Eloise shook her head. “Normally, they can’t. But she’s a witch. She might have cast a spell on her soul, giving herself the ability to manipulate more energy!”
Logan hadn’t expected that response. Eloise must not have considered it either until this moment. He didn’t have any idea how to dissuade her from getting vicious with her surroundings.
“She’s screaming!” Eloise said, placing her palms over her ears and half-shutting her eyes. “It’s going to get worse if you don’t—”
Logan’s nerves jutted under his skin, making him anxious, forcing him to clutch onto any half-decent statement that might convince the witch to listen. Nothing he could say would convince her to knock it off and give his option a chance. He had no intention of watching the witch break something else in the laundry room. If she wanted to act like a petulant child, he’d treat her like one.
So he reached out, grabbed the doorknob, and slammed the bathroom door shut.
The racket outside stopped.
Logan waited for more noise, but it didn’t come. “Can she see through the door?”
“No,” said Eloise. “But you can come out. We can leave Abner in there for hours, days, weeks.”
“Yeah,” he said, liking her reverse psychology to also keep Abner in line. “It’s just a toilet and a sink. The family doesn’t really use this place that much anyway. If necessary, we’ll keep Abner in here until Lucretia’s ready to talk things out.” Then he stayed quiet again for quite some time. After what felt like an eternity, he said, “Lucretia, are you ready to tell us what really happened all those years ago in 1919?”
Sound didn’t ring from the other side of the door.
“She’s beginning to calm,” Eloise said.
Logan considered that a win. “Has it ever occurred to you, Lucretia, why that woman beside you can see and communicate with you, but no one else can? It’s because she’s special. She can see and do things others can’t. Did you know what her specialty is? She makes ghosts leave this dimension. Beyond that, she broke Abner out of Hell. You’ve heard of that place, right? Flaming pits of fire. Some guy with horns rules the place with a pitchfork? Well, Eloise stole Abner from that dude’s clutches. Since Lucifer’s arch nemesis is God, I’d say Satan’s a little bit more powerful than you. And Eloise outwitted him. Like I said, she’s damned smart.
“So we’re doing you a favor here because both of us are truly sorry to hear what happened to your brothers. That’s why we want you to trust us. So how about giving our plan a chance?”
It was silent out there.
“She’s cooled down,” Eloise said. “I believe she’ll give it a shot.”
Logan let his head fall back and he exhaled with relief. “Please tell her what to do and what she can expect. I’ll do the same with Abner.” Now that the moment had arrived, Logan felt chills rack his body. He didn’t want to let that murderous bastard into his skin, but he’d made up his mind, and he couldn’t abandon his plan now.
Although Logan didn’t know where Abner was positioned in the restroom, he sat on the toilet lid and stared straight ahead, figuring his great-grandfather would adjust his position, so Logan could outline his idea. When he finished, he assumed Abner had questions, so he brought up all of the ones Eloise had asked earlier and answered them.
Afterward, Logan didn’t know how to wrap up his chat, so he said, “Make sense?”
Opposite him, something clinked against the sink.
“Is that one tap for yes?”
There was another tap in the same spot.
Logan felt that he’d made a breakthrough and couldn’t help smiling. He’d communicated with Abner before, but he’d had to rely on Eloise to get his answers. It felt kind of cool to have a private conversation with him, even if Abner could only respond in the affirmative or negative. It made him feel less afraid of what he’d prepared himself to do.
“Do you have any questions?” Logan asked.
Two taps on the sink.
“Are you ready?”
One tap.
Logan nodded. Eager to get things rolling, he said, “Eloise, how are you doing out there?”
“We’re ready.”
“Okay.” He wrapped his palm around the doorknob and prayed that Lucretia wouldn’t get hysterical. He turned the knob and lightly pushed the door open.
Eloise faced him about five feet away. Otherwise, the room was silent. The appliances had been pushed back into place, most likely Eloise’s handiwork. The shutter door was also closed, and nothing else seemed amiss.
