William’s mouth hung open, unable to utter a single word.
Lacey flipped through the pages of the book, her eyes narrowing as she tried to decipher the old, handwritten notes. “You’re right. Most of these entries are written in German.” She let out a frustrated groan. “Well, looks like this solidifies my original plan to see Diddie next.”
“If it’s a grimoire or something like that, we need to be careful with it,” William warned. “Having someone who can translate it is a good move. Do you think she’ll want to help us?”
Lacey gave him a determined look. “We’ll give her no choice.”
Minutes later they were at Saddle Inn, storming through the lobby. Lacey called out Diddie’s name a few times, shattering the calm atmosphere that normally permeated the inn,
Diddie showed up, a towel in hand as if she had been cleaning. “What’s all the commotion?”
Lacey, dutifully followed by William, walked toward her and led her to the room on the east side of the building, where she had eaten breakfast and met Ginny for the first time. “We need you. Now.”
Diddie joined them, brows pinched together. “I already told you, I can’t do anything for you.”
“I saw the demon. It’s possessing Julie Collins, who is pretending to be Mary Sue’s daughter. I also found Brian, shackled in the forest, tortured and on the brink of death. The demon has been corrupting Raven Hills for decades, starting with poor Virginia Kyle.
“Jane Dearing didn’t just go missing. She did something that night. She invoked the demon through this book,” Lacey held up the Haas manuscript. “Then she killed Ginny. She killed an innocent child, Diddie. What is stopping that from happening again? How many more people need to die because of you looking the other way? You lied about Brian and potentially sent him to his death.”
A tense silence filled the room, Diddie remaining stock-still, dish towel in hand, and eyes watering. After a few slow-passing minutes, she dropped into a chair at one of the tables.
“We lied about him because we just want to continue our way of life. Simple…discrete…” she said, struggling through tears.
“And painful and dangerous,” William added, earning a surprised look from Diddie. “Diddie, I was born and raised here too. I love Raven Hills. But I know enough is enough…the last few days…” William rubbed his eyes, frustrated at his own words. “Look, the things I saw the last few days prove to me we are worth saving. Lacey is right. We can’t let this go on anymore.”
Diddie took in a long breath, then nodded. “What do you need me to do?”
Lacey sat in a chair, followed by William. Across the table, she slid the Haas book toward Diddie. “We need your help translating. Jane Dearing used this the night of Ginny’s murder. That’s when everything began. Ginny said Jane read out of it that night.”
Diddie’s head shot up, giving Lacey an incredulous look. “Ginny? Virginia?...How?”
“She’a ghost, Diddie,” Lacey replied. “She’s been trying to connect with the people in Raven Hills for decades, but you all chose to ignore her. I was the only one willing to see her and hear her.”
Diddie sniffled, a wave of pain washing over her. She looked at the book. “The Haas book. It belonged to the earliest settlers. Jane read out of this thing?”
“Ginny remembers Jane saying the words ‘wieder jung’ that night. What does it mean?” Lacey asked.
“It means young again,” Diddie replied and began flipping through the book.
“These are records of the Haas family. They were initially Germanic tribes mixed in with Etruscans from the West Umbrian region of Italy.”
“Etruscan?” Lacey pondered. “In Italy? I thought they were German.”
“They were, but their roots date back to Germanic Barbarian tribes. They had mingled with Italians as they infiltrated the country to pillage. They must have picked up some Etruscan magic along the way. This symbol right here…” Diddie swung the book around and pointed on a page. “It’s the H for Haas, but it’s in Etruscan.”
“The strange box,” Lacey murmured under her breath. “The symbol we saw etched in the dirt around the swamp. And Julie wears a pendant with it around her neck.”
“How do you know all of this, Diddie?” William probed.
“I grew up with a great aunt who knew the Hasses’ history, together with the early Germanic tribes. She was like a walking encyclopedia. I never knew where she learned her information from, but I believe it was passed down from previous generations.”
Diddie brought the book back over to herself, eyes focusing on the words. A fearful expression formed on her face. “This is witchcraft. We shouldn’t be messing with this.”
