by Ellen Oh
Michael giggled. “Grandma, you only have three!”
“Not much longer,” Harper said. “Auntie Youjin is having her baby soon, right?” Auntie Youjin was their mother’s younger sister, an investment banker who was expecting her first child.
Their grandmother nodded. “She says she will have a C-section in November. But I know the baby will come before Halloween. So, I’ll take the bus up to New York before then.”
“Whassa C-section?” Michael asked.
“It’s when they cut open the mommy’s stomach to take the baby out,” Grandma said.
“EEEEWWWWW! Yuck!” Michael made a face and then laughed.
Harper shot her grandmother a reproachful look. “Now he’ll be telling all his friends that babies get cut out of their mommies’ bellies.”
“So, what’s the problem with that? Better than saying you push the baby out just like you would push poo-poo,” she said.
“Grandma!” Harper shouted as Michael shrieked with laughter, chortling so hard food was spilling down his chin. Grandma wiped him up and told him to shush.
“Why is your sister in such a bad mood?” she asked the giggling boy.
Michael swallowed before answering. “I think it’s because of Rose,” he whispered. “I haven’t seen her around the house at all. But Harper wouldn’t tell me nothing.”
“Oh? The ghost girl from the mirror?” Grandma asked. “What happened?”
“Grandma, why do you even have email if you never read them?” Harper asked in exasperation. “I wrote to tell you that Rose has been missing for several days!” Her voice trembled a little at her pronouncement.
Grandma frowned. “My eyes aren’t too good at reading the computer screen. That’s why I just emailed you to tell you I was home, so that we can talk in person.”
“You don’t even listen to your voice mail,” Harper complained.
Her grandmother waved a hand. “Too complicated!”
“I don’t even know why you bother to have a phone, then!”
“Because at least it tells me you called,” her grandmother responded. “Do you know where Rose went? Even though I unbound her from the mirror, she can’t travel too far or stay away too long—otherwise she’ll weaken and be unable to return.”
Harper quickly explained all that had happened, and a stab of fear caused her to wince. She couldn’t imagine being without Rose.
When Rose was fifteen, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis. It was a slow and deadly disease at the time due to lack of good medical care. Because the light hurt Rose’s eyes, her mother blocked out all the light in her room with heavy curtains. She also never opened any windows, thinking the air was dangerous. So, Rose became a prisoner in her own room. When Rose had a good day, her mother would sit her in front of her vanity mirror, brushing her hair, telling her how beautiful she was, how she couldn’t live without her. And when Rose died, her spirit became stuck in that heavy, grief-stricken room. With no light for her to follow, Rose found herself floating into the mirror, where the flickering lights of the candles shone the brightest. Once inside the mirror, she became trapped, until the fateful day when she met Harper.
It was only after moving to Washington, D.C., that Harper learned that her Grandma Lee was a spirit hunter. Harper asked her to help Rose become free of her mirror.
Grandma Lee had performed a shamanistic ritual that had released Rose’s spirit from the mirror for short periods of time so that she could move through anything with a reflection. That was why Harper could carry Rose in a compact mirror wherever she went. Rose loved her freedom and would sometimes go away for several hours by herself.
But this was the first time ever that the ghost girl had been gone for so long.
“I’ll ask Mrs. Devereux to go find her for you,” Grandma said.
Harper felt some of her tension drain away. If anyone could find her, it would be the greatest of Grandma’s spiritual guides, Mrs. Devereux.
GOOD-BYE, OLD FRIEND
Saturday, October 7
Saturday afternoon, Yuna took Michael to his swim lessons at the local YMCA, Kelly was out with friends, and Harper was sitting in front of her house feeling bored. Dayo had to babysit her cousin for her aunt, and Harper had nothing to do. Just as she thought about calling her grandmother, a big white Cadillac pulled up, honking its horn.
“Harper, go get your bag. We have to go,” Grandma Lee shouted. She was all decked out in her red-and-white shaman robes with gold patterning on the shoulders and on the hem of her long, full silk skirt.
