The Descendants

by Kirk Kilgrave

  Logan conceded that she made a valid point. It broke his hopes that they’d be able to smooth things over, which meant he’d need to rely on the scheme he’d devised. “Can you sense them inside the house?”

  Glass broke somewhere inside the house. Then a door slammed.

  “They’re fighting,” Eloise said. “Being outside, I shouldn’t be able to feel them, but Lucretia is a raving lunatic right now, so it’s not too difficult.”

  He couldn’t grasp the idea of two spirits throwing down. He looked through the front door window and saw a cracked dinner plate and a shattered coffee cup lying in the hallway up ahead. Since both spirits weren’t composed of mass, they couldn’t hit each other, so they decided to whip kitchenware at each other, which also made little sense since even scoring a direct hit wouldn’t affect either one of them in the slightest. It gave new meaning to Eloise’s “raving lunatic” statement because Lucretia had most likely acted while enraged and without rationality.

  Logan had to frame his plan in such a way that it wouldn’t sound idiotic, but no matter which angle he approached the problem, nothing he might possibly say would make his idea sound wise. So he just decided to get down to it. “If Lucretia isn’t willing to talk things out, what if we can make her see things from a more logical point of view?”

  “How?”

  He spent a few minutes outlining his plan.

  Dumbfounded, Eloise just stared at him.

  “Earlier you said Jocelyn helped get rid of demons, right? Are Abner and Lucretia as intelligent, cunning, or demented as a demon?”

  “No. Demons have supernatural powers. They’ve existed since the beginning of time.”

  That response brought a huge sigh of relief to Logan. It meant they had a chance.

  “Lucretia may not be as shrewd as a demon, but she’s still clever and deranged. The same goes for Abner.”

  “But Jocelyn pulls demons out of humans. They must be more difficult to remove than a ghost. Is something like my plan even possible?”

  She nodded.

  That response brought a flood of excitement and dread to Logan. “Do you think you’re strong enough to keep Lucretia from controlling your mind and body?”

  Eloise placed her hands on her hips. “I can’t believe you’re really asking me to do this!” Her teeth gritted so hard her jaw protruded from her cheeks.

  “Do you think I want to give you up?” Logan asked, his voice softening. “I just found you. You, more than anyone, know how I feel about you.”

  Eloise’s eyes grew misty. “Yes.” She folded her arms across her chest. “I know how much you care.” She lowered her gaze, brow furled, deep in thought.

  Logan let a few moments pass to let her come to grips with what he’d asked of her. He hadn’t heard any more noise from inside the house, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t any. He turned back to the car to see Jocelyn raising her hands in the car with a “what gives?” expression on her face. He raised a finger for her to give him a moment and whirled back to Eloise.

  “If we can let each of them speak,” Logan said, “without violently clashing, they may be able to work through whatever happened a century ago and Lucretia might end the curse.”

  “If Lucretia hasn’t gotten over what Abner did to her one hundred years ago, what makes you think she will now?”

  “I don’t. I just have to hope there’s a shred of humanity left in Lucretia. It’s either that…or I commit suicide.”

  Eloise blanched at the alternative. “You’re forgetting one thing,” Eloise said. “Abner has been in Hell for a long time. What if he’s talked with demons and learned how to possess a human body for the long haul?”

  Of course, Logan had feared that might happen. “I can’t. But that’s why Jocelyn’s here, right? That’s her specialty. If we feel that happening, we can call her in to help.”

  “It doesn’t work that way. If the one being possessed wants the demon to leave, Jocelyn can call upon the demon to leave by invoking the name of God or Jesus and following through with The Rite of an exorcism. God and Jesus have authority in this dimension over demons. Once the one performing an exorcism has completed the ritual, the demon must leave. The same can’t be said of spirits who possess a human.”

  That knowledge chilled Logan to the bone. He thought it would be easier to repel a spirit from attempting to take over a human host. He considered whether he should scrap the idea.

