by S. A. Hunter
“Who was he?” Gran asked.
Kyle shrugged his shoulders. “I thought you guys would know. I’ve got no clue. He seemed to know you, and he definitely knew what was going on.”
“What do you remember, Mary?” Gran asked.
Mary curled up tighter. “I remember going to bed and that’s it. The next I knew, Kyle was in my room, and I was out of bed.”
“You may have been possessed again.”
“But by who? There aren’t any ghosts here now.”
Gran looked grim. “Both of you stay here. I want to get the Hand of Glory. Kyle, give me the knife.”
He handed it over without hesitation. Mary remembered the box.
“I think that was in Mr. White’s magic box.”
“How do you know?”
“Because the box is open and empty in my room.”
Gran’s face became grim. “I see. Stay here.” She went up the stairs, leaving Mary and Kyle alone. Mary buried her face against her knees. She felt terrible. She was scared and felt powerless. Why did she keep getting possessed? Was it something she’d have to worry about for the rest of her life?
“Mary, are you all right?”
She lifted her head enough to look at Kyle. She felt bad for getting so angry with him. She was grateful that she hadn’t actually hit him. “I feel fine.”
“You don’t look okay.”
“Thanks,” she said sarcastically. She suddenly felt herself crashing. She had to clench her jaw to keep from balling like a baby and hugged her knees tight to keep from shaking. Her face squinched up against her control, and she hid it again behind her knees. She felt Kyle move closer to her on the sofa.
He reached out and put a hand on her back. “Hey, it’s going to be all right.”
“You don’t know that. I keep getting hijacked by ghosts, and nobody knows why. And the Shadowman’s back even though I killed him. I just want it all to stop. I just need everything to stop.”
Kyle moved his hand up to the back of her neck and started to knead the muscles there. “We’ll figure it out,” he said again in a soothing voice. The way he was massaging her neck was making her feel better. She let herself relax slowly and uncurled her body. She put her feet on the floor and leaned forward to give him better access to her back. He reached over with his other hand and started working her shoulders.
“Thanks for coming over,” she mumbled.
“You couldn’t have kept me away.”
She chuckled. “Obviously,” she said, thinking about the door.
He gave a small laugh, too.
They could hear Gran coming down the stairs. Kyle took his hands off her, but didn’t move back to the other side of the sofa. Mary straightened and found herself pressed up against his arm. She looked down at their touching sides and twisted her wrist to take his hand. He laced their fingers and gave her hand a comforting squeeze.
Gran came back with her hands full. She had the box and the Hand of Glory. The knife was nowhere in sight. She must have put it back in the box, which was closed again. “Mary, when did you retrieve the box?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t.” The last time she’d seen the box, it had been locked in the curio cabinet.
“What about the knife?” Kyle asked.
“It appears to be a very powerful athame. Ezekiel must have used it when he was crafting spells.”
Kyle’s forehead wrinkled. “He was a witch?”
“More like a wizard. He didn’t follow the Rede. He was only interested in power.”
That sounded about right for Mr. White.
Gran gathered the items again. “I’m putting these in the cabinet. Kyle, I think you better get home. I assume your parents don’t know you’re here.”
He nodded sheepishly. “I sneaked out. Hopefully, I can sneak back in.”
“Well, if you get into trouble, have them call me, and I’ll explain that Mary called you because I’d fallen or something and needed your help.”
“You don’t have to lie for me, Mrs. Dubont.”
“Well, I doubt they’d accept the truth, and I don’t want you getting punished for doing a good deed. Thank you for coming over and saving us. I’m still not sure what you saved us from, but you definitely saved us.”
Kyle ducked his head. “I didn’t do much.”
“I believe the door would disagree.”
He reddened. “I’ll fix it. I’m really sorry about that.”
Gran waved his apology away. “Don’t worry about it. Now time to go home, young man. Good night.”
