“Jarrod Blythe, I ask that you come forward. Are you here with us?” GM spoke like she was a teacher calling out to an unruly kid.
The planchette began to vibrate, slowly at first and then faster and faster. My breath caught in my throat. It started moving slowly to the side of the board where the word YES was written, but stopped just shy of it.
GM huffed a fast sigh and spoke again. “Jarrod, you must leave this plane.” Immediately the planchette shot to the word NO, circling it in small, jerky movements.
“Are you afraid to go?” GM glanced over at me and her chin rose higher.
I sat on the edge of my seat, barely able to keep contact with the small triangle when it swooped across the board to the word GOOD BYE. It was so much like the last time—the abrupt ending. But GM wasn’t having any of it this time.
She took a deep breath and continued; the determination showing on her tight lips. “We aren’t through here, Jarrod. I know you are frightened, but you don’t belong here anymore. Will you take the next step and leave this plane of existence?”
Once more the planchette skimmed over the board, stopping at the letters: C A N N O T D O O M.
Cannot doom? He couldn’t leave and was doomed? Clearly, not every spirit could be persuaded to leave. Some were beyond helping, even for someone like my grandmother.
Again, the image of a thin, weasel-type guy cowering in a corner, flashed in my mind. It was pointless to try to reason with him. He was a terrified little man. Without warning, his image swirled, dissolving into a cloud of black and purple vapor.
Suddenly the planchette began moving once more.
K E I R—My heart was in my mouth when the next letter it stopped at was an A.
GM gasped. “What about Keira?”
But the small gadget wasn’t through yet. It continued on: G W E N.
My grandmother jerked back, almost relinquishing her touch on the planchette.
“What does that mean? Why my name and then Gwen’s?” I edged forward, my eyes darting from GM to the board. But the answer wasn’t in my grandmother’s eyes. She looked as spooked by this as I felt. My heart pounded against my ribs so hard I thought it would jump out.
The breath caught in my throat when the planchette shot to the GOOD BYE. I jerked my hands back and stared at GM Lawrence was already on his feet striding toward us.
“What did that mean? Why did it say my name and Gwen’s?” My fingers trembled as I pulled the tourmaline stone from my pocket and held it in my lap. This was supposed to be a communication with Jarrod and I hadn’t said a word but I was being singled out? And not just me, but Gwen?
GM looked down at the floor, and her forehead was lined with deep furrows. “I don’t know.”
Lawrence picked up the bundle of sage again and fished a lighter from his pocket. He flicked the lighter and brought the flame up to the charred end.
Without warning, we were completely enveloped in a black and purple cloud. It spun around us with a whooshing noise. I could barely see GM through the haze, and the stench of it made my breakfast roll in my stomach. GM’s face showed she was as shocked as I.
I looked over to where Lawrence was. He was as still as a statue; frozen in place. In spite of the rushing noise from the disgusting mist, the flame was completely still. I tried to speak, but my throat was frozen.
“Enough!” GM’s scream was so loud, her voice cracked.
The cloud condensed into a long, writhing tube. It circled the room once more before evaporating through the wall.
“What just happened?” Lawrence asked. I turned back to him. He was holding the flame to the smudging bundle. “Something just happened, didn’t it?”
“Did you see that?” I said.
“See what? I thought I heard Pamela say something.” He lifted his eyes from the sage to GM and gasped. “Pamela!” He dropped the sage.
I leapt from my seat. GM was laying back against the seat cushions gasping. Her hair was completely disheveled and her hand was on her heaving chest. “I…” she gulped for air, “I need to go to my room now.”
Lawrence elbowed me out of the way, and lifted her into his arms. I followed.
“I’ll call an ambulance!”
“Absolutely not!” they both said in unison. I stopped dead in my tracks.
Lawrence turned to me. “No, Keira; your grandmother is having a spell is all. There’s medicine in her room, and she’ll be alright shortly. She just needs to lie down and collect herself.”
“Lawrence! She looks like she’s having a stroke!” I strode up to him in a rage.
GM lifted her head. “No, dear; listen to me.” Her breath was coming easier already. “Lawrence will look after me, don’t worry. Dearest Keira, you need to check on your friend. I’m worried about Gwen.”
“GM, she’s at work! It’s not even lunchtime!”
“No, Keira… it’s well past noon,” she sighed. “This has happened before. Look at your watch.”
I held my watch up. It read four fifteen p.m.
Oh shit.
TWENTY FIVE
MY CAR SKIDDED as I turned into her driveway. As soon as it came to a stop I leapt over the door and sprinted up the driveway, past her truck to the front door.
With any luck she’d be fine and I’d use the excuse of checking in to see how she had liked dinner with Lawrence and GM
Devon was on the front porch, the magazine he’d been reading spread on his thighs while his head lolled to the side, sound asleep, snoring. Buster must have seen me coming; he was cowering over at the farthest end of the porch. I didn’t want to wake Devon, so I crept around him and through the front door.
I stepped inside and listened for any sound of activity, where Gwen might be found. When I walked across the hall and paused at the foot of the long staircase, her voice drifted down. Okay, she’s on the phone or something—that was a good sign.