  Inside the house, a door banged. The lights flickered a few times before staying lit again.

  The activity broke through Logan’s hesitation. “We won’t know how it goes unless we try it.”

  “You’re forgetting,” Eloise said, “that Lucretia was a powerful witch who knows powerful spells. How exactly does this give us more control over the situation?”

  Put that way, Logan understood why she was skeptical. “Both of them will have forgotten how to use a human body. They’ll be disoriented. We’ll use that against them to catch them off guard.”

  “Lucretia almost killed your brother with only one arm! You’re grasping at straws.”

  “You’re right. I’m uncertain about all of this. But we both know that if I commit suicide, there’s absolutely no possibility that I come back from that. At least my plan gives us a chance.”

  Eloise mulled that over. “They will push their thoughts and feelings on us.”

  “But we’ll be able to pick out their violent thoughts and emotions from our own.” He’d only assumed that. “Won’t we?”

  “Yes.”

  With that settled, Logan felt a momentum shift toward his way of thinking. “Then we’ll guide them to work this out between them.”

  Eloise looked through the door’s window. “What if Lucretia’s so powerful that I can’t stop her?”

  He had no recourse to be brutally honest. “Then we’re screwed.”

  She snickered and stayed quiet for some time. Much of the tension in her facial expression had abated.

  A loud noise, which sounded like wood grinding against wood, erupted in the kitchen.

  “All right,” Eloise said. “Let’s say I’m okay with that idea.”

  “What idea?” Jocelyn said, walking toward them. “Your brother and sister asked me to see what’s going on with you two. If you can’t decide who should open the door, I could—”

  Logan laughed at such a preposterous idea. Every step of the way, his siblings had proven they wanted to take part, so he decided to check on them. As Eloise explained his suggestion to Jocelyn, he saw Ashleigh staring at him through the driver’s side window while Tyler looked out the window behind her in the backseat. Both wore wary expressions that made it clear they had no intention of leaving the vehicle. He couldn’t blame them, not after Tyler almost got choked to death by a zombie.

  Jocelyn massaged her temples and met Logan’s stare. “You want a triple murderer to hop into your body while a powerful witch suits up inside Eloise?” An exasperated look appeared on her face. “In what dimension is that a good idea? Lucretia will try to kill Abner, which in turn, means Eloise will try to kill you. I’m gonna underplay things here and say that doesn’t sound like a great idea.”

  Logan anticipated opposition. A good friend wouldn’t allow another to go off and do something this outrageous without doing everything possible to dissuade them. “How long have you and Eloise known each other?”

  Jocelyn looked thrown off guard by the question. “A couple of months. Why?”

  “Have you seen her good and bad qualities?”

  “Yes.”

  “So you know her pretty well then?”

  “Yes. What does this—”

  “Here’s the thing, Jocelyn. I don’t know her as well as you. Yes, my plan sounds rash and borderline crazy, but only if you don’t believe Eloise can control whatever impulses Lucretia tries to push into her head.” He turned and met Eloise’s gaze. “But I believe in her. I also trust her. I think she can do this.”

  Logan turned to Elois
e. “I’m open to any other ideas, so if you’re holding back, just let me know and—”

  “I don’t,” she said.

  He nodded. “I have no right to ask you to do this, but I’ve got no other choice. I can’t do this without you. You’re the only one who can save my family. Will you please help me?”

  Jocelyn’s seriousness stayed in place until a grin chased it away. “It was under similar circumstances when I’d first met Eloise, and she convinced me to trust her mentor. Do you know how that turned out?”

  “You’re both standing here,” Logan said, “so it must have worked out well.”

  The ladies exchanged silent yet pleased glances, but then they must’ve remembered something at the same time because their expressions soured. Eloise’s eyes grew teary and Jocelyn went over and pulled her into a hug. After a few moments, the two women stepped out of their embrace.

  “If I need you,” Eloise told her friend, “I’ll text you.”

