by Madelyn Alt
“We’ll not go forth,” Marcus said in a voice that sounded like his and yet not. “Here we’ll stay, forever.”
“Why here?” Liss pressed. “Why this place?”
“Why would I not? The door opened. ’Twas a simple matter to walk through.”
Liss inhaled deeply, standing taller with each passing moment. She squeezed Marcus’s hands lightly. “It’s time, Marcus.”
The words acted like a trigger. As we watched, Marcus’s shoulders shivered. He straightened them . . . shook his head . . . the shivering stopped, and with that simple movement, he came back into himself by increments, until every last bit of the aggressive spirit had retreated from his physical space. It was still here in the room with us, trapped within the circle of their making, but barred from regaining the entry it sought. It reacted in the way of a petulant child, pushing a glass jar off the slick top of Mel’s vanity. The jar bounced onto the thickly carpeted floor and rolled away.
Liss had seen enough. As Marcus came more and more back to himself, she asked, “Are you okay?”
He nodded, letting his head fall forward and breathing deeply. He nodded again.
Liss took the sage smudge stick in hand and lit one end of it, blowing lightly on it until aromatic smoke wafted steadily from the burning embers at the tip. I love the smell of sage normally—and it goes great with chicken and noodles—but I decided I didn’t much love it when it was spewing smoke forth into the charged atmosphere in the room. On the other hand, if it helped matters, what was a little lung damage between friends?
Liss began to walk around the circle, counterclockwise, carrying the smudge stick before her and fanning the smoke outward with her right hand.
“Great Mother Goddess and Father God. You who are One and All combined, both Feminine and Masculine, perfectly balanced, and yet You are neither. I call upon the true energies of Universal Balance. I call upon the energies of my ancestors. I call upon the living energies of the earth, the seas, the skies, the primal fire of creation. I call to all beings of the Light. Bless this circle as we clear this house of all negative energy and seal it from accepting negativity anew. I call also all beings who help lost souls, that you may come for the dark spirit who has sunk his claws into the fabric of space and time within this home and is refusing to let go. I call upon your love and your protection as you reach out to help guide this confused soul over. He believes himself to be of the darkness, and he acts accordingly—threatening, intimidating. Shine your light upon him now. Show him that which awaits him so that he will not fear. Bless this place with love and protection and healing light.”
The coldness in the room was utterly, absolutely without remorse. I could feel it swirling about, from corner to corner, testing, touching us all. I reeled back when I felt its icy presence testing the boundaries of my circle, raising hackles up my neck and down my spine. Mel huddled behind me like a child, her face tucked against my shoulder and her hands clutching at me. All thoughts of holding my hands appeared to have been forgotten in her fear. I grabbed hold of the only one I could reach and held on to her for dear life, projecting light, projecting love.
Marcus stepped forward to add his energies to Liss’s efforts. His eyes had cleared of all vestiges of foreign energy, thank goodness. He stood tall in the center of the circle, his back and neck unbowed, his strength in his bold stance and absolute lack of submission. Whereas Liss’s approach to the banishment had been a gentle bidding to oust the entity to where it belonged, Marcus faced it down like a man.
“Earth Mother and Father God of the skies above. Heed us now as we rid this home and these good people of this troublesome spirit. As I will it, any and all lower energy beings must leave this place and return to their own space and time. Only beings of the Light will be welcome here. This is a place of love, of light. Darkness cannot reside here. By Air, by Fire, by Water, by Earth, and by the genuine spark of Spirit, I claim this place for the Light. The Light calls to you, too. The spirits of your ancestors are there, waiting to welcome you home. Go now. Let their energies circle around you. Go with them now.”
“Focus, Mel,” I whispered to her. “They need our help. Focus on light and goodness and all good things, and really feel it.” I felt her nod against my shoulder.
Liss came before Marcus and took his hands again, and again they stared into each other’s eyes and began to chant. “Where darkness came to this house and land, we reject it out of hand. Take this spirit from our sight. Help it cross, make it take flight.”
