The Return (Haunted Series Book 21)

by Alexie Aaron

Ted sat down beside her and lifted her chin. “Your face and front are covered in mud.”

  “Really, oh dear, how did that happen?” Mia said sarcastically. “Damn it, I thought I had him, but he backflipped over me and, next thing I knew, I was eating mud.”

  “Well, it will save on our food budget.”

  Mia shook her head. “I may look a wreck, but I’m really learning how to fight. Ed’s training has aided me, so I don’t look like a doofus with a sword, but there is so much to take in when you add the wings into the equation.”

  “A lot of physics,” Ted said. “Speaking of, I think that you should increase your height. Those wings are way too big.”

  “I can only do that for short periods of time,” Mia said. “I’m not a full-blooded birdman, so it takes a lot of energy.”

  “What if I designed you some footwear that would give you more height?”

  “Could you give me spikes? I don’t have talons, so I slide around on the ground too much. But they can’t be too heavy…”

  Ted took in what she wanted and filed it in his massive brain. “I’ll work on it. Maybe Cid has an idea about how to make what I have in mind lighter. What if we used your shield in the construction? You don’t need a shield with those wings…”

  Mia launched herself at Ted, knocking him over. “You’re amazing.”

  “I bet you tell that to all the boys,” Ted said, wrapping his arms around her.

  “No, just you and Nicholai, today anyway.”

  “Do I have to send Murphy to chaperone?” Ted asked, lifting an eyebrow.

  “No. Like Altair, Nicholai is immune to my charms.”

  “So there are males out there you can’t wrap around your little finger?”

  “I’m as horrified as you are,” Mia said.

  “Speaking of one of them, Tom wants you to call him as soon as possible,” Ted said.

  “K,” Mia said but made no move to do so. She just lay there staring into Ted’s eyes.

  “Mrs. Martin, are you trying to seduce me?” Ted asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Mia, we have no protection, and you told me you’d like to wait a while before having another child.”

  “I know but here you are, so handsome, and I’m all covered in mud…”

  “You do look sexy in all that mud, but I’m going to be strong. You have to call Tom. He did sound like it was a life-and-death situation.”

  Mia continued to look at Ted.

  Ted felt his resolve breaking.

  The farm bell started ringing. Mia jumped up. “What?”

  Ted got up, and the two ran down the hill to where Murphy stood. “Sheriff car just drove in. Cid rang the warning bell,” he reported.

  “Thanks, Murph,” Mia said and started running again.

  Ted and Murphy moved at a more leisurely pace. “Did you tell her that she looks like a chocolate rabbit in all that mud?” Murphy asked Ted.

  “I mentioned the mud,” Ted said. “She’s forgotten it. Mia’s forgetting a lot of things lately.”

  “She’s got a lot on her mind,” Murphy said, determined to always take Mia’s side when it came to Ted.

  “Guess so. I’m a little worried. Maybe Judy can give her a checkup. I just don’t trust what Elizabeth did to her before Michael put those wings in.”

  “A little bird told me that Idra has been seen flying around with Quentin. Would she be a better choice? I could leave word at the mansion.”

  “Would you? You’re a lifesaver. Damn, that’s what you are. You don’t get enough credit, Murphy. You’re a lifesaver. You’ve saved Mia numerous times.”

  “So have you.”

  “Tom Braverman, you saved him I believe.”

  “Yes, that was a surprise. That boy, Ethan, was working so hard, and Tom was so dead. I just reached in and squeezed his heart.”

  “Add Ethan Aldridge to your list,” Ted said. “If you hadn’t and Tom died, I think Ethan would have been crushed by the guilt of Tom giving his life for him, instead of feeling like he was worth saving.”

  Murphy pushed back his hat. “I never thought of it that way,” he admitted.

  “That’s what I do best. Think,” Ted said. “Now let’s remind Mia to at least wash her face before leaving with Tom.”

  Mia found Tom pacing the drive outside the office. She slowed her run to a jog, observing the waves of angst coming off of him.

  “What is it?” she asked. “I’m sorry, I was training in the north forty when you called.”