  Upon hearing that, Logan’s hopes rose. He hoped it meant Eloise would say yes.

  “Don’t hesitate,” Jocelyn said and turned to Logan. “I should give you my number.”

  Logan pulled out his phone and added Jocelyn to his contact list. “Thanks.”

  “Any friend of Eloise’s is a friend of mine.” She gave him a warm smile. “And I’ve gotta say, your brother and sister are a riot! Wish I had younger siblings just like them.” Then she headed back to the car.

  Eloise sniffled twice before her eyes no longer shined. She met Logan’s gaze. “I’m willing to try it.”

  A wave of elation swept over Logan. “Thank you so much.” He went over and hugged her, and some of his anxiety fell aside. “I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate—”

  “First,” she said, distancing herself from him with a solemn expression. “I need to give you some pointers. My mentor taught me how to let a spirit possess you without letting them take over.”

  “Great. Hit me.” Logan listened closely to Eloise for the next few minutes, asked follow-up questions when they came to him, and they settled on how to approach the situation. Afterward, he smiled at Eloise. “Thanks for doing this…and every way you’ve helped out.”

  “Remember,” she said with an impassive expression. “There’s no guarantee this will work.”

  Logan’s nerves clamped tightly. Of course, he knew this was far from an easy scheme to pull off. There were too many uncertainties and intangibles to make her lose focus, and he was glad she took this so seriously. Logan couldn’t stray from the course Eloise had outlined. He turned to the front doorknob and opened it.

  A chair from the kitchen table sailed through the air in the hallway and smashed into the wall at the fringes of the living room.

  Logan stopped in the threshold. He hadn’t expected ghosts to be able to hurl large objects through the air like that. That’s when he truly comprehended they were dealing with incredibly angry spirits who would do everything possible to impress their own wills upon them. That display of unexpected violence put things into perspective for him. He’d need to remain even more diligent than expected to deal with these two.

  He strode toward the kitchen and stopped towards the outskirts of the eating area.

  The kitchen table was set at an angle and pushed up against the back wall. Two of the three candles lay on their sides, while none of the holders Eloise had placed them in were still on the table beside the pouch and some salt that slipped from its opening. The three remaining chairs were lying on their sides on the floor. All of the cabinet doors to his left were open. Some ceramic plates had shattered against the ground below one. The drawers were open and over a dozen utensils were sprinkled across the floor beside a rolling pin, two pots, and a pan.

  Eloise settled in beside him and pointed to the back wall beside the garage door. “There’s Lucretia.” Then she pointed to Logan’s left beside the counter. “That’s Abner.”

  Now that he had a general idea of where the ghosts were located, Logan prepared to deepen his voice. “Hey!” His voice trembled a little. That irritated him. His fear might even persuade the two spirits to disregard him. He couldn’t afford that. He also couldn’t make it through this incident with any trepidation.

  “Listen up!” A fresh dose of courage shot into him. “We’re going to settle things between you two for good.”

  29

  “Stop acting like little brats,” Logan told both spirits. “Lucretia? I know you’re upset and want revenge. Well, I’ve got a way for you to do that. So listen up!”

  The kitchen was silent.

  He couldn’t hear anything above his own quickened breath or the pulse pounding at his temples. He didn’t need Eloise to tell him that the spirits had stopped their tirade, and to learn that they listened filled him with confidence. It gave him even greater hope that this would end up the way he’d hoped. “I’m going to offer you both a chance to speak and listen to each other.”

  Eloise leaned close to him. “Lucretia wants to know why she should listen to you.”

  “Because you have questions,” he said, hoping he’d surmised correctly. The two spirits could accomplish nothing without a corporeal being to shape their thoughts and emotions. For the moment, he had all the power. “And Abner’s got the answers, but if you’re both too busy fighting, you won’t get what you came here for.”

  After a period of silence, Eloise said, “They’ve both settled down and want to know what you have in mind.”