Over and over and over they said it, until the energy that swirled around the room was no longer discernible as light or dark in a distinctive way. It was just sheer power. It buzzed in my ears and made my head feel light as a feather, and yet heavy with pressure from within, too. A circular pattern was being traced in my palms, the spiral of the life force inherent in all. To me it meant spirit was present, and energy was at work. It was strong, and headier than anything I’d ever felt. I felt myself flowing with it, spiraling, too. And in my mind’s eye I saw a blue-white glow encircling us.
From somewhere very far away, I heard Liss’s voice: “Now, girls. Release the energy you are holding. Push it out and away from you, up to the sky, to the very stars!”
I exhaled hard with the effort. Behind me, I heard Melanie instinctively do the same.
“Wonderful. Brilliant! Well done.”
I opened my eyes and looked around, feeling a little dazed and still light-headed. Things looked the same, but the air did feel different suddenly. Better somehow. “Is it gone?”
“Can’t you tell?” Liss answered with a smile. She pressed her hands to the small of her back and sighed. “I’m out of practice. Completely wrung out.”
Marcus reached out and smoothed his hand down her cheek, across her brow. “You are not out of practice.”
“And I’m not getting any younger. It’s been a while since I’ve attempted a true banishing. I’d almost let myself forget how much it takes out of you.”
“Have you done . . . many of this sort of thing?” Mel squeaked, finding her voice at last.
“No, actually. Ironic, isn’t it, given my ghoulish little pastime. Most of the time, though, the spirits we deal with are simply lost or misguided souls that need our compassion, not fear. Sometimes it is the innate fear of the individual that is coloring their experience of a passive spirit or even a positive spirit. Not every spirit who wanders through a person’s world sphere is in need of banishing. Sometimes they want only to let you know they are there. And sometimes they are there to watch over you. Like what most people refer to as Guardian Angels.” She smiled. “Now. Let’s finish up with this one, hmm?”
From the table she took the powdered herbs she’d brought and began to sprinkle them around the room. Beside me, Mel squirmed uncomfortably. Probably thinking about her carpet again. I laughed at the incongruity of it all.
“What’s so funny?” Mel hissed at me.
I shrugged, but I was feeling so good that even Mel’s bristling couldn’t touch me. “I was just thinking that if Mom knew what we were doing, it would be that slumber party séance all over again.”
Mel giggled, in spite of herself. “Oh my gosh. I had forgotten that. Whose idea was that anyway? I had to say so many Rosaries, I didn’t think I’d ever get those words out of my head. She was so upset!”
And some things never change. Mom would not be amused. She’d be more likely to haul us both off to church for a long confession and a heartfelt blessing. You know, to deflect any evil that might have attached itself to us.
The last step involved what Liss had called her Elements Infusion, a small, stoppered bottle of what looked like some sort of tea, but was actually a brew of magickal herbs, one for each of the elements: pine for air, fennel for fire, the water base of the brew for the water element, oats for earth, and finally, a pinch of sage for wisdom and purity. With this infusion, she anointed all the windows and doors to the room, blessing the home and all who entered the
re.
The glass of water Liss handed to Melanie. “Not to drink, my dear,” she told her. “We’ll leave this out until morning to gather any remaining vestiges of negativity, and when you wake, I want you to flush it down the toilet while you say a prayer. Whatever prayer you wish, to whatever god you honor. Does that make sense?”
Melanie agreed readily enough, though she was looking at the glass as though it held sewage. And in a way, perhaps that analogy was closer than we would have liked. In fact, when I looked at the glass, I thought I saw a swirl of energy sinking into its clear depths. Not good. “Yes, flush it,” I said firmly. “First thing.”
“This Ouija board you used,” Liss said. “Where is it?”
Mel pointed to the closed door. “I hid it. In the closet.”