Kyle stood and Mary rose, too. She didn’t have her slippers on and shivered as her feet hit the cold cement of her doorstep. Kyle went to his truck but didn’t immediately open the door. He stood facing it with his keys in his hand. “Are you going to be all right, Mary?”
She hugged herself, not sure if it was the chill in the air or her fear making her cold. “I don’t know. I’m all right, right now.”
“I’m worried about you.”
Mary looked down at her feet. She didn’t know what to say to reassure him because she was worried about her, too.
“Promise me you’ll be careful, and you’ll call me if you need help or anything.”
She didn’t know why, but she couldn’t answer his request. She still stared down at her feet. They looked ghostly in the pale moonlight.
Kyle sighed. “Mary?” He turned around finally to face her.
She couldn’t look him in the eye. She should paint her toenails. Maybe something fun like purple or green. Maybe that’s what she’d do when she went back inside. She certainly wasn’t going back to sleep.
Kyle stepped up to her and wrapped his arms around her. “It’s going to be okay,” he said again. She leaned into his body and put her chin on his shoulder. She kept her arms wrapped around herself. They seemed to be locked in place.
He stroked her back a few times and gave her a squeeze. He really was a good guy. Probably better than she deserved. “You should get home,” she finally said.
He nodded and stepped back. He gave her one last look as he got into his truck. “See you tomorrow?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Yeah, probably.”
He nodded and climbed in. She watched him pull out. Her arms were still wrapped around herself. She didn’t wave. Once she couldn’t see his taillights, she went back inside. She’d intended to go back to her room, but Gran had plans.
“Mary, stand against the wall.” Gran had a clamp light in her hand.
“What are you doing?” she asked as she moved to the wall. She noticed Gran had taken down all of the framed pictures that had been hanging on it. Gran turned on the light and aimed it at her. Mary had to shield her eyes against the brightness.
“I’m testing a theory.”
“What theory?”
“Turn around.” Mary turned toward the wall, wondering what Gran was looking for. She looked down at herself and didn’t see anything amiss. “Look at the wall, Mary.”
She did and froze. Her shadow was wrong. Very wrong. It was long and it wavered and twitched. She raised her arm, and her shadow did too, but it was jerky and the arm stretched out further than the light would indicate. As she stared, she saw a brief, faint flash of red eyes.
“Turn the light off! Turn it off!” Mary cried as she backed away from the wall. Her shadow remained of course, but it stretched across the floor with her. She bumped into the coffee table and stopped. Gran turned off the clamp light. Her shadow faded, but it didn’t disappear.
“How? Why?” Mary asked, turning to Gran for answers.
Gran set the light down and lowered herself onto the sofa. She looked tired and worn out. “I’m not sure, but the Shadowman appears to have anchored to your shadow.”
“But it’s Mr. White’s shadow. How could it anchor to mine? It died with Mr. White. I saw it!”
Gran rubbed her chin grimly. “I think the Shadowman is something else. Yes, it used Ezekiel’s shadow, but it’s a separate entit
y. I’m not sure what, but it must be something Ezekiel summoned. When Ezekiel died, it needed a new host, and you were it.”
“How do we get rid of it?”
Gran shook her head. “I don’t know, but I’ll figure it out. I believe it’s why the ghosts have been able to possess you so easily. It’s made a chink in your aura, and the ghosts can travel the same path.”
Mary felt sick. She wanted to throw up. She stared down at her feet. She remembered Mr. White waving his hands over her, checking to see if the Shadowman had hurt her. Had he been checking to see if she’d make a good host for the Shadowman?
“You need to get some sleep.”
She laughed and shook her head. “You expect me to ever close my eyes again?”
“You have to sleep.”
“How? That’s when it gets me.” She remembered with a shudder waking up and passing through the Shadowman as it hovered over her. It had felt like slimy electricity. Now it was riding her shadow. She couldn’t get away from it.
“I’ll stay up and watch over you.”
Mary shook her head. “I can’t go to sleep.” She’d stock up on Red Bull and 5-Hour Energy Drinks. She’d become a nervous wreck, but she would not sleep.