Logan relaxed, opened his mind, and pushed out every thought. He left himself available for Abner to clutch onto. He waited, wondering if it would hurt. But nothing happened.
He shook his head, wishing this would all go away, hoping that Lucretia would see his discomfort, pity him, and leave him alone. But he knew she’d never do that. Her past indicated that she would continue her quest until he died, followed by his siblings.
Eloise’s eyes widened. Her frame stiffened. She glanced from side to side as though sight was a brand new adventure for her. She looked down at her hands and body. Her left cheek perked up followed by the right one in a creepy fake smile. The grin vanished as she shifted her jaw.
Logan didn’t need to hear a word from Eloise to know that Lucretia had synced with her. Fright flooded his body. He didn’t want Abner to start feeling the dimensions of his body, didn’t want the man to start using his body as his own. But he needed to do exactly that.
He took a long moment to push those fears from his mind and relax once more. Eloise’s metamorphosis had seemed easy and practically effortless. He had to let that same process take place. Now he needed to convince Abner to take over his body. It meant allowing a murderer to access to his mind, to push and prod his own demented thoughts into Logan’s brain.
Eloise stepped toward him. “Logan, it’s me,” she said with a kind half-smile. “I’ve got Lucretia with me. Are you ready?”
The quick, yet strange transformation that affected her expression made him expect to hear a different voice, but it hadn’t changed. That sent a flutter of relief pressing out to every portion of his body. He hadn’t want Lucretia to overtake Eloise’s personality, and he was glad Eloise had put the witch at a distance. And now, he had to fulfill the same duty. He thought he’d been ready before, but now his hands began to shake.
“I know this is…weird,” she said.
“Weird?” he asked, surprised by the anger in his voice. “It’s bizarre, and I can’t believe I came up with the idea, but…I’m scared.”
“Good. If you weren’t, I’d think there was something wrong with you. Before we begin, remember that Abner’s thoughts and feelings are not your own. You need to differentiate between the two very quickly. If you don’t, you’ll get lost and have trouble finding your way back to yourself. It’s your body. Abner is just visiting.”
Logan nodded, even more afraid now that he might get lost. Pressure infused his veins. He had to stop thinking about letting a triple murderer inside his body and just let it happen. But he couldn’t. His body had locked up on him.
“Abner is behind you. He’s ready, but he senses that you’re not, so concentrate on utter blackness in your mind. No thoughts. No emotions. No feelings. Nothing.”
Then he realized that Eloise had let a murderous witch enter her body. That had to have been a difficult decision to make, yet Eloise had synced with Lucretia effortlessly. Of course, her psychic-medium experience may have made it easier, considering that she could see and communicate with the witch.
He supposed that not seeing Abner made things even worse because he didn’t know how or when his great-grandfather would step into his body. But so much brain activity probably made it difficult for Abner to jump inside Logan’s body, so he decided to try once again. That this ordeal was taking so long began to weigh on his mind. Then he remembered Eloise’s advice: he needed to blank out his mind.
Logan took in a heavy breat
h and let it out just as quickly. He closed his eyes and followed Eloise’s guidance. Once again, he waited. And waited. He expected to feel something. Maybe his head would move without compelling it to. Perhaps he’d start talking without thinking about it. But that didn’t happen. Nothing did. He looked himself over. Everything seemed fine. He couldn’t feel or sense a difference.
He worked on clearing his mind. It helped release some of the anxiety in his neck and shoulders. As he deepened the darkness in his mind, he felt his chest and arms relax. Soon enough, the tension in his legs and feet unwound.
“Okay,” he said. “I’m ready.” A second later, he felt a foreign thought enter his mind.
I did it! I’m in. Now I just have to make sure I stay!
30
Logan panicked that Abner had no intention of leaving his body. More than that, his great-grandfather’s dictation sounded nothing like the carefully constructed story he’d rattled off to Eloise. While relating that story, Abner had obviously been attempting to give them the portrait of an eloquent man, but Logan imagined this new persona felt truer to his great-grandfather’s character and demeanor.