Harper ran into the house and headed to her room to grab her black messenger bag. Opening it, she checked to see that her two shaman bells, Wisdom and Truth, and her mudang bells, with the long metal handle split into two dragon heads, each holding a ring of six tiger bells from its mouth, were strapped inside and covered by a fine netting that kept them from ringing while in her bag. She also made sure her three shallow brass bowls were there, as well as a full bottle of holy water and a large container of sea salt. Satisfied, she closed up her bag and headed outside.
“I know what happened to Rose,” Grandma Lee said, a grim look on her usually smiling face. “Can we go pick up Dayo also? We’re going to need all the help we can get.”
“Dayo’s busy. Do you want to wait until she’s free?”
Grandma Lee shook her head. “No, we have to move quickly before we lose it.”
“Lose what?” Harper asked.
“The creature who took Rose.”
Stunned by her grandmother’s disclosure, Harper got silently into the car.
They arrived at an old house that was not too far from Our Lady of Mercy. All the curtains were drawn, and the house itself seemed to pulse with a dark energy. As they parked, a few women rushed over from the house next door, bowing and crying in relief.
“Thank you for coming, Mrs. Lee,” the oldest of the women said in Korean. “We can take your granddaughter next door and give her something delicious to eat.”
“My granddaughter is going to help me,” Grandma Lee replied in English.
The women looked surprised but nodded in agreement. As Harper and Grandma Lee approached the haunted house, the old women hung back. Harper didn’t blame them. A strong negative energy pulsed from the house, like a physical assault. And then Harper felt a rush of spiritual energy so intense that she had to close off her senses to keep it from overwhelming her.
“They don’t want us here,” Harper said.
“Too bad,” Grandma retorted. “It’s not wanted here, either!”
“What happened, Grandma?”
“It’s very strange. When you told me about the missing ghosts in the graveyard, I immediately thought it could be a soul eater, a rare type of evil creature that gains power from capturing lost souls. I’ve never actually seen one before, only heard of them.” Grandma paused and turned to look at Harper. “And then I heard about this house. Something evil moved into it last week. The family fled the house in fear, and even the neighbors are terribly frightened. When they called me in to check it out, I immediately noticed the incredible levels of spiritual emanations that are coming from here. I realized that this is where all the missing ghosts must be.”
Harper was alarmed. “Rose! Is she in there?” Harper made to rush into the house, but her grandmother quickly held her back.
“You must be careful,” she said. “This thing doesn’t just hunt spirits, it devours them for energy. You must keep your bells close to you at all times. It is the only thing that can keep you safe.”
Without hesitation, Harper grabbed hold of Wisdom tightly in her hand. The Wisdom bell was also called the Ancient One, and it began and ended every exorcism.
Grandma Lee pulled out her mudang bells from her bag. She began to shake them before her as she entered the house, leaving Harper to follow in her wake.
Inside, it was dark. Only a few strands of light shone through the curtains. Harper flipped the light switch on, only to see it turned off a second later. When
she turned the light on again, the light bulbs shattered. The stench of sulfur and electricity was so strong that Harper could taste it on her tongue.
“Oh boy, they really don’t want us here,” she said.
“They never do,” Grandma said.
In the living room, they set up their bowls and bells quickly in a large circle and then filled all the bowls with holy water. Around the outside of the circle, Grandma Lee poured a thick border of sea salt. Sitting back-to-back, they sat in a salt-enclosed circle of six bowls and four bells. Then Grandma Lee steadily rang her mudang bells.
The floor under them rumbled, and the house creaked as if someone was trying to pull the beams apart.
“Harper, no matter what happens, don’t leave the circle,” her grandmother said.
Harper nodded, shivering. The temperature in the house had dropped dramatically. She could see her breath frosting before her. The water in her bowls froze over, and icicles formed above her head, sharp and jagged. The smell of burning electrical wires made Harper’s eyes water.
