You’re going to die, and you’re going to give me the power I seek. I’ll move out of this prison and into the world, and I’ll take them with me. I’ll be a demon. A darkness people tremble before.
Her hold on the others dropped away as she poured her hatred and violence on me. I struggled, but the pain was so intense, it transcended anything I’d ever known. Splints of fire and ice replaced my bones. Teeth clamped on to my flesh and tore. Voices swirled around us.
The spirits saw they had a chance.
Like a pack of rabid dogs on a wounded member, they turned on Maggie. I thought they’d take both of us. I blinked, forcing myself to focus on the real world. Gabriel and Haven sat on either side of me.
“Finish it,” Gabriel said. His lips moved, saying more, but I lost my grip.
Maggie’s claws flexed in my mind, and I cried out. Someone’s hands closed on me, and the pain lessened. Took some of the load. Haven.
I shook my head. Saw the circle of salt and chalk Gabriel had been drawing around me. Strange symbols lined the floor. Trapping me and her. Haven’s eyes met mine. I saw my pain in him, and his tears winking in the shadows.
“Love you.”
I turned my attention back. The spirits seemed to sense a change in the wind and a few tried to run. They slammed into a barrier. We were all trapped there. Inside the circle. The end.
Maggie screamed, her hands wrapping around my throat. Gabriel’s voice became loud, like he spoke through a microphone. The syllables were foreign. Latin, I think. The spirits cheered. Maggie roared.
A portal opened, and it was almost like fresh air rushed through my mind. The spirits cried out as one, turning away and heading toward that light. But not all got so far. Horace and a few others reached for it, but another portal opened behind me. There was brilliance there too, but it was like sharp points of obsidian. Beautiful and terrible.
Maggie snarled, her face twisted into something hideous and inhuman. Her fingers broke through flesh, digging deeper.
I struggled, but it wasn’t to go back to reality. I couldn’t feel the wood under my knees anymore, or the smooth texture of the bones. There was only pain, and the struggle to separate myself from Maggie. The light beckoned to me as well, and I wanted it. There was comfort there. Ease. No more worry.
Haven called me, I think, but I could only feel the pain Maggie inflicted, and the draw of the beautiful world on the other side of the portal.
Shapes, more shadow than real form began to zip around us. Maggie cried out, a panicked cry, as one ran a long finger across her back. Clawed fingers grabbed for her, latching into her clothes and hair. They pulled, and she bared her teeth at me.
You’ll see me again, Claire Mallory.
Her fingers loosened, then fell away as they descended on her. Their wings and claws moved too fast for me to see, and I was glad of it. It pulled her in, and the things within turned their attention to me. The hot breath of death burned the back of my neck. At the last minute, it rumbled, and closed.
The other portal drew all my attention. As I drifted close enough to feel its warmth, a hand latched on to my shoulder and yanked. I hovered there, fighting the grip keeping me away. Before I could loosen myself again, the door closed. I wanted to cry and shout.
I fell back into myself with a gasp, just in time for Haven to pull me away as Maggie’s bones flashed in a brief, hot blaze and then blackened into ash.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
I leaned into Haven’s chest, my vision coming back in splotches. Wetness dripped onto my forehead.
“Don’t you ever do that again, do you hear?” He shook me.
“What?”
“You were dead. Or close enough.”
Gabriel appeared over Haven’s shoulder, his face pale. Sweat plastered his hair to his head. “You were brilliant and stupid. But it worked. Thank God.”
Still, I wondered at the way he glanced around. The lines around his eyes and mouth hinted that something was off. Something hadn’t been done right. But he didn’t comment on it.
I kicked the thought away. It was over. The house was clear. Open. Like I could look at the ceiling and see straight through to the stars.
“You helped. Pulled me back,” I said, running my fingertips over Haven’s cheek. They came back damp with tears. “Thank you.”
He pressed his lips to mine. It wasn’t gentle, but a desperate kiss. A way for him to make sure I was still here.
Someone coughed. Cain, dust-stained and breathing heavy, smiled wide. “While this is great, can we please go downstairs?”
An attack of the giggles overcame me as Gabriel extended a hand and Haven and I got up. I looked up at my boyfriend and smiled. “You can feel it too, right?”
His face was drooping with fatigue, but he grinned. “Feel what?”
Cain preceded us downstairs. “Hallelujah!”
All the doors were open. The air smelled fresh, like someone had just opened all the windows and a spring breeze had gone through. The batteries in Cain’s flashlight, which we’d thought dead, came to life and we all jumped.
Nervous laughter escaped me. I had to keep reminding myself it was over. She was gone.
“The thing you said, the prayer or whatever, what was it?” I asked Gabriel.
He shrugged, tucking the ever-present book into his bag for the first time. “Just a bit of Latin prayer. It’s not about the words as much as the action. You were willing to give up everything for all of us. It counts for a lot.”
The memory of that peace lingered, and I sighed. Haven’s arm slid around my waist, and his lips pressed against my temple. “I felt it too,” he whispered. “It wasn’t time. For any of us.”
