Harbinger in the Mist (Arms of Serendipity)

by Anabell Martin

  Milton Walker was not happy with the preparations being made in what he considered his foyer. He zoomed through the house, creating a strong breeze in his wake that caused the candles to flicker even though protective hands blocked their fiery wicks. He held his ghostly hands out, sending power from them which slammed every door in the house. As he disappeared into his Abigail’s room, he growled loudly.

  Lindsey cringed against the wall, afraid.

  “Lindsey, I will not let any harm befall you.” Eli took her face in his hands and kissed her softly then motioned to the group gathered around her. “As long as you are surrounded by us you are safe.”

  Raven stepped into the middle of the loose circle. “Friends, we meet here during this waning moon to help our new friend, Lindsey. Her home is no longer her sanctuary. We long to remedy that. Let us join forces to help the spirits here to cross over to where they truly belong!”

  As they entered Eli’s room, Sadie leaned down and explained what they were about to do. “Deacon Gary will pray a traditional Christian blessing while Raven, Sara, Marissa, and I recite a Wiccan banishing spell. Raven and Sara will smudge the rooms with sage sticks – they have cleansing powers – then Deacon Gary will anoint the cleansed room with a mixture of holy water and Chrism oil. We also carry four candles – one for each spirit in the house. When we enter a room where a spirit hides, we will encourage it to cross over, to use a candle as its portal. When a candle has been used by a spirit, its light will extinguish. At the end of the ritual, we will bury the candles on the property so that they will continue to protect the homestead.”

  Raven and Sara led the procession, which moved in a clockwise motion around the room. The smudge sticks left thick, pungent smoke in their wake. The organza bag on Raven’s wrist swung back and forth, keeping time with the hum of the group’s mixed chants. Marissa and Sadie walked behind them, each carrying a fat, white candle. Deacon Gary was next, with his crucifix in one hand, prayer book in the other. Lindsey and Eli were at the back of the line. They, too, carried candles which gave off smell of rosemary and sandalwood as they burned. Eli also carried the holy water mixture.

  Eli and Deacon Gary recited the “Litany of the Saints” as the women recited a Wiccan banishing spell. Lindsey walked silently beside Eli, candle in hand, and watched the spiritual dance unfold, listened as their chants intermingled, creating an electrical hum that seem to vibrate in the air.

  “Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. God, the Father of heaven, have mercy on us. God the Son, Redeemer of the world, God the Holy Ghost, Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.”

  The two men recited their petitions in deep, baritone voices. The women added their own prayers, though several octaves higher. The mixture of the two had a very musical quality about it.

  “Air, Fire, Water, Earth, elements of astral birth, I call you now; attend to me. With our invocations rightly cast, keep us safe from curse or blast, I call you now, attend to me. From cave and desert, sea and hill, by wand, blade, and pentacle, I call you now, attend to me. This is my will, so mote it be.”

  “Holy Mary, pray for us. Holy Mother of God, Holy Virgin of virgins, Saint Michael, Saint Gabriel, Saint Raphael, All ye holy angels and archangels, All ye holy orders of blessed spirits…”

  “Divine God, Divine Lady, if evil dwells within this place, Please make it leave this space. Guard well this household, guard well its door. We banish these unwelcome spirits, prevent them from crossing back once more.”

  “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.”

  On and on the chanting went as Raven and Sara smoked every crevice of the room with their smoldering rolls and placed blessed sea salt on the windowsills and in the threshold of every door. Deacon Gary followed, making the sign of the cross in the air with crucifix. Eli doused their smudged, salted, and blessed areas with his consecrated mixture.

  From Eli’s room they went to the living room. Marissa and Sadie moved from the group and placed their candles on the floor in what had been Olemargaret’s room before the renovations that knocked down several walls and opened the space up into one large living room and kitchen combined. Sadie motioned to Eli, who walked over and added his candle to the floor. Lindsey started to follow, but Raven held her hand out and shook her head back and forth.

  When Eli and the two women had rejoined the group, the same ritual that had occurred in Eli’s room began again. They walked around the living room and kitchen, smoking, salting, and dousing every nook and cranny. But instead of moving into the dining room, they moved to the center of the room facing the candles that flickered slowly on the floor.

  The chants changed as they watched the flames grow higher, brighter.

  “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death, Amen.”

  “It is time to leave here; all is well. There is nothing here for you now. You must be gone. Go now, go – complete your passing. Go, and with our blessing farewell. The Summerlands await you, fare thee well.”

  As the witches ended their incantation, three bright circles of light approached the candles tentatively and hovered beside them. The witches repeated their chant.

  “It is time to leave here; all is well. There is nothing here for you now. You must be gone. Go now, go – complete your passing. Go, and with our blessing farewell. The Summerlands await you, fare thee well!”