Logan’s breathing and heartbeat quickened. Then he realized that if he continued down this path Abner would probably find it easier to gain control. He wanted to open his eyes, leave the darkness he’d built in his mind, but he needed to stay here to regain control over his mind and body.
Logan threw his worry aside by blacking out his mind again. His head felt thick, yet lightheaded, almost as if he’d gone from sea level one moment and scaled Mount Everest the next. Various thoughts spun in his mind:
Intriguing! I’m breathing. I thought I was in a bathroom. But the ground smells of freshly cut grass. How is that possible? It’s so dark, but those twinkling stars overhead are beautiful. I remember this. After I killed my son, I committed suicide under this same sky.
The voice sounded raspy and husky, as if it had swallowed razor blades and shredded its vocal cords. Logan’s right arm shot out to the side, and he stared at it, shocked. He hadn’t even heard a thought urge him to move. It had just happened.
I’m quick and flexible. My great-grandson is a strong young man. The cool wind against my flesh is quite pleasant. Was that a dog barking in the background? All in all, this is an equal trade-off! Much better than the rigors in Hell!
“Logan, don’t let foreign thoughts sidetrack you.”
Hearing Eloise’s tone cut through the infiltrator’s voice, Logan snapped to attention. He welcomed that calm, confident voice, but he still didn’t open his eyes. Overhead, the sky he’d conjured in his brain was still dark and the full moon was bright. He lowered his gaze, and he was surrounded by a dense yet wispy fog. He looked around and tried to find out how far he’d need to walk to exit the smog, but the gloom extended as far as he could see in every direction. But at least he could see his entire body.
“Concentrate on my voice,” Eloise said. “Focus on what I say.”
Logan did as she asked.
“In your mind, bring up an image of a black curtain and place it directly behind you.”
He thought about a black curtain in the smog. Behind him, he heard the flapping of cotton and spun around. A long, wavering, dark curtain cut through the fog as far as he could see. “I see it!”
“Good,” Eloise said. “Abner should be standing behind that curtain. You need to hear him, but the moment you do, remember where he belongs. If his voice starts to grow louder, keep your composure, think through things analytically, not emotionally, and keep his thoughts behind that curtain. You let Abner into your body, but you have full control over everything you do and say.”
Shall I tell the truth and risk Lucretia not remembering what truly happened? If so, she may kill me. No, that cannot happen. Logan would die, which in turn, means that I would perish. How should I strategize?
“You’re cringing,” Eloise said in a quickened intonation. “I can tell you’re letting him move up next to you. Don’t let that happen. It’s your body. Take control.”
Lucretia ruined your life. She hexed your family line. And now I’m supposed to believe that she’s in this young white woman? You can’t trust her! But you can’t resist her. You never could.
Those thoughts came quick, but the one about trust echoed in Logan’s mind. Abner’s voice had trembled. It sounded fearful. As it continued to reverberate in his brain, Logan noticed another aspect of his great-grandfather’s tone: it hinged on frustration. But it didn’t resonate like the sort of irritation that wanted vengeance. It sounded irritated, as if he had been misunderstood.
That piqued Logan’s interest. Abner seemed far from interested in explaining his side of things or mending ways with Lucretia and much more interested in staying inside Logan’s body. That put Logan on alert, but now that he knew his great-grandfather’s plans, he wouldn’t give him that chance. All the fear that had deluged him leading up to the moment Abner entered Logan’s body now drifted aside. He would have put an end to this charade, but he’d promised to hear out Lucretia, and if he reneged on that pledge, he feared she might lash out.
“Logan?” Eloise asked. “How are you doing?”
“Good,” he said, now firmly in command of both his voice and his body. He’d relegated Abner to the background.
Eloise smiled. “After each of my questions, listen to Abner’s thoughts, but make sure they continue to spring forth from behind you. Repeat everything he says. I’ll be doing the same thing with Lucretia. That way, they will hear from each other without any negative emotions interrupting their thoughts. Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
“Remember, they’ll be thinking, and we’ll be talking. Okay, here we go: Abner, why did you kill my brothers?”
