by Terri Bertha
“Let’s ask him another one. If 4x + 3 = 35, what does x equal?”
Dexter sat and paused. “X equals 7”.
“That’s not right,” said Nick. “X equals 8”.
“Whoops. I messed up. Geez. I’m not perfect.”
“How about a science question. Maybe he needs a break from the math. What is the second planet from the sun?” asked Paul.
“Jupiter,” answered Dexter.
“No!” Paul and Nick shouted at the dog. They were so loud that the dog jumped in the air.
Nick bit his lower lip and scrunched his forehead. “Paul, you said you couldn’t find your amulet. Do you think there’s a chance that Dexter ate it? He was answering everything correctly, but now he’s giving wrong answers. Remember what Madame Herlet said, ‘If you over use or abuse the amulet, it will start to fade and lose its color and effectiveness’. Dexter is starting to give wrong answers. Do you think he ate it?”
“I’m not sure,” said Paul. “Let’s ask him something easy. Who is the current president of the U.S.?”
“Scooby Doo,” answered Dexter.
Paul and Nick exchanged worried looks.
“What is 2 + 2?”
Dexter sat, tilting his head to Paul with a blank look in his eyes.
“Oh crap,” said Paul. “I bet the amulet fell out of my gym shorts when I changed clothes after school. Dexter was upstairs running around like a maniac, and pulling toilet paper off the rolls. I wonder if he found it and ate it. He went to the bathroom before you came over. I have to go out and find his poop and see if I can find the amulet.”
“Yuck!” said Nick. “You’re not going to go through his poop to look for the amulet, are you?”
“I have to. It’s the only way I’m going to pass my tests.”
“Okay. Let’s grab some flashlights and see if we can find it.”
Getting the biggest flashlights they could find, Paul and Nick canvassed the yard, shining the light before each step. They were about ready to give up when Paul saw something glistening on the ground.
He shouted, “I found it! It’s the amulet!”
“Um…maybe you should put gloves on,” said Nick.
“I have a paper towel,” said Paul, picking up the soiled amulet.
Running into the house to the nearest lamp, they verified it was the amulet. But instead of the dark purplish color, the amulet looked like a piece of clear glass. Apparently, Dexter used all the smart power it had, and now, it was useless.
“Well, I guess you’re going to have to start studying,” said Nick, laughing.
“Yeah…and Amy will get this piece of glass for her birthday next year.”
“Just don’t tell her where it really came from.”
Chapter Thirteen
The Rise of Mrs. Succubus
“Watch out,” screamed Lindsay, pushing Amy out of the way of the falling bookcase. Amy landed against the library counter, piles of books and broken shelves laying at her feet.
“Gosh, Lindsay, thanks. How did you know it was going to fall?”
“I saw it wobbling and tipping, so I needed to get you out of the way before you got hurt.”
Staring at the books on the floor, the girls noticed they were from the animal section. At the top of the pile lay books about rabbits.
Mrs. Lemond, the head librarian, came running around the corner. “Are you girls all right? I heard the commotion.”
“Yes, we’re fine,” said Amy. “One of the bookcases was overloaded and toppled over.”
“I’m glad you didn’t get hurt.”
“I’m fine, thanks to my friend. We’ll clean this stuff up. Sorry for the noise.”
“Thanks. I’ll get Mr. Jones, the repairman, to fix the bookcase and anchor it down so it doesn’t happen again.”
Bending down and picking up the books, Amy’s stomach flip-flopped when she spied one with a small bunny on the cover. Remembering her birthday scavenger hunt, and hiding in Mrs. Miller’s closet watching her with the rabbit, brought back bad memories.
Finishing up, Lindsay said, “Let’s get out of here. I need to get home and do some homework before volleyball practice.”
“Yeah, me too,” said Amy, looking pale, and trying to shake the memory from her brain.
