some more. There was so much about it that intrigued me. Who was Naylee? Who was the young one? Where did they live? What happened to them? What was in those jars and tins and bundles hanging everywhere? Naylee mentioned magick ... what sort of magic? And why did I think of the spelling of that word as being different when associating it with Naylee?

  Kade took two glasses down from the cupboard and went to the refrigerator. "Iced tea or lemonade?"

  "Whatever you are having is fine."

  Kade poured two glasses of lemonade and handed one of them to me. He clinked my glass and met my eyes as he did so. "To us and the banishment of big bad spirits."

  I tipped my glass in salute and drained half of it. The cool liquid felt good going down my throat for it was still tight from the effort to restrain my tears. "Just what I needed, Kade."

  "Lemon is supposed to be a cleanser right? Thought it might help clea
r away the sadness I still see lingering in your eyes. Tell me about the story."

  We both sat on the bar stools placed next to the kitchen island and I was just about to speak when Dennis came bounding into the room. Using his momentum, he managed to jump up onto the counter top next to me. Startled but pleased that he trusted me enough to plunk down next to me and eye me with his strange green eyes, I gave him an affectionate pat.

  Alex was not far behind. He ran for Kade and sat next to his feet, looking up with adoration and a lolling tongue. Kade reached down to give him a few affectionate scratches behind the ears.

  "Well, that saves us having to go look for them." He glanced at me and waved a hand. "Well, tell me your story. Seems the animals are here to hear it too."

  And silly as it sounded, I really wondered if Kade had that more right than he thought. "As we know by now, these stories that I channel don't quite end well. And this one probably more so than the others. Naylee is definitely some sort of ... witch. Though I don't think she's a Wiccan, she is closely related to that sort of craft. The young one was her ... apprentice, if you will. Naylee was training her. But the young one was in love with a man and distracted from her training. A man was near that Naylee knew was a threat to them. She talked about his being powerful and having a dark force around him. I think he's sort of like a sorcerer or something."

  "A sorcerer?" Kade's brow rose skeptically. "Really?"

  Since meeting me, I was constantly introducing things to him that challenged his beliefs. Though he didn't accept everything at once, he usually came around. But I knew there would come a time when he'd think I was stretching the truth just a little too far. "A male witch then."

  Kade heaved a sigh and scrubbed his hands over his face. "Christ, Tess. Life just gets more and more bizarre doesn't it?"

  He meant life with me. I knew he did and a little stab of pain pierced my heart. Determined not to let him know how much his words hurt and frightened me ... what if it became too much and he moved on? ... I reached across to rub his arm with enthusiastic encouragement. "Come on, Kade. Men practice witchcraft just as much as women."

  "But the word you used for this guy was "sorcerer",” he air-quoted the word. “You didn't say witch or ... what's the word? Warlock? Why? What's the difference?"

  "Well I don't know what the correct definitions are. How I view it is that sorcery deals more with the supernatural and witchcraft is more related to the use of Earth's attributes in the sense of their spiritual connection."

  Restless energy began to flutter through me and I stood up to pace. It helped me to think when my body was in motion with my thoughts. "He came to their door and managed to remove the things Naylee uses for her craft. I saw it all so clearly as I was writing it. There were dried bundles of weeds and herbs and flowers hanging everywhere and even more stored in jars on shelves. A strong wind, created by him, blew through the cabin and sent them all flying out the windows and the open doorway. Just before his arrival, Naylee had spread something around the cabin which I think was supposed to ward off his evil but he got too close and it couldn't combat his power. Which, by the way, was made stronger because Naylee's young apprentice was in emotional turmoil and thus not focused on combating him. And Naylee in turn was focused on her young charge and not him. It just all fell apart for them."

  "So, do you think that happened here?" Kade waved a hand about himself. "In this house?"

  "No. The cabin I saw them in was small and of a simple design. Rectangular in shape ... longer than wider. I think there was a loft but I'm not positive. I was so intent on trying to focus on the man that I just didn't pay much attention to anything else."

  "So the cabin used to be around here somewhere." There was a look in his eye and a tone to his voice that sounded strange and though I knew I should pursue it, determine its cause, I figured it had to be my imagination going a little crazy on me. Surely he didn’t know something I didn’t know?

  I snapped my fingers as a sudden thought popped into my head. "Kade! That spot next to the house ... the one you think might have been the location of another building ... what if it's actually the spot where Naylee's house used to be?"

  I paced faster, the thoughts racing through my head so quick I could barely make sense of them. "Rid said this area was known to his mother as Witch Woods and surely everyone thought Naylee was a witch. All that’s left of her memory is the fact the woods around here used to house a witch. Heck, that part of her story has even made it into our time ... we have now heard of it too. It all makes sense.”