  “You look like you were mud wrestling,” Tom snapped.

  Mia’s eyes narrowed, but she held her tongue.

  “My mother is possessed.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “She’s possessed by a Green Bay Packer.”

  “Which one?” Mia asked, opening up her memory vault to all things sports.

  “I don’t know. Maybe a fan. But from what Deb Booker just told me…”

  “K. Do you mind if I just skip to the good parts?” Mia said and reached up, pulled Tom’s head down, and placed her forehead on his. She read his memories of the past few days and released him. His mind palace was basically his childhood room, a place where Mia hung out as a teen. She knew where he hid all his secrets. “When you were looking at her in disbelief - you know, when she suggested you leave - I saw a shift, a small shift of spirit over flesh in your recollections.”

  “I didn’t see anything.”

  “You did, but you may have not recognized it. Murph and I checked out your house after she was attacked. We didn’t see any spirit hanging around. Where do you think she picked this up from?” Mia asked.

  “I don’t know. One minute she’s my mom; the next, she’s a cheese head who sent me packing.”

  “I’ll go and talk to her. We’ll have to call in Father Santos or Father Simon to do the exorcism, but we can’t do that until we figure out where the ghost or demon is getting its power from.”

  “What if the possessor gets wise?” Tom asked.

  “It could take off with her.”

  “Why isn’t she stopping it?” Tom asked.

  “I’m not sure. She could be locked away. I’d have to enter her mind palace…”

  “What’s a mind palace?”

  “It’s a way for your mind to store memories. Your consciousness invents a place that you’re familiar with. It’s basically how you separate thoughts and store memories. When I enter your mind, it’s a real place that I have to navigate very carefully. Everyone’s is different. Mike’s is a farmhouse with doors and windows. Burt’s is a fantasy landscape with caves instead of rooms. Each of us have our own way of protecting and storing memories.”

  “It would surprise me if my mother’s mind palace isn’t Soldier Field.”

  “She does love her Bears,” Mia said. “Let me get cleaned up. I’ll drive over, using the excuse of picking up the culvert-cleaning tool I loaned your dad. I’ll also stop in to speak to your mother about the kids.”

  “Mia, take someone with you. If this thing is what destroyed the kitchen, then it’s dangerous.”

  “I’ll see if Murph is available.”

  “I would feel better knowing someone had your back.”

  “He’s the best,” Mia said. “I’ll head over as soon as I can.”

  “She was at the high school, but she should return home in an hour.”

  Mia nodded and turned around and ran into the farmhouse.

  Tom looked at her boots and was puzzled as to why it seemed that Mia was taller, even though she was wearing flat heels. He pushed that mystery away and got back in the patrol car.

  Mia turned on the shower and shed her muddy clothes over, and into, a plastic garbage bag so Lazar wouldn’t cry when he saw the mess she made of the recently cleaned bathroom. As she washed, she couldn’t help thinking about one of Tom’s recent memories involving Blair. This worried her more than the possibility of Susan being possessed. If Blair was seeking out Ethan, something was brewing, and Mia kn
ew it was going to be evil.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Cindy didn’t understand what the big deal was. She had already volunteered to chaperone the BBL cheering squad. Why was it out of line to practice with them? She thought the teacher in charge was a royal stuck-up witch. Cindy was stretching on the gym floor when the teacher asked her to leave.

  “I’ll just watch from the bleachers before I join in,” she said.

  “Pardon me, Mrs. Braverman, we aren’t a fantasy camp for pudges.”

  “I beg your pardon. I’m not fat!”

  “On whose scale?” the teacher sniped. “For the safety of the girls, I have to ask you to leave the floor. Why don’t you just leave the gym too.”

  “If this is how you treat all your chaperones, then it’s no mystery why they had something else to do this weekend.”

  “That’s enough. Don’t bother joining us. We can do without you.”

  “You’re making a big mistake. I know so much and…”

  “Go,” the teacher insisted.