Before studying, Lindsay sat down in front of her vanity and brushed her long blonde hair. Grabbing sections, she twirled it in various up-do hair styles, and used her hand mirror to see how each looked from the sides and back. Hoping Chris would ask her to the dance next month, she wanted to have a special hairdo for the occasion. After playing around with her hair, she decided she better get some studying in before volleyball practice.
Laying on her bed with books and notes scattered, she flinched when she heard a thump. Looking over, she saw her hand mirror laying on the floor.
What the heck? How did that fall? I’m glad it didn’t break. That would be seven years bad luck for me.”
Picking up the mirror, a chill traveled through her body as she quickly placed it back on the vanity. I hope I’m not catching a cold, she thought, opening her school book.
After studying, she changed into her shorts and shirt, and picked up Amy on the way to practice.
Nearing the school, the girls were startled by a black cat running from behind a garbage can and standing in front of them, arching its back. Displaying long, pointed teeth, it growled and hissed at the girls, “Sis time to come backs.”
The girls sprinted down the block until they reached the school gymnasium, where they slammed the doors behind them.
Once safely inside, Lindsay said, “Whew! Did it sound to you like that cat was talking to us?”
“Yeah,” said Amy, out of breath. “It sounded like it said, ‘It’s time to come back’.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought I heard too. Crazy, huh?”
“Let’s take the back way home afterward, okay?”
After volleyball practice, Lindsay said, “How about if we stop for something to eat on the way home? I’m hungry.”
“Me too. I could go for a hamburger and fries.”
Walking down the sidewalk, Lindsay looked up at the sky. “Boy, the weather sure did change fast. Look at the dark clouds blowing in.”
“And the wind got colder too.” Amy pulled her hoodie from her backpack.
“Hey, did you ever notice how the clouds look like animals sometimes?” said Lindsay. “Like that one there. It looks like a rabbit.”
Amy glanced up and walked faster. “Let’s hurry up and get our food and go home. I’m tired.”
Arriving at the fast food restaurant, there was a sign taped to the shattered glass on the front door. ‘Careful of glass—Under Repair’.
“What happened to your door?” Lindsay asked the boy at the counter.
“Oh, some old lady came up to it earlier and pressed her face onto the glass. We were all watching her, and couldn’t figure out what she was doing. It was like she was kissing her reflection. She pressed on it so hard, the glass cracked, but luckily, it didn’t shatter. When the manager asked her what she was doing, she didn’t answer, but made a hissing sound, like a cat.”
The girls exchanged fearful looks.
“That’s creepy,” whispered Lindsay to her friend. “Kind of reminds you of someone else, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah,” said Amy, in a hushed voice. “Let’s get our food and eat it on the way home. I don’t want to sit inside. What if she comes back?”
Hurrying home, the girls gobbled their burgers, not speaking about the incident at the restaurant.
That night, both girls slept restlessly, recalling the events of the day. The next morning at school, Amy met Lindsay gathering books from her locker. “Wow, Lindsay. You look awful. Did you get any sleep last night?”
“A little. I was having nightmares about our old ‘friend’ Mrs. Succubus.”
“Really? Me too. I kept dreaming that there was something heavy on me, and I was being chased by silver forks an
d mirrors, and rabbits were everywhere. It was awful. It was as if I was reliving the whole Mrs. Miller thing. I woke up sweating like I just ran a marathon.”
“That’s weird. I dreamt about pulling that witch off you, ripping her dress, and running after her. You turned into an old woman and I had to get you different clothes to wear.”
“Why are we dreaming about Mrs. Succubus?” asked Amy.
“Do you think it’s because of all the strange things happening lately? Like the rabbit books that fell in the library, the black cat that talked to us, and come to think of it, my mirror fell off my vanity the other day.”
“Yeah,” said Amy. “Remember the story the kid told us at the fast food place about the woman kissing the glass? Mrs. Succubus sucked the life out of animals in order to make herself live longer, and her reflection froze in the mirror. You don’t think…”
“Think what?”
“She’s come back to haunt us?”