Gran sighed and got up. “Fine, you can stay up for now, but you’ll have to sleep eventually. I’ll fix us some tea.”
“No, I don’t want tea. I’ll drink a soda,” Mary said.
“Tea’s better for you,” Gran replied, but Mary shrugged. She didn’t want to say it, but she strongly suspected Gran would try to slip her something in the tea, and she’d rather just not have that happen. She grabbed a soda from the fridge and went back to the living room. She turned on the television and got comfortable. She’d watch crap television until the sun rose. Then she’d go to school and sleep at her desk. Sure, the teachers wouldn’t like it, but if she started sleepwalking, someone would at least stop her. It would increase her freak rating among her peers, but she really didn’t care at this point.
Gran came back into the living room with her mug of tea. She turned off the television without consulting Mary and sat down in her recliner. She didn’t give any preamble, but launched right in. “You realize this is not the first time the Shadowman has possessed you, right?”
Mary sat up and stared at her. “What?” But the answer came to her. It had been sitting on her dresser. “The Hand of Glory.”
“It has the same tattoos as Ezekiel.”
“So I’m the one—” Mary couldn’t complete the statement. Mr. Graham had said she’d been the same height and build as the thief. “But how?” she demanded. It was just inconceivable.
“The phone calls.”
“What?”
“I think it’s tied to the phone calls. You received one today at school and tonight the Shadowman possessed you. They must be a spell or trigger to prepare you for it.”
“I received two other phone calls,” Mary said. She didn’t want to do the math. One call to take Mr. White’s hand, and the other call for what?
“Zeke’s building,” Gran said.
“You think I’m the one who torched it?” This was serious. She could get into real trouble here.
“No, I think the Shadowman burned Zeke’s building.”
“The police won’t care about that. Forensics won’t be able to tell I was possessed at the time of the crime.”
“They ruled it accidental.”
Mary groaned. She couldn’t believe this. If any of this got out, she would be ruined. She wouldn’t be a freak anymore, she’d be criminal. “I was so sure we killed it. Max’s anchor seemed to really hurt it.”
“I know, dear, but obviously it’s stronger than we knew.”
Mary didn’t want to say it, but knew it had to be asked. “So Mr. White died for nothing?”
Gran froze with her mug halfway to her lips, her mouth hanging open. She shook herself and put down the mug. “No, Mary. This is not your fault. You said it yourself, Ezekiel was intending to do both of us harm. You had to fight him.”
“Yeah, but even though he’s dead, the Shadowman is still plaguing us.”
Gran’s face turned grim again. “That is true, but that is Ezekiel’s fault, not ours. I’m sure he fully understood the dark forces he contracted with, and still he went through with it, not caring who he hurt. We’re just victims of the fallout.”
Mary nodded.
“I wonder what the knife is supposed to do?” Gran wondered.
“Cut off my shadow.”
“What?”
“Mr. White told me. He cut off his own shadow. I thought the Shadowman was his shadow, but now I guess it’s something more. He said he could command it. He had a ring or something. But maybe that was a lie, or I didn’t understand. He didn’t spell out how he commanded the Shadowman.”
They’d only talked about Mr. White’s death in a cursory way. Mary thought Gran didn’t want to hear about it, which made sense; she’d been friends with him once.
Gran nodded. “I see.”
“Well, at least now we know what the curse is,” Mary said glumly.
“Yes, and we’ll figure out how to break it.”
“How?”
“I’ll make some calls tomorrow. I think I know someone who can help.”
Mary nodded and stared at her toes. Maybe she could paint them alternating colors or make each one different: Purple, green, and black. She yawned.
“You should get some sleep,” Gran urged again.
Mary didn’t reply, except to take a big gulp of her soda.