  Cindy did, but not without doing a series of cartwheels ending with a front flip before she exited the gym. She didn’t feel the pain of her wrist breaking during the last of the three cartwheels, but Susan did inside the locker. Susan did not have control over her body, but she felt every stretch, every split, and every bounce. The sudden overactive physical activity was breaking the body of the normally fit middle-aged woman. She pounded on the locker with her good hand pleading, “Let me out of here. You’re going to give me a heart attack!”

  “SHUT UP!” Cindy screamed.

  Deb Booker, who was standing in just a few yards away, watched Susan scream in frustration. She had to stop herself from running over and supporting the woman. Tom said to watch her and report, and damn, that’s what she was going to do. She watched Susan get into the car and take off quickly, forgetting the speed bumps in the high school’s lot. The car’s suspension would never be the same after hitting the bumps at that speed.

  Deb picked up her phone and called Tom. “Your mother is driving erratically, but she’s headed home.”

  Cindy recognized the house after passing it twice. She was thrown by the strange truck parked in the drive. As she pulled in, she noticed an attractive little blonde was talking to the old man Cindy had figured out was Susan’s husband, Don. She parked the car, picked up the small athletic bag, and walked over to the two. “Hi!” she said.

  “How was the meeting?” Don asked.

  “Not fun, but meetings rarely are. That school is so male-sports biased that I could just scream.”

  The little blonde looked puzzled and said, “Huh, I understood they had an All-State girls’ basketball team and the cheer squad…”

  “Don’t get me started on that cheer squad,” Cindy said. “They are managed by a Neanderthal…”

  Mia watched the spirit whose overlay over Susan was almost perfect. The only times Mia could tell that something wasn’t right was when the creature smiled. Susan didn’t smile that way. Susan had an understanding, nurturing way of smiling. The creature inhabiting her body had a tight forced smile that didn’t reach her eyes. Mia noticed that Susan’s left wrist was thick and her hand was starting to swell.

  “Excuse me, Mrs. Braverman…”

  “Call me Susie, everyone does.”

  “Susie, did you injure your wrist?” Mia asked, loathe to touch the possessed being.

  Don grabbed Susan’s arm and examined her wrist.

  “Susan, you’ve broken your wrist. What in the world have you been up to?” he asked. “Come inside, I’ll get some ice. Excuse us, Mia, I have to take her to the hospital.”

  Cindy held up her left arm.

  “It looks broken,” Mia said.

  “But it doesn’t hurt.”

  “That really surprises me. I sprained my wrist, and it hurt like hell.”

  Don rushed out with an icepack wrapped in a dishtowel. “Give me that bag,” he said, tugging the athletic bag that she held in a death grip.

  Cindy wouldn’t let it go. “Stop it. I can carry this. All this attention is nice, but, babykins, I’m alright.”

  Don was stunned. “Susan, I think we need to go back and get you an MRI. Something’s not right.”

  “I’M FINE! YOU NEED TO STOP HOVERING!” Cindy screamed. She pulled the bag away and ran into the house.

  “Mia, I don’t know what’s going on,” Don admitted. “First, she kicks Tom out, and I let that go because the boy has to make his own life. But when she called me babykins… Do you think she’s having an affair?”

  “Whoa,” Mia said, grabbing Don to steady him. “Susan’s not having an affair. What you’re dealing with is a possession. I need you to think back and tell me when you noticed any changes in her behavior.”

  Murphy followed Susan into the house. He stayed close to Susan’s back, hoping to stay undetected by the ghost manipulating her body. He watched as the creature put the athletic bag she was carrying in the cupboard over the refrigerator.

  “SHUT UP! I DON’T CARE IF YOU’RE HURTING! STOP CRYING, YOU OLD WOMAN. THIS BODY IS CRAP. HOW AM I GOING TO TRYOUT FOR THE PACKERETTES IN THIS STIFF FAT BODY!” she screamed. “Wait. I’m going to take that little miss’s body out there. She’s fit, young, and strong. Her hair is crap, but I can deal with that. I just need to build up some power.”

  Murphy moved quickly out of the house and over to Mia who had just finished with a phone call.