“Remember, it’s just an illusion,” Grandma assured her. “It’s just like all those times before. It cannot harm you unless you believe it.”
Insects crawled out from under the furniture and down the walls, blanketing the floor in a massive black wave of movement. The wave surged toward them, only to halt at the salt border.
“When do we begin the binding chant?” Harper asked.
“Not yet,” Grandma said. “It’s not close enough.”
The insects were climbing on top of each other, forming a high wall. They were beginning to drop over the salt and toward Harper.
“Grandma!” Panic was threatening to overwhelm her.
“Use Truth!” her grandmother shouted.
Harper rang the Truth bell hard, sending the sea of insects crashing back into nothingness.
There came a ghastly sound unlike anything that Harper had ever heard in her entire life. Her flesh was riddled with goose bumps, and the back of her neck was tingling with the awareness of something frightening and close. An unclean stench caused Harper to gag in disgust.
“Sacrifice . . .”
The sibilant voice was soft and whispery yet absolutely clear. The voice entered into her head and grew louder and sharper, piercing her eardrums.
Grandma Lee rang her binder bell, a medium-toned sound that broke through the agony inflicted by the evil spirit’s voice. A scream of sheer rage filled the house, and then, right in front of Harper, there stood a soul eater.
It had pale white leather-like skin and a skeletal frame at odds with its abnormally distended belly. Its unnaturally long limbs and fingers and the strange way it held its body reminded Harper of a praying mantis. But it was its face that was most disturbing. Over a large red slash of a mouth there were only two holes where the nose should be and smooth skin above it. It had no eyes. Harper tried to scream but couldn’t. She held Wisdom before her and rang it loudly, causing the creature to hold its hands to its ears and bellow with rage.
“Now, Harper!” Grandma Lee shouted.
They both launched into the binding prayer, invoking the wills of the Ancient One and the Worthy One.
“Through the power of the Ancient One, I bind you. You will do no harm. Through the power of the Worthy One, I bind you. You will do no harm. Through the power of the Ancient One, I bind you. You will do no harm. Through the power of the Worthy One, I bind you. You will do no harm.”
Over and over they chanted, ringing the bells in unison.
“Harper! Harper! Help me!”
It was Rose’s voice. Harper stopped midchant and jumped to her feet, clutching her binder bells.
“Rose, where are you?”
“Harper, no!” Her grandmother grabbed her hand. “It’s a trick! It has broken our chant. We must start all over again!”
Furious with herself, Harper sat back down. But the creature had vanished. The room began to break apart, the house collapsing around them. The illusion felt so real, Harper coughed from the fumes of dust she breathed in. But she didn’t stop chanting.
Suddenly, Rose appeared before her, her red hair flying all about her and her pretty face grimacing in terror.
“Harper! Stop! You’re destroying me!”
Harper faltered, but her grandmother slapped her hard on the back of her head. You’re not real, Harper thought to herself as she kept chanting. The house was engulfed in flames, and the smoke was so thick it became hard to breathe, and yet they still chanted. Until finally, the soul eater stood before Harper again, frozen in place. Its distended belly was lit up, and the skin moved as if there was something within it trying to get out.
“Why isn’t it gone?” Harper asked.
“It’s not a spirit, it’s a demon,” Grandma Lee said.
Harper flinched. “There’s a difference?”
“Yes. A spirit was once human, with human emotions. But a demon never was. It is pure evil.”
“But what is it really?” Harper asked, her voice rising.
“Not now, Harper!” Grandma Lee admonished. She was walking around the creature, studying it. “We’ve only bound it momentarily. Now we must release the spirits trapped within it, and that will kill it.”
“How do we do that?” Harper tried not to panic as she stared in horror at the pulsating belly of the soul eater.
“We must focus all of our spiritual connections with the spirits ingested by the demon,” Grandma Lee said. “We must reach out to them and help them escape.”
“But how?”
“By leading them to the light,” Grandma Lee said.
Harper gasped. “But Rose . . .”