“As I crept toward your bedroom window to secretly explain how your brothers beat me after I’d sought permission to have your hand in holy matrimony, I saw Clyde kissing you and touching you as you attempted to escape his grasp, and the struggle forced a tear into your nightgown. Then he slapped your face and you fell to the ground. I was shocked and in a rage. I broke your window and scrambled inside to protect you.
“Your other two brothers must have heard the glass break. They rushed into the room. After seeing you on the ground crying with your nightgown ripped, they looked at me with rage-filled expressions. Clyde told them that I’d hit you and attempted to rape you, but he’d stopped me. At that moment, all three of your brothers attacked me.
“As one who swindled others, I carried a concealed handgun at all times. Seeing three men about to assault me, I had to defend myself. I withdrew my gun and fired it to scare them, but I accidentally hit one in the chest. The other brothers grew furious and charged me. They tried to tear the gun from my hands, and one of them accidentally pressed my finger on the trigger, and the second brother got hit in the neck. The third brother knocked the gun from my clutches, but I knocked it aside and dived on top of it. The third brother leapt on top of me, grabbed my head and slammed it into the ground. He raised it again to deliver another blow, but I spun around and fired at him. I shot him in the head.”
Logan’s mind was now quiet, and he awaited more thoughts. Abner’s tone was poised yet filled with regret. There weren’t any thoughts cut short, followed by a corrected version of events. Abner either told the truth or had convinced himself of this sequence of events.
“You lie,” Lucretia said, her voice seething with controlled rage. “Clyde never touched me that way. He’d never…” A bitter look came to her mouth. She turned aside, hunched over, and gagged. Breathing heavy, she straightened but the disgusted look hadn’t left her face. “I’ve recounted the memory of that day thousands of times since you perpetrated that disgusting act. I’ll never forget how you crawled through my window and attempted to kidnap me. Has your time in Hell twisted your memory? Certainly not! You’re still the same repulsive monster who shot my brothers after they rushed into my room to protect me.”
Tears entere
d Lucretia’s eyes. “Do you forget how you murdered my two brothers from across the room? How you shot Clyde in the gut and wrapped my body in the chains you retrieved from the barn door in our back yard?” Her voice broke and she heaved for air, the tears now spilling from between her lids and sliding down her tremulous cheeks. “How you shot Clyde in the right knee and left elbow and told him that you wanted him to watch you rape me before putting ‘the final shot into his brain?’ Tell me, Abner, do you recall any of that?”
Logan felt the anger mounting behind the curtain, and he allowed it to get a little closer, curious how Abner proceeded from here.
“Clyde attempted to rape you, Lucretia.”
“Lies!”
“Surely you heard me speaking to Clyde on your doorstep, asking for your hand in holy matrimony. You must have heard your brothers kicking me in the stomach on your family room floor.”
Lucretia narrowed her eyes. “I never heard your voice until that night, Abner Pryce.” Her emphatic yet grief-stricken tone trembled as did her cheeks.
Logan felt his own eyes becoming wet. A second later, he felt an even greater onslaught of anger bubbling up behind the curtain. Logan didn’t need to see or hear any more from Lucretia. Abner was a lying, murderous bastard who deserved to rot in Hell for eternity.
Do you believe those tears are real, you imbecile? She wished to become a stage actress. The filthy bitch is lying!
His father’s letter stated that blacks struggled to find jobs. In that work environment, where there was still so much rampant racism in Chicago, would a black woman seriously think she had a shot at finding work on the stage?
Logan felt fury building behind the curtain he’d created, so he let the darkness overtake him again. Little by little, Abner’s rage turned into animosity before shifting into frustration and then disappointment as his voice grew quieter as his strong emotions ebbed. At that moment, Logan blocked out anything his great-grandfather thought or felt.
A second later, his body tightened and then felt lighter, freer. It took more effort than normal to breathe, and it had gotten cooler in the bathroom.
The Descendants Page 23