“Can you find something that relates to what those words might mean? Young again. Does it say anything about that?” Lacey pressed.
Diddie flipped a few more pages, then her wrinkled eyes grew wide. “A spell. A spell to steal someone’s youth and grow young again.” She trembled, the shock and fear evident.
The group held a collective breath, shivers crawling down their skin. “So she took Ginny’s life…to grow young again?” Lacey mumbled, the mere words tearing her heart to pieces.
“What does that have to do with the demon?” William asked.
“I don’t know, but spells can only be performed by witches,” Diddie said in a hoarse whisper. “That much I know from the old tales and rumors I’ve heard from my great aunt.”
“That means Jane Haas was the last descendent witch,” Lacey surmised. “She never did have any children”
“Is there anything in there that can kill a demon?” William asked.
Diddie searched through the pages, her finger carefully trailing each page. “Yes, there is a spell that traps a demon or spirit unleashed into the human realm.” Diddie paused for a few long moments, reading the words on the page. “But it cannot be completely destroyed once outside the body. The demon she unleashed can live here in its own, original form. In order to have full control, it must be in a human body. This spell has a solution for that.
“But Lacey, only a witch, or someone who knows what they’re doing, can cast spells from a grimoire.” The woman shook her head and leaned back into the chair.
Lacey took the book back, sliding it over to her. “There has to be something we can do.”
Diddie reached across the table to where William sat, placing a motherly hand on his. “We’ve all tried to preserve our way of life for the younger generations. We were foolish to think that if we looked away, all evil would go away too.”
William gave her a sympathetic smile. “We all know how much the earlier generations love our town. We appreciate everything you do.”
“But we’ve failed to keep you safe,” Diddie sniffled, her glance cast down. “In order to protect our way of life and not to earn national attention with our strange incidents, we failed to protect the most important thing of all: our people.”
William placed his other hand on top of the woman’s, feeling her sadness and guilt. “It’s not too late. We can fix this for those who will come after us.”
“Can we really, though?” Diddie asked, doubt laced in her voice.
“Uhm, Diddie,” Lacey interrupted, her eyes focused on a page in the book. “How do you know German?”
“My great aunt I’ve been telling you about. Her name was Lydia Fischer,” Diddie replied, wiping a tear. “She lived with us when I was little. She was a spinster.”
“Diddie, have you ever checked the family tree in the Haas book?”
The woman shook her head. “No, it was found in Jane Dearing’s home during Ginny’s murder investigation. The police department donated it to the library as part of our town's heritage. No one really was able to lay hands on it.”
“Then you’re not going to believe this,” Lacey said, staring up at the woman. “Lydia Fischer, your great aunt, was a cousin of Jane Dearing’s mother.
“That makes you related.”
Diddie held L
acey’s gaze with disbelief. “What? Let me see that!”
She took the Haas grimoire and turned it around to appraise it. In front of her, at the very beginning of the book, spread on two pages was a large family tree. She traced it with one finger, finally finding that Lacey’s words rang true.
“I never knew this. How can it be? My great aunt was related to the Haases. That means…” Diddie could hardly finish the sentence, a frog stuck in her throat.
“That you can read from the grimoire. You descend from them, Diddie,” Lacey exclaimed. “And you’ll be the one to end the demon’s curse.”
Chapter Forty
They approached the Davidson Forest late in the afternoon. William parked his truck and Lacey and Diddie climbed out slowly, as if deliberately delaying what would come next. Lacey knew exactly what they’d be faced with. An evil that would be hard to tame.
As they trekked into the woods, her heart thumped at increasing speed. Being back here reminded her of finding Brian shackled to a wall. She couldn’t think about the horrors he had experienced without getting a new bout of nausea.
“Gosh, I haven’t been here since I was a little girl,” Diddie whispered, as if afraid of disturbing whoever lurked in the shadows. “My friends and I used to sneak in here on weekends to smoke cigarettes and talk about boys.” She smiled, perhaps reliving the simpler days of her youth.