  “Murph?” she asked, seeing the panic on his face.

  “The ghost is coming after you. She’s going to try and take your body.”

  “How powerful is she?” Mia asked Murphy.

  “She’d never succeed. You’ve exercised a demon. She may, however, do some damage to Susan. She’s looking for power to make the transfer.”

  Don looked over at Mia who was having a conversation with something invisible. He knew from Susan’s confidential conversations that Mia was a special kind of person. Don had ignored the rumors of her being crazy, but if Susan and his son Tom said Mia was a good soul, that’s all Don needed to believe it.

  Mia looked over at Don and said, “We can’t wait for the priest. I need to go in and fetch your wife and have her push the ghost out. But I can’t contain the spirit unless I know what she’s using as her anchor. What has Susan brought into this house recently? Think!” Mia demanded.

  “The… the little trophy. It’s about five inches high, made of solid brass. I just found it in the culvert. Wait, Susan said she got it from the college. Wyandot Junior College.”

  Mia picked up the phone again. “Ted, about your and Cid’s time at the junior college, did anything interesting happen there?”

  “Well, hello to you too,” Ted said irritated. “Why?”

  “Susan is possessed. I’m thinking by a spirit tied to a trophy of some kind.”

  “Shit. We found that behind the large tiered trophy. Susan thought it was cute and was going to fix it up for a joke gift or award.”

  “Tell me about the tiered trophy,” Mia prodded.

  “It was probably five feet high. We determined that it was an ice skating trophy, maybe a trophy the school decided not to display in the trophy cabinet. Anyway, there it was. We put it back, and that’s when we found teeny.”

  “Anything else odd happen?”

  “The lights! They were bright, like mega bright. Susan complained that they were going on by themselves. We were all seeing blue dots for a while.”

  “K. Thanks.”

  “Wait, don’t hang up. What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to lure the ghost away from her tether so that I can weaken her. I have to do this without her becoming suspicious. What else was stored with the trophy?”

  “That’s where I got the cheerleading costume,” Ted said sheepishly.

  “So, the spirit is a cheerleader?” Mia asked herself. She flashed to the image of Susan in the spandex and the comment about cartwheels. “Damn. I’ve got a crazy idea. Do
you think we can get into the junior college’s gym?”

  “I’ll make some calls,” Ted promised.

  “Do we still have the cheerleading costume?”

  “I believe they call it an uniform, and I haven’t taken it to Goodwill yet. Why?”

  “I may need it. Let me know when the gym is a positive,” Mia said and hung up. She walked over to Don and whispered, “I need you to find that trophy and…”

  Murphy smiled as he eavesdropped. Mia’s phone rang, and she smiled as she listened to Ted. “That’s great. Bring the costume… uniform. I’ll meet you guys there. Father Simon has been alerted. He’ll meet us there.”

  Susan was sweating profusely. Her body was overworked, and she was in considerable pain. She watched as Mia passed Don in the hall, walked into the kitchen, and approached Cindy.

  “Did you know that there is a tryout for…” Mia stalled, searching for the right name of the Green Bay cheer squad.

  “The Packerettes?” Cindy guessed.

  “Yes. They are having open audi... tryouts at the Wyandot gym. Do you know where that is?”

  “It’s a second home to me,” Cindy said, forgetting she was supposed to be Susan. She jumped up and down and clapped her hands. “When?”

  “Evidently, they have been having walk-on tryouts today. I just found out about it. I’m heading there now. I’m not prepared, but it’s worth a try…” Mia drawled.

  “I’m going too. Never say never. I’m going now. Donny, start the car!”

  Mia called, “I’ll meet you there!” She ran outside and said quickly to Don, “Get your hands on that trophy. I’m sure she’s bringing it with her. Get it to Cid or Ted. They’ll know what to do.”

  Cindy ran out of the house.

  Murphy pointed to the athletic bag in her hands.

  Mia leaned in the car window and whispered, “The trophy is in the athletic bag. Get it away from her when she’s preparing.”

  Don nodded.

  “What are you two whispering about?” Cindy asked.