  One by one, the orbs entered the flame of a candle. Each time an orb met a flame, a bright light shot strait up into the ceiling, glowed for a moment, and then went out. The used candle smoked for a moment before being engulfed by darkness. Then one by one, Eli, Sadie, and Marissa, retrieved their candles. Lindsey stood there, wide-eyed and shocked. But no one else seemed to be phased by what had just happened. The procession simply moved into the dining room then the foyer, smoking, salting, and dousing over and over again, all the while the group recited their litanies.

  As they started up the stairs, Milton began to protest. The lights flickered on and off, doors slammed repeatedly, and the house vibrated.

  And for the first time in her life, Lindsey had a paranormal vision – she could see Milton’s quandary, hear his frantic thoughts. He obviously didn’t care so much if they cleansed the bottom portion of the house or helped the slave and her boys cross over to the other side. But in his eyes, this was his house and he’d had enough. He had to watch his wife and child die here. He had been stuck here to remember and grieve after he had taken his own life. Then that old bat had him banished and he hovered between the two realms until that girl – that girl opened the portal and brought him back, back to this place where bad memories hung in every corner, where he could still hear Abigail crying and moaning, where he could still see her lying dead, entombing their unborn child.

  Yes, he’d been jerked back here unwillingly, but he would not be dragged back to that dreaded place in the outskirts. This hell was better than the one to which they wanted him to return. He was damned tired of being pushed around and told where he would go. Why couldn’t he just wallow in his misery? Why wouldn’t people just leave him alone? Why did people keep moving into his house and then try to force him to bend to their will with all their magical pomp and circumstance?

  “Lindsey,” Raven pulled her from the psychic revelation. “We will do your room last. When we enter the room, I need you to take your candle and sit in on the floor in the middle of the room. I also want you to remove the sun catcher from the window and lay it beside the candle. Then you are to rejoin the group until we are finished. Got it?”

  Lindsey shook her head in agreement.

  A mist formed at the top of the stairs and hung
low on the landing to hold Milton away from the group as they ascended the steps and approached his hiding place in the house, the place where all of the pain and misery originated nearly 160 years ago.

  “The mist, do they know what it is?” Lindsey whispered to Eli. She wondered if their small group saw the low-hanging fog for what it was. Were they in the know?

  “No. They know it’s paranormal, but they, like many so-called ghost hunters, chalk it up to an entity trying to manifest itself. And sometimes it is, but more often than not it’s an angel creating a barrier between them and something other worldly.”

  “So they think its Milton’s ghost?”

  “Aye.”

  They stepped through the mist and entered Aimee’s home office to the right of the stairs. The chanting began again, as did their ritualistic routine – smudge stick, blessed sea salt, benediction, and holy water.

  After the office, they filed in and out of the upstairs bathroom room since the entire groups could not fit in the small room at the same time. Then on to Aimee’s room. They hit the laundry room the same way they did the bathroom – everyone entered and exited in groups of two. As they entered the next to last room – the room where boxes of unpacked junk, baskets of folded laundry, and various paintings that still needed to be hung – Milton went haywire. The house shook more violently as he tried in vain to scare them off. He growled again. His angry, disembodied voice rumbled through the house like thunder.

  They entered Lindsey’s room in a huddle. The lights flickered from bright to dim to off to dim to off to bright again. The air was so heavy that it nearly choked Lindsey. She was paralyzed with fear. Eli took her violently shaking hand and led her to the center of the room where she nearly dropped the candle as she tried to place it on the floor. He then led her to the window where she removed Abigail’s sun catcher. Touching it made her stomach lurch and it took everything she had not to vomit on the floor.

  She dropped it next to the candle and sprinted to the bathroom. Eli held her hair as she dropped to the floor retched several times in the toilet. Her entire body was shaking and her face was clammy with cold sweat.

  “It’ll be over soon,” he whispered in her ear.

  When they re-entered her room, she noticed the heavy mist had gathering around the edges of the room as the song and dance began one last time.

  “Do you need to join them?” Lindsey asked, clutching at his side.

  “No. They can handle it. I will stay here with you.”

  “Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. God, the Father of heaven, have mercy on us. God the Son, Redeemer of the world, God the Holy Ghost, Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.”

  “Air, Fire, Water, Earth, elements of astral birth, I call you now; attend to me. With our invocations rightly cast, keep us safe from curse or blast, I call you now, attend to me. From cave and desert, sea and hill, by wand, blade, and pentacle, I call you now, attend to me. This is my will, so mote it be.”

  Milton roared and burst through the mist as he charged the group. Lindsey felt a cold vice grab her around the neck. She could hear Milton’s raspy voice growling very close to her ear. She looked at Eli, wide-eyed with alarm. He began to vibrate.

  “No!” Lindsey gasped as loudly as she could. “Don’t do anything, Eli. Let the others …” She didn’t want Eli to change in front of the group. How much trouble would he be in for blowing his cover? The group from C.A.P.I. circled her and prayed louder, but they were not ‘the others’ to which she had referred.