“You knew going in?” I stopped short in the middle of the stairs.
Cain crossed his arms and raised a brow.
His lips twisted up. “Sadly, no. The future is always fuzzy. It changes every time you make a decision. I couldn’t see anything until after Maggie and the others were gone.”
“You could hardly see anything at all from the moment we walked up there.” Gabriel said, heading for the living room.
Even in the dim light, I could see Haven’s cheeks darken in a blush when I looked up. “Yeah, well, it all worked out.”
“Yes.” I tightened my arm around his waist. “It did.”
George, Laura, and Grant were squeezed around the computers, their eyes locked on the screen. The thin, reedy screams from earlier echoed through the tiny pair of travel speakers.
Grant looked up, then ran around the table and grabbed me in a hug. “You’re okay. I thought I told you not to do anything stupid.”
“Funny, I don’t remember.”
He smacked my arm. “Don’t do that again.”
Cain hugged Laura, who sobbed into his chest.
Gabriel rolled his eyes and jerked his thumb toward the door. “I’ll get the lights back on.”
A few moments later, the house was ablaze with light. We all blinked and squinted, until George looked up, pale.
“Who turned on the lights?”
“Gabriel,” I told him.
His frown deepened. “Who?”
Cain turned then. “There hasn’t been anyone named Gabriel with us. Were you talking to a spirit? Did we miss one?”
I looked up at Haven, who had the same incredulous look on his face.
“He was here. The whole time.”
George scratched his head. “I don’t think so. But if you say so, and he’s gone now, I’ll take it as it is.”
Cain didn’t look so convinced. “Are you sure? We didn’t miss anything?”
I closed my eyes, double checked the huge scar that ran across the house in my mind. No spirits remained. I forced a smile and patted Haven’s hand. His hold on me was tight.
“We did our job. Maybe it was just the last hurrah of something coming by to congratulate us.”
Laura’s wide eyes moved to Have
n. “Did you see him?”
He nodded. “I did. He isn’t anything to worry about.”
Though Cain continued to watch us, they seemed to accept our explanation. After everything, what else was left to say? It was obvious that nothing evil was left in the house. Not now.
While Haven was busy helping Grant gather the celebratory snacks and soda from the kitchen, I stepped into the hall. Gabriel stood there, staring upstairs. He twirled the strange signet around his finger.
“No one else knows you are here,” I said.
He glanced over his shoulder and turned. “You know. I’m real. Not spirit. Not by a long shot. They don’t need to know I’m here.”
“I feel like we should do something for her. For them,” I said.
He smiled. “I like that about you, you know. You’ve managed to get through all this without letting it change who you are, fundamentally.”
My brow furrowed. “Why would it?”
He lifted one shoulder, his eyes sliding away from mine. “It happens, you know. I’ve seen a lot of things like this. Or similar, anyway. This was a…unique experience. People can end up affected in ways you wouldn’t begin to understand.”
I couldn’t tell where he was going with this.
He shook his head and patted my shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’ll go up and take care of disposing of the ashes properly. Don’t want to give anyone any reasons to come back, right?”
I nodded and he headed upstairs. With each step, his feet dragged, as if he were weighed down. I didn’t know what he hid, but Gabriel had a lot of secrets. Again I wondered just what was in the book he carried everywhere.
“Are you dangerous?” I asked.
He paused. “That depends on who you ask. But tonight, I’m a threat to nobody. And once I leave, not even you and Haven will remember I was here.”
Grant and Haven passed by, laden with food.
“Come on, Sis. There’s chocolate, special for you!”
With a last glance at Gabriel’s retreating back, I allowed my attention to turn to the living room. I paused in the doorway, wondering what I’d been doing out in the hall to begin with. There was something. Someone?
The thought stayed just out of reach. With a sigh, I brushed it off and headed into the living room. It was over and done. We accomplished our task. No ghosts roamed the halls. We were safe again.
I paused outside the living room, watching. Rolled the word around in my mind.
Safe. I could live with that.
***
Three Months Later
Haven and I slid the last of the boxes into the back of the moving truck. I wiped a hand over my brow.
“So this is it, huh?”
I nodded. “But we’re only going about half an hour away. And Mom has promised we’re finishing the year here.”
He pulled me to his chest. “It won’t be the same without you right here.”
“I know.” I looked up at the house. It had been peaceful since Halloween. Bryan was in psychiatric care on his own admission. No one was sure what he told the doctors, or if he’d told the truth about Melanie.
The weirdest part about the whole thing had been when they met the next day, as promised, to “debrief.” I’d woken up, remembering my strange conversation with everyone about Gabriel. I’d even mentioned the name a few times that day, but no one seemed to remember him. Haven and Grant remembered, but it was like a strange dream. Fuzzy, and unformed.
I worried about it for a month, and then decided I would accept it as a strange, miraculous bit of help. Some things weren’t meant to be looked at too closely. Or so I told myself. Any other nagging doubts I attributed to my paranoia. It was hard to go from being haunted constantly to living in a house without any supernatural events.
