They faced each other with equal smiles of love and recognition that time could not destroy. Leah’s hand reached out to touch her, and the old woman was reciprocating. Then, Tahoe’s voice rang out with a stern warning that she’d heard before.
“Remember, child, it’s not what your third eye sees, but what it doesn’t see!”
She stopped and looked into the eyes of the presence before her.
* * * *
Susan became aware of the fact that everyone was seeing the presence of the old woman in the chair. Agnes had possessed a strong enough energy to manifest into the ghostly form that now enraptured them all into silence. She watched as Leah stepped closer to the ghostly figure.
A strong, urgent foreboding nagged at Susan. Some unexplainable yet familiar notion caused her to turn her eyes away to the staircase they’d just climbed. She was remembering something as she looked at the stairs.
Stairs, she thought, steps.
She thought of the Agatha Christie novel, and the odd phrase that had stuck in her mind.
Steps, she thought, so many steps to death.
She remembered Tahoe’s cryptic words to Leah, about what her third eye didn’t see.
Then, she watched as Leah reached out to the ghostly presence that now stood from the chair. Suddenly, it all made sense. Tahoe’s warnings persisted, and then Susan cried out before Leah could touch Agnes’ approaching semblance.
“Leah, get away from her! Agnes is the demon!”
* * * *
Leah maintained her gaze into Agnes’ eyes, yet something was different about her. Then, at the sound of Susan’s voice, Agnes began to change.
* * * *
Paul watched as Agnes began to change. Her presence distorted like a holograph fading in and out and then seemed to ripple in the wave-like formation of which he’d been all too familiar. He remembered what he saw on the staircase the morning he’d discovered Janet, how he’d seen the sight of something beastly, followed by the vision of the beautiful girl that would later become his adult daughter. He moved to stand close to her now.
Agnes’ face began to change into the pale-green countenance he’d seen before with obsidian shadows that constituted as eyes and skin of an unnatural and dead hide. Then its head began to sprout bumps that protruded into horns the shape of crescent moons, like that of a goat. Its mouth opened into a gaping maw, flashing the sharpened fangs of a serpent and moving its head much the same as a viper.
He knew it was here and that he would see it again. He knew that it would come for her; it’s why he hadn’t wanted her coming back here. It had been hiding, lying dormant all of these years until this specific moment in time that felt not just like a dream, but a nightmare.
He moved to stand between his daughter and what he knew as the devil, when it bounded upward, rising into the air like a bird, and then it came down upon her. He watched as it invaded her, the greenish hue of its presence surrounding her as she jerked backward into a seizure-like spasm. It was inside of her, its strange luminescence emanating from her mouth, the point of entry into her body. Paul clutched his daughter as her beautiful blue eyes rolled into the back of her head.
* * * *
She had watched as Agnes had changed, morphed into the beast that loomed before her. She tried to move out of the way, but then...
It had entered inside of her. She felt it burning, writhing; it was trying to steal her vision. Its unholy invasion was the darkest form of rape, and now, it ravaged her. She could hear the screams of the others around her, but she could not speak; it sought to speak for her. She grabbed the cross around her neck.
“Keep this with you,” Hollywood had said.
She felt the cold touch of it in her hand, and the burning feeling was gone. She felt the entity purge from her body, like an extra weight had been ripped away. Her eyes sharpened their focus, and her gasping breath began to settle, but still her raging heart pounded on. It had left her; the brazen thief that sought to steal her soul had fled. She turned to face her father behind her.
But, the evil entity had been too quick. Leah watched as it leapt from her, to her father. Its sinister light surrounded him, much like it had done to her. Only the whites of his eyes were showing, and his mouth twisted upward into a snarl. The veins in his face bulged and extended like lines on a map, pulsating from the force that rippled and scourged inside of him.
“Dad!” Leah screamed in a helpless plea that shattered the hearts around her.
Dylan, Sidney, and Susan grabbed onto him, restraining him. Paul seethed, writhed, and twisted in their grasp. The beastly menace contorted Paul’s face into a malevolent mask of eyeless white orbs that sneered upward at Heaven, and a mouth that foamed and frothed of evil infection. A cacophony of moans, squeals, and growls escaped him, and then his body began to tremble in violent spasms. The Paul that had been eclipsed began fighting beneath the surface.
“Place your cross around his neck,” Tahoe said to her. “Do it now; time is running out!”
The others continued to hold him, while Leah removed the chain and cross and hung it around her father’s neck. He threw his head back, and the cacophony died down into what sounded like an endless gasping for air. His body collapsed in their grasp.
“Lay him down on the floor!” Susan shouted. “I need to examine him.” Susan got down on her knees, placed her ear to his chest, and listened. Then, interlocking the fingers of her hands, she pushed down on his torso, compressing several times before she began CPR.
“Oh, God!” Leah screamed, “Is he dead?”
Susan came up from breathing into his mouth.
“No, he’s not dead,” she said. “He’s breathing, but he’s in shock. He has to get to a hospital, quick. How the hell are we going to get out of here?”
She looked at Dylan as she asked. He was already dialing on his cell. Leah kneeled down at her father’s side.