  Milton’s grasp tightened, choking off her breathing. He began to hoist her into the air. She was going to die this time for sure. Milton’s last act of violence in this house would be her death. Instead of panicking, Lindsey thought about the one positive of being dead – she would be a spirit, able to cross the veil and go on to the other side with Eli. She could be with him forever.

  The mist closed in around them. She could hear Eli’s voice above the members of C.A.P.I. as he gave instructions to his brothers. The Latin could easily be confused with prayer. Milton roared and his hands faltered as the angels in the mist wrangled his hands from Lindsey’s flesh and pulled him toward the center of the room. Lindsey fell into the protective arms of the worried Harbinger below. Eli held her tightly, his face buried in her hair.

  “Holy Mary, pray for us. Holy Mother of God, Holy Virgin of virgins, Saint Michael, Saint Gabriel, Saint Raphael, All ye holy angels and archangels, All ye holy orders of blessed spirits…”

  “Divine God, Divine Lady, if evil dwells within this place, please make it leave this space. Guard well this household, guard well its door. We banish this unwelcome spirit, prevent it from crossing back once more.”

  “Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.”

  As Milton’s last hiding spaces where cleansed and sanctified, he was pushed into the center of the room, next to the candle that would take him to the other side.

  “I won’t go! Leave me alone!” Milton roared.

  “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death, Amen.”

  “It is time to leave here, Milton; all is well. There is nothing here for you now. You must be gone. Go now, go – complete your passing. Go, and with our blessing farewell. The Summerlands await, your family awaits you. Farewell.”

  The mist closed ranks, pushing Milton closer and closer to the candle in the center of the room. The bright orb began to zoom around his enclosed space, a trail of electrically-charged air flowing behind him like the tail of a morose, ethereal comet.

  “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us of our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.”

  “Milton, Abigail awaits you in the Summerlands; she and your child are waiting on the other side. Go, be with them! Rest in peace, Milton. It is time to leave here; all is well. There is nothing here for you now. You must be gone. Go now, go – complete your passing. Go, and with our blessing farewell. Your wife and son await you in the Summerlands! Go now, so mote it be!”

  As the women ended their incantation, Raven walked over and brought her foot down on the sun catcher, breaking it into several pieces.

  Milton stopped at the mention of his beloved, he was uncertain. Where they telling him the truth? Was he really destined for the Summerlands? Did his beloved and their child really await him?

  He could hear her voice coming from the candle wick. Milton, my dear Milton! Come to me, my love!

  That was all if took – her voice. The orb turned and entered the flame of the candle in the same way that Olemargaret, Sambo, and Tom had before him. The flame was a brilliant, blinding white as Milton crossed into it. The light flowed up and into the ceiling. It glowed brightly for several seconds before the candle’s flame extinguished. The lights in the room returned to normal and the oppressive, electric air in the room lifted leaving a faint smell of fresh-cut roses in its wake.

  The mist followed Milton’s path up and through the ceiling.

  “It is done. Praise be to God,” Deacon Gary said as he crossed himself.

  Raven picked the candle up from the floor as Sara took Eli’s candle from him.

  “Lindsey, the cleansing is complete. You should have no more problems here. We will seal the protection by burying these candles at each corner of the house. We leave you now. Blessed be.” Raven hugged her and led the members of C.A.P.I. from the room.

  Deacon Gary stopped in front of Lindsey. He took the holy water vial from Eli, doused h
is thumb with the oil and water mixture, and drew a cross on Lindsey’s head with his wet digit a second time. “May God bless and keep you, my child.”

  Eli and Lindsey followed them from the room, down the stairs, and out of the house. Gary went to the van and retrieved a shovel. They followed and watched as, at each corner of the house, Gary dug a hole, Raven dropped a candle into it and sprinkled with blessed sea salt, and then Gary covered with dirt. He doused the mound with holy water to seal it.

  Before the group left, Sadie placed a bunch of flowers at the base of the tree closest to the house, where Olemargaret and her sons were buried.

  Eli hugged Lindsey close and led her back into the house which was now light and airy and smelled of roses. They returned to her room which, for the first time since she moved in, felt completely comfortable. She looked out of the large window down to the estuary. The edge of the woods was heavy with the presence of Eli’s brothers.

  “They’re waiting on me,” Eli said.

  “Your job is over, it’s time for you to go,” tears slid down Lindsey’s face as she said what she knew to be true in her heart.

  “Not tonight. They can wait one more night before I go back. Tonight is just about you and me.”

  He took her in his arms and kissed her passionately in full view of the angels watching them in the mist below.

  Twenty Five

  Lindsey and Eli had slept in her bed. While they came precariously close, they did not make love. She allowed him to sleep there in such a private, intimate way against her better judgment. She justified it because it was their last night together. Eli was to return to his regime today. While she thoroughly loved the time they had together that night, she did not want him to descend. She’d rather pine for him for the rest of her life than be responsible for him giving up the post for which he was created, for taking him away from his service to the Creator.