“It’ll be sunset soon,” William warned. “Let’s stay vigilant. We don’t want to get lost here in the dark.”
They soon arrived at the swamp site, a chill stirring the air. Lacey couldn’t help but wonder if soon they’d have answers about Paul Martinez, whether he lay dead and decomposing at the bottom of the bog.
Going up the mound and trekking through thick brambles, the trio finally arrived at the site of the shack. Lacey’s insides twisted, unable to push away the images of Brian’s imprisonment there any longer. She hoped they didn’t have to go back inside of it, where the demon had assaulted them, but they might not have a choice.
Diddie swatted a swarm of mosquitoes, pivoting on the spot to inspect the area. “It’s getting darker,” she whispered more to herself than the other two.
A gust of wind ruffled through the woods, sending chills over the group. Then everything turned still, as if time had frozen. The woods seemed to silence themselves, holding their breath in expectation.
“Odd…” William thought. “Sunset isn’t for another hour, and it’s getting dark way too quickly.”
“Something is coming closer,” Diddie announced, a vein twitching in her neck. Lacey felt sorry for dragging the woman here, but after the discovery of her being kin to the Haases, she was the only one who could help them. Lacey handed the Haas book to Diddie with caution, knowing this artifact was either their doom or their ticket to success.
Lacey looked at the tall trees surrounding them, almost seeming to close in on the three of them. Thick bushes and moss dangled all around them and climbed the walls of the shack, which continued to be a discomforting presence. Lacey’s eyes narrowed and focused as she scanned the area.
Then she locked her gaze with a pair of dark, eerie eyes.
She gasped and nearly jumped out of her skin. “Julie!”
Julie appeared from between two trees, slowly staggering forward. The woman had always seemed unkempt before, but now there was something more disturbing about her appearance. Her brown hair stuck to her forehead and neck and showed bald patches on the sides. The sores on her face had opened, releasing sticky fluid all over her face. Chapped lips revealed dried blood, and her head sat on her neck at a strange angle.
“You had to get involved,” Julie said, her voice raspy.
“We know who you are,” Lacey condemned, trying to keep her voice steady. “You’re a demon Jane Dearing unleashed on Halloween night in 1953.”
“Jane Dearing was a fool,” Julie countered. “She wanted to be young and beautiful again, opening up a portal that connected to the demon world without even realizing it. I had been waiting for my opportunity for centuries, and when she used her amateur witchcraft skills to perform a spell to rejuvenate her, I knew I had my entry into this world.’
“Then Jane didn’t summon you on purpose.” Lacey’s brows furrowed, remembering Ginny’s words about that Halloween night. Despite the fact that Jane hadn’t planned to invite a demon into the world, it didn’t redeem her from taking a girl’s life out of vanity.
Julie’s face contorted in a scowl, her breathing becoming more labored. “No, the fool tried to recite the spell to make her young again, for which she needed a young vessel, Ginny, whose life force she could use. Little did she know, she used the wrong spell in the book, and opened the portal to my world. I ached for the chance to incarnate into this world, and the spell she performed gave me youth and life—not her.”
Lacey’s teeth gritted. How stupid had Mrs. Dearing been. She had meddled in witchcraft when she wasn't an expert in the practice, and had caused so many deaths. She only hoped Diddie, completely clueless about her own connection to the Haases, would not unleash some other terrible evil.
“What happened to Jane after you entered our world?” Lacey asked, her voice a growl of frustration.
Julie smiled, yellowed teeth showing through. “I possessed her. I took her body as my first human inhabitant into this world. But I didn’t want to be old and decrepit like her, either. In that, both of us shared the same feeling.”
William looked at Julie with alarm. “First inhabitant?”
Julie cast a contemptuous smile his way. “She made it easy for me. She killed Ginny, thinking she would come back to this world as the little girl. But since I possessed Jane’s body, I took the child’s life force and reincarnated into someone else…someone of the same age.”