Liss opened the closet door and, following Mel’s instructions, located the Ouija board. She said a prayer over it that was meant to close the portal that Mel and her friends had unwittingly opened, anointing it with her special brew.
“I don’t recommend using these,” she told Mel. “You’ve probably already guessed that.”
“Yes,” Mel said, actually blushing. “Don’t worry, I have no intentions of using it again. In fact, as soon as I’m allowed to get around and about, I’m going to burn it.”
“Would you like me to take care of the board for you?” Liss’s offer seemed innocent on the surface, but intuition told me that she wanted to get the Ouija board out of Mel’s hands, and I knew instantly why. Dealings with the spirit world are best left to those who know exactly what they’re doing. Fewer opportunities for costly mistakes that way.
Relief shone instantly on Mel’s face. “You’d do that?”
“Of course,” Liss said, passing the board to Marcus for safekeeping. The whole thing was accomplished without fuss or fanfare. Very smooth. “You have enough to worry about here. You don’t need to be worrying about something like this as well. Marcus, could you hand me one of those small packets of herbs from the table?”
Marcus placed one in her hand, and she tucked it in an out-of-the-way place within the closet itself.
“Basil, dill, and marjoram,” she said when she saw Mel watching her. “To bless and protect this space, and to welcome in positive energy. I have more that we’ll tuck away here and there about your room. Now, are there any other rooms that have been giving you trouble?”
Mel exchanged a glance with me. “Well, the girls might have been experiencing something out of the ordinary in their room. Maggie has heard them talking to someone—or something—invisible. She’ll back me up on this.”
Liss nodded in understanding, but she and I had already checked out the girls’ room the last time she had been there, and I knew we were of like minds on this key point. She sat down on the edge of the bed and took Mel’s hand in hers.
“There is more than one kind of spirit that a person can experience, my dear,” she explained. “The dark entities get the most press, and they can be fearsome. What most people don’t realize, though, is that evidence indicates that the majority of true hauntings are actually by benign spirits who mean no real harm. And some are positive and protective influences. Most people think of them as Guardian Angels or Spirit Guides, if they think of them at all.” She paused, waiting to let the information sink in. “This is the case, I believe, with the beings your daughters are experiencing. Children are wonderfully open and trusting. They accept what they see, what they hear, without question. An adult experiencing the same might pass off the communication as flight of fancy, or being overtired. A waking dream. We’re told these things don’t exist, so we disregard such experiences, rejecting them outright. The truth is far simpler, and yet far more complex, than we will ever understand, because we’re not meant to.”
“So . . . the girls are communicating with protective spirits?” Mel asked, struggling to keep up.
Liss nodded. “I truly believe so. But I’ll say a few words in their room as well before I leave, shall I?”
Mel grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “Thank you. For everything you’ve done here.”
“You’re welcome, my dear.”
The girls’ room went quickly. As promised, Liss anointed the walls and spoke to the attending spirits, but there was nothing dark or sinister lurking there, so she and Marcus packed up the rest of their supplies and prepared to leave.
“Things should settle down from here on out,” Liss told Mel. “But if you do have any more trouble, just give me a ring down at the store.”
Minnie was beginning to stir, so I took her from Mel’s lap—a little reluctantly on Mel’s part, I noticed—and followed Liss and Marcus downstairs to show them out.
“Do you really think it’s gone?” I asked Liss.
“I really do. Didn’t you feel the change in the room? Now, of course there’s no guarantee, but we’ll keep our fingers crossed.”
Cross your fingers, throw salt over your shoulder, knock on wood . . . simple folk remedies for unfortunate situations. Silly superstitions . . . but were they based in truth from a past long forgotten? I didn’t know, but it wouldn’t hurt to just do it and let the Universe do its job if it was of a mind to. Don’t you think?
Liss reached out to pet Minnie’s sleek head. “You watch out for your mummy now, you hear, little one?” Minnie tilted her head back to gaze up at me as Liss withdrew her hand. Honestly, I was starting to think she might actually understand everything that was going on.