“I’m not sure,” said Lindsay. “But there’s one way to find out. Let’s go see ‘Madame Herlet’. She helped you before with Karen’s talking, so she should be able to help us with this.”
“That’s questionable,” said Amy sarcastically.
“Do you have a better idea?”
“No,” said Amy, that one spoken word reflecting the agonizing defeat.
“We’ll go after school then.”
Later that day, the girls visited Madame Herlet’s shop.
“Wow, does she really use all this doing her hocus pocus?” Lindsay whispered to Amy as they entered the shop.
“Yeah. You wouldn’t believe the stuff she has. I spent a fortune in here.”
A short dark haired gypsy woman emerged from behind a tapestry.
“Hello there, my dear. So happy to see you again. How did the herb work for you?”
“It did the trick,” said Amy. “I’m here for a different reason.”
Lindsay watched as the old woman and Amy connected in a strange way. Amy must have spent a lot of time here.
“So, what are you looking for this time? A charm or potion to make some boy like you? Or something to make you prettier?”
Those aren’t bad ideas, thought Lindsay.
For once, Lindsay held her tongue and let Amy talk. “We think we may be haunted by a spirit. We want you to help us get rid of it.”
The girls waited in silence avoiding mentioning whether it was a he or a she haunting them. If the psychic was as good as people said, she could figure it out on her own.
“Well…I do feel a disruption in the universe or some kind of evil. Let’s sit down in the back room and see if anything comes to me.”
The girls exchanged worried glances as they followed Madame Herlet through the beaded doorway. Burning wafts of incense and candles filled the air.
“Please sit,” said the woman as she retrieved two candles from a nearby shelf, and placed them on both sides of a crystal ball sitting in the center of the table. Lighting them, she sat and spoke in a low hoarse voice. “Hold hands with me and gaze into the crystal ball. It is important to stay relaxed and have an open mind. I don’t want your thoughts interfering with anything I envision.”
Amy tried to clear her mind, wondering if they were going to have to make repeat trips as she experienced before with the psychic. She didn’t want Madame Herlet reading her thoughts, so she replaced them with happier memories.
After a few minutes of silence, Madame Herlet let out a deep sigh, and started humming in a low tone. Moving her head in circles, she began talking.
“I’m getting something…Yes. I see a girl. And…a young rabbit. No, an old rabbit. A young rabbit becoming an old rabbit…and a woman. A…a…succubus! I see a succubus!”
Amy almost ripped her hand from the woman’s, but felt the psychic’s grip tightened. Then the woman stopped talking.
“Is that all you can tell us?” asked Lindsay, looking perturbed.
“Yes. Nothing more is coming to me. Does any of that make sense to either of you?”
Starting to rise from the table, Lindsay said solemnly to Amy. “Yes. It means she’s not dead yet. We have to kill her again so she doesn’t get you.”
“But how are we going…” Amy started to say as they stood ready to leave.
“Wait!” yelled the woman. “You owe me twenty-five dollars for the sitting.”
Lindsay and Amy pulled money from their pockets and counted out twenty-five dollars.
“I can tell you how to get rid of her once and for all,” said Madame Herlet.
“Tell us,” said Lindsay. “We need to know so she doesn’t try to hurt Amy again.”
“Oh, there will be a price for that,” said Madame Herlet. “It will be another twenty-five dollars.”
The girls smirked at the woman and dug another twenty-five from their pockets.
“Thank you,” said Madame Herlet, stuffing the money into the sleeve of her dress.
“Now, I will tell you how to rid yourselves of the succubus. Sit back down.”
The girls sat and leaned forward on their chairs anxiously waiting on Madame Herlet’s next word.
“You will need to collect the objects that caused her demise. Put the objects that made her cross over into the magic bag that I’ll give you. Then bury the bag under a tree in the light of a full moon.”
“Okay, give us the bag,” said Lindsay, impatient and ready to put an end to Mrs. Succubus once and for all.