“So when do you leave?”
I sighed. “We’ll do one more walk through the house, and then we’re going. Mom is driving the truck, Grant is driving her car, and I’ll take mine.”
That was another thing. Mom had shown up with it the same day we announced we were moving. I hadn’t argued.
“Has your mom sold the house yet?”
I shook my head. “No. There’s been two couples walk through, but they didn’t like it. Too much work, too old.” I ran a hand through my hair. “I’m not sure I want anyone to move in, you know?”
“Why?”
“It just seems…unfinished somehow. I know we did what we needed to. I can’t tell you why, and yet, it just doesn’t seem like it could really be over.”
“It’s probably just because you got so used to it. Eventually this will feel normal, and it will just be a bad dream.” He kissed me, until Grant rounded the back of the truck and cleared his throat.
“Gross. Didn’t anyone tell you siblings are supposed to reproduce like amoebas? That means no kissing.”
I laughed. “Whatever.”
Grant flipped a couple of envelopes at us. “These came in the mailbox while I was standing there. Weird substitute mailman too. Way too smiley.”
“Too smiley?” Haven chuckled.
Grant pointed a finger. “Hey, people who smile like that have secrets. Big ones. With teeth.”
Mom called him, and he headed back to the front rolling his eyes.
Before I tore the envelope, I turned it in my hands. Butterflies fluttered in my gut.
“Haven?”
“Hmm?”
I licked my lips. “Have you seen anything about the house? In the future, I mean.”
He looked back at the newly painted building. For a moment, I wasn’t sure he’d answer me. Finally, he turned back to me. “I’ve seen something. But I think it’s just my mind trying to deal with what we saw.”
“What if it isn’t?”
He shrugged. “It isn’t clear. Just a feeling. Either way, it doesn’t matter.” He grinned. “Remember, it’s just like I told you. What you eat for breakfast can change the future. Just my leaning over and pecking you on the nose changes things.”
He did just that, and I rolled my eyes. There was comfort in the teasing. If he’d seen something truly bad, he would tell me.
“You’re ridiculous sometimes.”
He waved a finger. “No. It’s a proven fact. Chaos theory. You know, the one about a butterfly farts and it rains cats and dogs across the world or something.”
I laughed, then looked at the envelope in my hands. The only thing on it was my name, in distinct block letters. No address. No return. No stamp.
I slid my finger under the flap and ripped it open. A small card fell out, and I picked it up, examining the gold foil embossing closely.
Haven did the same, and we held the identical cards up.
“I knew I saw his ring before. I just didn’t know where.”
Haven turned his card, the sun sparkling off the raised swoops and curls. “Do you know where now?”
I shook my head. “Still familiar, and still have no idea.”
I searched the card, running my fingers over the thick cardstock. There was no writing other than the design, a replica of Gabriel’s ring. I frowned.
“How did they know to deliver one to you here?”
“I don’t know,” Haven said. “Maybe they saw me standing back here. It’s a small town, after all.”
“Doesn’t really matter much anyway.” With a shrug, I put it in my pocket. We were leaving this place, Haven and I were talking about going to the same college in the fall, and Mom had gotten me my own car.
Things were looking up.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
No book is ever written without help. Critique partners, family, friends, everyone plays an important part. I want to thank many people, so bear with me.
First, my family: Mom and Dad, thank you for always being supportive, for teaching me to never give up, and for giving me a love of the written word and reading. You never discouraged any of my weird ideas, and they’re finally playing off! Gra
ndma, thank you for always encouraging me, and for all the phone calls to ask when it was going to be out and what I was working on next. Smelly, thanks for being the best brother ever. Remember, this hits the bestseller’s list and I’m holding you to that promise.
Thank you to my “bestie” Sammi Rozakis, for dealing with my moans and groans and listening when I needed to talk through something. You’re the best!
Thank you to Rebekah Purdy for critiquing this, for the YAFFers who helped whip this into shape when it was still a couple of chapters and an idea, and to Jennifer Mishler, who championed it. This was a labor of love, and I couldn’t have done it without you all.
Last, but not least, Randy, thank you for being my own personal Haven. In all of the ways that word implies. I love you.
VANESSA BARGER
Vanessa Barger was born in West Virginia, and after several moves ended up spending the majority of her life in Virginia Beach, Virginia. She is a graduate of George Mason University and Old Dominion University, and has degrees in Graphic Design, a minor in Medieval and Renaissance Literature, and a Masters in Technology Education. She has had articles published in Altered Arts Magazine, has had some artwork displayed in galleries in Ohio and online, and currently teaches engineering, practical physics, drafting and other technological things to high school students in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. She is a member of the SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) and the Virginia Writer’s Club. When not writing or teaching, she’s a bookaholic, movie fanatic, and loves to travel. She has one cat, who believes Vanessa lives only to open cat food cans, and can often be found baking when she should be editing.
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