As I tiptoed up the stairs I could hear her voice.
“Can you hear me?” came from her half-open room door. “Are you there Mom?”
“Gwen?” I said when I got to the doorway.
“Aaagh!” she cried out. I burst into the room. She was on her feet, her eyes wide, while her hand swept up to her neck before she breathed a sigh. “Oh, it’s you, Keira.” She glanced away, blushing.
“Yeah. Sorry. The door was open and your dad is asleep on the veranda. I should have—”
“No! It’s fine.” Her hand fell and she clasped my arm. “Maybe you can help me!”
She pulled me into her room and I stopped short, seeing what was on the bed. Oh my God. Not a Ouija board. This was too much!
“What the hell are you doing with that?” I said, pointing at it.
Her eyes glinted with excitement and she tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, before she pulled me over to the bed. “I’m trying to contact my mother! You know how you said you saw her, well, I thought with a little help from this, I might be able to as well!”
I shook my head. “No Gwen. You don’t want to mess with that thing.”
Her fingers dug into my arm. “Come on, Keira. Please. I just know if you do it with me, I’ll get to talk to my mother. I mean, you’ve got some kind of gift or something. I believed you when you said you saw her! Hell, I’ve always felt her nearby.”
“No Gwen! Look these Ouija boards are bad news!” If she knew what I’d seen earlier, she’d burn the bloody thing! “Not going to happen, Gwen!” I started to fold the board up to put it back in its box.
Her hand tugged mine away and she glared at me. “You’re being selfish. All I want is a chance to—”
“Gwen! Believe me when I tell you this is dangerous! You don’t want to mess with it.” I jerked my hand away from hers.
“Hey!” Her eyes started to glisten again, but this time it was with tears. “It’s my mother we’re talking about. She would never hurt me.”
“This is so not a good idea, Gwen. Just trust me when I tell you your mother is fine.” If GM knew t
his was going on, that Gwen was trying to get me to do this with her, she’d have a conniption! Hell, even Lawrence would blow a gasket! And the coincidence was totally freaking me out!
“Please. I just want to speak with her... just one more time. I’ve missed her so much! I promise, I’ll never ask you again. Just one time... please.” Her voice almost broke when she pleaded. She swiped the tears away with the back of her hand and sniffed loudly.
She still had her hand on my arm. The sorrow and grief I felt from her dad was nothing compared to the agony in Gwen’s heart. Damn it. I took a deep breath and knew I couldn’t deny her this. If it was my last time seeing my mother or father.... or even GM, I’d want to do it. “Fine! But this is it. I’ll only do this once.” I flopped down on the bed, next to the blasted board. I glared up at her. “But blow your nose first.”
She rose to her tiptoes, holding her hands tight to her chest, almost squee’ing. I swear if she did that, I was out of there. When she flew from the room to get a tissue, I glared at the board and planchette. No tricks this time buster.
All too soon she was back and bouncing to a spot opposite me, with the board between us.
“Have you used one of these things before?” Her fingers flew to the planchette and she looked over at me.
I rolled my eyes and my hands slowly drifted over to join hers on the small triangle. “Oh yeah. Have you? I mean aside from just now?”
“No. I just bought it today. I was thinking of what happened the other day by the pool, and I was right outside some kind of mystical head shop downtown. I went right in and bought it.”
“Right about nine a.m. or so?” That was when GM and I started our session. Yeah, the one that took five minutes but lasted seven hours. I had such a bad feeling about this.
“Yeah! I was on my break! How did you know?”
“Skip it. Let’s give this a whirl, then I’m going to burn this thing, okay?” Great. She just happened to be outside the right store at the right minute. Sure. Just coincidence. I didn’t believe in coincidences. Well, this would be a quick down and dirty session and then I was done with the Ouija board. “You’d better let me do the talking.”
Her face knotted. “Why? It’s my mother and my board.”
I lifted my hands from the planchette and sat back. “My rules. If you want me to do this with you, you’ll do it my way or forget it.” I’d been trained by an expert after all, while she was a neophyte.
Her eyebrows clenched in annoyance. “Okay.” It came out like a bark.
I took a few deep breaths and then my hands went back to the board. A flash of Gwen’s mom appeared in my head. This was a good start. My eyes opened wider and I peered at Gwen. “What’s your mom’s name?”
“Rebecca. Rebecca Jones but her maiden name was Dowd.”
I took a deep breath and started. “Rebecca Jones. Are you here?”
The planchette sat still, no vibrations, nothing.
“Rebecca Dowd. Your daughter Gwen would like to talk to you. Are you present?” This time the triangle jerked to the word, YES. I glanced at Gwen and was rewarded by a smile.
“Ask her if she’s happy. Tell her I miss her.”
It was all I could do not to roll my eyes. As if, Rebecca wouldn’t have heard that! “Rebecca, Gwen would like a sign that you are in peace and that you are happy.”
My fingertips on the planchette began to tingle and it was hard to stay on the small object as it spelled out, L O V E H E R.”