I opened the kitchen door for them since they had their hands full, only to find Margo standing on the other side with the girls. “Oh. Hi.”
“Auntie Maggie! Auntie Maggie! We’re learning ballet! Wanna see me do a peer-er-rette?” Jenna squawked. She spun around so fast that she fell over, her flouncy tutu flying up with her feet to reveal her ruffled tights. “Oooh, pretty kitty!” she said, noticing Minnie for the first time.
“Kitty!” Courtney squealed in echo. She held her hands up and made the universal Gimme gesture with her fingers.
“You can see Minnie in a bit, girls. Why don’t you run up and show your mommy what you learned at class tonight first?”
They scampered off like a pair of rabbits toward the stairs, their chatter wafting behind them.
Margo stood on the threshold, shifting her weight from foot to foot as she tried to see past me. “Goodness. I didn’t realize that Melanie had company.”
Of course she didn’t. Because the big Lexus in the driveway was no indication whatsoever. She needn’t have bothered with the lie. The curiosity burning in her eyes was a dead giveaway. Besides, she was doing her best impression of the Leaning Tower of Pisa to see over my shoulder to where Liss and Marcus stood waiting, bags in hand.
“Actually they were just on their way out the door.” I gave her a bright, if unhelpful, smile and made room for Liss and Marcus to pass.
Like the intuitives they both were, Liss and Marcus seemed to instantly grasp the benefits of avoidance. They made polite noises of acknowledgment to Margo, all the while saying their good-byes in as few words as possible before leaving entirely. Margo peered after them, frowning. “Hmph. Not the friendliest people, are they.”
She brushed past me without another word and headed for the stairs herself. Minnie reached out a hooked paw, but I managed to catch her before she snagged her quarry.
With Margo upstairs, that was the last place I wanted to be. I loitered in the kitchen, pouring Minnie a small dish of milk and warming it in the microwave.
Until I realized that I had left Mel and Margo alone to do what they did best.
“Oh. Holy. Jesus.”
I tucked Minnie into her carrier with her dish and flew up the stairs, hoping to avert the situation I had a feeling had been unfolding as I oh-so-trustingly microwaved.
“Witches!” Margo’s voice, rife with a mixture of shock, disbelief, and excitement, all wrapped up into one quivering package. She had sucked her breath in through her teeth so hard that even I heard it from where I had st
umbled to a halt in the hallway.
I was too late.
I bit my lower lip, waffling. What should I do? Barge in and break it up? Try to come up with a cover story? Deny everything? Denial always had its advantages. I could pretend it was all in Mel’s head. Or at least, her belly. Those hormones can really get you. She had been cooped up, after all. That was enough to turn any sane pregnant mommy into a raving whackadoodle, wasn’t it?
“You’ve got to be joking. Aren’t you?”
The joke card was a possibility. Of course Mel was joking. Hehe. There be no witches here! Nope, nope, nope.
“No jokes, Margo. I watched the whole thing myself. It was most definitely a witch’s ritual to rid the house of ghosts. You should have heard the chanting! It was like a scene right out of the movies. No broomsticks, though. And no magic wands.” If I hadn’t been so annoyed with her, I might have laughed, because she almost sounded disappointed by the lack of the usual suspects of witchy accoutrements. And then, maybe because she had remembered that Liss had actually been nice enough to help her out of a scary situation she had brought on herself, she said, “Oddly enough, it did seem to work, though. It feels much better in here right now. Don’t you think?”
Magnanimous of her.
“But still,” Mel continued. “Yeah. Witches. Right here in Stony Mill. Can you believe it? I could hardly believe it myself. And my sister has known about it this whole time. It was weird enough when I thought it was just ghosts, but this is so much bigger than that.”
I cringed at the tone of excitement in her voice. I couldn’t break in on this. What would I say? I needed time to think.