Grandma gripped Harper’s hand. “Would you rather your friend spent eternity in the belly of that thing, having all of her energy used up until she is gone?”
Harper was crying, but she shook her head.
“Then help me free your friend!”
Grandma Lee pulled out two bells that Harper had never seen before. They were large and heavy.
“This is the Bringer, the Blessed One,” Grandma Lee said as she held it in her right hand. With her left hand, she took hold of the larger bell. “This is the Unmaker, the Righteous One. This will be the last bell we ring to destroy the creature.”
Harper nodded.
“Quickly—already the binding spell is coming apart!” Harper could see the soul eater beginning to twitch its long limbs.
Harper continued to ring her binding bells of Wisdom and Truth while Grandma Lee rang the Bringer and her strong alto voice called out.
“Come forth, dear ones! Come to the light and be free!” With every chant, they rang their bells in unison, the melodic toll breaking through the darkness of the room. A white light began to appear above their heads. The spirits within the soul eater started to pulse and surge, eager to reach the light.
“Come to the light and be free!”
They were chanting faster as the monster writhed in agony. The spirits within it were trying desperately to escape.
Suddenly, the face of the soul eater changed to that of Rose’s.
“Harper! What are you doing? I thought I was your best friend! But now you’re killing me!”
Tears streamed down the false Rose’s face.
Harper couldn’t help it. She wavered. And in that moment the creature broke free of the binding spell and lurched forward, reaching a clawed hand toward Harper. From behind her, Grandma Lee threw a bowl of holy water into the demon’s face. It shrieked in pain.
“Once more, Harper, and don’t stop, no matter what!”
With increasing urgency, they sang the song of release as they rang the shaman bells. The soul eater’s belly suddenly ruptured as a stream of ghosts flew out of its body and began to float up toward the light.
“Now the Unmaker!”
With one hard shake, Grandma Lee rang the Unmaker, causing the soul eater to break apart, falling to pieces on the ground.
The air all around them wa
s filled with happy spirits, grateful to be free. They flew around and danced before soaring up into the light.
Thank you. Harper, thank you.
Familiar voices whispered their thanks. Harper recognized all the missing ghosts from the cemetery. For once, Mrs. Taylor didn’t have her knitting with her, and Roderick was holding little Phoebe’s hand. They waved at Harper, their smiles brighter than she’d ever seen them before. She waved back, happy to see them set free, but she was desperate to see only one person.
One bright light began to crystallize in front of her.
Harper let out a joyous shout at the sight of her friend before her. “Rose, you’re okay! I was so worried about you.”
There was the glimmer of tears on Rose’s ghostly face.
“Harper, I’m so glad to see you again!”
The two friends embraced, and Harper felt warmth and softness, but her arms slipped through her friend’s form.
Rose looked up at the beam of light and the amorphous forms of spirits steadily rising toward it.
“You know I can’t stay,” Rose said. “The pull of the light is too strong.”
“But I just got you back!” Harper could no longer stop her tears. “This isn’t fair! I can’t lose you again!”
“I don’t want to leave you, either,” Rose cried.
Harper was sobbing. “Please don’t go, Rose.”
A ghostly hug surrounded her once more before Rose’s form was pulled away.
“My one and only friend,” Rose said. “I will always love you.”
“No, Rose!” Harper begged. “Please don’t go yet! Stay a little longer! I promise we’ll get the light again, but not now! Please. Not yet.”
Rose looked agonized. “It’s too strong. I can’t fight it. Good-bye, Harper! One day I’ll see you again!”
Her radiant form flew up into the light to join the rest of the free spirits.
“No, no!” Harper sobbed. “You can’t leave me.”
And then the ghostly forms disappeared. Harper gazed at the light until it also faded away.
“I love you, Rose,” Harper whispered.
Wiping away her tears, she turned to see her grandmother throwing holy water onto the remains of the soul eater. Steam rose into the air, and soon there was nothing but a dark stain on the wood floor.