“Oh Mom.” A single tear splashed onto the board from Gwen’s chin.
The planchette began to circle the board, gaining speed. My eyes darted to Gwen who stared back at me, her mouth hung open.
The triangle stopped at the letters J A R R O D.
“Uh oh,” I said. My heart galloped against my rib cage. The air became cooler and a sudden breeze lifted the curtain from the side of the window. The loose paper on the desk began to lift and swirl in the air.
Gwen’s eyes were as big as dinner plates staring around the room. Her hands drifted off the zooming planchette and I reached to slap them back on, holding my palm over the tops of her hands. Fear and despair came in crashing waves from where we joined. This was so unfair! Gwen had hoped for contact from her mother and this thing... whatever it was, was hijacking that.
“Listen shithead! Whoever you are... Jarrod or some other weasely shmuck, get lost!” The triangle began to circle the board so fast it was hard to keep my fingers on it. I was making it mad.
On a roll now, I continued, “You sneaky coward! Taking advantage of the love between Gwen and her mother! You have no place in this house!”
The bedroom door banged shut with such force it shook the room which was already swirling with papers. Gwen’s arms jerked back and I gripped her hand in mine. “Stay connected, Gwen! I need you to stay with me here!” Fear jolted into my hand from hers and then became a steady, calm strength. I looked into her eyes and saw determination narrow her gaze.
“I command you to leave this house! You have no right to be here!” My fingers laced with Gwen’s and we held our hands up, still maintaining the connection with the planchette with our other hands. Books on her bookshelf toppled to the floor. The wind became wilder, forcing the papers against our hands and faces.
My head filled with a face, the eyes red while the mouth gaped in a grin... an evil grin which taunted me.
Oh screw you, buster. I raised my voice. “Enough! Go!”
Our hands tightened, and our muscles were taut when we raised our arms even higher. Just as suddenly as it started, the room became quiet. Papers floated in the still air and drifted onto the bed and floor around us. We looked at each other and then our gaze shifted to take in the room. It had worked! Together we’d done it!
“Oh my God! What happened?” Gwen’s mouth fell open as she leaned closer to me. Her hand left the planchette and gripped my arm. “Jarrod’s the name of the guy found dead in your grandmother’s house, I was talking about! Keira, what’s going on?”
Good question. But more like, what the hell was he doing here, in Gwen’s house? It was as unlikely as seeing Gwen’s name spelled out in the session with GM. I gasped. This was all a diversion! Of course I would be concerned after seeing her name and would come over to check on her. And then, for her to conveniently buy a Ouija board that day and try this? I was meant to be here—the message on the board, and the room exploding with a sudden wind!
GM! This was all to get me out of the house so GM would be alone! Lawrence was old and had no power! I jumped to my feet. “I’ve got to go! My Nana’s in danger! I’ll explain later!”
This time, my feet thundered on the stairs as I rushed down and out the door. Devon lifted his head and called out to me, “Keira? What the devil?” The dog took this opportunity, seeing me racing from the yard, to howl like a hyena.
The tires of my car skidded on the shoulder of the road as I raced home. GM had said demons lie and try to trick you. Whatever that thing was that screwed us over back at the house had set us up. Set me up.
I had to get there! Had to get to GM before it was too late! Tears filled my eyes and the entrance to the driveway was a blur. Was I already too late?
“Nana!” I sobbed.
TWENTY SIX
I BURST THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR of Nana’s home and almost keeled over from the putrid stench in the house. The vision of half-gnawed, bloated carcasses covered in their own filth burst into my mind’s eye. For the first time in my life I knew the smell of pure evil. I retched twice, and stood upright, and spoke aloud as I staggered through the house to Nana’s bedroom:
“I will not be afraid
Fear is the soul destroyer
And will consume me should I allow it
I rebuke fear
To its face of many masks I stare unafraid
One by one, I will watch those masks fall away
Crumble to ash
And drift away
In the breeze of my love
&nb
sp; And I will still stand
Alone and unafraid.”
It really didn’t help much; I was still scared to death. But I kept trudging, each step an effort. The stench had a physical aspect to it—a morass which thickened, as I moved forward.
“I rebuke fear,” I said, over and over.
I was halfway across the living room when I heard Nana’s terrified scream, followed by the sound of a body slamming so hard the floor under my feet vibrated. I dropped my head and charged as another wail from Nana stabbed my ears.
Coming through the shattered door to her bedroom I gasped. GM’s body hovered two feet above the bed! She clung to the headboard, as her legs were being twisted and yanked. Her hair streamed down and her eyes were wide with terror.
A mighty wind howled through the room.
“Nana!” I rushed forward. The force that held her, slammed her to the bed.
And turned on me.
I was lifted a foot off the floor and flung back against the doorjamb. I fell like a rag doll, the impact dazing me. I saw Lawrence slumped against the far wall. He was out cold, blood streaking his forehead.
Nana’s body began to rise again and I scrambled to my feet.
“Keira, go back!” she cried out. She clawed again at the headboard, clutching a bedpost as the rest of her body was twisted and pulled.
Haunted Hideout Page 32