“Wait! There are other things I need to warn you about. The closer you get to where her spirit moved into the other world, the stronger she will become. I’m warning you, she will fight hard, especially being a succubus. When you get the objects that killed her, put them in the bag, say the magic words, and bury the bag. This will break her spirit, and she will not be able to harm anyone ever again.”
“What are the magic words?” said Amy.
Madame Herlet leaned back in her chair and tilted her head towards the ceiling. Slowly she chanted, “Forever now…you are doomed to stay…in a place…that’s far away. No more danger… can you do…as your spirit now…is broke in two.”
“Okay,” said Amy. “I can remember that. Is there anything else for us to know?”
“Yes,” said Madame Herlet. “You owe me twenty-five dollars for the magic bag.”
“We just paid you fifty dollars for the reading and learning how to get rid of her. We don’t have another twenty-five. We’re just kids. Give us a break.”
“Okay,” said Madame Herlet. “But remember, nothing in life is free. I will forego the money for the bag, but don’t think you pulled one over on me.”
“Thanks,” said Lindsay. “We’re out of here. Let’s go, Amy.”
“Remember, you need to wait for a night of the full moon,” said the woman.
Once far from the shop, Lindsay said, “Get out your phone and check when the next full moon is. I hope we don’t have to wait too long. I don’t want this woman haunting my dreams every night.”
“We’re in luck,” shouted Amy. “The next full moon is the night after tomorrow.”
“Great! All we have to do is survive one more night before we do that witch in. I’ll tell you what. Since tomorrow’s Friday night, we’ll have a sleepover, and stay together for the night. That way, we can watch out for each other, and if one of us is having a bad dream, the other can wake them up.”
“Sounds like a deal,” said Amy. “Then on Saturday’s full moon, we’ll go after Mrs. Succubus and get rid of her once and for all.”
The next night, Amy gathered her overnight clothes and whatever else she needed to stay at Lindsay’s. They ordered pizza and settled in Lindsay’s bedroom for the night. After playing and creating new hair dos, they decided it was time for bed.
“Remember,” said Lindsay. “We’ll wake each other if it seems like we’re having a bad dream. We only need to get through this night, then we’re home free.”
The night seemed uneventful, and both girls awoke in the morning fe
eling refreshed and ready for their mission. They spent the day discussing their plans, and rehearsing the magic words.
“To reiterate, we need to find the objects we used to banish the succubus—a broken mirror and silver fork. We take the mirror pieces and the fork, put them in the bag we got from Madame Herlet, and bury it under a tree in the moonlight,” said Amy.
“We need a small shovel,” said Lindsay. “Do you have one?”
“Yeah. I took one of my mom’s gardening shovels. It’s outside around the corner of the garage.”
The girl’s anticipation grew as they reviewed their plans for the evening.
“What are you girls going to do tonight?” asked Lindsay’s Mom.
“Oh, we thought we’d go see that new movie about the dog that can talk.”
“Oh, that sounds funny. Anyone else going with you?”
“No, just the two of us.”
“Okay. Have fun and stay safe. Don’t forget your phones in case you need to call.”
“Will do,” said Lindsay, putting on her hoodie and heading out with her friend.
Walking towards Mrs. Miller’s, the girls noticed the wind picking up and dark clouds filling the sky. Leaves and twigs blew in circles around the girls as they neared her house.
“Remember, Madame Herlet said her spirit would become stronger as we came close to where she was killed.”
Finally, the girls arrived at the old Miller place. Having a hard time standing from the blowing wind, the girls held on to a rickety fence post.
“Was it around here we killed her?” asked Lindsay.
“Yeah. I think so. It’s hard to remember since it’s been almost a year, plus the grass is overgrown, and this place has been deserted. Let’s look around and see if we can find the silver fork and broken mirror.”
Walking and inspecting the ground, Lindsay was first to yell. “Look over here. It’s the fork. Quick! Put it in the magic bag and say the words.”
Amy snatched up the bent fork, and in a booming voice screamed. “Forever now…you are doomed to stay…in a place…that’s far away. No more danger… can you do…as your spirit now…is broke in two.”