CHAPTER NINE
Girl Talk
During TAB, Mary looked for Rachel to tell her about last night’s revelations. She was trying to keep her friend apprised because she knew she was still on shaky ground with her her in spite of their recent reconciliation. She had to tell her about the Shadowman possessing her ASAP. She hoped Rachel was in school that day. She usually didn’t skip two days in a row, but Mary hadn’t known she was going to be out yesterday. She hoped her friend wasn’t sick.
She was relieved to find Rach at her locker, but she wasn’t alone. Mary stomped on the little flare of jealousy she felt when she saw Taryn was with her.
“Hey,” she said, joining the two. She even managed a friendly smile for Taryn.
“Oh my God, Mary, you should’ve been with us last night! It was so amazing! We hung out with rock stars!”
Taryn rolled her eyes with a smile. “They were not. They’ve barely done a demo tape.”
“Fine, but they were still bad ass,” Rachel said.
The other girl nodded. “They were pretty cool.”
Mary couldn’t very well blurt out her news with Taryn right there, so she decided to indulge them. “Where’d you go?”
“Oh, to B4. They barely glanced at our IDs. And the band that was playing was great, and after they finished, we hung out with them, and talked music and all sorts of stuff for hours.”
“That does sound cool.”
“We’re going to the Drowsy Poet tonight. Taryn’s going to get on the open mic. Do you wanna come?” Rachel knew Mary barely tolerated that place. She only ever went to keep Rachel company.
“Um, I can’t. I gotta go straight home. I’m sort of grounded.”
That caught Rachel’s attention. “Grounded? For what? I think you may be more responsible than your grandma.”
Taryn chuckled at that.
Mary smiled, too, but stared at Rachel, hoping she’d get the clue that there was more to this than she was saying. “Kyle came over in the middle of the night and woke Gran up.”
“Ah, young love,” Taryn said with a joking sigh.
Rachel grinned at Taryn. She wasn’t getting Mary’s silent message.
“Yeah, I’m going to stay grounded until Gran can figure out how to keep me from sneaking out in the middle of the night.”
“Put bars on the windows?” Taryn quipped.
Mary really wished she’d go away. Her flippant comments and just
all around presence was really messing up her talk with Rachel.
“So where were you yesterday? I tried to call you during school,” Mary said.
“Oh we decided to blow off classes. The day was too nice, so we hung out at this wildlife park. We actually hiked this trail. It was pretty cool. Then we had to go get ready for the club.”
Rachel and Taryn were doing all sorts of stuff together. They may have done more stuff together in two days than Mary and she usually did in a week. “Sounds cool. Something kind of freaky happened at school yesterday.”
“Ooh, what?” Taryn asked.
Mary put her hands in her pockets to hide her clenched fists. She made sure Rachel was looking at her because she needed her to listen carefully. “The PA system went crazy. It gave off all this weird feedback and static.” Rachel couldn’t miss the significance of that. She’d heard the weird feedback and static before on her own cell phone.
“Hmm, that is weird,” Rachel said. Her eyes fell away from Mary’s without interest. The warning bell rang.
Rachel picked up her book bag. “See you at lunch?” she asked.
Mary nodded, but when she peered at her friend’s face, she saw no comprehension of what she’d been trying to tell her.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When the bell rang for lunch, Mary went outside to meet up with Rachel. She hoped she’d get five minutes alone with her to give her the real skinny on what happened the night before. Mary arrived at their usual spot and looked for Rachel. She didn’t see her, but Kyle was coming her way.
“Hey,” she said when he reached her.
“Hey, how’s today going?”
She shrugged. “I’m dozing off during class, but that was the plan. No one’s called me on it at least.”
“Yeah, I dozed off during Government.”
She had wanted to break the news to Rachel first about the Shadowman, but she felt bad holding back from Kyle, especially with him standing right there. She looked around for her best friend one more time, but there was no sign of her. Rachel had meant they’d meet for lunch at their usual spot, right? She began to suspect that the gym wing may have become Rachel’s usual spot. She couldn’t bring herself to trek back inside with Kyle possibly in tow to go find Rachel. She sat down and pulled out her lunch. Kyle stayed standing.