  While he and Eloise fixed the mess in the kitchen, Logan outlined the plan he and Eloise had discussed on the porch. When he finished, he fielded a question from Eloise, so he directed his attention to Lucretia. “If you two can’t straighten things out, Eloise will send Abner back to Hell. And Lucretia, you’ll get back to trying to kill me and my siblings. But you haven’t seen Abner in a century. You’ve had plenty of time to think about what he did to you. Aren’t you the least bit interested in what he has to say to you? Because from what he told me, he loved you…and you loved him.”

  A thump erupted from the door to the garage.

  Eloise shifted in place. “Lucretia just slammed a fist against it. She never loved him.” Eloise looked to her left. “Abner’s arguing that point.”

  Logan nodded. “And that’s why we’re giving you this chance, Lucretia. I want to hear what you have to say. It’s the reason I told you Abner was in this house. I need to hear your side of things.”

  Silence reigned.

  And just like that, Logan knew he’d secured Lucretia’s consent to put the plan in motion. No one liked to be misunderstood, especially when they felt they’ve been wronged or vilified. He assumed Lucretia felt completely justified in setting the curse in motion, so she’d want to prove it to him. And what better way to do that than speaking to both Abner and Logan at once, while also giving her a chance to regain bodily form, however briefly?

  Eloise turned to him. “They’re both nodding.”

  “Have either of them moved?” he asked.

  “No.”

  Logan believed he’d roped in their curiosity, but since they’ve both lived with merely thoughts and emotions for one hundred years, he didn’t know how long they would be receptive to discussion before resorting to violence. To prevent that possibility, which would force them to at least listen to each other, Logan needed to prevent them from starting a physical conflict. Since Logan wanted to avoid that at all costs, he’d just come upon a strategy that might make that impossible until both sides let rationality and understanding guide their behavior, rather than old misconceptions.

  Logan made his way over to the table and plucked the pouch of salt off the surface.

  He turned away from Lucretia and whispered to Abner, “Downstairs bathroom. Go!”

  A second later, a breeze whipped past Logan, heading in that direction.

  Logan loosened the bag in his hands and bolted for the spot his great-grandfather had holed up in. He passed Eloise, cut a quick right before reach
ing the family room, and entered the laundry room. To his left were the washer and dryer, above which stood a white metal wired shelf upon which stood cleaning products and towels. Behind wobbly white sliding doors to the right was the HVAC system.

  Logan rushed through the laundry room and jumped into the bathroom. He flicked on the light, spun around, hunched over, and poured a straight line of salt across the doorway. By doing so, he’d separated the spirits: Abner could now lay claim to the bathroom while Lucretia could roam the rest of the house. Neither could cross that line.

  Granted, Lucretia could wait out Abner, but Logan didn’t think the witch had enough willpower to do that. She was hell-bent on revenge, and Logan had now all but forced her to compromise if she wanted immediate acknowledgment.

  Another gust of wind whipped through the laundry room and lashed against his face, but only a slight breeze hit his face. As expected, Lucretia had stopped at the threshold.

  In the hallway, Eloise turned into the laundry room. “What’re you doing?”

  “Is Abner in the bathroom with me?” A second later, he felt a chill in the air, and it became a little more difficult to snap up each breath.

  “Yes. And Lucretia is in the laundry room. She’s pissed.”

  Above the washer, the lightbulb began rattling and flickering. The lightbulb burst, shattering remnants of the bulb onto the washer, dryer, and the floor. The washing machine rocked left and right, banging against the dryer to the left and the wall to the right, delivering a volley of hollow, metallic pings when colliding with the dryer and heavy thuds while connecting with the wall. Opposite those appliances, the white wooden shutter door that housed the water heater and HVAC system snapped open and slammed shut.

  Logan caught sight of Eloise taking a step back, her eyes growing wide in wonder at the mystical energy Lucretia unleashed. The abrupt outrage shocked him and fear swept through him. With all the noise around them, he prepared his voice to shout. “I thought ghosts couldn’t use this much power.”