  I looked at Kade to see if he saw it as I did and he motioned for me to continue. “If the young one is Isidora then the man she's in love with is Elijah. We know Isidora's romance ended badly and the young one's doesn't look good either. They must be one and the same. Elijah betrayed her somehow and if my story is anything to go by, he betrayed her to the sorcerer, the bad guy Naylee was so worried about."

  "I wonder if we should go out and dig around, see what we come up with."

  Again that tone. I was about to question him about it when my cell phone rang. It was Mark and my stomach clenched with worry that he was going to cancel. "Hello?"

  "Hi, Tess. This is Mark."

  "Hi, Mark. Is everything okay?" Please don’t cancel. Please don’t cancel.

  "Yes. We are still on for today, right?"

  "Yes!" Thank God!

  "I was wondering if you would mind if I brought a couple people with me. Grace Keene is one of the local mediums here and she knows a little bit of history of your place. She grew up in Orland which is the next town over. I thought she might be able to help a little since she's somewhat familiar with the history surrounding your house. Also, Don Arnold would like to come. You met him when you came to see me here at the camp."

  "Yes of course. Bring them! If Grace can shed any light on what went on around here, I would be most eager and thankful to talk to her."

  "Great. We'll see you in just over an hour then."

  My face was probably split in a stupid smile when I turned to look at Kade but I didn't care. Things were progressing in a most satisfactory way. "Mark is bringing a couple people with him. One of them is a woman who grew up in the area and knows a little history about this place! The other person is Don. We met him when we went to talk to Mark."

  Kade gave a nod of satisfaction. "I like it when things start working out for us." He rubbed his hands together. "We've got just over an hour before they get here. Want to do some digging?"

  But the shovels couldn't be found. Kade was sure that all the garden tools had made it into the shed but of course they were no longer there. Frustrated, he stood with hands on hips and glanced around, his eyes narrowed. "Where could they be? They didn't just disappear into thin air."

  It was a good question. Things came up missing all the time for me. Some things I found. Some I did not. Where those things went that I never found again, who knew? I wished I did. "Is there anything we can use?"

  Kade and I walked to the area in question, Alex at his heels and Dennis not too far behind us. We stopped a couple feet away and stared at the ground layout before us. The indentation was roughly fifteen feet by twenty ... give or take a few feet (I was not a great one for measurements!). Interestingly enough, Alex trotted onto the area in question and lay down. Dennis sat nearby cleaning his paws and looking very disinterested in what we were doing.

  Kade picked up a stick and outlined the entire indentation by gouging lines into the ground. He then went back to the shed and came out with a sledge hammer, a few stakes and a roll of twine. Once he drove the stakes into the ground at the four corners of the area he marked off, he ran the twine to each one. "So, we’ll get a couple more shovels and start digging." Grim determination was stamped all over his face.

  "In the meantime, why don't we head back to the Sun Room? I'd like to read over everything I've written so far ... see if I get anymore impressions from it and you can work on your painting."

  Kade
gave a quick nod of approval then held out a hand. I slipped mine into it and he pulled our entwined fingers to his mouth, pressing a kiss on the back of my hand. "I love you."

  Glad to know that none of this was getting in the way of "us", I squeezed his hand. "And I love you back."

  We walked around to the back porch and entered the Sun Room from there. Our other project abandoned, we now looked forward to the next. And though I was okay with that ... for I really did need to reread my story and see it all again ... I knew it was pretty significant that the shovels were missing. Something didn't want us digging around out there. And that made the idea all the more important that we did so. Soon.

  Chapter 17

  It turned out my mind was too preoccupied to pay attention to the words in front of me. I was quite fixated on that area out next to the house and wondering if anything could be buried there that the Big Bad didn't want us to find. One part of me was eager to find out and another part of me was filled with trepidation and reluctance to do so. Sometimes, ignorance was bliss.

  Kade was very focused on his painting. I turned to watch him work and enjoyed the freedom to admire him without his being aware of it. The sun came shining through the windows and illuminated his body in such a way that I was sure it was his aura I could see shimmering around him. His focus was incredible. I couldn't wait to see what he was painting and wished the canvas wasn't turned in such a way to keep it from my view.

  Alex sat at his feet, his head on his paws, his eyes closed in lazy contentment. Every now and then he opened them to check on things and finding all well with the world, he closed them until the next time. Dennis sat perched on the base of the fireplace. His attention was focused on the windows facing the side of the house and the area Kade had marked off. I could almost swear he was watching something with intense interest.

  The hairs on my arms began to tingle and that was soon followed by a shiver of cold blowing through my entire being. The Big Bad was gathering his energies. No doubt it was getting close to the time for Mark's arrival and it was preparing for confrontation.