“Dad...?” Her voice was breaking.
He said he would die to ensure her safety, and now, she feared that’s exactly what he’d done. Susan asked Brett to go outside to her car and into the trunk for her medical bag. She’d have a better idea of his heart and respiration with her stethoscope.
“Stay back, Leah,” she said. “He needs room. Let’s try not to agitate him.”
“Detective Goddard said there’s a team trying to clear the bridge right now,” Dylan said. “He’s sending an ambulance. They’ll be here as soon as the bridge is clear.”
“God only knows how long that’ll take.”
Leah could hear the sound of fear in Susan’s voice. It triggered the full realization of what had just happened to her father and sent her spiraling into a whirlwind of seething anger that burned inside as it consumed her. This house; the evil inside of it; Angus Marlowe; the bitter pang of hurt at discovering that the beautiful soul she’d known all these years as Agnes was none other the wicked soul of a demon in disguise. All of it enraged her.
She was going to end this now, once and for all time.
“I’m going to find that goddamn mirror!” The rage inside of her exploded. It was almost as if the inner burning feeling she’d experienced moments ago had never left, and now her racing blood had turned to scorching lava. She could see the looks on their faces, unrecognizing of her as she seethed in fitful rage.
She turned and fled through the second floor, blinded by the fury that continued to surmount inside of her. She took quick notice of Sidney and Cory following fast behind. She looked back long enough to see that Susan was still attending to her father as Brett had returned with her medical bag.
The evil in this house had killed her mother and now possibly, her father. She thought of nothing else, searching madly though the house, ignoring the calls of those behind her.
“Leah, wait!” Dylan had shouted. She wasn’t waiting for anyone or anything. It was time to destroy this house, to vanquish the safe haven of the evil it protected. She ran from the end of one hallway, to another—nothing.
“I can’t find it!” Her voice carried the urgency that accompanied time slipping away.
“Calm down!” Sidney stopped her and placed both hands on her shoulders. “That’s what this evil wants and expects from you. Once your anger takes over, you’ll lose your focus and become vulnerable. That’s when it’ll take over and get what it wants from you.”
She was crying now, her emotions changing from rage to tears. Sidney once again cupped her face in his hands, settling her with a smile. She breathed for a moment. Then, saw something from the corner of her eye.
“Look!” She pointed to the staircase that led from the second floor to the third. They all could see it. They watched as the spool of red yarn rolled down the stairs one step at a time, released and unraveled out of nowhere. This was the part of the dream that had never happened—until now.
“The mirror’s up there,” she said. “It has to be.”
So, she thought, the dream is happening. But in the dream, she thought the spool of yarn had something to do with Agnes. She never saw what happened afterward, but this certain déjà vu was the time in question, the moment of confrontation.
She pulled away from Sidney and ran for the stairs that led to the third floor. Once again, they followed closely behind her until they all stopped at the top of the third floor. When all feet reached the top of the stairs, all eyes stared straight at the mirror.
It stood in a corner on the third floor, looking to her like it stared back at her, as if it had been waiting. She could see the layers of dust that caked the glass in the absence of any attention, though the gilded frame remained rich in antiquity even beneath the cobwebs that draped its ornate edges. Now, she was the closest to it that she’d ever been in her life, face to face and unable to see her reflection from the dust that hindered the glass.
She blew the dust away with one puff that sent a powdery whirlwind into the air around them, falling into hair and blinding watchful eyes. Now that she could see herself in the glass, her reflection was normal. She saw the same person she saw every day, though dark circles had formed under her eyes from lack of sleep. The glass wasn’t lying because that’s exactly what it was right now, a regular mirror, displaying truth, holding no secrets, hiding no monsters.
Yet, it was taunting her. After everything she and the others had witnessed tonight, the mirror that they’d concluded was a gateway stood before her, normal, unchanging, almost innocent. Through the reflection, she could see Sidney and Cory standing directly behind her.
“Summon it, Sidney,” Leah said, not taking her eyes from the glass.
Sidney voiced confusion, which caused her to clarify.
“You have the book,” she said. “Find the Latin words to bring it to life. Call it out. Make it do what it does in the picture. Find the gateway, Sidney. It’s the only way.”
Sidney paused for a moment before stepping aside and opening the book. He fidgeted and flipped through the pages, his heavy breathing revealing his nervousness.
“I’m not really sure I know these words that well,” he said. “I only heard your father pronounce them once or twice.”
“Doesn’t matter,” she said. “Just do it.”
Sidney began calling out the words of the ‘porta ut abyssus,’ as he understood them, having managed to string a few words together and form them into sentences earlier. He projected his voice into the air around them, yet directed it toward the mirror. His tone became louder with each passing word, calling out in an eerie reenactment of Angus Marlowe’s ritualistic zeal.
He stopped chanting for a moment, trying to catch his heavy breath that had turned to panting. Leah stared into the glass, seeing nothing except the faces that waited behind her in anticipation. What if this all led to nothing and this nightmare never ended? She wondered if she’d already allowed this house to steal her sanity like it had done to her father years ago.
Sidney began calling out again, and suddenly, the mirror’s glass began to ripple in waves.