A tremor took over Lacey’s entire body, her mind flashing with all the clues, pictures, and articles she’d gathered in Raven Hills. A sudden realization dawned, twisting knots in her stomach. She didn’t want to say her suspicion aloud, as if merely uttering the words would bring to light everything: the terrible truth, the despicable way the residents of Raven Hills had been treated, and the unimaginable price they’d paid.
But she had to. She had to uncover everything if she was to put an end to it.
“You were also Joann Derby,” Lacey finally said, her voice quivering. “You possessed Jane Dearing and took Ginny’s life force. Once you did so, you incarnated into Joann, pretending to be an orphaned girl around the same age as Ginny.
“As you grew up, you tormented the town, didn’t you?” Hot tears rushed to her eyes. She looked at Diddie and William, the residents of Raven Hills who’d been raised here their entire lives. She hadn’t known them for long, but in just the last couple of weeks she’d felt a growing attachment to them. These were good people. They didn’t deserve what had happened to them.
“You tormented Michael Keenley at Derby’s Soap Shop, didn’t you?” she pressed on, staring at Julie with disgust. “And poor Libby Kline. She isn’t crazy. You drove her to madness! And…and…” Lacey’s mind spun with thoughts and revelations. “Who are you now? Tell us!”
Julie laughed, her body contorting as she began walking toward them again. Spittle sprayed from her mouth, beads of sweat and puss on her face. Lacey recoiled, disgusted. Diddie coughed, the stench emanating from Julie too vile to ignore.
“You’re forgetting someone, aren’t you?” Julie teased. A rotting smell followed her as she drew closer, making the three of them nearly gag. “She was such a sweet girl. It was easy getting her to like me. Such a bright life ahead of her,” Julie mocked, another cruel laugh filling the air. “You should’ve seen her mother’s face as she searched for me at the funeral. How could her daughter’s best friend not even bother to show up?”
“You monster!” Lacey yelled, tears trailing down her cheeks. “You killed Allison! It wasn’t cancer! It was you!” Lacey trembled with fury, finally figuring out one of the clues that had made no sense before. A fa
ded pink dot, like the one the autopsy revealed on Allison. That’s how the demon infiltrated the bodies and stole their life force. It seemed like a bug bite, or a sore, but it was a way into their being.
Julie’s smirk faded, replaced by an angry scowl. “Oh I did kill her, that’s true. Joann was becoming older, and after the fun I had with good old David, making him burn down New Hope Church by placing dark thoughts in his mind; and after driving Libby insane until she killed her own husband, then teasing that Michael boy by leaving dead rats in his locker…well, all of that took time and years. I needed a new body and Allison was my next victim.
“Except, the girl had terminal cancer, and no one knew about it. It was only after I killed her and took on her life force that I realized something was wrong. I was weaker than usual, unable to torment people using my full power. I only had enough energy to spellbind that stupid woman, Mary Sue, into thinking I was her daughter, and some power to turn animals and nature against people.”
Lacey thought back to he first trip into the woods, where she had felt someone’s glare and then been knocked unconscious.
“It was you,” she accused. “You attacked me in the forest. And that panther was your doing too! You made it attack William and me when we left your home the other night.” Lacey gritted her teeth. For so long she had wanted explanations, and now that she had them, her blood boiled in anger. “You made Mary Sue believe you were taking care of her, but really you were slowly killing her.”
“I had to show up, announced and unexpected, and brainwash her and the town into believing I was related to her.” Julie took a sharp breath, then her neck twitched in a strange manner. “With Joann I was just an orphaned girl abandoned in the woods. But with Julie, I had to get more creative.
“And then that man came,” she growled. “With his questions and incessant research.”
“Brian,” Lacey realized.
“He confronted me one morning. He said he knew what I am, that he’d heard of these possessions before because his uncle had been a priest. He seemed to know many details about exorcism.” Julie smirked. “That’s when my idea hatched. I’d keep him alive, make him exorcise me out of this body, then kill him before he had the chance to destroy me.”
Raven Hills- Unraveling Evil Page 17