* * * *
He felt as if he were hallucinating or even losing his mind, but he’d seen enough already tonight to know better. This was no hallucination; he was as sane as always. His photographic memory would recall it forever. It was that same rippling wave effect, the same kind of thing they’d seen with the demon, or whatever it was. He wondered if it had something to do with opposite realms and the thin line that was said to exist between them. He’d read about that type of thing before; although, he’d never really believed it until now.
But Cory knew one thing for sure, he was not about to let anything happen to Leah Leeds. She stood in front of him, watching the transformation of the mirror, and he moved in even closer behind her. Sidney had stopped calling out to the mirror, and now they all watched as the wave-like rippling smoothed out into an open void that appeared within the frame. It looked like a mirage of some sort, an illusion of an entry to another side that they could step right into.
He could see smoke or mist within it, and through the misty blur, something was moving. The shape was coming closer, moving forward from somewhere beyond the frame. As it neared the frame’s edge, the strange sight appeared almost three dimensional. And then, the mist cleared to reveal the hideous figure that faced Leah Leeds.
The atrocity lurked and looked at them, at her, and Cory watched as one grotesque eye peered through a gruesome face. It appeared dead, a somewhat human figure deformed and decayed with a mane of rotten hair that hid the blackness of its face. The sound of its harsh, wheezing respiration grew louder as it neared. He recognized it as a calling card, the same sound that emanated from the dark specter on the stairs.
Cory’s knees shook. He watched the figure, sensing its intent toward Leah. It wanted her; he could see it. Almost as if he’d read its mind, he knew what it was about to do, and he’d been ready.
The figure jumped out from the mirror, reaching out with its arm and propelling itself forward to touch her. Just as it was about to catch Leah’s arm, Cory grabbed her and threw her onto the floor, out of its way. But the figure’s hardened grip grasped his forearm; it touched him instead. He felt the surge of fire tear through his body, enflaming skin, and muscles as the painful heat scorched his every fiber from head to toe. The fire was the last thing he ever felt; the hideous figure was the last sight his photographic memory would ever recall.
* * * *
She watched as the figure of her dreams leapt forward through the mirror’s frame, just like in the dream. It lunged toward her. She felt her heart stop and then start up again as hands grabbed her from behind. The hands had thrown her to the floor with an unexpected force.
Leah looked up and realized that the hands were Cory’s; he’d pushed her out of the way.
The projecting hand that reached through where the glass had once been was meant for her. Its attempt to grab her had failed and the rotten, reaching hand clasped Cory’s forearm. She saw a flash of blue light followed by a surge of flames that ignited from its touch at the instant of contact. It touched Cory, and a massive ball of flames engulfed his entire body.
She heard her own screams as Cory Chase fell to the floor with a thud, the flames dancing over and devouring his body. She rolled away lest one of the flames catch her, and then threw herself up from the floor as if they had. Sidney, Dylan, and Tahoe scrambled and searched for anything they could find to smother the fire, overlooking the curtains during the chaos.
The figure was gone, retreated back into the vortex that was now the mirror’s glass once again. The mirror was whole again, as though nothing had happened.
Feet pounded up the stairs toward the commotion. Brett ran into the room and saw what was happening. In a flash, he ripped one of the heavy curtains from its rod and threw it on top of Cory, beating it wildly on top of him and smothering the reluctant flames, until smoke filled the room from the faded fire. Brett stood up, and they all watched the motionless form on the floor, knowing the final, fatal result.
He’d been burning
too long. The massive fireball had enveloped him, so large it had consumed him within seconds. Her mind reeled at how the small inferno had been sparked by a reaching hand from Hell, the lethal touching of opposite realms. It had sought to steal what it couldn’t have and ended up destroying another. Now, the smell of burning flesh filled the air, and Leah felt her stomach rumble from the putrid assault to the senses. Then, the smell began to gag them all.
More footsteps were heard ascending the stairs; it was Susan.
“My God, what just happened?”
She walked over to the body beneath the curtain on the floor. She looked at them.
“I made it up here,” Brett said. “But I think it was too late.”
Susan knelt on the floor beside the body, pausing for a moment before pulling the curtain backward with one quick tug. Gasps and murmurs followed. Cory’s face had been burned beyond recognition, the body seared to a burnt black, and now smoke poured out from his nostrils. She handled the stethoscope she’d been using for Paul.
Susan looked at the group. Leah knew that look. It told her that there was no need to touch his chest with the scope, but Susan had anyway. She let a moment pass.
“He’s gone,” she said.
Leah said nothing, stunned into numbness by not only what had just occurred, but the fact that Cory Chase had saved her life. And what was worse, throughout the course of this investigation, she had felt something inexplicable toward him, and then, it was gone.
Chapter Twenty
She stood facing the mirror, feeling a surge of helplessness run through her, and for a brief moment, she surrendered to tears that had become inevitable. Some hidden possibility had touched her heart in surprise and then had been violently ripped away, and now she felt the sorrow of it like a sword through her chest. But the self-pitying tears soon died away; the hurt and sense of defeat segued back into the seething anger that had forced her up the stairs.
The Third Eye of Leah Leeds Page 23
